Darned computer terminals in Ateneo are closed right now. So here I am in a cafe...
I'll post what I wanted to say next time, but just to let you know, I happened to be in LS this morning, and I actually went on the air...
I hope to Gawd nobody from RX was tuning in... ::sheepish grin::
Monday, May 31, 2004
Sunday, May 30, 2004
.:Separation Anxiety:.
Whether it be LS or some other station, I am pretty sure that I will not end this year as Radio 1 no matter what. Not that I don't want to stay as Radio 1 because I really do, but let's face it: I'm not getting a job in Radio 1 in the first place, so what's the point of sticking around? In any case, I went to the station this morning to finally meet Chico and Delle after around two weeks of being absent for training.
Anyways, they already heard about what might happen with LS or Star FM, although of course, neither showed any visibly telltale reactions. I don't think the fact that they've had their share of transferring stations could remove the disappointment or whatever negative notion they'd get from seeing someone else among them transfer as well. Not that I'm such a big loss to RX, really. I mean, their openings are pretty much covered already...
Chico used my topic for the Hot 10, in what turned out to be quite a freaky coincidence. It's the "Hot 10 Things You'd Say To A Pervert In A Theater", based on the harrowing experience Grace recently had while we were watching a film in Megamall, I believe. Some bastich was lying on the cinema floor already...
I hope I can still end up as a DJ for RX someday, though. That'd really be meeting half of my simple dreams. Let the dreams of grandioseness wait.
.:Scoot:.
I left the station at around 8:00 or so and headed off to Grace's house to drop in on her unexpectedly. I was pretty much happy that I was with her for a good two or so hours. She's been really lovely to talk to, and we recently had some interesting dialogue there all the same. Ah, well.
Marcelle: But Grace! While I said she'd be holding the laptop closed and the mouse is just dangling downwards strategically while she bites her eyeglasses, I also meant she'd be fully clothed!
Grace: See? You're too vague!
Marcelle: And how did I become water?
And then, I began to see the future...
Grace: Of course, the girlfriend has to get her way in the relationship all the time.
Marcelle: Yes. The girl should really get her way.... *Grace smiles at me*
Marcelle: ... some of the time... *Grace glares at me*
Marcelle: ... half of the time... *Grace still glares at me*
Marcelle: ... most of the time... *Grace smiles at me again*
This couple is one for the books. But I'm glad. Really glad.
.:Sigh:.
I left Grace's house a little before eleven and headed off to Ateneo to hopefully go online a bit, get my graduation pictures, and then hang around Hobby Haven in anticipation of Jason's celebration. In any case, there were an insane amount of occurrences in between. For one, I never got my graduation pictures, as the people responsible didn't get to even have negatives of a good chunk of us. Such incompetence...
Still, they gave me a VCD copy of the whole thing for "compensation", which is ludicrous, truth be told, as they initially wanted to charge me an extra 100 for it. Absurd.
Watching the VCD and remembering that magical night does little to make me feel much better. It just reminds me how everyone else graduated and moved on, yet here I am, still stuck in the academe. It would've been so much better if I were already a Teaching Assistant, but no, apparently, it doesn't work that way for this jabroni....
Wish I can watch how the SOM-SOSE graduation exercise went. I suppose some of my friends would have a copy of that...
.:Hanging Around:.
I stayed at Hobby Haven for the longest time, in anticipation of mobilizing to Gerry's Grill in Libis for Jason's birthday celebration. In the meantime, I was just talking with Jason and Charlene for the most part. It was all good, considering how fun our conversations went, especially when this cute little girl named Polski came along. She apparently hangs around the store a lot and prefers to stay in Hobby Haven. Jason was teaching her words like "Nenok", which of course makes me question sincerely what he intends to do when he has a son/daughter of his own in the future.
And yes, I also noticed that he was hitting on Charlene quite a bit.
Anyways, what was funny was when the topic shifted to NuSkin, we all had really funny commentaries on it. Eventually, I was made to consider joining NuSkin if one of their Chinese members would make it... worth my while. I was throwing the sales pitch to Charlene, though, to see if she'd actually be interested in networking. I mean come on, it stares you right in the face that it's networking, and you still deny it? So what the Hades is it? A pyramid scheme?
Heard Abby tried NuSkin for a while as well… no go for me, though. I don’t need to make any enemies right now. Unless, as I said… someone makes it… worth my while. No, it’s not what you’re thinking.
Jason: Ah, but when it comes to you, Marcelle, it’s always what we think.
Charlene sort of freaked out over the Chinese connection, though. Jason wants to teach in Poveda, I want to teach in ICA. Maybe Cheng Kuang or Chang Kai Shek, even, if I'm that desperate already.
I was showing off my new Wrestlemania Tin, which I got from the mail. It was really good, truth be told. Peppy actually caught up, and then I showed him the tin, pointed to Stacy and Torrie, then...
Marcelle: Oh sure, Goldberg and Lesnar are in the pictures too, but eff them.
Peppy: No, I'd rather not.
.:Gerry's Grill:.
So in a while, it was finally time to mobilize. I decided to ride with Jason and Mikko instead of Madame Jess, and Mikko was laughing at my facial reaction when I pointed to Peppy before considering going with them...
We arrived at Gerry's Grill and had crablets for appetizers. Lorenz, a new acquaintance, was playing Monopoly on Jess' palmtop, and I joined in. We lost to the computer. Sad...
Nonetheless, people started filing in soon enough, and we all started ordering. Everyone had the alleged "Pink Lemonade" for the most part. This so-called lemonade is actually pomelo juice. Sisig and Squid were the main attractions of the night, no question about it. Peppy wasn't eating a lot of the stuff, though, and was goaded into trying the Bicol Express, which was so hot it's good. Mog arrived with his cute cousin, Rebecca (Dubbed "Bechay" by Mikko.). There was also Tin-Tin, the Chinese girl with blue streaks, and her boyfriend. A few other people mostly working on Orsem, and Henry. Needless to say, we were packed.
Noteworthy though is how Jason kept on dancing to the tunes playing, and how Footloose was the only song that I really knew the steps to, so I made sure I can demonstrate the steps...
And yes, the one-year plan was still a topic of discussion. Note that Peppy is known to never eat pasta...
Jason: Peppy, I heard you ate pasta at Sacha's house. You know what we should do for your birthday? We'll have a pasta party, and for you to be motivated to eat pasta, Sacha can be there, wearing ONLY pasta. Some macaroni here, a bit of lasagna there... you know you want it.
Peppy: Uh... no.
Jason: You also don't like crablets? How about we get the same idea, and make Sacha wear LIVE crablets? Marcelle could finally have his FHM shoot!
Wonder what Sach would do to Jason when she reads about this...
In my short convo with Abby, though, she suggested a joystick controller in place of a mouse for Sacha's photoshoot...
... Maybe not.
Nonetheless, things were all fun. I really enjoyed the company, and on the way back, Peppy and I hitched with Madame Jess, and we were talking about the web design job opportunity. I finally found out Madame Jess' precise line of work, as well as Henry's. Career talks have been going great, and lest I jinx it, I'll talk about a certain one next week, perhaps.
One of my high school classmates was a waiter in Gerry’s Grill, though. Terence Soncuya, one of those fratboys in Don Bosco Mandaluyong. They sure are crawling out of the woodwork. I ran into another one of them a couple of weeks ago while boarding the LRT. I also ought to mention the fact that these people were the ones I usually had clashes with in high school. I never forget. Maybe they do, but Hades, I don’t.
.:On The Way Back:.
In the car, we even ended up talking about our high school computer classes (Nowadays, the kids are into HTML! Wow...). I had Auto CAD back then, I was the best Powerpoint maker in my class, and I was pretty good at making programs in QBasic format. Peppy and Madame Jess had fun picking apart those archaic programs, though they never got to watch Computer Man, so I couldn't really give them a dose of that. I have the pilot episode on Betamax, though... :)
Afterwards, I hitched with Peppy to Grace's house, where I slept over. I was too tired to even talk to Grace for long. Jason is one Hades of a guy, no question about it. If I were invited and I had funds as well, I would've gone with them to Malate, but since I had neither, no go for me.
Wait until my celebration... of course, that'd be a bit tame... Peppy had a shot of Tequila in Jason's party, and Jason was wondering why I'm putting my life in the hands of the man who nearly killed him twice by riding with him...
Omigod! We're gonna hit!
(In a morose voice...) Oo nga.
Then Jason gets this SMS...
Jason, happy birthday. It's been nice knowing you. You were right. DEATH!
Happy birthday again, jabroni. Glad you heard your on-air greeting.
.:Saturday Mayhem:.
I headed out to Greenhills for a RAW Deal tournament which, by hook or by crook, I wanted to make sure will push through. With that being said, it didn't matter if only four people showed up, I made the tournament happen, anyway. Ryan Ramos won the tournament for the Undisputed Title. He was using my Los Guererros deck, which ironically did better than my Evolution deck, as it seemed Mike Legaspi, the guy who borrowed my Evo, was a wee bit too dependent on getting Wrestlemania to trigger when he should've just finished the match there and there.... ah, well. That's all right, I guess.
In any case, the next tournament will be two Saturdays from now, although I'll be moving the time from 3:30 to 5:00 in the afternoon to make way for latecomers to have a better shot at getting into the tournament. That's a good idea, I suppose.
I then went with Mitch, Paolo, and Archie, along with a new acquaintance, Jolly. They are more or less about to start on the Marvel VS System game, which actually looks to be interesting, although immensely expensive to play. The guy who's getting them into the game seems to be still lacking key cards, yet has already purchased three or four booster boxes of the game already. I guess the cards there are a bit tougher to manage.
The way I see it, I suppose RAW Deal can be well-handled here in the Philippines if I find a wrestling merch store. If anyone knows where I can buy WWE stuff, particularly one-size fits all t-shirts, I'd really want to know where. I'm really hoping to get better prize support by adding that to the fray...among other things, of course. At the same rate, I know that most other card games have better prize support, but I suppose the best way for me to ensure that RAW Deal thrives is by really paying for some prizes myself, which I hope to do as soon as I find work...
.:Travel To Unknown Regions:.
I rode with Mitch and company to go to Jolly's house, and we ended up playing basketball with a few kids (We obviously held back for the most part.). Mitch was trying to get me to hit on the girls in the area (I was... a bit less... conservative with my fashion sense than usual...), and I didn't notice until the last moment that one of them was of a certain type...
While playing basketball, we were given nicknames. Mitch was "T-Shirt", Paolo was "Polo", Jolly was "Jollybee", Archie was "Sando", which changed into "Lex Luthor" the moment he took it off (He sports a shaved head which Mitch sometimes mistakenly grabs instead of the ball at times, by the way.), and they were calling me "Yao Ming". Fun stuff, really. I guess I'm not that keen on basketball, although Mitch and Paolo really got a kick out of watching me play Kobe Bryant on NBA Live 2004. 42 points in 20 mintues. How cool is that? To think that I still had a fair share of assists, steals, and rebounds.
In any case, as Mitch was about to step into Jolly's house to greet Jolly's wife, he tripped and landed on his hands and knees. Jolly commented...
Alam mo, Mitch. Okay na yung bumati ka. Hindi mo na kailangang sumamba.
They were building some Marvel decks, and they even taught me how to play the game. I like how the game goes. It's hard to win tournaments, though. Their cards are hideously expensive, and arguably more so than RAW Deal, since you need four of the key cards all the same. At least, I could borrow Mitch's deck if I want to play some Marvel...
After the games, we were resting a bit, and trying to see how HHH does that spitting water thing, as I personally can't do it. Afterwards, Archie started demonstrating the "Ispageting Ocho-Ocho", which is one of the most challenging dance steps I've ever seen. Mitch also had some funny stories about his houseboy, who had a heavy Chinese accent...
Mitch's Mom: Bumili ka nga ng Funchum Orange diyan sa may 7-11 sa kanto. Marami tayong bisita na darating ngayon, eh.
The houseboy goes to 7-11, then comes back.
Houseboy:Ate, wala po, eh.
Mitch's Mom: Ah, hindi. Punta ka sa aisle 8. Dun sa may kanan, alam ko, may Funchum.
The houseboy leaves, goes to 7-11, and comes back with one tetra pack.
Good Gawd.
Whether it be LS or some other station, I am pretty sure that I will not end this year as Radio 1 no matter what. Not that I don't want to stay as Radio 1 because I really do, but let's face it: I'm not getting a job in Radio 1 in the first place, so what's the point of sticking around? In any case, I went to the station this morning to finally meet Chico and Delle after around two weeks of being absent for training.
Anyways, they already heard about what might happen with LS or Star FM, although of course, neither showed any visibly telltale reactions. I don't think the fact that they've had their share of transferring stations could remove the disappointment or whatever negative notion they'd get from seeing someone else among them transfer as well. Not that I'm such a big loss to RX, really. I mean, their openings are pretty much covered already...
Chico used my topic for the Hot 10, in what turned out to be quite a freaky coincidence. It's the "Hot 10 Things You'd Say To A Pervert In A Theater", based on the harrowing experience Grace recently had while we were watching a film in Megamall, I believe. Some bastich was lying on the cinema floor already...
I hope I can still end up as a DJ for RX someday, though. That'd really be meeting half of my simple dreams. Let the dreams of grandioseness wait.
.:Scoot:.
I left the station at around 8:00 or so and headed off to Grace's house to drop in on her unexpectedly. I was pretty much happy that I was with her for a good two or so hours. She's been really lovely to talk to, and we recently had some interesting dialogue there all the same. Ah, well.
Marcelle: But Grace! While I said she'd be holding the laptop closed and the mouse is just dangling downwards strategically while she bites her eyeglasses, I also meant she'd be fully clothed!
Grace: See? You're too vague!
Marcelle: And how did I become water?
And then, I began to see the future...
Grace: Of course, the girlfriend has to get her way in the relationship all the time.
Marcelle: Yes. The girl should really get her way.... *Grace smiles at me*
Marcelle: ... some of the time... *Grace glares at me*
Marcelle: ... half of the time... *Grace still glares at me*
Marcelle: ... most of the time... *Grace smiles at me again*
This couple is one for the books. But I'm glad. Really glad.
.:Sigh:.
I left Grace's house a little before eleven and headed off to Ateneo to hopefully go online a bit, get my graduation pictures, and then hang around Hobby Haven in anticipation of Jason's celebration. In any case, there were an insane amount of occurrences in between. For one, I never got my graduation pictures, as the people responsible didn't get to even have negatives of a good chunk of us. Such incompetence...
Still, they gave me a VCD copy of the whole thing for "compensation", which is ludicrous, truth be told, as they initially wanted to charge me an extra 100 for it. Absurd.
Watching the VCD and remembering that magical night does little to make me feel much better. It just reminds me how everyone else graduated and moved on, yet here I am, still stuck in the academe. It would've been so much better if I were already a Teaching Assistant, but no, apparently, it doesn't work that way for this jabroni....
Wish I can watch how the SOM-SOSE graduation exercise went. I suppose some of my friends would have a copy of that...
.:Hanging Around:.
I stayed at Hobby Haven for the longest time, in anticipation of mobilizing to Gerry's Grill in Libis for Jason's birthday celebration. In the meantime, I was just talking with Jason and Charlene for the most part. It was all good, considering how fun our conversations went, especially when this cute little girl named Polski came along. She apparently hangs around the store a lot and prefers to stay in Hobby Haven. Jason was teaching her words like "Nenok", which of course makes me question sincerely what he intends to do when he has a son/daughter of his own in the future.
And yes, I also noticed that he was hitting on Charlene quite a bit.
Anyways, what was funny was when the topic shifted to NuSkin, we all had really funny commentaries on it. Eventually, I was made to consider joining NuSkin if one of their Chinese members would make it... worth my while. I was throwing the sales pitch to Charlene, though, to see if she'd actually be interested in networking. I mean come on, it stares you right in the face that it's networking, and you still deny it? So what the Hades is it? A pyramid scheme?
Heard Abby tried NuSkin for a while as well… no go for me, though. I don’t need to make any enemies right now. Unless, as I said… someone makes it… worth my while. No, it’s not what you’re thinking.
Jason: Ah, but when it comes to you, Marcelle, it’s always what we think.
Charlene sort of freaked out over the Chinese connection, though. Jason wants to teach in Poveda, I want to teach in ICA. Maybe Cheng Kuang or Chang Kai Shek, even, if I'm that desperate already.
I was showing off my new Wrestlemania Tin, which I got from the mail. It was really good, truth be told. Peppy actually caught up, and then I showed him the tin, pointed to Stacy and Torrie, then...
Marcelle: Oh sure, Goldberg and Lesnar are in the pictures too, but eff them.
Peppy: No, I'd rather not.
.:Gerry's Grill:.
So in a while, it was finally time to mobilize. I decided to ride with Jason and Mikko instead of Madame Jess, and Mikko was laughing at my facial reaction when I pointed to Peppy before considering going with them...
We arrived at Gerry's Grill and had crablets for appetizers. Lorenz, a new acquaintance, was playing Monopoly on Jess' palmtop, and I joined in. We lost to the computer. Sad...
Nonetheless, people started filing in soon enough, and we all started ordering. Everyone had the alleged "Pink Lemonade" for the most part. This so-called lemonade is actually pomelo juice. Sisig and Squid were the main attractions of the night, no question about it. Peppy wasn't eating a lot of the stuff, though, and was goaded into trying the Bicol Express, which was so hot it's good. Mog arrived with his cute cousin, Rebecca (Dubbed "Bechay" by Mikko.). There was also Tin-Tin, the Chinese girl with blue streaks, and her boyfriend. A few other people mostly working on Orsem, and Henry. Needless to say, we were packed.
Noteworthy though is how Jason kept on dancing to the tunes playing, and how Footloose was the only song that I really knew the steps to, so I made sure I can demonstrate the steps...
And yes, the one-year plan was still a topic of discussion. Note that Peppy is known to never eat pasta...
Jason: Peppy, I heard you ate pasta at Sacha's house. You know what we should do for your birthday? We'll have a pasta party, and for you to be motivated to eat pasta, Sacha can be there, wearing ONLY pasta. Some macaroni here, a bit of lasagna there... you know you want it.
Peppy: Uh... no.
Jason: You also don't like crablets? How about we get the same idea, and make Sacha wear LIVE crablets? Marcelle could finally have his FHM shoot!
Wonder what Sach would do to Jason when she reads about this...
In my short convo with Abby, though, she suggested a joystick controller in place of a mouse for Sacha's photoshoot...
... Maybe not.
Nonetheless, things were all fun. I really enjoyed the company, and on the way back, Peppy and I hitched with Madame Jess, and we were talking about the web design job opportunity. I finally found out Madame Jess' precise line of work, as well as Henry's. Career talks have been going great, and lest I jinx it, I'll talk about a certain one next week, perhaps.
One of my high school classmates was a waiter in Gerry’s Grill, though. Terence Soncuya, one of those fratboys in Don Bosco Mandaluyong. They sure are crawling out of the woodwork. I ran into another one of them a couple of weeks ago while boarding the LRT. I also ought to mention the fact that these people were the ones I usually had clashes with in high school. I never forget. Maybe they do, but Hades, I don’t.
.:On The Way Back:.
In the car, we even ended up talking about our high school computer classes (Nowadays, the kids are into HTML! Wow...). I had Auto CAD back then, I was the best Powerpoint maker in my class, and I was pretty good at making programs in QBasic format. Peppy and Madame Jess had fun picking apart those archaic programs, though they never got to watch Computer Man, so I couldn't really give them a dose of that. I have the pilot episode on Betamax, though... :)
Afterwards, I hitched with Peppy to Grace's house, where I slept over. I was too tired to even talk to Grace for long. Jason is one Hades of a guy, no question about it. If I were invited and I had funds as well, I would've gone with them to Malate, but since I had neither, no go for me.
Wait until my celebration... of course, that'd be a bit tame... Peppy had a shot of Tequila in Jason's party, and Jason was wondering why I'm putting my life in the hands of the man who nearly killed him twice by riding with him...
Omigod! We're gonna hit!
(In a morose voice...) Oo nga.
Then Jason gets this SMS...
Jason, happy birthday. It's been nice knowing you. You were right. DEATH!
Happy birthday again, jabroni. Glad you heard your on-air greeting.
.:Saturday Mayhem:.
I headed out to Greenhills for a RAW Deal tournament which, by hook or by crook, I wanted to make sure will push through. With that being said, it didn't matter if only four people showed up, I made the tournament happen, anyway. Ryan Ramos won the tournament for the Undisputed Title. He was using my Los Guererros deck, which ironically did better than my Evolution deck, as it seemed Mike Legaspi, the guy who borrowed my Evo, was a wee bit too dependent on getting Wrestlemania to trigger when he should've just finished the match there and there.... ah, well. That's all right, I guess.
In any case, the next tournament will be two Saturdays from now, although I'll be moving the time from 3:30 to 5:00 in the afternoon to make way for latecomers to have a better shot at getting into the tournament. That's a good idea, I suppose.
I then went with Mitch, Paolo, and Archie, along with a new acquaintance, Jolly. They are more or less about to start on the Marvel VS System game, which actually looks to be interesting, although immensely expensive to play. The guy who's getting them into the game seems to be still lacking key cards, yet has already purchased three or four booster boxes of the game already. I guess the cards there are a bit tougher to manage.
The way I see it, I suppose RAW Deal can be well-handled here in the Philippines if I find a wrestling merch store. If anyone knows where I can buy WWE stuff, particularly one-size fits all t-shirts, I'd really want to know where. I'm really hoping to get better prize support by adding that to the fray...among other things, of course. At the same rate, I know that most other card games have better prize support, but I suppose the best way for me to ensure that RAW Deal thrives is by really paying for some prizes myself, which I hope to do as soon as I find work...
.:Travel To Unknown Regions:.
I rode with Mitch and company to go to Jolly's house, and we ended up playing basketball with a few kids (We obviously held back for the most part.). Mitch was trying to get me to hit on the girls in the area (I was... a bit less... conservative with my fashion sense than usual...), and I didn't notice until the last moment that one of them was of a certain type...
While playing basketball, we were given nicknames. Mitch was "T-Shirt", Paolo was "Polo", Jolly was "Jollybee", Archie was "Sando", which changed into "Lex Luthor" the moment he took it off (He sports a shaved head which Mitch sometimes mistakenly grabs instead of the ball at times, by the way.), and they were calling me "Yao Ming". Fun stuff, really. I guess I'm not that keen on basketball, although Mitch and Paolo really got a kick out of watching me play Kobe Bryant on NBA Live 2004. 42 points in 20 mintues. How cool is that? To think that I still had a fair share of assists, steals, and rebounds.
In any case, as Mitch was about to step into Jolly's house to greet Jolly's wife, he tripped and landed on his hands and knees. Jolly commented...
Alam mo, Mitch. Okay na yung bumati ka. Hindi mo na kailangang sumamba.
They were building some Marvel decks, and they even taught me how to play the game. I like how the game goes. It's hard to win tournaments, though. Their cards are hideously expensive, and arguably more so than RAW Deal, since you need four of the key cards all the same. At least, I could borrow Mitch's deck if I want to play some Marvel...
After the games, we were resting a bit, and trying to see how HHH does that spitting water thing, as I personally can't do it. Afterwards, Archie started demonstrating the "Ispageting Ocho-Ocho", which is one of the most challenging dance steps I've ever seen. Mitch also had some funny stories about his houseboy, who had a heavy Chinese accent...
Mitch's Mom: Bumili ka nga ng Funchum Orange diyan sa may 7-11 sa kanto. Marami tayong bisita na darating ngayon, eh.
The houseboy goes to 7-11, then comes back.
Houseboy:Ate, wala po, eh.
Mitch's Mom: Ah, hindi. Punta ka sa aisle 8. Dun sa may kanan, alam ko, may Funchum.
The houseboy leaves, goes to 7-11, and comes back with one tetra pack.
Good Gawd.
Friday, May 28, 2004
I was with Chico and Delle this morning, and they used my hot 10 topic. I then went to Grace's house about an hour before the show ended, as I had nothing to do there...
Anyways, I guess that's all for me at this point. I had a laugh-worthy moment, but I guess I forgot about it already.
Next time, jabronis.
Anyways, I guess that's all for me at this point. I had a laugh-worthy moment, but I guess I forgot about it already.
Next time, jabronis.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Mister Vader
I was just trying something. Ignore that.
.:Correction:.
My bad. It's John Hendrix, not Jimmy Hendrix. The latter is one of the most brilliant guitarists ever (Would've said THE most, but I've yet to hear his music, and I'm a fan of Santana and Lenny Kravitz...).
.:Some Canvass:.
Those who watched "Life of Brian", remember this dialogue?
We must act now! We cannot deny the urgency of the matter!
Yes. We must stop talking and start going into action!
Of course. Talk is cheap. We must act now!
Indeed! There is no better time for us to put all of our plans into fruition!
So shall we now call for a vote on what we shall do?
Yes! Let us call a vote!
We cannot delay any further! But we must of course call for a pre-meeting meeting to determine the ramifications first!
Of course! Time is of the essence!
Now, why don't we take a look at more or less how congress has been addressing the canvassing issue for the past couple of days?
Mister (Senate) President, we cannot deny the urgency of the need to begin canvassing the votes already. We cannot possibly delay the results in respect to the Filipino people who depend upon us! These results are the heart and soul of our country, and as such, we cannot delay any further.
Two hours later...
... and so I tell you that it is utmost for us to begin canvassing NOW! We cannot dilly-dally in meaningless debates here any longer.
Did I mention that I saw this yesterday and that there're still debates today?!?
Sigh...
I was just trying something. Ignore that.
.:Correction:.
My bad. It's John Hendrix, not Jimmy Hendrix. The latter is one of the most brilliant guitarists ever (Would've said THE most, but I've yet to hear his music, and I'm a fan of Santana and Lenny Kravitz...).
.:Some Canvass:.
Those who watched "Life of Brian", remember this dialogue?
We must act now! We cannot deny the urgency of the matter!
Yes. We must stop talking and start going into action!
Of course. Talk is cheap. We must act now!
Indeed! There is no better time for us to put all of our plans into fruition!
So shall we now call for a vote on what we shall do?
Yes! Let us call a vote!
We cannot delay any further! But we must of course call for a pre-meeting meeting to determine the ramifications first!
Of course! Time is of the essence!
Now, why don't we take a look at more or less how congress has been addressing the canvassing issue for the past couple of days?
Mister (Senate) President, we cannot deny the urgency of the need to begin canvassing the votes already. We cannot possibly delay the results in respect to the Filipino people who depend upon us! These results are the heart and soul of our country, and as such, we cannot delay any further.
Two hours later...
... and so I tell you that it is utmost for us to begin canvassing NOW! We cannot dilly-dally in meaningless debates here any longer.
Did I mention that I saw this yesterday and that there're still debates today?!?
Sigh...
So sue me. I'm OC about blogging on a daily basis... :)
.:Finally, Something To Say:.
Other than my paper, my blogging hasn't been there yesterday simply because my life was... non-happening. With that being said, here I am now, simply having a more or less okay time, considering my possible work options, all of which should not really conflict with my studies and the hopeful T.A. slot that Dr. Ibana has been so nice enough to apply for on my behalf (We all know why...).
So I was there in DWLS today for an interview, and I met up with John Hendrix (Obviously an on-air name.). Here's a pros and cons breakdown of that job...
The Good: I'm around nice people, some of them whom I know already, others who are just really great to talk to (More than some Radio 1 people... just some.), and I haven't burned any bridges with RX. It was their idea for me to try for other stations as they have no opening.
The Bad: The transition between their analog and digital facilities is agonizingly long. And it's only happening at this point, which I hope will be over and done with when I start handling the console.
The Ugly: I forgot to mention: this isn't a job. This is Campus Aircheck, and I have to hope for the job after all the training. Didn't I have a year of training with RX already? As you can tell, I won't be getting paid at all while I'm training.
Luke Mijares was there as well, promoting his new album, and the jocks were talking about one of the Campus Air Checker's fascination with... his... maids... something about one of them being toothless and that being perfect...
So I guess I have to wait until I get offers from other stations first, or at least interviews, as I pulled some strings through my mom already to have my resume sent out to people. That essentially means that I cannot ask her to do the same for some of my other friends who do want to become jocks... this is quite a huge favor she's done for me...
I also ran into Mike Enriquez yesterday. He was mighty surprised to see me there when he found out who my mom was... ah, well. Interesting stuff, really. If I do work in GMA, I would definitely enjoy myself there.
Here's a good, bad, ugly analysis of one of the other stations I could possibly go for... 102.7 Star FM...
The Good: Wow! Nine hours a week of work, and around 11,000 a month? What's not to like about that?
The Bad: ... at 9-12 in the evening.
The Ugly: ... in Taft, a world away from my house, and in a station where their really scary-looking listeners hang around. And did I mention that their playlist isn't exactly the most pleasing to me?
In any case, wish me luck...
.:The Surprise Of The Week:.
I realized that I was given enough signs thanks to Cami that this "opportunity" that was being dangled in front of me had a huge catch to it, but well, I decided to listen to them anyways. They do have a nice sales pitch, but let me give you the good, bad, and ugly treatment for it minus the sugarcoating I was treated to from them.
This is the one I was talking about regarding Juss, one of my Chinese Philo classmates. Amusingly enough, Rhea (The girl in one of the pictures.) is also her co-worker there, as well as Len, I believe. The company is NuSkin. And yes, it's an effing network marketing company. You know something that offers a base of 15K a month would definitely have a catch, and here it is.
I sat through two hours of the seminar just to hear what they had to say and while the product on its own seems great, selling the product or marketing it to people and hoping that they'd buy into the system is not. The seminar was given by someone named Dennis Ong, who had an accent just like William Hung's. Now, if he sang the whole "She Bangs" song with matching dance steps just for me, I would've gladly joined it already. Ah, well. I was mostly cracking jokes during the seminar, although I had quite a doozy which I forgot already... too bad.
Oh, sure it's an effortless thing, and sure, maybe they'd even have some scientific proof that their stuff works, but come on! You think anyone would enter this without making sure they have someone they can get into it first? Of course they'd want that. So if I want in, I need to get, say, Peppy, Grace, Sacha, and Jason in as well. These four need four each before they'd want to get in if they want to play it safe just like me, unless of course, I just sponsor them to get in, get the product, and it's up to them beyond that. But you see, if let's say Peppy tries to get Kit, Glenn, Elbert, and Jonsi, and Elbert and Glenn back out, Peppy will back out. Thus, I will back out. You see what I mean? It's an effing waiting game, and not everyone can be as convicted about it as you can.
Don't ignore the fact that you might make some enemies yourself if you choose the sneaky way out and lure them into NuSkin the way Juss did with me by simply lying when I asked her up front if this was NuSkin or networking. She said "no", and I knew it was right away, because she never told me exactly what it was. Is this really the way you want to start people off? With a lie? Oh, sure, he becomes a millionaire if he gets lucky, but you still start off with an effing lie. The principle of it baffles me.
The Good: If you're lucky, you can be a multi-millionaire in five years, and it only takes you three hours a day, and that's not five days a week, mind you. Success is proportional to your effort and network. If you're satisfied with 15K a month, just get four or five people in off the bat, and get a few more people here and there a month. That'd get you somewhere. You're making more money for less hours at your own will than a call center person would. The product is apparently good, as well. Really good, unless some Chemist guy would come to me and disprove that.
The Bad: It's networking! It's not for everybody, and I'd be honest enough to say that unless I get five people willing to start the moment I do, I don't think it's for me, either. As I said, you can make enemies in this job if you do what they train you to do: i.e. lie to people about exactly what the company is until the last possible moment. If I were to enter this, eff the protocol, I will not be secretive, because I don't like being led on. There's a catch, and I'd rather people know it right away.
The Ugly: 11,000 to get into the system. The buck stops somewhere. If you're screwed up, maybe even at your own level. Good luck.
.:Nice Conversations Rule:.
Spoke to Cami last night, and I'm happy she finally has a job. Binswanger never made its presence felt to me anymore, which I assume to be a sign of their lack of interest in me already. Well, that's their loss. I was sold on the idea of working for them already, so it's too bad if they don't want me around anymore, but I won't die, really.
The topics we talked about covered stuff like the Viva Hot Men, Binswanger, NuSkin, and her new line of work. In any case, I still have a hard time looking at her in the same way ever since that really crazy dream I had about her. Am I glad that's over and done with, but the images are too difficult to eradicate, and it's not like I want to keep them in my head. There's something about her eyes that make you think she'd be quite a sight if her eyes suddenly glistened like so... in the vernacular, kapag pumungay ang mga mata niya...
Oh, forget it. Anyways, thanx for the nice convo.
.:Whew, Saved!:.
It's funny. I accidentally left my RAW Deal deck yesterday in the Calf while I was watching Miguel (An incoming sophomore.) play Magic: The Gathering. I had to call Peppy, then Sacha, then one of Sacha's students, before finally finding out that Miguel managed to get my deck for me.
Thank goodness. That deck may not look it, but it's as expensive as Hades, and the cards are going to be a beeyatch to find all over again, no question about it. I guess I have Sacha to thank for the most part with that...
.:This Sounds Good:.
One last good, bad, ugly before I go. This time, it's about some internet company that is will really yield something interesting for me, assuming I can set things up nicely enough.
The Good: This internet company will pay you in dollars. If things go well for you, expect to do very little, literally work from home at your computer, and get $1000 or so for your effort every month for around two years.
The Bad: The only work you have to do is website design. I can't do that much. Maybe I can enter into a partnership with someone? The Ugly will show you why he needs a partner. Moreover, your paycheck is based on the traffic the websites you make will generate (You only make two, though.). Not even the best-looking websites can guarantee hits. At least, if I team up with a teacher or something, the students are a good source of hits... but I'd split the profits here due to the team up...
The Ugly: Entrance of $100. I can sponsor my partner for that, I guess. Worse: I'm not sure if the offer still stands.
How's that sound to you, Peppy? :)
.:Finally, Something To Say:.
Other than my paper, my blogging hasn't been there yesterday simply because my life was... non-happening. With that being said, here I am now, simply having a more or less okay time, considering my possible work options, all of which should not really conflict with my studies and the hopeful T.A. slot that Dr. Ibana has been so nice enough to apply for on my behalf (We all know why...).
So I was there in DWLS today for an interview, and I met up with John Hendrix (Obviously an on-air name.). Here's a pros and cons breakdown of that job...
The Good: I'm around nice people, some of them whom I know already, others who are just really great to talk to (More than some Radio 1 people... just some.), and I haven't burned any bridges with RX. It was their idea for me to try for other stations as they have no opening.
The Bad: The transition between their analog and digital facilities is agonizingly long. And it's only happening at this point, which I hope will be over and done with when I start handling the console.
The Ugly: I forgot to mention: this isn't a job. This is Campus Aircheck, and I have to hope for the job after all the training. Didn't I have a year of training with RX already? As you can tell, I won't be getting paid at all while I'm training.
Luke Mijares was there as well, promoting his new album, and the jocks were talking about one of the Campus Air Checker's fascination with... his... maids... something about one of them being toothless and that being perfect...
So I guess I have to wait until I get offers from other stations first, or at least interviews, as I pulled some strings through my mom already to have my resume sent out to people. That essentially means that I cannot ask her to do the same for some of my other friends who do want to become jocks... this is quite a huge favor she's done for me...
I also ran into Mike Enriquez yesterday. He was mighty surprised to see me there when he found out who my mom was... ah, well. Interesting stuff, really. If I do work in GMA, I would definitely enjoy myself there.
Here's a good, bad, ugly analysis of one of the other stations I could possibly go for... 102.7 Star FM...
The Good: Wow! Nine hours a week of work, and around 11,000 a month? What's not to like about that?
The Bad: ... at 9-12 in the evening.
The Ugly: ... in Taft, a world away from my house, and in a station where their really scary-looking listeners hang around. And did I mention that their playlist isn't exactly the most pleasing to me?
In any case, wish me luck...
.:The Surprise Of The Week:.
I realized that I was given enough signs thanks to Cami that this "opportunity" that was being dangled in front of me had a huge catch to it, but well, I decided to listen to them anyways. They do have a nice sales pitch, but let me give you the good, bad, and ugly treatment for it minus the sugarcoating I was treated to from them.
This is the one I was talking about regarding Juss, one of my Chinese Philo classmates. Amusingly enough, Rhea (The girl in one of the pictures.) is also her co-worker there, as well as Len, I believe. The company is NuSkin. And yes, it's an effing network marketing company. You know something that offers a base of 15K a month would definitely have a catch, and here it is.
I sat through two hours of the seminar just to hear what they had to say and while the product on its own seems great, selling the product or marketing it to people and hoping that they'd buy into the system is not. The seminar was given by someone named Dennis Ong, who had an accent just like William Hung's. Now, if he sang the whole "She Bangs" song with matching dance steps just for me, I would've gladly joined it already. Ah, well. I was mostly cracking jokes during the seminar, although I had quite a doozy which I forgot already... too bad.
Oh, sure it's an effortless thing, and sure, maybe they'd even have some scientific proof that their stuff works, but come on! You think anyone would enter this without making sure they have someone they can get into it first? Of course they'd want that. So if I want in, I need to get, say, Peppy, Grace, Sacha, and Jason in as well. These four need four each before they'd want to get in if they want to play it safe just like me, unless of course, I just sponsor them to get in, get the product, and it's up to them beyond that. But you see, if let's say Peppy tries to get Kit, Glenn, Elbert, and Jonsi, and Elbert and Glenn back out, Peppy will back out. Thus, I will back out. You see what I mean? It's an effing waiting game, and not everyone can be as convicted about it as you can.
Don't ignore the fact that you might make some enemies yourself if you choose the sneaky way out and lure them into NuSkin the way Juss did with me by simply lying when I asked her up front if this was NuSkin or networking. She said "no", and I knew it was right away, because she never told me exactly what it was. Is this really the way you want to start people off? With a lie? Oh, sure, he becomes a millionaire if he gets lucky, but you still start off with an effing lie. The principle of it baffles me.
The Good: If you're lucky, you can be a multi-millionaire in five years, and it only takes you three hours a day, and that's not five days a week, mind you. Success is proportional to your effort and network. If you're satisfied with 15K a month, just get four or five people in off the bat, and get a few more people here and there a month. That'd get you somewhere. You're making more money for less hours at your own will than a call center person would. The product is apparently good, as well. Really good, unless some Chemist guy would come to me and disprove that.
The Bad: It's networking! It's not for everybody, and I'd be honest enough to say that unless I get five people willing to start the moment I do, I don't think it's for me, either. As I said, you can make enemies in this job if you do what they train you to do: i.e. lie to people about exactly what the company is until the last possible moment. If I were to enter this, eff the protocol, I will not be secretive, because I don't like being led on. There's a catch, and I'd rather people know it right away.
The Ugly: 11,000 to get into the system. The buck stops somewhere. If you're screwed up, maybe even at your own level. Good luck.
.:Nice Conversations Rule:.
Spoke to Cami last night, and I'm happy she finally has a job. Binswanger never made its presence felt to me anymore, which I assume to be a sign of their lack of interest in me already. Well, that's their loss. I was sold on the idea of working for them already, so it's too bad if they don't want me around anymore, but I won't die, really.
The topics we talked about covered stuff like the Viva Hot Men, Binswanger, NuSkin, and her new line of work. In any case, I still have a hard time looking at her in the same way ever since that really crazy dream I had about her. Am I glad that's over and done with, but the images are too difficult to eradicate, and it's not like I want to keep them in my head. There's something about her eyes that make you think she'd be quite a sight if her eyes suddenly glistened like so... in the vernacular, kapag pumungay ang mga mata niya...
Oh, forget it. Anyways, thanx for the nice convo.
.:Whew, Saved!:.
It's funny. I accidentally left my RAW Deal deck yesterday in the Calf while I was watching Miguel (An incoming sophomore.) play Magic: The Gathering. I had to call Peppy, then Sacha, then one of Sacha's students, before finally finding out that Miguel managed to get my deck for me.
Thank goodness. That deck may not look it, but it's as expensive as Hades, and the cards are going to be a beeyatch to find all over again, no question about it. I guess I have Sacha to thank for the most part with that...
.:This Sounds Good:.
One last good, bad, ugly before I go. This time, it's about some internet company that is will really yield something interesting for me, assuming I can set things up nicely enough.
The Good: This internet company will pay you in dollars. If things go well for you, expect to do very little, literally work from home at your computer, and get $1000 or so for your effort every month for around two years.
The Bad: The only work you have to do is website design. I can't do that much. Maybe I can enter into a partnership with someone? The Ugly will show you why he needs a partner. Moreover, your paycheck is based on the traffic the websites you make will generate (You only make two, though.). Not even the best-looking websites can guarantee hits. At least, if I team up with a teacher or something, the students are a good source of hits... but I'd split the profits here due to the team up...
The Ugly: Entrance of $100. I can sponsor my partner for that, I guess. Worse: I'm not sure if the offer still stands.
How's that sound to you, Peppy? :)
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
.:A Joke Late By One Day:.
Should've said this yesterday, when it would've been timely, but I forgot all about it...
So just assume I said this yesterday, okay?
"The Day After Tomorrow" will show on theaters the day after tomorrow....
.:Jinky Coronado?!?:.
This girl is amazing! She has her own comic book, and she caters to the schoolgirl fetish most everyone (Especially a certain guy named Eric Vidal. Methinks he was asking me to wear a sailor suit last week... ::winks::) has...
Would've posted a picture of her, but it's too... ::nosebleed::
Too bad her looks aren't consistent. She has some really bad angles...
Anyways, her official website is HERE.
Should've said this yesterday, when it would've been timely, but I forgot all about it...
So just assume I said this yesterday, okay?
"The Day After Tomorrow" will show on theaters the day after tomorrow....
.:Jinky Coronado?!?:.
This girl is amazing! She has her own comic book, and she caters to the schoolgirl fetish most everyone (Especially a certain guy named Eric Vidal. Methinks he was asking me to wear a sailor suit last week... ::winks::) has...
Would've posted a picture of her, but it's too... ::nosebleed::
Too bad her looks aren't consistent. She has some really bad angles...
Anyways, her official website is HERE.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Not much of a primer, eh?
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
.:Film Review: Shrek 2:.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
.:Film Review: Shrek 2:.
Shrek 2 is one of the most anticipated films in years, judging from the immense popularity of the first film. You see, the original Shrek was a nice way of easing children out of Fairy Tales and making them realize that not everything does end "Happily Ever After", and even if it were to, things would be far from perfect. Shrek 2 closely follows this tradition, and has some of its own interesting comedic elements added to the fray.
Shrek 2
Ogreat!!!
Shrek 2 picks up from where the first film left off. Shrek and Fiona are both ogres now, they get married, and go off to their honeymoon. After all that, they go back to the swamp, where Donkey is waiting for them, and being his usual annoying self, trying to find out what Shrek and Fiona are up to. Soon enough, the newlywed couple are summoned to the kingdom of Far Far Away, where Fiona's parents come from. Shrek is reluctant about it.
Meanwhile, Prince Charming rides off in search of the fair princess Fiona. Ironically, he finds out too late that Shrek already married her, and this could only mean trouble.
Shrek arrives at the kingdom where Fiona's parents, the king and queen, accept Shrek with much aghast. What is exceptionally hilarious about this scene is how their dialogue is juxtaposed in such a way as though they were all talking about only one thing, akin to how Mike Myers does it in Austin Powers, when they talk about the sattelite in the third film, and the spaceship in the second...
Naturally, and unlike how most fairy tales go, the king and queen cannot accept what has happened to their daughter. To compound matters, Shrek and Fiona are in disagreement over Fiona's parents, as the daughter naturally understands her parents' side of the argument. Nonetheless, her tears brings about the Fairy Godmother, who is actually Prince Charming's mother. Under duress, King Harold is forced to find a way to deal with Shrek, and he turns to the top assassin, Puss In Boots.
Soon enough, Puss sees the error of his ways and seeks to repay his debt to Shrek by aiding him in his quest of finding a way to make Fiona happy. You should see how Puss tries to melt Shrek's heart. Those eyes of his are reminiscent of Sacha's... in any case, they end up getting a potion that makes them beautiful, and Donkey tried the potion first. Soon enough, he turned into a Stallion. Shrek became human, and as per what the potion said, so did Fiona. Still, the Fairy Godmother has different things in mind... what happens next? Find out for yourself (Hint: It's a happy ending, but some secrets, especially Harold's, will be revealed.).
Oh, fudge. Here's more or less what happens next. Shrek is detained and Prince Charming impersonates Shrek. Princess Fiona sees through this, and her father was forced to give her love potion just to make sure that they end up together. After a spoof of "Cops" ("Knights"), Shrek's friends, people like Pinocchio and the Big Bad Wolf, all try to help him out. At one point, Pinocchio is hit by a spell that turns him into a real boy, and then while he's all happy and so forth, he gets hit by the spell again, turning him back.
I loved this film. The animation was slicker than slick, and it felt so real at times already, pretty much how it was during the first film though arguably better, I would venture. There is nothing to complain about when it comes to the film's technical aspect. I'm happy with the casting as well. Antonio Banderas' portrayal of Puss In Boots as Latino was exquisitely entertaining. If you've seen the first film, I think that few, if any, would be disappointed with this sequel, as it simply manages to retain the kind of flavor that made the first Shrek such a success.
Comedy and music worked really well in this film. The song numbers were well in place, and the touch of putting modern world references in the medieval times, such as "Farbucks", is a really wonderful approach to the film. It keeps things from being ridiculously... well, medieval. I think that this kind of "modernization" simply made for more interesting viewing.
You can tell that there's little to talk about for me when there's nothing much wrong with the film.
Marcelle's "Fun" Rating: A+
Marcelle's "Critical" Rating: A+
.:In The Nick Of Time:.
I managed to get myself registered for the King of Fighters 2003 tournament, and I must give props to the people I went up against. I didn't make it past the eliminations, though truth be told, I don't think that I would've stayed even if I did. I had a not-so-bad 6-7 record, considering how I was not too used to the joystick of the place, plus the fact that my mind was more focused on getting to Makati in time than in fighting a good game of KOF. No excuses, though. I have a long way to go still before I can consider myself a KOF master. Being the best player in Megamall/Centerpoint proves nothing, simply because there aren't too many good players there, anyways.
I had fun with the tournament, though. My team of Goro, Duolon, and Robert Garcia had quite a strong showing, most of my defeats owing to tactical errors like combos I already set up but failed to complete, and so forth. At the same time, I managed to prove my mettle in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, having a total of six legit wins to my name with my usual team.
I joined the tournament this year not really to win it (Dream on, Marcelle.), but to prove that I'm not an opponent to take lightly. Towards the end of my run, I was having a solid show, although I never once completed the Goro LDM combo, though it's not really so bad, truth be told. I did fairly well enough in spite of that.
.:Aha!:.
After all this time, she finally recognizes why this other lady is so popular. It's all about the smile, the eyes, the hair, and of course, the wit. Those things make for a small but dynamite package, no question about it.
.:And So The Heart Beats Again:.
The reason I wanted to make a break for Makati was because of the BRASH cinema showing of Bobby Bonifacio's (Okay. So sue me for saying "Benedicto" the last time...) films, "Kapag Tumibok ang Puso" and "Muling Tumibok Ang Puso". The two were using the same format, but as Bobby put it, the second film was a lot more confident about itself, although its overconfidence sometimes made the film drag and actually feel a bit... forced. 25 minutes is just fine. Doubling that time does affect the quality overall...
Still, the thing I liked about the viewing was that the first film already had subtitles, which really added to the enjoyment of the film, though I've seen it thrice already, counting this one. Even the songs were translated in such a way that you can still sing it to the song, and the lyrics still rhyme. I especially liked the line where Michiko (Abby's character.) talks to Jerome (Fidel's character.) about Franco (Bro's character.)...
Michiko: Kilala ko na siya bilang isang malibog na guro na pinagsasamantalahan ang kanyang mga estudyante. Sa buong panahong magkasama kami, wala na siyang bukambibig kundi sex, sex, sex!
The subtitles at this point were translating faithfully, and then when it came to "Sex, sex, sex!" the words got bigger and bigger...
The second part had a feel of F4 all over it, which was really hilarious. I especially liked the touch of having the Washington Lei guy sing "Kung Ako Na Lang Sana" in Chinese. This lyrics adaptation for "No Touch" takes the cake, though...
Kailangan ko ang iyong labi
Kailangan ko ang iyong ti-- *mouth gets covered*
I would've liked "Seth The Destroyer", but the burned VCD copy was pretty bad, so we didn't quite see the film decently enough, much less hear the dialogue. Still, I enjoyed my time there with Grace, who was gorgeous as usual in a fisherman's hat and a black sleeveless blouse. I also saw Abby and Ledz, which of course made me feel a bit inadequate. I guess I should speak to Abby one of these days. It's those times when affirmation is the only way I can feel better though I do believe I shan't oblige her to that...
Watching that film reminded me why I look to Abby as my best friend, in spite of the lack of reciprocity. I guess though things may change, the fact that I regard her as such simply wouldn't...
.:Side Note:.
I feel compelled to write a review for SWAT. I'm so OC about things like this. Let's just say that I'm glad I finally saw this film. Took me long enough...
I managed to get myself registered for the King of Fighters 2003 tournament, and I must give props to the people I went up against. I didn't make it past the eliminations, though truth be told, I don't think that I would've stayed even if I did. I had a not-so-bad 6-7 record, considering how I was not too used to the joystick of the place, plus the fact that my mind was more focused on getting to Makati in time than in fighting a good game of KOF. No excuses, though. I have a long way to go still before I can consider myself a KOF master. Being the best player in Megamall/Centerpoint proves nothing, simply because there aren't too many good players there, anyways.
I had fun with the tournament, though. My team of Goro, Duolon, and Robert Garcia had quite a strong showing, most of my defeats owing to tactical errors like combos I already set up but failed to complete, and so forth. At the same time, I managed to prove my mettle in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, having a total of six legit wins to my name with my usual team.
I joined the tournament this year not really to win it (Dream on, Marcelle.), but to prove that I'm not an opponent to take lightly. Towards the end of my run, I was having a solid show, although I never once completed the Goro LDM combo, though it's not really so bad, truth be told. I did fairly well enough in spite of that.
.:Aha!:.
After all this time, she finally recognizes why this other lady is so popular. It's all about the smile, the eyes, the hair, and of course, the wit. Those things make for a small but dynamite package, no question about it.
.:And So The Heart Beats Again:.
The reason I wanted to make a break for Makati was because of the BRASH cinema showing of Bobby Bonifacio's (Okay. So sue me for saying "Benedicto" the last time...) films, "Kapag Tumibok ang Puso" and "Muling Tumibok Ang Puso". The two were using the same format, but as Bobby put it, the second film was a lot more confident about itself, although its overconfidence sometimes made the film drag and actually feel a bit... forced. 25 minutes is just fine. Doubling that time does affect the quality overall...
Still, the thing I liked about the viewing was that the first film already had subtitles, which really added to the enjoyment of the film, though I've seen it thrice already, counting this one. Even the songs were translated in such a way that you can still sing it to the song, and the lyrics still rhyme. I especially liked the line where Michiko (Abby's character.) talks to Jerome (Fidel's character.) about Franco (Bro's character.)...
Michiko: Kilala ko na siya bilang isang malibog na guro na pinagsasamantalahan ang kanyang mga estudyante. Sa buong panahong magkasama kami, wala na siyang bukambibig kundi sex, sex, sex!
The subtitles at this point were translating faithfully, and then when it came to "Sex, sex, sex!" the words got bigger and bigger...
The second part had a feel of F4 all over it, which was really hilarious. I especially liked the touch of having the Washington Lei guy sing "Kung Ako Na Lang Sana" in Chinese. This lyrics adaptation for "No Touch" takes the cake, though...
Kailangan ko ang iyong labi
Kailangan ko ang iyong ti-- *mouth gets covered*
I would've liked "Seth The Destroyer", but the burned VCD copy was pretty bad, so we didn't quite see the film decently enough, much less hear the dialogue. Still, I enjoyed my time there with Grace, who was gorgeous as usual in a fisherman's hat and a black sleeveless blouse. I also saw Abby and Ledz, which of course made me feel a bit inadequate. I guess I should speak to Abby one of these days. It's those times when affirmation is the only way I can feel better though I do believe I shan't oblige her to that...
Watching that film reminded me why I look to Abby as my best friend, in spite of the lack of reciprocity. I guess though things may change, the fact that I regard her as such simply wouldn't...
.:Side Note:.
I feel compelled to write a review for SWAT. I'm so OC about things like this. Let's just say that I'm glad I finally saw this film. Took me long enough...
Let's Do This.
.:Shrek 2 Review Next Time:.
I'll put the primer to the review in a separate post this time because not only am I far from writing the review of the film (I wrote this post two days before I wrote the review.), what happened outside of the film itself is going to be a loooong account, and I will inadvertently include elements of the film in the post (Don't worry. It's spoiler-free.).
Anyways, I went to Peppy's house (Though I sort of got lost a bit...) and he ended up watching "Wazzup, Wazzup" with me. I was so into looking at Toni Gonzaga there... she wears glasses now, apparently. ::nosebleed:: When I called his house, Jason was ribbing him that he's gay over my cellphone. It was hilarious. Jason must've missed Peppy a lot...
Peppy and I then went to G4 to see Shrek 2 with Sacha, Eric, Ranulf, Pan-M, Dominique Cimafranca, and a few other people (Names of people I missed, please feel free to reply to this post to identify yourselves.). Grace met up with us in G4 already, and apparently, Sacha already reserved tickets for us. The obvious problem in that comes when you realize that the tickets for the screening in question are already sold out, and Grace wasn't accounted for when we assembled. So it was either Grace and I bowed out, or only one of us watched the film. I was willing to let Grace watch the film, but she didn't want to see it without me. In an act that I will forever be grateful for, Dominique then offered to give up his ticket and chose to not watch the film with us anymore (In case you were wondering, Sacha didn't treat anyone for the tickets... we were supposed to pay her afterwards. :P).
No sooner did Grace get her ticket when the fun started... apparently, the one-year plan has already made the rounds of the table, and everyone there already knew about it. One of the people with us was actually connected to FHM, and all of a sudden, the one-year plan looked even more feasible. Peppy was laughing about it, and then one of the people told me that for all the planning I've been putting into this, I must really be getting quite a perk: official photographer rights, perhaps?
When I started telling them about the planned photo shoot for Sach which involved her holding a laptop (Still closed and held horizontally!!!) and nothing else, Sach wanted to give back the ticket to Dominique, get to know Grace some more, so that Grace would enjoy Sacha's company and leave me alone with no ticket. :)
Sach had funky hair last night. Grace actually liked it. I didn't. Some would say it's really unique. Others would say she just woke up. Wish I took her picture so you can decide for yourself, but never mind. I found it on her website...
I'll put the primer to the review in a separate post this time because not only am I far from writing the review of the film (I wrote this post two days before I wrote the review.), what happened outside of the film itself is going to be a loooong account, and I will inadvertently include elements of the film in the post (Don't worry. It's spoiler-free.).
Anyways, I went to Peppy's house (Though I sort of got lost a bit...) and he ended up watching "Wazzup, Wazzup" with me. I was so into looking at Toni Gonzaga there... she wears glasses now, apparently. ::nosebleed:: When I called his house, Jason was ribbing him that he's gay over my cellphone. It was hilarious. Jason must've missed Peppy a lot...
Peppy and I then went to G4 to see Shrek 2 with Sacha, Eric, Ranulf, Pan-M, Dominique Cimafranca, and a few other people (Names of people I missed, please feel free to reply to this post to identify yourselves.). Grace met up with us in G4 already, and apparently, Sacha already reserved tickets for us. The obvious problem in that comes when you realize that the tickets for the screening in question are already sold out, and Grace wasn't accounted for when we assembled. So it was either Grace and I bowed out, or only one of us watched the film. I was willing to let Grace watch the film, but she didn't want to see it without me. In an act that I will forever be grateful for, Dominique then offered to give up his ticket and chose to not watch the film with us anymore (In case you were wondering, Sacha didn't treat anyone for the tickets... we were supposed to pay her afterwards. :P).
No sooner did Grace get her ticket when the fun started... apparently, the one-year plan has already made the rounds of the table, and everyone there already knew about it. One of the people with us was actually connected to FHM, and all of a sudden, the one-year plan looked even more feasible. Peppy was laughing about it, and then one of the people told me that for all the planning I've been putting into this, I must really be getting quite a perk: official photographer rights, perhaps?
When I started telling them about the planned photo shoot for Sach which involved her holding a laptop (Still closed and held horizontally!!!) and nothing else, Sach wanted to give back the ticket to Dominique, get to know Grace some more, so that Grace would enjoy Sacha's company and leave me alone with no ticket. :)
Sach had funky hair last night. Grace actually liked it. I didn't. Some would say it's really unique. Others would say she just woke up. Wish I took her picture so you can decide for yourself, but never mind. I found it on her website...
Funky, or PhD? (Don't ask what that means. ::winks::)
Here's how I introduced Grace and Eric to one another (Input from Peppy that Eric didn't hear.)...
Marcelle: Eric, meet Grace. Grace, meet Eric. Karibal mo sa puso ko.
If Jason insinuates gayness in my direction, it's to slight Peppy. If I insinuate gayness in my direction, it's to freak out Eric Vidal.
Note: Puss In Boots doing those "Awww, cute!" eyes in Shrek 2 reminds me of Sacha's brand of emotional blackmail...
After the film, we started giving the money we owe Sach for the tickets...
Marcelle: For services rendered... ::hands the money::
I was on a roll that night with the digs at Sach. But she knows that's my way of showing my friendly affection to her, right? ::computer crashes:: Okay, I think she's not taking this as well as I thought. ::blue screen of death:: Yep...
When we got out of the theater, Sach was talking to Pan-M, who was inviting her to his graduation. He was willing to take back someone else's invite for her... poor person (Or lucky person, depending on where you stand.). So I asked Pan-M about it, and he said that it's "business attire", which Sacha apparently doesn't have.
Marcelle: But I'm a macho dancer. My "business attire" would be a thong, then. I'll see you tomorrow at your graduation, Pan-M.
Pan-M: Okay...
Sacha: *Sighs* These struggling students have to work to make ends meet, right, Marcelle?
Marcelle: I was just making a point of how vague the term "business attire" happens to be, Sach.
Pan-M: Well, in your case, Marcelle, it means long sleeves, collar, and necktie.
Peppy: ... lang?
Pan-M: But there, Sach. I hope you can go, man.
Eric: "Man"?
Peppy: Someone's looking for trouble...
Marcelle: "Man"? "Boy", I could understand, but "Man"? ::Sacha glares at me::
Any good karma I've accumulated over the years for being nice to Sacha disappeared in one night...
And I'm sure Eric isn't all too pleased about this one, either...
Marcelle: I really owe Dominique one. That was so nice of him. He's a man after my own heart. I'm sorry, Eric, but I found someone more worthy than you...
Eric: I'm glad.
Marcelle: But when it's about lust, I'll be sure to keep you in mind.
What a day. What a day.
.:The Hotness Of It All:.
To prove my point about the title:
Now, if only we didn't run into someone wearing the exact same outfit again...
See? Grace doesn't think she can make it in the Hot 100 if we pushed for it, but I believe she'd turn heads wherever she goes. Sexy is an understatement for Grace, truth be told. Anyways, with that being said, she didn't like the idea, but I think I got the point across to her when I talked to her about Pia Guanio while riding home with Peppy...
Marcelle: You'd make Pia Guanio look at you, feel so inadequate because you're so hot, then turn her lesbian.
Peppy: Prior to your last phrase, that statement sounded so nice...
But, ahhh: Grace is willing to go on a dare with any girl to French kiss so long as the girl is also up for it and is someone Grace is comfortable with. This is of course assuming we're all in a game of Truth or Dare. Wonder if Sach would take a dare like that with Grace... :)
Heard Grace had payback for me when Peppy took her home, though.
.:We Bang! We Bang!:.
No, it's not what you're thinking. I was just talking about the card game called "Bang", which is one of the most fun games I've ever played. We even concocted a variant of it, and that's the fun part about it: the variant made use of four characters. Imagine having four abilities for your stronghold in L5R, or four abilities for your superstar in RAW Deal. That's how it worked.
Met John and Teresa there all the same. Nice people... I can actually teach people how to play "Bang" now...
.:When You Catch The Fish With The Fish Trap, You Forget The Fish Trap:.
That, in a phrase, is how I want to describe what happened during our final exams. I don't intend to go into details anymore about how our Chinese Philo finals went exactly. If you've caught the fish, you forget the trap. If you've caught the essence of the finals, you forget what you've written in the finals. The only thing I can give you is this...
No, it's not what you're thinking. I was just talking about the card game called "Bang", which is one of the most fun games I've ever played. We even concocted a variant of it, and that's the fun part about it: the variant made use of four characters. Imagine having four abilities for your stronghold in L5R, or four abilities for your superstar in RAW Deal. That's how it worked.
Met John and Teresa there all the same. Nice people... I can actually teach people how to play "Bang" now...
.:When You Catch The Fish With The Fish Trap, You Forget The Fish Trap:.
That, in a phrase, is how I want to describe what happened during our final exams. I don't intend to go into details anymore about how our Chinese Philo finals went exactly. If you've caught the fish, you forget the trap. If you've caught the essence of the finals, you forget what you've written in the finals. The only thing I can give you is this...
When A Hideous Man...
When a hideous man becomes a father
And a son is born to him
In the middle of the night
He trembles and lights a lamp
And runs to look in anguish
On that child's face
To see whom he resembles
Anyways, I have a few pictures of some of my really nice undergrad classmates... people I've known only this semester... no witty captions here, though...
Meet Natz...
This one is Len.
This is Rhea, the one who smiles a lot in class... :)
.:Diplomacy Is The Key:.
I figured that the best way to gain any job back is to address the potential employer with utmost diplomacy in hopefully swaying him to see things my way and make him realize that this was all a big mix-up. I think I'd tell him this with utmost respect:
Tangina mo! Asan na ang trabaho ko?
To international readers, trust me: you don't want to know what that means.
Hopefully, my eloquence would make things right in this world...
Sunday, May 23, 2004
I forgot to save my file as Word and saved it in .sxw (Open Office) format instead. With that being said, when I took the diskette to my desktop, I couldn't open the word file any longer, so I have to open my laptop again to get the file saved as a .doc file.
In any case, what does that uber-long post contain? Well, a review of Shrek (Very shabby. I was too lost in the fun...), a recollection with lots of dialogue about the film and what happened around it, comments on Abby's film as directed by Bobby Bonifacio (Not Benedicto as I mistakenly said...), and other such recollections. Six pages without pictures. Rest assured there will be pictures. :)
So I guess you jabronis will just see it on Monday. :)
In any case, what does that uber-long post contain? Well, a review of Shrek (Very shabby. I was too lost in the fun...), a recollection with lots of dialogue about the film and what happened around it, comments on Abby's film as directed by Bobby Bonifacio (Not Benedicto as I mistakenly said...), and other such recollections. Six pages without pictures. Rest assured there will be pictures. :)
So I guess you jabronis will just see it on Monday. :)
Friday, May 21, 2004
.:Appended To The One-Year Plan:.
Jason has a point. Sacha may get all the votes in the world to get into the 100 Sexiest Women for FHM, but if there is no mainstream coverage for her, FHM may very well just disregard these votes. With that in mind, we have a six-month plan to buffer that...
MAKE HER GIRLFRIEND OF THE MONTH.
This plan is difficult because it requires her to already have a pictorial, but we can work on it, I’m sure...
.:My Dog!:.
Our nice purebred beagle, Snoopy (So sue me.), almost got lost a while ago. Some guy was around the house, he left, and Snoopy followed, as he was untied. I promptly dashed out of the house, and luckily enough, I managed to find Snoopy just outside of the house, not so far off. That was a close call. It’s not just that I’d be in trouble, but more of the fact that this poor dog shouldn’t get lost like that... I love that dog. Extremely tame, and wouldn’t hurt a fly: just don’t let your leg get in striking range of his notorious Ocho-ocho dance steps, though...
.:Summit?:.
Competition for this job is extremely tough. There were at least twenty other resume’s in the folder when I submitted mine. Nonetheless, considering how I applied just for a simple part-time or freelance position, I think at the very least, I’d get a call of consideration from them. If not, no big deal. I can do without it. Grace was with me yesterday, mostly helping me out to get the resume where I wanted it to. I owe her big time for that...
The bus ride to Galleria was funny, though. Grace and I were talking about a lot of different topics, and we were laughing. I guess my brain is in too much of a haze right now, so I don’t really remember what we were talking about...
.:Jaws? Joss? Diyos?:.
Grace was looking at me intently during the bus ride, as I was joking that I’d bite her on her nose (Ooh. Kinky. Not really. Try “Penguin” from Batman Returns...)...
Grace: Marcelle, para kang “Jaws”.
Marcelle: Wow! So I’m godly? Para akong Diyos!
Grace: Hindi. Yung iniinom. Orange jos.
Marcelle: Yung energy drink? Extra Joss?
Ah, yes. Communication is the key...
.:Denied:.
So much for a job opportunity. I was waiting for Juss to text me all day long, but no word whatsoever, so I ended up hanging around the store instead... ah, well. That’s too bad.
The store was bustling as usual, and I wasn’t doing much there except talk to people and... err... sing. We were doing more mass songs, boy band songs with matching dance steps, Abba, Queen, and so forth. Lots of things have been happening there, as the conversation was simply fun.
I ended up playing quite a few different games during the time I was there. The most fun I had was with my first L5R game using Peppy’s Scorpion deck, against Peppy. I actually managed to Honor-Bomb him when I was about to lose since my provinces were down to two. I had two Imperial Messengers in play, I Shamed my own character after dishonoring her with Kachiko’s Promise, then used Kaukatsu to make Peppy lose the same amount of honor. He lost 23 honor, which brough him down to –19. I then used a card whose name I forgot to make me lose two honor, which I promptly used Rhetoric on to send it to Peppy’s direction instead, leading to –21 honor, which is already a loss condition for the game. Amusing.
We then had a game of “Bang”, another card game. I was facing off against one of my opponents, who happened to have a character that can discard two cards to gain one life. He simply kept himself alive every turn because during the turn, he can draw two cards, so he draws two, then gains back one life. I had to stack my hand with tons of Bangs before I managed to finish him off. It wasn’t so simple, because being the Sheriff in a four-player game meant I was the only guy helping me out... heh.
.:My Willpower Is Weak:.
We were at Starbucks again last night, except this time, Peppy joined in the fray because he didn’t feel like going home at all. With that being said, things were pretty fun. Mikko was still expressing his disdain over Jay-R (Mr. Gayface.) for the most part, and Jason was not up for any sensible conversation...
Jason: But if Peppy goes for RX, you know he’d get hired!
Marcelle: No, they’re not looking for another Kuya Cesar right now...
Touche.
Mog, Mikko, and Peppy were talking about Battletech or something like that. Jess was mostly quiet, and just reacting to all the comments (Mental note: Pronounce things well. She thought “Corn star” was “Porn star”. How could she misinterpret such a thing? ::winks::). She, however, was having what looked like a tempting drink of Iced White Chocolate...
Jess: It’s really good. Why don’t you try it?
Marcelle: I only have 1,000 for the next two weeks... and I have lots of willpower!
Around ten minutes later, I was holding my own Iced White Chocolate and a small bag of Cheetos...
Marcelle: Err... so much for willpower.
Ran into Bobby Benedicto last night there, all the same. I guess I’d really be watching his films on Saturday.
Jason has a point. Sacha may get all the votes in the world to get into the 100 Sexiest Women for FHM, but if there is no mainstream coverage for her, FHM may very well just disregard these votes. With that in mind, we have a six-month plan to buffer that...
MAKE HER GIRLFRIEND OF THE MONTH.
This plan is difficult because it requires her to already have a pictorial, but we can work on it, I’m sure...
.:My Dog!:.
Our nice purebred beagle, Snoopy (So sue me.), almost got lost a while ago. Some guy was around the house, he left, and Snoopy followed, as he was untied. I promptly dashed out of the house, and luckily enough, I managed to find Snoopy just outside of the house, not so far off. That was a close call. It’s not just that I’d be in trouble, but more of the fact that this poor dog shouldn’t get lost like that... I love that dog. Extremely tame, and wouldn’t hurt a fly: just don’t let your leg get in striking range of his notorious Ocho-ocho dance steps, though...
.:Summit?:.
Competition for this job is extremely tough. There were at least twenty other resume’s in the folder when I submitted mine. Nonetheless, considering how I applied just for a simple part-time or freelance position, I think at the very least, I’d get a call of consideration from them. If not, no big deal. I can do without it. Grace was with me yesterday, mostly helping me out to get the resume where I wanted it to. I owe her big time for that...
The bus ride to Galleria was funny, though. Grace and I were talking about a lot of different topics, and we were laughing. I guess my brain is in too much of a haze right now, so I don’t really remember what we were talking about...
.:Jaws? Joss? Diyos?:.
Grace was looking at me intently during the bus ride, as I was joking that I’d bite her on her nose (Ooh. Kinky. Not really. Try “Penguin” from Batman Returns...)...
Grace: Marcelle, para kang “Jaws”.
Marcelle: Wow! So I’m godly? Para akong Diyos!
Grace: Hindi. Yung iniinom. Orange jos.
Marcelle: Yung energy drink? Extra Joss?
Ah, yes. Communication is the key...
.:Denied:.
So much for a job opportunity. I was waiting for Juss to text me all day long, but no word whatsoever, so I ended up hanging around the store instead... ah, well. That’s too bad.
The store was bustling as usual, and I wasn’t doing much there except talk to people and... err... sing. We were doing more mass songs, boy band songs with matching dance steps, Abba, Queen, and so forth. Lots of things have been happening there, as the conversation was simply fun.
I ended up playing quite a few different games during the time I was there. The most fun I had was with my first L5R game using Peppy’s Scorpion deck, against Peppy. I actually managed to Honor-Bomb him when I was about to lose since my provinces were down to two. I had two Imperial Messengers in play, I Shamed my own character after dishonoring her with Kachiko’s Promise, then used Kaukatsu to make Peppy lose the same amount of honor. He lost 23 honor, which brough him down to –19. I then used a card whose name I forgot to make me lose two honor, which I promptly used Rhetoric on to send it to Peppy’s direction instead, leading to –21 honor, which is already a loss condition for the game. Amusing.
We then had a game of “Bang”, another card game. I was facing off against one of my opponents, who happened to have a character that can discard two cards to gain one life. He simply kept himself alive every turn because during the turn, he can draw two cards, so he draws two, then gains back one life. I had to stack my hand with tons of Bangs before I managed to finish him off. It wasn’t so simple, because being the Sheriff in a four-player game meant I was the only guy helping me out... heh.
.:My Willpower Is Weak:.
We were at Starbucks again last night, except this time, Peppy joined in the fray because he didn’t feel like going home at all. With that being said, things were pretty fun. Mikko was still expressing his disdain over Jay-R (Mr. Gayface.) for the most part, and Jason was not up for any sensible conversation...
Jason: But if Peppy goes for RX, you know he’d get hired!
Marcelle: No, they’re not looking for another Kuya Cesar right now...
Touche.
Mog, Mikko, and Peppy were talking about Battletech or something like that. Jess was mostly quiet, and just reacting to all the comments (Mental note: Pronounce things well. She thought “Corn star” was “Porn star”. How could she misinterpret such a thing? ::winks::). She, however, was having what looked like a tempting drink of Iced White Chocolate...
Jess: It’s really good. Why don’t you try it?
Marcelle: I only have 1,000 for the next two weeks... and I have lots of willpower!
Around ten minutes later, I was holding my own Iced White Chocolate and a small bag of Cheetos...
Marcelle: Err... so much for willpower.
Ran into Bobby Benedicto last night there, all the same. I guess I’d really be watching his films on Saturday.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
.:A Plug:.
Do continue voting for me. I’m nominated for BEST WEBLOG IN THE PHILIPPINES. Do vote for me by clicking HERE by clicking the link and registering with the forum. I need only a few more votes to regain the lead. :)
.:A Primer:.
Grace and I watched “I Will Survive” yesterday. It was an interesting film, and I really liked the concept. Grace even cried at a certain point in the film, which was perfectly understandable because of the very natural flow of the script. This was much better than the last local film I watched (Ruffa Mae Quinto’s “Masikip Sa Dibdib”.), and it was all good fun. Shades of “Bridal Shower”, even.
As usual, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
.:Movie Review: I Will Survive:.
I Will Survive
This Movie Did More Than Just Survive. It Thrived!
“I Will Survive” is the story of four friends in a chorale group: Louise (Dina Bonnevie), Mylene (Judy Ann Santos), Cynthia (Maricel Soriano), and Mandy (Eric Quizon). The former three are all married with at least one child. The latter is a single parent of two sons. The story revolves around how they deal with their relationships with their respective partners and their children.
Louise is a fashion goddess who is renowned for being beautiful and attractive even in her age. Her husband, Manolo (Tonton Gutierrez.), is a photographer who is so into taking her pictures. However, her daughter, Peachy (Serena Dalrymple), is into a gothic look, which completely contrasts with Louise’s fashion sense. They inevitably clash over their differing tastes, and the need is for them to bridge this gap between the two of them. What Louise doesn’t know is the “stalker” who steals her pictures from her husband’s studio is actually Peachy, who secretly worships her mom.
Cynthia is portrayed as a sort of frigid insurance agent whose husband, Greg (Jay Manalo), is perceived to be a notorious womanizer. She tries to seduce him by pretending to be a GRO, trying to make him jealous, and even donning a Catwoman outfit for a bit of... roleplaying. All to no avail. She finds out that he is probably having an affair, tries to get it on with someone who claimed to be a preacher (But is actually a salesman.), and ends up soliciting advice from the guy instead. One night, Greg comes home drunk, they do it, and Cynthia suddenly gets an STD. To compound matters, her son, BJ (Richard Gutierrez), is discovering his sexuality a wee bit too soon, and she catches him on the Webcam, and then, err... loving himself in his room, and other rather... sticky situations.
Mylene is a Balikbayan whose husband, Rudy, is also a Balikbayan. They have a daughter who doesn’t know them because they were both gone for six years. To compound that, Rudy had an affair while he was in Australia, which led him to have a love child. Mylene’s attitude about all of this is rather tongue-in-cheek. She tries to follow everything she watches on VCD’s of Filipino films, and the fact that Judy Ann is portraying it is sort of a poke of fun at herself over her other less... comedic characters.
Lastly, Mandy is a single father of two with a maid who reads “Virginia Woolf” for leisure. He is a closet queen, who actually has a policeman for a boyfriend, Dante. His elder child, Dindo is trying to figure out if he’s gay, while his younger son, Buboy, is just there asking questions about different words. When his elder son finds out he’s gay and that he adopted him, he sets off each night to find his real mother. One night, while Mandy was discreetly following Dindo who runs into BJ, a snatcher tries to steal Dindo’s phone, and Mandy rushes into the rescue. The gay jokes here are really fun, as they even had enough room for song numbers left and right that just fit into the story (Unlike Ruffa Mae’s.).
In the end, all is well. It may seem like Deus Ex Machina, but this is a feel-good movie, so we’re not supposed to see much tragedy, anyway. The chorale finally performed to cap off the show, and of course, the song they sang was “I Will Survive”.
How the story comes together is simply brilliant. The comedy was crisp and witty, as the kids were given splendid material that didn’t make them seem too scripted or too contrived. They were performing very well, no question about it. I especially liked the song numbers because they were really integral to the story, and how all of them managed to resolve their respective issues with their children or partners. I cannot praise this film enough. I’m a sucker for these witty comedies, and ever since I saw Bridal Shower, I realized how well-written Filipino comedy could actually be when the opportunity is presented. I would’ve given out classic lines from the film, except that they’re mostly visual jokes that are just simply entertaining. With that being said, I really hope you guys who’re so antagonistic of Filipino films just ignore that bias and give this one a go.
There's no problem with any of the special effects, either. It's not like they had to shell out much. What they lacked in eye candy, they made up for in character depth, although the stereotypical one-dimensional characters were inserted to anchor the consistency of the story well enough.
I’d have wanted to give it a longer evaluation, but I don’t really see any good reason why... heh. It’s something I’d rather see people watch than for me to tell them more than they need to know about it.
Marcelle's "Fun" Evaluation: A+
Marcelle's "Critical Evaluation: A+
Do continue voting for me. I’m nominated for BEST WEBLOG IN THE PHILIPPINES. Do vote for me by clicking HERE by clicking the link and registering with the forum. I need only a few more votes to regain the lead. :)
.:A Primer:.
Grace and I watched “I Will Survive” yesterday. It was an interesting film, and I really liked the concept. Grace even cried at a certain point in the film, which was perfectly understandable because of the very natural flow of the script. This was much better than the last local film I watched (Ruffa Mae Quinto’s “Masikip Sa Dibdib”.), and it was all good fun. Shades of “Bridal Shower”, even.
As usual, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
.:Movie Review: I Will Survive:.
I Will Survive
This Movie Did More Than Just Survive. It Thrived!
“I Will Survive” is the story of four friends in a chorale group: Louise (Dina Bonnevie), Mylene (Judy Ann Santos), Cynthia (Maricel Soriano), and Mandy (Eric Quizon). The former three are all married with at least one child. The latter is a single parent of two sons. The story revolves around how they deal with their relationships with their respective partners and their children.
Louise is a fashion goddess who is renowned for being beautiful and attractive even in her age. Her husband, Manolo (Tonton Gutierrez.), is a photographer who is so into taking her pictures. However, her daughter, Peachy (Serena Dalrymple), is into a gothic look, which completely contrasts with Louise’s fashion sense. They inevitably clash over their differing tastes, and the need is for them to bridge this gap between the two of them. What Louise doesn’t know is the “stalker” who steals her pictures from her husband’s studio is actually Peachy, who secretly worships her mom.
Cynthia is portrayed as a sort of frigid insurance agent whose husband, Greg (Jay Manalo), is perceived to be a notorious womanizer. She tries to seduce him by pretending to be a GRO, trying to make him jealous, and even donning a Catwoman outfit for a bit of... roleplaying. All to no avail. She finds out that he is probably having an affair, tries to get it on with someone who claimed to be a preacher (But is actually a salesman.), and ends up soliciting advice from the guy instead. One night, Greg comes home drunk, they do it, and Cynthia suddenly gets an STD. To compound matters, her son, BJ (Richard Gutierrez), is discovering his sexuality a wee bit too soon, and she catches him on the Webcam, and then, err... loving himself in his room, and other rather... sticky situations.
Mylene is a Balikbayan whose husband, Rudy, is also a Balikbayan. They have a daughter who doesn’t know them because they were both gone for six years. To compound that, Rudy had an affair while he was in Australia, which led him to have a love child. Mylene’s attitude about all of this is rather tongue-in-cheek. She tries to follow everything she watches on VCD’s of Filipino films, and the fact that Judy Ann is portraying it is sort of a poke of fun at herself over her other less... comedic characters.
Lastly, Mandy is a single father of two with a maid who reads “Virginia Woolf” for leisure. He is a closet queen, who actually has a policeman for a boyfriend, Dante. His elder child, Dindo is trying to figure out if he’s gay, while his younger son, Buboy, is just there asking questions about different words. When his elder son finds out he’s gay and that he adopted him, he sets off each night to find his real mother. One night, while Mandy was discreetly following Dindo who runs into BJ, a snatcher tries to steal Dindo’s phone, and Mandy rushes into the rescue. The gay jokes here are really fun, as they even had enough room for song numbers left and right that just fit into the story (Unlike Ruffa Mae’s.).
In the end, all is well. It may seem like Deus Ex Machina, but this is a feel-good movie, so we’re not supposed to see much tragedy, anyway. The chorale finally performed to cap off the show, and of course, the song they sang was “I Will Survive”.
How the story comes together is simply brilliant. The comedy was crisp and witty, as the kids were given splendid material that didn’t make them seem too scripted or too contrived. They were performing very well, no question about it. I especially liked the song numbers because they were really integral to the story, and how all of them managed to resolve their respective issues with their children or partners. I cannot praise this film enough. I’m a sucker for these witty comedies, and ever since I saw Bridal Shower, I realized how well-written Filipino comedy could actually be when the opportunity is presented. I would’ve given out classic lines from the film, except that they’re mostly visual jokes that are just simply entertaining. With that being said, I really hope you guys who’re so antagonistic of Filipino films just ignore that bias and give this one a go.
There's no problem with any of the special effects, either. It's not like they had to shell out much. What they lacked in eye candy, they made up for in character depth, although the stereotypical one-dimensional characters were inserted to anchor the consistency of the story well enough.
I’d have wanted to give it a longer evaluation, but I don’t really see any good reason why... heh. It’s something I’d rather see people watch than for me to tell them more than they need to know about it.
Marcelle's "Fun" Evaluation: A+
Marcelle's "Critical Evaluation: A+
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
.:The Chuang Tzu And Our Grades:.
The funny thing about yesterday's class was that I was soooo hyperactive at the time. I was constantly making commentaries about the reading, and this is, after all, Taoism we are talking about, where knowing that we do not know is a good thing. With that being said, things got really funny when I asked Dr. Dy...
Marcelle: So sir, during the finals, if we answer nothing to your question on Taoism, we are correct?
When I did the reading of a passage, I even did classic Kung-Fu voices that tempted me to "misread" the piece and say stuff like "Wanna try my Kung-Fu?" It was all good, I guess. The better for me to ignore certain facts...
I even saw Jim Paredes' story about the archer in the Chuang Tzu. Now I know where he's been getting a good chunk of his material. Still, what makes me feel a bit better is that I know I've been contributing quite a deal to the class in spite of all my jokes and side comments. Of course, my rapid comments couldn't go unnoticed...
Marcelle, mukhang nakatira ka ng acetone, ah!
Anyways, my favorite comment was the one I made about the chapter on "Duke Hwan and the Wheel Wright"...
It was about a wheelwright who spoke to Duke Hwan of Khi. He asked him about the book the Duke was reading. When he began to speak about the great minds of old, the wheelwright told him that this is nothing but dust that he is reading. Angered, the Duke asked why. The wheelwright spoke plainly: it is nothing but remnants of a greater whole that you never fathomed.
As Bruce Lee would say, it is like a finger pointing to the moon. Don’t look at the finger. Look at the moon.
I think I just found my niche in Philosophy: pop culture. Comm and Philosophy coming together to form a nice little package...
.:Since I Don't Drink...:.
My wholehearted gratitude to Jason, Jess, Mog (I hope I spelled that right.), and Mikko for being nice enough to keep me company yesterday after having received the gloomy news that I'm no longer Fr. Que's teaching assistant, not of my own choice. They were really hilarious for the most part, and I still cannot figure out how the Hades I'd go about transcribing what happened.
Anyways, we just ate at some Chinese restaurant in Katipunan for starters. I had beef wanton soup, and then we started talking about stuff. I commented something about oral exams or Sacha, or something to that effect...
Marcelle: But it's not what you think.
Jason: Marcelle, when it comes to you, it is what we think.
For some strange reason, everyone eating forgot that there was a girl in the vicinity (Jess, to be exact.). So Jason bought a copy of FHM and then started getting everyone on the table ogling at the pictures, while everyone was completely oblivious to the fact that Jess was seething already in a good-natured kind of way. Nonetheless, it was really fun. Mikko was talking about how difficult it was to handle a cadaver if it's fat, because his gloves weren't long enough to avoid touching the cadaver's innards. And still, he couldn't find the cadaver's kidneys...
After a while, we went back to the store, just in time for it to close. No big deal, really. I was doing a few card tricks, though. Same old stuff I could do with any given deck of cards, though of course, my special deck is quite a sight in contrast... I wasn't as miffed about the previous occurences any longer, but still...
We headed to Starbucks, where I was the only one who didn't have anything. I guess the fact that I don't drink coffee much should explain why I didn't get myself anything. Anyways, I was just looking at Jason's laptop, which was secondhand, but wasn't so bad, nonetheless. It's just that it didn't have any more batteries, so I didn't get to check out how it runs. The topic, for some reason, shifted to Peppy and Sacha (The latter, I can understand why.). It was interesting how the dialogue went. Theories arose, such as stuff like "Sacha's just a front of Peppy's to get to Eric Vidal". It was all good. I guess Jason really has an axe to grind with Peppy for those two near-death experiences.
We were even talking about certain people who were taken, and the insights seemed to be pushed by alcohol- except nobody had any alcohol. Things were even more hilarious once we got into the car and we started singing church songs and medleys. Of course, I just had to make the blooper of the day...
Marcelle: Is Badj related to Chico and SJ?
The answer I got was classic.
Anyways, the pictures (Sans one that seems to be missing...:
The funny thing about yesterday's class was that I was soooo hyperactive at the time. I was constantly making commentaries about the reading, and this is, after all, Taoism we are talking about, where knowing that we do not know is a good thing. With that being said, things got really funny when I asked Dr. Dy...
Marcelle: So sir, during the finals, if we answer nothing to your question on Taoism, we are correct?
When I did the reading of a passage, I even did classic Kung-Fu voices that tempted me to "misread" the piece and say stuff like "Wanna try my Kung-Fu?" It was all good, I guess. The better for me to ignore certain facts...
I even saw Jim Paredes' story about the archer in the Chuang Tzu. Now I know where he's been getting a good chunk of his material. Still, what makes me feel a bit better is that I know I've been contributing quite a deal to the class in spite of all my jokes and side comments. Of course, my rapid comments couldn't go unnoticed...
Marcelle, mukhang nakatira ka ng acetone, ah!
Anyways, my favorite comment was the one I made about the chapter on "Duke Hwan and the Wheel Wright"...
It was about a wheelwright who spoke to Duke Hwan of Khi. He asked him about the book the Duke was reading. When he began to speak about the great minds of old, the wheelwright told him that this is nothing but dust that he is reading. Angered, the Duke asked why. The wheelwright spoke plainly: it is nothing but remnants of a greater whole that you never fathomed.
As Bruce Lee would say, it is like a finger pointing to the moon. Don’t look at the finger. Look at the moon.
I think I just found my niche in Philosophy: pop culture. Comm and Philosophy coming together to form a nice little package...
.:Since I Don't Drink...:.
My wholehearted gratitude to Jason, Jess, Mog (I hope I spelled that right.), and Mikko for being nice enough to keep me company yesterday after having received the gloomy news that I'm no longer Fr. Que's teaching assistant, not of my own choice. They were really hilarious for the most part, and I still cannot figure out how the Hades I'd go about transcribing what happened.
Anyways, we just ate at some Chinese restaurant in Katipunan for starters. I had beef wanton soup, and then we started talking about stuff. I commented something about oral exams or Sacha, or something to that effect...
Marcelle: But it's not what you think.
Jason: Marcelle, when it comes to you, it is what we think.
For some strange reason, everyone eating forgot that there was a girl in the vicinity (Jess, to be exact.). So Jason bought a copy of FHM and then started getting everyone on the table ogling at the pictures, while everyone was completely oblivious to the fact that Jess was seething already in a good-natured kind of way. Nonetheless, it was really fun. Mikko was talking about how difficult it was to handle a cadaver if it's fat, because his gloves weren't long enough to avoid touching the cadaver's innards. And still, he couldn't find the cadaver's kidneys...
After a while, we went back to the store, just in time for it to close. No big deal, really. I was doing a few card tricks, though. Same old stuff I could do with any given deck of cards, though of course, my special deck is quite a sight in contrast... I wasn't as miffed about the previous occurences any longer, but still...
We headed to Starbucks, where I was the only one who didn't have anything. I guess the fact that I don't drink coffee much should explain why I didn't get myself anything. Anyways, I was just looking at Jason's laptop, which was secondhand, but wasn't so bad, nonetheless. It's just that it didn't have any more batteries, so I didn't get to check out how it runs. The topic, for some reason, shifted to Peppy and Sacha (The latter, I can understand why.). It was interesting how the dialogue went. Theories arose, such as stuff like "Sacha's just a front of Peppy's to get to Eric Vidal". It was all good. I guess Jason really has an axe to grind with Peppy for those two near-death experiences.
We were even talking about certain people who were taken, and the insights seemed to be pushed by alcohol- except nobody had any alcohol. Things were even more hilarious once we got into the car and we started singing church songs and medleys. Of course, I just had to make the blooper of the day...
Marcelle: Is Badj related to Chico and SJ?
The answer I got was classic.
Anyways, the pictures (Sans one that seems to be missing...:
LA Lopez before and after that “special night”.
Meet the Prime Evils: Baal, Mephisto, and Diablo.
They look gooodddd together.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
.:What The Hades Is This?:.
Ladies and gentlemen, Marcelle just lost a job before he even had it.
This morning, Mr. Bulaong, my Philosophy professor for most of my Philosophy classes throughout college, called me on his cellular phone. It was odd, truth be told. He was wondering what happened to me, and I was telling him that I had to change my course from TPH to regular MA for Philosophy. The difference was that the former would be a non-doctorate program, and I wasn't intent on letting that happen.
Then he suddenly asked me...
Bakit ka nag-back out sa pagiging teaching assistant ni Fr. Que?
I was surprised. I never backed out. I never told anyone that I will. So I asked him to clarify what that meant, and apparently, Dr. Ibana assumed that my having a part-time job meant I was abandoning being a teaching assistant. What the Hades? I do recall telling him explicitly what I made clear with Binswanger: I will not comrpomise my studies or my teaching for them. What part of that signifies that I'm backing out?
So now, Dr. Ibana decided to take matters into his hands and promptly assign a different teaching assistant to Fr. Que for this schoolyear, which leaves me out of a teaching job. Pardon me, but that is just effed up. I've spent so much time mulling over this, I've made up my mind without any reservations to go and sacrifice a chance at quick prosperity by instead teaching, and instead, I'm left as the fifth choice in a choice of five. Guess what? The department can only afford four teaching assistants. Wonderful. To think I was already guaranteed the effing job. Now, I have to hope that the VP would consider making enough room for a fifth teaching assistant, which I find to be unfair, because I never said anything about backing out. Why do I have to pay for other people's mistakes again, just like this whole TPH or PH deal?
I am fuming and I am absobloodylutely ticked off. Marcelle is once again denied.
Ladies and gentlemen, Marcelle just lost a job before he even had it.
This morning, Mr. Bulaong, my Philosophy professor for most of my Philosophy classes throughout college, called me on his cellular phone. It was odd, truth be told. He was wondering what happened to me, and I was telling him that I had to change my course from TPH to regular MA for Philosophy. The difference was that the former would be a non-doctorate program, and I wasn't intent on letting that happen.
Then he suddenly asked me...
Bakit ka nag-back out sa pagiging teaching assistant ni Fr. Que?
I was surprised. I never backed out. I never told anyone that I will. So I asked him to clarify what that meant, and apparently, Dr. Ibana assumed that my having a part-time job meant I was abandoning being a teaching assistant. What the Hades? I do recall telling him explicitly what I made clear with Binswanger: I will not comrpomise my studies or my teaching for them. What part of that signifies that I'm backing out?
So now, Dr. Ibana decided to take matters into his hands and promptly assign a different teaching assistant to Fr. Que for this schoolyear, which leaves me out of a teaching job. Pardon me, but that is just effed up. I've spent so much time mulling over this, I've made up my mind without any reservations to go and sacrifice a chance at quick prosperity by instead teaching, and instead, I'm left as the fifth choice in a choice of five. Guess what? The department can only afford four teaching assistants. Wonderful. To think I was already guaranteed the effing job. Now, I have to hope that the VP would consider making enough room for a fifth teaching assistant, which I find to be unfair, because I never said anything about backing out. Why do I have to pay for other people's mistakes again, just like this whole TPH or PH deal?
I am fuming and I am absobloodylutely ticked off. Marcelle is once again denied.
.:Now It Can Be Told:.
It’s been talked about. Shrouded in mystery, the stroke of brilliance came like a flash in the night… the allure was too powerful. The call for intrigue and danger was simply too enthralling to neglect…
Sacha: This sounds dangerous. *laughs*
Of course, questions remain. It is far from certain if the people can possibly fathom such an endeavor from ever truly happening. Some question the timeliness…
Peppy: I don’t think the world is ready…
It has even evoked a sense of genuine fear…
Sacha: Now I’m really scared.
Some, on the other hand, have been completely dumbstruck over the proposition…
Eric: What the heck?
Others have seen it as a start of something big…
Marcelle: We could make this happen for you next year, Jess. All you need do is ask.
Jess: Now I know you’re really crazy, Marcelle.
But finally, the endeavor has been deemed worthy enough of being carried out to hopeful fruition…
Sacha: You're insane, Marcelle. What the heck. Give it a try. Not that I'm officially endorsing this endeavor or anything... ;b
And so, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the one-year plan that I tossed out to Peppy. The one-year plan that we are now fully intent on carrying out…
GET SACHA CHUA INTO THE 2005 FHM’s 100 SEXIEST WOMEN OF THE WORLD ISSUE
But of course, there’re considerations from those concerned…
Eric: I’m not giving any support whatsoever.
Sacha: And no one's going to wonder just how a flat(Chested? :) – Marcelle), pimply, geeky girl pulled that feat off? *laugh*
But we all know it can be pulled off. There will be online votations for this, and you know that’s where things will tip the balance heavily in favor of Sacha. I really think that if enough people voted for her, even if she’s a non-mainstream “celebrity”, FHM would have no choice but to put her in. And then the pictorial has to happen, and of course, that’s the only perk I’m getting out of this… official photographer rights. :)
Sacha: I’m not about to get a picture taken in a compromising pose. ;p
Hmm… okay. Maybe not. But then, to fully quote a great sage…
Peppy: I don’t think the world is ready for sexy Sacha pics.
Ah, but another sage replies…
Marcelle: I know I am.
Next year, Jess and Grace, perhaps?
.:More Chinese Philosophy Fun:.
We’re doing the Chuang Tzu right now, and it’s a very fun time. As usual, we had weird commentary left and right of people interpreting things a wee bit too literally and losing sight of the significance, but it’s all good. For the longest time, people fixated themselves on the idea of a shadow in the literal sense, instead of thinking that it could simply be a symbol for something more significant. You can tell that they started being literal about it… questions arose as to why a man should be afraid of his shadow. It was downright inane already.
We even walked into the classroom with some advanced mathematical problem on the board. The running joke was that was a sample test of our Philo finals...
In any case, yesterday's class was really wacky. I sort of forgot what else was talked about, but I suppose it'd come to me later. I wish I managed to recall the moemnts there, though. It was really a great class, and I even squeezed in a bit of Troy in the discussion.
.:Uh-oh:.
Remember when I asked about Bartolina? Well, guess what… it’s apparently a nightclub in Cubao. That doesn’t sound like good news to me at all…
.:Crazy Chatting:.
voldemort02: You there?
ninjapeps: Nope.
ninjapeps: Not here.
ninjapeps: This is a recording.
This is crazy… :)
.:A Job Opportunity?:.
Misinterpretations arose, and people have been assuming that my revoking of a scholarship means I am effectively backing out of being a Teaching Assistant. Such is not the case. I guess I have to talk to Fr. Que about this, then. This isn’t good… I could lose a job that I wasn’t supposed to lose…
I never backed out, nor do I intend to. Teaching is what I want to do, so neither Hades nor high water can possibly keep me from going for it. That’s a fact. I’m going to have to fix this today.
In the meantime, I have a different interview I have to comply with on Wednesday. I’m not pinning my hopes much on Binswanger anymore. They seem to not be the least bit interested about hiring me, so it seems. I’d rather take a part-time job and some freelance writing if that were the case.
If I do take this offer on Wednesday, I’d end up working with Ria Go, one of my nice Chinese classmates in Chinese Philosophy.
.:Good Old Days:.
Played RAW Deal with a former player yesterday. It’s sad how he got discouraged to start again because he needs a lot of catching up to do. I guess it can’t be helped, but I’m pretty certain that if he were a bit more willing, I could personally help him out in that department. Every single RAW Deal player counts to me right now, and in my attempting to start a new writing gig for Comic Images, maybe I can drum up some international interest in the Philippines so that people can actually pour in some help, be it words or even… product? It’s my only way to do it without shelling out money for now.
I’ll be writing a series of articles once a month tentatively entitled, “Where Are They Now?” I’ll be looking at RAW Deal decks that used to be popular but somehow stopped being so. It would be interesting because we’d end up seeing exactly how the game’s evolution has occurred, and whether or not the drop of popularity in the particular deck being discussed each article is actually logical. Maybe some decks just stopped being used but are actually as good as ever…
When I can spend, though, rest assured that I will do all I can to blitz RAW Deal into the mainstream market…
It’s been talked about. Shrouded in mystery, the stroke of brilliance came like a flash in the night… the allure was too powerful. The call for intrigue and danger was simply too enthralling to neglect…
Sacha: This sounds dangerous. *laughs*
Of course, questions remain. It is far from certain if the people can possibly fathom such an endeavor from ever truly happening. Some question the timeliness…
Peppy: I don’t think the world is ready…
It has even evoked a sense of genuine fear…
Sacha: Now I’m really scared.
Some, on the other hand, have been completely dumbstruck over the proposition…
Eric: What the heck?
Others have seen it as a start of something big…
Marcelle: We could make this happen for you next year, Jess. All you need do is ask.
Jess: Now I know you’re really crazy, Marcelle.
But finally, the endeavor has been deemed worthy enough of being carried out to hopeful fruition…
Sacha: You're insane, Marcelle. What the heck. Give it a try. Not that I'm officially endorsing this endeavor or anything... ;b
And so, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the one-year plan that I tossed out to Peppy. The one-year plan that we are now fully intent on carrying out…
GET SACHA CHUA INTO THE 2005 FHM’s 100 SEXIEST WOMEN OF THE WORLD ISSUE
But of course, there’re considerations from those concerned…
Eric: I’m not giving any support whatsoever.
Sacha: And no one's going to wonder just how a flat(Chested? :) – Marcelle), pimply, geeky girl pulled that feat off? *laugh*
But we all know it can be pulled off. There will be online votations for this, and you know that’s where things will tip the balance heavily in favor of Sacha. I really think that if enough people voted for her, even if she’s a non-mainstream “celebrity”, FHM would have no choice but to put her in. And then the pictorial has to happen, and of course, that’s the only perk I’m getting out of this… official photographer rights. :)
Sacha: I’m not about to get a picture taken in a compromising pose. ;p
Hmm… okay. Maybe not. But then, to fully quote a great sage…
Peppy: I don’t think the world is ready for sexy Sacha pics.
Ah, but another sage replies…
Marcelle: I know I am.
Next year, Jess and Grace, perhaps?
.:More Chinese Philosophy Fun:.
We’re doing the Chuang Tzu right now, and it’s a very fun time. As usual, we had weird commentary left and right of people interpreting things a wee bit too literally and losing sight of the significance, but it’s all good. For the longest time, people fixated themselves on the idea of a shadow in the literal sense, instead of thinking that it could simply be a symbol for something more significant. You can tell that they started being literal about it… questions arose as to why a man should be afraid of his shadow. It was downright inane already.
We even walked into the classroom with some advanced mathematical problem on the board. The running joke was that was a sample test of our Philo finals...
In any case, yesterday's class was really wacky. I sort of forgot what else was talked about, but I suppose it'd come to me later. I wish I managed to recall the moemnts there, though. It was really a great class, and I even squeezed in a bit of Troy in the discussion.
.:Uh-oh:.
Remember when I asked about Bartolina? Well, guess what… it’s apparently a nightclub in Cubao. That doesn’t sound like good news to me at all…
.:Crazy Chatting:.
voldemort02: You there?
ninjapeps: Nope.
ninjapeps: Not here.
ninjapeps: This is a recording.
This is crazy… :)
.:A Job Opportunity?:.
Misinterpretations arose, and people have been assuming that my revoking of a scholarship means I am effectively backing out of being a Teaching Assistant. Such is not the case. I guess I have to talk to Fr. Que about this, then. This isn’t good… I could lose a job that I wasn’t supposed to lose…
I never backed out, nor do I intend to. Teaching is what I want to do, so neither Hades nor high water can possibly keep me from going for it. That’s a fact. I’m going to have to fix this today.
In the meantime, I have a different interview I have to comply with on Wednesday. I’m not pinning my hopes much on Binswanger anymore. They seem to not be the least bit interested about hiring me, so it seems. I’d rather take a part-time job and some freelance writing if that were the case.
If I do take this offer on Wednesday, I’d end up working with Ria Go, one of my nice Chinese classmates in Chinese Philosophy.
.:Good Old Days:.
Played RAW Deal with a former player yesterday. It’s sad how he got discouraged to start again because he needs a lot of catching up to do. I guess it can’t be helped, but I’m pretty certain that if he were a bit more willing, I could personally help him out in that department. Every single RAW Deal player counts to me right now, and in my attempting to start a new writing gig for Comic Images, maybe I can drum up some international interest in the Philippines so that people can actually pour in some help, be it words or even… product? It’s my only way to do it without shelling out money for now.
I’ll be writing a series of articles once a month tentatively entitled, “Where Are They Now?” I’ll be looking at RAW Deal decks that used to be popular but somehow stopped being so. It would be interesting because we’d end up seeing exactly how the game’s evolution has occurred, and whether or not the drop of popularity in the particular deck being discussed each article is actually logical. Maybe some decks just stopped being used but are actually as good as ever…
When I can spend, though, rest assured that I will do all I can to blitz RAW Deal into the mainstream market…
Monday, May 17, 2004
.:A Primer:.
Notice that I now place a primer before any movie reviews. It helps to have a whole section dedicated to warning you that there will be spoilers in the next, particularly on Blogger, where I cannot possibly cut my post.
Anyways, my family watched Troy last night, and I have to say that the whole thing was more or less fun. We especially enjoyed seeing Nathan Jones in Brad Pitt's first fight scene, where he just stood and got killed after tossing a javelin. Heh. His lack of personality pretty much shows why he didn't make it too big in the WWE for the short time that he was there.
Our maid's name is Ate Helen. You can imagine how often we were snickering whenever Helen of Troy showed up onscreen... we never saw her the way we were supposed to see her.
In any case, you know I'll be reviewing Troy today, and as you all know, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
.:Movie Revie: Troy:.
Notice that I now place a primer before any movie reviews. It helps to have a whole section dedicated to warning you that there will be spoilers in the next, particularly on Blogger, where I cannot possibly cut my post.
Anyways, my family watched Troy last night, and I have to say that the whole thing was more or less fun. We especially enjoyed seeing Nathan Jones in Brad Pitt's first fight scene, where he just stood and got killed after tossing a javelin. Heh. His lack of personality pretty much shows why he didn't make it too big in the WWE for the short time that he was there.
Our maid's name is Ate Helen. You can imagine how often we were snickering whenever Helen of Troy showed up onscreen... we never saw her the way we were supposed to see her.
In any case, you know I'll be reviewing Troy today, and as you all know, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
.:Movie Revie: Troy:.
Troy
Montero?
A star-studded cast, an epic of... epic proportions. What more can filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen ask for?
Oh, I don't know. Maybe just a wee bit more masculinity from Orlando Bloom?
Troy is an undeified recounting of the Trojan War, completely ignoring any acts of divine intervention found in Homer's account of the said war. While the whole war is generally regarded as fictional, it is believed to have had a valid war as inspiration for the story. We all know how the story goes, except that instead of Golden Apples, Paris simply spirits Helen of Sparta away after having forged an alliance with Sparta. Of course, such an act is plainly idiotic and deceitful, but there you go. And of course, Paris excpects his brother, Hector (Eric Bana), to fight this war on his behalf. Trust me. He can deny it all he wants, but he excepted Hector to save his hide from getting flayed by Menelaus, husband of Helen, king of Sparta.
Meanwhile in Greece, King Agamemnon has succeeded in conquering all of Greece and unifying it under his rule. His greatest fighter, Achilles (Brad Pitt) treats him with disdain over his lack of decorum and spinelessness in hardly ever participating in battle. This gap between him prevents Agamemnon from maximizing Achilles' potential. The king has his eyes set upon Troy, and was disappointed when his brother, Menelaus, formed an alliance with it. He found delight in having known that Helen deserted Menelaus in favor of Paris, which he found as ample cause to start war.
And so the war happens, and we see that in the end, Greece is victorious, but Ajax, arguably the strongest man next only to Hercules, was killed by Hector. Achilles' cousin, Patroclus, who impersonated Achilles, was killed by Hector after falling for the duplicity. Then, Hector was promptly slain by Achilles. The scene between Priam and Achilles when the former asked for Hector's body was very endearing. Achilles didn't want to allow Hector any proper funeral rights, but upon prodding, he had to accede to Priam, and even showed mutual respect to one another, including a twelve-day truce.
Achilles was slain by Paris during the siege of Troy, which involved the obvious Trojan horse. In any case, the irony was that Paris, who refused to die an honorable death in his battle with Menelaus, ended up being the one to take Achilles down. I don't think any illusions of immortality were levelled upon Achilles in the film, as he simply commented on the allegation that he "wouldn't need any shield" if that were the case. Still, he was struck at the heel. Both Agamemnon and Priam ended up dead in the final battle.
I liked the production design. Their costumes were elaborate enough to show key differences in armor, weaponry, and the like between the different Grecian states and Troy. They had quite an eye for detail, and though the premise for the war was clearly annoying (It's not that they're fighting over a woman, which is sexist if I were to say that. It's that they were fighting over wounded pride, more than anything else. Knowing Menelaus' piggish attitude, it could've been a cow and he'd still have a cow over it and start a war.), it's not like they invented this story, anyway.
The dialogue was crisp enough. You can't blame them for being sappy, considering how they simply followed the original for the most part. With that being said, I wasn't a big fan of the downtime in between action. Whether it be a love scene or a tender moment between brothers, I really would rather not be bothered with it. The action was excellent. Nothing like seeing skilled fighters go medieval on one another, given the kind of technology they were limited to. That jumping move of Achilles' was a nice touch.
But what didn't work for me simply was the downtime. Anytime you show Paris and Hector having a bonding session on the film, you can't help but mutter, "How gay!" Let's face it: Orlando Bloom is extremely... effeminate, and it really ruins the whole feel of the film. Even Patroclus and Achilles had moments like that. I perfectly understand why Ronan thinks Troy is "a gay movie trying to be straight". Makes sense to me, truth be told. It would've been a bit interesting if the gods did intervene in the battle all the same, but I guess personifying the gods would make them lose their effect in this case, as unless they make these gods very... godlike (Read: even more SFX.), then they don't stand a chance of standing out from guys like Hector and Achilles.
This movie will unlikely go down as an all-time classic, in spite of its subject matter. Nonetheless, it's a good film. I really enjoyed the action, and the drama within the war was very well-placed. The technical aspect of the film was top-notch, and it was even better than how I enjoyed the film. If you didn't mind Frodo and Sam getting it on in Lord of the Rings, then I guess you'd like Troy all the same.
Marcelle's "Fun" Evaluation: B+
Marcelle's "Critical" Evaluation: A-
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Yet another Philosophy essay... hope you like it! :)
The Political Tao
“The best (rulers) are those whose existence is (merely) known by the people.
The next best are those who are loved and praised.
The next are those who are feared.
And the next are those who are despised.
It is only when one does not have enough faith in others that others will have no faith in him.
[The great rulers] value their words highly.
- Lao Tzu, the Tao-Te Ching (Chapter 17)
A week ago, the Philippines excercised its democratic power once again to hold the National Elections to determine the next, though not necessarily new, crop of leaders to run this country. The most prominent political race among the positions available for elections was quite obviously the one for the presidency. It was clearly marked by the emergence of six different candidates, all of them with their respective reasons to solicit the vote of the Filipino people. What I wish to do is to analyze each political candidate given the criteria of the Tao.
The least significant of these candidates was clearly Eddie Gil, an alleged businessman whose main platform was to promise “one million pesos to every Filipino” if he were to win. His inane platform was clearly not going to get him anywhere. On the scale of Lao Tzu, he is not even known, loved, feared, or despised. He is simply laughed at. I’m inclined to believe that Eddie Gil is completely out of the running in this respect. We have no idea how he intends to govern, but at this point, and since he is already disqualified, we don’t need to know anymore. Needless to say, considering Eddie Gil’s presidential chances would be a waste of time, so we don’t need to devote a single more paragraph to him...
Fernando Poe Jr. is arguably the most well-loved presidential candidate since the deposed former president Joseph Estrada. Despite that, his clear political inexperience and even administrative incompetence haunts him to the point that he really cannot be guaranteed entrance into Malacanang. While Taoism promotes Wu Wei or non-doing, while Taoism promotes cultivated ignorance, it is clear that innate ignorance and non-doing by incompetence does not make one govern well through non-governing. Yes, FPJ is well-loved among the masses, but he clearly cannot govern well by non-governing, especially if he were to delegate his powers to the dreaded triumvirate of Maceda, Sotto, and Angara. While he is well-loved by the masses, people can and will also fear or despise him. People such as myself. Are there people who just know him to be a leader? No, there aren’t. People know Fernando Poe Jr. not as a leader, but as an actor.
In contrast, there is nobody who can say that Ping Lacson is simply well-loved, or if his being a leader is simply a taken-for-granted fact. Ping Lacson’s fans and detractors are so polarized that there’s little room in between. Ping Lacson generates both fear and hatred for him, although the fear he generates was actually his main asset towards his candidacy, because some Filipinos recognize a severe dearth of discipline among the Filipino people. The fact of the matter is, he realizes that he cannot win over people by being charismatic, but by promoting a kind of governance that can be seen through ruling with an iron fist. It’s all about control. On the scale of great leaders, the fear and hatred he generates is certainly not telling of his quality as a leader. On the scale of governing by non-governing, his extremely hands-on approach would simply be detrimental to the Taoist sensibility.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is even more polarized as a leader. She is one who actually contains all levels of mere recognition, love, fear, and hatred. I’m inclined to believe that few people thrive on merely recognizing GMA’s leadership and are more likely to form some sentiment towards it, whether it be liking her approach, or outright disliking it. At the same time, we cannot seem to discount the fact that GMA, nearing the end of her first term (Assuming there will be a second.), started doing so much, so soon, just so she would win the people over. This involved medicards, huge housing projects, extensive media coverage, all telling us that GMA is anything but a “non-governing” leader. She has no trust in the Filipino people, and as such, is inclined to do everything for them. Her motivation for doing things is clearly for her own gain. On the realm of Taoism, Kant, and Aristotle, she falls flat as a leader.
Raul Roco is well-loved, no doubt about it. His detractors, though few, tend to hate him less than fear him. Roco is too benign to be feared, but too uncompromising to not be hated by those who do not see eye to eye with him. A lot of people just take his being a leader as a fact-for-granted, which puts him pretty high up in the Taoist measure. His method of governance appears to be pretty hands-on, as he does not seem to have much faith in the Filipino people at this point, but he is clearly banking on education as a means to eventual non-governance, which, if achieved, is actually quite a good idea. However, outside of the Taoist criteria, his health problems do pose quite a quandary as to whether or not he can achieve any of his objectives. Roco is an extremely good leader. He closely matches the Taoist sensibilities, save for his style of governance, but his health concerns are simply too great to be simply ignored.
Lastly, we have Brother Eddie Villanueva. This is the one person whom I’ve been pushing for throughout the election period as soon as I began to see things his way. Some people love him, but most people who wanted to vote for him didn’t vote for him because he was well-loved or praised, but because they merely knew him to be a leader who can get the job done. I call it this way because most people who voted for him are not even members of the JIL movement, and even do not see eye to eye with him on his religious beliefs. In spite of that, they recognize him to be a leader they can believe in, because he also believes in the Filipino people. His slogan says it all: Babangon ang Pilipinas. Maniwala ka. He doesn’t intend to do it all for the Filipino people. He believes. As such, he will simply do what he needs to do, and not have to do absolutely nothing, rule with an iron fist, or do it all for the people. This, to me, is proof that Bro. Eddie can simply be the best leader under the Taoist criteria.
This election period is clearly one of the most intriguing exercises of democracy ever. The volatility that is inevitable with the different temperaments, styles, and principles the candidates have is clearly telling us how difficult it could be to find one candidate who embodies everything we want in an ideal. As such, many people tend to considerate more than one candidate to vote for. They would know exactly who they are not voting for, but they have no idea who they want to actually vote for. Perfectly understandable, if you consider the need to vote strategically.
This kind of strategic voting explains why so many people who believed in a Bro. Eddie or a Raul Roco ended up voting for a GMA, because of their desire for the “lesser evil” who can actually win over FPJ. These are, after all, valid real-world considerations. We cannot deny that they significantly impact how people vote.
If the candidates were clean, a non-Taoist would simply choose Lacson over anyone else because his intentions of ruling with an iron fist can remind us how well that worked for Singapore. Look where that country is now. A Taoist would be most likely to vote for Bro. Eddie or Raul Roco. In a world of clean candidates, there is no room to choose a GMA (Who, while is willing to do everything, has no idea how to handle the people under her.), and no room for an FPJ either (He has no idea how to run the country except with his god intentions. That’s that.). It would only be a toss-up between Lacson, Roco, and Villanueva.
But you see, this isn’t an ideal world, but we can still vote with the ideal in our mind. With that being said, Lacson is clearly out. How can a man who lacks integrity promise discipline and integrity to this country? He has a very horrible record that includes allegations of murder. Such accusations cannot go by ignored, even if they may have been criminals whom he allegedly rubbed out.
That leaves us with Roco and Eddie Villanueva, who, in my personal opinion, are equally wise choices. Unfortunately, Roco has health considerations.
And that explains precisely why I believe in Bro. Eddie Villanueva, regardless if he wins or not. For a short-lived moment as well, with each single sticker or poster of his that I saw, knowing that whoever had it bought it out of his own pocket without it being given to them, I likewise believed in the Filipino people as much as Bro. Eddie did himself.
But we know what happened next. Perhaps there simply are some kinds of people who have so completely abandoned the Tao that we can no longer expect to have faith in them?
The Political Tao
“The best (rulers) are those whose existence is (merely) known by the people.
The next best are those who are loved and praised.
The next are those who are feared.
And the next are those who are despised.
It is only when one does not have enough faith in others that others will have no faith in him.
[The great rulers] value their words highly.
- Lao Tzu, the Tao-Te Ching (Chapter 17)
A week ago, the Philippines excercised its democratic power once again to hold the National Elections to determine the next, though not necessarily new, crop of leaders to run this country. The most prominent political race among the positions available for elections was quite obviously the one for the presidency. It was clearly marked by the emergence of six different candidates, all of them with their respective reasons to solicit the vote of the Filipino people. What I wish to do is to analyze each political candidate given the criteria of the Tao.
The least significant of these candidates was clearly Eddie Gil, an alleged businessman whose main platform was to promise “one million pesos to every Filipino” if he were to win. His inane platform was clearly not going to get him anywhere. On the scale of Lao Tzu, he is not even known, loved, feared, or despised. He is simply laughed at. I’m inclined to believe that Eddie Gil is completely out of the running in this respect. We have no idea how he intends to govern, but at this point, and since he is already disqualified, we don’t need to know anymore. Needless to say, considering Eddie Gil’s presidential chances would be a waste of time, so we don’t need to devote a single more paragraph to him...
Fernando Poe Jr. is arguably the most well-loved presidential candidate since the deposed former president Joseph Estrada. Despite that, his clear political inexperience and even administrative incompetence haunts him to the point that he really cannot be guaranteed entrance into Malacanang. While Taoism promotes Wu Wei or non-doing, while Taoism promotes cultivated ignorance, it is clear that innate ignorance and non-doing by incompetence does not make one govern well through non-governing. Yes, FPJ is well-loved among the masses, but he clearly cannot govern well by non-governing, especially if he were to delegate his powers to the dreaded triumvirate of Maceda, Sotto, and Angara. While he is well-loved by the masses, people can and will also fear or despise him. People such as myself. Are there people who just know him to be a leader? No, there aren’t. People know Fernando Poe Jr. not as a leader, but as an actor.
In contrast, there is nobody who can say that Ping Lacson is simply well-loved, or if his being a leader is simply a taken-for-granted fact. Ping Lacson’s fans and detractors are so polarized that there’s little room in between. Ping Lacson generates both fear and hatred for him, although the fear he generates was actually his main asset towards his candidacy, because some Filipinos recognize a severe dearth of discipline among the Filipino people. The fact of the matter is, he realizes that he cannot win over people by being charismatic, but by promoting a kind of governance that can be seen through ruling with an iron fist. It’s all about control. On the scale of great leaders, the fear and hatred he generates is certainly not telling of his quality as a leader. On the scale of governing by non-governing, his extremely hands-on approach would simply be detrimental to the Taoist sensibility.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is even more polarized as a leader. She is one who actually contains all levels of mere recognition, love, fear, and hatred. I’m inclined to believe that few people thrive on merely recognizing GMA’s leadership and are more likely to form some sentiment towards it, whether it be liking her approach, or outright disliking it. At the same time, we cannot seem to discount the fact that GMA, nearing the end of her first term (Assuming there will be a second.), started doing so much, so soon, just so she would win the people over. This involved medicards, huge housing projects, extensive media coverage, all telling us that GMA is anything but a “non-governing” leader. She has no trust in the Filipino people, and as such, is inclined to do everything for them. Her motivation for doing things is clearly for her own gain. On the realm of Taoism, Kant, and Aristotle, she falls flat as a leader.
Raul Roco is well-loved, no doubt about it. His detractors, though few, tend to hate him less than fear him. Roco is too benign to be feared, but too uncompromising to not be hated by those who do not see eye to eye with him. A lot of people just take his being a leader as a fact-for-granted, which puts him pretty high up in the Taoist measure. His method of governance appears to be pretty hands-on, as he does not seem to have much faith in the Filipino people at this point, but he is clearly banking on education as a means to eventual non-governance, which, if achieved, is actually quite a good idea. However, outside of the Taoist criteria, his health problems do pose quite a quandary as to whether or not he can achieve any of his objectives. Roco is an extremely good leader. He closely matches the Taoist sensibilities, save for his style of governance, but his health concerns are simply too great to be simply ignored.
Lastly, we have Brother Eddie Villanueva. This is the one person whom I’ve been pushing for throughout the election period as soon as I began to see things his way. Some people love him, but most people who wanted to vote for him didn’t vote for him because he was well-loved or praised, but because they merely knew him to be a leader who can get the job done. I call it this way because most people who voted for him are not even members of the JIL movement, and even do not see eye to eye with him on his religious beliefs. In spite of that, they recognize him to be a leader they can believe in, because he also believes in the Filipino people. His slogan says it all: Babangon ang Pilipinas. Maniwala ka. He doesn’t intend to do it all for the Filipino people. He believes. As such, he will simply do what he needs to do, and not have to do absolutely nothing, rule with an iron fist, or do it all for the people. This, to me, is proof that Bro. Eddie can simply be the best leader under the Taoist criteria.
This election period is clearly one of the most intriguing exercises of democracy ever. The volatility that is inevitable with the different temperaments, styles, and principles the candidates have is clearly telling us how difficult it could be to find one candidate who embodies everything we want in an ideal. As such, many people tend to considerate more than one candidate to vote for. They would know exactly who they are not voting for, but they have no idea who they want to actually vote for. Perfectly understandable, if you consider the need to vote strategically.
This kind of strategic voting explains why so many people who believed in a Bro. Eddie or a Raul Roco ended up voting for a GMA, because of their desire for the “lesser evil” who can actually win over FPJ. These are, after all, valid real-world considerations. We cannot deny that they significantly impact how people vote.
If the candidates were clean, a non-Taoist would simply choose Lacson over anyone else because his intentions of ruling with an iron fist can remind us how well that worked for Singapore. Look where that country is now. A Taoist would be most likely to vote for Bro. Eddie or Raul Roco. In a world of clean candidates, there is no room to choose a GMA (Who, while is willing to do everything, has no idea how to handle the people under her.), and no room for an FPJ either (He has no idea how to run the country except with his god intentions. That’s that.). It would only be a toss-up between Lacson, Roco, and Villanueva.
But you see, this isn’t an ideal world, but we can still vote with the ideal in our mind. With that being said, Lacson is clearly out. How can a man who lacks integrity promise discipline and integrity to this country? He has a very horrible record that includes allegations of murder. Such accusations cannot go by ignored, even if they may have been criminals whom he allegedly rubbed out.
That leaves us with Roco and Eddie Villanueva, who, in my personal opinion, are equally wise choices. Unfortunately, Roco has health considerations.
And that explains precisely why I believe in Bro. Eddie Villanueva, regardless if he wins or not. For a short-lived moment as well, with each single sticker or poster of his that I saw, knowing that whoever had it bought it out of his own pocket without it being given to them, I likewise believed in the Filipino people as much as Bro. Eddie did himself.
But we know what happened next. Perhaps there simply are some kinds of people who have so completely abandoned the Tao that we can no longer expect to have faith in them?
My posts are short lately. Well, non-happening weekends do that to you... :)
.:Why Me?:.
Yung kapatid ni Ate Peach, type si Kuya Marc! (Ate Peach’s sibling likes Kuya Marc!)
- My sister, Caren
Okay. Here we go again. Apparently, a sibling of my cousin-in-law’s has the hots for me. Unfortunately...
It’s a guy.
He had no idea who I am when he saw me at Ate Peach’s wedding. He knew my other siblings, though. So he ended up asking Caren, my sister, if I was Francis’ (My other brother...) boyfriend. Apparently, he assumed Francis was gay because of his long hair, which, truth be told, was funny. Of course, the insinuations towards me were equally... distressing. Still, I guess it’s more or less fine. It’s no big deal, as long as nothing... concrete pops out of this.
But why does it always have to be the case that when someone likes me, it has to be a guy? Gawd.
.:A Plan To End All Plans:.
Peppy and I have a certain one-year plan in mind involving a common friend of ours. I will divulge the details once we manage to consult with the common friend in question. This ought to be interesting.
.:Gakk:.
And so, Ronan decided to keep me puzzled further... I cannot speak further on this... only twitch my eyebrows some more.
.:Why Me?:.
Yung kapatid ni Ate Peach, type si Kuya Marc! (Ate Peach’s sibling likes Kuya Marc!)
- My sister, Caren
Okay. Here we go again. Apparently, a sibling of my cousin-in-law’s has the hots for me. Unfortunately...
It’s a guy.
He had no idea who I am when he saw me at Ate Peach’s wedding. He knew my other siblings, though. So he ended up asking Caren, my sister, if I was Francis’ (My other brother...) boyfriend. Apparently, he assumed Francis was gay because of his long hair, which, truth be told, was funny. Of course, the insinuations towards me were equally... distressing. Still, I guess it’s more or less fine. It’s no big deal, as long as nothing... concrete pops out of this.
But why does it always have to be the case that when someone likes me, it has to be a guy? Gawd.
.:A Plan To End All Plans:.
Peppy and I have a certain one-year plan in mind involving a common friend of ours. I will divulge the details once we manage to consult with the common friend in question. This ought to be interesting.
.:Gakk:.
And so, Ronan decided to keep me puzzled further... I cannot speak further on this... only twitch my eyebrows some more.
Saturday, May 15, 2004
.:A Thought Occurred To Me…:.
The placement office just handed my name to another prospective employer, but instead of an interview, I am instead getting an orientation seminar for their company. If that doesn’t alarm you to the kind of work this probably will entail, then I’ll spell it out for you clearly in a while…
The company is Sony Life. The first word of the company’s name is encouraging. The second isn’t. That’s because it points to the fact that I am being contacted by an insurance company. Now, no offense meant to people working in the insurance industry, but this is one line of work that is just way out of my range. I really don’t have any intentions of going into insurance, much less a call center, but I digress.
But then again, my alternatives to Binswanger aren’t exactly things that would make you jabronis go… “How profound!” either…
One of my main considerations for work right now is being a DJ, as it’s part time and it’s a job I love doing. My mom asked her friend, the wife of the president of RX, about my chances of getting into the air staff. While she didn’t say that I flat-out blow, I was given ample encouragement by Ma’am Chinggay about my status, as I cannot really be considered for hiring in RX because I’m only a Level IV Radio 1 trainee. I need to be level V to be considered.
However, other radio stations would view my training in Radio 1 as an advantage for hiring me if I signed up for a station with an opening… which leads me to my point…
Would you jabronis regret ever having known me if I ended up being a DJ for, say 102.7 Star FM? Just a… err… hypothetical question I’m curious about.
I mean, I’m comfortable with their playlist. I don’t have to love it, but I don’t mind it that much, considering how I usually hear their songs from them or some other similar station whenever I commute.
I just need to find out where the Hades these ruddy stations happen to be… and then I’ll come a-knocking.
At least I can leave RX with a clear conscience… :)
The placement office just handed my name to another prospective employer, but instead of an interview, I am instead getting an orientation seminar for their company. If that doesn’t alarm you to the kind of work this probably will entail, then I’ll spell it out for you clearly in a while…
The company is Sony Life. The first word of the company’s name is encouraging. The second isn’t. That’s because it points to the fact that I am being contacted by an insurance company. Now, no offense meant to people working in the insurance industry, but this is one line of work that is just way out of my range. I really don’t have any intentions of going into insurance, much less a call center, but I digress.
But then again, my alternatives to Binswanger aren’t exactly things that would make you jabronis go… “How profound!” either…
One of my main considerations for work right now is being a DJ, as it’s part time and it’s a job I love doing. My mom asked her friend, the wife of the president of RX, about my chances of getting into the air staff. While she didn’t say that I flat-out blow, I was given ample encouragement by Ma’am Chinggay about my status, as I cannot really be considered for hiring in RX because I’m only a Level IV Radio 1 trainee. I need to be level V to be considered.
However, other radio stations would view my training in Radio 1 as an advantage for hiring me if I signed up for a station with an opening… which leads me to my point…
Would you jabronis regret ever having known me if I ended up being a DJ for, say 102.7 Star FM? Just a… err… hypothetical question I’m curious about.
I mean, I’m comfortable with their playlist. I don’t have to love it, but I don’t mind it that much, considering how I usually hear their songs from them or some other similar station whenever I commute.
I just need to find out where the Hades these ruddy stations happen to be… and then I’ll come a-knocking.
At least I can leave RX with a clear conscience… :)
.:ANOTHER PLUG:.
I'm nominated for "Best Weblog in the Philippines" again. Do vote for me HERE. I'd really appreciate it.
.:At Long Last:.
So I finally got a copy of “Super Punch Out” from Mikko (After seeing him and Zig in the store at the same time, I realized why I mistook one for the other…) and was playing it on my laptop. Guess what… I finally finished the bloody game! It took me ages to get the hang of it, but there you go. I was even using super uppercuts on Mike Tyson by the time I got used to beating him up like a rag doll… ah, well. It was all good fun.
Up next: even more NES roms for me to copy… nyahahaha… this all ought to be interesting…
In the same line of “at long last” thoughts, I thought I’d mention that Bobby Bonifacio’s sequel to the film “Kapag Tumibok Ang Puso”, entitled, “Muling Tumibok Ang Puso”, starring my good friend Abby Yao, will be shown at BRASH cinema next Saturday, May 22, at around 8 in the evening. I wonder if I’ll be seeing people I know there? Hmmm...
.:RAW Deal Is In Trouble:.
I really am thinking about shelling out money on my own already to fuel the RAW Deal playing community. This game has been an extremely dynamic game for the past two years, yet RO and a lack of prizes beyond a title belt have been hampering people’s interest in the game...
I think I have to really take a hand into marketing this game, even shipping in the Core Set of RAW Deal into a few stores just so it would be out, and some constant publicity on this or that magazine/television show/radio show... I really, really need to keep the game afloat, as it’s sad that the number four CCG in the world right now is almost dead in the Philippines... and it’s not because the game started to stale. If anything, it’s better than ever.
.:Proving That My @$$ Can Cash A Check My Mouth Wrote:.
I’m sure a lot of people I talk to about games like SNK vs. Capcom and King Of Fighters 2003 find me a bit arrogant because I keep on talking about the game as though I were some premiere expert on it.
Let’s just say that after today’s cancelled RAW Deal tournament, I managed to prove myself somewhat to some of my players that I do know a thing or two about SVC Chaos, despite not having touched the game for about three months already. I used Dhalsim, and though I didn’t finish the game, I still had a twelve-win streak to show for my efforts. The toughest opponent I already had was some Akuma player (Who wasn’t among my players.), but he simply couldn’t get past Dhalsim’s amazing defenses in this game... ah, well.
Something Archie, one of the players said to me after my seventh win:
Who are you? Where's Marcelle? Bring him back, Satan!
Okay. Now that's a bit of overhype... :)
I still like this game. Too bad it’s not so popular anymore, and there was never a tourney for it...
.:Annoying!!!:.
Grace and I went to Munoz today to look for the arcade there, but we never found it.
With that said, I just prevented myself from joining the KOF 2003 tournament this coming Saturday, which flat-out blows, because I believe this is my strongest KOF year ever...
Still, spending time with Grace was worth making up for it...
I'm nominated for "Best Weblog in the Philippines" again. Do vote for me HERE. I'd really appreciate it.
.:At Long Last:.
So I finally got a copy of “Super Punch Out” from Mikko (After seeing him and Zig in the store at the same time, I realized why I mistook one for the other…) and was playing it on my laptop. Guess what… I finally finished the bloody game! It took me ages to get the hang of it, but there you go. I was even using super uppercuts on Mike Tyson by the time I got used to beating him up like a rag doll… ah, well. It was all good fun.
Up next: even more NES roms for me to copy… nyahahaha… this all ought to be interesting…
In the same line of “at long last” thoughts, I thought I’d mention that Bobby Bonifacio’s sequel to the film “Kapag Tumibok Ang Puso”, entitled, “Muling Tumibok Ang Puso”, starring my good friend Abby Yao, will be shown at BRASH cinema next Saturday, May 22, at around 8 in the evening. I wonder if I’ll be seeing people I know there? Hmmm...
.:RAW Deal Is In Trouble:.
I really am thinking about shelling out money on my own already to fuel the RAW Deal playing community. This game has been an extremely dynamic game for the past two years, yet RO and a lack of prizes beyond a title belt have been hampering people’s interest in the game...
I think I have to really take a hand into marketing this game, even shipping in the Core Set of RAW Deal into a few stores just so it would be out, and some constant publicity on this or that magazine/television show/radio show... I really, really need to keep the game afloat, as it’s sad that the number four CCG in the world right now is almost dead in the Philippines... and it’s not because the game started to stale. If anything, it’s better than ever.
.:Proving That My @$$ Can Cash A Check My Mouth Wrote:.
I’m sure a lot of people I talk to about games like SNK vs. Capcom and King Of Fighters 2003 find me a bit arrogant because I keep on talking about the game as though I were some premiere expert on it.
Let’s just say that after today’s cancelled RAW Deal tournament, I managed to prove myself somewhat to some of my players that I do know a thing or two about SVC Chaos, despite not having touched the game for about three months already. I used Dhalsim, and though I didn’t finish the game, I still had a twelve-win streak to show for my efforts. The toughest opponent I already had was some Akuma player (Who wasn’t among my players.), but he simply couldn’t get past Dhalsim’s amazing defenses in this game... ah, well.
Something Archie, one of the players said to me after my seventh win:
Who are you? Where's Marcelle? Bring him back, Satan!
Okay. Now that's a bit of overhype... :)
I still like this game. Too bad it’s not so popular anymore, and there was never a tourney for it...
.:Annoying!!!:.
Grace and I went to Munoz today to look for the arcade there, but we never found it.
With that said, I just prevented myself from joining the KOF 2003 tournament this coming Saturday, which flat-out blows, because I believe this is my strongest KOF year ever...
Still, spending time with Grace was worth making up for it...
Friday, May 14, 2004
.:Eddie Gil’s Just Fine…:.
… When he’s just on comedy shows for guest appearances, that is.
The thing is, Eddie Gil has what appears to be a natural talent for comedy, whether or not he does it intentionally. He guested on the “Yes Yes Show”, which was a pretty funny run for him. He was asked questions about dragonflies and helicopters, Vi and Bot, Guy and Pip, and so forth. He seemed like a good sport, though I have no idea if he knew he was being made fun of, which I believe is his act that will launch him to comedy stardom… ah, well.
In other news, there’s this really weird video on MTV right now… something where a guy plays on a piano and all sorts of things and people come out of the piano… weird…
.:Chinese Philosophy Finally Justifies The “Chinese” Part:.
So I usually walk out of the class with some of my classmates from Chinese Philosophy, one of them being Len Go, who reminds me of someone I know. In any case, I was walking to Hobby Haven with her, Jim, and another female classmate of mine, and we discovered that Mr. Annoying Student was actually a teacher in U.P…. ah, well.
Anyways, I was telling them about Brad Turvey, and then they were curious about him…
Len: So is he really good-looking?
Marcelle: Actually, Greg’s sexie… Uhh… why the heck am I telling you this?
Len: It’s okay. Tayu-tayo lang naman, eh.
Damn. More skewed notions about my masculinity…
Chinese Philosophy is all so fine, irregardless (Here we go with that word again…) of whether or not the lecture progresses much. We were stuck for quite a while on the Tao-Te Ching, but we’re about to go to our last text before our final examinations… not much else to say about the class, really.
I did notice that one of my Chinese classmates constantly smiles at me in class, though. And I’m like four or five rows behind her, so she has to really turn around at me to do that… but nah, I won’t think much of it. I guess she’s just being very nice…
.:I Missed This:.
Keeping in touch with friends who matter is my only link to keeping my life outside of the academe or the store interesting… I know Daph is out in China right now, I have no idea how Don’s doing, I try talking to Abby during the weekends, I’m not one to push my luck with Adi, I haven’t heard much from Mich, and a host of other people I more or less would’ve wanted to keep in touch with since graduation. My only constant connections are Jason and Peppy, as they frequent the store, as I rarely go to the Calf anymore, so I don’t run into Glenn much, either.
Anyways, I got to talk with Rowena (My Philo 104 classmate. The one I spoke to only on our last day of classes before final oral exams.) last night, and we were just catching up on how things have been already. She’s about to go to Med school in UST, and beyond that, she doesn’t seem to be having much activity lately. I swear, I can’t handle that kind of relaxation. I always have to find something to do, no matter what it may be…
I’m glad she’s doing fine, and I would of course hope to meet up with her again, soon. She’s one of those “better late than never” friends I’ve had quite a few of prior to and even after graduation (i.e. Peppy, Jason, Eric, Sacha, Elbert to some extent….), and I’m grateful for each and every one of them…
.:Gaydar Sense Tingling:.
A text message from someone who will remain nameless… he still deserves the benefit of the doubt…
Ey, wen ka free? Nood tyo movie.
Okay, assuming that he sent this to many people, that’s no problem, but I replied that I’m not free for the most part (Due to my schoolwork and pending job interviews/seminars.), he texted back again…
Ruts. Gud am btw. Fnd free tym. Bartolina tyo f not a movie, anytym. Im tryng 2 get free f my daily routin in normal co 4 a chnge.
Maybe that last part meant he was looking for “normal company”, which I could (dubiously) provide, but I have no idea what “Bartolina” is (I hope it’s not somewhere in Malate or Kamuniiiing…), and the way he phrased it, it does seem like I’m the only one he “asked out”, which, if put in that light, makes my hair stand up on end…
I’m not homophobic, really. But the moment they start getting a wee bit too close for comfort, that’s a different story. This guy has been alerting my gaydar for quite a while already, considering how he usually leans over me when he watches me playing RAW Deal, and the lean is a bit… uncomfortable. I have no idea if his other friends realize this (Or if they know, but nobody else does.), or if he’s actually just that… touchy-feely. But with other guys?
So please, what the Hades is Bartolina? And I don’t mean the prison cells.
.:More Store Shenanigans:.
So Mikko was there with his laptop and I was busy with Mike Tyson’s Super Punch Out again for the most part while listening to… err… Rex Navarette. So I showed him a certain new CD I acquired. He promptly started looking at some parts of the video clips, and his luck was such that he just ended up clicking on video clips featuring… err… gyrating men, which was about two out of the fifty or so things he could’ve checked out there, so he had only around a four percent chance of landing those segments. Then again, he might’ve done it intentionally…
I had a footlong hotdog for a snack, and Ate Jess found it funny… I mean, what does the Hapi Hotdog have going for it that a footlong can’t handle, neh?
.:What Do You Think I’d Do About It?:.
I ran into this certain “friend” of mine yesterday, who was with her boyfriend. I called out her name twice, and she just glanced at me, then ignored me. I guess it’s just fine, maybe because…
1. Maybe I did something wrong to her. (No you didn’t Marcelle.)
2. Maybe she didn’t hear me. (She glanced at you, so she did, Marcelle.)
3. Maybe she’s in a hurry. (She was walking as though she were walking in the park with her boyfriend, Marcelle. Nuh-uh.)
4. She’s Chinese. (She is anything but Chinese, Marcelle.)
Okay… so I haven’t done anything wrong to her, she’s in no rush, she heard me loud and clear, she’s not Chinese, she’s not named *jaded*, Grace, or Tsumenki. I don’t owe her anything, nor do I have any special regard for her.
With that being said, I have no reason to make excuses for you, you bastich. Go to Hades and eff you.
… When he’s just on comedy shows for guest appearances, that is.
The thing is, Eddie Gil has what appears to be a natural talent for comedy, whether or not he does it intentionally. He guested on the “Yes Yes Show”, which was a pretty funny run for him. He was asked questions about dragonflies and helicopters, Vi and Bot, Guy and Pip, and so forth. He seemed like a good sport, though I have no idea if he knew he was being made fun of, which I believe is his act that will launch him to comedy stardom… ah, well.
In other news, there’s this really weird video on MTV right now… something where a guy plays on a piano and all sorts of things and people come out of the piano… weird…
.:Chinese Philosophy Finally Justifies The “Chinese” Part:.
So I usually walk out of the class with some of my classmates from Chinese Philosophy, one of them being Len Go, who reminds me of someone I know. In any case, I was walking to Hobby Haven with her, Jim, and another female classmate of mine, and we discovered that Mr. Annoying Student was actually a teacher in U.P…. ah, well.
Anyways, I was telling them about Brad Turvey, and then they were curious about him…
Len: So is he really good-looking?
Marcelle: Actually, Greg’s sexie… Uhh… why the heck am I telling you this?
Len: It’s okay. Tayu-tayo lang naman, eh.
Damn. More skewed notions about my masculinity…
Chinese Philosophy is all so fine, irregardless (Here we go with that word again…) of whether or not the lecture progresses much. We were stuck for quite a while on the Tao-Te Ching, but we’re about to go to our last text before our final examinations… not much else to say about the class, really.
I did notice that one of my Chinese classmates constantly smiles at me in class, though. And I’m like four or five rows behind her, so she has to really turn around at me to do that… but nah, I won’t think much of it. I guess she’s just being very nice…
.:I Missed This:.
Keeping in touch with friends who matter is my only link to keeping my life outside of the academe or the store interesting… I know Daph is out in China right now, I have no idea how Don’s doing, I try talking to Abby during the weekends, I’m not one to push my luck with Adi, I haven’t heard much from Mich, and a host of other people I more or less would’ve wanted to keep in touch with since graduation. My only constant connections are Jason and Peppy, as they frequent the store, as I rarely go to the Calf anymore, so I don’t run into Glenn much, either.
Anyways, I got to talk with Rowena (My Philo 104 classmate. The one I spoke to only on our last day of classes before final oral exams.) last night, and we were just catching up on how things have been already. She’s about to go to Med school in UST, and beyond that, she doesn’t seem to be having much activity lately. I swear, I can’t handle that kind of relaxation. I always have to find something to do, no matter what it may be…
I’m glad she’s doing fine, and I would of course hope to meet up with her again, soon. She’s one of those “better late than never” friends I’ve had quite a few of prior to and even after graduation (i.e. Peppy, Jason, Eric, Sacha, Elbert to some extent….), and I’m grateful for each and every one of them…
.:Gaydar Sense Tingling:.
A text message from someone who will remain nameless… he still deserves the benefit of the doubt…
Ey, wen ka free? Nood tyo movie.
Okay, assuming that he sent this to many people, that’s no problem, but I replied that I’m not free for the most part (Due to my schoolwork and pending job interviews/seminars.), he texted back again…
Ruts. Gud am btw. Fnd free tym. Bartolina tyo f not a movie, anytym. Im tryng 2 get free f my daily routin in normal co 4 a chnge.
Maybe that last part meant he was looking for “normal company”, which I could (dubiously) provide, but I have no idea what “Bartolina” is (I hope it’s not somewhere in Malate or Kamuniiiing…), and the way he phrased it, it does seem like I’m the only one he “asked out”, which, if put in that light, makes my hair stand up on end…
I’m not homophobic, really. But the moment they start getting a wee bit too close for comfort, that’s a different story. This guy has been alerting my gaydar for quite a while already, considering how he usually leans over me when he watches me playing RAW Deal, and the lean is a bit… uncomfortable. I have no idea if his other friends realize this (Or if they know, but nobody else does.), or if he’s actually just that… touchy-feely. But with other guys?
So please, what the Hades is Bartolina? And I don’t mean the prison cells.
.:More Store Shenanigans:.
So Mikko was there with his laptop and I was busy with Mike Tyson’s Super Punch Out again for the most part while listening to… err… Rex Navarette. So I showed him a certain new CD I acquired. He promptly started looking at some parts of the video clips, and his luck was such that he just ended up clicking on video clips featuring… err… gyrating men, which was about two out of the fifty or so things he could’ve checked out there, so he had only around a four percent chance of landing those segments. Then again, he might’ve done it intentionally…
I had a footlong hotdog for a snack, and Ate Jess found it funny… I mean, what does the Hapi Hotdog have going for it that a footlong can’t handle, neh?
.:What Do You Think I’d Do About It?:.
I ran into this certain “friend” of mine yesterday, who was with her boyfriend. I called out her name twice, and she just glanced at me, then ignored me. I guess it’s just fine, maybe because…
1. Maybe I did something wrong to her. (No you didn’t Marcelle.)
2. Maybe she didn’t hear me. (She glanced at you, so she did, Marcelle.)
3. Maybe she’s in a hurry. (She was walking as though she were walking in the park with her boyfriend, Marcelle. Nuh-uh.)
4. She’s Chinese. (She is anything but Chinese, Marcelle.)
Okay… so I haven’t done anything wrong to her, she’s in no rush, she heard me loud and clear, she’s not Chinese, she’s not named *jaded*, Grace, or Tsumenki. I don’t owe her anything, nor do I have any special regard for her.
With that being said, I have no reason to make excuses for you, you bastich. Go to Hades and eff you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)