this is what heaven must feel like

MOVIES and REFLECTIONS
I separated these two since they have a bit more impact on me.
They made me think about myself. Reflection. Sort of. Hehe.

However.... one isn't a movie. Hihihi. And it's not new either.

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

This stars Titanic lovers Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet (who won the Golden Globe for her role here). Also in the film is Michael Shannon who got an Oscar nomination for his role in this one. Directed by Sam Mendes, it's a brilliant film. Very well made.

Basically, I'm going to spoil you now.
Di Caprio and Winslet play husband and wife in a very suburban 50s town. Winslet plays the role of April, the wannabe-actress housewife. Di Caprio plays Frank a regular day-to-day boring office man. They live a very "perfect" life, perfect in the sense of being stable, mundane and all that. One day though they suddenly decide to move to Paris and see how life would go for them. Well, with all the things that come up, plans fail and marriages break. The movie basically shows the slow demise of what's deemed to be the happiest couple on Revolutionary Road.

Well. It made me think about my own future.
Do I want to live in that stable, boring life. Sure, I'll get lots of money, but would I be happy? Would I know what I'm supposed to be in the world? Would I feel like I've found where I'm supposed to be? Where I belong?

Or should I take the risk and move away to somewhere far? Take the risk and see what's in store for me there? Be in a place where I think I'll truly be happy even if it means I'll be struggling something difficult? And if I do, would I be able to handle all the pressure put on my by society's stereotypes? By my family's expectations?

I guess you're thinking. Woah. Deep.
Gotta love that movie. Four and a half stars over four.

(I guess you're also thinking, "what is Luis thinking of? What is he planning?")

SPRING AWAKENING

Yeah. I've already reviewed this. Twice actually, if you read my blog a lot.

Well. One night, I just had the urge to watch a musical. And as much as I didn't want to watch this again, I did. Why don't I want to watch it if it's my favorite? Because it makes me unbelievably emo. Hehehe.

Basically, I just love this show because I can relate to the characters and the story very much. It's really describing a lot of things right now in words I can't explain. I can practically relate to all of the characters in some twisted way, but mostly to the leads. I'm jsut really attached to it. Sometimes, the same thoughts would run into your head, and it's haunting yet it makes you feel you're not alone. I'm a teenager. o.O I'm going through (almost) the same things.

The music is just beautiful. (I'm singing it right now. I'm on Spring Awakening high again.) Metaphorical and poetic but it just seems to get through to the point. It brings in a wave of emotions. There are times I just break out into one of the songs, and it just reaches into my guts and gives me goosebumps.

It's quite sad though it's gone now. I haven't even gotten a chance to go to New York and see it live. Sigh.

(Sorry. Couldn't pick just one picture. Hehe.)

somewhere, someday

GIMIKERO

I've had so much fun today and last friday.

Thanks to those who made it amazing! Love y'all!

Friday Keywords:
mrt, epic fail, new contacts (i like the new shade of blue now!), prome, timezone, bad smoothie, haunting in connecticut (corny movie but we made it fun ;) ), kenny's, parking lot, sundae, drinks, park, strips of paper game, kind of dance, playground, jeep, not getting caught, 1:30am

Monday Keywords:
long walk, starbucks, "family", birthday, new peeps, wall climbing (twice lang), balleying (a million times), fingers hurt, forcing people to climb ;), burst pics, chockiss, amazing cake, pellets, sabaw, crazy fun

Sorry. Tamad na talaga mag-blog. :))

Bunso!

DRIVING LESSONS

It's just really crazy. It's fun. A bit scary, but definitely fun.

DAY 1
It rains... Hard. God. How lucky am I?
Lucky, I guess. It stopped when I got into the car.

Let me start with the car. It's a manual diesel Revo.
I hate it. Why? It runs so roughly. Just a bit off the pedal, and you're suddenly put to a stop.

My driving instructor was Lito.
He was all right, I guess.

It was crazy. We went to Marikina.
Horns were blowing around the place. Hehe. Well, not really. Just a couple of times.
When it did, I was smiling. How sadistic can I be?

Anyhow. On the flyover to Marikina, this bus had a problem with me.
Then the driver put out his hand, and gave me some weird sign.
I thought he was trying to flick me off or something.

Little did I know, he actually meant flat tire.
Some random guy on the street knocked on our window and told us.
How funny is that?

So yes... my first day and I had a flat tire. Whopee.
We had some air added in some vulcanizing shop. Problem solved.
I was glad I didn't have to change the tire. Hehehe. I'd die if he made me do that. :))

Anyhow, it was okay I guess.

DAY 2
I got the same instructor and the same damn car.

He got quite annoying.
Like he got annoyed easily by my mistakes.
Oh c'mon. :|

(I plurked, "my driving instructor is b*tching on me." It didn't come out though.)

Anyhow. I got good on hanging in some not so very high stuff.
I also learned how to maneuver and park. Yeah, man!

Might I mention we were going so friggin' slow these two days.
We only went to third gear twice. Most of the time, we were friggin' crawling along in second gear. I was friggin' bored. Lame. (I used "friggin'" three times in one paragraph.)

DAY 3
This time, I got another driving instructor. Richie.
I like him better. He wasn't bitching on me. And he gave me more "road freedom," if you can call it that. Hehehe.

Also, I liked the first car we used. Still a manual diesel Revo.
But it looked like a newer model or something. And most importantly, it ran smoothly.

I say first car because we went all the way to the A1 garage in Mandaluyong to switch cars.
I have real bad luck since I had another car problem. This one's battery or something was failing and ready to conk out at anytime. Lucky though that it didn't.

The replacement car was all right, but I enjoyed the smoothness of the first one better.
One problem though, the car didn't have the A1 stickers. So no one on the road would know I'm actually a student driver. :|

I did much better today. I had lots of fun.
Since he let me, I really pressed on the gas pedal. Hehehe.
The highest we went was 4th gear. I think at 80kph.
I was happy. Though he kept telling me to slow down. Hihihi.

But now, I have a hatred for jeeps and how they keep stopping. Damn you jeeps.

What I enjoyed about this trip is that we went to somewhere more familiar.
I only go to Marikina to go to the cemetery. What the hell did I know about the place.

This time, we passed through Libis, Pasig, C5 and Mandaluyong.
Although there were some places I didn't know, at least I was a bit familiar.

I hope Richie's my instructor again. Hehe.

Anyhow. I still have eleven hours left.... or five more days.
Then I'm done with the lessons. Yeah! I can't wait. Hehe.

Lemme add. My driving instructors call me bunso. =))

you're going to lose.

MOVIES.
Here's the amazingly loooong list of movies I have watched since... I don't remember.
Rather than make real reviews for each and every one of them. I'll just make comments. I'll put posters too if I recommend it.

STEP UP and TAKE THE LEAD

I've been wanting to watch Step Up since I heard of it. But I never really had the time to watch it on screen and the pirates don't seem to have it in their stores. Torrent was out of my mind that time... so I watched it on YouTube. Hehehe.
It's a fun movie. Nothing really amazing about the acting and story and stuff. But it's good. The dance moves were just friggin' amazing though.

Take the Lead is another dance movie. Starring Antonio Banderas. Ummm. It's okay too I guess. This one is hip-hop-infused ballroom dancing. Kinda cool.

Each two and half stars. :D

DOUBT

One of the best movies I've seen. It's just friggin' amazing. Every line is well attacked. Don't you just love the cast. It's a shame none of them won the Oscar. I was rooting for Meryl Streep and Viola Davis (she may have had a short scene, but she was electrifying.) Why didn't Kate win in Titanic and get it over with so that Meryl could be justly awarded for this one. Hehehe. I joke.

On a side note, the scenes were so intense, my TV exploded.
Seriously. Something was wrong with my TV... there were sparks. We had to send it to the shop. It's a good thing the movie was finished before the TV didn't want to work anymore. Hehe.

Four stars.

REPO! The GENETIC OPERA

Eeek. I can't believe I actually anticipated this movie. It was friggin' disgusting.
Well... I'd like to say... Paris Hilton wasn't as bad an actress for the first hald of the movie. She actually did well in the role.. (before she had her surgery done or something)

I didn't even finish this movie. One star.

ANG TANGING INA

I liked the second one better. Two and a half stars.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

I was watching this during hell week that I didn't fully appreciate it. It wasn't like THE BEST for me. I don't really see it the way other people do. Anyhow, it's still an awesome movie nonetheless. Four stars.

VALKYRIE

I didn't really... I don't know really...
It' been quite some time since I watched it... and it didn't make enough of an impact on me to remember what to talk about in this one.

GRAN TORINO

I take back what I said. I watched Juno again. Juno is still my favorite. Hehehe.
But this movie is just amazing. I can't believe they Clint Eastwood was snubbed. Bah. Four stars.

DEKADA '70

This is probably one of the finest films in our country.
Vilma Santos is an overrated actress.... I should know, I've practically watched all of her Star Cinema films. She does things too exaggerated. But for this film, you can overlook it I guess because she isn't the star of this one: it's the script. The book it's based from is just so briliant that it can't not be a good film.
Anyway, I had a problem with the climax. I wish it stuck faithfully to the book. But whatever.

The movie just ends making you feel good and proud. Four out of four stars.

BURN AFTER READING

It's brilliantly written. But it just ends up in WTF. A big one.

Two and a half stars.

ROCKET SCIENCE

I friggin' love this movie. It gives you this bittersweet feeling in the end.
Anna Kendrick is just amazing. (She's in Twilight and in Camp too.)

Five out of four stars.

WATCHMEN

It's a very good movie. But it's so artsy that it becomes a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing.
For me though, it's not the type I'd like to watch again.

Four stars.

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

I dunno about you. I just loved this movie. I related with Anne Hathaway's character. If I wasn't rooting for Meryl Steep, I'd give the Oscar to her... not to Kate.

Five stars out of four.

I NOT STUPID TOO

I've watched it before. This time though, there aren't any subtitles. Gahd. :|
Anyhow, I've always been attached to this one. It's a great film. I only wish it wasn't so cheesy with all their slapstick comedy. It's be great for a dramatic remake. Hehehe.

Four stars.

A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS

Ummm. It's okay I guess. Nothing like really stunning. Two and a half stars.

MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL

Amazingly funny. I watched it with friends in Prome. I just loved it. I kept laughing and laughing.

Three and a half stars.

THE HOUSE BUNNY

Also hilarious. Ana Faris is always amazing. Three stars.

THE BOY in the STRIPED PYJAMAS

You wish it didn't end that way. But the way it ended just gives the film more impact, which is a lot. It's a beautiful film.

Four stars.

THE READER

It's a very good film. But it just isn't my type. I wonder why it's even nominated for the Oscar. The spot could've been given to The Dark Knight, Doubt or Wall-E. It's not as good as it seems to be. The only part I really liked was the ending. Most of it was just boring.

Two and a half stars.

GREASE

I don't get it. It's stupid. There's no flow. I did not like it. o.O Stockard Channing though is entertaining.
BTW, I saw the start of the musical. It looks and feels much better. The movie is just ugh.

One star.

FOOTLOOSE

I find Footloose much better. It was more fun and more glued-together although kind of shallow. Two and a half stars.

GYPSY

This one isn't a movie. It's a musical, but I'll tell you about it anyway.
It's friggin' amazing. Patti LuPone is just wow. Friggin' wow. She's made for the role.
The whole thing just seems so perfect. Hahaha.

Four stars.

TRANSAMERICA

It's a very good film. I enjoyed it. Hehe. Four stars.

(Halata ba na tinatamad na talaga ako?)

KNOCKED UP

A very good comedy. It's smart and it doesn't try to do too much, which is good.
But somehow, it feels fixed. Very funny though.

Four stars.

SUPERBAD

This one, I enjoyed. Although it did make me uncomfortable at some parts.
Y'know one of those scenes that the character is about to make a really big fool out of himself that you just want to pause and then jump around in agony? This has those kinds of scenes.

Three and a half stars.

CAMP

This is one of my childhood films. I watched it when I was in X-Rep (what happeened to it now?) when Ms. De Vera was our mod. It's a very good film.

I don't really want to rate this one. Hehe.

The last two things I'm going to review... next blog. :D

the air down there

KEYBAORDS and SUMMER

First, I'll apologize. My blogs are probably spamming the inbox.
Cross-posting is screwed up. I had to fix it, and when it did, all those new ones came.

Anyhow.
I've been learning to play some stuff on the keyboard. So far, I know the beginnings of No One, Unfaithful, Wake Me Up When September Ends, Apologize and Falling Slowly.
I haven't had the "initiative" to finish the whole song yet.

Coincidentally, my music skills are improving.
I'm not better at making kapa songs. It's funny. Probably anything I hear, I've been making kapa.

In other news. My life is boring.

I've started up a Plurk account by the way.
I use it more now compared to Multiply or Facebook. In fact, the tab's always open. Hehe.
It's like insta-blog. Hehehe. You can even do it from your phone *wink*

My driving lessons officially start on Saturday. The whole week till the next Saturday.
They're three hours each... and they happen in the morning. o.O
Gosh, I'm still not used to waking up. Sigh. But I'll have to. Especially come May.

Anyhow, I promised some movie reviews before.
I'm too lazy to make one for all of them. I'll just make a few short ones of the ones I like.
That'll come in a few.

Y'know, lately... I can't help myself. It's daunting but it's beautiful.