Movie Digest # 003

FACES OF LOVE
SM Megamall, Cinema 12, Feb 22, 7:15pm

This is Eddie Romero’s attempt to regain his pride as a National Artist for Film. It tells about, hmmm, different faces of love. Hahaha. Literally, the film has a handful of characters intertwined by a mysterious love letter. Merong pinagtagpo, merong muling dinalaw, merong kumawala, merong nagwakas. I can say that the storytelling is above average (naks, critic na critic). Naikwento ng filmmaker ang gustong ikwento. The problem with the film is the scope/feel. Pagkatapos kong mapanood, para lang akong nanood ng isang TV show. Ganun ang pakiramdam.

Friends who might appreciate it: those who miss watching GMA Telesine (every Thursday at 8pm during mid-90’s).

THE PROMISE
SM Megamall, Cinema 10, Feb 22, 9:45pm

Do something noble: avoid it. Period. Sa akting dito, parang gusto mo silang ihulog lahat sa wuthering heights (pardon the pun). I almost forgot that Michael Tuviera is a promising director.

Friends who might appreciate it: only the Kapuso ones!

Movie Digest # 002

THE NUMBER 23
Greenbelt 3, Cinema 3, Feb 21, 9:05pm

My first bad film of the year. Point 1: it’s not chilling. Point 2: acting is so-so (who’s taking Jim Carrey seriously, tell me) and Point 3: it’s directed by Joel Schumacher (in my book, he hasn’t done any impressive film yet). People in the moviehouse were only waiting for the twist. Poor Virginia Madsen. She has to endure crappy projects like this.

Friends who might appreciate it: those who wish to waste money and those who wish to do something else inside the moviehouse.

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
Greenbelt 3, Cinema 3, Feb 21, 11:20pm

So old school. It’s like a watching a film done in the 80’s (the story-telling is straightforward, no CGI’s, no hip camera shots, etc.). But I am not saying that this is a bad film. It’s just that I don’t like it much. I find it very predictable, too. Well, it’s about a non-fictitious account of a Scottish young doctor with Uganda’s dictator, Idi Amin, during the 70’s. The film tells about their friendship (from Day One to Doomsday). Forest Whitaker might snag an Oscar here but I prefer Leo DiCaprio’s engaging acting in “Blood Diamond”. I find him OA at times, IMHO. If there are good scenes here, it must be the bonding scenes between the two lead characters. I can say that you won’t feel bad (naman) after watching this. But don’t bring a date.

Friends who might appreciate it: Allan (for the gorefest), Allan’s torpe friends, Academy Awards patrons and members of the underground film group that I belong to (I think, I should stop mentioning them).

Movie Digest # 001

MUSIC AND LYRICS
Greenbelt 3, Cinema 2, Feb 20, 8:25pm

The film reminds me of Neil Simon’s works like “They’re Playing Our Song” and even “Barefoot in the Park”. Some scenes are very stagey (minimal characters, lengthy and witty lines and mostly shot inside the apartment). The film’s only weakness is the ending. It’s very common, very, very familiar. Pero syempre, I can’t forget Hugh Grant’s band’s Pop Goes the Heart music video (the hip dance, the snapping, etc.). That one is worth watching.

Friends who might appreciate it: 80’s peeps like Edrik(!), Socs (and Allan, it’s a package deal, I guess), Con, Faye, Moncho (!), Leah, Topher, my highschool buddies and my brother’s highschool buddies.

THE FOUNTAIN
Greenbelt 3, Cinema 3, Feb 20, 11:15pm

Ang lalim! Hindi ko ma-dig. Hehehe. But let me try. The main plot is about a couple, Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. May sakit si girl. The guy, a medicine person, is willing to do anything just to save his ladylove. In search for a medical breakthrough, the guy sometimes ignores the girl in the process (“this is for her”). The girl died physically and emotionally. Ang nagpalalim sa pelikula ay ‘yung visual inclusion ng isang lalake na kalbo (still, si Hugh Jackman) at ang tree of life/knowledge. I assume, spirit or heavenly creature s’ya. This is segued by the film’s prelude from Genesis’s Adam and Eve. I guess the director used this figuratively to suggest that in search of life/knowledge, there must be some kind of a sacrifice. What thickens the plot more is another story within the story. It’s called “The Fountain” written by the girl which she intends the guy to finish. It’s a period story about a Spanish warrior in search of the tree of life/knowledge. Basta, ang lalim. Hehehe. Though, hands down, it’s visually stunning.

Friends who might appreciate it: Darren Aronofsky fans (including me, I like his “Requiem for a Dream”), members of my underground film group (o-ha), Jim, Fer, Jae-Jay and Leah (simply because she’s a Hugh Jackman fan).

JEST! (Also Known as Death March)

In line with my being 30 (read: doing stuff that I haven’t done before), I finally reached a mini-summit. Err, I meant a real mini-summit. Mountains, jungle, forest. Summit! Yeah. Summit, summit, summit!

Last Saturday, I woke at around 5am to meet Macy at Pililia corner JP Rizal. That’s where my cabmates and I meet to get a cab every office morning. But Macy and I were heading to Mc Donalds – Q Ave that time. We came in first. An hour (and a plate of Mc Franks) later, the rest of the chosen ones came in.

We were 17, all in all. End of my blog entry. Hahaha.

DISCLAIMER: First point: I’m trying to be lazy. Second point: I’m considering a scriptwriting technique where I won’t be giving everything. Clever is the word. And yes, I’m writing a script entitled “Pepeng Saksi”.

We reached the homebase of Jungle Environmental Survival Training (or simply, JEST-sy, pun intended) at around 12:30pm. Summer heat, it was. Next thing we knew, we were already trekking the forest with the help of two JEST-ers. It was a two-hour trek. I forgot how many rivers, mini-rivers and a German campsite we crossed but definitely bamboos were unforgettable (and will be unforgettable for at least a month, I think).

OK. At 4:30pm-ish, we have already set up our tents. Four lovely tents, a hammock city and some squatters. Then appetizer with TJ hotdogs. Then dinner with sisig and corned beef. Then Red Horse beer. Then vodka. Then red wine. Zzzz….

The next day, we reached the summit. After the summit, we died in the forest. Then we resurrected as bath-hungry criminals (pumped up with Magnolia twin popsicles and ice-cold mineral water).

Damn, I definitely left my soul in the jungle. I found my body eating roast beef and a portion of Angus ribeye steak at 3pm.

Love is….

(First and foremost, NAKS! Hahaha. I actually wanna do a Tom Cruise and shout “I’m in love! I’m in love!”. But yes, I am in deep shit.)

NOT FAULTLESS – since love is a heart matter (as opposed to “mind” matter), it should be flawed. Maraming butas. Hindi kasi scientific. Hindi formulaic. Therefore, it’s free falling. Para kang nahuhulog sa Wild River, walang control from the railing. The thing is, you really don’t have to hold on to something (sorry, Rouge). If there’s a scene that best describes this, it should be the one in “Titanic” where Jack Dawson yelled at Rose “You jump, I jump!”.

UNSELFISH – when love hits you, you should be ready to sacrifice (hobby, money, friends, foes, machismo, etc.). That’s the game of love. You have to “deal”. Always. Otherwise, it’s not love. It’s one-way. Parang JP Rizal sa umaga. And when love remains unshared, it’s not noble. Walang fleeting feeling. Para kang nakaapak pa rin sa lupa. Nakakadena.

UNCONDITIONAL – for me, the purest form of love is the unconditional one. It’s like banking in some investments without considering the returns. Or worse, hello, bankruptcy! Bagsak na kung bagsak ang stocks but that’s the reality. If your love is not returned, you die. Yeah, but soon you shall live. And do the chasing again and again. If you earn lots of chasings in the end and gain only one or two “finish lines”, consider the adage “life is a journey”. Quantity at quality, panalo ka pa rin.

ATTENDED – tae ang love na hindi naa-acknowledge. I’m using the term “acknowledge” as opposed to “label”. Mas tae kung may label na ito. The complications of this thing called “commitment” come in. Yari ka. But I believe love should be acknowledged. If we’re considering the Bible, si God daw ang salitang nagkatawang tao. Ang lahat ng ‘yan ay naisakatuparan dahil sa kapangyarihan ng pag-ibig. Kung ang salitang nagkatawang-tao ay unattended, what else could have happened in this planet?

A FORCE – hindi kasi nade-deform. It should materialize into something else (like a smile, a productive work, a friendly attitude, an orgasmic look, etc.). The best way to see it transform into something else is to consume it. Look around. Ang mga taong nasa paligid mo, lahat ‘yan ay bunga ng pag-ibig at repercussions nito. Either, may mapait or matamis na karanasan sa pag-ibig o anumang bagay na may kinalaman sa pag-ibig. Ganun kalupit ang love.

Taglish

Long time, no blog.

Ganun talaga siguro. Sometimes you don't feel like blogging. Mahirap i-articulate ang mga bagay na sinungkit pa sa mga kung saang recesses ng puso mo. First, it's hard to do the digging itself. Hindi madaling maghalukay. Second, the idea of labeling it. Minsan, mas masaya na wala na lang label. As Edrik pointed out once, babaliktaran ko lang, it's like having a geek buddy explaining to you all the things that are happening.

But, yeah, blogging is hard to resist. Para kasing may social responsibility ka na sa mga fans mo (hahaha, beat that!). At least a soul or two will bug me for having no blog. Bug to blog. Kumusta naman ang alliteration ko r'un?

Well, what's up with me? I just had a nice phone conversation. Just right for one Sunday afternoon and enough for me to face another challenging week (but wait, Paris is calling, oui!). Kailangan ko rin kasing ubusin 'yung load ko. See, I have 150-euro worth of phone calls! Pero sulit naman sa usapan, sabi ko nga.

Last night, I had an involuntary bar hopping here in Utrecht. My first actually. Surprisingly, my first. I planned just to catch Susie Ibarra (www.susieibarra.com) and her electric kulintang. Or should I say her magic kulintang? She's NY-based and the idea is to combine an artsy/folksy instrument with electronica (synthesizer). It was held at Rasa, a venue for world music. I think I was the only Pinoy in the hall (other than Susie herself) though I saw a Chinese-looking Ryan Cayabyab-ish patron. It was fun. I ended up buying the CD's which I am playing right now. I particularly like the piece "Cotabato City". Malupit ang remix!

Then I was informed that with the ticket, I can also catch two more shows in two other venues. Sundan ko lang daw kung saan pupunta ang mga tao. Fine. Next stop (the third, actually, since I missed the first one before kulintang) is at Ekko bar. It has a reputation of being cool but I haven't been to that place before. I just saw some big, glaring posters of their line-up. The bar is just beside a canal. To go there, from Rasa, I had to bike for a few minutes before crossing a small bridge (which happens to be my favorite spot here in Utrecht and which I accidentally discovered when I was still staying in my first apartment in Spechstraat).

The next band is called "Grizzly Bear". NY-based din, particularly from Brooklyn. Pero mas African ang beat nila. Lion King's Hakuna Matata-ish. The type na masasabi mong "world music" talaga. Masaya rin. At least naka-groove ako nang konti kasi wala namang nakakakilala sa akin dito. Bwahahaha! Singles and soloists, unite (and let's dominate the world!).

Next stop is at SVU Jazz Podium with a female artist named "Sir Alice". For me she's a combination of Bjork, Spice Girls and Robbie Williams. French pop na French pop. Maganda naman ang music at ang daming theatrics! May mga costume changes, props and visual FX. Very brave and kick-ass. Mahal ko na s'ya.

While watching Susie Ibarra doing her stuff, I noticed that the kulintangs look like, err, breasts! Yeah, bastos. And in one of Sir Alice's costume changes, her (was it accidental?) breasts greeted the crowd "dag!". She's forgiven. She's French, remember?

O gabing kulimlim at makapangyarihan....

Ang Buhay ay Isang Washing Machine

Charo Santos said it perfectly. “What makes you happy will make you a better person”. I just had a serving of an old MMK episode with DUP artist named Eugene Domingo as the lead. The episode is entitled “Pansit” and it’s about the struggles of an old maid. Oh boy, it’s one sad, sad episode….

OK, I just turned 30 last September 13. Not yet a DOM material but doomsday is indeed knocking on my door. Pressure, pressure. When I first saw Jonathan Larson’s “Tick, Tick Boom”, I knew then that someday I will be facing the same agony. The central character is having a face-off with midlife crisis: you should have this and that by this age.

I think the world is saying that by being 30, it means having a car (not necessarily brand new) that brings you to and from the office and Pier One. It could also mean that you already have a steady (that was soooooo 80’s) with you, enjoying a movie date or two at least three times a week. Being 30 is having that young dad look. The “kakasalin” type. A loud reminder that somebody is going to say something like “uy, may ipapakilala ako sa ‘yo”.

I am in the middle of all these and what do I get? A malfunctioning washing machine! Look, my new apartment is almost perfect: a DSL, a carpeted living area, a loft style bedroom, a roof window (life is fucking good everytime I wake up and before calling it a night on a starry evening) and an owner that changes the bedsheet every Monday. I think it has something to do with the spinner (I just invented the term). I always end up with a soapy wet garbs. Machine wash is now epilogued with a hand wash.

But I can’t complain. Life has been good to me. I have been to this place and I have done this and that. I still adore movies. No need for a film addiction viagra yet. I still have it. And will have it until I reach doomsday.

Life is indeed about complaining and living to the fullest.

Pinay in "Survivor - Cook Islands"

Is she or isn't she? ;-) Check this out.

Survivor 13 premieres on September 14, Thursday (amidst protests against racism, etc.).

How Do I Hate Thee?

In case you haven’t noticed, assholes roam around the planet. They’re everywhere. They are not hiding in the bushes wearing camouflage or something. Sometimes they are too in-your-face.

SIDE NOTE: I am about to post a rant. I just wanna check if blogging serves as a good shrink. I’ll get back to you some other time to report on this matter. If this doesn’t make me a better person, I’ll quit blogging.

Let me count the ways. Just a few minutes ago, I had a close encounter of a first-kind asshole. I asked a simple yes-no question and I got a yes-no answer. Well, a yes-no answer PLUS a contemptous comment. Syempre, kailangang patulan. I replied back, asking if the asshole was happy. Then a not-so-pleasant hiritan came after. Out of the blue, the asshole did a vanishing act leaving me with cute words like “you’re weird” and “bye”.

Here’s the deal. I don’t normally rant. If I rant, I do it to a third party (a close friend who doesn’t know the object of my “la haine”). If I don’t find that third party, I look for another close friend who might know the asshole. That’s biased. But the idea is for me not to disrobe my masculinity of just playing mum and not so “daldal” but I just want to explain and do a self-analysis. I’m an old dog, I know, but still, I wanna be spanked from time to time (so hard that it would shake my head down to epiphany).

At this point, I wanna shout something like “I hate THAT asshole!”. But it’s not me. I don’t wanna kill an asshole (the world needs people like them for the sake of the so-called balance).

The other option for me is to get a good sleep. I just snore it out. After that, I’m back to my self again. A not so pleasant way, but I promise, it’s effective, is the one similar to what the saint did when she met the devil in the toilet (check out my previous entry “Meeting Fassbinder”).

It hasn’t happened yet that after doing those “panic buttons”, anger is still in my veins. I’m not the “mapagtanim” type. I let it go. Life is short, remember? Too purist to say but being mad is a sin. But wait, that doesn’t mean that I’m practicing it. Hahaha.

Life’s a bitch.

Meeting Fassbinder

I was having an LBM hours before I took the City Night Line (those trains in Europe that could serve as hotels, budget-wise). Friday and toilet is like East and West. My “flight” was at 8:41pm and at 7pm, my Aussie colleague was still bugging me with user exits. A few minutes later, I had to bid “babay” to officemate Bill, who was online that time. I jokingly call him Watusi Bill (but he said he prefers “Fountain Bill”). I typed in, “Sige, Bill, uuwi na ako. Dadaan pa ako sa apartment at _____ pa ako”. He replied with something like “Sige, maghugas ka ng kamay pagkatapos”.

And I did. Of course. Excuse this blog but I have to share a sermon that I heard when I was in college, when I was still renting a place in Camalig St. in Palanan, Makati. The priest shared a story about a saint who was always visited by the devil in the toilet. One time, the saint was making poo-poo and the devil suddenly showed up. The saint, a lady by the way, said, “anything that comes out from me right now is for you!”. I don’t know how they document stuffs like that. That deserves a space in the FHM section about careers that suck.

But LBM could mean “Lover Boy Manny”. Hehehe. Or “Lapu-lapu Belly Meal”. Or more appropriately, “Layo Ba Munich?”. I booked for this thing called “sleeperette” which is, don’t be confused, a reclining seat. And I had to endure close to 11 hours of not so comfortable sleep. Anyway, one of the things that I learned from taking trains here is just to rely everything to the arrival time on my ticket. Train stops are sometimes irrelevant to gauge how far am I from the destination.

One hour before my arrival at Munchen (“Munich” in German), I had another uncalled sidetrip to the toilet. That was my first time to be really pleased with Euro trains (especially their CR’s). No more details, I promise. What I can share instead is how I managed to freshen up and be ready for the threat of that day’s grueling itinerary.

Saturday, 7:30am. Tita Beth, her daughter Hiyas and I were already having a nice coffee and muffin at Coffee Fellows in the station. I felt sorry for Hiyas since she had to wake up early in the morning but she looked pretty though.Before I knew it, we’re already heading to the west for Neuschwanstein Castle. Tita Beth, who was driving for us, and I talked non-stop, in a true Quezonian manner and gusto. Hiyas visited dreamland for the whole road trip. That trip, let me remind you, was a joyride with LBM. Again, kudos to all the European public toilets. They all rock!

Before lunchtime, we were already waiting for the horse carriage that will bring us to the castle (which is located a few meters uphill). Parking fee is €4. Castle entrance is €8.50 plus the energy you need to invest for the long queue. Carriage ride, one-way, €5. It was raining. And the castle accepted us like a gentle giant with open arms at 11:40am. I am not good at describing architectural pieces but let me quote what the youngster behind me had outwitted in an attempt to impress his grandma. He said, “Ludwig II was his time’s Bill Gate”.

True enough. Though only 1/3 of the “Disney” castle was shown (logically since only 1/3 was finished), the guided tour was “sulit”. Short and unforgettable. The tour guide’s attempt for a perfect English, on which he just laughed it off in front of all the visitors, was laudable for a blog. After the tour, as prompted by Tita Beth, Hiyas and I went to the bridge outside the castle. Quite a walk but it’s worth it. Mary’s Bridge is cradled by two big mountains in the area. Good pics of the castle could be shot from there. For me, it’s just another struggle for acrophobia.

Then late lunch came after. I had a beef stew in horseraddish sauce with boiled potatoes and a bottle of shandy. Yummy! The thing with a German shandy (well, that’s the only German shandy I had) is that it’s more “beer” than “soda”. Our Cali is the other way around. Tired and wet, we decided to head back to Munich after a few more minutes. In the Dachau neighborhood (from which a concentration camp is just less than a kilometer away), right before we went home straight, Tita Beth brought us to a lake called Karlsfeldsee. “See”, in German, is “lake”. We stopped by for five minutes, Tita Beth and I had a stroll while Hiyas stayed in the car, reading “Hector’s Travels”. The rest of the late afternoon was spent in a quiet German home, experiencing a genuine Pinoy hospitality and warmth.

Sunday, 9am. Tita Beth, Hiyas and I were on the road again to Munchen. We were looking for a chapel called St. Georg where most of the famous Bavarian artists and brewers’ remains were laid. It’s not in the travel books, just my whim. It was in my itinerary because of my longing to see the tomb of the German filmmaker named Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Strange to note but I haven’t seen any of his films. What I know about the man is that Lino Brocka is always considered as “Fassbinder of the Philippines”. They both heralded anti-theater and put life’s cruel reality on screen, as if you’re just walking along the street, inhaling poverty and suppression inside the cinema.

The church/graveyard wasn’t easy to find. Stressful and time-consuming. That left me with only an hour and a half to explore Deutches Musuem (considered the biggest science and technology museum in Europe if not in the world). From what I have seen so far, I can say that it’s the best of its kind. The galleon ship right near the entrance is overwhelming. Behind it was loads and loads of airplanes, suspended from the wall. My favorite section though was the room filled with cabinet-sized, old computers. A runner up was a musical instrument used by Alfed Hitchcock to record the “animal sound” for “The Birds” which is called “tautonium”. I also liked the section which houses the recreation of Galileo’s lab. Most of the pieces there are interactive, giving me a feeling that I was in a science highschool classroom again and again.

Let me end my entry there. To blog about my trip back is like taking a spoonful of bitter cough syrup.