The Dark Crystal (1982)

The Dark Crystal Movie Poster

First film is Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal (1982). Before CGI and 3d, puppets and anamotronics we’re used to create creatures and the special effects we see in every hollywood blockbuster. Master puppeteer Jim Henson, and his colleagues created at the the time first full-feature fantasy film with no human beings.

Every character in The Dark Crystal are puppets created by Henson. They are so skillfully animated, to me they move even more naturally on film than any CGI character (take that Na’avi).

The film looks at the nature of good and evil but in a very different fashion as most child-oriented films at the time. It does not portray a good overcoming evil but of harmony of both dark and light.

The film wasn’t as much a success as its competition at the time (ET: Extraterrestrial) but it receive critical success by winning BAFTA and Saturn awards.

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (戦場のメリークリスマス)

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence original japanese poster

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) is bilingual English-Japanese film based on Lauren van der Post’s The Seed and the Sower (1963) and The Night of the New Moon (1970).

The setting is a Japanese prison camp in Indonesia, Ryuichi Sakamoto plays young stern captain of the camp Yonoi who becomes fixated on the new rebellious prisoner Major Jack Celliers (played by rockstar David Bowie). In the same camp, Lt. Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conti) is a japanese speaking british soldier who has become well trusted by both Yonoi and Sgt. Hara (played by Takeshi Kitano of Battle Royale fame).

The film is an interesting look at cross-cultural communication as the japanese and british constantly butt-heads on different cultural habits (such as Gyo and Christmas).

I have to say, even though Glee is somehow targeted to a mass audience (in the US at least) and is a little trendy (which I normally hate), I do like how it’s making me appreciate plays and real musicals (*cough high school * musical* not a musical*) through the songs they feature on the show. Kurt and Rachel’s duet of “Defying Gravity” has made me wanna see Wicked the musical (if only I had the money to go to New York right now), I spent half the evening searching for youtube videos of the musical.

I had a blockmate/friend once voiced his opinion about stage plays when we we’re required to watch a certain play by the TA. He asked, “what ’s the point of stage plays when film has been there for so long?”. For a person who himself has been part of a theater group, I actually found it hard to answer this but I remembered what my directors, Sir Bok Pioqid and Ron Capinding taught us during my two years in Teatro Baguntao.

Theater is able to evoke emotions, reactions and experiences from its audiences. Yes, film can do the same but there is a difference between the emotions that a live theater production creates from a filmed production, the fact that is live means you’ll never really get the same experience, the same show twice.

Even more than simply evocation is the real-time interaction that happens between a stage actor and his audience. I think theater is a participatory type of media because of this interaction. You just don’t sit there watching and receiving information in a theater you yourself when you react to the scenario communicate with the actors of the production. This two-way communication I feel, is what enriches the experience of live theater and something that differentiates it completely from film

OK excuse my trying-to-sound-academic-and-failing tone

This is the One, Utada's third english album. Released last may 2009

Hikaru Utada’s been doing another concert tour which launched last Janaury 15 . Her last concert tour was Utada United in 2006 which was held in various locations across Japan, this time though the tour is around the USA!

She’s doing the tour to promote her 2nd english album (3rd if you include her Cubic U days) This is the One. Some youtubers were able to sneak in their cameras and get videos! She sang soem of her japanese songs during the show! She also Sang Sanctuary and Passion together… AT THE SAME TIME! and she sang the backward-lyrics live as well!

I wish I had a VISA right now… I’d kill for tickets to see Utada.

For music interest though, if any of you guys reading this have never listened to Utada before, you should definitely try listening to the This is the One album. Its seriously not a Jpop/anime/asian music album at all and I think anyone and everyone can seriously enjoy it. I have the special edition US retail version (with additional bonus tracks) and its been part of my “study playlist” for quite a while! Some interesting songs to note:

Apple and Cinnamon

A very simple piano R&B ballad. I find it has a good mix of melody, well-written lyrics and deep pulsating beats. A great love song which focuses on a failing relationship with an interesting allusion to apple pie being Apples and Cinnamon work so well together.

Automatic Part II

A direct allusion to her first japanese single AUTOMATIC in 1999.  Interesting here is if you compare the two songs and play them one after the other you can really see the difference between Hikki back then and Hikki now as well as how different R&B music was 10 years ago from now. Automatic is less melodic than its predecessor but uses a heavier R&B beat. The lyrics are also… quite provocative with which in part shows how Utada 10 years ago was just a young 16/17 year old girl and now she’s a 27 year old woman.

Come back to me

The first single released for the album. After seeing the epic failure I thought Easy Breezy was as a lead single for an album during her Exodus days, its nice to see a single that reminds you why Hikki is such a powerful artist. Come back to me is a soft sad ballad which is reminiscent Flavor of Life and Prisoner of Love but uses a more western approach and style to the arrangement and treatment. Its a good break considering that I was getting sick of utada’s dance electronica english songs already.

There’s one particular line here I really like. It goes “I wish that I could photoshop all our bad memories” I think we don’t need to ask why

Unfortunately, sem-ended far too soon…

None-the-less I enjoyed it, I finally got to bond with my childhood best friend the Playstation 2 and read up on the Marvel Universe. I finally got to finish New X-men, New Mutants, New X-men: Academy X. All that’s missing now is Astonishing X-men and Uncanny X-men.

I’ve also been replaying Valkyrie profile: Silmeria. Odd how it just seems so much easier now that I grinded my main part characters (and certain einherjar) to level 20-25 as early as chapter 3 while keeping certain einherjar (mosly the useless ones like milidia and alm) at the levels that I got them (below level 15) so I can learn skills faster .

The Cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Yes, Mark is a huge Buffy geek. I actually have copies of the Season 8 comics! As much as I like Buffy, nothing can defeat the original female butt-kicker of the 90’s and early 2000’s generation.

Xena in Samurai armor

YEAH!!! I’ve been watching Xena: Warrior Princess reruns on the SciFi channel for a while and has secretly been part of my geekyness since it was showing on Star World when I was a freshman high school.

Fun Facts:

1. Xena is actually a spin-off from the Hercules series (the one with Kevin Sorbo). Most internet people actually know this already but I was shocked when my mother asked “is that Xena? the female version of He-man?”… I know the inner guy geek in me had a face-palm moment.

2. Buffy was originally a full feature comedy film created in 1992 with another actress. It was sort of a flop but the idea was good enough that people wanted to turn it into a TV show.

3. Xena’s Chakram is actually a real weapon used by sikhs (makes you wanna go aahlalalalallalala-shiiiaaah!)

4. There was originally a planned Buffy The Vampire Slayer animated series. Search around Youtube you’ll likey.

5. Xena has a daughter hahahaha yes warrior woman is a mommy. Actually she had a son before that she gave up because she was a bad warlord (Solan) who eventually died and then Eve, the divinely concieved (yes we’re talking about the angel gabriel thingy here) daughter. Yes Xena has all this weirdness in it.

… Yes Mark is a geek

I never thought I would actually do this but seeing as my schedule allows me to actually sleep in during tuesdays it seems like one of those make or break things. Right now I’m in Manang’s Kitchen (the small cafeteria outside the college covered courts) blogging my night away trying not to feel alone or scared.

A few questions come to mind… well one.

Why doesn’t the araneta give patron tickets or lowerbox or at least more upper A tickets to the university athletics departments?

Well its gonna be a long night… and it I get really bored I’ll make another vid (though I don’t have the voice to do so). ONE BIG FIGHT! GO ATENEO!

Jai Reyes gets screened by the La Salle defense

I got the chance to sit down and chat with Blue Eagles co-captain and point guard, number 5 Jai Reyes yesterday morning. It was a very eye opening interview as I got to know what’s in a basketball players mind on and off court. He also got me thinking about analyzing and listing down what you want and got to do in college as well as staying true to what you want and like doing. The next Ateneo game versus the UST growling Tigers will be this coming Sunday. Hopefully I can find time to line up for tickets (and have money for tickets)!

This week is hell week even if there’s supposedly time for rest because of the holidays. I’ve yet to ask my Philo groupmates how early they want my edit of the Philosophy paper in but either way I wanna get it out of the way already so I can enjoy the game on sunday. I also got to watch 8 movies for tomorrows 6:30 am theology oral exams and edit part of our Marketing paper, all this coupled with yesterday’s statistics LT, Wired Interview and 0 hours of sleep (yes I went to something as important as an interview with nothing but caffeine keeping my brain alive) means I’m extremely exhausted already. Have I mentioned I still have training tonight at Savannah Moon Dance studio?

Wonderful wonderful dance with an epic message about Breast cancer. There is little I can say about it, you just have to watch it.

I have to agree with Kevjumba on this. I really didn’t like how the media portrayed Michael Jackson so much and it’s so irritating how even years after going on oprah to explain his skin, people still think he willingly bleached his skin.

Salute to the king

While the nation is under threat of the Swine Flue and the World is at constant war with the recession, our senate is worried about a celebrity sex scandal. We act as if this is the first sex scandal that aired in our nation when dozens have been shown before. While farmers starve and walk a thousand miles to protect the lands that were promised to them our law makers think that the whole country can’t function if a case of infidelity is unsolved.

First of all, I do not understand why they compared this case to that of exploitation and human sex trafficking. I find a perverted man’s habit of taking a video of his unorthodox sexual habits to be no where near of the sex offenses that can even be likened to those. Looking at this case, the only fault I see in Hayden is taking those videos and not informing any of his partners that he was recording videos. What else can they charge him for? Sodomy (which is legal in the Philippines)? Untraditional forms of sex?

In my opinion, if there is a case that THE SENATE should be looking into  it should be against Hayden’s friends who took his laptop and hardrive and spread those videos of him. They’re probably guilty of theft, breach of intellectual property rights and invasion of private property.

Lastly, I said in the 2nd paragraph, I don’t think this is a case that a SENATE inquiry should be held for. Senate inquiries are for matters that deserve public attention because they are matters that concern the public such as the ZTE deal or CAR. From what I the things that I’ve heard on the radio, listening to the senate, I don’t really see a motive behind Bong Revilla’s complain besides getting some limelight and making himself look like a hero so he can get some public support for campaigning next year. How pathetic.

Just to say, I am all for women’s rights and female empowerment, but I do not believe this is a proper method or the proper opportunity to be fighting for it. Again, politicians are just using such activism and ideologies to their advantage just so they can keep their butts in those air-conditioned rooms that the people’s taxes pay for so they can pilfer more money from the already suffering nation. Again, Pathetic