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take me to the riot, torquil and co. :) going to singapore this january for one of my three-musical-acts-to-see-before-i-die -- Stars!!!
but wait, there's more! i'll be with two of my best ladies, pats and leica, swooning over a band that played an important role at important junctures in our lives. this is going to be excellent!
...and on the following day that we got the tickets, guess what? i heard that Swell Season (number two among the three) will be in Australia, South Korea and Japan early next year, too.
Dave Matthews Band (guess what spot they occupy on my list?) na lang, pwede na rin akong mamatay.
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.
...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.
those who really know me might be surprised to find out that this song is getting ready to dislodge Dave Matthews' Band's #41 as my favorite song of all-time. yun lang. some early morning fangirling while i await a meeting :)
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."
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..."
my ex used to call me fangirl. blame these Boston boys who are clearly having just a little too much fun these days :) i really know how to be a good fan (slash stalker? har har), and i daresay the comeback is proof that good, clean fun never goes out of style. yes, they are old, but they were, like, pioneeeers, man! the originals still do it best. the song is smooth and simple pop. aah the days when people wore less emo makeup and had fun dancing more often. don't you love feeling like a kid again? =) a clip from a music awards show. i love that even the young ones are still screaming.
"panty kung panty," said my fellow recitalist. ehm...okay! pardon the stomach, but it's a happy stomach *ting* ;-) i really do look like a rabbit. and when in makeup, a japanese rabbit!
Finally! Thanks, K, for taking such nice shots :) To fellow recitalists, lemme know if you want hi-res versions and i'll email them to you :) Don't you miss rehearsals, already? Gah.
EEEEEEPPPP! catch me, hihimatayin ako! louie! lookit! see, i told you guys in january that we'll experience a 90s redux. *squueeaal*
joey and donnie's still so cute. and they all look good for dudes pushing 40 (nearly). Here's Their Latest Music Video (addictive pop hook, i thought. Me Likey):
awww...gulay that brings me back :) i imagine they were laughing like anything during the silhouette dance seqeunce. my 14-year-old self is smiling like an eejit. now where did i put my nkotb earrings (yes, earrings), collectible cards and file keeper?