F Girls

 

I saw this on Daphne's Blog and it is great to see the F Girls together. yeah I am a fan of the show. Hahaha. Why not, they are all hot. Studio 23 has some good local shows back in the days: F, Digital Tour, Ang Boyfriend Ko, It's a Guy Thing and Points of View. Dawson's Creek and Party of Five were also shown in that channel. It used to be a good channel.

Anyways, it is good seeing these girls again. I am a fan. It was good to see news back in California and see Cher on KTLA. I was starstruck seeing Angel Aquino at last year's Cinemalaya. Back in high school, we watch this music video request show in Channel V where Amanda Griffin started out as a VJ. She's just standing there reading letters or emails but yeah, she is hot. I also got this UNO magazine issue where Daphne's in the cover. She was already married when she did the cover but she still looks god.

It is good to see them again. They all have grown older but they still look really good. Its not just girls who watched that show. Hahaha.

Bagyo = Tulog = Late

screencaptured mula dito

May bagyo. Anglakas ng hangin. Nung naglalakad ako papuntang mall nung linggo para akong saranggola na tatangayin ng hangin. Ganun na kalakas yung hangin pero wala pang ulan . Nagf-orecast sila kagabi nung nanonood ako sa News na dadating yung ulan ng mga 7PM. Yun nga, anggaling biglang buhos yung malakas na ulan walang ambon muna ng mahina tapos unti-uniting lalakas.

Umuulan kaya masarap matulog. Naiwan ko na nakabukas yung ilaw ko, kaya maliwanag paggising. Maaga pa nga ako nagising, nauna pa alarm pero sarap talaga matulog. Para akong bumalik nung mga araw na nagaaral pa ako. Gising na ako pero ayaw ko pa bumangon. Gusto ko pa hintayin gisingin ako ng nanay ko o kaya kung hindi na ako gisingin ibig sabihin nun wala ngang pasok dahil sa bagyo. Yun lang, hindi ganun. Kailangan pa rin gumising at pumasok. Yan, late tuloy ako.

Before Sunrise and Before Sunset

Looking at my blog entries about movies I like and they are all romantic films, and here’s another one. Watching old films is a good pastime right now. 

Before Sunrise

Before Sunset

I know of these films for a very long time but it’s just now that I watched them. I saw Before Sunset at HBO before but it is incomplete not seeing the first one.

These are hardcore. I know not everyone will appreciate these films which is of course, good. It is always nice to know a good film that only a few would enjoy, a cult following if you will.  If ever I met someone who likes this film, I can immediately tell that that person has good taste, not just a person who watches movies just to see big time visual effects(with or without 3D glasses required), or lame Star Cinema formulaic romcoms. These are good stuff, the type that you need to watch and listen to all the time because it’s just the two of them talking. Great concept! I like listening to their thoughts on memento mori stuff, religion, dreams, and whatever. Mostly pseudo intellectual stuff that I may relate to. I am the philosophical geek sometimes.

The first film was released 1995. The characters are young, still in college, their ideology are plenty. They talk about everything. It is not easy to strike a good conversation with a stranger and to talk about everything you can think of is awesome. It feels good to talk with someone who you can easily talk to especially with those pseudo "intellectual stuff" and that someone will not think of you as a crazy person.  With all the conversation, the love story blossoms. I also like how the sex is almost negligible on their conversations and thru all of the movie, more like supressed. It feels very intellectual and trivial. It’s just the two of them in a foreign country but it still not there, almost. This is also the case on the next movie. They can talk about sex but it is just not there.

There are minor characters along the way as they stroll around Vienna. These characters are surprisingly good in speaking in English especially that bum in the river who made them a poem. Great fillers though.

“Memories are wonderful thing if you don’t have to deal with the past” -I did jot that line down because it is cool

The next film was released 2004 and it continued nine years after the first movie. The same awesome concept and still, I enjoyed it.  The story of the first movie covers a whole day but this one is shot real time, about an hour or so of conversation and walking around Paris. It’s like an episode of 24. Ingenious! How the story ends is also well made. 

The conversations they have this time is also how I pictured it to be. They are older and had moved on.  A little less of the pseudo intellectual stuff and more of catching up on their lives. They also talk about how they aged, and how their appearance may have changed through the eyes of the other.  The carpe diem tone in that very short period of time they are together is also not lost. All praises on how they treated the screenplay. They also answered some of my questions from the first film. I really like how these good movies do not spoon fed every freaking detail to the viewers.

Paris is also pictured great on this movie. I chat with my college friend who is in Paris now but she said that there’s nothing romantic in that city. These kind of movies make it look really cool though so I am still skeptical on what she said.

The soundtrack from the first film is also awesome. The classical score in the start of the movie makes it really European adding the European countryside with the moving train. It also adds some idealism or its just me. "Come Here" in that scene inside the record store sets the suppressed mood really well. The harpsichord scene near the ending was also great. Feels very minimalist with that "mental picture" thing and the dance. It works. 

There is not much music on the second movie but Julie Delpy sings this waltz.  Beautiful song that it pretty much the thing I remember on the movie. It is the denoument in the story. hahaha spoiler.

Cinematography is a little different on the last movie because they have to show like everything happens in real time. Both movies are all talk so I think the script is pretty much dynamic and a lot of improv is needed.

Good movies, A++++. I do recommend these for those who like to see something different.

Test Shots

So I got this Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC lens from uniquephoto.com. It was a $230 damage that I was not really ready for. I was really aiming to get something from craigslist but I am worried to get scammed. I saw this on sale in slickdeals might as well check it out. It is a bargain compared to other seller but the reviews are mixed, but again, I am not really on the position to buy something high end. I purchased it, can’t stop thinking about it, the pros and cons, the what ifs and a lot of other stuff. 

I got the shipping details then the next day, I got a cancellation notice. The lens model is discointinued then I will get a refund. Newer model is also offered but of course at higher price.  Then I felt bad, that I will not get the lens. That was a winner. But again the tracking is still there. I am not really sure what/who that email was for but that is what I needed to not feel bad by spending that much money. The lens is slow as the reviews said but I still like it. 

So yeah, test shots. It is raining outside so just take pictures of anything inside the apartment.

the clutter at my closet

hello wide angle

Food that Make Me Feel Lonely

Ice cream, mochi then add some Hershey's syrup. A month ago it was Blue Bell but since I am on my own, I got the cheap Market Pantry Neapolitan (3-in-1 plus1 Target style). Good dessert after dinner or just anytime of the day I crave for ice cream. I originally bought the mochi without the ice cream but the yogurt with mochi bits tasted good, might as well try it with ice cream.

The winter has passed, the weather is now ice cream worthy. We could have ate a lot of those Blue Bells before if the weather is not that cold.

 

Bourbon Chicken from Costco. This one beats the bacon as emergency food. Less fat and it is more filling. We pop these in the microwave whenever we felt lazy to cook something, or when there's nothing else to cook. Works great especially while watching iCarly and Victorious or playing Xbox during the weekend. Good times.

Eating these make me feel lonely now. I dont really feel like emptying the carton just so I can still see it in the fridge. Makes me smile when I see it. Its the the only stuff I ate when I got heartburns because that's the only food available but that worked though. That's also what's for lunch or dinner sometimes. It makes me smile as I eat it now.

Its the simple things like these that you can turn really special. Its not really the food, but the one you share it with.

The Artist

This movie won a lot of awards in this year’s Oscars and from last year’s Cannes Film Festival. This must be a good one. It is still showing in our local AMC theatre and I have a movie pass. It’s Black March though, and I don’t have anybody to watch it with, so might as well watch a downloaded copy.

From the clips I saw from the Oscars, I saw a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers like dance number(I thought movie was about Fred Astaire, haha) and it is in black and white. It makes the movie more interesting. I also learn that it is a silent film. Hell yeah for fans of old films. I for one like watching them old films. I really enjoy the scores, the lighting, the occasional song numbers and the dialogues. I have not really seen a full silent film so this should be fun. By the way, last Christmas’ Manila Film Fest in the Philippines featured Manila Kingpin, also in black and white. It is nice to see film makers venture on something different not related to the 3D bullshit.

So the movie is awesome, worth all the accolades. It is a French film set on 1927 Hollywoodland. Yeah, the original sign featured on one of the scenes. The production makes it believable in recreating the classical era of Hollywood. Even the aspect ratio is old school. It is a silent film and it was obvious that the main actors are French (There is a distinct way French actors act and I dont see it in this movie, I think its because of the lack of dialogue) except for the last scene where the main actor has a line, and his French accent really strong. Still, it won’t be noticeable to some not like when watching those Korean soaps where the character supposed to be sent to other country to study college but when they speak in other language is not believable. The acting are really good. That is difficult in silent film because without dialogues the acting should convey everything.

The screenplay is awesome too. It has a good feel good movie feel to it, but better. I have seen old movies and the flow of this story is just great. What I really look for is how the lighting would be like because it is in black and white. Cinematography is also great.

I really like this movie. Berenice Bejo is really cute as Peppy Miller even though I think her built is skinny compared to the Hollywood beauties of that era but hey, what do I know. I hope to see her in more movies after this one.

Targeted Ads

from this comic

Got a little bored with seeing only shoes, backpacks, tents and mostly Adidas and Foot Locker on the ads on my browser, I did try this awesome suggestion from this comic that I read months back. I wanted to try this before but "birds" is a difficult ad-worthy topic so I came up with a better product which may change the ads on my webpages: lingerie. Hell yes then heck no. Victoria's Secret and similar sites are blocked on my machine. Next best thing: pyjamas, sleeping shorts. After some few searches and visit from some sites, the ads are a little diverse. Thanks Drew for that great idea. Hahaha.

most of these ads

then some of this. To spice my browser up a bit