Tag: life

“Gravity”: A Movie Review

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gravity

Hello everyone,

So I just came back from an advanced screening of Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Before I knew what this movie was about, I thought that this was going to be some sort of romantic comedy, simply because of the cast. Show how quick I am to judge.

So what is Gravity?

Gravity focuses on Sandra Bullock’s character, Ryan Stone, who is a medical engineer sent to space for the first time. She is accompanied by two other astronauts, one of which is George Clooney’s character: Matt Kowalsky. As she’s fixing something during a spacewalk, they get notice that Russians crashed a satellite, leading to a chain reaction of other satellites and structures to be destroyed from the debris. They had to get out of there. Quick.

Of course, not everything goes according to plan. We see Dr. Stone left adrift in the vast emptiness that is space. She starts to panic, but soon enough, Matt comes to her rescue and tethers her to him. Together, they try to return to their space vessel. This is only one of the first problems to come their way as they desperately try to find a way for them to return to earth.

I watched the whole thing feeling like I was going to have a heart attack at every scene. It was very stressful, but that’s not to say it was at all bad. If I had to name a movie you had to watch in 3D, this would most likely be it. Zero gravity and 3D works amazingly well together.

Asides from visuals and acting, the story itself made you ponder on how small you are. You are so insignificant, especially when compared to the huge unknown void that is space. What is the point?  We see Sandra Bullock’s character going through the same process, and well, I guess you’ll have to see how it ends for her.

Gravity comes out October 4th! If you’re okay with watching something pretty heavy, go watch it. Be prepared though! It’s a beautiful movie, with suspense around every corner.

– Karen

When we die…

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When we die, the weight of our ashes will roughly equates to how much we weighed when were were brought into this world. It’s funny because after the ashes are scattered and we become a part of nature as fertilizer, we’re back to being basically nothing in this big big world. Physically anyway. A full circle?

References:
http://www.rukfuneralhome.com/qa/cremationfaqs –> Average weight of ashes (without urn) = 4-5 pounds http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site1281/mainpageS1281P0.html –> Average weight of newborn= ~7 pounds

Post inspired by:
http://therumpus.net/2013/05/improvising-a-bone-graft/

Who wrote it?

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Hey y’all,

So I realized that I’ve taken a different approach when looking for new books. I can’t believe it has taken me this long to notice– it started back in March earlier this year I suppose.

I used to look for books by searching through the bestsellers and top 10s of different stores. However, I was quick to realize that a lot of these books weren’t actually that satisfying or good. I’m guessing there’s a lot of paid advertising involved in some of these lists.

Anyway, I now think of a certain author, and only then do I search for a book. For example, I wanted a Neil Gaiman book, so I went and search up his works and picked one. I did the same for several other authors. I find that I find much better books this way. I’m not relying on any lists, nor am I simply picking up the latest hot book (which doesn’t really stay popular for that long in many cases). I’m relying on what I know about the author and their writing style, and through that I make my decision.

Speaking of books, I remember last year, one of my creative writing profs were telling us about how you can judge if a book is actually good or not. You go to your nearest Salvation Army/Thrift Store and look at their books section. See which book has the most amount of copies. These are basically the books that although people bought (probably because of all the hype around them when they were first released), but ended up realizing that they weren’t really worth another read.

So here are my finds at a local thrift shop:
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Surprising? Not surprising? What do you think?

– Karen

Goodbye Hong Kong– Till we meet again

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And here I am, my last night in Hong Kong again. How many times have I had last nights here? Too many to count. But like all the other times, there will be people I dearly miss.

I do have a few more posts on this trip to Asia, but I will most likely post them at a later date. But for now, I guess I’ll just blurt out a few thoughts.

For one, I know that although I’m not saying goodbye to Hong Kong forever, I did say a very permanent goodbye to my grandmother. She’s my dad’s mom, and the last grandparent I have. She has cancer, and although she’s still hanging in there, I know I won’t be able to see her in the flesh anymore. It’s weird seeing your headstrong and ever critical grandma get reduced to a hunched over little lady, relying on a cane to hold herself up. It pained me so much that the first time I saw her after coming back, I felt tears well up in my eyes. Time can be so harsh.

In happier news, I spent the last month doing an internship. My cousin also works in the company I interned for and he was the best! He was a cousin that I never saw much of as he was in Australia during the 5 years I was in Hong Kong, and then when I moved back to Canada, he came back. Anyway, it was one of the most fun months I’ve had in a very long time, as well as an enriching one. I will make a post on what I’ve learned, because I want to make sure I have it down in writing somewhere. I don’t want to forget the first time I worked in another country!

Asides from the great food, I also enjoyed seeing my family. Most of my mom and dad’s brothers and sisters live in Hong Kong, so every time I come back, I get to see all my aunts and uncles, as well as my cousins. This time, I came back taking the title of Auntie to one of my cousin’s daughter! Yup, I’m definitely growing up. It really sucks that I still cannot say goodbye to everyone without tearing up, but I guess that’s just something that’ll follow me for the rest of my life.

I really wonder when I’ll be back again. But one thing’s for sure: it will feel like a million years no matter how soon I return. And once again, I must say goodbye to my second home.

Soles don’t just happen

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I am currently still on “vacation” in Hong Kong.  Vacation being in quotation marks because I’m actually interning at a company—which requires me to jump around between our Hong Kong office and our office in China.

The place where I work is a manufacturer of gloves for many companies. Some brands include Wal-mart, Nike, Volcom, Lululemon, Target, J. Crew, The North Face—just to name a few. I was very surprised because I didn’t know that they had such a huge portfolio, but I’ve been told that many other glove manufacturers have folded, causing more and more business to be brought to the place where I work.

Anyway, the other day, I got to visit a place in Dongguan that makes molds for shoe companies. I can’t say it was life changing, but it did put things in perspective.

Sure, I knew someone had to have made the soles for the sneakers we wear, but I never went as far as to think about the people who make the molds for the rubber to be poured in. It seemed silly that all this time, I thought soles just magically happened.

Inside the factory, they had designers who were all in an office space, designing 3D molds for shoes. Then in the production area, we observed molds being made in simple ways (by hand or closely watched by a technician as a machine did its work), as well as really high tech ways (where a metal plate was set in a huge sealed machine, and the design was carved into the plate automatically).  A lot of water was used to cool down the metal, as well as clean the area of the metal that they were working on. There were also people in an area of the factory that inspected the molds, and people making small changes to molds by hand.

When we walked outside to get back on our car to leave, we caught a glimpse of the river that ran through that part of the city. It was jet black. We suspect that it probably had to do with the mold making company—but curiously, there was still a lot of plant growth everywhere. I’m still not sure what that black stuff in the water was.

So no, soles don’t just magically happen.