Rambling

“Liberal”. On the Sunday before I watched the so-called “movie” of the year, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, I read the second book where my work got published, The Filipino as a Liberal. I remember that day, wearing my college school uniform, I attended a book launching that involved me for the first time. I realized everything about it was wrong. They didn’t spell my last name right. Instead of Resurreccion, they wrote Resurrection. It got corrected eventually. I didn’t get included in the “group picture” with the selected essay writers because I was busy with pleasantries with some acquaintances from school that happened to be there because they were junior members of the political party sponsoring the event. I got my certification along with a plaque, but the hook was placed on the wrong side therefore making it slanted. My brother had to fix it. I’m the type of person who believes in omens. I saw it as a sign. Every “move” that had something to do with me writing will always start wrong and dysfunctional.

I haven’t touched my copy of the book for years thinking the next time I will read it I’ll understand some of the essays I didn’t back then. I did for some and others still don’t. Some are as vague as John Nery’s column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Little boy fantasy. There’s a big chance that Transformers might become the “movie of the year.” By movie of the year, I meant profit of course. It’s not the type to win awards for the story. Transformers is another show that was popular to a generation before me. I’m familiar with Bumble Bee, Optimus Prime, Star Scream but I don’t know the whole story and the types of robots by heart. During my peak of interest for this kind of stuff when I was a teen, American made cartoon were on a decline in the Philippines and was replaced by Japanese anime.

Transformers’ second movie installment, Revenge of the Fallen simply played it safe. Like its previous movie, it had all the elements of a young man’s (even adults) fantasy: big robots, gorgeous cars, voluptuous women, guns, bang and rock and roll. Good thing they deleted some unnecessary “clutter” characters they had in the first and replaced it with fewer but necessary new ones. Shia Labeaouf as Samuel was the archetype weakling-but-the-chosen-one protagonist. He lacked testosterone so they added an alpha male persona in the form of a soldier played by Josh Duhamel. (Lord of the Rings? Frodo? Aragorn?)

There were some scenes I asked myself why the fuck is it there. Then again, I’m watching a movie about big robots. I have to put a different mind set like when I’m watching the Hills (a “reality” show from MTV). Transformers was a movie for boys young and old alike. It brings out memories of the good old times especially for those who did watch the cartoons in their black and white television sets. Was I disappointed? No, my expectations weren’t that high in the first place. Did it meet it? Yes, kinda. It was a good popcorn flick.

The Tin Man. I’m referring to the Tin Man, a character of the book Wizard of Oz who was in search of a heart. My brother bought a pirated copy of Crank 2: High Voltage. I had to watch it again to confirm why it still remains number one for the movies I like in 2009.

The only connection I could think of between Crank 2 and Transformers 2 is Linkin Park. Chester Bennington of LP made an appearance in Crank 2 and their song “Given Up” was featured. Transformers 2’s main song is New Divide by Linkin Park.

Ria, the Asian whore played by Bai Ling was my favorite character. She referred to Chev Chelios as her shiny lunchbox and her Kevin Costner (in the classic movie Bodyguard). I was literally ROFL.

In the celluloid world of “macho men,” gays are cock sucking cunt and women are whores. It’s a movie not to be taken seriously and they know it. It’s the only movie I watched for a while I didn’t need a different kind of mind set and loved it. What more can I ask for? A movie that will knock this off my number 1 list for 2009.

Weird Week

Shut, no shut. This week I decided I’ll limit my blog entries about my workplace in general. I’ve been safe all long. I’ve given the company I work for the nickname S-2. I didn’t name names. But I know I’ve blogged some scathing entries regarding how bad my start in S-2 was. I think it was even the reason I wrote La Dolce Vita in the first place. I tend to write off my anger as a story. Things are starting to cool down from the boiling point that was. Most of the people who had this bad blood with me had left. There are still a few who still get under my skin but it’s controllable. I only hope this would continue. I’m wishing I won’t have to write anything about my workplace at all. I want that place to remain as impersonal and ephemeral to me as much as possible.

The Bank Job. Because of a thing that had to do with my credit card, I had to return to Eastwood. It’s been a long while mind you. I heard things have “changed.” There’s a new mall beside the company I used to work for. I think ever since its other site was sold to a different company, things have never been the same again. People in the company I used to work for didn’t have that same air of pride like they used to. “Good days” are gone and they feel like an axe hangs above their heads all the time.

The bank I went to wasn’t exactly inside Eastwood. It was at a corner walking distances away from the buildings where employees have their lunch at the various establishments beside it. Even though I had enough time, I didn’t go inside Eastwood and checked out the new mall. The chances of bumping into someone I know or just familiar with were high. I really hate the awkward how are you doing and stuff since I feel like I made a step backward career-wise.

I went to Gateway (a mall in Cubao) instead and killed time.

Pelham 123. What can I say with a movie that’s muscular (but not your typical dumb action flick) with gray characters? Ideal. That’s what the Taking of Pelham 123 was for me. Denzel Washington as Walter Galber, a newly demoted subway dispatcher, he had to handle a hostage situation where John Travolta as "Ryder" knew exactly what he was doing and not afraid of the consequences.

There was a scene that reminded me of the Phone Booth (the movie that probably catapulted Collin Farell to fame) where Walter Galber was forced to confess a crime he was being investigated about and the cause of his demotion to save a life of a stranger.

I’m not wishing action movies to be “nerdly” smart, it might take away its muscles. Wishful thinking of me only wants makers of action flicks not to treat its audience like morons. *Cough* Die Hard 4.

We’re half way to 2009. I’m starting to write down the movies and sounds I particularly liked. Number one on my list is still Crank 2: High Voltage. Last year, my number one was a Jason Statham, The Bank Job. I have an idea of the movies to come this year but I think I’m going to have another Statham number one in my list. To even think that most of Statham’s movies are dumb action flicks. It’s just plain weird.

Icons. Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett both died at the same date a few hours ahead of each other. They were icons of a generation before me. Fawcett I'm not familiar with. Jackson of course aside from being an American Idol theme was a musician I remember from his songs Ben and Give Love on Christmas Day. I remember being an eight-year-old boy together with my neighbor kids, we did a performance on our building's Christmas Party. I finished watching the fourth season of Bones (a TV-series) when I switched to local news before my way to work when I got surprised why there were doing too many features about MJ. Did he die? I thought aloud. I saw a picture of him with an R.I.P. That answered my question.

Doubts

There are times in your life I think you sit down and think what the heck you want to do for the rest of your life. It’s June and I’m in the same spot again. We’re a couple of months away from my dreaded month August -- coincidentally is also the Chinese’s month of the dead where everyone is advised to lay low as the spirits of the underworld are in this bacchanal-like trance and they make the lives of people in their path miserable. Two years ago, it was a botched dental procedure. Last year, it was my job. What something bad would this year bring? Hopefully nothing. Halfway to 2009, amid the minor setbacks I had, have been kind to me. I’m crossing my fingers.

I’m starting to doubt myself in the “big boys” book writing contest I joined. I haven’t received the complete feedback from the person I asked yet, but there were some points he raised which are valid but I think I can no longer accommodate. I think my creative juices have dried up for this one. I did a second round of work on my manuscript. I did the freaking best I could. It’s terrible to think but I know it might not be good enough. Am I giving up on my contest entry? Nope, not just yet. I did not expect to win in the first place. I just want to do my best to the point it hurts. It’s like I’m in a limbo. I could only hope the saying things gets fixed by itself given time is true.

Lean and Mean?

The second Transformers movie comes with a new Linkin Park song for its sound track. I couldn't help but be excited.

It's the first time for me to hear the song New Divide. I was reading the comments and was a bit surprised that the audience find it too "What-I've-Done-ish." For the non-LP fans out there, What I've Done was the first single from their third album and it became a sound track for the first Transformers movie.

Mike Shinoda and the boys from Linkin Park were "hired" to create a song for the latest Transformers movie. The song New Divide was "customized" for Transformers 2. It's obvious it's "What-I've-Done-ish." That's what the movie-makers from Transformers liked in the first place.

I personally liked New Divide. It's a "big" song. I think it's the biggest one they've done yet, vocally and technically speaking. (Duh, it was made for big robots.)

I can describe Linkin Park's third album Minutes to Midnight in two words: Growing Pains. They have, in the process, lost their fans who got fixated with their Hybrid Theory success.

I've been enjoying their music ever since I was a geeky high school senior. That was freaking eight years ago. Mike Shinoda and the boys know their fans have matured in time as they have.

Their songs are starting to sound U2-ish and I believe that's the direction they want to go to. I have a feeling twenty to thirty years from now, the person who will replace Bono (the current rock icon) will not be a fellow golden-haired blue-eyed Briton such as he. He's going to be a dark haired half-American, half-Asian (Japanese, specifically) who raps.

***
A few weeks ago, I deleted some of my online accounts such as friendster, myspace and multiply. I have no specific reason why I did it. I just did. Friendster lost its “silbi” for me when I got tired of “spying” from my college classmates and previous officemates. I find it somewhat stupid to compare their so-called “successes” and otherwise with what I have. It sometimes adds pressure that I have to have this and that to avoid feeling envious. Myspace, I wasn’t using. It was just plain clutter. It was one of the reason I don’t have a facebook account. I’ve been warned that it’s intrusive. There are some personal facts I don’t want to show off public. I’ve only learned to behave myself online starting last year when I had this so-called “Orwellian” period where I went back to my entries ever since I had my blog. I edited and “salvaged” what I can. I deleted a number of hopeless entries. It was like re-writing the past. Multiply? Jack of all trades, master of none. I deleted my multiply account because it doesn’t link my blogger entries to its blog accordingly. It was simply inefficient.

There’s a deluge of free online services. Most are for socializing and others are tools to improve one’s craft: blogger for writing and photo bucket for photo enthusiasts. I made a decision a few weeks ago to stay with the bare essentials. With my current state of mind and finances, clutter isn’t a good thing.

***
I finished reading Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun. The first two books I read from him were Dance, Dance, Dance and Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Both two books had an unnamed protagonist in their mid-thirties and they had a “sidekick” in a form of a teenage girl who happened to be too mature for her age.

South of the Border, West of the Sun for me deviated a bit as the main character was named, Hajime, and there was an absence of this matured teenage girl persona. It was a story of an “ordinary” man who thought of himself as extra ordinary growing up because he was an only child. He had a childhood sweetheart named Shimamoto whom he somewhat described as “the one that got away.” The second main woman in his life was Izumi who became his teenage sweetheart. When they became adults, Hajime had second hand accounts of Izumi as a terrible woman who scared little children. It made him guilty as he felt he “destroyed” her by having a violent sexual affair with her favorite older cousin when they were young. It became the reason they broke up. The third main woman in his life became his wife, Yukiko. Her father made him wealthy turning him from a bored-to-his-skull school textbook proofreader to a man-of-the-world owner of a Jazz bar. Things became complicated as Shimamoto returned to Hajime’s life. He had a wife and two kids and there was too much sexual tension between them. And complicated was the best word to describe Shimamoto.

What I like about Murakami books are the obvious references to pop culture during his time. I’m not very familiar with the band Talking Heads but now I’m sure it was one of his favorites. I had injected music and bands that I liked most with my stories such as Linkin Park and Audioslave.

- Did I personally like it? Yes.
- As a writer do I get something out of it? Yes. I want to be able to write a “weird” story like he has in the near future.
- Would I recommend other people to read it? It’s easy to read, therefore yes. It’s not the type of book, quoting Jessica Zafra, you want to the throw at the wall saying “I don’t understand you, you old fart!”
- Will I read another Murakami title? Of course, next on my list are Sputnik Sweetheart and Norwegian Wood (the book that catapulted him to popularity).

Rambling

When it comes to writing, I’ve always been in a damn-if-you-do-damn-if-you-don’t situation. Damn, I lacked descriptions (Rapiers: Twin Fangs), damn, there was too much unnecessary descriptions (La Dolce Vita).

One of the first few books I read was a Paulo Coelho and Coelho’s books are less of literary and more of the self-help type. Like an impressionable child, the example I so-called “grew up” with was wrong. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not blaming Coelho for my lack of writing skill. It’s something I have to develop in time, I wasn’t born with it.

Then again, I still couldn’t help but pick up a new Coelho title given a chance to buy new books. Old habits are hard to break.

The Witch of Portobello as far as my understanding goes was a “biography” (I’m not sure whether it was fictional or not) of a woman named Sherine. She was adopted by a wealthy Lebanese couple who migrated to London when all hell broke loose in Lebanon. Sherine was colorful and seemed larger than life. Adding the fact that her biological mother was a gypsy -- there’s nothing more colorful than that.

Sherine’s, her preferred name was Athena, story was narrated by people who know and do not know her personally. It was all about perspectives wonderfully chopped by Coelho to make a legible story out of it.

- Did I personally like it? Yes.
- Will I recommend other people to read it? Yes. Coelho has this way of making stories about witches, whores (Coelho’s Eleven Minutes) and gypsies colorful and easy to understand.
- As a writer, do I get something out of it? His style works but it lacks descriptions. There were a lot of interesting places mentioned where Sherine/Athena lived yet I didn’t have the slightest idea how it looked like.
- Will I read another Coelho title? Of course, but his style I will not emulate anymore. I forgot the person who said/wrote this: in order for one to break the rules and get away with it, one has to know them first.

***
I finished reading Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. It was a quick read unlike Coelho’s Witch of Portobello and my comparison between the two books ends at that.

Coraline was a dark fairy tale, a bit like Pan’s Labyrinth (a movie). It was creepy and weird but not the horror-movie-type. It was like Alice in Wonderland minus the Mathematics reference. I’m now quite excited to see the movie just to confirm if my understanding of the story is accurate.

- Did I personally like it? Yes.
- Will I recommend other people to read it? Yes. I’m even recommending myself to buy another Gaiman title should I have extra cash to buy books again in the near future.
- As a writer, do I get something out of it? Of course, I need to emulate writing styles like his because the types of story I work on is leaning towards that genre. I’m hoping I’ll have that kind of writing swagger someday.
- Will I read another Gaiman title? (Please see my answer in the second question.)

***
As the usual, I’m one of the last set of people to watch the “in” movie of the moment. I’m surprised that Terminator: Salvation wasn’t as talked about as Angels and Demons. When I did get to see the movie I said to myself, "Ah, kaya pala."

Terminator: Salvation was not as cynical and fun as its third installment. I have this thing about cynicism and how you can not make it boring. Sam Worthington as Marcus stole the movie from Christian Bale as John Conner same as Ewan Mc Gregor stealing Angels and Demons from Tom Hanks.

Terminator: Salvation was just okay. It was neither great nor bad. It was more of a movie you could watch with friends and laugh. You don’t need to understand anything.

I asked myself, which movie Christian Bale looked better? Him as Bruce Wayne in Batman: The Dark Knight or as John Conner in Terminator: Salvation? In my opinion, he was believable as both as he has this larger than life persona. He looked better as John Conner though.

On another note, I didn’t expect to see Helena Bonham Carter in this movie. She has been Hollywood’s preferred "losyang." She can carry roles like a witch or a whore. I even remember her brief appearance as Sirius Black’s demented sister who killed him in the fifth installment of Harry Potter movie.

Adult Sensibilities (2)

I received an email in reaction to my blog entry "adult sensibilities." I need to clarify some things since the person who sent me that email has valid points.

“I don't recall ever mentioning High School Musical and those other titles to you when we talked about young adult sensibilities (you were the one who brought those titles up).”
– My bad. =)

“For these writers, young adult stories would be the likes of The Prydain Chronicles, books by Garth Nix, Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and the like. Neil Gaiman's Coraline and The Graveyard Book are considered young adult stories.”
– Given my very limited reading experience, I have no idea about those books and authors are except for Neil Gaiman and his work Coraline. I just bought a copy of that book and I’m planning to read it some time soon.

“It is indeed a dilemma with the labeling, but young adult, in general, deals with stories that deal with the concerns of those in that age range (which also have sub-classifications in US publishing (9-12, 13-16, 17-20). That's not to say there can't be an overlap, and no, a label of "young adult" does not destroy stories that could have adult sensibilities. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, has long been suggested reading for young adults, but the subject matter it deals with--a young Jewish girl during the time of the Holocaust--is very adult, and so it crosses labels and has been read by adults too.”
- I personally can’t comment since I am yet to read Anne Frank’s book. The so-called “overlap” of adult sensibilities with books targeted for young adults is somewhat my point.

“I hope this clarifies things, because I'd hate for you to think that, as you say, advanced readers and writers are turned off by young adult books. They're not. I read a lot of adult books, and I also read a lot of young adult books.”
- Thanks for the clarification. But then again, it’s still a hard lesson for me not to prematurely label anything.

(I have the author's permission to blog about his reaction. Names mentioned above were examples only.)

***
I saw Da Vinci Code and thought it was a rip-off. It took me some convincing, again, from my office colleagues to even think of watching Angels and Demons in the cinemas. I always mention that a movie is surprisingly good because I always have this preconditioned notion that all blockbuster flicks are rip-offs.

And yes, Angels and Demons is another surprisingly good movie.

Jessica Zafra was right when she wrote: “Tom Hanks, wag kang tumabi kay Ewan Mc Gregor, gwapo yan.” Ewan Mc Gregor did steal the show. I like twist near the end. Somewhat it was anticlimactic and some people already left the cinema when they thought the movie finished when there was more to it and that’s a bad thing. I agree that it had this Amazing Race in Rome and Vatican feel. I wish I could go to those places someday.

Da Vinci Code was like: you’re telling me something I already know. Angels and Demons: scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. With stories, I really love the shades of gray. Black and white characters can be boring at times.

***
Like what I said last week, Adam Lambert didn't win AI. Enough said. I need to find myself a new distraction.

Nerds, Wounds, Can of worms

Watching Star Trek (Star Trek XI as it was written on the signs at malls) was a different kind of experience. The story is a geek’s paradise. Space -- the final frontier. It sounds so 60’s or 70’s, the period of science fiction’s peak. Frankly, I didn’t understand the “larger picture” of the story given it’s the first Star Trek movie I’ve ever watched. I know it’s supposed to be a prequel-like then it turned into an alternative reality of the said story. I still need to confirm if I understand the movie correctly.

I’m familiar of course with Capt. Kirk and Spock. Their names are like staple in a normal geek conversation. After watching the movie, I have this feeling like I’ve been left out of a great escapist flick. I should’ve been familiar with them. I should’ve exerted effort to know more about the story. Then again, I had a different set of priorities when I was in high school and college. I was into video games, the role playing type, and I’m over that faze. There’s now a part of me wanting to return to it. Then again, I have a different set of priorities today and video games and comic books are a bit expensive. I simply don’t have the resources.

***
It’s a good thing my brother brought some pirated DVDs of TV series at home. I’ve watched most of it like Boston Legal season 5, incomplete Ugly Betty season 3, House season 5 and Grey’s Anatomy season 5.

Given I have time to work on Rhythm Management, like what I said to myself a few blog entries ago, I’m having difficulty just to take a look at it. It’s like Rapiers: Twin Fangs. I know there is so much work needed to be done but I have this thing inside of me that abhors reading a word of it. I’m not going to blog about my frustrations about Rapiers: Twin Fangs. I’ve done it so many times. With Rhythm Management, I know some parts are cheesy (like the Greenwich pizza TV advertisement) and there are chapters that simply need lobotomy.

Rhythm Management, when I first worked on it, was composed of 24 chapters. I’m now in the process of adding a chapter before the “first” chapter, the moment when most of my main characters were in senior year high school. High school is never fun with smart people (humor me here), the reason I feel like I’m opening a can of worms. To even describe the angst, the raw emotions and the insecurities a normal teenager faces in that stage of life now seem a chore for me. I can’t believe I’ve distanced myself from the high school kid I was once. I can only say it’s a good thing I’ve watched the three seasons of Laguna Beach -- an MTV reality TV show about popular high school kids with so much time and money in their hands. It gave me a bit of a background with the things I've never had.

I believe I’ve talked about RM with some people and whenever they ask me about it, I tell them it’s composed of my exaggerated experiences when I was a senior in college. It’s super, way over the top, exaggerated and this is the story probably I’ve done with a sound track in my head. I never had a “scion” friend who could be one of the popular kids but chose to be with the nerdy bunch. Even I find myself that crap to be improbable. And now I’m working on the first chapter that explains it all and it’s difficult. I have to convince myself first it’s probable.

***
With American Idol Season 8, we’re finally down to 2: Kris the boy next door and Adam the rocker. Since the start of the finals, the viewers have always known the final-finals would be composed of Adam and “somebody else.” Kris, surprisingly, became the somebody else. Danny did his best last week and the judges thought it was going to be him against “Adam Glambert.”

Simon Cowell commented that it’d be a tragedy if Adam didn’t make the final-finals. It’s everyone’s bigotry at play here. They simply couldn’t stand the sight of a gay guy singing rock songs impossible for us normal human beings to sing.

I have a feeling Kris will win this season and not because he’s more talented nor popular than Adam. He just happened to be straight. And a straight person is always the “safe” choice.

***
Now that American Idol is about to end, I need to find myself a distraction. AI has kept me distracted from the usual office bull shit these past five months and I need to find another.

As I promised myself, I purchased not just two but three books to read before I formally start working on re-doing Rhythm Management. The books I purchased are: Haruki Murakami’s South of the Border, West of the Sun, Neil Gaiman’s Coraline and Paulo Coelho’s Witch of Portobello.

Coelho and Murakami have always been my staple reading. I added a Gaiman because I like trying something new once in a while.

Inside the Power Books store, I stood in front of the sci-fi and fan-fic section and was overwhelmed by the choices. I’ve always wanted to start reading sci-fi or fan-fic but I don’t know shit about its authors and the books. I can’t tell the good ones from the lemons. I need suggestions for a first time reader in this genre. I need something which is a bit easy to read. Anyone?

***
Pending topic for my blog entry next week:

- I received an email in reaction to "adult sensibilities." I need to clarify some things since the person who sent me that email has valid points.
- I received the reaction of the person who checked out the first three chapters of my contest entry. I think he liked my story. He said it needs some editing -- like all first drafts do. His comment "It's fine, it's not like you're joining this so and so really big book writing contest..." Uh-oh was my first reaction. I'm not joining a local town book writing contest. I'm going for something big like the World Series for baseball fans. I'm exerting effort like I'm in it to win it. However, given my limited writing talent and resources, my expectation is quite low. In American Idol talk: I want the judges to give me a gold ticket to Hollywood. I'll be so damn happy and I think it's worth all my effort if they do so. I'm not expecting to pass Hollywood week or "group day."

Hopefully not, should I don't get my desired result, it will not kill me. There's always next year.

“Adult Sensibilities”

In my effort to get my contest entry read and critique by this certain group of people in the local fantasy/science fiction genre before finally submitting it, I made quite a boo boo of describing my contest piece as a bit of the young adult genre. I didn’t know the term “young adult” is a turn off for advance readers and writers as they tend to associate it with the likes of High School Musical, Camp Rock and Twilight (the horrors!).

What made me describe La Dolce Vita, my contest piece for this “adult” book writing contest, as young adult is that I still view myself as one. I consider young adults in the age group of 18 to 25. I write about characters in that age group because I relate to them most: with the so-called quarter-life crisis, how the world dampens your idealism and dreams and the likes.

One of the people recommended to me stated that he wanted stories with adult sensibilities. It made me think, labeling stories as “young adult” therefore destroys its “adult sensibilities.” No offense to the person who made that remark but I find the word sensibility vague. What does it constitute? Maturity? Sex?

One hard lesson for me: I will not prematurely label my story again to avoid miscommunication. I didn’t expect that. I’ll let my story stand on its own merit or the lack of it.

***
I’m delaying my plan to purchase two books one more pay day. The reason was that my policy payment took more than half of my paycheck last week. It’s kind of a blessing in disguise since I now have an idea of what books to buy. I’m just hoping they’ll be available once I drop by the bookstores in the near future.

***
Due to a transition of my work schedule from April to May, I had an extended weekend. In the three days off from work I had finished my first rough edit of my contest piece. There were some obvious errors like “Santa Clause.” If you’re going to ask why the name Santa Claus is in my story, I’m not going to say anything as of yet.

Someone said yes to check out my contest entry but he has to read its first three chapters first. I’m hoping he’ll find it worth his time and he could help me improve my chances in the said contest.

***
It’s been a while since I blogged about American Idol and now we’re down to three: Adam, Kris and Danny. Good riddance to Allison. I have this bad blood towards her because she reminds me of a bully I had when I was in high school. The three are talented and I believe they deserved to be the top 3. On the other hand, none of them are my personnel favorites which are Matt and Megan. Megan I liked because she has a weird voice and Matt because he’s talented yet people don’t seem to like him. I have a penchant for underdogs.

Do I think Adam will become the champion? Not anymore. Ever since the murmur about his sexuality emerged, his popularity among the viewers declined. Did Adam become less talented? No, it’s just that the majority of the people would rather choose safe bets like Danny and Kris than Adam who’s gay and it’s just plain sad.

***
I watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine and I surprisingly liked it. I have a bit of background in the story because my brother used to collect its comic books and I was with the nerdy bunch in college. Given the three X-men movies, I liked it second installment most.

Of all the X-men characters, Wolverine is the most popular. He’s larger than life. He’s probably a guy who can make the so-called “stuff of soap operas” boring.

Watch it. For the love of God, not in a pirated DVD format please. Sulit siya.

The movie had this “ang saklap” factor and I like it.

***
Manny Pacquiao won his nth victory last week. Patricia Evangelista, a columnist of Philippine Daily, wrote a good article about him.

I didn’t watch his latest match but I have this gut-feeling he’d win. What made his matches memorable for me was that in my previous job, I used to organize the pantry where employees would watch it with pop corn and drinks.

I’ve gotten over my previous event organizing job. It’s just that, Pacquiao’s match, whether he wins or loses, would always remind me of the good times I had and the friends I made with my previous job.

I just find it weird that when I was college, me and my co-editor in the student newspaper would secretly wish he’d lose a match. We find his attempt in politics silly, the sycophants around him, pathetic and haughty. On a positive note, he seemed wiser with his finances than the other local boxing champs that came and gone.

***
Worthwhile reading list about the so-called “Book Blockade…” Someone needs to behead Customs Undersecretary Espele Sales ASAP.

Sean Uy: Signal Number Three

Philippine Genre Stories: Great Book Blockade

Jessica Zafra: A taxing machine

Preconception, Pretension

I watched Slumdog Millionaire three weeks ago and I have high expectations regarding this movie. In my opinion, it wasn’t worth all the buzz it enjoyed. And like what other people said, it was overrated. I find the coincidences unconvincing, the love story angle, corny. Do I find the movie pretentious? A bit. Or just maybe, the not so pretty sights were just too familiar to me. I don’t need to go to India to see “slumdogs.” We have our own set here in the Philippines.

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I have this thing with Jason Statham movies. I’d rather watch them in a pirated DVD copy format because I have associated him with dumb action movies. And with this preconception there were good movies that starred him I missed like the Bank Job for example. That movie I will remember for the year 2008 (and it kicked Batman: The Dark Knight in the number 2 slot) for the fact it surprised me. It was really good and not pretentious.

I was hesitant to watch Crank 2: High Voltage because I thought it was going to be like Statham’s other dumb action flicks. It wasn’t. It took some convincing from my office colleagues for me to even consider watching it in the cinema houses. They told me it was action-comedy and it became the magic word. With comedies, my so-called bar is a bit lower.

Like what Jessica Zafra said, there are movies that are just bad, they’re bad. And there are movies are that so bad, they’re good. Crank 2: High Voltage is one of them. It reminds me so much of Miami Vice -- the one starring Collin Farell and had the song from Linkin Park and Jay-Z. I had no idea what the hell was happening but I like it.

The plot was simple. His heart was stolen by a group of thugs and he had to recover it ASAP. An artificial device was placed in his body and he had to get electrocuted regularly to remain alive. I was trying to find any cues, no matter how subtle that they were trying to refer him to a character from the Wizard of Oz, Tin Man, who was in search for a heart, but I failed. If there was any, I think it would’ve been great.

The visual devices were helpful. There were a lot of funny moments. The references to his so-called “humongous white-ass penis.” All that gay bashing (I’m gay but I didn’t find the movie offending because I know enough not to take it seriously. There are times you just have to throw political correctness in the wind). That Chinese whore who called him her shining lunchbox. Chester Bennington of Linkin Park making a cameo appearance. Statham’s and that blonde girl’s fuck scene in public. And that moment where Statham was in flames and he was so hammered he hugged that Chinese whore bursting her into flames as well. In his head he was thinking of a fairy tale they’ve lived a happily ever scene with his lead blonde girl. I was laughing so hard I could only imagine other people in the cinema looking for that guy with that annoying laugh in the darkness.

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In the exact date of my birthday, I watched Fast and the Furious 4: New Model. Original Parts. I told myself I’d give myself a treat and watch a movie with a cute guy, like Paul Walker, in it. I’m not so much into cars but I do know enough people who are. Even they themselves would find this movie somewhat the sedated version of its first three installments. I didn’t see Walker shirtless unlike his previous movie with Jessica Alba Into the Blue. Therefore my decision not to see it in the cinemas was right. LOL.

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An exciting news for me: Mike Shinoda and the rest of the Linkin Park gang are doing a soundtrack for the upcoming Transformers movie. That I will watch in the cinemas.

Speaking of, here are some of the movies I look forward to in 2009 (aside from Transformers): Terminator: Salvation (I liked Terminator 3, like the Bank Job it’s an unexpected good movie). Another one would be that movie with Russell Crowe playing Robinhood in the movie Nottingham (this I’m not super sure but it really did spark my curiosity).

24

Oh fuck, a few days from now I’ll be 24 years old. I’ll be in the median age where most rock stars got their world fame status. I still feel boring and ordinary. Then again, I should stop comparing myself with them because I’m never a rock star material. Haruki Murakami, a well-known Japanese book author wrote his first book when he was 29. I think in literature, a 24-year-old is not even a teenager. He’s a toddler.

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In the next pay day, I want to buy two books and start reading again after I finish editing my entry for a book writing contest. I want to buy a coffee table book something like a Murakami, a Paulo Coelho or something random. The other one would be a (cheap) fantasy fiction book. I really don’t know why fantasy books tend to be quite expensive here in the Philippines. It’ll be like my short break from writing. I started writing my contest entry last December and finished this April.

One of the things I’ve learned attending the meetings of Lit-critters is that writing comes with reading. I’m not so proud to have read a very limited number of books. I want to increase it soon.

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In my first job, I read and wrote regularly. It was then I finished writing Rhythm Management, which I plan to redo after buying and reading 2 books. During my stay in the second job I had with that giant multinational computer company, I really don’t know why my habit for reading and writing went down the drain, so as my finances. Was it the environment? Was it because I deviated from technical support? Was I just plain lazy? Here in my third job (officially), I finished writing what I planned. It seems like whenever I’m in a technical support-related job, everything appears to be balanced and I get to do things I really care about. I guess I’m meant to have this “day job.”