Movies and the Yuletide Season

• Divergent •

(Based on Veronica Roth's novel of the same title)

Main Characters:

Tris - From the Abnegation faction, believed to be a Divergent.

Four - Instructor from Dauntless, also a Divergent.

Dystopian Chicago.
Every child is required to take an aptitude test at the age of 16 to determine which among the five factions they belong: Abnegation, for the selfless; Amity, for the peaceful; Candor, for the honest; Dauntless, for the brave; and Erudite, for the intellectual. Whatever is the result of the test, each individual is given the liberty to either stay with their family's faction or leave.

Tris and her brother decided to join the faction of their choice; Tris joined Dauntless while her brother Erudite. During the aptitude test Tris was found a Divergent which means she qualifies for not just one but 3 factions at the same time. She was told to never disclose to anyone otherwise she and her family would be in great danger because the authorities are after Divergents.

It was a long and exciting movie so i'll just fast forward, Tris fell in love with Four, her instructor, she almost got booted out of Dauntless because her scores on the tests were low but she emerged victorious in the long run, redeemed herself and evaded being factionless. Tris found that her mother used to be Dauntless and is a Divergent like her alongside Four. Tris' mother died whilst trying to escape because it was later divulged that Tris and Four were Divergents. Tris along with Four and her brother survived. Whatever comes next would be on the next chapter or book called Insurgents which hopefully gets it's own share of box office success if ever it turns out to be a movie someday.

I love this flick and yes I will watch it again if I have time cuz it's filled with suspense and made sense which is refreshing compared to other movies nowadays. Do watch this movie for a change.

• The Help (2011) •

My brain is not working good today so I'll just borrow this from wikipedia:

The Help is a 2011 American drama filmdirected and written by Tate Taylor, andadapted from Kathryn Stockett's 2009novel of the same name. Featuring anensemble cast, the film is about a young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, during the Civil Rights era in 1963 Jackson, Mississippi who decides to write a book from the point of view of the maids (referred to as "the help"), exposing the racism they are faced with as they work for white families.

Skeeter successfully published her book whilst her mother is battling with cancer and it opened the minds of many people regarding the plight of the maids during that era. Her mother thanked her for bringing courage back in the family as it has skipped some generations. The setting was then the time when the fight for civil rights is going strong because of Martin Luther King (please refer to Civil Rights Movement 1963 in google).

This is one of the best and moving movies I've seen in a while and yes it was based from a novel by

Tate Taylor and it has won numerous awards and was a box office hit.

Happy Holidays...

Moving on, I have been busy doing some early Christmas shopping for myself and allocating money for xmas gifts as well. Yes it is 13th month pay season and money flies as usual.

Item #1

I bought our family dog Yumi her own doggie bed and got it for almost a bargain.

Item #2

Cord Holder/ Winder

image from google 

Purchased 3 sets for me and my sister's ipod and samsung charger. I bought it online for 35php each set plus shipping 100php! I'm a happy camper 'cuz it came in today, that was fast.

Item #3

KiteKat Catfood

I couldn't think of a better gift for our cat Atari but this because he consumes his cat food quite fast so I decided to get him a big bag. I bought the Mackerel one btw. 

Holiday beauty staples...

eyebrow - E.L.F Tame and Treat eyebrow Mascara;
eyes - Maybelline HyperCurl Volume Express (sorry
for my sleepy eyes, just tired for the day when I took
this photo :D )

The holiday season won't be complete without the holiday make up so I am beginning to also contour my eyebrows (not that I have thinning eyebrows but contoured eyebrows is IN). I am currently engrossed with E.L.F's tame and treat eyebrow mascara because it's very easy to use as it dries up pretty fast just make sure to cleanly finish the smudges with a liquid concealer or any concealer of your choice, LA Girl's PRO Concealer works best for me.

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Garden in the Sky

I haven't gone back to Tam-Awan/Artists Village a.k.a Garden in the Sky in ages. The last time we went there was way back 2009 during my sister and I's birthday back when we were still vacationing here up north and I can say a lot has changed.

Thank God I got off from work earlier than usual and my sister happened to be on leave 'cuz we have to take our niece around and a friend of hers to the city of pines and we thought of Tam-Awan Village as one of those eccentric and artsy places to go for aspiring photographers because of numerous possible subjects from art installations to nature etc.

The weather was good so that pretty much helped us did some up hill climbing and up up and away we went to almost the top of the village just to find that it was not the same as it used to be. Very few nipa houses left and the usual bridge was no longer there which we thought might've been ravaged by the typhoons that visited the north. I mean yeah it's been five years right?

Never the less the usual souvenir shop is still there and in addition to that a cafeteria is now being housed across the artists area (this is where the resident painters draw people's faces at a minimal fee). I'm not so sure how long the cafeteria has been there but It looks cozy and I wish we had more time to eat there to complete the experience. Just be nice to the resident black kitty as well as she joins in the crowd dining in at the cafeteria.Black kittie is just I guess welcoming the visitors and trying to find a living as well :)

I also noticed that the ticket cost is now higher but of course like I said it's been years since my sissy and I stepped foot there. Adult tickets is now at Php50 whilst for little kids Php20, students and seniors at Php30/ pax. I guess it's also a way to rehabilitate the village thus explains the price increase although I was just surprised that the village now has limited places to go as oppose to before. We were handed a map as soon as we got out tickets and we let our niece snap on those photos for as long as she wanted. We got really tired walking expecting to find the dream catcher area but we didn't so we decided to go back down. The absence of arrows leading the visitors made it quite difficult to find certain areas of the village.

Outside across Tam-Awan village where Kape Diperensya used to be situated is now replaced by a museum which again houses art installations by local artists then few walks away you'll find this waffle house which looks like your typical country style abode with this cute resident dog outside watching the day go by. How cool isn't it?

Oh by the way I got myself some keychains for Php20 each and this fridge magnet for Php70. Rule of thumb, make sure to buy yourself some souvenir from places you've been. In my case I collect fridge magnets so there.

Cab fare was Php85 from downtown one way. I wish we had more time 'cuz our niece is headed back down south today. She promised another visit by next month which is Christmas time though to finish were we left off. We also promised to take her to other amazing places she haven't been before here up north. Time constraints as usual.

It was rather a long productive day yesterday. Now it's my day off from work so time for some mind, body and soul recharge.

Tam-awan Village

1. Address: Long Long Benguet Rd, Baguio, Benguet
2. Phone:(074) 446 2949

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Welcome November

Welcome November!

My first blog post for the month and yes it is All Saints Day, the 1st of November. I was up early for my morning jog today as usual and it is my second day on leave from my painfully boring job and it is such a breather to be away from the confides of the office even just for a day or two. I visited the columbarium today where my mum's urn is nestled and I still can't believe it's already been two years. I think of her and pray for her everyday of my life and I will do so for as long as I live. 

To keep me sane, I kept myself busy the whole day long. I saw on TV that the cemeteries aren't as crowded compared to the previous years. I think, the advent of cremation has made it easier for the families to visit their dearly departed ones. Moving on, out of boredom I made this DIY shoe box charging station to keep our chargers as organized and clutter-free as possible. I used this Vans shoe box which my sister kept somewhere  in our flat for a start (like those ones I found on Pinterest) and I was happy with the outcome. 

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