All the photos above can be found in my VSCO Grid.
I've been a major fan of VSCO ever since last year. After discovering the existence of this wonderful app, I've been editing most of the pictures that I took using it. The presets offered by this app are unlike anything that I've seen in other app. They are different yet artisitically promising, and it's a free ticket for aesthetic finders like me who are eager to uncover the beauty in everything.
One of the best things about VSCO is that users get to use various types of presets dedicated for different settings and purposes, such as Analog, Portrait, Mood and Etiquette. Part of the reason why I enjoy using VSCO and trust that it can always satisfy me is that users of VSCO can make use of the various settings offered by VSCO such as the adjusting of Tint, Shadow, Highlights, Contrast and Fade to give their pictures a finishing touch and more appealing appearances.
As clouds drift over the sky, over our heads, we couldn't help but to notice their beauty, yet we have wasted our life away by watching them. Photo taken by yours sincerely.
Just to match the title of this post, and not being able to take many pictures of the nights I lived through, I hope the picture above can fairly match the music that I am going to share in this post. It's called Night Time, My Time by Sky Ferreira.
For the record, I remember listening to Sky's "Everything is Embarassing" song before it became famous. I thought she can sing really well, but because I was watching her singing inside a studio with not much photographic scenes like in music videos, I didn't follow her for a few months. And when finally I watched her again in Night Time, My Time's music video, I thought she was superb. With that, I've become an official fan of hers.
This song is unlike any other song that I have ever listened to. It's depressing, dark as illustrated by the name of the song, the song itself and the settings in the music video, and the most important thing is that it brings certain feelings that no song has ever brought to me. More specifically, they are freedom and regret.
Everyone dreams when they sleep. Dreams give us a whole new perspective in viewing things. They tend to expand our imagination to the maximum. But most importantly, dreams tell us something about ourselves. And as we sleep every night, we dream differently every night. Hence, those dreams are just like school report cards, giving us information about our daily statuses, our personal development and our current problems. This can only happen if we choose to unravel them by finding out what our dreams meant.
And once again, I have finished watching the full lets play of another Amnesia custom story - The Great Work. As players have claimed, it was one of the best custom story ever created even though parts of it is different from the original Amnesia, in terms of music and of course, the story line. I personally enjoy the new settings of the game, especially the different places that the protagonist, Charles had ventured through with the quest of finding pieces of orbs and shards before they fall into the enemy's hands. I really love how the game creator(s) made use of different textures and items to make the different environments in the game immersive and enjoyable, although I must say that many of the rooms like study rooms or places that hold goods looked almost the same which made them seem banal.
Even so, if I were to compare the endings between this game and The Dark Descent, The Great Work will triumph over The Dark Descent in terms of the ingenious concepts behind the final errand that is to be carried out by players. Nevertheless, I absolutely love the cultural places at which players must perform rituals before encountering the antagonist in The Dark Descent. Personally, I think playing The Great Work means that one is about to go through one hell of a journey, as the difficulty has been raised to almost the maximum level and players have to face various situations in which some of them were never featured in other Amnesia custom story.
All the screenshots above are taken by me from the game, Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
" ... Suddenly a blue shimmering light engulfed me and the colors of the forest were washed away before my eyes. I kept running through the bleak surroundings, the trees had turned charcoal black with leaves of cinder, the ground covered in murky water. I pressed on through the drenched land as the glowing ember gave way to the rising wind and rained on me. I could hear pleading screams in the distance and I joined in as pain and fear overtook me. I fell to the ground gasping for air. ..."
- Letter Regarding the Discovery of an Orb, Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
I have just finished watching lets plays of Amnesia: The Dark Descent by a fellow YouTuber. The music, the various ambience and the story greatly intrigues me by every second that I have spent watching the game. The mechanics and systems within the game attracts me, such as the mixing of herbs and other materials to produce acids or explosives via the classic alchemy. Some of the room designs in the game made me shiver, some looked like haven, while some brought me back to the other games. As any game lovers can put it, nostalgia strikes.
I appreciate the artsy and creative reads offered by the fellow game creators, from history to personal mementos with some help from the dark, cultural and sometimes unsteady ambience the game could offer. Also, I appreciate being able to hear real good British accent while watching the player wandering through the places which were heavily filled with impressive culture.
And to end this post, I hereby share my favourite music from the game itself. Do enjoy.
A week or more before the last day of 2013, there came the opportunity for me to finally set my eyes upon the unique art works by fellow Taiwanese. They have that ingenious, simple yet elegant taste in art which made me respect them; not to mention the admiration I have for their restaurants set-up techniques and their way of serving food, meals and their ideas in decorating places or rooms with cheap, simple, and affordable materials, decors, and items.
Of course, these are only my opinions based on what I have seen on the Internet instead of having a vacation trip, travelling to Taiwan to truly experience the exact and precise situation of venturing or perhaps, wandering around Taiwan's souvenir shops, markets and restaurants. I have never traveled to Taiwan before, but I will, someday. After looking and enjoying so many things made and ran by the fellow Taiwanese, I hope my future trip to Taiwan is not disappointing. Fingers crossed xx
Here are some of the photos of various things and situations all around Taiwan.
For the record, The Last of Us greatly inspires me. I love this game as much as I love the other games that I play and watched that I feel that I need to curate all of them inside my heart. But this particular game holds a special meaning inside my heart and my mind. I absolutely love the main game. I always think that it is perfect by itself. And when a new game that serves as a prequel to TLoU is going to be released on 14th of February, I am excited all over again.
Note that I am NOT a PS3 player, so I couldn't play the game nor the prequel. But like the other players, I am excited. As a walkthrough and let's play viewer, I get to immerse myself into the game, either more or less than the players. Even though I can only catch a glimpse of the game through the video above, somehow I feel having a prequel isn't that bad at all. Since the story behind this prequel is going to revolve around Ellie and her bite-free condition, to be honest I find it kind of weird for the game developers to release the main game first before releasing The Last of Us: Left Behind. But of course, if they are to release the prequel first, the players will either feel a few more times excited in waiting for the main game OR they will know what to expect from the main game - but let's not deny that this is rather impossible. Somehow, knowing that Joel is not going to be in the prequel makes me feel sad. Well, he most probably wouldn't because Ellie was not even bitten yet. But nevertheless, it's still perfect, whether the main game has or has no prequel to it.
29 days left before The Last of Us: Left Behind is going to be released. But I don't think I can wait any longer. Dear 14th of February, can you come faster, please?
I love watching V for Vendetta as much as I love watching Requiem for a Dream. V for Vendetta was more poetical and descriptive whereas Requiem for a Dream was more expressive and sad compared to one another.
V for Vendetta, unlike Requiem for a Dream, has a lot of back stories which acted like snowballs to affect V and his decision. Evey, the "young and attractive woman" as stated by a few men throughout the movie, had met V and would have no idea that V was about to help her to become a stronger person, and to fall in love once again or for the first time ever.
The need for freedom has been the major driving force that unites the people inside a country in the movie to fight for what should have been fought for. "I am me" will always remain to be one of those few things from the movies that I shall keep with me. And Valerie, the one who said that phrase, together with her story, shall be kept in my memory for eternal life because they are unusually beautiful and meaningful.
Again, I am going to recommend this movie to everyone and hopefully, you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
This movie was simply an eye-opener for me of the dark side of reality; where nobody can help you but yourself, where rationality plays an important part in our lives, and where all the skills we've learned before are being tested at. As nobody can live without money, but can we make the right choice for us to earn the money we need so much? Are you going to do drugs or silly things just for money?
The film has already proved to me that every human is dependent; nobody can live alone, especially when they are having some problems in their lives. We need people to give opinions, and most of the time we would be guided by the wrong ones because nobody can truly see what's the best for the other. We wanted to help, but we helped in the wrong ways. We were so influenced by what our friends think of us and their suggestions that we could not really decide which path is the best for ourselves. Nobody will tell you what to do and what not to do, nobody is there to guide you; we want what other people has so, so much that we thought it is the right one for us as well. And all these are what this movie is all about.
Hence, I strongly recommend this movie to everyone BUT bear in mind that this movie ought to be rated PG for some of its disturbing scenes.
So 2013 has just passed by without another word. Somehow, I feel sad to see it leaving and become part of the past; for it was one of those years that made my life a better place for me to fit into. Frankly, I couldn't have done it without 2013. There are so many things that I am thankful for, so many things that made me cry within the year. But in the end, I am still grateful. Even though pain never cease, 2013 let me feel whole again. Now, I can finally say "I feel that I'm becoming a better person," the sentence that I've heard coming out of people's mouth for quite some time.
So it's 2014 already. 14 is my birth day number. Is it just me, or do people that share the same birth day number as me feel that it will be a special year for us? Of course, fate can never be determined accurately, even by using the most precised manner. So I, will just have to live through the year to find out what it has in store for me.
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