And the Oscar goes to...

I had Slumdog Millionaire for my breakfast-brunch-lunch last Saturday morning. Upon waking up, I grabbed Ace, returned to my bed, and watch the film until 12:30pm.


A. He cheated.


After watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button early last month, I was totally decided that it should win 'Best Picture.' Surprisingly, I was more amazed when Ayush Makesh Khedekar swam in the pool of feces just to have Amitabh Bachchan's autograph than Brad Pitt's transfiguration from an old man suffering from arthritis to being the sexiest man on earth.

Therefore, I'm changing my bet for 'Best Picture' from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to Slumdog Millionaire.


B. He's lucky.


Slumdog is an additional movie to the list I've posted last month on The guru's oscar pickS:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona
  
• Iron Man
  
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army
  
• Wall-E
  
• Wanted
  
• Kung Fu Panda
  
• Slumdog Millionaire
  

Notice how diverse the genre of films I'm watching? It's even better than Tubbataha Reef's biodiversity!


C. He's a genius.


So again, here are my biased predictions on who I WANT to win later on in life:

• Actor in a Leading Role - Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
• Actor in a Supporting Role - Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
• Actress in a Leading Role - Meryl Streep (Doubt)
• Actress in a Supporting Role - Taraji Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
• Animated Feature Film - Wall-E
• Cinematography - Slumdog Millionaire
• Directing - Slumdog Millionaire
• Film Editing - Slumdog Millionaire
• Makeup - Hellboy II: The Golden Army
• Music (Score) - Wall-E
• Visual Effects - Iron Man
• Writing (Adapted Screenplay) - Slumdog Millionaire
  
• Best Picture - should I say my pick here, again?
  

For sure you've seen this picture already:


Got this one from Neil Brian's plurk. (Just click the image to enlarge it).

Well if this was the first time for you to see that pix, you've missed a quarter of an Astronimical Unit. We'll see if this leakage is worth of our precious time.



As for me, I knew it already even from the very start that the best answer is:


D. It is written.

The guru's oscar pickS

Let's take a break from serious issues and take a try to internalize the 81st Annual Academy Awards' Nominee List.

For the record, I've seen only 7 movies with Oscar nominations for this year, namely:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - watched it at MOA with James
  
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona - from Davis' DVD collection
  
• Iron Man - from Rafael's effort to download it for two weeks! Harhar.
  
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army - at TriNoMa with Teni and Mark
• Wall-E - at the PSO National Eliminations at Angelicum College
  
• Wanted - at SM North with Susan and Mark
  
• Kung Fu Panda - at TriNoMa, Eivy's birthday

Here are my biased predictions on who I WANT to win on the 22nd of February:

• Actor in a Leading Role - Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). of course! i haven't seen any of the other nominated films!
• Actor in a Supporting Role - Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight). will they give the guy another posthumous award?
• Actress in a Leading Role - Meryl Streep (Doubt). coz it's THE MERYL STREEP.
• Actress in a Supporting Role - Taraji Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). i really love her performance in this movie, although Penelope was a in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
• Animated Feature Film - Wall-E. simply, coz i love the story.
• Makeup - Hellboy II: The Golden Army. and I dedicate this award to my one and only Hellboy. Rock on kid! LOL.
• Music (Score) - Wall-E. just adore the soundtracks.
  
• Best Picture - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. coz I haven't seen any of the other nominated films. Hekhek.
  
• Visual Effects - Iron Man. and am still waiting for the second installment!
  

Well, that's it for now! I hope you learned something new from this post. Whatever it is.


Damn this migraine. Argh.

Sembreak Day One

dear kim kamustang bakasyon mo
ako heto pa rin nababato
bad trip talagan t'tong Meralco
bakit brownout pa rin dito

October 25 is the official start of my semestral break. Even though it is a Saturday, I still included it in my official 9-day-vacation version 2.0 for 2008.
I just can’t wait for my version 3.0 vacation for this year —Christmas break!

--o--

Rom woke me up with an SMS asking me to prepare a costume for the Halloween party I’m supposed to attend later that night. Because of that exasperating SMS, I was not able to return to dreamland that early Saturday morn. Instead, I stressed out myself the entire morning thinking of what to wear for the affair. I am very thankful to my plurkmates who were very creative in giving advices about what to wear for the party. Here are some of their awesome suggestions:

• nothing (yeah right, Pen, I’m sure you’ll enjoy that!)
• my everyday attire coz it’s horror enough (I know that already Dean, since obviously, am a horror teacher. Bwahahaha!)
• bahag (g-string) - good thing I don’t own one (Thank you very much Yaya Eloisa for the wonderful suggestion.)
  

In the end, I decided to come as myself. No make-ups; no costumes. Just me, myself and I.

Am telling you, it worked! They let me in!
However, they excluded me from the Best in Costume Award coz they thought I was too authentic for that award!

--o--

Prior to the Halloween party, the Professionals Group of the Gerry Roxas Leadership Awardees (GRLA) held their organizational meeting at the Gerry Roxas Foundation Office at the Aurora Towers. An election of the governing body of GRLAs was held in order to have an interim Executive Committee that will function for six (6) months or until their successors are elected and qualified on a meeting called for the purpose of establishing a permanent structure of the organization.


In case you are a recipient of the Gerry Roxas Leadership Award, either still studying or a professional already, please leave a comment here or visit the Gerry Roxas Foundation’s website.

--o--

While waiting for the Halloween party to start, I dropped by the Lomo exhibit at Cubao Expo which Denxa, a college friend, participated. I was amazed that the analog cameras we used to capture our fond memories back then are now considered as vintage.

While at the exhibit, I asked Denxa a stupid question, "May nagdedevelop pa ba ngayon ng mga film ng analog cameras?" She answered, “sa Florophoto,” with a matching raised eyebrows.

Here are some of Denxa’s friend’s pix during the event at Cubao X. LOL. (Too many reference points!)

--o--

To cap off my stay at Cubao that day, we watched the LFS of HSM3 at Gayway, I mean, Gateway.

Duh. I can’t even spell out HSM3. Of all the showing movies that night, they decided to watch the gayest movie of the year. Well, am just too scared that my students would found out that I watched that movie on the second day it was shown in Manila. Worst, I was able to watch it even before they had seen it. Yikes!

To be fair enough, I was really amazed by the technicalities of the movie. From costumes, production design, cinematography, sound, to choreography, it was fantabulous! (Fantastic and fabulous combined.) It’s rare that I appreciate a musical, so this one is an exception.

Even so, the plot was sooooooo cheesy, am too hypocrite to reminisce those mushy days. Charantia, anyone?

--o--

The Other Boleyn Girl

Checking out the up coming movies lined up in the cinemas of Trinoma, the poster of the movie ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ caught my attention and two of my friends I’m with.

http://www.movingimageposters.com/

The Other Boleyn Girl is a movie based on the novel by Philippa Gregory. Intrigue, romance, and betrayal – are the key words that would best describe the plot of the story. The country Boleyn sisters, Anne (Portman) and Mary (Johansson), are both in the task of captivating the heart of the king of England, Henry (Bana). Despite the dramatic consequences the two sisters had experienced, they were still able to find strength and loyalty in each other, as a manifestation of the bond that connects both of them.

Auspiciously, the mom of my student was giving away advance screening tickets to the said movie when we were at her child’s retreat in Cavite. To my excitement, I asked for four tickets.

Now, I have four tickets to the advance screening of the movie scheduled on April 7 (Monday) at Power Plant, Cinema 3.

Inauspiciously, two hours from now, I’ll be taking a bus on my way to Albay for an entire week of vacation. I will be a week ‘ex communicado.’ I don’t know if my phone’s network has a signal there and I don’t know also if there is a hotspot around the town.

Shoot! I wont be here for the advance screening.



What a loser.

Enjoy the movie guys!