Stardust =)

I watched Stardust a while ago and it was just such a nice feel good movie. :D An awesome quote:

You know when I said I knew little about love? That wasn't true. I know a lot about love. I've seen it. I've seen centuries and centuries of it, and it was the only thing that made watching your world bearable. All those wars. Pain and lies. Hate... It made me want to turn away and never look down again. But to see the way that mankind loves... You could search to the furthest reaches of the universe and never find anything more beautiful. So yes, I know that love is unconditional. But I also know it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable and strangely easy to mistake for loathing, and... What I'm trying to say, Tristan, is... I think I love you. My heart... It feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it doesn't belong to me any more. It belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I'd wish for nothing in exchange. No gifts. No goods. No demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you loved me too. Just your heart, in exchange for mine.

Final PBB post... hopefully :p

During the big night, before announcing who among Robi and Ejay would become the big winner, this was said

"Sino ang pinaniwalaan ng taong bayan?
ang lumaki ba sa mabuting pamilya
o ang pinalaki sa karanasan sa buhay

ang nagpakita ng kanyang mga natutunan
o ang nagpakita ng kanyang totoong sarili"

I would have wanted Robi to win but I have nothing against Ejay winning. As a matter of fact, I liked how he handled himself the last few weeks inside the house. I realized he may not have taken initiative but he was a good follower and team player. So congratulations to him.

But I still didn't like how they described Robi. Just from the moment kuya said "Hindi ko nakikita ang totoong Robi. Ang nakikita ko ay isang Atenista." to handlng him differently on the gas situation and his relatively evil-implying vtr for the big 4 up to the big night where they described him as I quoted above.

It's not even about the fact that I'm a Robi fan anymore. I mean I don't really know him after all and I'm not definite he'll be the same role model outside the house but he represented the kind of person who I believe was exemplary and true to himself and to how he was raised. And I just don't like how ABS-CBN chose to describe him, his being a good person, how he exemplified Atenean values and the conditions in which he grew up.

I do not understand how living out the values taught to you by your school which you have inculcated is not being yourself, how being raised by a good family makes you lack experiences and how being true to yourself does not involve practicing what you have learned.

For me, it's just all wrong and yes, once again, I am utterly frustrated.

The best Cinderella rendition

//Because I'm currently uploading a lot of megasize files...

Last week, I watched Ever After starring Drew Barrymore and Dougray Scott.

I couldn't believe I haven't watched this movie before. With research, I learned that it was released in 1998. I was in grade 3 so I don't think I got to select which movies to watch.

I suck at reviews so I don't know how to describe it except it's a wonderful movie and it's probably the Cinderella story real girls would wish on themselves.

My favorite quotes:

Leonardo da Vinci: You cannot leave everything to Fate, boy. She's got a lot to do. Sometimes you must give her a hand.

Henry: What do you know? You build flying machines and you walk on water, and yet you know *nothing* about life!
Leonardo da Vinci: I know that a life without love is no life at all.

Danielle: [about the prince] Honestly, I think he and Marguerite deserve each other.
Paulette: Oh, bite your tongue! The only throne I want her sitting on is the one I have to clean everyday.

[last lines]
Danielle: You, sir, are supposed to be charming.
Henry: And you, princess, are supposed to live happily ever after.
Danielle: Says who?
Henry: You know, I don't know.
Grand Dame: [voiceover] My great-great-grandmother's portrait hung in the university up until the Revolution. By then, the truth of their romance had been reduced to a simple fairy tale. And, while Cinderella and her prince did live happily ever after, the point, gentlemen, is that they lived.

Henry: Do you really think there is only one perfect mate?
Leonardo da Vinci: As a matter of fact, I do.
Henry: Well then how can you be certain to find them? And if you do find them, are they really the one for you or do you only think they are? And what happens if the person you're supposed to be with never appears, or, or she does, but you're too distracted to notice?
Leonardo da Vinci: You learn to pay attention.
Henry: Then let's say God puts two people on Earth and they are lucky enough to find one another. But one of them gets hit by lightning. Well then what? Is that it? Or, perchance, you meet someone new and marry all over again. Is that the lady you're supposed to be with or was it the first? And if so, when the two of them were walking side by side were they both the one for you and you just happened to meet the first one first or, was the second one supposed to be first? And is everything just chance or are some things meant to be?

AI has it right!

I think the two Davids are awesome.

David Cook is an original and sincere artist.
David Archuleta is an earnest person who has a clean & pure voice.

In contrast to almost everyone, I don't have a side this time. I think both of them deserve to win. One has all the characteristics of a great star and the other performed consistently and came to class prepared and dedicated to win today.

At least, American Idol's getting it right. :)

Downer is I sort of agree with Ben. The finale wasn't as grand and amazing as it used to be. It might not have been an intelligent for the producers to give the two freedom in choosing the "finale song."

PBB = heartbreak :((

I've been watching PBB Teen Edition Plus the last couple of weeks. (Obvious. I know. Lol.)

And last night the housemates broke my heart. How?

They nominated both Rona and Robi, my top two favorites in the contest. (Check out the faces. I cried. I react emotionally to EVERYTHING.)

And for what reasons?
Rona for being serious, OA and conservative.
Robi because he doesn't need the money and because Nan couldn't do anything anymore because Robi always did everything.

Now here's what I think.
What's wrong with being serious? It's not as if she doesn't try to have fun inside the house. It's just when a situation is presented to her, she doesn't just choose to laugh but actually takes a look at it and tries to figure out what must be done. And yes, some people put value to what you say, even if they meant nothing to you. And no, there's nothing wrong with being genuinely true to yourself.
And when will the less-fortunate realize that if they truly want to be equals with those who are better-off, they have to recognize that they are playing on the same level? Whenever they say, hindi niya na ito kailangan, they are saying: i deserve to be treated differently. Isn't that what discrimination is? And please. If you really want to work, you will be able to find a way to do so. There's always a lot to be done, not only in that house but in the world.

This is how they reward the two people who have acted as leaders inside the house, peacemakers in all the misunderstandings, rational and responsible housemates and friends.

This reaction might be too much and I admit it might be pretty judgmental too but over-all, I still believe there's a reason to be sad here. My dad says it's a competition and they want to win. But do all the viewers understand that? Do they understand that the reasons given are for the sake of winning and not reasonable arguments on people's beliefs and behaviors?

Well, I do hope so!

Pagpapakatotoo part 2

Because they couldn't get enough of being true to themselves, someone uses the word again in a context quite different from that of the first Pagpapakatotoo incident I blogged about.

This happened in 1 of the Uber episodes (Sorry na. Minsan lang. Haha.)

They had the latest evictee (at that time), Jolas and his dad as guests. Mariel asked Jolas if he thought one of the reasons of his eviction was the fact that the housemates said he didn't help out much in the household chores.

He said "Nagpapakatotoo lang ako kasi..." he didn't really wash dishes or do chores in his house. And he even added, "kung sabihan naman ako, maghuhugas ako ng pinggan e." As if that helped.

And I loved Mariel's answer. Of course, she said this in a nice way. She was in TV after all. "Bakit ako? Di rin naman ako naghuhugas ng plato sa bahay pero sa bahay ni kuya, todo dishwasher ako." or something really close to that.

It was beautiful. The only thing I would have wanted her to add to that was, "Like, Duh!"

Pagpapakatotoo

It all started with Wendy of Pinoy Big Brother Season 2. She was acting improperly and inconsiderately inside the house. What did she call it? Pagpapakatotoo.

When people were asked who was the housemate they liked the most? When people would select Wendy, they would say. "Kasi totoo siya."

Those statements caused me to hyperventilate.

Now, in the teen edition, they are accusing Rona, who is super hardworking, who tries to be as impartial and just as she can, of not being true. The girls were angry at the new girl because of the things she accusingly said. Rona was still being nice and considerate. She didn't want to shun the new girl. Hindi daw siya nagpapakatotoo. According to my sister, Rona answered by saying hindi ibig sabihin ng pagpapakatotoo, mali ka.

And now I appreciate and support Rona even more. Haha..

How painful and sad that some people, if not the majority of Filipinos, believe that it's fine to treat other people wrong when you have negative feelings toward them kasi nagpapakatotoo ka lang naman. Have we become too lazy to fix our conflicts and just resign to acting like big babies when we're angry? I mean come on. They were asking Rona to not talk to the girl they were angry at. Correct me if I'm wrong but those remind me of how we were during the first few years of grade school.

Even without considering what religion says, I still believe we are intrinsically good. Being true to our selves means finding that good. And in conflict, it means settling the issues at hand. Admitting your feelings and acting on them sounds to me more pagpapakatotoo-like than hiding from them and being negative.

Pisay Movie Reflection =)

Those on the right side of the normal curve are the winners. Inside each side of the normal curve, there are smaller normal curves. No matter which side you're on in that smaller normal curve inside the right side of the major normal curve, you're still a winner!

No. This is not a review. =)) Refer to the hyperlink in the next paragraph for a wonderful review. :)

from Ogg's movie thoughts:

The highly specialized academic training breeds a curious and unique culture among its students. Characterized by vicious competition, contained social lives, and harsh predestination, the Pisay culture feels very much like a tribal unit; separated from the suggested norm of those outside the cemented walls of the institution, but still operating a reflex against any extraneous stimuli that comes its way.

Being a member of the Pisay community, I couldn't agree more to the fact that the academic training we received brought out a curious and unique culture that non-Pisay-ers may not easily understand. These are brought about by (1) the sense of pride that getting into that school gives us, (2) the humility that the early realization that there will always be people better than us brings, (3) the tremendous amount of workload we receive, (4) the early commitment to pursue a career in the field of science and technology, (5) the pressure/responsibility to make this country a better place that we receive as early as 1st year and (6) the feeling that we have been so blessed by God to experience all these. That is to name only a few.

When I talk to many Pisay friends especially now that we have moved on to college, we realize how idealistic we have grown. We expect the best from everyone and everything because we know it's possible. We know that idealism isn't inversely proportional to realism. It is when we start believing that we and the country don't deserve the best that we contribute to our country's doom.

I met a couple friend of my parents who has a son in Batch '09. When we discussed the fact that Pisay students don't seem to want to go abroad, they said, "Ano ba ang pinakain sa inyo ng Pisay?" My parents have another friend who is an alumnus of Pisay. His son is in Pisay as well. They share the same ideals. Hindi ko rin alam kung ano ang pinakain sa amin ng Pisay, pero ito lang ang alam ko, ano man yun, masaya akong natanggap ko yun.

The film brought almost all the emotions you could experience in Pisay to the movie screen. I couldn't help but cry.

More than saying congratulations to a wonderful movie, I deem it more appropriate to say "Thank you!" Thank you to Director Auraeus Solito, Batch '86 for immortalizing Pisay and for making all of us more proud of our school than we already were. Thank you to the cast for giving justice to all the roles. Ang galing niyo lahat! Of course, lalong lalo na Batch '07's very own Shayne Fajutagana! You make us all proud! :D

So everyone, go watch this movie! If you're not from Pisay, I'm not sure if it'll make you feel we're actually humans too or if it'll make you feel like we're mutants. haha. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure everyone can relate to the emotions in the film because this film is all about being young and being Filipino. I'm sure we either are or have been both that in our lifetime. To the Pisay people, it's our story. I don't see how you're not going to love it. :D

movies galore

Since singapore airlines is the best airline ever (haha), they have the best in-flight entertainment. As in, may sariling monitor screen ang lahat ng tao. And you get to watch whatever movie, tv show and documentary, play whatever game, and listen to any music you want. And when you're travelling a total of 30 hours, that means a lot.

Kaya ang dami kong napanood na movies sa plane and sa sweden na rin and at our hosts' home. :)

to Singapore & Copenhagen - Dream girls (some parts), Mrs. Brown (story ni Queen Victoria when her husband died), Freedom Writers (story of a teacher who inspired her students from the ghetto to write their stories)

Apr28 - Stepford Wives (husbands turn their more successful wives into robots)
Apr29 - Enemy of the State
May2 - The Legend of Zorro

to Singapore & Manila - Music & Lyrics, Because I Said So, The Holiday, (TV Shows) The Apprentice, Hell's Kitchen, How to Spot a Liar

**I loved all the movies. Papunta mga serious and drama yung pinanood ko. On our way back, I watched love stories. haha.

**Here's my favorite speech from The Holiday. Fatima, you should watch this. You'll so love it.
"I understand feeling as small and as insignificant as humanly possible. And how it could actually ache in places you didn't know you had inside of you. It isn't how many glasses of champagne you had with your girl friends, or how many times you've gone to the gym. You still go to bed at night, going every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. And how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you could even convince yourself that he'll see the light and just show up at your door. And after all that, how ever long that may be, you go somewhere new and you'll meet people who'll make you feel worthwhile again. And little pieces of your soul wil finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, all those years of your life that you wasted, that would actually begin to fade."