Alice in Wonderland

13 years after Alice Kingsley's first encounter with the strange white rabbit in a waistcoat, Alice has grown to be a beautiful young lady, who is soon to be engaged to Hamish Ascot. The death of her father has led to the Ascot to take over the Kingsley's family business specializing in foreign trade.

Alice is troubled and unsure about Hamish's proposal and is troubled by her "visions" of the white rabbit running around in the engagement party. She decides to follow the rabbit, leaving Hamish without an answer.

The white rabbit leads Alice to an all-too-familiar rabbit hole. Peering closely from the edge, Alice falls into the hole and enters Underland, the real name of the world "Wonderland" that she stumbled upon when she was much younger.

I was able to watch this film with my siblings last Sunday. I must admit that I enjoyed seeing Wonderland as if it were depicted in the real world, but my siblings were confused with the details since they couldn't remember what happened in the animated film. I've been reading mixed reviews about the film too, but I think Tim Burton did a fantastic job. I don't recall seeing the White Queen in the animated film, but Anne Hathaway just blew me away... Even if the ending of the film made me think the White Queen is practically a damsel in distress sort of ruler. -_-;;; I kinda wish the White Rabbit was a lot cuter, but Johnny Depp being the Mad Hatter made up for that very nicely. I mean, how could you possibly go wrong with Johnny Depp? Really?

Anyway, people, go watch the film! I'm sure you wouldn't regret it~ ♥

Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, that is Rei Ayanami on my banner. Apparently, almost everyone in the family thinks she is "my most favorite character ever!" What's a gal gotta do aside from cower and cave in?

Besides... I kinda like this better than my Kaname one... What do you guys think?

You Can (Not) Advance

Look what I got from UCC yesterday!

Apparently, there was a special promo for Evangelion's second of four films, "Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance". Coffee drinkers will get a chance to win Asuka Langley Shikinami's figure by Kotobukiya, Petit Eva Secial Figure Set (5 kinds), or UCC Special Eva cell phone wallpaper '09 ver (18 kinds) by subscribing the QR code on the can via the Internet.

Sadly, the promo was held last year in Japan from May 18 to July 31, 2009. And I'm willing to bet you need to be in Japan in order to participate. Although I can't really speak or read Japanese, so you might wanna check out the official website for more info instead of taking my, or rather, Gigazine's word for it.

There are 6 designs in the series featuring Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley, Shinji Ikari, Kaworu Nagisa (with the Giant Moon), new character Mari Illustrious Makinami, and the cast in chibi form. I have the one in the picture sitting on my PC table, but I'm not sure whether or not I should drink it. From what I've read online, it's more milk than it is coffee and the taste leaves a lot to be desired.

To drink or not to drink... that is the question.

Aside from whether or not I should buy the entire set anyway.

Honestly though, I'm not even a huge fan of Evangelion, but apparently, most people think my internet identity, "Rei Kuassary", was based on Rei Ayanami. Even my nephew and brother-in-law thinks so, and hence I have a lot of Rei Ayanami figures from them. Not that I'm complaining of course, but I think I need to look up on this second movie.

Did I mention there are other sets with other promos too? Though I've only seen this set in the Philippines, particularly in UCC Tomas Morato. ^_~

It's Complicated

When the Adler children had finally grown up despite her becoming a single mom for the last 10 years, Jane thought she had finally got it together and begun to feel "normal" again. No longer did she sleep through lonely nights, and she even had a successful bakery known as, simply, "The Bakery".

Who would have thought attending her son, Luke's graduation with her ex-huband Jake, would actually develop into an affair? And the timing couldn't be worse as her architect, Adam, seems to have fallen head over heels for her too!

Oh, did I mention Jake had already remarried to a much younger girl named Agness who had a son with another man?

Told you it's complicated!

It's actually been a long time since I last went to watch a movie in a theater. I have to admit, Meryl Streep did a wonderful job in this film. I bet most people didn't realize she was the boss in "The Devil Wears Prada".

In any case, it's a cute romantic comedy film, and not the typical ones you see these days. Yes, I'm talking about the Twilight Saga, but that's another story. It's really refreshing to see love from the eyes of the more mature and successful women; and, that despite getting a divorce, there's still hope for love.

Admittedly, however, teens may find this film boring since they prefer Twilight and all, but I thought it was a really nice film. Alec Baldwin was adorable and so was Alec Baldwin. I wish we got to see more of Adam though...

...oh and yeah, my brother-in-law and I had a craving for chocolate croissants after the film. Anyone know of a place that has good chocolate croissants, if at all?

"Age is one of my favorite things about you." - Adam Schaffer

Aww~ ♥

Fanning the Flames of Outrage

I’m sure people have heard about Nick Simmon’s “Incarnate” by now, seeing that he’s “paid homage” to popular series Bleach.

But to release a statement like this?

“Like most artists I am inspired by work I admire. There are certain similarities between some of my work and the work of others. This was simply meant as an homage to artists I respect, and I definitely want to apologize to any Manga fans or fellow Manga artists who feel I went too far. My inspirations reflect the fact that certain fundamental imagery is common to all Manga. This is the nature of the medium.

“I am a big fan of Bleach, as well as other Manga titles. And I am certainly sorry if anyone was offended or upset by what they perceive to be the similarity between my work and the work of artists that I admire and who inspire me.”

From: Manga Worth Reading
Nick Simmons Releases Statement, Takes No Responsibility

I am upset by this, of course, since I draw my own webmanga, 黑火子 and let manga fans read it online for free. There are ads, yes, but I really hardly make any money out of those. And it’s not that I’ve never used references before either. I mean, there have been comments about Rei Kuassary looking like Lady Anne of Gundam Wing… and let’s not forget, I mentioned tracing parts of this as a practice for using the pen tool…

So… I don’t know. At one point or another, artists have done their share of copying works in order to practice. I don’t think I’m that “pure” to be the one to judge him.

I do know this… All publicity? Most probably good publicity. I hope he manages to get out of this in one piece.