Four

I recently watched three Fantastic Four movies, two movies which were shown in the last decade, Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and a 1994 "ashcan copy" movie version The Fantastic Four.

This week, I also watched a fourth film, The Time Traveller's Wife, which is a story about a time traveller and his life, and how he managed to visit a girl from her young age, who later on became his wife. The story, in a sense, asks us about out own lives, on how we face our ultimate end. It's somehow touching to see how Henry seems to be conflicted on accepting what is to come, when he sees the number 5 during his daughter's party. It's a movie that will make us think.

So what's with the number four? Nothing much. Except that on a personal note, there were four events which happened to the Philippines or to me and my family specifically which are worth mentioning.

1. The Manila Hostage Crisis - 25 were held hostaged, mostly Hong Kong citizen tourists, some mainland Chinese toursits, Filipino photographers and drivers, by a former senior inspector Rolando Mendoza. He instructed the driver to bring the bus to Quirino Grand Stand, where it stayed until the crisis ended at almost 9PM. Eight people died, Mendoza was killed, and nine others were injured.
2. Maria Venus Raj and Miss Universe 2010 - Maria Venus Raj, the controversial, almost-dethroned Bb. Pilipinas - Universe 2010, made it to the finals as the 4th Runner Up, the first time the Philippines made it back to the top 5 since the turn of the millenium. The last one who made it to the top 5 was Miriam Quiambao in Miss Universe 1999, where she placed as the First Runner Up. Maria Venus Raj's "major major" answer during the Q&A may have cost her the crown, but nonetheless, her placement is already a good thing for Filipinos.
3. Grandmom's 85th Birthday Celebration - My Grandmom from the mother side, Mama Lola as we forndly call her, celebrated her 85th birthday last Saturday. The whole Carbonel Clan was almost complete, with all my grandmom's children except for Sister Vangie who can't go to Manila as she is a contemplative nun, present during the said occasion. Ten out of eleven children present. All 11 of her grandchildren were also present. Celebrating a woman's 85th birthday is quite rare already, and hence it's a momentous occasion for all of us.
4. "Return of the Comeback" - As Smile fondly says, my sister finally came back to Manila! After her 36-day vacation (plus 2 days travel), she's finally back.

This week is filled with mixed emotions. Sadness was felt the whole day last Monday, a mix of happiness and sadness for Maria Venus Raj's win, and on a personal note, happiness for me and my family for the last two events.

I hope next week will be a good one as well.

Getting Back on track

I haven't spent much time studying. I know I should, as I am still a student, but somehow, I am feeling the battery that is school. Now in my fifth year of continuous study, it seems as if my mind is telling me to give it a rest, and try to do something else. And with my newly found love for Movies, my mind is just getting the rest it needs.

Just this week, I managed to watch 8 movies. Last Monday, before my 830 AM class, I watched 28 Days Later, a story on an epidemic which spread all throughout England. Last Wednesday, right after my 830-930 class, I watched Step Up 3D at Gateway with my friend Darren, who thankfully had discounts for movies through Citibank purchases. I had to go back to Ateneo right after to catch my make-up 2:30-3:30 class. That same day, I managed to squeeze in watching Planet of the Apes (morning, before 8:30 class), Godzilla (after dinner), and The Happening (right after Godzilla). Good thing that we didn't have class last Thursday.

Yesterday, I finally got to watch City of Ember and How to Train your Dragon, two wonderful films. The former deals with a city built way underground, in an effort to save humanity from the world. People were supposed to stay there for 200 years, and after which, should follow instructions hidden in a time-sealed box, passed on to each mayor of the city. But when the box was lost, so was the possibility of getting out, until the generator giving light to the city started to have big problems, causing blackouts. The box, which was left hidden in the Mayfleet care, was found by a kid. And the journey goes on.

The latter is a movie on a Viking village and their problems with dragons. Hiccup, the lead character, somehow differs physically from the regular vikings. Beneath the frail structure is actually that kindness to dragons, making him not able to kill one, and ends up befriending it, and hence, training the dragon. The fierce night fury dragon has lost half it's tail, and Hiccup, furnished different tails for it. In the end, Hiccup loses his left foot, mirroring that of the dragon losing half its tail.

I found the stories of these two movies quite amusing and actually fun and thrilling to watch. Today, I watched the Dark City, which somehow resembles that of the City of Ember, with a darker tone.

In the end though, I have to start dealing with my Acads, and focus on them. I have to stop watching movies everyday, and instead use my time studying.

Thinking

In the recent days, I have been obsessing on Disaster movies, science fiction movies on global warming, and natural calamities. I have watched TV miniseries 10.5 and its sequel 10.5: Apocalypse, as well as CBS miniseries Category 6: Day of Destruction and Category 7: The End of the World. These movies which contemplates and depict the future of the Earth really interests me. Even when I was young, this has already been my favorite movie genre. It's exciting and at the same time, intriguing, to watch shows which show what might happen to the Earth. It's fun to actually learn on the one hand, or criticize the dumbness of the situation on the other.

Aside from these, I have spent time watching philosophical movies. In my last blog entry, I mentioned that it was Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr., which entailed a lot of thinking, due perhaps to the lines. Aside from this movie, I watched the Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy movies Before Sunrise and its sequel 9 years later, Before Sunset. The latter really made me think about my past experiences on living abroad, meeting people, and possibly, meeting them again in the near future. Will it be ever possible for me to meet up with those people I met from all over the world? Or will this remain a dream unfulfilled? I hope that it's the former that will happen to me.

As I had enough time before my MWF class, I watched another Ethan Hawke movie, Daybreakers, which deals with the future of humanity, turned into vampires. I'm expecting to watch another movie from this genre within the week, the movie 28 Days Later.

Speaking of disasters, I happened to watch a "disaster" movie, in the sense that the movie was literally a disaster. Jawbreaker is a chick flick infused with horror. Maybe for many it is a thriller, but to me, it simply lacked anything which interests me as a viewer. It's just not my thing, I guess.

I have been watching a lot of movies recently, just to pass time when I arrive very early in school. I can't do much when I'm there anyway. And besides, most movies I watch do make me think about my current situation, and what could happen to me in the future, which no one really can predict. But one thing's for sure, I'll be watching more movies this week,. including How to Train Your Dragon.

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My sister's going home in less than 2 weeks!

Just keeping track

For this year, I have not watched much movies in the theater. Apparently, I have not been going to the movies much, although compared to last year, I have surpassed my record of 4 movies in a year. As of yesterday, I have watched 5 movies: Robert Downey Jr.-starrer Iron Man 2, Robin Hood starring Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett, Toy Story 3, Christopher Nolan's Leonardo Di Caprio-starrer Inception and Angelina Jolie-starrer Salt.

Aside from these movies, I have had the chance to watch movies by downloading them: Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Young Victoria, The Princess and the Frog, 500 Days of Summer, Population 436, The Human Centipede (First Sequence). Just today, I watched Sherlock Holmes before my class started.

Recently though, I have been spending time in reading a manga entitled "S.A.: Special A", which deals with the lives of seven students of Hakusen Academy, who are attending an elite class, from an elite school. The seven students are separate from rest, having a separate place where they stay, "study" or hang out, having different uniforms from the rest. I've downloaded the Special A Anime Series, a 24-episode anime version of the manga, and finished watching it already. Spell addict!