My 2020 Top 60 Songs: The Best From K-pop Female Groups ~ No. 60 - No. 51

Alright, it's that time again to countdown my favourite songs from female K-pop groups for 2020, and yes, I'm late as usual. I increase the number of songs again, it was 50 songs for the 2019 list and now it will be 60 songs. Why do I have to do this to myself? It's a fun documentation to make from my end so at least that's something.

Don't waste any more time, shall we? Here are the songs from number 60 to 51.

60 - Psycho4U by Girlkind

Dreamy and futuristic are two words that came to my mind when I listen to this song. The group is talented but very under rated in my opinion, hope they will get more recognition. The music video is obviously low budget but it's still good and artistic, do check it out.

59 - So What by LOONA

I feel like LOONA songs always have that international appeal to it and So What is no exception. The music video looks nice too with some very interesting locations like in a subway train and on a roof of a building with what seems like an abandoned building as the background. I think they filmed it in Thailand? Anyway, it looks nice and it gives different vibe than the regular K-pop music video that usually filmed in a studio.

58 - Butterfly by WJSN

It's hard not to like WJSN songs; they always sound good and pleasing to my ears. While Butterfly is a wonderful song, the music video for it seems more simplistic to me compared to their other releases, I wonder why is that?

My Top Films for 2020

It has been a bad year for movies in 2020; only a few of them were released in cinemas, most of them had vacated their original release schedule for future dates, and some of them had been released to streaming platforms instead. It was a mess. 

I had only been able to watch 5 movies total in cinemas in 2020, and 1 movie so far in 2021 (which I am going to include in my 2020 top movies list). Because of that, I would only have 6 movies for my 2020 list! I won't be including movies that were originally scheduled to be released in cinemas but then changed to release digitally for purchase or on streaming platforms. To be honest, I don't really buy movies digitally anyway, I'll usually wait for them to be released on HBO or something.

So here are the 6 movies that I've watched ranked from bottom to the top.

6 - The Grudge

Image source: Wikipedia

It's a slow-paced movie but interestingly, I kind of like it. I'm not sure if it will be in my top 10 list if it's a normal year (without the pandemic and cinemas are open as usual) but I genuinely like this movie. It's a slow burn but in my opinion it works. Interesting cast, interesting setting, and fascinatingly still creepy for a franchise that have been around for two decades now. Andrea Riseborough really stands out for me as one of the main actor in the movie, her performance was fantastic. I don't think I've watched a lot of movies that she starred in but I was surprised to find out that she is the same actress in Oblivion, the 2013 Tom Cruise movie. Wow, her transformation for this movie is shocking, she is like a chameleon.

5 - Soul

Image source: Wikipedia

For a movie dealing with the subject of death, Soul is surprisingly a very cozy movie. From the colourful settings on Earth, the warmth atmosphere in the "Great Before" (where the unborn souls prepare for life on Earth), to the heart-warming story about enjoying life...it is a pretty cozy film to sit through. The two main characters, Joe Gardner voiced by Jamie Foxx and 22 voiced by Tina Fey, are so likeable that it helped making this movie even more interesting. Other stand out characters are the soul counselors at the "Great Before" (or should I called them the "Jerry"s since they are all named Jerry) voiced by Alice Braga and Richard Ayoade, and Terry the soul counter (or should I say the "Great Beyond" accountant) voiced by Rachel House. The story is very uplifting and I really recommended it if you haven't already watched it.

4 - Wonder Woman 1984

Image source: Wikipedia

I love this movie and interestingly the villains stand out as much as the aforementioned hero in the film's title. They are more than just supervillains crave to conquer the world; they have tragic back stories that made me empathize with them. Yes, the film lacks elaborated fight scenes that usually filled these superhero movies but it definitely doesn't make it any less enjoyable. I would say that it does have enough action scenes to get me entertained but what's important to me is the story, and it managed to get me engaged until the end of the movie. I really, really love the villains though so I hope I get to see them again in future movies (fingers crossed).

Andhaghaaram (2020 Tamil film) ~ film review

Image source from Wikipedia

One of the best thing that Malaysians get is exposure to media and entertainment from so many different countries, and this is from free-to-air TV stations no less which is easily accessible by public. Unfortunately, this film will be one that is only available in select streaming platform (read: Netflix).

[Update] The film has been aired in one of the channel on ASTRO Malaysia (sorry I can't remember which channel), so the film is available on other platforms now.

Andhaghaaram is a 2020 Tamil supernatural/thriller film which is available on Nextflix starting 24 Nov. 2020. It starred Arjun Das, Vinoth Kishan, Pooja Ramachandran, Misha Goshal, Kumar Natarajan and Jeeva Ravi.

The film follows the story of three seemingly unrelated people; a blind and poor young man struggling to maintain the mansion that he inherited from his dead parents, a de-spirited cricket coach who felt guilty after his friend suffered an unknown mental disorder after receiving a book about occult from him as a gift, and a renowned psychiatrist who woke up from coma from the result of being shot by his own patient and found out that he had lost his entire family from the same attacker, as well as losing his medical license and his voice. These three stories which are told separately eventually intertwined to reveal the horrible connection between the characters involved.

Artemis Fowl Book Four: The Opal Deception ~ book review

Title - Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception

Author - Eoin Colfer

This is the review of the fourth book in the Artemis Fowl book series titled The Opal Deception. First published in 2005, the book tells the story of young Artemis Fowl and his fairy friends trying to beat his pixie nemesis, Opal Koboi, from her second attempt at world domination.

It's been years since I read the third book but I must say, it's one of those series that is easy to jump back into. It won't take long for you to familiarize with the characters and the world of the series again, at least that's what I've experienced. I immediately recognized the main characters, the basic plot points of what happened to our main characters in the previous book, and the humorous tone that is carried over to this fourth book which is something that I always like about this series and glad that it is being retained in this chapter of Artemis's journey.

The following review will have minor spoilers of the plot so I recommend that you only read my review if you had read the book, or if you're okay with spoilers.

The Undoing (2020 miniseries) ~ TV review

The Undoing is a 6-episode miniseries aired on HBO (here in Malaysia and I believe in most Asian countries) starting in the end of October until end of November 2020. It starred Nicole Kidman as Grace Fraser, a therapist who found herself intertwined in a murder case of an acquaintance which unbeknown to her involved her family members as well. As the murder case begins to unravel, so do her personal life as she tries to make sense her connection to it and the impact it has on her family.

Overall, this is a really good miniseries. I've been a fan of many HBO miniseries before and I must say this is another one from them that they delivers. The story is very compelling and engaging. It also gave an interesting insight into the life of an elite New Yorker family dealing with a murder, and the attention and spotlight that comes with it.