Movie of my Year (2012)

This tradition started out as a countdown to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen back in 2009. My brother and I would be listing down the films that we would strictly watch in the theaters. It was feasible at first but until IMAX (Tron) came into the market, we eventually resorted to the, well... you know. We be good laddies drinking o'er leaping barnacles!

This year's list was a countdown to The Hobbit for the very obvious reason that, it's the Hobbit!!! 

The following are my top 5 favorites of this year's list. This is generally based on the film's entirety.  Not really familiar with the different aspects of making a film a blockbuster (aside from its sales) but story-wise, general cinematic visual effects, direction, and goosepimple moments, these are the top 5 that made it to the list: (all of which were seen on the theater house)

5. Prometheus. A total mind-fvck  (especially) if you've seen the Alien franchise. But I think that's just me, trying my hardest to connect the 33-year-gap-dots between the Weaver franchise to that of Rapace's.  I honestly did not understand the film on my first viewing because I was literally preoccupied with looking for familiar scenes and references from the Ellen Ripley series. The film was generally awesmazing! Talk about Ancient Aliens and all, this film has  literally made that Giorgio Tsoukalos nerd shat in his shorts!

4. Have you read my tribute article for Brave?

3. Here's a review of my tribute for Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight (Rises) franchise. 

2. The Hobbit. Of course. Yeah yeah it didn't make it to the top(not that it matters, Peter Jackson is probably swimming in 100 dollar bills as I type) but it is, in fact, worth being the movie countdown basis of the year. Yes, I've read the book, seen the crappy cartoon 1960s movie and a die-hard fan of the Tolkien-Jackson book-film adaptation but, I don't know, is it me or was the whole movie's pacing a tad bit dragging? Nevertheless, I would definitely watch the whole film again, anytime, and perhaps by then, I'd be awake, for the whole 3 hours.

1. The lucky number 9 on the list. An unexpected watch. Was originally planning to see the film on DVD Rip but thanks to SM Cinemas, BEST 2012 MOVIE EVER!!! Rurouni Kenshin. I have been a fan of the series since I even knew cable TV existed. I even deemed Aoshi Shinomori my first EVER crush  since I knew Mark Wahlberg (w-e-i-r-d!!!) So imagine my awe and giddyness when I saw Kenshin in live action 1080p in the theater! The techniques, fight scenes, ghaaaaaaaad!!! I can't... I mean... I couldn't... Ghaaaad!!! Though a few scenes from the animated series were cut-off from the film, the movie was generally good enough for hardcore Samurai X fans like myself.

Notable Others. Top 5 notable films that were worth my time and moolah.
5. Battleship
4. The Avengers
3. The Amazing (chemistry between Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield) Spiderman
2. We bought a Zoo.
1.The odd life of Timothy Green (a definite Torrent-download favorite).

Definite personal flops. These are the films that were very good with the trailers... yeah, just the trailers.
2. Mirror Mirror
1. Wrath of the Titans. Especially since I was planning to make this a number 2 for this year's movie countdown.
Would've probably placed John Carter a definite  placer on this category but, though it did have an almost-close-to-lousy trailer, it did not disappoint as a film in general. But I don't think I'd still be a fan of the adaptation.

So, that's it. Check out Teaser-Trailer (not mine) for the latest movie trailers in town.

Merry Christmas 2012!!!

Ending the year with the most awkward bang in all of Ancient Mayan history. Perhaps the biggest scam in hysteria-history, Dec 21, 2012. The day when the Mayan calendar is supposedly set to end and when this mysterious planet, Nibiru, would allegedly disrupt our very own gravitational pull from the Sun, ultimately causing a rampage of natural disasters thus eventually leading to the complete wipe-off of every sentient living thing on Earth. Party like it's the end of the world alright!

We have finally broke tradition this year. Christmas Eve was supposedly a whole day marathon of Casablanca, Fiddler on the Roof and Sound of Music. This year, is especially brought to us by Roger Waters' The Wall 1990 Concert. And you thought we couldn't get any weirder? I'm typing this whole article with flickering series lights and the monitor as my source of lumination. I'm actually excited for the vertigo trip after all of this. This isn't actually the culmination of this year's articles, I'm doing that next week (if I still have the time).

Here, I will try my very best to at least impart my most Coelho-esque Christmas message. Let me do this by recalling my most stoned Christmas ever (so much for this whole thing to be Coelho-esque, eh?) . Yes my friends, stoned, high, dissociated, far-fvcking-out!

I was about 6 or 7 years old that Christmas eve, sick with the flu and mild asthma. My cousins from the far seas (okay so it's not really that far) were staying over for the holidays. The whole house was in a blissful ruckus (ironic I know, but that's just how we are as a bunch) whereas I was in bed, practically a veggie, martial-lawed by my Mom until the midnight noche buena. Really? Order a 7 year old to stay in bed the whole day? Who did she (Mom) think I was, Keith Moon or someone? The next few scenes are rather explicit but in summary, I took an extra dose (okay, DOSES) of flu/cough syrup just hours before midnight. Worst-trip-ever!!! Slept like a cooking oil on a freezer just minutes before midnight.

Moral of the story? It's not really a good idea to get high on Christmas. Really. Christmas isn't a good time to get high, it's a high time to be good. But really, spend it however you must, with whoever and whatever, but always remember, Christmas does not necessarily happen just once a year. Everyday can be Christmas, you just have to have the heart to make it happen.

However you want to spend Christmas, with prayer, or booze, or pizza, or unlimited supply of your grandmother's pasta, it's not what comes in our systems that matters, it's what stays there, forever engraved in our hearts, fueling our passion for life, faith and selfless love.

Merry Christmas, Nerds!!!

I love you.

No, really, I do!

Have a good one...Heck, have the best one this year, and if it does end up as the best one for you, well... there's always next year.

I'm weird like that...

I haven't really had the time to spill my brains out these days. Since I sold my laptop (generously) to an equally frugal buyer, the only mode I have for online surfing is my tab. I'm not really very adept at this touch-screen-typing-thing, probably takes me 10 mins to type a five sentence paragraph, excluding those insignificant minutes trying to correct every typo.

Yup, that's me. Wasting every insignificant time I have trying to explain insignificant events like the above paragraph or (at this very second) how cute my strawberry-painted-nails are. Yuuuuuuuup... I'm weird like that. In fact, I'm such a proud weirdo that if Peter Gabriel were to hand down his infamous red dress and fox mask to any random fan, he'd probably (randomly on purpose) choose me!

So, in celebration of this recent(?) epiphany, I will now be listing down perhaps the top 5 most weird characteristics I have... well, at least these are the ones that I'm aware of.

• That particular bog-of-a-stench that basically irritates everyone whenever they'd visit any local wet market *mercado*, well, that same smell makes me hungry! I mean, minus the colorful spits, litters and flies in the background, I swear I'd eat my every meal in that place. I swear!
• I have a lycanthrope-esque femme cycle. It's irregular but whenever it happens, it either coincides with the waxing gibbous moon or the full moon. 
• I have trypophobia. Go figure. It's severe. Even comes with the panic attacks and all.
• I can hear and smell a cockroach from a particular distance (some 3-5 meters away). Some defense mechanism superpower huh?
• I live and breath Star Wars. I'm not sure if this qualifies me as weird but... yuuuuup.

Conformity is mediocrity.
Normalcy is scary.
I'm a proud wierdo.
So...

Dragon Poppy Splinters

He was pacing down the alley. The sound of cans slightly rolling on the pavement was his hymn. This was not part of the plan, the sinister in him whispered, putting on the jacket she'd just worn not 2 minutes ago. He shouldn't have initiated the contact. He knew this was going to happen. He knew. The slightest moves of minuscule raw emotions were thoroughly calculated during nights when his lucidity was but a fragment of an untamed mind under the influence of his favorite downer. 

Downer? Yeah right! In fact, he hasn't been, how do they call it?, stoned since his first try some 7 years ago. That familiar feel of the dragon poppy splinters boiling every part of his body. No. But those eyes. They make every known opiate seem like a regular ant bite. Her eyes. 

I can't do this! This was never part of the plan! Then he faltered. 

What originally started as an introverted bet, a passing for boredom, *FvCK!*, a curious case of insanity snowballed into... "I'm fvcked!". He cursed, his 87th since he walked her to the shared apartment she had with the youngest Weaslette, some four minutes ago. 

He thought of doing some more calculation to eradicate this growing how do I call this? Infatuation, he thought, while pausing his pace to welcome the warmth of the first morning light. "You know what I like about sunsets?", he remembered her say not 12 hours ago. "...they always seem to tell me that there's always a sunrise somewhere else". Oh well. He shrugged and continued walking. The platinum strands on his head swaying softly with the zephyr winds. 

His hand fisted inside his jacket. His jacket that somehow still smelled like her. "Infatuation" he scoffed and in that insignificant second... I don't mind her leaving her scent on any of my articles of clothing. In fact, I don't mind at all...

Original post is on my tumblr page. Above post has been edited.

Diary of Princess Twin-bun.

Entry # 48:

That insufferable sagged-face emperor was in the news again today. Their so-called clone army has reached even the farthest planets in the galactic republic. The whole news seemed very alarming to my my dad and his advisers. I had to see my father leave home. I really have no idea where he flies off to during crises like these, but, being a senator and all, I think he is needed somewhere else. I miss him though. I can't imagine leaving my home any time soon. Alderaan has always been home. I think I'll stay here forever. 

Entry # 56:

It's been about three weeks since I last saw my father.  I've been sleeping in my parent's chambers since father's departure. I can tell my mom misses him terribly. I told her we could visit Coruscant but she said the capital isn't safe anymore. They say there's a war coming but I think I'm too young to understand that. I'll be turning twelve in two days and I have finally convinced mother to cancel the feast that she's been planning on that day. I guess the best gift from my parents this year is to have the three of us together, perhaps on a vacation... and probably to have R2 repaired... again... :)

Entry # 271:

Dad's good friend Captain Brando Calrissian died today. I was not allowed to travel with mother and father to Cloud City for the funeral. The good captain is survived by his only son, (and now orphan) Lando. Though I haven't met Lando, who probably has the same age as mine, my sincerest condolences are with him. Somehow I know what it feels like being an orphan. That very fact was never hidden from me since my childhood. But I am so blessed to have been raised as an Organa. Mother and father has loved me much like their very own. I miss them now. I hope they'll be safe. And for the Cpt. Calrissian, I hope the force would lead his spirit to safety and eternal bliss.

I remember Captain Calrissian, during his visits when I was younger, narrate a seemingly familiar story of a Queen falling in-love with a peasant. I couldn't recall the whole story but I remember it being a tragedy. The Jedi temple in Coruscant that I always hear about was said to have been sacked by the peasant-turned-Jedi. The beautiful queen died of a broken heart. And the peasant-turned-Jedi-turned-Sith? It is said that he still alive until today, hiding in a cape and mask made of guilt, taking orders blindly by megalomania and greed. Poor guy.