It is just around the corner. The Skyway Condura Run in 6days! Im joining 21K. This is the race route.
Month: January 2011
I never got sleepy watching it; so it must have been engaging.
I saw The Green Hornet last night, and I like it. Full of humor to keep me company the whole time. The tandem could have worked. But after the end credits, while I am on my way out of the cinema, I saw Jennylyn Mercado. She was also in the same cinema watching the same movie. She was with a guy and another girl. When I got near, it was found out that the guy was her current boyfriend, Dennis Trillo. But I was never starstruck. Maybe if I see Maja Salvador or Karylle.
Love and other drugs. Or I am old.
On the start of Love And Other Drugs, Spin Doctors “Two Princes” played heavily, reverberating the excellent cinema sound system of The Shang Cineplex. I can’t help but become nostalgic. The setting is the good old 90s, and it was obvious from the song choice. From there, I like the movie.
Until the different state of undress, and sex scenes of lead stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. Could it be their second try after their doomed pairing in Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” where Jake preferred Heath over Anne?
Jake has gone a long way from Bubble Boy and Donnie Darko. Anne has gone a long way from The Princess Diaries. Maybe the teen stars of my generation is getting older—what with the adult roles, and nudity. Maybe, I’m old.
The story has become dragging mid-part, but is forgiven. The soundtrack alone makes this movie cute for me. Er, or was it Anne’s cute breasts?
—
PS:
While watching the movie, a seatmate told his companion “puro yata sex eto?”. [I smiled.]
Glee is back!
Glee is back this week for their Super Bowl episode. The featured songs are:
1. Need You Now (Lady Antebellum)
2. Thriller/Heads Will Roll – Michael Jackson
3. Bills, Bills, Bills – Destiny’s Child
4. She’s Not There – The Zombies
Unbroken
After I finish reading Justin Cronin’s “The Passage”, Laura Hillenbrand’s notable book “Unbroken” will be first on my list. The book is still in the top of Amazon.com’s bestseller list; so this must be good. The plot line looks okay, so just wait for a while.
Meanwhile, I am still engross and lost in the wild forest of Bolivia.
Asics Gel Nimbus 12
It was third quarter of last year that I realized I need to buy a new pair of running shoes. My current New Balance shoes was used for close to a year! I think it needs a partner.
I research for the best running shoes around—Nike, New Balance, Newton, Brooks, Asics. I decided to scratch Nike in the list of options because well, it’s too common. Most runners in the runs I join wear Nikes, in different colors. I also scratch New Balance even if I have a discount coupon for joining Unilab Run 2 last Nov 2010. My current shoes is already NB, so no two same brand for now.
Newton shoes are too loud for me, their shoes are in colorful designs and colorful running shoes are not my type. Brooks shoes I don’t like the style–generic looking, although, I heard that they are one of the best (not to mention, expensive).
So, I was left with Asics. It was really meant to be it because I love their sneaker line, Onitsuka Tiger. I have two pairs of it, in white and gray. Around Oct 2010, I went to Asics store in Greenbelt 3 and check out the different styles. But I did not stay long because I just felt sad seeing those nice running shoes and I am not buying. But I promise myself to return to that store soon because I really wanted an Asics shoes.
Fast forward to Dec 2010. I went to Greenbelt 3 to register for the Condura Skyway Marathon 2011. Their registration booth, incidentally, is in front of the Asics store! Little did I know later on that Asics is a co-sponsor of this running event and that every registrant is given 15% off discount coupon. Sweet.
I thought maybe this is the sign? So after I officially register for the Condura Run, I went inside the Asics store, have my feet analyze (normal pronation) and presto! I was presented with the shoe type suited for my feet.
I choose their top of the line, Asics Gel Nimbus 12 (2010). Lime color. The funny thing was, when I first try using it on my regular run (in Antique during Christmas break), I was caught up in a heavy downpour while in the middle of doing an afternoon 10K. Literally, “bininyagan yung sapataos.”
Since then, I am using it on my runs (both indoor/outdoor) and it’s nice on my feet. I can really feel the gel while I run, like your stepping in a gummy bear. That kind of comfort. I heard from online literature that runners who switch to a gel shoes confessed that their shin splints was gone. I have to agree.
It was a worthwhile purchase. Glad I choose Asics.
Silent Moment
I don’t know about you but James Franco–like Leonardo diCaprio–is a fine actor that Hollywood ignores. Seriously.
And this lead film 127 Hours by Danny Boyle might get him all the attention he deserves. Of course, we all know what happen here, because this is the story of Aron Ralston, a geeky engineer who loves the outdoor but whose hand was accidentally trapped in a boulder and was stuck for 127 hours (read: more than 5 days) living in water, rain, and urine to survive. That eventually, has to cut off his hand because he was left with no other option.
Boyle’s challenge is to make a movie entertaining and engaging for one hour and thirty minutes with only James Franco in it most of the time. And he succeeded. Poignant, especially during those moments where he has to videotaped his situation and leaving a final message in case someone gets hold of his videocam. Funny, especially on the first 2 days when he desperately tried to prick the boulder at the edges to make a dent on his hand, and Bill Withers “Lovely Day” is being played.
There’s a special moment in the film at the end part where he already cut his hand, and is desperately wanting to get out of that place. When he find out three people in sight, he ask for help and simply ask for water. And water. The basic essentials, in order to survive. Top it up with a beautiful song “If I Rise” by Dido and A.R. Rahman on the back ground.
The movie is a cautionary tale for adventurers. In this day of insurance, mobile phones, and technology, before leaving for the outback, let your love ones know where you are going. It might save you.
Achingly Beautiful
I read the book by Kazuo Ishiguro, of the same title, last year only. And I hate myself for ignoring this book while I frequent bookstores. I never knew it was that good, until I heard of the movie adaptation.
Like the novel, the film is achingly beautiful. It tells the story of Ruth, Kathy and Tommy. They live in Hailsham, a boarding school for organ donors. Yes, the three of them (and all the rest in Hailsham) were born from their donor’s genes. Once their donor get sick, and needs organ transplant, they are tap to give. In a poignant scene, a teacher tells the class of innocent children, about the hurtful truth that they serve a purpose and that their life will end sooner than they can hope. While watching the numb reaction of the kids give you the ache–a prick of needle in the heart.
During their school days, Ruth and Tommy get into a relationship. But Kathy is secretly falling in love for Tommy, too. And Tommy is liking Kathy more than Ruth.
When they left Hailsham and transferred to the cottages, things get more complicated. Young as they are, they tried looking for their donors in the outside world, to their dismay. Ruth and Tommy engages in a cold sexual relationship which Kathy secretly loathers (and accept).
Fast forward to several years, and they all gone separate ways. Kathy sees Ruth in a hospital she did her volunteer and ask her how she is. Ruth is pale and weak. Her doctors said that she might die anytime soon. So both of them make a road trip to look for Tommy.
The reunion is tinged with sadness because we all know that they will all die. In a beach, Ruth said her apology for wrecking the life of Kathy and Tommy. That she only get Tommy for a boyfriend because she fears that she will not have any.
After Ruth died, Tommy and Kathy fall in love. They find “Madame”, the woman who collects Tommy’s drawing while he was in Hailsham. They want to ask her permission for deferral–a term used for them to live their lives co-existing with the real world outside, away from the transplant, and organ donation. When they face Madame, and Miss Emily (their Head in the boarding school), they truthfully told that they are in love, and that they have souls because they have emotions (they were taught in the early days that they are otherwise).
Miss Emily breaks their hope. There is no deferral. Tommy and Kathy went back home, and while in the car, Tommy asks Kathy if she could stop the car. A moving scene ensued when Tommy running at the front road in a cold dark night shouts his lung out and cry. Cry because there is no option at hand. That it is useless to fall in love because life will end soon, eventually.
While the book is more beautiful, the film can stand on its own as excellent. Great acting from the three young actors–Keira Knightly, Carey Mulligan, and Andrew Garfield.
We are all swans–both white and black.
The Swan Lake according to tales, tells the story of a woman who is cursed to be a white swan. In order for her to come back from that curse, she has to genuinely fall in love with a man. But a black swan enters the scene, and seduces the man. The white swan, felt turn down and betrayed, ends her life.
The Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky is a story of a virginal girl named Nina (Natalie Portman) who is a ballet dancer in New York. When Thomas Leroy, the artistic director of the ballet company, decided to dump his “prime dancer” Beth (Winona Ryder) for a younger, fresh face to grace the new production of The Swan Lake, Nina tried her best to get the role. And she did.
But Thomas is dubious of her character while she pirouettes during rehearsal—Nina is innocent looking and perfect for the White Swan role. But he is not convince of her how she will do the Black Swan role, the opposite dark role that she also needs to imbibe as part of the whole production.
I don’t know if it is all the scheming tactics of Thomas, but it is a suspect. Enter the new competitor to the role–Lily. Lily personifies the dark sensual character of a black swan.
Nina and Lily became friends, and it gets ugly. Rivalry, sexual relationship with the director, and like makes Nina twisted. In fact, it incites her dark side which has been brewing inside her for a long time because her mother is also a strict, rigid guardian at home.
All of these burdensome reasons make Nina turned into an ugly black feathery creature, the very same character that she needs to portray in her lead role at the ballet production.
Natalie Portman gives an excellent portrayal of a constricted, virginal Nina. I don’t know about you but her “touch your self” scene will be a YouTube hit any time soon.
Like the story of The Swan Lake, Nina’s became her role. But those imaginary bleeding and imaginary fight with Lily is not psychological. The director only presents the duality of the human character—that we all have good and bad side.
Whatever the case maybe, the image that we project resides on our own choice. Our own only.
My Brain Farts 