Film

  • Books, Film

    10 Quotes To Live By From Michelle Obama’s Becoming

    Fascinating, compelling, and superb.

    Just like Michelle Obama herself, these are the words that escaped my lips after I’ve finished her empowering memoir-slash-documentary.

    Becoming is a captivating account of her life at the White House, from the perspective of a First Lady. As someone who was born from a working-class African American family, Michelle is a living proof of shattering the glass ceiling.

    Being a girl with big dreams isn’t enough. BECOMING that woman who achieved her ambitions and still open to transformations is what she is. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Michelle became a corporate lawyer in a legal practice where she met her husband and former President Barack Obama.

    If you haven’t read the book or watched the documentary, here are 10 quotes to spark your curiosity about Becoming.

    Michelle On Dreams

    “Do we settle for the world as it is, or do we work for the world as it should be?” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

    Michelle On Identity

    “If you don’t get out there and define yourself, you’ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

    Michelle On Evolution

    “For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

    Michelle On Failure

    “Failure is a feeling long before it’s an actual result.”― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

    Michelle On Your Story

    “Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

    Michelle On Time

    “Time, as far as my father was concerned, was a gift you gave to other people.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

    Michelle On Patiences

    “We were planting seeds of change, the fruit of which we might never see. We had to be patient.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

    Michelle On Control

    “The lesson being that in life you control what you can.”― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

    Michelle On Bullies

    “Bullies were scared people hiding inside scary people.”― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

    Michelle On Dominance

    “Dominance, even the threat of it, is a form of dehumanization. It’s the ugliest kind of power.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

    Michelle On What Others Think

    “This may be the fundamental problem with caring a lot about what others think: It can put you on the established path—the my-isn’t-that-impressive path—and keep you there for a long time.”― Michelle Obama, Becoming Share on X

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  • Film

    BURNT: Serving Culinary Orgasm

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    If there’s a hot guy willing to offer you an explosion of tastes and multiple culinary orgasms that would send you to heaven, you’ll probably not consider any double-takes and second thoughts. It’s a yes right at that moment.

    After all, who wouldn’t give Bradley Cooper a second chance?

    Storyline

    Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) is a brilliant-but-troubled chef who came back looking to get his shot at redemption after a meltdown in his career as a two-star Michelin chef in Paris, due to drug and alcohol abuse.

    He was cleaned after going into therapy and punishing himself by discarding one million oyster shells in New Orleans. Now, his goal is to establish his own fine dining restaurant to finally earn his third Michelin star.

    As the highly talented and self-destructive white male protagonist that he is, Adam went to London to reunite with his confidants and to create a team of kitchen geniuses. One of them was hotel restaurant maître d’ Tony (Daniel Brühl) who shares a past with him.

    Tony then financed Adam’s restaurant which was meant to compete with Reece (Matthew Rhys) who was a former friend and another talented chef who is a master of French gastronomy. Adam, on the other hand, was known for his old-fashioned Parisian method in the cookery.

    He was joined by Michel (Omar Sy) a frenemy whom he trusted the second time around; Max (Riccardo Scamarcio) an ex-convict and another gifted chef; David (Sam Keeley), a young promising chef; and of course, the single mother Helene (Sienna Miller) who served as the sous chef.

    While he was struggling to rebuild his career, a group of drug syndicate was set to hunt him down and clear him of his debts. As if saved by a beautiful angel, his former girlfriend Anne Marie reappeared in his life but only as a friend who later on paid his debts to the syndicate.

    Slowly, Adam recovered from all the past troubles that have haunted him, especially with the help of his therapist Dr. Rosshilde (Emma Thompson).

    Technical Review

    Since it’s been a year when Burnt was shown in cinemas, let’s take a look back at the food porn we have witnessed starring the talented performer (oops, I meant, chef), Adam Jones—who was somehow portrayed as the kitchen devil, Gordon Ramsay.

    Aside from the swear words that have consistently come out from Adam’s foul mouth, this movie was filled with ECUs (extreme close-up shots) or tight shots at the very least, which is a must for capturing the essence of the dishes they served. Shots of the blue burner flames, immaculate chinaware, and gourmet food were all perfectly lit.

    On the other hand, the production design focused on the high-end gastronomy of London. It’s the kind of fine dining restaurant that provides a not-so-generous amount of serving and mouth-watering meals you’ll be hard-pressed to afford.

    The Highly Talented, Self-Destructive Protagonist

    It probably wasn’t intentional, owing to the fact that it was another well-portrayed cliché and pattern in literature and film, but Cooper’s character is the perfect representation of this image. We couldn’t deny that Adam is a good looking chef, drool-worthy as the dishes he prepares and the cake he baked for Helene’s daughter.

    Despite his perfection in the kitchen and unshaken attitude in achieving his goals, he was easily swayed into thinking that holding on to success at a young age will lead to failure. Thus, the substance abuse that wreaked havoc to his career.

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    Maybe Adam should’ve been taught early that nurturing what you have is not that all bad, isn’t it? He got a taste of success at an early age.  It was sweet, made him hungry for more. But then he was probably discontented. He felt that there was nothing else he could have chased in this world after he got what he wanted so he let it slip away. Too bad, some geniuses are lost stars, too. Or maybe men are just naturally adventurous.

    Just like Adam, this image only shows that someone who is wired to be extremely smart on the systematic level is more prone to second-guessing their talents. We sometimes get lost in the ambitions we dream about what we think these are the best-laid plans for us. But when we don’t achieve it, we start to crumble and fall.

    Sure enough, Adam knows that he’s going to be a famous chef because according to him, the kitchen is the only place where he felt like he belonged. Unfortunately, he learned the hard way. That is why I couldn’t blame him if he was seeking a smoother path toward success. Or maybe he thought that he was good enough and that he deserved to indulge in things that give temporary happiness like alcohol and drugs.

    It could also be that as human beings, we are not perfect. We are often overwhelmed by not just the negativities that are thrown upon us but also the positive things we gratefully take. Sometimes, we tend to underestimate ourselves, thinking that we are not worth the blessings we receive; so as a defense mechanism, we let go of the responsibility and stop holding on to what we thought wasn’t our purpose.

    The truth is, it’s not who you are that’s holding you back, it’s who you think you’re not.

    Success starts the moment you believe in yourself and give it a chance at redemption. The only thing that’s blocking our way toward what we want in life is we. Adam himself fought for his dream of achieving that Michelin star and realized that he was supposed to be in another direction—opposite substance abuse and one in which his one-way ticket was meant for.

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    To conclude this, I’ll give Burnt the most-coveted three stars and a gentle reminder for everyone:

    Simmer down and don’t jump out of the frying pan into the fire, or you’ll get burned. 😉

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  • Film

    2046: Trip to Memory Lane

    When we lose something important, or maybe even someone important that has already been a part of our lives, the only thing that makes us whole without them are memories. Sometimes, when we can’t feel the touch of their hands or hear the sound of their laughter anymore, the only thing we could do is to dream about them.

    Imagine how the warmth in their palms could be so electric beneath our own skin…imagine how they would babble face to face with us only to execute a fail punch line. Those good old memories just make us want to be back to where we have been in the past years…or even our past lives.

    However, memories are just not as clear as reality. Memories are meant to fade. It changes in a flash. It is nostalgic yet devastating and sometimes, what hurts the most is not the loss that we had but the memories we remembered.

    Film review by Marge

    Technical Analysis

    In the acclaimed 2046, a Chinese film directed by Wong Kar Wai, the protagonist Mr. Chow Mo-Wan is a tormented writer who is haunted by the past love that turns him into a notorious womanizer. He created a place named 2046 wherein a train would take you someplace where you recount the past.

    It’s like a trip to memory lane where you travel down a dimension of faint and distorted colors, mostly of red and orange light that means to me, passion and longing. At first glance, the movie could be so weird because of how unconventional it was made. The twist and turns, lyricism combined with narrative, and the extraordinary shots–sometimes slow and sometimes very close; the intense soundtrack, the remarkable dialogues, and the abrupt transitions…all of these contributed to the great aesthetic value of the film.

    Even though it was extraordinary, the whole package of it being a sci-fi film and the troubled life of Mr. Chow, I would say, it’s realistic. After all, reality is always stranger than fiction.

    Dramatic World

    The film carried real-life ideologies especially about human nature, a person’s desire and defense mechanism of messing up after a painful heartbreak. I’m not saying it’s a romantic film but it is a drama, something heavier than romance.

    When we try to reunite back with our past, we close our eyes and imagine things. Or even as they were opened, memories would come flooding at the back of our minds, with flashing lights, static sounds, and fragments skipping at the beat of our hearts as if we’re looking through a kaleidoscope.

    The colors change every time, sometimes we don’t remember what was next or what would be next to that but we are glad as long as we remember them. That’s how things work in our heads when we relive our memories. And that’s also how I see every scene and every shot in the movie.

    Shots were fragmented, they don’t tell a concrete story at once. It’s not linear, it changes every time and skips until we remember something else. So I guess as an audience, we are put into Mr.Chow’s head or perspective.

    Film Theory

    Some repeated shots, like motifs, could mean that they are the only clear memory in the vagueness of his thoughts, like those shots of women alone at a rooftop. There’s just a lot of women in it that makes me think it is a sexist film.

    Although it was understandable since the protagonist is a man and its part of their nature to be co-dependent with women. Bai Ling the sophisticated prostitute, Jing the daughter of the Hotel owner, Lulu and the android…they were somewhat treated as objects of desire, though different people, different strokes.

    As a feminist, I didn’t like how they were portrayed and objectified. But I can’t deny that’s how reality comes to play in romance. Some people just come and go. Just like what Mr. Chow said in one of his remarkable dialogues, “love is all a matter of timing.”

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