I was able to have myself enlist new subjects for the 2nd term. By the way they are named, it looks like I’m heading for a rough ride. These are all Design Foundation Subjects. Hehehe…
Grabeh kahapon, nagkaroon ng sunog sa Wellcom Mall/Puregold somewhere sa Libertad, Pasay. Minalas na man na katabi nito ang estasyon ng LRT sa Libertad kaya sinara ang muna yon pati Taft station at Baclaran Station. Pansamantalang tumitigil ang mga south-bound na tren hanggang Gil Puyat.
Nasa Monumento Terminal na ako as early as 7:30 pero grabeh ang haba ng pila! Abopt hanggang KFC. Nakita ko sina Bernard at James T na mukhang sumakay na lang ng jeep papuntang Maynila sa kung saang school sila pumapasok.
Buti na lang gumagalaw ang linya ng mga tao kahit papaano pero ang problema ko ay nung nakahanap na ako ng mauupuan sa tren. Tagal lumayag kasi ung ibang mga tren stop and go dahil nga hanggang Buendia ang biyahe ng mga ito. Nagpatuloy ito sa isang mahabang 15 minutos kada estasyon. Nung nasa D. Jose na ako, inisip ko na malelate ako kung magpapatuloy ito sa inantay ko na makaabot ako sa Central Terminal para lumabas na rin at bumaba na mula doon.
Pagkalabas ng terminal, naglakad pa ako lagpas ng Liwasang Bonifacio (1st ko doon), Manila City Hall (1st time din), SM Manila (1st time rin) hanggang sa maabutan ko na ang Luneta.Doon nagabang na ako nang masasakayan. May bus na papuntang Alabang-Moonwalk so dun na ako sumakay.
Salamat at nakarating na rin ako doon kahit mga 15 minutes na akong late, at least may naabutan pa akong klase. As of last night may usok pa ring lumalabas sa Puregold.
Last Wednesday, nagkaroon uli ng meeting ang org ko with regards tungkol sa upcoming teambuilding namin na gagawin sa Kawit, Cavite (First time ba? Saya!).
Bago magmeeting, naglunch muna ako sa SDA caf at sinubukan kong kumain na kakaibang putahe, isang pagkiang Korean na kung tawagin daw ng mga lunchlady ay “Kimchi”. Moderate ang anghang nito pero nagbasakali ako’t bumili ng C2 para maibsan ko ang anghang nito.
Anyway, lagpas ala una ng hapon, dumiretso na ako sa A916 kung saan ginaganap na ang meeting. Maraming na angm ga taong naabutan ko doon, karamihan mga 108 frosh. May mga mangilan-ilang mga sophomore 107 ang naroroon bukod sa mga officers ng org na kapwa 107 ang marami(like Carlo and Gilbert). Heto ang lowdown ng meeting:
1. Inusod na sa August ang Teambuilding imbes na July
2. Php1500 pa rin ang bayad (sana di na palayok)
3. Sa susunod na meeting next week ay dapat marami pa rin ang dadalo (lalo na ung mga frosh).
So okay, medyo hindi ako kumportable sa laki ng mga fresher members ng Mediamax since, naaalala ko na last year nung nagsisimula pa lang kami, maraming 107 ang hindi na dumadalo’t nagpaparticipate sa mga aktibidades ng org. Salamat na lang naalala ni JV ang mga natirang members tulad ko, sina Regine, at iba pa na ngayo’y mga officers na rin. Feeling ko kasi nahahype lang ang mga members kaya lakas ng feedback nila.
I’m hoping that this hype would be enough for them to stay active, lalo pa’t JV thought of ways to keep them this way by announcing about helping out for the teambuilding as well as joining annual events like the upcominig Graphika Manila (which I plan to attend this year), so on and so forth.
So I guess good luck na lang!
Kaming dalawa ni Franzi ay magkagrupo sa Joseriz at napagdesisyunan namin na gagawa kami ng kanya-kanyang gawa na movie tapos i-pagsasama na lang bilang isang proyekto. Magiging madali ito sa amin since pareho namin magagawa ang mga gusto namin at the same time ipagsasama namin ito bilang isang proyektong pang-grupo.
Heto ung iniisip kong konsepto ngayon para sa bahagi ko sa project:
Title: The Pepe de Manila Travelogue
Format: Documentary/Photo Slideshow Movie
About: Pupunta ako sa mga tourist spots/lugar ng Maynila na may kinalaman sa naging kasaysayan ng ating Pambansang Bayani na si Jose Rizal.
Places to go to: UST, Intramuros, Sta. Cruz, Fort Santiago, Paco Park, Luneta Park, Avenida Rizal
How: I need at least one or companions who can accompany me to these places. Since my camera is broken, manghihiram na lang ako ng camera niya. Share-share kami sa traveling expenses.
Since medyo mukhang mahihirapan ako sa pagpunta sa mga ilang lugar tulad ng Sta. Cruz at maging mga lugar sa Avenida Rizal, siguro manghihiram na lang ako nang footage nang isa kong dating ka-eskwela. Taking shots in UST might prove to be difficult either so ask na lang ako ng kakilala doon na kumuha na lang ng ilang mahahalagang kuha sa loob ng campus nila para sa’kin.
—
I’d be narrating the movie as well as being responisble for editing, directing and the like.
(My first all-Filipino blog after a long while)
May nabasa akong blog mula sa isa sa mga contacts ko kani-kanina lang tungkol sa karansan niya habang nakasakay siya sa isang jeep sa Taft. may mga batang biglang umangkas at nanghihingi ng limos, pambili lamang ng mga kagamitan nila para sa eskuwela. Kung ibang tao ang nasa katayuan niya, malamang hindi sila magbibigay ng kahit anong limos sa kanila. Ang madalas na kadahilanan ay marahil maaring hindi totoo ang mga nais ng mga batang kalye na ito at posibleng ginagamit sila ng isang sindikato (Naaalala ko tuloy iyung palabas sa TV noon, iyung “Mga Anghel na Walang Langit”).
Sa aking mga karanasan, medyo napapaisip-isip rin ako kung dapat bang pagkatiwalaan ang mga ganitong mga tao na namumuhay sa ilalim ng nakakaaalipustang puwersa na kung tawagin ay “Kahirapan”. Ang dami kong mga nakikitang mga pulubi sa mga kalye, abenida, at mismong sa aming subdibisyon. hati ang sarili mo, hindi mo alam ang gagawin pero hindi sa isip ang laging masusunod kung hindi ay ang sariling puso.
Sa tuwing naglalakbay ako patungong Monumento, marami akong mga nakikitang mga batang lansangan, ilan walang sinusuot na saplot pang-itaas, ang iba tumatambay sa mga establisimiyento, at ang iba ay pawang nakakalat tlaga sa daan.
May naabutan ako madalas na tatlong matatandang pulubi. Ang unang dalawa ay nakikita ko sa Avenida Rizal habang ang isa naman ay naabutan ko sa sakayan ng mga jeep katabi ng Nice Hotel. Nakaawa ang kanilang mag sitwasyon: Ang isa ay matandang babae, nakakuba halos ang katawa’t nakasuot ng duster. Umiiyak habang ipinahihiwatig niya gamit ang kaniyang mga kamay na siya ay gutom at kumakalam na ang kanyang tiyan. Ganoon din ang sitwasyon ng isang matandang lalaki: Nakasalamin at laging nakaupo sa isang plastic na upuan sa harap ng isang appliance store.Sa isang kamay ay may hawak siyang tungkod habang ang kabila ay naglilimos ng barya’t pagkain. Ang pangtlong matanda na aking nadadatnan ay paminsan-minsa’y nasa sakayan ng jeep, lumalapit sa mga taong nagaantay ng masasakyan, nanghihingi ng limos at habang ang isa niyang kamay ay nakhawak sa kaniyang tiyan para ipahiwatig na siya ay nagugutom.
Wala ring pinagkaiba sa nakikitang kong kahirapan sa tuwing ako ay nasa Taft. Maraming mga batang kalye ang nakakalat sa daan, lalo sa harapan ng St. Scho. Ang nakakalungkot ay, sa murang edad ay mulat na sila sa realidad ng buhay, kawalan ng pag-asa ay tinakip ng isang bibong ngiti. Nagiging bukas rin sila sa mga masasamang bisyo: pagyoyosi at pag-iinom ang kanilang kinahumalingan. Ang mga matatanda ay wala ring pinagkaiba sa mga nakikitan ko sa Monumento. May isa na mukhang wala na sa kaniyang sarili, namumuhay sa pangongolekta ng mga basurang iniiwan ng mga estudyante at sa pagpupulot ng nakalitang sigarilyo na gamit na’t tinapon sa kalye. May mga mag-ina at maglolang pulubi na tumatambay sa hagdanan ng Vito Cruz Station ng LRT, talagang pinapakita nial ang kanilang mga anak o apo na umiiyak sa kumakalam na sikmura para maawa sa kanila ang mga umaakyat. Ewan ko ba kung ano ag dapat kong isipin kaya pinipili kong huwag sila pansinin.
Sa tuwing pagsakay ko ng dyip, lagi kong nadadatnan ang mga batang lansangan. Kalat na kalat, walang pulis o kahit sinong taong may awtoridad sa lugar para paalisin ang mga batang ito sa mga lugar na ito. Walang magulang para gabayan nila ang kanilang mga anak. May ilan pa nga ako nakikita na mahilig umangkas sa mga pasaherong jeep o pribadong sasakyan, walang takot na baka sila madisgrasya. Mga batang kusang pumapasok sa mga jeep at naglilinis ng mga sapatos ng mga pasahero tapos deretso limos bilang pambayad. Ayoko ng mga nakikita ko.
Samantala, maging ang aming lugar hindi rin ligtas, maigkakaila na dumararami ang bilang ng mga batang kalye dala ng di makontrol na paglipat ng mga ilang taga-lalawigan sa Kamaynilaan lalo sa aming subdibisyon na nakakranas ngayon ng pag-usbong ng populasyon nito. Minsan may 2 bata na kumakatok aming gate, nanghihingi ng makakain, o kaya nanghihingi ng mga boteng puwede nila ibenta sa junk shop. May mga pagkakataon na nadoon sila para bigyan serbisyo ang pagtatapon namin ng aming basura kapalit ng maliit na salapi (nagiipon daw sila ng pera para hanapin ang nawawalang kaibagn na taga-subdibisyon din). Ngunit imbes na tulong at grasya ang kanilang natatanggap, galit at pag-aalipusta ang nakukuha nila lalo na kung galing ito sa papa ko. Isinisisi niya ang kawalan ng paggabay ng mga magulang nito kung kaya nagiging mga pulubi.
Lagi niyang sinasabi na lagi kaming maging maingat sa mga taong katulad “nila”. Huwag daw sila pagkatiwalaan dahil ginagamit lamang siguro sila ng mga sindikato at marahil mga isnatser sila. Pati daw ang mga mag-iina’t maglola na nakikita ko sa daan ay diumano’y nagpapakitang gilas lamang para makuha nila ang awa ng mga tao. Mga walang pinag-aralan, mga hindi dapat bigyan ng aming tiwala, kanyang kuwento sa amin.
Ayoko maniwala sa mga sinasabi ko sa tatay ko pero mukhang may katotohanan ang kanyang mga sinasabi. Hindi ako naninwala nga lang na wala nang pag-asa para mabago ang mga kapalaran ng mga batang lansangan, mga palaboy’t pulubi. Kung sana may mga tao na ganoon din ang kanilang paniniwala, marahil may pag-asa pa na mabago ang lahat. Marahil hindi kopa panahon pero sinisiguro ko na hindi magiging ignorante ang aking mga magging mga anak at maging gabay sila sa kanila.
Sana magsilbi tayong liwanag sa mga taong namumuhay sa kadiliman, malaman sana nila na sa laban ng buhay, ay may taong tutulong.
[In discreet mode one again]
I’ve had this weekend activity (Cycling) for a long time now but because I’m too shy, I never get to socialize with people who goes to the park.
Now I saw this certain I knew from long way back and he’s into this for at least three months but in that short span of time, he now know almost every person in the area. I suddenly have this feeling of envy and jealous because he’s very sociable to the people around him while in my case, i tend to be quiet and do my own thing. I knew no one in the park so I wished that I could be like him, more open and less shy.
There’s no reason for me to feel jealous, but a reason for me to be motivated, challenged and inspired to be more friendly and never get the shyness and nervousness get the best of me. If ever I could see that person again, I should thank him for giving me the inspiration to get out of my shell.
[Discreet mode ends]
I’ve been planning to write about this for the longest time. Since I’m already in the middle of the first term, I could safely say that in comparison with my first term in Benilde, I feel a lot lighter with no long-term committments except for MMx. I get better sleep no matter how late the night is (because I no longer have 8 am morning classes). And I’ve never been this happier than my past 3 terms. So it means, this term’s better than last year’s.
Last term, I made myself pre-occupied with a lot of things in and out of school. For once, I tried my hand on debating by joining DebSoc, leading an already unruly block section as class president, and being a member of my MMA ord, Mediamax. Outside of school, I continued to do violin but was temporarily stalled because of scheduling conflicts.
The pressure of doing a lot of things at once already took a toll on me. Feeling stressed and sleepy, and getting into internal conflicts within my block, it’s really not working out for me.
On Debsoc, I have nothing but kind words to my former orgmates there because at least I learned a thing or two of being confidentnwhen I speak in public, etc. But due to personal problems (depression among others), I have to drop myself out (“Quitting”). No hard feelings really?
Violin has been a part of my life when I first started out a few years ago. But given the difficulty of continuing it with much inconvenience with my schedule, I had no choice but to stop for the time being. I’m not sure if there’d be a chance that I would come back but time will only tell.
Today, I’m putting emphasis to MMx, as well as my studies. I just hope thenext two terms can be as friendly as this one. :):)
| Rating: | ★★★★★ |
| Category: | Movies |
| Genre: | Mystery & Suspense |
This is a German movie set in 18th century France (possibly dubbed in English). It stars Ben Whishaw as Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the young man without a scent of his own but a strong sense of smell. He murders more than a dozen women to attain the perfect scent (Wikipedia). It is based on the novel “Das Parfum” that was written by Patrick Süskind.
I was rather intrigued to the movie’s premise: a man who was born with a keen sharp sense of smell and made his life dedicated to search for the perfect scent for him to be appreciated and for the world to know that he exists.
The story starts when a woman gave birth to a still-born child. She left the baby to die in filthy fish market. The heart of the infant started to beat and he made his first cry. The people there discovered the poor baby and when they saw the mother trying to escape, they had her executed for trying to abandon and kill her own son.
He was named Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, he was sent to an orphanage as an infant and during his early childhood years, the children there began to notice something different about the young boy. When he was sold to a tanner by the headmistress of the orphanage, she was mugged and was later killed by thieves.
Well into his young adulthood, he then knew that he possess a certain gift: a very keen sense of smell. So sharp he can actually locate anything and identify it within miles away.
He later became an apprentice to a perfumer when the latter discovered about his disabilities (the tanner was pushed over by a carriage and drowned by the riverside). The perfumer notices that something’s wrong with Jean-Baptiste, he began to experiment with various scents of various objects/ living things even.
When he let go of Jean-Baptiste, he died when his house collapsed.
Jean-Baptiste made it his life’s work to make the perfect perfume, the perfect scent, thinking that people would finally notice him, love him, and adore him. He ended up working in a flower plantation in a nearby town outside Paris. There, he began to create havoc, killing 12 virgins possessing each a very essential scent. He kills during the day, he slashes them during the night. Women of no particular social order, they are his victims. The townspeople cannot figure out who is responsible for this monstrosity.
Finally, Jean-Baptise was able to perfect his perfume, the outcome of him killing the daughter of a town official. He was arrested, tortured, interrogated. Asked why he killed all those virgins, his only answer “I needed [them]”.
On the day of his execution, he showcased the power of the scent and had his perfume smelled by all the people present for his perfume. They became so fascinated with the scent, it triggered an orgasm that left them (even the bishop) fainted and unconscious.
Jean-Baptiste left the town, the townspeople did not remember what happened but executed Jean’s last employer who was found guilty based from the buried clothes and hair locks found in his workplace.
He returned to Paris, realizing that people adore him because of his scent, people loved him because of his scent, people finally noticed him because of his scent and it is the scent, not him, that people craved for. He can never love or be loved for that matter. He return to the place of his birth, the fish market, drowsed himself what was left of his perfume. Nearby people smelled a very beautiful odor coming from Jean, thought he was an angel. Soon, he was mobbed, and later devoured. What was left were nothing but his tattered clothes and his now-empty bottle of perfume.
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Okay, here’s my review. After researching about the original novel, I noticed that little was changed for the movie, making it one of the best film adaptations based on a novel. The actors, the cinematography, and the movie itself gave justice to the author’s main idea.
It’s really fascinating that no matter how weird the circumstances may be, every individual possess a kind of gift that they themselves can only have, in the same way Jean learned about his and the possibilities that he could do with his gift.
Jean-Baptiste may be considered a prodigy, genius who was way ahead of his time yet because he grew in a loveless environment, grew quietly insane for his life mission to be admired.
I noticed that there were a couple of times where there would instances that when killed his first and last victims, he may have felt a sense of attraction (love at first sight?) but because of his very keen sense of smell, it prevented him from showing his true feelings and develop his ability to express love. A pity really. His gift blinded him from the fact that he can never love and be loved if he can never love himself.
He let his gift to take over his well-being than having himself harness his gift in a positive way as he was too afraid, too insecure, and too doubtful to himself. In short he’s emo! It took the whisk of a handkerhief filled with his perfume to realize that people are gaga over him because of the scent. Even the macho-looking executioner became gay over his scent! Hahaha!
Because of the impact the movie showed from start to finish, I’ll give this one 5 stars!
I learned from ate Claire that there will be a live taping of a show from CinemaOne called Inside the Cinema hosted by Boy Abunda. This show is similar to a US show aired previously in 2nd Avenue (now in RJTV-29) called “Inside the Studio”. Usually, there’d be a guest whom Boy Abunda will conduct an interview with, regarding his/her cinematic experiences, and what’s really great that other than having a studio audience, they will have the opportunity to participate in the show by asking them questions.
The show taped 2 episodes last Thursday inside the Black Box Studio, at the 6th floor of the School of Design and Arts Bldg. Popular actress Dawn Zulueta is a guest for the 1st episode taped and the 2nd is veteran actress Anita Linda. I didn’t know then who would be Boy Abunda’s guest that time but I thought I should check it out since as an MMA student, I felt I should take the opportunity to learn how a show is made.
The Dawn episode was supposed to start at 2:30 pm so since I don’t have class then until 4:20, I went to the 6th floor to watch it. It’s my first time to be there since SDA is a really huge place to begin with. there’s still a lot of areas inside that I haven’t been in. Anyway, the actual taping started around 4 but I have to leave early because of I have my midterms for my last class back in Main.
Mr. Boy was already there by 3, he was wearing plain blue shirt, chekcered shorts and a pair of slippers to go with it. He was given instructions from the director on how the should should commence. What I like about his proefssionalism that, he is never afraid to give suggestions on what should be done. As he read the script, he asked if he could make changes in the introduction, citing that it’ll take too long of an intro to welcome his guests. Later he was introduced with the SDA dean and some prominent people from the SDA community as well as well-known cinema perosnalities like Aureaus Solito of “Endo” and “Maximo Oliveros” fame.
I came back to the studio around past 5 (I finished early on my midterms so I could leave right away) and Dawn was already there, right in the middle of taping. I guess I’m in the nick of time as I was able to get a good seat to watch the show from where I was sitting at. Boy showed Dawn clips of her past movies like “Buhay ng Buhay Ko”, “Una Kang Naging Akin”, “Maggie De la Riva Story”, and of course, among others “Patayin Mo Sa Sindak si Barbara”. Questions from Boy ranged from her early experiences to her relationship with Richard Gomez, to her future aspirations in the industry to her current role as a wife to her husband and as a mother to her son.
I found Ms. Dawn very entertaining, no clear traces of DIVA-eeshness can ever be found in her body, just her plain wholesome self. She was never afraid to answer straight forward questions and even gave advice to SDA students that we should go further to make our country the best in cinematic excellence among others.
And yup, Boy asked members of the audience if they have any questions to ask and there were a lot of them. I wanna ask something too but don’t know what to. Froma piece of apaper, I wrote several questions but in the end, I didn’t use them. Then the time for me to ask Dawn Zulueta came and what I had in mind was this : ” You are one of the brightest stars in your generation as well as one of the best actresses [around]…if given the choice, would you wanna be a star or an actress?” (More or less something like that). A provocative question it is, Dawn simply said “I’m already an actress so [gusto ko na lang maging star]”.
Boy took this into consideration and he asked that question to me. I answered “I want to be an actor than be a star because it doesn’t matter to me if I don’t have the most endorsement [deals], …but what matters is that (more or less) the recognition that I receive as I want to hone my craft”.
Taping for the first episode wrapped up past six, Anita Linda was already there. i took the opportunity to ask Ms. Dawn and Boy Abunda for their autographs. They’re really nice people in person and I can’t believe that something like this really happened. Guess I’m very lucky that day (a complete turnaround from what happened exactly a week before).
I really can’t tell more unless you watch these episodes for yourselves. So I’ll try to know when they will be airing them so stay tuned to CinemaOne: Ang Buhay Natin, Parang Sine. :):):)
Grabeh, blogging help me cope with the stresses at college life may bring, especially when I had my biggest personal crisis in Benilde. Brr..I’m obliged not to tell the entire details but all I can say is that I can safely say that it is all over. Sooner after, my luck had turned for the better: 1)My preparation for our Philien report was not really a total waste since we are to have it reported by next Tuesday, more than 2 weeks after I was easy to already done with the Powerpoint presentation and everything, 2) I can feel that my midterms are very easy, 3) Maria Makiling Vs Henry Sy is a good a version of the popular legend. And to cap things off are two things but for now I’ll just focus on one.
Just late this afternoon, I caught up with my old grade school buddy, Michael (del Mundo). I was gonna buy my godchild a gift for her birthday in Ever Gotesco Grand Central’s department store. I invited him to come along so I have someone to accompany me with as I browse for items.We haven’t directly talk to each other in the face for a long long time.
So we talked about things of our interests which i haven’t talked about with my friends in Benilde. Michael and I had a lot in common since we knew each other ever since we were in Kinder. Even along the way home, we still kept on talking on stuff. I just discovered that he’s also a fellow Brewster thus the Bobonic Plague has already become an epidemic in the radio community. Hehehe.
Good times, good times! Ang suwerte ko ngayong linggo