Hayao Miyazaki Back-to-Back

My cousins and I watched a back-to back Hayao Miyazaki films last week at CCP for free. I already knew that there were two films showing on that day but we opted to watch the first one since we didn't know what the second one was. When we learned what it was, we decided to watch it as well (even though I already watched it on DVD).

This was supposed to be brief thoughts about the film, but I ended up making mini-movie reviews instead. Oh well. In a nutshell, both films have stunning visuals and superb details. They also have both female leads and most of all, they are equally entertaining (at least for kids and those who are kids at heart like me). 

 Sprited Away (2001)

Chihiro and her family are on their way to their new home when her father takes a wrong turn. They suddenly find themselves in a seemingly-abandoned theme park. What they don't know is when the night falls, this place transforms into something beyond their imagination.

I find it a bit fast-paced in the beginning. Some scenes also lack the right establishments. Sometimes, the background music is overlapping with the dialogue. However, what I like about this is that, it has a clear plot. Also, the special effects are surely to blow you away.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

The Kusakabe family are happily living in their new home in the country side. Unbeknownst to them, they also have whimsical creatures for neighbors, including Totoro, a furry bear-like giant.

This one is set in 1958 and centers more on family. Unlike the first one, it is slow-paced and has a vague plot. I'm sorry, I know this has a lot of fans and all that but that's what I truly feel about it. On the other hand, the characters are way memorable. Who wouldn't be delighted to see Totoro and his cuddly friends especially that furry cat bus. Let's also not forget Mai's funny antics. It also has a cute opening credits (SA has a very brief one). Moreover, it has a good soundtrack.

Overall, each film has its own strengths and weaknesses but again, both are just entertaining. Kids will surely love them. Indeed, it's a well-spent day for us.

*All images are linked-back to their own respective websites. I do not own any of them.

Mornings are Beginnings

Last Saturday was a fateful one.

I learned to look life on a new perspective. 

I had free myself from grudges.

I was able to clear the blur, yet I still feel tremendously lost in it. I hope when the right time comes, everything will be clear. Perhaps even clearer.

Certain things will never be the same again.

September Report

This month was okay. Nothing too fancy but much better than August. Let's find find out why:

• Finally done with the voter's registration and it only took 15 minutes to finish. Thanks to the easy, breezy, (beautiful cover girl) processing of COMELEC in Las Piñas City. Was also able to purchase some mail stamps to add to my sister's and I growing stamp collection. Talk about philately.
• Helped my cousin with his abstract painting that also served as my first attempt working on that field. The result? Let's just say I'm not happy with it.
• Sis and I visited Heroes, an art exhibit by the late Tony de Zuñiga. His works are just awesome. It's just sad that cameras are not allowed inside. The only photos I got was the exhibit's poster and some of his works (outside the gallery) which I took when I watched Cinemalaya last July. Also had a glimpse of The Phantom of the Opera exhibit. I hope I could watch the show itself this month. After that, we headed to the bookstore and meet up with Dad who just finished his bowling tournament with his colleagues. Sadly, they didn't win. 
• Discovered a film called Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus and it was instantly added on my list of  my favorite films.
• We also had a yellow love bird as our one night only guest. A neighbor asked us to keep it for the night because he couldn't go home that night. Since we don't have a cage, we put it inside Suerte's (my kitten) house. Suerte was pretty upset when she saw the bird. As a result (and maybe as her form of disapproval), she didn't use her litter box for two days. What a kitten!
• Started my job hunting and I've been targeting a certain gov't. office. I hope everything will fall into place.
• So glad that Different Sunday is back! It's a six-hour radio show aired every Sunday at Jam 88.3. It plays covers, versions and everything in between (as it says on their FB page). I discovered  it last month and enjoyed their awesome, relaxing, and nostalgic playlist. Another good thing about it is that, it has few commercials, if not none at all. Though there are stingers played on almost every song, these are very quick. Later on, I found out that it was the show's last episode on the day I discovered it. So I was very excited to know it's back on a new time slot (6pm- midnight) and new set of stingers.
• Last day of the month was supposed to be spent on Cosplay Mania '12 on the very last minute but changed my mind he very last minute. Talk about fickle mindedness.  The rest of the night was spent listening to Different Sunday.

P.S. Since the Ber months are here, I accompanied this post with a bokeh shot of Christmas lights (taken from here), signalling the Holidays. Ciao Guys! :D

Favorite MVs (the recent ones)

Hi!  As promised I'm back with my top 5 recent fave MVs. Enjoy!

I've always love the concept of a lost love and the 70's/80's lifestyle (times which I always thought a good time to live) and this is a good mix of the two. It has a good narrative and good art direction as well. A very sentimental song especially  if you can relate to it. In fact, I made a blog post about it. 

A romantic MV with an eyegasmic lighting. I love the song as well.

What I called the stalker music video that has an interesting twist at the end. I can pretty relate to it for I'm also stalker...an online one at least.

I love its concept of you and me against the world plus the lovers' self-destructive behavior. Good lyrics as well. I also like its retro-ish feel and style of editing. 

A heart crushing song +  a lonesome  and seemingly dark atmosphere = A favorite MV of all time

Not-So-Kind August

I'm not in the mood for introductions right now so let's get going.

• Enjoyed watching the recent Olympics and found myself cheering for Russia most of the time. Not that I didn't support our country. It's just that the sports I look forward to (such as Synchronized Swimming and Gymnastics) every Olympics didn't have a Philippine representative.
• My family was lucky that the flood didn't fully enter the house during Habagat but the rainy season had left us with damp stuffs due to dripping ceilings. This led us to have some sort of general cleaning that also led me to find things I thought I lost and things I didn't know I posses in the first place. I was also surprised to realize that I've been hiding a lot of coins all over the house. I think I found more than a hundred pesos all in all. Haha.
• I promise myself to watch every Academy Awards Best Picture nominee that I will encounter. This month I was able to watch Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) directed by Stephen Daldry. Good story and good plot. I love Oskar Schell's character (played by Thomas Horn). I think   Horn is someone to watch out for. In fact, he has won twice in Phoenix Film Critics Society for Breakthrough Performance on Camera and Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role - Male. My next stop would be Inglorious Bastards.
• Made sure that I've accomplished certain things before I resume my job hunting (haven't been able to do it due to bad weather). I've also cut my hair as if that matters.

Here are the not-so-kind parts:

• For days, I've been depressed for I was blaming myself for a loss of a guinea pig and death of a kitten and I wasn't even responsible for those things. It's just that I kept on thinking the might have beens. If it was an ideal situation, I could have saved and adopted them.
• After that phase, another one followed. This time I was faced with an old enemy of mine and it's none other than my self. I was consumed by self-loathing, shame, disappointments, frustrations and the like. Not to mention a series of painful memories came crashing down. Basically, I was miserable but I'm doing good now. I'm get used to this phase but it's still difficult every time. Ahh, my vicious mental and emotional cycle.
• And guess what? My insomnia has gotten worse. I always woke every afternoon. Damn it! I'll make sure I'll fix that soon.

I hope September would be kinder. 

I realized the photos I'm posting for the previous months are way irrelevant for my posts. Anyway, the one above was taken from my Flicker.