Her // A Movie Review

Have you seen the movie Her? 

If not, you definitely should. 

A 2013 sci-fi film set in the slight future follows the story of Theodore Twombly, a lonely, soulful man with unattractive moustache and glasses who wears the high-waisted pants that have apparently become fashionable for men in this era. 

He falls in love with his computer operating system, (OS). By falling in love, I mean that he develops a relationship with an intelligent OS, linked to a smartphone handset with earpiece with a female voice and personality called Samantha played in voice only by Scarlet Johansson. 

That's not too unlikely in this era of smartphones and tablets, with our lives becoming increasingly controlled within those devices.

Theodore makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people in a company called BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com in a "creative" office space. Ironically, he is himself heartbroken with the impending divorce from his wife. 

There are some great moments in the movie with sentimental endings. It’s astounding how digital affairs are as sensual and heartbreaking – as the real thing. 

It’s about the fundamental truth that love is about sacrifice and sharing. It’s about accepting the knowledge that we must surrender a piece of ourselves, we must compromise, in exchange for a lasting and meaningful connection. 

It’s about the truth that no one is perfect; no one is ever exactly who we've imagined them to be. But if they're there in good times and bad, in the still of the night and amid the chaos of the day, nothing else matters. 

Her is a movie that is recommended for your Valentine’s date night, a movie which is highly significant in today’s lives. 

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's day. 

Princess and I - TV series

“Hello, I am from the kingdom of Yangdon,” has been my cliché here in the Philippines for the last 1 week.  Everywhere you go, be it in the shopping malls, on the beach or on the street they mistake us as a fellow Filipino because of the same race to which we belong to. To avoid that confusion, I have been saying the following:  

   

    1. I don’t speak Tagalog, the Filipino language and

    2. Since they don’t know where Bhutan is, Kingom of Yangdon tells them the

       location: P.

Kingdom of Yangdon is the fictional kingdom based in Bhutan in the Filipino television series Princess and I and it is currently airing on ABS-CBN since April 16, 2012. Read here to know more. Since its telecast I have wanted to watch it unfortunately it was not uploaded.:( And it is the top most series on my wanna watch list. It was shot in Bhutan and portrays the Wangchuck dynasty. The costumes worn while in Bhutan are our traditional dress. From the trailer I could see that it has been worn with so much grandeur,poise, beauty and elegance. And from what I learned Mr. Pila Wangyel was involved in selecting their costumes. So hats off to him! 

The mystical sunset

A walk on the beach

The deep blue sea in Subic Beach, Manila

Momo from Zombala, oh i miss it :(

Bhutan has become popular as the fairytale kingdom of Yangdon and its people as Yangdonese hehe. So I tell here that I come from a fairytale kingdom to which they seems intrigued and for some few minutes I am busy advertising Bhutan lol.

The warm beaches with blue sea, plenty of sunshine, awesome food and the warm Filipino people are making me intoxicated :P and I am enjoying to the fullest. While I miss hot momo (dumplings) and the cold weather of Thimphu I will be basking in this glory of life for another week. Until then hope you lovely people had a wonderful Sunday and here is wishing you a great week ahead!

Locked up Abroad

No no no, don’t get me wrong. Looking at the title of the post, I am not locked up abroad. I am rather addicted to the series Locked up Abroad. :P. My favorite past time these days has been watching Locked up Abroad on National Geographic channel. Not enough of the series on TV, I had my friend download all the series and since then I am hooked to my laptop screens. 

Locked up Abroad is a British documentary featuring true stories of people who have been arrested while travelling abroad, usually for trying to smuggle illegal drugs out of a country and have received lengthy prison sentences as a result. 

It takes viewers inside firsthand accounts of capture, imprisonment and pure terror far from home. From kidnap and torture to foolish plans to smuggle drugs, this nail-biting series tells the harrowing stories of people who set out hoping for adventure or easy money, only to end up in situations beyond their worst nightmares. All the while your heart will be on your throat pounding.  It’s suspenseful. And it leaves you thinking, What if that were me?

And also, Thank God it’s not.

All the stories basically revolve around easy money through smuggle of illegal drugs. Each and every one of them are offered a vacation of their life time abroad with good amount of money at the end for exchange of bringing in little (sometimes large) amounts of cannabis, heroin, cocaine, name it.  Some have been kidnapped, some have “accidentally” swallowed condom after cocaine-filled condom, but they all face the same fate – dismal grey cells, some serious hard time, and an understandable fear of shower time. The difficulty they have to undergo at the airport security and through the customs officials are the tickets to their prison. And some even try to escape through the prisons after not being able to tolerate the prison terror. All the prison escapes tales we have read about or seen in movies turns out to be true here.

It set out a food for thought for me. It kept me thinking. How naïve we are in this part of the world. I have no idea as to what would happen if we get locked up abroad and if we do not speak the language. Especially if you love traveling, you got to be careful.  After all these episodes, it had heightened my paranoia so severely that I felt I would never leave Bhutan. Maybe I am overreacting here. :P 

It might be a night of stupidity that goes horribly wrong, a brief moment of indiscretion, a lapsed visa or a straightforward case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but whatever the circumstances, there is no doubt that being arrested or detained in a foreign country could be the most terrifying and alienating experience to ever go through.

If you want to experience the thrill and the suspense and want to know more about this series watch Locked up Abroad on NatGeo channel every Mon-Fri at 10:30 pm BST. And trust me you will learn a lot of lessons. Learn the laws of the land and stay safe.