What day is 31 October?

You may say that it is Halloween. However, it is also the start of a colourful holiday in Mexico. It starts on 31 Oct and ends on 2 Nov - The Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos).

The Day of the Dead is when people gather to pray for their dead family and friends. While the rest of the world pray to the dead in black and white, the Mexicans decided to throw in a lot of colours and make it a happy festival (not that I don't approve of).

I've been a fan of the Day of the Dead for a few years now. I just absolutely love the vibrant colours and the carnival-ish atmosphere even though I've never been to one before.





Even the altars are splashed with colours!

Anyway, since that you now know something about the Day of the Dead, let's skip to the movie.



A few students were taken a secret tour in a museum by a tour guide named Mary Beth (Christina Applegate). She tells them about the Book of Life, a book that contains every folklore in the world.



Directed by Jorge Gutierrez and produced by Aaron Berger, Brad Booker, Guillermo del Toro, and Carina Schulze, this particular story revolves around the Day of the Dead in a Mexican town, San Angel (pronounced 'Sahn Ahn-hel').



It all started when the two gods, La Muerte (Kate del Castillo) and Xibalba (Ron Perlman), who reigned over the Land of the Remembered (the one with the festivities and colours) and the Land of the Forgotten (the one with dark and typically what you expect from a place without sunlight and life) respectively, placed a bet on which one of two boys would marry a girl that they both love. If La Muerte wins, Xibalba will not meddle in mortal affairs but if Xibalba wins? They'll both exchange realms.



Manolo (Diego Luna), Joaqin (Channing Tatum, pronounced 'Hua-kin'), and Maria (Zoe Saldana) are best friends since childhood. However, Manolo and Joaqin love the same girl - Maria. Maria got sent away for being a free-spirited girl and did not return until a few years later, when she's grown into a beautiful young lady.



Manolo became a bullfighter and a hopeless romantic whilst Joaqin became a famous hero for being remarkably brave. However, Joaqin was secretly given the Medal of Eternal Life from Xibalba when Xibalba and La Muerte made the bet. Therefore, he couldn't get hurt and was practically immortal.



In order to win the bet, Xibalba tricked Manolo into finding Maria in the afterworld. To do that, Manolo had to die. Manolo found his family in the Land of the Remembered and ventured through the Land of the Forgotten to find La Muerte and to get back to San Angel, to Maria.



It is certainly a journey between life and death. There were quite a few touching scenes and the soundtrack? Lovely. Next to Frozen and Rio, this movie's soundtracks are on the top of my list! The songs really touched my heart and the scenes really hit the spot.



For an animated movie, even though most of the characters look very much like puppets, the movie is filled with colours and Mexican culture. It is also has that warm vibe. Compared to the horror films that are screening this Halloween season, this is more subtle and kids-friendly. Not to say that adults and teens should not watch this. This is suitable for all ages!

I've heard my friends talking about horror movies like Annabelle but I did not hear them talk about The Book of Life, which is in my opinion, more worth the money than Annabelle. Summing it all, The Book of Life is definitely an awesome animated movie.



Appreciation note for La Muerte: She is just so beautiful! Not only kind and loving but totally stunning and gorgeous. I think that my next art project will be of her. <3



And for Chuy. THIS PIGLET IS EXTREMELY ADORABLE! I JUST CAN'T.
Spoiler alert: Chuy turned a little creepy a few years later.


More posts coming up since I've finished my exams and was procrastinating and relaxing for the past week. I mean, a girl deserves some rest after sleeping for 2-5 hours in the exam week and had to finish 11 subjects / 23 papers in 7 days! Accomplishment unlocked!

-pics Googled-

Guess most of you must have watched Hotel Transylvania by now, right? I watched it with one of my besties, Michelle, during our trip to Mid Valley last Tuesday. I'm not going to go into the shopping part because I was practically exhausted by the time we were done with it.

Anyway, back to the movie.



What if monsters exist and they are hiding from humans? Monsters like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Invisible Man, Bigfoot, etc.



What if your dad is Dracula? And you are his only child and had never set eyes upon a human being in your more-than-100-year-old life?



What if your dad is the owner of a hotel for monsters? The only human-free sanctuary for monsters all around the world? But somehow, a human boy managed to stumble upon this huge hotel...

And, what if.. your 118th birthday is coming soon?



This is another of those computer-animated film. Well, we've been getting pretty much of these nowadays. I'm not complaining though. (Well, the obvious reason I watched this with Michelle was because all of the action-packed movies screening these days are rated above 18. ugh. But I enjoyed this movie anyway. We had our laughs.)



Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, this comedic animated film turned out to be awesome after all. I'm a huge fan of comedies and action movies. So, I'm content with any one of the two genres. You have to give it credit, it IS funny.



The story is about how Jonathan, a young traveller, ended up in a hotel for monsters and "zing"-ed with Mavis, Count Dracula's daughter at her 118th birthday. By rule, humans are not allowed into the hotel. Count Dracula's attempts at hiding Jonathan's true identity proved to be futile in the end and he forced him away. Unfortunately, he found out that his daughter had already fallen in love with the young traveller...



Mavis looks kinda cute when she turns into a bat and makes those eyes. OK, not kinda, it's TOTALLY CUTE.

There are a few notable actors and celebrities who lent their voices in this film.



The comedian Adam Sandler as Count Dracula.



Selena Gomez as Mavis, Count Dracula's daughter.



Andy Samberg as Jonathan.



Kevin James as Frankenstein.



Cee Lo Green, whom I got to know better by watching The Voice, as Murray the Mummy.



Steve Buscemi as Wayne Werewolf, who has lots and lots of werewolf kids.



And David Spade as Griffin the Invisible Man.



Anyway, there was a pair of father and daughter sitting beside me in the cinema. The little girl was still quite young and they remind me of Count Dracula and Mavis. I mean, I'm kinda jealous of their father-daughter relationship. It seemed like they were having a great time bonding. The girl was so cute and she was speaking in rapid Spanish. Awwww.



Here's what you get when monsters are shocked or dumbstruck. :D
Feel free to leave your comments or thoughts on the movie or anything else, for that matter.

So we were shopping around Mid Valley and decided to watch a movie. Since we had my brother and sister with us we decided to watch a cartoon. We watched the trailer of ParaNorman a few times in the cinema and decided to watch this animated horror movie.


ParaNorman, produced by Laika and directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, is not too scary nor one of those horror movies where the zombies eat brains or rip flesh apart. It is rated PG13 in Malaysia. Here's a short synopsis and setting of the movie [you won't want me to spoil the movie for you, right?].



It all started in the town of Blithe Hollow, where a witch once cursed seven of the townsfolk to never rest in peace and rise as the living dead. Norman Babcock, an eleven year old kid could see and talk to ghosts and he was considered a freak because of that special ability of his. Unfortunately, he was the only one who could stop the witch's curse from being fulfilled...

Yep. Real short, as promised.


Ironically, Norman is a huge fan of zombies and horror movies. A zombie attack on the town did not even cross his mind before this incident.

And here's the movie trailer:



Two of the boys from ParaNorman:

The character of Norman is voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee, a 16 year old Australian boy.



And Neil Downe by Tucker Albrizzi. He is Norman's best friend. Well, technically Norman didn't have many friends because he was considered a freak but Neil stood by him and helped him.


For me, the movie is funny, a little scary and touching towards the end. Yes, I'm getting more and more emotional nowadays. Felt a twinge of sadness when they found out why the witch was executed in the first place. OK, enough about sadness. There are also quite a few scenes which are quite hilarious.


Check out the movie for more!
-pics from Google, trailer from YouTube-