Check Your Ceilings and Floorboards for Mark Wahlberg (A Contraband Review)

Smugglers, for better or worse, are romanticized in popular culture. Two very prominent and contemporary examples of this are Firefly‘s Mal Reynolds and of course, one of Star Wars‘ most iconic characters, Han Solo. Then again, both are examples of smugglers in the sci-fi genre. So, what about real-world smuggling? Is it as adventurous and full of the same thrilling peril that the aforementioned two face on a regular basis?

Hey everybody, it’s Ramon Revilla Sr. VS The Devil!

This is the trailer (NSFW, by the way) of a 1983 film called The Killing of Satan. I found it by way of a post on io9 on my RSS reader, but the post has since then been taken down, from the looks of things. Thankfully, through the magic of Google’s web cache, here it is.

The io9 post pretty much says everything you need to know about how outlandishly weird the trailer is, but let me add a few things. First of all, this movie has Ramon Revilla in his prime going up against Satan, played by no less than Paquito Diaz. If anything, this movie could be alternatively titled Battle of the Mustaches 1983, or something along those lines. Second, we actually made a movie about a guy fighting the devil that’s actually all sorts of violent, has nudity, and still manages to play it with a straight face? Well, sign me up!

This makes me wonder, though, if our local film archive actually manages to keep a copy of every film we’ve ever produced since motion pictures made their way here in the early 1900′s. Not just those that are considered classics, but I do mean everything. And if so, it would be cool if some of them actually get released into the public domain. I’m guessing it won’t happen with The Killing of Satan, given that Ramon Revilla’s still around would probably want a slice of the pie if it ever gets re-released. But for everything else, I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff that’s worth revisiting, even just for the sake of seeing how varied and creative our movie industry used to be.

Off To The Senate

My Journalism 102 classmates and I will be off to the Senate on the 18th to cover a day’s worth of proceedings for Chief Justice Renato Corona’s impeachment trial. Now that I think about it, now’s a swell time to be journalism student, what with all the stuff going on in the country. Too bad it’s mostly of the unfortunate kind.

Think about it, we’ve had two massive natural disasters just in the span of a month a soon-to-begin impeachment trial, and charges of graft and corruption being filed left and right. Sure, they’re big stories, but sometimes I can’t help but mutter to myself “Man, we’re seriously fucked.” at the end of the day.

Sure, as journalists in training, we’re supposed to keep an air of separation from the things we report, but it sure does make me wonder what goes on in the heads of those who’ve been in the profession for far longer. Do they say the same thing to themselves, or do they keep it all in stride?

I hope I can find the answer to that soon enough.

Surprise! You’re a Panelist!

Last Monday, I attended a brief talk/lecture in lieu of my usual Social Sciences class. Little did I know that there was more in store for me than, you know, just simply having to show up. I arrived about 15-20 minutes before the event itself started. Just as I started to settle in somewhere in the back rows along with some of my classmates, my professor shows up.

“I’ve been trying to contact you over the weekend, but apparently, you didn’t submit your contact info at the start of the semester.” my prof says.

Of course, my first thought was “Am I in trouble?”

He said he selected me to be part of the reaction panel up front. It took about two to three seconds before the thought actually sank in. Of course, I was a bit skeptic (and maybe with a tinge of doofus in there because I actually doubted my professor). Then, it all sank in and I proceeded to the front and plant myself there until the program started.

The day’s lecture was about returning migrant workers, more popularly known as Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs. The talk, delivered by Andrea Soco of Ateneo de Manila University’s Social Sciences and Anthropology department, dealt with returning OFWs’ reintegration into Philippine society, the cultural implications, and the challenges they face when at home and abroad.

The lecture started off with a rather slow burn, but the pace thankfully picked up when anecdotes from respondents of Ms. Soco’s survey were shared. Suffice to say, putting a human face on what we’d normally see as numbers or statistics in the news and academia does give most regular student folk like us a better understanding of how things really are.

Anyway, the presentation lasted for about an hour and a half, by my estimate. There was a short open forum afterwards, and this is were my other classmate and I come in. Thing is, I’ve been sharing so much about my background in class lately, that I guess my prof picked me because it pretty much fit the topic at hand. I’m the son of a former OFW, after all, even before the term OFW actually became a thing.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I was nervous as hell during the open forum. Fortunately, I still managed to hold my own and react honestly and accordingly to the presentation. I also managed to provide a little more background on the state of OFWs from my past and more recent experiences. However, they might’ve deviated a bit from what was expected of me since my dad held an ofice job back when we lived in Saudi Arabia, and the lecture mostly focused on non-skilled/non-professional workers. Somehow, I did managed to swing things back to the main focus of the talk, and I’m thankful for that.

On Location-Based Services

I originally posted this on my Facebook wall, and suffice to say, it sparked a friendly little debate between me and a friend. Stuff like that can’t just be left there, so I figured I’d put it here, too.

I’ve always thought that location-based-check in services were stupid, that’s why I’ve more or less given up on Foursquare and don’t even get me started on FB Places. I’m really not one to announce to the whole world “Oh hey, I’m at this place thousands of people go to everyday.”

Don’t want stalkers? Stop making yourself so, for the lack of a better term, stalk-able.

Hell, just for shits and giggles, I’d list down a place called “Your Mom” and check into it every couple of hours.

A Palace, A Mansion, and An Epiphany

I told you I didn't have a camera with me.

Earlier today, I took part in Old Manila Walks’ Power, Palace, and a Shot of Beer walking tour of the Malacañang complex and old neighboring San Miguel complex. My cousin was supposed to accompany her visiting American friend in the first place, but due all her leave applications shot down, I was asked to step in to go in her stead. Now the thing is, up until late last night, it had completely slipped out of my mind that I was going on the tour. And so, I went there pretty unprepared. The biggest failure of all? I didn’t have a camera on me. It’s a shame, because if I did, I’d have no trouble at all filling up a memory card with photos. Well, that, and IT’S FREAKIN’ MALACAÑANG.

I Hate Playing Captain Obvious, But…

I really need to get a scanner.

Snapping photos of my drawings can only get me so far, especially now that I’m in the process of trying to fine-tune my style. I’m trying to move out of my comfort zone; using more perspective, dynamic poses, and such. My anatomy and proportions are still hit-or-miss most of the time, the way I see it. But in the end, I like how it’s slowly developing over time.

I know a lot of people will say that you should draw pretty much everyday to get an optimal amount of practice, but I have to disagree and say I’m more comfy doing in bursts every couple of days. I mean, there’s also my school (and eventually work) schedule to take into consideration. Besides, it only makes things worse when I try to force myself to produce something on a somewhat routine basis.

I guess this is why I don’t think I’ll do well in a creative industry. I don’t like having schedules and deadlines when it comes to art. My two animation-related gigs over the past couple of years? Look where those got me. Yes, I’ve been asked time and again about why I’m not taking up Fine Arts. I just keep on saying that I don’t want it to be a full-time job.

I’d rather keep this as something I do in my spare time, thank you.

On Showing My Age

Man, the things I set myself up for…

For today’s Journalism 100 class, we had a discussion about the early days of the press and how technology helped it advance. We got to the part about telegraphy and my prof asked if any of us had any experience with telegrams, let alone knew what they were.

“Seriously, no one here’s familiar with telegrams?” she asked in Filipino.

I sheepishly raised my hand and muttered “God, I’m old.” I’m 25, by the way. Everyone else probably ranged somewhere in the late teens to early 20′s. I was then asked to explain how they worked… if I could still remember, of course. Well, I managed to, and that probably made me the official cranky old man of the class. For the record, there are about seven or eight of us in that class. Hey, what can I say? I attend a pretty small (but still good) college.

For the record, I knew I’d inevitably be the oldest in some of my classes. It’s just that being the oldest plus having to recount stuff from two decades ago really does have a high chance of rubbing it in. At the very least, I get to enjoy even just a little smidgen of seniority. Just don’t call me ‘gramps’ of something.

Of Weddings and Hotel Pizza Parties

Hands down, this past weekend simply has to be one of the best I’ve had in recent memory.

First off, a friend from college got married last Saturday. It’s always awesome to see friends you a) haven’t seen in a while and b) haven’t seen in what could be described as forever, or something close to it. The ceremony itself was a relatively private, but very dignified affair with a cool live string quartet to provide the music.

Getting to the wedding reception’s venue was also a bit of an adventure. I hitched a ride in a friend’s car to get to Oasis along Aurora Blvd. from San Juan, and eventually just ditched the provided map from the wedding invitation in the process to rely on shortcuts. I know how much I bitch about being the dude his friends ask directions from, but this was one of those rare occasions where I felt pretty badass and accomplished providing said directions.

The reception was school/library-themed, with names of various people who’ve influenced the newlyweds serving as markers for each table. The agonizing wait for our table to be called (#9, Oscar Wilde) was punctuated by Viking-like growls and raised fists. Obviously, we drew a lot of attention with that, but yeah, I guess we were *that* hungry. The food was really good, particularly the roast beef and fish fillet with wasabi mayo that I now regret not getting more of.

We tried our best to set Edlyn and her boyfriend up during the games, but it kinda backfired so the host, our friend Quincy, had to figure out something else. It was a really clever move on his part, but it really would’ve been a dozen kinds of awesome if everything went according to plan. You can’t win everything, they say.

Well, after more photo booth hijinks, the party wrapped up and soon we were on our way to Holiday Inn over in Ortigas. Now here’s the cool thing about it… my mom also happened to be checked in at the same hotel. To say that it was one of the best coincidences ever is an understatement, if you ask me. As a result, not only did I get to hang out in a hotel room with some college friends, I also got to spend a big chunk of my weekend there, too.

I capped off the day with beer with three other friends. Conversations ranged from relationships, existential discourse, videogames as art, and who in my old creative writing block was going to get hitched next. We’re not sure, either, but we do hope to find out really soon.

Because Everything Gets A Gritty Reboot These Days

I just finished permanently deleting every single post prior to this one. Consider this a fresh start. For the past week or two, I’ve been skirting around the idea of just deleting the whole blog and starting from scratch. Not that there’s any particularly heavy emotional baggage tagged to those posts, but yes, I just need to get rid of them like one would usually do with old piles of clutter during spring cleaning. Oh wait, we don’t have spring in this part of the world, but you get the idea.