Post-It Love, by futureshorts

I first saw this on Dark Roasted Blend. It was so charming it made me smile :)

Because I'm Hungry

... I would like to share with you guys a snippet of Anthony Bourdain's street food tour of Binondo, Manila (Chinatown!), courtesy of TravelChannelTV.  Many other bloggers have blogged about it already, but I think there are still some people who were not able to watch the No Reservations episodes of Bourdain's visit aired early this year, so these are for you (especially Uncle Oca and TAO):

And here's a series of links of Tony with my favorite Pinoy foodblogger MarketMan, discovering what he now refers to as the best whole roast pig in the world!  Many thanks to pinoyapparel01 on Youtube.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

You enjoy while I go have lunch now.

Prokofiev's "Peter & the Wolf", Animated

When I was a little girl, my mom played old tapes of one of her favorite classical compositions for me and my sister, over and over.  By tapes, I mean a huge reel as big as a dinner plate on an AKAI player.  (This was in the early 70s, before the days of the cassette tape.) We loved Sergei Prokofiev's 1936 work Peter and the Wolf - the main melody was as memorable as our other favorite, the Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite".  What made it stand apart from other works for us was that the recording had a narrator.  Now I am not sure, but I seem to remember that at the time it was the late British actor Sir Peter Ustinov.  (Listen to snippets for free here.)

While Joy was googling for a video of an orchestral performance on Youtube, what came up was a 2006 stop-motion animated film directed by Suzie Templeton that apparently won a BAFTA in 2007 and an Academy Award in 2008! (And three other awards.)   I highly recommend it to all parents.  Here it is, in four parts, on Youtube:

This series was originally posted on Youtube by Actealcien.

New Torchwood from the BBC

BBC One is airing a new 5-part mini-series of the cult sci-fi show Torchwood this week in the UK, called Children of the Earth.  (The videos can't be played in our area, unless you have Hotspot Shield.) If this does well, then I suppose there will a next season for my favorite Cardiff sci-fi crew. 

Here's trailer 2 from Youtube:

Pete Dillon-Trenchard tells us what he'd like to see more of in this mini-series in the blog Den of the Geek.  I don't agree with the whole article, as I am a Gwen Cooper fan, and I think it's cool that the Torchwood 3 HQ is right next door to the Roald Dahl Center in Cardiff.  But I do agree that Captain Jack Harkness needs to bring out his inner Indiana Jones more.  They should also give Ianto Jones more to do than deliver pizza and be somebody's main boink.  And that they should occasionally foray into the Whoniverse (as in Dr. Who, to non-fans), if they're not doing Cardiff time-space crimebusting.  Just to show the bigger picture, if you will.

Pretty please let there be a next season and more production funding!  (Thanks to Paolo M's Facebook post today.)  For past Torchwood shows, check here.

Soapy Cheesy Catfight Fun

This is for all those who remember the 80's, when iconic soaps ruled tv primetime programming. Who could forget the uberglam Krystle vs. Alexis catfight on Dynasty?

It was so iconic that it was hilariously referenced a couple of decades later by the Minogue sisters Kylie and Dannii on The Kylie Show:

This blog entry won't be complete without a vintage Pinoy-style comedy catfight where megastar Sharon Cuneta (still a teener) defends her long-suffering mom Susan Roces from "a couple of annoying bitches":

Sharon grows up, to figure in a 1992 catfight where the deliciously "butangera" ("fishwife") Bing Loyzaga accuses her of stealing her man. The movie, Tayong Dalawa, nods to both Dynasty and Fatal Attraction at once!

Emily Blunt as The Young Victoria - Trailer

Emily Blunt is one of my favorite young British actresses (see "Devil Wears Prada", "Henry VIII", etc.). And who do we have to thank for me finding this on YouTube? Rupert Friend. I was checking out the related videos to the "Cheri" trailer (previous post) and found this one. Fortunately Rupert Friend looks better in this movie as Prince Albert. (Apparently, he's Keira Knightley's boyfriend, after he played Mr. Wickham in "Pride and Prejudice".)

Photo courtesy of FilmDETAIL. Read on for the interview.

Martin Scorsese directs, and because he did "The Age of Innocence" and "Gosford Park" magnificently, I am also lining this up on my To Watch list.

Michelle Pfeiffer in "Cheri" (2009) - Trailer

Am a Michelle Pfeiffer fan. Am also a fan of period movies - Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, belle epoque, men-in-wigs (term borrowed from Dondi Limgenco), WW1 & 2, you name it. Am also a Colette fan, although I've never read the book Cheri. The first one I read was The Shackle, followed by Gigi (later turned into that famous movie starring Leslie Caron, which I loved because I learned a new word, "ortolans"), and later, My Mother's House/Sido). I recommend her short novels if you enjoy reading about antebellum life and manners.


Photo courtesy of CineFanatico on Flickr. The costumes are GORGEOUS.

A few minor things bother me, such as Michelle Pfeiffer's Hollywood gauntness. I would have thought aging courtesans had bodies more like Helen Mirren's (a fuller, lusher figure). As it is, she reminds me of - ulk - Nancy Reagan. In a good way, with less shoulder pads. Rupert Friend, in his modern roles, appears more interesting than he is as the dissolute Cheri. You might as well have cast Robert Pattinson in the role - he nailed "pretty". This would have been perfect for a younger Jude Law, even a younger Rupert Everett.

All this, from a trailer! In any case, I'm going to watch this when it comes out. Here's another movie clip on YouTube, you will see what I mean about gauntness.

P. S. I still don't know how to import a Youtube video to Blogger, so this is how it goes for the meantime (I upload to my Multiply first, and then link here).

Coco Avant Chanel

Finally! A movie about Coco Chanel is under production! Here's a poster shot from Warner Bros.:

It must be the season for French diva movies. First, Marion Cotillard wins an Academy Award for her role as singer Edith Piaf in La Mome (La Vie En Rose, after her most famous song). I must say, she earned it. The role was demanding, larger than life. If you haven't seen it, and you like a bit of history, and need that voyeuristic thrill that all readers of autobiographies thrive on, you must watch it. For best results, keep the original French audio with the English subtitles.

Now we have Audrey Tautou (as Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel! Coco Avant Chanel chronicles her life before (avant) her transformation into a revolutionary fashion designer and style icon. Perhaps that latter part in itself deserves a separate movie. And if they do make one, let Audrey star in it too! I would be excited about that as well. Audrey also happens to be the new Face of Chanel No. 5, replacing Nicole Kidman. I rather like the idea of a Frenchwoman representing a French brand.

I mean, it was impossible to do a movie of the whole of Picasso's life, but it becomes more interesting from the point of view of of his companion, artist Francoise Gilot - mother of 80's jewelry designer Paloma Picasso of the famous red lipstick - in Surviving Picasso. It was based on her book, quite a fascinating read. Natascha McElhone got the Francoise character down pat. (OK, so Picasso was a Spanish diva, but he was a French resident.)

Click here (silent movie tribute) and here (official trailer, in French), and I'll see you at the theatres in a year or so. In the meantime, salut.

Doll of the Cthulhu

Now I am a great H.P. Lovecraft fan. (Like I am a great Dr. Who fan. Science fiction and fantasy, I am your girl!)

Dark Roasted Blend, one of my favorite "odd photo conglomeration" sites, gives us this entertaining view of how love of knitting and cult monstrosity mix. [You'll love the different photo sets in their other blog posts too, I promise.]

Just the other night I was watching downloaded beloved reruns of the 80's seasons of The [New] Twilight Zone (Harlan Ellison era, 1985-89) and there was one episode about a little boy whose nigh-on-dying grandma turns out to be a creepy Cthulhu thrall! Now this!

Amber's crocheted Cthulhu is absolutely, uh, adorable. I wish I could post the photo here, but do visit the link to see Amber's celebration of creativity. The amigurumi (knitted toy Japanese style) pattern is free. Unfortunately I'm not that much of a crocheter. Joy is, and amigurumi gives her a bit of carpal tunnel.

One of the knitters on the monsters page, Kimberly Chapman, did her Dalek from EntropyHouse's "ExtermiKNIT" Kit! Previously I wrote in Knittipina about the Knitted Dalek photographed in a UK convention by Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I did not know there were more in that army *amusement*

Yes, the Dalek pattern is FREE. I might make it one day. I'll probably have better luck finishing it than meeting David Tennant in person. But hey, I met Neil Gaiman in person, so you never know. And then shall come... a Knitted Sandman?

Priceless: Tina and Amy do Sarah and Hillary

Love love LOVE THIS!!! Saturday Night Live does it again!

The immensely funny and talented Tina Fey and Amy Poehler outdo themselves as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton on SNL. The writing is SPOT-ON.

I normally do not blog about politics but this is just way too funny. I would have uploaded the video on Multiply via YouTube but apparently there is a copyright dispute resulting in the removal of the video. However, my guilty pleasure PerezHilton lets us enjoy the circus that is US politics.

World Cinema Marathon

Written elsewhere in another blog I own, shortly after Holy Week:

For the last three weeks my stack of unviewed dvds has been growing. My interest in Oscar blockbusters has not been engaged much, except for Ian McEwan's "Atonement", but since the theme is tragic and depressing I have held off watching it. I'm a bit lucky to have found a couple of friendly sources for my preferred movies, namely foreign language films. The latter are so hard to find. I just never got the time till now (it being Holy Week), to watch them.

I like watching world cinema in their original language with English subtitles. That way I get the full expression of the acting. Dubbing in English disappoints me, especially when the voice does not match the character, or when poor dubbing results in too many lip movements and not enough syllables heard. And, of course, good translation is critical.

The other night I watched an old favorite, Laura Esquivel's Como Agua Para Chocolate ("Like Water For Chocolate" - 1992). I had read the book before the movie was released, a prime example of Latin magical realism (read: suspend your disbelief at the appropriate plot devices). I hadn't watched it for years. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, although I still agree with my original opinion that the actor playing Pedro plainly wasn't compelling enough for Tita to knit miles of bedspread for. Lots of mouth-watering cooking scenes, as family recipes are a recurrent theme in the book. A favorite scene is where the revolutionary captain goes after the middle sister running naked from the burning bathroom, plucking her from the ground and heaving her onto his horse in one amazing fluid motion. It's the kind of scene that makes people clap in the middle of the movie house because of its supercharged erotic audacity.

Last night I watched Zhang Yimou's award-winning Da hong deng long gao gao gua ("Raise The Red Lantern" - 1991) for the very first time. I am such a Gong Li fan, you see. She plays Songlian, a former university student married off at 19 to a rich man as his fourth wife (read: concubine) in 1920s China. Songlian, imprisoned in her gilded cage, finds herself thrust in the middle of household intrigues more dire than any Desperate Housewife can handle. Five stars for this! It deserves all its accolades -- for plot, direction, cinematography and acting. It affected me. And yes, it bears watching again and again.

To end the evening on a lighter, albeit no less critically acclaimed note, I watched Juzo Itami's Tampopo ("Dandelion" - 1985). Fondly called "the first Japanese noodle Western!", this is food porn at its best. Think Clint Eastwood and... er, Shirley MacLaine... only in Japanese. This is a sensual feast of a comedy where a cowboy hat-wearing truck driver helps a widowed single mother open a successful ramen house... together with his cute young sidekick, an ancient noodle sensei, a rich man's chauffeur, and a thuggish building contractor! Favorite scene #1: Homeless gourmet tells Goro and Tampopo about the fine nuances of flavor between the dregs of three bottles of French wine he scavenged from the rubbish bin of a restaurant. I wish I knew the exact dialogue, but he talked like a professional wine taster! It was dead funny! Favorite scene #2: Well-dressed Humphrey Bogart-ish gangster (who is obsessed with food and cinema) and his girl have sex AND food. This theme certainly came out an entire year before 9 1/2 Weeks and for me was a better, more successful treatment. Check out the part where they kiss, passing a raw egg yolk from mouth to mouth, whereupon the girl is overcome with desire and goes limp. It's a very romantic side story where every side story is about food, its preparation and its appreciation. But don't forget it's a comedy! A very Japanese one. I actually got hungry watching everyone slurp ramen (which occurs with delicious frequency in this film).

In the meantime I am trying to find or download Ang Lee's Yin shi nan nu ("Eat Drink Man Woman" - 1994).

Yes, I must admit, a lot of the foreign language films I watch seem to feature love, sex, food and death. All good reasons for watching.

Pale Remake: Shutter (2008)

Almond and I went to watch Shutter (2008) last Thursday night, at SM Megamall. She wanted to watch it because we'd seen the Thai original a couple of years earlier, which we loved because it scared the hell out of us.

The thing with Hollywood remakes of Asian horror is that more often than not the cultural elements that create the horror end up lost in translation. I personally feel that for a lot of mid-quality Hollywood horror movies, lead characters are generally written as two-dimensional. They have no foundation of faith, and are more swayed by superstition on the one end or skepticism on the other, which is why they tumble down the long road of suffering. Hollywood directors tend to focus more on the long road of suffering than on the inherent causes of it, because that seems to be what American audiences enjoy. There is this thrill they get from vicarious experience of other people's suffering for as long as the only danger they are in is choking on their own popcorn. You can replace the actors in these movies any number of times and you'd still get stereotype victims. It's as though Hollywood is unable to come up with original stuff, that they feel they have to translate Asian horror for the American audience. What they don't get is, except for English subtitling, there is nothing they need to translate. Such is the case for Shutter (2004).

There are no spoilers in this entry. I don't believe in ruining it for innocent passersby, because they really should have their own opinion about a movie. I just observed the following differences in treatments of the material.

The Hollywood version has a Japanese director, presumably so the viewers don't lose that essential Asian viewpoint. By changing the movie setting to "gaijins in Tokyo" mode (gaijin = "foreigner", a Japanese term with shades of race discrimination used to refer to Caucasians, similar to the Cantonese word gweilo), the premise of horror is plausible, since most Western travellers are either delighted or repelled by the strangeness - or specifically, "other-ness" - of Japanese concepts. What the remake does is successfully trade on the cultural difference to create a mood of tragedy, deception, and injustice. There is resolution involving karmic balance, so the viewer is able to get a sense of relief that evil is not cyclical or self-perpetuating. The latter idea gets tiresome, but Hollywood likes to milk that concept in order to create sequels or series. If such franchises are not good enough to create their own cult following, all they are is visual junk food.

What backfired here is that many Americans commented on the imdb.com forums that the Japanese horror elements used in Shutter (2008) looked cribbed from Ringu (The Ring, 1998). I agree; in Hollywood there is no longer any novelty in seeing long-haired dead Asian girls creeping out of a television / photograph / cabinet / mirror / what-have-you. Although that is what I loved precisely about "Ringu" (original Japanese version always, please, but not its sequels). That image is so powerful and iconic I can't bear to watch it again on my own. It gives me nightmares.

Hollywood, I feel, tends to film movies too brightly. They are too glossy and too high-contrast. They rely too much on surprise to elicit screams. They can't put a finger exactly on what makes Asian horror, horror. In Hollywood, chainsaw massacres are human crimes whose negative energies resonate to the waking world, but in Asia, superstition about certain kinds of death creates horror. It's like the stories your grandmother told you about the vengeful ghosts of innocent pregnant women murdered during World War II, when she was still a young girl in the countryside, things like that.

The Thai original of "Shutter" has a 1970's mood. It's a bit gritty, a bit home-movie like. It has SHADOWS. In between shots of sunny cosmopolitan Bangkok we get dark glimpses of folk superstition, despite Thailand being known for its gentle Buddhism. The Thai directors really hit the nail on the head there. They manage to emphasize that light and dark COEXIST on a daily basis in Asia. It's in the simultaneous modernity and respect for tradition that makes Bangkok so interesting. That's where the mystery and the inexplicable horror come from. The feeling of uneasiness throughout the viewing experience of the original "Shutter" is what makes it top-rate.

I didn't mind spending P150 for the Hollywood version movie ticket. I was curious. It may come out on cable in a year or so. But I think, if you really wanted to enjoy "Shutter", buy the 2004 Thai version on DVD and watch it in your darkened bedroom with a friend who enjoys the same thing. And if you're feeling particularly brave, watch "Ringu" as well. The nightmares will make you lose weight.

Enjoying the BBC

I was having dinner last night at a friend's place, when, while channel-surfing, we came across a BBC documentary on Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic. He was recently found dead a few days ago; just today it was reported that he actually died from a heart attack rather than from suicide or assassination. (For another good British sum-up of Milosevic's bloody career, check out The Guardian.)

My friend, who earlier had accompanied me to the mall to help me choose new eyeglass frames, said that there were times he preferred watching the BBC over CNN. It was more calm and laid-back, and encouraged him to think. CNN, he said, is at its best for breaking news, but its programming is sometimes too adrenaline-charged, and therefore more tiring to watch.

The documentary was interesting. Apart from the usual biographical information it showed the evolution of Slobodan Milosevic and sociology professor wife Mira Markovich as Serbia's power couple, tracing their political affiliations from one extreme to another, and how the couple fed off each other's ambitions as they grabbed power and sought to remain there. The documentary also showed how they manipulated mass media to reposition Milosevic as a nationalist strongman despite having been indicted for ethnic cleansing and other war crimes at The Hague. Upon Marshal Tito's death, as Yugoslavia broke into smaller republics (talk about the term "balkanization"), the nationalist Serbs lapped up exactly what Milosevic had intended. The BBC documented every instance of individual and national betrayal. Biting stuff.

"Shades of Marcos and Imelda," I mumbled over a bite of brownies. "Mismo!", my friend said.

Now if they turn it into a biographical potboiler, I'd buy it to read in the farm. I'm into historical nonfiction in a big way -- countries, cultures, wars, biographies. When there's no television, and no new dvds, that's what sustains my imagination.

Kong Rules

As we walked out of the theatre, Tristan remarked, "Lord of the Rings wasn't a fluke. Peter Jackson HAS done it again." Jackson's three-hour 2005 version of the sweeping epic adventure of how a giant ape from Skull Island bonds with a New York vaudeville actress is probably right up there for another Academy Award.

Her beautifully expressive face and dancer's lithe body makes the luminous Naomi Watts a major star in her breakout role as Ann Darrow. For most of the movie she looked like she took enough of a beating to put Keanu Reeves to shame (not a scratch in Speed, how about that. Sandra Bullock took more hits). And now and then she has really campy but ethereal and incandescent moments -- especially when her eyes well with unshed tears -- rather like the young Penelope Ann Miller as Margo Lane in The Shadow (also a 1930s adventure). Jessica Lange was also incredibly beautiful in the 1976 version of King Kong... not that I remember much else beyond her beauty.

Comedian Jack Black is also in fine form in his first major dramatic role as the wily and opportunistic filmmaker Carl Denham. Adrien Brody was ok, although he was mostly window dressing.

Two new actors caught my eye. Thomas Kretschmann played the hard-nosed ship's captain and animal trapper Captain Engelhorn (reminds me of a younger, more serious Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson), with a most attractive European accent. Another discovery is Evan Parke, who plays the first mate Hayes, mentor to an impressionable young deckhand (an excellent, very intelligent performance. As a military-trained black man educated in the school of hard knocks, Hayes expresses his astute take on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness.")

As for Andy Serkis, what can I say? He wins my vote for Best CGI actor twice running! He really ought to have won for Gollum, never mind that his face was all CGI'd up, he DID act with BOTH voice and body! I read he flew to strife-torn Rwanda on the sly to study gorilla behavior in the wild before Peter Jackson could stop him. Apart from Kong, Serkis also played Lumpy the one-eyed Scottish cook, the one who was slowly consumed by giant killer leeches in a scene that actually gave me nightmares for a couple of days.

It's amazing how as Kong Andy Serkis successfully managed to anthropomorphize male gorilla behavior, to communicate with Ann. Oddly enough, it felt like I was watching Richard Gere and Debra Winger have a spat in An Officer and A Gentleman, only Kong didn't need a Harley to drive away on:

Kong: Mmppfff! What have YOU to say now that I've rescued you from all those pesky T-Rexes? *shows rump sulkily*
Ann: Errr... Wait!!!
Kong: *picks up Ann and nonchalantly throws her on his shoulder for the ride*

Some people I talked to complained that they really didn't need to see the raptor stampede or the duel with the three T-Rexes or the extended giant insect creepshow, which lengthened the film. I actually rather enjoyed the raptor stampede sequence and squealed several times, especially when a character would get either squashed or bit at. You could hear the audience's excitement; you could tell we were all having fun. (One of the best frissons of excitement I ever got from the movies was from Raiders of the Lost Ark, in the scene where Indiana Jones runs like hell away from a rolling boulder. I pit all the exciting movie scenes against that one, and if my nape hairs all stand up that means I'd gladly watch that movie over and over. Witness Gandalf's battle with the Balrog, as well as Eowyn in ROTK telling the Nazgul King, "I am NO man!")

As I viewed Kong's fight scenes with the T-Rexes the following silly refrain kept running through my head: "She's MY Vaudeville Barbie! Mine!! MINE!!!" Hehehe. I also couldn't stop alternately laughing and gasping at Ann's trapeze act with one of the T-Rexes, it had an element of the ridiculous you couldn't miss.

The giant insect scenes were indeed gross and shudder-inducing; I believe I mentioned Lumpy being eaten by a giant leech. Peter Jackson must have dedicated that scene to the inner kid in all of us. If you have never experienced the thrill of playing with creepy-crawlies as a kid, I am truly sorry you could not enjoy that scene in all its horrific glory. And if you didn't get the cinematic pun about the giant crickets... well, in New Zealand they're called WETAs, which is the name of the effects production company Peter Jackson worked with on both King Kong and LOTR (they also worked on the first Narnia movie, which is coming soon in January 2006).

I did wonder about how the crew managed to find each other in less than 24 hours in a rather large unmapped island jungle... and how supposedly cold-blooded saurii could run so fast... and about the pesky giant bats that didn't attack Kong UNTIL Adrien Brody showed up... and about the very convenient root/vine that led all the way down from Kong's perch... But of course I didn't let that spoil my fun.

This King Kong is high camp; if you took it too seriously the joke's on you.

Prime

I hardly ever pass up a chance to watch Meryl Streep. To see her play Uma Thurman's shrink was something too good to resist. What further intrigued me was the May-December Ashton Kutcher-Demi Moore situation Uma Thurman finds herself in, complicated by the fact that the guy just happens to be her shrink's son!

I entered the theater thinking Prime was just another chick movie. Yes, it deals with chick issues, but as the movie progressed I realized there was more to this intimate jewel of a movie than I originally thought. Blame the trailer for marketing the more accessible (comic + romantic) aspects of the movie. Parts of it ARE brilliantly comic, thanks in no small part to Meryl's impeccable timing. She slips into the role of Dr. Metzker (supportive shrink-but-neurotic-Jewish-mom) so easily, but avoids making a caricature of her character. Opposite her Uma plays it straight, and seeing her character Rafi evolve is a joy to watch.

At the beginning of the movie we see Rafi trying to recover from her emotionally crushing divorce. She looks wilted and humiliated and in dire need of self-validation. Dr. Metzker encourages Rafi to rebuild her self esteem, to open up, toward giving and receiving love. Later, as Rafi blooms from the attentions of her young lover David (tenderly played by Bryan Greenberg), you see her growing more and more radiant. (Reminds me of another cinematic divorcee who slowly gets her groove back - Diane Lane as Frances Mayes in 2003's Under The Tuscan Sun.)

"We have had sex on almost every surface of my apartment, and I have NEVER been so satisfied!" Hearing a rapturous Uma deliver that line alone had our entire cinema audience cheering.

Conflict begins when Dr. Metzker realizes that the lover is her son David: how does one behave ethically as a therapist when the subject of her client's affections is a family member? How does a therapist prioritize client care over her personal issues? How does a Jewish mother encourage her son to cherish his culture and religion? Given that our movie is set in New York, it's not inconceivable for a therapist to have her own therapist.

Later, when strain threatens Rafi's relationship, Uma Thurman gets to show exactly how a woman of 37 feels, faced with the 14-year gulf in intellectual and emotional maturity between Rafi and David. I truly felt her exultation and her pain, and so did every girl in the audience (which does characterize this as a chick flick). At this point the audience suddenly realized that the comedy on the surface had its darker depths.

The movie is marketed as a comedy, but it had a balanced mixture of comedy and bittersweet romance. All in all it felt more like a slightly gritty European film rather than a glossy Hollywood one. The film's writer made sure the subject was never at any point dumbed down. There was no fairy-tale ending (yes, we know Ashton and Demi got married in real life, that's Hollywood for you), but there was a realistic one that made you think.

Does it bear repeated viewing? I enjoyed watching it. My vote is Yes.

Claymation: The Corpse Bride

I recently took my mom to a showing of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, at the Gateway Mall Cinemas in Araneta Center, Cubao. My mom had no idea what claymation was, but I knew the animation style and the storytelling would appeal to her. Earlier we had gone shopping for her birthday treats and for a friend's wedding gift at Rustan's. Naturally, we left the stuff in their package counter to be wrapped and went to enjoy the movie.

She knew Johnny Depp, from Chocolat. She knew Helena Bonham Carter, whom she first saw in Merchant Ivory's A Room With A View ("This actress looks like Joy! Look at that jawline!). But she knew it wasn't about the stars themselves, but their voice acting. In that respect, you would say Corpse Bride was a star-studded production. Other instantly recognizable cream-of-London-theater voices included those of Emily Watson, Richard E. Grant, the Absolutely Fabulous Joanna Lumley, and Albert Finney. Once my mom experienced the voice acting fleshed out in plasticine, shot in frame by meticulous frame, she was hooked.

The storyline of Corpse Bride is simple, loosely based on a Russian folk tale and set in the Victorian era. Reluctant working-class but materially prosperous Victor meets well-born but impoverished Victoria for the first time on their wedding night. He has trouble reciting his wedding vows, goes out on a winter night to practice them, and accidentally sticks the ring on a stick... which turns out to be the bony finger of our eponymous girl; to wit, "marrying" her. Emily was an innocent maiden mortally betrayed on the eve of her wedding by a dastardly fiancee. So Victor is sucked into an underworld of jazzy singing articulated skeletons, where he realizes that he is in love with the pure-hearted and very living Victoria. In the world above, Victoria's family thinks Victor has jilted their daughter and rush to marry her off to the sleazy Lord Barkis Bittern. The tale of Victor and Victoria's attempt to reunite in true love, and of the murdered Emily getting justice, is directed in prime Tim Burton style (see The Nightmare Before Christmas), and enhanced by the music of the very talented Danny Elfman.

Needless to say, my heart went out to Emily, the Corpse Bride. I don't know how they do the claymation of eyes welling with slow tears, but I am amazed by the attention given to details like that. My own eyes watered. My mom enjoyed herself utterly.

Definitely worth getting on DVD!

Veronica Mars / Medical Investigation

Now that Rockstar: INXS is off the air, I was wondering what would be good enough to keep Wednesday nights my favorite tv night.

Good news, there's Veronica Mars on ETC from 8-9pm. Veronica Mars starts out like most teen angst dramas but is actually a detective story set in the fictional town of Neptune, CA. Veronica is the daughter of the town sheriff, and is best friends with the daughter of the town's wealthiest family. When her best friend Lily Kane dies in her own home, under mysterious circumstances, Veronica's dad Keith investigates and considers Lily's father Jake Kane a suspect in his own daughter's murder. Due to the Kane family's influence, Veronica's dad loses his job. Worse, Veronica's mom leaves their family. To top it all off, Veronica suddenly falls from grace with her high society high school friends. Her dad sets up his own detective agency, where Veronica works in reception part-time. The rest of the time she's a photographer with the school paper, and conducts her own investigation of Lily's death. One of her suspects is Lily's brother, who used to be Veronica's boyfriend... NOW do you see why I'm so hooked? The writing is tops, letting Kristen Bell play Veronica Mars as a sassy and fearless blonde hot on the trail of truth.

And then there's Medical Investigation, on Star World, from 9-10pm. Hotshot government medical investigators do real-time analyses to save lives during outbreaks. You'd think it was like CSI, only with more live bodies. I watched the pilot episode last week, and was trying to decide whether to hate Dr. Stephen Connor (Neal McDonough) or not. He has the ego of CSI: Miami's Det. Horatio Caine (David Caruso) -- (read: I will do everything in my power to save you, and indeed I DO have the power!) -- but you have no choice but to trust him, because no one else will make the difficult decisions. The other leads are ok, but the standout role in the pilot episode was intrepid NIH press officer Eva Rossi (Anna Belknap). She manages to hoodwink and corral a pesky reporter until the outbreak is contained, and THEN gives him the scoop for suffering her string of red herrings. Alas, according to IMDB.com the show was eventually cancelled. I guess it can't compete with the CSI franchise. A couple of seasons is good enough for the meantime.

Of course, my favorite show CSI immediately follows, to round out my Wednesday nights. (Update: Anna Belknap eventually joins the cast of CSI: New York. Talent too good to waste!)

Rockstar: Denouement

When I think about it, it's a good thing Joy didn't give birth until AFTER Rockstar:INXS ended. As I've said before, the show (and episodes of various CSI's) made my midweek tv programming. The fact that INXS chose JD Fortune to be their lead vocalist wasn't much of a surprise; he'd focused his performances and songwriting toward that end, and got what he wanted. I just thought that it also meant INXS couldn't step too far away from Michael Hutchence's ghost. (Some friends of mine commented that it was the same thing with Journey and the singer they hired to replace Steve Perry, Steve Augeri. He sounded enough like Perry to be able to render the old hits. Compare this to Van Halen replacing David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar, and the band went from strength to strength. Van Hagar sounded different from Van Roth but good enough to keep record sales up. I actually liked Van Hagar.)

I'm glad Marty Casey didn't win. That means he and his band Lovehammers can go on to carve THEIR OWN niche in their own name. I downloaded their song "Eyes Can't See" and it was great. The great thing about tv singing contests is the fandom it creates for its contestants, and that finalists can get offered contracts outside of the show. I didn't mind that Bo Bice or Constantine Maroulis didn't win American Idol 4 -- they got their own contracts in the end. So I'm not too worried about Suzie McNeil or MiG Ayesa. MiG might even one day win a Tony for musical theatre.

I must say this, though: at the end of the show, INXS and JD Fortune played a new song called "Easy, Easy" and it made ABSOLUTELY NO IMPACT on me. I voiced this in my yahoo group, asking, "Why am I underwhelmed by this? Is it just me?" Apparently I wasn't the only one who felt that way. What impressed me more was the song "Us", but I would prefer a Suzie McNeil solo version (I downloaded the recording session version from the show) as compared to the all-hands-on-deck version by INXS, Dave Navarro and the last five finalists. I guess it's because the band already wrote all the songs as is, needing only JD's vocal as a plug-in. Maybe the NEXT album after this one would actually showcase JD's songwriting skills.

Rockstar: INXS Download List

You gotta love Google, it brings you joy when sometimes chocolate cannot. Thought bubble: Nuninuninu... now where can I download mp3s or video files of the fantastic performances in my favorite reality tv show Rockstar:INXS?

In my earlier Rockstar:INXS post I mentioned rickey.org. Since Rickey already has heavy bandwidth consumption because of American Idol 4 and his favorite dance show, he has only posted download links to Jordis', MiG, Marty and JD's performances. [He also hosts a "comment forum" on Constantine Maroulis' fans, the ConCon Girls.] I've downloaded video files of Marty (my personal fave), one each of MiG and JD, and an mp3 of Jordis' "Man Who Sold The World".

And then, while Googling away... I found THE COMPLETE LIST TO DATE of all the performances since Week One!!! The list redirects you to 2 sites that allow people to upload, store and download large files (sizes per file up to 50mb and beyond). The sites then send email notification to the uploader's intended recipient that the files would be stored for 7 days, after which they will be deleted. I've just discovered a total of FOUR sites that do this for free (and offering expanded services to paying account holders). So useful!

At this point I will have to admit that even though I think JD can be a jerk, he did really perform well last night. I just downloaded his original song "Pretty Vegas".

But really the big news is that Suzie, whom I earlier thought would get eliminated before the top 5, has definitely earned my enthusiastic fandom. I am actually now counting her as my number two favorite. (Will be downloading her original song "Soul Life", which she wrote with the recently eliminated Ty.) Marty is still tops for me, of course. But don't hate me because I've relegated MiG to third place -- just continue to vote for him because he's Pinoy at heart and we all know that his combination of looks, talent and inner grace will always win him any number of good things.

Do enjoy.

Rockstar: INXS

Because of American Idol and CSI: Las Vegas, I had always been convinced that the middle of the week (Wednesday and Thursday here in Manila) had the best to offer in all of cable primetime programming. I was worried about what would take their time slots once their respective seasons ended, and then Rockstar: INXS came along.

I enjoy rock performances as much as the next person, so I eagerly looked forward to the reality vs. performance segments of the show. Jamming in the mansion was a treat. It's really not hard to predict who would get eliminated along the way. Haven't actually tried voting myself, but perhaps only maybe when the competition is really, really tight.

Jordis, MiG, Marty, JD and Ty, I felt, are all really majorly talented. Suzie, to me, would be a step better than Deanna and Jessica. Suzie reminds me of a young Annie Lennox but with a Sheryl Crow vibe, and I enjoyed her performance of "Never Tear Us Apart", which was my favorite. I mean, if it were posted online I'd download it in a second. She, JD and Ty had a string of mixed quality performances - so I must congratulate the producers of the show for making the competition particularly challenging in terms of song selection. Jordis, MiG and Marty, however, seemed like they could do no wrong. I downloaded Jordis' "Man Who Sold The World" from rickey.org, it was that good.

Now to MiG and Marty, my personal favorites:

MiG consistently delivers a good performance, rocking hard with "We Will Rock You", and dazzling everyone with "Baby I Love Your Way", where he accompanied himself on the piano. His vocal range is flexible (on the tenor side) and he exercises as much control over it as he can. And he doesn't look half bad, buff in a lean way, and gauging by the reaction of the women in the audience, he inspired major hysteria when he last ripped off his shirt onstage. He's got this easy-going personality, and seems really in touch with his feminine side (read: Sensitive Man who set off my friends' gay-dars. I did explain that he's married to a ballerina who was a long-time girlfriend, so that settled that.). He also gets along well creatively with others, as could be seen in the songwriting clinic. INXS and he being Aussie might be a factor. But best of all, he was born PINOY!!! Now what other reason would I need to root for him? He looks like the frontrunner, since it seems unlikely that INXS would have a female vocalist... (just my opinion).

Marty, while not conventionally cute, is very attractive. His voice, which has really good texture, has something to do with it. This texture was shown to advantage in his performances "With Arms Wide Open" and "Mr. Brightside". He accompanied himself on acoustic guitar for the latter song. He doesn't have a theatre background like MiG, but he has had concert performances under his belt fronting other major bands with his own band. Those two performances were so intense I wished I was in the crowd screaming with approval. When I get that kind of feeling I want to rush out to a store and buy a cd straightaway. Now before you tell me he's a Kurt Cobain or Creed clone let me remind you that being part of a band gives leeway for originality in songwriting, and that what you ought to judge in the end is the final, total overall product. But in the end, my connection with Marty's performance was emotional, and that's strong. MiG's last performance made me emotional too, but mostly my admiration for his overall vocal ability is intellectual. Listening to Marty made me feel like a young college girl. Let me ask you, what price would you set on THAT?

Now onto JD bashing:

Moni emailed me about his dislike for JD. Let me state for a fact that I consider JD highly talented, but perhaps he can develop himself as a solo act if he can land a recording contract. He needs a lot of training to condition his voice so that he can sing a greater range of songs, or he can write songs to fit his voice, but where's the growth there? I can't stand JD either, I emailed back, he acts too needy of the job and says things that make him sound evil and desperate. Actually, "evil" is Rickey's word. And the bitter darkness of it shows on his face.

In the beginning, JD looked kinda cute but that wore thin pretty quickly. I mean, his attitude might provide interesting tension and drama to the show, but in the end, what INXS needs is a lead singer with consistent performance quality, with magnetism, and the ability to get along and work with the other members of the band. If for instance JD won, it would be a shame if he ends up eventually needing replacement because of "personal differences". I mean, he doesn't need to diss the rest in public when it's plainly clear that there are other talented people in the competition, it just makes him stand out and not necessarily in a good way. He is SOOO PLASTIC!!! Making those remarks and then having to live with them in the same mansion!!! Again, let me remind you, this man is talented. Talented, but conflicted. Might be good fodder for a solo album somewhere there. I did think the song he wrote solo after breaking away from Marty's group was even better than the song written by Ty's group, which won. It was more in INXS' groove (now if it sounds like some of their old hits, is that a crime if there is potential to release it as a single? But we also have to think of INXS' growth and credibility...).

I want to shake my head when I think of that scene near the pool where MiG admits to JD that he said in an interview that JD was the most difficult to live with. Then JD says that banal and cringeworthy line, "When we're being human, just remember that we are all human beings." Or something like that. (Now doesn't that sound bite raise your bile?)