Scud in Real Life

So Long...

2010-05-06T22:46:00.002+08:00

Scud has a new home.

Lakes, Shipwrecks, and Limestone of Coron - Day 4

2010-05-06T00:01:00.003+08:00

I climbed Mt. Tapyas for the second time on our 4th and final day in Coron to catch the sunrise. Contrary to a couple of days back when we were racing to the summit at a brisk pace to catch the sunset, the climb in the early hours of the Monday morning was leisurely. We took our time (it was pitch dark in some places) and I was able to appreciate the view of Coron while walking up the 712 steps.

After snapping photos of the sunset, the Coron town from miles up, and unsuccessfully attempting jump shots we returned to the resort. We hastily took a bath, ate breakfast, had a group photo, and rushed to the airport to catch our 10am flight back to Manila.

The 4-day stay in Coron was a feast to the eyes and a dent to the pocket. I didn't mind. I will still be going back to see more of the islands. Perhaps in a couple of years.

*****

Here is a list I made of what I will remember most of my Coron trip.

1. The safari-like ride from the Busuanga airport to Coron Town Proper. I wished there was a jeepney or open van where I could have stayed on top to shoot a video of the landscape.
2. No Jollibee, McDonald’s, KFC and other fastfood joints. I particularly digged the experience walking at night finding a place to eat. And eating barbecue and isaw and balun-balunan and grilled hotdogs.
3. Islands made out of limestone.
4. Banol Beach.
5. Kayangan Lake, Barracuda Lake, and Twin Lagoon.
6. Snorkeling.
7. Shipwrecks.
8. Our boat getting hammered by the angry sea on a sunny day on our 3rd day.
9. Climbing all 712 steps of Mt. Tapyas. Twice.
10. New friends. Ka-badminton ko na ang iba sa kanila ngayon.

Wrecks, Lakes, and Limestone of Coron - Day 3

2010-05-03T22:28:00.012+08:00

It was the last day of island hopping. The weather was great. The sun was up. Clouds were everywhere. But it was all a facade.

When we went out to sea I could see the waves were huge. The sea was angry. And so was the wind. The creak of the boat's structure threatening to give way was audible. With the demented mind that I have, I thought the boat was going to break apart. At one point the roof of our boat got blown away.

Someone started videotaping the wild ride. We smiled. We laughed. It was all a facade, disguising the fact that we were all nervous. Then the captain decided to take a shortcut. And what a shortcut it was. It was a marshland. It was cool.

When we exited the marshland, the sea had changed mood. It was surprisingly calm. We can now safely navigate our way to Gunboat Island where we can snorkel and get a good view of one of the sunken ships of WWII.

The island turned out to be the only land we dropped by the rest of the day. We were brought to one snorkeling site to another. I was most impressed with Coral Island. Corals of all shapes and sizes were everywhere. Fishes were not in abundance but it was worth it.

The two-hour boat ride back to Coron proper was rough. This time we weren't scared. There were other boats traversing the same path. It was like we were on a race on which boat would arrive first at the drop off point. It was fun.

*****

Day 3 Photos

Shortcut Through the Marshland

The Fishermen and the Sea

Gunboat Island

White Moon

Coron at Day's End

Wrecks, Lakes, and Limestone of Coron - Day 2

2010-05-02T09:55:00.040+08:00

I cursed the heavens on the second day. I had imagined weeks before the trip taking awesome photographs of Barracuda Lake and Kayangan Lake - the two places in the itinerary I was really looking forward to - but the weather did not cooperate. The sky was dark. And the sun was having one of its moods. I cursed some more, calmed down, and started clicking away on my camera.

I wanted to describe the entire day's experience in writing but since it would take many paragraphs to articulate my thoughts I might as well just share some photos I took and a description or two. And besides I'm pretty sure most of you would skip the text and just view the photos.

So here are the pics. Enjoy!

There is no other way to Barracuda Lake but to navigate these tricky wooden stairs (ladders?). The stairs do not wobble but one needs to take the time going down (and up). Falling down these stairs to the pointed limestone will hurt real bad.

*****

This wooden bridge is the final way to a view of the Barracuda Lake. There are no handles to hold on to but the walk will only take a few seconds.

*****

This is the entire group that I went to Coron with swimming in Barracuda Lake. This lake is huge and deep. What you see here is only a small quarter of how large the lake is. It is said that this is a crater lake similar to Mt. Pinatubo. Divers frequent the lake not because of the fishes but because there is a portion way below the surface where the cold water above and the hot water below diverge. Amazing.

*****

This is a view of the aqua-colored waters of Coron taken from one of the ladders seen in the first photo. The banca in the photo are the divers waiting for our group, all 27 of us, to finish our swim at the lake.

*****

This is a view from a cliff midway to Kayangan Lake. Behind where I took this is a small cave which I forgot to take photos of. There is not much to see anyway based on the photos taken by some friends.

*****

A shot of what is called the freshest lake in the Philippines - Kayangan Lake. It is not as big as Barracuda Lake but the water is clearer. There was no jellyfish seen unlike what was seen in Barracuda. There are fishes too and a small cave located on the opposite side from the wooden plank shown in the photo.

*****

The next stop after the twin visits to Barracuda Lake and Kayangan Lake was the snorkeling sites which Coron is famous for. The group ain't looking for pearls but at schools of fish and tens of porcupines.

*****

I got tired dipping my face underwater staring at Nemo and of his species and went aboard our boat to rest. I was not the only one who had the same idea. But alas rest was not to be. We took turns jumping off the boat for the customary jumpshot. Here is a photo of what a friend calls his Superman shot.

*****

Island hopping for the day finished early. While others decided to grab a bite or went to a dive shop to try on their wet suits for the next day's dive, I and 7 others decided to go to Mt. Tapias and watch the sunset. The sun was falling when we made the first step of the 717 steps needed to get to the top. We arrived at the summit with minutes to spare. The view from the top - a 360-degree view of the islands of Coron - was breathtaking.

*****

The sky turns yellow as the sun sets in Coron.

*****

This is the big cross at the top of Mt. Tapias.

Wrecks, Lakes, and Limestone of Coron - Day 1

2010-04-28T21:30:00.004+08:00

There are a few facts I learned about Palawan when I was in grade school. It was the island where migrants from nearby Asian countries settled. It boasted of caves. And it scared the wits out of my young mind that it was where people suffering from leprosy were exiled to. It was only many years later that I learned the facts of Palawan – it boasted of beautiful beaches, underground rivers, humongous limestone, numerous snorkeling and diving sites, and Edward Hagedorn.

I wanted to get to Palawan after feasting on Flickr photos and on Dante Nico Garcia’s Ploning which was shot entirely in Cuyo, Palawan. So when I got an invite to travel to Coron with my tennis buddies I did not think twice. Actually I did but after declining their two previous invites – Caramoan in 2008 and El Nido in 2009 - I wasn’t going to pass up on the opportunity and regret doing so.

So on the 3rd week of March I and 26 others boarded the Cebu Pacific flight to Busuanga. I wasn’t surprised that the Busuanga Airport was small and rather similar to the airports of Dumaguete and Naga. The 40-minute ride to Coron was like going on a safari sans the giraffes and the zebras and the elephants and the lions and the tigers. The land was huge and parched and barren. Of course there were trees. And mountains. And some cows. And lots of dung.

After checking-in at Princess of Coron where we were going to sleep for the next three nights we headed to our first day of island hopping.

The itinerary was:
1. Twin Lagoon. My first view of the Palawan limestone. It was everywhere. Breathtakingly beautiful.
2. Banol Beach. One of the best beaches I’ve been to.

3. CYC Island. A rather small island similar to Potipot Island in Zambales.
4. Skeleton Wreck. One among many Japanese war boats gunned down by the Americans at the end of World War II. It has since become a snorkeling site in Coron.
5. Maquinit Hot Spring. This should have been renamed Maquinit Very Hot Spring. My balls got cooked. Almost.

*****

Coron Photos - Day 1

- Busuanga Airport -

- House on Stilts -

- Limestone and Clouds -

- Facing the Twin Lagoon -

- The Shoreline of Banol Beach -

- Banol Beach Sparkles -

- Maquinit Hot Spring -

- View of Siete Pecados at Maquinit Hot Spring -

General Santos City's Kalilangan Festival

2010-04-23T00:01:00.017+08:00

It was said to be the highest recorded temperature recorded for the year at that time. It was a Sunday and it was barely 7 or 8 hours after I first set foot on Mindanao soil. I had my week-old camera slung around my neck. My jeans was stooping low on my hips I had to grab it by the waistband and repeatedly hike it up. I cursed myself for forgetting the belt I hung on the doorknob in my room back in Manila.

The street (or was it a highway?) was teeming with people – spectators, organizers, photographers, dancers. It was street dancing day for General Santos City’s less popular Kalilangan Festival. The more popular festival – Tuna Festival – is held in September where tourists diverge on the city in droves.

The festival isn’t as grand or as commercialized as the other festival that I have ever attended – Cebu’s Sinulog. It’s a good thing in my book. It’s not too crowded and no one shooed me away when I was practically in the middle of the street taking photos like a madman. I lost touch with Dong Ho, Lawstude, and Jonee when the activity commenced who I think were also busy taking photos and enjoying the sights and sounds of the Kalilangan Festival. We re-grouped a hour or two later when we had to leave and chase the falling sun in Gumasa.

*****

Thanks to Sheng, who by the way is a wonderful host, and GenSan bloggers for the free food and travel tips. Thanks also to Donna for the free after-dinner meal at her Piyesta restaurant located at the Robinsan's Mall in General Santos. Piyesta's kurat sticks are delicious with a little bit of spice in it.

*****

Kalilangan Festival Photos

Kalilangan Festival in Violet

The Hat

Star on a Hat

A Sea of Yellow

Dance! Dance! Dance!

Children of the Corn

Taking a Rest

Two

2010-04-21T10:52:00.018+08:00

Scud turns a year older after 232 posts and 10,000+ page views. I am humbled and blessed.

10 Random Facts

2010-04-19T15:38:00.000+08:00

I got tagged by my good friend Sonia to write about 10 random facts about me. Since this is my first time to get tagged, I’m going to give in to doc’s request. There’s another reason too why I'm giving in - I may no longer be able to get free consults over the phone. Haha.

1. I badly want a car of my own. If I had one, it would only take me half an hour to drive from the apartment to the office. At present, it takes me an hour more since I commute daily and FX taxis are almost always full when they pass by my place.

2. I have a demented mind. When I see women fixing their eyes with a pencil, I imagine the fx taxi we’re riding on abruptly stopping and the pencil would get lodged in her eyes. Blood would ooze out and I would just stare at her with a smirk on my face. I also imagine planes I am flying on diving into the sea waters below or breaking into tiny little pieces in mid-air. Parang LOST lang.

3. It’s the middle of April and I have only completed reading two books – Honeymooners: A Cautionary Tale and Flipped. I have been reading Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore for a couple of months now but I am not even halfway through. I have also started randomly reading ebooks at work whichever tickles my fancy on a particular day – Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian, Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet, Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl, Haruki Murakami’s After Dark, Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time – but could only muster reading a few pages before losing interest.

4. I get embarrassed when my family and relatives introduce me as Engr. Scud or when I see my name prefixed with Engr. on the mail. It’s not that I don’t deserve to be called one. I do. It’s just that that hasn’t been my profession for many years now and I’m not obsessed with titles.

5. I own two phones and subscribe to two internet providers. I am satisfied with all of them except for one. It makes me so stark raving mad I make my pillows my punching bag each time it conks out.

6. I sleep an average of 6 hours per day, even on weekends.

7. I am not a big fan of my writing. I wish I could free-write as well as Sonia or Kevin. Or write meaningful posts as well as Atticus or Panaderos. Or be as deep a writer as Prinsesa Musang or Ahmer. Or write short stories as well as Gillboard. Or be as articulate as Raft3r. Or review films as well as Oggs or WCS Minor Circuit.

8. I weighed 98lbs in 2002. I have gained 40lbs since then. I am more hefty but still look as young. Haha.

9. I have spent weekends at the apartment without talking to a single soul or stepping out of the front door to get some polluted air.

10. I am selling my Canon S5IS. Any takers?

Battlestar Galactica

2010-04-16T22:35:00.003+08:00

THE CYLONS ARE CREATED BY MAN.

THEY REBELLED.

THEY EVOLVED.

THEY LOOK AND FEEL HUMAN.

SOME ARE PROGRAMMED TO THINK THEY ARE HUMAN.

THERE ARE MANY COPIES.

AND THEY HAVE A PLAN.

This show is my current addiction. I'm hooked.

The Humor of Wowowee

2010-04-14T23:37:00.001+08:00

This is a collection of questions and actual answers, shared by a friend in Facebook, of contest participants of Wowowee. A fantastic way to cap a great and satisfying day for Scud.

Q: "Ano sa Tagalog ang teeth?"
A: "Utong!"

Q: "Kung ang light ay ilaw, ano naman ang lightning?"
A: "Umiilaw!"

Q: "Kung vegetarian ang tawag sa kumakain ng gulay, ano ang tawag sa kumakain ng tao? A: "Humanitarian?"

Q: "Sina Michael at Raphael ay mga."
A: "Ninja?"

Q: "Ano ang karaniwang kasunod ng kidlat?"
A: "Sunog!"

Q: "Magbigay ng sikat na Willie."
A: "Willie da pooh!"

Q: "Ang mga Hindu ay galing sa aling bansa?"
A: "Hindunesia?"

Q: "Anong hayop si King Kong?"
A: "Pagong!"

Q: "Magbigay ng mabahong pagkain."
A: "Tae!"

Q: "Saang bansa matatagpuan ang mga Canadians?"
A: "Canadia!"

Q: "Kumpletuhin - Little Red."
A: "Ribbon!"

Q: "Ano ang tinatanggal sa itlog bago ito kainin?"
A: "Buhok?"

Q: "Magbigay ng pagkain na dumidikit sa ngipin."
A: "Tinga!"

Q: "Anong oras kadalasang pinapatay ang TV?"
A: "Pag balita?"

Q: "Ano ang tawag mo sa anak ng taong grasa?"
A: "Baby oil?"

Q: "Saan karaniwang ginagawa ang mga sweets na ginagamit sa halu-halo?"
A: "Sweetserland?"

Q: "Sinong higanteng G ang tinalo ni David?"
A: "Godzilla?"

Q: "Ano ang mas malaki, itlog ng ibon o sanggol ng tao?"
A: "Itlog ng tao!"

Q: "Anong S ang tawag sa duktor nag nago-opera?"
A: "Sadista?"

Q: "Blank is the best policy."
A: "Ice tea?"

Q: "Saan binaril si Jose Rizal?"
A: "Sa likod!"

Q: "Fill in the blanks - Beauty is in the eye of the ____."
A: "Tiger?"

Q: "Ano ang kinakain ng monkey-eating eagle?"
A: "Saging!"

Q: "Kung ang suka ay vinegar, ano naman ang Inggles ng toyo?"
A: "Baliw!"

Q: "Anong tawag mo sa kapatid ng nanay mo?"
A: "Kamag-anak!"

Q: "Saan nakukuha ang sakit na AIDS?"
A: "Sa motel?"

Q: "Kung ang H2O ay water, ano naman ang CO2?"
A: "Cold water!"

Q: "Sinong cartoon charcater ang sumisigaw ng yabba dabba doo?"
A: "Si scooby dooby doo?"

Q: "Heto na si kaka, bubuka-bukaka."
A: "Operadang bakla?"

Q: "Ilan ang bituin sa American flag?"
A: "Madami!"

Q: "Ano ang tawag mo sa taong isa lang ang mata?"
A: "Abnormal!"

Racing the Falling Sun in Gumasa

2010-04-12T12:51:00.006+08:00

My usual hangout before a trip, especially to the beach, is Flickr. I'd spend minutes pouring over photos uploaded on that site. The Davao trip was no exception. And since Gumasa was part of the itinerary I salivated at the Flickr photos I saw. They were exceptional.

So at past 4pm, we boarded a van that was going to take us to Glan which is about an hour away from General Santos city. The van was cramped, not just with passengers but with various baggages. I didn't mind. I’m used to rides with very little space to wiggle on. And besides, I was dead set on seeing and taking a dip on the beaches of Gumasa.

On our way I could see that the sun had started its slow fall. I knew we still had ample time before the sun completely gives way to the moon but I was still agitated. I wanted to be on that beach.

About an hour later we arrived at the Glan Terminal. We hired a pair of motorcycles to bring us to Coco Beach. So off we went and it was the fastest and scariest motorcycle ride I had been in. That is not an overstatement. I'm used to riding motorcycles. I started riding in one since I was a kid. I could sit on the back with my hands on my lap and it wouldn't scare me. But that 20-minute ride to Coco Beach was different. The drivers were demented. They drove like lunatics, engaging each other in a race, overtaking at full speed on the opposite lane. It was crazy.

There was still ample light when we reached the beach but the scenery was nowhere near what I saw online. I was underwhelmed. I felt like a kid who was promised a remote toy car but was given a car made out of tin – the ones sold in the public market – instead.

I still took photos but I wasn’t as enthusiastic. The clouds aided further in dampening my spirits. They were in abundance and the setting sun was hiding behind it depriving us of at least a decent sunset photo.

I had to admit that I was disappointed. The photos I saw raised the bar so high that I could not help but feel down. But there is always a next time. A second chance to visit Gumasa. And maybe also to Lake Sebu.

* motorcycle shot taken by jonee; the rest by scud

Ripped

2010-04-08T22:20:00.000+08:00

Nope. This post ain’t about my ripped beach body. This post is more on my ripped beach shorts.

You see, I’ve been to three trips this year and I managed to rip 3 shorts and 1 pajama. The first I ripped in Samal Island in Davao while riding a motorcycle. I bought a replacement at the Samal market for a measly 50 bucks but ripped it again while doing the slide. That was the second.

The third, a brand new board shorts which I really digged, got ripped when I sat on a limestone while trying to take a photo of Banol Beach in Coron.

The last was the worse. I ripped it while jumping on top of a hill in Daet as the sun rose on a Black Saturday morning. The rip left a gaping hole that I could actually fit my head on. I guess that’s the price to pay to get a picture-perfect jump shot.

The Slide

2010-04-06T11:18:00.010+08:00

The slide was long and looked like it was made out of tarp. It was colored white on both sides with a stretch of blue in the middle. Water coming from the overhead faucet was making its own version of sliding to the 120-ft deep sea water below.

Two staffs were on hand to oversee us slide. One was located at the slide-in area tasked to prep us on the proper way to do the slide. The other was floating on the sea below, ensuring that our life vests were still intact after the fall and had safely swam away before the next person does his slide.

We had the entire place to ourselves when we arrived at mid-morning. After taking photos of the place and putting on a life jacket, we made our way up the stairs made out of coconut lumber to the slide-in area. It was a small square-shaped landing good enough for 3-4 people waiting for their turn.

Dong had gone before me and I could hear him howling with joy below. I rubbed my hands together in anticipation, took a quick bath on the overhead faucet, and positioned my butt on the edge of the tarp. I wrapped my arms across my chest as instructed and waited for the final push from the staff.

There was a slight shove and I started sliding. I gave out a loud hoot. I shut my eyes as the water, escorting me as I slid, splashed around me. I braced myself for the inevitable drop but it was taking too long. My patience started to stretch. I raised my head to see how far I was from the drop-off when suddenly there was nothing supporting my back but dead air. I howled with glee. Then I fell.

I made a big splash. My head bobbed out of the water. I was grinning from ear to ear. I was ecstatic. I wanted to try the slide again.

So I did. Two more times.

*****

* photos credited to dong and jonee

*****

I experienced both the slide and the jump at Maxima Aqua Fun. It is located in Samal Island which is only a 15-minute boat ride from Davao City. More details are found here.

Maxima’s website can be found here or you may contact +6382-2712626 for your inquiries.

Thanks to Sir Sonny and Ria for making my slide and jump possible.

Films of March

2010-04-01T00:01:00.003+08:00

I was only able to watch 7 movies in March. Most weekends I spent on the beach outside of Manila or in bed sleeping/resting. By the rate I'm going I don't think I won't be able to top the 160+ movies I watched last year. I'm not complaining. That means a cheaper electricity bill for me.

But I digress. Here are a few noteworthy films I saw in March.

1. The Princess and the Frog. Disney's outstanding version of The Frog Prince.
2. Where The Wild Things Are. Spike Jonze's terrific adaptation of Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book of the same title.
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox. George Clooney and Meryl Streep voice out the titular character and his wife in this film about fox vs humans.
4. Green Zone. Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass team up again after the last two Bourne movies to give us this about WMDs and the Iraq war.
5. Alice in Wonderland. The visuals is underwhelming but Helena Bonham Carter makes your forget about that. As I said to a friend after watching the film - "Bonham Carter stole Alice from Depp".

3D

2010-03-24T15:44:00.001+08:00

3D is now the in-thing in Hollywood. After James Cameron’s Avatar broke Titanic’s box office records, every producer seems to want to dip into the 3D frenzy. There was Tim Burdon’s Alice in Wonderland which was fun to watch but was underwhelming as a 3D visual orgasm. Then in the next few months more 3D films are coming out – Clash of the Titans, Toy Story 3, the last 2 Harry Potter films, and Shrek Forever After. I even read that George Lucas is planning to re-release his Star Wars movies in 3D.

That got me thinking. Why don’t they re-release adult films instead like Killing Me Softly, 9 Songs, and all the movies from this list ? Better yet why not porn in 3D?

The Jump

2010-03-19T21:52:00.004+08:00

Note: This is not a poem.

I took the first step. The plank I was walking on trembled and so did my knees.
I stared straight ahead and saw where the horizon met with the blue sky.
I took another small step and again, the plank trembled.

I looked down and saw white corals submerged below the sea’s crest tens of feet below me.
I hardened my jaw and focused at the task at hand.
I took more small steps and seconds later reached the end of the plank.

I raised my hand sideways to shoulder-level, took a deep breath, then jumped.
I landed feet first and emerged out of the sea gasping for air and gulping sea water.
The jump was exhilaratingly good.

It was my first platform dive. And I conquered my fear of heights.
I swam back and made my way to the platform.
I jumped again.

Davao's River Wild - Part II

2010-03-15T11:00:00.000+08:00

Unbeknownst to most, there are two separate teams operating a rafting business in Davao. There is the Davao Wildwater Adventure, Inc (DWAI) and River One Adventure (R1A). The former has been in operation for almost 8 years, the latter launched at the start of the current year.

Googling “Davao” and “rafting” would almost always lead to DWAI. That is no surprise since they have been in the business longer. Their website is up and running. Previous Davao tourists have posted pictures and blogs on their experience with DWAI.

I initially made an inquiry with DWAI when a friend, who went to Davao a couple of weeks before my trip, prodded me to try out R1A. He gave out two reasons – it’s cheaper at P1500 (inclusive of lunch, customized shirt, digital copy of pictures/videos) and traverses 5 more rapids than the competitor (a total of 12.8 km) – even though they both run on the same river.

The best months to go rafting for thrill-enthusiasts are from December-January and July-December. It doesn’t mean rafting is not recommended during the summer months. You can. It’s less scary. You can do the drifting without getting scared of getting dragged away by the river. It is also the best time to bring your kids out for a wild water adventure. There were 7 to 11-year-old kids on the other raft when we went rafting and they were having the grandest time.

So if you want to enjoy the summer in Davao, try out the rafting adventure offered by R1A. You are relatively in safe hands. Their guides knows the rapids inside and out, having traversed the river for years. It is relatively cheaper too.

You can read about my experience here. Lawstude uploaded a video and you can enjoy it here. Lawstude’sand Dong Ho’s take on the wild ride will probably be published soon.

River One Adventure
Contact Numbers:
0915 328 6857 (Globe)
0920 505 5477 (Smart)
0922 829 3370 (Sun)

Address:
16 Paseo de Roxas Commercial Complex
Manuel Roxas Avenue, Davao City
(walking distance from Ateneo de Davao University)

Other Activities Offered:
- Outdoor Adventure Events Organizing (adventure racing: trail running, off-road triathlon, swimming & paddling)
- island hopping tours (backyard activities: snorkeling, diving)
- inland tours (city tours)
- outland tours (Mt. Apo tour guide)
- corporate team building activities (specifically: sports team building)

Davao's River Wild

2010-03-08T17:11:00.048+08:00

There was a moment in the 3-hour-12.8-km white water rafting adventure as I was floating on my back with the slow-running river current, and staring at the blue sky blemished with wisps of white clouds when I got this feeling that the Davao trip and my first in Mindanao was going to be a terrific kick-off to the last summer of my twenties.

I wasn’t wrong. The entire rafting experience was a blast which almost got scrapped after I and 3 other travel buddies – Dong, Lawstude, and Bluespot – were enticed to try out Lake Sebu by GenSan bloggers (more on them on a future post) and the purported awesome view from its newly constructed zipline.

Common sense prevailed and by mid-morning on a Sunday, after a 2.5-hour bus ride from GenSan and 1 hour to the put-in area within Davao City, we had our helmets and life vests on raring to go navigate the rapids. There was a short lecture on the rafting basics: how to properly handle a paddle, what to do when you fall off the raft or when the raft capsizes, how to lift a "fallen” comrade off the river among other things.

The put-in area had a magnificent view of Davao’s flora. Almost the entire surrounding was covered in green and the color trickled down to the water. I initially thought the current would be raging on the get-go but it was surprisingly placid-like with only a tiny bit of hint that the water was downstreaming.

It was the perfect place to try out what was taught a few minutes back. We took turns sliding off the raft with our paddles, getting saved, and doing the saving. The water was cold but not shivery-cold. It was a welcome respite from the heat and jolted me awake having had very little sleep for more than 24 hours. It put me in the right kind of mood.

After each had their chance to dip in the waters, sort of a rafting baptism ritual, we were off to the rapids. Although they weren’t as intense as in the rainy season we still had the grandest time paddling hard forward and easy forward and feasting our eyes on the expansive scenery before us.

A few times our guide barked out a right side hard forward and left side hard backward combo-instruction (to the uninitiated, this means those sitted on the right side of the raft should paddle forward and those on the left should paddle backward) and we practically froze, each of us bewildered on which way to paddle. All of us burst out laughing each time.

In between rapids are stretches of placid-like waters. During these stretches we deliberately jumped or slid off the raft with the main guide’s approval. We floated on our backs or on our stomachs and allowed the river’s current to carry us.

We did this a few times and it was exhilarating. Peaceful. There was even an instance when after giving out the drifting signal all 6 of us jumped off the raft inside of five seconds. We felt like 5-year-old kids allowed by our parents to play off in the rain after minutes of incessant pleading.

The entire course allowed us to traverse through some poor communities in Davao who reside near the river. There were women washing clothes and throngs of kids either taking a dip or simply playing. Kids waved and yelled out babai (Bye-Bye) and we did the same.

At last at the 3-hour stretch we arrived at the take-out area. Similar to where we took off, the place was picturesque and the water placid-like. We were then famished and gobbled up the free lunch that cam with the package we paid for. It was a gratifyingly memorable experience overall.

By the way, something tells me I will be trying out the rapids again within the year, when the water level is higher and the river more frightening.

*****

Details on the team running the rafting adventure on my next post.

Films of February

2010-03-01T00:01:00.001+08:00

I watched 10 movies in February. I saw a naked Maggie Gyllenhaal, a gaunt Toby Maguire, and giant hotdogs falling from the sky. These were fine movies but could not hold a candle to the other 7. These are:

1. Man on Wire. An edge-of-your-seat documentary about a Frenchman who attempts in 1975 to tightrope-walk the 200 feet that separates the two World Trade Centers in 1975. The film plays like a thriller where the main protagonist and a slew of supporting characters meticulously plan a bizarre and almost impossible to pull-off attempt.

2. Requiem for a Dream. Darren Aronosfsky directs this 2000 gem about addiction - drugs, weight-loss pills, fame, fortune - and how addicts stretch themselves to attain the orgasmic but temporary euphoria. Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connely, Marlon Wayans are all terrific. The film also has one of the best musical scores ever recorded.

3. Leaving Las Vegas. An alcoholic bent on drinking himself to death. A hooker eking out a living. These two social pariahs meet and spend one sexless night together, develop a bond, and decides to live together. Elisabeth Shue is irresistibly good but this film is owned by Nicolas Cage.

4. Invictus. Clint Eastwood directs another gem, which he does almost annually starting from 2003’s Mystic River to last year’s Gran Torino, about how Nelson Mandela was able to unite his country in post-apartheid South Africa as they host and win the 1995 World Rugby League World Cup. This is an inspiring film and one that all Filipinos should watch to see how real and honest leaders should be.

5. Shine. This 1996 film directed by Scott Hicks follows the life of pianist David Helfgott as a young boy trained by a father (Armin Mueller-Stahl) obsessed on winning to his years as a music scholar in London to his mental breakdown. The actors who play David Helfgott are terrific – Noah Taylor as the teenaged David and Geoffrey Rush, who won an Oscar Best Actor for the role, as the grownup David. The last minutes of the film is a little bit like Mr. Holland’s Opus but I ain’t complaining.

6. Orphan. The orphan in this thriller is a fucking bitch. I wanted to grab her out of the TV and give her an unforgettable spanking.

7. The Boys Are Back. This film, based on a Simon Carr memoir The Boys are Back in Town, is about a widower and sportswriter (Clive Owen) struggling to raise and bond with his two sons – one from his dead wife, another from a previous marriage.

Bitter

2010-02-18T21:21:00.003+08:00

It has been a year since I severed ties with my former employer and moved to a new company which holds office in the same building. My former big boss seems to have ill feelings on our parting.

BB does not acknowledge my presence when we bump into each other– in the lobby, in the elevator, or at their office when I have official business to attend to. The last chance encounter was on Friday where we practically sat inches from each other in a crowded restaurant. I acknowledged BB’s presence, BB did not.

It was unbecoming for someone of BB’s stature. It was unprofessional. Surely, I won’t be as friendly the next time around. I did no wrong. I had no binding contract. Nagpaalam naman ako ng maayos.

Seriously, BB has to stop being bitter. Get over it. Move on.

Arch Support

2010-02-16T23:30:00.005+08:00

It wasn't the shoes. It wasn't on the way I run. It was the arch on my foot. It was too high according to the X-rays. The ortho suggested I get myself an arch support.

So I ordered myself an arch support as my ortho suggested. I finally got to use it early this evening. After a 1.5-hour walk-and-run combo I could still step with my right foot without wincing.

I was ecstatic. I was cured albeit in an artificial way. A workaround. But who cares? I can finally get rid of those expensive painkillers. And start visiting takbo.ph for that first official marathon.

Top 10: "Feel-Good" Movies

2010-02-14T00:01:00.003+08:00

Someone is getting laid today. It will be fun. It will be sweaty. It will be sweet. It may even be rough. And it will eventually be tiring.

Here then are recommended films to watch while cuddling and regaining the energy well spent.

1. Original Sin (2001). Antonio Banderas is a man in need of a wife. Angelina Jolie is a mail-order bride. Both stars sizzle on their scenes together. A single VCD copy of the film switched hands for weeks among my batchmates in our last year in college. It was a big hit.

2. Unfaithful (2002). A college friend was not at all happy with this movie. I disagreed. Aside from that airport scene, Diane Lane and Oliver Martinez’ scenes are worth watching.

3. Scorpio Nights (1985). This is probably the best local adult film I have ever seen. The sex scenes are hot. The sequel, starring Joyce Jimenez and Albert Martinez, looks tame when compared to the far superior original.

4. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001). Alfonso Cuaron, director of Children of Men, directs Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna who goes on a road trip with a much older woman. Forget about the quick lip-lock between the two male characters, the scenes that came before that – in the motel room and in the backseat of a car – make this film worth-watching. The deleted scenes from the DVD are pretty good too. Haha.

5. The Dreamers (2003). An American teen befriends two French siblings in 1968 France. He eventually moves in with them and embarks in naughty and intimate scenes with the two. It got an NC17 rating, a rating worse than R18, when it was released in the US.

6. Mulholland Drive (2001). David Lynch's mind-bending film is a beguiling one about an actress struggling to make it to the movies. The last act of the film featuring a lengthy girl-on-girl action is as shocking as its ending.

7. Jamon Jamon (1992). The film's many twists and turns are reminiscent of soap operas. It is a fun film to watch especially it's over-the-top ending. Oscar winners Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz star.

8. Wild Things (1998). The film’s many plot twists is reminiscent of Live Flesh, #7 on this list. There is said to be a great threesome scene involving Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, and Matt Dillon which got cut by our self-proclaimed moral guardians. For an 18-year-old whose taste in movies has not yet seen the light, the butchered version seen on screen was enthralling.

9. Basic Instinct (1992). The film that made Sharon Stone the star of most men’s dreams in the early 90s. I saw the film only a few years back. It was then I realized why it was such a big hit.

10. Lust, Caution (2007). This is my least favorite of Ang Lee’s films. It is about a female spy sent to assassinate an official of the sitting Chinese government. Similar to The Dreamers, the film also got an NC17 rating. The sex here is explicit and rough and almost too-real. Tony Leung (Infernal Affairs, Happy Together, In The Mood for Love) stars.

The Prom

2010-02-09T21:27:00.002+08:00

My cousin, who is a high school senior, is said to be excited over an event taking place on the coming weekend – the JS Prom. I heard he wanted to get a tux but it turned out to be quite expensive and impractical since he was going to outgrow it within a year or two. He settled for the most common attire worn on a prom in the province – slacks, long sleeves, and tie.

I vaguely remember my own JS Prom in the mid-90s. It was one of my high school memories – and there are only a handful - that I’d rather have the Haitian erase from my brain. I would probably cringe when I stumble on a photo of a 15-year-old me wearing cream colored pants and a blue plaid long-sleeves that was a size bigger than my 100-lb frame. I was rail thin then with a serious inferiority complex.

To make matters worse, I was also selected to receive the “Book of Knowledge” from the senior class. That means writing a speech, committing it to memory, and speaking in front of around 400 students. That’s practically my nightmare right there – public speaking. I’m pretty sure my heart stopped for a split-second when my teachers relayed the news. I probably tried to decline but my teachers wouldn’t take no for an answer.

So I caved. I was the obedient student. I went up the stage on prom night, received the Holy Bible aka Book of Knowledge, and gave my speech. I remember dancing to a few songs with someone whose name and face escapes me now. I remember spending the rest of the night guarding the Bible like a hawk and restlessly checking my watch, waiting for the prom to end.

I guess if the JS Prom was held a year later - the prom back then was a bi-annual event - I would have jumped at the chance at making that speech. I would have danced more slow songs. I would have not sulked. I would have tried to mingle. And I would not be embarrassed to show a picture of me holding a mic on one hand and a Bible on the other.

Memories of Running

2010-02-04T23:08:00.003+08:00

The last time I went on a run I could barely walk for days after. My right foot hurts. A lot. And I pretty much have a high threshold for pain.

Friends told me it was probably the shoes I wore. Our company doctor told me the same thing. I wasn't totally convinced. She didn't even try to examine where the pain was.

So I did what Scud would usually do. I bought new shoes. A Nike pair designed for running.

I used it on a trial run just hours ago. For the first few minutes it felt great on the feet. But minutes after my foot started to hurt. The right foot. My friends were wrong. The doctor was too.

Time to finally put my HMO card to good use and have my foot checked by an orthopedic doctor. Wish me luck!

Films of January

2010-02-01T23:33:00.000+08:00

I watched 16 movies for January alone. 7 of these are in the running for my favorite films of 2010. And here they are...

1. An Education. A film about a 16-year-old schoolgirl who falls in love with a man twice her age. Carrey Mulligan gives, hands-down, the best performance of 2009.

2. Home. A terrific documentary about the threat made by man to our planet's ecological balance and what the rest of the world are doing to salvage it. The film found a great narrator in Glenn Close.

3. Happy Together. A beautifully photographed film from Wong Kar Wai, my favorite director on this side of the world, about two gay lovers whose paths separate and then collide in Argentina.

4. L’Appartement. A terrific thriller with a terrific ending starring a refreshingly young Monica Belucci. It was remade by Hollywood into Wicker Park and butchered it by giving the film a happy ending.

5. Let The Right One In. A Swedish film about a 12-year-old vampire who develops a deep connection to a 12-year-old normal boy who lives next door. The last time Morse Code was employed in a movie, it came out terrifyingly good. That film was Infernal Affairs. This vampire film is in that league.

6. The Cove. Another outstanding documentary about the man who gave rich corporations the idea that they could make a helluva lot of money staging dolphin shows and how he spends for the rest of his life atoning for this mistake – by traveling all over the world trying to save the wholesale slaughter of whales and dolphins.

7. Up In The Air. A film from the director of Juno about a man who fires people for a living, who gets sexually and emotionally involved with a fellow frequent traveler, and whose job is being threatened by a young woman’s 21st century ideals.

Uncle

2010-01-27T20:08:00.002+08:00

My nephews and nieces call me Uncle, Tito, Ninong, or Dadad.
In the Visayas where I grew up, uncles are called Tiyo (pronounced tee-yo or cho).
Tiyo is reserved for the elder uncles – those born on or before the 60s.

There’s another term which I think is only endemic from where my father grew up.
Uncles are called Ti.
I would have been called Ti Scud if I was born decades earlier.

Ti is actually short for something.
That something is Titi.
Ti Scud now becomes Titi Scud.

Now imagine relatives talking loudly.
Within hearing distance of Tagalog-speaking Pinoys.
Funny? Hilarious? Embarrassing?

Parang makalibog lang ba?

Mr. Bittersweet

2010-01-19T22:08:00.002+08:00

I have a new moniker - Mr. Bittersweet. A friend coined it when she found out why I liked Jason Reitman's 'Up in the Air'.

My reason? It's because George Clooney by the film's end is where he was at the film's start - alone but with a slightly broken heart.

I guess calling me Mr. BS is just right. I dig sad endings. I dig it when conflicts are not mysteriously resolved. Or when the main protagonist dies. Or when lovers break-up and live separate lives. Most likely when i say a film is great, it almost always does not end happily.

Don't get me wrong. I am not sick in the mind. I just don't regard cinema entirely as a medium for entertainment or for escapism. I sometimes think of cinema as art imitating life.

Life is not a bed of roses. Most of the time, if not always, its thorns prick. You snap out of your nirvana and then reality slaps you hard in the face.

Conflicts, deaths, heartbreaks, infidelity. They hide in the unseen future, anticipating, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. And when they do, life as you know it crumbles.

So, are there depressingly sad movies out there Mr. BS has not yet seen?

YouTube Gem: Kseniya Simonova's Amazing Sand Drawing

2010-01-11T22:38:00.001+08:00

I don't usually post youtube videos in this blog. In fact, this probably is the first. And what a way to jumpstart my series of youtube gems.

I stumbled upon this video while, again, lurking on an online at work. This is quite amazing. Kseniya Simonova, winner of Ukraine's version of "America's Got Talent", draws on a box of sand Ukraine's WWII history. Her audience is moved to tears. Maybe even you.

Scud's Travels: Casaroro Falls, Valencia

2010-01-09T03:30:00.005+08:00

Valencia is a small town located next to Dumaguete City - the city a former Manila Times columnist described as "that beautiful city between the mountains and the sea". It is in this town where one can climb an active volcano - Mt. Talinis - or trek to the 100-ft Casaroro Falls.

Late last year, I made it my personal vow to get to Casaroro Falls but I was apprehensive at first knowing that someone I know drowned at the place almost a decade ago. But since I have made “conquer your fear” as my personal motto, I pushed through with my plans.

Armed with 3 companions and 2 motorcycles we embarked on the 30-minute ride deep to the mountains of Valencia where Casaroro Falls can be found. The ride was a breeze – literally. And I again remembered how I used to relish riding a motorcycle sans a protective head cover.

Arriving at the entrance to the falls, we registered our names and paid the P10 entrance fee. And then the trek to the falls commenced. It was a 10-minute walk – including a 300+ concrete/steel steep, a cemented pathway, and a wooden bridge. I was awed by the place. It was teeming with fauna – trees, ferns, bamboos – on both sides. It was a sight a bit like the one seen from a banca on the way to the Pagsanjan Falls in Laguna.

The place was pretty desolate. There were no animals or insects in sight. No sound of birds chirping. No people laughing. At 11am, there was only the 6 of us who came to see the falls – me, my 3 companions, and 2 others. The only sound I could hear was the crash of water from far away as it fell from 100 feet above and the steady rush of the water streaming down the river.

Allowing my companions to go ahead, I took my time taking photographs. I was totally absorbed with what I was seeing that I didn’t notice that the sound of the falls had grown louder, that my companions had stopped walking, and was now staring at the falls which was obscured from where I was standing.

I broke into a brisk walk and a few second later was at their side. I stared at the falls meters from where we were. I gawked at it. It was a breathtaking sight.

Aim

2010-01-04T21:28:00.000+08:00

New Year's resolutions are not my thing. The only resolution I didn’t break was to hear mass every Sunday and each holy day of obligation. That was many years ago. Since then I have not bothered to make one. Until now. For the sake of blogging.

1. Travel more. I have 2 definite plans in the 1st quarter of 2010.
2. Read more books. Exceed my 16 books from last year.
3. Buy more books. I have 240 books in my possession. My aim is to upsize to 300 by year’s end.
4. Watch more movies. Exceed my 140 films from last year.
5. Buy at least 12, one for each month, original DVDs of my all-time favorite movies.
6. Watch at least one live concert and stage musical.
7. Get myself an insurance policy.
8. To not mishit a tennis ball most of the time.
9. Be sweet. I do not have a single sweet bone. My female friends have reprimanded me for not having one.
10. Save. This is most unlikely to happen. See 1-8.

The Year That Was

2010-01-01T13:50:00.001+08:00

Here are the events that defined my 2009.

1. getting dumped
2. travelling to ilocos norte, bicol, cebu, corregidor, and pinatubo
3. getting hooked to EFA - my 13" macbook pro
4. vacationing thrice at my hometown
5. my blog hitting 10000 visits a week before the previous year ended
6. sporting a new hairstyle
7. receiving four salary upgrades in the midst of a financial crisis
8. watching all cinemalaya entries in competition except for one
9. helping out ondoy victims
10. celebrating my lola's 94th birthday

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Favorite Films of 2009

2009-12-30T08:39:00.002+08:00

I watched 140 films this year. There were a lot of really good ones. And some bad ones too.

I capped my movie-watching year with the MMFF entry I Love You Goodbye that is an almost terrible movie. This film IS said to be the best of this year’s crop. The 6 others must be really crappy.

Enough of my ranting. 2009 must end with a rave. So here are my favorite films seen this year.

Foreign Films:
1. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
2. The Hurt Locker (2009)
3. Avatar (2009)
4. Frost/Nixon (2008)
5. Gran Torino (2008)
6. Rachel Getting Married (2008)
7. Star Trek (2009)
8. (500) Days of Summer (2009)
9. District 9 (2009)
10. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
11. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
12. Enduring Love (2004)
13. The Best of Youth (2003)
14. The Wrestler (2008)
15. I’ve Loved You So Long (2008)
16. The Blind Side (2009)
17. Milk (2008)
18. Coraline (2009)
19. In Bruges (2008)
20. Two Lovers (2009)

*****

Filipino Films:
1. Dinig Sana Kita (2009)
2. Yanggaw (2008)
3. Ploning (2008)
4. Tirador (2007)
5. Ang Panggagahasa Kay Fe (2009)
6. Kimmy Dora (2009)
7. Last Supper No 3 (2009)
8. Sanglaan (2009)
9. You Changed My Life (2009)
10. Colorum (2009)

Favorite Books of 2009

2009-12-25T21:21:00.006+08:00

I haven't read as many books as I wanted this year. I only managed to read 16 books, half of which I completed while killing time at work. Here then are my favorite reads of 2009.

1. In Cold Blood. Hands-down the best book I’ve read this year. Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel tells the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas and the ensuing investigation. Capote’s wonderful writing reminds me of other great reads I had – Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections.

2. A Thousand Splendid Suns. This epic novel from Khaleid Hosseini released in 2007 spans 5 decades, telling the harrowing story of two women whose lives meet in war-torn Afghanistan. Hosseini depicts a thriving country of Afghanistan in the 1960s and the ensuing wars that destroyed it.

3. The Hunger Games. Cited as one of the best books of 2008 by no less than The New York Times, this young-adult novel by Suzanne Collins is a tamed-down version of the ultra-violent Japanese film Battle Royale. This is one of my surprise reads this year that I liked.

4. The Time Traveler's Wife. Audrey Niffeneger’s 2003 novel is an unconventional love story between Henry and Clare. Unconventional in the sense that Henry has a genetic disorder that allows him to travel in time - they first meet when Clare was 6 and the man in his 20s (or 30s?).

5. The Company You Keep. Neil Gordon’s novel is a neclectic mix of politics, love story, and catch-me-if-you-can thriller. It tells the story of Jim Grant, a lawyer and raising his daughter as a single dad, but when his militant past catches up to him, he abandons his daughter, and goes on the run. A surprisingly terrific read.

6. Catching Fire. Cited among the 10 best books of 2009, this second book in The Hunger Games trilogy brings us back to the fictional country of Panem, to District 12, and to Katniss Everdreen. The sequel follows the life of Katniss and her partner Peeta Mellark after controversially winning the games in the previous novel.

7. The Sweet Hereafter. A school buses loaded with children one winter morning falls into an icy lake, killing all of its passengers except for two – 15-year-old Nicole who is now stuck in a wheelchair and the driver. The aftermath of this accident is the focus of Russel Banks sad 1991 novel which was adapted to the screen by Atom Egoyan in 1997.

8. The Feast of Love. This is the fourth novel from Charles Baxter. According to readinggroupguides, it is a sumptuous work of fiction about the thing that most distracts and delights us. In a re-imagined Midsummer Night's Dream, men and women speak of and desire their ideal mates; parents seek out their lost children; adult children try to come to terms with their own parents and, in some cases, find new ones.

Avatar

2009-12-22T23:58:00.003+08:00

We missed the 1st 10 minutes, no thanks to the December traffic. But the next 152 minutes of Avatar is the most jaw-dropping, astoundingly awesome cinematic experience I have had in years.

James Cameron transports us to the Pandora world he created for over a decade and you see every inch of it on screen. It is breathtaking. For 18 minutes shy of 3 hours, it feels like you really ARE in Pandora.

Forget about the Pocahontas-like plot. Go see this for the visual feast, the CGI, and the 40-minute battle sequence.

And watch this on an IMAX screen (SM MoA and SM North EDSA) which will continue screenings even during the MMFF. Believe me, the 400 pesos you pay is worth every centavo.

Go watch!

Top 10: Fave TV Series

2009-12-16T06:55:00.002+08:00

I have been planning an "all-time favorite tv series" post for the longest time but could not manage to create a list. Until now.

I guess this is my way of celebrating a milestone in my DVD watching – completing all 202 episodes of The X-Files spread out across 9 seasons. That’s the 3rd series I completed this year after The West Wing and Friends. A total of 593 episodes.

Here's my list.

1. The X-Files
2. The West Wing
3. The Sopranos
4. LOST
5. Friends
6. Six Feet Under
7. Friday Night Lights
8. Veronica Mars
9. Alias
10. Sex and the City

Next on my list: Chuck, Mad Men, Battlestar Galactica. But not necessarily in that order.

Decade

2009-12-12T08:04:00.001+08:00

2009 is not the end of the decade. 2010 is. Same as 1999 was not the end of the century. 2000 was.

It's just simple math really. If a year is said to be the end of a century, say 1999, you only have to divide the year by 100 and the quotient should be a whole number. You don't get that in 1999, you get that in 2000.

It's like buying a 10 kg of rice. You don't pay for a 10kg of rice which tips 9kg in the weighing scale. Lugi ka kung ganun.

That is why I don't understand (and pisses me off) why some people and online publications are churning out their 10 best of this and that. Unless the title says 'Best of the 2000s', that is just unforgivable.

Wishlist

2009-12-09T07:23:00.000+08:00

I wish for the following this Christmas:

- a baseball cap
- Andre Agassi's autobiography
- tickets to Ne-yo's January concert
- Nike running shoes
- a Nikon D90 (the D5000 model will do)
- an all expenses paid to next year's Australian Open
- a fully-paid, fully-furnished condominium
- Sampras' serve, Agassi's return, Federer's forehand, Safin's backhand
- Eclipse and Breaking Dawn failing miserably at the box office
- GMA, the Ampatuans, and their ilk abducted by aliens

200

2009-12-07T22:20:00.001+08:00

This is my 200th post, time to revisit my own version of 100 things to do before I die. I have not accomplished much but it's a start.

ADVENTURE
1. skinny dip
2. sky dive
3. go whitewater rafting
4. bungee jump
5. get involved in a bloody fist fight
6. backpack around the philippines
7. attend boot camp

ANIMALS
8. own a dog

BOOKS
9. read nick hornby's books
10. read haruki murakami's books --> read norwegian wood
11. read khalil gibran's the prophet
12. read james ellroy's la confidential
13. own hardbound copies of all Harry Potter books (i have softbound copies of books 1, 2, and 4).
14. read stephen hawking's brief history of time
15. read ian mcewan's books --> read atonement, saturday, amsterdam
16. read kazuo ishiguro's books --> read never let me go
17. finish reading my backlog of books (a total of 16 and counting)

CAREER
18. be a top-notch business analyst
19. be successful in my career and smugly turn down my former bosses who want to pirate me

CHARITY
20. help build a "Habitat for Humanity" shelter

EDUCATION
21. get a master's degree
22. get a mensa membership

FAMILY
23. pay off all of my parents' debts
24. watch a sharon cuneta concert with mama
25. watch an nba game with papa
26. watch the world cup match with my bro
27. have my own family

GADGETS TO OWN
28. nikon d90
29. ~~macbook pro~~
30. nintendo wii
31. ~~nokia e71~~

HEALTH
32. gain 10 more pounds
33. achieve 6-pack abs
34. run the treadmill at >= 9kh for at least 30 minutes without resting
35. wear contacts
36. discover a cure for cancer and diabetes
37. ~~get a monthly massage~~

MONEY MATTERS
38. save a million pesos
39. set-up my own business

MOVIES
40. watch the decalogue
41. ~~watch the best of youth~~
42. watch lav diaz's films --> watched melancholia
43 watch kung mangarap ka't magising
44. watch it happened one night
45. watch akira kurosawa's films
46. watch gerardo de leon's films

PLACES TO VISIT
47. new york city
48. paris
49. ~~mt. pinatubo~~
50. ~~mayon volcano~~
51. batanes
52. antulang
53. palawan
54. ~~bantayan island~~
55. caramoan
56. grand canyon
57. phuket
58. camiguin
59. ~~pagudpud~~
60. banaue rice terraces/sagada
61. great barrier reef

PEOPLE TO MEET
62. martina hingis
63. marat safin
64. arundhati roy
65. conrado de quiros
66. my great love --> almost but not quite

REAL ESTATE
67. own a beachfront property
68. own a resthouse in tagaytay
69. build a house with my own library and entertainment room with kickass sound system

SEX/DATING
70. watch a live show
71. interview a sex addict
72. get on the mile high club
73. go on a blind date
74. speed date

SKILLS
75. learn a foreign language
76. learn chess
77. ~~learn tennis~~
78. learn to cook
79. learn to drive a car
80. learn to play the guitar
81. learn to swim
82. personally design my blog template

SPORTS
83. win a badminton tournament
84. win a bowling tournament
85. score a perfect 300 in bowling
86. attend a tennis grand slam tournament

STATE OF MIND
87. be fearless
88. be friendly
89. be cool

TV
90. join Survivor
91. join The Amazing Race
92. ~~watch all seasons of The West Wing~~
93. watch all seasons of The X-Files --> 2 more seasons to go.
94. watch all seasons of The Wire
95. watch all seasons of OZ
96. watch all seasons of Battlestar Galactica

WRITING
97. write a book
98. write a screenplay
99. get published in PDI's Youngblood
100. win a Palanca

Score: 10/100

Unbelievable

2009-12-03T21:50:00.001+08:00

After the honor brought by Pacquiao and Penaflorida to Filipinos, GMA and the Ampatuans cut the happiness short with their brazen and bastardly acts.

Inexplicable.
Mind-numbing.
Immoral.

Massacre death toll reaches 64. A total of 64 cadavers have been retrieved since Monday’s mass murder, which was allegedly carried out by a group headed by Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., a ranking police officer said yesterday.

GMA keep friendship with Ampatuan family. “But it doesn’t mean that we are no longer friends with them if they are guilty. I think that should be treated separately,” Fajardo said. “The function of the President as head of state (is) that the law should apply to everyone whether they are friends, allies or relatives.”

Arroyo to run for Congress. “Gaya ng alam ninyo, hinihilingan ako ng mga mamamayan ng aking tahanang distrito sa Pampanga na manatili sa buhay-publiko (As you all know, I have been asked by the citizens of my home district in Pampanga to stay on in public life), so after much soul-searching, I have decided to respond affirmatively to their call,” she said.

Priest likens Arroyo's descent to Jesus Christ. “Do not believe you are diminishing the power of the [Office of the] President. Ating metung a taung migbaba ba yang sumuyo—I Kristo (There was a person who came down to serve us—Jesus Christ),” Moraleja said in a homily.

The Hangover

2009-11-29T21:50:00.001+08:00

4 san mig lights.
4 tequila shots.
1 black russian.
1 blow job.

I drank all these last night and it is making my world spin, my head throbbing in all places, and bile threatening to spew out any minute. I feel like I had died and gone straight to hell.

This is not the best way to jumpstart a long weekend. I guess this is what I get when I chose alcohol over Mulder and Scully.

*****

I wrote this on a Saturday morning in the middle of a terrible hangover, willing myself to stay awake for a few more minutes so I could gulp down a 500mg mefenamic acid and a pint of water as prescribed by Sonia. Doc, a million thanks. I managed to drag myself a few hours later to toy-shop and hit tennis balls.

The Hunger Games

2009-11-24T20:54:00.000+08:00

Battle Royale, the ultra-violent 2000 Japanese film, is about a busload of high school students who are brought to a deserted island where they must kill each other until one remains standing.

Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, released in 2008, borrows heavily upon this premise. A post-apocalyptic country, divided into 12 districts, holds a televised annual game where the last person standing is declared the victor.

Twenty-four representatives or 'tributes' play the game. Two are chosen from each district, one for each sex. As soon as the candidates are selected, they are whisked off to the city capital called The Capitol, where they are groomed, trained in survival skills, and presented to the live audience and the entire nation.

The whole spectacle reminds me a bit of the Olympics where athletes representing each country parade during the lavish opening ceremonies. Unlike the Olympics, the games played by these 24 chosen ones are literally deadlY.

Once they are brought to the arena, A The-Truman-Show-like dome comes to mind where the organizers can manipulate the weather and the environment, all hell breaks loose. The 24 fight to the death to survive.

The novel, the first in a trilogy, focuses on District 12 who has not won the games for over 30 years. It is narrated in the first person by 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who is the exact opposite of that girl Isabella created by Stephenie Meyer who writes like a high school student. While Collins' Katniss is all spunky and fiery with a touch of vulnerability (Julia Stiles comes to mind), Meyer's Bella is just plain pathetic, clumsy, and faint-hearted.

The book is a great read, having been designated Editor's Choice by The New York Times and The New York Times Notable Book which is a sure sign that the book is worth spending a few hundred pesos on. There is calculated manipulation, a little bit of romance and heartbreak and angst, and a lot of heart-stopping action.

I'm pretty sure this won't get to be as popular as the Twilight series since it does not have a male protagonist who sparkle like diamonds. But I tell you, this book is miles better and more wonderfully written with a kick-ass ending.

Hell on Earth

2009-11-19T21:09:00.004+08:00

This week has been a test of patience.

It started over the weekend when the new 500Gb hard drive I bought crashed a day after I mounted it on EFA. All my files died with it. The good thing was I have backup drives where I backup my digital copies of movies, TV series, mp3s, personal videos, and photos. I spent most of Sunday and Monday getting a new second hard drive, requesting for a replacement for the crashed drive, installing the OS and other applications, transferring and organizing files from the backup drive, and downloading software updates. I was frustrated I wanted to metamorphose as Hellboy (credit goes to a former teammate who said I transform into Hellboy when I get mad/embarrassed) and pick a fight with anyone to vent out my anger.

Sunday tennis was frustrating too. I can’t get in the groove of hitting the balls inside the court. I lost all of my singles matches. On top of it, our trainer seems to see every flaw on the way I play – from the way I grip the racket to how I volley to how I bend my knees when I hit the ball. I don’t really get it since my friends hit the ball the same way I do and they don’t get called for it.

Then there’s work which is not getting any better. My lead, who is based on India, does not respond to any of my emails unless I remind him via email or instant message which should really not be the case. Request for new software installation takes ages to get approved. Tickets (Issues) assigned to me are written in Finnish. The internet connection speed sucks. And my office crush went AWOL.

Tomorrow marks my 6th day of hell on earth. It sucks.

Ang Panggagahasa Kay Fe

2009-11-11T00:00:00.001+08:00

Have you ever watched a local film where as the credits roll and the lights turn on you sit on your chair dumbfounded? Your brain going on overdrive, trying to process what just transpired on screen? That what you had just viewed was a rarity in Philippine cinema - an intelligent and thought-provoking film?

Alfred Yapan's Ang Panggagahasa Kay Fe (The Rapture of Fe), a finalist in this year's Cinemalaya Film Festival, is one of these rarities. It is the story of Fe, brilliantly played by Irma Adlawan, and the men in her life - an abusive husband, an ex-flame, and a secret admirer. The last few minutes of the film is simply terrific and would most probably require repeat viewing or a heated but fun discussion with whoever you went to the movie with.

The film will be in competition this week at the Cairo International Film Festival and at the Bahamas International Film Festival in December. It has also been included in the lineup at the Chicago International Film Festival and the New Delhi's Osian's Cinefan Film Festival.

As luck would have it, the film will have its commercial run in select theatres starting today, most notably at the Robinson's Galleria and Robinson's Place Ermita.

Go watch!

A Weekend with Filipino Films

2009-11-08T22:05:00.000+08:00

I was feeling nationalistic over the weekend. So in between shipping my desktop to my hometown and hoarding DVDs in Quiapo and chatting with a good friend over office romance and a 5-hour tennis training I was able to squeeze in three Filipino movies on my tight schedule.

I saw Marian Rivera dance out of a cake in My Best Friend's Girlfriend. This movie proved that Richard Gutierrez can't act and that Rivera is a sight to behold and that Star Cinema makes way better romantic comedies than Regal and GMA Films combined.

I then shifted to Ded Na si Lolo, our official entry to this year's Oscars . The movie about five siblings coming to terms with their father's death is inconsistent, loophole-filled, directionless, and at times hilarious. It is no Departures or Cinema Paradiso or The Lives of Others or Pan's Labyrinth and has absolutely zero chance of getting nominated.

The last film that I saw and hands down the best among the three is Richard Somes' Yanggaw, official entry to last year's Cinema One Originals festival. I dare say it is the best suspense/horror local film I have seen in years. It tells the story of Amor who returns home to her impoverished family in the province after she is turned into an aswang. Cheap scare tactics take a backseat in the film and focuses more on the ties that bind a Filipino family.

Go get yourself a copy of Yanggaw. For the other two movies, you can wait for them to be shown on free TV.

After the Point of No Return

2009-11-06T20:56:00.004+08:00

The year is 2008. The Olympics in Beijing is in full swing. It has been the topic for days in your household and in your workplace. You were enthralled over the possibility of Michael Phelps beating the record of Mark Spitz.

The year is 2008. It is morning and you just had sex. You lay spent on the bed. A few minutes later you grab the remote and turn on the television. The Olympics is being shown. Suddenly the person beside you asks why the Olympics is being shown on TV.

Your face registers a bewildered look. Just the night before both of you had watched the swimming competition. You ask more questions. The blood drains from your face. Your partner does not remember anything except your name.

What triggered the amnesia? Was the sex that great? Or was the sex that forgettable? Find out here.

Top 10: Fave Buddy Flicks

2009-11-04T21:42:00.003+08:00

Women have their chick flicks and their romantic comedies. Men have films from other genre – porn, action, war, science fiction, and buddy flicks aka bromance films.

This list contains my favorite films on friendships forged among men. Most of the films in this list do not have neat endings.

Here then is the list of my favorite buddy flicks.

1. The Shawshank Redemption. Frank Darabont has adapted three of Stephen King's writings – The Shawshank Redemption in 1994, The Green Mile in 1999, and The Mist in 2007 – to the big screen and all of them had favorable reviews. His first attempt in 1994, the novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption which was included in his 1982 book Different Seasons, is his best. The film is about a friendship between two men who meet in prison and how they help each other survive and make something good our of prison life.

2. Good Will Hunting. This 1997 film from Gus Van Sant is said to be his most commercial film to date which is about Will Hunting who is intellectually-gifted but wastes away his skills by getting into fights and working as a janitor in MIT. I first saw this movie in college and I had thought it was the best-written film I had seen about male bonding. It has been more than a decade since and it still is the best twenty-something-male-bonding film out there.

3. Rain Man. Tom Cruise stars as a hotshot car dealer in Los Angeles who discovers that he has an autistic brother played by Dustin Hoffman upon his father’s death. Incensed, he embarks on a cross-country trip from Ohio to California with his brother to get his fare share of the inheritance but discovers along the way that he genuinely cares for his brother. This film won Oscars for Best Film, Best Director for Barry Levingson, and Best Actor for Hoffman. It also won the top prize that year in Berlin .

4. Sideways. A divorced guy and his college roommate go on a road trip through vineyard-populated Santa Ynez Valley in California , meeting two women – a waitress and a winery employee. The script is astoundingly good and delivered with such panache by its stars Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church , Sandra Oh, and Virginia Madsen. That dialogue between Giamatti and Madsen where the latter compares wine and relationships is one of the best I’ve seen in film.

5. Dead Poet's Society. Carpe diem. This is probably the most famous line in this sad but inspiring film about the friendship forged between an English teacher and his male boarding school students. Robin Williams and Ethan Hawke star in this film directed by Peter Weir, who directed the little-known Harrison Ford film Witness and the terrific The Truman Show.

6. Stand By Me. Based on the novella by Stephen King, this 1986 coming-of-age film is about a group of boys who go in search for a missing boy who was reportedy hit by a train while picking up blueberries. I saw this film in my early teens and to this day the boys’ adventures reminded me of the summer days with my brother and friends going on bike trips, skinny dipping, and climbing trees to pick cashew seeds and cooking them.

7. The Motorcycle Diaries. Gael Garcia Bernal star in this film about Ernesto Guevara de la Serna who, along with a good friend, embarks on a road trip across South America. What he witnesses – oppression and poverty - on his nine-month journey transforms how he sees the world as a carefree young man. It is said that his trip across the continent fueled and inspired his motives as Che Guevara, the Argentinean revolutionary.

8. Colorum. One of the better entries in this year's Cinemalaya, this Jon Steffan Ballesteros film is the story between a cop and an ex-convict who embark on a Manila-Bicol-Samar-Bicol-Manila-Ilocos Norte-Manila road trip after they get into a tragic road mishap. Alfred Vargas is surprisingly good but comedian and theatre actor Lou Veloso owns the film. His Best Actor win was well-deserved.

9. American Pie. This maybe a surprising choice but I had a grand time watching this movie about a group of teenage boys who plan to lose their virginity before graduating from high school. The scenes were freaking hilarious and gross. Remember the scene with Nadia and the webcam? Jim getting caught while doing the deed with a pie? Alyson Hannigan with her ‘one time at band camp’ line? Stifler accidentally drinking on a cup which he thinks contains beer? Stifler’s mother?

10. Pare Ko. Jose Javier Reyes' 1995 movie is about a group of friends battling personal problems - family, love, and heartbreak. I saw this film in my mid teens and was just blown away by it. I know this is not a perfect film. I would probably dismiss it as crap when released today but back then I thought this film was perfect.

Office Space

2009-10-31T10:27:00.000+08:00

I used to love my job. I used to get a high, a sort of euphoria, when I see a new production issue logged to the team. I know I’m good with what I do and I almost always get the job done.

But that love has gone to semi-hatred in a span of five months. I almost hate my job. I don’t like going to work. It has become a chore, a hassle. I don't like it that no production issues or requests are coming in that I could sink my teeth into. I don't like it that forums and vendor sites related to my job are either blocked or access is limited. I don’t like sitting on my ass for nine hours with not much to do but watching out for breaking news on www.inquirer.net, staring at MS Outlook, or discreetly watching The X-Files on my Ipod.

Friends have told me that I must be the luckiest guy in the world. I get paid to sit and surf the internet and write blog drafts. I tell them having idle time for once or twice in a month is good. But for 4 months and counting?

My brain cells are stagnant. They’re asleep. They need to be woken up and do some serious exercise.

*****

I thrive on teamwork. On quick lunch outs. On small non-work-related chats within an 8-hour shift.

Now, how do I survive on a team who are on war with each other? Where One gives Another the cold shoulder because Another earns more than the One? Where the boss does not try to defend his subordinates in times of head-butting with upper management? Where the boss is meek and assertiveness is an alien word? Where, in short, the boss has absolutely no leadership skills?

Working on a team such as this one sucks the life out of me. Signing in on to this job was a mistake.

Scud's Travels: Kapurpurawan Rock Formation - Burgos, Ilocos Norte

2009-10-26T23:40:00.009+08:00

The tricycle ride to Kapurpurawan, a splendid rock formation located in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, was long and bumpy. Rocks, some larger than one’s fist, were strewn all over the road. The tricycle screeched and screamed as it struggled to pass through the crests and bumps.

The rough ride ended when we reached a makeshift shed with the blue-colored sea beyond it. I could see on the far right, obscured by some trees, a majestic white rock formation. After a 15-20 minute ride, Kapurpurawan was now only a short walk away.

We then made our way down a flight of steps and through a short trail that led to a wide stretch of land. It was like I had stepped into J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The place was part Shire, part Mordor. I half-expected Gollum to jump out of the puddle of water demanding for his beloved precious.

The ground we were standing on was made up of corals. The whole beach was practically covered with these dead marine organisms. The place most probably was submerged in seawater many years ago and a natural phenomenon could have caused the water to recede.

When we reached the rock formation, which was hundreds of meters from where we parked, the group who came before us we were leaving. We had the place to ourselves. We took advantage of the opportunity. We took photos. We took videos. We climbed on top of ledges where we could stand, take photos of the place, and have our photos taken.

I stared and took photos of the creases, curves, and black stains that lined the floors and walls. The floor looked like a river of water had passed through it for years, eating up the rock, and producing an intricate design.

In between shots I continued to marvel at the place, wondering how many years it could have taken nature to carve something extraordinary out of a big mountain of rock. I wondered who could have first discovered the place, it being so far from the highway and with no obvious human inhabitants in sight.

Thank You

2009-10-21T21:40:00.000+08:00

THANK YOU. These are two words that a receiver can convey his gratitude to the giver. It doesn't take two seconds to utter these words. It's not even phonetically difficult. But why is it that some people take these for granted? Why is it, like the word SORRY, so hard to get out of the receiver's mouth?

Do these receivers not realize that two simple words can make the giver deliriously happy? That the time, energy, and effort spent to provide this and that were not done in vain? That the giver does not care if no material gratification is received? That what giver cares is an acknowledgment of the sacrifice no matter how small it was.

Is it really that hard?

The giver does not understand. The giver shows his appreciation all the time. The giver says THANK YOU to the guard who opens the door for him. To the lady who prepares his lunch. To the woman who does his laundry. To the cashier who hands him his change. To the baggage boy who bags his groceries. To the woman who expertly massages his body each month.

THANK YOU is a phrase the giver uses more than once in a day. The giver believes the phrase can never be overused. It must be spoken to those who deserve to hear it.

The Way Books Were

2009-10-19T23:30:00.000+08:00

A couple of weeks back I was contemplating shelling out P700++ for a hardbound copy of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol at a local bookstore when a shelf filled with familiar blue-colored books caught my eye. Hardy Boys. I grinned. It has been years since The Hardy Boys crossed my mind.

I strode to the shelf, grabbed a copy, and checked the back cover to see how much these books cost these days. These books, which cost around P50-P80 in the late 80s and early 90s, now cost P185 each.

I guess I was lucky books were not as expensive back when I was about 9 or 10 when I first discovered The Hard Boys, Nancy Drew, The Bobbsey Twins, Choose Your Own Adventure, and Christopher Pike novels.

Our school library encouraged reading and one of the ways they devised was to post on the bulletin board at the end of each month a list of students who had borrowed the most. I remember borrowing as many books as our librarian would permit to get my name on that much-coveted list. In retrospect, those years spent chasing the Bookworm of the Month title was my informal training on speed reading.

Those years were also the the advent of my fixation on books. I would save part of my daily allowance to raise the funds to buy myself the latest Hardy Boys paperback edition. Hardbound editions were not a priority since a couple of classmates, who owned pretty much every title in the series, lent me their collection.

I think I amassed a few dozens of these books up until the age of 13 when I outgrew them. I remember many years ago removing all my Hardy Boys collection from my bookshelf, replacing them with books from Grisham, Rice, Crichton, King, Irving, Rowling, Updike, Chabon and more recently from McEwan and Murakami.

I stacked my Hardy Boys in a cardboard box and kept locked inside my cabinet with no plans of selling them at a bargain. Who knows maybe my future kids would also want to go on numerous adventures with Frank and Joe the way their dad did.

(500) Days of Summer

2009-10-17T18:30:00.004+08:00

The last time I was impressed by romantic films was way back in 2004 when Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Before Sunset were released. These films were not your run-of-the-mill love stories. There is none of the overdone plot where a boy and girl meet, fall in love, have sex, fight, break-up, and before the end credits roll swap spit on the streets or airport.

That's a 5-year drought until the release of the terrific (that's a word I will not tire of using) (500) Days of the Summer. A film with the tagline "This is not a love story. It is a story about love.".

The film tells the story of Tom Hanson (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) who meet at a greeting card company where they both work. They soon both hang out together - going window shopping for home furniture, watching movies, renting out porn, having sex.

Tom eventually falls in love but Summer doesn't - pointing out in a scene at the start of the film that she does not see herself as someone else's girlfriend. She later backtracks on this in an excellent scene at a park bench, the best in the film if you ask me, acknowledging that true love, soulmates, destiny - things that Tom believed in but she scoffed at - do exist.

The film, presented in a nonlinear narrative, has many wonderful scenes where the characters spew out great dialogue. It also has a pretty good soundtrack featuring songs from The Smiths, Regina Spektor, and Hall & Oates.

It opens Wednesday and I will most likely watch this on the big screen. Now, I need to go hunt for my autumm. But before that, here's the elevator scene transcript which is one of my favorites from the film.

Summer: I love The Smiths.

Tom: [removing his headphones] Sorry?

Summer: I said I love The Smiths. You–you have a good taste in music.

Tom: You like The Smiths?

Summer: Yeah. “To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.” I love ‘em.

[Summer steps off the elevator]

Tom: Holy shit.

Cinemanila 2009

2009-10-15T00:00:00.001+08:00

The 11th edition of the Cinemanila International Film Festival opens today at the Market! Market! Cinemas in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Brillante Mendoza's Lola opens the festival which is by invitation only. Public screenings for the film are scheduled on the 17th, 18th, and 20th.

You can find a list of the festival entries and screenings here.

*****

Here are ways to get to Market! Market! if you do not have your own transport.

a. Take the MRT and get off at the Guadalupe Station. Take the jeepneys located at the back of Jollibee EDSA-Guadalupe going to Gate 3 or Housing.

b. Take the MRT and get off at the Ayala Station. Take the jeepneys or Bonifacio Global City buses located at the back of the gasoline station near the Ayala-EDSA intersection.

c. If you're coming from Libis/Ortigas/Rizal areas, take an FX taxi and get off at Buting (C5-Kalayaan Intersection). Cross the footbridge to the other side of the street and get on any jeep (except for those going to West Buting).

d. Get a cab from Ayala Avenue or Buendia. Cab fare will cost you around P70.

BISDAK

2009-10-12T21:38:00.003+08:00

When I first moved to Manila a month after college graduation to review for the board exams I refrained from speaking in Bisaya in public. Whenever I and my cousins would meet up I would always speak in Bisaya at a low volume while they would converse in Tagalog. Back then I was feeling inferior to Tagalog-speaking Filipinos, afraid to be laughed at for my accent. I was still a bit shy since I did not have a good command of the language having only visited Manila for 3 days one summer when I was 11, relegating its use only in the classroom during Filipino class.

For seven years I slowly learned my way in Tagalog. It’s no surprise since all of my colleagues and most of my friends grew up in Manila , with only my relatives and a handful of college friends I could speak with in Bisaya. I learned that one should say ‘mahaba ang buhok’ and not ‘mataas ang buhok’, or say ‘mas matangkad ako ng konti’ and not ‘mas mataas ako ng konti’.

I became so accustomed speaking in Tagalog that a few years back my high school friends remarked that I had completely lost my Bisaya accent and now spoke like a true-blue Tagalog. They laughed when they first heard me pronounce tricycle as try-c-kel rather than try-c-kol. They laughed some more when I would forget I was in the Visayas and pronounced a slew of other words whose last syllable should have been spoken as kol instead of kel.

I was cool about it since some people I know in Manila have also observed that a twinge of my Bisaya accent would sometimes manifest itself especially when I talk real fast. Now, if my Bisaya has a Tagalog accent and my Tagalog has a Bisaya accent what does that make me? A crossbreed?

Scud's Travels: Bantay-Abot Cave/Bangui Windmills - Ilocos Norte

2009-10-09T07:30:00.008+08:00

Halfway between Blue Lagoon and the highway is a hill made out of rock. There is nothing out-of-the-ordinary about the place aside from a spectacular view of the mountains and a white beach until one make his way down a flight of stairs to the rocky terrain below.

One instantly discovers when he reaches the shore an opening on the bottom of the hill. It looked like the hill got bombed during the war, producing a rather big hole which is popularly known as Bantay-Abot Cave.

Standing on the mouth of the cave gives another view of Blue Lagoon. A few more steps and one stands precariously on the edge of a cliff, tens of feet above the rocky shore.

*****

Bangui Windmills was the next stop. These identical towering white structures, visible from the highway, stand along the shores of Ilocos Norte facing the South China Sea. They number to around 15 and reportedly provide a significant percentage of the province’s electrical power.

Same as Bantay-Abot, the windmills does not bring about a jaw-dropping, wow-inducing reaction compared to when one first sees the crater lake of Mt. Pinatubo or the pristine beach of Boracay. These stops offer scenic views but do not induce an endless clicking sound of the camera the way Kapurpurawan Rock Formation does.

*****

The post on that final stop, which defined the Ilocos Norte trip, is still cooking on Scud's drafts and will be served up soon.

Top 10: Fave War Films

2009-10-06T00:45:00.009+08:00

Action movies are fun to watch with over-the-top action scenes and out-of-this world weapons. I always suspend disbelief when I watch films from these genre. I treat them as pure entertainment and don't really care if the plot makes no sense.

My approach on war movies are entirely different since this war did happen and battle scenes with its blood, carnage, and decapitated limbs are all too real, hits too close to home. I take these films more seriously, opting to watch them alone with the curtains drawn and the door locked.

Here then are my 10 favorite war films.

1. Saving Private Ryan. Steven Spielberg's film on World War II is about a band of soldiers sent to find a soldier whose brothers have all died in the war. The first 20 minutes of the film is said to be the grittiest and most realistic depiction of the horror and carnage in Omaha Beach.

2. Apocalypse Now. This war classic from Francis Ford Coppola was shot in the Philippines in the 1970s. Watching a deranged Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz on the latter part of the film is worth the effort of hunting for a longer version of the film, retitled Apocalypse Now Redux, that was released in 2001.

3. Full Metal Jacket. Stanley Kubrick's ultra-violent film follows a group of Unites States Marines from their brutal recruit training to the days spent in the war-torn jungles of Vietnam. This is one of my favorite Kubrick films together with 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange.

4. Platoon. Oliver Stone is at the height of his artistic powers in his Oscar-winning film about the Vietnam War starring Charlie Sheen. This film is way up there with Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, and The Deer Hunter (next on the list) as the best Vietnam War movies ever made.

5. The Deer Hunter. Michael Cimino's 1978 Vietnam War film tells the harrowing story of three Russian-American steel workers from a small American town who become prisoners of war and the aftermath after their daring escape from prison. The Russian roulette scenes from prison and later in a Saigon bar is unlike anything I've seen in film.

6. The Thin Red Line. I don't really remember the plot of Terrence Mallick's WWII film which stars a slew of actors like George Clooney, Sean Penn, and Jim Caviezel. I do remember that Mallick photographed the film like he was writing poetry which if you ask me is rather difficult to pull off.

7. Born on the Fourth of July. Tom Cruise gives a bravura performance in Oliver Stone's second Vietnam War film as true-life war veteran Ron Kovic. Kovic gets shot in his teens while fighting the war in Vietnam, rages on his paralysis, and later on channels this rage in protesting the war that has made him wheelchair-bound for life.

8. Three Kings. George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and Ice Cube star in David O. Russel's stylishly cool film released in 1999 about a gold heist set during the 1991 Iraqi uprising against Sadam Hussein.

9. The Hurt Locker. Released in 2008 about a squad of American soldiers deployed in Iraq to dismantle bombs planted by insurgents. Scenes where Ssgt. William James (Jeremy Renner) disarm bombs is taut with suspense and aided with minimal and at times zero musical score.

10. The Wind that Shakes the Barley. Winner of the Palm d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Ken Loach's film is about a pair of brothers fighting together and ultimately against each other for Irish independence. One unsolicited advice if you plan to watch this - make sure the DVD has subtitles, Irish accent is a pain.

Friday Night Lights

2009-10-04T00:00:00.002+08:00

I completed my 7-season The West Wing marathon a few weeks back. That was the second series I completed this year after my 10-season Friends marathon. Both series are from completely different genres and won their fair share of critical love, Emmyys, Actors, and Golden Globes. The West Wing was a political drama about Decromats running the White House while Friends was a comedy series about twenty-somethings living in New York. I highly recommend both.

The end of my West Wing marathon meant I'm on the prowl on what TV show to watch next. I planned on The X-Files but I misplaced the 5th season disc. Next was Naruto Shippuuden but I was not in the mood to read subtitles. Ditto to Memories of Bali.

I finally settled on Friday Night Lights. The show is not popular but it is an incredibly good show about a high school football team in Dillon, Texas. It is now in its 4th season in the US and I have just barely started on the 2nd. There is still a lot of episodes to watch but I'm now planning on what to watch next. Perhaps Battlestar Galactica? The Wire? Oz? 30 Rock? Mad Men?

The Wrath of Ondoy

2009-09-28T21:45:00.000+08:00

This photo circulating in emails and uploaded in the internet was probably taken Saturday afternoon when news of the floods caused by Ondoy broke out. I was dumbstruck when I saw the photo, not just because of how massive Ondoy's wrath was but because it was only a 15-minute walk or a 5-minute tricycle ride from where I live. The area was a waterworld from two days ago. When I left for work this morning the water was gone, replaced with inch-thick mud and mountains of garbage.

I overheard my neighbors talking amongst each other when I was on my way to work that we were lucky, having been spared from Ondoy's wrath. All we had to endure was a power outage, which as of this writing is still out and last I heard will only be restored by Wednesday at the earliest, and ankle-deep water.

I grieve for all those who were on the receiving end of Ondoy's wrath. For those who lost their homes and a lifetime of memorabilia. For those still trapped in rooftops. For those who have nothing to eat and no decent bed to sleep on. For those who have lost their loved ones.

And I worry for a friend who lives nearby whom we have not heard of until now, knowing that their area gets flooded even on the lightest of rainfall.

All I could offer them are my prayers, a few of my clothes, a little bit of cash, and a helping hand.

To those who need an extra pair of hands this weekend, please do contact me. My email is on my profile.

Scud's Travels: Blue Lagoon Beach - Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte

2009-09-25T21:45:00.003+08:00

Pagudpud in Cebuano, pronounced pa-gud-pud, means crunchy. For film lovers, Pagudpud is where Carlitos Siguion-Reyna used to shoot most of his films in the 90s. For local tourists and backpackers, Pagudpud is a small town located on the northern tip of Ilocos Norte where surfers ride the waves and where crystal-blue seas abound. This was our destination last weekend.

To get to Pagudpud, you can choose to:
1. book a Manila-Laoag flight then board a Pagudpud-bound bus
2. board a bus traveling Cubao-Vigan > Vigan-Laoag > Laoag-Pagudpud
3. board a bus traveling Cubao-Laoag > Laoag-Pagudpud
4. drive your own car

The travel time by bus is typically 12-14 hours from Cubao but since the gods conspired to make our trip hellish it took us 16 hours to get to Pagudpud. It was one of the worst bus rides ever, at par with my Vigan trip in 2005. It was decided earlier on that we were going to stay the night at Blue Lagoon Beach than the more popular Saab Beach.

Upon arriving in Pagudpud (Maira-ira Point), we had to ride a tricycle to get to the beach located several feet below from where we were dropped off. The road to the beach was paved but it was dark and steep. There were no street lights and the moon was nowhere to be seen. I could only see outline of trees in the darkness.

I remember that night staring out into space tired, hungry, and wanting to get out of the clothes I have been wearing for the two straight days when, as we turned on a blind curve, a cluster of light appeared out of the darkness. It was like stumbling on a long-lost city in the middle of nowhere.

I learned the next day that if we had arrived a few hours earlier the view of the beach below would have been jaw-dropping - the white shoreline, the aqua-blue waters, the visible black corals, and the two hills protruding out of the waters like giant bosoms.

We called it a day after taking a bath and eating dinner consisting of rice, sardines, and canned tuna.

*****

We woke before the break of dawn to catch the sunrise but it was raining. When the rain abated , we took off to take some photos of the relatively untouched parabolic-shaped beach. At that hour the sky was overcast. The mist hovering. The waves huge. I even got drenched trying to get that Canon moment with the gigantic waves.

After returning to the house we rented for the night I checked my shots and was sorely disappointed on how they turned out. My camera does not photograph well in bad light. I decided to go back and give it another try. By then, locales and tourists have awoken from their sleep. Some were getting ready for a banana boat ride. Others - young couples, middle-aged men, girls, and a toddler still in diapers – were taking a stroll.

The sun was also finally up, opting mostly to hide behind dark clouds. It would teasingly show itself for a few minutes prompting me to scramble for a nice spot to shoot - behind ferns, atop trees, on top of corals.

My perseverance paid off with nice shots. It would have been better if the weather cooperated. I could have been a blast. I guess the gods deliberately messed up the weather to lure me back to Pagudpud. They need not have done that. I will definitely be back. Probably in the summer. And this time I’m getting on a plane.

Road Trip

2009-09-22T21:52:00.004+08:00

How can Scud be rewarded for enduring a 6-hour wait on a bus terminal plus a 16-hour bus ride including at least 4 stopovers and 2 bus transfers? How can Scud be rewarded for enduring a day of travel without a decent meal? How can Scud be rewarded for sustaining himself with junk food, which he has not done in years, while waiting patiently for bus rides in waiting sheds?

Well, he only gets to ride on a tricycle driven by a drunk driver on a dark, curvy and sloping road to a parabolic-shaped beach. He only gets to hop on and off buses to get to the next destination just like in the movies. He only gets to have himself photographed with waves almost as tall as him. He only gets to gawk at imposing three-pointed windmills. He only gets on a rocky tricycle ride to an I-can’t-believe-this-exists-in-the-Philippines rock formation eroded and sculpted by time. He only gets to walk the dark and damp streets of Vigan at night searching for the Heritage Village .

In short, Scud gets to explore five awesome sites on a single Sunday in September. He is rewarded with what he now calls his best road trip experience of the year. No, scrap that. Make it of his twenty-something life. That feat is no small thanks to Dong Ho, Lawstude, and Lantaw who know the best places to visit in Ilocos Norte, the province located right smack on the northern tip of the Philippine map.

For the next few weeks Scud will be featuring a series on Ilocos Norte. He actually has written rough drafts but it will take him days to edit and rewrite. He may segue a few times in between posts to write on other stuff since his blog thrives on unpredictability, a hodgepodge of topics.

Here is a sneak preview.

Noynoy for President

2009-09-13T20:00:00.003+08:00

I used to like Mar. He was not your traditional politician. He was respectable unlike others who hold the same job. He had class.

Then he decided to take a shot the presidency and slowly my regard of him to take the high road in his campaign peeled away. Who wouldn't when he aired those ill-conceived TV ads? When he proposed to Korina Sanchez on national TV? When his 'traditional' pamamanhikan gets media coverage?

Even with those PR stunts, he was still trailing miserably in the national surveys to Villar and Estrada. Then Cory died and the political landscape changed.

There was a growing clamor for Noynoy to run for higher office. Not long after Cory's burial, Mar dropped out of the race to gave way for Noynoy. His move was called heroic, statesmanlike. Mar really had no choice. His dreams for the presidency had gone kaput.

Noynoy gave in to the clamor and officially announced his candidacy on on the 40th day of his mother's passing. The first thought that came to mind when I heard the news was "Where can I register?".

Yep. I will be rooting for Noynoy, exhibiting the same passion I did when I rooted for Raul Roco. Others have said, including some I personally know, that Noynoy is too young. He is too raw. He needs more experience. He has been a politician for 11 years - 9 in Congress, 2 in the Senate. How many more does he need? 15 years? perhaps 20?

Until when is one ripe to run for higher office? Until one is snarled by dirty politics? Until one is indebted to so many people politically he has lost count of them? Until one has made a noisy dissent on a political scandal? Until one has amassed millions that he could not possible want more when he ascends the presidency?

If not Noynoy, then who? Villar? The one who is so atat na ata maging presidente with his TV ads? I wonder how he would recoup his investment. Surely, he must get that money back and more when he wins. The cost of those ads could possibly be in the hundreds of millions and the campaign has not yet officially begun.

If not Noynoy, then who? de Castro? That news anchor who had a field day exposing politician's dirty tricks in MGB many years ago but has been mum on the blatant lying and cheating that the administration he now serves is doing?

If not Noynoy, then who? Erap? That ex-president who used Malacanang as his playground? And who was driven out of office by sheer incompetence?

If not Noynoy, then who? Legarda? I like Legarda but she is not cutout to be president. She should stay put as a legislator. I like her there.

If not Noynoy, then who? Escudero? That senator who, according to Elena Francisco, did not support the impeachment of Luzviminda Tancangco and Erap? That senator who initiated the impeachment of Chief Justice Davide? That senator who is associated with Estrada and his ilk?

If not Noynoy, then who? Lacson? Remonde? Puno? Nograles? Teodoro? Bayani? Gloria?

I completely agree with this tweet from meilarnee "Our long-standing battle against corruption can never be won by credentials but by character."

*****

Two of my favorite columnists, Condrado de Quiros and Patricia Evangelsita, has written insightful pieces in their respective columns on Noynoy. You can read these through the links below.

1. The Aquino son
2. Noypi ako
3. Destiny
4. Yes he can

Scud's Random Thoughts: Part VIII

2009-09-06T01:43:00.003+08:00

I miss doing my random thoughts and since I have things in mind that I want to blog but too tired to do separate posts I might as well revisit this for the nth time. Here it goes...

*****

They were twins, born a week apart. One was extremely intelligent, the other a semi-retard. One was mean, the other lovable. One speaks with the head straight, the other angled to the side. They are Kimmy and Dora, played superbly by Eugene Domingo with the same title sans the and.

The film is a riot. I haven't laughed out loud over a non-festival Filipino film since Ang Tanging Ina many years ago. The Aiza Seguerra song at the end was pretty good too. And Miriam Quiambao is hot.

Watch this!

*****

Three years after the extremely gross and funny Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen is at it again with Bruno. This time he is a gay Austrian desperate to make himself famous or rather infamous based from what he was doing the entire 83-minute running time.

This film is a disappointment. The filmmakers were trying too hard to top Borat. Scenes that were actually funny - the Paula Abdul interview, the Jerry Springer-type show, the wrestling match turned into a gay makeout scene - were few and far between.

Don't pay your hard-earned P140 pesos for this. Eight minutes were cut from the original version. If you really do want to give it a try, buy the dvd. It costs a 100 bucks less.

*****

The US Open, the last tennis major for the calendar year, is underway. As I write this Roger Federer is down a set against Lleyton Hewitt. That is good news since I don't like the 15-time Grand Slam Champion. Bad news is that Novak Djokovic, the only person capable beating Federer before the Finals, is down a set against an American and crowd-favorite Widden. Dammit!

Here's hoping my bets on the men's and women's singles - Murray, Nadal, Djokovic, Sharapova, Clijsters - win the tournament. Magpapa-cheeseburger ako pag nagkataon!

*****

Speaking of tennis, the pact that I and three of my friends made last year to begin playing the sport finally pushed through. It was only this month that all four of us were free from work obligations.

We learned the basic strokes - forehand and backhand - and I tell you it ain't a walk in the park. My forehand sucks but my backhand, which a friend of mine envied, was pretty good. I did hit a lot of moon balls though. The trainer said I was using too much power and was flicking my wrist like I was playing badminton. Arrrggghhhh!

I need practice. More practice. Maybe I should give labs a ring and ask for some tips. Perfect timing too since she's turning 29 within the month.

*****

I don't like my new job. There. I said it. Finally. It sucks. Big time. The tasks are few. I don't get any development work. Documentation of resolutions to application issues are non-existent. My manager don't act like he is one. My lead is an ass. My teammates are a bore. Some of them anyway.

I'm not quitting though. The pay is good. And my finally needs me. This is not the time to be selfish.

*****

I arrived at the office on Friday and found a stress ball on my desk. Nobody knew who left it when I asked around. Someone must have sensed I was stressed for the past few days investigating a production issue and thought the ball would be of help. It didn't.

I only squeezed it once then immediately tucked it on the same place where I first found it. I was not, even remotely, interested in doing a little bit of sleuthing on who gave the ball. Maybe after that damned production issue is resolved.

*****

I was trying out a shirt at the Megamall when I heard a couple talking from separate dressing rooms. I heard a rustling of clothes. Then I heard the woman say out loud "I can smell myself in here".

My mind started working on overdrive. I wondered "What must she be smelling?".

Top 10: Fave Animated Films

2009-09-04T21:00:00.002+08:00

As a kid I was hooked on cartoons. I remember rushing home from school after class to catch Transformers and Thundercats among others on our black-and-white TV.

On weekends I and my brother would watch any cartoon show on channels that our antenna, perched on top of our house, could get a signal on. Donald Duck. Mickey Mouse. Road Runner. Popeye. Chipmunks. The Flying House. Cedie, Ang Munting Prinsipe. Sarah, Ang Munting Prinsesa.

As I aged I outgrew the cartoons that I was so fond of. I became more enamored with books and live-action movies and grades. I still watched cartoons though but only full-length ones. I no longer had the patience to watch 30-minute shows that were made solely for kids.

I have seen lots of animations and here is the rundown of my top 10 favorites.

1. Spirited Away(2001). Bar none, this classic animated movie by Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki is the best on my list. The film follows a 10-year-old Chihiro as she tries to save her parents, who have turned into pigs, in a world where spirits and monsters abound. Storytelling and animation at its best.

2. Princess Mononoke (1998). Coming a close second is another film by Miyazaki. Wikipedia describes the film as "a period drama set specifically in the late Muromachi period of Japan but with numerous fantastic elements and concentrates on the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans who consume its resources as seen by the outsider Ashitaka".

3. Toy Story (1995). This film, the first among Pixar's masterpieces, was released in 1995 and tells the adventures of cowboy Woody and astronaut Buzz. It was so successful that Pixar released a sequel in 1999 featuring the same characters from the original and released the Academy Award nominated song When She Loved Me. The third installment, Toy Story 3, is set for release on June 18, 2010.

4. Monster's Inc (2001). This is Pixar's4th full-length animation about two "monsters" Sulley and Mike and an adorable little girl named Boo. Who doesn't remember that scene when Sulley bids Boo goodbye and his anguished face when the door to her room was shredded to pieces? Or that final scene when Boo's door was fixed and the camera focused on Sulley's face as he opened the door to Boo's room?

5. Finding Nemo (2003). ES-KA-PE. That is the first word that comes to mind when this film is mentioned. Dory, voiced by Ellen Degeneres, who has short-term memory loss steals the show from the father-and-son tandem Marlin and Nemo. I read that the DVD is a the all-time bestseller. I am not surprised. The movie is classic Pixar.

6. The Incredibles (2004). Who knew that an action movie would look so good and hugely entertaining in animated form? Brad Bird, who directed the movie, also had a field day giving voice to the designer of the Parr’s supersuites. Kung Fu Panda, who sadly is not included in my list, is also a terrific action movie.

7. Shrek (2001). Shrek. Princess Fiona. Donkey. Dreamworks' first foray into digital animation was both a critical and commercial success. The sequel, released in 2004, was even better and more hilarious thanks to Antonio Banderas' Puss in Boots. Shrek the Third was a disappointment. The third sequel, Shrek Forever After, is set for release on May 21, 2010.

8. Coraline (2009). This is a terrific animated stop-motion fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman's novel. The film tells the story of Coraline Jones who discovers a small door on the new apartment that she and her parents had recently moved in. The door is a passageway to the Other World where her more attentive "Other Parents" live and have a secret agenda of their own.

9. Persepolis (2007). Based on Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel and winner of the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the film follows “a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution”. The film made in black-and-white is sometimes hilarious, sometimes harrowing, and always has the heart in the right place.

10. Grave of the Fireflies (1988). This Japanese film directed by Isao Takahata is not your typical animated film. It is not a fantasy where toys and cars talk. In the film we see the orphaned protagonists try and fail to survive war-torn Japan set during the dying days of World War II. This is probably the most serious and "real" animated film that I have seen.

Honorable mention goes to The Lion King, Animatrix, Waltz with Bashir, Kung Fu Panda, Chicken Run, Ice Age 1 & 2, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, and the rest of the Pixar films not included on my list.

Have a great long weekend everyone!

Scud's Travels: Corregidor Island

2009-09-02T23:30:00.002+08:00

My cousin, who has been living in Manila for the past 8 years, has finally decided that she has had enough with the the bustles of Metro Manila traffic and pollution and is moving back to our hometown in a few days.

Eight years and we only got to go on an out-of-town together once many years back when she invited me to her company's summer outing to Enchanted Kingdom . In fact it really wasn't an out-of-town trip for me since I was still living in Sta. Rosa then. I have since traded my quiet provincial life in Laguna with a more exciting, faster, and money-draining lifestyle in the big city.

Then a few weeks back she asked, after her move was finalized, if I wanted to tag along to her PhD class' field trip to Corregidor Island . I wasn't sold on joining since I didn’t want to give more blows to my already bruised financial situation. I changed my mind after learning I would only be shelling out half of the normal price.

The price was a steal so off we went together with another cousin. The trip, which was my fourth for the year the last of which was way back in March, was a blast. I had fun. I barely listened to the history lesson barked by our tour guide as I basked on the LOST-like island. I wondered how the island may have looked decades ago when it was still teeming with life.

I imagined the buildings, bombed to smithereens during World War II, inhabited by soldiers playing tennis, swimming at the pool, holding office, or having a leisurely walk on lazy afternoons. It would have looked imposing at night bathed by the moon’s light, music and laughter wafting from the barracks.

Now, more than a half-century later the architectures looked dead – battered by age, roofless, floorless. The island, similar to the structures built on top of it, showed no signs of life except maybe for a couple of monkeys we saw near the Pacific War Memorial. The place was quiet; seemingly still mourning the lives lost. It is said that ghosts roam the island – unable or unwilling to move on to the afterlife.

The day spent in Corregidor was a pretty good history-learning experience. I learned that Corregidor is not a part of Bataan but are two different places, islands. I learned that Corregidor was a penal colony during the Spanish era and protected Manila Bay from invaders. I learned that the last Japanese soldier to surrender hid in the forest for more than three decades. He went out of hiding in 1979.

A visit to Corregidor could and should make us realize that blood had to be shed, lives had to be lost, and battles had to be fought to earn back our freedom and that it must never be taken for granted.

We should, as Capt. Miller said as he lay dying in Saving Private Ryan, "earn it, earn this".

******

District 9

2009-08-30T19:49:00.004+08:00

For 20 years a spaceship has been hovering over the city of Johannesburg in South Africa unable to function, a part of it gone missing. The aliens, found clustered inside the ship, are placed in a government camp called District 9.

The camp as the years pass eventually turns into a slum and the co-habitation between humans and aliens are plagued with violent riots and racial discrimination.

For peace to settle between the two warring camps, aliens are relocated to a new camp 240 km off Johannesburg. Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an employee of a private military contractor (MNU), is tasked to lead the relocation.

On the first day of the transfer, van de Merwe confiscates a black canister and inadvertently sprays himself with alien fluid. All hell breaks lose shortly thereafter.

I won't spoil the rest of the plot but this is where the film gets more interesting as van de Merwe races against time to keep himself alive.

This is by far the best movie of the North American summer toppling Star Trek and Up from the top of my list. It has an engrossingly solid story, kick-ass weaponry, and an ending that does not attempt to tie all loose ends. Filming it documentary-style was nifty too.

Go watch this!

Bitten

2009-08-27T22:48:00.003+08:00

With not much tasks since I switched jobs (I only spend at most an hour per day on work-related to-dos) and with very limited Internet access I devised a way to keep my sanity at the office. I was getting tired of lurking in forums, reading the news, and getting pissed when sites are blocked.

I thought why not read eBooks? I have a few of them stored in my phone. I decided on Ian McEwan's 1998 Booker-Prize winning morality tale Amsterdam. It was a quick read. I was done before my 8-hour workday was up.

To make my new task inconspicuous (reading via phone is a dead giveaway that I was bumming around) I sent some of my eBooks in my collection to my office mail. Khalil Gibran's The Prophet. Haruki Murakami's After Dark. Christopher Paolini's Brisingr. Stephenie Meyer's Twilight.

I started with Meyer. I finished the book in two days. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. The plot was good. The writing so-so. Meyer is definitely no Anne Rice or K.J. Rowling. She writes scenes and Swan's thoughts that are too melodramatic with a klutz and brooding vampire as protagonists . Meyer does not do justice to the word 'brood' as Rice did with her vampires.

Since I enjoyed the book, although I wished Bella had more toughness in her and there was less saccharine dialogue and more vampire action, I moved on to New Moon. It was more of the same. I had to skip paragraphs of Bella's senseless thoughts that were immaterial to the plot.

I laughed at pathetic corny lines. I mean who wouldn't with lines like "It was heaven-right smack in the middle of hell." and "My heart inflated like it was going to crack right through my ribs." and "I’ll be back so soon you won’t have time to miss me. Look after my heart I've left it with you."?

Asia's Titanic

2009-08-24T22:21:00.002+08:00

Asia's Titanic
National Geographic Channel
August 25, 2009
8:00pm

Just five days before Christmas in 1987, the passenger ship Doña Paz collided with an oil tanker off Mindoro Island in the Philippines. 4,000 passengers died in the tragedy. It was the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster. Through dramatic first hand accounts from survivors and rescuers, transcripts from the Philippine congressional inquiry into the tragedy, archival footage and photos and a re-enactment of the collision, dissect the unfolding tragedy of Doña Paz.

- taken from the National Geographic website

*****

To know more about the episode, click this link.

Don't miss this!

Up

2009-08-23T22:03:00.005+08:00

After last year's 20-minute ode to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in Wall-E Pixar is at it again with a touching sequence of two kids sharing a passion or the wilds of South America and their marital union - the bliss of living and loving and the woes of losing loved ones in Up.

The film was the first animation in Cannes history to open the festival and it got rave reviews from critics and viewers. Since it was in 3D I vowed to watch the visuals in the x-y-z axis and the P300 I paid was worth it.

The animation was simply stunning. The colors vibrant. The plot engaging. I laughed it out with the kids and mentally noted the "Thanks for the adventure. Now go have a new one." message. I thought, even in the darkened theatre with two glasses - presciption and 3D - perched uncomfortably on the bridge of my nose, that Ellie's note might come in handy in the future. It is a darn good break-up line.

Pixar yet again does not disappoint.

Spermologer 2.0

2009-08-22T19:00:00.000+08:00

Here's the second batch of my trivia series. This is not as interesting as the Philippine-related trivia from my previous post but still worth your time. Enjoy!

1. The Bible is the most-shoplifted book in the world.

2. The first telephone book was one page long and had only 50 names in it.

3. The moon is actually moving away from earth at a rate of 1.5 inches per year.

4. The physical demands of sex are comparable to climbing two flights of stairs at a brisk pace.

5. The largest cell in the human body is the female reproductive cell - the ovum - and that the smallest is the male sperm.

6. Mcdonald's ketchup has a number on one corner of its packaging that indicates how sweet or sour it is.

7. According to Bible Code and Mayan Calendar, doomsday is on December 21, 2012 11:12 GMT.

8. The last word in the New Testament of the Holy Bible (NIV) is "Amen" while "Curse" is from the Old Testament.

9. If a statue of a person on a horse has both the horse's front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If only one leg is in the air, he died due to sustained wounds from the battle. And that if four legs rest on the ground, then the person survived the battle and died of natural causes.

10. 160 cars can drive side by side on the Monumental Axis in Brazil, the world's widest road.

11. Last July 8th at 12hr 34min & 56secs, the time and date was - 12:34:56 7/8/09 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 - and this will never happen again.

12. 2057 will see the very rare occurrence of two total solar eclipses in a single calendar year. The last time this occurred was 1889. The next time it will occur is 2252.

13. One of the dancers in the single ladies music video of Beyonce is the choreographer of the dance and is actually a guy.

14. David Duchovny wears a synthetic lens in his right eye.

15. Pablo Picasso could draw before he could walk and his first word was the Spanish word for pencil.

16. Disney World is bigger than the world's 5 smallest countries.

17. Istanbul (Turkey) is the only city in the world to be in two continents(Europe and Asia).

18. Nepal is the only country in the world whose flag is not square or rectangular shaped.

19. Your foot is as long as your elbow to your wrist.

20. Our eyes never grow. They were the same size when u were born until now.

21. A pig, at 30 minutes, has the longest orgasm.

22. In a public bathroom, the stall which is closest to the door is usually the cleanest, because it's the least used.

Spermologer

2009-08-19T22:00:00.000+08:00

I used to be a spermologer - a person who collects trivia (according to wikianswers.com and answers.com) - back in high school. I had a few notebooks, scrapbook if you may call it, where I pasted cutouts of Bong Barrameda's trivia section from the Inquirer. I would sometimes spend hours in bed reading through my collection including another scrapbook of Youngblood articles in high school.

I lost interest when I went to college and more so when I started earning my own keep. Life arrived and learning trivia took a backseat. That is until a few hours ago when I stumbled on a trivia thread on a forum that I frequent. It was like I accidentally found a toy that I lost as a kid.

I will be posting these bits of knowledge in two parts. Let's start with Philippine trivia. Enjoy!

1. Malacanang Palace (built in 1802) was just a guest house for visiting foreign dignitaries during the Spanish regime. It was until 1869 when Palacio Del Gobernador, seat of government during that era in Intramuros, were destroyed by a quake did the Governor General temporarily resided in it.

2. The Basilica of San Sebastian is the only steel church in Asia and was the second building to be made out of steel, next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

3. San Agustin claims the title of being the oldest church not only in Manila but in the entire Philippines.

4. The center aisle of San Agustin Church in Intramuros has a rather curious "secret of sorts". Remove the carpet and what do you find? Tombstones. Grave markers.

5. Quezon City was the original capital of the Philippines and not Manila.

6. American University of the Philippines was the first name of the University of the Philippines.

7. Casa Roxas was the first company established in the Philippines which is now known as the Ayala Corporation.

8. In 1578, the oldest hospital which is the San Lazaro Hospital was built.

9. There are a total of 23 figures in the famous Bonifacio Monument along Monumento circle in Caloocan City. Including are the figures of the three martyrs (Gomez, Burgos and Zamora) and Gen. Emilio Jacinto.

10. It is believed that the Hotel del Oriente in Binondo, Manila, built in the 1850s, was the first hotel in the Philippines. The two-storey building has 83 rooms and happens to be a first class hotel. It was even reported that the Philippineí national hero had stayed there at Room 22.

11. The height of the three vertical pylons on Manuel L. Quezon's catafalque along the Elliptical Road is based on his age when he died. According to Architect Fedirico Ilustre it was 66 meters in height.

12. "Marangal na Dalit ng Katagalugan" composed by Julio Nakpil is said to be our original national anthem. But the president Emilio Aguinaldo asked Julian Felipe to create another one which is the "Lupang Hinirang".

13. Camiguin province holds the distinction of having the most number of volcanoes per square kilometer than any other island on Earth. It is also the only place in the Philippines which has more volcanoes (7) than towns (5).

14. Tagala, the Philippines' first Filipino-Spanish dictionary, was printed in 1613. It is 25 years older than the first book printed in the United States.

15. Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders and not by Americans. The Philippines is the world's 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the USA and the UK.

16. The national personification for Filipinos, Juan dela Cruz, is not a Pinoy idea. It was coined by R. McCulloch-Dick, a Scottish-born journalist working for the Manila Times in the early 1900s, after discovering it was the most common name in police blotters.

17. On January 18, 1995, Pope John Paul II offered mass to an estimated 4 to 5 million people at Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines, making it to the Guiness Book of World Records for the Biggest Papal Crowd.

18. The first non-Catholic marriage in Manila under the Spanish control took place in the early 19th Century when American Henry Sturgis, who arrived in the country in 1827, married Josephina Borras of Manila. They were wed aboard a British warship at the Manila harbor.

19. Based on the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest legal tender note in terms of size is found in the Philippines. The 100,000 peso bill measures 8.5îx14î. It was issued by the Central Bank in the year 1998 in commemoration of the centennial year of the Philippine Independence. There are only 1,000 copies of the said bill.

20. The antibiotic erythromycin - used to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections, such as respiratory tract infections, middle ear infections, and skin infections - was created by Filipino scientist Abelardo Aguilar, and has earned American drug giant Eli Lilly billions of dollars. Neither Aguilar nor the Philippine government received royalties.

21. Of the 500 known coral species in the world, 488 are found in the Philippines.

22. Of the eight species of marine turtles worldwide, five are reported to be found in the Philippines: the Green Turtle, Hawkbill, Leatherback, Olive Ridley, and Loggerhead.

Survivor Philippines: Palau

2009-08-17T06:04:00.004+08:00

Enough reason to watch Philippine television

Survivor Philippines: Palau

GMA Telebabad
August 17, 2009

Swipe!

2009-08-14T22:49:00.006+08:00

I realized sometime last month that 1/4 of my take-home pay goes to my credit card bills. If I had saved the money from the start of the year I would most likely now have enough dough for a down payment on a new car. Or invested it in mutual funds or in time deposit.

Since I have more responsibilities now like tuition fees, maintenance medicines for lola, financial support to close relatives who are in dire straits I have decided to let go of some perks that I have been enjoying for the past few years. Credit card will now only be used to purchase plane tickets online and postpaid cellphone bills. Dining out and drinking sprees will be kept at a minimum. Dating too. Some weekends will be spent in bed with Efa, my books, or the DVD player.

It is a win-win situation for me. I get to save money for possible tough times ahead and also share whatever blessings I have with others.

*****

I wrote this post yesterday at the office. Just a few hours ago I was able to test how committed I was to the new Scud when I passed by one of the Ayala malls. A blue checkered polo shirt caught my eye. I tried it on. It was a good fit. Really good. I could use it either with slacks or jeans.

I looked at the price tag. Not bad.

I thought for a few minutes if I should swipe my card since I didn't have enough cash with me. Then I went out of the dressing room, returned the shirt on the rack, and told the saleslady it was too tight.

That was the first time I resisted buying myself a shirt which looked good on me. Now I need another way to subtly impress my crush(es) at the office. Haha.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Men's Rules

2009-08-10T22:38:00.005+08:00

We always hear "the rules" from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules:

Please note... these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Breasts are for looking at and that is why we do it. Don't try to change that.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Saturday = sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! JUST SAY IT!

1. ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine, Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as:
Sex,
Sports, or
Cars

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round is a shape.

1. Thank you for reading this; Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight, but did you know men really don't mind that, it's like camping.

*****

By the way, as much as I want to take credit for the above list I have to admit that I am not its author. I wish I did though. I chanced upon the rules this morning at work while lurking on an online forum. I was grinning the whole time while going through the list. I hope you did too.

So go...

Pass this to as many men as you can - to give them a laugh.
Pass this to as many women as you can - to give them an education.

Have a great week, everyone!

Package Counter

2009-08-08T21:53:00.005+08:00

I always have a backpack/messenger bag with me whenever I report for work, buy some stuff at the mall, or do my weekly grocery shopping. It has become a staple of the 'Scud look' that an officemate expressed her surprise one Friday many months when she saw me without a bag strapped to my shoulders. I grinned. I had an important date that time and I didn't want to look geeky. But that's another story. One that I won't blog about.

The thing is whenever I enter some stores, like Bestseller at the Galeria, I am always politely asked to leave my bag at the package counter. I begrudgingly abide but is silently pissed when I see women with really BIG bags strolling the aisles.

I'm no sexist. I'm all for equality. But c'mon. Isn't that discrimination too? Women can bring in their bags and men can't? Is it because women keep their wallets in their bags and men keep it in their jeans? Is there a study published somewhere that I do not know of which shows men are more prone to shoplift than women?

The Lady in Yellow

2009-08-05T03:18:00.006+08:00

I was too young when Ninoy Aquino was assassinated and EDSA 1 happened. As much as I tried to rack my brain of EDSA memories from 23 years ago I could not. Maybe because Mama was a Marcos loyalist and discussing EDSA 1 would mean reliving the last days of her idol.

When I grew older and became more politicized after voraciously gobbling editorials from PDI, Philippine Star, Today and opinions from the likes of Max Soliven, Randy David, Conrado de Quiros, Amando Doronila I learned who Ninoy Aquino was and why he was assassinated. I learned who Cory Aquino was and how she came into power.

She was, as the media put it, an icon of democracy and the nation's moral compass. So when she died on the early hours on Saturday after more than a year of battling colon cancer Jolina wept without respite. The Filipino mourned. And so did the heavens.

What made Cory endearing to Filipinos is not because she had Ninoy Aquino as a husband or Kris Aquino as a daughter but because she was not the traditional politician you see on TV and read about on the news. She was sincere, decent, honest, and good. The outpouring of sympathy that she has received from all social classes since her death is a testament that the Filipino appreciated these traits that we seldom see in our present crop of politicians.

Today when she is finally laid to rest at the Manila Memorial Park I will be watching it on TV. The first time in many weeks that I will be tuning in to Philippine TV. Manny Pacquiao could not make me do that. Nor Michael Jackson. Corazon C. Aquino did.

Allow me to end this paean of mine by quoting a few lines from Howard Chan-Eoan's article on Aquino in Time Magazine.

"Whenever the country appeared to be in a crisis, Cory Aquino rose above the bureaucratic procrastination that had always bogged it down, reminding her people that they once astonished the world with their bravery — and that they could do it again. But Filipinos must now take stock. Whom will they march with now that their saint has gone to meet her God?"

A Song For You

2009-07-31T23:00:00.000+08:00

2993. That's the number of songs I have in my IPod. It would take 9.7 days nonstop to listen to all of these songs. The artists range from Korn to Greenday to Adele to Jars of Clay to Bob Marley to Aiza Seguerra to Keith Urban to The Dixie Cicks to Sugarfree to John Mayer to Britney Spears. You name the artist and I would most likely have the album except for say The White Stripes or Judy Ann Santos or April Boy Regino.

These past few weeks I downloaded and got addicted to Greenday's 21st Century Breakdown (methinks this is a better and less operatic album than American Idiot) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen OST (one of the 3 best things about the movie - the other 2 are the fantastic CGI and Megan Fox).

To keep up to speed with the latest hits in music I tune in to Magic 89.9 or music channels (MTV, Myx) on TV. I sometimes wonder why Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus or The Jonas Brothers skyrocket to the top of the charts and are given ample airtime when the songs they sing are mostly blah.

There are songs that I really like that don't hit the top of the charts. Some of them don't even land on the charts. Some of them are obscure. Some of them you probably may not have heard of. Here are some of them.

- Nina Simone's Ne Me Quitte Pas

- Damien Rice's The Blower's Daughter

- Jem's Come on Closer

- Pupil's Disconnection Notice

- Kanye West's Love Lockdown

- Adele's Chasing Pavements

- Dashboard Confessional's Stolen

- Dixie Chick's Not Ready to Make Nice

- Duffy's Warwick Avenue

- Jack Johnson's If I Had Eyes

- Luther Vandross' Dance with My Father

- Sarah McLachlan's When She Loved Me

- After Image's Without You

- Twila Paris' The Warrior is a Child

- Don Moen's God Will Make a Way

Happy weekend, everyone!

Jewels

2009-07-29T05:54:00.003+08:00

Women splurge on earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, rings, bangles. Her jewels. A friend said, a couple of days back during a talk which lasted all night, that a guy's jewels are his watch and his gadgets.

I was taken aback for a split-second but admitted that it indeed was true. Guys don't care about carats or diamond cuts. Guys care or are more impressed with what tech gadgets you possess. I call these a man's toys. Here are some of them.

Desktops/Laptops/Netbooks from Apple (MacBook Pros, iMacs), Sony, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Dell, Asus, Acer. Alienware too but I don't think it's popular and affordable.

Smartphones from Apple (IPhone), Palm (Pre) , RIM (Blackberry Bold, Storm, Curve), Sony-Ericsson (XPeria), Nokia (E series), Samsung (Omnia).

Gaming consoles from Microsoft (XBox 360), Sony (PS2, PS3, PSP series), Nintendo (Wii, DS).

DSLR cameras from Nikon (D40, D60, D80, D90, D5000), Canon (450D, 500D, 100D), Sony. Prosumer and professional cameras are great too but more expensive.

MP3/MP4 players from Apple (IPod Classic, IPod Touch), Creative, Sony.

Watches are great too but I don't splurge on that. Not yet anyway. A Tissot, Technomarine, or the more affordable Fossil would be nice. Rolex is not on my list. Too expensive.

I didn't include cars on the list since not everyone can afford to own one. I dream of owning one. A Fortuner, Accord, Civic, or City is on my shortlist. I need to get myself a Nikon D5000 and my own place before I invest on one.

That's not going to happen anytime soon. Perhaps when I turn 40?

Cinemalaya Cinco: Final Update

2009-07-26T19:44:00.004+08:00

4. That's the number of days I spent at the CCP.

9. That's the number of full-length films in competition that I watched. 24K was the exception.

10. That's the number of short films in competition that I watched.

1. That's the number of films in competition that I watched.

1. That's the number of bloggers in my blogroll that I saw. Consistent with my personality I did not introduce myself.

4. That's the number of feature films that I expected to be good and did not disappoint - Dinig Sana Kita, Last Supper No 3, Ang Panggagahasa Kay Fe, and Mangatyanan.

2. That's the number of feature films that were surprisingly good - Sanglaan and Colorum. The former does not have a great story but boasts of fantastic cinematoraphy and Ina Feleo. The latter is a road movie that brings us from Manila to Bicol to Leyte and back. Alfred Vargas and Lou Veloso are a revelation.

2. That's the number of films that were not great but were not bad either - Nerseri and Engkwentro.

2. That's the number of feature films that did disappoint - Astig and Aurora.

6. That's the number of shorts that were really good. There's Behind Closed Doors, Hulagpos, Ugat sa Lupa, Si Bok at ang Trumpo, Blogog, and Bonsai.

1. That's the number of shorts that I could not fathom - Musa. I overheard a few people say the film is great because of its symbolisms. Frankly, I could not find one. Nagmukha akong bobo.

Boys Night Out

2009-07-22T05:50:00.005+08:00

I and 7 teammates from my previous work have this thing on Wednesdays. We would hie off somewhere in the metro after work. Have dinner. Drink a few beers. Talk about the most mundane of topics to the more serious ones. Sometimes we would cap the night over coffee at Starbucks.

If I was from outside looking in we would look like college boys celebrating the end of final exams. Boisterous. Loud. Carefree. Except that we would be on business attires. And harassed after spending a day racking our brains. Or, in my case, keeping my sanity intact while having nothing to do at work.

Age knows no barriers in the group. The youngest is in their early 20s, the eldest in the early 30s. The night would always be fun but leaves a minor dent on the pocket.

THAT poses a problem for me. I'm almost broke and plan to save more after purchasing Efa. And spending hundreds of pesos every week on alcohol is not helping.

I'm at a bind. Should I go on AWOL for a while? Or should I not? W

We'll see in 11 hours...

Cinemalaya Cinco: Update 1

2009-07-19T22:30:00.003+08:00

2 days. 7 features. Sanglaan. Ang Panggagahasa Kay Fe. Aurora. Astig. Dinig Sana Kita. Last Supper No. 3. Engkwentro.

Dinig Sana Kita is the best among the films I've seen. It has a great poster too. The film is the story of two would-be-lovers - one is a deaf guy, the other a rocker girl. Their love story is not what the film is about but wisely focuses on each of the protagonists' personal issues. Poignant. Heartwarming. Feel-good. Watch this!

The next best thing is Last Supper No 3 about one man's comic but horrific experience with the law after losing a neighbor's Last Supper. Hilarious. Laugh-out-loud funny. Watch this!

If you dig thought-provoking and mind-boggling films ala Mulholland Drive or Blue Velvet then you should not miss Ang Panggagahasa Kay Fe about domestic violence and Filipino folklore. I bet that the ending, which is open to different intepretations, will be discussed by film addicts in the years to come. It is that good.

Sanglaan does not have a great story but it more than makes it up with really striking visuals. The opening sequence, the wedding anniversary dinner, and that final scene between Bascon and Feleo are good examples. The best sequence that stands out though is Bacon and Feleo's having dinner together - Feleo's dreamy smile and Bascon's brooding look while blowing cigarette smoke - is a sight to behold. Now imagine the sequence in slow mo. Reminded me of Wong Kar Wai's terrific In The Mood For Love.

Astig which follows the intersecting lives of four men in Manila is passably ok. There's not much to rave about the film except for the soundtrack and Sid Lucero's performance and storyline. The banter between Lucero and Keanna Reeves and Lucero and Glyza de Castro were a hoot. And Arnold Reyes' character is daft. Really daft that I wanted to reach out to the screen and beat him to a pulp.

The worst and lone non-competition entry on my list was Aurora, a film about a woman kidnapped for ransom by local terrorists. I think that Alix, in this film, wanted to do a Lav Diaz. Sadly he does not have Diaz's visual artistry. While 'stagnant' scenes from Diaz's Melancholia contains indelible images that stick to your brain for days, Alix's Aurora just sucks. The redeeming value here is Roces. Ang galing. And I'm not referring to her fake breasts. I also don't get the XX rating it got from the MTRCB. That 27-second sex scene was not, in my opinion, graphic. Ang MTRC nga naman.

So if you have money and time to spare, go to the CCP and watch the entries. Per movie screening costs P100 and you get 50% discount if you are a student provided you show your school ID upon purchase. I got mine for P1000. Festival Pass. Watch all you can. I was lucky I got one. A couple of hours after I purchased mine I overheard that all Festival Passes were sold out. Lucky me!

-----

Whatever it takes.
For the love of movies.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2009-07-17T01:00:00.001+08:00

My friend Sese gave me an offer I can't refuse. For 100 bucks she was selling 2 tickets for a blocked screening of HP6. It was a steal and I didn't pass up the the chance.

So a few hours ago I braved the rain, traffic, and an overcrowded MRT to get to SM Megamall. We were made to wait for about half an hour before the movie start but it was worth it.

At a running time of around 2 hours and 30 minutes, the 6th installment of the Harry Potter franchise doesn't feel like it was that long.

The first few minutes is a visual treat. Quidditch matches were fun. Gambon (Dumbledore), Broadbent (Slughorn), Bonham Carter (Lestrange), Smith (McGonagall) and the brilliant Rickman (Snape) are enthralling. The budding romance of Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione was hilarious at times.

If you're looking for some action like that terrific battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort from HP5 then you would be sorely disappointed. There's none of that in HP6. No Ralph Fiennes too. But what the film lacked in fight scenes they offset with cornfield (reminds me of The Signs) and lake (reminds me of Star Wars and LOTR) scenes taut with suspense.

The last 30 minutes of the movie is edgy and dark. Brilliant filmmaking if you ask me. I wish though that the screen faded to black right after the Half-Blood Prince character was revealed. That would have been a stroke of genius.

*****

A heads-up to Harry Potter purists. I'm not absolutely sure about this though, since I last read the book way back in 2005, but I think the filmmakers changed the ending a bit. I'm not going to spoil what these changes were. Abangan niyo na lang.

Apart from that minor quibble I'm actually now looking forward to the final 2 Harry Potter movies. Yep. You read it right the first time. The producers wanted to milk whatever they could from the franchise and decided to release the final installment in 2 parts.

Let the countdown begin to November 2010 and July 2011.

Cinemalaya Cinco

2009-07-15T06:00:00.002+08:00

The fifth edition of the film festival for indies starts Saturday and will run until July 26. And for the second consecutive year I will be in attendance at the CCP.

Last year I was able to watch 5 films. Three were outstanding (Jay, 100, Boses), one was so-so (Imoral), and one was downright disappointing (My Fake American Accent).

Word is this year's batch is the best and based from the trailers the press release may turn out to be correct. There's even a decent review of one entry here.

Here are five of the 10 films in competition that is worth watching.

*****

Dinig Sana Kita

The film is a love story between a Deaf boy who loves to dance and a troubled rocker girl who abuses her hearing. One lives in the world of solitude and silence, the other in noise and fear. Crossing paths in a Baguio camp that mixes Deaf and hearing kids, both find that they have more in common with each other including a love for music.

DINIG SANA KITA is the first Filipino film to have a Deaf Actor in a Lead role. Romalito Mallari is a Deaf performer that has played several stage productions as actor and/or dancer. It also features several Deaf actors in the cast and ensemble.

*****

Astig

ASTIG (Mga Batang Kalye), written by multi-awarded writer Jerry B. Gracio, produced by Noel Ferrer and directed by GB Sampedro is an episodic tale of four young men whose stories parallel and contrast with the landmarks and various images of Manila. It tells the story of Ariel, a conman who has to leave his girlfriend upon learning that she is in love with him; Boy, an expectant young father who has to sell his body to pay his wife’s hospital bill; Ronald, a Chinese mestizo who is coming to grips with his identity; and Baste, an overly protective son of an OFW who has to avenge his sister. The film tells the stories of the tough guys of Manila and their resolve to survive the dirt and filth of the “Distinguished and Ever Loyal City.”

*****

Last Supper No. 3

Based on a true story, Last Supper No. 3 is a humorous look at the circuitous path our legal system takes to justice. Assistant Production Designer Wilson Nañawa is tasked to look for a Last Supper to use as a prop for a TV commercial. He finds three, but loses the one owned by Gareth Pugeda. What happens next changes Wilson forever as he spends the next two years entangled in bureaucracy and red tape facing estafa and serious physical injury charges. How will this ordinary man fare against a system he knows nothing about? Will justice prevail for Wilson? Or will he be imprisoned for the loss of Last Supper No. 3?

*****

Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe

Each morning, baskets of black fruits mysteriously appear by the front yard of Fe. Thinking that it was a reconciliatory gesture from her abusive husband, Dante, Fe tells him about it. This only confirms Dante’s suspicions that she might be entertaining a lover. Fearing her husband’s jealousy, Fe grows even more scared as the fruits kept coming, a step closer to her front door. She keeps everything to herself until she turns to a former suitor, Arturo. When Fe urges Arturo to elope, she finds out that the young man has far more binding commitments with his family. Caught between an abusive husband and an impotent lover, Fe has to decide. Will she escape with her elusive suitor who could very well be just a figment of her imagination or stay trapped with the men in her real life who could never protect her nor make her happy? Caught in a society where violence still remains unimaginably real and covertly present, could the imagined be real enough for a woman to assure her survival?

*****

Mangatyanan

HIMALAYA “Laya” MARQUEZ has never had a complete dream since she was 12. Something always wakes her up at night. That something used to be her father, the famous photographer DANILO MARQUEZ, whose constant sexual abuse of Laya tore her family apart. Now, at 27, Laya possesses a cold exterior that hides torrents of pain. Working as a travel photographer, Laya is sent to Isabela to capture a rare harvest ritual called Mangatyanan by the Labwanan tribe. What Laya finds there, however, is a severely dwindled group held together by their desperate leader MANG RENATO. Soon Laya senses a strong connection between the tribe’s predicament and her own troubled life. Events spiral out of control as the Mangatyanan crumbles under Mang Renato’s desperate grip and Laya is forced to flee. But something happens that brings her face-to-face with her own demons. Will she finally confront her past or will she keep running?

*****

You can find the full schedule here.

Apple of my Eye

2009-07-13T06:30:00.002+08:00

Meet my new baby Efa.

Macbook Pro 13"

2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor

2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM

160GB 5400-rpm hard drive

Rebuttal: Children are beautiful

2009-07-10T23:18:00.000+08:00

The first half of Maria Lovella P. Naces' Children are beautiful in the June 27 issue of PDI is a good read. Then pass the halfway mark Naces turns the table and touches on the Reproductive Health Bill. Reading the rest of the essay I was incensed to say the least. This was a woman way out of touch of reality. My blood boiled. My pulse quickened. I saw red. Words of rebuttal formed in my brain. I struggled to keep up with my thoughts. They were coming in droves.

Allow me to refute. And rant.

*****

First, Naces writes

"I feel offended. As someone who loves her, I feel hurt for my niece. She is what they consider an “unplanned one.” The people promoting the bill look at my niece or all those born or about to be born like her as a burden to the country and a liability. They say we need this bill because it prevents people like her from being born."

Personally, I don't think that the proponents of the bill promotes abortion. I don't think they want fetuses torn out of a woman's womb. They want the Filipino to bring babies into this world that they can take care of. That they can give the best care. That they can give the best education.

They don't want babies born to be left on garbage bins to die. Or to be born to a family of 6. Or 7. Or 8. Or 9. Or to live in unhealthy conditions.

They don't want babies to grow up on the streets. Sleeping on cardboard boxes. Scavenging for food from garbage bags. Begging for alms. Sniffing rugby. Learning to steal. And kill.

*****

Second, Nacer writes

"The proponents of the bill say that contraception (which is actually contra conception) is the solution to our economic problems. Because the country is overpopulated, they say, therefore we should have fewer children. I don’t agree with their solution. Why should the people adjust to the economy? Let the economy adjust to the people."

Now tell me, how can you make the economy adjust to a country of 90 million people? We have an economy, last I heard, that will be going into an inevitable recession on the second or third quarter of this year. We are a third world country. We are heavily in debt. I even read a year or so ago that this government has been borrowing heavily. More than the presidency of Aquino, Ramos, and Estrada combined.

Our economy is afloat, not because our government is doing a great job, but because of remittances from OFWs. The economy does not have a brain. We do. If the government could not help us, then let us help ourselves. Let us be responsible. Let us not bring babies into this world that we could not take care of.

*****

Third, Nacer writes

"The bill also wants to promote sex education to teach adolescents, mothers, fathers about “safe sex.” Safe from what? From conceiving a child? Why? But why give more importance to the pleasure of sex than the pleasure of becoming a parent? We are becoming more like the Westerners. We have forgotten that to Filipinos, a big family is a better family."

Safe from what? From a responsibility that is too heavy for them to carry that they have to rely on others to survive. I'm not talking of emotional help here. All of us need that. Even the richest among us need emotional support. That's a given. I'm talking about the monetary aspect of raising a child. You can't just give birth to a baby and expect him to grow with the snap of a finger. You need milk. Vitamins. Diapers. Immunization. Visits to the pedia. Visits to the dentist. Educational plans.

Same from what? STDs. HIV. Do you know that the DOH reports 85 new HIV cases for the month of May alone? That's roughly 3 infections a day. From January-May this year there have been 322 reported HIV cases. Compare that to 528 cases reported from last year. More troubling is that a number of infected cases are from the 15-24 age bracket.

Now tell me, should we not sex-educate teens? If these kids, adolescents if you insist, were taught on the dangers of unprotected sex and the benefits of using condoms would they have contracted HIV? Would girls in their teens get pregnant? Would they be worrying about when they will die or how long a can of milk will last?

Lastly, a big family is not necessarily a better family. Take a look at those families living in shanties, in cemeteries, in pushcarts, in sidewalks. Then tell me are they a better family? Are they happy? Are they comfortable? Are they blessed?

We should not, by any chance, procreate then procreate some more. Responsible procreation should be the norm.

*****

For more on the Youngblood article, click here.
For more on the Reproductive Health Bill, click here.

15

2009-07-09T00:00:00.006+08:00

Roger Federer broke Pete Sampras' 14 majors in Sunday's Wimbledon Finals against Andy Roddick. A text conversation with a friends summarizes what I feel about the historic occasion.

SE: Federer won.
ME: That's old news. :-(
SE: A friend said last night sya kita sa finals.
ME: Sunday nyt ang finals.
SE: Ay. Hehe. Ok. You don't like him.
ME: Nope and never will.
SE: But he has a smooth game.
ME: He's the greatest. I just don't like him.
SE: Nevermind.. Haha. G'nite!

Oo na. I'm bitter.

Vamos Rafa!

Checkmate

2009-07-05T22:04:00.002+08:00

I never learned how to play chess. I used to observe family friends play chess during the summer as a kid. I found it boring. I attempted to learn the chess moves but it didn't register on my brain. I was more interested in other things then.

I did learn how to play dama. When I and my brother play a game it would almost always end up in a fight since I would make up my own rules as the game went on to make me win.

Other board games that I remember playing were Millionaire's Game, Pictionary, Scrabble, Snakes and Ladders, Games of the Generals. It was always fun although I had to restrain myself from throwing a fit when I was losing. I am a very competitive person and I always want to win.

We didn't own any of those board games. Except maybe for Snakes and Ladders. A gift I received from a classmate on my 12th birthday.

I started toying with the idea of collecting those board games. I know I won't be able to use them as often as I would want to but it would be nice to own them as a collection.

So off I went to a toy store. I thought these games costs only a few hundred bucks. I was sorely mistaken. Monopoly costs more than 2k. Pictionary for 1.2k. Scrabble for 900. Expensive.

I ended up not buying one. I still plan to collect those board games. Not now. I'm saving up for a new baby.

Have a great week everyone!

Child's Play

2009-07-02T21:20:00.001+08:00

I want to have my kids of my own. I see how my brother is with his 5-year-old daughter and I tell myself I want one too. Preferably a boy. Fraternal twins would be fantastic. A boy and a girl. I even have a name in mind for the boy. It's a cool name. Methinks.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not exactly green with envy that my bro and former classmates now how their own families worrying more about health care, tuition, milk, diapers. Serious stuff.

It seems, observing from afar, that it would be nice to go home to a wife and kids after a boring day at work rather than to an empty apartment that has been a staple of my life for years.

The thought makes me both smile and cringe. Raising a kid is tough. They throw tantrums. Wail with no apparent reason. They piss and shit and you have to clean up the mess. Walls covered with crayon marks. Toys litter the household.

They also ask the most innocent of questions that adults grapple to find answers palatable to their unblemished young minds.

As a kid, I was no exception. Here are a couple of them.

*****

Cemetery on All Saint's Day.

Me: Ma, why are all tombstones have RIP in them?
Ma: Because they are all dead and we wish their souls to rest in peace.
Me: Why are they all dead?
Ma: Because Jesus wants to be with them in heaven.
Me: Ma, why are they all raped?

I don't remember what mama answered. What I do remember was staring at all the crosses near lolo's final resting place and wondering why all of them were raped. Ah. As a kid I was already showing a demented mind.

*****

SEA Games.

Me: What is SEA Games?
Co: Short for Southeast Asian Games.
Me: They play it in the sea?
Co: Some of them. Some in pools. Some in land.
Me: Why do they call it sea games when they also play on land?
Co: You will know when you grow up.

*****

I was adorable then. I think. I hope my kids will be too.

Banter

2009-06-28T10:08:00.003+08:00

I was watching episodes of The West Wing and the banter between the characters played by Bradley Whitford and Mary Louise Parker left me grinning.

The banter was smart and witty and sexy. It was like both characters were fucking with each other's minds. If they were doing the deed it would have been a really good foreplay.

I had a sudden realization, while watching the two flirt, that ever since the break-up I have not done flirting of any kind.

I miss flirting. I miss locking with someone else's eyes while playing around with words. I miss the throwback lines aimed at me leaving me grasping for words to shoot back which would make me sound cool but not look like a moron, a jackass, and a chauvinist pig.

I remember a friend telling me, which I believe I may have mentioned in a previous entry, that I am an incorrigible flirt.

Now, I think I may have lost my mojo.

Where could it have gone?

Hiatus II

2009-06-20T06:00:00.001+08:00

By the time this gets published I will be at the airport awaiting my flight to a place called home.

This time I won't be leaving Manila to escape from someone. I will be leaving Manila because I want to and not because I need to.

I will be gone for a week.

I plan to go to the beach if the weather permits. I plan to spend many hours sleeping. I plan to meet up with friends who I hid from on my last visit. I plan to get drunk. I plan to get laid.

And I will have fun.

Have a great weekend and 3rd week of June everyone!

Notice: Sidebar

2009-06-17T21:54:00.001+08:00

Since there is not much work in the office for the past few weeks I have been gobbling up articles/columns in cyberspace liked a famished man who has just regained his sight.

I have read bad articles. Good ones. Great ones.

I have decided, since I don’t have the luxury of time to discuss each article as a blog entry, to post these favorites on my blog’s sidebar. Here’s wishing you take time to click on those Favorite Articles.

Air Sex

2009-06-15T20:35:00.000+08:00

Have you ever played an imaginary musical instrument in hand? Say strumming a guitar or beating the drums or pressing the piano keys while you play music in your head? Apparently a term exists for these kinds of instruments. Air guitar. Air drums. Air piano.

Now, the Japanese has innovated a game out of this back in 2006. They call this air sex. Yes, you did not misread it the first time. It is air sex.

The premise is that men would perform imaginary sexual acts with a partner on stage. Doing the missionary or girl on top positions is easy but what about the more complicated and acrobatic acts? Freaking hilarious.

I wonder if the criteria take into consideration the sounds emitted and the facial contortion needed for the act.

Hmmm...

Have a great week everyone!

Heartless

2009-06-12T00:45:00.000+08:00

My friends told me to move on. That I deserve someone worthy of me.

I tried. I tried not to make memories of us linger on my thoughts. God knows how hard I tried to let go.

At the back of my mind, though, I could not totally let go. I held on to the thought that we could get back together. That the memory of us could somehow rekindle what we once had.

I had a particular day in mind. Judgment Day I called it. That day would tell me if we still had one more stab at us.

The day arrived and I hoped and expected and waited but it was all for naught.

Every text message I received my heart would skip a bit thinking it was finally you. It wasn't.

I checked messages from all of my email addresses and YM account but none were from you.

I realized then that you are not coming back. Gone from my life. For good.

I realized too that it is finally time to totally let go and move on. There's no sense of holding on. You no longer care. I know that to be true. And it hurts. A bit.

For the first and final time, allow me to quote your last line -- "Salamat na lang sa lahat."

Goodbye, baby. I love you.

-----

To those who think I should not be the one doing the waiting think again.

I didn't want to make the first move since I have exhausted all possible means to bring her back without losing my soul. The ball, as they say, was in her hands and she chose to throw away the basket.

Khonspirator

2009-06-09T21:00:00.002+08:00

I haven't seen any of the sex videos filmed and produced by Haiden Kho. I do not intend to download the videos via http/torrent or watch them via YouTube.

I have seen too many personal sex videos in my 20-something existence that all of them look the same to me. Bad video. Bad audio. Sloppy and stagnant camerawork. Unimaginative and repetitive sex positions.

One should watch film features to see how sex scenes should be done sans shots of male and female genitalia. Take for example the spit-swapping scene in Scorpio Nights. Or Klaudia Koronel and an actor doing it on tree branches in Tuhog. Or Michelle Aldana getting it on with Gary Estrada in Segurista. Or Graciaaa of Eat Bulaga fame on top of Albert Martinez while furiously fanning herself in Sidhi. Or that helicopter scene in Live Show.

Now those are imaginative. But I digress. I couldn't help inserting that last paragraph. Haha.

What really peeves me though is how some senators are exploiting the scandal for their own political ambitions. Plus pogi points.

Look at Jamby Madrigal. The Judy Ann Santos-lookalike (duh!) heading a Senate investigation on the sex videos for for legislative purposes.

Look at Bong Revilla. A man, who has sired children from women other than his wife, delivering a speech on morality. Putik!

Patricia Evangelista in her Method To Madness column in PDI a couple of Sundays ago argues about this splendidly.

Read the article here.

Obsession

2009-06-07T23:27:00.005+08:00

For years now I and my friends have a common obsession. That is Roger Federer, that Swiss maestro who has an uncanny resemblance to Efren 'Bata' Reyes, not winning any more majors particularly the French Open.

We would trade text messages, chat through YM, and talk about it every January, May, June, and September of each year. We would wait, with baited breath, when the draw comes out. We would curse when Federer had an easy draw and feel elated when he would meet tough opponents in the earlier rounds.

We can now heave a huge sigh of relief. The obsession can now stop. Federer won 6-1, 7-6, 6-4 against Nadal-slayer Robin Soderling in the French Open finals.

I knew coming into the semifinals, after the Nadal-Murray-Djokovic triumvirate lost before the semis, that the Swiss will win the title. It doesn't take a Nostradamus to predict the outcome. Only one of the three semifinalists - Gonzales, Soderling, and del Potro - had won a match against the player who will hereon be called by fanatics and sports critics as King of Clay and the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT).

Damn you Rafa, Andy, Nole! Why did all of you have to lose? At sa Roland Garros pa?

By the way, writing down King of Clay and GOAT and Roger Federer in one sentence hurts. Dammit!

Drag Me To Hell

2009-06-06T07:53:00.002+08:00

Sam Raimi, director of the Spiderman trilogy, goes back to his horror/suspense roots via Drag Me To Hell.

This is a scarily fun movie about a bank employee (Alison Lohman) who denies an aging woman an extension to her loan, rebukes her with a curse, and her efforts to save herself from literally being dragged to hell.

Scud highly recommends this film which got rave reviews from critics. Audience feedback will be great too judging from the reception it got when I watched it last night. There was even a scattering of applause after the last scene which, I think, is a first for a commercially-released film.

And I dig the ending!

Unbelievable!

2009-06-04T21:41:00.003+08:00

Reading the news in recent days makes me want to rant and curse. Here's why.

- ConAss
- Right to Reply bill
- Kho sex videos
- Nadal, Murray, and Djokovic losing in Roland Garros
- Roger Federer most likely crowned King of Clay and GOAT
- Tax on imported books (since revoked by GMA)
- Cheche Lazaro harassment
- rain and traffic

Ggggrrrr!!!!

Torpedo

2009-06-02T20:40:00.001+08:00

The girl was tall. Tanned. Thin. Exactly his type.

The boy remembers when he first laid eyes on the girl. It was a weekend. There was a knock on the door. He opened it and there she was.

She wants to buy ice. He says they don't sell ice. She points to a cardboard that says ICE FOR SALE. He laughs and tells her the sign was left behind by the previous tenant.

The girl leaves. He removes the sign and watches her, at the corner of his eye, walk the pathway to the apartment next door.

The year was 2000. He was a college senior barely out of his teens. She was a college freshman barely out of high school.

He still remembers distinctly the place where she stayed. It was a little elevated. The roof was colored red and so was the floor. The curtains green. The walls unpainted. There was a small porch. A small table sat in the corner.

Mid-afternoon he would notice the girl pass by eating a stick of banana cue. He learns later that the girl's classes end around that time. His classes, on the other hand, start at that time until late in the evening.

For a whole semester that would be the pattern. The guy wakes up in the morning and eats breakfast. He sees the girl pass by on her way to school. He studies. Formulas. Numbers. Circuits.

In the afternoon the guy leaves for school. The girl arrives TCWAG in hand.

They pass each other. Their eyes meet. Not a word is spoken.

*****

A semester later the guy and the girl's class begin at the same time.

School was only a 10-minute walk from their apartments. A few times the boy and the girl would walk to school at the same time but never together.

There was, again, eye contact. A demure smile from the girl. A lopsided smile from the guy.

The girl would always walk ahead. The guy a few steps behind. He wants to quicken his pace and walk and talk with the girl. But he doesn't.

He went to visit her once albeit a short one. Both were too shy. Introverts both.

Nothing came out of the visit. He didn't ask her out. Nor asked if she wants to walk to school together.

He still remembers the time he brought pasalubong for the girl from his hometown. He waited for the perfect timing (or muster the strength) to hand over the pasalubong but couldn't find one.

The pasalubong ended in the trash.

*****

She was his crush and everyone knew it. The girl's housemates would knowingly smile when they pass by the guy. The guy would avert his eyes and bow his head. Embarrassed.

His housemates would tease him incessantly. Bagay daw sila. He would turn red but chose to keep mum.

One time the guy was alone in the apartment. He was bent on making the LCD circuit project work. He heard shrieking and giggling next door. He peeped through the window and saw food. Cake. Pasta. Barbecue. Roast chicken. Softdrinks. An afternoon party.

One of the girls steps out of the porch signaling him to come over.

He freezes. Should he? He looks at himself. He was filthy. He has not taken his bath yet. Has not even changed out of his clothes that he slept in the previous night.

He shakes his head and raises the circuit board he was working on indicating that he was busy.

His roommates reprimand him later that night. It was the girl's birthday.

*****

Soon after the guy graduates and moves elsewhere. Even miles away he continues to ask for news from his housemates. He even got her mobile number.

They exchange text messages but not often. Then the messages stop. The girl got herself a boyfriend his roommate tells him.

He moves on. He gets involved in serious relationships. He goes out on dates. One-night stands. Flings. Single. Married. Separated. Older. Younger.

He plays the field and breaks girls' hearts.

But why is it, a decade since, he still remembers her? Her walk? Her damp hair in the morning? Her hair tied in a ponytail in the afternoon? Her hometown? Her name?

Note: This is a work of fiction. Almost.

The Time Traveler's Wife

2009-05-31T06:34:00.004+08:00

Audrey Niffenegger's innovative debut, The Time Traveler's Wife, is the story, of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's marriage and their passionate love for each other, as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals– steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

I have the ebook with me since last year. I have it saved on my phone.

Bored at the office last week, I opened the ebook and started reading. And I couldn't stop.

I was hooked on the weird, complicated, giddy, and sad love story of Henry and Clare.

I finished reading it a few minutes ago and I couldn't stop thinking about their story.

That love can transcend time and age.

And this quote lifted from the novel.

"Is it better to be extremely happy for a short while. even if you lose it, than to be ok your whole life?"

A New World

2009-05-29T07:14:00.000+08:00

This week was my first in my new job.

BORING.

I didn't have much to do. I only have two-hour training per day with my manager about processes and stuff. The rest of the time was spent surfing the net, reading an ebook, or playing Freecell or Klondike on my phone.

I have this weird habit of playing cards, electronic or the real thing, when something's troubling me. I make a wish and try to complete a game 3x in a row. I continue playing for hours and even days until I meet the criteria.

This time I wished she would come back into my arms. I was successful. Twice.

*****

This week was my first in my new job.

BORING.

Except for the time when Facilities issued me my office supplies. I signed the slip without bothering to check what those supplies were. When I did I almost laughed out loud.

They issued me a freaking calculator. The kind used by accountants and salesladies. I was like what am I going to do with that?

*****

This week was my first in my new job.

BORING.

There is internet but the sites allowed are limited. Sports and Entertainment sites and sections are blocked. Heck, even the review section of clickthecity is blocked. Dang!

Outside email engines are blocked too. No YahooMail. No Gmail.

And no instant messenger. No YM. No AIM. No Meebo.

Management must be training their employees to be workaholics. It's working.

My teammates don't talk to each other. They're too focused. They don't joke around. They don't go for afternoon snacks.

I miss my old teammates.

*****

This week was my first in my new job.

BORING.

I like my new office though. It's big. I have a huge LCD monitor. I have a desktop with a 2++ GHz clock speed and a 2Gb RAM.

And they pay well.

*****

This week was my first in my new job.

BORING.

The day is going to end on a bright note. I and my old teammates are getting together for a night of binge drinking.

My latest status update is right on.

I have drank more beer these past four weeks than the previous three years combined.

*****

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ma T

2009-05-26T14:00:00.000+08:00

Ma T,

It was exactly a year ago at around this time when we lost you. It was mama who broke the news to me a few minutes after you past away.

Last week I visited your final resting place and lit you candles. We miss you. I miss you. I miss your face at the airport when I arrive from Manila. I miss the way you would hold my face in your hands and give me a kiss.

I know that since a week ago you've been nearby. The dogs howl. My 4-year-old niece even saw you one time.

You must now have seen your youngest apo. You never got to see her. You died 6 months before she was born.

She’s a big girl. And she has your hair. And the shape at the back of you head.

I was the one who gave her her name. I named her after you. It's a beautiful name.

I hope you're happy now Ma T.

I wish I was able to say goodbye.

I love you.

C.

Scud's Random Thoughts: Part VII & Roland Garros Predictions

2009-05-24T17:07:00.001+08:00

I'm going to start with an emo random thought. Pasensya na.

Today could have been a happy day. A milestone on the matters of the heart. Today would have been me and X's nth monthsary. A bit depressing. I wonder if X remembers what today signifies.

*****

Why are there no airport staffs at the exit of the NAIA Terminal 3 (or some domestic airports) that make sure the check-in luggage(s) a passenger is carrying out of the airport is actually his? One can actually take any luggage from the conveyor and walk out of the airport undetected.

*****

I watched Angels & Demons yesterday. I read the book many years back and could not remember exactly the plot. It was like watching a movie without any prior knowledge of the premise. It was a pretty good adaptation although a friend who watched it with me (and read the book a week before) said the filmmakers made quite a few changes. Still it was far better than The Da Vinci Code. I was entertained. Ewan McGregor rocks.

*****

The 2009 French Open starts today. Here are my predictions. I hope I get most of the quarterfinalists right. My predictions for this year's Australian Open were not good.

MEN
Quarterfinals:
Rafael Nadal vs Fernando Verdasco
Roger Federer vs Gael Monfils
Andy Murray vs Fernando Gonzalez
Novak Djokovic vs Juan Martin Del Potro

Semifinals:
Rafael Nadal vs Fernando Gonzalez
Roger Federer vs Novak Djokovic

Finals:
Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic

Champion:
Rafael Nadal

WOMEN
Quarterfinals:

Dinara Safina vs Ana Ivanovic
Serena Williams vs Svetlana Kuznetsova
Venus Williams vs Nadia Petrova
Elena Dementieva vs Jelena Jankovic

Semifinals:
Dinara Safina vs Venus Williams
Elena Dementieva vs Svetlana Kuznetsova

Finals:
Dinara Safina vs Svetlana Kuznetsova

Champion:
Dinara Safina