Tuesday, 29 December 2009

Top Movies (romantic comedy) for this Winter

During the holidays, I can watch up to a few episodes of dramas, soap operas and movies everyday. It's my way of relaxing and rewarding myself for all the hard work I do everyday. So now I'm coming up with a list of movies I loved to watch during this winter holidays (and a few I'm going to throw in from my favourites). The kind of movies I love to watch in the winter are romatic, funny and great if you are alone at home and want to cuddle up in bed, alone or with a friend.  They are largely Asian (korean) and quite mainstream chick flicks. In case you are looking for something to watch, I hope the list below should help you out a little.

Note: No ratings because they are all 4-5 Stars, imho.


1. My Girlfriend is an Agent
Genre: Romantic Comedy

Review: The name pretty much gives it away. A Korean take on Mr.& Mrs. Smith. The girl is the usual korean sassy girl and the guy an average awkward (but cute) nerd. A movie that will just entertain you, and make you laugh out loud. I wish all movies were like this. Highly recommended.



2. Baby and Me
Genre: Comedy
Review: A story about a rich and spoiled teenage boy, (played by Jang Geun Suk, trumpet player in the Beethoven Virus) who is suddenly made a father, who must take care of his baby. Thus he is faced with the hardship of becoming a parent to a toddler. Another successful, hilarious Korean comedy which will make you laugh all the way. For someone that (almost) never watches a movie twice, I watched it three times =)


4. Hello Schoolgirl
Genre: Romance
Review: I actually don't know what is so special about this movie. It's purely romance without a significant plot. It's a little less artificial and mainstream than the previous two I mentioned and a little bit more artsy. Whether it was because of the pretty and cuteness of the characters (particularly of Jeong-an Chae, who you might remember from Cain and Abel or Coffee Prince), or because of the idyllic, carefree suburban setting that enables the audience to enjoy a simple romance without too much complexity, it's a movie I thoroughly enjoyed and hope you will too.


5. Daddy Long legs
Genre: Romance
Review: An orphan girl receives gifts and encouragement from a mysterious sponsor. Then she falls in love with a librarian, and the story of Daddy Long legs slowly unwinds before them. This one's a lot like Hello Schoolgirl in which it feels mellow and very pleasant. It's not so much comedy but rather a very touching love story.

6. Romantic Island
Genre: Romantic Comedy

Review: Don't you also want to take a holiday now to a really warm, sunny place, well this is a romantic comedy just about a couple of korean couples going on a trip to an exotic island and experiencing the exciting rollercoaster of love  leading up to New Year's. You might remember one of the leading characters as Seon-gyun Lee from Coffee Prince? His voice is to die for, imho. 

7. Happy Killing
Genre: Comedy/Horror/Action/Romance
Review: This one's about a Christmas dinner party at a famous Korean actress' house, where suddenly things start getting horribly wrong. If you are not one of those hardcore horror fans, don't let the horror label scare you. It's seriously tame. There's just a little blood and gore but it's largely comedy and hilarious. It's especially nice to watch in Winter because it's set on Christmas Eve.


8. The Rebound
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Review: Catherine Zeta-Jones acts as a middle aged, divorced woman with two kids trying to find herself again and starts to fall in love with a much younger guy. Perhaps I'm prejudiced because I just finished watching My Queen, a taiwanese drama about a older woman/younger guy relationship (loved it!), I instantly wanted to watch this movie. It turned out to be hilarious, cute, and definitely romantic. Really not as eww as you might think. The guy's pretty cute after all, reminds me a lot of Milo =)


Other worth mentioning: Previously I've watched The Holiday (Hollywood with Jude Law!!), Love So Divine (Koeran), the Nodame Cantabile Specials (Japanese) and The Secret (Taiwanese) and imagine they could make pretty good Holiday Movies.

Now, it's time to recommend me some!

Saturday, 26 December 2009

Best Maroni Cake Ever



Don't forget to order this next time you go to Cafe Mozart.

Christmas dinner

This year like every other Christmas, we go to Jana's house and have some intense Chinese kids bonding time with great food, presents, shisha and horror movies. The dinner was amazing, not surprising since there were about 8 (ex and present)restaurant owners present. Among other dishes we had sauteed lobsters, sushi (the avocado+shrimp one was amazing), sashimi, beef tatare, honey grilled turkey, roasted duck, salads and various chinese dishes. I stuffed myself, quite obviously.







The presents too were great. Didn't take any pictures because I couldn't contain myself and had to open them straight away. But the packaging did look really pretty (particularly the ones I gave others :P). Although I do think Christmas present wrapping is a waste of time/energy/paper/&other natural resources scarce in this world (like 10 hours of my life trying to figure out how to tie a ribbon diagonally on a cyllindrical container) because who really cares how the wrapping looks like as long as there's something we want underneath. I don't think I wanted quite so many mascaras as I got though, it's bodering on riduculous, are my eyelashes really that short?? I guess they are and no matter what I use, I don't think they'll turn any much significantly longer. Having tried them all out, I think my favourite one is the Dior Blackout. Otherwise I've gotten a few bottles of perfume (loving Coco Madmoiselle) as well as cute crystall stuff, a very odd pair of socks (will post pics) and scarves, and just way too much girly stuff than is good for me. Oh well, I do love the stuff so I can't complain.


Sunday, 20 December 2009

Cold days and Comfort Foods

It's been snowing really heavily for the past few days. It's -7°C to -9°C outside today, and when I went out my feet froze and became icecubes. However, the snow's really pretty and I love the cool and fresh atmosphere. It's the little things that make our world so beautiful.

Oh and of course, Christmas time is also time for stuffing. I figure I should start buying new clothes (preferably in the pregnant moms section from now on).



Cambridge

Lovely architecture.


Fish & Chips

Yes, it was very exciting for me =)


London

At the beginning of the month I went to the UK for a Cambridge interview. It was my first time there and I had a great experience (although my interview went badly). I can really imagine living there though, seems like a really exciting place to be. Very much more vibrant in comparison with Vienna and I think I prefer a city that way. Although Vienna is charming in its little town-like way as well.

The best thing about my stay there was the weather. Particularly if you go on the tourist buses (which I did) in London.