The One with the Woohoos

The rain has stopped, the storm has passed
Look at all the colors now the sun's here at last.
I supposed that you'll be leaving but I want you to know
Part of you stays with me even after you go.

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Stupid Woohoo #1: ACET results are in, and my sister got accepted in Ateneo. Med course pa! Galing-galing! Makes her only the second Atenista in the whole Enriquez clan (guess who was the first one? haha). 'fcourse it still isn't sure if she'll study there (UPCAT results will come out mid-February), but it's still reason enough for celebration! Woohooo!

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Stupid Woohoo #2: Jack Bauer is back! After months of hiatus, 24 is back on the tube, with an interesting storyline for its fifth season, and new cast members that include Sean Astin (played Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings films). 18 months after the staged death of Jack, a breach in national security forces Jack out of hiding to protect his loved ones both past and present. I love Lost, CSI , Veronica Mars and Grey's Anatomy, but television drama couldn't get any better than 24. I've already downloaded the first four eps, but have yet to watch it. Siempre kelangan special viewing sa weekend para asteeeg. Just hearing Kiefer Sutherland's hoarse vocals to usher each episode gives me the chills. "The following takes place between 7:00 AM and 8:00 AM..." :P

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Stupid Woohoo #3: Fox brings out the punches this January by premeiering their other ratings heavyweight: American Idol. Wala lang, guilty pleasure. I especially like the first few audition episodes where they show the wannabees who can't sing a note even if their life depended on it. Most of them sing awfully on purpose just so they could have their 30 seconds of fame on national television. Couldn't blame them; if someone like William Hung can get a contract with his gawd-awful antics, so can anyone with lungs. Cam-whores galore!

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Stupid Woohoo #4: 63rd Golden Globe awards passed by without any real surprises. Almost all the winners were more or less expected: Felicity Huffman, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Reese Witherspoon, Joaquin Phoenix, Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain, Lost, Desperate Housewives... yawn. What made the show interesting were the hilarious acceptance speeches of the winners. Steve Carrell was most entertaining with his "My wife made this list" piece; ditto for Hugh Laurie's lottery speech, Geena Davis' anecdote about a young-girl-who-wasn't-real and George Clooney's Jack Abramoff joke ("Who would name their kid Jack with the last words ‘off’ at the end of your last name? No wonder that guy is screwed up.") L-O-L. Nasamid talaga ako while watching him during breakfast. (FYI, Abramoff is a Republican lobbyist who's involved in several high-profile political scandals).

On another note, I'm ecstatic that Sandra Oh won for Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or TV Movie for Grey's Anatomy. She never fails to amuse me on that show. Another woohoo goes to Hugh Laurie's win as Drama Actor for House. They got it all right this year. :p

Best bit of the night is saved for last: them ladies were soooooooo darned fine! Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon, the lovely Gwyneth Paltrow (hem, hem)... they all looked gorgeous. But the award for most stunnning goes to...



Kate Beckinsale! Marrrrryyyy meeeee!!! :P

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Stupid Woohoo #5: The Australian Open is underway down under, and I'm watching tennis again. One reason: the Swiss Miss is baaaack! Coming out of semi-retirement, Martina Hingis won her opening round match against a 30th seed Russian (any Russian who's not named Sharapova shall remain anonymous in my book). I don't expect a major coup for Martina on her first Grand Slam tournament in three years; just seeing her play tennis again is enough to keep me glued to the tube. :p

In other sporting news, we're down to 4 teams as SuperBowl XL nears. It's the Denver Broncos vs Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC championship, while the Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers will vie for the NFC championship. No Patriots and Colts this year, folks. I can tell that it's gonna be one helluva game; we can only wish that the NFL won't screw this one up like it has done all year. :p

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Lotsa things to be happy about these days. I know they're petty and stupid things to be happy about... but hey, whatever sails my boat. Being miserable is a state of mind and staying miserable is a choice, and I just simply refuse to wallow in the past. There are more serious problems in this world than dealing with my nonsense. As Humphrey Bogart's Rick Blaine in Casablanca aptly puts it, "I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world."

La vita è bella; life is beautiful, dontchatink? :D

The One where Enough is Enough

I'm still fuming with the piece of shit movie I watched on the first day of the year (read previous post), so what better way to alleviate my disgust than to watch one of the best love stories of all time, Victor Fleming’s Gone With The Wind. I allotted four hours of my precious rest time to rewatch this classic tale of love and loss (tsk tsk, I have too much time on my hands haha). It never ceases to amaze me how they could’ve made such a grand, stunningly magnificent film in the 30s.

There’s a sequence in the film that I particularly love, one which I consider to be one of the most kickass scenes in film history. In fact, the last line uttered was voted as top movie quote in AFI'S List of 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time. No gravity-defying, gut-wrenching, "Matrix"-like stunts are made; not even one finger is lifted by any of the characters. But by the end of the scene, it gave a whole new meaning to what Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote in 1839: "The pen is mightier than the sword."

To give you a brief background, Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) married Rhett (Clark Gable) but didn’t really love him because she was in love with another man named Ashley. After years of futility of trying to prove his love to Scarlett (and the tragic death of their daughter Bonnie), Rhett is finally fed up and decides to leave his wife. It’s only then that Scarlett realizes that she loved Rhett all along. The following conversation ensues:

* * * * *

Scarlett: What are you doing?
Rhett: I'm leaving you, my dear. All you need now is a divorce and your dreams of Ashley can come true.
Scarlett: Oh, no! No, you're wrong, terribly wrong! I don't want a divorce. Oh Rhett, but I knew tonight, when I ... when I knew I loved you, I ran home to tell you, oh darling, darling!
Rhett: Please don't go on with this. Leave us some dignity to remember out of our marriage. Spare us this last.
Scarlett: This last? Oh Rhett, do listen to me, I must have loved you for years, only I was such a stupid fool, I didn't know it. Please believe me, you must care! Melly said you did.
Rhett: I believe you. What about Ashley Wilkes?
Scarlett: I ... I never really loved Ashley.
Rhett: You certainly gave a good imitation of it, up till this morning. No Scarlett, I tried everything. If you'd only met me half way, even when I came back from London.
Scarlett: I was so glad to see you. I was, Rhett, but you were so nasty.
Rhett: And then when you were sick, it was all my fault ... I hoped against hope that you'd call for me, but you didn't.
Scarlett: I wanted you. I wanted you desperately but I didn't think you wanted me.
Rhett: It seems we've been at cross purposes, doesn't it? But it's no use now. As long as there was Bonnie, there was a chance that we might be happy. I liked to think that Bonnie was you, a little girl again, before the war, and poverty had done things to you. She was so like you, and I could pet her, and spoil her, as I wanted to spoil you. But when she went, she took everything.
Scarlett: Oh, Rhett, Rhett please don't say that. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry for everything.
Rhett: My darling, you're such a child. You think that by saying, "I'm sorry," all the past can be corrected. Here, take my handkerchief. Never, at any crisis of your life, have I known you to have a handkerchief.
Scarlett: Rhett! Rhett, where are you going?
Rhett: I'm going back to Charleston, back where I belong.
Scarlett: Please, please take me with you!
Rhett: No, I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Scarlett: No! I only know that I love you.
Rhett: That's your misfortune.
[Rhett turns to walk down the stairs]
Scarlett: Oh, Rhett!
[Scarlett watches Rhett walk to the door]
Scarlett: Rhett!
[runs down the stairs after Rhett]
Scarlett: Rhett, Rhett! Rhett, Rhett... Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?
Rhett: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

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Asteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg! Akala mo huh. Take that, beeeyaaatch! :p

(Many thanks to Wikipedia for the shameless content-lifting.)

The One with Mr. Crankypants

Disclaimer: I enjoy love stories in general. Off the top of my head, I can think of cheesy films I'm fond of watching over and over again ("A Walk To Remember", "Serendipity", "My Bestfriend's Wedding"). Six of my seven favorite films ever are somewhat romantic in one way or another. I've read quite a few of Nicholas Sparks' books and find him an okay writer. So you can’t say I'm a heartless turd with no feelings whatsoever.

I was in the mood for a sappy love story to begin the year, so I got a copy of "If Only", starring the oh-so-fine Jennifer Love Hewitt and some unknown British actor. In a nutshell, it's a story of a guy whose girlfriend dies, so he's all "booo-hooo-why-didn't-I-show-her-how-much-I-love-her". When he wakes up the next day, he finds his girlfriend alive. Everything unfolds the same way it did the previous day, giving him a chance to save his girlfriend from dying. A friend of mine highly recommended watching it back in July, but it looked like a B-movie to me so I passed up on watching then. I chanced upon a thread over at PinoyExchange discussing the movie and saw the great reception it received from them PExers, so I expected something that will at least touch one nerve in my body (JLH in her underwear… it couldn’t be that bad, eh?) :p

Oh. My. Gawd. What a horrible piece of horse dung. Where do I even begin ripping this crap into pieces? It isn’t even remotely close to being good (easily one of the worst movies I’ve seen in ages). I won’t even bother giving out spoiler warnings to those who haven’t seen it yet; it’s better that you get spoiled rather than having the unfortunate experience of watching this steaming pile of horse shit.

1. The scene where JLH went to her boyfriend’s meeting because she thought he forgot his notes (turns out, she had the wrong notes with her). She talked and talked and talked endlessly - which was supposed to be cute and funny, only it wasn’t. I wanted to bludgeon her to death, if only to stop the stupidity of the situation. Bleh.
2. Cheesy dialogue, clichéd script, flawed plot. Imagine, they managed to take a train ride to the country, go mountain climbing, made love in an abandoned shack (you’d think it wasn’t abandoned with the candles, matchsticks, chopped firewood, and clean rug lying around), shared sob-stories in a bar, rode the London Eye (FYI, a full cycle on the London Eye takes at least an hour)… all in one afternoon! Makes me wonder, perhaps I should smash my watch as well so my day lasts as long as it did with these two twerps?
3. The sequence where JLH sings with a full orchestra to back her up. Her boyfriend gave the music notes (notes only for a guitar, I might add) to the conductor minutes before the show began, and voila! The whole orchestra already knew how to play the piece instantly! Nevermind that it takes a musician several days, even weeks to master a piece, moreso a whole orchestra!. Nooooooooo, the strings and the percussions and all others knew exactly when to come in. Heck, they even throw a full choir in there. Lo and behold! They still managed to pull everything off flawlessly! No wonder the dingbat who wrote this shit doesn't have any other writing credit to her name.

I know I'm nitpicking, but I just couldn't see what others saw in this disaster of a movie. Frankly, I’m surprised so many people loved it. Some called its story “fresh” (Hello? "Groundhog Day"? "Sliding Doors"?), some said they were touched by it (I find the "Dragon Katol" commercials more touching), while others have said it changed their lives (Get a life! Your current one SUCKS LIKE HELL). It did succeed in making me cry (with how dreadful it was).

Horrible. Just horrible.

The One with the Cranky New Year

Ah, another year has passed. 2005 was a great year, one full of high highs and low lows. i must say, ‘twas a year to remember. i don’t want to go melodramatic, ke-bago-bago ng taon eh. As i bid 2005 goodbye, let me take a moment of silence to remember the year that was.

[silence]

i trust 2006 will be as good as the one that passed. Lots of things to look forward to (the most immediate one being the Narnia opening this Sunday… woooot woooo!). Hopefully, this will also be the year of my independence, both literally (move out of my parents’ house) and figuratively (uy, chismis yan).

There’s also the 2006 World Cup come June. i admit to being a seasonal football fan; i only watch the sport during Euros and World Cups (so sue me). Forgive me, but club competition bores me to death. Perhaps it's because i don't feel any affinity to a team from Manchester or Liverpool or some other place on the other end of the world. With tournaments like the Euros and the World Cup, even if Filipinos don't get to play (haha fat chance), i still get to cheer against countries that i don't like. Darned, i wish i had the moolah to go to Germany, if only to bash them Americans. Repeat after me, in fake German accent: "Bushen, you sucken!"

Oh well, there’s always cable tv. To everyone, best of luck to a new year!

* * * * *

i wanted to start the new year on a good note. i did start the year that way. And then monday came.

She was wearing the ring that boyfriend gave her, one that she hasn't worn for months. i remember the other time she wore it was way back in October, the day they got back together. It's still vivid in my mind because when she showed me her hand that day, sinamahan pa niya ng "look oh!" with matching smile. Ouch.

This time was different though. i couldn't fault her for wearing the ring; it was his gift to her, and they are couple. She had every right to wear it, and i had no right to be upset. i knew that this day would come, and i prepared myself for facing the inevitable. But no matter how "prepared" i was, it still stung. And that's the upsetting part of it.

Things snowballed from there. i got cranky, rubbed off the crankiness on her, hurtful words were said again... haaaay. i wish i can just move on. It's obvious that she has. Why can't i?

So much for a new beginning. Have a cranky new year everybody. :p