Random talk

Meow, who was awake for 24 hours, was on a diatribe about how much she hated the last installment of Harry Potter. Thank God I did not have a strong desire for either books or movies. She read the book and she hated the movies, and now she is hating Rowling for being a sellout.

I woke up to check my email and saw a Shibumi  prequel, Satori. It was not be written by the original writer, Trevanian, being dead and all.

I looked for the reviews of people who read the original, who may think like me. I read the reviews which were good, but it seems the plot seems too weak for me. Thankfully, Amazon still has its share of people who are unapologetic.

You see, Nikko is to me who Holden Caulfield was for others, or any popular Bildungsroman characters.

Hence, I won't touch the Satori book with a wooden stick.

Moving Houses

We are moving again. For the past two years, it feels like we're nomads. Maybe because for 16 years, we've been in one place, another ten in another house. So when we moved to three houses, and in my case, going to four, it's a bit confusing. Long story.
The house that we are in the process of leaving is a nice one, not minding the nosy neighbors and neglectful parents and their irritatingly obnoxious kids.We have stayed there for a year.
My sister is mortgaging a house. I've been there a few hours ago, and it was nice. It's big, but old. I like the tiles. It looks unique. I don't think they sell tiles like that anymore. It has thick oldy-shaken swirls like marble in earth colors.
Both of them are in the same subdivision that has to pass through some grassy spots away from the town proper. I prophesize that it will not be as grassy in the next two years. I am not a big fan of urbanization.
I particularly like the current guard of the subdivision. He's like a stout Filipino version of Charlie Chaplin, who swears a lot. I am thinking Hitler but he's too goofy to be a Hitler, and not so bad.
Tomorrow, I'll be in Makati to submit some papers, so that I could have my own house. That would be nice. I hope it pushes through, coz the house is up the mountains with a nice view. Although small, it would be nice. And it's just a walking distance away from an art gallery, which houses really nice artwork.

Of Dumbledore being Gay

Last night, I was editing another transcript that was making me sick, I can't help but hear co-workers discussing. A transvestite talking to his friend about Dumbledore's sexual orientation. They were making arguments about Dumbledore's friendship with other characters. Blah, blah, blah. This topic is tiring since the JK Rowling comment.

Anyway, I think it is all irrelevant. It is just trivial and contributes not much to the story. It just happened that the last installment is being shown again, so people once again dwell on HP stuff. Me experiencing deja vu. Nothing changes the story. Whether he's gay or not, I don't care. It's not a big deal, and no, I don't think his tenderness for Harry is anything more. He may be gay but he is no way a freaking pedophile.

People tend to overthink things not really worth thinking too much about.

Robot Porn

The reason I watched Transformers III (The Dark of the Moon) is because (a) I've seen the first 2 installments; (b) I like robots;  and (c) I fell victim to Paramount Pictures' marketing. I was not expecting much if not for the conspiracy theory thing that I thought would be a big issue in the movie. It was not.

So the story goes, man indeed landed on the moon in 1961 discovering alien technology coming from Cybertron. This has the technology that could have changed the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. This technology was kept by Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime's predecessor, who tried to escape with the technology. This is also wanted by the Decpticons, supposed to be. The rest would be spoilers.

The movie left me baffled in more ways than I could track, for example, why would Sam, the main character, have a problem finding a job? He may have been awful at job interviews, but who cares? He saved the world twice! I'd be a bigger asshole! Also, why did the Decepticons just do the activities in the third movie when they could have done it earlier? And has Optimus Prime always been emo?

On Traditional Media

When I was younger, back when digital cameras are seen only on futuristic TV shows, people used film. We would have our cameras loaded with 35mm film with only vague ideas of what it would look like in the end. Then we would wait for an hour, check that the package did not get mixed up and then go home.

Later, we would inspect the contents of the pictures excitedly, looking at the good shots and be proud of it, feel a bit bad about the ones that did not turn out well, and be happy that we have a remembrance of that moment or event that was special that you brought a camera with you.

I think that's one thing that we have taken for granted. Now we see everything a few seconds after a picture is taken, then we keep or delete it. The process while efficient has made us lazy, less conscious of the shots. If we did not like it, we delete. Just like that. We  blindly shoot pictures, keep some, delete the rest. That's what we do now.

Photo labs in our town are mostly closed.

It's like drawing as well. Now, most artists rely on computers. I think in a lot of illustration work, people now prefer digital. Sure it is purer, more solid, more even. But for me nothing beats the work of the hand, the meticulous and tedious effort to put color in empty spaces that sometimes take a long time to fill out. It requires skill and talent, and I wish people who have that talent would still keep on doing it.

I am not against digital work, here I am writing on a blog that would be posted on the Internet, but I think it woul sure be nice if the old ways are not forgotten. I know I am not very good at it, but I like to keep on doing it.

I am not sure if I am prepared for the world that treats traditional media as like the dagguerotype. 

PROUD TO BE PINOY? Dont Be, Here's Why...

I saw this on the net. It made me sad, angry and got me thinking.

Of long hair, rock bands and people who wear T-shirts with Rock bands

So I was at 7-11, and the counter guy asked, "ang haba na ng buhok nyo ah," with a sense of familiarity.

I smiled, a bit embarassed and surprised coz I don't know the guy.

"Tumutugtog ba kayo, sir?"

"Hindi," sagot ko.

When I saw the disappointment on his face, I almost wanted to cut my hair. Almost. The reason why my hair is now longer is because I am lazy. And haircuts have gotten expensive since my barber shop closed. Also,  I started to like my long hair.

Someone told me that the longer the hair, the higher the expectation is to be in a band. I would not say I did not have fantasies at some point to be in a band, but I did not and I am too old to be in a band. And it's just not me, or that is what Kevin Arnold said before he bought his electric guitar in The Wonder Years.




Too bad they disbanded a week after their first gig. It's funny.

There is this guy at work who has hair that goes down to his waist, no one will be disappointed in him coz he has a band.

Well, I listen to rock songs almost as much as I listen to alternative, but I won't claim I play in a band. Or I could tell them I could play a triangle, to save face, but alas, I don't know how to play even that. My promising musical career ended when I was around twelve when my singing duo crashed. I would like to say creative differences, but we were young and we had to do things on our own. We could have been like big, you know like the Dresden Dolls, Belle and Sebastian, Bono and Cher.... uhh.... Hahaha!

So going back to the hair topic, I just like my long hair that I intend to cut in 2012. Why 2012? I just feel like 2012 is the right time coz the world might end.

I don't want people to think I am a poser or anything, but I think people are narrow-minded if they think only people in a band or artists can have long hair. While I am guilty of calling people posers, more on that later, I have long hair only to please myself. I think to judge people and what they do on the basis of their hair is wrong. Like people with clean cut hair can not join a rock band? Of course, they can. I don't think we or them are like Samson who gets something from their hair other than basic protection for the head.

Going on to the matter of posers. I was on my way to work, it was on the same day as the 7-11 incident, and saw this dude with the uncanniest resemblance to Justin Bieber ride the jeep wearing an Our Lady of Peace shirt (the band), and I wonder if he really knows them. Now I am not telling you he does not listen to Our Lady of Peace, coz I don't know if he does. All I know is I don't listen to Our Lady of Peace, even though it is in my iPod, because it brings memories of my high school, more like the name of the band sends me back to high school.

But there are people who wear Iron Maiden or Metallica or Angry Samoans and, in some cases, obscure bands, then listen to Lady Gaga. So I wonder why they are wearing those shirts, as if rock band shirts now beats buying signature clothes. Maybe because it's cheaper than wearing whatever brand you can buy at so much more in Shangri-la or at Powerplant mall.

I don't get it. I know that these people don't appreciate the album art or anything. Or maybe, simply, they hope that the coolness of the bands rubs off on them some way.
Maybe I just think ill of people. I don't know.