Despite having another hellish pitch week (among others), it wasn't all that bad. Actually, it was great since Ateneo won! The team didn't choke!
Even if the game wasnt that close, i still felt like having a heart attack. Ateneo games always get me worked up. That's one of the reasons i don't watch it, aside from the fact that i seriously believe i am the bearer of bad luck.
But we won and i couldnt be happier. I just hate it when SOME people can't be sports about it. I think the result was pretty expected. The team is really strong and they weren't beaten ONCE by La Salle. but then you hear comments like LUTO or NAKASWERTE lang daw. And these comments weren't even provoked. I'm sure if it were the other away around, they'd be gloating non-stop. Now they're just being rabid sore losers. Haha, i can't believe i'm getting affected. But in the end it's better not to argue coz really, people know better. Lets just shrug it off and drink to our heart's content at the bonfire! Ü
I love to travel. Its prospect alone makes my happy. I think aside from experiencing a new culture, and trying out new food, what i really want to do is get lost, to be in a place where everyone's a stranger, where everything is new. When you travel, you can be silly, be weird, make up a new personality, tell lies or be entirely truthful about yourself. It allows you to start anew, albeit temporarily.
You're free to do anything and mistakes can be less damaging. Because you know that once you head home, you've effectively pressed the reset button.
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I'm almost sure of canceling my September trip. I'll try again in Feb when i have more money and hopefully, more friends who i can travel with to San Fo. I don't feel too bad about it though. I'm still excited to go to Boracay and maybe i can take a quick regional trip in the latter part of the year instead.
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Just saw Mamma Mia and Greece is lovely. Abba songs are great and so was Helen Hunt. The wedding scene was also great but that's about it. Maybe i came in with different expectations. I generally like musicals, even their movie versions. But i think this movie feel prey to the same trap as Across the Universe where the songs were bigger than their stories. Songs should aid in storytelling. Instead, the story was beholden to them. They force fit songs that may have entirely different meanings. Plus, it was a bit too campy for my taste. Traces of Pik Pak Boom everywhere (although this was set in a lovely greek island instead of in Pansol). But a lot of my friends liked this movie, though they were mostly girls. I guess it appeals to the chick flick demographic primarily. Ü
1. Speed Racer crashed in the box office. It crashed really bad. So bad, it did just as well as Ashton's 'What Happened in Vegas' even if it spent like $100 Million more than the romantic comedy. I think it's totally unwarranted. Sure, it won't win any Oscars, especially for Best Screenplay. The Wachowskis will never be compared to the Coens (TRIVIA: Larry Wachowski was absurdly rumored to have had a sex change and was now answering to the name Lana). But I think people are too hard on it. Did they expect to be moved to tears? Was Speed Racer supposed to change their life? It was fun. Its art direction was amazing. I loved how they captured the campy, anime-ish style of the original and the racing scenes had me on the edge of my seat! Although I think the fact that the cinema was cold and I was peeish helped. Overall, it was a great waste time. Sure it wasn't as good as the original Matrix movie or V for Vendetta but it was miles better than Matrix Reloaded. It's better than many blockbuster hits. And that's good enough for me.
Perhaps one reason for its demise is that the original cartoon wasn't too popular after all. I've had many conversations with different set of friends and they don't even know what the cartoon was about. They don't even know its plot. One even said it was based on a video game or action figure. Huh?!?! I found this weird. My childhood was really pre-Cartoon Network and a gazillion cable channels and i really feel lucky for this. It means my peers and I were watching the same shows, no matter how sucky they were (Think Teddy Ruxpin and Beverly Hills Teens). You feel like you have something in common. You have a connection. I guess Speed Racer aired during nappy time and I was the only one awake.
2. With all his hosting experience, would Alex Trebek win in Jeopardy? Is he a genius himself? Or is he just a good at reading teleprompters?
3. I dunno if this just applies to my Church but have you noticed that people don't hold hands anymore when singing 'Our Father?' The cause: the SARS scare. I remember the Archdiocese actually discouraged this practice at the height of SARS and i thought it was a good precautionary procedure. The disease has come and gone but years after, people are in no hurry to exchange extended handshakes again. I think people didn't like this habit to begin with, especially if you really don't know where your seatmate's hand has been. Most were just too polite to break tradition. But SARS gave them a way out. And as a result, masses can feel less like a community.
Like an unresolved scientific theory, this show is a big enigma to me. First, the indications. 1. It doesn't talk to teens, to women or any significant demographic. 2. Most of the cast members look like people you'd see anywhere...and then avoid! 3. The jokes are made by geeks for geeks. Its esoteric. Just watch the opening credits and you'd get what i mean. You'd need to play back the dialogue and consider Collier's encyclopedia your bible to get it.
Despite these apparent disadvantages, it is rating well and has been renewed by CBS while the fate of other shows like 'How I met Your Mother' is still being decided by the celestial CBS gods. I don't know why people like it though. Personally, i like the show, sometimes i think maybe a bit too much. But i consider my liking for it similar to my choice of historical textbooks as bedside reading--something i enjoy but i dont expect anyone else to understand. I doubt if the geek market is that big. Because really, how big is the table of kids in the cafeteria playing Magic Cards? Geeks are a minority. They're already over represented in High School Musical. Plus, I doubt if normal rural Americans get it.
Maybe there's a large closet geek market. People all around us, who aren't wearing retainers or suspenders or high waist, pleated pants. They could be your neighbor or your friend, who won't admit they make quadratic equations for fun. The combined closet and screaming geek population must be the driving force behind them, as well as sustaining all the incarnations of Star Trek. For other normal peeps, maybe the scientific gibberish is just so strange it's funny, and getting at least 1 joke per episode makes them proud, like its an accomplishment, like getting the $200 question in jeopardy.
I just hope its novelty is sustained. I'm now on my 12th episode and its starting to be a bit of a drag. Sheldon is becoming annoying, similar to how the cute ally mcbeal became loathsome very quickly. But if shows about nothing like friends and seinfeld became big hits, i guess it can be done. I wish these geeks well.
Any good relationship is founded on a strong, constant connection. It's an investment in time, in everyday personal anecdotes, in multiple eye contacts, in texts messages, in meaningful personal contact, in spittle. Enough funding will lead to laughter and good times; when even the most mundane topics are most enjoyable because it is shared. It is personal. It is yours. However, in some cases, previously good relationships that have become sporadic are more complicated. While the past will always be with you, the present (and future) can be a bit harder to wrestle. The lack of shared inanities lead to less topics of conversation. The lameness of jokes aren't enjoyed. Everyday personal anecdotes seem too insignificant to share. You are left to discuss big issues such as personal struggles and achievements if you don't want to succumb to small talk. And there are only so many issues to tackle before you get bored, before awkward silences arise.
Silences are broken by nostalgic trips down memory lane because in the end, that's the only thing you have left. That is unless you clear your schedules, decide to make a commitment, save your saliva and start investing.
After reading so many raw and brutally honest blogs, i became envious. I've come to the realization that i should stop blogging just to rant and to just start writing. anything. like everything else, introspection is a habit that needs practice. and because i am highly lacking in a little self-analysis, i will blog.
It's 2am and my body clock is still whacked. this all started when they started showing Globe Trekker (aka Lonely Planet) for a limited period that ended at around this time. And with a 'new' second hand TV in my room and wi-fi in my laptop, i've come to realize that there's just so much useless but fun stuff you can do. if only these were important enough to be remembered in a week's time, then i'd say the shorter slumbers were all worth it. Right now i'm not so sure.
It's my mom's birthday and we ended up spending it in one of the best kept secrets in Binondo. It's really amazing how a country's massive population and strong culture can convert an area, no matter how foreign into, Chinatown--a community so distinct that it's like a sovereign state in itself. I really found it interesting that i was eating authentic duck beside a table of teens that looked like they really came from the mainland. I'm not exaggerating on this. They really looked nothing like any of the Filipino-Chinese friends i have and i have quite a few. They looked like pedestrian versions of the Meteor Garden cast, with their authentic accents, disheveled hair and deconstructed get-ups. It was surreal, really. However, I think they were more shocked that a group of 10 indios with 6 rowdy kids in tow were eating dumplings with forks and celebrating a birthday in an old noodle house. Tit-for-tat.
A high school classmate of mine is getting married on sunday and i was really shocked that i was invited. Totally unexpected. He was never my 'barkada' though we did share a love for comics and he did hitch with me because his house was along the way, but other than that, i've never really hung out with him the past 14 years. I don't even know his fiancee. Heck, i didnt even know that he wasn't married yet! I was touched, though, and i did RSVP. He's a decent guy and i'd love to witness an important part of his life. It's the least I could do for the trouble he went to to personally deliver the invitation to me. And its not like we had a tumultuous past or anything. If he thinks i'm worthy enough to be there, who am i to refuse? It would be fun. And i wish him (and her) the best of luck.
There. i think this will do for now. A little more practice and i should be introspecting like Siddhartha.
"Associate only with positive, focused people who you can learn from and who will not drain your valuable energy with complaining and uninspiring attitudes. By developing relationships with those committed to constant improvement and the pursuit of the best that life has to offer, you will have plenty of company on your path to the top of whatever mountain you seek to climb."
I think my subconscious wanted to add something to this as I was trying to take a nap this afternoon:
We need to stay with friends who believe in our potential, whose vision of us is loftier than our own dreams.
I just saw the premiere of Sweeny Todd, the Demon Barber from Fleet Street. It was a film that left me speechless because I didn't know what to make of it. I knew it won the Golden Globes, I knew it was a Tim Burton movie but it still turned out to be stranger, bloodier and more disturbing than anything i'd expected and up to now, i'm not sure if i liked it.
A few people clapped after the movie, a few walked hurriedly to the exits while many others (my friends and I included) were a bit burdened and confused that we needed a minute to gain composure. OK this may be a bit exaggerated but our anxiety was real and the applause or apathy of others didnt help allay our lingering unease.
I think the extremely mixed reactions for the movie had a lot to do with the reviews it got. Oftentimes, a good review is much deserved and everyone's happy. Other times it brings in the crowds but raises people's expectations too much that it ends up disappointing. And then there are other times, though few and far between, that a film is a collaboration of the best in the industry and rakes in the awards and the praises that personal opinion is superceded by the film's stature. This is when there are only 2 groups of audience--those who got it and loved it and those who just didn't get it but have a forgiving 'it's not you, it's me' attitude about it. I think Sweeny Todd will be one such movie and i'm part of the latter. :P
I woke up early for work today primarily because i woke up a little too late for my nth attempt at a morning gym workout. Though early is relative (i really woke up at 8am), for a night person like me, it was a welcome experience nontheless. For once i was not praying for time to slow down as i was brushing my teeth. I even had a leisurely breakfast (i made mozzarella & herbs toasts!), lied down a bit longer and even did some morning exercises to compensate for my absence at the gym.
Just as the success of a hit song lies on its first few chords, the overall feel and experience of a whole day seems to be largely dictated by the first few waking moments. Now if only that was a good enough reason to convince myself to wake up early, or at least make this a more frequent anomaly. Ü
The new year is a perfect backdrop for the traditional class reunion. I didn't realize that we were 10 years out of high school and from how everyone acted that day, it really didn't seem like a decade has past. Sure most have added meat (or is it fat?) on their bones, a few more laugh lines, slightly higher hairlines but you could put us in a classroom and be transported to the mid-90s sans Doc Martens and Girbauds.
I'm sure many of us have hopefully grown up since then but i guess its difficult to act like a hotshot lawyer, a 'showbiz' personality, a manager with an MBA or to be pretentious around people who've seen 4 year's worth of your boogers and bloopers. The dynamics are no different either. The clowns were still funny, the leaders were still leading, the 'outcasts' still ostracized (although a bit toned down this time) and everyone still had the same brand of kenkoy humor that we've grown to miss.
I don't think this will change. Ever. A school of thought in market research says its better to segment your consumer by their personalities because unlike economic class and age groups, these hardly ever change and people carry these throughout their life. I guess there's some truth to that. Mother nature may bestow on us with flabbier bellies and grayer hair but we're still basically the same old immature kids. High school reunions are just perfect excuses to regress to our real selves, minus the disillusions and regrets, to return to hopefully happier times when your biggest problem was how to pass an exam.
