Saturday, September 12, 2020

I SURVIVED 2020 SO FAR



Well, what should I say about 2020. I guess no one would've expected that this year would literally the worst that could happened to all people in the world with huge natural disaster, many other things as depicted in the picture above and most of all the horrifying COVID-19 pandemic.

This illustration/design was made by me as a reminder and also an encouragement despite what had happened until today, we all still survive and alive today. 

The design itself is open for sale with negotiable price. Feel free to contact me at my email: thedreamernoodlemie@gmail.com or meenoestigma@gmail.com  

Thursday, September 10, 2020

ALICE / Aelriseu (Korean Drama 2020)

After a while, I've found one interesting and intriguing Korean drama this year named 'Alice'. It is still an ongoing drama with only 4 episodes so far but I can't wait to see what's next to come. I might add some more review with conclusion later on if it is needed.

There's nothing new in the premise of this drama nor the theme since it is about time travel, parallel universe and changing the past or present or even future with the hope for a better life of human kind in some way. The plot is  quite fast for early episodes with back and forth timeline from one to another scenes to tell its story and background in general. Perhaps it was meant to give a better understanding to the viewers of what it's all about.

While some people made a rather pointless argument about the age gap between the main characters and how difficult it is to understand the pace, I would like to point out more on the riddle to solve among the characters themselves. It may not be well-received by those who crave for cheesy easy cliche romance drama with shallow plot. Anyway, we will see it in the next episodes whether the lead female - physic professor is  truly the mother or it is entirely different person to the lead male - police detective guy. I like Joo won and Kim hee seon here no matter the age gap thing since it is not too obvious in their overall appearances. Kim hee seon looks  a lot younger in her 40s and Joo won is good as he is. ( to be continued)

UPDATED TODAY 25/10/2020

So, I finally finished watching this drama's last episode today, but on a note of only being curious with how the writer wrapped the whole things up instead of eagerly interested  and couldn't wait for it. I was full of expectations and excitement on the earlier episodes since it blew my mind away. However, it changed drastically as it progressed towards the end. As if it lost the charm and poof the magic was just gone and became draggy, boring, predictable and utterly nonsensical with so many plot holes. It has a similar case with 'Memory of Alhambra' where suddenly everything gone sour although it started with a good premise. Let me break down some of the things that made me shake my head so many times throughout the story (spoilers alert): 

1. Park Jin Gyeom (Joo Won), the main character, the child of prophecy, the special 'creation' with - special time travel ability without card-added later on, ended up as a crying, whiny, clueless, a bit psycho man who wasn't supposed to have another doppelganger as villain since his mother was a person from the future of 2050 who stayed 70 years in the past on 1992. He, who was being told as not having enough emotion but crying over his inability to save his mother several times. He can be at the right place and the right moment to save the professor with his 'lightning speed' many times because the time delay in between the dangerous moment was quite long and the bad guys were taking some times off to threat his victim before doing something vicious. He who eventually didn't die or disappear although the time was reset and everything else went back to normal as if his mother magically didn't come to 1992 and she supposed to maybe not even got pregnant if she didn't meet his dad Min hyuk at Alice. The most ridiculous thing was when his dad/Min Hyuk sedated him and kept him somewhere safe,then the professor Oh Seok Won (time traveler) asked Min Hyuk where Jin Gyeom was when he went back to Alice headquarter, a few moments later Jin Gyeom magically on his way to Alice and truly knew where he was going just like that and managed to get inside to then killed Oh.

2. Yoon Tae Yi (Kim Hee Seon), the mother and the physic professor shared the same names but different personalities.At first, the writer indicated that they were 2 totally different person who can live in the same time in 1992 and 2010 and has different neck mark. Yoon Tae Yi/Park Sun Yong as the mother was the creator of Alice/time travel machine, came to 1992 to collect the book of prophecy and leave little 9 years old Tae yi- professor later on- alone as when the police came. But then she was the one who took care of her and easily claimed as her mother. She who tried to invent another way to stop the time travel was not fully described as the inventor of the machine but more like only Alice staff at first, but then she was described as utterly genius who knew from the beginning about the book of prophecy and it was her ego not to stop the machine at the end. The most weird thing was when she killed herself just to save her son. The 2nd Yoon Tae Yi as the physic professor was a genius and had to witness her dad's death by time traveler, got a long amnesia, fascinated about time travel, an egoist with anger management problem but later on had something going on with Jin Gyeom and much later on met with the mother who magically transferred some memories to her as if she became the mother in one hell of a confusing episode. Her busy body to find solution was mere business out of nothing achieved for it in the end. She was ended up the one who remembered everything. That's it.

As for other characters, the plot twist over plot twist just made them  funny and confusing characters which were added to make the story merrier without any proper explanation as to why it happened the way it was. They live, they died, they were nothing. The different skin mark between Alice and illegal time traveler in the end made no sense, no difference and just nothing. 1-10 episodes were OK and the remain 6 episodes were lame. Ending was lame. The genre was forcefully mixed half way too for no reason with a pinch of comedy, cringe, romance moment. For final score for me as a mere drama viewer is almost 7 out of 10. I suspected either the writer was being changed or simply lost the golden idea half way.           

* the illustration is made by me last week in speedpaint process based on the real poster.

* for Fashion notes: I like Tae Yi's clothing style with her Jackets, blazers in casual mix and match.     

 


 

Friday, June 12, 2020

Kajol, Kyoko Fukada, Tuba Buyukustun, Song Hye Kyo and Rachel Weisz (My Favorite Actresses)

They are my favorite actresses from different countries.I made this semi collage illustration of them back in January 2020. 

I will write here why I like them for years in clockwise order. 

Kajol (India)

She caught my attention after I watched her movie; Kuch kuch hota hai, back in the year 2000. I instantly being a fan of hers and have been looking for more of her works. Her beauty is unique and her acting is natural. My favorite movies from her would be: Kuch kuch hota hai, Gupt, Dilwale dulhania le jayenge, Kabhi khusi kabhi gham, My name is Khan, Faana.

Kyoko Fukada (Japan)

I watched her for the first time in her first drama, Kamisama mo sukoshi dake. After that, I always anticipate her new work through the years although I might not follow or watch all of them. My favorite drama from her would be: Kamisama mo sukoshi dake, S.O.S, Second Love, Please love the useless me and more. I wish she would found her perfect man someday and have a happy life as depicted in her dramas.

Tuba buyukustun (Turkey)

I like her a lot after watching her phenomenal drama "Kara para ask" with Engin Akyurek. I like her sense of fashion there too. I'm curious with her previous and latest work, however, it is not easy to find the online streaming drama to watch. 

Song Hye Kyo (South Korea)

I love her since Full house drama. It even inspired me when I built my home. Her beauty is just flawless and I didn't get bored watching her. As any other actresses above, I follow her latest news for almost everything. My favorite drama from her would be: Full house, That winter the wind blows, Descendants of the sun and the latest one, Encounter.  I still wait for her new project and wish she would eventually find the right man for her future.

Rachel Weisz ( UK/USA)

I fell in love with her after watching mummy movies back then. I often look for her movies, but I didn't watch them all. I like her mostly on The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, About a boy, The Constant Gardener, My Blueberry Night, My cousin Rachel

  

Kim Hee Ae in Secret Affair and The World of the Married (Korean Drama 2014 - 2020)

Lately I've been so overwhelmed with the news of Kim hee ae and her latest drama which most of Korean drama lovers known and that she was awarded as the best actress in Baeksang Art awards 2020. Therefore, I need to share some of my thoughts through my writing here about her.

Long before her drama (The world of the married -TWotM) became an undoubtly formidable hits drama this year, I've seen her in her previous drama back in 2014, Secret Affair (SA).

Both her new and previous drama shared the same theme, an affair or forbidden love from a married person. The most obvious difference would be her role there. 

Let's start with Secret Affair (2014). There,  she was the one who did the affair with one young pianist in his 20s while she was an independent unhappy married woman in her 40s. Yes, she was having a cold relationship with her husband who worked as a professor for years. He'd never touched her and seldom communicating other than works and daily conversation due to him being too busy on his own. Having been too lonely for years, she suddenly saw something interesting in the new talented young pianist who sought new knowledge for his skill from her. The rest was where all the problems, conflicts, love, secrets and society stigma collided until the end. It was a good drama and worth to watch with 8/10 for my personal rating.

As for The World of the Married (2020), it's quite the opposite where she played as a betrayed wife by her cheating husband with a young woman. Due to too much hype and attention on this drama also dozens of spoilers all over the social medias, I've decided not to watch this anytime soon. However, I somehow got the essence of the story and all the praises for her acting there.

In brief, both of her roles in these dramas offered one similar problem in different perspectives. I don't justify myself with agreeing her having an affair in SA, but under a different circumstance, she deserved a man who truly loved her like the young pianist and not as cold as her husband who made her as a mere pride show. However, in TWotM. as a woman, I would fully agree with her letting go of her toxic relationship with her ex husband for a better life. I need to spoil a bit about the ending for it was not like a fairy tale happy ever after ending story but a chunk of life with a lesson learned and moral values. 
Other than that, her 'high end-fashion runway style' costumes in both dramas were all excellent and had made her a great description of high society lady there. Unfortunately I didn't have more times to collect those pictures of her clothes to show here.

That's for her reel life as far as I follow. As her real life, she is happily married with her husband and children.
 
*The drama posters are not mine but belongs to the rightful owner but the graphic drawing picture above is mine.      
  

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

JW Jones T-shirt in 2012


This was an old winning design for a Canadian musician, JW Jones. I did it back in 2012 for women merchandise t-shirt. For portfolio purpose only. Any copy/use/repost/share is not allowed. The design now belongs to him. 
*insert picture : above is the mock up design that I did back then in 2012 and below is the actual product stock photo owned by the musician (not mine)

Indie Hackers T-shirt Design Concept Last Year

This was the development of my initial design concept from the first time and the final one last year. 

The idea was to describe all the things which related to the concept of Indie Hackers definition in an illustration for t-shirt. 

I humbly honored and appreciated the appreciation shown in his tweets for this. Thank you

The post about it is meant for portfolio purpose only. Any copy/share/repost without permission is not allowed.
The design belongs to them now.  

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Sevimli Tehlikeli / Cute & Dangerous (Turkish Movie 2015)

I was bored back then and scrolled around some videos on Youtube to find something interesting to watch when finally I came across this movie.
 
The story in the movie revolved around Zarok who was being ordered to kidnap a baby girl in Edirne many years ago when he was a young orphan boy, causing a family to suffer from great pain for life. He did it assuming the person who told him so was his own dad but actually just a bandit who then killed by the client who took the baby. Many years have passed, the baby girl turned to be a young and beautiful girl named Zelis. They both met in an awkward way and since then the journey of both of them began. This movie is written and directed by well known Turkish actor Ozcan Deniz.

The premise was good, the overall package was also delightful to see. I love the ending. I gave like 8 out of 10 for this as a light and watchable movie with a good moral value.


The poster and photo belong to the rightful owner and not mine. 

DevOpsDay 2019 - Austin, Texas

This was one of my winning design for a contest last year. The theme was for one annual t-shirt in Austin, Texas.

It was a great pleasure and a fun time also proud to see it being used in the event.

The Tale of Nokdu & Vagabond ( Korean Drama 2019)

Tale of Nokdu (2019) 

At first, I did not intend to watch this drama due to lack of interest. However, after a few scenes from its early episodes shown in some social medias, I began to put more attention and finally watched it until the end.

It was overall interesting with fresh young actors, fresh story and unpredictable twists. It occurred to me that it would be like another light romcom drama with Joseon background but it was heavier and deeper than it seemed.

The story revolved around a young man who tried to find out about his real identity and a young woman who sought revenge for her parents' death because of the cruel insecure king. Destiny made them crossed paths with each other and all other mystery surrounded the story behind the tragedy. I have to give it like 8 out of 10 for all aspects especially the main male protagonist's acting when he disguised himself as a lady. I also got to say that the costumes from the drama were great in a bright-cheering-colorful tones which not necessarily refer to the actual color of that Joseon era.




The drawing/illustration is made by me and inspired from once of the lovely scene in one episode.

Meanwhile, the real cover of the drama is not mine but belong to the rightful owner 

Vagabond (2019)

This was one of my most anticipated Korean drama in 2019. I really like the actors and also the trailer. It was really promising and interesting.
The genre is action, political thriller drama with all the complicated unpredictable story related to money, power, love, trust issue, spy agents and more.
The special effect was outstanding like a movie would do, however the depth of the story was not good enough to define a great pack of genres I've mentioned above. I've watched it because I like the casts and the trailer. 
Overall it was good enough although I can't say it was better than Iris or complicated as Jason Borne movies. It was much lighter than that with sort of open ending too. I would give it about 7 out of 10 for my personal taste.
Despite all that, I like the clothes worn by the female protagonist though. It didn't show much but casual-elegant in her own way.

I randomly did speedpaint drawing inspired by one of the scene in one early episode when the protagonists were in Morocco.






Tuesday, January 21, 2020

ASCE LAYMF 2019 OFFICIAL T-SHIRT

This was another illustration came to life as official t-shirt for ASCE LAYMF event last month in LA. Thank you for @garrent.from.boston for your kind permission to upload it. 
For portfolio purpose only. Any copy/repost/share is not allowed.