That Thing Called Tadhana

>The lines flashed on the screen before the start of the movie, "Para sa mga umibig. Nasaktan. At, para sa mga umibig muli. In short, tatanga-tanga lang.", sent everyone guffawing in unison (including me). In short, lahat nakarelate. Hindi lang ako sigurado kung alin dun sa tatlong categories ang malaking percentage ng dahilan ng pagtawa pero malaki ang hinala ko, dun sa tatanga-tanga lang. The crazy things we do for love, talaga naman.

>The whole story is like the love stories of everyone that we know of, including that of ourselves, fused into one. While listening to Angelica, all the while, I was muttering quietly, "Ay story 'yan ni ano! Teka lang, linya 'yan ni ano. Oh my, bitter na bitter lang, kaming-kami lang dati." And, the lines were delivered on point, with a load of realistic sarcasm. This is what sets indie films from the well-marketed, highly produced movies---the rawness, and the intelligent, well-thought of lines. Yung alam na alam mong ginawa with a perfect balance of puso and utak.

>The lead female character, played by Angelica Panganiban, is somebody whom everyone can identify with. Yung scene pa lang sa plane na ngawa siya nang ngawa habang nanonood ng One More Chance at nakikisabay sa mga linya ni Bea, that was the point I guess, which made her all the more real. Hello? Like almost everyone I know can attest to this: One More Chance is the ultimate break-up/where-do-broken-hearts-go-? movie. Ang mga ibang magdi-disagree, ayaw lang matawag na jologs pero at one point, siguradong napanood din ang movie na 'to. Classic. Nakasama na nga siya sa list ng classic movies ng Cinema 1 kasama ang Oro Plata Mata, Anak, Kapag Langit ang Humatol, at Hindi Nahahati ang Langit. Kaya, no further discussion on this matter.

>JM de Guzman is not your typical guapo artista but he has a way of charming his way to your heart. He didn't even need to over-act. He was just simply comfortable to watch.

>Minsan lang akong kiligin, sa mga weird na bagay at pangyayari pa. There were two scenes in the movie that did just that---one turned me into pure slush, the other reduced me into a puffy ball of awkward tears. Ahaha. The part when JM was trying to put his arms around Angelica's shoulder, no, that didn't make me kilig. It was actually more of JM's arm that did it, suspended in the air, undecided whether to support or to hold back. The awkwardness was just so real and endearing. The second scene (Yes, the part in which I was only one who probably cried.) was when JM said (not in verbatim), "Ako, napanaginipan din kita. Pero walang bungee jumping sa panaginip ko, walang talon-talon, walang bumitaw. Corny nga eh. Naglalakad lang tayo sa session road. Yun lang. Madaming tao, tapos naglalakad lang tayo." That was a beautiful metaphor for me of a quiet and constant kind of love---the kind of love that gives you this warm feeling rather than the heady rush. Quiet. Constant.

>I was having a conversation with somebody (You know who you are. *wink), and I said, "We love several people in our entire lifetime. Lucky are those who love at first try and then end up together, for good. But for the most part of the human population, it will be about loving several people all throughout their lives. And so we say the same words, show the same acts of love from one relationship to another. Which made me think, which are genuinely real, which are done and said only because they're supposed to be done and said?" I was reminded yesterday when I watched the film, "There are many kinds of love but not the same love can happen twice." Tama nga naman. Hindi nasusukat ang pag-ibig sa laki o sa timbang. Hindi nga sila dapat ipagkumpara kasi nga, iba-iba ang klase nang pagmamahal. I was pacified. Ewan ko lang sa kausap ko. Ahahaha.

>I was giddy because the movie showed broken people on the way to healing themselves who realize that when you love, you can't leave it all up to fate or destiny or tadhana. You fight for the people you love and when nothing else happens, let go.

>The short story about the heart and the arrow, hay. It's a gentle reminder that our hearts' choices have greater power over tadhana.

>Ang LSS ko ngayon ay Tadhana. Need I say more?

>The movie made me instantly want to backpack to Sagada.

>Where do broken hearts go nga ba? Iyan ang pilit na sinagot sa pelikula. Hindi ko pa din alam ang sagot, at kahit yung director, hindi din nasagot ang tanong na ito. But for now, I'm just sure of one thing: Let's go to Bagiuo/Sagada and fall in love. If not, we can start in Iloilo's little Bagiuo. Let's go there and fall in love. *wink

Faculty by Jerrold Tarog

This film talks about some serious issues but ironically, it tickled my funny bone. The last line of the character which is “Magtuturo ako ng high school.” sent me guffawing. That is because I might identify myself as the realistic character in the movie but the rebel/activist character was the very personification of me during my impressionable years (Remember the I-can-change-the-world phase that we’ve all gone through? That’s it. ) And that caused me to laugh. Remembering is not only bitter-sweet, this time, I labeled it as a bitter-sweet kind of “funny”.

I too was a rebel. On, second thought, the usage of word seems inappropriate. Rebel is such a strong word. But if questioning authorities and unclear traditions and laws and ancient political system is labeled as rebellious, so let’s leave that term as it is. That was the reason why my nanay was so hesitant to let me study in UP when I passed the entrance exam because she clearly knows my rebellious streak. I would definitely be the cause of her death if she sees me on television marching around with a red band on my head while raising my fist in the air. And believe me, I could clearly see myself doing just that way back, and so did my mother. So, UP was eliminated from my would-be-university list.

So what happened to me along the way? Tell anybody who knows me just about 5 years ago up to just recently about my rebellious streak and you’ll definitely hear, “Oh c’mon! She’s so level-head and mild-mannered." In fact, for about six years now, I can only count to about 3 instances when I flared out and shared a piece of my mind to people whom I think are already out of the line.

No, I didn’t become jaded nor cynical nor passive. I can never be those things even if I try.

I think that I have mellowed. I have evolved from a highly idealistic and impressionable yet, unscathed youth, into somebody who has witnessed and experienced some of life’s ragged and ugly realities.

So, this short video is a gift---a gift of seeing my would-have-been self had I not learned to tone down on my idealism.

Oh my omurice!

I and the next door girl (Naks! Ahahaha!), Ahne, had been going gaga over the k-drama rooftop Prince for several weeks and we felt that our addictive episode wouldn’t be complete if we couldn’t try and sample the featured dish in the series which is the omurice. Before I get overly excited and go on rambling and babbling about how this dish had become one of the vital factors in the love affair of the lead characters, let me tell you about it in the most logical way that my kilig state can muster at the moment (*wink*).

Okay, aahhhh omuuurrricee (you really have to say it that way to get the feel of the rooftop prince mania!) is the dish that an ordinary modern-day girl fed to 4 (insert “cute” in here.) males who time-travelled from Korea’s Joseon era of about 300 years ago and who accidentally landed by fate on the rooftop of the said girl. Now, imagine waking up one morning to discover four unassuming boys who are oozing with cuteness inside your house. It might sound creepy but I’d disregard the emotion any time if one of the boys who lands in our house is Park yoochun!

I’ll go back to the omurice topic before my fan girl mode gets the best of this post. With the little help from the ever so reliable you tube, we were able to come up with our own version of omurice. And since we declared ourselves to be in-charge of the meal that day, M’ Ann didn’t have a choice but to subject herself to the possibility of a yet again, uneatable (No raising of eyebrows for the choice of word. I like to use it, bakit ba? Ahahaha!) meal.

So here’s our Omurice ala Aurita y Ahnita:

(Drum roll please!)

And since this post is especially dedicated to ahhh omurice, here are some proofs of my temporary madness over the rooftop prince:

Isn’t this simply just pure love? Ahahahaha! J

Poor me! How I wish it isn’t just the omurice that they’re after for!

So in the future if destiny wills it that the same fate will happen to me, those four boys wouldn’t surely starve when they accidentally land on our rooftop. Only that they will be landing on a tin rooftop, the real kind-----as in top of the roof. Ahahaha!

P.S.

If your statement above is your way of saying you love me, then Park  Yoochun, I love you too!

Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do

'teka lang, break muna sa kapa-panood. 
Hindi pa 'ata makaya ng puso ko.....(lol!)

This made me ponder on the thought: "When it comes to love, will you choose history over newness, familiarity over uncertainty, heady-rush over dependability, strong raging passions over quiet constancy, deep rooted hurting love over bouyant love?"

Had I been asked years before---when I thought that pain and suffering and whatever other heavy emotions, were part of being different and sort of badges of uniqueness---I would have surely chosen all the first choices. It's funny when I think about it now. 

At the moment, I choose:

•  newness (History is sure to be beautiful but sometimes people are being misled by the too many memories and emotions that it brings----that what they thought binds them actually shackles them.)

• uncertainty (Sometimes, I attest that too much familiarity can bring contempt.)

• dependability and quiet constancy (Sure, who would say no to romance and all its drama  and rose-colored palette? But as you mature, there will come a certain point when you realize that having somebody dependable and constant in your life is more worth having than somebody who gives you all those heady rush but can't promise of staying by your side. Somehow, having somebody to have long talks over a cup of coffee, quiet walks, somebody who can lend a hand in washing the dishes, somebody to share the ordinary routines of daily life and make it a whole lot easier to deal with, appeals to me than somebody who makes my heart thump to the point of being sick and somebody who makes me blush so hard that I get to look like a bloating watermelon flesh, and then just leave. Just like that, leave.)

• bouyant love (Suffering love and its kinds are way too over rated! Wouldn't it be good to have that kind of love that gives you the opportunity to be able to lift your spirit without much effort, to look at the world and life and people freshly---and love all of them in that kind of light aura?).

P.S.: Bob Ong's qoute is very appropriate for this, "Kung nagmamahal ka ng sobra at nagdudulot ito ng mga mumunting kirot at sakit, baka panahon na upang ito'y pakawalan na. Huwag mo nang hintayin na puro sakit na lang ang idudulot nito sa 'yo." With this, I rest my case.