My new favorite movie: Populaire

July 3, 2015 in Everyday | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 comment

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Spring, 1958. 21-year-old Rose Pamphyle lives with her grouchy widower father who runs the village store. Engaged to the son of the local mechanic, she seems destined for the quiet, drudgery-filled life of a housewife. But that’s not the life Rose longs for. When she travels to Lisieux in Normandy, where charismatic insurance agency boss Louis Echard is advertising for a secretary, the ensuing interview is a disaster. But Rose reveals a special gift – she can type at extraordinary speed. Unwittingly, the young woman awakens the dormant sports fan in Louis. If she wants the job she’ll have to compete in a speed typing competition. Whatever sacrifices Rose must make to reach the top, Louis declares himself her trainer. He’ll turn her into the fastest girl not only in the country, but in the world! But a love of sport doesn’t always mix well with love itself …

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It’s very rare for me to fall head over heels in love with a movie. There just aren’t many movies that capture my interest. Most movies that I enjoy watching are ones that most others find boring, not relevant to mainstream pop culture, or just plain uninteresting. I recently decided to crack open my dusty Netflix account & see what’s new. I found this movie called POPULAIRE. Well, this movie isn’t exactly new (it was released in 2012), but it was new on my Netflix menu list so I decided to watch it.

I wouldn’t describe myself as a romantic of any degree, but I do enjoy watching a romantic movie or read a romantic novel every now & again. When a romantic movie is good, I can watch it multiple times without getting sick of it. Such is the case for this movie. I am so in love with this movie Populaire, so much so that the scenes have been on loop in my mind from the time I finished watching the movie until now. I am even thinking about the scenes of this movie as I type this blog post. I just absolutely adore this movie!! Everything about this movie just oozes cuteness, sweetness & charm. My mind is swimming with so much to say about this movie, but I can’t seem to get all my thoughts into coherent sentences.

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Let me start with the movie plot. It’s an incredibly adorable movie premise. A naïve & clumsy young woman leaves her small town to travel to a bigger city in order to follow her dreams. She encounters a handsome gentleman with a highly masculine personality & unbeknownst to both characters, sparks begin to fly. Next, cue the awkward road of events that leads to them separating, only to find out they love each other in the end. Finally, a happy ending occurs & all is right with the world. I genuinely & thoroughly enjoyed this movie plot. It was very sweet, fun & quite romantic (I actually swooned). I’m a bit of a sucker for lighthearted movies such as this one.

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Also, I have a small confession to make. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always dreamed of having a secretarial type job…just like the character Rose Pamphyle does in this movie. (It was either that, or becoming a radio station DJ.) I’ve always liked using a typewriter, & even my very first experience on learning how to type was on a typewriter! Although, I kind of cheated by using an electric Xerox brand typewriter. At least Rose got to learn using a traditional typewriter…& lots of determination.

The next thing I loved about the movie, other than the fact that the time period was set in the late 1950s, which is one of my favorite eras in history, were the costumes the women in the movie wore as well as the hair & makeup. I’ve always professed that I’m not a huge fan of fashion, makeup, or getting dolled up in general. However, I just admire the fashion & the hairstyles of the 1950s & 60s eras. I was highly envious of Déborah-François’s character Rose Pamphyle in this movie. She always had a fresh looking face with just a hint of makeup in blush pink colors, & an artfully done hairstyle. I quite envied Rose’s fashion in this movie as well. I loved all of the dresses she wore in each of the scenes. The male characters in this movie were also very well dressed, including Rose’s father who lives in a small French town.

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Next, this movie was set in various cities around France. I’ve always imagined France to be a place where romance blooms all around you. This movie really romanticized France for me, especially the backdrop of a late 1950s France with swanky automobiles & classy ladies dressed primly. Oh how I’ve always wanted to visit France, especially Paris. I most especially loved the part of the movie when Rose & Louis are in Paris for the National Speed Typing Championships. Rose chooses to get dolled up for the event, & that’s when Louis finally sees her as a sexy, attractive woman. Of course Le Sexy Time ensues, & that scene was both tender & hot all at the same time. That was when I truly believed that Rose & Louis were meant to be together. But then Louis has to screw things up by becoming insecure & telling Rose that she should move on from her measly little job in her measly little town now that she’s become the country’s new media darling. Then Rose actually moves up to a larger company, only to realize that she was perfectly happy where she was from the beginning. Obviously love conquers in the end & the two main characters end up falling into each others arms at the International Speed Typing Championships, & Rose Pamphyle has become my all-time favorite female movie character. Cheers!

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DISCLAIMER: All image & GIF credits belong to JAIR SFEZ – © 2013 The Weinstein Company, Tumblr & Google Images.

Today’s song of the day:

I can’t think of a title. Okay, it’s about little kids

June 29, 2015 in Everyday | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

It’s just been one event after another with me these days. That’s the reason I’ve been spotty with updating this darn blog. So many family gatherings & personal events are keeping me occupied & away from all electronic devices. Believe it or not, all this running around business has helped me to recharge a bit, because I got to take a step back from my smartphone (named Alphonse) & iPad (named Roger). I’m not going to get into why I like to give names to inanimate objects right now.

After coming back from my cousin’s wedding in Mexio, I had about a week to unpack, wash my laundry, clean up the house, & prepare for my sister to visit with her two extremely lovable children. I often thought that as children grow older, especially from the toddler stages to older childhood, they would become increasingly independent & not want to be around “grown ups” as much, play with their friends more, & spend less time with family. I thought this would eventually happen with my sister’s kids, but that has just not been true. The more I spend time with my nephew & niece, the more attached they become with me. I absolutely adore this & adore them, & I’m going to treasure these moments for as long as I possibly can. My nephew & niece are obviously loud & rambunctious kids at ages 7 & 5 respectively. However, they are also loving, fun, caring, & weird. Yes, I said weird. My nephew is incredibly sensitive. He will get upset if everyone is at home, but not all in the same room playing together. No, that doesn’t make him selfish. He just wants to be surrounded by the people he loves. My niece has an unhealthy obsession with makeup at such a young age. C’mon! She already knows what mascara is & how to put it on! Fortunately my sister has placed boundaries on makeup & only allows my niece to wear lip gloss…sometimes eyeshadow if she has a ballet recital.

I love my nephew & niece. They always love having me around & playing with me. My nephew & I text message each other often. That sounds strange, to be texting with a 7-year old kid, but he only does it when he gets permission from his parents, & it truly helps him learn to spell & learn proper grammar. Ever since my nephew was born, we’ve had an unbreakable bond. We’ve always been super close, sometimes to the point where my sister gets a bit jealous (she has admitted this aloud). I’ve only recently become close with my niece. Before, she would generally gravitate towards males, like her uncles & my dad, but we are now close & she trusts me. I’m so unbelievably happy to have these kids in my life. They truly brighten up my life, & I always look forward to seeing them, even if only in a picture or by text message. Recently, I’ve been teaching my nephew & niece to write letters. I’ve already sent them a few letters by post, & they like receiving colorful things in the mail. It’s been fun. Well, actually, I’m heading to the post office now. Until then, cheers!

P.S. I’M GOING TO SAN DIEGO COMIC CON NEXT WEEK!!! YAAAAAAAASSSSS!

Today’s song of the day:

My cousin’s wedding hoopla is over!

June 16, 2015 in Everyday | Tags: , , , , , | Comments closed


I got back from my cousin’s wedding in one piece. Thank heavens! Usually when I go on vacation, I like to take an obscene amount of photos, but it was just too damn HOT & HUMID to do anything other than sip cocktails in the air conditioned bar or lounge around in the pool. Well, at least my aunt took enough photos on her camera to share with everyone.

I had a great time in Puerto Vallarta. My cousin had a super chillaxed wedding. It was full of celebration, love, family, & a huge bright pink elephant in the room known as drama. I’m not going to address the “pink elephant” whatsoever, other than to say it was there in full effect. That is all. My cousin looked beautiful in her white dress & veil. I was a little taken aback by the bright emerald green ties & navy gingham shirts worn by the groomsmen & the dark gray strapless dresses worn by the bridesmaids, but otherwise, the decorations were simple & tasteful. My family really knows how to eat, drink & party hard.

The hotel my cousin & most of our family stayed at was aptly named Villa Amor. It was a rustic hotel nestled on a small cliff side, overlooking the beach. The place I stayed at with my mom & brother was a modern all-inclusive resort 10 minutes away from my cousin’s hotel. When I say the resort was all-inclusive, I mean that all food, drinks, & amenities are included in the price of the vacation package. All you really needed to pay for was gratuity & the resort’s private taxi costs. It was easy to get around town & explore as well as lounge about on the beach.

Despite the muggy, almost unbearable humidity, we all had a blast celebrating my cousin’s wedding. There was plenty of eating & drinking, as well as tons of dancing, games, karaoke at a local dive bar, & golf cart riding. There was even a small Lip-Sync performance during the rehearsal dinner. Seeing my male cousin wearing pink socks & singing along to 80s music is pure comedy!


I am so burnt out from this trip. I still have a load of laundry to wash, a dress or two to dryclean, & a suitcase to put back into storage. No, wait. I still have to use my suitcase. In 3 weeks I’m heading off to San Diego for ComicCon (a.k.a. SDCC). I’m going to spend a few extra days in SoCal before & after ComicCon, just to avoid the rush of traffic from all the travelers heading to San Diego for this epic event. I am very excited for ComicCon, but I’m not exited about the packing experience. I feel like I just finished packing & unpacking from my trip to Mexico. Oh well. Here we go again. Cheers!

Today’s song of the day:

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