MUSINGS: The Great Gatsby (2013)

Known for his spectacular and flamboyant style, Baz Luhrmann does not disappoint us for an eye-candy treat with THE GREAT GATSBY.

But it's also this excessive and over-the-top trademark that messes the subtleties that are masterfully offered by F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic.

It's a dead give-away, spoonfeeding viewers with every move rather than letting them relish and explore the bittersweet masterpiece. Alas, everything is spelled out for you-- the visuals, the dialogue (whatever happened to minimal VO rule?)

Fans of the book would perhaps be horrified how the screen adaptation reduced the characters into mere caricatures, making them emotionally flat or how the story was endlessly romanticized, going a bit overboard and melodramatic.

And though I get it that in Hollywood, they hype movies by teasing the public with astounding and lavish visual effects (now in 3d!!!), there are times that it just didn't work for me especially when the scenes call out for intimacy and mystery. I think it ruins the moment.
 

As for incorporating a well-loved classic with a modern twist, it can be tastefully exotic but also quite baffling and yes generally odd, especially when you see 1922 New York while Jay-Z and/or Beyonce music is blaring in the background. (why use such? See credits

Yes, Luhrmann establishes his anachronistic style once more. Remember Moulin Rouge?

(I have a theory Jay-z is inspired by Gatsby. If you've watched his Bio or read his Wiki page, then you'd know why)

This screen version is probably designed for the young audience (hello, #throwback generation!!!)

We do appreciate innovation and spectacle but as they say, sometimes, simplicity works just fine.

Joke or Insult?

LATE POST.

Great humor requires intelligence, wit and sensibility. Otherwise, the joke is tasteless, crude and cheap.

Filipinos are, apparently, still very emotional and of course, visual. Cerebral or neurotic jokes might take time before they are processed. Woody Allen, Groucho Marx or a bit of Julie Delpy might fry the neurons of the majority.

It's no wonder why slapstick and screwball comedies are popular crowd-pleasers here while intellectual comedy and wordplays are not really top favorites.

Why? Coz Filipinos love action! Words sometimes are not enough. Mas mabenta kapag literal at nakikita, yung tipong agad-agad na pisikalan. **Paaaaak!

We prefer action, even in words or sketches-- that sharp one-way verbal sparring! Using an object, event or a person as tip off points to initiate a laugh...

But though not a form of physical comedy, it hurts just the same, especially to the subject's emotions. Especially if it's an insult more than a joke.

But even then, sometimes Pinoys can't take a "joke." Can we?

Perhaps we can't differentiate a "joke" from an "insult." Can we?

More often than not, we can only know the difference if the spotlight is on us and we're the butt of all the jokes. Or rather, the insults.

Women on music vds

LATE POST.

Women being a laughingstock in Psy's GENTLEMAN. I know and I get it, it's a joke. It's supposed to make us laugh...

Media, like this, cultivate a mentality that it's ok, or even fun, to pull such pranks on women.

But I think it was bordering on being demeaning and cheap.

Women deserve better.

Everybody deserves better things.

Just sayin'.

Wanderlust: Sagada, Philippines

My hands are full at the moment so it could probably take me a while to finally publish that long-overdue Wanderlust blog about my Sagada trip. It was one of the, if not the most,  adventurous trip I've ever endured in my life, so far. To be spelunking, trekking on rice paddies, waterfall-chasing and adventure-hunting with total strangers are activities totally foreign to me but even those not-so comfy activities did not hamper my lakwatsera cravings. Ha!

Also, I said a big "YES!" to this trip because I wanted to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city, where the working populace basically render themselves slave to their careers. Aminin!

I wanted an escape and alas, that was the chance. So up to the mountains, I went.

Basically, I took advantage of my "break" at work, after parting ways with my Mother Show- the show that launched my writing stint on that small screen. Silly me, I still believe in perceiving "signs", which I thought were the universe's way of telling me that "the force" sides with me.

Here's what I realized days after I got back home from my trip:

Am home. I look back in the week that was: several firsts encounters, countless adrenalin-pumping adventures and numerous "crazy-beautiful" scenarious which tested, and even stretched, my comfort zone.

I really am at awe...

It's the inconceivable enormity of the universe and life's endless possibilities that fascinate me.

Sagada. Bontoc. Banaue.

Photography. Roadtripping. Friendship.

I look back with great pride in doing things other people think I couldn't do. Things that I, myself, thought I would never ever try...

But I did. And "worth it pala."

Yes, better a life of danger than to live it in timidity.

I'd rather be anything than ordinary, I guess.



More photos soon. Kahit paunti-unti, nakaka-update naman. Di na rin masama. :)

Share!: World Ocean's Month

The world's oceans and coasts are home to an incredible array of life – and vital to human health, livelihoods and cultures.

But damaging and unsustainable human activities are taking their toll on marine habitats, marine species and people around the world.

Celebrate World Oceans Month this June! To support WWF's programs that create, promote, and implement solutions to protect marine ecosystems and use marine resources sustainably, visit http://wwf.org.ph/

FoodTrip: PINIKPIKAN

PINIKPIKAN.

Cordillera's specialty dish-- chicken soup with sayote that is similiar to Tinola.
But the chicken used in this recipe is beaten to death so that blood permeates its flesh to give the meat a smoky flavor.

Gay and Guilty

We make so much fuss about someone who just admitted that she's gay, even highlighting the "nakakairitang"/ eye-soring hairstyle.

And yet we tolerate someone who was ousted and impeached and later on, guilty of plunder. Not only that, we voted for him again!

Bond, Hollywood and Penelope Cruz

In the forthcoming Bond 24, actress Penelope Cruz would be the oldest Bond Girl, playing the part at 40.

In our society, particularly in that area known as Tinseltown, ageing is a big issue. Especially for the ladies.

Women past their prime, however artistic, talented or beautiful, are slowly pushed behind the curtains only to be frontlined (or even worse, substituted) by younger, usually twentysomething starlets because of their youthfulness.

We have been drugged by this age-obsessed industry bigheads into thinking--- "the younger, the more beautiful and sexy'. And since, as they say, "sex sells," they put them in movie after movie no matter how "inexperienced" these young girls are.  

Thus, among other things to consider, in Hollywood, younger eye-candies are served to satisfy the generation's cravings of what is said to be "more appealing/ exciting to the senses."

So for some, it's a rather risky move to cast a 40- year old, non-American actress to play the love interest of a suave, iconic superagent, in the famous and well-followed James Bond series.

Some blasted, "Why get 40, when you can play with 20?"

Well whadya know, the Hollywood landscape is gradually changing. Especially for women.

Kathy Griffin got it right when she said someday talent would transcend age.