Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Still Wishing for Summer Vacay ...

Had our first Neurosci lab back in our Gross Anatomy facilities today - we're studying the brain more in detail. Friends who hugged me today say I smell like lab so I might have to pull out my scrubs again.

I really wish I could be on vacation. Memorial Day weekend was like a false alarm thing - all nice weather, happy BBQs, and then ... back to school.

Last Friday seems so distant now. I had my board exam in the morning and then went out with some girlfriends. Unfortunately, they wanted to go see a movie. Not just any movie though. I could have settled for X-Men, Angels & Demons, or Star Trek. Anything.

No. They wanted to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

Yes, that movie. Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner. About a womanizing photographer who gets a life altering experience a la A Christmas Carol and explores what true love really means in the form of a childhood crush that can't be denied because of she gifted him with his first camera and they were always meant to be together and - This is a chick flick. You know the deal.

My face twisted so much, one of the girls immediately got defensive.

"Matthew McConaughey! Matthew McConaughey! Hot!" she wheedled.

Yeah, he is, but I'm not paying $12 to ogle his face. I'll admit the movie was cute and better than what I expected based on the trailers (but yes, I also had very LOW expectations), but am I the only person in this world who would rather watch your regular average chick flick (and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is most definitely a chick flick with a little "inspirational" pizazz at the most.) at home on DVD than in the theaters? I don't know but somehow, I automatically categorize certain chick flicks in a different category - i.e. the types that don't maximize the effects of a theater experience i.e. that will waste your ticket money.

Yup, I'm judgmental.

So what ended up happening was ...

I lost the battle. I know, I'm still ashamed.

Friend hooked three other girls in and loomed over me. "It's three for Ghosts and YOU'RE the only one who doesn't want to watch it so are YOU going to be a spoilsport, huh? HUH?!"

"But it's a - Fine," I muttered sulkily.

Other friend gave me a sympathetic look because she secretly agreed with me, but was too lazy to argue with me. Traitor.

Third friend suggested, "Well, how about 17 Again? Or ooh! Hannah Montana!"

I chuckled. "Good one."

She gave me a puzzled look. "What's wrong with -"

"OKAY, Ghosts it is!" I clapped my hands.

So ... the movie was okay. Sadly, I'll have to say that even for an cliched chick flick, it was still better than my all time hated movie: Mummy 3.

True, it had all the elements we'd seen before and the plot was predictable, but it had its funny moments, its cute moments. It was purely for entertainment and it carried its romantic comedy badge proudly.

I liked the trailers though. I kept pointing out various movies to the friends. "Now that's worthy of a theater ticket!"

They agreed, but eh, we were there and paid for anyway.

Amongst the various trailers that caught my attention:



This one made me want to cry and I can tell this will be a major tearjerker. Based on a novel by Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper is coming out in June, I think.

And of course!



Harry Potter love. This trailer is epic.

Asides from Ghosts, I also watched Taken the other day. My cousin recommended this action thriller and it was truly pretty good. A father goes off to save his daughter after she gets kidnapped by sex traffickers during a seemingly innocent trip to Paris. The story freaked out my girl cousin and me and the one man Rambo routine captivated the guys' attention.

I also demolished several books I had stored up, including A Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy)by Libba Bray. I had picked up these books for break times in between study sessions - like I'd finish a textbook chapter and then relax with a chapter or two from a novel for fifteen minutes. The books started out okay, as in I was still able to put it down, but as I got further in, I wasn't able to stop reading until ... they were finished. Study plan failed.

Excellent writing. The protagonist and her friends definitely had their unlikable traits in a way that made me admire Bray's writing even more. True, I did want to smack around some of the characters - and at times, the protagonist herself - during some bad moments, but everything, including those nasty personality quirks, felt real. Cattiness, peer pressure, insecurities - the girls were real, regular teenage girls with their petty rivalries and cliques and their selfish dreams and fears rang true.

Although the last book had certain scenes and revelations about certain characters (i.e. Felicity and Pippa's relationship) that I felt didn't exactly flow with what was previously depicted about the girls in the previous books and seemed more like it was thrown in for a sudden shock factor rather than feeling like it had always been planned by the author all along, I still adored the books. Some descriptions were so vivid, they creeped me out. (The scraping of the three ghostly girls' boots against the floor - wow.) And when it came to a certain tragic scene in the last novel, I couldn't help it. I teared up.

Few books have wrenched such physical reactions out of me and I'm so happy that I had the pleasure to read these books. Highly recommended!

I also hit several duds with other novels, but I'll leave this post at this for now.

Back to work! Need to finish several chapters tonight, get to bed earlier so that I don't pass out on my feet again, and be ready for lab work tomorrow.

8 comments:

  1. AAAH! Kartik!!! I have .pdf files of the Gemma Doyle trilogy, and sometimes I just type in "Kartik" into the Find tool when I'm trying to find my favorite parts.

    Yes. This is a random comment left by a random, procrastinating fangirl lurker (who is also a fan of your writing) who refuses to do her homework or go to bed at a decent time.

    Your blog is very interesting, especially since I like reading and am planning on going into the medical field. But after your description of med school......D=

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  2. I saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and 17 Again at the drive-in with my roommates. I thought the latter was hilarious. I didn't care for the former at all. And I must agree with you on the trailers. My heart beats so quickly at the thought of the new HP, and My Sister's Keeper certainly looks intriguing. Well....at least you got a bit of a break from the schooling and everything. That's something to be thankful for. Good luck with everything!

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  3. I'm more than willing to bet that My sister's keeper would be awesome. The book was amazing, and unless they changed the plot severely, the movie should be amazing as well.

    Can't wait for the next Harry Potter movie. Yeaaahh! Fan girl scream.

    Through me is really good, hope you update sometime soon.

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  4. Haha, thanks for the comments, guys. Yes, AHHH, KARTIK! And sighs, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past ...

    I'm excited for this summer's movies selections. And I might possibly be the biggest dork alive because I kinda maybe definitely really want to see Night At the Museum 2. I really liked the first one. My friend's curious about my apparent "passion" for it and she asked me if I had any reason for liking it so much.

    I really don't know myself. I think perhaps it's because I've always been a huge fan of museums (and aquariums, btw!) and I might be harboring an deep unconscious desire to see historical exhibits come alive. Or maybe I'm just a dork who refuses to grow up.

    And yes, I am working on the next chapter to Through Me. Hidden secret: I actually ... couldn't write anything at all for quite some time. I just got stuck. But the other day, I had an epiphany about how to really shape the ending so now I'm hoping scenes would be easier to type out now. Hopefully. Thanks for commenting again!

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  5. I saw both Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and 17 again. The former because my grandmother didn't allow my younger cousin to watch Angels and Demons and the latter... just on a whim. :D

    Ghosts of Girlfriends past was okay. Probably because I kept laughing as my guy cousin wanted to write down all of the 'playboy tips' or whatever. I'm not a fan of chick flicks myself. I could say that that movie is just a one-time thing. Not worth to have on the collection of DVDs since I probably wouldn't watch it again.

    17 Again was honestly... awesome! :)) I mean, I'm not really a fan of Zac Efron even from his High School Musical days, but I love his character in that movie! It's a great movie since it doesn't focus on romance but more on family life. Or in Zac's case, how to be a father. It's a very humorous movie with amazing characters and an engaging plot line. I recommend you to watch (even if it's just on DVD) it. I didn't expect much from that movie actually. I'm more of an Adventure type movie fan like Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean :D I know want to watch 17 Again Again.Since you created the awesome Will, I think you'll love Ned (the rich nerd bestfriend) because of their peculiarities, though they're quite different from each other.

    I hope you update Through Me soon! The Summer here in South East Asia is almost coming to an end (exactly a week before school starts.) and I hope to read more Tristan and Adel and of course, Will!

    And sorry for the long comment. I tend to get carried away. :))

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  6. My Sister's Keeper has a movie now? Seriously!?

    I loved that book. I definitely need to go watch the movie.

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  7. I just wrote off 17 Again because I thought it'd be an, ack, High School Musical meets 13 Going on 30 kinda thing, but if you guys liked it, I'd try to check it out sometime soon!

    I didn't read the book yet, but My Sister's Keeper sounds like an amazing tale and the movie seems like it'd offer a good mix of tears and, for lack of better term, non-corny inspiration.

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  8. I watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past too because there was nothing else good here!
    And I'm waiting for the HP6 movie too!!! XD
    ~Violet Thelaw :D

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