Speckles n Spectrum

back to basics seemingly-banal adventures of an eclectic modern muser...

"Learning from the Past, Hopes for the Future, and a Life's Journey of making the most of what's at hand."

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A veterinary student abandons his studies after his parents are killed and joins a traveling circus as their vet.

Director: Francis Lawrence
Writers: Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Sara Gruen(novel)
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz
Language: English, Polish
Release Date: 4 May 2011 (Philippines)
Also Known As: Agua para elefantes

Taglines: Life is the most spectacular show on earth.

Genres: Drama
Rated: PG-13

Source: IMDb
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Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob? I'm neither but in this movie Pattinson had tidy up playing Jacob, a veterinary medicine student who hitch up on a circus train upon his parents death. He took a job as a vet for the circus and fell in love with Marlena (Reese) who's married to his dangerous boss (Christoph).

Jacob: I don't know if I picked that circus. But something told me that circus picked me.

I personally chose to feature this over the fast cars or the epic to get away from the hype of those movies and I like romance not particularly dramas but still Reese is in this. Plus this is based from the novel of Sara Gruen with the same title.

If you like classic tales of love this is a go-see movie for you. It is sort of presented like The Titanic in a way that an old Jacob is telling the story through a series of memories and a sort of The Notebook feel with the '30s as the backdrop and a circus.

I like the Marilyn Monroe-ish look of Reese here (although a little too skinny I guess), the blond curly hair, beautiful sexy dresses especially the white halter bare-back with the glittery shoes and the bangles. And it's a plus that she's actually doing some gymnast moves in this.

Since they're all working for The Benzini Bros. so expect stunts, costumes, and animals of course. A circus wouldn't be a circus without them and the title wouldn't be Water for Elephants without a real elephant. And Tai plays Rosie as a replacement for the white horse hoping that she'll sell tickets and liven up the circus.

There's an exciting scene at the end of this movie but I'm no spoiler so just guess who killed who?



This is my fave quote from the movie:

The world's run on tricks everyone plays. It's having a true talent a gift born with in  something no degree can give you.










4 stars out of 5 for a touching story. However it lacks on screen chemistry with the lead roles to be too convincing as a romantic pair, Jacob - Rosie or Marlena - Rosie are better pairs rather than Jacob and Marlena but the story, the setting, and the elephant makes up for it.





"She is trying to rip off Christian idolatry to shore up her talentless, mundane and boring performances," 

says the president of the Catholic League.

The tune features lyrics like: "I want to love you,/but something’s pulling me away from you/Jesus is my virtue, and Judas is the demon I cling to….I’m just a holy fool,/ oh baby he’s so cruel,/ but I’m still in love with Judas, baby.”

I don't know about you but the first time I read these lines during Holy Week through someone that said the song lyrics are disturbing her, well, I thought so too. But rereading it again now and listening to the song as well as doing some research on how people view it hmmm... I think I just changed my mind about the song. (see some buzz about this here and views here.)

Honestly, I'm not a fan of Gaga but I sometimes like to listen to her songs when there's nothing left to be played in my favorite playlist and I like the message of "Born This Way." Though I like how free-spirited she is and how she breaks social norms and being so brave to stand-up and be unique in a world full of confinements and stereotyping. Less to say I admire the boldness and freedom she's exuding but I'm waiting for her to drop the wild fashion sense and start being subtle in terms of clothing. Costumes for performances and music videos are fine but for shopping or everyday wear uh, uh. I know she's doing it to attract attention and she's great in getting people's attention. I even read once somewhere that she used to go bare-naked while playing her piano in a New York stage just so her audience will focus on her. I know it's her thing and that's what makes her unique but she's famous now I think she can return to earth and for christ'ssakes live like a real human. And if she's really aiming to be a role-model of the youth, and I guess she's already is for some well, it's just right for her to start thinking about how influential she is in today's children's mind and start living and doing it right.

So Judas is just another interesting song with a catchy beat that I wouldn't mind to listen to once in a while. About the lyrics, it seems the church is just being a baby with this. Being so touchy about the matter that it was purposefully release during the Lent but it's not really mocking anything. For me the song is just like a sinner's confession of trying to be faithful and good but being affected by demons. Admitting those stuff in a song is not a mortal sin, it is way better than priests molesting children and hiding in their holy cross and still preaching about loving them in God's way. What do the church do about this? Well, they just shuffle the parish assignments of the offender and keep them out of public view. Now those are the things they needed to comment on, as for this talentless gaga as they said but stirring controversies on their church, this is nothing compare to their inside controversies so I might say who are the real hypocrites then?


growing, maturing, nurturing…
sometimes i just want to stop breathing maybe i haven’t felt being truly alive…
maybe all of these are just make believe…
(photo credit)
i am lost in my own time…
or maybe i’m just wasting my time…
i feel i dont belong here…
i am not for this…
maybe i’m still a person waiting to be full grown…
wandering in deep woods for i am lost…
wherever it may leads me someday i may say…
i’ve been around for the journey but i am searching for my destination…
i’m getting tired wandering around the bush… i want to get there if i can then i will…
someday…


This is weird but with all my blog categories I actually find it most difficult writing about myself. To think this is my first week of blog programming and I'm already having a hard time coming up for today's personal post... darn.

It's really hard to write especially if I'm so darn happy. Happiness blurs my thinking caps. Although I wanted to avoid negativities in my blog and I like to write about happy thoughts but writing in a state of bliss is not much too ideal for coming up a sensible post. But I have to stick to my rules and I'm going to try and brake barriers on my writer's block today.

I slept it through and now what? Still struggling for this post. I'm thinking of just posting a Osama Bin Laden is Dead entry but I don't really like posting things in my blog just for the sake of ramping up my blog traffic. I admit there are things I copy and pasted from other websites for the sake of establishing a reference and I don't write things that isn't in my interest or I haven't carefully analyze. It's nice to increase your page views but I won't really stoop down to that level of degrading myself on just riding on with the hype. Besides there are no elaborated facts to prove this for now and the news said President Obama will give a statement later today about the matter.

And this is what differentiate my blog from other bloggers and I'm proud of it. I'll make sure that what I have here are things that you won't see in just another website by providing original content whenever possible. I've read in another blog that you will rarely see a blog or a post titled "My Life" get high page views but I really don't care. I won't exchange my values for the price of web traffic, I'm blogging for personal reasons but if people like to visit my blog it's all fine with me and it's a plus if they took some time to comment on my entries. I'm extra grateful for that.

Hmmm... ok, I'm just going to make this all fun and light so anything sensitive and personal you might find here just shrugged it off and laugh about it for all wounds are healed so no worries I find it all just good to reminisce and smile about. Maybe we can all learn a few things on these, hope so.

Since I'm all set for fashion blogging I'd like to talk about why on earth would a plus size like me wanted to join the army of skinny fashion bloggers? Disclaimer: I'm not joining the LookBook. I like checking it out but I don't think I'm up for that challenge: everyday look post, branded stuff, different places, poses, etc. And I can't find someone who would like to do the photography for me of course for free, I won't really waste money for this and for the fact that I'm not good in projecting in camera unless I'm the only one in the room that's why my better pictures are all taken by me. Besides I think those are for model wannabes and well, they all look like real models and most of them are anyways. Didn't I tell you I am more of a photographer wannabe and I like to be The Sartorialist one day. (Oops this is supposed to be a secret, sorry it slips) Street Fashion watch in Bicol. Watch out people, hope you won't think I'm a weird stalker taking your pretty photos.

Why Fashion blog?

Simply because I'd like to make a point that size doesn't matter, ok, fine it does sometimes but hey, that's why I'm here. I'm going to prove that being a plus size doesn't mean you'll get stuck in a plain old boring men's shirt, big pants and shorts outfit and fashion isn't just for people with dollars on their pockets. Being you is priceless and creativity doesn't cost much. So live life and celebrate the beauty of it. Take it from me, I've learned that in a hard way.

I once been too depress about my size last year and I know that many too are experiencing it so I'd like to be brave enough to let others know that they're not alone on the battle. People always talk about changing yourself but you can never deal or fix something if you're not going to face it first. Exercise might be a solution but it won't be in some extra cases so the best advice I can actually offer is acceptance. Acknowledging the fact and dealing with it by making the most of the situation.


Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass It's about learning to dance in the rain


When I was 55kg and measures 34-27-38 people were teasing me that I'm fat. Now that I almost double that stats they're all like "Oh my you're so fat." So what's the fuss then? The only difference is the word "SO" and yes SO what? I'm still prettier than most of you. I can always choose to start loosing weight but you can never fix your fugly faces in this lifetime. (Oops, crap. Shut up you wench. Ha ha. I sounded like a self-absorbed overweight piece of sheyt.)

Well this is what they say about me "you're pretty, you just need to lose weight." At least now I know that they actually find me pretty. On second thoughts maybe it's just a consolation not to hurt me much. Pretty to sugar-coat the word Fat. Honestly, this doesn't bother me anymore. But I won't be a hypocrite I still want to lose weight of course but I always joke about it when told to exercise "Yeah, I will tomorrow, not now because it's already late in the day."

Last year, my big 2010 where I fattened up like a pig I got too depressed that just after 3 months of hibernating my favorite clothes don't fit anymore. Right now let's live in the present tense shall we? I've gathered myself and face the odds. Sold my pretty clothes (hu hu) and start hunting for plus size fit. I'm a plus size, overweight, obese, fat, anything you would like to call it but it won't stop me for being myself and enjoying the world. I embrace what's now and I make the most of what's at hand. I'm raising the plus size banner and waiving the freedom flag. Forget about those who'd like to discriminate and make fun of our size, they're not worth it. It's either they can't afford to buy food, they're bulimic or they have their metabolism working so fine but don't envy them they probably don't have a life too that's why they waste time and keep picking on you.

Just for the record there are Size Zero debates going on in the Fashion World. They are banning size zero models and preferring healthy looking models now. (see Skeletons on the Runway) But this still doesn't eliminate the truth that I need to lose weight but it sure is better for every women for we can't all be skinny as hell like those professional models but we can always be ourselves and dress up like real humans.

I haven't seen real plus size fashion blogger yet if there's any those were people that write about fashion but never really post their own pictures... why is that? I don't know.

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional stylist, fashion editor or whatever fashion guru people you have there. My fashion blog will just be a personal stuff. I'd like to collect things for everything about fashion, tips, dresses, styles and anything goes. I'm also going to post a lookbook-ish entry every 3rd Wednesday of the month, please be kind to my plus size post. Hear this "I am not a Model, I'm just a bad role model." (another crap, sorry, can't help being bitchy...hehe)

When someone says "How do you actually manage to carry yourself in that dress?" I simply say because this is me and I love being me. When am I supposed to dress this way? When I'm all wrinkled and 60? I don't think so. It's not like I'm showing too much skin. I know the rules so I won't make that mistake of breaking it.

It's a given fact that I am fat but it's an accomplishment and my sort of good deed for myself that I can look good in any size I'm in. It's better to be fat and fashionable than skinny but fugly. There's no excuse for not loving yourself.


(photo credit)


Edit:

I change my mind about lookbooking and I've searched for plus size bloggers and I've found about 31 present in Lookbook and a few more in Chictopia and I was like, so I consider myself plus size? Darn, they're really huge, so ok, I'm petite plus size compare to them bahaha...

But it's so fun looking at big girls with pretty fashion sense and oozing personality. I know it needs guts to be out there and it takes a lot of 'em.

Kudos to all the big girls celebrating life and fashion! Cheers!




The clock strikes 12 and it's May. Yippee fiesta month and as promise I'm going to start getting serious on food blogging. Wish me luck. I would like to establish my background about food. I've been eating since I can remember... he he Seriously, main dish cooking background came from Papa and baking and desserts knowledge came from Mama. (more about that on my personal blog post)

So here's my own version of Campbell's Northern Style Lasagna converted into a baked mac for quantity purposes. This is a more budget friendly recipe and twisted to Filipinos taste buds but if you would want to have the original recipe feel free to message me.

Baked Mac n Spectrum

3 tbsp cooking oil
5 tbsp butter (optional)
1 clove chopped garlic
1 whole chopped red onion
2 pieces diced green bell pepper
750g Del Monte Tomato & Cheese Pasta Sauce
½ kg ground beef
10 pieces thinly sliced Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdog (optional)
1 can Campbell's condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 soup can milk
450g grated Eden cheese
200g grated Magnolia Quickmelt
2 packs of 500g Colavita Penne Rigate or 1 kg Del Monte elbow macaroni
salt and black ground pepper 


How to mess it up:


You can fill 2 of these containers
using 1 kg Del Monte elbow macaroni 
1. Cook noodles according to package instruction.
2. In a small bowl combine Mushroom Soup and milk.
3. In a heated pan pour cooking oil, add the onions when garlic is already golden brown. In low-medium heat cook the hotdogs while adding the butter. When hotdogs are all bright red and cooked add the ground beef. Cooked until meat is browned and is thoroughly cooked and no pink remains, stirring once during cooking to separate meat. Seasoned with black pepper and salt. Stir in spaghetti sauce, let it simmer then add the soup mixture in Step #2. 
4. Add all the Eden cheese to the sauce. Stir to make sure that it melts and well distributed within the mixture. Taste your sauce and then seasoned with salt if you think it needs a little more pinch of it.
5. Turn off the heat and add the green bell pepper, set aside at least ¼ for toppings.
6. Add the noodles into the sauce and pour it into a baking pan. Top it with the quickmelt and sprinkle the remaining green bell peppers. Make sure it is evenly distributed and more cheese added the better looking your baked mac will be.
7. Baked for at least 30 minutes at 375 F (190 C) or until the top cheese melted. 

* You can substitute hotdogs with mushrooms.
* This dish taste improves better even after 3 days stack in your fridge. Just reheat it in the microwave and add quickmelt on top if you prefer having every serving with food presentation and add your garlic bread then It's good to go.

2 packs of 500g Colavita Penne Rigate will make 2 servings of this.



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