After Let the Right One In, there are only two movies that I truly care about this season: Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler.
I have seen Milk, Revolutionary Road, Doubt, Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the first 10 minutes of Gran Turino. None of them come close to my "mad, pulsating affection" (as Danny Boyle said in his Golden Globes acceptance speech) for the first two films.
Just to clarify, I did not walk out of Gran Turino because it's bad or anything. I had an upset stomach and decided to leave the theater.
I have yet to find out if Eastwood's movie will have as much impact on me.


I recall having read some critic's review of Slumdog in November. It argued that the movie was primarily made by non-Indians and so whatever depiction of Mumbai life used would never be the genuine kind. It went on to say that the sentimentality of the film was nothing but a hollywood/outsider's view of India.
Wow. Desensitized, jaded, unfeeling, cynical, blinded, arrogant, ignorant, better than thou critics...
As far as I am concerned "love, the celebration of life and the triumph of the human spirit" was very much expressed in the narrative and visual of the film. It does not matter who does the telling!
Poor Danny Boyle. He didn't eat tikka masala enough for that lazy ass critic.

Some other sites did not take a liking to the dance number at the end of Slumdog. They said it was a satisfactory film until it was ruined by the Bollywood dance routine. Have these "experts" ever heard of the words tribute or homage?

Being so highly analytical of films make me such a dull and unhappy person.
I do appreciate it when Form complements Content or vice versa...I do get excited when I notice the motifs or immediately identify the long shots, the mis en scene or the different perspectives. More times though being affected by a film's story emotionally, even viscerally, is more than enough of a great experience for me. I don't stop a tear to drop just so I could ponder on Darren Aronofsky's nationality, or credibility to direct a film based on a character living in New Jersey.



Long live the heartfelt stories.

precious

I was so careless! After finding the journals from inside the Fedex envelope, I got too excited and did not bother looking for other things...like a note that supposedly came with it. I knew who it was from as the parcel was properly labeled.
I almost threw away the card that Armi made for us. Yes, I was so selfish and thought that the two notebooks were exclusively mine! It did not occur to me that there are two people in this household, the other deserving of a gift too.
How could I forgive myself if I had lost this card to the garbage bin as well?! It's a card that Armi made herself. I love the design! The shape of birds were cut out of the card's cover and they reveal the japanese paper underneath.

On the inside page, there is a paper crane attached to it.


Thanks to intarwebz technology, I was able to correct my mistake. I immediately sent a thank you note to Armi on Facebook. Impressed with the journals, I mentioned how I was looking for a tag or brand name.
Armi responded with a bit of alarm and asked if I didn't find the card. There was a letter too and in it she had explained that she made the two journal covers out of her own shirt :)

Thank you so much, Armi!!

beautiful things

A couple of days ago, I got a facebook message from Armi about a 'padala.' She said she sent me something thru Fedex. The gift from Manila came today!
It's funny that the delivery guy pointed to me that US Customs had inspected the package, thus the ugly green stickers. What did they suspect was in the envelope?

I can imagine the work hours and effort wasted on such unnecessary precaution. How could these lovely journals be of any threat?

The journal covers are made of jersey tee material with thick white needle stitching. Inside is a thick bind of recycled paper. I LOVE. They feel so homey and special. I can't help but plan that I shall only write joyful stuff on these notebooks.

first meme in 2009

So I was tagged by Lala to do this 10 facts about me thingy. I've never done one...not even in my first blog years ago. So why the heck not try it now? :)

Cutest Blogger Award or Ten Random Facts About Me

Here are the rules of this award:

1. Each blogger must post these rules.
2. Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves.
3. Blogger that are tagged, need to write ten facts about themselves. You need to choose ten people to tag and list their names.


Here are the 10 Random Facts/Habits About Me:

1. One piece of item I cannot live and leave the house without wearing, even under layers of outer clothes: camisole. Must be my half lifetime of catholic school uniforms/way of dressing.

2. I sleep mostly on my left side, so the end of my left eyebrow gets pressed upwards on the pillow. This makes it look shorter than my right eyebrow.

3. The back of my head is super flat. As my mom explained, I slept way too much as a baby and so my head formed that way.

4. When I eat, I kinda stick the tip of my tongue out first to taste the food in a spoon. Sort of like testing the pool water with your toes, which I never do.

5. I don't like sesame seeds, only when it's covering the rice on sushi.

6. I used to sing. Won a singing contest in 6th grade then competed at least twice in high school. I didn't win in my succeeding attempts and shunned singing and choir membership since then.

7. I love driving as it gives me so much mental space and sort of relaxes me too. At the very same time, I am extremely irritable and impatient with other drivers.

8. I hate being lost or not knowing my turns. I can drive without a GPS as long as I have directions memorized before I start the engine.

9. I refuse to take pictures when I want to enjoy a moment or an event completely.

10. I like watching movies by myself.

Okay, now I tag:

e.
thomas
gabriel
conrad
aura
judith
joedobo
miss kirsten
yato
the velascos

sunday at the california academy of sciences

This aquarium supposedly has coral reef from the Philippines.

That dude from Green Day.

Don't adjust your screen. The fish heads are indeed upside down.


Dino and I could stare at this all day.



Nautilus in such a cramped space.

Glow in the dark.

Another oddity, the upside down jelly fish.

Jolie-Pitt lips.

Baaad picture. Just trying to demonstrate the size of that ugly fish behind Dino.

Under the sea...with three spiraling levels of simulated tropical rain forest above.
View from top.

leonardo

Seen and heard in downtown San Jose a couple of days ago:



kid: Miss Sullivan, I think they should give the horse underwear next time.
teacher: *looked up at the giant horse statue and was stupefied*

remains

distance

I just received a Christmas card from my mom in the Philippines and I cannot stop crying.
The card contains a quote from some person named Linda Sackett-Morrison. I don't really care who she is but I am thankful that she and Blue Mountain Arts card company exist. No matter how unoriginal, I choose to hear my mother's voice through these printed words.

"My daughter, these special wishes are just for you at Christmas...

When you close your eyes at the end of each day, I wish you contented and peaceful sleep.
When you are fearful or uncertain, I wish for warmth and light to surround you.
When you dream, I wish you soaring images and endless possibilities.
When you wake each morning, I wish you the joy of anticipating a beautiful day ahead.
When you face problems, I wish you boundless strength and courage to guide you.
When you walk along your path, I wish you lasting friendships to brighten your way.
Most of all, I wish you love...to fill your heart and make your world complete."

ocean beach

I'm slowly finding my path. Being out of work for some months now, and also with much prodding from Dino, I made the decision to recover my artist child.
Although I've had the opportunity to work as a photographer in the last 4 years, I have not really cultivated the artist in me with any consistency. The artist that I aimed to be since I finished my fine art degree has been in the shadows and I just realized that this has made me so unhappy. There's an important part of my self that I've neglected for years.
I've had too many fears, and I still do...but I cannot allow my self to be in this negative situation any longer.

I just started a course to recover my creativity and inspiration with the help of a book called The Artist's Way. In the past weeks I've been following the ideas, suggested activities and tasks in the book.
I'm slowly going back to taking pictures for myself and not for a company or other purposes. I'm trying to rediscover the pleasure of taking photos, without preconceived ideas and simply going out and just doing it.