Author: Gabriel

Ma’ Rosa – 9/10

• This movie hits home in more ways than one because it’s literally close to home. I recognize the streets of Mandaluyong where I grew up, from Boni Ave., Edsa Crossing, Balagtas and the hellhole which is Welfareville / Addition Hills. Believe it or not it used to have quaint hills and rice paddies until the local government decided to open it up to squatters quickly turning it into the den it is now. So I can’t help watch it with remorse and ill feelings mixed in. I kept hoping the camera wouldn’t accidentally pan to our old house which I haven’t visited or looked at since we left it years ago.

• After watching this, Metro Manila, OTJ and Honor Thy Father (the last two of which are Erik Matti films), and special mention to 2005’s ‘Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros’ there’s obviously no shortage of terrific moviemaking and talent. The only problem is after watching any of them I feel like working out to induce endorphins. If you happen to feel depressed you must avoid watching these at all cost. Honor Thy Father in particular may make you want to slash your wrists if you’ve ever been a victim of an MLM scheme. Ma Rosa, with Jaclyn Jose’s long yearning looks at other families who have less than hers but were at least together and free from the trouble they were facing, will probably haunt me for a long time as well. Matti knows how to push my buttons.

Continue reading Ma’ Rosa – 9/10

Thoughts On The Pilipinas 2016 Debate

I caught approximately 75% of the debate after searching for the live stream on my phone and getting it to display on the TV (we don’t have cable or free tv). I first happened onto what was a GMA7 screen which turned out to be what they show online during a TV commercial break so I thought there was something wrong, which made me go over and try a few times till I finally saw the debate action.

So anyway here’s what I remember from it.

Continue reading Thoughts On The Pilipinas 2016 Debate

Honor The Father Review

(Contains MANY spoilers!)

My favorite story type involves the ‘character turn’ (my own term) ie., observing what a character does when faced with overwhelming change. Initially the main character is in a comfortable situation after which tremendous stress is introduced forcing them do something drastic. At that point a story becomes interesting because you watch a transformation. Faced with so much pressure all pretensions are shed and a real person is revealed.

John Lloyd’s character Edgar is introduced as skeptical about his father in law’s MLM scheme where his wife is active in. He is also not too sure about the Church they go to where the pious Bishop extolls the virtues of cash offerings a little too enthusiastically. Nevertheless he is supportive, preferring to play the role of helpful husband.

The eventual happens and the MLM scheme collapses. They lose everything, their creditors haul their belongings away, and worst of all their child is threatened unless he can produce 6M pesos.

Continue reading Honor The Father Review

Trusting The Press

Randy David wrote the other day about how he noticed newspapers treated PNoy’s speech. In it he said:

President Aquino’s speech at the annual presidential forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) last Oct. 27 highlighted many aspects of this strained relationship.

 

In that speech, Mr. Aquino chose to dwell on his observations of media reportage during his presidency. He was candid and critical—a refreshing trait he does not hide regardless of the audience.

 

Interestingly enough, the media ignored his main speech and focused instead on his answers to questions in the open forum. If I had not gone to the government’s official website to check out the text of the President’s speech, I would not have guessed its topic from the news reports.

I remember that myself because the days after the only stories about him were about his love life, or some such triviality. It also reminded me of a similar situation. Continue reading Trusting The Press

Bacolod 2015

Post 3 day quick trip to Bacolod! Here are some thoughts.

Food Prices Are Unfair – We had 3 or 4 group meals involving as many as ten people and the bill never reached anywhere what it would in Manila. At Masskara Chicken Inasal our bill only came up to P1.8k, and at Bob’s Cafe we didn’t even get up to P3k despite everyone having more than their fill. Granted there were a lot of senior citizen cards passed around but it was still amazing. Each time the bill would come I couldn’t help feeling like we were getting such a bad deal in Manila where a ‘good’ meal would be P150 – P300 and one in a similar establishment such as Bobs’ would easily fetch P600 – P800. Just check out the prices at Rau-Ram Cafe, which serves absolutely authentic Vietnamese Pho (situated in the middle of nowhere. Truly a foodie – only resto). No wonder Tita Tess eats here everyday. You CANNOT get quality that good for prices that low in Manila.

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Continue reading Bacolod 2015

Ant Man 7/10

I haven’t written a movie review in a while but I thought of making one for Ant Man because it had a mentor element to it and I like mentor movies, and like I said I can’t get it out my mind so here I am writing it.

It had to do with Kung Fu Panda 2008 (yes I am referring Kung Fu Panda, I have a point here bear with me). In it, Dustin Hoffman plays Master Shifu, teacher and mentor to Jack Black’s Po.

To recount, a flashback informs the audience the origin of the main antagonist Tai Lung. Tai Lung was Master Shifu’s main candidate to be Dragon Warrior and was trained his whole life to expect he would be so. Shifu’s own Master Oogway however, never allowed it. As a result Tai Lung grew disillusioned and angry, focusing his anger on Shifu for making him expect so much.

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Weird Being Chased Dream

I had an odd dream last night and it’s so odd that I’m actually writing about it.

It was a recollection of an incident I may have buried in my head probably for decades.

When I was around 15 – 16 years old I was coming home from school. I got off the jeep too early out of habit because I usually spend time in my grand parent’s house so I had to walk a few extra blocks to get home.

On the way home I passed a street where a bunch of kids my age who didn’t like me saw me and started throwing rocks at and chasing me. I still remember looking to my left startled because I actually felt the wind off of a stone passing the left side of my head.

They basically chased me around three streets, hurling what they could at me and swearing as loud as they could. It was in the middle of the afternoon and I suddenly remembered every footstep of my shoes on the pavement, every time I looked back grabbing my knees panting in exhaustion checking if they were still there, only to run again because they were.

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The Halted S90 Project And A Realignment Of My Restoration Policies

So here’s the latest on the S90. I have decided to shelve it after it has been confirmed that the parts I bought were mostly wrong or not any good – particularly the frame and tank. Otherwise everything else is usable.

But here’s the thing – even before I confirmed this I was already wavering on my continuing the project for two reasons. After my experiences with Leslie I had started to learn a lot more about what I like about restoring things in the first place, and it turns out that a.) I like the actual restoration process, including sourcing parts, studying service manuals, talking to like minded people and such and b.) I like to ride. I like riding per se, I like to take it places and I love the feeling of the open road – a constant phrase you will hear amongst many motorcycle owners.

On the other hand, I DO NOT WANT A GARAGE QUEEN. I do not want a machine that after I restore will just sit in my garage while I use something else most of the time. It seems a terrific waste to have something I worked on so hard to just sit idly and that’s exactly what’s going to happen if I continued the project.

Continue reading The Halted S90 Project And A Realignment Of My Restoration Policies