I write when I am bored... or when I want to let some frustration out, or when I need to write about a movie or book that I just saw/read, or when I just want to talk about basketball. In other words, I write a lot.
He should always be there. You know the line… up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Superman! But there was a time when he just stopped. The Man of Steel left Metropolis and nobody knew where he went. This isn’t the plot of the latest Superman movie. It’s the premise behind Absolute Kingdom Come.
Kingdom Come was a momentous comic event when it was first released in 1996. The combination of Alex Ross’ photorealistic art and Mark Waid’s ominous script had comic fans of all ages stand up and take notice. “How could Superman ever leave Metropolis?” “What do you mean Batman has turned Gotham City into a police state?” “A new generation of heroes is abusing their power?” “How did Captain Marvel turn into a bad guy?” Such statements were a mere sampling of the reactions to Kingdom Come. Ten years after the mini-series was released, DC Comics published an oversized hardcover slipcase edition in Absolute Kingdom Come loaded with special features.
In a possible future, Superman has left Metropolis and most of humanity behind. Batman’s secret identity has been found out, and he rules over Gotham with an army of Bat-robots. Meanwhile, a new generation of metahumans has been abusing their gifts. As a result of their carelessness, a nuclear explosion wipes out a portion of the USA and public distrust is at an all-time high. Entangled in all of this is Pastor Norman McCay. Norman sees visions of conflict and destruction, and is approached by the entity known as The Spectre. The Spectre enlists Norman to bear witness to the developing crisis, and eventually judge if humanity and our so-called heroes will survive.
When the original Kingdom Come came out a decade ago, its powerful message and breathtaking art caused mainstream media to take notice. Waid and Ross examined the role of superheroes and the incredible responsibilities we have put on these “imaginary” characters. When they did that, they also ended up showing the all too human frailties of larger-than-life characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, etc.
In their sad view of the future, humanity has pushed the heroes we grew up with to the sidelines due to what was perceived as their being too “nice” and not issuing the vigilante justice that has been associated with other comic characters like The Punisher or Wolverine. Yet when the world faces its greatest crisis and when all the chips are down, it is those same heroes, the first heroes to ever see print in comics, who come to the rescue. However, it is a rescue that comes at a price.
The characterization of the characters stays true to both their origin stories, as well as what writers have shaped them to become in the past six decades. Ever the farmer's son, Superman honestly thinks he can save everybody and change things by just being somewhere. Batman's cynicism and callousness since his parents' death extends to even his friends like Superman. The Amazon princess in Wonder Woman shuns her role as envoy of peace, instead becoming a vengeful warrior who will do things others might fear to do.
Absolute Kingdom Come comes replete with Ross’ sketches, creator notes and annotations, as well as an extensive image gallery. This edition is bigger and is a feast that is guaranteed to satisfy old fans while enticing new fans to witness what is undoubtedly one of the most important comics ever published. You'll see how some of Ross' designs from his childhood found their way onto the Kingdom Come stage. You'll also see the detail and dedication he put into this project. This was a true labor of love, something both creators affectionately call their "love letter" to these superheroes.
I’ve seen a lot of basketball in my life. I’ve watched the NBA, Euroleague, Olympic basketball, the World Championships, the PBA, PBL, UAAP, US NCAA and even Philippine NCAA. I’ve witnessed basketball players do some amazing things with a little ball in their hands that sent jampacked arenas into a frenzy. All that being said, I had never seen anything as despicable as what Burger King team captain Wynne Arboleda did in a game against the SMART-Gilas RP Team on October 15, 2009. Much has already been written and said about Arboleda’s attack on Gilas fan Allain Katigbak.
SMART-Gilas versus Powerade-Pilipinas
Let’s put things in proper perspective. On October 5, 2009, the SMART-Gilas RP Team composed of mostly recent collegiate basketball stars and one American candidate for naturalization (CJ Giles) played the Powerade Team Pilipinas composed of professional PBA players to raise funds for victims of Typhoon Ondoy. Gilas was coached by Serbian coach Rajko Toroman while Powerade had BK coach and Pampanga vice-governor Joseller “Yeng” Guiao in charge. Most expected the pros to obliterate the amateurs. After all, these were just kids while the pros were supposed to be the best ballers in the country. Instead, Coach Toroman’s boys blitzed their elders to the tune of 98-69. A thorough ass-kicking that had many people wondering if Guiao was indeed the right man to handle the Powerade squad who didn’t even crack the top 5 in the recent Asian Basketball Championships in Tianjin, China.
In that same tournament in China, Guiao included the PBA’s number one draft pick for 2009, former Ateneo basketball player and 6–foot 9-inch tall Japeth Aguilar, in the lineup. Aguilar was drafted number one by Burger King, and Guiao wanted to see if his future superstar could immediately contribute to the cause. Now if you’ve watched any PBA over the years, you’ll know one thing about Guiao: he loves cussing out his own players and the referees. He screams at them to the point that the players look like castrated sheep after a few games under Guiao. Guiao is also credited with being able to maximize players who might not be the most talented into a cohesive unit. Of course, this also means he’s often gotten these players to play rough in order to beat the more talented squads. This was especially evident in the years that he handled the Red Bull Barako team in the PBA. With players like Jimwell Torion, Junthy Valenzuela, Homer Se, and the like, Guiao’s teams dished out a combination of elbows, knees, and punches that opposing players dreaded. And he was given the national team to coach as a reward.
The Amazing Disappearing Aguilar
After the Powerade team was embarrassed in Tianjin, Aguilar announced that he’d rather play for SMART-Gilas than Burger King, despite the Whoppers drafting him number one. I didn’t like that move because Aguilar effectively spit in the faces of every other PBA team and player because he wanted out of his contract after he had already been drafted. Why didn’t he do so before the draft and spared us all from the circus that followed? Apparently, some quarters have said that young Aguilar hated being constantly disparaged and cussed out by Guiao. The coach’s winning personality was grating at the youngster, and he tried to get out of it to play for Toroman, someone whom he had played for before, and someone who didn’t demean him.
In a few weeks’ time, Aguilar and Burger King management came to an agreement: Japeth would play one game with the Whoppers, then he would be traded for draft picks to Barako Bull who then would trade him to Talk ‘N Text (BK’s sister franchise). The Tropang Texters then allowed Aguilar to sign a contract with SMART-Gilas, and once the contract is done, he would be welcomed into the TNT fold. Imagine how well Guiao felt after being given the runaround by this kid.
Guiao’s pre-game message to BK
PBA sportscaster Patricia Hizon talked to Arboleda before the game started and he related what BK coach Yeng Guiao told his players. Hizon mentioned on Twitter on October 17 that it was something along the lines of “malayo pa bago nila makuha spot nyo. Pero ipakita nyo that this is your spot. Put them in their place and have pride.” Every Burger King player just had to read between the lines and understand that their coach wanted to send a message to these kids. Now how rough the message is, well that’s subject to the context by which Guiao said those words to his team or how his players felt Guiao wanted the message sent.
Soon enough, Arboleda had delivered a forearm across the face of Jvee Casio on a drive. Rookie Ronnie Matias dropped Chris Tiu with an elbow to the face on a rebound play. It was becoming obvious that there were marching orders for the Whoppers to get rough with the Gilas kids. We can argue all day long on the level of roughness the PBA has allowed their players to play over the years, but the past few seasons, the league has been trying to cut down on too much physical play.
When Arboleda went under Mac Baracael clearly trying to take out the forward’s knees, all hell broke loose. You see, undercutting is one of the worst things you can do in basketball. It makes your opponent lose their balance, it puts them in such an awkward position that they might fall badly. It’s the kind of thing that ends careers. Arboleda has had a reputation for rough play in years past . The son-in-law of Burger King co-owner Lito Alvarez has been a bruising player since his days in the defunct MBA and their Laguna Lakers. Putting Arboleda under the guidance of a temperamental and vindictive coach in Guiao was like putting a firecracker next to dynamite, you knew an explosion was going to happen sooner or later.
Who’s Afraid of Yeng?
Mr. Katigbak can’t be completely blameless in this incident. After all, he supposedly screamed all kinds of invectives at Arboleda. However, there is absolutely no excuse for a PBA player to attack a fan. We are the paying customers who expect that when we go to the arena, we’ll get some good basketball and we can scream our hearts out to support our team while haranguing opposing teams and players. We can blame Araneta Coliseum security for not being fast enough to react to Arboleda’s assault on Katigbak. We can blame Arboleda’s dirty play for setting the dirty tone throughout the game. What I find fascinating is that so few people have called out Guiao for his headhunting call.
Don’t you think the rookie Matias would be scared to deliver a flagrant foul unless he knew his coach had his back? I have hardly seen any sportswriters point to Guiao as the person who initiated hostilities with his little tongue-in-cheek speech. In fact, Guiao defended BK’s style of play as mere preparation for what Gilas will face in international competition. Eh gago pala itong si Yeng eh, how will the players compete in international competition if you have your headhunters trying to end their young careers? Coach Toroman has gone on the record to say about that game against Burger King, ““In my 46 years of watching basketball, I’ve never seen anything like it.” Indeed, unless you saw the early days of the PBA, you’ve never seen anything as dirty as what Burger King did in that first half. It took a reprimand from PBA chairman Lito Alvarez for Guiao’s team to stop the roughhousing.
Governor Guiao?
There is a fair amount of blame being given to Arboleda, he’s even made international news (I bet the PBA just loves the international notoriety!) Now that the PBA has suspended him without pay for the rest of the season, there’s even been an online petition to have the income Arboleda would have been paid by Burger King to instead be given to victims of the typhoons . That’s well and good, but I still say we can’t place all the blame on the player or the fan. Look at the bald dude who smugly issued the directive to put the Gilas players in their place. That same guy plans to run for governor of Pampanga in 2010. It might be better if he did win, at least then, he’ll spare the PBA and the rest of the country from the embarrassment that his petty vindictiveness has left in his wake.
Director John Woo made a name for himself worldwide with action films like Hard Boiled, The Killer, Mission: Impossible 2, and Face/Off so when I heard that he was going to take on the task of making an epic war movie in Red Cliff, I was admittedly skeptical. After all, I kind of viewed epic romantic films set in China as more the realm of Tsui Hark, Ang Lee, or even Zhang Yimou. I was intrigued enough however to give it a shot. Boy, am I glad I did.
Based on the legendary Battle of Red Cliffs during the end of the Han Dynasty in China, the film depicts Prime Minister Cao Cao’s (Zhang Fenyi) plan to lead the the 300,000-strong Imperial Army over the southern part of China. Cao Cao wields more influence than the emperor and marches over the Guangzhou province governed by Liu Bei (You Yong). Liu’s chief advisor Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is sent to negotiate an alliance with the Southern region led by Sun Quan (Chang Chen). Zhuge is a brilliant strategist who teams with Sun’s viceroy, Zhou Yu (Tony Leung) to formulate the battle plan that can repulse Cao Cao’s invasion through the use of tactics, knowledge of the weather in Southern China, some intuition, and a lot of luck.
Too often, the Filipino film viewer is exposed to war movies from America, whether it be World War I, World War II, or even the American Revolutionary War. We’ve also seen wars fought in the United Kingdom, France, and the like on film. It is quite rare to see a war movie set in Asia with a budget as big as evident here in Red Cliff. The battles are indeed epic, even grander than some of the big battles I’ve seen in Braveheart, The Patriot, Pearl Harbor, and Saving Private Ryan. Woo was able to capture the grand scale of the Battle of Red Cliffs and it is a delight to see on the big screen.
Despite the huge scale of the battle scenes, Woo is also able to deliver some very up close and personal scenes for his actors. Leung has been a favorite of mine since I first saw him in Hero and subsequently in the Infernal Affairs trilogy. His onscreen chemistry with Kaneshiro is crucial in the film’s success, and they do manage to come across as equals who have the potential to be rivals but end up working well together during wartime. Lin Chi-ling has a pretty impressive film debut here as Leung’s wife who actually acts and is not limited to being mere eye candy. Zhao Wei, also an old favorite of mine from So Close and Shaolin Soccer doesn’t resort to just batting her eyelashes and cashing in on her cuteness in this film as she plays the tomboyish Sun Shangxiang. There is such an impressive ensemble of actors in Red Cliff that it’s easy to get drawn into the story.
However, what really pumped me up for this film were the huge battle scenes shot by John Woo. A few Woo trademarks are evident again here (flying doves, lots of slow-motion, montage to highlight a climactic scene) but unless you’ve seen a John Woo film in the past, they come off as quite seamless and integral to the picture. From my perspective, Woo obviously used some CGI to enhance the numbers of Cao Cao’s naval fleet and the soldiers on both sides, but he was still able to get a large number of extras to actually participate. To see the detail in the ships, the armor, and the weapons from that period in Chinese history is astounding and much appreciated.
I have no idea if the real historical figures did study how the southwest and northeast winds would blow before they organized their plan of attack. I don’t know if the legends were indeed almost superhuman in their fighting ability and their use of spears and swords. Despite all that, I was more than happy to see how Woo showed all of these on film and made them all look amazingly cool. It did seem a bit strange though to watch Chinese and Japanese actors dubbed with seemingly Indian voice actors. It may have indeed been better than getting American actors who could have used American colloquialisms, it still took me a little while to stop noticing their accents and just listen to the words being said instead.
Red Cliff is a real tour-de-force for Woo, breaking him out of the “action movie” mold that we’ve all placed him in. It’s based on legendary historical figures with great actors and some jawdropping action thrown in as well.
I never saw Julia Child on her old TV show. I was too young and I don’t recall it being broadcast on Philippine television. We had Nora Daza and her kids Sandy and Nina, as well as Sylvia Reynoso-Gala to regale us with their culinary expertise. We even had Martin Yan and the unrelated Stephen Yan back in the day. But it was Child, with her distinct voice, 6’2” height, and warm personality who was supposedly the first real chef who became a television star. All who would follow owed a debt of gratitude to Julia Child.
In the film Julie & Julia, director Nora Ephron presents two films that have a few things in common: specifically Julia Child and French cuisine. We see Julia (Meryl Streep) and husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) adjusting to life in Paris in the late 1940s while she tries to find something that she really enjoys doing. Meanwhile in 2002, Julie Powell (Amy Adams) is accompanying her own husband Eric (Chris Messina) in moving to Queens from Brooklyn. While working out of a government cubicle, Julia decides to start a blog by writing about her experience with Child’s masterful book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Even as we are shown Child learning the ropes of French cooking herself and the long ordeal to get her book published, Powell sees her blog gaining an audience despite her initial misgivings.
What more can I say about Meryl Streep that hasn’t been written or said before? She truly is one of the finest actresses ever, and her performance as Child was spot on. Reuniting with her The Devil Wears Prada co-star Tucci (this time as husband and wife), the two actors have such amazing chemistry together, you literally feel them syncing with one another as actors and as spouses on film. The very pretty Adams was already deglamorized as a nun for her last film with Streep, Doubt. Here, she’s not as breathtaking as she usually is, but that’s probably to keep the focus on the food and her struggles as someone with serious dreams of being a real author. Her own scenes with Messina are pretty strong, especially when she’s on the verge of giving up her blogging due to the stress it entails.
Ephron veers away from her usual romantic comedic tendencies for Julie & Julia. She somehow finds a way to merge these two stories of two different eras into one coherent and fluid piece. Though Streep and Adams have no scenes together, the writing is so tight and pacing so well thought out that I didn’t find myself getting bored at any point during the screening. Based on Child’s book My Life in France and Powell’s Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (the result of her blog), I didn’t feel any real disconnect as the two stories just synced.
Powell’s story, in particular, got my own creative juices flowing as I was once more inspired to get in front of a keyboard and write something down. I may not have Julia Child as a role model and I may not commit to writing about a subject like food for 365 days, but this film clearly touched a nerve for me that I hope to continue tapping in the future. Writing about anything that you like can’t be a chore. It has to be fun because otherwise, there is no point in getting yourself to write about it. So whether I write about sports, or a book, or a movie like Julie & Julia which I highly recommend, I hope that I have as much passion for it as both Powell and Child did when they wrote their respective works.
I’ve read so many Neil Gaiman books, it still amazes me how versatile a writer he is. From his roots in The Sandman graphic novels, to his epic American Gods and the unofficial sequel Anansi Boys, all the way to his more “youth-oriented” work like OtherWorld, M is for Magic, and of course, Coraline, he’s just shown such a rich imagination and a mastery at storytelling. In The Graveyard Book, Gaiman (accompanied with art by frequent collaborator Dave McKean) once again proves how good an author he is as he tells the story of a boy raised in a graveyard by ghosts.
The book begins with a murder. A father, mother, and their daughter are killed by a figure known only as “the man Jack”. Unfortunately for the man Jack, the baby boy is somehow able to escape him. This toddler ends up in the neighboring graveyard and is adopted by a Mr. and Mrs. Owens, who never could conceive a child when they were alive. Over the course of time, the boy (whom they name Nobody or Bod) is educated by the various spirits and ghosts who reside in the graveyard. They’ve granted him sme supernatural abilities to make sure that Bod is protected by harmful creatures such as the ghouls who reside in the evil city of Ghûlheim. Silas, the guardian of the graveyard, provides a counterbalance to the spirits as he teaches Bod about the humanity that most of them have forgotten.
Young Bod eventually makes friends with a living girl named Scarlett Amber Perkins, but their curious friendship and a frightening incident involving “The Sleer” forces her family away, leaving Bod alone with his ghost family once more. As he grows up, more responsibility is placed on Bod by Silas and his teacher, Ms. Lupescu while the man Jack and his associates seem to have found a way to finish something they should have taken care of years ago.
The Graveyard Book has elements of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book in the sense that Bod mirrors Kipling’s more famous Mowgli. Just as Mowgli grew up in the jungle protected by Baloo while evading the dangerous Shere Khan, so does Bod grow in the graveyard with Silas and his ghostly parents, the Owenses. Every chapter moves forward two years in Bod’s growth, eventually leading to adolescence and his inevitable need to be with his own kind. Though Gaiman acknowledges these parallels, his piece isn’t limited to merely being a mirror to the earlier work. His ghouls in the chapter “The Hounds of God” are downright terrifying in their attempt to seduce and corrupt Bod into joining them. I found that chapter disturbing enough, can you imagine what kids (Gaiman’s target audience for this book) would think?
In the chapter “Danse Macabre”, the author really goes to town as both the living and the spirits participate in a bizarre tradition wherein they interact with one another. Tht’s was probably my favorite part of the book since it seemed like something Gaiman used to do on a regular basis on his seminal The Sandman graphic novels on a regular basis. Yes, I still miss Gaiman weaving his way around characters like Dream, Death, Calliope, and the rest of them. But it’s also nice to know that his imagination continues to develop new characters for us to root for and to cheer on like Bod and his ghostly friends.
It’s been a week now since the Ateneo Blue Eagles won their second straight UAAP Seniors Basketball Championship. A back-to-back feat that we all cherish, particularly since my college years were spent during the Dark Ages of Ateneo basketball. The early-mid nineties saw the program suffer through one- or two-win seasons, when archrivals La Salle would step all over our team, when my friends and I would go to Araneta Coliseum or Loyola Gym to cheer for a team that had one single bass drum from the Blue Babble Battalion to lead the cheers.
It was unfortunate that my years at the Katipunan Avenue campus were spent during this era because it was undoubtedly the lowest point in the storied history of the Ateneo de Manila’s proud basketball program. Yes, there were names such as Red Camua, Junie Rentosa, John Verayo, and the Sison Twins who tried their best to give us something to cheer for. But, in all honesty, those teams were just too weak, too short, too easy to push around by the likes of DLSU, UST, FEU, heck even UP was stronger than Ateneo then. Even the lowly National University Bulldogs, perennial UAAP whipping boys, could pull off wins against the Blue Eagles, effectively ripping our collective hearts out in the process. No amount of shouting “Fabilioh!” or “Get that ball!” could salvage our team from the bottom of the standings.
Why did we still watch? Because this was our team, this was our school, these were our classmates and friends who were playing for the school that we all loved so much. After all, not all of us were as skilled as they were on the court, not all of us could shoot as well or defend or rebound like they could, so those who were lucky enough to make it to the varsity team must have been so much better than us to merit having the words “ATENEO” emblazoned on their jerseys. If they were going to fight for us, the few of us who believed in them would cheer for them. Unfortunately in the 1990s, the losses were more than the wins.
Much has been said how Mr. Manny V. Pangilinan pumped money back into Ateneo and helped reinvigorate the dying basketball program. Here was a guy who loved our school as much as we did, but actually was willing to help finance the program so that they could recruit the best players possible to come to Loyola Heights. Through the efforts of MVP and former Jesuit Fr. Tito Caluag, Ateneo finally became a basketball powerhouse albeit through a painful, but ultimately rewarding route. In 2001, a team led by Rico Villanueva, Rich Alvarez, Paul Tan-Chi, and Wesley Gonzales entered the UAAP Finals for the first time since the Eagles won it all in 1988. We lost to the hated De La Salle Green Archers.
In 2002, when it seemed that ACL injuries to Magnum Membrere and Paolo Bugia in the preseason looked like it would once again doom the blue-clad faithful, Villanueva, Alvarez, LA Tenorio, Ebok Quimpo, and Larry Fonacier instead delivered the long-awaited title back to our aerie. Gec Chia delivered the most unforgettable shot I’ve ever seen, a jumper over UE in the Final Four that would bring us to the Finals against our long time rivals. Winning it against La Salle only made the victory sweeter, especially since it seemed as if the Green Archers always seemed to be the team that stood in our way, the team that would laugh in our faces because we just weren’t good enough, the squad who would recruit the top talent in the country because it seemed as if they had bottomless pockets. It was indeed a magical time for we who had lived through the Dark Ages as we could finally hold our heads high once more as sportscaster Mico Halili screamed “Once again, the Blue Eagle is King of the UAAP!” From my seat in the General Admission section of the historic Araneta Coliseum, I cried with my brother Jek and my old friend Homer over this title. I truly felt like I could have died in peace already because I saw an Ateneo championship live, and it wasn’t a dream.
That 2002 team coached by Joel Banal went on to have their own UAAP Championship DVD produced, as well as countless TV and newspaper appearances. Each of those young men would forever live in Ateneo lore as individuals who broke the long title drought and renewed our faith that praying and believing that our team could win a title was indeed possible. Of course, being Ateneans, we were greedy. We wanted another title the following season. The Eagles, without the graduated Villanueva, made it to the Finals by stomping La Salle in the Final Four, but couldn’t stop the powerhouse FEU Tamaraws of Arwind Santos.
2004 was a year that began with promise, but quickly ended in tragedy when team captain Larry Fonacier suffered a season-ending ACL injury (yes, that dreaded knee injury once again) against UP in the first round. Ateneo returned to the Finals in 2006, this time led by legendary American coach Norman Black, in a season that saw La Salle suspended for academic violations. Despite leading UST in the Finals 1-0 after Doug Kramer’s unforgettable buzzer-beater, the Blue Eagles fell to the Growling Tigers 2-1 in Game 3 in the last game for Kramer, JC Intal, and Macky Escalona. The last connection to the 2002 Championship team was now gone.
I hardly remember the 2007 campaign because that was the year my father died and my girlfriend left to study abroad. Despite having a weak team, the Blue Eagles led by Chris Tiu and Ford Arao still made it to the playoffs, only to be defeated by La Salle (who went on to win the championship after serving their suspension).
Last year, I saw something unbelievable: an Ateneo basketball team that just couldn’t be beaten. The 2008 version of the Blue Eagles suffered one loss throughout the season, one fucking loss to FEU in round 1. They had an overall record of 16-1, including the regular season, the Final Four, and the Finals against La Salle. Everything came together for Coach Norman Black’s crew as Chris Tiu provided the steady leadership while Rabeh al-Hussaini had his coming our party and brought home a regular season MVP award in the process. But it was Nonoy Baclao’s defense that stood out throughout the tournament. His crippling block of DLSU big man Rico Maierhofer in Game 1 encapsulated the Ateneo credo for everyone to see: defense wins championships. Baclao would be awarded the 2008 Finals MVP award, and basketball glory was ours once again.
When the dust had settled and the championship was won over La Salle, a lot of us who watched the series-clincher in Araneta Coliseum braved the rains and the lack of a proper dinner to go back to the Ateneo campus and celebrate the way only we can: with a thanksgiving mass at the Church of the Gesu. We didn’t mind getting a bit wet, we just wanted to give thanks for this team that excelled and sacrificed in order to bring home the title to Loyola Heights. It was definitely still a sweet feeling to win that title, though I will always say that 2002 was still the best of them all due to the 14-year gap and it being the first that I witnessed live. I wanted to see the traditional Ateneo Bonfire celebration because I missed the one from 6 years before due to work. Despite the horrendous traffic and the muddy Bellarmine Field, I didn’t mind so much. After all, championships are such a rare commodity, I wanted to make sure I relished every moment to the last drop.
For this 2009 UAAP Championship, it was again another dominant season for the Blue Eagles. If somebody had told me when I graduated college in 1996 that the day would come that the Ateneo team would lose a combined three games in two UAAP seasons, I probably would have died laughing. But that is exactly what this team did. After losing to UP, Coach Norman’s lads went to work, rattling off 12 straight wins before UE tripped them up in Game 2 of the Finals. The tried and tested formula of giving the ball inside to al-Hussaini while Jai Reyes took his outside jumpers and Eric Salamat forced turnovers worked as the back-to-back titles were secured in a 71-58 rout. Again we went home to the Ateneo, but this time, my brother and I made sure to get take-out food first. We were becoming veterans of championship celebrations, something I definitely didn’t mind.
I was too tired to go to this year’s Bonfire, and honestly, I didn’t really feel like going anymore. I’ve been to one, it was more than enough. What mattered most to me was that I was at the games live, cheering “One big fight!” as my team won their second straight title. I lived through those dark times, now I can truly appreciate the blazing Blue and White hue of a championship trophy. The novelty of an Ateneo championship still hasn’t worn off as I know that I’ll be at the forefront of the screaming and cussing all over again next year. Ateneo Blue Eagles: Back-to-Back UAAP Champions. Who would’ve thunk it?
After the success of both The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, there was a lot of hype surrounding the release of Dan Brown’s latest book, The Lost Symbol. I wasn’t really supposed to buy the book so soon, but on the eve of its release, I was already in the area of Fully Booked at the Promenade in Greenhills, so I figured that I might as well purchase a copy for myself already. I even ended up first in line to get it. Did it live up to the hype?
Robert Langdon is summoned to Washington, D.C. by his mentor, the Director of the Smithsonian Institution, Peter Solomon. A 33rd degree Mason, Peter asked Robert to keep a package for safekeeping years before and asks him to bring it. Upon arriving at the U.S. Capitol, Langdon is shocked to find a severed hand tattooed and pointing to the painting The Apotheosis of Washington. It turns out that Solomon has been kidnapped by the mysterious Mal’akh, a diabolical, tattooed villain who has devoted his life to unlocking the secrets of the Masons. In trying to get Solomon to reveal where the mythical Masonic pyramid is located, Mal’akh hunts down Peter’s sister Dr. Katherine Solomon, an expert in the relatively new Noetic Sciences. As Langdon and Katherine attempt to find Peter’s location, they go around Washington, following clues that America’s forefathers planted to hide their most ancient secrets.
Brown has obviously found a formula that works for him. His two previously mentioned books were so engaging and fast-paced, they were eventually adapted into two films directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. The Lost Symbol follows most of the formula but it still develops into a more than decent page-turner. Instead of the Vatican, Rome, London, or Paris, Brown sets Langdon this time in the good old U.S.A. Rather than the Opus Dei, the Knights Templar, or the Illuminati, the secret society is now the Masons. Forget Silas the infamous Albino from The Da Vinci Code, Mal’akh is more menacing, more intelligent, and has an even more scarred past. Sophie Neveu and Vittoria Vetra have now been succeeded by Katherine Solomon.
These “replaceable parts” aside, I still found this novel engaging. My friends and I didn’t really like the short chapters (resulting in 133 chapters for a 500+ page book) but it did make it easier to stop for breaks while reading. As in his previous two books, Dan Brown makes you want to visit Washington, D.C., or at the very least, look for pictures of the paintings, sculptures, and buildings he points out online. He also makes you curious to know more about the Masons, their history, and their influence on the development of the United States. The author obviously does a ton of research and manages to weave together some seemingly unconnected pieces into a more coherent whole thanks to some coincidences sprinkled with a little healthy artistic license. I really liked the surprise twist at the end of the book as it was something that completely caught me off-guard.
As in any formulaic book, you’ll end up looking for something new that the author brings to the table. But again, since it follows a tried and tested formula, The Lost Symbol lacks that. If you’re one of the few who haven’t read either The Da Vinci Code or Angels & Demons, then this book will probably seem fresher for you. It’s not necessarily a bad thing that Brown follows a formula as when I hit about the halfway point of the book, I found that I couldn’t put it down anymore. With the success of the film adaptations of those two earlier works, I couldn’t help but see and hear Tom Hanks every time that Langdon was featured. Before those movies were made however, I used to envision Harrison Ford playing Langdon. I’d still recommend The Lost Symbol whether you read the previous books or not and whether you liked the film adaptations or not. On its own, this novel definitely has enough of a good premise and pacing to merit checking out.
I absolutely hate lining up for UAAP basketball tickets. As much as I love watching my team, the Ateneo Blue Eagles, play basketball, I hate lining up at the Araneta Coliseum or at the Ateneo campus to get tickets. I’ve been watching Ateneo basketball since 1992, my freshman year of college. In that amount of time, I’ve seen the worst Blue Eagles that have struggled to win a single game in a season, and I’ve seen amazing Ateneo teams that have won two UAAP Championships.
Thus, when I line up for tickets, I carry 17 years worth of experience with me every single time. I’ve seen all kinds of systems implemented by both the Araneta Coliseum management as well as our own Ateneo College Athletics Office.
The thing that continues to bother me about Araneta in particular is the prevalence of scalpers who are trying to put one over on the paying public. These sons of bitches are willing to line up for tickets that will be released at 9:00 a.m. from 12:00 a.m. That’s a nine hour wait that they’re willing to endure because they believe they can turn a profit by being privy to those hard-to-come-by Patron, Lower Box, and Upper Box A tickets. Never mind that they will push people out of the way and sneak ahead of other people who lined up at around the same time, these jerks will do whatever it takes for those tickets.
To be fair to Araneta Center security, they have taken measures in recent years to clamp down on scalpers. Nowadays, the Big Dome requires people to bring either a school ID or alumni card that proves that you came from whichever school is playing before they sell you tickets. In the absence of those, an authorization letter with a photocopy of one’s ID will usually suffice. This past Friday, October 2, 2009, my brother and I were at the Yellow Gate of Araneta at around 5:00 a.m. to line up for Game 2 of the UAAP Finals between Ateneo and University of the East (UE). Some older folks told us that Araneta security dispersed a group that tried to line up earlier, so we just sat down in front of the closed Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. By around 6:00 a.m. though, the security people allowed a line to be formed. In a matter of seconds, my brother and I were lined up behind approximately 10 people. However, as the time started nearing 8:00 a.m., we both noticed that there were now close to 30 people ahead of us. The classic Pinoy sickness of “singit” or trying to sneak into a line popped its ugly head once again. When other people pointed out the sneaky bastards, these assholes had the gall to start causing a commotion and screaming to high heavens that they lined up just as early as the rest of us did.
Thankfully, by the time the ticket booth opened, the Araneta Center staff turned these scumbags away because they couldn’t provide the proper identification and their authorization letters were clearly false. A major point against Araneta though is that they never issued any directive on what their ticket-selling policy was for these UAAP Finals. Thus, there were parents who lined up with their kids (current Ateneo students) whom the security personnel were refusing to sell tickets to because the parents didn’t possess Ateneo IDs. Clearly, information dissemination is a problem at the Big Dome.
Over in Loyola Heights, the College Athletics Office tried a new wrinkle for this UAAP season: separate selling of tickets for Grade School students and faculty, High School students and faculty, college students and faculty, and alumni. In all of these situations, no proxies would be allowed to line up in lieu of the student, faculty member, or alumni concerned. This information was disseminated via e-mail to alumni, Facebook posting, as well as on the goAteneo.com website. In other words, it was made known to any Atenean who cared about the basketball team early in the season that this was the new policy. Yet, there were still a few assholes who refused to acknowledge this same policy.
A certain Mr. Cancio and his associates tried having their driver line up for him and his family during the first round game between Ateneo and La Salle scheduled for August 9, 2009. This Mr. Cancio is probably in his late 40s-early 50s, has a son who is in college in the Ateneo, yet acts like he’s still the big man on campus who’s used to bullying people around. Despite everybody in line knowing the “no proxy rule”, this bastard and his friends kept insisting that the driver lined up for him, he was paying the driver to line up for him, and that he was in the right. Needless to say, this rubbed a lot of people in line the wrong way. We were all cranky because we lined up from approximately 1:00 p.m. for tickets that would only start selling at 7:00 p.m. in Loyola Gym, but Mr. Cancio only served to piss all of us off more because he was stubborn, disrespectful to the College Athletics Office personnel, and belligerent. Jerks like this think that they are entitled to have any of their employees line up for them without regard for the current rules.
On the same day that we got out tickets from Araneta in the morning, namely October 2, 2009, Mr. Cancio and his friends were at it again, in Loyola Gym that afternoon. He once again insisted having his driver line up for him so that he could get more tickets. This time, Cancio completely disrespected a member of the College Athletics Office, Mr. Benjo Afuang, threatening him bodily harm and even challenging Afuang to a fistfight outside Loyola Gym. Mr. Cancio did all of this in full view of everyone who was in line, and even though his own wife was telling him to calm down and that he was wrong. What did Mr. Cancio tell his wife? “You shut up!” is what this classy gentleman told his spouse. Mr. Afuang had been dealing with Cancio and his antics as calmly as possible since August, but even he has a boiling point. When Cancio got in Mr. Afuang’s face and even bumped his chest, Mr. Afuang told the ass to put his money where his mouth was and engage Mr. Afuang right there in front of everyone. If cooler heads had not prevailed, Mr. Cancio would probably have had his ass handed to him by the younger gentleman. Di ka na nahiya, eh ang tanda mo na.
The point is this: no matter where you line up for UAAP tickets, whether it be in a public venue like Araneta Coliseum or in a private institution like the Ateneo campus, assholes are everywhere. They may not be just scalpers who are trying to make a profit by jacking up ticket prices, they might just be fellow Ateneans who think they are entitled to tickets and the rules don’t apply to them. Shame on all of you.
In any relationship, both sides have wondered at some point how they will end up in the future. It’s just natural to wonder if they’ll even be together five years down the road, if they’ll be married or have children, or even if they’ll grow old together. In director Sam Mendes’ Away We Go, a young couple’s road trip gives them insight into different examples of relationships and how they can make their own relationship work.
When Burt Farlander (John Krasinski) and Verona De Tessant (Maya Rudolph) accidentally get pregnant, they learn that Burt’s parents have sold the house they were supposed to live in. Burt and Verona figure they don’t have to live in their little town, so they begin to visit friends and family across the United States (and Canada too!) to find the right place to raise their family. Along the way, they meet a couple who hate being parents, New Age-y parents who don’t like strollers in their house, a couple who love adopting kids because they can’t have any of their own, and Burt’s brother whose wife just abandoned him and their daughter.
Despite this film being directed by a big name like Sam Mendes, Away We Go feels like a very small movie in the sense that the main protagonists are in pretty much every scene. Although they go on their road trip, it’s mostly done through car rentals and even by train, adding to the intimate feel. Maybe it’s because the dialogue from the writing couple of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida talks about the anxiety that thirtysomethings feel when they start considering if they’ve accomplished a lot at their age that resonated with me. When Verona asks, “Burt, are we fuck-ups?” It struck a major chord for me.
Seeing all of these different kinds of relationships in their natural habitats allowed Burt and Verona enough distance to assess what they liked and didn’t like in each sample. LN (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Roderick (Josh Hamilton) are total dicks while espousing their New Age ideas of raising kids. Lily (Allison Janney) and Lowell (Jim Gaffigan) seem to have lost the spark in their marriage and that was hilarious too. However, it was the Montreal couple of Tom (Chris Messina) and Munch (Melanie Lynskey) that breaks your heart. They have all of these adopted kids to shelter, but their own efforts to conceive have been unsuccessful.
Krasinski is so different from his usual role of Jim Halpert in The Office here and it’s not just because he’s got a beard and glasses. He actually does some solid acting as the guy who wants to marry his girlfriend and provide a future for their baby that he’s willing to drive around until they find the perfect spot for that future. Maya Rudolph made a name for herself on Saturday Night Live copying different celebrities, but in this role, she comes across as vulnerable, scared, and very believable. It’s a nice contrast to see these two break out of their familiar comedy molds and try their hand at a little drama, and this is an excellent vehicle for them to show that they are so much more than what we’ve seen them do on their respective series.
The soundtrack, with songs mostly performed by Alexi Murdoch, is excellent. The songs capture the road trip feel as well as the fear and uncertainty that Burt and Verona feel about their future. They both share a lot of uncertainty and anxiety over how they are going to raise a child with so many bad parents around them, but that’s also part of the adventure that they experience together on this trip.
More and more movies and TV shows are going on and on about how technology has made real human interaction virtually a thing of the past. Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking tools have allowed us to connect with friends and family that are far away from us, but they also tend to keep us indoors rather than meeting each other face-to-face. Video games like “The Sims” and other role-playing games allow us to live virtual lives even as our own real lives take a backseat.
Bruce Willis’ latest film Surrogates takes that to a whole new level as it proposes that people in the future will be staying almost completely indoors while realistic robot “surrogates” live their lives for them. It’s been 15 years since the last murder has been committed worldwide, but when the son of surrogates creator Dr. Lionel Canter (James Cromwell) is killed with a surrogate-killing weapon, it’s up to FBI agent Tom Greer (Willis) to find out who’s behind the killing and why. A group of surrogate-hating humans led by the enigmatic man known merely as “The Prophet” (Ving Rhames) has created reservations dedicated to living technology-free. When Greer’s look-alike surrogate chases the suspected murderer onto the Dread Reservation and is hit with the Overide Devic weapon, the real Greer has to step out into the real world to find the killers.
Like the recent film Gamer, this motion picture offers a commentary on how even in today’s world, too many people are living virtually online instead of in the real world. I really liked how the filmmakers made the surrogates’ skin look near-perfect, with no pores or blemishes on their faces while regular humans had all sorts of defects on their skin. This helped show the difference between the synthetic in contrast to the real. Willis’ Greer portrays another cop who seems to have screwed up his relationship with a spouse but whose dedication to justice and beating the bad guy ends up still making him a hero. In that sense, it’s not much different from his more famous role as John McClaine in the Die Hard series, but when Greer tries to reach out to his wife Maggie (Rosamund Pike), we remember that Willis does have acting chops, they just tend to be forgotten due to his roles in action flicks.
This film is based on the graphic novel “The Surrogates” written by Robert Vendetti and drawn by Brett Weldele. Although I’m not familiar with the source material, the creators supposedly came up with the concept for the comic after reading about numerous individuals who lost their spouses or their jobs due to their addiction to the internet and their online personas. Thus, one would see why both the graphic novel and film have roots in today’s technology-loving world.
I for one enjoyed the pace and concept of this film. Willis is generally a likable actor, and the contrast between his acting as a synthetic, nearly-indestructible surrogate and a flesh-and-bone human almost has him playing a dual role. Director Jonathan Mostow’s film has good pacing and the whodunit element coupled with the technology-versus-humanity subplot kept things interesting. I also liked how the surrogates often showed ideal versions of the humans who were either emotionally unstable, physically defective, or just enjoyed living vicariously through someone else rather than actually living their lives. I realize that a lot of people hated this picture, but I’m not one of them.
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