musicbox 1st generation author

if you're "super" tired of superheroes and movies revolving around the same themes, i've prepared a compilation of movies i've watched for you.
note: you might have already watched some of these. happy watching in advance.

1-big trouble in little china
*jack burton, a truck driver, has a close friend in chinatown who's being harassed by a gang, and this gang kidnaps his friend's girlfriend. however, what the duo doesn't know is that this gang has a 2000-year-old boss named lo pan. that's where the story starts getting weird.

2-bill & ted's excellent adventure
*first, calling all keanu reeves fans! in our movie, two buddy friends bill and ted have formed a rock band called wyld stallyns and have dreams of pursuing this path. however, these two pals have problems with their studies. they've failed history class, and if the upcoming exam goes badly, ted's father will send him to military school. this means the duo will split up. one day, a strange man named rufus comes to them and tells them they can travel through time, and the duo knows that the way to learn something is to experience it - and that's where our story begins.

3-police story
if you want to watch an action movie without filters, effects, and stuntmen, i can say this movie is exactly for you - actually, we can extend this statement to all of jackie chan's old movies. our story is about hong kong police department planning a big undercover operation called "operation pig hunt" to arrest crime lord chu tao, and our hero kevin is part of the operation. they arrest chu, but due to insufficient evidence, chu tao was released on bail at the hearing. in short, if you want to watch a complete revenge action movie, this one's for you.

4-who framed roger rabbit
*this film, which combines animation with live-action, takes place in hollywood. our main character roger rabbit is a famous actor, and his work has brought him real fame and his beautiful, sexy wife jessica rabbit (woohoo!). since roger is a jealous person, he suspects his wife is having an affair with marvin acme, so he makes a deal with a detective named eddie valiant. shortly after, marvin acme is found mysteriously dead. roger becomes the prime suspect in this murder, and events turn into a police chase.

5-howard the duck
*this movie contains many elements including space, parallel universes, and different worlds. howard lives on a planet - or perhaps in a parallel universe - where anthropomorphic ducks exist. he would go to work and come back like humans do on earth, but one day when he comes home from work and sits in his chair to relax, the chair pulls him into space through a black hole or wormhole, and he finds himself in our known world. while looking for a way to return home, he also shapes his life on earth.

6-weekend at bernie's
*now we come to one of my favorite movies; this buddy film, which features intrigue, money, murder, and comedy elements, will ensure you have a good time. let's get to our plot: larry and richard are two low-level finance employees working at an insurance company in new york city. while reviewing company reports, they discover a series of strange payments. they get praised by their boss for this, but little do they know about company ceo bernie's involvement. bernie invites these two buddies to his home to eliminate them, but meanwhile, he gets killed. when the two buddies discover bernie's dead, they panic and start pretending like he never died.

7-three amigos
*three buddies who made films called "three amigos" during the silent film era become unemployed when business goes bad. meanwhile, in a mexican village, a bandit named el guapo has been terrorizing and extorting the area. fed up with this situation, the villagers collect money among themselves to hire mercenaries. the villagers, mistaking the three gunslingers they saw in the cinema for real, write a letter with a job offer. our naive friends think the offer is for a movie and go to the village. soon our simpletons realize the truth of the matter, and the story takes a strange turn.

8-beetlejuice
*in this tim burton film, barbara and adam are newly married and madly in love with each other. one day, they lose their lives in a car accident while driving to town. they find themselves as ghosts in their house and can't leave. upon their death, their house is sold, and they don't like the new owners, so they embark on something they shouldn't do. beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuice - and there he comes. well, enjoy watching, folks.

9-akira
*you could say this anime inspired many films like the matrix, inception, and many others. the year is 2019, and the film takes place in tokyo 31 years after world war iii. chaos reigns in neo-tokyo, built in place of tokyo after the war. police and security forces are struggling against this chaotic environment. a motorcycle gang led by shotaro kaneda lives as they please, ignoring law and authority. one day, gang member tetsuo has an accident and is severely injured. officials arriving at the scene take tetsuo away to conduct experiments on him. as a result of the experiments, tetsuo gains incredible telekinetic abilities. now you'll see what chaos really means.

10-8 millimeter
*the plot of this film, which contains mystery, the porn world, and brutality: talented private detective tom welles starts working with a wealthy man's wife. because the woman finds an 8mm film in her dead husband's safe that appears to depict a real girl's murder, she wants this investigated, and events draw our detective into the dirty side of the porn world. i won't say more - just watch it.

11-what dreams may come
*would you go to hell for someone? if your answer is yes, i can say this film is exactly for you. let's look at our plot: chris and his wife annie are madly in love and living happily until one day a traffic accident changes their entire lives. their beloved children lose their lives in this accident. after their children die, chris puts everything on the line to save annie from this psychological depression but fails, and annie commits suicide. however, chris doesn't give up and tries to find ways to be happy again.

12-ghost
*molly and sam are a couple in love. sam is stabbed to death by a thug, and molly is devastated. but when sam's spirit leaves his body, he gets the chance to slowly discover the afterlife and tries to reach molly again. finally, he finds himself a medium and then puts his plan into action.

13-sleepy hollow
*we're seeing another tim burton film here. in our film, ichabod crane is a different and talented police officer with his own methods. one day, he's sent to a town called sleepy hollow where bloody murder cases are taking place. all victims are killed mercilessly, with their heads separated from their bodies. the entire town thinks these murders are being committed by a ghost, and our strange police officer ichabod crane has sworn to solve these cases.

14-interview with the vampire
*you must watch this film which is packed with stars. a young journalist starts interviewing a mysterious man who claims to be a 200-year-old vampire. then he begins to tell his 200-year life story.

15-the game
*finally, if you want to say "holy cow," you need to watch this film. i won't say much about its plot and bid farewell by saying enjoy watching.

here are some interesting tree trivia that i've found in my commonplace book recently:

- trees are the longest-living organisms on earth and never actually die of old age.
- trees can communicate with insects that attack them. some trees can fill their leaves with medicinal-like substances to protect themselves against insect attacks and other plants.
- pine trees can grow on every continent except antarctica.
- trees can lower air temperature by evaporating water from their leaves.
- if a bird's nest is attached to a tree branch, the tree can't grow upward.
- a tree's trunk grows in summer, while its roots grow during fall and winter.
- trees growing in sunny spots have thicker bark compared to those growing in shade. shade-grown trees usually have thinner bark.
- trees growing in humid areas and near large water sources have large/broad leaves. trees in dry environments with little water have small and tough leaves.
- oak trees, which can adapt to most environments, represent wisdom, strength, and loyalty.
- oak trees attract more lightning than other trees.
- oak trees don't produce acorns until they're 50 years old.
- there are about 3 trillion trees on earth. tree numbers have decreased by 46% since the neolithic period.
- pine cones have genders.
- botanically speaking, palm trees aren't actually trees - they're large woody plants.
- the locations of the world's tallest and oldest trees are kept secret to prevent tourist damage to the trees and their surroundings.
- according to botanic gardens conservation international, there are 60,065 tree species worldwide, but 300 of these are on the brink of extinction.
- trees can reduce unwanted noise by masking sound waves, particularly with their leaves and branches.
- spending time in nature around trees reduces mental fatigue and muscle tension. life is calmer in areas with more trees.
- trees help prevent air and water pollution.
- trees are just as important for wildlife as they are for humans. they provide food, shade, and habitat for many wild animals.

i'm not the kind of person who complains about everything, but here i am! this happened a while ago when i went to see dune 2. the cinema was crowded, and we all settled into our seats, waiting for the movie to start. on the right side of my seat, a woman was sitting alone. then a lovely young couple walked in and sat on my other side, each holding an xl popcorn. while they walked, the smell spread all around and it was tempting, and i thought about getting one for myself.

the moment they sat down, immediately started pouring popcorn into each other's mouths, completely unaware of the enormous amount of noise they were making. since the movie hadn't started yet, i was holding onto the hope that the noise would be drowned out once it did. wrong! they were right next to me, and somehow, they had a magical popcorn that never seemed to run out, no matter how much they kept chewing, nonstop, full speed. the lone woman i mentioned earlier couldn't take it anymore and left within the first 15 minutes.

in the end, i left the movie regretting that i hadn't just watched it at home, where i could eat my own popcorn at a fraction of the cost and in peace. is this newly developed intolerance toward people, especially when we're alone, about being jealous of couples in a masked way, or is it a legitimate complaint?

on the one hand, i want to see movies on that gigantic screen with epic sound systems, but on the other, i love my cozy place at home where i watch movies, usually by myself, without being disrupted by strangers' behaviors.

maybe the middle ground is the way to go; just see movies during off-hours on weekdays to get the best of both worlds.

such creative work from airbnb, absolutely loved them all! you can see all those icons on their homepage * basically they are custom designed places to stay to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

my favorite one is edna's house from the incredibles. the following image and its commentary, which is coming directly from the mouth of edna mode, made me laugh hard :)

image

"you might recognize that mural on the wall. it was a gift from a super whose supersuit i designed. he goes by the chiseler. exceptionally talented."

the only down part is they were only available for a very limited time, not sure why was that. they must have spent an astronomic number on those designs, to only shut them down after a month? that's crazy.

al pacino's legendary dance in 'scent of a woman,' where he plays the role of a blind man, begins with these legendary words: 'charlie, give me the coordinates of the dance floor. (see: here's the dance!)

something i enjoy doing while occupied with other tasks. it flows smoothly alongside activities like working, washing dishes, or driving.

but does it make a person better, more culturally? i'm not sure. it's like listening to the radio, no need to overly glorify it.

my favorite ones are usually history-related podcasts. (see: dan carlin) it's not like a boring history lesson, more like watching a high-budget series.

he is a next-level podcaster. the 'blueprint for armageddon' series starts with the assassination of archduke franz ferdinand of austria-hungary. but the guy never slips up, no errors in his storytelling. he adjusts his voice, tone, and emphasis so perfectly that you find yourself in the trenches of the battle of verdun, under the hail of machine-gun fire shooting 200 rounds per minute over your head.

the only downside is that this isn't the kind of podcast you can just play in the background for some casual noise. it demands full attention, or you'll miss the tactic that won the battle in a flash.

if you like history, you should definitely give it a listen.