Review by Vives Anunciacion

Inquirer Libre, OCtober 26, 2009

500 Days of Summer
Directed by Marc Webb

Good times, for a change. Indie movies poured in from the States last week (like The Informant and Hurt Locker), it’s like bad Hollywood movies never existed.

Most days of the year, movies are unremarkable. They come and they go without making any lasting impressions on the course of a life. The past week however offered more than the regular for film fans.

500 Days of Summer was a huge hit in the recent Sundance film festival. It is a perfectly accessible film, one that gives warm fuzzy feelings like a bowl of comfort food or your pet dog’s fur, made more fuzzy by an insanely fantastic soundtrack collection. And it’s contagious. And it’s conta-gio-uh-us.

This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story. Well, it is, except the film’s narrator tells the audience it’s not.

The boy, Tom Hansen (the talented Mr. Joseph Gordon-Levitt), studied to be an architect but instead found ready employment as a greeting card writer. The girl, Summer Finn (current “it” girl Zooey Deschanel) digs Ringo Starr, named her dog after Springsteen and dabbles art from painters Magritte and Cezanne.

Since childhood Tom thinks he won’t ever be happy until he meets “the one.” In contrast Summer believes that love is fiction. Tom meets Summer on January 8th at work. I’d like to remind you that the movie’s title is 500 Days of Summer. There is an ending to this story. And it’s not necessarily what you might think.

A friend coined the term maindie (MAINstream + inDIE) to describe these types of films that combine indie aesthetics with Hollywood cuteness. After all, the very inclusion of funky cool soundtrack MAKES this a regular romantic comedy and drowns whatever “honest” portrayal of casual relationships and unrequited love the movie supposedly pertains to.

Summer was most likely written for Dechanel, cast because of her big blue eyes and singsong pixie-ness. Gordon-Levitt was already a revelation in The Lookout, but he surprises here in an open-air dance sequence that rivals those shot in Central Park. L.A. never looked so good.

500 Days is an uncomplicated film, destined to be the quintessential indie Valentine flick it probably aimed to be. While it doesn’t set the bar up for independent cinema, it is exactly the type that makes regular filmgoers like indies. And it’s contagious. And it’s conta-gio-uh-us.

This is not another post-typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) and Parma (Pepeng) climate-change/ urban planning editorial. So many experts have written more relevant pieces about what went wrong and what this ravaged country needs to do. Today’s issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer has lots of commentary on climate change, those damned dams, Metro Manila’s (lack of) urban planning, etcetera etcetera. I have nothing to offer more than agreement with what my old geology professors used to teach us in class and are saying now to the general public – we gotta work with nature, not change it for our own purposes.

And yet, AS USUAL, the finger-pointing has started – the usual blame it on the monkey instead of me circus has taken the nation’s front pages in recent days. In today’s headline, local officials are crying that these huge dams are a “clear and present danger” to the lives of residents and properties of areas covered by these dams. (Interestingly, our copy at home is probably an early edition, given that today’s actual headline in the online version is different.)
“In the House of Representatives,” to quote PDI, “two lawmakers announced yesterday that they had filed a resolution calling for the suspension of the construction of huge dams.” Hooray for ancestral lands of indigenous peoples. But wait.

“‘The giant dams are clear and present danger to lives and property during the rainy season,’ said their resolution, ‘During prolonged dry spells, they don’t help any,’ they said.” Now let me get this straight, and this is how I read this generalized statement – these dams pose a threat when it rains, regardless of the fact that they do prevent FURTHER flooding during storms because they collect the water, and then during dry spells they “don’t help any” regardless of the fact that they DO collect water, even in small amounts? Is it me or do these solons need a smack in the head? Can we hold elections now and rid ourselves of EVERYONE in the current administration? Note to self: DO NOT VOTE ANYONE WITH A PREVIOUS TRACK RECORD. That includes Noynoy and Mar. TABULA RASA. There goes more than half of my ballot. Oh, well.

Yes Pangasinan was heavily flooded (an Uncle of mine and his family were among the victims). MAYBE this was aggravated by the release of water from these dams.

While I agree on the premise that a 21st-century approach is needed to modernize the hydroelectric systems of the country, these dams were borne of the need to provide LONG-TERM, clean and  stable sources of electricity for Luzon, demonizing these dams merely show what little these officals have done in terms of long-term planning for their constituents. Did anybody EVER propose alternative sources of energy and irrigation in these areas THE ENTIRE TIME these dams were online? Maybe, maybe not. The point I’m making is that the finger-pointing has started again. We Filipinos seem to enjoy this exercise whenever a calamity befalls us, probably because it soothes us of the feeling that the real blame is on our side.

Take the case of Quezon City, the richest city in the country. A reader points out (in today’s Letter to the Editor, “City richest in income, poor in basic services“) the irony that in the current mayor’s ninth year (!) “it’s only now that SB has thought of (the need to assess and identify the areas critical and dangerous in times of flooding).”

I’d like to see Madam Gloria’s plan to rehabilitate Metro Manila (GMA Approves Metro makeover plan) push through and implemented even by her successor. Let’s see if political will truly exists, not just in the current and succeeding administrations, but also among the citizens as well. LONG TERM means we gotta change our lifestyles. WE as is all of us (Ten more years of floods for Metro folk).

But what is clear is that government should take the lead, as reiterated in today’s Editorial (Amorphous), and not throw the responsibilities at an ambiguous commission that has no clear mandate on policy-making. Can this commission throw the millions of informal settlers (voters) out of Metro Manila just like that? And would we expect recession-hit western countries to heed our plea for ONE BILLION DOLLARS in aid (not loans, but aid and grants!), because the Philippines is the posterchild for climate change disasters (Philippines seeks US$1 Billion for reconstruction)?

The future is bleak, even as technocrats and policy makers address the myriad issues of climate change when the world makes another round of decisions (or indecision) at Copenhagen this December (Bangkok climate talks end in recrimination).  What can our ravaged country do in terms of global policy, if what the world needs isn’t even heeded by the world’s largest economy (US threatens to derail climate talks)? It reminds of a scene in the documentary “Age of Stupid” by filmmakers Franny Armstrong and Lizzie Gillett where a woman, presumably one of the council people who voted against an environmentalist-businessman’s proposal to build a series of windfarms as a source of energy in a local town in England, tells to the camera how concerned she is about climate change and alternative energy. Still, the proposal was turned down mainly (according to the film) because the wind turbines will destroy “the view.” It’s so easy to mouth environmental slogans. “Green is in.” So what? How ready are we, really, to change the way we believe things (tck tck tck The World is ready)?

Let’s see how far a change in lifestyle people can accomplish. Over at CNN, I heard of Paul McCartney’s proposal for people to abstain from eating meat on Mondays. Called “Meat-free Mondays,” the former Beatle suggests that eating less meat will help the world rid large amounts of greenhouse gases. In the same CNN report, it was noted that methane gas from cows (produced when cows belch and pass wind) comprise 18% of the total greenhouse gases produced every year, compared with 12% from cars. Having no meat on mondays will lessen the demand and potentially rid the earth of 10% of the 18% that cows, almost all of them raised for commercial consumption, produce.

That means no more meat, especially beef, for me on Mondays for the rest of my life. That’s a challenge I’ll take to myself.

Miscom
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Inquirer Libre September 23 2009

In My Life
Directed by Olivia Lamasan
Star Cinema

Maybe I don’t get it. Hindi ko gets. Did I miss anything in the seemingly endless cryfestival? So what’s the movie about, really?  Acting? Missed connections? Some points fail to connect to me. Please try your call later.

Separated from her husband, elementary school librarian Shirley Templo (a joke of a name even if it was her parents’ way of remembering their favorite Hollywood icon) decides to leave for New York when her eldest daughter insists they sell off their property and move Down Under.

Shirley moves into her son Mark’s apartment where Noel, Mark’s boyfriend also lives. There is fuss about adjusting to life and new jobs in New York, but there is more fuss when Noel ends up taking care of Shirley more than Mark does. Shirley always has difficulty in accepting and adjusting to new things (like the faulty computerized library database), especially if she thinks she can do better. Especially if it threatens to take away her “motherhood” from her children, even if her children are all busy, grown up adults.

Everything separating Shirley and Noel comes crashing between them when tragedy strikes, but towads the end the two make gargantuan efforts to resolve their complex emotions.

From the onset, I was surprised to see Big Acting in the movie. Not “acting” but “Acting,” with a capital A. This coming from the director who tamed Sharon Cuneta in Madrasta and made her a real actress. I thought I was watching a Danny Zialcita movie (Langis at Tubig, Ang Kabiyak, Lalakwe and Dear Heart all rolled into one). It’s not necessarily bad, but I thought the movie screamed for acting awards. No subtlety there. Grand Slam, here we come.

Some people complained that there was too much “tourist” New York scenes. I say there were too few. New York – Manhattan – didn’t have a character in this movie. Maybe that was a creative decision from the writers, but Big Apple could have been Beijing. Which could have made the homosexual non-plot a political statement. Again, no statement there.

Which finally comes to the movie’s real point: the Acting. There is truth in every word the actors say. That’s why the audiences cry. There’s real emotion delivered painfully, each time Noel, devastatingly portrayed by John Lloyd Cruz, and Shirley, impeccably lived in by Ms Vilma Santos, make arguement. They could be talking about losing their favorite toy and you feel it – because that’s what’s on screen – truth in acting.

Interestingly, Santos’s Shirley isn’t the same kind of mother here as her Josie in the quintessential parenthood movie Anak.

But what is the movie really about? Human relations? That pretty much covers nearly all movies.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe In My Life is a masterpiece that I have yet to recognize. Maybe it’s not the Big Sermon About Parenthood movie that I see it to be. There are a lot of things in it that say it works. Maybe I’ll like it eventually.

After two years.

Four eyes. I could call this entry by other names like Bedazzled or Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory. But yesterday after a very long day with the relatives, I got my my eyes a new pair of glasses.

Six week since getting sick with TB, I have reorganized my priorities. At the top of that is to have my eyes check for ageist wear and tear. I have been putting that off for a while despite suspecting that they have been causing my headaches at work after long bouts in fron of the monitor. So, yesterday I decided to have my eyes checked.

I dunno why I chose to go to The Optical Shop, since Sarabia was just a few meters away. “Dito po tayo (This way sir),” said Dr. Marge the Opthalmologist and we went inside a small room with two unnassuming contraptions that seemed they didn’t do much.

First I looked into this thing that looked like it blasted my eyes with kryptonite laser. I didn’t feel any pain, it just looked like it was doing something to each of my eyes as I peered into this eyepiece that showed crosshairs in a range of focus. I thought I went into some hack store.

Next I sat in a dentist’s chair-like thingy but instead of drills and whatnot at the ends of its arms it had WALL-E’s eyes. After fitting WALL-E’s eyes over mine, Dr. Marge shut the left eye off ans my right eye was made to read some stuff flashed on the opposite wall.

The thing projected on the wall looked like it had been used in the last 20 years I thought I was being duped. (Well, the checkup is kinda cheap if I hadn’t had my glasses made there, but it’s free when you do. So there’s really not much duping going around, I figure.) The first lines of letters and shapes I managed to read. The next lines barely made sense, some of them looked like organized doodles by an adult. But I barely read them correctly, let alone read anything at all. “Is that an R… a Z and an R?,” I ask. I was beginning to get frustrated. The doctor kept assuring me it was okay. And then she closed WALL-E’s right eye and turned on the left. I was floored.

The same projections on the walls were crisp-clear letters and shapes, projected by a computer mounted on the chair I was sitting in. I could read everything and recognize the shapes. I was nearly dumbstruck. “Your left is 20/20,” said Dr. Marge, “but your right is /25. You thought there was nothing wrong because so far, the left had been compensating for the right.” It made so much sense I almost cried.

My eyes are my bread and butter, and many people have coomplimented my work for having a great sense of detail and a firm grasp of design aesthetics. That could all go if I were to lose my eyesight and my greatest fear is to go blind.

The doctor made me walk around the shop wearing a lightweight version of WALL-E’s eyes. After confirming that I indeed was able to read better and farther, I was motioned over to the shelves to choose frames. Doctor tells attendant something and Nifty Attendant hands over to me a pair. I like them a lot. I look at the tag and see that they’re Guccis and I don’t like them anymore. I ask for something similar but cheaper. Nifty Attendant hands me some other frames but she tells me to get the Gucci because it had a 25% markdown. I say no but I end up not liking the others she gave me. I look around and try the colored ones. I get the feeling I’ll end up getting the Guccis. I did.

Next was choosing the type of lens which was much easier. Dr. Marge gave me the rundown on three types, their price ranges and their advantages. I got the Gucci frames, so I went the whole nine yards.

I don’t have a punchline to end this entry, except that an ahour after my checkup, I was walking around the mall wearing my new pair.

Week Four – True Blood is thicker the second time around

Possible spoilers, but I’ll try to be spoiler-free.

Today is the fourth week since I got diagnosed with TB and Sunday will be my fourth week in hibernation. The sickness isn’t killing me, it’s the waiting that is. Waiting for me to finish the meds as scheduled, waiting for time to pass as my body heals inside.

Cory Aquino died and was laid to rest. Main story of the week.  I myself am trying to start a story to make into a movie (should add for the longest time to that statement), but I can’t decide which way to pursue. There are ideas galore, but the more I think about them, the more I remember I’m just passing the time, waiting to get back to work and see my friends.

But there is progress (and hope, as Cory would have probably put it). On Sunday next week I go home to a new and bigger house that I hope will ease the constricted lifestyle my family endured after almost 10 years in the old cramped apartment. I continue with the meds even after next week, but by then I shall be with the family and not alone in a small condo in another city.

Meantime, the second season of True Blood is around, and am loving it better than the first. The season starts fairly strongly, and so far after seven episodes, they’ve managed to be more involving compared to the middle of season one. For one, I am no longer annoyed at Tara (Sookie’s best friend) and am heartily enjoying the story developing around Jessica, the girl that Bill made into a vampire. Still not enjoying Jason’s storyline (which still involves a lot of half-nudity) but the looming war (ahem!) between the Vampires and the Fellowship of the Sun looks to me like it’s going to be the main theme towards the end of season 2 or throughout season 3.

I liked Michelle Forbes in Battlestar Galactica, but the subplots revolving around her are hit and miss – one minute it’s very intriguing, the next it’s forward, forward, next scene please. Still lots of sex. More Eric means also means more Vampire mythology – and there’s more characters to like. Hopefully that’s sustained till the end of the season.

Till the next episode of Tru Blood and mine.

National Treasure, National Artists

I cried buckets yesterday on the passing of President Cory Aquino. She may not have been the perfect president, but she was a moral beacon to many, especially these times when the country seems to be reverting back to the dark ages. I cried because the nation lost a most valued Icon, and I got sad because I thought the country would have needed her voice in next year’s national elections and in the years ahead.

It’s a little significant on my part to have believed in what Cory stood for, since way back in 1986, when, as a sixth-grader trying to understand what was happening in those four days of February, the elders of my mostly Ilocano family listened to the Marcos radio broadcasts just like all the Loyalists did, instead of the “revolutionary” broadcasts from the Cory camp. I was wondering why we stayed at home and not join the millions in EDSA, but then I understood why. “Housewife,” my father said, “what does she know?” My mother, born of Ilocano parents but raised in Negros, remains a loyalist to this day as does several of my eldest brothers.

In contrast to the inspiring late president, the current outgoing GMA seems to be devoid of any sanctity in the fibers of her being with all the political accommodations she has been dispensing left and right throughout her term.

Take the case of the recent announcements of National Artists (appointments? the “distinction” is conferred, but one recipient describes it as an “award.” My dear sir, my understanding of the distinction is that it is an HONOR bestowed by the people of this NATION upon those whom the people hold the highest regard for in the field of Arts. It is not the Metro Filmfest Award, nor is it the Anvil awards for your Komiks. And no, your comic books and massacre movies are not deserving of the distinction). related story here.

It seems the current outgoing president (I want to repeat that, in case she decides not to honor her promise, again as she did in 2004) shares the Komical Artist’s interpretation of the honor. Because it is a Presidential prerogative, the current president has desecrated the HONOR of the distinction as well as everyone that has been conferred the title in the past.

Caparas, who does not deserve the honor (sign the petition here if you believe it that much), and Guidote-Alvarez, who probably deserves the honor but not while she heads the board that confers the title, should both refuse the “award” from their patroness the current outgoing president. There is such a thing as delicadeza in these lands.

Until they do, the title National Artist shall remain tainted as a mere presidential whim, stripped of any HONOR, whose definition this country seems to have forgotten or lost, along with the passing of Cory.

I’ve been in moderate isolation for two weeks now. I’ve finished all three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender and I can say it ended pretty well, although I would have better enjoyed it with Zuko redeeming himself from a non-crazy Azula BY himself alone. I guess the writers thought hard where to put Katara in the final battles. Shyamalan better not mess the live-action movie version. His chance at redeeming his filmmaking self.

Anyhoo, Cinemalaya Cinco also came and went, with some of the awards going to my friends last night. I’m so happy for them, I wish I had been there to celebrate with them.

I haven’t seen my friends in 20 days. There are moments when I think I should just drop the ball, risk infecting the people I care about and just go back to how it was before I got diagnosed with TB. I have two more weeks before I go back home, and another month after that before I can go back to work. I wish I had been sick of something that took days to cure, if only I could go back to being normal sooner.

So for those who might stumble upon this blog and find some things informative, at least I want to share what I know first hand.

TB is curable, even if it is a deadly disease. Treatment is a pill or two here and there or a syrup, but the bumming part is that it really takes long to fully cure a patient. That’s where the struggle lies. I can itch all day to get out of my cave, but in the end, it would still take weeks before I can see my friends again.

The normal treatment takes two months of a concoction of Rifampicin, Isoniazid, Pyrazinamide and Ethambutol found in some drugs, like the one I took but got allergic to, called Fixcom 4. After two months of this treatment, it’s another 4 months of Rifampicin and Isoniazid. Isoniazid basically is the one killing the Mycobacterium, and Rifampicin is the antibiotic defending the body.

It is important not to skip one day of treatment, in order to avoid the risk of developing mutation known as drug-resistant TB. Also, follow the doctor’s prescription and don’t self-prescribe.

Like I said, I got allergic from the all-in-one drug, so what we’re doing now is to identify which of the four ingredients is making me itchy, and I’ve started taking one ingredient at a time in lower dosage to see which one I get allergic to. After that would be two months I guess of actual treatment. I’m not sure if what I’m doing now is actual treatment yet, there was the first week which was disrupted by allergy.

For further information please read the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_tuberculosis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifampicin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoniazid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethambutol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrazinamide

Also please check the World Health Organization website on Tuberculosis here.

I included Latent Tuberculosis because, as it turns out, a lot of people are actually infected with the disease, about one-third of the world’s population. It’s just that only a fraction develop into active TB.

Latent tuberculosis is where a patient is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but does not have active tuberculosis disease. Patients with latent tuberculosis are not infectious, and it is not possible to get TB from someone with latent tuberculosis. The main risk is that approximately 10% of these patients will go on to develop active tuberculosis at a later stage of their life. from wikipedia

If one does get diagnosed with active pulmonary TB, it’s not the end of the world. But it does take a long time before one’s life goes back to normalcy. In the meantime, should you find yourself in isolation just like I am in right now, make yourself busy. Get lots of books, get a laptop with  wireless internet connection (here in the Philippines, mobile carriers offer GPRS/UMTS SIM-based dongles the size of a USB flash drive) and connect with friends (thank god for Facebook), excercise a lot, take vitamins and while you’re at it, diet properly. By properly I mean eat fruits, vegetables and take protein once in a while. The main reason TB becomes active (to my understanding) is when the body’s immune system goes down. A huge dvd collection can also help pass the time. good thing I already have that.

I hope this helps anyone who gets diagnozed and gets isolated from their loved ones.

Till next time, I don’t think I have more to add on the subject.

Let’s see. It’s been a week since I got exiled from home and work. Boredom really sux.

I’ve started to get used to my daily routine. A little exercise in the morning, breakfast, a little sun outside the complex. I clean up. But after all the chores, it’s the laptop. Either online or to watch an old episode of Smallville or Betty.

Here’s the thing. I have these shows stored in my laptop (which technically isn’t mine, I lost mine last year.) On one hand it’s good that they’re there, cuz I have some things to watch and pass the time with during this health-related isolation. But man, does Smallville really suck. (pardon the French please.)

I mean, the writing for the first season of Ugly Betty is a universe away compared to the last previous season of Smallville (centering on Doomsday). C’mon people, does it have to be Superheroes for Dummies? And they mashed up everything in the DC universe, it’s like an abomination of all that is Superman. In fairness, they don’t mention Supes (and even avoid mentioning it in the episode Legion).

Good thing my sister brought my dvds of Avatar: The Last Airbender when she and my mother came to visit me earlier today. Some more things to watch while I while away the time.

Cinemalaya, currently the Philippine’s only real Filipino film festival, opened last Friday and I wasn’t there, for a change. But I do miss seeing movies, and seeing them with my friends. And the talks after the screenings.

I’ll be back next year.

Of the things I did and read since Sunday, before i got the laptop today and started writing again.

Monday yesterday. It rained most of the day. Early in the morning I went out and bought myself
breakfast. HotSiLog – Hotdogs, rice and egg – the warm food was most welcome. I went around the street and found myself a small plastic mirror and a disposable razor, i haven’t had a shave since day before the diagnosis.

Last Sunday, as I was in the middle of moving into my small enclave, Joe called to ask about,
what else, dvds. He was getting a buy-one-take-one promo and he was choosing to get either Gone Baby Gone or Master and Commander as the freebie. He reminded me I gave him a copy of Gone Baby before, so he opted for Master & Commander.

I didn’t do much Sunday night since I didn’t have the laptop yet. I finished The Road before I slept, tried hard to keep a tear from falling. I can’t wait for the film adaptation coming out later this year, Viggo “Aragorn” Mortensen plays The Man (Cormack McCarthy didn’t give them names in The Road).

Yesterday I tried reading Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but such was the contrast between McCarthy’s languid, genteel prose and Murakami’s hip humor I had to stop. I’ve tried several times to finish that book, but it never grips me to keep turning the pages.

And then I started – or managed to finish what I started to read long ago and skipped, the very crass, perverted, egocentric semi-autobiographical accounts of 1994 Cuba in Dirty Havana Nights by poet Pedro Juan Gutierrez. I wanted to burn the book, but Gutierrez is good in chapters that don’t feature his alter-ego Pedro Juan, which is like, 15% of the 392-page book.

I still have Stranger in a Strange Land to finish – I think I left it off moths ago somewhere in the middle. I bought Heinlein’s paperback at a street fest a year ago I think. Or Monster bought it for me. I was a little surprised Monster said she has the book, I didn’t figure her a sci-fi person (that was long before Star Trek was shown last May. Did we geek out on that or what.)

Until then, a short script is brewing in my mind. Good thing this laptop is here. Maybe I’ll have one written at the end of this isolation.

A few more words from The Road:

“They crawled slowly through the leaves toward what looked like lower ground. He lay listening,
holding the boy. He could hear them in the road talking. Voice of a woman. Then he heard them in the dry leaves. He took the boy’s hand and pushed the revolver into it. Take it, he whispered.
Take it. The boy was terrified. He put his arm around him and held him. His body so thin. Don’t
be afraid, he said. If they find you you are going to have to do it. Do you understand? Shh. No
crying. Do you hear me? You know how to do it. You put it in your mouth and point it up. Do it
quick and hard. Do you understand? Stop crying. Do you understand?

I think so.

No. Do you understand?

Yes.

Say yes I do Papa.

Yes I do Papa.

He looked down at him. All he saw was terror. He took the gun from him. No you don’t, he said.”

At the end of this novel, your heart shall have been torn to shreds, I promise.

Day 5 after the dignosis.

I cleaned house today. Well, the flat is just a small studio, so it ain’t much, BUT I did sweat it out. It was good excercise. There’s only so many ways one can permute furniture (that is to say, a folding bed and a leather love-seat still covered in plastic) in a small place. This unit is being sold, by the way, and the plastic-covered loveseat sofa comes with it.

The place isn’t that bad. It’s tucked midway between the airport and Multinational. The complex is clean, very quiet.

My brothers brought me a fan today, some new clothes and the laptop. I’ll try to stay online as often as I can, but outside the condo complex, the area is the middle of nowhere. I walked around outside to get some fresh air and sunlight. Yesterday it rained all day and I was a bit cold, which is why the coughing is back again today. I think I over exerted myself today. Must continue resting.

The other day, as I was in the middle of transferring to this little cave of mine, my friend Joe called and asked about dvds he was going to buy. Just like that. As if I hadn’t been away. Thanks dude, and yes, I’ll probably borrow some during the course of my solitude.

I finished The Road last Sunday. I’ll talk about it some more maybe tomorrow. It’’s just that I’ve so many things to write about now that the laptop’s here and I’m back online again. Also, must harvest those farmtown plants.

Maybe I’ll come back later for more.

Day 3 since I got diagnosed.

Later tonight I start living in isolation in a friend’s condo in Paranaque. That goes on for at least two weeks. The family has decided to leave the current residence and transfer to a larger place in Guadalupe. That house will be ready in two weeks also, but I think I would have to stay in the condo for a week after that.

It turns out that I’m mildly allergic to the meds, and doctor’s advice is for me to stop meds right now and take anti-allergy meds for a week, and then he’ll check me. I got itchy all over the other night and still am mildly today.  Coughing was bad yesterday, but this morning I feel better. Until the next episodes, of course. But they pass.

I’ve started reading the books I’ve skipped over for some time now (that’s why I wasn’t online last night!). I’ve had Cormack McCarthy’s The Road for some time now but never got the initiative to open the book. I’m only on page 30, reading lulled me to sleep. But so far, some favorite lines:

“He looked at his father and tilted the can and drank. He sat there thinking about it. It’s really good, he said.

Yes it is.

You have some, Papa.

I want you to drink it.

You have some.

He took the can and sipped it and handed it back.

You drink it, he said. Let’s just sit here.

Is it because I wont ever get to drink another one, isn’t it?

Ever is a long time.

Okay, the boy said.”

Ever IS a long time.

Exterminator
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Inquirer Libre June 3, 2009
Terminator: Salvation
Directed by McG

If there’s anything this movie terminated, it would be my eardrums. Terminator: Salvation is a noisy, ear-splitting science-fiction actioner that’s actually good enough had it not been a Terminator movie.

Set in the year 2018 at the height of the human war versus Skynet’s machines, the meat of Salvation is essentially how John Connor (Christian Bale) emerges as the Resistance’s leader and how Kyle Reese (played by Star Trek’s Anton Yelchin), father of John Connor, is found by the Resistance. The Resistance has developed a weapon to neutralize the machines and begins to prepare an assault on Skynet’s headquarters.

Formerly a death-row criminal who donated his body for Cyberdyne System’s research, Marcus Wright (played by newcomer Sam Worthington) emerges from the ruins of a Skynet base and is saved from a Terminator robot by Kyle. The two develop a friendship, but Kyle gets captured and is brought to the Skynet headquarters along with many other human prisoners.

When Marcus is caught by the Resistance, John discovers that Kyle is a prisoner in Skynet and that Marcus is not human (that’s in the trailers, in case you accuse me of spoiling.) John disobeys central command and uses Marcus to infiltrate machine headquarters in order to save Kyle and the rest of the human prisoners, but surprises await John soon after he enters Skynet’s main base.

Fourth in the Terminator series, Salvation is also the least “Terminaty” of the Terminators, in the sense that it is more a sci-fi war movie than a chase movie which is what the first three movies were.

The first Terminator movie featured the T-800 model (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) sent back in time by Skynet to kill John Connor’s mother Sarah (played by Linda Hamilton). Kyle Reese is sent back in time by the Resistance to protect her. In T2: Judgment Day, the T-1000 model (played by Robert Patrick) was sent back to kill the young John Connor (played by Edward Furlong), but John Connor of the future sends a reprogrammed T-800 (Schwarzenegger) to protect the young John Connor. In T3: Rise of the Machines, Skynet sends an advanced model, the T-X (Kristanna Loken) to destroy all the leaders of the Resistance, just before Judgment Day happens. In T4, there’s no time travel involved, and it’s John Connor and the humans versus all of Skynet. Supposedly, T5, the next installment of the series, will explain how Kyle Reese goes back in time to meet Sarah.

As a war movie, Salvation has enough set pieces to make it a good enough action movie. One shot, Bale in a helicopter early in the movie, impressed me. But there’s no emotional resonance, except John’s final radio broadcast just before the assault on Skynet. Kudos to Bale, he gets that scene’s gravitas. References to previous Terminator movies abound, especially the final action piece.

The rest of the movie, Bale is as robotic as his enemies as do the rest of the cast – but the problem is in the writing. Marcus gets the better character arch than John’s, and Worthington plays the part so well, the Australian steals the attention away from Bale. Worthington is a new star in the making. For a series that puts so much focus on the character that is supposed to save humankind, Salvation turns around and focuses on another machine to save the savior.

No wonder Bale was very pissed on the set last February.