Sunday, August 27, 2006

Extremes

Sometimes I think if I am not a bit weird or what. I have two antagonic sides co-existing inside me.

One is the "I-adore-all-things-cute" side or, most specifically, kawaii. The other is the complimentary "But-I-love-horror-flicks" one. Meaning that people can listen to me digressing and going all "aawwww" at the latest Hello Kitty gimmick and - ten minutes later, literally - going all excited about that new JHorror release where hairy ghosts come out of toasters, for example.

Those two things live inside me like an old Stevie Wonder's song: "in perfect harmony". Although they may seem a bit incompatible to the world around me. That is why I so much identify with Momotchi and Tama-chan, from my beloved Keroro Gunso series. They are characters of "extremes". Taste-wise and pesonality-wise too. I have a bit of their mood swings as well (Mark knows well about it!). I can be in cute-mode now, and the next moment become a venomous harpy! Ha ha! Of course I am exaggerating a bit here, but yeah, you can picture it...

Cute stuff I love:

- Sanrio characters, especially (and above all) Hello Kitty;
- Pucca;
- Morning Glory's Babu and Blue Bear;
- San-X stuff:
- Cute maneki neko;
- Nici stuff;
- Cute Asian makeup brands such as Majolica Majorca, Anna Sui and Lavshuca.

However, there are "cute" stuff I seriously dislike because they look tacky, passé and utterly mind-numbing, such as:

- Some kinds of Teddy Bears (eg, Care Bears and several greeting card ones);
- Barbie dolls;
- Bratz;
- Teletubbies;
- Anne Geddes baby pics;
- Ads where dogs and little babies talk with silly adult voices (eg, Andrex toilet rolls where a lovely and playful Labrador puppy sounds like an old drag-queen, Pampers etc...)

As for the Horror, I must say I am quite proud of my collection of DVDs! Mostly Asian films, because their approach of horror is not only "cleaner" but also deeper, and mostly impressive. Stylish even. And, the Horror I dislike is stuff like Re-animator and Infection for example. They are just plain gross. Period.

Notes: There is no such a thing as a JHorror film where a hairy ghost comes out of a toaster, of course! They normally come out of TVs and bathroom sinks, but not toasters - at least for now; one can only hope...

Also, I recognise this whole cute thing is a bit subjective. I know that, for some people, Hello Kitty may look abominable and Care Bears adorable, for example. Or drag-queenish labrador puppies may sound like the epitome of cuteness... Who am I to say? Anyway, it's all too personal in the end, no?

Finally, the above picture with Momotchi and Tama-chan I got in the super-cool Keroro's Korean website! Worth checking (and bookmarking) it!

3 comments:

  1. Just curious, but is it easy to get Majolica Majorca outside of Asia?

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  2. Hi again Dear! MM cannot be found here at all, but I use some nice EBay sellers in HKG, Adambeauty shop in HKG too, and another guy in Tokyo this one via EBay). All of them have MM, and other brands. I recently even got some Lunasol from the Tokyo seller. I really love Asian mu brands. I think they are great, the foundations suit me better, eyeshadows are of the best quality! Just love it! You are in Tokyo, so you don't have probs in finding them!
    :D
    Still, if you wish I can send you the names of the sellers in HKG at least!
    Thanks for the cooment and talk to you soon!
    a.

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  3. I just started trying the foundations but I don't know where to start. I'm using proudia now, but there are so many other lines! I don't know how to use eyeshadow effectively so I don't use it much :D But I think I will play with MM since they're inexpensive. What I need are sellers who will ship me stuff from the U.S. and Europe though. I mostly read English reviews so there are all these tempting sounding products that I want to try that are really expensive here or just not available. It would be more efficient to focus on the asian stuff though :D

    ReplyDelete