A REVIEW FOR THE SAKE OF REVIEWING IT.

Written on Facebook on April 13, 2009 that welcomed 19 comments. :)  Please click the link :  http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=91573975897

I liked Slumdog Millionaire for the following simple reasons and I had no intention to rationalize it too much:

1. I understood Indian culture really well.
2. The actors played their roles at their best.
3. The plot was more not on what you see on screen but on the unseen possibilities that can come to someone who’d had so much suffering in his life.

The popping of Arvind’s eye out was a representation of cruelty to children. Nitin, my Indian friend who’s based here in Manila, told me that it was one of the scenes he considered ridiculous in the film - as far as he knew,nothing like that was ever happening in India. But who are we to know?

On my birthday last week, I was in a conversation with some friends and told them about what Nitin shared with me. Goo said it probably hasn’t happened in India but how evil people can do cruelty to children and make them beg for alms in the streets probably was the reason why it was shown that way.That was the situation in the form of exaggerated scenes in the film such as taking off the eye of the small boy. He added that for all we know, such violence really occurred - only, no one has come up to tell the tale. I’d like to hope there really was no such truth in it.

I’d say Salim and Jamal were victims of violence . Their wretched childhood was formed in mishap - perhaps, too tragic to believe. I know little of the discrimination BETWEEN all religions in India ( Hinduism, Punjabi, etc…) and Islam - but when I was there, I had observed how the majority considered our Muslim brothers a distinct community. Perhaps in the recent days, Indian society had accepted them openly but in Slumdog Millionaire, it was traumatic. They were alienated. When their mother was killed, I believed it was back in the 70’s when Amitahb was still young ( Now, he had aged and still is one of the greatest actors of Bollywood.)

Further so, the power of destiny portrayed between Latika and Jamal made my heart shrink! Oh, tell me about being a hopeless romantic. Their story was violence-stricken, that if you relate yourself with it and make-believe that it was also happening to you, you’d wonder how you would have survived . Everything was uncontrollable, beyond their freedom to say NO to it. It was manipulated by the hopeless situation they were in that led them to such tragedy. I didn’t think they ever had freedom at all until Jamal won the 20 million Rps. and Salim had to sacrifice his life for them after asking Latika for forgiveness.

Wow. I still felt the enormous grief in the make-believe lives of the characters. The film, in itself, was high-strung from the beginning till the end credits when it said,” D. It was written!”
Note: Anyone who has feedback to correct the facts that I may have represented incorrectly specifically that on Muslims in India, please feel free to comment. Thank you!

http://charisseinhersoultrain.wordpress.com

“AKO LANG.”

Friday, March 13, 2009 at 1:30am

The first I took time to play the CD “Ako Lang” in the car on the way home from Katipunan was on Tuesday evening. And song after song, I realized ,”Wala ka nga’ng itatapon ni isa ( there’s no track wasted ).” Each song was a chapter in Jim Paredes’ life as himself, freely flowing. And I have always believed that when one knows the story behind the creation of each song, it has the power to allow him to appreciate it even deeply.

The hardcore sentimental me had tears wanting to fall down as soon as the lyrics of the 3rd track came out clearly as it played! Hahaha. It was called “Lumisan Na Siya.” I explained to a friend today that it was the kind of track that you would love listening to when driving on a highway on the way to Tagaytay, Baguio or Batangas “na humahagulgol (bursting in tears)!”

Tthe 5th captured me, nonetheless , because it was a song he wrote for his wife Lydia and children Erica, Ala and Mio. When I was browsing through the list of tracks, I asked if it was mellow - he said yes, and that’s the song only he can sing because no other man will have the same names of his wife and children. Made sense?

“Live Your Own Life,” if I can recall, was the one he played during our workshop which he wrote for his daughter as she began to face her world and “Thank You,Mama” was a personal tribute to his mother.

I liked that it was limitless in the scope of creating what materials he recorded. To quote Jim, “Naglaro ako sa album na yan.” And that playground, actually, was like a sandbox where kids played and threw sands at each other! He played, too, with the musicians who collaborated with him. I think Ugoy-ugoy was it. This was Jim Paredes’ playground in the form of these 10 songs he wrote in 1996 and 1997. Original Filipino sound that had that calming effect of a lullaby according to my sentimental standard.:)

Thanks,Jim. If for anything, we take the inspiration from the fact that you’re walking us through this road. How much longer would it take on this journey doesn’t really matter at all, as long as we all share the connection under one premise. This album is your gift.

THE SURPRISE OF LIFE.

(For  my ADOBO FORUM column - Arizona Fil. Forum newspaper in March)

In this world where all electronic gadgets function with microchips and toys can be most complicated than they had ever been 25 years ago, I was - for some strange reasons, lately- hit by a myriad of retrospection coming from friends and anecdotes that branched out from certain conversations! And somehow, they evoked memories with their power - like to wash them back from the sea to the shore to form the sand.

A few days ago, I wrote something about an airplane. Not about how it was made or if it had the engine that can par at launching a space rocket - it was about childhood wonder, a snap in a conversation that was focused on how nice the linguine looked with all the shrimp toppings! Grinning, I suddenly had the inspiration to put the scenario in black and white and thought about my generation when we were children contented in measuring happiness by counting the dragonflies we caught and innocently kept in our bottles.

It may sound too shallow but I regaled catching the attention of people close to me, when I published the journal online, who said they felt the same and were once again thrilled by the thought of it! In essence, all I want to put to light many times over is that simple joy can come from unexpected circumstances. We don’t have to pay for it to have it. Come on,the world is overflowing with its virtual presence - only, there’s too much loneliness and grief brought by poverty, unfair social discrimination, war and crimes. What we have to know is that we can always find that state of bliss in the simplest situations, whether or not we get reminded by the memories of airplanes and dragonflies.

Please read on the piece I wrote two days ago and remember how it used to be. I am, after all, the sucker for anything nostalgic from childhood and I use that to empower me in my reflections on life as an inevitable,vicious cycle.

* The previous article was called HOW IT USED TO BE.*
(Written on Tue 1:46pm ;March 3rd.)

HOW IT USED TO BE

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 12:46pm

When Aris posted a link to Paulo Coelho’s new book and had the excerpt, the part about what happens inside an airplane caught me. There was an epiphany of something that went on.

Last night, I was having a quiet dinner with a friend outside a nice restaurant near Channel 7. I was expressionless when she pointed at the sky and told me there was an airplane passing us by; perhaps miles distant from Tomas Morato,vertically . I stared up from where we sat and she said”, Do you remember when we were children? I’ve been in an airplane many times but nothing can replace the wondrous feeling of looking at it fly, with its lights beaming, from the ground. Do you remember that, Cha?”

And I said,” Yeah…I remember how it felt…Yeah…” And it transported me back to my childhood. Memories that come back that way are ever so beautiful, spontaneous. I’m sure Peaches and Erica will look at it with the same innocent guilessness because we grew up in the same neighborhood where airplanes seemed so near from the ground where they took off and landed.:)

Thank you, Aris, for unconsciously reminding. Imagine how simple joy can bloom from simpler, unexpected events in our lives!

THE RAINBOW’S END.

Another time in the making and I’m thankful that after all, there is a brand new year to continue walking on that same path. I see it clearly, somehow. Like the rainbow’s end when you’re halfway towards it and you see the pot of gold after such a storm.

There will be our birthdays, our Christmases spent together this time, as we thought, hopefully. I wish I could tell the world the simplest joy I feel knowing you’re coming home.

MY UNCERTAIN, HAPPY JOURNEY.

For Ronnie.

Our story has always been about coming and going and how in the length of time, we stood by - like the anchor to the ship…

I used to think that I lived a significantly imperfect and boring life but was coward enough to deny it. I found out I was wrong. I learned from you that it’s better to live one’s life with truth and imperfection than not being able to be content in trying to be perfect endlessly. I loved you for that.

Yes. More birthdays and Christmases and New Year’s.

“WHERE YOU WILL SIT TO CONTEMPLATE YOUR DAY…”

I’ll be the phonograph
that plays your favorite album,
back as you’re lying there
drifting off to sleep.

I’ll be your winter coat buttoned
and zipped straight to the throat.
With the collar up
so you won’t catch a cold….

(excerpt from Brand New Colony - w/ thanks to Brew for writing this on my blogspot years ago?:) )

*I think i’ve always been your buttoned coat, zipped straight to the throat and collar up so you won’t catch a cold! Haven’t i been always?:) haha… That’s the simplest way to put my role to your life quite literally and into a funny metaphor, haha. More than how I’ve wished for myself, to see your happiness was what i’ve written in that small book.
I miss you always.*

THE LONGEST TWITTERING I WROTE SO FAR…

Tonight I watched Cheche Lazaro with Fernando Zobel on Walang Iwanan special.
And I thought to myself - how moving it was to learn about what Corporate Social Responsibility can do to other people. It showcased how he leveraged Ayala Corporation’s capacity to extend its resources to help build communities and provide employment for under privileged people to sustain their way of living. And how he supports the education of so many children, as in CENTEX. I thought again that this is very noble.

The way he enunciates his vision and I think so many businessmen are one with him in this endeavor but what differs each from the others?… It’s the compassion that radiates when he talked about it.
I’d say the heart when it speaks, in whatever aspect kahit sa simpleng sitwasyon ng isang simpleng tao ( in the simplest situation a simple person can speak of his own plight), we know if there’s real compassion translated into vision, action and follow through.

See how watching him talk to Cheche can impose such inspiration on me to be able to write right now! Haha. Plus the fact that he is so good looking, I may had been bias. Grin. The same goes as I write about Manny Pangilinan talking about his roots and the climb he did through the years to be where he is today.

Great citizens. Why can’t everyone in government be like them?

*written for facebook at 12:22am MNL*

OUR SYMBIOTIC BOND…

These are just some of what I can chronicle! The rest are classified - haha.

More than half a year back, these daily thoughts purged from his very preoccupied brain that he metaphored (is there a past tense for it? hehe) through a faucet that needed to be opened before it continuously flowed. Aww, man! Your pick up lines. Grin.

TO CRACK MY SKULL OPEN ON SELF-DEPRIVATION, HE SAID…

"Certain mistakes in the past had given us a life trauma; and we both, somehow, consciously or subconsciously would like to correct them, sa application lang tayo nagkaiba (only our application on how to correct them differed from each other).

While you try to maintain your status quo to protect your idealism, I had given up on going through a road block and decided to take another road to follow. Both our roads are right, but only if we manage to reach our own destinations."

(Oh well, I’m sure he smiles as he reads this being published upon my constant pledge that i won’t plagiarize him! He warned me not to plagiarize him! Hehe. As a reaction to his "action vs. reaction mantra," I told him that i will give him credit where its due, especially for something he wrote/said/shared that gives true meaning to human nature, especially mine. Haha.
Thank you, Ronnie. Can I just say that you freed my mind from this prison cell! Although i know that you still see me not following the advice, I am trying my best to be braver without the fear of losing the values that shaped me.

HIS THOUGHTS ON MY OWN PAIN.

"Wounds heal fast when they’re left open,
blood dries up easier when exposed to the wind.
Let it go.
Ignore the pain,
Move on."

(So,you were right. Thank you, Mr. Eloquent, brilliant writer and with dexterity as sharp as a newly purchased stainless knife from IKEA - oh, man i tried that many times : I meant the knife… :)  I so envy your very clear, steady mind. That’s the reason we’re in this together! And for how long! I’m so thankful to this very day)

*** Thanks to Calvin for the photos.***

WHAT USED TO BE OUR SANDBOX.

(sandbox: n. A low box filled with sand for children to throw and play in. )

This is how it is to write about you. Haha. Besides, we know that aside from the many, many other things mundane (like what appetizer to eat or you finishing up the coffee i always forget to drink!hehe) and metaphysical (the never ending kwento we never fail to do together!)we both love doing, it’s the best we are so most passionate about! Therefore, I envision our own version of Lonely Planet or Animal Planet (remember the poor baby Taz devil?) or Nat Gen and how we’ll chronicle the lives of animals, people, places and history brilliantly!

Though I’m prouder if people will see (soon!) the work you did on your dad’s film bio on DVD as a counterpart of the book your family launched last week. The time you had to spend sleepless in the studio from January to July doing everything to meet your target date, which you did - and not havin anythin except coffee, water and power drink just to get by awake to finish everythin! Oh, ask me about those long months. *grin*

I’d like for the readers to know how incomparable you are and if you were a dfferent person I’d still say the same, which means I am unbiased -> that you are eloquent, articulate( talkative in short!hehe), funny, creative and colorful! Perhaps, to put it in a simpler perspective - the Ronnie others failed to see.

I’ve always been the quiet crowd that cheers for you on your current endeavor -you know there will always be somethin’ for you and your passion, huh. I see the future coming, giving you back what used to be the dream which is now in the form of reality. I’m praying that it flows like a river. Really. I always never told you but as hard as i try not to say it - thank you for staying by my side all this time in any way possible.

Prayful that God will gve you more so you won’t have to leave. The altered reality we never planned somehow had taken us close together. And this will go on and on and on.

And maybe then again, no more.