Notes this weekend

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.

My Big Bang Theory

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.

investing on friendships

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.

to blog again

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.