Film watch list: What have I been watching?!?

Back from a long hiatus. What have I been watching thus far? Well…

The Proposal – Sandra Bullock is the fire-breathing, man-eating incarnation of Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada), albeit a watered down, less scarier, version. She is a Canadian book editor who faces deportation if she does not fix her visa status soon. Enter nice book editor’s assistant, the secretly rich, quiet Ryan Reynolds who reluctantly agrees to marry her so she can get a spouse visa. Sparks fly. Dogs fly. Guess how it ends? Sidebar: I am sorry. I could not finish this. I just feel that Sandra Bullock is too old to be in romantic comedies. Why can she not be like other fortysomething Hollywood movie stars and star in a movie where she actually acts her age?!?

I Could Never Be Your Woman -  Michelle Pfeiffer is a successful TV executive producer and a single mom juggling between the responsibilities of work and home. Enter Paul Rudd as the young break out actor who falls for her. Sparks fly. Cute one-liners fly. Movie falls flat. Amy Heckerling directed this. So that makes you scratch your head. I do not know why this one has not done better. Perhaps it is because they were trying to pass Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd off as younger, trying to make a non-issue as an issue, trying to make a conflict out of nothing, trying to make a movie that just does not quite compute.

Garden State – Zach Braff plays a young struggling New York actor cum waiter who comes home for his mother’s funeral. Estranged from his father, alienated from his hometown, the character does not know what to do and I do not know what to make of this film as well. Natalie Portman is thrown in in the middle of the mix as a chronic liar with epileptic fits, but even her charm does not save this movie. The problem? Nothing happens. Literally nothing happens in the movie, the whole entire time.

The Sweetest Thing – I know this is an old one, but since I had to go through it, I might as well write about it. Cameron Diaz and her lady friends spend their time hanging out and hooking up (unfortunately not with each other). Apparently they all have issues. Cameron Diaz’s character is afraid of relationships, and her other two friends cannot just have enough sex (in fact, Selma Blair’s character’s jaw gets stuck in an uncompromising position while doing it) and…well, that’s it really.

The Heartbreak Kid – Ben Stiller has relationship issues. Encouraged by family and friends (note to self: never listen to family and friends), he proposes to the first woman he meets on the street and she turns out to be a total psycho (creepy that). On their honeymoon, he meets the perfect woman (Michelle Monaghan). Sparks fly. Lies fly. Fights ensue. This one is actually funny.

Made of Honor – Patrick Dempsey has relationship issues. He is bestfriends with Michelle Monaghan and is in love with her but does not realize it until she leaves for Scotland and comes back with a rich Scottish fiance. Sparks fly. Montages fly.  Guess how it ends?!?

The Ugly Truth – This one is actually more fun. Katherine Heigl (look how nicely she’s filled out since those “Roswell” days!) is a successful TV executive producer (aren’t they always?) with relationship issues. She has a crush on the neighborhood hottie but can’t quite work up the courage to ask him out. Enter totally un-PC, totally woman-hating Gerald Butler (without the “300″ get-up…so sad!) who teaches her how to play the dating game without looking like a total dork. Sparks fly. Vibrating panties fly (best scene that, actually. This redeems the movie for me). Happy endings for everyone.

Mary and Max – Eight-year old Mary from Australia, and 40something obese man from New York, Max, strike up a friendship as pen pals. The story chronicles how each one go through life. A touching, bittersweet, heartfelt animated film.

Zombieland – Funny take on zombie movies, with Woody Harrelson starring, with funny cameo from comedian Bill Murray. Mixes tongue-in-cheek humor with indie sensibility. Winning formula! Now a hit in the USA.

Reading list: What I have been reading for the past few days….

So I have survived three typhoons in the Philippines and am waiting for a new typhoon off the east coast of northern Philippines  to come ravage this country yet again.

To entertain myself, I have been reading books. Here are the books I have finished thus far:

Ever since I read Balzac’s “Pere Goriot” I have developed an interest in French authors (Marcel Proust notwithstanding) and this second book I have from Balzac (bought at 20 pesos at a booksale), does not fail to disappoint. This is the story of Grandet the miser, his clueless wife and even more clueless daughter, Eugenie Grandet, subject of much fascination and gossip, as she could well be the richest young woman outside Paris. Set in post-revolutionary France, this novel is a delight to read, with its vivid descriptions of French aristocrats, nobles, the nouveau riche and the peasants. It provides a good insight into post-revolutionary French life and preoccupation as well as provides insight into the one human universal preoccupation: greed.

The Blood King by Gail Z. Martin. Let’s face it. Fantasy novels are a dime a dozen. I personally have a soft spot for Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and am always very wary of any other fantasy (relatively unknown) writer with a novel that may probably be just another rip-off of another novel. But then again, we live in a post-modern world. So is there really anything original anymore in a world where everything seems always readily accessible? Anyway, my ex sent me this novel knowing that I had a penchant for sci-fi and fantasy novels (she sent me the complete “Twilight” series as well, bless her soul). I was not looking to be entertained by this novel, but a few pages into this novel and I really got into it. There is supposed to be a book 1 and I was a bit bummed at the prospect that I’d have to go hunting for book 3, but I was pleasantly surprised that second book stands all on its own and wraps all the loose ends from Book 1. In a nutshell: Power-mad, evil Prince Jared Drayke has assassinated his father, driven younger half-brother Prince Martris Drayke out of the kingdom and enlisted the help of evil mage Arontala to take control of all the Winter Kingdoms and resurrect the all-powerful evil,the Obsidian King (think all the evil villains of other fantasy novels like Sauron and He-who-must-not-be-named and you get the idea). Matris Drayke discovers he is a summoner and a mage himself and must control and summon all his powers in order to defeat his brother and mage Arontala and prevent the Obsidian King from coming back from the dead. My summary does not do it justice, but suffice it to say that it is a good read. Lord of the Rings it isn’t, but it sure as hell is an entertaining one.

I have also finished “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” by Fanny Flagg (2o pesos at Booksale! Yay!). I’ve already watched the movie, the story is pretty much the same, but the novel is not specific about the sexuality aspect of the two female protagonists as well. That one’s left for the imaginatino.

And now, I am reading one of my favorite fantasy novelists, Ursula K. Le Guinn, and her book, “Sea Road”. More on that later.

Are zombies the new vampires…?!?

From Newsweek Magazine:

“Have you heard? Zombies are the new vampires. First it was the hit literary mash-up, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Last month it was Jennifer’s Body, the Diablo Cody-written zombie movie starring Megan Fox. This weekend, movie-goers flocked to Zombieland, which became the first surprise hit of the fall season (it opened at No. 1 with $25 million, according to studio estimates). Starz premieres Zombiemania later in the month, reviving all the old zombie classics (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and more). Apparently there’s even a self-help book for zombies on the way, dispensing “advice and etiquette for the living dead.” Zombies zombies zombies.”

For full Newsweek article, click here.

Balikbayan Blues (again): Ano bang meron sa mga libro? or why do I read?!?

So coming back to the Philippines, I am amazed by the kind of negativity, skepticism and cynicism here.

Consider this:  31 year old acquaintance thinks because she graduated from a reputable university, feels she is entitled to share her unsolicited advice and opinion to me about my current situation to wit:

1. Upon expressing to her my desire to have my poems published: she says I am apparently too old to get published.

2. I should have studied in her reputable university.

3. I should meet her (gay) friends because her friends are “da bomb”.

Hay.

I do feel like gagging her (andf myself) with a spoon.

I have another friend who sees my roomful of books and asks me, with such derision in her voice: “Ano bang meron jan?” (roughly translated meaning: what do you get from there anyway?)

Surprised by her outburst, I could not give her a sufficient answer. But I have taken the time to write one now, and here is the reason why I read books:

1. Because I read my first story about a flying twig when I was 7 and that gave a lonely child something to hope for.

2. Because I read Charles Dickens when I was 12 and it made me dream of something other than Baguio… and dream of London.

3. Because I’d read Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Van Helsing and even though I was a small-town little girl who couldn’t go anywhere, I could go places, on foot, on horseback, a raft, a ship, in a submarine, having adventures and making Campbellian journeys over and over again.

4. Because Homer, Ovid, Chaucer, Milton made history fascinating, mythological, mythical, magical. Because Beowulf and Gilgamesh showed me what valour and honor there was in fighting for what you believe in.

5. Because Shakespeare taught me to love and to love passionately and elegantly.

6. Because Plato taught me to know myself, because the unexamined life is not worth living, because Descartes taught me to question reality and reflect about truth, existence, the meaning of life.

7. Because Nietzche taught me that existence precedes essence.

8. Because Gabriel Garcia Marquez showed me that Eden can be reimagined, and reimagined creatively… in South America.

9. Because Rainier Maria Rilke taught me the importance of overcoming shyness, so that I can fully experience life.

10. Because Antoine de Sainte Exupery taught me that what is essential is invisible to the eye, that it is only with the eye that one can see rightly, that a rose by any another name is still a rose, because it is your rose, and because you have tamed it and you responsible for what you have tamed forever.

11. Because Neil Gaiman showed that you can still reimagine Snow White and Terry Pratchett created a world shaped like a disc held by elephants, where wizards can have eyes that look like runny sunny-side up eggs, and gold twinkle and wink.

12. Because F. Sionil Jose taught me that social justice and moral order are important and that I have the moral responsibility as a writer to fight for what is right. Because Lualhati Bautista taught me to assert myself as a woman because it’s a man’s world and you have to learn to do so if you want to survive.

13. Because books taught me to push myself, to discover my self-worth, to be more tha I can be, to be too ambitious, to believe that there is something better than abusive marriages and a life that is less than ordinary.

14. Because to read is to live. And to live is to be completely alive.

Because a life that is less than ordinary is not worth living.

And because the person who does not read, has nothing, is nothing.

Read and Live!

It is the only way to survive.

Jobhunting, Pinoy Style 4: When you’re over the hill, it’s all downhill from there…

Here’s a little-known, oft-ignored truth about the Philippine job hunting process that you need to know:

Once you get past 30, you are gone. Kaput. You are dead to the workforce. You are the pariah of the job market.

When you are over the hill, it’s all downhill from there.

This was  something I had noticed only when I had turned 30. Before that, the job market was my playground. I could have any and every job on the market and not worry about being… too old.

30 is now the new 50.

Consider the following:

1. Fastfood crew – must be from 18-24, and at least in second year college, because you need to be a student in order to agree to work for peanuts for what is essentially an underpaid job.

2. Cashier – must be from 18-24, and an accountant, which I don’t get, as anything person with only grade school qualifications can figure out the ins and outs of the cash register. It doesn’t require you to balance the books or check the profits.

3. Salesclerk – must be from 18-24 and a graduate of a four-year course, although I do not see why you need a degree to be a salesclerk and why a younger person is a better salesclerk than an older one.

4. Movie usher – must be from 18-24 and a graduate of a four-year course, because you need a degree in physics to figure out where to sit moviegoers in a movie theater

5. Waitress – must be from 18-24 and a graduate of a four-year course and! with pleasing personality (whatever the hell that is), because your degree in accountancy will help you get the orders right.

6. Driver – must be from 18-24 and a graduate of a four-year course and must have experience in driving. Although I do not see why they shouldn’t just be trained na lang.

7. Call center agent – must be from 18-24 and a graduate of a four-year course, because lord knows that degree in nursing will come in handy when you are trying to deal with an irate customer from the American South who can’t work his computer or modem.

8. Government clerk – must be from 18-24 (well, 28, because they’re more inclusive that way) and a graduate of a four-year course, because that degree in political science will come in handy when you are trying to pocket government money for your own good.If  you want a higher position, you’ll need connections. And money. And a whole lot of favors to call on.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. The only areas where you can get in without an age limit, is in university. But in the uni, you need a master’s, a doctorate and pretty much other diplomas that will guarantee you are qualified to spoonfeed students with mindless fodder.

So, as you can see, either way, you are f*cked.

Meanwhile the government goes on and on about how the unemployment rate in the Philippines is so high. And wonder why it is high. And then go on and post new posters with their faces on it, proudly saying this is where my taxes go.

So as you can see, when you are over the hill, it’s all downhill from there.

Can TV be dead? If so, then long live the web!

Okay, so let me just start by posting this:

This web series, entitled lonelygirl15, started out a la “Blair Witch Project” around 2006 and redefined visual storytelling as we know it. Back then, it started out quiet, small and understated. It was surreptitiously posted on youtube.com and started out as the story of a lonely 15 year old girl battling everyday teenage high drama and low comedy (zits, boys, the occasional lazy eye), but it starts unfolding into a very shrewd story. Why is this girl always in her room? Why are her parents freaks? Are they in some kind of cult? More importantly, is this a real post? Or was all of it fake? It pushed and blurred the boundaries between fantasy and reality and made it even more compelling. As the story continues, we find ourselves drawn into her story. Long after it was revealed that it was,in fact, much like “Blair Witch”, it still opened up the possibility of the web as a way of democratizing network and cable TV.

After lonelygirl15, we’ve started seeing web series as follows:

1. “Girl Trash” – from D.E.B.S director Angela Robinson

2. “Anyone but Me” – from Susan Miller, a writer from “The L-Word”

3. “Aino Hana” (Sweet Blue Flowers) – yuri anime from Japan

Okay, I could go on and on, but I think we are witnessing what is essentially the future of media. As the internet becomes even more ubiquitous, accessible and ever-user-friendly, we see everyone going on the ‘net these days, be it to go on myspace, facebook, twitter, blog, check the latest news, or even just to go on message boards and fight with other users.

What is exciting about this is the fact that we now have little can-do producers, writers and directors recognizing the internet as the next promising media not just for all of the above, but for telling stories as well. And I welcome it, since what we see on television seems to be a dearth of interesting shows, usually they are soaps, crime shows or medical dramas.

Even more interesting is the fact that it’s the marginalized demographic who seem to be going online to tell their stories.

Are we seeing what is essentially television in the throes of death?

Can the web really be the future of the void that television entertainment has left for us?

Time will tell. But I think that TV networks should move fast before the web overtakes it. Obviously it is hard navigating the confusion that is the web, we have to sift through so much rubbish before we find what we really want, and there is still the issue of copyright and piracy. But I believe we are slowly, ever slowly, getting there: entertainment blogs and websites have been doing their bit in helping us make our way through the confusion, even as we try to find a better way of dealing with piracy’s insistent head.

But what we can see now is the internet as truly an ever-increasing, global, accessible, populist medium.

What do you think? Will TV eventually die out? Or will it succeed in holding its own?

London Pride 2009 in Central London was a blast!

(photo by M. Bayaua)

Tired and sleepy. Went out yesterday to check out London Pride Parade at Oxford Street. Temperature: 40 bloody degrees Celsius! English sun: out the whole day! Parade: one hell of a fun one! ^^

Parade started at 1pm, but I had to come from Gloucester Road and so I had to take the Picadilly, get the Northern Line (?), get off at Oxford Street and find a nice spot near some Filipino gay men (yay!) where I can view the parade. The Filipinos, as part of our culture, asks me what visa I had, when I got here, when I was leaving (and if so, why? And if not, how did I do it?) and where I was living and how long I was here for.

Anyway, parade started off and I was immediately overwhelmed. Droves of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals! About half a million strong! Wow! Back home,in Baguio, there would be about a hundred or so only. ^^ Here, it was one massive parade slash party with each sector having its contingent: LGBT people from the military (the Royal Navy, Army, Air Force), The Met, the post office, London Transport, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, the NHS (ah, gay and lesbian doctors and dentists, yay!), the Civil Service, British Airways, Amnesty, the Catholic church, Christian Churches, Buddhist groups, Asia, Lithuania, various night clubs (the queen in one of the floats was especially hilarious and for the man-loving people, a great treat with the man in briefs with a permanent hard-on, beside him), sex workers groups, old people, young people and always the never-ending parade of really awesome drag queens, in full feather regalia, gowns, sequins, lace, leather, and always, the hair. ^^

(photo by M. Bayaua)

The best part was seeing Boy George in one of the floats. A bit starstruck now. ^^

Anyway, after the parade, I maneuvered my way to the tube, hopped on the next one that will take me to Leicester Square, made my way to Trafalgar Square, where that half a million strong of LGBT people were gathered in a concert that featured political and not-so political speeches from prominent figures, and music from Eurovision winners, A1, and so on. I just went around the Square, checking out the booths, bought a bottle of Carlsberg, then just hung out at the Square, listening to the music, with my beer and the heat of the sun on my face. ^^

After that, I bought a shirt and a rainbow flag as souvenirs and reluctantly went back home because I had to meet my Nigerian friend and her friends. We had spicy spaghetti, while listening to music on TV. We had a Michael Jackson moment, then just had fun listening to Justin Timberlake (“Sexyback”)Lady Gaga (“Po-po-po-pokerface”), Kings of Leon (“Sex on Fire” – what does that even mean? Could make a great pick-up line though or a great prank you can do to emergency services: “Pardon me, miss, but your sex is on fire!” or “Hello?! This is an emergency! My sex is on fire!). My friend and I watched “Drag me to Hell” after, at the Vue. The movie was parts ridiculous, preposterous, outrageous, disgusting, depressing, sad, fun, funny, all at the same time. I can see why it was a hit. I don’t know which is better  – this one or Transformers 2. But for sheer consistency in its original purpose to entertain, I think “Drag me to Hell” wins hands down, since Transformers 2 just ends up being consternating.

I got home around 2am with a nice sunburned face and nice memories of my last few days in London.

Watching The Pride March reminds me how much has changed I left the Philippines  last year. Pride marches back home are nowhere near as massive and diverse and festive as this one in London is. But it has made me realize how important it is to share how much I’ve seen and learned, to be part of the change that can make a difference in people’s perceptions of the world.

Next up, Pride March in Manila. Yay!

An advert I made for British Gas

An advert I made for British gas (with special thanks to ratemyeverything.net for the photo)

Welcome the PIXELLATED Generation!

There is a new generation in town, if moreintelligentlife.com is to believed.

It is called the Pixellated Generation and it is the new generation to be christened as such, following the aging babyboomers, Gen X-ers, Gen Y-ers and the MTV generation.

I came across an article from moreintelligentlife.com entitled “Teaching Drama to the ‘Pixellated Generation’ “, which discusses the difficulties of London drama schools in reaching to and teaching a new generation of aspiring actors who grew up on computers, social networking sites, multimedia games, are less well-read, more media literate. These are young actors who grew on “X-Factor” and “American Idol” and thus  feel entitled to be famous.  I wonder what that will spell for the future theatre and cinema.

I think though that the “Pixellated Generation” does not only refer to young actors. It can also refer to the whole generation that was born when the internet was already flourishing and innovators were churning out technology by the thousands.

This generation is not like our generation: they will never experience the joys of monochrome computers, or remember the time when “mouse” only meant the rodent, when “WordStar” and “Lotus 1-2-3″ where actual programs and not some seemingly esoteric term from a sci-fi TV show, when the disks you used to save your files were massive floppy disks you can also use to fan yourself with, when modems were huge and noisy and made R2D2-like noises that took ages to connect to the internet (almost as long as it takes to find Osama Bin Laden, in fact), when mobile phones were only used to call people, when “blogging”, “texting”  and “googling” were not yet invented, when instead of using “facebook” or “twitter”, we just met our friends in the coffeeshops and shared photos on paper, when cameras still used film,instead of USBs.

Now I feel a bit older. I cannot imagine life without these things, but wonder what life will be like for the next generation when it is time for them to take over the reins.

TIME lists best soundtracks that isn’t such a soundtrip (to me anyway)

TIME just gives me more reason to rant and rave! Earlier today it was their top 100 list of greatest novels (from 1923 to present), now it is Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel’s list of best soundtracks. After looking at their “Best Sountracks” online, it is safe to assume that they are a bit stuck in the Middle Ages and might need our help in ushering them into the new millennium.

Their list includes:

1. The Adventures of Robin Hood: by Erich Wolfgang Korngold

2. Citizen Kane: by Bernard Herrmann (Hangover Square, Psycho, Taxi Driver).

3. Laura: by David Raksin

4. On the Waterfront: by Leonard Bernstein

5. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers at RKO: by Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and the Gershwins.

6. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut: by Marc Shaiman.

For full discussion, go to time.com or click the address above.

Though I do not want to argue with the list, I think it needs a bit of sprucing up a bit,  because  a lot of great soundtracks have been made since the dark ages, in which the authors live in. ^^ Consider my list:

1. Star Wars Prequels and Sequels – Need I say more? When composer John Williams infused this franchise with his Wagnerian-style operatic music (a request that George Lucas himself made) it elevated Stars IV to VI  to not just mere sci-fi genre film, but a space opera, it gave it a sense of epicness and depth.

2. Requiem for a Dream - Most probably do not know or remember this 2000 film, but composer Clint Mansell made the soundtrack that you hear later in the last parts of the sci-fi film “Sunshine”. Then again, I think pretty much every Clint Mansell work rocks. He makes music that combines a sense of heart-pounding urgency with a sense of tension and apocalyptic doom.

3. Braveheart – because James Horner fused Celtic-sounding ancient music with modern music. There is debate on his other works (he tends to be repetitive – I agree) – but Braveheart is beautiful.

4. The Fifth Element - Eric Serra made such funky grooves and combined it with an orchestra to make a kick-ass soundtrack which upped the coolness factor of a movie that would have been dismissed otherwise.

5. Higher Learning - John Singleton’s ambivalent 1995 movie about race, class, sexual orientation and violence in a fictitious university boasts of a cool soundtrack that includes rock, hip-hop, rap, metal. I choose to include it because it introduced me to artists I would not have learned of otherwise. I thus got to listen to Ice Cube, Mista Grimm, Raphael Saadiq, Toni!Tony! Tone!,  Meshell N’degeocello, Tori Amos and Liz Phair, and of course, Rage Against the Machine, for whom I would develop an allegiance to.

6. The Beach - The Beach may have received mixed reviews, but I love the soundtrack. It has such a unity of purpose, an organic unity to it, that when you listen to it, it is like listening to one continuous song. Very trippy, this. It is not award-winning, but it sure as hell is great to listen to when you just want to chill (and perhaps smoke some weed. ^^ It is a movie about weed afterall).

7. The Crow - The first “The Crow” movie established a new kind of cool: the hero was a murdered, would-be, undead rock star out for revenge and justice and the soundtrack reflected that. It had Nine Inch Nail, The Cure, Pantera, Rollins Band and Rage Against the Machine (my personal favorite), plus the added bonus of Jane Sibberry, who sings at the closing credits in such a haunting, heavenly voice, with so much pain and yearning, it is too hard not to fall in love with her voice.

Oh, and by the way, they don’t do soundtracks, but you have to check out E.S. Posthumus, if only because they made that great background music you hear during the trailer of the Diane Lane/Richard Gere movie “Unfaithful”.

I may have left something out, I know. But my alternative list merits some consideration, don’t you think?