Do tools make a good man?

Of all the areas that the issue of reproductive health has touched I have always considered that population should be removed from the table by virtue of agreement.   There is nothing more painful to my ears than to hear the issue resurface and discussed over and over again.

Now how could I consider both parties agreeing when in the media they seem hell bent on tearing each other’s heads, hopefully not lierally. The reason is family planning.  Yes, each side favors its own method: natural in the anti-reproductive health side and artificial for those in favor; but whatever the method, if people calmly think about it, the intent is the same: control.

Infamy?

I was dreaming more of seeing the headlines with me as hottest matinée idol; Oscar winner; maybe Palanca Awardee, but this is not how I expected to see my name in the papers. That’s twice already in case people texting me this rainy weekend were wondering: 2004 and 2008.

Four years before a recycle, they must like my name. hehehe.

Whatever happened to the little picture?

Whatever happened to the little picture?

It’s always about the big picture.

The Happening (2008)

If I were to describe M. Night Shyamalan in one word it’s minimalist.

From his works like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, and now The Happening he showed remarkable control of the story, never showing too much or too little. His pacing is perfect, it’s not boring, in fact it’s presented in a way that you are almost anticipating a monster to always pop out every few minutes.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The first thought that crossed my mind during the opening scenes of the Incredible Hulk was Bill Bixby. Though the memory is almost gone, it was the TV series Bruce Banner whom I thought of - his eyes when he goes berserk; his ‘you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry’ remark; and that Gamma experiment which as I recall also happened in a lab and a chair similar to this 2008 incarnation.

Erosion in Puerto Galera

Topography is hardly something I try to notice in a beach. Who would study the physical features of the land when you can study the physical features of crowd especially the ladies….

A nice sunny day, fine sand, clear water, and an atmosphere that seemed derived from a Beach Boys song are all I the qualities I look for. And there are a lot of beaches that fit that description in this country of ours, Puerto Galera among them.

But recently in my recent trip to Galera just this past week, topography was something I noticed, because if I am right, one of the favorite summer spots in the country may have its days numbered.

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

If can be mobile like Po the Panda, do a split, do kung fu, in spite of my bulging tummy I’d be a happy man. Alright, maybe minus the splits.

Kung Fu Panda rocks! It’s somehow like the old Cris Farley (remember him?) movie Beverly Hills Ninja but a thousand times better and guaranteed to make you laugh.

21 (2008)

Watching the TV series Numbers should tell you that math can be applicable in just about anything. For me, Math remains to still be understood as I barely passed it during my school days.

21 is a film a team of card counters (student geniuses) from M.I.T who went into Vegas to win big money using high level math. The interesting part is (and I’m still googling my way if) it was real. But suffice to say from the few readings I came up with a group of students did test themselves in Vegas with a system so effective they got away with millions.

Pasig Cools Down my Office

Waters in the streets usually herald the end of the hot days of summer and play time for the kids.

But not here: there are no kids as this is the front of my office, the Department of Budget and Management Building 1. And, the water you see there comes from Pasig River so play at your own peril. Furthermore, it did not rain that day at least from our area.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

If we judge based on the performances of past resurrected franchises such Rambo, Rocky, Terminator, and Die Hard, the Indiana Jones sequel would be on top. It came off in a shape fairly resembling its former self. I guess we can thank almighty Steven Spielberg for that feat. But then again, even Spielberg has his limits.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

 

Compared its Da Vinci Code riding predecessor, National Treasure: Book of Secrets is more appropriate of being called ‘national treasure’, because this time the treasure searched for was entirely American. Allusions to American Revolutionary figures in part one I believe were merely a side story as the fabled (and more European) Templar Treasure and mysterious organizations such as the Freemasons were the true crowd drawers.

Awake (2007)

There is a joke that goes: ‘Doc it hurts when I do this’; Doctor answers, ‘stop doing it’. Corny yes but what if you can’t do anything. What if you can’t stop that pain and it’s your own doctor that is giving it to you.

The backdrop of the story of Awake is a phenomenon called Anesthesia Awareness. The name itself betrays what is wrong with experiencing the phenomenon; when you are under anesthesia you shouldn’t be aware.

Iron Man (2008)

Except for mild surprise that Tom Cruise was not able to lock on the Iron Man movie, I had no opinions of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark when the movie was just green-lighted for live action production. Honestly, I had Patrick Bergin in mind for the role back in the mid 90s when Marvel seemed to be hot on making a movie of their characters. The mustache was the clincher.

Thankfully I had no Hollywood producer to hear my choices because I loved the performance of Robert Downey, Jr.

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

On the surface The Other Boleyn Girl seem like your typical love triangle – two sisters battling for the heart of one man. And had the film been titled something more common as “The Other Woman”, and set in a period more contemporary, it could make some money here in the Philippines. But being a historical drama of Henry VIII’s England, I seriously doubt it’ll make decent money.

John Rambo (2008)

Potentially John Rambo could have had more punch than the boxer movie Rocky Balboa, but it’s a dud. At least with Rocky you had some nostalgia albeit forcefully jammed down the movie goer’s throats with some old clips and locations.

This movie is emotionally dead. Such a big waste of opportunity if you think about it considering its intent was, like Rambo III, to try to bring attention to a war torn country: Burma in this case. But when part III succeeded, part IV failed.

Replays (Coup Holdiays Redux)

(I wanted to edit Coup Holidays because it sounded bad to me, and this is what I came up with. For, thinking such writing would never see the light of day in a government newsletter, I gave it to my boss because I was facing deadlines. It did (or will) see the light of day, minus a few names and harsh words. Well here are the words in entirety. Here's to living somewhat dangerously in dangerous times.)

One cold December night I was watching the Return of the King on DVD when in the scene where Aragorn was meeting an army of the dead, I got a crazy idea.

Maybe this was what the Manila Pen Siege was all about; Sen. Trillanes, ala-Aragorn, beseeching the ghost of Andres Bonifacio to lead an army of dead Philippine revolutionaries to help him capture the leadership of this country.

Atonement (2007)

‘If you can go back in time and change anything, what would it be?’

You cannot, obviously.

Atonement is a film about wanting to go back, but maybe the more accurate description is it’s a film about being burdened with a pain in the past. As in life, there is not much the lead can do. What is done is done; there is no going back.

We make amends, do penitence; then maybe fate will look kindly, and give back that which was destroyed. Maybe . . .

Rendition (2007)

I looked the movie up on imdb.com and was only to happy to see the quote I loved and decided to start the piece with it.

“In all the years you've been doing this, how often can you say that we've produced truly legitimate intelligence? Once? Twice? Ten times? Give me a statistic; give me a number. Give me a pie chart, I love pie charts. Anything, anything that outweighs the fact that if you torture one person you create ten, a hundred, a thousand new enemies.”

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

This movie was a surprise in a low key kind of way. Actually, I was waiting for good old western style shooting; gunfights; cowboys; especially when one of the most popular leading men around, Brad Pitt, is the lead as Jesse James. I wanted action and I wanted to be dazzled. Instead, what I got was a puzzle, skillfully crafted, that I wanted to solve and savor even long after I have finished the movie.

And the puzzle is; who was the bad guy? A strange question if you think about it since the demarcation lines between good and bad are always evident in movies. But strange as it is, it is the only question that came to mind when I finished watching the film.

Coup Holidays

The government’s security agencies, for the umpteenth time, uncovered plot to destabilize the government. This time, they say, the plotters plan to use the Anniversary of Edsa II (Jan 20) and the Mendiola Massacre (Jan 22).


This recent news is just one in a long line of attempts and alleged attempts against President Arroyo since she took power in 2001. Many of these tidings of doom have come on or before special days like Labor Day, Edsa Anniversaries; and most recently Bonifacio Day.