Ruined

I woke up early this particular Saturday to pick up some pants from a nearby tailoring shop. I had these three pants altered. I paid my tailor P180. When I got home I realized that the most important pair of pants was ruined… It wasn’t ruined ruined… It didn’t fit me anymore! What the heck happened!? I asked myself… I compared it with the other pants. They’re completely fine.

Suddenly all my attention was on this particular pair of pants… trousers as what I usually call them. “What am I supposed to do? It’d be impossible to find the same pants.”

All of a sudden I took my camera, mat and several stuffs out. I turned the computer on. I started to type descriptions of some pullovers, pants and a bag. I was planning to list them on Ebay.

My explanation for this behavior is very simple: It’s difficult for me to find a nice pair of pants that would fit me really well- could make me look chic and all. It’s very difficult to find pants that I could “glide in.” Wow… I want to say that again “I glide in these pants… I don’t simply wear them.” I simply know that I really like one when I see one- before I even touch it. And now, my tailor ruined it. He ruined everything. I never wore that pants outside my room simply because I was reserving it for a very special occasion… And now it’s totally ruined.

Two Things I Learned This Week

I learned two important things this week. First, when I ask for something and get it, it’s mine forever. When I ask and don’t get it, it’s never mine in the very beginning. I’m still waiting for the right time to apply that thought…

Second, people stay together not because they forget, but because they forgive. This one I have to learn. I never forget and I never forget. This is just the worst thing about me. I spend my nights thinking about what people did to me and weighing the gravity. And it’s funny because most people who caused me a lot of ache are the ones closest to me- family and friends.

I am vengeful. I guess only one person know that fact. I never stop until I get my revenge… But then “vengeance is not ours, it’s God’s.” Like a guerilla soldier, I attack during the quietest nights and when you wouldn’t expect me.

Of course, I feel bad about myself… I feel awful that I have to carry this burden. Seriously, I won’t stop until I figure out a way how to make her feel what I felt when she ordered me to take back my decision- when that one thing that I was very proud to do was taken from me.

In the end there are still exemptions. People stay together not because they forgive, but because it’s easier to know your enemy first before attacking.

You should watch Indecent Proposal and learn from it.

Certified Jologs

“I’m not like you. My friends are not classy and we can’t afford Boracay”, someone told me. Seriously, I was hurt. It wasn’t called for. I was just asking her “where are you going?” I wanted to tell her that I’m not like what she’s trying to point out because by heart I know I’m a certified jologs.

I’m a certified jologs because I:

1. Joined a call-to-win-a-Sexbomb-album contest and eventually won

2. Have seen all of Jolina Magdangal’s movies

3. Super admire Judy Ann Santos

4. Watch GMA 7’s Dramarama sa Hapon and Telebabad

5. Never get tired watching Robin Padilla

6. Eat betamax (chicken blood), adidas (chicken feet), helmet (chicken head), isaw, etc…

7. Buy stuffs from ukay-ukays

8. Grew up watching Eat Bulaga and I still dream of going to Broadway Centrum to watch it live

9. Can imitate Kukurukuku and sing Love Radio’s theme

10. Can rap Humanap ka ng Panget by Andrew E.

11. Dance Itaktak Mo every time Joey de Leon sings it

12. Follow the Startsruck 4 contestants whenever they do the Mosquito Dance

13. Refuse to replace my broken sling bag

14. Crave ice crumble, ice candy, tira-tira from time time

15. Can match pictures of Filipino female stars, from late 1970’s to 2000’s, to their male love team partners

Broke

I’m embarrassed that I couldn’t say “yes” whenever Rem invites me to go out or “chill out” as how she calls it. I’m just not the type of person to invite if there’s spending involved. In short, I’m broke… I’m always broke… I’ve been always broke.

I don’t have cash to buy expensive things. It’s not that I’m trying to isolate myself from everyone; it’s not that I don’t like luxury… I love it- it’s just that it takes me months before I can really visit a shopping mall and treat myself.  Things are not the way they used to be.

Every time I’m tempted to open my wallet I would immediately hear what my mom would tell her other people “my daughters don’t receive extra money. They save by being tight and taking alternatives- like walking instead of riding a jeepney or tricycle.” When she said that, I remember walking more than 2 kilometers just to be able to buy regular fries from Jollibee.

Most of my friends don’t know about this because they only see how much I spend. Every P7 I spend on anything is equivalent to 1 kilometer of walking.

I’m really sorry if I can’t eat in fancy restaurants and sip iced chocolate in coffee shops as I did before. I may not be physically with you, but as the cliché (it won’t be a cliché if it’s not true) goes “I’m just a call away (though today I can include text, e-mail and YM).”

Job Fair

I went to the first ever electronic job fair in the Philippines. I didn’t have to bring copies of my CV. Instead, I was asked to fill-up an electronic resume. After that I was given my first ever career card. All I have to do is to present my career card to the company where I would like to apply for a job. They would scan my card and voila! 

Many companies joined the fair, but most of them were call centers. I was only interested with three companies- Thomson Financial, Manila Times and McDonald’s. The first two didn’t have any person manning their booths so I wasn’t able to ask what I’ve been dying to ask- do you have a graduate program? With McDonald’s, I asked the silliest question “do we really have to wear the checkered shirt and blue pants?” The girl replied with a courteous smile “yes.” Then I asked again “do managers in your main office also wear this uniform (pointing to the picture)?” “No. They wear business attire” she answered, while it was noticeable that she was refraining herself from laughing.

There was also a job fair in the school. It was disappointing. The companies that joined the fair in 2006 were not in this year’s job fair. I was looking forward to submitting my resume to Unilab, Fujitsu and J&J, but they were not present. I wonder why… All my 19 resume ended in the hands of 19 different companies- from a directory firm to a hotel.

Speaking of the hotel, I submitted my resume to Discovery Suites. I’m hoping they consider my application, though I think I almost blew it off yesterday when I asked the HR person “do you require applicants to be really pretty and tall and slim?” Before answering, she looked at me for three seconds and said “it depends on the management.” I was not even contented and I asked again “if ever I get accepted can I be assigned in your Boracay office?” With the look on her face, I somehow felt that I was making her uncomfortable. She smiled and said “if there is a vacancy and it also depends on the management. Here, get an apple” she handed me a green apple. I thanked her, asked for their e-mail and, smiled and walked away.

I’d be tossed in the corporate jungle few months from now and I still have a vague idea of what to do with my “career.”  Should I be asking “how much?” “Where is it located?” or “Will it make me happy?”

Based on my experiences, I usually ask the last question first and forget about the amount.

People would probably wonder if I tell them that in the long run I see myself working in a farm. It’s no different to my friend who’s more interested to study gift wrapping than to pursue her CPA dream.

P.S. I really wanted to be an artista when I was in my teens, but now that I’m a bit older, I couldn’t pursue that dream. I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I don’t even know if I can act in front of a camera and most importantly, I can never pose for FHM, Maxim, Manual and even Uno.

Happy Birthday Jill

I think about death a lot. It’s not that I’m sick of anything and would die very soon… I almost died several times already- from surviving hemorrhagic to avoiding an accident. It’s just that at a very young age, I somehow forced myself to know about mortality. My lola Pat died years before I was born. I never saw my other sister because she dies few ours after she was born. Though I never really met them, I feel like I know them very well because my aunt would always say “our mommy likes to do this and that…” About my other sister, however, I keep on believing that she was killed by a barnacle. Do you know what a barnacle is? Funny, isn’t it? But the truth is she died because of a complication that “might” have occurred during my mother’s pregnancy. I just push myself to believe in what I always believed in when I was a kid.

This whole week, death was the center of my mood. I just don’t know why. I kept on seeing posters of “If Death were a Playwright.”  Meredith of Grey’s anatomy felt like she was going to die in this particular episode. I read an article in the newspaper entitled “Fading Memories” where the author tried to remember the memories of his brother.

…Just this morning while I was talking to myself, as always, I said “I’m excited to go to Cadena de Amor to eat my favorite foods.” I was talking about the menudo and piniñahan manok my “inang” always prepared during the thanksgiving celebration in February. Insensitively… I forgot that she passed away 2 years ago. Yes. It’s only two years ago and I could not even tell clearly if she’s still living or already six feet under the ground. I was quiet for a while and felt so dense when I finally came into a conclusion that she’s not with us anymore.

Inang is dead. She really is- just like Lola Pat, Jill and my beloved Lola Paj. Unlike the other three people I mentioned who are buried in private memorial parks in Manila and Zambales, Inang was buried in a public cemetery. Dirty, smelly and what can be classified as disgusting. I never visited her since her burial walk.

…What’s making me think about death? It’s not inang. It’s Jill. When I looked at the calendar I immediately saw 25. It’s already that 27^th and it’s just now that I looked at the calendar. January 25 was her birthday. We used to cook pancit every January 25, but it suddenly stopped. We also stopped visiting the cemetery every October 31. Nobody in the house seemed to remember that it was her birthday… the same day when she died. Maybe making me think about death these days is her way of reminding her family to remember her in these special days.

“Happy birthday, Jill. I’m sorry that we don’t cook pancit and visit the cemetery anymore. I made-up the barnacle story for myself, though I know the truth… What’s the truth anyway? Maybe it’s just another lie covering the real truth…”

Bangus

I woke up early this morning- considering that I have no class, I didn’t wet my pillow with saliva and the noisy machines of the construction workers are not functioning on Saturdays. I heard my mom said “god morning” and I just replied with a long and rasping “aaaaah…”

I was pretty excited to have my breakfast because I was expecting and been planning the whole week to eat hot padesal, strawberry jam and butter this particular morning. Uhm… Delicious… Almost. I was disappointed and so I spent more time talking and talking and talking.

“I don’t get it why he liked her so much in high school. Her lips aren’t pouting.  She has immensely thick lips and she has lice all over her hair.”

“Is she a member of the Bangus?” my sister asked.

“Yeah. Kapal nguso. I don’t know the name of the girl with long baba.”

“Also, although she’s friends with Farah, who’s considerably smart, she’s a little dense though not to the point of being an oaf. Promise.”

“You’re bad” my aunt interrupted.

“Ate” said my sister “according to the stoics, beauty attracts love.” I just can’t remember the exact words she said, but it’s something like that. “So you have to fix yourself…Make yourself beautiful.”

I could feel where the conversation was going. I was just waiting for her to say her eternal lines “I’m already beautiful. I don’t need to exert any effort- unlike you.” Great.

Inbox

Geralyn: Hi! This is Geralyn. I’m just trying to check if this is Jerico Severa’s number.

Jerico: Ger! Kamusta ka na? Ako pumayat pero mataba pa rin. May baby ka na ba?

Shocked. At this point I didn’t know what to tell him. Think…Think…Think…

Geralyn: Ako naman fluctuating pa rin ang katawan. Depende sa season. Wala pa kong baby. Bakit?

Jerico: Kasi yung iba natin classmate may pamilya na.

Geralyn: Weh? Sinu-sino?

Excited…

Jerico: Ayoko nga. Baka sabihin nila na chini-chismis ko.

Geralyn: Ah…Ok. Si Honeylyn nagwo-work sa BDO.

Fishing…

Jerico: Talaga! Pareho kami ng course. Tinuloy ba niya? Busy ako sa review ngayon eh.

Geralyn: Hindi siya nag-board. Financial Accounting siya. Uy, labas naman tayo minsan. Watch lang ng movie or eat out.

Jerico: Sige! Bye na muna ha. Nag-aaral kasi ako. Nalilito nanga ako eh.

Vacation

While I keep on thinking of spending more than a thousand pesos for a box of Xenical to burn all unnecessary baggage and cholesterol I gained during the holidays, people are saying “you lost weight.” Seriously? All I know is that I gained 2 kilos last December and another 3 just this month. Wow… That’s a whopping 5 kilos in just two months. Now, I must say goodbye to my dream of having a good Whopper food trip in Burger king.

Really… I think I must lose weight before summer. I was talking to my high school classmate, Fruitcake, yesterday about taking a particular exam while I suddenly mentioned “Gel wants to Mt. Apo. Would you like to go on a vacation this summer?” I was thinking of a good reason why…Then suddenly I remembered Remedios. “I think we really should, because this would be the last time we’d be having a long time together. After graduation, we’d all be busy with our work.” Silly… I was just referring to myself… All my high school friends graduated last year and are working already (except for Fruitcake who made it clear to us that she’s a bum) and I’m the only one who’s still studying.

I called Gel. Gel suggested Malaysia. “Hello?! Are you serious? I don’t have the money to fund a Malaysian tour” I told her. “I’d like to go to Camiguin” she added. Wow… Then while she was giving more suggestions I thought that we should invite our other close friends. I’d definitely invite Honeylyn. The last time we invited her to go swimming we sneaked her out of their house because her parents won’t allow her to get near a swimming pool. Glojilyn should and would definitely go. Oh… we should also inform Rachelle, Ate K (the Streetboys Fan), the beautiful yet very frail Francine a.k.a Low-Batt Woman.

Hmmmm… Just to annoy Gel and Fruitcake maybe I should tell them to invite Jerico. Yes… Jerico- the guy who was so into Honeylyn back in high school. But whenever they start talking about that, I would butt-in “Hey! He had a crush on me first… I guess.” Sometimes, I just have to say that. He also criticized Gel for her coconut husk hairdo and Fruitcake for no apparent reasons.

Sleepy Head

Whatever your religion there’s this particular day you have to look your best and be the best person you are. For me it’s every Sunday. Unlike before when there were five of us who go to the mass at 9 am, now it’s just me and my sister. We don’t attend the morning mass, we make it sure to be on time for the children’s mass at 3pm.

The children’s mass is supposed to be lively and jolly. It should be like making a child listen to Kuya Cesar’s AM radio show.

Yesterday, I was convinced that this particular priest (can’t remember his name) shouldn’t be assigned to lead the mass at 3pm. People… I mean adults and children alike were really sleeping while he was conducting the sermon. I couldn’t count how many times I yawned. The lady beside me was doing the same. Kids were having tantrums. And there’s this guy who was literally snoring aloud. If an average person has an attention span of 20 minutes, listening to him would cut it down to ah…. 5 minutes.

If priests were to be rated like what they do in Starstruck the Next Level, I’m pretty sure he’ll be in the bottom three next week and might be the one to be voted out and be an avenger.

Trip to the New Store

I just got into my room. I accidentally locked myself outside while I was cooking some instant noodles I just bought from a newly opened store near the church.

There, speaking of the store, it sells all kinds of goods from different Asian countries, particularly China. And the prices are really cheap… My real intention of going there was to look for a hamper I can use to stash the food I got from our very own kitchen. Yeah… I’m like than… I guess we’re all like than in the house- we have our own for-emergency-use-only basket of food under our beds.

When I realized that I brought some money with me, I started to look for some nibbling goodies. Wow… There were huge packs of noodles that come in many varieties (not just plain beef or chicken), different sizes of sandwich cookies, and of course junk foods! Our mother did not raise us eating junk foods, but as we grow older we could totally feel that we’re deprived of these human inventions for such a long time. I ended buying a pack of “hand-pulled spicy beef noodles”, Baked Shrimp Bar (Chinese version of Oishi) and a pack of twisted egg cracker that says “Fresh.” Although I hardly understand what’s written on the packs, I made sure that they’re not yet expired. I only paid P28.

When I got home I immediately prepared a pan so I could cook the noodles. I had one problem- I didn’t know if I should drain the water or not. “Should it be like a pancit canton or a mami?” I asked myself. My question was loud enough that my auntie heard me talking to myself. “Look at the picture” she said. It looked like a pancit canton… I didn’t like the taste. I even added some melted butter and fruit cocktail juice so I could finish eating it.

Brand New

Besides listening to the good news I also have another (but can be a little sinful) motivation to go to church every Sunday- that’s people watching. I hardly see lots of people nowadays because I only spend 8 hours outside every week (I only have 1 subject left). Most people in the church do this unknowingly- I’m sure of that (even Jose Rizal knew this)… All we do is sit there and look, describe and scrutinize the other churchgoers. Of course, I don’t do this aloud. I say all those things to myself alone and sometimes whisper it to my sister.

Yesterday was quite a laugh-trip for us (myself, my sister and some people, too). A family with four kids arrived late for the mass. So our tendency was to look at the- they’re right in front of us. Fresh for the holiday, we instantly found out that two of the kids were wearing brand new clothes. How? The tags were still there. It’s not just a sticker or something… The tags were like miniature booklets with 5 pages (maybe it’s a how-to wash booklet). It’s that noticeable that people were distracted from singing and listening to the gospel.

It’s obvious they didn’t wash the clothes after buying them. I can say it’s not a gift because the sticker indicating the price was still there.

I guess we were all sharing the same dilemma that time- how to tell them about the tags without making them feel embarrassed and how to take it off if nobody has a pair of scissors.

Few seconds before we saying “peace be with you” I told my sister that “the problem would be fix when people start to greet each other”. I was right! There was a nice lady who put the tags under the shirts.

The mother of the kids was totally clueless about what happened.

Scuttle-BUTT

I suddenly remembered an incident and couldn’t help to write it down.

Few days before Christmas my mother agreed to bring us to the nearest and cheapest salon we could find to get our hairs trimmed. The haircutter kept on telling me “you have thin hair.” So I, on the other hand, kept on replying “that’s one of my biggest problems.” In just thirty minutes or so my sister and I were already done. Our mother, on the other hand was still getting her hair treated.

I didn’t want to stay there while customers kept on coming in. The new customers were already standing and giving us you-better-get-your-asses-off-these-chairs-or-I’ll-kick-you-out. I asked my sister if she could ask “mommy to give us some money so we can eat in Jollibee. We’ll just go back for her later.”

We walked from that parlor to Jollibee. We only had P50 pesos to spend so we have to be as frugal as possible. While thinking of what combo meal to order with that amount of cash I went to the restroom to pee. 

“Am I dreaming? Why am I seeing an old woman’s butt” I said to myself. I stared at the cellulite-infested butt for such a long while as if I was being hypnotized. Then suddenly a scream woke me up “What! I left the door open!” said the old lady. I immediately went in the other cubicle.

That night, after dinner I shared what I saw that afternoon with my sister, mother and aunt. “Yeah! There was an old lady who kept on saying that she left the door open while she was taking a leak. I didn’t know that it was you looking at her oldie butt” my sister told me. And we all laughed.

Head Banging Neighbors

I could sleep easily even when it’s noisy around me. I just got used to it… After all, my room is just some few steps away from a house of praise where people sing and dance all night and day. Sometimes, I sing along with them when I’m really bored.

Right outside my room is a badminton court which has grown very popular around town. I hear people scream and laugh all night and I can’t even complain. My only consolation is that few weeks from now a “Goma Cup Badminton Tournament” would be held there. I should be expecting celebrities to join the competition and I have the best view in town.

Beside the badminton court is a hollow block factory. Machines and delivery trucks bug me all day, while drinking workers sing lullabies for me during the night. You just have to imagine that… No matter how hard I try (or imagine) to clean my room, dust from the factory would always find a way in my room. 

Old Stuffs

 As promised here are some old stuffs I have at home.

There’s a 1951 Webster’s New (now it’s old) vest-pocket (now it’s simply called compact) dictionary. A female doctor used to own this book. It was then given to my mother and then my mother gave it to me 6 years ago.

Then there are the old songbooks which are popularly known nowadays as songhits. The red one is my most prized songbook. It’s the Jingle Beatles Special. They compiled all Beatles songs in this one songbook. The others I only keep for the feature articles of Joey de Leon- his somewhat naughty jokes that can at least make me laugh when I need to.

That one is a bronze figure of the Virgin Mary carrying baby Jesus. I remember during our house blessing few years ago, the priest immediately noticed this figure when he entered one of the rooms in our house.

You could also see a Seth Thomas bronze clock. It’s made from Germany. I just wish there’s a shop that can fix some parts of this clock, it’s still working though. I think it’s from my great grandmother.

The last one is a lamp which really reminds me of a scene in El Filibusterismo. I wasn’t able to put the tall glass cover on because I’m afraid I might break it. We only used it once when our emergency light didn’t work during a blackout in the 1990’s. Once lighted, you’d just be drawn to it. As if you’re the moth being portrayed in one a popular story.

Oh…And before I forget! I also included a picture of my antique surgical scissors and forceps. I got these from my grandfather’s house. After Japanese soldiers left the house when the war ended the second floor was used as a clinic. That’s how I got these items. It’s just sad that my aunt threw away the squeaky hospital bed which she slept on for several years.

The Cluttered Room

  My mother would always scold me whenever she enters my room. “Can you call yourself a lady?! How can you be so organized with school/office stuffs when you can’t even tidy up your room?!” she would tell me.

I admit it- I can be pretty obsessive-compulsive when it comes to my things when I’m out of the house, but it’s because I’m afraid of the hideous bacteria/germs/virus that can infect me. I’m so immune with the ones in my room so I don’t have to bother as much.

We don’t have any house helper so we are somehow obliged to clean our own rooms. My sister is lucky. When she was booted out of her used-to-be room she went to stay with our aunt. No wonder she don’t talk about cleaning the room. I, on the other hand, am very busy with lots of things- like what to sell online, looking at the profiles of those people who viewed my Friendster, reading and irritating my sister. I’m that busy that I could hardly find time to clean my room regularly.

During normal days my room is such a mess (see pictures). I prefer darker shades of bed sheets so dirt won’t be that obvious. My dresser is hardly used so most of the time the mirror is covered with dust. The study table doesn’t look like one. You can find all sorts of things on it such as candy wrappers, bags, newspaper articles, map of the world, 50-year-old dictionary, etc… My walk-in closet doesn’t serve its purpose because it’s more like a storage room where you can find empty perfume bottles, rocks, dust bunnies, golf balls and chardonnay bottles with tiny stars in it.

No matter how my room looks like, I love it and wouldn’t want to transfer rooms.

My New Camera

Wow! I just got my first digital camera. It’s not high-end though. It’s a Kyocera-Yashica EZ Digital 3011. It takes nice pictures. That’s all I know now. I’m not that techie so I don’t know much about the specifications of the camera. As long as it can take pictures and can be used as easy as 1-2-3 then I’m fine with that.

After all these years I’m glad I’ve finally decided to buy a camera. I didn’t buy it from any physical store. I bought it through the Internet. I got the money I used to purchase this camera through an online raffle draw. Supposedly it’s going to be delivered to my house. I’ve waited for almost two weeks and it didn’t arrive. I was starting to be nervous then I found out that it was sent to the wrong address. So, this morning I called our local LBC branch to follow-up my package. I’m not usually irritatingly persistent about things, but I have to get that camera. After few “could you please check it again” the LBC guys finally found my package.

Instead of waiting until the following day I decided to go to their office to get the package myself.

I’m so glad. Now I can include pictures in my future entries.

The Soulmate Calculator

When I was in high school most girls tried calculating the probability of ending up with their crushes using the Love Calculator. Now, I'm surprised to see what is apparently called the Soulmate Calculator while surfing the world wide web.

What do you expect from a loveless hopeless romantic to do with it than to try if it really works. So there. I was asked to select my gender, give my first name, zodiac sign and mobile number. I’m not that gullible. Why would I type my mobile number? Receiving dozens of “unsolicited” quotations from different people already annoy me and I don’t want to add another one. I just gave another person’s number which I got from my phonebook. A message appeared telling me that I should try some other time.

I didn’t find out who might be my soulmate, but I’m very sure that if I use Soulmate Calculator he would definitely be a foreigner. Come one. What’s the possibility of a Filipino name to be in their list? I guess it would be more convincing if they also include Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese, Thai and Filipino names. What can they do is to add another option, something like “Choose the nationality of your soulmate.”

Visit http://www.thesoulmatecalculator.com/

Subic Rape Case

It was a fest for the media when Nicole went public last 2005. It also started endless debates in classroom, offices and even street corners. There she was, Nicole, filing a rape case against several American soldiers. For sure, it also tested the effectiveness of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and United States of America.

Moving forward to this day, Smith was already found guilty. He was detained in Makati City Jail for several days and was secretly transferred to American Embassy. Nicole, her lawyers and supporters are now steaming angry for what happened.

What ifs:

1. What if Nicole didn’t go to Subic and just went to a local club in her hometown?

2. What if Nicole didn’t know how to drink and dance?

3. What if Smith wasn’t that good-looking?

4. What if Smith were gay?

5. What if Nicole went to Ocean Adventure on a sunny morning instead of going to Neptune on a steamy evening?

6. What if Smith was surrounded by prostitutes?

7. What if Smith stayed on the ship and got himself some other ways to satisfy the calling of his flesh?

8. What if Smith was just an ordinary American visiting the Philippines?

9. What if the congress didn’t pass the VFA and the Senate didn’t sign this agreement?

10. What if the Philippines didn’t rely that much on American support?

I’d like to see an American guilty of a crime behind the rusty bars of a Philippine jail. For Nicole, prayers, discretion and patience are your greatest weapons.

Metro Manila Film Festival 2006

Movie is an art form. It’s like putting the different art forms all together and showing it to the general public at a cheaper price and easier way to understand. I always wait for the showing of the Metro Manila Film Festival movie entries in theaters nationwide simply because I want to see on national television how the market would react. Of course, there’s the long queue, madness at the cinema, inappropriate shouting whenever the movie characters kiss or just about to be caught by the villains and the hysteria to put themselves in front of the camera to scream “this is the movie of the year”- which would be shown during TV commercials.

The awards night is another thing. It’s the time for celebrities to flaunt what they got- any part of the body that protrudes, flashy gowns, gigantic mass of hair and they’re celebrity dates. It’s also the time and an excuse for the press people to scrutinize the so-called stars.

I haven’t seen any of the movies. I would just wait for the VCD release and rent the movies during my free time. How do I choose a movie to watch? It all depends on the storyline, trailer and poster. I could be that shallow.

If I were one of the lucky press people who were given movie passes, my first five choices would be (according to order) Ligalig, Gua Ai Di, KKK, Shake, Rattle and Roll 8 and Enteng Kabisote 3.

I would watch Ligalig not only because there’s a steamy scene between Buboy and Gwen Garci (hello, it was deleted, I’ll just wait for the director’s cut to be released few months from now) but because I believe it’s a really good movie-so good that a Hollywood director would like to re-make the movie. Well, I’ve always liked Cesar Montano movies. He’s one of those people who strive to make the movie industry rise again. I felt bad that it didn’t bag the Best Picture award.

Gua Ai Di would be the only Mano Po movie that I’d ever watch. Seriously. I’m so tired of the plot of the previous Mano Po movies- very heavy and dramatic. At least this one brings the lighter side of a Sino-Filipino love affair.

Of course Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo should be in my list because my idol Judy Ann Santos won best actress for that movie. It’s the first time I’ve heard a comedy get the best actress award.

I’m a Shake, Rattle and Roll fan since I was a kid. I’ve seen the earlier installations that featured our beloved Aiza Seguerra and Manilyn Reynes. That’s the kind of Pinoy movie I don’t miss the most- corny and predictable. However, things change and movie making evolves. Now they’re trying to imitate how other Asian countries scare the heck out of the audience.

Would you believe that Enteng Kabisote 3 won the Best Picture award? I protest. Seriously. How did it happen? It’s because of one criterion worth 40%, the movie should be commercially viable.  Enteng Kabisote is the top grosser, while Ligalig is placed second to the last. Come on! Money over artistry? Now, it’s Enteng Kabisote who’s being placed in an awkward position instead of the judges, panels and board members of the MMFF. I have nothing against this movie. You should know that I watched Okay Ka Fairy Ko when I was a kid; I also saw parts 1 and 2 of the OKFK movie and the previous Enteng Kabisote movies.

P.S. Before I say goodbye, Pops and Zsa Zsa don’t look cool in their costumes. The whole movie looks like a latex/fetish/voyeur/homosexual party. Of course, it’s just my opinion. The kids look at them as superheroes. So be it.