I'm The Queen Of Wishful Thinking

I just realized that my birthday is only three weeks away! This is my obligatory pre-birthday/pre-Christmas na din wish list! :)






All I want for my birthday is him:




So cute!



If I can’t have him, I’d settle for a Polaroid Instant Camera:



But I think they’re phasing out Polaroids. Sad.

Anyway, more wishful thinking:

1. UST Commemorative Plate
2. Portable hard drive
3. Rurouni Kenshin (manga)
4. Live Aid Concert DVD
5. Einstein’s Dreams (Alan Lightman)
6. First Among Sequels (Jasper (Fforde)
7. Kafka On The Shore (Haruki Murakami)
8. New pair of eyeglasses!

Also, I need suggestions on how to organize DVDs.

Meme Killed The Radio Star

Meme again! After a long while!

The rules:

1. Open a music player.
2. Go to all music/library.
3. Hit shuffle/randomize.
4. Find photos of the first 25 artists/bands that come up (no repeats and no cheating).
5. Have people guess who the artists/bands are.

Additional rules:
1. Additional clue (artist's/band's song) will be posted on August 1 for unanswered numbers.
2. Correct answers will be posted on August 3 12nn. :) Enjoy!

(warning! lots of pics!)

- 1 -- 2 -- 3 -
- 4 -- 5 -
- 6 -
5ive (c/o MakMak)
- 7 -- 8 -
The Beatles (c/o MakMak)
- 9 -
Imago (c/o Jen)
- 10 -
- 11 -
- 12 -
- 13 -
- 14 -
- 15 -
- 16 -
- 17 -
Paul McCartney (c/o MakMak)
- 18 -
- 19 -
Green Day (c/o MakMak)
- 20 -- 21 -
- 22 -
David Cook (c/o MakMak)
- 23 -
- 24 -
- 25 -

What's Wrong With Dumbledore?

I have a problem with the latest promotional pictures for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, particularly with Dumbledore:

(photos courtesy of Mugglenet)

Why is he not flamboyant enough in the first picture? And why does he look like Gandalf in the second one?!

At least young Tom Marvolo Riddle is appropriately creepy. Can’t wait for the movie!

You Know You Like 'Em, Too

Unlike Bioman and Shaider, I don’t remember how Maskman ended. I’m not sure if it’s because I stopped watching or the show was cancelled.

The DVDs I got were subbed, unlike Bioman which was English-dubbed. The series shown in channel 13 before were Tagalized, so it was weird for me to hear “Takeru!” “Miyo!” instead of “Michael Jo!” “Rio!”. I will always refer to the five as Michael Jo, Lenard, Adrian, Eloisa and Mary Rose. Why I still recall their names I have no idea.

I was surprised that Miyo’s (Rio) malevolent sibling was… a prince. What the hell? They keep referring to her (him?) as Prince Igam (I forgot her Tagalog name. See, I’m not that weird) and she (he?) calls her (him) self as Prince but dude totally looks like a lady. I think there’s more to this, much like Ida in Shaider. Japan really loves these kinds of gender-bending roles. This was also the first time I noticed, but were Miyo and Prince Igam played by the same actress? I think I need to do a research after this.

The head of the evil empire is, for me, scarier than Fuma Le-ar and Dr. Man. There was something Shogun-ish about his appearance. As always, the villains are all pomp and flash. When I was young I never questioned that good always triumph over bad. But now that I have become, uh, more discerning, I wanted the superheroes to have worthy adversaries, not dunderheads with complicated schemes that get thwarted each and every episode. Takeshi (of Takeshi’s Castle) was better at defeating the good guys and defeating them soundly; I only remembered one episode when Takeshi were defeated by the contestants, and that was only because Iwakura usurped his leadership.

Speaking of Takeshi’s Castle, the actor who played Chief Sugata was also the the general who lead the contestants against Takeshi. It’s hard to take him seriously when you knew of this piece of information. (That guy? He never even won against Takeshi!)

So far I’ve rewatched the first five episodes and it brought a lot of memories from my youth. We almost believed that we can achieve the Maskman’s aura power through meditation. We even imitated their meditation gestures! Okerappa was the source of various jokes, green or otherwise. We laughed at the earrings that Yellow Mask and Pink Mask wore, as if their colors weren’t clear enough indication of their genders!

I think I want the Tagalog lyrics of Maskman’s opening theme! “Buong mundo’y magpupuri, magpupugay, mabuhay!” On second thought, it sounded like a song Pacquiao would sing. Better stick to the Japanese version.

Destination: Quiapo

I went to Quiapo last Saturday to buy pDVDs. I was quite excited because it was my first time to go there on my own.

The best thing about going out alone is that I have the liberty to do what I want with my time. I can afford to linger longer and walk at my own pace without worrying about a tired companion. I also get to meet new people.

My agenda for the day was to look for copies of Battle Royale and Lust, Caution. My first stop was at the stall selling animes and Asian dramas. There was a bunch of guys in the stall and they were buying a lot of stuffs. Among them was an Asian guy who was in a pDVD shopping spree as he was leaving for Singapore. Unfortunately, both the DVDs I was looking for were not available. I bought new titles (Warlord, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, Bank Job), the Death Note live-action films, and the only Akira Kurosawa title available, The Seven Samurais. One of the guys recommend a film to me (“Miss yung katabi nung Seven Samurai maganda din!”), and I’m not sure, but I think he thought I knew how to read Japanese because the film he was recommending didn’t have an English title and I asked him what the title was and he just grinned sheepishly.

“Ano ba story nun? Parang Seven Samurais din?”
“Uh, hindi love story siya.”

My best find for the day was the DVDs for Maskman! And, okay, I did bought two more jdramas.

My next stop was at the stall selling Blue-ray and HD DVDs (can I just say I love the packaging of these discs?). While browsing though the titles, a middle-aged lady arrived and asked the seller if he has a copy of City of God. I was already holding my copy of that movie and told her that they have it and gave her another copy. I was curious with her choices (she was now looking for Cinema Paradiso) and I asked her if she likes foreign language and arthouse films and she said yes. I don’t know but I feel sort of embarassed that my preferences were more mainstream and was glad that time that I was holding copies of City of God and Donnie Darko instead of Speed Racer.

“Ikaw miss, ano hinahanap mo?”
“Battle Royale po.”
“Ay, meron ako nun.”
“Talaga po? Saan po niyo nabili? Kanina pa ko naghahanap dito ala daw po sila.”
“Internet. Download lang.”

“Sobrang violent (ung Battle Royale),” she added matter-of-factly. I hope I can be as cool as her when I reach her age.

I bought City of God and Donnie Darko, plus the Special Editions of Flags Of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, Collector’s Edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Leon (Gary Oldman!!!).

I stayed for a while inside the “mall” because it was raining outside. When the rain stopped, I hailed a pedicab to take me to Quiapo church since the streets were flooded. From the church I walked to the LRT station in Carriedo. I was a few hundred bucks poorer, tired and a bit dirty, and I failed to find the movies I was originally looking for, but it was a good experience that I want to repeat another day.

Pop Deficient

While watching Jesse McCartney’s new vid on MTV at Grilla:

Me: Mas gwapo siya kay Nick ng Backstreet Boys.
Officemate: Bakit magka-age ba sila?
Me: Mas matanda si Nick. Kapatid niya yan di ba?
Officemate: Hindi ba si Aaron Carter yung kapatid ni Nick?
Me: Ha? Iba ba yun? Ay oo nga Carter nga pala apelyido ni Nick!



***


While browsing ONTD, one entry has the mug shot of a woman with the caption " Which celebrity’s mom got arrested?" The clue to the answer was “I want candy”. My initial thought was: “OMG? Mandy Moore’s mom?!”

Then I click the link, and the correct answer, of course, was Aaron Carter’s mom.


FAIL.


***

Since I already mentioned ONTD, can I just say I really enjoy browsing through that LJ community? It's raison d' etre is celebrity gossip, sure, but I found it less malicious than, say, PerezHilton, because it's a community and the topics are not subject to any author's bias. The comments are really wacky and the members are bat-shit crazy, especially when there's a current fad. When the news about Christian Bale's alleged assaulting of his own mother and sister broke, there were "I Believe in Christian Bale" comments even in news that had nothing to do with Christian Bale! (the "I Believe..." was the slogan of Harvey Dent in TDK)

Another recent series of funny comments was with regards to Michelle Williams' close relationship with one of Heath's closest friend. One commenter likened Michelle to Cho, saying that he is Harry to Michelle's Cho after Cedric died. It was immediately followed by comments quoting the conversation among the trio in OoTP when Hermione was explaining to the cluless Harry and Ron what Cho was probably going though! It went like this:

Comment 1: Well, obviously, she's feeling sad, because of Cedric dying. Then she's feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry and she can't work out who she like best.
Comment 2: One can't feel all that and not explode
Comment 3: Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon...

It's Harry Potter, what can I say? :)

Don't Fade Away, Cat

One of our cats died today and OhMyGosh I never thought I'd ever feel sad over a pet's death but I am.

We call her "Iyak" because she always meow noisily whenever we call her attention. She's old by cat standards; I always maintained that she's the mother of all the remaining cats. My mom found her this morning; I still gave her food last night. I want to think that she died in her sleep and her death wasn't painful.

We first adopted a stray cat when I was in primary school. He wasn't particularly pretty but he's friendly and he goes back to our house because my grandfather always give him food. Soon, he moved in and rarely venture out. Our cats are like that - maybe because we feed them well that they don't find the need to have a nighttime stroll in the neighborhood to scrounge for food. I remember that I have to bring a cat to our school for a Science report and I have to stuff the cat in my bulky backpack because he's scared of the new environment and was thrashing all over.

Iyak is sort of a second generation cat. There was a period when all of our cats moved out from the house. My youngest brother was the one to adopt her this time. She's pretty and cuddly, but has a temper. Sometimes she'll let us scratch her belly but more often she would hiss her disapproval at the slightest contact. Her death was a bit jarring because it was the first time that a cat died in our home. Our previous cats just disappear when they get old. We like to think that when a cat didn't go back to us, they chose to die (peacefully, we hope) someplace else.

I hope that Iyak is happy in their Cat Heaven and that she won't be as moody as she was while alive. I hope that she has lots of food to eat there and I hope she won't be choosy there. Your cat friends are missing you already here.

Why So Serious?

Well, why not?

Funny is overrated. The one who laughs the hardest is the one who has the most pain to hide. Or something.

Better take some things seriously. Like me, for example.

Or maybe not.

***

Okay, that's not really my (full) entry for "Why So Serious". This WSS business, of course, was inspired by The Dark Knight. Mark, Jen and I had this idea after watching the movie to blog about anything and title it "Why So Serious?". Since Saturday I managed to form vague ideas that more or less ties in with the WSS tag but I always lose my thread of thought. The first two lines above is my most recent idea, but I can't follow it through, so I decided to complete this post with another... well, incomplete ramblings that I wrote sometime in April.

Why be too serious about this, right, Mark and Jen? :)

***

I was caught by surprise when someone said to me: “Alam mo ikaw, pare-pareho yung taste mo sa movies at books, ayaw mo ng happy ending!”. It prompted a surprise reaction from me as well: “Hindi naman kasi realistic ang happy endings!”. The next comment came immediately: “Ang pessimistic naman!”.

Crap.

I've always thought of myself as an optimistic and romantic person. Okay, so maybe the optimistic and romantic me is also a little cynical, matter-of-fact-ish, and unsentimental, but still. They say I’m pessimistic and don’t like happy endings like it’s such a bad thing!

It’s not that I don’t like happy endings per se, but I think that, sometimes, happy endings don’t work. When I said that “hindi realistic ang happy endings” I don’t mean that life doesn’t give us opportunities for happy endings, and therefore, fiction should reflect that. Life affords us happy endings, too, but not the and-they-lived-happily-ever-after kind of happy ending.

I don’t like endings where everything is resolved too conveniently. I don't like it when movies or books employ deus ex machina to resolve conflicts. It's such a cop-out. After all the drama and angst that the bida went through, I think he/she deserves more than a filthy rich, long lost relative to make it right.

***

Didn't I say it's an incomplete rambling? Anyway, this post seriously needs Nurse Joker!

Anybody Wanna See A Pencil Disappear?

OMFG.

The Dark Knight - wow. I won't even attempt to make a review of the film. Everyone's been raving about how great Heath Ledger was as the Joker and I definitely agree with them. If Jack Nicholson's Joker was iconic, Heath's Joker is, well, whatever is better and bigger than iconic! When he said something to Batman along the lines of "you and me are quite a team; let's do this together again!" (I forgot the exact lines) I was like - "Oh no, Heath, I would like that, too" and almost tear up.

Everybody knows how much I love Gary Oldman and even if I already had an idea that his death was a fakeout, I was still "please don't let Gary Oldman die in ALL of his movies!".

I found myself laughing alone at some scenes. I don't know why, I don't know if there's really a joke there that others didn't get or I just got a sick sense of humor. Maybe for me it's like you're in this really tense situation and all you can do is laugh. But the line "You complete me"? Fucking win.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is gorgeous and way better than Katie Holmes. But the men are prettier than Maggie. Sorry, I'm really shallow.

About the news that Patrick Dempsey will replace Christian Bale in the sequel to The Dark Knight - NO. JUST NO. Let this be one of the Joker's sick, sick jokes.

Short But Awfully Sweet

Anyone who makes other people look or feel stupid just so they can feel good about themselves?

DEAD TO ME.

You Know It's Going To End Up Like This

Ehem. I got a new blog. This isn't the same blog that I was talking about before - that one is still unfinished, damn it. I'm hosting that blog in another site and I want to do a lot of stuffs there and I'm still learning and all.


Anyway, the new blog is here in Blogger and you can see the link on my profile page. The blog is specifically created for jdramas, reviews, discussion about the actors and other stuffs. The address is http://www.tastelikecrack.blogspot.com/, just because jdramas are addicting! I have my first post there and I have fun writing it so I hope you like it. :)


Here's a sneak peak:



Just when I thought that my addiction to jdramas wouldn’t reach new lows milestones, I now download jdrama episodes myself, instead of getting it from John or from the local pirates. It is but only fitting that the first jdrama that I will review would be the first episode of Maou.



Maou is a remake of the Korean drama Mawang (English title: The Devil). It stars Ohno Satoshi (of Arashi) and of course, my Ikuta Toma (now you know why I want to see this). This is the first suspense jdrama that I’ve watched, a departure from the light hearted and funny shows I’ve already seen. I have not seen the Korean version and I have no idea how the story will go, so I’m a little glad that I’m reviewing this drama by its own merits, rather than through comparison. I’m excited!



Warning! LOTS OF PICTURES AND SPOILERS!

Fine Time With Eheads - One Night Only!

Rumors about Eheads' reunion had been going around for quite some time now. The cynical me thinks the rumors are just that - rumors. But the dorky fan in me hopes and wish for that day to finally come.

And then...

Confirmation! The Eheads will have a One Night Only Concert on August 30 at the CCP Open Grounds!

Ely, Raimund, Buddy and Marcus, see you on August 30!


I hope we could spend more time together, a few hours is better than never, if we could only make it longer... Fine Time

Dictatorship At It's Finest

I'm supposed to be in cloud 9 today because in a few hours I'll be going to Baguio, but I'm just so royally pissed off.

I know I'm not the perfect role model when it comes to adhering to rules. It's been a habit of mine to challenge, circumvent and find loopholes in every rule. BUT. I never blatantly disrespect any rule. I don't make excuses when I'm wrong and I never, will never, kiss anybody's ass just so that a rule can be bent in my favor.

YOUR latest rule is made of major fucking FAIL. And I'm not remotely interested in the prize that you're dangling just so that you can make me or anyone of us comply.

I can't believe anyone can be so completely convinced of their delusion of greatness that they fail to see they're only making complete asses of themselves. You just made a believer out of me.

Of Fickleness, LSS and Fanfics

Define fickle:

It is when you see a pair of lovers holding hands while walking and the guy was kissing the back of his girlfriend’s hands, and your first thought was “Aww, how sweet”, followed immediately by “Damn, if my future boyfriend ever do that to me in public, I swear I’m gonna punch him in the guts”.

***

There’s an awesome cover of George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” that I’ve been listening to for the past three weeks or so. It’s a live version by Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright and the cover is sort of stalker-y and raw and really nice to listen to. I’ve been playing it in the office for a week and it’s my officemates’ current LSS – and they’re hating me for it! Bwahahaha!

Me thinks that the way to conquer the world is to spread my addictions.

Anyway, here's a vid of the song. The quality isn't that great but you can definitely hear the awesomeness of the song!

***

After almost 2 years of forsaking fanfiction, I am now again stalking the internet for my fic fix! I’m not going to mention from which fandom I’m getting my fanfics (although you probably already have a good idea), but I just want to say I’m pleasantly surprised at the quality of most fanfics I’ve read. The characters stay true to the canon and the stories are well written that you can imagine it being part of the original. Even if I have the urge to write my own fanfic, I don’t think I can write anything as good as the stories out there.

Anyway, I don't want to read too much fanfics because some are just so good they sort of distort the version of the original story for me!

Weekend Bumming

And here I thought my weekend bumming would be incomplete without my internet fix. The good news is that, obviously, our PC is now working. The bad news is that some of my files got deleted - and these files include ALL the screen caps I've been slaving on for quite some time! My new project has hit another major snag and I'm trying my best to convince myself that I can restart all over again! Aargh!

More bumming news, either bad or good depending on how you view my addictions - I've finally finished watching Gokusen. Matsujun, of course, is in it, and asppfohdhdffffld. I can't believe there's a way for him to be more hotter in my eyes than he already is but ohmygod. I had to stuff a pillow on my face to muffle my squeeing each time he appears on the screen. What is wrong with me?

All in all, I still prefer Matsujun as Domyouji Tsukasa over Matsujun as Sawada Shin just because I love him when he's dweeby and clueless.

Gotta start on my screencaps...

MIght As Well Do This, Too

You are The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon's Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I am the Sun. I am the center of the galaxy. You all bow to me.

Curse You!

Apparently, if my blog was a movie, it would be rated R:

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

The rating was arrived at because of the presence of these words: death, hell, fucking, sex.

I can understand why the cuss words would make my blog unsuitable for children, but “death”? Whatever. I still think that the rating is incorrect because my blog is not for mature audiences, what with all the juvenile ramblings going on in these pages.

Anyway, I tend to curse a lot here, but I don’t have such a potty mouth in real life (excepting the times when I watch basketball). Lately though, I find myself saying “putcha” a lot. Is that such a bad thing?

Back in grade school, I was admonished by my teacher in front of the class when she heard me say “gago” (most of my not-so-happy childhood memories happened when I transferred to another school when I got accelerated, but that’s another story). She kept on saying how disappointing my conduct was and how cursing is not proper for someone about to become a lady (I was 10 years old, what do I care about “becoming a lady”?!). The injustice of her words, to my young and impressionable mind, was stinging. It’s not as if I’m the only girl or student in the school who curses; I was just unlucky to get caught! Reading between the lines, what my teacher was really trying to say is that it’s not an excuse that I’m studying in a public school or that I live in Tondo, I should never, ever, cuss. The reprimand worked. I no longer said “bad words”.

Enter high school – and my world was turned upside down. Here I was, the freshman recently graduated from a public school in Tondo, about to start her high school in a Catholic university with new classmates who came from other private, Catholic schools – and one of the first people she encountered was a junior shouting “putang ina!” at the top of her lungs! Welcome to the world of kolehiyalas!

After that, I relaxed quite a bit when it comes to cuss words. I even learned a few minced oaths along the way. It didn’t even bother me when the friends of my crush were disappointed to hear me say “ulol”. But it still bothers me a bit that I shock some people whenever they hear me mutter profanities. Maybe it’s a poor justification when I say that other people cuss, too, but it’s true. So why should it be bad for me and not for others? And it’s not as if I’m directing the cuss words to a specific person.

For me, cursing is just another way of expressing myself. Who gives a shit anyway?

Please Don't Worry 'Bout Me, I'm Fine

I just need to ask:


Why is EVERYONE ELSE allowed to blog about how hurt, heartbroken, depressed and BITTER they are over their break ups, but when I blogged about my own heartache (and I wasn’t even bitter!) and infrequently at that, I got called on and was told to MOVE ON more than a year after the fact?!

(Maybe this post might be misunderstood and misconstrued, but I don't care. Pucha blog ko kaya ‘to no!)

Anyway, I’m not really angry. I say all those things in mock anger. I was in a bloghopping mode today and I find it rather amusing that all the blogs I visited contained rantings about those fine creatures they lovingly call “ex” (Invariably adjectivize as asshole, jerk, two-timing, liar, etc. etc.).

Most of the blogs were specifically created as a result of the breakup. After a while, it got a bit tiring to read their stuffs because how many ways can you say you’re hurt and not become redundant? We know. We get it. The grief is unconquerable (my word; I so want to use that!), you know you have to forget and let go but you just can’t, the memories are overflowing, every tiny little thing reminds you of him, you’re so sick of love songs so sad and low, so why can’t you turn off the radio? I mean it. WE GET IT.

More interesting were the comments – and there are a lot! Does that mean mas mabenta ang mga blog na tungkol sa break ups? Maybe I should re-assess my blog… Not. Again, I just need to ask – why didn’t I get any comments from my so called friends when I was writing those stuffs?! I mean, comments like “don’t worry Jela, we’ll kill him for you” would have been helpful. But alas, nothing. You left me on my own!

Okay, I kid.

On a serious note, if there’s one thing I learned from my own heartbreak, it’s that different people have different ways of dealing with breakups. One can be whiny or pathetic or mean-spirited, one will do or attempt to do anything just to dull the pain. But don’t let your need to vent out override your good sense. Don’t write or share anything that’s too personal or that can be use against you. It’s okay to feel hurt, but that’s not an excuse to do something stupid.

No pain is too great or too deep that it can’t be healed by time and by the love of another human being. As the cliché goes, nothing lasts forever and this, too, shall pass. Trust me, one day you’ll look back at those nightmarish days and just have a big laugh about how pathetic you’ve been.

Kaya pag me nagsabi sa yo ng “MOVE ON, GIRL!”, wag mo pansinin. Sapakin mo na lang, mas masaya pa.