I wanted to have the usual end of year list. Every blog should have it at the end of each year. List of books that I liked and not liked, movies, tv shows, and events. It's too late to do that now (obviously) so I'll just write some of my thoughts of the year that was 2007.
“I went to take memories. And to talk more than to see. Never got the chance on talking.”
In 2006, I took every opportunity to have my picture taken in my cubicle, in the cubicle of my colleagues, in the canteen, and in the small landmark places outside our office building. I took the opportunities to take pictures of my colleagues. I joined a colleague in his golf games, not to play golf, but to take pictures of the golf course that my previous employer owned. Somehow I knew, I would be leaving the company.
And in the second half of 2007, I did leave the company to work for another one in another city. It was an opportunity to try to fend for myself and train rigorously in the field that I now loved, an opportunity that was too good to miss and couldn’t have come at a better time. There were rumors that our department will be dissolved, replaced by the IT department of the new owner’s company. There were talks that it won’t happen. I did not wait to see which is true. I left.
“How are you?”
“The decision was the right one, given the circumstance.”
The thing about leaving your comfort zone is that you grow uncomfortable. For the first time I was away from home, from my family, from my friends that I have known since I was four, and the colleagues that I had worked with, laughed with, talked with, and sang with for over four years. It’s like being under the sun all of a sudden when your whole life you only knew rain. It’s a good thing that work is similar to the previous one. If it hadn’t, it would have been like sucked in a whirlwind instead of just being thrown in a world where the familiar rain is absent, replaced by the warm sunlight.
After over six months in the uncomfort zone number one, life is getting better. I can see the heavy clouds looming ahead. Soon enough, the drizzle will come. And then the familiar rain. The heat will give way to the relaxing coolness.
“Do you think your 2008 will be better than last year?”
“Don’t know. Does the wind always come before the rain?”
I don’t want to predict my 2008, not that anyone can predict what will happen in the future. But one always prays that the new year would be better than the last. Each year contains its set of setbacks and its set of advances. How can I chose one over the other?
“Any new year resolution?”
“I don’t know what it means anymore.”
To lose X number of pounds. To lose X number of enemies and gain X number of friends. Never commit the same mistakes again, would that be a resolution? If so, then that’s probably it. I’d love to achieve that. I probably won’t.
“Were you happy with how your new year started?”
“Outside the comfort zone, the start of the year went unnoticed.”
It’s almost March and I’m just writing this now. I am happy.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Theater Report: Spiderwick Chronicles
February 16, 2008
SM City Cebu Cinema 4
7:45 PM
Attendance: 40% of capacity
Previews: Just on time coming in so I wasn’t able to see any trailers.
Story: A family moves in to an estate of an old ancestor (or somewhat like that), a mother, twin boys, and a girl. One of the twins finds a book that’s sort of a guide to the “other” world. It contains all the secrets of this “other” world and now the other world’s super villain wants to read it and conquer all the worlds. The siblings (twin boys, one girl) are thrown to protect the book and thus the worlds.
My thoughts: It’s a very simple story with very few characters. Action is limited to the estate, its surrounding forest, a sanatorium, and somewhere where nobody ages (but is not Never Never Land). The book, where this movie was based, is probably a good read. But there’s nothing much in the movie in terms of a fantasy story that I haven't seen before.
The special effects are good. Freddie Highmore (acting the dual role of the twin boys) was excellent. I’d say he’s the best child actor around today. The way he acts is very real, very believable. There were instances of the twin’s interaction where you’d notice that they are not really in the same room (being acted by a single actor), but there are also instances where you’d forget that this two characters are acted by a single actor. The music reminds me of the first two Harry Potter movies. And the end credit sequences were great.
Would I see it again? Once is enough. Would I recommend it to my friends? Only those that are fans of fantasy.
SM City Cebu Cinema 4
7:45 PM
Attendance: 40% of capacity
Previews: Just on time coming in so I wasn’t able to see any trailers.
Story: A family moves in to an estate of an old ancestor (or somewhat like that), a mother, twin boys, and a girl. One of the twins finds a book that’s sort of a guide to the “other” world. It contains all the secrets of this “other” world and now the other world’s super villain wants to read it and conquer all the worlds. The siblings (twin boys, one girl) are thrown to protect the book and thus the worlds.
My thoughts: It’s a very simple story with very few characters. Action is limited to the estate, its surrounding forest, a sanatorium, and somewhere where nobody ages (but is not Never Never Land). The book, where this movie was based, is probably a good read. But there’s nothing much in the movie in terms of a fantasy story that I haven't seen before.
The special effects are good. Freddie Highmore (acting the dual role of the twin boys) was excellent. I’d say he’s the best child actor around today. The way he acts is very real, very believable. There were instances of the twin’s interaction where you’d notice that they are not really in the same room (being acted by a single actor), but there are also instances where you’d forget that this two characters are acted by a single actor. The music reminds me of the first two Harry Potter movies. And the end credit sequences were great.
Would I see it again? Once is enough. Would I recommend it to my friends? Only those that are fans of fantasy.
Theater Report: Jumper
February 17, 2008
SM City Cebu Cinema 3
5:30 PM
Attendance: 90% of capacity
Previews: Teaser trailer of “Star Trek” (directed by JJ Abrams). I first heard about this new Star Trek movie a year or two ago in Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX). Mix reaction in the forum when it was announced. Some said it’s going to be a disaster. Some are more optimistic because it was going to be directed by JJ Abrams who created TV’s “Lost” and “Alias”. Funny because when I watched “Cloverfield” two weeks ago I thought it was the movie tied to JJ Abrams that I heard in HSX. And I thought it wasn’t very impressive for somebody who created “Alias” and “Lost”. Now I realized it was “Star Trek”. Impressive.
Story: This report is about “Jumper”, but I just spent a relatively long paragraph about “Star Trek”, which will not be shown until 2009, probably Memorial Day weekend 2009. Anyhow, “Jumper” is a story of at first one and then later on two “jumpers”. They are people with the ability to teleport to any place they can vividly see in their mind (places they’d been to before, seen in postcards, etc.). It wasn’t long since finding out about his ability that the first jumper used it to steal money from a bank. He said he had no choice. He was 12 and alone. “What would you do?” Oh, I don’t know. There are many decent jobs that I could think of if I’m a jumper. Delivery boy, messenger, spy, to name a few. Now those are just “jumping” related jobs. There are other regular odd jobs minus the hours spent traveling to and from work. But then again all of them combined wouldn’t earn half as much as a minute stroll to the friendly neighborhood bank’s vault. Anyhow, all is well, until somebody who kills jumpers for a living showed up.
My thoughts: The first 30 minutes where the film’s premise was fleshed out were great. From there up to the ending wasn’t so great, or good for that matter. It became nonsense. Carrying around a backpack full of money is so 70’s. How about buying himself tons of debit cards? With few spare bills for those where debit cards aren’t accepted. And what is that secret society that hunts down and kill “jumpers” because “only God should have that power to be everywhere at the same time”? What’s that society all about? “Only God should decide when somebody should die,” I’d say to them if I were the jumper. It’s probably just anti-religion symbolism nonsense. It could just have been a love story between a jumper and an ordinary girl. Or a superhero story. As it was, it was nothing but about a pursuit of a jumper. Once the pursuer was defeated, the movie ended. It had to. It had nowhere else to go. Hayden Christinsen doesn’t show much emotion on screen. The actor who played his character as a “young jumper” would probably had done better at the job had he been years older.
Would I see it again? No. Would I recommend it to my friends? No. I wanted to buy the book where this movie was based on, but it wasn’t available in Powerbooks SM Cebu and I didn’t have time to go to National Bookstore. The book’s probably better than the movie.
SM City Cebu Cinema 3
5:30 PM
Attendance: 90% of capacity
Previews: Teaser trailer of “Star Trek” (directed by JJ Abrams). I first heard about this new Star Trek movie a year or two ago in Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX). Mix reaction in the forum when it was announced. Some said it’s going to be a disaster. Some are more optimistic because it was going to be directed by JJ Abrams who created TV’s “Lost” and “Alias”. Funny because when I watched “Cloverfield” two weeks ago I thought it was the movie tied to JJ Abrams that I heard in HSX. And I thought it wasn’t very impressive for somebody who created “Alias” and “Lost”. Now I realized it was “Star Trek”. Impressive.
Story: This report is about “Jumper”, but I just spent a relatively long paragraph about “Star Trek”, which will not be shown until 2009, probably Memorial Day weekend 2009. Anyhow, “Jumper” is a story of at first one and then later on two “jumpers”. They are people with the ability to teleport to any place they can vividly see in their mind (places they’d been to before, seen in postcards, etc.). It wasn’t long since finding out about his ability that the first jumper used it to steal money from a bank. He said he had no choice. He was 12 and alone. “What would you do?” Oh, I don’t know. There are many decent jobs that I could think of if I’m a jumper. Delivery boy, messenger, spy, to name a few. Now those are just “jumping” related jobs. There are other regular odd jobs minus the hours spent traveling to and from work. But then again all of them combined wouldn’t earn half as much as a minute stroll to the friendly neighborhood bank’s vault. Anyhow, all is well, until somebody who kills jumpers for a living showed up.
My thoughts: The first 30 minutes where the film’s premise was fleshed out were great. From there up to the ending wasn’t so great, or good for that matter. It became nonsense. Carrying around a backpack full of money is so 70’s. How about buying himself tons of debit cards? With few spare bills for those where debit cards aren’t accepted. And what is that secret society that hunts down and kill “jumpers” because “only God should have that power to be everywhere at the same time”? What’s that society all about? “Only God should decide when somebody should die,” I’d say to them if I were the jumper. It’s probably just anti-religion symbolism nonsense. It could just have been a love story between a jumper and an ordinary girl. Or a superhero story. As it was, it was nothing but about a pursuit of a jumper. Once the pursuer was defeated, the movie ended. It had to. It had nowhere else to go. Hayden Christinsen doesn’t show much emotion on screen. The actor who played his character as a “young jumper” would probably had done better at the job had he been years older.
Would I see it again? No. Would I recommend it to my friends? No. I wanted to buy the book where this movie was based on, but it wasn’t available in Powerbooks SM Cebu and I didn’t have time to go to National Bookstore. The book’s probably better than the movie.
Next by Michael Crichton
I talked about this book earlier in a previous post. Now I’ve finished reading it and the book went nowhere from the first 150 pages or so that I talked about in that earlier blog post. I was still surprised with the twists in the end, but I just felt that the story went nowhere since the first 150 pages. Probably because he wanted it to be as close to what’s really happening in “genetics” as possible. But I still love the way Crichton makes each of his novel a page-turner. Everything that I’ve read from him had been page-turners. And I’d just love to have that ability.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Valentines 08
Happy Valentine's Day to all. One of those "Hallmark" holidays as they say. Created for a commercial purpose. I'm very sleepy now.
***
Here's a song that I like right now. It's "Nessun dorma", in English "No one shall sleep." Popularized by the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti from the opera "Turandot". Search for it on the net. Once you'll listen to it you'll say, "Ahh, I've heard that before..."
***
Here's a song that I like right now. It's "Nessun dorma", in English "No one shall sleep." Popularized by the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti from the opera "Turandot". Search for it on the net. Once you'll listen to it you'll say, "Ahh, I've heard that before..."
| The Prince | |
| Nessun dorma, nessun dorma ... Tu pure, o Principessa, Nella tua fredda stanza, Guardi le stelle Che tremano d'amore E di speranza. | No one sleeps, no one sleeps... Even you, o Princess, In your cold room, Watch the stars, That tremble with love And with hope. |
| Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me, Il nome mio nessun saprà, no, no, Sulla tua bocca lo dirò Quando la luce splenderà, Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio Che ti fa mia. | But my secret is hidden within me; My name no one shall know, no, no, On your mouth I will speak it* When the light shines, And my kiss will dissolve the silence That makes you mine. |
| Chorus | |
| Il nome suo nessun saprà E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir. | No one will know his name And we must, alas, die. |
| The Prince | |
| Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò! | Vanish, o night! Set**, stars! At daybreak, I shall conquer! |
Those good old dreams
When I sent my application to DM five years ago it was not business, it was personal. My mother worked for the company for 37 years and my father for around 20 years (I can't pull the exact figure off the top of my head right now). Discounting the scholarship I got over the years of my life as a student, the money that my parents got from DM pretty much paid for my education, not to mention the food on our table, and come to think of it, the table itself where eat the food. In my application five years ago, I said in my cover letter that I hope to serve the company for the same number of years like my parents did. I wanted to nurture a career in IT within the company and was prepared to retire with the company. Not being able to realize this now is the saddest part of leaving DM because when I wrote it in my application letter I meant it.
Some of our dreams come true. Some don't. This is one of mine that won't.
Some of our dreams come true. Some don't. This is one of mine that won't.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Next
The Harry Potter series has ended, so I don't really have a book in mind that I'm sure to buy when it comes out. I have bought a lot of books since Harry Potter 7, but the thoughts I had about them never made it to this blog. I moved to a new company. Moved to a new city. I seem to have something else to do besides blogging. But here's something about the book that I'm reading now, Next, by Michael Crichton.
It's about genetics and biotechnology, and the drama that could probably happen around the subject. Congo, Timeline, Airframe, Andromeda Strain. I've yet to read a Crichton book that I didn't like. (Or with characters that I could actually remember.)
I hope it's a good read. I'm not yet finished, but here's the thing. I'm more than a hundred pages on, met a lot of characters and not one I could really care for. That's bad. But then again I'm hundred pages on, no character to care for, and yet I'm not tired of it so far. I'm still intrigued at what will happen next. I guess when you read a Crichton you don't expect memorable characters, but the thrill of a lot of twists and a lot of turns. Interesting subject. Interesting events. They're keeping me on this book.
It's about genetics and biotechnology, and the drama that could probably happen around the subject. Congo, Timeline, Airframe, Andromeda Strain. I've yet to read a Crichton book that I didn't like. (Or with characters that I could actually remember.)
I hope it's a good read. I'm not yet finished, but here's the thing. I'm more than a hundred pages on, met a lot of characters and not one I could really care for. That's bad. But then again I'm hundred pages on, no character to care for, and yet I'm not tired of it so far. I'm still intrigued at what will happen next. I guess when you read a Crichton you don't expect memorable characters, but the thrill of a lot of twists and a lot of turns. Interesting subject. Interesting events. They're keeping me on this book.
Unsent
I've just deleted a draft mail that's been sitting in my Drafts folder since July 16, 2006. What was I thinking in writing it? Things looked clearer then, before they got murky. Some emails are just not meant to be sent, the same way that some things are better left unsaid.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Pursuit of happiness
Lie about your dreams and who will help you achieve them?
Here's my favorite realization of 2007. This never made it in my blog the day it came hopping to my mind like a frog who was convinced it was more than a frog. I never got around to write it, until I was asked the question just hours ago, which was really not directly related to this one realization, which in turn makes me wonder a bit why write this down now.
In between the lines and in between everything that was said, facial expressions and all, I saw a girl who wanted to live her dreams after years of putting them aside. Those dreams were apparently not here in the Philippines. And I long since put it as the reason why she pushed away any guy that came too close, unless that guy also had dreams that are far from this country.
But did she have to lie?
Dr. Gregory House would say, "everybody lies." Lie about your dreams and who will help you achieve them? Those few whom you told the truth, of course. When people don't tell you about their ambitions, or lie about it when asked, it just means that the dreamer decided that you have no role in achieving it.
Here's my favorite realization of 2007. This never made it in my blog the day it came hopping to my mind like a frog who was convinced it was more than a frog. I never got around to write it, until I was asked the question just hours ago, which was really not directly related to this one realization, which in turn makes me wonder a bit why write this down now.
In between the lines and in between everything that was said, facial expressions and all, I saw a girl who wanted to live her dreams after years of putting them aside. Those dreams were apparently not here in the Philippines. And I long since put it as the reason why she pushed away any guy that came too close, unless that guy also had dreams that are far from this country.
***
But did she have to lie?
Dr. Gregory House would say, "everybody lies." Lie about your dreams and who will help you achieve them? Those few whom you told the truth, of course. When people don't tell you about their ambitions, or lie about it when asked, it just means that the dreamer decided that you have no role in achieving it.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Sarcasm
"Lando", the tropical depression I wrote about in my previous blog post never made a lasting impression. It rained a lot back in Cagayan de Oro, so I'm used to it. The wind that Lando carried was strong, but I've experienced stronger winds when I was young while at vacation in Pulupandan, Negros Occidental. In the entire ordeal, if you can call it that, I never feared for my life. I knew it was nothing.
And it was nothing, which I wished didn't happen because they canceled the crystal lamination class session last Monday, November 19. It wasn't postponed, it was canceled. So instead of two sessions, we had only one. The cancellation was unfortunate because the skies cleared (I'm sure it cleared though I couldn't see it because it was night already) by the time our class was set to end.
And it was nothing, which I wished didn't happen because they canceled the crystal lamination class session last Monday, November 19. It wasn't postponed, it was canceled. So instead of two sessions, we had only one. The cancellation was unfortunate because the skies cleared (I'm sure it cleared though I couldn't see it because it was night already) by the time our class was set to end.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)