An Excerpt from my Other Blogsite (REMOVED POST)

We can’t blame people for not liking us back. It’s about chemistry, mutual attraction… and priorities in life (if love is not).

Let’s face it – for most of our lives, we will not get that which we want the most: sometimes subjective matters, sometimes material. Sometimes, even both. There will always be a hindrance to total happiness. I guess for a number of us, that cannot be found on this planet. But let’s be happy with other things, with other people.

JOHN WICK (2014) review

The plot is very, very simple. But the action sequences? Damn! Keanu Reeves has indeed re-invented himself in this movie franchise. Really impressive for a fifty-year-old actor. He even trained for the firefights and martial arts; I can see a lot of combat techniques used, especially Judo and Silat.

Everything about the character screams awesome: the muscle car, the wicked suit, the sick guns, even the soundtrack kicks ass. Industrial rock seamlessly blends with the dark, underground Russian syndicate scenario. He’s not that invincible, but still downright badass!! And Marcus…. now that’s not just a “close” friend – that’s a true friend. Willem Dafoe broke his stereotype here; but sadly Alfie Allen is still a cowardly son/heir.

My kinda film! I was entertained. I guess it’s okay to be a spoiler. I’m very, very late anyway. HAHAHAHA!!!!

Soundgarden - Live to Rise (From Marvel's THE AVENGERS) - Official Video

A favorite song from a favorite movie performed by a favorite band with a favorite vocalist.

"LIVE TO RISE" by Soundgarden (from The Avengers soundtrack)

What if all you understand
Could fit into the center of our hand?
Then you found it wasn't you
Who held the sum of everything you knew

We're insane but not alone,
You hold on and let go

Like the sun we will live to rise
Like the sun we will live and die and then ignite again
Like the sun we will live to rise... again

What if the one thing that I missed
Was everything I need to pass the test?
And if I fail what happens then?
Can I still count on you as a friend?

We're insane but not alone,
You hold on and let go

Like the sun we will live to rise
Like the sun we will live and die and then ignite again
Like the sun we will live to rise... again, again
Again, again...

Warm my face
Warm your face
Warm my face
Warm your face
Warm my face
Warm your face
Warm my face
Warm your face
Warm my face
Warm your face

Like the sun we will live to rise
Like the sun we will live and die and then ignite again

Like the sun we will live to rise

Like the sun we will live and die and then ignite again
Like the sun we will live to rise... again
Again.

In Memoriam: Chris Cornell | TIME

Chris Cornell was one of my childhood heroes. One of the best vocalists in the industry not only in the Grunge era, but also in recent rock history. 

"THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS" (review)

WARNING: SPOILER

This is not your average zombie film. The story is very slow-paced, an agonizing hour and forty-five minutes. The thing that makes people inhuman is not virus-propelled, but fungus-propelled. And the main character is basically “a cut above the rest” of the infected patients; subjects of a government program whose mission is to find the cure. I feel quite silly following the advice of a review I saw somewhere, that it was worth watching and it deserved more attention than it had. It’s sort of like “28 Weeks Later” meets “Warm Bodies”.

The idea is very original, though. The fully transformed zombies remain idle, even motionless, unless agitated. They’re not stimulated much by smell alone; they don’t clutter in compressed spaces, just standing (not walking) a few feet apart from each other when undisturbed. A single provocation builds up into a swarm and all hell breaks loose. They run fast and are relentless, voracious attackers. The zombies eventually dry up and become sprawling plants and vines that release spores, which in turn repeats the cycle of infection all over again. But it appears, towards the end of the plot, that the disease is possible to treat.

I almost fell asleep at the first 25 minutes, but I continued on. The first significant dreadful scene actually starts on the 26^th minute. (Imagine, I bothered to notice the time elapsed? HAHAHAHA!!!!) But the thrill pretty much didn’t take off. I gave it a chance to make me love it… until the end. But it just won’t let me. Kinda sounds like a recent chunk of my “(love)life”! HAHAHA!!! AS IF I HAVE ONE! HAHAHA!!!

The movie is generally boring all throughout, and a bit ridiculous in the end. Maybe that’s why it didn’t catch much attention – because it seriously lacked the action and horror sequences which are expected from any motion picture of this genre. Only the science itself impressed me: very original, but sadly unsatisfying. (FEELING FILM CRITIC!) Hehehehe….

So why make a review if it’s useless and totally unnecessary? It was disappointing because I was expecting too much. It just could have been better… But a sequel can still be possible.

Maybe not with the same person/s or circumstances, but generally in life, there is always another chance. And again, double meaning and pun intended. >_< HAHAHA!!!

PSALMS 37:21

“The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.” –Psalms 37:21

SOME (SALES) PEOPLE ARE STRANGE

“Ang hirap sa mga ahente na yan, ipapangako sa inyo ang langit at lupa para lang makabenta.”

“Ang problema naman sa kanya, kapag nakuha na niya ang tseke niya, wala na siyang pakialam sa amin, eh.”

These are truths about “property consultants”/”marketing specialists“/”sales associates“ or whatever “professional” term they fancy calling themselves. Sure, the statements above were made by administrators and engineers who may not fully understand a quota-driven, commission-based and talk-induced kind of living but I have noticed that predicament too. I have seen first-hand, staff and executives alike in a “Client Relations” Department DEVOUR each other before, and their everyday life is full of hypocrisy. They tend to lie to each other as colleagues and make false statements to both customer and co-worker not only about what they’re selling, but also about what’s happening around them. That company ultimately disintegrated. What a shame. It’s sad that their QUANTITATIVE way of thinking has affected the QUALITY of how some of them correlate with others, and it’s irritating that we sometimes fall in the middle of their “miscommunication”!

I know that marketing is part-“talent”, but it’s disturbing that some sales people have become pathological liars.

"FIX YOU"- Coldplay (Cover by Moira Dela Torre & Keiko Necesario)

One of the very few songs I like from Coldplay. Why is it that this tune always sound better when covered by artists other than the band who originally performed it themselves? :-P Judging by their facial expressions, they don’t just sing the song, they feel it. These are artists who love their craft. A bit sonically haunting, but undeniably beautiful. Ang cute ni Keiko! :-* Hehehe…

‘FIX YOU’ cover by Moira Dela Torre and Keiko Necesario (originally by Coldplay)

When you try your best but you don't succeed

When you get what you want but not what you need

When you feel so tired and you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can't replace

When you love someone and it goes to waste

Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

I will try… to fix you

High up above and down below

When you're too in love to let it go

But if you never try, you'll never know

Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

I will try… to fix you

Tears stream down your face

When you lose something you cannot replace

Tears stream down your face

And I...

(Nobody said it was easy) Tears stream down your face

(It’s such a shame for us to part) When you lose something you cannot replace

(Nobody said it was easy) Tears stream down your face

And I...

I’m going back to the start (Oooohhhh….)

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

I will try… to fix you.

THERE'S SOMETHING INSIDE ME

It’s not exactly a disease per se, but you may very well treat it to be – a “disorder”.

It has been around since my pre-school years. I’ve never really been able to shake it off, not even temporarily. I think about it now and I realize how it has “shaped” my social life dramatically. Even in my life’s important events, it always somehow got in the way. Up to this very day, it dictates my everyday decisions; my daily routine. I find it very difficult to handle, but it has its benefits somehow. It totally depends on how you look at it.

My deceased uncle had the same impairment. I remember him once saying to me: “Pareho pala tayo ng ‘sakit’!” I don’t know how he handled it in his life; I was too shy to ask back then. It’s too late to wonder and ask about it now, but he may have been the only one in the family who truly understood me. Another uncle had a similar condition, but far more severe. My tita is a nurse, so she took good care of him when she still had the opportunity. Sadly, he has also passed away just recently. Two classmates of mine had it too, when we were in college. They had their ways. I don’t exactly know how they go about it now.

I got lucky a few times when I needed a “remedy” the most. But it isn’t always so. It has humiliated me several times, but such is life. It’s simple but silly, unusually excessive but beneficial in some way (weird!), all rolled into one. I’m quite sure the average person doesn’t have this; it’s not that common at all. To some extent, it is still a bit psychological. But I can’t help it, it’s just so unpredictable sometimes!

This is just one of my many, many flaws. I was born this way. I may not like it sometimes but I know it was given to me for my own good. At my age, it’s now coupled with another embarrassing trait which has been “aggravated” over the years.

IF ever there’s a special someone who can fully accept this as being an almost inseparable part of me, then she must truly love me to be able to do so. What a wonderful thought that would be! But perhaps she is only a remote probability at this point. Or perhaps she doesn’t exist.

Just keeping it real.

KNOCK YOU! (OFF)

I would rather buy and wear a lowly and humble pair of genuine OTTO shoes than even think to consider a boastful (but insecure) “class A”/”factory overrun”/”replica”/”China” NIKE (or any other major brand) knock-off! We sometimes deny they are, and avoid using the word FAKE, and justify the lower price to their “minor” and hidden defects. The justification is further emphasized, especially if the seller himself is quite conscious that the items come from a questionable source. What’s funny is, some people who patronize these products move so awkward because they feel there’s heavy doubt that they’re using counterfeits, even defending why they look a certain way. Well, I guess that’s better than bragging about a 50/50 sham. HAHAHAHA!!!! “Image is everything” is a human sickness. Tsk, tsk, tsk….

Sure, the majority of manufactured commodities seem to all emanate from China nowadays, but purchasing them from authorized dealers and retailers still makes a huge difference. The important term here is: Quality Control.

Why do we deceive ourselves, anyway?

IF WE WANT, BETTER YET, NEED THINGS THAT TRULY PERFORM, THEN WHY DON’T WE DO OUR BEST TO SAVE UP FOR AN ORIGINAL? In social interactions as well as material necessities, NOTHING BEATS AUTHENTICITY.

We, as struggling and financially-challenged employees, want to attain a better appearance in everything but we sacrifice quality and comfort. Sadly, this has become acceptable to some of us. And more so, if the initial intent was for sports use, injuries (that could have been prevented or minimized) worsen as a result of this mentality. And then we later blame ourselves for buying cheap imitations. At times, they’re not even that cheap anymore. What a waste!

For me, a knock-off is a turn-off. Period.

WHENEVER I HAVE A BAD DAY

Just one of the things I do whenever I’m having a bad day: I watch again how Dan Henderson knocked out Michael Bisping— and I’m happy again. Cocky fighters do the arrogance and trash talk for the “hype” of the bout. It’s (sometimes incidentally) part of the marketing, it’s PPV after all = more viewers equals more cash. It’s very rewarding to see the more conceited fighters go down!

SUSHMITA SEN ON MARRIAGE

“I don’t know; I think, you know, we’re all unique and we are somehow always told by everyone else, ‘This is the right age to get married. This is the right age to have children. This is the right age to retire.’ I just wanted to take life at my own clock because I believe everybody’s unique. Uhm… I came close to marriage, twice. But better sense prevailed, I think. I will get married and I think in due course of time that too, will happen.” –Sushmita Sen, Miss Universe 1994

Brilliant! Although I think that to some, “their own Miss Universe” might never come in their lives, what she said is still remarkable. I really admire independent women such as her. She truly is deserving to be Miss Universe. And she’s still as beautiful as she was 23 years ago! :-*