Excerpt from Watchmen

Been meaning to post this entry, but I was afraid to appear a hopeless romantic. 
But what the heck! I thought I should post something warm for a change.


Never thought I would love this movie so much that I even took the effort of looking for its movie script online.

...and out of the dark and cynical plot, comes this utmost sincere and heartfelt scene:

Jon took Laurie to Mars and asked her to stop him from banishing humanity. Somewhere in between, this conversation happened.

LAURIE:My life is just...

...one big joke.

JON:I don't think your life is a joke.

LAURIE:Yeah, well...

...I'm sorry if I don't trust your sense of humor.

JON:Will you smile...

...if I admit I was wrong?

LAURIE:About what?

JON:Miracles.

Events with astronomical odds of occurring...

...like oxygen turning into gold.

I've longed to witness such an event,and yet I neglect...

...that in human coupling...

...millions upon millions of cells compete to create life...

...for generation after generation...

...until finally, your mother...

...Ioves a man...

...Edward Blake, the Comedian,a man she has every reason to hate...

...and out of that contradiction,against unfathomable odds...

...it's you...

Only...

...you.

- that emerged.

To distill so specific a form...

...from all that chaos...

...is like turning air into gold.

A miracle.

The Comedian

Upon our encounters with fictions, we often see characters whom remind us of certain people; might that be ourselves, a neighbor, or that person whom you see you ride the train with every morning. It’s always interesting to understand real people from fictional contexts.
Hence, this has inspired me to start a blog series featuring fictional characters that remind us about real actual people.
For my debut post, I’m featuring this mustached amigo.
Name: Edward Blake, “The Comedian”
Movie: Watchmen

“…
Blake understood.
Humans are savage in nature.
No matter how much you try
to dress it up...
...to disguise it...
...Blake saw society's true face.
Chose to be a parody of it. A joke.
 
I heard a joke once.
Man goes to doctor, says he's depressed.
Life seems harsh and cruel.
Says he feels all alone
in threatening world.
Doctor says treatment is simple.
‘The great clown Pagliacci is in town.
Go see him.
That should pick you up.’
Man bursts into tears.
‘But doctor,’ he says. ‘I am Pagliacci.’
Good joke.
Everybody laugh.
Roll on snare drum.
Curtains.”

- Rorschach (Watchmen)

I Am Back!

Hello! 

It’s been a while since I last put something here. I blamed work, since I rarely have time to turn on the computer when I get home. I’d rather spend the remaining hours of the day goofing off and annoying my brother.

But then I realized that it’s such a lousy excuse since I always find time at work staring at an inactive computer screen and making paper cranes that always turn out into something else.

Anyway, if you’re wondering what I’ve been up to (I bet you don’t) these past months I’ve been absent (I’m pretending that someone actually cares and loyally follows what I’ve been posting here). I’ve been at work. (Duh?) And this has inspired me to do this post.

Things I would rather do:

1. Sleep

(After graduation, I’ve been indulging myself with 10 hours of sleep everyday.

And now I feel so deprived.)

2. Go to the dentist

(I’m supposed to get my braces off-three months ago. )

3. Visit my Cousins

(I miss doing irrelevant stuff with them.)

4. Doodle

5. Have a Movie Marathon

6. Learn how to cook

(I don’t think I’m hopeless)

7. Learn how to drive

8. Shop

There.

I feel so awesome being able to post something at blogger without getting caught.

I’m not sure if this make sense, I think I’m gonna edit this when I get home. Or not. I’m lazy.

Thank You Google Maps!

Not only do they have maps for any place around the world, they give very awesomely practical directions as well!

Directions from China to Taiwan:

On Falcon, Ondoy, etc.

 

photo courtesy by inquirer.net

 
Hello rain! Come. Pour. I spread my arms in welcome.
I want to feel you fall, pressed, on my skin. Let me saturate, until I am cleaned.
 
Geez. It’s raining hard. Floods are everywhere. People will have a hard time sleeping later.
OH LORD, LET THIS BE NOT ANOTHER ONDOY!
As for us… Because we have a paranoid mother, we've just evacuated from our home in San Mateo and moved to our shop in East Ave.. We’ll be spending the night here until the rain subsides. I don’t think it’ll flood in our area though. But since the aftermath of Ondoy was nothing we’ve expected, I didn’t oppose mommy anymore. Well, better take precautions than to regret it later! And besides, we can’t neglect mother’s instincts.
I was at school when Ondoy happened. I was informed of what’s happening outside, but didn’t take it seriously. The news passed in and out of my ears like any regular gossip. So in the midst of all the floods, panic, and traffic, I managed to goof around, without knowing the degree of seriousness of all the chaos. Little did I know that it will cause my family a near death trauma and a short period of deprivation. But hey! On the Brightside, at least I got to live my dream of being a nomad for a while. (Yes, that’s my dream. For reasons you will only understand if you know me well) We will never forget that experience.
Hope everyone’s okay! Stay safe friends!

Grace Kelly

I love her. She radiates grace and beauty indeed as royalty.

IF: Lesson

Books are for learning– to walk in high heels.

This should be my first entry in Illustration Friday, but I didn’t meet the deadline.   I didn't want to waste the picture so it's still posted here.
Tomorrow will be my first day in Wilma Cruz Tapalla Institute of Speech, Etiquette & Image. I’m excited but a bit nervous-because I’m always nervous. Frank as I am in this blog, I’m as awkward as a cow on roller skates in person. Hopefully by the end of the whole thing, I’ll be like Miss Poise.

Kapre

A kapre is a giant Filipino mythical creature that lives on a tree. Kapres are considered demons, but they are genuinely known for their harmless nature (at least that’s what I’ve heard). They are often characterized as hippie bearded male smokers; they are famous for being giant cigar smoking bum men. Have never really heard stories about kapres of the opposite sex. Thus, I drew this.

My very own adaptation of a female kapre.

A close up of her face.

To Bake a Cake, You’ll Need Flower

Sorry, this is not about baking cakes. Just wanted to post this picture.

This was when I was eating my heart out at Red Ribbon. My stomach had enough that I wasn’t able to stuff my last 2 bites of chocolate cake down to it anymore.

I was bored and I didn’t  want to let the food go to waste. So I grabbed my fork and doodled this on it.

…Get it?? Cake, flower? as in flour?

ok, never mind.

What’s Bizarre?

Don’t you love old movies? Those movies that seem so primal, yet you find yourself relating to it. You see the exact same kind of characters, issues, and situations we people deal with then and now. Proving history do repeat itself.

Lately, I’ve been hooked up to this movie, The Breakfast Club, to the point that I probably have watched it for the 10th time already.

And I’d probably watch it again and again ‘til I memorize every line, scene, and entrance of each character. Yeah, that’s how I’m in love with it. Haha!

Here’s one of my favorite scenes.

The Sitch : They are 5 very different people, all strangers with each other, stuck in their school's library on a Saturday for detention.

ANDREW: You're just pissed off because she got you to admit something you didn't want to admit to... 

CLAIRE: Okay, fine, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre... 

ANDREW: What's bizarre? I mean we're all pretty bizarre! Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all.

Mom

for Gigi Lorico

She loves how your hair coils

and sticks to the skin

of your sweaty nape,

forming intricate patterns

of rings and waves.

Your skin, pale and soft,

Reminding her of the clouds you watch

drifting across the skies,

like how dreams move to and fro your mind.

Dreams not only of gold and mansions

And other worldly possessions,

But of greener pastures, clear streams;

A peaceful scene.

Dreams; things you were once hopeful for,

But wistfully passed along to her

All through the toil

Of sapping pellets of sweat

from your skin,

on your nape,

below your scruffy bun,

now visible to her eyes.

August

I witness lightning forking like an erratic dance

while the rain pours the hardest in August.

The grasslands turn crisp, brown as the season

reverts its hottest on a May day.

I like to feel the fresh mist of dawn on my just woken face,

watch the clouds crawl

across the sky, being blinded for a moment by the round sun,

and count until the moon soars up, leading a march of stars.

We may not see it,

but the cells on our skins are constantly wrinkling.

At times the clock gets broken and stops ticking,

But time will not relent.

Like a girl entering her first period,

or a middle aged woman going through meno-

pause,

there’s always the arrival of August.

The Archeologist

She examined the traces of a leaf

fossilized on the solid asphalt soil.

As she touched the embossed print,

she theorized what grows before

the tall industrialized rectangular trees.

With the sun assisting

She scanned her surroundings.

She then wondered what swarms before

those vigorous aluminum vehicles

lining on the road like huge versions of ants.

In this forest of metals and steels

her hunting begins

of the infamous myth-

The Garden of Eden.

She searched with science,

measured with mathematics,

to rediscover the lost paradise,

or at least formulate hypothesis

to her queries.

But as the truthful sunlight reveals,

 all she found

were relics and dust

of the once prestigious refuge,

floating in the atmosphere.

Kerri

Colored & Charcoal Pencils on Paper

Mannequin

High Lighters and Ballpoint on Paper

I'm sorry about the bad quality, I'm using my cam phone. 

4 am

A friend shared me this video. It's about the coincidence of this time, being involved with prominent people, events, and culture. Rives here talked about 4 am and how it seems to always mix up with such stuff, despite the fact of being supposedly the most placid time of the day. Watch this video before reading through.

Rives: Is 4 a.m. the new midnight?

Disclaimer: I know that this talk is purely for entertainment only and has no intentions of being taken seriously. Please don't mock me if you think I'm being too opinionated about it and I put too much effort on explaining myself. And yes, I did a little research for this blog. (Don't laugh, it's a short and easy research lang naman.) I just like entertaining the idea in my head, okay. (Defensive much? haha)

It's a good observation from poet, Rives. His speech definitely boggled my mind. It might have convinced me a little that there is something magical about 4 am. He displayed enough facts that constitute the mysteries surrounding this time of the day; controversially linking together unrelated people and events that should have no more similarities other than their association to 4 am. It amazed me how Rives was able to connect all these things, but I still doubt it when he said that there might be a hidden code beneath it. Hearing the Da Vinci Code, apocalypse predictions, illuminati rumors, and all these make-believe crap made me realize that people have a knack of connecting things far from related.                

Just for example, this sem break I've been sleeping passed 4 a.m. and I happen to be writing this article about 4 a.m. which also happened to be Patrick Swayze's theme when he wrote his autobiography, "The Time of My Life". Hollywood has noted Patrick Swayze's talent when he appeared in the movie Dirty Dancing, in which he was even nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Actor".  After which though, had been nominated for the Razzie Award for "Worst Actor" for his next two consecutive movies. He's only redeeming point was when he was again nominated for best actor for the very last time when he played the leading man in the movie, "Ghost" which was premiered on the year of 1990.1990, the year that just so happened to be the year I was born with! 

When you think about it, there are loads od facts you can state about every person. And the odds of one of a person’s many facts being connected to one of another person’s many facts shouldn't surprise us at all. Of the many facts that each person could carry, no matter how different and unrelated two persons are, there will always be that one thing they would have in common. Like Patrick Swayze and I. Now matter how bizarre the thought is, this man who was once named “The Sexiest Man Alive” (not that I care about it), share something in common with an average girl like me.

I think the reason why things have been associated with 4 am is that it has earned quite a reputation. It’s being regarded as the idle time of the day when people should be sleeping. Therefore, people have been using 4 am to depict that strangeness of still being awake at this hour and actively doing stuff that’s meant for another time. Kind of like how they used to use 12 midnight on having that uneasy aura of being awake in  most horror films (that could also be found in other genres). 12 midnight however had lost its gist, now that most of the people are still awake during this hour. Maybe this is the reason why people have been opting for 4 am instead. 

So 4 am then maybe is the new midnight?

I'm posting this at exactly 4 am! :D 

But mom has been noticing my erratic sleep habit. She's demanding me to sleep early, before 4 am. Funny, eh? :P

References

• Wikipedia, "Patrick Swayze", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Swayze, accesed 10/29/2010
• Wikipedia, "4 AM",  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_AM, accessed 10/29/2010
• Rives, TEDtalksdirector, Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORYKKNoRcDc, accessed 10/29/2010

Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away!

Sorry for the low quality picture.

What happened when I tuned up its contrast and color

colored pencils on paper

Lost Sketchpad Drawing #2

Girl in the Night Street

colored pencils on paper

Lost Sketchpad Drawing #1

I lost my sketch pad! :(( 

To commemorate it, I'm posting some of my stuff there here. Good thing I managed to scan some of them before i lost it.

How to Shop at Ukay-Ukays

Ladies perk up and go gaga for sale season in malls today! But still, nothing screams good bargain like ukay-ukays do!

A lot of good ukay-ukay stores have been popping everywhere in the Metro. It's not like before when most of the good finds can only be seen as a tourist attraction in Baguio; when scoring a decent piece is like finding a needle in a hay stack.

There are reasons why ukay-ukay is becoming a fast trend today. Uniqueness for one! Try buying a shirt there and you would have a 99% guarantee of not knowing anyone who has the same shirt as yours. Another is all pieces are vintage. If you're looking for that old school kick to add to your style, ukay-ukay is the place to be! You'll find trends that are not sold in boutiques and department stores anymore.

But most importantly, it's thrifty! The most obvious reason why we shop in ukay-ukay and should be our main drive! If you want to have a successful ukay-ukay shopping spree, this should be our mindset: we shop here to save money!

Shopping in ukay-ukay can get pretty intimidating, especially to first timers. There's a lot of racks and stacks of clothes presented in a very unattractive way. Good pieces would look ugly piled with sacks of clothes. Some people would loose interest upon seeing this sight. On the other extreme, some go impulsive and buy almost everything they lay eyes on upon knowing they're cheap. Both behaviors are discouraged. To have the best ukay shopping spree ever, check out these pointers:

Bring alcohol/sanitizer. Ukay-ukays are not the most hygienic places; most of the items are mildly covered with dust (emphasis on "mildy", this shouldn't freak you out). You might wanna dab on alcohol on your hands and body after ransacking and trying out items there.

Look kawawa -seriously. They'll be hesitant to give you discounts if you pose around in gucci's and channel's. If possible, dress as a squatter. The more pathetic you look the bigger the discount they'd be willing to give. This means no speaking in English/Taglish too (you know why).

Set a standard. Don't buy something that will soon fall apaaart- duh! You should know how to identify good quality. Check for holes, tears, stains, etc before spending. Also, make sure the item fits you well.

Hesitation is encouraged. If you grabbed on something decent but you feel like there might be something better, drop it! You will find something better, if not leave and go to another ukay-ukay. Don't settle, be satisfied.

Dig into those mountains of clothes. Don't get intimidated by the clutter and chaos of ukay-ukay. Their items are intentionally arranged and presented that way. It's the sales ladies' way of concealing their favorite pieces they ought to keep themselves from customers.

Have your large bills changed first. Again, how can you look kawawa if you parade one thousand peso bills in front of them.

Put on your poker face. Don't let the sales lady know how you would die for that bag. Show no emotion, or else she'd be hesitant to give you a discount.

Be best friends with the sales ladies. The chummier you get with them, the bigger the discounts they give. Leave them your number so they can update you when the new arrivals come. It never hurts to expand your circle of friends!

Keep in mind these pointers and I guarantee you'll have the best ukay-ukay shopping experience ever!

Moon

The moon is an eye,
strolling along the elliptical tracks
around the earth. Lurking beneath
the sheer sheets of clouds,
enthralled by the scene below.

It encircles the world, roaming
like a tanod¹ with his silent alarm
not even the nocturnal hears,
more so the naive asleep.

You on the other hand
stare back, charmed by its coiled craters,
wondering if they are the source of its enigma.
While the shadows of its crescent light, mark
under your own round eyes.

Because you believe
the world unfolds
in the depths of darkness;
what is hidden in sight
reveals in the absence of light.

Yet, when the equinox comes
the moon remains modest
juxtaposed to the potent sun.



tanod¹
- sentinel n: a Filipino word for one stationed to keep watch and guard against surprises