Down the Rabbit Hole

I must admit, I had a semester's worth of Jesuit exposure while at the Ateneo de Manila University but I didn't use that opportunity to explore who St Ignatius of Loyola was... Except to know that the campus was named after him. So when I saw Tony's shared post about a movie on the saint's life, to be shown at the  Ateneo High School, I wished that the movie have a wider release... Because I couldn't watch on the school's film showing schedule. Wish granted... I heard that the film was to be shown in selected cinemas this week. Naturally, I took the first opportunity I got. (I went to the cinema right after I dropped by the French school). I don't think that what follows are spoilers because the story is widely published. So here we go: The movie was about the life of Iñigo before he established the Jesuit order. Like many of the other saints, he wasn't such a straight-laced guy at the beginning... In fact, he was a soldier who hungered for death...

Here's a life lesson: happiness is a choice. A few people have said that I am similar to Joy in Inside Out . I try, I really do. There are days that are good and easy but there are days when I fake it until I make it (through the day). When the going is rough, all I can do is look at life through  rose-coloured glasses . Unfortunately, some of those off-days came as June closed and July began.  The days leading up to my birthday weren't so good so I didn't feel like celebrating my birthday this year. But I did learn something on those days: steer clear from people who feel that they are in the centre of other people's universes. It is not often that I am made to feel that I am not supposed to be where I am or that I am smaller than I am because these people feel that they're VIPs; less so so close to my birthday.  While the start of the month wasn't so good, the rest of my birthday week was okay. I still bought my chocolate mousse cake and ate it. I wal...

I honestly thought that a looking glass would play a major role in this film; instead, clocks. The looking glass was just Alice's way to travel between her world and Underland. And for me, the looking-glass successfully blurred the lines of red and white. Characters are all carrying a tinge of pink. Time. I had thought that its embodiment was the enemy. Particularly because it demands patience. Apparently, Alice was the antagonist after all. She went to the past to save the Mad Hatter's family but she ended up destroying the fabric of life in Underland. Time warned her of this, by the way, and tried to stop her. But hard-headed Alice just had to do her own thing without thinking of the consequences. ... And consequences she did realise. With the clock ticking, she learned that her meddling wouldn't have much of an impact because of the invisible but omnipresent character, Fate. She had hoped to stop an accident, which she did; and then a second accident happened. Hello, Pr...

"Heto ako, basang-basa sa ulan, walang masisilungan, walang malalapitan. Sana'y may luha pa akong mailuluha at nang mabawasan ang aking kalungkutan." (Aegis, 1998) I am not familiar with Aegis (the Filipino rock band) though I've heard their songs frequently being sung at videoke bars by friends. The band is known for power ballads with raw vocal belting by the singer/s. And their songs are highly relatable to Filipinos. A stroke of genius, it truly was, when someone thought of putting the band's song into a musical. The final product is the Philippine Educational and Theatre Association's (PETA) "Rak of Aegis". I trooped to PETA's Phinma Theatre in Quezon City with Krishna, Man, Ate Bing, Ate Mary, and Pogs on a Friday afternoon. We braved the EDSA traffic and the small side roads leading to the theatre (thank you, Waze!). It took us a bit more than three hours to get there, as expected, but we came just in time to find parking and have...

I was drawn to watch this film because Tom Hanks is one of the stars. He played the role of the father of a child living with Asperger syndrome, a mental disability, marked by diminished social capability in the child. Oskar, the child, was only able to communicate well with his father and eventually with his grandfather. He did not have a good relationship with his mother, who was often relegated to the background. The close relationship between father and son was marked by their preoccupation with scavenger hunts. These games put Oskar in a position to communicate with other people. The fun and games abruptly ended on that fateful morning of September 11th, 2001 . Oskar's father was in one of the two World Trade Centre towers and he died when the building collapsed. It was a pretty traumatic experience for Oskar but somehow, through his father's effects, he was able to conjure a last scavenger hunt. One of the most difficult for him to do because his father wasn't b...

This is the first live-action version of Tarzan that I watched. I'm not sure how historically accurate this is but it was the apt movie choice after the discussion I had at brunch on Sunday with Nikos, Denis, and Hélène. See, as we were eating, our discussion led to colonisation. The Philippines, Senegal, and Peru were all colonies of European nations at one point or the other. Peru (1) gained independence from Spain in 1824. Spain ceded the Philippines (which had declared independence) to the United States of America in 1898. The Philippines gained independence from the USA in 1946 (2). Senegal (3) is the youngest nation represented at the breakfast table because it became independent from France in 1960. In contrast, Greece is one of the world's oldest civilisations. But it also had its share of colonisers before it became recognised as a state in the 1830s (4). And so as Denis, Nikos, and I took our seats at the cinema, I found it serendipitous that we chose to watc...

I've been wondering how my birthday would be unique this year. And then it happened: the FIBA Olympic Qualifier Tournament was being hosted by the Philippines! Val, Denis, Nikos, Hélène, and I went to the SM Mall of Asia Arena to watch the basketball games. My mission, which I accepted (from Krishna) was to have a photo with Tony Parker, of L'équipe de France. Wait, who? Tony Parker? Eva Longoria's Tony Parker?!? NBA celebrity Tony Parker?!? Why is Tony Parker playing for France?!?!? Obviously, I am not an avid follower of basketball. I enjoyed watching it back in the day with my dad because I associated basketball-watching with Shakey's Manager's Choice pizza . And then there's Michael Jordan (who, apparently, has retired long time ago).  Anyway, so I got general admission and upper box tickets... which meant we were watching the games (the eliminations and the semis) from some of the highest seats in the venue. These were good places to watch, if ...

Pintô Art Museum, Antipolo, Rizal —The province of Rizal has always been known as a hub of visual arts. For some strange reason, many painters and sculptors hail from this province. Angono  is a town known for its artworks. It's literally an outdoor art gallery, the last time I was there! Anyway, my annual art/culture field trip to celebrate Jose Rizal's birthday led me (with my friends) to Silangan Gardens in Rizal, to visit Pintô Art Museum. Pintô Art Museum opens its door (get it?) to people who want to see contemporary art and to learn how to decipher and appreciate the artists' messages. Of course, everything in the museum is subject to the viewers' interpretation but it's also healthy to listen in on what the artist wanted to say through the piece. I am not  a fan of contemporary art—I've seen quite a few modern art museums and I'd always left scratching my head in puzzlement—so this, to me, was a welcome arts appreciation lesson. L...

This is one of my favourite photos with my parents... back during that brief period when I was an only child. Hehe. Happy birthday, Daddy!