Finally it’s out on the market and I just got my copy of the CD from Oddyssey. If you haven’t figured it out yet from the title of this post, then you need some music culturing. It’s a tribute album for the Eraserheads with songs performed by various local bands and artists. Sounds exciting? Read on.


Sony-BMG Records probably hit gold in producing this album. The Eraserheads is arguably one of the forerunners of OPM in this generation. They are our Beatles. Their songs, even if they’ve never seen radio air-play, are known to (and memorized by) all. They are simply one of our icons whose contribution to the music industry probably equals that of the legendary Juan Dela Cruz Band.


Here’s the verdict: The CD is priceless. Listening to it almost make us cry from nostalgia. It’s virtually impossible not to love the album. You put it in your player and hit ‘play’ and you can immediately sing (or headbang) along with the songs. Princess Leah immediately claimed ownership of it before I got to unwrap the plastic cover.


The Songs:


Alkohol by Radioactive Sago Project – I’ve heard this one already when Radioactive Sago performed it on MYX Live! They’re perfect for the song and I like it even better than the E-heads original.
Spoliarium by Imago – This is another song I like better than the original. I love Aia de Leon's dreamy vocals.


Maling Akala by Brownman Revival – We all heard this one as it is Brownman Revival’s first single. Nice groove. Who can fight the irresistible beats of reggae anyway?


Superproxy by FrancisM – Another perfect match! Didn’t we all love (and miss) Kabataan Para sa Kinabukasan, Kaleidoscope World and Three Stars and a Sun?


Huwag Kang Matakot by Orange and Lemons – I can’t say the band’s name without hearing “Pinoy Ako” playing at the back of my head. Nevertheless, in my opinion, OaL sounds like the E-heads to begin with but they’ve done a great interpretation.


Tikman ang Langit by Sugarfree – Makes you wanna go to a Burger Machine joint. Love the song, love, love, love the band.


Ang Huling El Bimbo by Rico J. Puno – Whoa! This is one of the best songs in the album! Five thumbs up! Whoever thought of this match is a genius!


Overdrive by Barbie Alamalbis – Surely, you didn’t expect this to be a “male only” album did you?


Pare Ko by Sponge Cola – Great interpretation. I love the very malutong “Diba, Tang-ina…” Everybody loves this song hehehe.


Huwag Mo Nang Itanong by MYMP – Ok, it’s a bit mellow on the tempo but they’re MYMP, what do you expect? They made a decent version. It makes a good rest for our eardrums. Leave it to MYMP to make great or even better revives.


Torpedo by Isha – Who? Wha? Isha? Neverheard. What were the producers thinking bringing in unsigned bands? It’s a good version though.


With a Smile by South Border – I like South Border and they did a decent version but having them reviving a rock band song is bound to be hard to swallow. Hale would’ve made a better version! Can anyone remember what a mess it was when Luke Mejares revived 214? It was blasphemy!!!


Magasin by Paolo Santos – It’s about time in his musical career to venture into more edgy songs. Nice fresh remake although it did not sound very far from the original.


Alapaap by 6CycleMind – Again, luv the band and luv the song. Baka naman umangal na naman si Tito Sotto nyan ha.


Ligaya by Kitchie Nadal – This was the first song I heard when the album was being promoted on MYX. I knew immediately that it was bound to be good.


Hard To Believe by Cueshe – Fukien! What were they thinking including a cutie-cutie boy-band-posing-as-a-rockband-who’s-really-a-showband group into the line-up?


Anyways, the album is a gem. It’s a very welcome blast from the past. It’s sad though that they hadn’t included “Minsan” (which I think became our barkada’s theme song) and “Kailan”. Maybe there’s a volume two on the drawing boards.


--

~


It’s early. I’m alone in the office. I’m the only person on the whole floor. I get goose bumps just typing the title of the movie and I don’t know what the hell I’m thinking writing this.

I get scared easily with horror movies but I’m a sucker for those things. I just cover my eyes and peak through my fingers as though they were a fence every time I feel there’s going to be a “jumpy” scene. I just love the roller-coaster ride watching scary movies although I don’t fancy those Asian thrillers whose murderous undead all look like Sadako. Granted, it might not be Sadako who inspired the hurricane-stricken long hair with one bulging eye-ball showing fashion-style. Maybe all Asian ghosts are cousins. Sadako is good though because she can walk out of TV sets. I wish porn stars could do that. “Buy this Jenna Jameson DVD and after seven days, you’ll die from dehydration and pure bliss!” Maybe that’s why Sadako’s victims all look like that when they die – contorted faces and wide open jaws, hmmm, euphoria?

The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a good movie. It’s actually inspiring. When was the last time you saw a scary movie that had values in it? When the movie ends, you realize that it doesn’t exactly fall into the “horror” genre. As my princess Leah also observed, the movie focused on the trial (the judicial kind) of Catholic priest Fr. Richard Moore who was accused of neglecting the need for medical treatment and instead performed a failed exorcism that eventually lead to Emily Rose’s death.

The story-telling was tight and there was nothing to detract you from it. The plot basically asks the question: Was Emily Rose possessed by demons? Or was she a very sick girl who walked away from medical treatment that could’ve saved her life?* The movie almost begs to open the ageless science vs. religion debate but we won’t go there. For more info about science and religion and as well as to get entertained silly, get a copy of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons.



A quick look at IMDB shows that director Scott Derrickson has done two scary movies. So far this is his most decent film. There were no unnecessary scenes. The producers could’ve shown more disturbing possession symptoms but I realized that that wasn’t the film’s objective. It is disturbing and will freak out someone who’s as skittish as me but it doesn’t go over the top like The Exorcist franchise. Nope, no rotating heads and bottom-less green puke in this one. Maybe it’s the trailer that may mislead viewers into thinking that this is a scare-you-shitless movie because this movie has the scariest trailer I’ve ever seen.

That Jennifer Carpenter girl (Emily Rose) is amazingly, um, limber. The audience laughed when she went catatonic and her father stood her up from the floor as though she were a mic-stand. That alone ought to land her an Oscar nomination.

I give the movie 5 tickets out of 5 and our left over popcorn that we never got to finish because we were scared out of our wits.

--
*www.sonypictures.com/movies/theexorcismofemilyrose/

I seem to have a habit of composing letters that I don't get to send to the person I wrote it to. Not that they're confidential or something I don't want them to hear. Most of the times I get to tell them personally what I meant to say anyway. I think I could bind a whole notebook of those unsent letters and it's good because they remind me of where or what I or my friends have been through.

--

You Are Strong
Even though you've gone through
so much
And there are times you felt
you couldn't have made it
But still you are here
Although sometimes no matter
how much trials we passed
we're still none the wiser

People will still hurt you
and make you loose your faith -
in your friends and in yourself
But despite your frustrations,
Live anyway, Love anyway
pick up your broken pieces
And move on

Keep moving on
You have so much love to give
although, sometimes, we fail by giving it
to the wrong people and places

The world is unfair enough
and it will always be so
Until you start giving chances
only to those who deserve it
And spending love away only to people
who've proven capable of loving
Keep something for yourself
In the long run
you are no use to anyone
if you spread yourself to thin

Our paths have crossed only just recently
and to each other's lives, played yet a little part
But it doesn't take days, nor months, nor years
To leave an imprint on the heart


--

If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking
By Emily Dickinson

If I shouldn't be alive when the robins come,
Give the one in the Red Cravat,
A memorial Crumb.

If I couldn't thank you,
Being just asleep,
you will know I'm trying
with my granite lip.

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not have lived in vain.
If I can ease one life from aching,
or cool one pain,
or help a fainting robin, unto it's nest again,
I shall not live in vain.


--

~

Angel

In a roomful
Of faces
Your glimmer
Surrounded
The air
Soothing
The suffering
Being
Looked after


I wish
You’d find me
There
Begging
To be
Carried
On a wing
And a prayer

--

Fool

A fool I am
Watching
Waiting
For the shining smile
That bridges
My heart to yours
I am a fool
Lost
Blinded
By previous thoughts
Hands
Ice cold without you
To hold and love
Sad
The path I once tread easily
Is now history
A labyrinth
That stretches
Far
And wide
Divided
To keep you away
I am a fool
Astray
In shades
Of gray

--
Both poems by
“Kooky” Carren Cecillia M. Tuason

--

A couple of months ago, I bought a CD from Tower Records called Romancing Venus. Last Saturday, RX 93.1 was promoting the album and it’s upcoming volume two. Produced by Kooky Tuason – poet and author of the songs featured in the CD, the album’s proceeds aim to benefit the Women’s Crisis Center (the organization helps women who has undergone sexual abuse, domestic beating, emotional torture etc.).

The artists featured include Barbie Almalbis (Barbie’s Cradle), Seven Shots, Hanna Romawac (Session Road), Maegan Aguilar, Iza Calzado, Angel Aquino, Chinggay Andrada, KC Concepcion, Cindy Kurleto, Wawi Navarroza (The Late Isabel) and more.

I loved the music, it was soothing and relaxing, a blend of chillout and grunge-industrial, some tracks sound close to the music of The Late Isabel. Some tracks were short and faded out in under 2 minutes but all the songs had a nice groove in them.

The album was really about showcasing Kooky Tuason’s poetry. She even bravely wrote about her own child abuse experience on track 20: Red Riding Hood. Romancing Venus Volume 2 is coming out and promises more poems and personalities to be featured like Sen. Loren Legarda, Dra. Margie Holmes and more. I’ve posted above two of the poems in the album that I’m able to relate to several instances in The Insomniac’s life.

--

The album and Kooky’s website can be found at http://www.venusinorbit.com/
The album's producers are also working with UN’s RockEd Philippines project. To all who wishes to volunteer and help the country through education please visit http://www.rockedphilippines.org/ .

--

I’ve been sick for days now and grounded at home. Not much happening and not much to blog about. Just tried writing random poems and haikus until I decided to go back to re-reading Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix – it’s the book that follows Goblet of Fire. I figured I must’ve missed some details worth going back to and I found something. Dumbledore has a brother – Aberforth. Mad-eye Moody (the real) showed a picture of the original members of the Order of the Phoenix (the task force that was supposed to bring down Voldemort and his ranks) to Harry and Aberforth was in the picture and Moody never mentioned if he's dead or not. Maybe he will figure in the final book to save the day.

I realize I can’t even talk about Order of the Phoenix without risking mentioning some spoilers / hints on The Half-Blood Prince (book 6). It’s hard you know, not having a lot of friends who read the books so I could talk about it with them. Right now, I can only talk about them regarding Goblet which is what, five years old??

I don’t know if I’m excited or dreading Rowling’s final installment to the HP series. For one thing, it’ll be the last book, which means there’s nothing else to look forward to after except for the movies to catch up. But it will also make the story come to full circle and answer every question in Harry’s and everyone else’s past. When it comes to the past, no other book offers more information about pre-Harry magical times than Half-Blood Prince. It basically centers on Voldemort’s youth and the people around him. But the last book will most likely hold every missing piece in Harry’s puzzle.

It’ll probably take another 20 years ‘till the next big thing comes out from an unheard of author. For now, we’re gonna have to make do with the Shopahollic series and Dan Brown’s conspiracies.


--

Who would've thought Mike Newell (director of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mona Lisa Smile) could produce an effects-fantasy movie that is so far the best among the Harry Potter franchise (at least for me). I know people tend to compare novels and movies as if they should be faithful to the other. Fortunately, I've learned that they shouldn't be put side to side. There have been a lot of movie adaptations that have been better than their written counterparts and there have been otherwise.

On Newell's press-releases regarding Goblet of Fire, he disclosed the fact that there could have been more scenes and sub-stories from the novel that they wished they could put into the movie but J.K. Rowling's creations were expensive to translate into reality and would require longer playtime. Goblet of Fire was originally planned to be split into two movies. While Newell decided there was not much story to be told for two separate movies, the producers had to do away with a lot of the sub-stories like that of Rita Skeeter and her being an animagus. Other no-shows include Hermione's S.P.E.W. campaign and Ludo Bagman. I'm just worried if they decided to take out something that would figure on the sequels, it would place loopholes all over the place. Like Cho Chang for one, she should have appeared in Prizoner of Azkaban so that the viewers can see how Harry got a crush on her. Now that she's on Goblet, nobody knows where she came from. The viewers were just forced to accept that she is Harry's crush.

Let me just say that while the Quidditch World Cup could've lasted a bit longer, the scenes were breath taking. Cedric Diggory was dashing - I thought I almost went lesbian. It's such a terrible waste knowing he was going to be killed (again, that wasn't a spoiler, half the world knows about it already). And Cho Chang, that really cute girl Harry has his eye upon, could've played more part. Reading the novel, it was like reading a Sweet Valley High book when it came to the Yule Ball events. Fortunately, the movie's Yule Ball was eye-candy. Everyone was stunningly beautiful - Hermione, Cho and Fleur. There were not much classroom scenes. At least Snape (kill him! kill him!) was less annoying because he just had a few lines.

The effects side is more than what I would normally expect for a fantasy movie. Mostly because I was seeing in the movie what exactly I was imagining while I was reading the book. The dragons, the merfolk and the labyrinth were - solid!

The movie's pacing is great compared to Alfonso Cuaron's breakneck treatment on Prizoner of Azkaban. It allowed more time for the viewer to catch up with what's happening. There were at least more effort to develop Neville's character and background (although if you're not keen to listening you'll probably miss them) and the movie showed more of the political side of the magical world - something that will have more bearing on the succeeding books and / or movies. Harry is yet to fall victim to the unreliability and the impotence of the magical government. Well, at least it's not only our world that's corrupted.

The fourth book marks the mid-point on Harry's coming of age and should signify the changes that are to come not only to him and his faithful friends but also to the magical community they all live in. The movie's end was successful in giving the viewers a feel of that impending danger. More people are going to end up dead - start the body count.

It's nice that the movie has matured as the characters and the story has. Although it's going to be hard telling a children's story when characters are dying left and right. It has come very far from the Sorcerer's Stone definitely and we're to expect Harry's world will be much more disturbing, darker and more wicked in the sequels to come.


-

Forget Ten Things I Hate About You, forget The American Pie, if there’s one teen-comedy movie that encompasses all the goody elements of movies of this genre, it’s got to be The Girl Next Door (2004).

TGND is showing this month on Star Movies on cable. Starring Elisha Cuthbert (Jack Bauer's pretty daughter from 24) as the female lead Danielle, it is about a straight-A boy (Emile Hirsch as Matthew) who meets and is clearly stricken by the girl next door who just moved in. They eventually get to know each other, get out on a date and attend a party where the two earned the movie an MTV Movie Awards Nomination for Best Kiss scene. (The Notebook won that award which sucked because the kissing scene on The Notebook was shot just like any other sappy love movie. Blech...)

The day after the party, Emile’s porn-aficionado friend shows him an adult videotape with Danielle as the star. That’s when it gets interesting and the story picks up and preps the viewer for a one-of-a-kind ride full of turnarounds you’ll never know what to expect. The plot gets even more complicated at the arrival of Danielle’s producer Kelly - played by Timothy Olyphant (aren't those the big elephant giants on The Lord of The Rings?) who’s trying to get Danielle back into the adult-industry.

I think that what sets this movie far apart from other teen-comedies is that the story is presented in a very realistic point of view. Sure, being a senior about to enter college is full of fun and juvenile excitement but even at that age, life is serious business and so are the choices teenagers make. I love the way Emile suddenly gets initiated into the real world by Danielle’s producer. The world is unforgiving and it will have you for breakfast if you’re not ready. You also couldn't say anything about the acting, the casting was brilliant and the chemistry between the lead roles and their friends were perfect - we get goosebumps every time Matthew and Danielle kiss!

This would probably be Luke Greenfield's (director, The Animal 2001) best work yet. He, the producers and writers managed to work around a not so original plot (see Risky Business, 1983, starring Tom Cruise) and delivered a highly creative film that's fit for this generation. The soundtrack just provides the right mix featuring Take a Picture by Filter and Under Pressure by Queen.

According critics and reviews, TGND is a highly underrated film but has been gaining a cult following in the US since its DVD release. Overall, a very inspiring story of what a person would give and go through for that loved one. Just as one of the movie’s popular quotes say – “Always know if the juice is worth the squeeze.”

I have this movie on original DVD (not the quiapo versions!) and it was definitely worth the squeeze.


--

Maybe it’s the absence of Anthony Hopkins that make The Legend of Zorro just another action-esque movie. I still like it though so there might be lots of flaws to shoot at but they get past me na lang. I think that this time the sequel tries to be The Mummy – good action, comedy here and there and insufferable romantic lines.

Zeta-Jones is back! But with breasts that obviously has taken a beating from gravity (or Michael Douglas) after giving birth. It must be remembered that Zorro is the movie that catapulted her career (and perhaps reanimated Antonio Bandera’s). There’s a new character in the form of Elena’s son - Joaquin. I don't know if they’ve got gymnastics classes back in the 1890’s but the kid’s on steroids with his stunts. Joaquin’s supposed to be what, 9 or 10 and already he’s doing backflips fighting against a terror teacher. Where I come from, that’s grounds for expulsion.

The movie is over-all an action / drama about a man who’s not quite ready to let go of the mask that makes him hero and thus alienating himself from his wife and growing son. Actually the case isn’t just confined to superhero icons. It’s probably an allegory to current domestic problems involving over workaholic fathers and ADD inflicted children who can’t ever seem to understand that their parents have to work for their PS2’s, Gameboys and Ragnarok game cards.

Oh, and there’s no new soundtrack to linger with after the movie. Although the instrumental score still has the I Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You melody, not even a remake was played.

--

~ November 9, 2005

Leah sent me roses! Maybe the world is turning upside down.
I'm currently going through a rough day trying to stay awake and focused with work with maybe 2 to 3 hours of sleep last night. The insomnia seems to be kicking in on a very bad timing this season.

Anyway, the roses sure woke me up. They're a beauty. They go well with the colors of my room and they smell wonderful they overpower the alipunga odor that usually comes with guy offices. :p

*Special thanks to the Lei and Leah Fans Club est. 11/09/1999

--

Three days and two nights and I’m still lacking enough sleep. The two long weekends didn’t help much. For some reason, I kept waking up early and sleeping late. The Insomniac is now running on caffeine. I think the Red Bull drink is taking over my body. Or perhaps it’s just the midichlorians.

On the radio, Rx93.1’s hot ten today asks the age-old question: Which would you choose – The one who loves you or the one you love?

Interesting opinions came about with some new points I never thought about before. Here are some of them:

--

“I’d rather be hurt by loving someone than to hurt someone who loves me but I don’t love back.”

“It’s easier to teach yourself to learn to love a person who loves you more than the world than two teach someone to love you back.”

“Happiness is found when you know someone loves you.”

“It feels wonderful to know that someone’s life revolves around you.”

“The one who loves me. For once, I want to feel that I’m someone’s priority.”

“Love is supposed to be selfless.”

“The one I love because I want to prove first that I deserve to be loved because I can love someone.”

--

Tough question, really. When asked this question maybe years ago I would’ve definitely said without blinking “the one I love”. Now that we’re jaded and all, maybe I’ve changed my opinion. Neither choice promises happily ever after anyway but who wouldn’t fall in love with someone who gives you all their time, tells you all the words you need to hear, loves you like their life depended on it and is willing to go through hell and back for you?


--

I rarely open my emails that has that "fw:" on the subject meaning it's probably forwarded stuff with animated gifs, religious mush or chain mail that promises miracles (like that's gonna happen). Sorry, but they go straight to my trash bin with a single click of the "delete all checked messages" button - bye bye, sucker email!

When the poem below was sent to my inbox years ago however, I was glad I hadn't deleted it. Since then, I've given copies of this poem to friends when they looked like they could use some classic wisdom.

--

After A While
©1971 Veronica A. Shoffstall


After a while you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand and chaining a soul
and you learn
that love doesn't mean leaning
and company doesn't always mean security.


And you begin to learn
that kisses aren't contracts
and presents aren't promises
and you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of woman,
not the grief of a child


And you learn
to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow's ground is
too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down
in mid-flight.


After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
so you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone
to bring you flowers.


And you learn that you really can endure
you really are strong
you really do have worth
and you learn
and you learn
with every goodbye, you learn...


--

Reasons to watch Doom: When you’re bored. Me, perhaps I just like the word "doom". WWF’s (the wrestling thugs, not the panda lovers) The Rock stars in this movie adaptation of a popular pc-game. It’s like Ghost of Mars and Resident Evil roled into one bad reel.

The setting was supposed to be as gritty and gorey as Aliens VS. Predator but I found myself laughing and flinching at the acting. I got used to The Rock’s scene-stealing deliveries so I didn’t mind his eyebrow-effect thing no longer.

There’s just too many cliché’s in this movie to count but here goes some of it:
The movie takes place on Mars. The earth people in 2025 discovers a portal that enables people to travel from here to the red planet. A team of marines are called to rescue and contain a laboratory wherein scientists got butchered by some unknown creature. The dead comes back to life when it was bitten by the “creature/s”. One by one, every 5 minutes or so, the soldiers get mutilated. Somehow, the US government fails to send back-up to the lab – so it’s a serious Mars incident and they only bring in 10 soldiers and no back-ups came with more fire power?

It got too predictable that halfway thru the movie the unthinkable happened – I dozed off. I've been watching too many movies lately.


--

The film trailer for Flight Plan was quite interesting: On board a state-of-the-art passenger plane (the largest), Kyle Pratt's (Jodie Foster) six-year-old daughter Julia goes missing while on their flight to New York from Berlin. Kyle just took a nap and when she woke up her daughter was gone – bags and all including her daughter's plane boarding pass. It’s as if her daughter never boarded the plane.

Kyle, who is still recovering from her husband’s death, now face the possibility that she has lost her marbles and that she was just imagining her daughter – specially when the flight crew discovers that her daughter was already dead.

We know at the beginning of the movie that Kyle Pratt has delusional tendencies. From the subway, she ‘imagines’ her (already dead) husband picking her up and taking her home. The question is – Is her daughter really missing or just a product of escapism and Pratt's being in denial?

Flight Plan is more satisfying than Foster’s 2004 movie The Forgotten which (strangely) also involves her loosing her daughter and no one remembering about it. It was fun to watch while the mystery was still there but people will expect a much more complicated turnaround.

It was a laugh-out-loud moment when the plane cabin lights went out and this huge white guy immediately went pouncing the nearest Arab in sight.

*Synopsis thanks to ClickTheCity.com
--

~ October 31, 2005 (This post is a wee bit overdue)

Monday, holiday and I’m at work. Sometimes, it’s better here than getting bored at home when I’ve ran out of movies to watch and good books to read. It also doesn’t hurt to get a little extra overtime pay.

I’m trying to limewire songs by Susan Wong who I’ve just discovered yesterday. She’s this J-pop (that’s Japanese-Pop) artist who sings western songs with a bossa nova rythm. Just like Sonia, but since she’s got this Japanese accent, Wong sounds a little more exotic – better than Sonia for me.

Unfortunately, looks like there’s not much Susan Wong songs being shared on Limewire I might have to get the CD.

For those who aren't familiar with J-pop songs, they usually are used as soundtracks for anime titles (no, I unfortunately don't follow the anime bandwagon). The most popular artist of this genre would have to be Utada Hikaru because she's really good and speaks fluent english - makes it easier for her to

J-pop isn't that different from Pop-Rock or a Britney Spears song. The musical arrangements tend to be more complex and rich and because of that Asian accent, it sounds more interesting (and sometimes a little funny).

For a sampler, here's Utada Hikaru's remake of Fly Me To The Moon. Crank your bass woofers, trust me, this is good.

http://www.wsiph.com/projects/samplesites/lei/Utada_Hikaru-Fly_Me_To_The_Moon.zip


--

Hard to breathe,
feels like floating
So full of love,
my heart's exploding


Mouth is dry,
hands are shaking
My heart is yours,
for the taking


Acting weird, not myself
Dancing around, like the Keebler elf
Finally time, for this poor shlub.
To know how it feels, to fall in lub.


Deed’s letter to ‘Pam Dawson’ in the movie Mr. Deeds (2002)


Adam Sandler seems to have a knack for making songs for movies he stars on. In The Wedding Singer he sang Grow Old With You and Forgetfull Lucy in 50 First Dates. It's nice to know that he puts some personal touches on his movies.


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