Traveliztera: Randomly Entertaining!: MOVIES: General

My Dream: The Ring in the Cabin in the Woods Follows

Saturday, March 04, 2017Traveliztera

Hold on to your phones or laptops. HAHAHA. Either you're going to throw it because of this madness, or you just wanna throw it.

This has been one of my most detailed and weirdest dreams ever. I have no idea why I dreamt of this, when all I was thinking about yesterday were Creme Egg chocolates! Plus Steven Yeun. I watched all his funny videos with Conan. So... please explain to me why I had this kind of dream.

To those who may know me, they already know how detailed and random my dreams can get.

My favourite dreams are those that involve horror films. I know, I know. Some may consider these as their nightmares, but for me, it's like watching a whole new horror film for free, and exclusively made for me. Haha!

I'm a huge fan of horror/psychological thriller films (except for intense and disturbing gory flms). My highschool friends were the ones who always had a horror film day back then. I miss it! My dad watches them with me, because mom can't stand them. Then again, it's my dad who introduced me to The Night of the Living Dead when I was only 5 or 6 years old, hence the tolerance and love for zombies?

If I can just make a movie out of all my dreams, I'd totally do it. Last night was more of a SCARY MOVIE movie (as in the parody film of some of the horror movies out there). I had a combination of all my favourite horror films. Sadly, there were no Jeepers Creepers nor zombies. But it sure was scary. The funny part is-- I blogged about my dream in my dream after I woke up in my dream.

Before I start, if you haven't seen any of the movies I am going to refer to in this post, I made a lame description of each involved film at the bottom, just so you can follow. Haha. Get it, get it? Lame, I know. Haha!

It all started when Willie Revillame's (a TV show host in the Philippines) niece (I HAVE NO IDEA WHY IT WAS THIS DETAILED!) disappeared. Her phone got stolen and after a few days, she disappeared. He asked me to look for her in the computer system, whether she's at the hospital or something. He couldn't even spell out his niece's name, so we couldn't find her. Anyway, randomly, I just had a theory in my head that maybe someone steals phones and once they're stolen, someone starts to follow you like IT FOLLOWS.

I was at Shangri-La Mall. Yes, THIS DETAILED. I was eating with my mom, dad, my young cousin, and her nanny. Since the setting was in the Philippines, we both had two phones. Back then, in the Philippines, having two phones was normal, because one was for a Globe/Smart network and one was for a Sun network (hello unlimited texts/calls or basically if you have a lovelife haha but seriously, why not just have this if you're after unlimited texts/calls? haha!).

In my head, I told myself that I should really watch our phones. But the actions became opposite and we decided to leave one of our two phones behind with our nanny. I warned her and my parents to never let anyone touch the phones and to always watch over them.

So I had one phone with me, as well as my cousin. We were shopping around, when I noticed that there were random people trying to take our phones away. One was discreet, but I got to hide my phone away. But as the time went by, these random people became more aggressive and physically started pulling our phones away. I got to save mine.

However, later on, I noticed a really pale woman, who looked like Sadako with a short hair. She was there. Just watching from afar.

And that's when I realised that maybe, just maybe, my other phone with the nanny has been stolen.

(At this point, while typing this, I have no idea why the phone mattered for these ghosts to come out and who are the people trying to get the phones away!? Is this a crossover of It Follows and One Missed Call? Or did Sadako want the phone so she can use a phone to contact the person regarding her "7 days" policy? But if she calls the person, the person's phone is with her. Then again, there are two phones each person, as the setting is in the Philippines, so you guys are doomed. LOL. See... if you guys just had one network, it wouldn't be a problem! Then again, she finds ways. Because she has a goal. And goal-oriented ones find ways. No, this is not an inspirational post.)

We went back to our nanny and she was crying, saying the phones were stolen. I knew it. We were doomed. I got REALLY upset. I had a feeling that being followed has begun. Dundundundun.

And all of a sudden, we're in Sydney. We were all there in the middle of Sydney CBD at night. No cars or buses or whatever.

I was just saying "Anytime now, they are coming."

So since we're in the middle of the street, we had so many exit points. I had to look around.

It was dark despite having the lamp posts around. A few moments later, I saw one Sadako coming out from one corner.

Now, I was confident I can run away from this. In IT FOLLOWS, the following thing is slow. You can probably just walk away from it, and laugh at it while walking backwards and staring at it, only as long as you never sleep! Hahaha!

BUT DARN IT. This Sadako was walking fast like a nurse on the run. Haha! And what sucked was, another Sadako came out from the other corner. There were two Sadakos now!!!

This is the best I can get to showing you how my dream looked like haha! Sorry for my rushed Photoshop haha!

I was like, "Hey. How come in IT FOLLOWS, you only get one follower!?"

So I figured that maybe one was for my cousin. Haha! Breaking the IT FOLLOWS rules. In the movie, it can be passed on and you only have one creature following down a line of cursed people.

This has a different rule. It was more of instead of watching the tape, if your phone gets stolen by Sadako's minions in the real world, you are gonna get followed. Unlimited Sadakos too, like the Sun Network. I don't know what the solution was either. Steal another phone?

I'll stop explaining. We made a run for it. Of course my parents couldn't see these pale ghosts coming after us (only the people being followed can see them), so they just stood there confused. Me and my cousin found a bus and just kept going. We felt safe for awhile, until one Sadako threw a huge rock to break the window of the bus.

We left the bus and ran to the middle of the city with buildings surrounding us (it's a city...duh Steph haha). And this time, we found hundreds of pale creatures roaming around like in The Cabin in the Woods, following and attacking whoever was assigned to them. I was trying to make sure they weren't all after me. Haha! I stood around and just waited if they'll come. But one just walked past me. Okay, good. Now which one is mine?

Anyway, all of a sudden, the lights went out, and they all disappeared.

Ah. They are powered by lights? What movie is this?! Lights Out the other way around? LOL.

And then the lights went on again. And then they were alive... again.

I have no idea if my follower is around yet. But there was this huge LED screen on one of the buildings and this weird guy made an announcement that this was his way of taking over the world. Actually... This reminds me of Kingsman: The Secret Service.

It was more of a The Cabin in the Woods feeling, wherein all these creatures were controlled by this guy, but instead of sacrificing certain people, he was terminating people, again, like in Kingsman: The Secret Service.

The city looked like it was being attacked by aliens without those huge tripods in The War of the Worlds. That's how chaotic it looked like.

So we tried bringing the electricity down, so that it would all stop, including that guy announcing and creeping us all out in the screen.

And then I woke up in my dream and started blogging about it. At least I survived.

Then I woke up in real life...

... and started blogging about the weirdest and most detailed dream I've ever had.

---

THE FILMS:

1) IT FOLLOWS - If you made love with a cursed person who is being followed around by this slow creature, you're automatically getting this creature to follow you around instead to kill you. You have to pass it on by making love with another person, but if this person gets killed by this creepy creature, it comes back for you, so you have to make sure that the person you passed it on to remains alive and passes it on to another. Kind of The Ring, but more effort. Haha!

2) THE RING - Who doesn't know this film?! So there's a tape. If you watch it, you receive a call from Sadako orrr Samara (if you watched an American cursed tape instead lol), and you have 7 days to live until she dramatically comes out from your TV and kills you.

3) CABIN IN THE WOODS - Chosen ones rejoice! I hate spoiling this film, but if you really wanna know the twists and turns and loops and whatsoever, there are some chosen people for a sacrifice, and they kill them through the most creative means possible. The Cabin in The Woods is the place where all the magical horrors happen. There is a control room somewhere and they control the behaviour of the people in the cabin, and how they are going to get killed by their chosen monsters. In the end, they got to release all the well-known creatures (including the twins from The Shining) in the control headquarters, and basically did a purge.

4) ONE MISSED CALL - You get a call or a text or a video message from your future self, showing you how you are gonna die.

5) WAR OF THE WORLDS - The world gets taken over by aliens with Giant Tripods. Termination time.

6) LIGHTS OUT - Personally, I've only seen the short film. But yeah, creature appears when the lights are out.

7) KINGSMAN: The Secret Service - Not really a horror film. A young man gets recruited to be part of a secret service, and his mission was to stop this tech genius from killing all the non-elite people in the world.

8) SCARY MOVIE - A hilarious parody of all the scary movies out there.

CELEBRITIES: Music featured MOVIES: General

My 'City of Stars' Song Cover from 'La La Land' by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone

Tuesday, January 17, 2017Traveliztera

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La La Land : Loving, Losing, and Winning

Saturday, January 14, 2017Traveliztera

I didn't consider watching La La Land, and I don't know why I didn't because I am into musicals. I didn't see the trailer. I didn't even check what it was about because I have been really busy. Then a friend told me to watch it because she felt like she was watching my story. And then another one texted me and told me it has me written all over it. And then I was talking to another friend and she told me out of nowhere to please, please, please watch the movie. And then my bff, Cristina, texted me and asked if we could watch it.

So... we did. Her plane just landed yesterday and we decided spontaneously to just meet up in the city and watch the movie.

I was curious why my friends have been saying I would be able to relate. Then I found the following elements: musical, theatre, and reaching those dreams. I get it, I get it.

I might end up giving you clues as to how the story goes, so please don't read unless you are okay with spoilers.

1. MUSICAL

It's a film that has catchy and touching song numbers in a setting that played with nostalgic and modern feels. It started with a happy song and ended with a heartbreaking one. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone have soothing vocals, and their personalities just translated into their songs. I love musicals. I live musicals. I have always dreamt of being a musical theatre actress--which leads to...

2. THE GIRL LOVES THEATRE AND WANTS TO BE AN ACTRESS

Mia (Emma Stone) mentioned to Seb (Ryan Gosling) that when she was a kid, all she thought of were theatre and acting. It was her dream. She kept auditioning, until one day, she decided to make her own theatre play, and then she gave up when she felt that it failed. She was just like me when I was a kid. I made my own musicals at home. I then went on to write and direct a play when I was in highschool. Sang here and there. I saw myself in her. And my friends picked this up as well. They knew I was like Mia.

In the film, when Mia finished her play, she did not see Seb anywhere in the audience, because he became busy with the success of his career. This made it worse for Mia. Then Seb decided to look for her in another state, picked her up, and forced her to do an audition, wherein she got her dream that became a factor to their "almost perfect" romance. Seb was behind the big break she was able to get.

3. THE GUY IS PASSIONATE ABOUT HIS JAZZ MUSIC

Music. Jazz. Hello??? For the record, I started liking jazz last year when someone made me listen to some jazz music, and I, too, had the same sentiments as Seb. Jazz was dying.

Anyway, he was lost. Bills weren't getting paid. He lost his only job. He was getting gigs he did not like. And then he met Mia, who made him happier and more inspired to work on his dream. He found himself again. He pursued her wherever she was.

He made her love jazz, even though she hated it at first. And then he finally got an offer that made him big and successful. The offer, however, was something that offended Seb and his passion for jazz. It was not real jazz for him. This also caused a conflict between him and Mia. This was symbolised when Mia was in the crowd, watching Seb, and she was getting pushed back, away from the stage, away from Seb.

Mia knew what his real dream was, and that was to open up his JAZZ CAFE and play real jazz. She even made a logo for his future cafe.

4. LOVE VERSUS DREAMS

Again, I did not read nor browse anything about La La Land. I had no idea what it was about. All I knew was that it was a love story.

Almost 90% of the film was built around getting Mia and Seb together, while they both worked on their dreams.

It started with so many accidental meetings.

It's as if they were meant to be. They thought they were. They were really happy.

And then the conflicts started to happen as they both tried to reach their dreams. They both had to let each other go. It was a hazy breakup because they loved each other, but their dreams were getting in the way. Despite this, they reassured each other that no matter what, they both loved and will love each other.

And as we reached the ending, the real beauty of the film got unveiled. This was a struggle between continuing what they thought was a destined love or pursuing the real dream. There was only one option. Something had to be sacrificed.

I agree with the majority's thought that it was sad seeing how their romance had to suffer and end, but it was good to see they finally turned their dreams into reality despite not being with each other.

That last bit...

5 years later...

Mia looked very successful as she walked into her huge house, greeting a man... a man who was not Seb. And to break your heart more, she walked in to a room to greet her child with this man.

Later on, as if fate decided to play with her again, she ended up at a bar/cafe with her husband.

And there he was, the love of her life, about to play the piano. And then he saw her. He then welcomed everyone, specifically her, to his cafe called, "Seb's Cafe". And he was using the logo which Mia designed.

Did I just hear an AWWW?

Then we see a "what could have been" sequence. It was a quick replay of the whole movie with different choices made. What if Seb kissed Mia when they first met? What if Seb was in the audience while Mia did her one-woman play? What if Seb gave up his dream of having a jazz cafe and ended up following Mia in Paris, while still playing jazz? It would have been him whom Mia was greeting at the end, alongside their child, and it would have been him sitting there in the audience with Mia, while watching someone else play the piano...

It was heartbreaking to see, especially when Mia was about to leave, and she took one last look at Seb, who looked back, and then they smiled, just like the time when they first saw each other.

My friend tried to save the ending by saying that that smile meant there was another chance for them-- that there's a sequel!

To be honest, for a film like this, I was like "Okay. THE END. Don't even try to save this! It's a question mark and it's up to the audience to think of what is going to happen next."

I was happy it ended that way, especially seeing how the film tried their best to give us the impression that they were ending up together, or else it would have been one of those cliche love stories that would get resolved by still getting them back together.

It was as if Shakespeare wrote this scene. I like endings like this. I find it tragic, but beautiful.

Because for me, I think that smile meant a lot. It was a smile of success. Even though they did not end up being together, it was a smile of genuine love, gratefulness and happiness towards each other, that at least they were part of each other's journey in getting to that point of success. It was bittersweet.

Again, this was an ending I would have chosen to write anyway--if I did write a story like this. Not being tragic or anything, but it's all about sacrifices.

My feelings got jumbled because there were too many emotions involved in that last scene. This film really played with our emotions well. I can hear so many Awwws and Nos while watching this amazing work. You can hear some sniffing, and you can see some eyes watering.

Beautifully written... It has the Whiplash feels at times. Must be the jazz. Must be because it was the same director. But the imagination involved in making this film is worth admiring. I hope they win more awards! I think most of the time, both my hands were on my heart, saying my awwws. I can't wait to do it again when they win!

And by the way, did you notice how Mia would wear blue at times? For me, that has a deep meaning... I wonder if you were able to pick that up too?

Lastly, it's as if the universe is nudging me... I got invited to do a class at a theatre school just after watching this movie. Mia is my soulmate. Thanks Mia!

EDIT:

Here's my cover of "City of Stars" from the movie, "La La Land".

PHOTO CREDITS: Summit Entertainment

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'The Girl on the Train' is in Sydney (Book Review+Movie News)

Friday, September 11, 2015Traveliztera

I am definitely into suspense/thriller/mystery books, and this was one book that I could just not stop reading.

I promise not to spoil in this blog post, but if you have read this, and would like to discuss it, feel free to discuss it in the comments section, but put a **SPOILER** alert. Haha.

Before I started driving around here in Sydney, I used to ride the train frequently to go to my university (or what we call "uni"). It's easier (not necessarily faster compared to driving), and practical, because my uni is really far from the suburb where I lived. So yes, it was part of my daily life back then.

So when I saw this book by Paula Hawkins, I got attracted to the title itself. "The Girl on the Train". Wow. Are you talking about me? Jokes. The description says, "You don't know her. But she knows you."

"The Girl On The Train" by Paula Hawkins. Emily Blunt is to play the main character in this thriller.

Sounds creepy and stalkerish, so that's not me. But really, if you hop on the train almost daily and all you do is watch people (and not glance on your phone--heh), you tend to start to know the people around you. Of course, observations lead to assumptions. Or do they not? Not spoiling anything. I promise. I want to bring the curiosity out of you.

Anyway, this book is a page-turner. For someone who is used to reading thrillers, guessing who the troublemaker is, is basically what makes thriller books fun to read. Usually, you tend to predict correctly. But with this book, you end up making numerous guesses. I ended up guessing it right, but some parts of the book made me think, "Or did I really guess it right?"

There is a reason why this book is becoming a number one bestseller. And recently, I just learned that this book is being turned into a movie!

Just a quick overview regarding what this book is all about (and I will try not to give any spoilers!):

Rachel Watson is the "girl on the train". She rides the train almost everyday to London, and has become part of the life story of everything around her. One day, she noticed something off in one of her train travels. And this led to secrets being unravelled.

That's all I can say. The thing is, I'm not a fan of saying even minor details, because I feel like they are all key components in making people more curious about what makes this novel exciting. But the next exciting part is having EMILY BLUNT play the main character! Now you guys can totally imagine her while you're reading this.

Also, if you're in Sydney, try heading to Erskineville, under the tunnel (you'll get this when you read the book) where the train runs. It slows down, then slowly passes by some houses. It will remind you of the book.

I definitely recommend this book! Paula Hawkins did well in creating an interaction with the readers through this thriller. She made us think, and she wrote this flawlessly, with no dull moments. The scenes are all relevant and fast-paced, and it makes you look forward to reading more of her works.

Can't wait for the movie!