Wet Market and Weekend Movies

Today was my first real trip w/ the 'Rents to the Sta. Mesa Market. Real in that after driving them there, instead of just staying in the car to read the Sunday papers (or listen to my Muvo) I actually joined them to enter the smelly depths of the market. Speaking of smelly, I regret bringing only 1 piece of candy to help deal w/ the stench of "fresh" fish. If sushi smelled like this it'd never caught on as a delicacy.

As a birhen de palengke I still have a lot to learn w/ it comes to checking out produce/fishstock, negotiating prices, avoiding butchers who de-scale fish like they were having a seizure, and handling money and fish at the same time w/o wiping my hands first. (Hint: plastic bags as faux gloves.) Ugh... fish mucus.

Now for bullet reviews of all the movies I've seen since the last bullet reviews:

10 Items or Less: Cute indie film starring Morgan Freeman (as Himself) and Paz Vega (as that chick from Spanglish speaking way better English). The simplicity of the story (they hang out together for a day) was made entertaining by Freeman's performance, since you're unsure if he's really playing himself or satiric version, ala The Simpsons. But he does make you want to become his best friend.

Amores Peros ("Love's A Bitch"): In the storytelling tradition of Pulp Fiction we have 3 interlocking tales of a love and its follies. The characters are complex --or damaged-- enough to have to you wondering exactly who to sympathize or who to despise. Don't watch this if you like dogs. Seriously. Even pit bulls.

Confetti: Another charmer in loose mockumentary style and an improvised script. Confetti magazine holds a contest for the Most Original Wedding of the Year. Three couples are chosen w/ 3 themes: Musical, Tennis and Naturist (or nude). If you can get past looking at uncircumcised British wangs or generally unattractive naked people, you'll love this film.

Feast: Made by the winners of season 3 of Project Greenlight, it's a tongue-in-cheek take of horror/monster flicks, like Tremors or From Dusk 'til Dawn. Even if the film doesn't take itself too seriously (the characters' names describe their role in the movie, like Beer Guy, Hero or Grandma) it's still unpredictable, w/c I liked.

Kinky Boots: Boy, those Brits are cornering the market w/ "charming" films. This is based on a true story of a generations-old shoe factory that went from exclusively making men's shoes to boots for men in drag. And if you're into music sung by guys named Lola (played by the almost unrecognizable Chiwetel Ejiofor of Serenity and Love Actually fame), you'll want to get the official soundtrack.

The Oh in Ohio: Got a bit boring in the end, despite the presence of simulated orgasms and the theme of vibrator addiction. (Wasn't this a plotline in Sex & the City?) It's also my first time time seeing Mischa (The OC) Barton act. What a skinny chick, and w/ such low tone of voice that doesn't exactly go w/ her pretty face, kinda like Demi Moore or Justin Timerlake. Oh, and seeing Parker Posey getting it on w/ Danny Devito is neither sexy nor funny.

Payback Straight Up: The Director's Cut: Gone are Mel Gibson's voiceovers, Kris Kristofferson (as well as his entire storyline) and the blue tint the covered the original flim. Gibson's character Parker is even more brutal in this version and less sympathetic; but his antagonists are even scummier, so he's still the "hero."

The Prisoner: Or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair: documentary about an Iraqi journalist that gets mistaken for terrorist (gee, how often does that happen), is arrested, tortured, and finally released after sheepish apologies from the US Government. Surprisingly he doesn't turn to terrorism for revenge. Ugh, I'll be glad when Bush is no longer president.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse: Piece. Of. Crap. If you're after Milla Jovovich and/or scenes of her naked, stick to The 5th Element. You'll be glad you did.

The Ringer: Regular guy pretends he's mentally retarded to cheat in the Special Olympics. Once again the Farelly Brothers champion the whatever-challenged folk. Lessons to be learned by all, even the mentally retarded.

Who's Got the Tape: Korean comedy flick. I really wish Pinoy filmmakers would look upon films like these to learn the nuances of comic timing and subtle humor.

Paprika: No, it's not another film about spices starring Penelope Cruz. It's a feature length anime that's a mix of The Matrix and The Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman, w/ a haunting soundtrack that's a mix of techno and Enya. (Yeah, I'm probably doing an injustice by selling it like that, so just buy it and prove me wrong.)

"Oh, What A Relief It Is..."

Not really sure what caused it, but I can honestly say one of worst stomach ailments to have is both indigestion and constipation at the same time. I was out of commission the whole day yesterday. A combination of agony and fatigue also had me going to bed at 9PM. Woke up at 2AM but went back to sleep half an hour later.

Right now stomach only feels 1/4 the pain from before. Need more fiber.

BUSY Busy Days (UPDATED)

THURSDAY (June 7): Went with Die! to Fernand's apartment in Makati for dinner, but not before getting caught by (and "settling" out of court" with) cops who pulled me over for driving the wrong way on a One Way street. My naiveté on Makati cops being the least corruptible in the NCR (though as Die! pointed out the opposite was true) was quickly slapped upside the head w/ a 'C' note to the pigs. ANYhoo, the 3 of us had pasta, salad and cake. Since her dad couldn't pick her up I had to drive Die! back to her place, w/c was slightly daunting for me as it was past midnight and we were going though EDSA. Thank God I didn't get lost.
Finally, as you can see from the pic it was a matter of having 4 unrelated items coming together telling one weird story. 1: Napkins. 2: Stuffed animal. 3: Female figurine w/big-boobed salt & pepper shakers. 4: Hand lotion.

(I didn't say it was a nice story...)

FRIDAY: Today taught me that if you're having a good day, don't jinx it by telling someone the rest of your plan for the day, or else the universe balances it out w/ a bad evening. Good: getting new comix and meeting up w/ Wella (since she got back from New York) for a last full screening at RGalleria. Bad: Pirates 3 sucked and I inadvertently busted my digicam by bumping into the chairs at the cinema.

SATURDAY: Boit and Dionne's wedding day. Preparations were done at 5-Kim's, and while waiting it out I scarfed on the pricey Royce chocolates (later paid for in acne). After lunch (can't even remember what I had) we headed for Mary the Queen church, w/c was strangely empty. Less than half an hour before the wedding was scheduled to begin but nary a flower was put up by the aisle.

Long story short we started late. It also didn't help that none of us rehearsed beforehand. For one thing I was under the impression that the Best Man waits by the altar for everybody else to walk down the aisle, but instead I had to strut down there solo. (Should've put one hand in my pocket for the complete ramp model effect. Bad: sound system in the church. Good: BoiT taking his own pix w Dionne in front of the altar.

We killed the next few hours back at Marianas w/ more photoshoots, and I was in dire need of a nap. At the dinner reception in Gloria Maris I was surprised to see Aimee Uy (Chong), who attending her brother-in-law's wedding reception downstairs (we were on the 2nd floor). I stayed downstairs for crowd control (and was mistaken for the groom 4 times).
Food was mundane. Wilson's song number was fine. Video presentation was good. My speech/toast went off great. No lace and bouquet toss (the latter already done at the church) and luckily I was able to stave off cognac serving duties for the evening. Immediate family members of the newlyweds were one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave. We were also given the "honor" of giving away to guests (who haven't left) unopened bottle of cognac (easy), bags of noodles (hard) and chunks of wedding cake (really hard). You'd think w/ about 85% of that cake being made of styrofoam what little edible sections left would be easy to give away. Not the case, probably because that 15% tasted like the 85%.

(Always end w/ a wedding cake joke, that's what I always say.)

SUNDAY: Pooped from last night's events. Completely missed Joanne's wedding today. (Granted, the thing's gonna happen today in Legazpi, but that's neither here nor there.) The 'Rents went out to lunch w/ uncle and aunt who came in from HK last week, while I left later in the afternoon to catch Ocean's 13 w/ Rons. Luckily I found a detour in Commonwealth that headed for Araneta Center, so we caught the 2:30 screening at Gateway Mall on time.

Afterwards we had to leave early because I still had a family dinner in Makati to attend. Asked directions from a cop and thankfully we were going back on the same route we came in. (Ah, a rare moment where my encounter w/ law enforcers while behind the wheel of a car didn't cost me a thing.) All immediate relatives met up at the People's Palace in Greenbelt. Wilson ordered 3 rounds of the 10-course Thai meal, w/c had definite hits (chicken pandan) and misses (spicy shrimp soup) for me. And how's this for another surprise from HK: Cathy Sy was in town, and thankfully she's sticking around longer than Aimee, so hopefully we could meet up at Chili's again for Sunday lunch.

I Want to Punch This Trailer in the Face

Click on the title below to see the trailer. If. YOU. DARE.

OMG! What a piece of crap!

Voices and Latte

Spent the afternoon w/ Rachelle, first doing "voice-filing" recordings at Creativoices Productions, then after hoarsing our throats out went to Greenbelt for some Moroccan mint latte at CoffeeBean &TeaLeaf. (I think this was the first time I've ever driven her around anywhere. Usually when we get together we either traveled separately or commuted in the same jeep.) As voice talents our first project together is probably our most famous work. Like Wella I dig hanging w/ Rache 'coz I never run out of stuff to chat about w/ her (mostly media stuff), but like Wella hectic work skeds prevent us from hanging out more often.

After a cheque collecting snafu I headed home. After arriving home I left a half-hour later to pick up Tintin (Ng) for dinner. We ate at Teriyaki Boy's Banawe branch then had an early nightcap at Starbucks Araneta. Probably finished browsing through the crappy magazine and newspaper selection, and yet both of us still managed to get home by 10PM. Granted it was a long day for both us so we were pooped. Either that or we had too much carbs.

DLoaded Movie Weekend

Failed to take full advantage of No 'Rents Weekend (they're in Baguio). Didn't go out. Watched movies, instead. With the exception of The US vs John Lennon, I got these flicks based on the "recommendation" of IMDB--

Sexual Life: This was what a movie producer I read about would refer to as a "Showtime piece of garbage."

Cargo: Drama/mystery about a really nosy stowaway trying to uncover the secret about the ship he's on, as well as its crew. This was a miss in the hit-or-miss department.




The Good German: Shot in the style of old 1940s B&W movies, complete w/old "wipe" transitions, obviously fake backgrounds for the driving scenes, and dull-looking opening credits. (Although the amount of cussing going on will remind it's just an homage.) Bit of false advertising though, as Tobey Maguire's character's role was smaller than you'd think. And for a mystery it was a bit predictable.




The US vs John Lennon: Yeah, it's supposed to be about how the FBI started spying on Lennon, but as with The Fog of War, I got more info about the Vietnam war and it's chilling parallels with the current war in Iraq and the US government's sinister way of handling it.

Now for movies named after the title character--

Ellie Parker: A day(s) in the life of a struggling actress, played by Naomi Watts. Watch it for Watt's chameleon-like versatility, similar to her character in Mulholland Falls. Story, however, was... blah, like Mulholland Falls.

Edmond: Watch down-on-his-luck Edmond Burke's (William H. Macy) spiral from a pitiful loser to an unsympathetic one in just one evening. As usual David Mamet knocks it outta the park w/ his gift for dialogue. Too bad the film itself wasn't as good.

Kenny: Loved this charming mockumentary from Australia. Despite the subject's occupation (professional portable toilet plumber), Kenny Smyth's optimism and sense of humor will win you over. You'll never look at shitters (his term for the portalets) the same way again, and in this case it's a good thing.

Drowning in DLoaded Movies

Now that the 2006-07 TV season's almost done, I'll have no series to catch up on my PC. Now there's time to watch season 1 of Prison Break on dvd, as well as almost 2 dozen downloaded movies. Yesterday I finished Sexual Life (sucked), North Korea: A Day in the Life (slightly bleak) and Primer (intellectual minimalist sci-fi), and the day before that is was The Trials of Henry Kissinger (man, that guy's a dick).

So even if my social life's put on hold, at least the intermissions' entertaining.

10 Thoughts (Not Really) on Fracture

Caught this at Greenhills Theater Mall w/ lawyer-to-be Rons. Hey, a lawyer movie! Finally I can ask about what legal moves done in the movie would work in real life. That said, there's not enough interesting points in the movie for me to bring up 10 Thoughts.

I haven't watched any good legal dramas on TV in a long time, so all I can do is compare this movie to a pseudo-special episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, in that we already know whodunnit and are just waiting for the criminal to get caught.

Kudos to both Ryan "Johnny-Storm-clone" Gosling as Willy Beachum and Anthony "I-can't-place-his-accent" Hopkins as Ted Crawford. There were times though when they could've been replaced with George Eads and Robin Williams, respectively. The former because of Gosling's character's Southern accent, the latter because of some of the clever lines being delivered by Hopkins' character. And for a thriller/mystery, there were a surprisingly good number of them written.

The Moment of Truth scene concerned whether or not Beachum would call up his assistant and present false evidence to the judge. I actually found myself mutting nonono, don't dial that number, ya fool. That was the extent of my Yelling at the Movie Screen behavior.

As proof of padding the film, there was the almost pointless character of Nikki Gardner, played by Rosamund Pike. Her relationship with Beachum went nowhere in the end, all the more making me question the point of that Thanksgiving dinner scene, other than to give Beachum a judge to run to (Nikki's dad) near the end. Again, pointless.

No Sixth Sense-like twist ending, just an anticipated twist w/ the prerequisite flashbacks. All in all not-bad for a flick, but for me just dvd-worthy.

On more positive notes, Ron was great company as always, and I encountered 2 friendly familiar faces! Hi to Nikki Wong and Annie Coo (Whose picture you see here, found completely by chance online. Ain't she purty?)

Only PBB Watchers (Season 2) Would Get This

Just so ya know, I wasn't the one that

Photoshopped the moles off her face.

While at the bank I was reading a newspaper article on Wendy Valdez. Suddenly bank's radio played When She Cries by Endless Heart. Creepy.

Just as creepy, this revealing message post about Wendy's alleged "dark side." (Reprinted totally w/o permission, unedited, save for placing paragraph breaks for easier reading.)

mga PBB fanatics, malalaman nyo na kung sino ba talaga si wendita sa tunay na buhay ayon mismo sa classmate ni wendita sa FEU.

Facts about Wendy

i think even if how hard we try to hide our real “mukha” lalabas at lalabas din to. i know wendy from FEU (my school too) the main reason why she passed her mascomm degree is because she ****ed (sorry for the term)our professor last february. (this is true we have pix and cams) inside the speech laboratory all schoolmates know this.

She said shes went to japan as a dancer…it is true but she works in a prostitute house there and is charged $150 (pls convert to yen) a night. Shes had controversial issues in FEU before about her story because she denied this when called to explain herself(kailangan ng FEU na mag background check sa students for school image) sabi ba naman niya “i went to japan as a cultural dancer” may cultural bang inuuwi at binababoy ng mga customer?(confidential files from 2005 feu)

IT is true that she is a good person but trust me when i say this. she should not deny the fact of her past so she can gain advantage over other people. SHe is NOT POOR. her last boyfriend was a Japanese DOM (62) named Hakimoto Ikita who gave her more than a million pesos. After she got the money she enrolled herself AGAIN IN FEU. this was around 2003. and left her lover to rot in Japan. while she was with the JAP guy. she was engaged sexually with my cousin T.H. Morales. also a student in FEU. reason they broke up. He caught wendy in bed with another DOM. It is sad to admit that my cousin is a shabu addict and so is wendy.they have sessions with drugs and after they have loud *** ( i should know my cousin lives next to me i can hear them).

I am not against wendy or anything…and im happy that this might be her next step to changing her bad ways of using people for money…i am just sad that she keeps on making herself look “nakaka awa” to other people on tv so she can get more votes. i just want her to be real and honest of who she is…she is hiding from a beautiful face and a sexy body…all i want is her honesty.

I pity Bruce he seems to be a nice guy to fall for someone like wendy…i told you shes an evil genius. she has her ways of convincing people to like her…through her lies and many faces. i bet after big brother and shes a star…she will never look at bruce the same way like shes trying to portray now. She has used a lot of people already…i know miss M guidance councelor. sometimes shes saddened of wendy’s personality problem and wendy being a user.

if you found this article rude…my apologies
if you found this article enlightening…thank you

im hoping that the true PBB housemate deserving to win should win…but i hope wendy won’t coz she is not deserving to me.

thank you…

Ma.Kathleen Morales Espiritu
from the other forum

Select and Elect

Nationwide voting today for legislative posts. Endured the heat and a dodgy tricycle ride only to find out I've been purged from the official voters list. Guess not voting in the last 2 major elections would do that.
And Ma voted for Lacson again! Gah! Stop it! That man is EVIL!