Even though I don't watch any TV programs, I made an exception for the 86th annual Academy Awards. This year's host Ellen DeGeneres certainly rose to the occasion and managed to guide us throughout the evening with the typical 'ellen' humor starting with a hilarious opening monologue which I consider the peak of the whole evening. I love the way she uses sarcasm without actually really hurting and offending anyone!! Especially the part when she was talking to Jennifer Lawrence, pointing out the accident from last year when she fell on her way up on the stage as a winner for her memorable performance in Silver Linings Playbook.
Of course, there is a bunch of other moments worth mentioning!! Like the EPIC photo Ellen took just in the middle of the show in order to break Twitter which she did because she's AMAZING haha!! For like 15 minutes Twitter broke down. Ellen, you rock!!
Or!!! She ordered a pizza for hungry celebrities! The pizza delivery guy was quite shocked. I watched the Ellen show the day after the Oscars and she invited him as a guest. He was speaking about the amazing experience which he had no idea was coming!! He thought he was just delivering a pizza for some people backstage and then when he arrived at the spot, Ellen just grabbed him and all of a sudden he popped up in the hall with all the celebrities he knew from TV! Quite a shock, I can imagine.
Given that I was also satisfied with the winners ( although I hoped Leo would win :/ ), I consider this year's Oscars a success.
Gran Torino is a movie I truly love for many reasons. One of them is definitely Clint Eastwood who directed and more importantly starred it as the main character Walt Kowalski - an old grumpy demobbed Korean war veteran whose most prized possession is his car 1972 Gran Torino. Walt is the man who likes things the way they are mainly because he has his own prejudices and he doesn't like change. It's a perfect movie to write about for this week's post because it's filled with abundance of cultural diversity and clash. There are many I would say layers when speaking of those differences though - there are cultural differences concerning identity, especially religion and age; this is the reason of disputes that Walt and the Father have, concerning mostly unresolved issues of Walt's departed wife. Their cultures are stark in contrast and that makes for many difficult conversations.
The story starts at the funeral of Walt's wife. Her last wish was for Father Janovich to convince Walt to go to confession and he is determined to keep that promise which of course isn't easy since Walt isn't really the kind of person who would be interested in his eternal salvation. This conflict of religion is resolved toward the end of the movie when the Father Janovich and Walt find some common ground.
As the story goes on, another conflict comes along. A kid from Walt's neighborhood attempts to steal his beloved car. This is a cultural conflict because the kid is not an American (he is Asian) and that gives Walt an excuse ho hold it against him.
Obviously I can't describe the whole story here, so you'd better go and watch it yourself.
Lastly, to this day I remember the last scene from the movie where the lawyer reads Walt's will and where we learn that he leaves his car to Thao - the same Asian kid who tried to steal it once. I love those words, both funny and touching.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
The picture that I've chosen to describe is taken from the very popular TV show Breaking Bad. There are none of the main characters displayed in the picture; actually, the guy on the left and the woman in the middle are not known to the viewer at all whereas the junkie on the right is one of the closest friends of Jesse - the main character.
The show itself is about the chemistry teacher who finds himself in a difficult position in life - he finds out that he's got cancer and that there is no money neither for his expensive and nerveless treatment nor for his family financial security for the future.
This particular scene is from the episode 9 season 5 and as you can see, the guy on the right (called Skinny Pete) is being mugged of his batch of meth he was selling. It is a great example of the mentality of these addicted people. They will do whatever it takes to get the drug; they will rip off or even kill their best friend because they just can't resist. Because have you ever heard about that junkie who was satisfied with just ONE more taste of the good stuff?? Neither have I...
As I was browsing the Internet today, I came across this interesting statistics that caught my attention. According to it, the number of online population and therefore the number of online consumers is growing each year. In 2011 the global online population numbered 2 071 million people and three years later, in 2014, the number amounted to 2 321 while the biggest growth was chalked up in Asia, Asia Pacific and Oceania with the difference of 111 million people.
Speaking about the online shopper demographics, women are in the lead which I was expecting. What I was not expecting was the slight difference of only 2 percent between men and women.
The reasons why online shoppers shop on the Internet are in my opinion very reasonable and I can identify myself with the most of them - the items 'low prices', 'shopping convenience' and 'easy to buy' and 'time saving' would be my top four. On the other hand, here are the reasons why people would rather go to the actual shop than buy anything online: 33% men and 38% women feel the need to touch the real product before they make a purchase. Shipping costs and privacy concerns put off up to 30% men and 33% women. Worries caused by possible refund or returning of a product discourage 27% men and 25% women of all the online shoppers.
Finally, there is a section that came as quite a surprise to me and that is online retail spending shares. Women shoppers lead in the most of goods categories out of which the most surprising for me is definitely 'video games and console' whereas men outnumber women in purchases of electronics and events and movie tickets.
My priorities in life have changed many times as I grew up. When I was a little girl I don't think I even had a ladder of priorities. Lately I've been thinking mostly about the things I would not want my future partner/husband to lack.
Apart from the obvious qualities such as loyalty, faithfulness and honesty there is a great sense of humor and mutual interests. I know a few couples where there is a husband and he is such a crosspatch(!).ughh..I'm sure that I would not be able to put up with that! On the other hand, funny at all costs is not a win either. I'm sure I will need a person by my side who can be serious and able to talk about important stuff as well as have fun.
Mutual interests is definitely a very important element in partnership. They can involve sports, games or just going for a walk once in a while. Not only does it help bond the mates but also it is a great way of relaxation. I have this idea that my future partner and I will be sitting on a couch, sipping coffee and watching films that we will have watched so many times that we will know all the lines by heart but it won't matter to us because it will just feel so great! I can't wait!!!
I would rather not mention my requirements about the looks haha.. I know that I'm not perfect myself so I'm not waiting for some dreamy prince that does no wrong. How could I ever feel equal to him?!
