Entries for November, 2009

It was just like old times, and yet it would never be like old times.

Posted by chronicwind on November 3, 2009 at 09:23 PM | catch a feather

shortest enrollment ever, yey. ♥

Posted by chronicwind on November 5, 2009 at 08:00 PM | catch a feather

I don't want to be just anybody.

Posted by chronicwind on November 9, 2009 at 12:23 AM | catch a feather

I first thought that 500 days of summer was a lowly b-movie, a romcom in a he's-not-just-that-into-you level. Sometimes i do judge movies based on their posters, which is becoming a pretty bad habit. I didn't expect that it would create this much buzz, which made me itch to see it, the same way i badly wanted to see Drag Me to Hell because of the good reviews. Thankfully though, unlike Drag Me to Hell, 500 Days delivered. Reality definitely exceeded expectations.

Expectation: Buff, handsome guy and sexy lady meet, fall in love, have conflict, resolve conflict, and live funnily ever after, typical hollywood style, except not, because someone dies/gets sick/loses a puppy (I had been warned that movie has sad ending). Reality: Guy with cute smile but narrow shoulders fall in love with carefree beauty who’s uncomfortable being anyone’s anybody, and life happens.

Expectation: Modern, cinematic summer romance, where summer lasts 500 days or something,  with a twist title (peg: 50 first dates). Reality:  Girl’s name is Summer. That makes the title literal. Interesting use of the name there, high five.


Expectation: Lots of little laughter, and a few tears (expectation caused by early warning) Reality: Lots of little laughter, a couple of big ones, and no tears (hey, the ending’s hopeful)


Expectation:
Fun characters which reinforce american individualistic and consumerist culture Reality: Fun, relatable characters which reinforce general truths. Use of non-famous leads adds to the quaintness of movie. Summer has that look which is not striking at first, but become more and more beautiful as the movie progresses.


Expectation: Engaging storyline with several insights. Reality: Engaging storyline - really relatable situations with a lot of insight.


Expectation: nothing out of ordinary visual-wise Reality: Split screens (wow it’s been a long time since I’ve seen one); time-lapses! <3 Use of the bird animation which I think was unnecessary.


Expectation:
some witty dialogue but interspersed with a couple of tired, cheesy ones Reality: dialogue is more on the side of.. natural,  not cheesy; and quotable.


Expectation: Linear storyline Reality: Non-linear but a totally witty way to show its non-linearity. It may take some difficulty in remembering the day numbers but story chronology is still weavable. That also makes the revelations interesting; the plant-and-payoffs definitely make a jolting impact.

Expectation: MegRyan/Julia Roberts/Drew Barrymore romcom feel Reality: Amelie feel, what with its use of voice-over narration and color and that touch of whimsical magic (the OBB, the “what-is-love” video..)

Expectation:
Watching it once is enough Reality: Watched it twice already, and I plan on watching it again.

 
Watch it if you hadn’t, watch it again if you had.  

Posted by chronicwind on November 9, 2009 at 05:39 AM | 2 caught a feather

Story a bit dragging, was only engaged in the middle. Too many names made me a bit lost, and made my mind wander onto other, non-movie-related things. Cinematography and color-grading is awesome though, and so is the production design. I want my thesis to be colored like that! Or like Amelie. Hahaha.  <3 Had an I don’t care attitude towards girl in the start because of lack of flashback of girl and boy moments. I wouldn’t want to follow the story if I don’t know their ‘pinagsamahan’ ok. I need to know her motivation; why she loves guy so much. So at first I was frustrated and was mentally screaming at her to give up and move on. HAHA. Younger version of girl and guy and flashbacks are sweet and cute though, which made me root for them.  Nearly cried at the end; fulfilling ending. Sweet and sad and the music is lovely. Damn the war and its absurdity. Oh and why does Audrey tatou always have, um, detective-like roles? Amelie. Da vinci code. And this. But then again, people ARE always searching for some kind of truth. Or trying to hide them.

What I really want to comment on is THE PRODUCTION ITSELF. OMFG actually medyo nanghihinayang/nasasad ako kasi for all that work that was put in at hindi ko naman masyadong naappreciate yung movie itself, HAHA. Pero nung pinanood ko yung behind the scenes omgshet, saludo talaga. All that meticulous planning and execution was amazing. OMG ang yaman yaman nila.  From storyboards to locations to cg enhancements to special effects to extras (200! And more) to the production design..WOW. costumes palang for what, 200 people is so hard in itself. Tapos may made-for-the-movie wigs pa sila and mustaches. Plus yung prosthetics pa.. AMAZING. Tsaka yung coordination nung mga bomba. Use of the camera is love. Crane all the way, k! haha.  Tsaka omg yung market scene at paris scene at lighthouse shet ang hirap magcoordinate ng sandamakmak na mga taong yun a. oh and orchestra things! <3 tsaka would you believe nag tanim pa sila ng field of talahiban-like halaman/flower haha para sa less then 5 second na shot! Plus nagptunaw ng yelo para sa isang summer scene na shinoot nila during winter. Haay basta sobrang POWERFUL ng pagkakagawa nito. Sobrang hindi ko maimagine na ginagawa ng isang Philippine movie  huhu kelan kaya tayo mapupunta sa ganung lebel ano. LEVEL UP LEVEL UP LEVEL UP! Also, gusto ko sa thesis ko me establishing shot ako na gumagamit ng helicopter hahahaha maarte right. magthesis nalang kaya ako na ang title ay a very wrong engagement hahaha.

I definitely have to stop writing like a Bridget Jones merged with a bangag writer-wannabe has-been.

Posted by chronicwind on November 10, 2009 at 03:00 AM | catch a feather

oh and i forgot to mention in my previous entry:

THE EDITING BUS!!!!! heart.gif

Posted by chronicwind on November 10, 2009 at 03:08 AM | catch a feather

OK so the sites seem to agree:

doing crunches is not enough. kelangan ng cardio exercises to burn fat. i think jogging and dancing is for me. HAHA kelangang makahanap ng dancemate! exercise exercise exercise. for more endorphins na rin hahaha.

spot toning is a myth. pagnaglose ng fat, yung fat sa lahat ng parte ng katawan yung magbuburn. pero may exercises na yung belly fat ang unang nagbburn haha

eat healthy. make fruits and vegetables part of your diet! and lessen the sweets. huhu bonggang dito ako mahihirapan :o huhu less cookies and cakes and fastfood :((

water works! drink lots of them.

ayun. abs abs abs here i come! hahahaha

Posted by chronicwind on November 23, 2009 at 11:04 PM | 1 caught a feather

I'm not really a big fan of destiny and believe-in-yourself-never-quit themed movies,  but I enjoyed this one. I'm getting addicted to pandas!! pandapandapanda. haha. Saw a documentary on animalplanet a while back about these gentle giant yinyang cuddlybears, and i wanted to have my own life-sized panda stuffed toy ever since :)) also, i didn't know their babies could be born *that* small, and noncute; i was expecting them to look like miniature
pandas from day1. But no, the newborn panda on tv could probably fit on the palm of my hand,my tiny hand. HAHA I've digressed so much but let me just get this out of the way: PANDAS!!! <3

Anyway, Kung fu panda presented an easy-to-follow action-packed narrative; cute, funny characters (i especially liked oogwai); and incredible animation. The fight scenes were well-choreographed; the excitement actually melted away my drowsiness (if you knew me in person you'd know this would be very hard to do; me being a fan of sleep). I liked the camera movements, especially during the fight scene on the bridge; when tai lung was in prison; and the battle scene between tai lung and Po, which I found witty since it parallels master shivu and po's battle of the last siopao. The bonding moments between characters were heartwarming and moving: the master shivu and ogwai scenes, master  shivu and young tai lung training, master shivu and tigress, po and his father, po and master shivu's inner peace last sequence, and my favorite: the training of po by master shivu over the last siopao. :))

The humor in Kung fu panda is a mix of slapstick and dialogue; I found myself laughing from time to time with my parents. Scenes I found hilarious are Master Shivu's 'inner peace' meditation and Po imitating master shivu around the dinner table with the furious five, which made made me suddenly miss pigeria meals :))

The furious five and other characters also poke fun at Po's fatness:

Tigress: One would think that Master Oogway would choose someone who actually knew kung fu.
Crane: Yeah, or could at least touch his toes.
Monkey: Or even see his toes.

Po: Ow! I thought you said acupuncture was going to make me feel better.
Mantis: Trust me, it will. It's just not easy to find the right nerve points under all this...
Po: Fat?
Mantis: Fur. I was gonna say fur.
Po: Sure you were.

Tai Lung: You can't defeat me! You... you're just a big... fat... panda!
[He throws a weak punch, Po catches his hand by the finger]
Po: I'm not a big fat panda. I'm *the* big fat panda.

Shifu: One must first master the highest level of kung fu, and that is clearly impossible if that one is someone like you.
Po: Someone like me?
Shifu: Yes! Look at you! This fat butt-
[he whacks Po on his butt]
Po: Aah!
Shifu: ...Flabby arms-
[he hits Po on his arm]
Po: Those are sensitive in the flabby parts...
Shifu: And this ridiculous belly!
Po: Hey!n
Shifu: And your utter disregard for personal hygiene!
Po: Now wait a minute, that was a little uncalled for...

But Po is a good sport and accepts himself, fats and all. He eventually wins the heart of the furious five and master shivu, and his fatness doesn't cause a huge issue uses. Po eventually his 'fatness' to his advantage. I  really have a certain fondness for 'fat' characters and jokes since I have a group of friends and we fondly call each other pigs. haha. i love them to bits! It's annoying though that fat characters are almost always depicted as slobs/messy eaters - it's such an unfavorable stereotype.

I also enjoyed that Po resembles Barney from How I Met Your Mother; the words he spoke could've been from Barney's mouth:

"There is no charge for awesomeness... or attractiveness."
"He was so deadly, in fact, that his enemies would go blind from over-exposure to pure awesomeness!"


Awesome! haha. I liked how master shivu and oogwai says I don't know; because that's a very honest and hard thing to say, especially when one is being looked up to, and when one is needing an answer immediately. It is humbling to admit that we don't know what we don't know so I commend the scriptwriters for giving them depth, because these characters are not stereotypical know-it-alls and are humanized like that.

Other quotes I like:
There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the "present."
The sign of a true hero is humility.
I'm sleepy. That's all I can rant for now. :D



Over all, it's a funny, enjoyable movie, ideal for watching with family or friends. Pandas! :))

Posted by chronicwind on November 30, 2009 at 01:26 AM | catch a feather

ready or not. And you just have to deal with it.

Posted by chronicwind on November 30, 2009 at 02:18 AM | catch a feather
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