The 10 Things You Need to Stop Tweeting About…. (click on the link)
Not everyone needs to know that your crap is green today.
Have you ever been tagged relentlessly in facebook? Have you ever been asked to take the weirdest of quizzes?
And by relentlessly I mean surreally, pointlessly, and inconsiderately. Not that I don’t appreciate the tagging; but if it isn’t important or funny, I’d rather pass. It’s different when you know the tag’s meant for something; it’s another when you see it as juvenile.
Let us remember that Facebook, more than the games, more than the events, more than the quizzes, is a social-networking site. Look up the terms "social" and "network" to get the meaning. Because if some people continue to use it for what it really isn’t, then it’s purpose is defeated – like boobs without nipples, pointless.
The Oatmeal describes facebook users here
We’re all familiar with the Barrel Man and the Barrel lady, and what happens when you lift the barrel up.
And now, this.
From Baguio, here comes the next chapter and takes a notch further on what really happens when you lift the barrel.
I can hear Anna Capri singing "tipitipitim, tipitim".
PS. It really has to be the doggy. Seriously.
Pop quiz, hotshots: “Since when did it become cool to glorify criminals?”
Yeah, you’re all hotshots, right?
You think that being a “fan” of a “public figure” is a statement?
Well, as of today, “Other Public Figure” gun-toting, “kill me now” Jason Ivler has 18,641 fans on facebook.
Are you one of his followers? Of course the page wasn’t Ivler’s idea. It’s obviously spun around by some crackhead who thinks that experimenting on people’s social beliefs is something to joke around.
Yeah, at one point the originator may be right – at least it showed that 18000 + people think differently from the norm.
The norm being, we should not be glorifying criminals.
What the guy did was wrong. What the guy did involved a life – a life lost all because of what? Hateful road rage?
I know that the creators of the fan page may be saying “Innocent until proven guilty”, but what proof are you still looking for? All signs, evidences, incidences spell GUILTY!
And now he has 18,000 + followers.
What does it say about our personal stands and beliefs then?
I’m sorry, but this is just crazy. Marlene Aguilar crazy.
Watch Joaquin Phoenix yearn for Gwyneth Paltrow the way Marlon Brando putting his first tentative moves on Eva Marie Saint in 1954’s On the Waterfront.
Here is one of Joaquin Phoenix’s best performances before he decided (in order) to become a hip-hop artist, to show up drugged on Letterman, and to sober up just in time for the Golden Globes.
Joaquin Phoenix brings a tremendous weight of truth to his performance, as Leonard, a bipolar man-child who suffers from some kind of treatable mental disorder, probably manic depression. He has retreated to the Brighton Beach apartment of his parents (Isabella Rossellini and Moni Moshonov) and a nowhere job. He seems distracted and vulnerable, and at the same time has startling flashes of assurance and charm. He sparks when Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), the daughter of a family friend, shows an interest. But when his eyes lock on Michelle (Paltrow), he’s a goner. We know he blossoms around women.
Never mind that Michelle is being screwed and supported by a married jerk (Elias Koteas) with kids. The film’s secrets unfold slowly, allowing Phoenix and Paltrow — a luminous fusion of grace and grit — to build a relationship in full.
Watching “Two Lovers” is like life in the sense that you only get the tip of the iceberg, but you see enough to figure out all you need to know, and you’re never in doubt that the iceberg is really there. Very little is explicit. The audience is left to infer much from spotty information, and yet a full and specific picture emerges. We are never in doubt of the truth of the characters and the absolute solidity of the world being depicted.
Here is an acute vision of love as a battle with loneliness. Happy Valentine’s Day!
You live, you learn.
That’s what the song “You Learn” wails over and over your head when you hear it.
“When it all comes down to it, then we have to deal with it face on,” says my boss.
It’s the “moral lessons are expensive” way to approach things.
So what have we really learned?
Three decades into this so-called life (I am entering, or more appropriately, have entered the “deadline decade”), I still make mistakes. What’s bad about it is that sometimes, it’s the same mistakes over and over. Like I need a journal to keep track of my preventive actions (like, “if it’s too good to be true – it’s not good, and it’s not true” theorem) to avoid committing the same mistakes.
It’s being in the inner turning points we all seem to pass through between one stage of adult life and another. Like a lobster (right now I just can’t believe that I used the lobster analogy), we shed a protective cover, are exposed, vulnerable and ready for change. After such crises or passages come periods of stability.
What happens as you approach 30?
It’s a Catch-30, I guess; whatever choices you’ve made, suddenly they don’t seem right.
You start to feel narrow and restricted all of a sudden. But what it boils down to is that choices perfectly suited to the 20s are no longer enough. Some inner aspect was left out that is striving to be taken into account. The single person feels a rush to find a partner; or if you’ve made a conscious decision to stay single, you suddenly have “baby fever” (you know what I mean). Suddenly one is less concerned with what I “should do” than what I “want to do.”
Time-squeeze.
Right now it feels like I’m on a time-squeeze, but it’s an entirely different issue.
Anyway, I think it’s true after all.
You choose, you learn.
You lose, you learn.
You whine, you learn.
You pray, you learn.
Chupa Chups’ tagline? Stop smoking. Start sucking.
Maliciously-minded citizens, we’re talking about hard candy here.
This mainly “For Adults” Chupa Chups is good, especially if you’re giving up on smoking.
It comes in a box of six. The box is a bit like a cigarette packet and I think this is intentional as the idea is to have a lolly instead of a stick. The words “6 moments of peace” or “Sucking relaxes” or “Sucking does not kill” is in place of the health warning!
Each lolly has the very faint smell of fruit with a touch of herbs and this smell gets stronger when you start sucking them. While the lollipop is in your mouth it doesn’t taste overtly herbal but there’s herbal aftertaste which isn’t really unpleasant. It has a fruity flavour with sweet hint of strawberry but the slight sourness of grapefruit.
It really isn’t marketed for kids since it’s got the tangy herbal aftertaste that kids will probably not enjoy much.
So go on. Suck. Indulge.
…. so how the f*ck could’ve he traveled?
In the recent report from the Commission on Audit, jailed Senator Antonio Trillanes, who campaigned and won his seat in 2007 while detained at a police jail in Manila, billed taxpayers more than P17 million ($365,000) for the year, including nearly 250,000 pesos for travel expenses. This makes him one of the most expensive lawmakers in the country (a news report says he is the 4th biggest claimant).
How could Trillanes — who never left his cell to attend his trial for executing a stand at the Peninsula Hotel — spend that much money for travel expenses?
We assume he never left his cell for any other reason (except for that one time when I blogged about him and Gringo Honasan attending a wedding), right?
His Chief of Staff, Reynaldo Robles, claims that “the money was well spent by his staff, who had conducted outreach and medical missions to depressed areas of the country on behalf of the jailed senator” – but again, the question, how can you declare travel expenses if YOU ARE IN JAIL?
Read the report here.
This loose adaptation of the Christopher Isherwood novel by fashion designer Tom Ford is like a pretty photo shoot which turned into a movie – and I mean it in a good way.
It is a sorrowful beauty infused in every frame.
A Single Man visits a single day in the life of gay British expat George Falconer (Colin Firth), a teacher at a Los Angeles college who plans on suicide to end his pain over the death of his lover, Jim (Matthew Goode).
Tom Ford’s vision is mesmerizingly executed. The light, the texture, is stunningly framed. George’s life with Jim is seen in black-and-white flashbacks, in contrast with the richly coloured encounters of the present.
Julianne Moore as George’s British friend Charley, a divorcee who fantasizes that George will marry her, is explosively good. It is a surprise that the Academy has failed to notice that.
But this film belongs to Colin Firth, who shows the heart crumbling under George’s elegant exterior.
While the film can be commended for its visuals, the one true factor that gives A Single Man its exuberance is its humanity.
The nominees have been announced (click here to see the list) and here are my rather predictions on the major categories, excluding screenplay:
Best Picture
Will win: The Hurt Locker
Should win: An Education
Dark Horse: Inglourious Basterds
Out of the 10 Best Picture nominees for an Oscar, I’ve seen 7. The 3 I haven’t seen are Precious, A Serious Man, and Up in the Air.
Since these 3 are far from getting the Oscar, I’ll base my prediction on the 7 movies I did see, and here’s why I’m putting my money on The Hurt Locker.
Avatar may be the Goliath in this category, but a Sci-fi movie is not an Oscar favourite. James Cameron may have had his King of The World record, but Titanic is a tragic love story. It’s drama, cheesy drama, and half of it was not filmed in front of a green screen. And while An Education is a film that should be recognized, it’s stature as a primarily Brit film does not stand well with Academy voters. Inglourious Basterds is the Dark Horse for this category, since they still owe Quentin Tarantino an Oscar for Pulp Fiction, and it’s a movie that pays an homage to cinema saving the world (literally). The Hurt Locker is a movie about Iraq, the courage of the American Bomb squad, and it is apolitical.
Best Director
Will win: Kathryn Bigelow
Should win: Kathryn Bigelow
Dark Horse: Quentin Tarantino
Kathryn Bigelow did what no woman director did before – she directed a war movie. And a war movie that doesn’t scream Bush at that. Her Iraqi war movie displayed emotion – fear, sadness, hesitation. It’s not a typical alpha male war movie, it showed what a soldier actually feels while he’s on field. She’s already got the approval of the Director’s Guild of America, and she survived a marriage with James Cameron. Quentin Tarantino is the dark horse because, again, they still owe him an Oscar.
Best Supporting Actor:
Will win: Christoph Waltz
Should win: Christoph Waltz
Dark Horse: Matt Damon
While the academy loves accents and looks-changes (Matt Damon has an accent that is believably South African), nothing beats a multi-lingual (English, French, German) Nazi. Besides, Christoph Waltz wasn’t playing Hans Lada – he was Hans Lada. And if he makes you pee in fear while he’s discussing milk, or asking you to pronounce your Italian name correctly, he might as well get the Oscar.
Best Supporting Actress:
Will win: Mo’Nique
Should win: Mo’Nique
Dark Horse: Vera Farmiga
This one’s pretty much in the bag. Vera Farmiga? I am totally invoking the Clooney factor (remember Tilda Swinton?)
Best Actor
Will win: Jeff Bridges
Should win: Morgan Freeman
Dark Horse: Jeremy Renner
Morgan Freeman played Nelson Mandela. Come on, biopics are usually big in the Oscars. And with the accent? Come on. Then came Jeremy Renner and his band of brothers from The Hurt Locker. But once an actor (in this case, Jeff Bridges) plays crazy drunk for 2 hours, it’s more of an assurance that you’ll win (remember Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas?).
Best Actress
Will win: Sandra Bullock
Should win: Carey Mulligan
Dark Horse: Carey Mulligan
Many say that for this category it’s basically Sandra Bullock vs Meryl Streep.
We all know that Meryl Streep, the good actress that she is, will not win this time. She already is THE BEST ACTRESS (and she should be in a Hall of Fame), but Julia Child is not bound for an acting derby. Her Julia Child left the US, Sandra Bullock’s Leigh Anne Tuohy is a gun-toting Republican. Meryl Streep’s Julia Child saved the Americans who doesn’t know how to cook French cuisine, Sandra Bullock’s Leigh Anne Tuohy saved a poor black boy. Meryl Streep’s Julia Child left the US, which can be viewed as a criticism of America, while Sandra Bullock’s Leigh Anne Tuohy has a thick Southern accent who saves a talented but poor black boy – ah, the American dream.
I must say though that if your 16 year old virgin character spars with Emma Thompson’s double edged tongue, you deserve an Oscar. Enter Carey Mulligan.
