Emily Lam

Website           Adventures           Blog  






Saturday, January 14, 2012

Quotations from Angelina Jolie

I sometimes forget how much I like Angelina Jolie. I've just been too concentrated on figuring out life and school work – and wasting time – that I forget things. Sometimes I just want to screw it and stop caring about my purpose in the universe. But my friend is right, that's life, you just can't get away from it. So let's celebrate post number 101 on my blog with some Angelina Jolie quotations. Yay! =]

"I like someone who is a little crazy but coming from a good place. I think scars are sexy because it means you made a mistake that led to a mess."
Me too! I'm such a scar person. I love talking about them. Weird, I know.

"If you ask people what they've always wanted to do, most people haven't done it. That breaks my heart."
Oh, this kills me too. But, I'm a little hypocritical. I'm not exactly doing what I've always wanted to do. I'm not in the position to be doing it. I'm working on it though, sort of. Then again, I'm not completely sure what I want to do.

"What nourishes me also destroys me." 
The person who makes me cry the most is my mother. But I know she loves me and cares for me very much!

"When I get logical, and I don't trust my instincts - that's when I get in trouble."
Hmmm . . .

“If being sane is thinking there's something wrong with being different....I'd rather be completely fucking mental.”
I agree, such a powerful stance! Go Angelina Jolie!

“I don't believe in guilt, I believe in living on impulse as long as you never intentionally hurt another person, and don't judge people in your life. I think you should live completely free.”
This is me. I am so prochoice. I am in no position to decide what you should do or be. That's for you to decide and it doesn't affect me at all so why should I butt in. I also don't see the need to judge. I see people, not colors or labels, which is why I can sometimes be so insensitive. I use to go around telling people that I was mean or emo or part of the KKK (KooL Kids Klub, of course, not the racist KKK.). I've since stopped the latter two though. Going around saying I'm mean doesn't really affect anyone. Maybe no one will talk to me. *Shrugs*  But there are consequences when you go around telling people you are emo or part of the KKK. There's always the chance that somebody who is actually emo is present or was mistreated by the racist KKK, when I make my claim. And in a way, I am being insensitive to a very serious emotional state and matter, the same way insults like gay and retard are insensitive to homosexuals and handicaps, and that is a problem because it's no longer just about me. I think the reason I use to do that was because I really wanted to strive home the point that putting labels on people is lame in an ironic way. So I agree, live life the way you want to, as long as you're not intentionally hurting someone else. (Part of this was meant to be its own post back in April 2011 but I never got around to finishing the post and it fits perfectly here.)

"I often see all these people taking pictures to capture the moment and I think you miss the moment because you are trying too hard to capture it. I want to live it."
I've noticed this too which is why I don't take many pictures. Most of my pictures are taken by others, which I totally appreciate. Occasionally, I will want to capture a fireworks show or something. But my recording won't be perfect because I'm just holding the camera. My eyes are on the actual show.

"I think that who we are and who we decide to be in life is not defined by our parents, our past, the way we look or where we're from. We make the choice." (Or as Dumbledore would say, "it is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.")
This is why I'm such a huge fan of Angelina Jolie, not because she is the prettiest woman, or the best actress, or the best mother, or the most caring humanitarian, or the most intelligent and original person. But because she was able to put beside her destructive past and choose who she wants to be today. I use to have a hard time explaining why I was such a fan of Angelina Jolie because there are people like her and do what she does better. But now I understand that it was her ability to make a choice that I admire. This is something only a person who has started to understand life could realize. I would have never been able to come to that realization at my current mindset. But I'm still young, and for now, I am content just observing others and living with my own life.

=]

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Melody in C

I have a special post today. =] (Okay, I agree, that earlier post about juice was pretty regular, not special. I was just up this morning drinking juice, waiting for a ride to go ice skating, and I liked it. But this post is better, I promise. Hopefully.)

First, I would like to point you in the direction of writer Theodora Goss (and my professor), if you'd like a chance for free books. She's hosting a book giveaway for two of her books, signed: In the Forest of Forgetting and soon to be released The Thorn and the Blossom. I've read In the Forest of Forgetting and it's a great read, full of fantastical short stories. My favorites were the ones involving Miss Emily Gray, a recurring character in her stories, and not because she shares a name with with me. Anyway, Theodora Goss is holding three book giveaways, I believe, and to enter all you have to do is write a paragraph or so answering the prompt on her blog.

I mention all this because I've entered this week's giveaway. Here's the prompt: "I’ve traveled a lot, and there’s quite a lot of traveling in my stories. In The Thorn and the Blossom, Evelyn travels to the Cornish town of Clews, where she meets Brendan Thorne. If you could travel anywhere, where would it be, and what would you do when you got there? It can be a real place, or a place that you or someone else has imagined. Again, be creative!" I'm not much of a writer though, so I don't expect to win, but it was fun. (I'm such a dabbler! dabbler dabbler!)

But here's my entry:

I've always wanted to go see the Northern Lights, because I'm the kind of person who likes lights and colors and looking at the sky. So I would head somewhere north, Alaska perhaps? I've heard you can see the aurora borealis from most anywhere there during the spring in Alaska, considering 2012 is amongst the years of peak solar storms – one of the "reasons" the world is going to end in 2012. Once in Alaska, I would ask the locals for the best location to see the lights. "Any empty field with a clear view of the northern horizon will do, but one with a backdrop of a mountain range will add to the spectacle," they would say. So I would find myself an empty field with a clear view of the northern horizon and a mountainous backdrop to sit and wait, shivering because I never dress warm enough. I don't want to expect anything of the aurora borealis for fear of disappointment. But it's too late for that. I can't pretend I don't expect it to be a fury of green streaks similar to a lighting storm without the thunder. Or swirls of green rays lingering in the sky in the pattern of my fingerprints. I can't pretend I didn't have that dream where time traveling was possible when the clouds turned green and the sky bright red, banded with more green. I mean how can I not expect anything short of spectacular of the Northern Lights, who once induced enough current into manmade telegraph lines that people could communicate cross-country without a power source? It's definitely too late to not expect anything of the Northern Lights.

Finally, here's what I thought was special!!! I composed a short little piece. "Melody in C" I will call it. It's nothing great of course. I just sat at the piano frustrated at my inability to play songs I once knew how to play, and the melody just slowly came to me. I really like it. It's much better than my other songs. (You can see an older song here.) However, for some reason I feel like I unconsciously stole it from a Hayao Miyazaki film. Here listen:



I always smile when playing the little part that starts 17 seconds inward. I don't know, it just sounds hopeful and happy. My friend agrees, it does sound like something from a Miyazaki film. But of course, Joe Hisaishi, the composer of scores in the Miyazaki film, does a much, much better job. He understands music better and doesn't rely on a simple chord progression. My friend tells me that people sample songs all the time and that if I did indeed steal this melody, no harm done because I'm not profiting off it or anything.

Unconscious influence. Who knew? The music in the Miyazaki films is simply amazing! Joe Hisaishi is one of my favorite modern day composers. (My favorite composer is Alan Menken but you already knew that!) Joe Hisaishi's score completes the Miyazaki films. Can you imagine Spirited Away with no music? Or feel Howl's inner conflict without the score? The music takes me into the fantastical world of Miyazaki. Each character has it's own theme. The joyful Totoro theme: I just had to youtube it! It's great, definitely check it out.

Now, we're back on the topic of travel. Doesn't music just take you places? I know it does for me. Can you just see the misty, open, sea when the Pirates of the Caribbean theme plays? Or Hogwarts castle when "Hedwig's Theme" plays? Composers know music takes people places, one of of musics multifaceted talents. I know for a fact the film cast of Harry Potter purposely played "Hedwig's Theme" at the precise moment when Harry enters the castle again in the last Harry Potter film. That's because they know the audience will respond. The audience has been conditioned to travel to Hogwarts when that theme plays. And to avoid confusion and add emphasis to Harry's return to Hogwarts, the theme was used in that moment.

Ballet is another example. Can you just imagine ballet without music? Imagine the Nutcracker without Tchaikovsky's famous score? Clara's adventure with the prince? It's just not possible. Even that pop song, I don't relate to at all, takes me back to the summer that song was popular. I think that's why I can like and listen to pop music and it's meaningless lyrics, it's just about the catchy melody in that instance. I tune out the lyrics. Of course, in some cases lyrics are really important. Oh music, you're so CooL.

I do miss the films back in the day when there were no sound effects and music provided the effects.

(What a long post! I should've split it. But then I would have posted three times today, so I'll leave it.)

One of my favorite things to do:

Swirl juice around in a nice, transparent, hefty, glass cup. It makes me happy. =]

Friday, January 06, 2012

Favorite Quotations

The new Facebook profile, Timeline, is a clutter mess and creeper friendly. Okay, Facebook profiles have always been creeper friendly. The only pro of Timeline is the nice big photo banner. Aside from that, it's a mess. When I visit somebody's page, it's because I'd like to know a little bit more about who they are as a person. I don't want to know who's been talking to that person. The old Facebook profile did that well. I could easily switch between stalking someone's life to their interests and likes by clicking "Info.' The likes are now on its own separate page. And worst of all, quotations are hidden on the bottom right corner of the new info part. Boo! Too much clicking is needed to find the same information that was once offered on one page. Timeline is a good concept, since people are too lazy to compile their life into a timeline, but it just doesn't work as a social network profile. My opinion. (Maybe Timeline suits everybody else's needs and I just want different things from my social network.)

Since Facebook basically hides my favorite quotations, I thought I'd do them justice and post them proudly on my blog. =]

"Hope is when you step into the darkness and think only two things, either the next step is solid ground or you will grow wings and fly."
This is a quotation I helped write. I'm pretty sure I stole the idea from somewhere and simplified it into a sentence. But this is my definition of hope. And I'm a hopeful person.

"Cross your heart, do it!" - Ellie, Pixar's Up
This reminds me that you sometimes just have to commit and follow through.

"Don't avoid the clichés - they are cliches because they work!" - George Lucas
I've always liked clichés. I like being unique but some of the best things around are unoriginal and have been around forever. This reminds me that its okay to be mainstream and unoriginal.

“Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.” - Neil Gaiman
Oh Neil Gaiman. He's a man of wisdom. If you follow his blog, you'd know. He's telling us that risks are risks, sometimes deadly, but sometimes you can fly. Truth of the matter.

"Take Chances, Make Mistakes, Get Messy!" - Ms. Frizzle, Magic School Bus
I seem to have multiple quotations about taking chances. I like this one in particular because in Magic School Bus taking chances, making mistakes, and getting messy was always fun. Taking chances isn't always a serious event. It's fun! Adventurous! =]

"Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one remembers to turn on the light." - Professor Dumbledore
Dumbledore is the epitome of wisdom! He has so many wise words. This is one of my favorite. (Although it is not from the books but the films.) Basically, when everything boils down, it's all perspective. All you.

"It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you." - Randy Pausch
This quotation I like because Randy Pausch like me dreamt of becoming a Disney Imagineer. And he's telling us, me, don't just aim to accomplish a goal. Live your life right and the way you want to, and karma will be on your side. The dreams will follow. (Randy Pausch also said, "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity," which I talked a little about at the end of this post.)

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

My Relationship With Apple

I've received wonderful gifts for Christmas 2011. One of such gifts was from my roommate. She got me Steve Job's biography. She knew I was a big Apple fan. Steve Job's biography is one of those books I probably would not have bought for myself. The book is huge. Well, I finished reading and skimming the book, mostly reading, and it made me think of multiple things. So I thought I'd blog about them, but in two different posts. The first post, this one, is about my relationship with Apple and the second post is everything else. (Never did end up writing it.)

Elementary School:

The very first Apple product I used was the colorful iMac G3.

Remember these?!

This was in elementary school. Back then, all the computers in my elementary school were macs. I remember we use to crowd around the three or four iMacs each classroom had and take turns playing Bugdom. I also remember when I was in third grade, I was accepted into this program called TAG (Talented and Gifted). The program no longer exists. But back then, elementary school students would get the opportunity to go to the middle school and learn things. I went to an graphic arts one. And there I remember learning how to draw in appleworks on the iMacs. Some of my doodling and sketching styles – I don't draw – are still based on what I learned in that class. My family bought our first computer when I was in elementary school. I had wanted a iMac but I didn't win that one. We got a Windows, Sony VAIO.

(Fair warning: It's a super long post and does become a little disjointed at the end.)


Sunday, January 01, 2012

Reflecting

January 1st, 2012. That's the first time I've typed 2012. It's going to take some time getting use to writing/typing 2012 like it always is when the year changes. 2012 is the year we're all supposedly going to die. *Shrugs* Who knows? I'm not saying yes or no. Science says no though. Choose what you want to believe or in my case not at all.

Let's say we don't die. Well, I have a lot to work on. So much has happened in 2011 and I've learned a lot. But 2011 has definitely left a lot of loose ends. I need to decide on a major by the end of this semester. And –

BLAH!

I'm trying to reflect. But I can't. My mind does not want to. All it wants to do is veg. And scribble. So here's to 2011:




And let's say we do die. Well, I'm content dying as a student. I'm not going to do anything I wouldn't normally want to do. So right, same general plan for 2012 as if I were going to live.