yuletide musings and all that

although this is the second instance i am away from my folks, i met the yuletide midnight with my usual aplomb. you cannot be sad with your friends around sharing the table of lechon manok, new yorker pizza and grilled liempo then capped with red wine and a pack of cigarettes. 

me, ivy, tecson and iris had one thing in common. our flights back home are on the 25th. and oh, that's today by the way! on a sidenote, merry christmas everyone. wait, i still can't sleep. not sure if it's due to insomnia or is it i'm-excited-to-go-home-induced insomnia. either way, i'm sure you can tell them apart.

and my stomach still swelling in casual christmassy delight. yum, yum, yum. burp! yep, still full. that could explain the sleeplessness. or is it restlessness?

right now, i'm scanning my itinerary before getting to the airport. i have always been meaning to pack light. however, hefty loads from buy-me-this-and-thats and bring-me-this-and-thats hinder me to do so. they call it pasalubongs. quite a significant bulk, actually. although, i enjoyed shopping them and swiping them off from my credit card, work of the devil, honestly. good thing i made the payments already before i slip through the deadlines.

anyway, i am thanking all those who greeted. those who did not, thank you also. i know you'd be meaning to. but i know you're thinking what i'm thinking. my phone has a bad group texting capability and a blank mind is stopping me from composing the message. or i'm just too lazy to do it. although, i have called up my folks at home in advance, at around 8 i think, before the telco systems bogged down in traffic congestion. with 'smart' technologies in 'globe'-al scale, you wouldn't see this one coming. year on year, uh-huh. good thing facebook has superpoke! hehe. convenient, eh?

cut the alibi. and say merry christmas! (it's my alterego talking!)

merry christmas one and all. spread the cheer. and the wealth. i'm all arms. haha!

p.s.

butuan, the cradle of philippine civilization (i'm sure you're not missing this one from the history books), here i come. nyahaha!

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100 and more ways to live on your last 100 days

one feel good moment about death. that's exactly how it felt watching this indie delight by chris martinez. consider the paradox of the wordplay, death is not really something to feel good about. all of us fear it. but 100 made a lighter take on the subject.

joyce de leon is at the prime of her career and all things mundane are within her grasp when she's confronted by a disease caused by her lust for the ciggy. it's every yuppie's addiction. hence, lung cancer. instead of moping with her impending doom, she decides to make the best out of her remaining days. and writes her itinerary on sticky notes.

while the grey-haired duo in 'bucket list' escape from their reality with their outrageous adventures before kicking the bucket, joyce, on the other hand, does a more pragmatic approach. resign from work. settle credit card bills and mortgage payments. pick her casket. organize song playlist from her ipod for her wake. give to the poor. give out her stack full of books. tell her best friend ruby. tell her mom. her wall of sticky notes is more than just her regular reminders; to accomplish them is her personal mission, a must. 

soon her best friend is already involved with her scribbles. and accomplish trivial and once-in-a-lifetime experiences together. go back to their high school classroom and relate their nostalgic moments together. experiment on a pasta dish. travel to hongkong together. photo-op with mickey mouse and brad pitt (in wax). get a relaxing massage. have their hair and nails done. later, mom got involved. then cigarette habit is cut. caffeine is flushed away. get a third opinion. go to manaoag. take chinese medication. her favorite kare-kare sans the bagoong. juxtaposing both their approach to joyce reveal their degree of acceptance to her condition. the mother took longer to accept the fact, delaying this notion by resorting to flagging assurances of a cure, even a miracle. inevitably, she will have to accept it. ruby, on the other hand, becomes her pillow of strength, a concealer of her weakness, her escape from her pangs of pain.

the highlights of the movie include the scene where joyce haggles with an agent as she tries to pick her casket. it's quite hilarious. and man, those deathbeds are pricey! 

another one would be when mom rushed to the hospital bed of joyce and finally learned about her cancer. she rants and scolded for not telling early on about it. her blood pressure shoot up. and later she was on the hospital bed while joyce on the wheel chair peering over her. joyce now took the turn and nagged her mom in return. hilarious!

despite some effervescent moments, you could still actually feel her rollercoaster ride of emotions as she's about to take her death cab. especially on moments of solitude. that's where the pain would take its toll, emotionally and physically. like a toothache, it strikes big time when you're about to sleep (sorry, i just have to write it...haha!).

as the movie tread on its length, it delves more deeply on the subject bearing on the spiritual consciousness. it also poses a rhetorical question of what goes beyond the confines of corporal life. what if we lived a good life, according to the words of God, only to find out that there's no heaven, that there's really nothing beyond it.

the ending could have answered this question.

100 was launched during this year's cinemalaya festival. watching the movie is a great experience. it's both happy and sad. the rave about 100 is with its seamless storytelling, effective actors and...it's one great piece overall. hope this kind of filmmaking would infect local cinema.

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why pacman won?

the oddsmakers-slash-boxing pundits threw their hats off to dela hoya but the universe conspired against it. this is a david-vs-goliath match like no other. with pacman 4-lb shy from his opponent, a height and reach disadvantage, he truly beats the odds. on the other hand, during the weigh-in, while pacman looked vigorously youthful and in corking fighting form, the golden boy is visibly wilting with age. a true testament that age really does matter.

in the ring, pacman really controlled the fight from round 1 which made dela hoya seemingly begging for a lucky punch. true enough he landed 224 of 585 punches to just 83 of 402 for de la hoya (source: cnn). the golden boy, unable to pick up from pacman's agility could have resorted to medieval alchemy and effectively lost his midas' touch. he was visibly hurt and punctured. when he finally threw the towel at round 8, the glorious uproar of the crowd wass almost deafening, even from my pc. 

despite the victory, his modest to goodness remark to de la hoya 'you are still my idol' is an act of a true sportsman. although, i cringe every time manny speaks in english, i can feel his sincerity. this man is really something.

a champion at heart and in form, surely pacman did not disappoint. the millions of fans who threw their trust and hope are now inundated with triumphant who-hahs and woo-hoos! truly a euphoric moment. as my cousin would describe it, a proud filipino moment. hope this kind of fleeting patriotism lingers on and transcends to nirvana. 

but reality still does not hide the state of the nation. and hope we do not turn our backs to the current issues at hand. 

anyway, what excites me the most are the rumor mills of a pacman match with hatton or mayweather. that will keep him really busy beyond 2010. and would hopefully make him forget about politics.

and could somebody remind manny of the dogs hounding him? like i said, once bitten, he could be one of them.

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why pacman should not win?

yes, he is the modern filipino folk hero. every time there's a pacman match, the crime rate is down, even zilch. congress will have its complete attendance in las vegas. military offensives in southern mindanao would have to stop. dec 7 is implicitly declared a philippine holiday. and he's just boxing. more than the sport we came to love, he becomes the symbol of hope. the hope for our seemingly decrepit democracy slowly shifting to oligarchy. a respite from the gadfly of immoralities this government came to emulate. and whoah, gma and her spin doctors love to toy around with the filipino's short attention span, even memory loss.

if he wins, people will easily forget the euro generals, the zte investigation, the extra-judicial killings, among the litany of other scandals that rocked this government. headlines will be replaced by his victory for weeks. and we feel that despite a crunch-time christmas, we feel better off. the psychoanalysis of pacquaio's victory will have a placebo effect to our nation. denying ourselves that we are sick; sick with apathy. somebody have said that we have reached our political maturity. oh well. whoever said that needs some wringing. this country needs an inspiration. certainly, pacman can give that. but as we go back to our usual chores, can we say did it change our lives, our country for the better?

if he loses, people will easily forget the unfortunate result of the fight and console him. he will still be proclaimed winner by the filipinos. media hype on the fight and his defeat would slowly wane. but in pacman's ego, it would be painful. his reach for self-actualization, the highest level in maslow's hierarchy of needs, would slip off to esteem needs; the need for more self-recognition and status. but this is a dream fight and losing it, if i were pacman, is not acceptable. i will seek for re-match. fight again for redemption. i'm not taunting him, i'm just trying to read his mind. that will keep him busy beyond 2010. his plan to retire next year and run for public office will be shelved. everybody thinks he's better off as a boxer than a politician. this is clearly reflected on his defeat in his district last local elections. i know pacman is a good man and his good intentions for public welfare is remarkable. but i think politics is not the answer for him to do the good deed. he will easily be consumed by the dogs surrounding him. like a vampire bite, once bitten you will be one of them.

people would say to cut some slack and forget politics for once. oh well. this is just me speaking my subconscious.

disclaimer: i'm a big pacman fan. today is his big fight. and i do want him to win.

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