If love is lightning

if love is lightning
may it strike twice
may i love her now
like i loved her then

if love is the rose
may it blossom once more
after i shed
all its petals

if love is a place
may i survive walking
the rough maze
that leads to it

if love is the rain
may it again quench my thirst
after i burn myself
everytime under the sun

if love is lightning
may she disobey the laws of nature
and strike my heart now
like she struck my heart then

Note: I got this picture from Angel Feathers Tickle Me, a blog that I love to read everyday.

House M.D.

I bought the DVD for House M.D. last Saturday and watched the first 12 episodes of the first season. I only planned to watch the pilot episode, but I really really liked it that I just couldn't wait to watch the next episode and the episode after that and the episode after that. It's like CSI, but with doctors instead of detectives. There have been a lot of medical TV dramas or comedies in the past. This is the only one that I really like aside from "Chicago Hope" years ago. The casts are pretty good especially Hugh Laurie and Omar Epps. But like Lost, 24, and Prison Break, I think the writers should get the highest praise for this series.

Story

From IMDB:

An antisocial maverick doctor who specializes in diagnostic medicine does whatever it takes to solve puzzling cases that come his way using his crack team of doctors and his wits.

From its official Fox website:

DR. GREGORY HOUSE (Hugh Laurie) is devoid of anything resembling bedside manner and wouldn’t even talk to his patients if he could get away with it. Dealing with his own constant physical pain, he uses a cane that seems to punctuate his acerbic, brutally honest demeanor. While his behavior can border on antisocial, House is a brilliant diagnostician whose unconventional thinking and flawless instincts afford him widespread respect.

An infectious disease specialist, House thrives on the challenge of solving medical puzzles in order to save lives. He has assembled an elite team of young experts to help him unravel these diagnostic mysteries: neurologist DR. ERIC FOREMAN (Omar Epps); immunologist DR. ALLISON CAMERON (Jennifer Morrison); and intensevist DR. ROBERT CHASE (Jesse Spencer). House has a good friend and confidant in oncology specialist DR. JAMES WILSON (Robert Sean Leonard), with whom he consults with on a regular basis.

Wicker Park

Love makes us do crazy things that we normally wouldn't even think of doing.

Written by Gilles Mimouni and Brandon Boyce. Directed by Paul McGuigan. Starring Josh Hartnett (Matthew), Rose Byrne (Alex), Matthew Lillard (Luke), and Dianne Kruger (Lisa).

Running Time: 114 minutes.

Story

This is another of those movies that are hard to write the synopsis of without spoiling the plot twist. So let me just say it involves a very attractive girl (Lisa) that is being followed around and being admired by a shy boy (Matthew). This makes for a boring movie, but in this one an evil person lurks behind the bushes determined to stop the attractive girl from ending up with the shy boy. I know that this is a very simplistic way of describing the story, but I really find it hard to describe the plot without revealing the twist.

Thoughts

This is a very confusing movie, at least until the plot twist is being slowly revealed. Before that you'd look at the screen with the most skeptical look you can muster and ask, "What is this movie about?" Thirty minutes into the movie and I was still wondering what it is all about. I would have stopped watching at that point, but I didn't because the filmmakers made me want to see how it will end for the two protagonists. You'd actually care for the characters in this movie even though nothing much is going on for almost forty minutes.

And that's pretty much all I can say about the movie. Chicago in the "The Lake House" is beautiful. Chicago here is pretty boring except for the park itself. I didn't really care for the soundtrack except for Coldplay's "The Scientist" near the end. Love the twist, even though I thought they could have presented the whole story in a less confusing way. Would I watch it again? Maybe. Would I recommend it to my friends? Not really.

A lantern into a forest night

Somebody forwarded this text message to me some time last week.

Carrying a lantern into a forest night doesn't guarantee you'll see all the trees. It only means that you can see a few steps ahead of you, far enough to keep your footing sure. Likewise, as the Lord lights your path, He may not shine all the answers to the shadowy questions in your mind, but He will give you all the light you need to scale life's obstacles with confidence and faith. God bless and good afternoon.

Rain, fireflies, and true love

Keulraesik (The Classic)

Leave it to the rain to bring two people closer. Leave it to the fireflies to make them fall in love.

Written and directed by Kwak Jae-yong. Starring Ye-jin Son (Ji-hae/Ju-hie), In-seong Jo (Sang-min), Seung-woo Cho (Jun-ho), and Ki-woo Lee (Tae-su).

Running Time: 127 minutes.

Story

It's kind of hard to write the synopsis without spoiling the plot twist. So let me just say it involves a girl who writes love letters for her best friend. The girl (the one who writes the letters) happens to also have a crush with the guy (the recipient of the letters). Then in flashbacks you have the story of a man who writes love letters for his best friend. He (the writer) fell in love with the girl (the recipient of the letters). This girl in the flashbacks is the mother of the girl (the writer) in present time.

Thoughts

I like it better than "Il Mare", although I prepared and waited to cry my heart out for 10 minutes (as suggested by Keevee, a friend from Accounting and a high school classmate) but never did, not for 10 minutes anyway. It did make me cry twice. Both times near the end of the movie. It's a sad movie, but with a satisfying end. Maybe my thoughts keep distracting me that's why I didn't cry as hard as my friend. Perhaps I was thinking too much. Halfway through the movie I kept on thinking why did they bother to tell the story of the daughter in parallel with the story of the mother. I kept on thinking the story of the mother stands on it's own and I thought they're trying to pull an unnecessary stunt of telling the story of the daughter. "The mother's story is beautiful enough and complete enough for a movie, why bother telling the daughter's story?" But when Sangmin (the daughter's crush) used the exact line used in one of the mother's letter ("When the sun shines in the ocean, I think of you. When the dim moonlight shines over spring, I think of you," or something very similar to this) I thought there's something going on here. I wondered where he got the line. Perhaps the mother wrote a book, or perhaps the father. So maybe my thoughts kept distracting me from feeling extreme sadness from the story. But I love the twist in the end. Love the soundtrack. Love the cinematography. Love the river. Would have love to take pictures there. A very sad movie, but with a satisfying end. I agreed with how they ended the story so maybe that's the reason why I didn't cry for 10 minutes like my friend. I like how it ended.

And that's " The Classic". Leave it to the rain to bring two people closer. Leave it to the fireflies to make them fall in love. You'll know what I'm talking about when you watch the movie. I wish Hollywood remade this movie, just like "The Lake House" which is an American remake of the Korean "Il Mare". Would I watch it again? Definitely. Would I recommend it to my friends? Definitely.

By the way, there's a short battle scene shot in the Philippines. :) Thanks to Mae Etesa for lending me her copy of the movie and Kathy who owned the original from which it was copied.

Take a walk

It's kind of weird that I often stay late in the office (sometimes as late as 11 PM) just so that when I walk home the streets are empty, the breeze is cool, and the surroundings are quiet. Yeah, I have to wait a good number of hours before the clock strikes 11 and I can do my reflective walk home. A long wait for the five-minute walk that is the office-to-home. And in those short walks I can think of a lot of things to write in this blog. But when I reach home, I forget all about them. Tragic.

***

Sometimes, I just want time to myself and do nothing but reflect or meditate. Not to gain newfound knowledge or come up with groundbreaking realizations. No, not for them. I just want to stop being busy and sit down or lie down and relax and think. I find this hard to do at home. I'm bound to be interrupted. And there's no bummer like the bummer of being interrupted in the middle of a reflection. :-) It's also hard to do this at the park in our barangay. It's too darn hot during the day and there's no covered benches or anything and it's too dark in the evening. But you know what? I think I found the perfect place and perfect time to do this sit-and-think stuff. And it's near our house. It's the office on Sundays. Yup. I once went to the office on Sunday to rearrange or reorganize my cubicle. But instead of doing so, I ended up playing easy listening type of music and just sat back and thought about stuff. Nobody else was there to disturb me or distract me. I was alone. I was in a secluded place. I was in a cool place. It was very peaceful. And I walked away from there feeling refreshed and ready to take on a new week of work.