Monday, February 27, 2006

trashwood paper

once again, fate has failed me. i wont be joining the scriptwriting contest ive mentioned before. in some other dimension, i would have had a laptop of my own to type my ideas in any time. or maybe, in that same perfect world, id not have money problems and would have been able to my a laptop of my own, or better yet, a laptop and a brand new pc for my apartment. but alas poor skizzy, he existed in the wrong place.

oh i was prepared, definitely prepared. i had my concepts with me all ready to be electronically translated. i was ready to use up my free time to type most if not all of the scripts i wanted to submit. even the expected forced o.t.'s from work wasnt gonna stop me. i was gonna stock food to keep me going on those sleepless nights (or mornings). all i needed was a computer. and yes, i could have just handwritten them, coulnd't i? but then id have to type them afterwards as well so it is logically less time/energy-consuming to just type them straight out of my head. my sister has a laptop, but she couldnt let me borrow it because she needs it more than i do. so, it all boils briskly down to this: lack of funds. and im not talking about money beyond my wildest dreams, no sir. i am talking about cash which i deserve and oughta be holding in my hands. money which i could have used to buy my own laptop. or at least, money which i could have used to camp in internet cafes and type there. but because i unfairly get paid so little for the huge amount work i do, not only do i havent got that money, but i also would never have that kind money if i started saving up from day one. what is there to save anyways. so yes, i still am blaming gma7 for making my life miserable. and that is why i have a microsoft word document open in another window. to finally type something i should have typed long ago (or something i would never have needed to type if i wasnt fooled by this #1 network stuff).

know what else sucks? i could have watched the wwe raw live tour. ive been a bit of a wrestling fan since i was little. i even saw the first time they went here (that was years ago and im not really sure if it was the first). the undertaker was there. bret hart and owen hart had match against each other there. heck, the bushwhackers were there. so it's quite a disappointment not to able to see this one. because if i had the money, id buy the 10,000-peso front row ticket, no sweat or double-thoughts, just to see john cena do the f.u., kane, and of course, torrie wilson and the other wwe divas, prancing around half-naked. good thing, stacy keibler wasnt there. at least there's something i didnt miss.

and a quick note to everyone who bitches about wrestling being scripted: so what? telenovelas are scripted as well (badly if i might add). id rather watch fake blood on jbl's face after getting hit by a steel chair than a judy ann-piolo repetitive "mushy" scene.

here are three pictures of a black ipod video in my right hand:










now, let's do some links:

the most unusual buildings on earth
free LED messages
nonsense but cool photgraphy
some awesome snow sculptures
first names revealed
and the record holder for a skill i thought i was good at: stone skipping.

craving for a jaiku? no? well here's one anyways:

first time i saw you,
now im running after you...
give me back my phone!

and finally, a new lucky list: 13 tv shows i miss watching. writing this was pretty fun. made me remember all those times i sneaked out of my room way past my bedtime to watch tv. (totally not related to the lucky list but back when we still lived with my mother-side grandparents, you could call up stv6 to request the movies they'll be showing at 8pm. they also played some nice cartoons in the afternoon, but were usually replays. i remember requesting creepshow many times and, after sitting through other people's requests, which included r-rated movies, it was finally granted.) i would appreciate it very much if you would comment about the list because im quite sure you'd enjoy it even a bit as you'd probably agree with one or two entries on it. thanks!

whew, quite a long post, eh. well, all good things must come to an end, and we have come to that. as always, thank you very much for spending your time with me and i do wish i was able to cause you even the least amount of pleasure. take care out there.


p.s. the cool-ass black ipod video aint mine, but i wish all the hair on my body it was.
p.p.s. the title of this post was taken from a fire extinguisher in guadalupe mrt the day i was waiting for layla to come home after watching purefoods lose to redbull in araneta because of james yap's stupidity.

Friday, February 24, 2006

black

behold...

yes. holy mother-effin sweet jeezum crackers, yes! it's spider-man in the black symbiote costume! well, that's what i and about 75 gazillion other spidey fans are hoping for. venom (along with sandman) has long been confirmed a villain in the third spider-man movie, but the details whether sam raimi kept faithful to the comic or not are still obscure. the uber-cool image above doesnt really answer the question, but heck, it means a freakin lot! the first two spidey flicks didnt disappoint me, and number three looks very promising as well. my anticipation just got raised but a couple hundred notches! woohoo! spider-man swings supremo into theaters may next year.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

on a mission

just a quickie: i am accepting prayers and other forms of support for the next big endeavor i am about to make (not the resignation but im open for that as well): i am joining a scriptwriting contest which will give each of the 7 finalists a 700,000-peso grant to turn the script into a full-length film. as the guidelines state, one can submit as many entries as possible, and i hope dearly that one of the five concepts i'll send will get chosen. thank you, guys.

p.s. this freakin dexterity game is killin me. i cant get past the third level. play

Monday, February 13, 2006

THE PROMISE by jaiskizzy

this epic fantasy is about a slave with superspeed running powers, a beautiful princess/royal concubine worshipped by men, and a kick-ass general with a kick-ass armor whose lives are intertwisted by fate in love triangle story that goes a little something like this: general hires slave. general wants princess. general is wounded. general makes slave wear armor and get princess. princess falls in love with slave thinkin it is general. slave falls in love with princess and keeps it to himself. slave, princess, and general decide to get it over with and have a threesome. last sentence not true.

there's a big part of the filipino in me that envies the chinese film industry. whenever you mention "chinese movie", you'd usually think "kung fu" (and when you mention "pinoy movie" you'd usually think "face-slapping", "excessive crying" and "dancing in the beach"). i have seen numerous chinese flicks, and apart from being mostly kung fu, ive always noticed how each film was different from the rest and very well made. shots you never see anywhere else. actors who do their own martial arts and stunts. costumes that belong to a museum. and most of the time, especially in epics, the story just captures your attention. to name a few: storm riders, a man called hero, hero, and the house of flying daggers. the promise (wu ji) falls right into the same department.

what i really liked most about this movie was the fight scenes. hands down, the best yet ive laid my eyes on so far. i couldnt tell exactly whether it was "wire-fu" or cgi. if you've ever seen a sugo episode, you've definitely seen the horrible way they use the harness to show flight or floating. even if the wires have been magically erase through editing (and believe me, it aint easy), you still would actually swear that the guy has wires and people are pulling him up. if sugo is the "how-not-to-do-it", the promise is the "how-to-do-it-perfectly". the early war scene with the general battling a battalion all by himself was a great way to begin this fantasy fight fest. there was also a fight scene near a tree and any wire would have been entangled in the branches but this dude still flies up with ease and then lands with gravity. also, in the villain's hq, a fight scene between the villain and the slave involves razor-sharp fans that the villain throws in the air, continues fighting with the slave as the fan spins around them, and then catches it as if on cue. like i said, whether they did it with wires or cgi, they did it good. the other aspect of the film that makes it work wonderfully was the cast. a lot of credit oughta go to the dude who plays kunlun the slave. for a koreanovela actor, he pulled it off nicely. same goes to the japanese guy who played a chinese general. but my utmost appreciation belongs to cecilia cheung, couldnt have thought of a better actress to play the much-sought after princess (except maybe layla...). she's so versatile and so gorgeous, a perfect choice for the role of a concubine who's mere glance gives warriors a hard-on. she's thinner than the last time i saw her in a movie, but i cant complain. it is only her that surpasses the effects in giving this movie its magnificence(the "kite" sequence alone, i could watch over and over).

an excellent epic i extremely enjoyed.

the good: the wire-fu and cecilia cheung
the bad: the "prologue" which i didnt understand at first. but i guess it's just me.
the ugly: the general in a steamy sex scene with cecilia cheung. lucky bastard...
the score: 9 white feathers.

the skiz.

man overboard

im quitting my job. it has to be done. yes, folks, the crap has hit the fan, and im through dodging all of it. there's just so much ive endured for the past 8 months and seriously, ive had enough. for a while, back when i was just starting, i actually believed that i would last long in this line of work, despite the knowledge of a meander salary. it never crossed my mind that i would be doing video editing as a career (nothin but a hobby) but there really was a single moment after i was hired that i thought that this would be it (it was probably that first time a writer told me that i did a great job with the plug). but all the fun i was having in that little office was quickly eclipsed by the shitty system. then the salary issue came into the picture and i realized how wrong i was to think that working in gma7 was heaven. the superiors, they kept promising better days that never arrived. many have already taken the path to freedom, and many still, including me, shall follow. i mean, don't they get it? if their solutions were working, would any of us go? it wasnt just salary thing, if it was then id have been long gone. we've given them the time they asked us to wait patiently for and still, there aint the slightest flicker of betterment, but instead a humongous glow of the worse to come. i am not gonna sit around and see that happen. i know not yet where im headed, but if it's a place where they dont shamlessly slap you in the face with five more scripts when you've already got seven, where meetings are fruitful, and where you cant help but smile when you see how much you've earned, take me there...

intermission: multi-touch screen technology via dumpalink.com. darn cool. cant wait to do that on a pc myself. if it's true that apple will be developing this for their hardware, minority report here we come!

oh yes. 100 things you need to know about women. 66 and 65... got it.

a place for people with phenomenal photoshop prowess. theme: food for thought.

anyways... i am dying to write again. ive got about ten concrete ideas swimming in my head right now that i so want to bring to the surface. when i say concrete, i mean, if there was a machine that would create a specific thought inside your brain, i'd have one comic book series, two short stories, two novels, and five movie scripts. problem is i havent got the time and resources to work on any one of them, but the plot, characters, setting, visuals, they're all here. i have got to let them out (layla's getting tired of hearing em, i guess...) if you're an artist who'd like to collaborate on an indie comic project, hit me. if you're a publisher willing to try, hit me. if you're a film producer and got a million bucks to waste, hit me hard. i'll be waiting, guys...


in the meantime, here is my review of the promise. and as promised (hah!), allow me to introduce to you a new filler feature: the lucky list. it's like the usual top ten list you see everyday but not exactly. instead of ten, i have thirteen, and instead of counting from ten to one, it counts from one to thirteen but still not quite as simple as that. entries one to twelve are in random order, with number thirteen on the top spot. basically it's a top two list, with twelve entries for number two and one for number one. on it's maiden serving, i give you my 13 daydreams. (and if you switch a couple of consonants in lucky list you get... lusty lick. weheheh)

well, that's today's update. hope you enjoyed your quick stay here. wherever you go or whatever you do next is beyond me but always take care, friends.

Friday, February 03, 2006

OLDBOY by jaiskizzy

oh dae-su is abducted and locked up in a hotel-ish prison for reasons he doesn't know. after 15 years of gas-induced sleep, masturbating on tv singers, and plotting his revenge on the guilty parties, he is released, as mysterious as he was captured, with a cellphone and a load of cash. a stranger calls him, telling him that he has 5 days to find out the whole truth, and with he help of a waitress, he pursues his vengeance spree, unaware of the dreadful conclusion that awaits him.

this film had eluded me for ages since i heard of it. ive gone to many dvd hunts lookin for it but to no success. then, some time in september, i saw an internet article saying that the movie will be screened free at a place called titus-brandsma, but alas! it was on a saturday, i was still on probationary employment with a six-day work week back then and ive exhausted my absences for the month already. and then finally, i have managed to acquire a crisp-quality copy with subtitles, and, as ive said before, the wait was all worth it. the famous one-take hallway brawl scene was as good as i imagined it would be. lots of great camera work. not as gory as takashi miike's movies, but still gut-wrenching enough to make it unforgettable. stunning piece from park chan wook (who directed "cut" from three...extremes). it must have been a grueling yet rewarding experience for the whole crew to come up with a film like this.

there is nudity and sex, but id rather not spill a word about it. actors were perfect, the highest of praises to dae-su, especially in the ending. it'll make you wonder if you'd react the same way in the same situation. this is the most crooked character-driven drama ive seen so far. the "magic" (for lack of a better term) of this movie would definitely be ruined if i say more than ive already said. you'll just have to see it for yourselves. and trust me, nothing you can do to prepare for this wicked ride...

the good: the story. it'll grab you, make you cringe, or shock you to the bone, depending on the kind of person you are. me? i was awed. creeped out, but awed.
the bad: the slow pace, which didnt bother me much, might turn most viewers off
the ugly: just about everything, upon seeing the twist ending.
the score: 10 live octopi.

the skiz.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

deep six

here is my final statement regarding the john wong issue: im done. im mr. nice guy no more. he's an opportunist and i wish his fat ass to hell. if anyone should know, he closed the doors on our friendship first. ive merely done the same and put a huge freakin adamantium lock on it. ive reached the point where ive decided to shut him out as well and include him on my enemy list. from this day forward, john wong = john wrong. exclamation point.


here is my oldboy movie review: oh dae-su is abducted and locked up in a hotel-ish prison for reasons he doesn't know. after 15 years of gas-induced sleep, masturbating on tv singers, and plotting his revenge on the guilty parties, he is released, as mysterious as he was captured, with a cellphone and a load of cash. a stranger calls him, telling him that he has 5 days to find out the whole truth, and with he help of a waitress, he pursues his vengeance spree, unaware of the dreadful conclusion that awaits him. continue...

i added a new link to my slow-growing link list (im a bit selfish with my web finds). it's for dumpalink, which i regularly visit for vast video viewing. lots of cool and funny stuff. my latest fave: dj god. trippy.

upcoming updates: movie review of wu ji the promise, and a new filler feature. that's it for today, folks. see you in a hundred jiffies!

yayie is okay now. and so am i...