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Netflix Series Review: Unorthodox

Waking up this Independence Day, I thought about what this holiday meant and the deeper meaning of it outside of the beers, barbecue, and fireworks. Historically it is the ratification of the Declaration of Independence where the thirteen colonies broke away from British rule. Creating a document and obtaining signatures was a way to claim freedom. It seems kind of easy but then we have to understand this is one type of freedom. There are many other types of freedoms to be unleashed.

In Unorthodox, the main character is a woman named Esty from the Hasidic community in Williamsburg, NY. Personally I never knew about this community growing up in the suburbs of Houston, TX and found out about them through various Youtube documentaries. The Hasidic community is very archaic, strict, and by the scroll called Torah. Members of this community are not allowed to use social media, have a strict kosher diet, cannot freely have premarital relations with the opposite sex, and must adhere to the laws of their community. Due to their religion and culture being very streamlined, this community sticks to their own and rarely interacts with members outside of their little world. This series explores how this woman names Esty has the curiosity to venture outside of the Hasidic world.

The series is divided into four parts and it starts out with Esty collecting a few of her possessions and running away. Of course through watching the trailer for this series, the viewer knows that Esty is fleeing her life in Williamsburg and going to Germany. The whole fascination is to answer the question “Why?”. Even though the Hasidic community is portrayed by the media as patriarchal and inhospitable for the modern independent woman, why does this one particular woman named Esty take that step to run away? What is her deal? Why don’t the other married women run away? What is her story?

Her story unfolds through flashbacks throughout the series. It turns out that her mother has also left the Hasidic community in the past to be with her non-Hasidic lover. The mother moved to back to Berlin to live a life away from the orthodoxy. It is revealed that she leaves Esty some immigration paperwork that gives her citizenship in Germany in case Esty ever wants to leave the Hasidic community as well. In the flashback, teenage Esty is cold towards her mother when she gives her the paperwork and Esty asserts that she is happy where she is and will never leave. The viewer knows that this changes and cannot help but smile at Esty and say to the TV screen silently “but you will you crazy girl, stop being so rude to your mom”. 

Esty does leave after a year of her arranged marriage to her awkward man-child husband Yanky. She realizes that there is much more to her than being someone’s wife and someone’s mother. Even during her first meeting with Yanky she does tell him that she is different. I don’t know at that time if Esty knew what she meant by that word “different” or why she said that randomly to her future husband. I think it was at this point she was becoming self-aware of how she did not actually fit inside of this conformist community but did not know what to do with this new information so like everybody else, she just let others decide her life for her. 

However after a little growing up, she realized that this way of living was not for her. She wanted to make her own decisions. She wanted to love how she wanted to without unsolicited advice from her in-laws and the Kallah teacher. With the help of a piano teacher who lives as a tenant in her father’s property, Esty arranges a secret escape to Germany. 

When she first arrives in Berlin, she is too nervous to face her mother so she walks around and takes in her new and different surroundings. The scene where she arrives in Germany is reminiscent of Amish In The City because she is still wearing her sheitel (married Jewish woman wig) with the modest librarian outfit of a boxy long skirt and a turtleneck. Aside from her appearance, Esty just looks confused an in awe of the human interactions around her. She enters a coffee shop to get a drink and then follows this cute musician guy to a music conservatory. Esty is fascinated by performances and lifestyle of the artists. It is seen on her face how she finally has found a place where her true different self fits. She quickly becomes friends with the musicians and they go to the beach. While in the water for what it seems like the first time fully clothed, Esty takes off her wig and lets it float away. This seems emotional for her and as the viewer you cannot help but feel happy for her. It is an abdication of her religion if you want to look at it from that dramatic point of view. It is her way of saying, “I will no longer conform or follow, I just want to be seen”.

While Esty is finding her place in Germany, back in Williamsburg her husband receives a call from her gyno about her positive blood test results. Esty is pregnant. After discovering she has run away, the Hasidic community did put out search parties but after this news of a baby on the way the search for her gains more fervor. This part made me roll my eyes when the Rabbi was like we HAVE to find this woman because she is with child. Is she not important or worth seeking without child? 

Yanky and his creepy playboy cousin Moishe set out to find Esty in Germany. They terrorize her mom who has no idea that Esty is in the same city. Examples of toxic masculinity are seen in their parts of the series. Moishe finally finds her dancing with a musician at a nightclub. Instead of yanking her out of the club on the spot like the misogynist he is, Moishe creeps up on her the next day and tries to emotionally blackmail Esty. He tells her that since she is with child she needs to come back to Williamsburg and is a traitor to Judaism if she stays in Germany. He tells her that she will not survive and will be a bad mother. This riles up Esty emotionally for a short bit but then she decides to run to her mom’s apartment where she is met with open arms. There she learns the truth about the circumstances of why her mom had to leave. Esty makes the choice to stay in Germany and to keep her baby.

Overall this series is dramatic, poignant, emotional, and the cinematography is on point. There have been many documentaries in social media about people’s escape from Hasidism but the thing that makes Unorthodox different is its ability to tell a story. It is the story of one woman named Esty who wants the opportunity to find herself, to find what makes her different, to live by her own rules. To do all that she has to liberate herself from those who try to rule her way of life in the name of religion. Sounds a lot like my friend America ;) 

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Drop The World Atlas

While driving to work this morning I had my first listen to Coldplay's new song "Atlas" on the radio. Of course being a Randian troll I immediately zoned into absorbing the lyrics to see if they referenced Atlas Shrugged. Whether that was the intent or not of the songwriters, I consciously took every line to reference something in the book only to set myself up for the disappointment later that this song came off The Hunger Games OST. The thing that threw me off about "Atlas" from Coldplay was the searching for gold and some dragon to slay because there was nothing in "Atlas Shrugged" that fit that. In A Game of Thrones, yes but not in Rand's great novel. 

There is no song like "Drop The World" by Eminem & Lil Wayne & Company that follows closely to the book. Also there is no song as passionately executed about the themes present in the book. The theme about how greatness is achieved by an individual and his or her mind. The theme of how being true to yourself while living in a society that's fucked up. The theme of how hard work is in itself a reward.

Sometimes I feel like the present world we live in is modeled by the society that Rand fashioned in her book. Especially when I'm at work and have to deal with the menaces of society. Makes me want to go escape to some hidden valley. But being me, I choose to stay and fight. 

"Because bitch I pick the world up and drop it on your fucking head."

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Kogi food trucker Roy Choi talks about his ideas on good food.

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50 Shades of Grayscale

The current news with the Zimmerman acquittal is bringing out a lot of passion in people in regards to their views of the jury system and racial profiling. One side is blaming the jury for being prejudiced while the other side is arguing that there is no evidence that Zimmerman is guilty of murder. 

Which side am I on?

The side that says that the jury is prejudiced for letting Zimmerman get away with murder. However I don't blame the jury. I blame the American legal system and how it fashions laws to let stuff like this happen. In the modern jury system, peoples' voices don't matter because if they don't conform to evidence based rationale set up by laws they usually are disregarded as bias. I had jury duty last week and I remember the judge talking about how we should make our decision based on the law and by not what we knew or were persuaded by. Being not so enthusiastic about the law, I stayed indifferent. I'm not the best juror because I know how to kill people with my own kindness.

Kind of how I do sometimes at my work. Racial profiling is an elephant in the room of an issue at the pharmacy with these new DEA restrictions directed toward narcotic medications. The majority of prescriptions that come from inner city Houston in the hands of African American men or women who come off as "thug" usually get turned away or incite further investigation on part of the pharmacist on duty. Nine times out of ten, they get turned away because of appearance and the fact the zip code is close to The Third Ward. Since everybody in The Third Ward abuses drugs for a living. Some people blame Hip Hop for the whole hustling gangster conundrum that characterizes some peoples' paranoia about Blacks being drug pushers and homicide hobos. Truth is that people cannot blame a genre a music its culture for their listener's actions. Most people see Hip Hop as an art and realize that art is fiction. So if a guy dresses in a hoodie, that does not mean he embraces the culture he portrays. We as a society like to limit our perceptions so we conjure up an image of danger to make ourselves the victim because we don't want to be responsible for not preventing a perceived evil take its course. We're all failed superheros. 

Innocent until proven guilty. Why don't we use that ideology before we pass judgment on other people and assume what they are. Maybe then we don't have this idea make its way into the courtroom where the law interprets it for its own affirmation that it is right and unchanging.

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"However, since phytoestrogens are 1,000 to 2,000 times less powerful than a woman's natural hormones, most doses available in gel or pill form are not high enough to deal with weight risks. According to Japanese research, women in that country do not experience hot flashes and their weight is stable throughout perimenopause and menopause because they regularly eat 7 ounces (200 g) of tofu daily - 7 ounces of tofu provide a daily 100-mg dose of soy isoflavones, a dose that seems to have the best chance of helping with weight control."

-Dr. Pierre Dukan

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Bar Hop To Chocolate Bar

I got this picture of this gorgeous innocent looking lady. Her pensive stare captivated me so I dished out 3 dollars and dropped it in the little black box.

Chocolate Bar

2521 University Blvd.

Houston, Texas 77005

Also I saw that my donation benefited Texas Children's Hospital which made me more willing to purchase. I love kids. I love artwork. I love to decorate my space with what I love. 

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Ch*Ch*Ch*Chia

During my lunch break today, I decided to stroll next door to H-E-B to replenish my supply of pine nuts that I love to crouton my salads with. It was a pretty hot and humid day so I decided that a drink would not hurt so I decided to get some POM but instead the flashy yellow sale sticker for this drink caught my eye. 

Happy to deviate from my usual beverage of choice, I decided to give this odd drink a chance. Shown above is the empty bottle I gulped down but the initial appearance of the bottle was this thick yellow liquid with tiny yellow chia seeds suspended in it. The chia seeds suspended in them makes the entire bottle look odd to drink because of its salad dressing demeanor. All the reason for me to try it. At work I like to be known as the girl who drinks the weird stuff. I drink eclectic. My eyes don't burn electric.

Turns out that this drink has a high content of essential fatty acids (EFAs) since it houses chia seeds. These fatty acids are needed by our body to carry out biological processes that help better deal with inflammation and cellular signalling. For inflammation, the essential fatty acids found in this drink (specifically alpha-linolinec acid (ALA)) are used to synthesize eicosanoids. Eicosanoids are signalling molecules that act as messengers in the nervous system. They also have roles in enhancing immune function. While reading the nutrition information, I came to the conclusion that this drink is more of a safe alternative to an energy drink. The drink does not necessarily stimulate its consumer like caffeine does but it helps protect from the fatigue from making its mark at the cellular level. The cells die slower. But they still do die. It's a part of life. 

On a brighter note, the chia seeds are the same seeds used to plant chia pets as well. Happy 90s memories. It's refreshing to see an artifact of the overplayed commercial in a drink in all its organic glory. Ch-ch-ch-chia!

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Basil Chicken Tomato Sliders

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Tear My Yellow Dress Off

The Great Gatsby OST

I feel that I am the only one that is pathologically obsessed with this story and its soundtrack by Jay-Z. Maybe it's because I feel like an anachronism in 2013. I always felt that I belonged in the Roaring 20s. Well I am in my roaring 20s but just without the glamorous bob and pretty pearls. 

I like pretty things. Like Florence Welch's voice in Track 15 of this album. That woman sounds like an angel like always. Always a hint of sadness in her voice but she always leaves the person listening to her voice empowered. The way she throws her voice just kind of reaches into your soul and makes you aware that you have one. Her lyrics are never all that clever from a figurative standpoint but the way she projects them through her sound...just amazing. The ending of this song is just WOW. I can't wait to see what scene it will make it in the movie. Probably when Daisy and Gatsby make love. That would be one steamy steamy love scene. Heck. I wouldn't mind making to love to this in the background when I meet my Jay Gatz.

The following track after by The xx is another favorite of mine. Romy's voice is just so creepily sensual. She is like a siren. "Together" is another sad song when only considering the lyrics but the background music that is characteristic to The xx makes this track more mellow than sad. 

Nero also has a track on this OST. Sounds like walking into a graveyard of robots with their ghosts coming up to do a pop song - AKA modern dubstep. I wonder where it'll be in the movie. Maybe another love scene.

The rest of the album is very appropriate in terms of being jazzy. The Kid Koala version of Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" is pretty snazzy. I could definitely see it being in a perfume commercial with Beyonce all glammed up at one of Gatsby's parties. The fragrance would be called "Speakeasy". 

That's just me dreaming and being inspired by this soundtrack. The Daisy in me. Can't wait until I see the movie this weekend. Always up for a good love story. Since one can't seem to find me in real life =(

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Pick Me Up Pumpkin Peel

Product Review: Andalou Naturals Pumpkin Honey Glycolic Mask

I've been using this product for about a month now applying it once every two weeks while enjoying the spring weather on my back patio. First discovered it at Sprouts Farmers' Market and got it on sale for under fifteen bucks lured by its brightening properties.

Being an Indian chick of Gujarati origin, fair skin is looked upon favorably and I am naturally born tan. & I just love being out in the sun. Why stay indoors when the weather outside is gorgeous? However ten minutes in the sun for me without putting any SPF loving moisturizer means turning two shades darker. That's right darker. Not tanner. I was already born tan.

Even though I look down on my heritage's views towards feminine beauty, that does not stop me from trying products such as this one. To me brightening means to induce a glow. It has nothing to do with melanin content. None of the products in this mask directly impede melanin production so in a way the packaging does show false marketing to the scientifically impaired.

Where's the hydroquinone? Nowhere to be seen. Instead this mask boasts products such as manuka honey, meadowfoam, and guar. Things that come from a plant. Things that are used in cooking. Edible things. 

The actual mask is bright yellow in color and looks like a puree of all the ingredients shown above. When put on the face, the mask is translucent giving off a yellow undertone. It does not solidify after time but there is tingling maybe due to glycolic acid in the mask. 

I first trusted the idea of a glycolic peel after having my boss pharmacist talk about her good experiences with them. Of course she went to a spa and had a licensed aesthetician pat her face beautiful after paying a lovely fat check. The only fat I have is a fat chance at affording the same luxury. So I play the pretty poor girl and just decide to DIY it through using my mom's almond peel. 

But the skin needs variety. Can't eat the same food everyday. That's just boring.

That's where I get swayed by this mask with it's "brightening" properties. My two cents is that this mask cannot be taken literally but it definitely is not something to throw out for being deceptive. It does other good things too. Like evening out my darkened skin. Shrinking my pores even more. Airbrushing my skin without being photographed. Giving me that glow. Brightening me up. Figuratively.

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Jillian Michaels: Yoga Meltdown

I've been doing this for a few weeks after my morning jog and it has given me results. Lost about 2 pounds and I fit into my size zero jeans again =) 

Great workout to do on Earth Day. Very sustainable. All you need is your body and perseverance.

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A TED talk by model Cameron Russell. I love the message she conveys about being a beauty. About how we are insecure.

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Perfect by Pink Productions

A really good documentary about amphetamine abuse on college campuses. This is a serious issue that does not get the recognition it deserves because we as a society want to be "the best of the best". It's not enough to be just you. You have to be your best. This is the attitude that is prevalent in our generation. Zach's part to me was the most touching and my motivation to share this video. 

I have many opinions on this topic. I might share them later. Or I might not. Or you might have to read between the lines.

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I'm Skinny & Happy. Bitch.

Side effects. I'm jonesing to see that movie with the sexy Jude Law and Rooney Mara. Aren't they a bitch?

Well not as much as I am. People shouldn't make me their addiction. Addiction is pleasurable but it can also hurt you. Same thing goes for me. Just a message for my admirers out there. 

I honestly thought this article was kind of crap. Page 236 to 239 in the March issue of Marie Claire. It talks about how antidepressants cause weight gain in women who consume them. It gives anecdotes about how some girls struggled with their self-esteem that came with the weight gain. My humble opinion is that they shouldn't be on mood stabilizers or antidepressants anyways. If there are too many damsels in distress to save, there is obviously going to be a shortages of knights out there. I am totally being insensitive right now but that's just who I am. My insensitivity keeps me from being a consumer of this candy. I guess I choose to be skinny & crazy. 

The article goes on to slander big pharma (of course). I'm not saying that big pharma should be respected but it shouldn't be blamed either. The only ones to blame are people themselves. Big pharma does its part in documenting the side effects but people still take the risks and then slander big pharma for being evil. If it's not on your prescription bottle, it's published in a peer reviewed article online and an active consumer should be smart enough to do their homework. 

The only thing I kind of liked about the article was the idea about creating your own support groups to address the weight gain. I'm the one to like to fight my battles all alone and convince myself that I'm victorious because I'm on my own but I've got to admit I wouldn't have made it without my support group. They don't even have to be a group of friends. Just those strangers that admire you. The ego is a hungry beast and it lurks in all of us. Once fed, it helps you make it through the dessert. & you are wet & alive. 

Just ten cents coming from a dime who has no intention of being spent.

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Not So Secret Garden Pizza

Ingredients

1 bunch of Kale

1 Roma tomato

2 cooked chicken breasts (shredded)

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

1/2 white onion

1 prepared pizza crust (8 inch diameter)

*your own personal rendition of tomato sauce

1/2 cup of mushrooms

10 sliced olives

10 sliced jalapenos

1 teaspoon of parsley

1 pound of shredded mozzarella cheese

1 whole zucchini thinly sliced 

Pre-heat the crust in the oven (while it's still reaching 350) and layer the thinly sliced zucchini like pepperoni covering the entire crush. Drizzle some olive oil atop.

Chop the Kale, red bell pepper, green bell paper, onion, mushroom, olives, jalapenos, parsley with a kitchen knife into fine pieces. Mix the vegetable in a salad bowl.

After 10 minutes (or when the crust is partially baked) take the crust out of the oven. Layer on the tomato sauce, layer on the shredded chicken and uniformly spread the vegetable mixture.  Put back in oven for 15 minutes.

Slice the tomatoes into circular slices. Take the pizza out of the oven and layer the tomatoes in a flower-like silhouette. Drizzle the mozzarella until the vegetable & meat underneath is not visible. 

Put back into the oven for another 10 minutes. 

Cut into four pieces and serve with crushed red pepper flakes.

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Andy Fiord's Louis Vuitton photo shoot.

"Got a secret, can you keep it..."

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Night & Day. Heroine is so passe.

Not only is this the title of the only Virginia Woolf novel I own but it also describes my minimalist beauty regimen for the winter that is about to pass.

This is the only thing I choose to put on my face. I'm a fan of naked skin. & I believe paint belongs on paper. Back in high school I was notorious for using my mom's old blood red 90s lipstick for any red I had to put on my poster board. The color palette looked something like this: 

red - lipstick, old nail polish 

orange - mortar & pestled carrot shavings

yellow - tumeric in water

green - dead rose leaves with a dash of matcha in hot water

blue - paint. haven't found anything to give me this shade

brown - parent's chai steep leftover, used CG foundation for skin color once and topped it off with the chai. Result was pleasing

black - old kohl eyeliner, black lipstick from Halloween

Oil of Olay was first introduced to me by my mother back in high school. She noticed that during the winter months, I would have extremely dry skin on my face so she dabbed on some of her moisturizer to make her little doll look presentable. I've been a fan since. It has been about 6 years since I've been using Olay's moisturizer. It has definitely improved the texture of my skin so in addition to having lovely hair, in the past couple of years I've came to have lovely skin as well. Usually I am allergic to cosmetics that go on the face but Olay is an exception. I've decided to look up the ingredient that distinguishes Olay and found that the Oil of Olay has the key ingredient of lanolin. 

According to a 1998 article in the Journal of Pharmacology, lanolin has the ability to form stable nanoemulsions when exposed to high rates of shear. For this reason, lanolin is an ideal ingredient in lotions and creams. In the article by Flockhart, Steel & Kitchen, they found out that lanolin is an effective drug delivery vehicle in transdermal delivery. Also in another study, lanolin was compared to white petrolatum (Vaseline) and it turned out to be much better in healing dry skin.

Being effective in penetrating the transdermal layer of the skin and being an effective skin protectant, it is understandable why lanolin is the key ingredient in the different anti-aging creams Olay has to offer. A lot of moisturizers out there just work on the surface of the skin and require reapplication. However with the lanolin in Olay, this is not necessary because of its penetrative effects. Proctor & Gamble's research and development did well. Because of their scientific genius, the only face I paint is those on a canvas.