Four Unreasonable Movie Reviews Compressed Into One

Halata bang bored kami nung suspended ang klase?

[Film104 cinema analysis powers, come to me. Vocalize vocalize. Film 100 Ellen Paglinauan, I invoke thee. I invoke thee.]

Game.

There are many movies now with an environmental theme. I hope it is not just political accommodation, but a sincere attempt by Hollywood to generate awareness about several environmental issues. Sige lang, magprofit rin kayo sa paglalabas ng mga movie based on popular sentiment, mga kapitalistang aswang, pero ayusin niyo ha.

The Simpson's Movie was one. Under the guise of a family tragicomedy, at its heart, it is warning us against polluting the environment lest we suffer the consequences of being trapped in a huge dome and later on becoming victims of frustrated genocide by the head of an environmental agency drunk on power and greed. Nakakatawa lang ang pagkakadeliver.

Medyo nakaka-jar lang yung ibang characters, like Lisa's Irish boyfriend na bigla nalang sumulpot sa Springfield na parang hulog ng langit. Saan siya nanggaling? Oo alam ko sa Ireland, pero bakit siya napadpad sa Springfield? Hindi sinabi. Hindi rin pinakita yung parents niya. Nagkulang ba sa voice talents?

Wierd din yung pig. Pero dahil bumenta ang joke na Spiderpig, hindi na ako magccomment.

Isa pa ang Evan Almighty. Ito naman ay nagwwarn against widespread logging and unsustainable development dahil magccause nga ito ng "flood". It also criticizes American environmental policy (na meron din sa Pilipinas) that further contributes to environmental degradation for the sake of profit.

Idealistic lang ang pagka-channel kay Evan na "chosen one" ni God. Bakit kailangang Amerikanong politician ang magssave sa "world" (i.e. Washington D.C.)? May ethical issue rin yung broadcaster si Evan na pumasok sa pulitika. Simplistic din yung argument na to change the world, one act of random kindness at a time ang dapat gawin. U.S.-centric rin yung idea na "change the world" na obviously naman wala sa hindsight or foresight nila ang ibang bansa. Change the "world" my ass. Kung ito rin lang gusto mo sabihin, nanood nalang sana ako ng "Pay It Forward."

Total nandito na rin tayoAt iqquestion ko na rin yung Evan's Ark at yung sistema ni God na dapat one pair of very animal lang ang issave. Hindi ba magrresult yun sa inbreeding? Pero hindi dapat isipin to diba kasi family movie nga siya. Hindi mo naman pwede iexplain to sa little brother mo habang nageenjoy siyang nanonood. Saka na yung flood of awareness na sinasabi sa movie.

Ayoko ng Rush Hour 3. Hindi talaga ako EVER natawa sa Rush Hour. It perpetuates stereotypes lang about black people and Chinese people. Sige na, on some level it promotes the inter-marginalized-race-friendship-and-cooperation or whatever. Hindi pa rin. The kung fu totoy Chinese man and the irreverent black dude. Ewan ko kung bakit umabot ng dalawang sequel ito. Sorry but it's just me.

Finally, Transformers na ngayon ko rin lang napanood. Funny. Makes you feel good about the human race kasi sinabi ni Optimus Prime na kahit na ang stupid stupid natin, dahil nakita niya ang kindness ni Shea Lebouf, lahat na tayo o.k. sa kanila. Salamat sa good impression, Shea. You saved us all.

Natuto rin akong maginvest ng feelings ko sa isang technological device. Honestly, umiyak ako nung nacapture si Bumblebee (na dapat Volkswagen Beetle, btw.) Technological determinism kuno. Nangyayari naman ito sa everyday life, nag-add lang ng alien element yung movie and ginawa lang cool yung mga robot. Todo product placement rin pala dahil lahat ng kotse dun by General Motors.

Isang malaking theme na nakita ko ay na bida nanaman dito ang U.S. military. Parang nakita mo nanaman yung mga weapons nila and yung cutting edge technology mapapa-wow ka nanaman. Diyan ka rin lang makakakita ng Secretary of Defense na nakikipag-laban sa mga robots with a shotgun. Napaka-hands on naman ng SecDef nila no? Hindi siya yung type na nasa office lang nagccommand remotely. No, here, he's the hero, he's sixty but he can mind-bullet yo Deceptacon ass any day.

So basically U.S. culture and ideology parin nandito. Pwede na sabihing revisionist kasi nakakapasok na ang mga socio-political messages like "save the environment" sa mga films na ito. Pero, in the end, they're Classical Hollywood genre films to the core, so what can you do.

think anger of the rain gods

I used to say that rainy days were my favorite kind of weather.

Because, back home in Baguio, rainy days were good excuses to stay in my big sleigh bed in fuzzy wuzzy comforters, eating chocolate covered anything, and sleeping 27 hours. my personal record.

That was only until i got caught in the rain once, with Mikey, as we were running home from grocery shopping or something like that. We took a path through the golf course, which turned out to be a big mistake, because I stepped on three frogs on the way, and lost a shoe to the muddy hell that is a sand pit in stormy weather.

Then again, it is always a big mistake to run in the rain in four-inch wedge heels.

I don't have a sleigh bed here, and it is practically illegal to own thick comforters here unless you want to bathe in a pool of your own sweat and fluids when you wake up in the morning, even with airconditioning.

Also, my Dad has a spastic fit when he sees us dozing past 11 a.m. After which, he gets us on the treadmill and makes us do thirty minutes of cardio.

Then there is the "perk." Yung wala kayong classes for three whole days with no foreseeable end. Rica Peralejo doing those funny but ill-guided cartwheels on the morning shows whenever they announce that college classes are suspended.
Last week, I narrowly escaped:

• 3 reports

• 2 exams

• a missed-out field trip to a holy mountain

• and a few chores that can only be done in the sunshine.

[Also missed the CMFR book launch. Strike two.]

But then the consequences of that are as follows:

• they'll expect kick-ass reports

• higher exam scores cause they assume (mistakenly) that I spent all this God-given free time to study hard but how the hell do you expect to study hard in this weather? No. I played tetris and read the entire Sandman series all day.
• also, a postponed exam schedule might convince them to make the questions more difficult for the same reason stated above.
  

• okay the postponed field trip is okay cause then I get to go.

• I don't think that far ahead for this one.

[Super diyahe na to CMFR.]
[Super iccancel na nila ang sembreak dahil ang daming missed classes.]

And then there is also the fact of people dying in the rain and floods from electrocution, leptospirosis (that disease you get from rat poop and piss that get into your skin or open wounds as you wade in the water), landslides, all manner of natural disasters and damage to infrastructure, if they have homes at all, ruined crops, less veggies. Disease afterwards, pneumonia, bronchitis, muscle spasms. Gaining of weight from eating too much chocolate covered foodstuffs and sitting for long hours on the couch which is conveniently located near the pantry, by the way.

I try in earnest to get some reading done and get my reports ready and fired up, I know the rain gods gave me this time, these opportune moments to make good on my academic requirements, but I. just. can't. I keep on saying to myself, there's tomorrow pa naman eh. And Monday, which is a holiday. All the time in the world. So I just sleep or whatever. I never get anything done on a rainy day.

Hmm. Maybe that's why I liked it in the first place.

potency in the margins

Sa CL171 with Sir Eml Flores, nalaman namin na ang hidden power ng comics ay ang potensyal niya bilang behikulo ng mga politikal na mensahe dahil sa ito ay mabilis maintindihan at makuha, nakakaaliw, pero may subliminal, ika nga, na epekto sa ating consciousness lalo na kung subersibo yung mensaheng ito.

Dahil wala akong maicontribute na iba sa statement ng org namin against TOFI, naisip kong gumawa ng mumunting comic strip na naglalahad ng anti-TOFI message namin sa isang nakakatawa ngunit (sana) epektibong paraan.

Matagal ko nang inisip kung paano i-execute ang theme na bumuo sa aking isipan pero nahirapan ako gawin. sa gayon maraming salamat kay francis at kay desi na tumulong sakin at nagbigay ng puna.

Sa totoo lang marami na akong nagawang "pseudo-comic" sa blog na ito para lang pasayahin ang sarili ko, at mirakulong nagagawa ko ang mga ito na gamit lang ang Microsoft Paint, dahil wala naman talaga akong hand eye coordination.

Ang punto naman eh na gusto ko ishare sa inyo ang comic strip na ito kahit na alam ko corny siya. Sana i-share natin ito sa ating mga friends, hindi naman yung comic strip, pero yung mensahe na dapat tutulan ang TOFI sa lahat ng state u.

sophia

sounds of new puppy
get used to pitter-patter
little spotted paw

Ten Things I Know You May Not Know That I Know About Me

Chain-blog self-validation thingimajiggy from Glenn P e r e z's blog. Apparently you tag ten of your friends and they do the same and so and so forth until you reach the Dalai Lama. Those are the rules of tag and they are rigid and unbreakable.

Here goes.

1) It has been my long-time frustration to be part of a band, or at the very least, to be the girlfriend of someone who's in a band because it is also my secret dream to be worshipped.

So at night, before I sleep, I like to listen to several instrumental rock tracks and pretend I'm playing the song at a rock concert where all of my former and current crushes are watching me rocking out on stage. Consequently, I have become pretty good at air guitar, air drums, air bass, air singing, and air dancing.

If I lock the door to my room, and you hear my playlist on, chances are I am physically acting out this fantasy.

2) I am a monster without my make-up. Fortunately, you haven't seen me without it yet. Consequently, I am addicted to cosmetics, and cannot leave the house without putting any on. I also do not studiously check the labels for animal-testing-free stickers when I buy them. In that way I am not that far evolved an animal rights advocate.

3) My left boob is slightly bigger than the other.

I know this because I have been religiously conducting (in the privacy of my bathroom) breast cancer self-examinations since I got them (the breasts), which was not too long ago. I also secretly wish they were bigger. Skewed body consciousness na kung skewed.

4) I lie a lot in real life, mostly through exaggeration. I would humbly estimate that 90% of the things I say outside my journalistic profession are bull. shit. That does not mean that I am incapable of sincerity. I am.

5) Though I may be 'liberal' in my views on sexuality and other people being gay, and am supportive of their struggle for 'liberation' in whatever shape, form, or philosophy, I am secretly afraid that one of my little brothers will turn out to be gay.

6) I am self-centered in the way that I like reading the things I write or looking at the things I draw over and over, and though I may not acknowledge it in public, I am very much in love with the sound of my own voice, and the sound of my own thoughts.

7) My happiest and worst place in the world is the bookstore. Happiest because I reckon I can be left there the entire duration of my life and still enjoy myself thoroughly. I find simple fulfillment in browsing and reading jacket covers and book endings. Worst because 99% of the books I skim through or get interested in, I know I can't have anyway because they're so expensive.

8) I am, only by familial association, related to Padre Burgos of the Gomburza. Something about my Lola's side of the family being his bastard children.

9) My I.Q. level is 147. It has only increased by three iotas in the last year. I am vainly conscious of this, and annually take online tests just to make sure that I haven't gotten dumber in the last 365 days. 

I'm okay with this, but secretly envy my bestest friends (150-160 levels) and my brothers (150, give or take) who have higher I.Q.'s and who can afford to be lazy. 

My E.Q., however, is something like... 12.

10) thinking pa.

'kay.

I tag everyone.