trust the japanese to get it right…

If I were to choose what my favorite movie for 2012 was, it would have to be the live action movie of Rurouni Kenshin. Thank God they decided to release this movie in the Philippines (why the limited release though? I think they’re underestimating the community!) when it wasn’t in the initial worldwide list. It was a visually treat to be able to watch this in the big screen (did it twice, was itching to do another round but there’s not much time) and enjoy the experience with people your age who loved the manga and the anime releases more than ten years ago.

I shuddered at first when they announced that they will be making a live action version of what I consider as my most favourite anime of all time. Heck, have you seen Dragonball? (I haven’t seen it since looking at the trailer I knew it would be wreck, and it was) Or the on -and-off news that the US is planning an adaptation of Akira (God, no. I’m cringing at the thought of a US interpretation to the giant blob at the end). But when I found out that this was a Japanese venture (backed by Warner Bros. Japan), I decided to give it a shot by looking for the trailer. At least if there’s one thing they know how to do right, it’s the action scenes. The trailers, surely did not disappoint:

First and foremost, THANK YOU KEISHI OTOMO FOR CASTING TAKERU SATO! I’m not too much exposed to the Otomo's nor Sato's body of work so at first I was thinking—really? That’s your Himura Kenshin? Oh boy, did I eat my words not even 5 minutes into the film. How he managed to capture exactly how Kenshin stands in the non-fight scenes is beyond me. I was worried on how he will be able to be an assassin and be the bumbling helper at the same time --- and to my surprise, he managed to do exactly both convincingly.

The plot was tightly-written, and the movie amazingly gave us around 3(?) story arcs and combined them well enough to be appreciated by both fans and newbies. The fight scenes were expertly choreographed, I swear my mouth was open half of the time at the awesomeness I’m seeing. And I guess because all of the fight scenes were done with wirework, it brings a sense of realism that would have not been there otherwise. For the entire film, the movie made me believe that a human can really have enough skill to pull off all of those moves.

The movie is even funny at its intended moments. And while most of it is composed of action scenes, it does manage to insert moments (where we can take a breather) to explore backstories (at least the important ones) and get to know each character. I think my favourite moment is when Kenshin donned the red kimono (aka his trademark look) from Kaoru’s father in the dojo. I’m not sure if that’s canon (haven’t read the manga), but dang, that scene gave chills and brought a whole wave of nostalgia. And it’s so beautifully-shot. I’m impressed.

All the side characters were sooo enjoyable, even the villains were fun to watch. I can still remember the collective breath of the audience when we get a glimpse of Sano in prison and when Saito does his sword stance before attacking Takeda. I think the only weird moment was Kaoru’s super looooonnnggg monologue at the forest during the Kenshin-Jinie fight. Hahaha, I just find it weird that she was able to talk like that (I think it was a whole 5 minutes of screentime, and she just paraphrased what she said in her first line, heh) while out of breath and fighting for your life.

My friend who went with me to the screening described it best: it was mind-blowing. I’m so happy that they’re going to do a sequel because heck, if you can be this awesome with these minor villains (I think this is just within the first 10 episodes of the anime), how much more awesome will it be when we get to the Shishio arc? Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

25 Random Things About Me:

Since Daene tagged me regarding this and I had this unusually light day at work, why not? Apparently it's been going around in Facebook (although I don't usually check mine, mostly I just approve friend requests hehe):

25 Random Things About Me

1. I accidentally swallowed a mentos when I was in prep and didn’t eat a mint mentos for my entire grade school year.
2. I’m addicted to nuts and seeds (hence my column name when I was writing for the school paper in HS). Favorite: pistachios and squash seeds (dragon sid all the way)
3. I had this bishounen (for anime) obsession my entire HS year—I’m known by my HS friends as the girl who likes 2D men.
4. I can rap in Nihonggo—well actually, I just liked this one song in Taiho Shichauzo’s OST that has a rap part in it, and I sing/rap to it (in the confines of my room…alone…)
5. My favorite sport is table tennis and I loved it the moment I played it – my sister taught it to me and I played nonstop from 8pm to 2am that first day.
6. No matter how tired I am when I get home, I still have time to sort the TCP twilight pins, hehehe.
7. We presented a spoof of “Spice Up Your Life” for our Music class in 2nd year HS and I’m sporty spice (with matching kick in the air)
8. I can say the tongue-twister “Peter Piper” perfectly.
9. I know ‘Sound of Music’ by heart and I pretended to be Julie Andrews while she was singing “I Have Confidence” while walking through the CSA covered courts.
10. There was a time that I thought being able to drink Cali Shandy was cool (haha, THOSE were the days!)
11. I LOVE L’arc~en~Ciel… and they’re the only ones who can spark my inner Rockstar.
12. I named my gun (before you fret, it’s a pathetic M1 I use in ACP training) Aoshi (after RK’s Shinomori Aoshi), my violin Lei (as in Hua Ze Lei, MG), and my laptop Hyde (of Laruku).
13. I’m a big romance novel addict, McNaught and Garwood ruled the past 10 years of my life.
14. …and as a casualty of romance novels (historical and regency ones mostly), I had a Scottish what-could-they-be-wearing-under-those-kilts? phase. Oh, I also want to own a castle.
15. I want to go to Japan even just to frolic under the cherry blossoms
16. When I was young, my siblings along with our cousins made this “group” and we would perform songs and dance at our relative’s parties and weddings (yeah, nauuuto pa kami nun)
17. I was a squadron commander in HS
18. I just want to have ONE picture that looks like the Wuthering Heights cover
19. Hydraengas --- I want those flowers at my wedding (yeah, wala pa ngang groom may flowers na ko hehe)
20. I mourned for a day when Wowow was pulled out from cable (no, not because of the porn) since they have all the updated animes and their movies are earlier than HBO or Star Movies
21. I usually have weird dreams, i.e. St. Augustine (as a statue, not even the person) going up our makopa tree
22. I hate having my picture taken when I was young. Almost all of my childhood pictures are of me crying (ngayon na ko bumabawi)
23. My videoke playlist: Superwoman (Karyn White), Total Eclipse of the Heart, Luha (Aegis)
24. My mom ran over my foot with our car before…and she got mad at me for being in the way!
25. I want to be an accomplished musician but I’m just plain lazy…much to the frustration of Lei just sitting at the corner of my room.

grade school: full-circle moments

a lot has happened and sadly i don't have much time to blog about every single thing, hehehe. i had two sort of full-circle moments, deemed them as such because they are memorable experiences in grade school and just got reminded on them recently...

Aoshi Shinomori: not fangirling again...i think...
Minami and I were chatting a few weeks ago and we suddenly got into Rurouni Kenshin mode...this anime in particular has a special place in my anime obsession, since it's probably the first one that i really got into and it paved the way to my Laruku obsession (which i won't go through at length here hehe). I mentioned to her that I've read this fanfic before (haven't read one in a while) on my favorite RK character, Aoshi Shinomori, and his supposed love interest, Misao, and how I really loved it but sadly I didn't get to finish it. And surprises of surpises, Minami knew that fanfic! Imagine, I don't even remember the title of the fanfic, and this was almost 10 years ago! Kinda surreal, I remembered reading it (we're still living in Makati then) and really got emotional over it. And I'm going to go through the same experience again since Minami managed to find it online!

So now, I can't get over Tin Mandigma's Of Love and Honor, and I was surprised that it was written by a Filipino (well I was in grade school then, didn't even bother to research the author, shucks). Sadly, memory served me right and she wasn't able to finish it :( hay oh well, still loving the fact that I get to get back to it again (and just imagine how it would've ended, hehe)

Third Eye Blind: i think i played it once in my Walkman...
Got to watch 3eb at Oktoberfest last Saturday and it was a blast!!! I won't start ranting on how the event was slightly (well, not slightly) mismanaged and how I imagined a dozen of bad things happening to me and my friends that night. This is the most that I've toiled just to watch that band, I was willing to give up and sue San Miguel in case they don't give me my refund, but thank god someone let us go through gate and we even managed to secure a good spot...which we wouldn't probably have gotten if we managed to enter the usual way, hahah

I liked 3EB but I wasn't that much of a fan compared to the company I'm with that night...and now consider me a convert. I still had a hard time juxtaposing the present Stephan Jenkins on stage and that version of him in their Semi-Charmed Life music video, and I don't get his concert choreo but hell, he can do what he wants. They played A LOT of songs, I really got my money's worth (although I wasn't thinking the same thing 30 minutes before they played). And I really get a kick out of reminiscing how young we were when they hit it big, and those old music videos that we got to watch the first time before because cable was the "wave of the future" back then, hahaha. They played some new songs for their upcoming 4th album and they were great!

Cinderella Overload!!!

The past two weeks have been Cinderella-filled: first, I FINALLY found online videos of Cinderella (Cinderella Monogatari), the animated series I first saw over a decade ago in ABS-CBN, and second, watched Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella at CCP.

Prinsipe Leonard!!!

I’ve posted the Japanese opening sequence of Cinderella in my multiply account over a year ago, since I and my college friends suddenly got on reminiscing the old cartoon shows and Cinderella came up. Surprisingly, random people have been commenting on the video, also sharing their love of the series and finally, someone copied the one shown on TV again and I got to watch the whole series. Prinsipe Leonard is LOVE! Got to give credit to ABS-CBN, they dubbed the series pretty well, my mastery of Filipino got challenged and Leonard’s voice is a dream! I love his blue gray eyes (if you wouldn’t have noticed yet, gorgeous 2-D men are my weaknesses). Leonard really has his Edward Cullen moments, as Edell pointed out, “Hindi ka ba nasaktan? Kahit galos wala ka?”

It’s kind of sad that the network skipped a few shows, especially episode 22 where that KISS (or was it an almost kiss? Hard to tell) happened. Argh! But this is better than nothing. I especially love Leonard’s big reveal to that he is a prince, hahaha, with matching slow-mo pa of the swirling cape. Haaayyy…

Are you the sweet invention of a lover’s dream?
Ice and I watched Cinderella starring Lea Salonga last Friday, this is my fourth time watching Lea perform in a musical and I can say that it seems that she’s never changed, her voice still gives me goosebumps. We were bummed out that they ran out of souvenir programs, argh, have to find a way to buy them. I was wondering why the songs were so familiar at first then I remembered that these were also used in that Cinderella adaptation by Brandy and Paolo Montalban, hahaha. Anyway, I LOVE the songs, the actors (especially the stepsisters! I mean I love Lea and all but these girls stole the show for me), the costumes (especially the wedding!!!), and that CARRIAGE! Talk about a WOW factor. My favorite songs (the same ones that got my attention when I watched the Brandy version) was Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful? (love the line: Are you the sweet invention of a lover’s dream? Or are you really as wonderful as you seem?) and Stepsisters’ Lament (what IS the matter with the men? Ditto, stepsisters!)

I actually found myself in a moment while I was watching the play that I was chuckling over how cheesy Cinderella and the Prince sound like in the garden during the ball. And then a horrifying moment when I thought to myself that I might be becoming a cynical bitch over it, haha. Either way, I got to accept the Prince’s lilting voice (it really sounds like when James Marsden did the prince in Enchanted) and the sweeping lines…and got over the whole thing when the last sequence in the garden (when it was revealed who Cinderella was) showed me a hilarious side to the pairing (panalo yung, “Halt! I command you!” “But why?” “I don’t know”). Also love the way they somehow modernized the tale, with the King talking about interest rates (THAT was good), and the Prince employing the secret service to locate Cinderella.

One-way ticket to disaster?

I was lounging at my couch, watching the Voltes V Movie in GMA (I know there’s better programming out there but I was feeling nostalgic for a while and getting a kick out of the deep Filipino words that the dubbers were using) and I got the chance to finally see the teaser for Hana Kimi (which was a great Japanese drama, and weirdly enough I wasn’t feeling proprietary and was glad that the drama will be shared to the rest of the country)… so there I was, minding my own business on Black Saturday…

then out came this teaser on how GMA was successful in producing a Tagalized (Pinoy-ed?) version of a Mexican drama (ahem, if you’ve been living under a rock, it’s MariMar), and how it’s going to undergo another feat…

then I heard the all-too familiar beat of the catchy song by Clazziquai and I had this “wtf?!?” expression on my face afterward when I digested the message…GMA is doing an adaptation of My Name is Kim Sam Soon?!?! (another wtf?!? might be in order)…

okay, though the drama admittedly got huge ratings in Korea and I deduced for GMA itself, I’m skeptical about this undertaking, but I guess would not fault GMA for re-doing a tried and tested formula. But shit, I might sound like a purist drama addict, but can’t the butchering of Asian dramas stop at poor dubbing? Why do an adaptation? Can’t the writers think of material that could be patterned after Asian drama plots but not actually adapting them?

If there’s one thing that the teaser was effective in is it definitely piqued my curiosity, and I spent the past few hours trying to think who the cast will be (coz I think finding a Kapuso actress to fit Kim Sun Ah would take most out of their time). I can’t think of a fitting Sam Soon right now, much less do Hyun Bin, but what the hell. I was thinking that Heart Evangelista looks like and could pull off doing Ryeo Won’s character, but fat chance of THAT happening, hehe. And the biggest question of all, WHO WOULD PLAY DANIEL HENNEY?!?! Seriously?!?! (I was thinking Marc Nelson might do the job well, don’t know much of his acting ability but Daniel Henney himself wasn’t much of an actor when he did KSS)

oh well, as of now, I’m still willing to keep an open mind and watch the drama even if just for the chance to further criticize it. KSS is not in my top Korean drama list, but I’ve raved about it before and after that. I just have to look at the bright side…at least they didn’t pick Full House (although could GMA afford it? Hehe), or better yet, do a Meteor Garden remake.

I don’t know if GMA is joining the bandwagon of adapting other country’s dramas, which is what Taiwan, Japan, and Korea are doing… and I honestly don’t think we can compete equally. I was re-watching Dal Ja’s Spring ironically the other day and was wondering why Filipino dramas are not trying the modern drama formula, and less of the fantasy or the tearjerkers that’s been there. Maybe it’s not our niche? Either way, I’m happy with watching my dramas online.

Anyway, I wish good luck to GMA in this, as I’m more of a Kapuso than a Kapamilya as of now. And the network is enlisting good Asian dramas so far (although I have no idea why they would include Witch Yoo Hee to that roster (saw the teaser also that day), I just hope they air it in the afternoon, hehehe). I even fantasized on being a researcher for GMA program development in this aspect. C’mon GMA, you get an Asian drama aficionado and economist rolled into one, what more can you ask for? Hehehe

tadaima!!!

hay at last im back!!! pretty hellish week for me...umuwi nga ko twice na half day this week para lang matapos ang lahat ng requirements in the comforts of my home...dun ko din narealize na ang tagal ko na din di nagcocommute pauwi...

our defense was ok, although binara kami ng resource person namin, haha. actually di ako ganun affected (since di ko naman sha makikita ever), mas affected ung partner ko...hmpf feeling ko lang talaga nagpapasikat ung resource person namin (btw di sha ung invited namin, sub lang sha), malamang madami siyang alam no, eh ni hindi man lang nga thesis defense ito sobrang taas ng expectations....anyway...

after the two major papers and that defense, sobrang iba na ang outlook ko....dahil kahit na may stat exam ako at dalawa pang grp presentations for this week (den finals week after), feeling ko kayang kaya ko na....grabe konti na lang...konting tiis na lang....

in celebration of surviving this week, nanood ako ng Card captor sakura movie 1 and 2 (wala clang karapatang magka-love life at grade 6! bitter ba? hehe) at trinity blood hanggang ep 18 (may bagong anime crush na naman ako)

ayun, ac2ali dami nang nangyari pero di ko na maalala ung iba, haha...

the week that was...

although SEC week was 2 weeks ago parang eco week din ngayon sa sobrang daming sinubmit!!! may apat na outputs na kelangan isubmit kahapon (one of them is the first draft of our industry analysis so mahaba sha).... sobrang mukhang zombie ang mga tao kahapon sa pagod, hehe

weirdly enough, although papatayin ako pag nakita to ng mga classmates ko, tapos ko lahat ng requirements by thursday night mga 10pm...cguro sa sobrang panic ko sa daming gagawin, nagmadali akong tapusin before den...oh well mukha pa rin akong zombie pagpasok kinabukasan...dahil nanood pa ko ng anime sa wowow until 130...hehe

speaking of anime, nagshort anime viewing ako sa prom a nung wednesday (in between doing 2 papers)...napanood ko ang trinity blood 8 and 9...astigin as usual...grabe ung pag-crushnik niya, 40% transformation lang pero matindi pa rin ang mukha....cant wait for future episodes...sa wowow nga mga 20 episodes na pero lagi kong nakakalimutan...

also didn't go to skul nung thursday because of the globe exam and interview....i think it went well, although nairita ako sa exam where we have to revise outlines....sobrang labo...btw smart subscriber ako, hehe

needless to say, this is my first real weekend! as in walang hmwk (na alam ko) at hindi k kelangan pumunta ng skul ng sabado...saya!

may presentation din ako for business com, im gonna talk abt my secret dream jobs for 5 mins next friday...hehe, kinda excited ako, at least di naman seryoso ung topic ko, hehe

busy week...

super busy but fun week...been enjoying myself until today (im watching Mars in time for Zaizai my luv's birthday)...anyway, recap:

Tuesday - went to school to finish Braving CAS requirements...then had an anime marathon from 10 to 5:30! Hinihintay na nga ata kami ng mga janitors sa labas ng classroom hehe...oh well, im not bothered since may kasama kaming mga teachers...sugoi!
a. Trinity Blood (ep1-4) - damn, this anime kicks a$$! super astig when Nightroad turns into Crushnik mode...malupit ang weapon niya! alam mong mamamatay ka pag nakita mo siya...interesting concept din...a vampire made to drink the blood of other vampires...lupet din ng "heart-wrenching" moment when the vampire opponent takes out his heart and crushes it...! lupet talaga. buti na lang meron din nito sa wowow so im updated hehe
b. Eyeshield 21 (ep1) - ang fun ng mga characters...it's an sports anime about football...first time lang ako nakakita nito...
c. Tsubasa Chronicles (ep. 5-8) - crossover of clamp characters...shet ang astig ni Syaoran dito...CCS fan kasi ako pero makikita mo talagang iba ang psychology ni Sakura and Syaoran sa TC kaya alam mong impossibleng CCS sha...kinda na-bore ung mga guys since ang mushy daw...still kilig naman kami..galeng din na instead of the usual rock song background everytime may labanan, mala-opera ang background music! iba ang feeling...
d. Howl's Moving Castle - i tell you, the trailer shown in AXN is not appealing, but the movie is just the opposite...nagiging Miyazaki fan na ata ako...not to mention na ang gwapo ni Howl! pati ung demon fire nakakatawa...great movie, mahaba (as usual, Miyazaki film nga eh), pero worth it...

i was expecting to have a headache since ang tagal naming nanood pero hindi nangyari...sobrang aliw kasi....

Wednesday - still Braving CAS requirements...super busy, my mom and i also dropped by podium to look for a fone (free kasi sa SMART pag line ka)...pero di pa daw pala kami pwede kumuha ng fone right now...short-lived excitement

Thursday and Friday - Braving CAS itself..sobrang fun, i think the project was a success, since the girls were very responsive...galeng ng talk ni Roxy, niloloko ko na kukunin ko na lahat ng study strategies niya hehe

also went out wid Ice, Ten, and Anna yesterday, watched Madagascar (been humming "i like to move it..." all day), then chika...ang daming nangyayari sa mga buhay ng iba...yun lang

just watched this morning Honey and Clover ep1-4 (arigatou Arnold-san!)...as what Arnold-san said, parang Kare Kano (one of my fave animes) pero college version...from the first episodes, parang ganun nga, almost same setting pero iba na ung issues na target nila...

planning to finish Mars soon...then tomorrow may swimming kami, hehe....then enrollment on Monday (btw, i dunno the status of my scholarship yet...sana wala akong problema come Monday)

stagnant...

i feel so stagnant...as in stagnant na tubig na nakahambalang lang sa tabi na pwedeng pagmulan ng malaria dahil sa mga lamok na nabubuhay dahil sa kin... did close to nothing these past few weeks, i was trying to do something today but i woke up to a sore throat (must be all the chocolate and the ice candy that i ate yesterday) and weirdly enough i usually get sick that way (from sore throat to headache then fever na agad)... so to stop the soreness once and for all, shempre, do mom's solution: gargle vinegar...hehe and it works based on past experience... i am really prone to losing my voice (because i talk a lot, eat and drink a lot of cold stuff, and sing when im alone)...

don't kill me but im religiously watching Supergals in Channel 23...hehe, im an anime fan since before pero ngaun talaga feeling ko nasasanay na kong manood ng mga normal animes...as in normal life ung plots...no meccas or any of the fantasy stuff...oh, well... gonna watch Star Wars tom wid my bro Dale and my cousin Jeric, out of house na at last...