Fashion Recap: London Olympics Opening Ceremony

After watching the long-awaited London Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony and one cup of instant coffee, I was bouncing around until 7 AM this morning and woke up after snoozing a mere 4 hours. My fault, my fault yes. But the good thing is FASHION RECAP is here! Four years ago the Beijing Olympics were about the ooh-ahh-fireworks and waiting forever for the USA and Chinese teams to pop up in Parade of Nations but this year my eyes were glued to the tube for what the athletes donned as they strutted the stadium.

The verdict? Mostly disappointing, with the same combination of blazers and pants/knee-length skirts with optional fedora. You would think that these buff and super fit athletes would all look good in anything but that's the common misnomer about fit. The Queen looked super fly in her Union Jack parachute as she played skydiving Bond Girl (okay not really but at first everyone bought it, right?) but her pink sequined getup complete with feathery headband and surly countenance weren't my cup of tea. [Disclaimer: these are my personal opinions on the fashion choices, not on any individual athletes or their countries. Go World!]

These are not the best images since NBC was the only channel allowed to cover in the US, so we make do with blurry snaps from my phone or scrounged from online sources with credits listed. If you missed out, the Opening Ceremony is very British (as an American I simply can't understand some nuances, so basically movies like Trainspotting involve my mouth hanging open in front of the screen for several hours and still not getting it) and quite fun. I'm sure all sorts of clips are available on Youtube and NBC.com. Favourite moments? Mary Poppins army with their light up umbrellas, swing dancing docs and nurses, Olympic Cauldron coming together, and of course, Her Royal Highness.

THE GOOD:

Ralph Lauren for Team USA

(photo credit: entertainista.com)

So what if Ralph Lauren makes his stuff in China? Looks like the USA team of 500-plus-strong walked straight out of a prepster catalog, but lookin' good. I especially enjoy the double breasted blazers that the guys had, which looked good with their little berets and white pants. The womens' white skirts were floppy and unshapely, why not give them trousers too or at least put some pleats in it, RL. And give them fitted double breasted blazers too next time.

Click to see more pictures → → →

Tuesday Treats: Red Wine & Portlandia

Portlandia is so beyond hipster, it hurts. I honestly think Fred and Carrie have multiple personalities, and I'm okay with it. It's a comedy set in Portland, Oregon and sooo random. Drinking my fave red wine from champagne flutes, with bigass ice cubes. Red Rosé tastes a bit sour and tangy and this monster cost $7. This is how you unwind after a hard day. It's Tuesday and still thesis-ing!

Readers - how do you unwind?

Asian Dramas: Worth the Addiction?

So what is it that makes us Asian girls grip the edges of our computer screens and scream NOOOO when the rich guy gets back with his bratty rich ex-girlfriend and the underdog unfortunate mademoiselle is left in the corner sobbing? What makes us drool as we gaze for hours on end mindlessly at the male lead, fantasizing our own happy endings with Mr. Tall, Rich, and "Handsome"? What makes us sit through 24 episodes only to find out that we wasted all of break watching the same cookie-cutter storyline, plus or minus a few different spiky haired celebrities and a slight twist on how-he-hurts-her-again-and-again-then-they-kiss-and-make-up (not to mention with 5 different zoom-in's on that fated kiss and ladida music rolling in the background)?

Well, I have certain theories about the mystifying reason why Asian girls all over the world tune into dramas religiously:

1) The Hair
Yes, the spikier the better! Above, I have a lovely picture of Jiro Wang, a Taiwanese pop star/actor (Fahrenheit). Take an Asian boy, send his head through a shredder and voila! There you have it, an Asian drama sensation. Now, give him the girliest - sorry - metro clothes available on the market and it's even better. Automatic fan base and screaming doting girls who plaster 5 foot pictures of your face on their walls, ceilings, pillows, their boyfriend, I mean ... It's all about the gel, baby.
However, there have been cases where hair has gone incredibly wrong in my opinion, but it doesn't seem to stop anyone:

Yeah yeah, I know Meteor Garden's relatively old, but please. Every time i had to look at Vanness Wu's long beautiful locks (farthest left), I nearly gagged into my ramen (because Asians don't eat popcorn while watching drama pfft).

The new star of Boys over Flowers 2

2) The Fighting
If Asian people don't fight enough in real life, they certainly name-call with added gusto in dramas. Personally, I can't stand the bickering (Meteor Garden, Love or Bread) but it seems like a good way to stretch out a 5 minute argument into 50 minutes of showbiz. Sometimes it does happen to be funny though, with the angry mother beating up the rich, handsome businessman who impregnated her poor, socially awkward daughter (Fated to Love You). Other times, it turns a good actor like Joe Cheng into a turn-off when he goes from quiet, disgruntled genius Jiang Zhi Shu to big-mouthed, unscrupulous Cai Jin Lai (Frank).

3) I Can Haz Boifrend?!
It makes me sad that a lot of Asian girls are afraid to try dating real boys. I don't know whether it's because of the doom factor on grades, the lack of a good pool to fish from, or just non-existent chivalry in the 21st century - they're all waiting for their Prince Charming (Tall/Handsome). Thus, they project all their feelings onto these dramas and live out their romantic scenes through other actors. Tough luck girlies, but you know this is just TV, right? You probably won't meet a guy that horrible in your life, and he probably won't be a successful businessman with girl problems, and even if you have managed to make it this far, you won't be able to change them that easily. I know, reality sucks. Just ignore my rantings and go back to episode 573.

4) The Hot(?) Kiss
So, you've beasted through 40 hours straight and your eyes are bloodshot and you're ready to see some smooching. When it happens, the producer repeats the scene for the next hour with close-ups from every angle possible and you gush and open a fresh new tissue box. They finally love each other! After all that hate and fighting and meanie-poo, they get along. This is the moment you've all been waiting for! But wait ... the kissing wasn't that good, and they merely mashed their faces together long enough before CUT and both parties probably wiped furiously at their lips and mouth. Ewww cooties. Where's the passion? I don't know about you, but I like immediate gratification. I can't stay up for 2 days straight without feeling slightly disappointed when the kiss finally happens.

So if you must continue pulling out your (spiky) hair while waiting for next episode's english subs to load, power to ya. Mysoju has the most popular Asian dramas all subbed for your viewing pleasure, along with Korean, Canto, Mainland, Taiwanese, Japanese movies.

Verdict:
Some dramas are worth it, but usually only the most popular. Check ratings before you commit or quit! My favourite of all time has to be Fated to Love You simply because it was quirky and cute, with some great acting and hilarious mother character. I rate it 10/10 because it made me wait for every Sunday like my life depended on it, and I did beast through 17 episodes in a row. I was in love.

They're cute and you know it! *gush*

Winners!
- Fated to Love You
- It Started With A Kiss
- It Started With A Kiss 2 (wish it could have continued too!)
- Princess Hours (not a fave though ...)

Dramas I haven't been able to sit through:
- Meteor Garden (too much yelling, disgusting hair)
- Smiling Pasta (too excessively cute, Nicholas Teo looks weird)
- Hana Kimi Taiwanese version (first drama ever - not bad actually)
- Love or Bread (too slow)

Mamma Mia, Thia Megia!

Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert television watcher at all - in fact, I don't think I've ever truly followed a show beginning to finale. However, I do get on Youtube every once in a while to see what's fresh in the world (I'm too lazy to read newspapers or watch reporters drone haha).

Tonight, I came across this video after packing my brains out (the move is in t minus 30 hours!). The embed was disabled : (

I skipped through the sappy introduction and got straight to the singing. I got up to get some water and came back to hear this AMAZING voice blaring through my speakers. Confused, I took a look to make sure I was still on the same page and there she was, Thia Megia, singing her heart out. Her voice is so mature, I thought she must have been at least 18 or so. Then I scrolled back to the intro and discovered that she's only 14!? What was I doing at 14? Oh right, being angsty about high school.

Automatically, I thought of American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, who is my age (now 19). When I heard Jordin sing, I felt so inferior, so mediocre in comparison. This was the same thing all over again. She's 5 years younger than me, but her voice is a thousand times stronger. It's kind of sad to think that I'm getting old even at 19, but there is only more of this to come. The amount of insanely talented kids and young adults only grows larger, and I lag more and more behind. In all honesty though, even with training, I don't think I could ever be that good. That's just pure, raw talent right there.

However, I can't be dismayed at every ounce of young talent there is out there. It would be awfully depressing. I like to sing for fun. It's really relaxing and uplifting. When I went to church, my favourite part was actually singing hymns because it washed away all my worries and heart wounds. I've been told I have a natural second soprano range, which I probably inherited from my mother (she sang opera very well before she developed cancer). So, with loads of practice and proper training, I could have a respectable voice, but I think it'd take away the fun of mindlessly letting the music escape. Ignorance (or rather, "amateurity") is bliss! I often find that I excel when I approach learning with a can-do attitude, with no standard of "the right way to do it" vs "the wrong way" in my head. There are too many things in life to enjoy without some virtuoso telling you what floats their boat.

As I listened to the rest of Thia Megia's "There's Always Gonna Be Another Mountain" in awe, I realized that she looked like Filipino Miley Cyrus. Oh, duh. I did some Googling and saw what she was trying to show us: real un-diva-ized talent. (Sorry I'm not all hip and caught up on tweenager idol music!) I hope if she gains stardom and celebrity status, Thia can stay a dreaming down-to-earth girl unfazed by the interests of the media. Sorry to step on Miley, but this girl's got soul and deserves the limelight.

I'm a little dissatisfied that Hannah Montana monopolizes the position of today's young girls' role model. Her Disney Channel show sets up her cakewalk to stardom, though I'm not a fan of her voice at all. And what about those creepy back-up dancers on the show? The whole playing dress-up celebrity is confusing. Where's the competition? Five, ten years ago, there was a whole rainbow of pop sensations to choose from, some better influences than others, but at least we could pick our favourites. Nowadays it seems like it's Miley or bust.

Although, through this quarter finals song choice, I can tell her producers or crazy strategists are trying to set her up to be the new Miley (quite literally). Though Thia is young, I hope she can find the courage to fight against a minutely planned out rivalry and sings how she wants to. She has all the right vocal equipment, and the spirit, too.

You go, girl!