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It's a dream I've been nurturing since I started dutifully following Ian Wright's exploits on Lonely Planet. We are now in the year 2008, and that was back in 1998--10 years and still an unrequited love. You wouldn't think I've been harboring such notions just by looking at my grande Starbucks tea frappe and perfectly applied eyeliner.
My friend Eric, whose now in Cambodia, laments the absence of the ubiquitous chain in his new home city, yet he makes me salivate by announcing that massage places litter the streets like 7-11s. I want to visit him in Cambodia, Pats in Singapore, dear Ryan in South Korea, Rony, Gerwin and Charlie in Singapore, life partner Louie, sexy Ems and Lifebunny in Hong Kong, Jon in Spain, Janne in Finland, Donna in the UK, Graeme in Scotland, Dwayne in Indiana, Yas in Dubai, maybe Emi in Romania, Essi wherever she is at the moment...
During the bad in-betweeners of my life, I swung from blaming family and circumstances, to blaming myself--both in highly passionate ways that boggle the mind.
Still, there is a shining nugget I managed to pick up--strength. Life's hell-bent ways gave me tree-trunk-like sea legs, and I want to keep using them.
Now that life is being quite kind and cushy to me, I can't help but look for the imbalance that only a churning ocean can provide. I long for the comfort that I've always found in constant change.
Instead of expecting the unexpected, I don't expect at all. Deal me what cards you will, and with those, I'll play like a loony. I'll probably even wager (and lose) everything, yet find redemption in smiling like a drunken sailor.
In life, I can strategize, plan and mind-f**k like the best of them. But I'd rather I didn't. I really would much prefer to be thrown somewhere and I'll be happy to learn how I'll deal with it. I can't imagine a purer heaven. Give me something and some things never to be defined. Give me the raucous, the sweaty and the revolting. Challenge me in ways that will make me rant and spit and give birth to strange, unwieldy energies.
I have always believed that by traveling, my sea legs will find happiness.
I want to talk to different and differing people, be forced to eat strange food, work for my breakfast...
You know what they say about potential? I can do it, therefore I must do it.
Damn the comfort zone and its accompanying delusions. I am dying to have a taste of the biggest possible perspective by constantly being in motion.
I want to see The Frames live in Ireland, Dave Matthews Band in Virginia and join the Burning Man community at least once. There are also fairy conventions in various part of this weird, wonderful world. Yes, I want to be there, too.
Sometimes, I think I'm too old to start backpacking, Couchsurfing and going on trips that plenty of those half my age have probably already enjoyed. But I reckon I can always lie and say i'm only 27.
Until when shall I keep to where the Starbucks stores are aplenty?
John Carney is a sneaky bastard. With a super modest budget of only $130,000 and two non-actors in the lead roles, he was able to release a wee movie that made big waves in the indie festival circuits. If it weren't for Diablo Cody's very PR-able persona and the built-in American/mainstream audience of Juno, Carney's Once would have been 2007's authentic little movie that could.
The film begins unassumingly enough. We meet Guy (Glen Hansard) out in the Dublin streets, earning a little extra during the day by singing covers. In the evenings, he wails his way through original compositions that get the attention of Girl (Marketa Irglova), a Czech immigrant living with her mom and daughter in Ireland.
In the course of a week, they discover exactly why they were meant to meet each other at that particular time of their lives--to make music that becomes more beautiful in every line they don't sing. And in between composing new songs, going on impromptu trips and enjoying the well-concealed frenzy brought on by limited togetherness, Guy and Girl find what everyone craves--real connection.
Carney's budget did not leave much room for sweeping shots and grand vistas, but the few scenes he picked to be most dramatic work to full effect. Expect to be overwhelmed with silently growing emotions by the final scene.
Hansard and Irglova, both real-life musicians (and now real-life lovers), make the whole film look like a lovely intrusion into a blossoming romance that never quite get there due to prying eyes. It's the expectation that Carney weaves so well, so much that you'll hate the well of intense feelings Once will undoubtedly leave in you.
Once won the World Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance and continues to enjoy a 97% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Unsurprisingly, as the music alone is incredible. Hansard's intense, soaring vocals and open-hearted compositions work perfectly with Irglova's plaintive style. The theme song Falling Slowly's tentative opening notes make you sit up, and by the time the song (and the scene) sweeps you up, you'll have fallen for the potential of their love and remember when you were hopeful, too. Critics were unanimous in declaring Once as the musical film of this generation.
The theme is sure to touch many. Indeed, who doesn't have a short, profound affair that changed one's life? The trailer harps on the painful question: How often do you find the right person?
And like this treasure of a movie, such things only happen Once.
The only thing left for me to say is Thank You to everyone involved in this project, and to my sister K for showing it to me. I have never loved a movie as much as I loved this one.
On its very scruffy sleeve, Once wears a heart that's immense.
HBO is set to bring Little Britain stateside via Little Britain USA (makes sense, no?). I'm a little (just a weeee bit) nervous about this one, especially after seeing how Flight of the Conchords lost some of their precious flavor (I was happier watching their live sets kahit pa-isa-isa lang sa YouTube). FOTC's still funny, but i guess the jokes become less of a surprise when you've heard them before and already know what's coming. Saw a pre-pilot video and it looks quite promising :) It'll still be Matt Lucas and David Walliams!!! I think they're keeping Sebastian, Daffyd, Vicky, Bubbles, siyempre Lou and Andy and Emily Howard!!!
There's some bad PR going on online, supposedly coming from the GLBT sector of good ol' US and A. I dunno, man. Isn't political correctness tiresome?
I have nothing against their issues against the show, but there are also quarters of the same community who just think it's a good piece of comedy. I think Americans just have to take themselves less seriously sometimes.
* * * Reading a book entitled Adam's Navel: A cultural look at the human body. It's probably going to be one of the most interesting books I'll read ever :) * * * Confession: I have a mad girl crush on Olivia Munn. * * * I still haven't written my Once review. parang ang hirap eh. huhuhu! * * * Sometimes, one can't help but envy those people we make fun of. People who seem to have gone off the deep end to live, well, in a world they'd rather believe in. You've heard of them--conspiracy theorists, the one who believes he's the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, the "witch" hunter...
You read or imagine things that you've come to accept as impossible, or at least belonging to another reality, or another dimension. And here you have people believing such things can happen on ye olde earth. Even if you and I get scared of them, they're seeing something most of us will never have the courage to look at.
fangirling. sharing. reviewing soon. have a listen and i'm sure you'll want to get your own copy. best tracks: Falling Slowly, When Your Mind's Made Up, Gold, The Hill, Fallen from the Sky, Leave and Say It to Me. *hikbi*
while i await ron perlman's red-horned goodness with bated breath, i just saw a movie that is now entrenched as "my best movie for 2008" (and maybe til the next year, and the next, and the next...). thank you, k, for coercing me to see it
i'm still a little sniffly and i've yet to compose my thoughts, but i hope to be able to write a review that will do it justice
Once is a movie that tells what happens when random guy meets responsible girl... through achingly earnest music. there's a very, Very personal connection i made with the film when it ended. yep, sometimes, once is enough, but it's also often all you'll get... still, it can be cosmic and beautiful, leaving an incredible impression on your heart.
yeah, he looks like him, too... "take this sinking boat and point it home. we've still got time..."
Now this is a comeback. After all the trouble with booze, drugs and (was there?) a drunk driving charge, former heir to the serious-actor-slash-matinee-idol throne Robert Downey Jr. shows he still has what it takes to wow audiences. This may even be his blockbuster-est movie yet. What could've been a hokey let's-turn-over-a-new-leaf story was more believable from across Downey's eyes (the same ones that made you cry in Chaplin).
the other nuts: Jeff Bridges - Whoa!!! I didn't think he could be that menacing, in a very human way, too. Made it more disturbing. Gwyneth Paltrow - Never liked her much but she was woefully underused here. Maybe they have plans for the second.
and my super squeal moment: yes, nick fury and s.h.i.e.l.d.!!! i clapped my hands like a giddy kid shrieking "whoo! nick fury and s.h.i.e.l.d.!" while remembering how fun it was to geek out over comic books with my brother when we were younger.
that's all, you guys have already said everything else :D
thanks, pi, for the book lend. i haven't inhaled a book this quickly since His Dark Materials. and i have to say i am addicted. oh what a wonderful saturday it is to spend the whole day with a book. haven't done that in ages and what a reward it is.
the book is twilight by stephanie meyer, and i won't be surprised if i'm the last one to be on to it. like any good geek, i did the rounds of googledom and youtubeia and discovered that the book has been enjoying good buzz since it first came out in 2005. thank god it's a saga and there are apparently three more (or more, please? yes?) delectable reads to "suck" me in further.
basic premise: quiet bella is a newcomer at a rainy little town. as she adjusts to school and all the other concerns of a teenager, she finds herself observing a group of five kids--the Cullens. one particular Cullen (name of Edward) catches her attention as he glares at her so violently on day one. eventually, she discovers the reason for this Cullen's reactions: the smell of her blood is particularly delicious to him. the problem is, they are a family of vampires who have resolved never to drink human blood, and he is also attracted to her as a person. and well, bella, has fallen for him, too.
if it was possible to lick a book, i'd have licked twilight. but it's not mine. writer stephanie meyer did a tight job. i thought this was all very "teenaged" and i didn't have a problem enjoying the seeming shallowness. i haven't felt this "kilig" in ages. imagine, wanting to be with someone so badly but he can kill you with a twitch of his finger. worse is, he wants the same thing you do. aaargh!!!
i guess what really attracted me to the book is the whole "you can't always get what you want" aspect of it, or at least you can't get it the way you want it. i dunno, this theme always speaks to me. that life is never perfect but you can keep believing and trying.
and i have to say, i enjoyed it as much as my ultra-favorite "for younger ones" novel, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O' Dell. i still find IBD so meaningful, but like any good vampire victim, i can't resist the attraction to the dark romance. the tension! OH. MY. GOD. The Tension! jesus, what a turn-on. i had to text pi while reading it. damn. it's all about the dangerous, forbidden fruit, control and, yeah, that mushy thing. gaaaah, i have to stop gushing now, it's getting silly.
APPARENTLY, there is a movie coming out this december. who plays beautiful Edward? Cedric Diggory, that's who. double damn.
okay, now the question is, where do i find a vampire to suck my neck? swoon.
(review upcoming as soon as i remember to breathe)
you know that space in between two big laughs? all tingly and pregnant (pun intended) with expectation? that's how watching Juno feels like.
Ellen Page plays her like someone you know, and you can't help but root for her. whoever wrote the character must have really liked someone back in the day.
Juno, Juno, Juno...the movie's so adorable, it's like a new puppy. somebody get me the soundtrack for my birthday.
(Warning: Do not read if you are in the mood to enjoy this movie in all its mushiness)
It's been one of the most puzzling things I've had to contend with in my adult life, to the point that it's become an ironic sort of pleasure: When it comes to movies, why do men squeal with utmost glee over the most improbable action stunts, schemes and scenes, yet cower when faced with often unoriginal yet actually possible romantic gestures?
i'm torn between describing P.S. I Love You as this year's The Notebook, or go on my intellectual high horse and zap it for its profound predictability. but since i don't know what to do, i'll just listen to the positive happy part that says "i just really like this."
Hilary Swank (Holly) and Gerard Butler (Gerry, orinal no?) are a young couple with all the usual issues and yet a strong and sincere bond. From a post-night-out fight and make-up sex, we are treated to a funeral scene: Gerry, so impossibly hunky and vibrant, has died of a brain tumor, leaving bartender Daniel (Harry Connick Jr.) to ogle his grieving widow.
But with dedication that only the Irish men of fantasies can muster, Gerry arranged for letters to come to Holly in the hopes of helping her get on with the rest of her life. Sensible ones may say "creepy", but i say "damn that's sweet". And we see that the movie is more about the nature of love than of its more glamorous cousin, romance. It's about thinking about someone else, helping others, respecting yourself, being honest, and being open to finding joy anywhere. Sure Gerry sent her off to the always majestic Ireland (where she meets William, another Irishman, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan), but even then it's about making connections with people--dead or alive--to remind one of living fully, again.
i'm disagreeing with most critics here when i say that swank did a great job. she's utterly human, and i could see the fight she's trying to put up--the whole i'm-okay-but-not-really face. They say she acted like she was hitting that punching bag in Million Dollar Baby. Who wouldn't put on a somewhat stony facade when grieving for the love of one's life taken too early? one especially poignant scene for me was hilary swank singing like a crazy woman, looking and smelling like sh*t. i found it more heartbreaking than funny, because people really can really let themselves go when dealing with loss.
it was also very, very smart to pick Butler. he has enough onscreen charm to make us mere mortals really feel Holly's profound loss. you'll act like a loony too if you lost someone as sexy as Butler in full romantic mode. and who better to help a woman try to get over it than morgan, who, in Grey's Anatomy managed to exude butler-wattage appeal without leaving his hospital bed. Connick is entertaining too with his deadpan and inappropriate quips.
the last important "cast member" is the irish scenery. i went through an ireland-is-the-coolest phase in my late teens, and i remembered why i thought it was a dreamy place.
If you are a typical dude (wait a minute...who isn't?), you will absolutely hate hate hate this movie. it will just show guys how human they are, especially when compared to the three male stars in it--a super tough task even for our sweetest, most adorable boyfriends. so skip it and just let the girls swoon in peace over butler and morgan.
don't worry, boys. i had to eat some humble pie, too. P.S. I Love You is sappy and a bit manipulative, yet even that's enough to remind me that, even for all my bluster, i am just a girl.
i just saw P.S. I Love You starring Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, and that hot guy who played Denny on Grey's Anatomy.
Wrong move to watch it before i go to belly dancing class. i told char i was apprehensive about us being able to still move with conviction after sniffling for a solid hour (at least).
I was wondering why Swank and Butler agreed to a movie like that (the poster makes it look like a bad drama). and i get it.
review up very soon. syet. i hate how movies like that make me feel--like there's hope yet to find love and/or life will get better.
After the unintentional horror that was The Corpse Bride (sorry, walked out on it), I'm glad to see that Burton is back in top form. The trademark blue-grays, pale faces and dark eyes, and the blood! Ooh preeetty!... His take on Sweeney Todd is entertaining, but strangely not enough (but still muuuuch better than TCB).
Acting was A-plus, with Burton's old reliables Johnny Depp and wife Helena Bonham-Carter playing the main characters. Credit also goes to the always Always wonderful Alan Rickman, who seem to give the movie some much needed (hmm...what's the word?) muscle. Glad to see they can all sing (That was an orgasmic duet by Depp and Rickman). I was surprised to learn that one of my favoritest songs comes from the play ("Not While I'm Around"--I'm a Streisand fan, and she covers this a lot). Nice, nice.
Generally, props all around but there seems to be something missing. It didn't hit me at the jugular with the same ferocity as Todd's friendly razors. I don't know exactly how it happened, but I couldn't empathize with any of them, except for Todd's victims. And that's strange.
About an hour-and-a-half long, it seemed, I dunno, a little rushed. I have no way to compare this with the Broadway version but I just couldn't get in there with them, know what I mean? I'm happy that Burton has his groove back but next time, I hope there's a little more heart and a little less style.
Oh well, he may be Tim Burton but I guess even He is not immune to the curse that's befalling Broadway-turned-Hollywood schemes.
After almost 12 years of making the youthful cry and the hipsters balk, open-hearted musical Rent counts it's last 525,600 minutes.
If you want to read more about the play's closing this June, hop on over to the New York Times website. I'll be too busy locking myself in my room with SoftBatch cookies and defending myself from the cooler and more intellectual people who'll be laughing at my dilemma.
I like this quote from the paper, "Rent is nothing, if not earnest." Earnest is always enough for me.
right before 12 midnight yesterday, i found my dearly beloved Best of Van Morrison CD inside the jewel case of Chungking Express. oh joy! it's been missing for more than a year so i played it and i played it. and i never threw out it's original case. shows you what optimism can do, eh?
unfortunately, i also seem to have lost my copy of Layer Cake (Daniel Craig pre-Bond) and THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN. i think it's less challenging to get a copy of Layer Cake, but COLC! imagine my dismay. so if i loaned The City of Lost Children to any of you, please let me know. That movie matters the world to me. It has Ron Perlman in a sweater that slowly unravels. Thank you.
in the world of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, daemons are the half of your person, only external and acts like a very intelligent and loyal pet. read the book to learn more. you must. would you agree with my daemon?
