one darn good film

It was one of the classics na matagal ko na dapat hinanap at pinanood. Coz when I saw it yesterday in Fox Movies, I realized I’ve been missing out on one of the best films Hollywood ever produced.

Hindi ko sya naumpisahan. Ang inabot ko ay yong eksena where Joanna (Meryl Streep) was saying goodbye to Ted (Dustin Hoffman). In fact, it was Meryl’s face that stopped me from clicking the remote control further. I’m a sucker for Meryl’s films – that I’ve confessed a long time ago.

And boy was I delighted nang ma-realize ko na ito yong Kramer vs Kramer! Must be my lucky day. I stopped fiddling with my laptop, never took my eyes off the tv set and got lost with the riveting drama presented scene after scene after scene.

The film was made in 1979. Kasagsagan ng feminism at women’s lib ideology. That’s why the plot presented a different twist. Normally kasi sa mga family drama, it was the husband leaving the family. Dito, it was Joanna who left her husband Ted and young son Billy ‘to find herself’.

What followed was the story of how Ted struggled to keep pace with two very demanding roles – an advertising executive and a father to a young son. He loses out on the first, but was successful in the latter. Ang ganda nong development ng relasyon between Ted and Billy that led to a strong bond between father and son.

Only to be interrupted nong bumalik na ang mother (Joanna) to claim right to her son. Nagkaroon ng courtroom drama when the custody battle ensued. Joanna won the right to her son but the story provided an ending which is more sensitive and morally correct than the court ruling.

Ang maganda dito, balanse yong presentation ng sides ni Joanna at Ted. You can empathize with both and it will make you struggle if you will take sides. At first, kampi ako kay Ted. But I got to understand Joanna and felt for her too.

It won Best Picture sa Oscars in 1979. Totally agree. The story, in it’s wonderfully simple plot, was successful in bringing a whole gamut of emotions into the screen. Very effective yong editing, even the musical score and the cinematography. In short, it’s a very well crafted film kaya deserving din si Robert Benton in his Best Director award.

It also won Best Writing from Another Medium (today I think it’s called Best Screenplay Adaptation) for Benton and Avery Corman who was the author of the novel the movie was based from.

Dustin Hoffman, of course, deserves his Best Actor trophy as well as Meryl who got her first Oscar. Kaso, it was Best Supporting Actress. Which puzzled me dahil lead naman yong role nya. kahit pa sabihing kakaunti yong sequences nya sa film, it could never be considered supporting dahil sya ang lead female character. Ah well, just one of the many Oscar blunders.

But the main dramatic fiber of the film was the kid, Billy, effectively portrayed by the then 7-yr old Justin Henry. In fact, it was his character that pulled the film together. Magaling si Dustin. Magaling si Meryl. Pero mas magaling yong bata. Dahil kung hindi sya ganon kagaling, hindi lalabas na ganon ka-heart wrenching yong film.

Sya ang medyo nagpa-iyak sa akin ng dalawang beses. Una nong nag-sorry sya sa father nya after throwing a tantrum over dinner. Second, nong tinutulungan nyang mag-luto ang Daddy nya the day before na susunduin sya ng Mom nya. Simple yong eksena, walang dialog. Pero matindi ang dating. Galing-galing ng bata! If I could only rewrite Oscar’s history, sya ang papanalunin ko for Best Supporting Actor. (Sabi sa official Oscar site, he remains to be the youngest Oscar nominee till this date.)

Naalala ko tuloy yong The Pursuit of Happyness ni Will Smith and his real-life son Jaden Smith. Ito yong mga klase ng films na dapat mapanood ng lahat ng mga father. Coz once in a while, we have to be reminded how wonderful father and son relationship can be.

TheTailor is a joke... #politics would be great if...

TheTailor is a joke... #politics would be great if he were to disappear.

My Daily Mugshot

Daily Mugshot

Daily Mugshot is a free service which helps you chronicle daily images of yourself and share them as an animated sequence.

• We have widgets which you can place on your profile or blog and they automatically update when you take new mugshots. (You can always make your mugshots private so only you can see them.)
• Getting started is really easy, all you need is a webcam, digital camera, or camera-phone! Get Started!

My Daily Mugshot vanaf vandaag zal ik een heel jaar lang , een foto nemen , met gebruik van de webcam kijk in de sidebar voor regelmatige updates

being irresponsible

An old (I mean long time, but still young) friend who’s in Australia e-mailed me last week, nagku-kwento tungkol sa trabaho. Medyo ma-emote yong kilometric mail nya na pinag-tyagaan ko namang basahin. In the end, he’s thinking of quitting his job and, unbelievably stupid enough to consider being jobless for the meantime. Gustong umuwi muna ng Pinas.

Alam ko kung bakit ako ang naisip nyang i-email among our group. Kasi he knew I was once damn stupid in my life too. Coz back in 2000 until the latter half of 2003, when I was in Manila, I chose to be irresponsible and just lived my life the way I wanted it to be. At na-kwento ko sa grupo ko yong mga pinag-gagawa ko noon. Kaya yong takbo ng mail nya, nagku-kwento but in the end fishing for advice from someone like me who’s ‘been there, done that’.

I-share ko lang sa inyo yong reply ko (kung mahaba yong mail nya, mas mahaba ang reply ko! Hehehehe!). Here goes…

‘Lam mo, pa-simple ka pa but I know what you’re tryin to say is : kung nakaya kong magpaka-irresponsible in my life, then you can too. Well, maybe yes, maybe no. Kasi iba naman yong powers ko sa powers mo! Heheheh… but of course, naman, it’s your life so you’ve got all the right to do whatever you want. Kaya lang, let me say a few things bago mo ako tuluyang sisihin for putting ideas into your head.

I chose to be jobless during those days kasi may naipon naman ako kahit papano. In fact, kaya ako tumigil sa work noon, I was thinking of putting up my own business. Hindi lang natuloy. But even if I chose to spend my life in a different way, may katinuan pa rin ako. I was being carefree but not careless.

Kahit panay ang lakwatsa ko, I was living through my own. I never bothered anybody when it comes to my finances. At kahit puro lakwatsa ang ginagawa ko, I didn’t let go of my other responsibilities. I was still sending money regurlarly to my mom who has already acquired some lifestyle kahit pa nasa probinsya sya. Di pwedeng walang katulong yon huh.

Eh ikaw, may savings ka ba? Parang 5 years ka na dyan sa work mo but you haven’t said a word about buying your dream condo. Nabili mo na ba? Well, siguro naman may naipon ka. Baka nasa bangko lahat ang pera mo. O paycheck to paycheck ka pa rin kasi puro ka pa rin gadgets and gimmicks!

Coz it sounds alarming when you said ‘bahala na si mom and dad’ and somewhere binanggit mo pa na ‘I can always ask Ate Jen for money, hehehe’ hmmm, doesn’t look good. I know mayaman kayo kaya your mom and dad will have no problem in giving you money. Or your Ate ***** (if I remember it right, sya yong nasa New York?). But think about it. I never knew one single strand of your hair would ever be capable of begging. Parang hindi ikaw yan! Eh alam ko ang taas din ng pride mo eh!

Tsaka yong reason mo for quitting, wala akong makitang valid reason. Wala ka namang ka-aaway sa trabaho. You said okey naman yong boss mo, yong job mo and the pay is good. You’ve been promoted once. So you’re not doing badly. Ano’ng reklamo mo? Ikaw kaya dito sa Saudi, tingnan ko lang! hehehe…

Lam mo, ang nakita ko, tinatamad ka lang. Maybe you need new challenges in your life. Maybe you need a new girlfriend. O kaya mag-asawa ka na, 29 ka na diba? Bilang ka kasi ng bilang ng girlfriend. O baka naman yon ang dapat mong baguhin, wag ka na magbilang. Stick to one na lang! hahahaha!

But seriously, if you’ve got no valid reason to do it, don’t. Don’t you ever think na nagawa ko yon just for the heck of it. Wag mo akong bolahin huh. Anong live life, be free-spirited, no worries just do it ka dyan! Gawin mo pa akong Nike ad!!!

Hindi naman ako baliw noh! Yong sa akin, I have one very good reason kung bakit ko ginawa yon. Self gratification. Yup. Magpaka-lalim ka muna and hear me out.

Kasi ang tagal kong nag-work (you still remember I spent 10 long years in Saudi before that, right?). And I felt I’m missing out a lot in life. Marami akong bagay na hindi nagawa dahil buhat pa noong nag-aaral pa lang ako, I was already working. Kaya sabi ko, I owe it to myself naman. Do even half of the things I’ve never done before. Experience life before it’s too late.

So I went horseback riding in Tagaytay na hindi ko nagawa sa buong buhay ko. And overcome my fear of water kaya panay ang beach or swimming pool ko (hindi man nawala pero I think nabawasan naman - but still I haven’t learned to swim hehehehe). Naka-punta ako ng Manaoag and said a few prayers I haven’t prayed before. Been to Gumaca (muntik pa ngang umabot ng Bicol noh), Pangasinan, Cebu and many other places na hindi ko napupuntahan. Kasi sabi ko, it’s a shame coz I’ve been to several countries na but never seen other places in Pinas.

I did all these kasi ang katwiran ko, pag matanda na ako at saka ko to gagawin, it’s not right anymore. Di ba it looks ridiculous na isang matanda na eh humahataw pa sa dancefloor? O kaya gimik pa rin kaliwa’t kanan? Tsaka mahirap nang mag-lakwatsa pag may rayuma na di ba! That I wouldn’t wanna go through. So I was just making up for lost time. In ways na kaya ko.

And now that I’ve gone through it, I’ll quietly fade away and mellow down my old age hehehe!!! Kaya ngayon, kayod na ako for my retirement years (matagal pa naman yon!).

Ang point ko, yong mga years na akala mo sinayang ko doing nothing, are actually years of value to me. Kahit yong mga ginastos ko, those were money well spent. Coz the experiences I got from it are priceless. And they would make me a better person pagtanda ko. Yon yon.

Eh ikaw, anong purpose mo? Wala lang, tinatamad ka lang.

Hindi ko gagawing reason sa yo yong statistics ng unemployment at sasabihing ‘naku, sa dami ng walang trabaho ngayon’, etc… coz that’s irrelevant. Ke maraming unemployed ngayon sa mundo, it doesn’t mean anything to you kung tinatamad ka.

Kung katamaran ang pag-uusapan, I think you can’t beat me. But the thing is, mas malakas ang will power ko to achieve my goals. And that you have to work on. So don’t let your katamaran lord over you. Don’t let your stupidity run you over by quitting your work unnecessarily. I-set mo lang ng mabuti ang goals mo and your priorities in life. Then re-inforce your will power to achieve those goals.

Pag nagawa mo na yon and still think of quitting, ay, talo mo na ako sa katamaran! Hahahaha!!!

I said a few more personal things towards the end of the mail pero yon na yon, basically. As I always do before posting anything here, I asked myself, anong mapupulot ng bloggers ko dito? Well, I hope you can spot a thing or two. About work. And retirement, perhaps? (Why do I hear my friend Raoul laughing!??? Hahahaha!!!)

on the newsfront

Melamine

China must have re-invented itself on the eyes of international community via the spectacular Olympic Games. But barely two months since that grandiose showcase comes one devastating event that must have reversed whatever positive image they gained.

The milk scandal that is currently hitting the headlines can tarnish reputation of the Chinese products – and in the process the entire Chinese nation - once again. Babies dying from infant formula laced with melamine is such a painful picture being splashed over tv screens all over the world. Recent reports also said that the lethal melamine is also found in other liquid milk products as well as ice cream.

This puts the quality, not only of milk, infant formulas and ice cream, but the entire Chinese consumer products in question. And that is bad news for the Chinese trading economy with billions of dollars worth of Chinese products being dumped in every corner of the globe.

I, myself, would be very careful to see labels of products I’m buying, specially food items. Most probably, anything made in China will not make it’s way to my shopping cart. At least for now.


Shorting

The recent crash of Lehman Brothers, the US’ largest credit bank, created such huge ripple across global stock markets. And in the last few days, government of the nation’s wealthiest nations started injecting billions of dollars to soften the impact of the credit crunch.

I’m no economist and I barely understand all these stocks brouhaha. But according to Veronica Pedrosa on her report this morning in Al-Jazeera, this crash of the stock markets came from an illegal trading practice called Short-Selling or, simply, shorting. As Veronica explained, shorting is obviously a dirty trick used by greedy stock brokers to make quick bucks at the expense of the stock market.

What baffles me is that this shorting has already caused major stocks crash during the 20’s. And now it’s happening again. Maybe the technocrats and politicians should come up with more stringent measures to prevent it happening all over again. Hang the crooks right above the trading floor and let them die of noise pollution.

What do I care in this stocks collapse you might say? Well, if the economy of the wealthiest nations collapse, specially US, we are sure to suffer since our economy is helplessly dependent on these giants. A slight fever on their stock markets can send convulsion to our very frail economy. And that is where we all would suffer.


The Presidentiables

McCain and Obama is already trading barbs on the US Presidential race. They have to - election is just a couple of months away. But it's nothing compared to what's happening in the Philippines. It’s still 2 years before the Filipinos select another President (that is, if Gloria’s ChaCha takes the wrong steps before 2010) but the president-wannabes are already at it.

Villar who’s consistently leading popularity survey is making the headlines lately, all for the wrong reasons. He is said to be responsible for billions of pesos worth of projects spuriously inserted into the national budget.

Lacson, another wanna-be is the person behind the ‘expose’, directly accusing Villar of the questionable insertions. What more, Lacson is also including other prominent senators in his accusation.

Filipinos can look at it in two ways. Those who are pro-Villar will say it’s a demolition tactic by Lacson to besmirch the reputation of Villar who is obviously the one to beat in the 2010 presidential race.

For those who are pro-Lacson, they will say it’s Lacson’s tough and hard-hitting exposes that will save us from making another mistake in choosing our President.

But for me, I’m just sick and tired of all these politicians. It doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong. It doesn’t matter who’s mudslinging who. To me, they are all one and the same.

Only those who can step up and do the job will earn my respect. Those who can rally the nation’s economy to prosperity, rid the government of greedy officials and bring the Philippines to it’s maximum potential as one of Asia’s powerful countries.

Until it happens, these politicians may slug it out on the boxing ring, use each other as dart boards or wrestle each other on the murky waters of pasig - for all I care.

Gold Coast Lifestyle

Gold Coast lifestyle from Brett Clements on Vimeo.

via Ursisblog

Cellsea Photo Editer

The Photo Editer Cellsea has a nice distortion tool, but also the effects are worthwhile, even text is possibly, the most editers have many similarities, it is always useful to compare them , I will soon add a label with only Photo Editers Online.

De Foto Editer Cellsea heeft een leuke distortion tool , maar ook de effects zijn de moeite waard , ook tekst toevoegen is mogenlijk , de meeste editers hebben vele overeenkomsten toch is het handig om ze eens te vergelijken , zal binnenkort een label toevoegen met alleen maar Photo Editers Online , hoef je er alleen maar op te klikken.

the one, the only

i thought i already knew lani misalucha. sa tagal ko nang sinusundan ang career nya. sya lang ang pinag-tyagaan kong panoorin sa tv during her sop days. at sya lang ang pinag-aaksayahan ko ng panahon na panoorin sa concert, kahit parang hilong talilong akong maghanap ng concert ticket nya na lagi namang sold-out long before the date.

sanay na akong makita syang magpaka-soprano doing a nessun dorma or an italian version of my heart will go on. sanay na akong makita syang mag-impersonate ng mga american divas via her medley of barbra-celine-whitney medleys. it's no longer a surprise to see her comfotably singing the prayer with no intimidation beside josh groban. at mas lalong hindi na bago sa akin na humilata sya sa stage while belting out loving you and still hit the highest of highest notes! nobody in the philippine music scene can do all of this. sya lang.

but never did i know na sa dinami-dami na ng kayang gawin ng kanyang versatility, meron pa palang hindi ko nakikita. and that is, kayang-kaya din pala nyang magpaka-jologs doing a song na normally ay paborito ng mga tambay sa kanto. pati pala laklak minasaker na rin ng galing ng babaeng ito! (and by masaker i mean rakistang-rakista ang dating nya huh).

i found it in youtube and at first i couldn't believe the video titles i'm seeing. lani misalucha - laklak! whaatt? i was intrigued kung paanong ang isang napakagaling na singer, classy and with the elegance of a real diva can do justice to a song like that. pero iba talaga ang totoong talent. kahit saan mo dalhin, kahit anong ipakanta mo, lalabas at lalabas talaga ang galing.

this version of was taken during NU awards back in 95 pa pala. mas maganda sana yong mas bagong clip taken from her glorietta performance kasi may spiel pa sya at the end of the song that made me laugh. kaso disabled ang embedding kaya ito na lang. (search nyo na lang sa youtube at matatawa rin kayo. title: lani misalucha in glorietta - laklak).

turn up the volume and see why, among the many local talents, lani's got the only real claim to the title diva.

my latest inaanak

sa dami na ng inaanak ko, i must admit i've already lost count. in fact i have to do some serious recalling and listing para lang maalala ko silang lahat. and you know very well na pag ganon, it only means marami na akong inaanak na hindi nakikita and therefore marami na akong 'utang' sa kanila! hmmm... buti na lang ito yong klase ng utang na walang interest at walang due date.... hehehe...

lately, a good neighbor of mine again gave me the honor of being a part of their precious blessing. i said it's precious kasi after three lovely daughters, naka-baby boy din ang kumpareng robert and kumareng rose ko. baby rohn aiden was the missing piece to what is now one complete, happy family.

sayang lang coz i wasn't available during the binyagan coz of work and i had to be proxied by my dear buddy na si mau. anyways, here's the pix of my latest inaanak. i'm darn proud to be ninong of this cute angel!

Yacht and Photo Fun Generators Online

Cool Stuff from PowerLayout.com

ugly but real

in my recent abu dhabi – manila flight, may nakasabay akong isang kababayan nating dh na talagang nakaka-awa ang nangyari. another case of abused ofw si kabayan.

hindi ko agad naintindihan kung bakit parang nagkakagulo yong ilang kabayan sa kabilang aisle from where i was sitting. at hindi ako naki-usyoso coz they were blocking the aisle eh madalian pa naman yong boarding kasi almost late na yong flight. pero dahil isa sa mga uzi na manang eh malakas ang boses, nakuha ko yong buong story. si kabayang dh, inapi ng amo nya. pinaso ng plantsa ang kanyang right arm, pinasakay ng eroplano pauwi ng pinas na ang suot ay pambahay at walang ibang dala except her passport and ticket.

at si manang na uzi, malakas ang boses habang kausap sya. sa galit siguro sa nakitang kapalaran ni kabayan. sino nga bang hindi magagalit sa ganong pang-aabuso. tinawag pa ni manang yong isang cabin attendant para ipakita yong paso ni kabayang dh. eh ano namang magagawa nong attendant kungdi bigyan ng pain reliever si kabayan.

nong nabawasan na yong mga uzi, doon ko lang nakita si kabayang dh. she was weeping miserably. at talagang heartless ka na pag hindi ka naawa sa ganong sitwasyon. napa-iling na lang ako, took a deep breath and closed my eyes to say a quick prayer para sa kanya. somehow, pinag-pasalamat ko pa rin na makakauwi sya sa pamilya niya ng buhay unlike other extreme cases na madalas na nating marinig.

nong medyo tumahimik na sila at naka-upo na lahat, saka ako tumayo at lumapit kay kabayan, took her hand at inipit ang konting halaga na alam kong kahit paano ay magagamit nyang pamasahe pauwi sa kanila (i heard she’s from some province in the north). when she realized na inabutan ko sya ng pera, umiyak na naman sya. hindi ako agad nakapag-salita. ang hirap palang mag-console pag ganon. i might have mumbled something to encourage her pero hindi ko alam kung ano yong sinabi ko. bumalik na lang ulit ako sa upuan ko kasi feeling ko, kumalma na si kabayan pero pina-iyak ko na naman.

but my guilt soon disappeared kasi nakita ko, other people followed suit. nilapitan din sya at inabutan ng pera. dahil sa totoo lang, comforting words can help in that situation but it won’t buy her a bus ticket, even a jeepney ride to get to the bus station.

when we deplaned in manila, nakita ko ulit sya. tumigil na sa pag-iyak. at kahit paano ay maaliwalas na ang mukha. she must have felt the safety home soil can offer. doon ko lang sya nakausap ng maayos. it may be a one-minute conversation pero sana kahit paano, nabigyan ko sya ng kaunting encouragement not to lose faith in life. nag-thank you sya at ngumiti na kahit konti.

actually, hindi na bago para sa akin ang kaso nya. coz a few years back, napaligiran din ako sa upuan ko sa eroplano ng mga kabayang dineport pauwi ng pinas. 2 or 3 guys plus a couple more of girls na lahat galing sa riyadh. lahat mga tumakas sa amo nila for different reasons. yong isa, ilang buwan na raw hindi pinapasuweldo. yong isa, sinasaktan. different stories pero isa lang ang pinupuntahan – lahat sila, mga inabusong manggagawa.

ang kwento nila sa akin, sa kulungan na sila nagka-kilala. kasi nakulong sila ng ilang linggo bago dineport. dahil nagpahuli daw sila sa jawasat (was it labor o immigration office? i’m not sure). at kaya naman daw sila nagpahuli sa jawasat, para maka-uwi daw sila agad ng pinas. dahil, again, according to them, yon daw ang suggestion ng ating embassy. kung gusto mong maka-uwi agad, magpahuli ka. makukulong ka nga saglit pero madali ka namang makakauwi ng pinas.

kasi daw, pag sa embassy ka nag-antay ng repatriation, natatagalan. i don’t know how true. pero dati nga, nakita ko sa isang tv report na tambak ang mga run-away workers under the care ng ating embassy. matagal siguro ang formalities ng papeles. plus, syempre ibibili pa ng plane ticket. siguro ganon. sana naman nag-improve na ito by now.

anyways, back to the group ng mga kabayan natin, umuwi din sila ng pinas na walang dala kahit ano. yon nga raw mga cel phone nila, sinamsam pa ng mga pulis na naghatid sa kanila sa eroplano. porke bawal daw ang cp sa eroplano. obviously, dinenggoy sila. kawawa na nga, ninakawan pa.

buti na lang may load yong smart roaming ko. dahil pag-touch down namin ng manila, nakiusap silang magamit yong cp ko para matawagan nila yong mga family nila at masundo sila sa airport.

with these experiences, lagi kong tinatanim sa isip ko na marami pa rin talaga akong dapat ipag-pasalamat sa Diyos. that in my years ng pagta-trabaho sa ibang bansa, hindi ko dinanas ang pang-aabusong inabot ng mga kababayan natin. i’m still one blessed soul to have found decent jobs, decent employers (well, almost) and decent salary (again, almost! hehehe).

dahil sa totoo lang, madalas nating makita sa tv at mabasa sa dyaryo ang mga kaso ng abused ofw. but it’s entirely different pag ikaw mismo ang nakakita. it’s such an ugly face of reality that, unfortunately, migrant workers have to deal with. kawawa ang mga nakakaranas nito. kaya tayong mga hindi naging biktima nito, we should realize how lucky we are. and be thankful for it everyday of our ofw lives.

Verjaardagskaart.nl

New from the Dutch TNT POST the VerjaardagsKaartenMaakMachine within a few minute you make your original birthday card or e-card.

Nieuw van TNT POST met de VerjaardagsKaartenMaakMachine maak je binnen een paar minuten zelf een origineele kaart of e-card.