Category: Thoughts

  • Change is Hard

    Learn to Dress More Modest (Syar'i) | Hola Darla
    This Eid, I had this resolution of trying to learn to dress more modest. I’ve been wearing loose dresses with wider, chest-covering scarves. I must admit that this style is quite inconvenient; muslim women aren’t supposed to show their skin except for their face and hands, so it is necessary to cover our arms, and eating with long sleeves is not the most pleasant thing in the world. That, or I just need more time to adapt.

    Loose dresses and wider scarves are super comfortable, though. I feel like I’m free to move however I like without the fear of getting anything exposed (like when you wear jeans with small t-shirt and you sit down and half of your buttcrack is showing. Noooooooo!!!)

    Change is hard. I still wear pants whenever I feel loose dresses wouldn’t be comfortable to be worn to certain places, e.g. traditional markets. But I’m learning each day. And I hope I’m getting better at it.

    Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

  • The Struggle of a Modern Human Being

    Modern human basic needs
    My friend jokingly said that basic human needs had shifted from “food, shelter, and clothing” to “food, clothing, and internet”. “Even homeless people have smartphones,” she said. While I will never ever say that having a smartphone is more important than having a place to stay, I agree with her to some extent. I’ve been having some trouble with my house’s internet connection lately and it’s not good at all. I need internet 🙁

    I sponsored Sara’s blog last month and it has given me tons of traffic (blessed you, Sara!) so it’s not really a good time to be MIA, no? Right now I’m writing this post at my parents’ house. They installed a wifi connection just a month ago and it’s been a connection heaven for me. If only I lived closer. Haha!

    So… yeah. I’m just stopping by to tell my new readers that 1) yes, I’m still alive!; 2) I’m fixing this internet problem, so hopefully soon I’ll get back to regular blogging; and 3) I really miss catching up with my favourite bloggers. Okay, maybe I’ll just stop whining here right now.

    See you soon!

    Pic from.

    Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

  • Thoughts on Season Finale: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

    WARNING: This post may contain major spoilers.


    So it’s finally here. The season finales of the series I watch are coming. This week is that of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and holy birds was this a good finale! As the previous episode has hinted, this finale tells about the war between the Inhumans led by Jiaying and SHIELD, though I’m not sure if it’s okay to call it a ‘war’ since it looks pretty much just like a small fight but with so many deaths.

    All through the season, I wasn’t sure what to feel about Jiaying. While I was pretty sure that the Inhumans meant no harm at all, I couldn’t decide whether Jiaying was a friend or foe. The previous episode proved the latter when Jiaying killed Gonzales with a Terrigen crystal and then shot herself to make it look like Gonzales tried to kill her. The Inhumans believed her, even Skye at first. But thank God she can see her mother’s true colour when Jiaying is murdering Raina (Yes, folks. The Flower Girl is dead.)

    Jiaying and the Inhumans then attack SHIELD’s ship while Coulson and Co. are busy dealing with Cal’s crazy prower. Here’s the funny part: Coulson gave Cal a pep talk and after all those episodes of Cal hating Coulson, Cal finally teams up with Coulson for the sake of Skye/Daisy’s safety.

    Meanwhile, Ward and Agent 33 have captured and are now torturing Bobbi so that Agent 33 can have some “closure”. Now, there are romances that make you go “Aww…” and there are the ones that make you want to vomit. Ward and Kara’s relationship is the latter and I must say that I’m glad to see Kara dies in the hands of her own boyfriend. Props to Agent May for coming up with that plan! A few episodes ago, I thought that the team should have forgiven Ward and let him back, but turns out the team was right not to trust him again. He’s such a dick.


    Back in the ship, Cal is confronting his wife to try and stop her from executing her plans. Coulson, Mack, and Fitz are trying to stop Gordon from teleporting the Terrigen crystals inside a box. Fitz gets to say the “Science, biatch!” and eventually kills Gordon, but in his last moments Gordon still tries to kill every non-Inhumans on board by dropping a Terrigen crystal. Coulson drops and catches it with his left hand which quickly turns into stone(?). Mack has to go to the rescue and quickly chop Coulson’s arm off. Literally, you guys! And then Coulson screams.

    Outside, Skye is trying to stop her mother but Jiaying insists on carrying on with her plans. She tries to absorb her own daughter’s soul and when Skye tries to stop her with her quake power, Cal comes and kills Jiaying instead, saving Skye from the horror of killing her own mother. Poor Cal. I’ve always liked him but I love him now.

    The conclusion: Coulson now only has one hand. Skye will go find other Inhumans. May is going on a vacation. Bobbi and Hunter may leave SHIELD. Ward is heartbroken (turns out he really loved Kara) and now tries to rebuild HYDRA. Mack is staying. Cal was put into TAHITI program and now lives as a vet and has no memory of Daisy. Fitz finally asks Simmons out and she says yes!!! But then she is dragged into the alien’s substance and we don’t know what happens to her yet.

    I like how the finale actually concludes the whole season. It serves well both as the second season conclusion and the third season premises. While I must say that I don’t want Raina gone, looks like she really is gone because the actress gets a bigger role in another show. Also, I hope Lincoln will be a regular next season. I need more cute guys in the show (aside Coulson). I can’t wait for season three!

    All images are from this site.

    PS. My giveaway on Sara’s blog is ending in TWO HOURS!

    Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

  • Big Hero 6 + Mockingjay Part I


    November is a big month for movie goers like us. After Rurouni Kenshin and Interstellar, we got the chance to watch Big Hero 6 and Mockingjay Part I in less than one week, I was so excited for both of the movies, because Big Hero 6 is the first Marvel-Disney animated movie (it’s Marvel, duh!) and because the Hunger Games series played a big role in our relationship. We didn’t see Big Hero 6 on its premiere, but we did see Mockingjay on its first showing day (which was one day earlier than in the US).

    Big Hero 6 is a very heart-warming movie. The story is about a genius teenage boy, Hiro, who befriends his  deceased brother’s robot called Baymax. Baymax was originally designed to be some kind of a personal health care assistant, but Hiro, fueled with anger and vengeance over his brother’s death, turns it into a fighting robot. Along with four other friends, they team up and chase after the bad guy. It’s that kind of movie that makes you go all teary but not in the Toy Story 3’s kind of way (I ugly cried!). It still has Marvel’s touch of humour, though. So it’s not all sappy. I’m sure you’d want to see this movie. Go take your little siblings or cousins or nieces and nephews, while it’s still showing! And since it’s a Marvel movie, don’t forget to be patient and stay for a while to see the hilarious post credit scene 😉

    Mockingjay Part I is kind of meh; or so I think. I remember when I watched the first part of Deathly Hallows, I couldn’t wait for the following year to see the last part. The same goes with The Hobbits series (it’s next month, you guys!). But with Mockingjay, I didn’t feel the same excitement when the credit started rolling. Maybe it’s mainly because the book itself is actually pretty short, so splitting the story into two movies seems unnecessary. The first movie becomes stretched, and there are several unimportant scenes added; scenes that made me go like “Huh, so what?”. But then again, I may not give the movie a fair credit, since Mockingjay is my least favourite book among the other two. One thing that I love from this movie, though, is the fact that they brought back Effie and placed her in District 13. She’s a sight to see. Also, I like the casting for President Coin and Cressida.

    So, there’s that. Next month will be great too, since there will be Stay With Me Doraemon and The Battle of Five Armies. Come on, December!

  • Interstellar


    At first, I didn’t plan to watch this movie at the cinema. I did want to watch it, but I intended to wait for the movie to be available for download. But the buy 1 get 1 free ticket promo by my debit card provider was too good to resist, so last Saturday A and I watched it.

    This movie is about a post-apocalyptic Earth where the atmosphere is no longer good for living things. Animals are all already wiped out, and people can only grow corn. The United States have collapsed into poverty. The main character was Cooper, a widowed man with two kids. He was a NASA pilot, but he became a farmer after an incident. Cooper and his daughter, Murph, are very close. Murph constantly tells him about the “ghost” in her room which knocks down some books and other things off the shelf every now and then. At first Cooper doesn’t really pay attention to it, but one day, the “ghost” leaves a string of binary code in the form of dust trails that turns out to be a coordinate for the new NASA headquarter. One thing leads to another, and Cooper is sent to an interstellar mission to search for another inhabitable planet for the sake of the humankind.

    I must admit that I don’t really understand space science, so it was kinda hard for me to fully grasp the theories presented in the movie about wormhole, black hole, the time differences, etc. I got out of the cinema with a headache due to that fact. There were also a lot of spinning in the scenes plus bright lights. My head couldn’t take that much pressure all at once, so I needed to stop myself from puking. Yes, it was that bad for me.

    But in the big picture, this movie isn’t so bad at all. The idea of exploring the universe and searching for another planet for us to live in is so interesting. I’ve always wondered if there are other planets with living things out there since I was a kid. My 12-year-old self would love watching Interstellar. Plus, there isn’t any sexual scene in this movie, so it’s actually appropriate for kids who are curious about space, stars, planets, and such.

    It is, however, a little bit slow and boring at the beginning. I almost fell asleep three times during the first 30 minutes. There are several scenes which are not important and can actually be cut off from the movie (like the one when Cooper and his kids drive through a corn field chasing a drone). However, just like other movies by Christopher Nolan i.e. The Dark Night trilogy, it gets better and the end is quite satisfying.

    My last words are: you’d like it.

    Image via.