"I Do... Let's Eat" - Agnes Gielas and Mauriece Dalupang

What's more important than the wedding party? The food. I've always enjoyed going to my cousin's wedding and eating a lot of traditional food that they have decided for all of their guests, family and friends. Food was not only delicious, but sometimes, it was always a work of art. Each dish was very special.

Like my mom, I always love to try new things. Up top this date, I haven't hate anything I've eaten so far. I remember when I was young that I hated to eat green peppers and eggplant. After a few years, I've tried different dishes with those ingredients, and I didn't mind eating it at all. Usually, when you don't like something, you'd avoid eating it or putting in into your dish. Whenever we have dinner with family, they would ask me, "What would you like to eat?" and every time, I would answer, "You guys decide, I'd eat anything." I guess you can say I'm flexible when it comes to people deciding on what we eat.

When I was watching this, I felt that I was behind-the-scenes when it comes to preparing the food for the wedding. Of course, when I was watching, I was hungry. This relates to my other blog, "Rich Bride, Poor Bride". It seems we're always a part of the crew of the wedding, but this time, we're with the chefs. It was always a surprise to the guests what kind of food they'll expect at a wedding. Most of the time, I wonder if we'll have Chinese food at the wedding or something else? Of course, I definitely wouldn't mind as I would like to eat anything. During the wedding, we're in the kitchen seeing how the chefs deal with the preparation of the dishes and when we're in the party, we're with the waiters serving them their food. The reaction of the guests varies, a lot of people like the dish, some don't, but they'll still enjoy eating it. Some are picky eaters, they expect more of this or less of that.

For more information: http://www.foodnetwork.ca/video/index.html

"Murder Most Forgotten - Investigating a cold case

No where on this Earth is considered "safe". Everyone is living in fear. The most scariest thing happens when you're asleep and people come and break into your home.

My mom and I live in an apartment building, so I can definitely relate to this. I remember when my next door neighbor on our floor was broken in to and robbed. At the time, I didn't hear anything, such as a tool used to break the door and enter. Luckily, at the time, they both were on vacation. After that horrific incident, my neighbor hired a locksmith to get a better lock for their door and for their security.

The mother of this case really wanted to remember the night of the incident. Because of her injuries, she lost memory of what really happened. I remember when my computer had crashed and I lost all of the data from the hard drive. After learning my mistake, I now back-up everything important on an external hard drive. Technology happens to fail on us. I remember a tip that when we're filming indoors and we reveal the ceiling, it shows that the character or our main subject in trapped. She felt trapped, living in fear and the reality that her daughter isn't alive. When I was watching this, I felt it was like an America's Most Wanted show, except not knowing who the killer/murderer was. The police and the mother pleaded for the public's help with a reward of $50,000.

For more information: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/WFive/20100129/w5_cold_case_100130/

"F For Fake"

In the beginning of the film, the magician has his film crew record him while he conducts tricks for the child. It reminds me of when we're shooting for our projects and the crew is there with the main subject. 

The opening had lots of film containers, sort of telling the viewers that there was lots of footage used to edit. What is the truth? Actors are acting the chracters that are made-belief. They are so real that we can relate to. Magic plays a huge role in this doccumentary. It's just an illusion to play with the human's mind and imagination. 

Elmyr de Hory was known to be an art forgery. He's known to make fake art into famous pieces. Teenagers, epspecially, follows the latest trends and fashion. This makes them very "fake", they're not being themselves but acting as their favourite artists. When watching this film, I felt that I was with the narrator in the editing suite going through all the footage shots and seeing which ones we like to edit and which footage to remove. Talking about art fogery, it relates with plagiarism. Instead of copying art, people copy text for their projects and make it their own. Today, we now have to quote everything we've used and create a bibliography page. When the fake art was given to the museum to examine, they thought that it was a genuine piece. At one point of the doc, someone bought de Hory's fake painting through a fake cheque. It was definitely karma. The War of the World was the best example used in the documentary. People missed the beginning of the broadcast stating that the broadcast was a fake, but people tuned in the broadcast at the wrong time. A lot of people believed that it was real.

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_for_Fake

"Rich Bride, Poor Bride" - Season 1, Episode 26

When you meet the right girl, the next step is that you want to get married. Open another chapter in life and just start a family, spending the rest of your life with the one you love. After you get engaged, lots of time and preparation are needed for the wedding. Not only that, but money was always a problem. This is where the wedding planner steps in. Once you have the budget set, you need to figure out if it'll match with the overall party.

When I watch this show, I feel that the groom are usually comfortable with whatever gets planned, but when it comes to the bride, they want certain things to make their wedding "perfect". I can understand where this is coming from, because wedding is an once in a lifetime thing that we'll want to remember the rest of our life.

I thought this episode was entertaining. The bride is Chinese-Cambodian and the groom is Jamaican. I love to watch weddings of different races, because I feel that it is more fascinating to watch when it involves the different cultures and traditions and what they'll do to "please" them both. What was outraging was their dog, Pebbles was wearing more costly outfits than the groom. In my opinion, I think it's cute when you dress up your pet, but on the other hand, the pet might not like the idea of being "dressed up". Humans does not know what the animals are thinking. The bride and groom's vows are always so touching to me, makes me want to think about what I would want to say to my future wife on my wedding day. In the end, the wedding is always way over budget than what you originally proposed.

For more information: http://www.slice.ca/Slice/Watch/Default.aspx?categoryID=1219351672

"As Advertised"

I thought this would be something really interesting to do. Usually after 12am, lots of channels advertise these certain products, known as "As Seen On TV". These commercials are known to be infomercials. When we're channel surfing at night, trying to find a show we can watch, we would usually stop and watch an infomercial. In this documentary, they mention the 4 most popular infomercials on television:

Slap Chop

Snuggie

ShamWow

Loud 'n Clear.

After watching these infomercials, they persuade you to purchase their product. What was advertised, didn't work in real life when people have these products in their hands. In my opinion, everyone wants to have a product to "make their lives easier". To be honest, I wouldn't fall into their traps. As a smart consumer, I would like to see the product and be able to test it before I can purchase it. I would also do a little research about the product to further my knowledge and to see whether or not this would be the right product to buy or if there's a better one. Don't fall into their traps!

For more information: http://www.globalnews.ca/16x9/video/as+advertised/video.html?v=2165001798&p=1&s=dd#video

"Koyaanisquatsi"

This documentary has no story/plot behind it. It was basically a lot of footage and images of nature put together. The mountain-like landscape made me feel that there were obstacles to face. You must start from the bottom before reaching to the top.

Time is passing us by. The use of shadows, darkness and time lapse made the shots very effective. In my opinion, it felt like it was something you can watch to make you go to sleep. The shot comparing water and clouds was very interesting, made me feel I was in a very comfortable environment (even floating in mid-air). There were no living creature.

We go back to people's everyday life, where during rush hour, everyone has a destination to go to. Seems like I was on Bay street of downtown Toronto, wearing a suit, waiting for a TTC streetcar to go to a business meeting. When I saw a shot of the sun rise, I felt it was a start of a brand new day with tasks that needed to be finished.

At this point, when I saw this part of the footage, I felt that I was part of the bystander watching this or even an amateur videotaping this footage. The space shuttle was launched and before leaving Earth, it explodes. I knew at that point that no one could've survived and I couldn't do anything about it but to have continued to watch and have the "Oh my God" feeling.

For more information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085809/

"DIY Disaster"

This is my first time watching DIY Disaster. In this episode, Bryan Baeumler (host), interviews Wesley who is disabled and in a wheelchair. It seems that he's an only child in a single-parent family, because his father wasn't mentioned. I'm also an only child raised in a single-parent family, so I can relate. Being the male in the family, you have to "be the man" who has more responsibility to help take care of the family. It's hard for Wesley because he's in wheelchair.

His mom, Donna tried to build a wheelchair-accessible washroom for him, but the bathtub is in one room and he has to go through the living room and kitchen in order to use the sink and the toilet in another. I felt it being difficult to be the single-parent because you have to play the roles of 2 (the mother and/or father). Brian was put into a wheelchair to feel how it's like in Wesley's shoes. Similar to how you think of the situation. For example, saying a joke. If you're the person saying the joke, you have to think of the people listening. Will they be laughing or be offended by it? You have to know the overall outcome. Watching this show, Bryan was in the role of the teacher and Donna was the student. She was learning how to use the tools and to professionally build a bathroom for her son.

This relates to college/university because our professors are teaching us the knowledge we need to gain for the working industry we want to pursue in. My overall outcome about the show wasn't what I expect it to be. I thought they would show people building something completely wrong and see who's the worst. My thought was Canada's Worst Driver. Instead, it shows how Donna have already made a mess in building a bathroom and Bryan is there with a team to show her how to built it correctly so that it is wheelchair accessible. Similar to any other show, the person (in this case Wesley) would love the overall result. You would never see someone at the end of the show saying, "I hate it, rebuild it, I don't like it, looks awful, what is this?" etc...


For more information: http://www.hgtv.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=112229