At a time when I’m almost exclusively watching escapist/fantasy shows on TV, like my current favorites Fringe, FlashForward, V, The Vampire Diaries, with the exception of Glee and the old favorite House, I found a new show to follow that is not as flashy, not as ambitious, and maybe not as big-budgeted, but is so compelling and nicely written it goes right up there with the rest of them. And it’s also doing very well with American TV ratings.
This show is a return to old-fashioned drama. Think The Practice with more than a bit of family woes. It’s the story of Alicia Florrick, a wife of a state attorney who has been jailed for corruption charges; even worse for the show’s protagonist, he publicly admitted to having relations with a prostitute. Forced to provide for her family, she returns to her old job as a defense lawyer, juggling her role as a mother and a junior associate in a law firm filled with plush office furniture, all the while trying to make sense of her self as a scorned and publicly humiliated wife. It’s real-life stuff. More for the women demographic, but guys might enjoy it, too.
I’ve been dealing with acronyms and abbreviations for almost a decade now but it’s quite embarrasing to realize that I’ve never really thought about the difference between the two. Well, more on the difference between acronyms and initialisms. Simply put, they are both types of abbreviations (i.e., shortened forms of words or phrases), but acronyms are read as a word (e.g., NATO is read as”nay-to”) whereas with initalisms, each letter is pronounced separately (e.g., BBC for British Broadcasting Corporation).
So there. Just a tiny bit of trivia. Note to self: bcbsnc is a health plan; msnbc is the cable news channel.
I imagine that christmas cards now abound the major bookstores. I wonder, though, if people still give away those. I had this phase when I was very young that I developed a fascination with greeting cards; I go to the bookstores just to read card after card, for all occassions, and then I try to commit to memory those lines that I loved. I even buy some on impulse and then look for reason/excuse to give them to someone later.
Here’s one of my favorites:
It happens like this- -
You’re going along,
Living your life,
And everything’s splendid.
(lah-de-dah, lah-de-dah,
lah-de-dah….OUCH)
you hop around like a MANIAC
on your good foot,
holding what is now
your bad foot in your hands.
BUT…will your toe always HURT? NO.Does the ouch part
Take away any of the
“lah-de-dah-HERE-I-AM-
LIVING-MY-LIFE-WITH-
A-BIG-FAT-SMILEY-FACE” part?UH-UH.
Will you stub your toe again?
PROBABLY.
Will you go humming merrily on your way again?
CERTAINLY.
That’s the beauty of impermanence.
It happens like that.
I think that it would be a pity if card-giving will be a discarded tradition in this age of e-mails and social media. True, it’s a paid-for quote and only personalized if you’ll add your thoughts. But not everyone has a way with words and I don’t believe that greeting cards make the message seem contrived. I guess the intents and purposes are what count the most.
I may have ranted quite a bit in my last post despite my plan to merely express an opinion. Someone from another site discussing the Twilight saga commented that all the bashing is uncalled for. It’s true that a person should not apologize for finding delight in reading a book even if other people hated it (and this is true for most things that are a matter of taste). To tell you the truth, I only read mostly romance novels, both in English and in Tagalog, for the entirety of my high school years. I even read Tagalog komiks and real-life love stories in tabloids (not the sleazy kind, if you’ll take my word) back then. My point is … uhm maybe I don’t have a good point: It is what it is. I didn’t like what I have perceived this book series to be.
But whatever arguments are made, they will be eclipsed by the fact that people will still flock the cinemas; the first few days from New Moon’s opening are a testament to how big this franchise has already become. If you’re planning to go to the movie houses anytime soon with a bunch of people, make sure to have a text alert system so you won’t lose each other. In the meantime, I leave you with this funny spoof of the original New Moon trailer.
First off, if you are a Twilight series fan, I suggest you do not continue reading. Or mabe you should, so you can help me with a few things, as I would explain later.
Long before I began seeing people everywhere holding these Stephenie Meyer volumes the way students carry their textbooks, I’ve been contemplating if I should begin reading them (1) because National Bookstore is littered with these eye-catching black things; (2) it seems to be well on the way to reaching the Harry Potter popularity meter; (3) it does look interesting, to say the least. My main concern then is that I do not want to shell out money because I was quite broke, but now I wonder if I had indeed begun reading them before all the hype took off, would I probably have been a Twi-hard?
It’s almost unfair and pretentious of me to call myself a Twi-hater (which I have admittedly done so in a few number of occassions now) because I did not spend time really reading the books, even if my sister have copies lying around our house. By the time I realized that people I know are now reading this stuff and are anticipating the movies, I’m already disillusioned/enlightened by the negative reviews I’ve read. So I said I didn’t read the books. Here’s what I did: (1) I read all positive and all negative reviews I can find; (2) I read hundreds of passages and quotes from the series at goodreads; (3) I watched the first film.
From watching the first movie, I think I got the appeal. It’s a love story. People love those; I know I do. It’s not a great film by any means, but one that’s very watchable on a few levels. And although I first found Robert Pattison’s (or Edward Cullen’s) hair ridiculous, watching a few interviews with him convinced me he’s quite a sensible young man. Kristen Stewart seems like a strong character in real life, too, that’s why I wonder why she was cast as Bella Swan. Now here begins the bad part. Have your humidifier filters ready.
My main beef with the entire concept is that I do not agree that this love story is something that young people should wish for themselves, metaphorically speaking even. Well, there’s the “teen chastity” message that some people may see as a good thing, but I tend to side with those who saw the Bella/Edward relationship as dysfunctional. Here’s why. I’m copying a portion of one reader review, which I think said it (i.e., the consensus of the bad reviews) most eloquently:
But then we must consider the problem of Bella: whiny, needy, and sullen, blindly devoting herself to a partner that constantly patronizes, criticizes, and subjugates her only for him to leave so she can spend the next 8 months in a state of emotional vacancy so acute that she forgets everything else in her life that a girl can be happy about. Bella is only complete–and she says this herself–when her man is by her side. And apparently, according to Meyer at least, this is ok. It’s ok to create a character so bereft of purpose, self-assurance, and identity that she can’t live without a relationship based on nothing substantial, just beauty, lust, and exoticism. - Scott
I’m all for escapism and fluffy but fun stuff. This doesn’t look fun to me at all. I like a nice love triangle but not with a girl who pines for someone so bad she’ll place herself in dangerous situations just so he’ll save her and then bond with the other boy while she’s at it. Granted, Edward and Jacob may both be so hard to resist (I’ve read that if you go see New Moon, your money would be worth spent just seeing Taylor Lautner’s abs and pecs). I prefer a strong heroine, or at least someone who is not so blinded she’d want to be turned into a vampire just because there’s one who is so beautiful and also thinks that she smells good. I also wonder, in my current line of thinking, if I’m Bella and I’m in front of this uber pretty albeit undead boy, hearing him say these words to me will probably reduce me to tears. ROTFL tears, that is (and I still dare to call myself a hopeless romantic):
Before you Bella my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars - points of light and reason. …. And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliance, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no reason for anything.
He’s a hundred plus years old, so I’ll forgive his bad dialogue but this made me appreciate J.K. Rowling infinitely more for excellently writing a series that encouraged people of all ages to read (and they should).
Now if you got this far, here’s my request. If you loved Twilight, can you tell me if my quoted review is wrong and too harsh? Is there anything in the books that doesn’t deserve the criticism it got? It’s probably just the case that I’m outside of its target audience, but I’ll probably watch New Moon anyway, for the curiosity factor, when I can already download a good copy, err I mean when the DVD is out.
Update (11/22): I realized I was making generalizations on the entire series, and more on the books, not the current movie New Moon as my post title might suggest. I don’t want to rain on people’s parade but for the sake of argument, here’s something to think about.
I must warn you that this post will not be comprehensive. I do not actually intend to compare, with every bit of information I have learned, these two sports that I both love. You can find a few blogs that do exactly that, mostly badminton sites. All I can say is that if you’ll take any of these two seriously, as a hobby or as a competitive sport, you will not need slimming pills to trim down, ever.
On a purely subjective point of view, I think tennis is a more complicated sport than badminton. Badminton is a fast game. That’s why it’s a better cardio workout. But I do believe that tennis demands more, both physically and mentally. Case-in-point: heavier ball and racquet, larger court area. I’ve given up learning tennis because you can’t play both at the same time. Badminton relies on wrist action. You can’t use that with tennis, which requires a full arm swing. Trying to do both consistently will most definitely result to injury. On a spectator point of view, I also think that tennis has the edge. Badminton on TV is largely enjoyed only by those who play the sport. Tennis appeals to a more general audience.
Although it seems to be quite obvious that I’m a huge tennis fan, I’m also a badminton enthusiast. I’m a fan of badminton because it’s cheaper, it’s easier to find people to play with, and it can be enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels. But even I think that I’m already like a broken record with that statement. So in case you have the time and the inclination, I suggest you try either tennis or badminton. Or if you’re not a fan of racquet sports, there are always other alternatives.
No, I’m not driving yet. I don’t know when I’ll start (of course, that depends on when I can afford to buy my own car), but I’m really hoping that I do have the courage to drive through the streets of Metro Manila someday. It doesn’t have to be a pretty car. No, scratch that. I hope it’ll be pretty. I mean, it doesn’t have to be expensive and new. It’s not as if I am willing to spend tons on dodge accessories.
While I was talking with a friend who is soon moving to a place that is possibly farther away from work, the subject of the practicality - the advantages and the disadvantages - of commuting and driving came up. Of course, we both want to drive an automatic car, just in case. Easier for women, I heard. There’s still a lot of things to consider before I dream about ford accessories or maybe nissan accessories. I remember when my father tried to teach me to drive when I was much younger. I was fearless. Even with a vehicle filled with nervous and screaming passengers, in a major highway nonetheless. Looking back now, I believe that was careless. I just hope that I can still muster a bit of that courage now that I’m old enough to know better.
When watching foreign, non-English language films, do you prefer reading subtitles or watching an English-dubbed version?
Personally, I enjoy watching original films with subtitles. I like hearing the real voices of the actors, even if I don’t particularly understand what they’re saying. Sometimes, dubbing takes away the nuances of performance - translations can deplete some subtleties, and not to mention that I find the out-of-synch audio and lip movements annoying. But I guess it all come down to preference. Like choosing between a Kohler faucet and an ordinary faucet.
Some of the non-English movies I recently watched are Pan’s Labyrinth (Spanish), Angel A (French), Let the Right One In (Swedish), Water (Hindi), and So Close (Mandarin). Made me want to learn a new language. Spanish or French are preferred.
“Of course, they’re not clowning around trying to make me laugh. They’re doing their best to live very serious lives, and they just happen to fall down sometimes. I think that’s cool.”
— Haruki Murakami (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle)
I think finishing this book a few weeks earlier than I had would have been cool. I’ve not enjoyed reading this much in quite a while. Looking back, nothing much happened in way of narrative, but the heavily metaphysical and philosophical nature of Murakami’s work is something all his own. “Surreal” doesn’t begin to describe it. If you’re looking for a read that makes your head spin and pushes you to do a gut check, then this book is for you. But if you’re looking for something fast-paced and exciting, try another author. Or better yet, rent out a bluray disc of an action movie that goes well with popcorn and soda.
This subject gives me hiccups. Never fails, at least metaphorically. Imagine my surprise upon learning that there is such a term as financial engineering. I sure would fail that if it was a subject in school I had to take. Neither of those two words would qualify as particularly enticing or endearing for me. Well, of course I’ve always hated math.
I realized while talking with a friend who is a lot more close-fisted about money than I am that just like any other thing in the world, how people look money will always be different. We can judge each other endlessly by how we handle our finances (”too much” on both extremes), but it doesn’t take a financial engineering book or consulting a person with a quant job to know that the more we strive to earn and the less we spend, the more we save. But it’s never black and white. As long as you’re dealing with your own, with what is yours, and not stepping on anybody else’s toes, then for me you’re no fair game. Of course some people ruin their lives sometimes because of the inability to handle finances right. That’s another story. A problem is a problem, but individual perception isn’t all the time.
