My Top 10 Favourite Derp Crew Town of Salem Games of 2015

Hey guys!

So indulge me here while I make a list of my top 10 favourite Town of Salem games this year. I made a steadfast effort this year to save all my favourite Let’s Plays into a playlist on Youtube and definitely one of my favourite series has to be the Derp Crew playing Town of Salem.

If you’re unfamiliar with Town of Salem, I made a post a long while ago about it that you can read here and familiarise yourself with. I used to be so addicted to this game late last year and earlier this year and played it continuously. It was so addictive; it feed the logical and curiosity-driven side of me. Long story short, it is a lot like the game Werewolf – or Mafia – or Polar Bear, depending on how it is called when someone probably taught you about it.

All of this being said, here is the countdown to my favourite episode of them playing it. I’m not going to describe any of what happens. Discovering the roles and what happens in the end is the best part after all. Plus, when I go back and watch this I want to be surprised all over again.

10. Grandma The GodFather (The Derp Crew: Town of Salem – Part 59)

9. MIND BLOWN: The Plot Twists! (The Derp Crew: Town of Salem – Part 29)

8. Pokemon Murder Theme! (The Derp Crew: Town of Salem – Part 86)

7. PART 100 SPECIAL!(The Derp Crew: Town of Salem – Part 100)

Note: Referring to the first game only (0:00 – 20:48)

6. MY BEST GAME! (The Derp Crew: Town of Salem – Part 37)

5. THE TRANSPORTER GOD! (Town of Salem QUAD FACECAM w/ The Derp Crew Ep. 29)

And to watch it all unfold from another perspective: The Ultimate Mafia Plan! (The Derp Crew: Town of Salem – Part 30)

4. PIE WARFARE! (The Derp Crew: Town of Salem – Part 48)

3. The Fail Highlight Episode: ZePeePee and Kim Jong Un Dong (The Derp Crew: Town of Salem – Part 32)

Note: Watch 2:25 into the video till 4:53.

2. LoveMyNuts: The PERFECT Game (The Derp Crew: Town of Salem – Part 78)

1. How To Get a BoyFriend (The Derp Crew: Town of Salem – Part 61)

And to watch it unfold from Ze’s perspective: THE EXECUTIONER’S CHOICE! (Town of Salem QUAD FACECAM w/ The Derp Crew Ep. 58)

Well, that’s all from me! Hope to come back to these videos next year and watch them all over again. And, while this list is mostly for my amusement, if you end up watching all of the episodes, do let me know which one you would consider your favourite. 🙂

Till next time!

cumuloq ❤

My Daily Make-Up Routine and Collection

Hi guys!

So if the last blog post I made was after a long break, this one is even longer. The last time I wrote here was probably three months ago – three very very busy yet important and fulfilling months. So, I thought a good first post after the break would be something light and non-committal on my end. Less of what has been happening with me, and more of a documentation of a particularly aspect of my life.

Getting into make-up for me was a very late exploration. Although I was exposed to make-up early on because I’ve had to wear it for school performances (plays, dances, musicals what have you), it was always my mum doing the make-up for me. And usually whatever make-up was lying around the house was usually (extremely) expired.

So the first time I had to try and understand the various ins-and-outs of the cosmetic world was when I was going for job interviews after uni. Actually, uni was a very good time for me to experiment. I stayed in the uni halls so it meant that I could buy a whole bunch of products to test out in my room without parents judging or yelling at me for buying them. At first my experiments would be limited to buying mostly Maybelline products. They were a cheap and reliable source – most of the time. I learnt fast that their lipsticks weren’t that awesome.

But I think after four years of experimenting with different brands I have solidified a pretty satisfying collection. This is what I wear on a normal workday:

1. Primer – Benefit’s the POREfessional
2. CC cream – 1028 Visual Therapy Moisture Infusion (01 Light Beige and 02 Natural Beige)
3. Concealer – Collection’s Lasting Perfection Concealer (Cool Medium)
4. Foundation/powder – Loreal’s True Match La Poudre Two Way Foundation (Nude Beige)
5. Eyebrows – 1028 Definer Eyebrow Kit (01 Light Brown)
6. Mascara – Maybelline’s The Falsies (Waterproof, Very black)
7. Blush – Maybelline’s Blush Studio (I Love Pink!)
8. Bronzer – Body Shop’s Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder (01 Light Matte) optional
9. Eyeliner – Clio Waterproof Pen Liner (Kill Black) optional

So usually I will ensure that I get 1-7 down. On lazier days I only go up to 5 or 6. I usually never do 8 and 9, except on special occasions or weekends. I remember there was a time where I was wearing eyeliner almost every day.

Lastly, let me know which products you stick to. I know there are a whole bunch more that I have yet to try out. I watch beauty vloggers a lot and all the products they name just whiz by my head most of the time. I know I’m still not entirely satisfied with my blush and mascara. But I really love the CC cream and eyeliner I use. If you want me to review an individual product on this list, let me know as well.

Till next time,

cumuloq

Being a Kid: Ask Questions

 

Hey guys,

Currently listening to this awesome cover of “Don’t” by Ed Sheeran by Drew Tabor (that voice!)

Credits go to /hannahschildrenshomes.org

So I did something yesterday that I realised was somehow oddly satisfying that I want to share with you guys. Basically it began when I past by Reddits’ “Ask Like I’m Five” thread, which basically has a person asking a question and people on Reddit will answer the person like they are a five year old kid. This is an amazing tag for people who have really tough questions, esp. philosophical or scientific, and have people answer them in the most straightforward and simple way – oh, if only life was that easy and people we pass by on the streets or our teachers or parents or friends could be just as straightforward.

Well, this thread inspired me, for a day, to write down and take note of all the random questions I had in my head. Over the course of the day, I realised that I was asking and being more inquisitive about things around me, I was asking questions that I did not know I had – but genuinely wanted to know. This also made me feel more guilty. It made me guilty of the fact that I had never been proactive enough to actually find out the answers to my questions and that, at my age, I should already know the answers to them by now.

Such questions included:

• Why does Stephen Hawking use the electronic voice when there are voices like Siri nowadays that sound a lot more humanlike?
• If you Google Search “am i on the internet” what will show up?
• Why do fingers prune in water?
• Why do eyedrops need to be thrown away after a month?
• What is the Lousiana Purchase?
• Why do leaves need to be swept off the street?
• Why do smells trigger memories?
• How does toothpaste help burns?
• How many times can you use a face mask in a week?
• Why do humans ask so many questions?
• What is swastika?
• Why did the Nazis use it as their symbol?
• What is the origin of the phrase “by the way”?

As mentioned, there was something oddly satisfying about listing down all the questions I thought in one day and to find out the answers. I guess it is visual proof that I am learning something useful in that day and that it is not all gone to waste.

And imagine the number of questions a kid asks!

Maybe I’ll make it a regular practice to spend one day a week actively noting down the questions I ask and writing down the answers. I found this a really enlightening experiment.

Till next time!

cumuloq ❤

Nostalgia and Criticising Others’ Childhoods

Nostalgia has been a recurring topic lately in my classes. We were talking about how this current generation think they’re the best, i.e. they have an incredibly high level of self-esteem. However, previous generations adamantly attest that it is the complete opposite: this generation is self-centred and demanding of things that they should not demand, e.g. higher pay when they start working and more vacations.

And during our discussions we all boiled it down to nostalgia. The older generation will always reminisce about how they grew up as a child and assume that the new generation should follow the status quo, i.e. go through everything they’ve done. But isn’t that wrong?

And I kind of connected this to when we were introducing ourselves in another class and the teacher and an older student were complaining about how Harry Potter was not as amazing as everyone thinks it is and that it doesn’t have anything new that has already been done, e.g. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I took that moment to look around in the circle and saw some interesting expressions – people who obviously looked a bit insulted.

Credits go to Gawker.com

Personally, I believe that the trends of a person’s childhood, whatever they’ve grown up with, is something personal, something of their own. The same way I grew up with Harry Potter, Lizzie McGuire and Simple Plan, I’m sure that the people of this generation are growing up with The Hunger Games, Hannah Montana and One Direction. Sometimes it can’t be helped what is immediately available to us when we grow up and how it influences us; and while we may not all love the movies and books present, it is still a nostalgic attachment for us. More importantly, while we can discern that they are not the best and, heck, not innovative or new, they are still the first things we came across and the first things we see and read.

Hence, I believe it is ridiculous to assume that a kid today who loves The Hunger Games and spends their allowance on concerts and movies that others think are just badly made carbon copies of what they grew up with is stupid. We are forgetting that there will always be a generation before us who will assume the same of us.

And it is equally ridiculous to assume that we should all be the same. The caveman cannot gripe that today we don’t have to deal with running away from predators and starting a fire. Similarly, generations before us cannot gripe that we spend too much time on technology – because how can we equate today what “too much time” is? Likewise, we cannot assume that children today should grow up the same way that we did. Since we went through a particular route as a child, it does not mean that we should force our children to go through the exact same. Times change and progress will not be progress if we continue on an endless cycle. (I believe this is the central concern of many dystopian novels these days.)

Yes, I know, this is another rant, but I felt it was really something bugging me at the moment. Reviewers always complain and generalise young adult content without considering that they probably went through the same process when they were younger – terrible Mario Bros and Street Fighters movies were prevalent in the 90s but looking back and they become cult favourites with nostalgic fan boys quoting lines and scenes, overanalysing scenes that aren’t really meant to be analysed.

Credits go to pixelbedlam.co.uk

Terrible novels in the past are now classics and canoned. Who says this won’t be the same for Twilight fifty years down the road? Who says literature students won’t end up studying the words and writing dissertations on its cultural influence?

There will always be imitations and adaptations in every generation – and maybe it’s also inevitable that as we get older we become more nostalgic and more skeptical of what comes out from the cultural milieu. But I think an overarching rule should always be to never insult someone else’s childhood. “Oh you loved Harry Potter? But it’s just a rip-off of -” No. No. I grew up with it and it was what really got me into other books and movies.

At the end of the day, we can share in our love of books and movies together – but also respect others for what got them into books and movies too.

Till next time!

Cumuloq ❤

Where My Childhood Idols Are At Now

So it has definitely been a while since I’ve posted in this topic. Almost to the point at which I considered just changing this day to something else. But, heck, I thought why not just keep to the nostalgia?

In the past, when I was a kid, one of my favourite things about the internet was filling in my favourite things lists. It sounds really stupid and trivial – but I just liked doing that when I was a kid. I guess it gave me some sense of understanding of myself. If I liked certain things then I could determine what kind of person I was, right?

So today I decided to revisit my old “favourite actresses” list and share why I liked them back then and include just a fun gif set of their “then and nows”.

1. Michelle Trachtenberg

Michelle Trachtenberg was on my favourite actresses list when I was younger ’cause of her lead role in Harriet the Spy. Thanks to that movie I wrote in my own diary when I was younger and spent a lot of time in my backyard pretending I was up to “spy business”. I liked to make believe the lives going on with my neighbours and friends.

Later on I loved her in Inspector Gadget as Penny and then on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Buffy’s younger sister, Dawn. I’ve also seen her in EuroTrip and Ice Princess, and I caught part of her performance in Gossip Girl – before I stopped watching it. If anything, I can say she’s still doing really well for herself.

2. Sarah Michelle Gellar

Since I started off with one BTVS girl, I might as well go on with another. I’ll be honest and say that I probably shouldn’t have watched a majority of the movies Sarah Michelle Gellar was in when I was eleven – but I practically did anyways because she was there. This included I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions (Yeah, really shouldn’t have watched that back when) and The Grudge.

But mostly I knew her from Buffy. Buffy has honestly shaped a lot of my views in terms of what an action heroine should be like. She was smart, sarcastic, and generally kick-ass.

3. Drew Barrymore

Speaking of kick-ass, Drew Barrymore was another idol I had when I was a kid and I honestly watched so many shows she was in which include E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Wedding Singer, Ever After and Charlie’s Angels.

Honestly, I had her as an instant favourite in so many of my favourite lists. To me she was the ideal anti-princess, she emoted so well in her films and her characters always stood up for what they believed in (take note that when I say this, I’m referring to the latter three movies and not E.T.)

4. Christina Ricci

Christina Ricci was like a staple diet among all the children movies I watched when I was a kid, so it is almost inevitable that she is in this list and was one of my favourite actresses at the time. When I was young I just thought she was beautiful and she had this dark Gothic vibe to her that was just so intriguing.

Movies I used to devour with her in it included The Addams Family, Casper, That Darn Cat and Sleepy Hollow.

5. Hilary Duff

I think it’s inevitable that I finish this list with her. Hilary Duff was the ultimate idol when I was a kid. Before Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, there was Hilary Duff. I bought all of her albums – on cassettes at the time, memorised all the lyrics and I tried to create my wardrobe around her style in the movies.

The list of Hilary Duff movies I’ve watched is pretty extensive (so I won’t put links to them here and let you Google any unknowns yourself): Casper Meets Wendy, Cadet Kelly, Agent Cody Banks, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Cheaper by the Dozen, A Cinderella Story, Raise Your Voice, The Perfect Man, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, and (a very random) Beauty & the Briefcase.

Now that they’ve been listed, my two cents: personally I think they’ve done pretty well for themselves; they’ve all branched into different projects that I’m not really interested in. But it’s kind of nice to see them grow from how I remembered them when I was a kid. I guess you can also kind of see the type of kid I was in the past from the people I used to like back then.

So, maybe next week (or next time – no promises) I’ll tackle my old favourite actor list?

Till next time,

cumuloq ❤

When You Finish A Book

Came across this little gem while surfing the net, and I thought I’d share it with you:

The truest part here, for me, is where one minute you’re reading and the next minute you’re not. And it sounds really “duh”, but those lines just sum it up perfectly. One minute you’re at a good pace and you are at a good emotional level with the characters and the plot and then you realise the words stop and you’re just holding a book that is no longer speaking to you – it becomes, once more, an inanimate object.

Thank goodness I’m only halfway through Gaiman’s Neverwhere and taking it as slow as possible.

Till next time,

Cumuloq ❤

The Dystopian Trend: The Giver, The Hunger Games and More

Source: usmagazine.com

Currently reading Lois Lowry’s The Giver and, maybe it’s ’cause I’ve just been stuck reading dystopian novels, but I was wondering why the dystopian teen trope has been perpetuating a lot lately. And this has very little to do with the fame of Harry Potter and Twilight. On the contrary, I’d put The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Maze Runner and The Giver in another separate category of its own.

The trope I’m talking about (and have probably already spoken of in a previous post, specifically this one) is that of a contained world, a world governed by very specific rules and one teenager who is brave (or foolish) enough to question the status quo.

Understood, The Giver was written way back in 1993 – when I probably should have read it when I was a kid but didn’t. But there must be some reason why Hollywood is so adamant in making these particular books movies now.

And, understood, Hollywood’s choice in movies may not be of particular concern to us – but it should be. I believe it’s been made aware many times that there has been a close relationship between Hollywood movies and politics and even the CIA. If you’re unsure of this situation, read this article by The Guardian here, or this article by Salon of “When the CIA infiltrated Hollywood”.

Credits: shockya.com

The question is: what is with this fascination with this particular (aforementioned) trope?

In all these movies there is a central figure to the dystopian world which you can point the blame to – in the upcoming, Mockingjay Part One, it is clearly President Snow: white, pure, sterile. His symbolism and propaganda is blatant. He stands for all colours united as one (white incorporating all colours), and at the same time he is the white out, the eraser of every thing that leaves a blemish on society, the correction pen to your mistakes. In Divergent it is Jeanine Matthews who attempts to create a serum that literally controls everyone’s movements.

There is a clear evil in all of these stories: the desire to subjugate a society into abnormally restrictive behaviour.

Is this how we’re supposed to see the world as teenagers? Is this the impression we seek to present our children? That any form of control should be rebelled against? And if we do not allow them this extreme of freedom – do they assume any action we have upon them is the exact opposite?

Back to The Giver, as I’m reading this novel I have also the tendency to read reviews at the same time, just the first few comments of them, the good and the bad. Reading these reviews I see extremes: those who praise the novel for its insightfulness and those who condemn it for its propaganda – I have yet to see what the eventual message of the novel is, but I can only assume that the debate stands thus: how much control over a nation is too much control? And are authors, and then, Hollywood, currently sending the right message to teenagers today in their interpretation of novels.

Novel interpretation is a slippery slope – a bias movie crew (screenwriter, producer, director and actors alike) can easily skew the opinions of easily impressionable masses, especially if your target audience is children and young adults.

Personally for The Hunger Games Trilogy, I felt that a weaker reader could easily misinterpret the final novel of the trilogy. Katniss could easily be a symbol of retribution, revenge and rebellion – instead of hope for negotiation and change for the better. Reading The Maze Runner, readers who are unable to discern a unreliable narrator could easily see Thomas as a role model instead of an incredibly flawed yet justifiable hero.

These books rarely make it clear to readers that the protagonist is not the hero, the dystopian society is not essentially hell, President Snow is not essentially the villain – and movies less so.

At the end of the day, I’m not condemning this genre, or the people who perpetuate this trend. But I’m just wondering what impact this trend may have on children – will they be more rebellious to controlling governments because of these movies (is this an intended influence by political figures on Hollywood? Just a thought?) or will this bring about positive change as children question more of what is good and bad in our society as a whole.

The only thing I hope for is that these movies open fruitful discussions that enable youths today to see the idea of control and propaganda and dystopia in all its nuances – and to never fall in either extreme, to never ’cause violence for peace or peacefully resign to violence.

– cumuloq ❤

Rewriting Fairytales: Cinderella

Hey readers!

I don’t quite know why, but I felt like writing this today. I don’t really know how to explain it; I was just going to write a post on all the possible other jobs that the Disney Princesses could have. But instead I ended up writing a AU (alternate universe) story of Cinderella.

I guess part of the reason why I wanted to write an alternate version of Cinderella was because it is so easy to be wrapped up in a Disney Princess universe about love and balls – and those two words together sound extremely dirty, sorry PG readers. Let me try that again: it is so easy to be trapped in this small bubble of make-up and dresses and ball gowns and princes coming to the rescue that we forget that the world around us has so many more issues. Like this one.

So I thought I’d rewrite a fairytale, this time Cinderella, to just spread awareness of an issue. Just read on:

Cinderella is bonded to serve her stepmother and her two stepsisters. They force her to work and do not let her go to school. The rest of the town are unaware of her condition.

One day Cinderella decides that she is deserving of an education. Her two stepsisters asked her to read a label on a box the morning before and when she could not do it, they laughed and threw their books and pencils at her. When her stepmother was out visiting her relatives in the town nearby, and her two stepsisters were at school, Cinderella sneaks out and observes a class from outside.

The prince of the town is attending the class and realises she is staring in through the window and invites her inside because he thinks she is pretty. At first, Cinderella was naive, she assumed that he invited her in because he was considerate, because, for once in her life, she thought there would be decent people out there in the world. But then when she started conversing with him, she realised that he only cared about the way she looked.

Cinderella went back home absolutely downcast. Furthermore, her stepmother found out and she increases the amount of work and beatings. Her stepsisters are absolutely jealous that the superficial prince paid attention to Cinderella and constantly put spiders in her bed at night.

One day the prince finds out where Cinderella lives. Her stepmother locks her up in her room while she fanfares him. She offers the prince many dowries to marry her daughters, but the prince does not oblige. He is determined to marry Cinderella. In resignation, her stepmother settles a deal with the prince and then brings Cinderella out so as to sell her off. The prince has promised to give the stepmother a few cattle, a generous sum of money and a new maid as an offering.

Cinderella is absolutely dumbstruck, but after some thought she decides to marry him on one condition: she gets to go to school.

It is not a perfect marriage, but Cinderella puts her efforts into graduating high school. She submissively obliges to the prince until she manages this. After which, Cinderella seeks advice from her guidance counsellor and manages to clinch a scholarship to a local college. The prince is unwilling to let her go, but she puts forward a persuasive argument towards her education and the benefits it will have for his kingdom. She is able to do this as, going to her classes diligently, she has learnt the power of rhetoric.

After completing her degree, Cinderella returns to her town with a child protection officer and a lawyer. She manages to sue the prince and get a divorce along with half of the prince’s property and money. The prince was not intelligent enough to get a prenuptial.

Cinderella, an educated and single woman now, with a good start-up fund, creates a non-governmental organisation to raise awareness towards the issue and current situation of child slavery. In her mid-thirties she ends up marrying a man who is also involved in raising awareness towards child slavery.

In the end, Cinderella decided she did not need a glass slipper or a prince or a fairy godmother. She could be her own step out of poverty and slavery, she could be her own Princess Diana and she could, not only grant her own wish, but grant many more wishes to the thousands of boys and girls who were trapped in the same condition as she was.

Till next time,

cumuloq ❤

Photo credits go to Labour Rights Blog

Damn.

You know you’re getting old when you suddenly realise that this generation of angry birds, candy crush and plants vs. zombies will someday be equivalent to your generation of space invaders, centipedes, tetris and pong.

– cumuloq ❤

Three Terrifying Movie Moments From My Childhood

We’ve all probably had that moment when we were eight when we thought that we were big enough to watch a “grown up” movie, or our parents decided to forget about the advisory rating and just watch a film with us in tow. Our first sightings of a terrifying ghoul kept us up at night and haunted our dreams for weeks to come, that made the darkness more spooky than it really is, and introduced us to the “night light”.

These are five moments in my childhood movie history that are still plastered in my mind.

1. Children of the Corn: The kids

I have no idea why, but one night I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to watch a movie. Little did I realise, this movie would be my first encounter with Steven King’s brand of horror. There was something about children with eyes that illuminated to the point at which their brains were visible in their scalps that just terrified me. And this moment will forever be ingrained in my mind.

2. Jurassic Park: Raptors in the kitchen 

I think anyone who has watched Jurassic Park will know this iconic scene well, from the moment the jelly shakes to the two kids trying to hide from the raptors in the kitchens, clumsily making utensils fall and pulling risky moves with their banging. As kids, my brother and I used to watch this movie if we ever felt like scaring ourselves. We’d curl up in blankets and scream like crazy. It was personally our first thrill-seeking “horror” movie.

3. Interview with the Vampire: Claudia

It was this movie in particular that had me putting the covers up to my neck for three-years of summers. The one character that terrified me most was Kirsten Dunst as Claudia. I still remember the scene of her wanting to be a normal girl and cutting her hair only for it to grow back. And I also remember the scene where she tricked Lestat to drink the blood of dead twins and she slits his throat. Whenever I think back to the movie, I’m immediately flooded with images of blonde curls and pools of blood. Thanks a lot. Personally I think if I returned to that movie, I’d find it a lot more fascinating than terrifying – but I don’t want to.

So, let me know what movies you happened to stumble upon when you were a kid that just scared the bejeebers out of you!

Till next time!

cumuloq ❤

Seeing Things Differently

When you’re a child, you’re only playing one role. This role has very few responsibilities and at the end of the day you are blissfully unaware of the many other roles everyone else plays around you. Your only concern is yourself. And that’s okay. Be a kid and learn about yourself first.

But as we grow up, or as I’m growing up more specifically, I start to realise how my world view slowly shifts from this magnifying glass on my own perspective to the thousands of possibilities that I barely graze upon every day in my life. And suddenly there’s this epiphany, everything has always been the way it was, but the way you see it changes everything that has been and is yet to come.

Let me make more sense. I’ve always grown up, most of my adolescence, as first and foremost a student. My sole task was to learn. And frankly, I was a haughty learner. I knew I did this one task of my childhood well. But as I’m growing older, I realise that my role as a child is also surrounded by other roles in society.

Let’s take the role of the waitress serving me ice-cream at a cafe. One day I found myself in the shoes of the waitress and realised how tough such a job was. I realise that I previously only saw the surface of things. Being a waitress meant standing eight hours in a day and being personable and having to deal with the not-so-friendly customers (some times). Long hours of waiting for service changed from impatience at the slow and stupid staff, to an understanding that a place may be understaffed and that those who are stuck with their shifts on that day have to put in twice the effort with half the gratification from customers.

My mother has had a number of tough jobs, jobs she shouldn’t have had at her age. Some of this includes cleaning and clearing up after university undergraduates in the campus canteen. It pains me, ’cause I was once in that role of being an undergraduate and I have had my fair share of leaving trays behind on the assumption that the cleaners are responsible for keeping the tables empty. It pained me when she came home to gripe about it. And it made me realise that we, as individuals of our society, take far too many things for granted than we probably should. I’m talking about university students who probably have had a sheltered upbringing, silver spoon in one hand and a nanny’s hand in the other, forgetting that the rest of society needs to clean up after their lunchtime messes just to get by.

It’s so easy for us to point a finger at institutions and the government, but sometimes we forget that when we point that one index finger at them, the other four fingers point right back at us.

Lately, my country has been going on about the educations system, about tuition versus government schools and the lot and the sad thing is that the first individuals they blame are the “sad lot that call themselves teachers”. If anything, I feel that these individuals are looking from a “child’s perspective”. But, I somehow don’t blame them. ‘Cause if I were at that end of the spectrum, I too would probably criticise a role which I have yet to experience myself. But, the difference is that I’m not, so I won’t.

One recent experience that was eye opening for me, that happened just yesterday and that I would like to share, was when one teacher was calling a parent in the staff room. The phone conversation could have been easily ignored on my end, if not for the fact that it was evident that the teacher on the phone was grappling with the father, trying to negotiate her way into some sort of mutual agreement towards his son’s safety. (I think I wrote a very similar experience once on a very different eavesdropped conversation).

In this situation, the boy had gotten himself into some accident and had been sent home where the father was now (I presume) scolding the teacher for not having called him immediately to explain the situation and to have taken better care of his son. The entire time during this conversation, I suddenly found myself not in the shoes of the child nor the father, but (in a rare and new turn of events) in the shoes of the teacher. I suddenly respected her role far more because I understood that while she probably did not want to face this boy’s father on the phone and be yelled at, she still picked up the phone and took the initiative to do so. But why? This action made me realise that she was genuinely concerned about the health of her student. And I think we forget about this all the time with the education system. Sure, teachers will harp on grades and on answers and on homework – but there are also teachers who genuinely care. The entire time on the phone the words she spoke were not accusatory, they were never in anger, instead they were composed and (in an almost amusing manner) she placated the father as if he too were a hot-tempered student of her own.

So, sure, we all used to be children who saw the world from our perspective. But I realise, as I’m growing up, that part of growing up is to not only see things as we see them in our eyes but to go beyond ourselves and find compassion in the other roles that exist in the world. If not, then we’re still just children, sitting in ourselves, minding our own businesses, oblivious and unaware.

Those are my thoughts for today..

cumuloq ❤

Pokemon Favourites List

I feel like lately Pokemon has returned into my life. Now, that sounds dramatic, but it’s kinda (pathetically) true. My brother’s been replaying Pokemon Yellow on his tablet, I’ve been hooked on xXSlyFoxHoundXx‘s Minecraft Daily series with the mod, Pixelmon, and there’s been a return of Pokemon thanks to the new Pokemon X and Y.

So I thought this post was apt for an appearance, especially since it seemed to have a foreshadowing of it in last week’s post of “childlike ideals”. Here I’ll list out all my favourites in Pokemon – but this definitely within the limits of first and second gen.

1. Favourite Character: Sabrina

Sabrina was honestly my favourite character in Pokemon. There’s something very alluring about her psychic powers. She was able to bend spoons when she was younger. Plus I loved how complex her story was in the television show with her split-personality, her creepy obsession with dolls – that she turned her mother into a doll. If there was any character in Pokemon that I would easily want to step into the role of it would be her. Probably just to get a psychological forecast of this girl.

2. Favourite City: Celadon City

Celadon City is definitely a favourite. It has the awesomely tall department store, the game corner where I actually have dedicated game play time to win the polygon, and honestly one of the prettiest gyms with the grass-type trainers and gym leader, Erika. Also, at this stage of the journey, you begin to really feel like you’re taking control of your pokemon. Since the stones are accessible to you, you can choose what you want to turn your eevee into. And if you want to evolve any other pokemon, like pikachu, you can. There are also some crucial plot points in this city, including the team rocket hideout.

3. Favourite Pokemon: Mew

Sadly I never got to catch this #151 pokemon at the end of the original game, after beating the Elite Four – but maybe it was apt. I loved mew because of the ideals it held during the original Pokemon Movie. Unlike mewtwo, mew was the epitome of everything good in pokemon. It believes in harmony while mewtwo was bent on battle and that pokemon should overthrow humans. Plus, it was so small and sounded so adorable, yet it packed a powerful punch in it with its ancient power. A close favourite is dragonair.

So, after this is all done, I’d like to ask you what your favourites are and what other favourites do you have from the game. How far did you make it into the generations before you gave up? And for those who are interested, I added links at the bottom of this article of the new X and Y mega evolutions.

Till next time,

cumuloq ❤

Related articles

• Hey Look, There Are More Mega Evolved Pokemon. Including, Yes, Fairies (kotaku.com)
• Mega Pokémon, I Choose You! (intellectualbadasses.wordpress.com)
• Looks Like Pokemon Is Getting A New Type of Evolution (kotaku.com)
• New Pokemon and ‘Mega’ forms revealed for Pokemon X/Y (destructoid.com)
• Pokemon X and Y to introduce ‘mega evolutions’ (polygon.com)
• Pokemon X and Y: three new Pokemon and “Mega” forms announced in next issue of CoroCoro (vg247.com)
• New Pokémon X & Y info: ‘Mega Evolutions’ Including MegaMewtwo, MegaBlaziken and MegaLucario (coinarcade.org)
• Introducing Mega Evolutions (routinelygaming.wordpress.com)

You Know, “That Song”

I’m sure you’ve experienced it before some time in your life. You’ve listened to something maybe so consistently at one point in your life that, when you’re put in a silent room – or you’re lying in bed at night, you swear that music suddenly plays – whether it be a short sound or an entire soundtrack. For me, I think I had it bad when I was playing Pokemon Blue.

It’s this soundtrack that I would here randomly at random intervals of the day. I’d swear I’d hear Nurse Joy healing my pokemon to full health, playing slots in Celadon City, the pokedex scrolling sound, or a battle beginning. Whichever sound it was, it was in this below video.

So here’s me filing it into my blog for record – and probably good measure that these tunes from my childhood will not be forgotten any time soon. And for those who have just spent the past years getting them out of your head, I apologise (I’m not sorry!)

Till next time, 

cumuloq ❤

5 Shows I Used to Watch on ABC When I Was Eleven

ABC stands for the Australian Broadcasting Channel and when I was between nine to twelve, when I returned from school at around three in the afternoon, I would turn on the television and catch some of my favourite tween-appropriate shows. I can’t say that many might relate to these shows being aired on their television. They were some of the most random kids shows around (and probably some of the worst – like equivalent to eating cheese fries instead of celery stalks). But either way, I remember how they used to make me feel all grown-up; ’cause they were definitely a step up from my usual kid cartoon variety.

Reminiscing about them also kind of makes me learn where Australian TV got all their series from.

1. Sir Gadabout: The Worst Knight in the Land

Watching the intro honestly just made me cringe. This British show is practically true to its title. It revolves around Sir Gadabout (played by Jason Thorpe) who, unlike Lancelot, is just terrible at his job as a knight. My favourite character though was Princess Elenora who is a complete tomboy and has an alter ego called Sir Knight.

Interesting fact: Tamsin Egerton who played Princess Elenora in the show has gone on to star as Guinevere in the 2011 series, Camelot (medieval does not run out of this girl’s veins) – she also played Georgie in Chalet Girl alongside Felicity Jones (the main character Kim). I guess I didn’t notice that ’cause her hair is blonde now.

2. The Zack Files

This Canadian show centres around Zack Greenberg and the strange occurrences that just seem to naturally happen to him and his friends. I think I have to give this show credit for how unique all their episodes were. I can still run down the list of episodes and remember all the scenarios Zack had gotten himself into, like when he swallowed the orange seed and grew taller, or when he drank ink and became invisible. I think the motto of the story for Zack and his audience is to not consume weird crap.

3. The Saddle Club

Wow, this one really was Australian produced. I was definitely addicted to this show for a period of time ’cause as an eleven-year-old I was addicted to horses. I used to read Pony Pal books, I had my own book series that I made on pieces of A4 paper folded in half and taped together (which contained all my friends in it and I used to let them borrow the “books” to read and then I’d make new ones based on their feedback), and I also had a horseback riding birthday party when I was twelve that cost way too much money and made me fall in love with a pinto horse called Lucky.

I think it’s very obvious what this show was about. Girls and their love for horses. I sadly still remember all the lyrics to the terrible song they had in the credits.

4. My Best Friend Is An Alien (a.k.a. I Was A Sixth Grade Alien)

I knew that this would end up being such a cringe-worthy list. A purple alien named Pleskit definitely does play a heavy part in making this one extra cringe-worthy. If there are any redeeming qualities to this reference, Michael Cera used to be on this Canadian kids show.

5. Freaky Stories

“This is a true story, and it happened to friend of a friend of mine” – this line will always remind me of this show, along with “Just because they never happened, doesn’t mean they ain’t true.” Each episode of this Canadian TV show (I have drawn the verdict that ABC does have a lot of Canadian TV shows) tells an urban legend. I can’t remember whether this series had its own time slot or used to show in between the above series, but I certainly do remember it for being both creepy and yet very interesting.

Here, a free episode for you, as you can see, they’re not very long:

So those are all the after-school shows I’d watch when I was eleven! And if you want to catch them there are a lot of free episodes of each of them on Youtube. I can’t exactly say that they were the worse. I think to each generation there are those select few kid shows that you thought were awesome when you were young but when you look back on it they can make you cringe.

If anything, I think that kid shows nowadays are alright. Maybe they don’t have as much of the interesting content and engagement, i.e. less sci-fi and medieval and more boyfriend-girlfriend and I want to be famous talk, but they are definitely better produced and higher quality.

So till next time!

cumuloq ❤

5 Video Games I Grew Up With

I wouldn’t say that I grew up as a video game addict; I was just surrounded by it thanks to my brother and his friends. There are some video games that are just incredibly nostalgic to me. So below are a list of the ones that were just that.

1. Worms Armageddon (1999)

I remember watching my brother’s friend, Andrew, play the original Worms on his computer while waiting for our parents to pick us up from his and his younger brother’s house. Somehow the image of worms attacking each other stuck in my mind as one of the first video games that I ever saw as a kid and I remember at that time I was incredibly enthralled by all of it. The snark remarks they made, the cute responses they had when they were hit just made me keep my eyes glued to the screen. Who would have thought that worms could be so entertaining? Watching it being played now is just not the same.

2. Rampage 2: Universal Tour (1999)

Rampage definitely brings back a whole lot of memories for me as it was one of our (my brother and I’s) favourite games when we got our first console, the Playstation. My brother and I would select either Boris or Curtis and spend the afternoon punching windows and munching on people. We never made it that far though but we had fun just replaying the Salt Lake City and Denver levels again and again.

3. Pokemon Blue Version (1998)

Yup, I was one of those 90’s kids that grew up with a Game Boy and played with the original 150 pokemon, where the credits roll when you beat the Elite Four and Ash’s nemesis, Gary. Before there were so many legendary trios that you could no longer name them all and too many pokemon for you to recall at the top of your head. I originally played the game on my brother’s Game Boy, which was a black and white version, but soon enough it was clear that I had started hogging it too much to train my pokemon (squirtle was always my starter) that I had to get my own. So I was so happy when I got my own Game Boy and even more ecstatic when it was one of the “Color” ones that it practically ate up so much of my time. This is the exact version of the one I had:

Worse still, when my brother managed to get the emulator on PC three years ago, I got hooked on it again, this time the Fire Red version. I think in total I have beaten the Elite Four at least ten times. And yes, I do know all the original 150 pokemon – and probably still remember their types, strengths and weaknesses. I did play the beginning half of the gold and silver enough to know a few of the pokemon after the 150, but not that many. And now, I’ve given up. Pokemon Blue will always be my first Pokemon game love of my childhood – though I doubt it will always remain there, since I do have a bad habit of picking it up and playing it again.

4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)

I think around the time my brother got the Playstation 2 I became a lot more familiar with certain video games. So it was definitely difficult to choose between said GTA, the Tony Hawk series, the WWE series, Madden NFL and a whole bunch of other favourites. I think GTA stood out the most for my brother and I as a childhood favourite due to the songs on the radio (Emotion 98.3) when Tommy’s just riding in a car on a long road – or in a helicopter trying to find the edge/boundary/limit of the map e.g. Mr. Mister – Take These Broken Wings and Foreigner – Waiting for a Girl Like You. We’d sing a long, even now, to the awesome melodies. One of our favourite pastimes would be to rile up innocent bystanders but not get caught by the cops. This game just has so many memories attached to it.

5. Burnout Revenge (2005)

I think the main reason why this game stands out also among the PS2 pack is because I was just too good at the Road Rage and Crash parts of the game. My brother would always play the races and then he’d hand it over to me to demolish the competition in the Road Rage section. And I’ve done them all, “takedown”, “crashbreaker” and “revenge takedown”. I also loved the soundtrack to the game which featured my favourite bands Yellowcard and Fall Out Boy (I also loved it even more that you got to choose which songs you wanted to play and which ones you didn’t). Whenever one of their songs (like Lights And Sounds) started playing during a race I’d instantly get pumped. The music just put me in the mood to crash cars. And it’s safe to say that this game was my stress-reliever during those horrible angsty puberty days.

So, there you go! A quick run through of the games that have influenced me up till I was a teenager. And also a quick look at the consoles that I’ve been exposed to. And, so that I can make it clear, these games never influenced me in a negative way, it never made my grades slip or make me turn to violence or deviant behaviour. All they ever did was help me bond better with my brother, with the friends that came around to play with us, to help relieve some of the stress that I faced during my life as a child and to overall provide a lot more laughs in my life.

Till next time!

cumuloq ❤

My Childhood Movies

When I was little, my brother and I used to be big on movies. Our parents would drive us down to our local Blockbusters and let us pick a couple of movies to rent. And we honestly attempted to conquer the entire kids section worth of movies. In my defense, I also attempted to conquer the entire room of kid books in my local library too, to the point at which I had to actually venture out of the kid’s room and wander the rest of the library.

Maybe that’s another part of my childhood that I’m quite amazed at, how I managed to get through so many movies as a kid and still have time to do other stuff as well. And my friends knew it too, that I watched maybe far too much movies. ‘Cause I remember during one sleepover I woke up early and joined the rest of the kids to watch a movie in the morning only to hear one of the girls tell me in a probably joking (but what I took back then to be a really mean) tone, “Go back to sleep, you’ve probably watched this already!”

So here is my pick of movies that have just stood out as part of my childhood and the child stars I grew up with:

1. Matilda (1996)

Mara Wilson’s movies were a go to when I was a little girl, I tried my best to watch all of them, Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street, A Simple Wish and, especially, Matilda. There was always something about Matilda that made me relate – which I bet was Roald Dahl’s intention in creating the story to begin with; horrible teachers with unspeakable punishments, parents that did not seem to understand you, and the chance to escape all of it to a life that was so much better.

2. The Little Princess (1939)

When I was little, I had a box set of Shirley Temple movies and The Little Princess was definitely my favourite and I used to watch it over and over again; especially after my class got to do our year-end concert on Pinocchio and Shirley Temple and sing “On the Good Ship Lollipop” (and I was sadly chosen to be a Pinocchio and not a Shirley Temple which I was very upset about ’cause the Shirley Temples got to wear such beautiful white dresses and I was there in brown overalls and a bun).

3. The Secret Garden (1993)

Just another awesome movie. At the back of my house in Australia there was a really seclusive patch of grass and flowers and trees, and I used to use that place as my secret garden and pretend I was Mary. I once found a really rusty and ancient key around my house once (which I actually still have) and I imagined that it opened the gate to a secret place.

4. Charlotte’s Web (1973)

I really loved the older version of Charlotte’s Web. I really loved the songs such as There Must Be Something More, Zuckerman’s Famous Pig and the heartwrenching Mother Earth and Father Time. Heck, it was an amazing movie if it made me feel so sad to watch a spider die and all the animals grow old.

5. FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)

Yup, we’re going through the animated films now and it’s a fact, when I look back on it, that I didn’t watched many Disney films when I was a kid. I’d watch The Swan Princess, Thumbelina, Balto, The Land Before Time and The Magic Flute (an animated film so obscure that apparently IMDb does not have it there, wow). FernGully was a love-hate relationship when I was a kid. I loved the fairies and the message of saving the rainforest, but I was terrified like crazy by the villain, Hexxus, a horrifice image of oil, sludge and skeletal bones. I had to choose between the story and the nightmares Hexxus caused afterwards.

At the end of the day, these movies were less about fantasy princesses, but characters placed in circumstances that took bravery and strength to overcome. Their happy endings were never determined by a prince to save the day, but perseverance in the face of hardship. Those were the movies that made me relate to the protagonist and love it when in the end they find their happiness.

Till next time!

cumuloq ❤

Childhood Places in Perth, Australia

It’s been ten years since I was back in Perth, Australia, my childhood city. I think if there was one thing I have to be thankful of in my life, it’s that I had that ideal childhood growing up. My school focused less on competitive academics, there were no tests, the class was not graded from best student to worse, there was a zero tolerance to bullying and (although I don’t know whether to be proud of this) my parents spoiled my brother and I silly with anything that we really wanted.

So, for this series of posts, it is me sharing all the things I loved about my childhood, and things that just make me feel like a child again. And maybe somewhere in these series of posts, you’ll feel some love for your childhood too. Today, it will be all the places that were just awesome when I was a child growing up in Perth. And if you ever go there, these are the places I’d probably tell you to check out too:

1. Cottosloe Beach

Whenever summer holidays came around, my family and I would always end up here, eating ice-cream (my favourite had to be Paddle Pop Rainbow or the Chupa Chup Ice-creams), fish and chips, hanging out at Blue Duck Cafe, building sandcastles, playing frisbee or ball, and boogie boarding. This was mainly ’cause it was the closest beach to my home, just on the other side of Stirling highway. A lot of my best summer memories come from over there.

2. King’s Park

And for the cooler months, we went to King’s Park. Mostly the kid’s area with the awesome playground. There was a rock in the sandpit that my friends and I used to climb atop and see who was daring enough to jump off of it and how far. (Don’t worry, it’s not as scary as it sounds, it wasn’t that high – for a kid maybe, but it wasn’t that high.) And we used to eat loads of BBQ food there too. We’d have sausages – oh my God, I miss Australian sausages, they were the best (no, dirty-minded readers, it was not meant to be an innuendo).

I’m not too sure whether the above photo is that accurate of the place. I remember that they kept renovating it when I got older, ’cause a lot of parents didn’t think the playground was that safe. I do remember that a kid fell off of the equipment and they actually managed to get the ambulance on the island. Another thing I remember was that they started to change the logs that crossed the lake to bridges, ’cause people would attempt to cross it and it looked really dangerous. But, no, I shouldn’t be advertising this about King’s Park (yes, I’ll make an awesome travel agent). As a whole, it was one of the most prominent parks I’ve been to, constantly. It was the last park and party I had when I had my family’s farewell party before moving out of the country.

3. Perth Royal Show Grounds

Every year, when I was a kid, I’d tell myself that I wouldn’t get anymore of those show bags. And every year I fail, really badly. There would always be about three bags that I’d have to narrow my choices to, and then narrow it down to two. Then we’d base our day around what we want to see and where those show bags are. My brother and I have never actually tried the rides, ’cause we were young and terrified of all those fast moving rollercoasters and spinning contraptions, but we’d always end up looking at the petting zoo and try some of the games. I think this was my mum’s personal nightmare, chaperoning two hyped-up-on-cotton-candy kids.

So these are three of my favourite places in Perth when I was a kid. There were many more other places, of course, such as Burswood, Fremantle Park, Scarborough Fair Market, The Aquarium of Western Australia and Scitech – really the list is endless.

But if you ever do stop by in Perth, before judging it as a boring place, talk to the locals and learn about the places we love and why we love them. Sometimes places are made special not ’cause of the activities that are blatantly there but the people you share the space with and the awesome things that you can think of doing together there. In the above places, and in my childhood city, Perth, these places make up part of my memories of my most cherished childhood.

Till next time,

cumuloq ❤