Saints and Souls

All Saint's Day and All Souls' Day are observed holidays in the Philippines.
Besides having no school (it usually falls during a "semester" break), they're holidays where going to the cemetery is fun - especially at night.
I have a vivid memory of visiting my grandfather and uncle's graves on the night of All Saint's Day.
My grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins trekked to the cemetery together bringing candles and fruits to offer the dead.
I was frightened on the way there since it was nighttime and it was dark.
But upon entering the cemetery, the horror movie in my mind vanished.
The place was brighter than day from all the lit candles.
People were smiling, laughing, catching up with old friends - and I don't mean the dead ones - that it was like a big fiesta.
It is one of the reasons I miss the P.I.

I was watching the news last week.
They reported that the severe typhoon season caused some flooding in many cemeteries.
Some people worried that they wouldn't be able to visit their dead loved ones.
The newscaster joked that for those people who can't visit the cemetery, their dead loved ones will pay them a visit instead.

PINOYS KEEP ALL SAINTS' DAY TRADITION ALIVE

At the Barber's

Today at the barbershop ...
Thank God, I had my haircut before this kid.
He runs up to the barber's chair I just vacated.
The barber asks, "How do you want your hair cut?"
He replies, "I want it really short. We have lice in our school."

Paul (2011)

Dir. Greg Mottola.

Cussin' E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial + buddy road movie = Paul. Funny only when Kristin Wiig's onscreen. Pegg and Frost cross-pollinated with the Appatow school of comedy fails to launch. Commit to one or the other: foul-mouthed juvenile laughs or witty British gross-outs. Half-and-half only works with my coffee.

Seeing You in September

First day of the BERs.
Time flies.
And the rest will zip by.

First day of school.
Last year of this (ANP/GNP) program.
May I be immune from senioritis.

McQueen - Savage Beauty

Never been on a line that long before at the Met,
All just to see Alexander McQueen – Savage Beauty.

100 years from now, how will we see them?
As works of art or as artifacts?
To me, artifacts are displays of materials utilized in daily living.
These are not it.
As displayed, they are art installations.
All haute couture,
So nothing practical.
Beauty for beauty's sake
The exhibit provides a place to see multiple collections at once.
And McQueen's vision is singular no matter the theme or season.

What I sadly miss is the motion.
How does it move as a dress?
A factor since he must have designed them to be seen in a “runway.”
Some jaw dropping creations -
apart from the frou-frou ones that scream romantic,
there are the razor clam shell dress, the Spine, the butterfly hat -
And best of all, the balsa wood skirt.
It is a thing of beauty up close. Ingenious.
And I could fit in it.

3 Idiots (2009)

Dir. Rajkumar Hirani.

"All is well."

Essentially a buddy road movie, literally and down memory lane.
Recalls college life in a school that is obviously IIT.
It asks: What is the true measure of success?
Finding one's integrity to one's self.
Must have resonated with a generation's feelings of parental and academic pressures.
Hence its box office success.
LOL moment for me: Visiting Raju's family with its '50s Hindi filmy palette.

There are a handful of characters with suicidal ideation.
Heavy for Bollywood?
Hardly weighs it down. Uses them to turn on my waterworks …
Optimism prevails with its mantra “All is well” to quell any fears.
Per my teacher, Oscar Hammerstein II,
“Whenever I feel afraid, I whistle a happy tune ...”
Zoobi Doobi -

Balikbayan

Who is a balikbayan?
Not me, because I am not a box.
I qualify for the balikbayan bisa,
But on the immigration form to enter the Philippines,
I am compelled to check off “Tourist.”
Balikbayan seems meant for OFWs.
Besides, I didn’t have a balikbayan box.

More compelled by the scenes at the NAIA departure gate:
Of future balikbayans leaving for the first time.
The anticipation of their first airplane ride,
The feeling of escape.
(My friends refer to those who work overseas as “nakalabas” or “nakagawas”
As if they’ve managed to squeeze out of a cage).
One man called what seemed like everyone on his contacts to use up his cell “load,”
And cried after hanging up with his mother.
He had to go to the bathroom and collect himself.
This must be what my parents felt.

Upon arrival at JFK,
The immigration officer asked,
“What’s the purpose of your visit?”
He looks at my passport.
“What am I saying? You live here.”
He stamps it and lets me in – back into where I live.
I still look like I’m fresh off the boat.

KS, Baby

Walked into a scene right of "Angels in America" last night.
This play is so embedded in me that it will never leave me.
30 years in the AIDS epidemic, I saw my first Kaposi's sarcoma last night, uncommon in the age of antiretrovirals - and the scene below flickered in my mind.



In eliciting the "history of present illness," I saw that the patient and his partner were more like Prior and Louis. I was spared the crying, but not the drama of it all.

Dropsy

Finally getting around to "Downton Abbey", a Masterpiece Classic update of "Upstairs / Downstairs" on PBS last year.
Loving it more now that they introduced a nurse as one of the main characters - an undesirable addition to the titled family because of her profession. She saves a man's life by advocating for pericardiocentesis and a dose of adrenaline on a patient with dropsy.

Dropsy?!

"Dropsy to the heart or the liver?" she asks.

What in Flo's sake is dropsy?
A colloquial British term I've never heard of?
Google to the rescue; dropsy means edema.
So, what other archaic terms for medical conditions that have gone the way of smallpox.
Le grippe, consumption, ague, coryza, Saint Vitus's dance, suppuration ...
Not to mention the more recent ones. We don't call it left-sided or right-sided heart failure anymore. It's now either systolic or diastolic dysfunction.

Since gerontology will be my specialty, someone old enough is bound to use them. I can only imagine:

"What can I do for you today, Mr. Smith?"
"My podagra's acting up again."

#1. Satya (1998)

Dir. Ram Gopal Varma

“Everybody gets a chance.”

Satya goes to the big city to try his luck, gets lured into Mumbai’s underworld, and tries to keep his gangsta life on the down low from his girlfriend.

Satya does not get his chance. RGV argues that the system is to blame for creating goons. He makes his antihero an orphan, stripping him of a past, so there’s no argument for nature’s role in shaping a criminal. Even the only character trying to make an honest living (Satya’s girlfriend) becomes collateral damage to the violence.

There’s a gritty look to the film that reminds me of another gangster movie, “Nayagan” (1987). There’s also a different feel to the movie that I think I can attribute to the improvisatory dialogue (a fact I learned later).

Caged

RGV often frames Satya like a caged animal. The noir-style bars, from windows or shadows, box the character in, creating a sense for the viewer that this man is a trapped animal. The final showdown has Satya cornered, begging in front of a door to be let in – like a dog left out in the rain.

A Movie In Love with the Movies

While watching the movie, I recalled a Film Comment article years ago entitled “Bullets over Bombay.” The drive-by shooting of a movie director as a plot in the movie triggered my memory of that piece, as well as sections from Sukhetu Mehta’s “Maximum City.” The underworld has a hand in Bollywood. Travis Crawford’s piece in Film Comment traces the Bollywood gangster genre, which also mentions “Satya.” Mehta’s book peels that even further. At the time of the film’s release, did the film glorify gangsters? One can argue that “Satya” creates martyrs out of them when they’re portrayed as victims of the system.

The underworld in “Satya” has many links to the Bollywood industry. There’s a hit on a movie director. Satya’s love interest wants to be a playback singer. And there’s a sequence set in a movie theater that easily brings to mind Dillinger. (It also reminded me of my childhood as a movie-goer in the Philippines …)

Lost in Translation

One thing I find lacking in watching Bollywood movies in DVD is that the songs are seldom subtitled. So I lose the irony or comic relief that the song offers as a comment to the plot or characters in the movie. A love song I get – in any language. From what I’ve learned about the film, the characters speak Bambaiya lingo, which I fail to appreciate. It’s all Hindi to me.

The film’s opening sequence made me wish I were in Mumbai again. Just not among the gangsters.

The 500 Film Challenge

Joined a daunting challenge with Auditoire's fellow cineaste bloggers.
My eyes are not on the prize -
More of an intellectual and writing exercise.
At the least, it will make me go through my Netflix queue faster.
So, by April 7, 2012, I'll see 500 films and blog about them.
Below are the rules of the game ...

Yes, you read it right, 500 Films in a year. Princess Kinoc is the brainchild of the project. From her introductory entry, the project was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia (2009) which was about a food blogger on her quest to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). If Ebert watched 450 films last 2009 according to his Yearend Reviews Book 2009 and Jay-r around 400 films, then I think it's doable. I've watched 200+ feature films last year excluding, of course, the many, many short films I've watched during weekends and holidays. So here are the rules for the challenge:

1 | Accept the dare by making a comment on this post or you can email me: adrian.lessegers@gmail.com. Anyone with a blog is eligible.


2 | Make an introductory post using the beautiful Anna Karina picture above explaining the project. Link all the participants of the project in the post as shown below (scroll down).


3 | Start watching 500 films and write about each one of them. Short films, feature films and extra-long films are accepted. Miniseries are allowed i.e. Carlos (2010), The Decalogue (1988) but major series are not. As long as you watched them after you accepted the dare its okay. So you cannot include films you watched before you have officially accepted the dare.


4 | You cannot repeat a film. Of course, duh!


5 | The first one to finish the project will have a special prize (to be announced before the year ends).

PARTICIPANTS: 


1.) Princess Kinoc (http://underthefiretree24.wordpress.com)
2.) Jay-R Trinidad (http://pinoyfilmzealot.wordpress.com)
3.) Adrian Mendizabal (http://adrianmendizabal.blogspot.com)
4.) Epoy Deyto (http://kawtskamote.blogspot.com)
5.) Dodo Dayao (http://pelikula.blogspot.com)
6.) Clem Malubay (http://whatclemsaid.livejournal.com)
7.) Carl Joseph Papa (http://whatevercarl.tumblr.com)
8.) Nilhenwen (http://nilhenwen.livejournal.com)
9.) Etchie Pingol (http://etchieblog.wordpress.com)
10.) Sani Ajero (http://sanriel.wordpress.com)
11.) Paolo Barazon (http://titopao.com)
12.) Niña Domingo (http://ninsydipsy.tumblr.com)
13.) Jay Rosas (http://jayclopsz.blogspot.com)
14.) Minamic (http://casualcontrary.blogspot.com)
15.) Katie Agones (http://mbandm.wordpress.com)
16.) Vince Dawes (http://shaved-ape.livejournal.com)
17.) Whammy Alcazaren (http://softcorecatalogue.wordpress.com)
18.) Dimitra Evm (http://whataliceforgot.blogspot.com)
19.) Jess Printup (http://midakba.tumblr.com)
20.) Ainslee (http://cupcakesforainslee.blogspot.com)
21.) perfectlylonelysoul (http://perfectlylonelysoul.wordpress.com

Horse in the Year of the Metal Rabbit

Happy Chinese New Year.  Pass the moon cake.
What's in store for me? Two different predictions. I'll pick the one I like.

From 2011 Predictions for Horse In the Year of Metal Rabbit:

One of your favorites. Something about the calming effect of the Rabbit year may be responsible for your smooth sailing. There is not a single area in which you have to limit your scope this year.
There will, however, be a risk of boredom, because you are not patient with the sound of your own voice. Distract yourself. Get involved in politics or even dabble in espionage. But be careful of your renowned excessive reactions.
The Rabbit’s placid saucer-of milk lifestyle can boil over when too much heat is applied: you should try to cultivate more self-acceptance. Do yoga. Meditate. Try laugh therapy. Hire somebody to tickle you so you can take yourself less seriously.
Show off your many talents in art and music, dance and the theater. Rabbits are daft for culture All your endeavors in the art world will be encouraged and rewarded. Work and industry are high on the Rabbit's list of preferred qualities. Since you adore working, he will applaud and support your every project.
Money? Well you won't be rolling in it. But you will certainly have enough extra to pay your drama teacher.

From Online Chinese Astrology:

If 2010 was a wild ride, you might be in for another roller coaster in the Year of the Metal Rabbit. Challenging years can often strengthen our character and refine our talents – like a coal’s transformation to becoming a diamond. This year will be a little under 50% favorable for you. With 4 favorable months, 1 neutral, and 7 unfavorable months, you might get nauseous with the ups and downs. Luckily, your sign is one of the most resilient and strong in the zodiac. Ride the tide when it’s high, and wade through when it’s shallow. Try to borrow some flexibility, sensitivity, and creativity from the Rabbit. Allow yourself and your life to be molded by the forces that be.

The Captors and the Captured

On Laura Hillenbrand's “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption” (2010) and Nagisa Oshima's “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (1983)

Natural companions: the former is a nonfiction book and the latter is a fictional film.
It's easy to empathize with the prisoner of war and difficult to understand the torturer.
The Bird in “Unbroken” remains opaque no matter how many layers Hillenbrand reveals (and some of it by guesswork). He embodies that title in some sense (without the redemption part) as much as the real subject of the book is. In Oshima's film, Yonoi supppresses his homo urges, channels it, and oppresses. And am I to believe that's enough to explain his cruelty?

War time exists in in its own dimension. Power corrupts and even more so in those conditions. The captors ignore the Geneva Convention because they are not in Europe, as one of the officers say in “Unbroken” and they are not in Geneva, as Yonoi says in “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.” They are nowhere. The usual rules do not apply. Abu Ghraib and Gitmo come to mind.

In both works, there are redemptions: Zamperini's in “Unbroken” and Hara's in “Merry Christmas ...” I find them the least satisfying parts. Those are internal journeys both characters undergo that both works do not ably take us through. They feel tacked on as endings.

Snowmaggedon

Snowstorm #8.

That Robert Frost comes to mind -
"I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice."