OROCHI (or, A Monster Serpent)

Category:	Movies
Genre:	Classics

Today was a very hectic Thursday. The only thing I really looked forward to was an 8 pm film showing, conveniently preceding two of my nightly phone conference calls.

Being a member of a Japanese Club in the office has its perks. We were invited to a screening at Greenbelt 3 Cinema 2 – to the 1st International Silent Film festival, sponsored by the Goethe-Institut, Institute Cervantes and Japan Foundation, along with other organizations. The last Japanese  films I saw were those of Akira Kurosawa-sama’s and the funny “Zaotichi”…so I hurriedly made my way (on a slightly less full stomach) to the theater, so I could be the first in my group to queue.As I am no stranger to Murphy’s Law……a problem with the free tickets, which was solved in my case, went back to bite me later in the butt…by making me miss the first half the story. It was a pity too since I could hear the audience react positively to the scenes which were subtly funny…but since my other comrades were not allowed in due to the dearth of tickets…and ended up leaving…I was still lucky to see half of the film and appreciate the lesson – a valid one still to this day – which was competently driven home by the director.

The film shown on September 13, 2007 was “A Monster Serpent” or “Orochi”. Aside from striking my fancy since I first came across this term in “Ranma 1/2” manga…I was further entranced when I found out that there would be music provided live during the screening by Makiling Ensemble.

It was my first ever experience to watch a silent film with live people alternating between furious beats on the drum, the haunting strains of a violin..to a voice going up and down the musical scale. The music, coupled with the Japanese script on the film (with appropriate English subtitles of course) along with the exaggerated actions of the actors made it all the more an enjoyable experience which I wish I could savor again and again.

This film is directed by Buntaro Futagawa and came out in 1925. This is one of the few silent chambara-samurai warrior picture films to survive in relatively complete form at this point in time. The print comes with narration which explains the action of all characters.

Synopsis (taken from the brochure):
Set in the castle town in Japan’s feudal age, this film depicts the trials and tribulations of Heizaburo Kuritomi, whose troubles stem from his love with two beautiful women of which he cannot convince either that he is a good man. He then becomes a killer trying to save one of them from a criminal who had rescued him subsequently after his escape from prison.

The protagonist Heizaburo Kuritomi, is an honorable but low-class samurai who is given an emotional depth, previously unseen in Jidaigeki films, as he battles with inner conflict and the injustices of society.

Jidaigeki (時代劇, is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan.

The name means “period drama,” and the period is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1600 to 1868. Jidaigeki films are sometimes referred to as chambara movies, a word meaning “sword fight”, though chambara is really a sub group. They have a set of dramatic conventions including the use of makeup, language, catchphrases, and plotlines – from wikipedia).

This emotional depth of our unlucky Heizaburo can be clearly seen in the closing sequence of the film where the protagonist is dragged away by his enemies after his very heroic efforts to protect his love (and her sick samurai husband…darn him!) . I’ve read somewhere that in the essay, “Bantsuma’s ‘New Breeze'”, Midori Sawato points to the ending of Orochi as one of the most ‘heroic and heartcrushing’ images she has seen, and I am inclined to agree. The heroes of these kinds of films at that time were proud samurai of the upper classes who always triumphed over their evil opponents, upholding what was truly right in the world (yey!). However, Orochi was created in response to the national and military fanaticism that was prevailing at the time in Japan.

The now famous opening lines strike a chord: ‘not all those who wear the name of villain, are truly evil men. Not all those who are respected as noble men, are worthy of the name. Many are those who wear a false mask of benevolence to hide their treachery and the wickedness of their true selves,‘’

…well, actually this sums up in a nutshell the whole story. First you will feel amused at how our samurai ends up in jail a couple of times even though he truly has not committed any wrong. Gradually, it begins to dawn on you how ironic it all is – he who is innocent, is now an object of utmost fear from the village people..while the village lord who shelters him..who is widely respected by the town folk turns out to be a villain who is as nasty in his true form (if he only shows it)..as Heizaburo is as pure of heart in the opposite end of the spectrum.

There is also the exhilarating fight scene which marks this kind of film…where the director’s new sword fighting style may have attracted its fair share of audiences, but I would like to think that there were also a lot of people who were deeply touched by the profound message of the film.

I came away feeling not despondent..not angry…but calm and accepting.

The themes tackled in this film are still prevalent today, and sometimes more so in the country where I live in. But the eternal optimist in me cannot be held back for long. Surely..surely..somebody will see the pure heart of people who are like Heizaburo..- only judged for his appearance and the unfortunate circumstances in which he is not allowed to explain his side.

 – Sep 14, ’07 2:15 AM

Travel on the Brain

Thinking Travel

Sep 18, ’08 4:42 PM
for everyone

17 Sept  2008,  National Bookstore, Greenbelt 1 –  I’m just happy. As simple as that. I’ve added to my ever-towering, ever-leaning-precariously-like-Pisa pile of books (some of which I’ve not read completely).
I was in the vicinity of the bookstore to have a special order made for a book on trading, when I noticed they were on sale. All books with white dots were marked 20% off…and even if my penchant for travel books leaves my wallet groaning, I still could not resist.

I grabbed the books I wanted, but realized I had to leave at least half of them behind as I was already juggling other bags and I still had to go to the grocery to get my prosciutto and salami milano, and whatever fruit I could find to pair with them. The ones I picked were all thick and heavy tomes, save for one.

So I only got four, because I’m thinking I may be traveling again next year or this December, and what could be better than to be a girl scout and be prepared. Goodbye books on Italy, France and Greece!

1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List by Patricia Schultz

Although there aren’t very many pictures, and whatever there were scattered between the book’s covers, were all in black and white, it may be nice to have a checklist of where to go. It is at least 2 inches thick though…sheesh! some checklist eh?

Under the Philippines, they placed Banaue Rice Terraces (no check), Taal Volcano (check) and Amanpulo (super no check).

Lonely Planet‘s Tokyo: City Guide by Andrew Bender and Wendy Yanagihara

I’m planning a collection of city guides…and even if I have been to Tokyo, I felt I had only scratched the surface. One never knows, I may visit Tokyo again before I reach the golden age of 50 🙂

DK Eyewitness Travel Guides: China by Staff of DK Publishing Inc.

I dithered between Frommer’s China and this book. The lovely photographs won out in the end. I resolved to come back later for Frommer’s version.

Some people may prefer Lonely Planet, but I liked my experience with Frommer’s details on how to get from one place to another, but it doesn’t have the beautiful photographs (which can serve as one’s album too) which I see in DK.

Frommer‘s Southeast Asia 5th edition by Jason Armbrecht, Brian Calvert, Jennifer Eveland and Jen Lin-Liu

Hmm…I was expecting it to have an entry on the Philippines….but it did not.  Why? Bakit? Ngano? Porque?

Isn’t my country in SE Asia? Was there a mistake? Maybe its classified somewhere else? Grrrr….

Oh well, if my trip to Vietnam pushes through before the end of the year, this will be handy.

Eiga Sai (2008): “Linda Linda Linda”

Saturday at the movies: “Linda Linda Linda”

Jul 16, ’08 1:37 AM
for everyone

[L-R: Hannah-chan, watashi, Son-chan, Grace-chan, Chelle-chan]

On July 12, 2008, a bunch of us J-Club members went to see one of the films being shown on Eiga Sai 2008 and indulged in some girly-girl activites outside of the office.

We agreed to meet up between 11 to 11:30 am at Shangrila mall. I ended up taking a taxi because I thought I would be last however it is good not to rush too much.

Chelle and I met up the graphic novels section of National Bookstore.

Luckily she came in before I could be tempted to buy more books or graphic novels. After we queued for the tickets, and the other girls Grace, Hannah and Alyson arrived, off we went to have lunch at Green Tomato.

Trying to decide among the many dishes of pasta and pizza and the other dishes on the menu, the lunch talk was full of teasing and stories.

ready for pizza!

Pasta and its sauces and ingredients were varied, with plain OO, tomato-based,  pesto, brandied shrimp, spaghetti, penne, fetuccine etc. while the pizza was for meat-lovers. Too bad no dessert was on the plate 😦

We had enough time before the 2 pm movie and ended up comfortably ensconced in the middle aisle though we at first kept on moving around due to the “Reserved” signs (which turned out to be disregarded).

Humming “Linda Linda Linda” after the movie was finished, we proceeded to walk around and do some shopping. Some of them apparently were going to go on a run the next day, therefore new running shoes were a must.

Of course, when one walks around with fellow girls, one gets sucked into buying some things too, even if it wasn’t on the agenda at the start *looks at credit card dolefully*
Before splitting up and heading home, we also decided to go to Glorietta and have coffee at Gloria Jean’s…there was an ulterior motive for that, which I shall not disclose here *wink* but the conversation during that coffee break was like an interview for each of us girls…hehehe…plus some other perks *sticks tongue out*

At the Eiga Sai (2008)

The Film: Linda Linda Linda

Japanese Title: Rinda Rinda Rinda
Director: Yamashita Nobuhiro
Cast: Bae Doo-na as Song, Maeda Aki as Yamada Kyoko, Kashii Yu as Tachibana Kei, Sekine, Shiori as Shirakawa Nozomi, Mimura Takayo as Marumoto Rinko, Komoto Masahiro
as Teacher Koyama

Synopsis partially taken from  the brochure:

This film about youth is set in modern-day high school just outside of Tokyo. A couple of days just before the school’s culture festival, a girl’s music group is facing a dilemma. They planned on playing an original piece of music but, three days before the festival,
the guitarist appears to have broken her finger and an argument breaks out among the two band members who founded it. They need to find a new guitarist and a new vocalist. While the remaining three girls are pondering who to ask to be the new vocalist, they hear the song, “Linda Linda Linda” by the famous Japanese rock band Blue Hearts and decide they want to sing it instead of an original song.

A Korean exchange student, Song, misunderstood and said yes when they ask her to be their vocalist.  Her Japanese is not perfect, and she’s never sung in front of an audience, but she listens to the song and says yes. The girls practice a lot but they don’t seem to be improving much. They spend a lot of time at Kei’s ex-boyfriend’s studio and at the school practicing late into the night..and with all these practicing a deep friendship develops among the four girls.

The night before the festival, they practice late into the night and exhaust themselves. They suddenly wake up the next morning and realize that they are late for the festival. They arrive at the school just as the festival is finishing and perform as the last act. The audience loves them and the four girls play their hearts out.

Linda Linda Linda was ranked as the 6th best film on the 79th Kinema Junpo best ten list for 2005. Director Yamashita Nobuhiro’s other films, Hazy Life (“Donten Seikatsu,” 2001), No One’s Ark (“Baka no Hakobune, 2002) and Ramblers (“Riarizumu no Yado,” 2003) also deal with the lives of youths.

In Linda Linda Linda, the film uses minimalism and a level-headed approach to convey his ideas to the audience. The Korean character in the film, Song, is played by a Korean actor, Bae Doo-na. She has starred in such Korean films as Park Chan-Wook’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Hyeon Nam-Seob’s Saving My Hubby (2002). The actress who plays the role of the bassist, Nozomi, is a real-life musician.

Well, I enjoyed the film. I am not really into drama and I honestly was dreading seeing the films being featured this year as some of the girls had attended the first night of the festival and according to Hannah it was “bloody” (aka dumugo ilong nya or maybe there were bloody scenes?). hehehe…

But this one film was light, youth-oriented, feel-good, enjoyable.

It’s simple, direct approach to telling the story is refreshing and the song’s tunes and lyrics were catchy too. Makes me wanna see what other Blue Hearts songs are out there.

The film reminds me of “Stand by Me” but on a lesser scale. It is more of a tale of friendship developing between these girls who worked hard so that they could perform in the festival. There are no tricks to how its presented and its strangely fun to see this kind of film these days when those marked as good or blockbuster films (not necessarily exclusive descriptions) we queue for feature either camera tricks, CGI or a bunch of confusing turns in the story. I had a good time watching it with the company I was with.

There were hilarious moments in the film – and when I least expected it! I emitted a couple of giggles in some scenes even if I was busy reading the subtitles. One was when this Japanese boy who apparently had a crush on Song arranged for them to meet so that he could tell her his feelings. Aside from the girls and the boy’s friend spying on them, the guy was trying his best to speak in Korean to Song (with matching script or kodigs or cheat sheet pa ha!) of how he felt, and the oblivious Song was answering in her not-so-fluent Japanese.

Another unexpected (somewhat icky!) scene was when Kei was gifted with a hand. Yes, a hand! I thought at first maybe the film had some horror twist when I saw the hand inside a box and being gifted to her on her birthday (?).

It looked real, big and hairy. Urgh!! Enough said. Apparently its because she needs help because her hand was small and she needed a bigger hand to play her guitar. WTF?

Though it was a somewhat rainy day in the end, this Saturday was a nice break from routine.

Instead of having classes, we had played hooky *grin* and watched a movie instead, and got to know each other a little bit more. I felt like a young woman again…este..correction much younger woman..again.

Review (Movie): “Kamikaze Girls” (Shimotsuma Monogatari) (4 Stars)

Category:	Movies
Genre:	Comedy

Just came from Japan Foundation’s showing of Japanese contemporary films for 2007. This evening, the first offering was “Kamikaze Girls” and it was shown in Shangril-la Plaza at Crossings. They will have more films till Tuesday of next week, but for those who can’t make it, these films will also be shown in CCP and UP Film Institute.

Lifted off from their brochure:

Format: 2004/HD or 35 mm/ 103 min./Color
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Japanese Release: 2004

Synopsis:

Momoko (Kyoko Fuduka) escapes from the boredom of her life in her humdrum rural hometown Shimotsuma by swathing herself from head to toe in doll-like “Lolita” garb. One day she meets her diametrical opposite on the fashion scale, the surly black lipstick biker chick Ichigo (Anna Tsuchiya, winner of 2005 Japan Academy price for best newcomer) who takes a liking to Momoko’s unexpectedly gutsy nature and the two form an unlikely alliance.

Momoko consoles Ichigo after she suffers a broken heart at the hands of the local pompadoured lothario and uses her embroidery skills to embellish Ichigo’s biker uniform for the graduation ceremony of a respected senior. In return, she takes Momoko to the best Lolita boutique in the city where her sewing skills gain for her a chance to work for her favorite designer. However, Ichigo’s fellow delinquents don’t take kindly to her friendship with Momoko, which leads to a final showdown with the gang boss. Severely outnumbered, Ichigo looks doomed until the loyal Momoko rides to her rescue. A mildly surreal, frenetically comic journey into Japan’s youth subcultures based on a graphic novel by cult manga creator Novala Takemoto and directed by TV commercial Tetsuya Nakashima.

My review:

After reading the synopsis above, my idea or impression of what the movie was going to be turned out to be quite different in reality. I don’t know if it was the subtitles misleading me.

However I do know what I like and enjoy, and this film has all the trademarks of what I expect from Japanese comedy films – I would not know the film terms, but there is a section of some anime to explain the story (kinda like the “Kill Bill” movie), there is the section of flying cabbages, head on collision and Momoko floating around (kinda like the “Kung Fu Hustle” movie), talking to the camera directly to explain the situation, exaggerated and ludicrous love scenes etc.

The costumes made my eyes spin..all those laces and frills and curls and blonde hair dyes and biker chick fashion…on an aside, I wonder why in the world Japanese clothing seem so outlandish nowadays..and to think they really had a nice sense of kimono fashion before..oh well *shrug*

But the twist and turns of the story were fun and unexpected, although a bit obvious to an old hand at Filipino dramas like yours truly. Again, the friendship between these two unlikely girls is at once funny and touching. And the scene where Momoko lectures her mom on happiness and not giving up on it makes you think again of how a parent lectures their young..this time its just the younger person doing it…ironic eh?

That pompadoured guy made my eyebrows rise to the heavens…but its something I would expect from a manga drawing. All in all the characters are over the top sometimes, but this is what you can expect from a comedy story like this. There is a good mixture of shots flowing in and out..so its not boring, since the shift from one scene to another used different techniques but I suspect its what made my headache pop out (or it could be the lack of food before watching the movie).

It is a happy ending of course (for awhile though I thought the opening scene of our Rococo-era-loving heroine flying upward into the heavens meant her early demise) – for almost all characters concerned, from her obaa-san (grandma), otou-san (father) and the other main characters (her okaa-san or mom didn’t win the beauty contest though, which made her dad really happy..nope, they were already divorced)…all in all not a lot of loose threads to make you unhappy with the plot…some yakuza, yanki, finger-cutting, vomiting ala anime style, pink outlandish bentos and food..

See I’ve just joined a Japanese club at my current company, and though it was because of love of anime and manga, I’m glad I didn’t pass up the opportunity to watch this Japanese film festival.

Personally I would have enjoyed a whole week of Kurosawa-sama’s films (think “Ran”, “Seven Samurai”, “Rashomon” etc.) which I have always loved even before I fell in love with anime. Picture a purring cat…but I just found out that contemporary films are also quite good..quite unexpectedly I must admit.

Other movies coming up this week (I don’t know if I can view the others though, I prefer sleep and food):

* Shangri-la (Togenkyo No Hitobito)
* Blue Spring
* Out of this World
* Hotel Hibiscus
* Inochi
* No One’s Ark
* The Stars Converge
* Harmful Insect

– Jun 21, ’07 12:08 AM

 

Japan Foundation Manila Library – Manga Collection

Category:	Books
Genre:	Comics & Graphic Novels
Author:	different authors

I’ve just read that JFM has increased its collection of books and will begin lending these out soon…yehey! Approximately 80 titles/900 books of Japanese manga and 100 J-Pop CDs have been acquired to add to their collection. Some of these manga I have either read or seen the anime. I will only list here those which I am familiar with and I will not review each and everyone in detail but at least will give you an idea of the story. There are other sites out there in the wide world of internet who can give more in-depth reviews (besides, I have lesser time nowadays).

* Slam Dunk

I saw the anime and read some of the manga. This falls under the sports manga genre. Hanamichi Sakuragi joins Shokoku high school basketball team. this is a very hilarious anime series which was responsible for my learning basketball terms and there were times during my grad school days wherein this was a big stress-reliever for me as I kept laughing my head off on their basketball antics. I’d recommend it for boys…and girls (who are a bit more sportsminded) but for me the lesson here is more about friendship and determination. *giggles girlishly*…gwapo ni Rui-san..hehehe…oi, pero di yan yung reason I am recommending this ha!

* Naruto

I saw some anime eps, its still going on, but I have not read the manga or translations. I am familiar with the characters though. The unlikely hero is Naruto Umazaki, a hyperactive ninja who dreams big. He wants to become his village’s strongest ninja. Other characters are Sakura and Sasuke, other ninjas in his village. I like Naruto’s spirit..the “never say die” thingie and his friendship with Sakura and Sasuke..even if sometimes things get bad, he is still a great optimist. The anime now is filled with filler eps but the manga is still ongoing. Lesson here is friendship among unlikely people. While I have not seen all eps, its also action-packed, hence my colleagues before who had children also watched this…pero ang dami ng eps sa anime..mauubos pera mo sa pag collect nila. I’d recommend this as good reading for elementary students – siguro boys mas gusto to coz of the ninja-action…

* Honey and Clover

I have not seen the manga being sold here, but I will check out a newly-heard (for me at least) store in Robinson’s Galleria one of these days and see if they are selling these. I have seen a lot of the anime eps. This is a story of a group of art college students and how they deal with love, graduation, job hunting and discovering themselves on their journey. I think more mature individuals would appreciate this..for high-school student ages and upwards but its geared towards young girls (shoujo manga).

(intermission: there is what you call “shounen” manga and “shoujo” manga. The first is for young boys and the latter is geared towards young girls)

* Death Note

I’ve been meaning to watch the live action movie and the anime..but sadly only managed one ep. I’ve heard its good though – this from my other anime-crazy ex-office colleague who has the patience to download anime eps. Its about a high-school student who picks up a supernatural notebook by accident, but guess what, its the God of Death’s notebook..so..as you can imagine, if you write somebody’s name on it..ayun..dedbol yung tao..hehehe…its not horror though, but I would think this is better off being read by older children…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While this was not in the list of the article about what JFM acquired, I would like parents to be careful if they get hold of “Yami no Matsuei” or Descendants of Darkness. I personally like the story very much (I read the complete translations and the manga is unfinished, plus I’ve seen the anime) and its wonderful manga art too..but the hints of male-male relationship may be a bit difficult to explain to younger kids. Its not drawn for all to see, but there are hints that there is some sexual tension going on…well maybe kids may be too young and innocent to pick up on it, but let me tell you that the first time I found out that there were stories like this.

I was a bit shocked and could not imagine myself reading it. There is what you call “yaoi” or yung straight out na male-male and there is “yuri” which is of course female-female. For the translation of the manga (not yet being continued by the author, this is the site -> http://www.theria.net/archive-top.html)

Later on I did force myself to read this and Gensomaden Saiyuki (4 males, but its not an orgy, its more of friendship though fanfics make it a pairing between Sanzo and Goku, and a pairing between Hakkai and Gojyo) and it wasn’t so bad, but this will depend really on you and how open-minded you are.

YNM is about the life of a particular shinigami (guardian of death) who works in a department under the King of the Dead. Weirdly though, it reminds me of X-files because the main characters are agents who try to unravel these mysteries of dead persons who wind up in their department when its not their time to die. The main baddie-boy (who looks very handsome) Dr. Muraki seems to have set his yes on the main shinigami Tzusuki, who sounds scatterbrained and just has his eye on sweets, but is actually very powerful. So… imagine the hints on Muraki and Tsuzuki, then Muraki and Hisoka (his young partner murderered and cursed by Muraki), Tzuzuki and …..well you get the idea…

Oh yes, for the other story which I like – Gensomaden Saiyuki has very nice music…sometimes the anime eps are of poor quality but overall not bad, and its based on the classic story “Journey to the West’….remember the monk, pig, monkey king and …the river-monster or kappa if I am not mistaken. Its more about friendship between these 4 unlikely group of characters, and you have the usual characters of a broody person, a hyperactive person, a calm person and the perverted playboy…hahaha..go figure. They go on a quest to stop the awakening of this monster..and they ride on a jeep which turns into a dragon..and there is some reinarnation, plus the Goddess of Mercy seems to be a hermaphrodite with a great sense of humor…really, I cannot explain it to you unless its a more detailed chat. Anyway, in the anime, there is no all out relationship..its just they get teased by each other on the pairing…and since Goku seems so attached to Sanzo sometimes if you have a naughty, imaginative mind…you would think something is up…but I think its really more of playing to the gallery. Being the logical person that I am..I was shaking my head at first – why on earth don’t they just take the airplane to the west if its such a big thing to stop the monster? ewan…this and the Gold (unlimited ba?) credit card of the monk in a setting which looks like old medieval China (do they have electricity here) is just something you can pass off as one of the wonders of manga.

– Jun 20, ’07 11:16 PM

Review (Book): “Death Match”

Category:	Books
Genre:	Mystery & Thrillers
Author:	Lincoln Child

 

Somebody left this book in the Mabuhay Lounge where I got in by some twist of fate. Holy Thursday had me bumped off a 9:30 am flight from Manila to Cebu because PAL apparently overbooked…but they kindly offered to put me in business class on a 3 pm flight..so 7 ours of waiting time hardly seemed such a bad concept. I got placed in the Mabuhay Lounge and got paid for my ticket…and while I was munching on the free food and swallowing all the beverages there, I came across this abandoned book on one of the cabinets…

Eden, Incorporated is a company who has a somewhat unbelievable state-of-the-art computer dating system. For $25,000 smackeroos, a single person can find a life partner using Eden’s superlative matching system which is all hush-hush and involves a battallion of tests (IQ, psychological, physical etc.) Sometimes, as fate would have it, there are a few matches which end up with a “supercouple”, meaning the match is 100 percent perfect match for man and woman. And the subsequent marriage is the envy of all the people surrounding the couple (but the employees of Eden of course are euphoric about it) since it seems that the pair are really soulmates (am green with envy myself at this point). But then one supercouple is found dead by double-suicide (apparently they put dry cleaning bags over their heads, embraced and suffocated in front of their infant daughter, how inconsiderate!), and Eden Inc. has the brilliant idea of hiring ex-FBI forensic psychologist Christopher Lash to investigate what led to such a tragic end. Dr. Lash reluctantly puts his own private practice on hold (its lucrative too), but then he discovers that his ongoing investigation of the supercouple has unfurled and awakened ghosts from his own past, poor man.

Then! A second supercouple double-suicide happens and this puts Lash and Eden management in a flurry of panic. This time, I’ll spare you the gory details. Dr. Silver, the brilliant scientist who invented the system, along with the enigmatic but childlike Liza team up to bring some names into play as to who could be the culprit and its (surprise!) a little twist when it comes to the ending…but then thats not really a surprise aint it?

I confess I had some suspicions already as to who was behind the manipulation however the slight twist as to the motivation was unexpected for me…imagine…hmmm….and to think I work in IT…and used to love Isaac Asimov’s books and his three laws. Oh well.

Anyway, I will not put any spoilers here because there might be some people who will not like it (unlike moi! I love, love spoilers and I always read the ending part of the book first..if I like it, I buy the book…hehehe). But feel free to email me to ask about it if you prefer.

I am writing this review to encourage all the other souls out there who might be looking for their life partner – don’t put all your hope into the hands of other people! If you want something, don’t just stand there and wait for a dating service..my goodness..go out and get her or him yourself!

While I liked the book, I didn’t like the idea of a perfect partner…although its certainly incredible that you can find a person you jive along perfectly on all other aspects, I think its best to have a little friction now and then between couples.

One part of the story was in consonance with what I had been exposed to in one of our elective subjects in grad school. It was about how supposedly an experiment was conducted, wherein a woman sniffed the tshirt of other guys and got attracted to the tshirt smell of the guy who had the least common genes with her. Hmmmm….I forgot what it was called, but it does make sense…if all for the genes/offspring that might result from such an auspicious smell..I mean beginning.

Go ahead and read this book! I also like to think there’s a guy out there who I can get along with famously (but then, there are only a few guys I really butt heads with nowadays so thats not such a good indicator) and its heartwarming to see how the ways people in search of love and their other half hold a beacon for us lesser-fortunate ones.

This is not a Pulitzer prize winning book IMHO but it certainly was entertaining and the circumstances for my waiting for my flight didn’t seem so bad after all. I mean, I got fed, watered, placed in an air-conditioned room, upgraded to B-class, got paid for my fare, and got to read this thriller. Not bad for a Holy Thursday…life certainly throws you suprises when you least expect it.

 

– Apr 13, ’07 12:38 AM

Review (Movie): 300

Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

*puts hands up in surrender and then swoons ala Southern belle style in the hope one of the manly Spartans will catch me* ouch!

I admit..I really watched the movie more for the eye candy it provided me than for anything else. So what? Who can blame me when you’ve got more than an hour of sitting through a spread of delectable hunka-licious men all battling it out for the glory of their country (ahu!, ahu!!, ahu!!!) and for the free man’s rights.

I’m not going to put a summary of the story, or discuss in detail the actors since this will turn out to be a very long review if I do so..but be warned though, the movie IS based on a comic book (Frank Miller’s graphic novel) and so please do expect some unrealistic and cooly surreal scenes once in a while. The story has also been tweaked…it is supposed to be based on a real battle but of course its been given the dramatic, over-the-top treatment sometimes…I’m sure there were no ghastly, misshapen creatures that Xerxes managed to conjure from somewhere in his kingdom (except for the big elephants maybe) and from what I know of Persians I don’t think the God-king Xerxes would look like the way he did (never mind, he is still drool-worthy *ehem*).

Suffice to say I’ve chosen as my first ever review this movie since I…deigned to fork over a goodly amount of Philippine pesos just to sit through ONE (I tell you, just one!) sitting of this movie…when normally I’d get my money’s worth by reviewing a movie I especially liked at least twice!

Greek mythology was a favorite of mine since elementary days..and I recall we even formed a club and our code names were some Greek goddesses (hehehe, guess who I was…and no its not the goddess of love…phoo!), hence I never miss out on any movie which has touched on the Greek myths and legends.

The scenes do appealed to the gallery. I always liked science fiction because of the special effects used, and in here, though it can’t be categorized really as sci-fi, one of my fave scenes was the particular one about the beautiful, nubile, young Oracle doing some amazing, swaying moves as she woved and contorted her scantily-clad body about in a sort of drunken prophetic daze. Getting licked by a gruesome creature afterwards was no picnic though. (I wonder what would happen if we dress the way the Greeks dressed here in the Philippines? its certainly hot enough now to warrant that kind of attire).

I liked the script…Leonidas traded witty, dry repartee with Xerxes..and some uttered lines (though a bit obvious) from different characters still had a very good effect of making titters pop out from the audience’s mouth once in a while. Xerxes looked very different from the actor underneath the makeup (he played one of the villains in Charlie’s Angels 2) and thanks again to movie magic, he towered above our good ole King Leonidas.

All the blood flying about made me think about “Kill Bill” and Uma Thurman. But I liked the latter..probably because I lean more towards Japanese style hack-and-chop scenes with the sword than with the spearing action here. But, the balletic grace and moves of the fight scenes were simply divine! I liked seing slow-mo effects of soldiers beheading and stabbing people repeatedly as if they were skewering marshmallows..yummy! (uhm..sorry if that came out wrong).

One thing I am also reminded of are the tactics in the book “The Art of War” when I first heard Leonidas explain his plan to hold off the invading army. That narrow valley or gorge is a good application of how one holds off enemies of a vast number, essentially rendering their numbers of little consequence. Logically though (blame the left brain and too much analyzing!), I wondered why they didn’t do anything about the weakness of the separate path where the Persians could then outflank the Greek fighters…oh well…*shrug*…then it would have dragged on and on…and the director would have no heart-stirring ending.

Bottom line is, yes, go and watch this movie if you have a fondness for anime, comic books, graphic novels, gym regular hunks, bishounen, blood spurts (hmm..blood sports?) and such. I liked “Kill Bill” and Akira Kurosawa’s movies so I guess its natural I gravitated towards this too. I wish the effects were less obvious…it looks too smooth sometimes…

Afterwards, I ran to the bookstore and read Neil Gaiman’s “Season of Mists” in the Sandman library. That is also one cool series…I wonder if they will ever make it into a series of movies like HP (Harry Potter) or even a tv series one of these days? Hmm…even some cartoon series is fine with me…

Wahoo!! Not bad for a Saturday lazy meandering around Greenbelt area eh?

P.S. trivia: “ahou” in Japanese means “idiot”…its just that when I heard the Spartan’s battle cry, which sounded suspiciously like this (ahu!) if given the kind of sudden and strong intonation…I suddenly, uncontrollably snickered…and I became the recipient of weird looks from my fellow movie-goers. Good thing it was dark, coz I stuck my tongue out at them (at the audience or at the actors?)…\(^_^)/

– Mar 26, ’07 10:59 PM