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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.
when it comes to my addiction for books, i would have to say that the past few months have been spectacular. i never thought i could measure achievement in pages...
ever since we were kids, and especially when i started buying books on my own with saved-up allowance money, my sister always teased me about my collection. she often said i'd probably have a library someday.
when i started working, it couldn't be helped that i get some slack for my book-buying habits. better nga naman kung pagkain na lang, di ba? though i did argue to death that i always got those books on sale...
sooo, i am very happy to say that i am now on my way to curbing my impractical bibliophile tendencies. what i could have bought, i've borrowed. yes, i still can't help but browse through sale bins when they're oh-so-surreptitiously available (it's a conspiracy, i tell you), but, But, BUT i have learned to be so much more discerning before spending even P20 on a bargain book. when i was a kid, a visit to a 2nd-hand bookstore would never be complete without a P100-yield, roughly 4-10 books then; and i also once spent a whopping P7,000 at a book fair.
Now, I can pass by a discount display, check out a few titles, read at least five separate pages, and if i didn't like it, i wouldn't buy it. i know this is probably regular for most of you, but i dunno, it makes me feel like such a winner. it's like i have literary taste or something... ;-)
killing the shopping bug was easy, and refraining from buying CDs was tougher (despite the practicality of el torrente and the mp3), but this... it's like going full circle. books were my very first love and i'm learning how to make this relationship work without hurting any one of us, ensuring that we'll be part of each other's lives for much, much longer :)
...so the e-heads concert had to be cut for ely's health reasons. damn. i was so looking forward to this. ah, well.
i'm glad the promoters and the band explained it in such a good way, though. i was actually surprised that no one in the thousands-strong crowd boo-ed. poor ely. it must have been something to see such a huge crowd turn out for his old band. hope he's okay.
LeRoi Moore, saxophonist of my one and only Dave Matthews Band, has diedunexpectedly of complications from an ATV accident that happened last June.
i have never seen them live. and now he's dead. i am so seriously sad. i want to cry. i don't want to believe this has happened. sorry, drama. but it's LeRoi. DMB won't be the same. i don't know what to say or do or think. i am grieving over a musician who helped form a big part of who i am. #41, still my favorite song in the world now, won't be the same, ever.
it's on my list of life dreams to see them live...
i will go in this way, and find my own way out... why won't you run into the rain and play? let the tears splash all over you.
rest in peace, o dreadlocked one. thank you. Thank You. THANK YOU. for making music that matters and saves lives.
Fitzcarraldo and personal myths... Please do watch this, or at least listen. I find this new song of the moment, which pays tribute to a movie about a man with a crazy dream, very poignant. It swells and silences you, especially at 4:11 onwards...
Even the good stars can fall from grace and falter, like the lapdogs that shroud the mystery. And her last words were "I'll see you down in history." It's the long, lonely way that we can go."
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..."
when "oh this looks an episode on fear factor" popped into my head, i knew my brain was kicking in. Still, it was not until it issued the imperative "Danger. Let it go" when i finally released my hold on my handbag.
i would like to say i was tenacious, a fighter, but the hindsight that i could have died, as well as the throbbing of some wounds and bruises, would say i was being stupid. i hope my younger siblings read this and think "That really was a stupid thing to do, ate".
Still, i can't fault my instinct. That was the first thing it wanted to do in those first few seconds, to go all "oh no, you don't!" and keep pulling at my handbag's strap even though i was aware of being dragged across the ground at motorcycle speed...against the flow of traffic on zobel roxas. My friend was right when she said, "you know, you'll never really know what you can and will do until you're actually faced with a certain situation."
i always said i'd just give up my things if i get mugged. and i was surprised to know that my instinct, and a little part of my conscious self, was not to, pala. that was what really made my heart throb extra hard a few hours later, that there were a few seconds when i was consciously just not letting go, still fighting. some of the similar muggings in my area involve riders with guns or metal tubes to hurt their victims. what if this dude had a gun? i would have been very easy to shoot, and fatally, being the quite large and noticeable buntot of their little ride. upon reflecting on it later, i also realized that, should there have been a parked car that obstructed my legs in those first few "stupid" seconds while i was in angry mode, my instinct would have been to pull very hard and make the second rider fall off. but what if he does fall off yet manage to pull something on me before i could escape? i pride myself on being relatively brave, but not on being foolhardy. jesus christ.
no, i'm not blaming myself. there's really no one to blame for people who'd rather hurt others than take on an honest job, even if it's just powering pedicabs (the drivers were actually one of the first people by my side, apart from ate josie who shouted so loud to alert everyone when she saw me fall). i'm just surprised at my not-so-smart initial reaction to something like this. i hope my instincts know better next time.
obviously, i don't think i'll get over this for a while, and i'm still very, Very nervous to step out of my house as it happened just right at the corner from where i live, i had a companion and it was 8am. i'm actually quite careful and aware because these people are always roaming our streets. apparently, even that is not enough to be safe from these lazy bastards. may they be raped by a gang of hyperactive carabaos (thanks, roj!). then may the tusks of ornery elephants find their way to anal crevices ideally used for pleasure. then may somebody bash their faces so bad they look like the love child of gollum and ephialtes. but then may they still retain full function of their johnsons so they feel a profound pain when absolutely no one will touch them.
apart from what seems like minor injuries, the damage includes my dear mobile phone (which doesn't deserve this treatment), my digital camera (replaceable), my wallet with official IDs and bank cards (alerted and blocked, except for official IDs that i still have to work on). what i consider the greatest loss is my little notebook with the Gustav Klimt painting on the cover. that had all my ideas, some writing, plans, passwords (already changed), dreams, favorite things, etc. I'm still crying about this, but i would be lying if i said trauma wasn't thrown in there somewhere.
later in the evening while i was praying before bedtime, i apologized to my body and said "i'm sorry i put you through that, but thank you for letting go. i'll take better care of you, okay?" i'm just happy that, at some point, the more powerful part of my brain COMMANDED my body to let it go. there was, honestly, a little part that wanted to hold on because it believed i could still win. i'm happiest that my body followed the other part of my brain. i think that was my Guardian Angel's doing. and i keep breathing a sigh of relief that somebody, something, released my hands' grip before either the thieves hurt me with something or a car ran me over. Thank God, indeed. Thank you, God. THANK. YOU. GOD. boy does he know what he's doing. whew.
now i have to push myself to still go about my normal life, even though my heart is hammering at the thought of stepping past our gate. but i have to, else i'd have lost more than my bag and what was in it. today's a sunday and the wounds on my feet (not so bad, actually, but there were thin layers of flesh that got removed) are throbbing like anything. it could be because i decided to still push through with my recital last night because i needed something to smile about. now That is the right kind of courage.
somebody said after seeing me perform, "parang akala mo wala lang nangyari sa 'yo ah." i went all batman (frank miller-style) and said, "it's a simple matter of telling your body to turn that grimace of pain into an extra wide on-stage smile."
(as a request, can you just pray for my family? :D i had some bank info in there and i'm afraid they may think we have money or something and do something worse than robbing just me. thank you :) )
i took the title from the first line of what is one of the most underrated DMB songs of all time, Digging a Ditch. it always amazes me how this band can make optimism sound so dark and heavy, like it was coming from a place of injured dignity. love them. i'm listening to it now as part of a playlist i just created called Karma Comes Around.
after a blockbuster friday, i woke up today--not well-rested but content--and hopped on the interwebs. i may have asked for it because my clicky finger said "no" but my heart said yes. i was also bored, in a good i'm-happy-i've-minimal-things-to-do-today way.
(click click click, surf surf surf, post post post, surf surf surf... oh my.)
i had to take a deep breath. and it's good i've been practicing the past few months. whenever i have to mull over something very unpleasant, i've taken to deep breathing techniques so i don't feel that scary tightness in my chest again while i go through the bad process.
and like i said, i guess i was asking for it. i did something bad a few years ago, and though i tried to rectify it, going so far as to make a fool of myself in the process, it didn't get fixed. i chalked it all up to karma. but as i was getting over that, i was living in fear because i knew karma wasn't done with me yet. and today, with a terrible repercussion of technology, karma hit me its deadliest blow. and in my desperate attempt to look at the bright side, i thought, "whoa, that's it, then! it's finished. the good things can come my way now. i've paid my dues."
my special project will still go on, though. i still have those happy stories to tell. good memories... and although silly me would still like for us to maintain the friendship, i know that, in the interest of self-preservation, it shouldn't become more than that. don't forget the spirit of my gift, okay?
but tonight, i'll weep, and maybe tomorrow, too. but jesus is telling me to be free. and i am now. so i'm going walking.
it's too bad, i really, Really, REALLY did like you. bah, this is what i get for being a big silly girl.
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)
Cyma for dinner and our favored Max Brenner for dessert. Good conversations with this crew is always expected. No. I still meant a different kind of "horsing around"
upon hearing about the led zep reunion concert, which some very lucky people like vernon go got to see in december last year, here was what mefite user melissa may had to say:
"NO.
Look, I'm sorry. I listened to "Stairway to Heaven" in my junior high creative writing class like everyone else. I was traumatized by Robert Plant singing adult contemporary music in a Tom Wolfe suit in my later youth, like everyone else. I didn't understand what the BFD was about Led Zeppelin, like everyone else (who barely stirred themselves to post "meh" here with their little finger).
Then I listened to "Kashmir" on the way home from the lake one summer night, that cool wind in my hair, weedily altered but not too, just that nice little itch. And I finally got it, got what millions of beautiful golden hair hippie-rocker girls got before me. I got the fever for Robert Plant.
I have never heard another man able to sing so softly and sweetly and worshipfully about beautiful ladies in the garden filled with faeries and talking animals and hooded druids holding lamps and whatnot, and then moments later scream and howl like a wounded beast because he wants to f**k them by the hedgerow until they all die from the sheer sweaty joy of it. (I apologize for being so crass but there's really no polite way to put it, I'm afraid.) Robert Plant makes the unicorn poster on your childhood wall okay. Robert Plant also makes your later insatiable bloody lust, denied by every church and state, okay. In fact, he makes it glorious.
I cannot bear to watch him, old and baggy as a bulldog, try to recapture that. I can't and I won't. It's not right to expect any human man to walk outside of time but I expected it of Robert Plant, who has trafficked with dark forces and has the penis that can cure major depression to prove it. It's not right to ask him to be a beautiful god forever, but I am.
Please don't do this, Robert Plant. Please. If it's the money, a lot of older, sadder, but sometimes richer grey-haired ladies will cut you a check. Just say the word."
after the concert, here's what some other mefites said:
"Is it me, or does Robert Plant look like Theoden?" (notsnot)
"I'm sure we can expect a reunion tour as long as no one chokes to death on his Lipitor." (planetkyoto)
"Here's a fact I read somewhere: Of all the men who have read Lord of the Rings more than three times, Robert Plant has slept with the most women." (stupidsexyflanders)
(mefites, i shall remove anything here if you so like. just lemme know. it's just that all yoru words--i think--are just too precious to be kept in the forum :) )
See, Carlo, geeks end up with adoration in the end ;-)
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.
I first heard of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy during my Daniel Craig phase. I learned that he was going to play someone named Lord Asriel and it seemed very macho to me. At first, it was the thought of DC playing another alpha male that got me interested.
So I grabbed a copy of the trilogy and promptly spent lunch breaks poring over chapters of "dust", "energy", and "dark matter". But by the time i read "armored polar bear" by the name of Iorek Byrnison, I was entranced. yes, DC's manliness can only play second fiddle to fluffy, bloody ice mammals with a soft spot for a liar of a little girl.
there's something enchanting about these books, supposedly for children. It's brave, it's subtle, it's well-written. it manages to make some of the more "new age" beliefs tie in with more traditional religions. it's like reading The Celestine Prophecy, only grander yet also simpler.
after a chapter (which is now my favorite) in book two left me weeping, i knew i found a treasure of a book.
(may be a spoiler) in this chapter, a courageous hare mutters to a lifelong companion, "shame to die with one bullet left, though." And old cowboy Lee Scoresby and his beloved daemon Hester fend off enemies with every last ounce of strength.
i can't can't can't wait for the movie. if it's at least half as intelligent and entertaining a romp as the book, i may forget about DC altogether.
