Hot Shot/ Basketball of Fire 2008 - Review

Jerry Yan will be my hottie forever (according to my fan-heart)... And wow! Has the packaging of his stardom improved by meteorical measures since Meteor Garden (no pun intended). For one, his fashion sense has greatly, astoundingly improved...If in Meteor Garden I, he was up against his tacky clothes and reliant on his amazing looks, in Hot Shot, Jerry has become a real star!

But since this is not mainly about Jerry, let me get to the "review" part of this post.

All in all, I highly enjoyed the series. Surprisingly, it got lower ratings compared to high ones of Fated to Love You. Perhaps it's because Hot Shot wasn't all that emotionally sensational - again, compared to Fated to Love You. In fact, Hot Shot is a very easygoing watch, with its fair share of intriguing twists and turns and spectacular scene sequences (especially when they play basket!). I also love how they interspersed the comedy and drama of it.

But then again, my son and I were looking out for an important sequence at the end, which would have tied up the whole series and make the title truly worth being called "Hot Shot". The sequence we had in mind wasn't there.

Other than that, I should say it was worth watching. It was not sensational, but I must say it was really good!

Image from Crunchyroll.

Proving a Bal-Bal

Tomorrow is the first Friday of the month. It would be a good day to go to the mananambal, or faith healer to inquire about a person's otherworldly status; to ask whether he is dating true, blooded human being... or a bal-bal.

According to Wikipedia, the Bal-Bal is a mythological monster that steals corpses whether it is in a funeral or grave and feeds on them.

My friend is seeing a lovely girl from a nearby town that is known to be infested with bal-bals. Contrary to the Wikipedia definition, the term bal-bal in our region describes an otherworldy creature/being with a human appearance and demeanor but has powers one of which is the ability to fly (and yes, think bat wings). Bal-bals are attracted to the scent of the dead or pregnant mothers. More frightening, their condition is contagious. Bal-bals can contaminate persons who offend them by patting the latter in any part of the body. Other ways of contamination is murmuring spells on a person and blowing a breath on a person's skin. Eating food prepared in bal-bal's homes can also infect a normal human being.

When my friend told his colleagues that he was seeing this girl, his co-workers burst his romantic bubble by telling him the long standing rumor that this girl was a bal-bal. Her parents, though well off and highly educated, are reputedly bal-bals as well. My friend and I then decided to interview my hilot, or masseuse on what she knows of bal-bals.

I presumed that my hilot, a devout Catholic, didn't believe in such backwards superstitions. But she did know some faith healers and she traveled in such circles so my friend and I took our chance on her.

Apparently, she did believe in the existence of bal-bals and taught us how to detect one.

Faith healer friends of my hilot would always gift her with lana, or oil from herbs that has been prayed over. This was said to protect her from bad spirits and yes, bal-bals. She always brought lana in a small flask, making sure that the outer surface of the bottle was dry. One night, she and her children were in an area in our city thought to be ridden with bal-bals. The hairs on her neck were standing as she and her children took a row boat or bangka that would bring her to the other side of the river. Her flask of lana was "boiling", and warm oil spewed from the bottle. A bal-bal was in the vicinity.

According to my hilot, when the bal-bal would detect the odor of the lana, the flask of oil would sweat while the oil would boil inside . In turn, the bal-bal would feel uneasy and uncomfortably warm, and even avoid the person carrying the native, blessed concoction.

"I thought you didn't believe in these things," I told her.

"Oh, but I do!" she said, "I'll tell you more."

One night, her son came home from basketball practice. He complained that his shoulder blades felt weird, like something wanted to come out of his body, and that he felt like flying. He climbed the walls of their home. She asked her son what happened. "Ma, an old man came to me tonight and asked me hat time it is. I answered him and then he patted me in the back and left." Frantic, my hilot went to their neighbor, a faith healer, knowing her son had been contaminated. The spell had to be undone. The son was ordered by the faith healer to take in a concoction of lana. Something was lodged at his throat. He threw it up and out came what looked like a bird's embryo with wings. He vomited some more and out came fine feathers, like a lovebird's. He puked some more and out came another bird that had soft bones, like a balot (a Filipino delicacy). "He's going to be weak in the next 24 hours," the faith healer said. "Don't let him eat anything that is cooked with blood for a year. No dinuguan (pork blood stew), chicken and pork entrails for a year. And always let your children bring lana."

Bal-bals are also known to keep on asking the time, though it is obvious that you belong to the same time zone. Their purpose is to know that it is the hour of contamination.

By the time we had finished our interview with my hilot, my friend and I were in a stupor. We couldn't believe that we were actually taking this seriously.

His date who was a suspected bal-bal was a prospect for a relationship. She seemed nice. She looked nice. She even has a nice job! Besides, the first decade of the millennium is almost over and here we are regressing to myths on the kapres, diwatas and bal-bals!

I feel bad for the lady/bal-bal suspect. I feel bad for my friend too. My friend has it in him to find out the truth. Off he goes with the lana. Seriously. But I did tell him I wish he'd call the whole thing off - for his safety's sake.

"Can you believe this?" he asked quietly, but incredulously.
"Can't say I do, can't say I don't," I said.

God bless us ALL.

This is not fiction.

*Comic relief: This is so in the tune of the Twilight Saga. But I swear, it's not funny at all. Ironically it makes me laugh.

Picture from http://mokong2007.blogspot.com/2008/11/halo-halloween-3.html

Book Love: The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray

Two nights ago, I finished the award-winning Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray.

The trilogy follows the phantasmagorical adventures of Gemma Doyle, an English girl of sixteen who embarks on a journey to the Motherland from the British colony of India to learn to live like a proper English lady.

Replete with drama, peril, romance and magic, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy will sweep you off your feet in three delicious books, starting with A Great and Terrible Beauty, continued by Rebel Angels and is concluded by a big, fat, satisfying ending in The Sweet Far Thing.

The themes of authority, family, bonds of friendship, young love and the ambiguity of good and evil are explored in the sweeping chronicle of Gemma's exploits.

Makes for a good, lazy weekend(s) reading! Don't forget the biscuits and the tea!

The Proposal 2009 : A Review and Some Thoughts

My son's been itching to watch The Proposal, and I've been adamant in PG'ing it. My son's 10 years old and is at that age when kids are curious about grown up things and think/feel brave enough to take on "adult" stuff. Well, I'm one of those protective mothers who wants to keep her cub in the den... But heck, one adult said the "adult" scenes weren't obscene or lewd - and indeed they weren't and bless him, my son found the birthday suits scene hilarious. I was at wit's end trying to keep my protectiveness at bay while barely stifling guffaws!

I also had to tell him that love stories like those are just in the movies (yeah, ma, they're fiction, you've been saying that since I was little). I had to say that lest he thought it was ok to short circuit love... I had to say my brief spiel on love, friendship and respect...

God, to be a mom!

Eventually, Andrew and Margaret's characters grew on me, and the development of the story caught on my sentimental side, that I was actually crying (eeek, yes! it's one of my weaknesses!). My son asked "Do you like the movie ma?" And my reply was "Do you think I'd still get married?" (Haller?!!!) And then he hugged me. "Yeah, you can get married ma." Yep, that's my son.

Now when Margaret admitted to their charade in that barn wedding scene, I had to say "Now that's very brave! She did the right thing." ("You do like the movie.")

It was really nice, that movie. "But that's a fairy tale, kid."

***

Speaking of proposals, now I understand why the American husband of my friend looooves telling his proposal story where he gets down on his knee, opens the Tiffany box with the rock and pops the question. And he is astounded that my friend was speechless, she almost spaced out. All this in the backdrop of New York with the view from the Brooklyn Bridge (when I was not there LOL). And he loves telling that story over and over again.

I was reminded of this during the scene in The Proposal when Andrew's ex-girlfriend asks them to tell the proposal story... And the guests at their party were intent on listening to their story... Fast forward to the end where Andrew actually proposes to Margaret, his former tormentor, with purpose and conviction in his former concentration camp - the office, and the onlookers, their officemates were all dissolved into mush...

Gosh I wonder if that happens in real life... Come to think of it, romantic proposals worth recounting happened as it did to my friend. (She's the one who gets embarrassed each time her husband relates it with such gusto, you can't help but get engaged - no pun intended!).

That's The United States of Hollywood for you, and I have to admit, I love it too!

Wallpaper from this site.

Venus Raj! Raj! Raj! & Beauty Pageant Conondrums

The MAJOR MAJOR trend in Facebook statuses is Venus Raj's now-a-mega-hit Miss Universe 2010 answer to the brains and wits test by William Baldwin: "What is the biggest mistake that you’ve ever made in your life and what did you do to make it right?"

Facebook posts range from fellow Filipinos tearing their hair and their clothes over Ms. Raj's off the mark reply to spectators who are more sympathetic of Ms. Raj's human error.

I just watched the 46 second video of the Q&A and I have to admit that I quite cringed...

It is not without shame that I reacted that way because after all, if anyone one of us was Venus Raj, it wouldn't be easy being up there in front of the Universe, being weighed for beauty and wits.

In fact, it's an irony that i had laughed, having joined local beauty contests myself.

Last week, a friend of mine invited me to anchor the local pageant which I had joined lifetimes ago, and because I had a flu attack, I declined.

Over the week as Venus Raj's answer has been talked about in grocery aisles where acquaintances meet, or used as a humorous reference to whatnot ("I'm having a MAJOR MAJOR headache!"), I thought about how I was supposed to be part of our city's beauty contest once again.

I recoil at the thought of how women (myself in the past, included) subject ourselves to judgment over a short period of time (some, merely hours), to be placed in the annals of local history, booboo's, "wits" and all.

Although beauty contests will be here to stay, unless some MAJOR MAJOR universal paradigm shift deems it irrelevant, I do, though, advocate guidance to beauty contestants that though preparation for the big night is good, winning is not everything, and life in the limelight (win or lose) has its price. It is good to remind contenders that there are more things in life that matter than glitz and glamor, fame and glory.

I hope that Ms. Venus Raj will use this paradoxical fame to her advantage and learn how to laugh at her faux pas. Laughing at one's own chagrin can be disarming. She has lots of chances to show the world and herself that she is more than the seemingly shallow seconds-long answer she made.

My male cousin was still proud of Ms. Raj, despite her embarrassing response. And in turn, I'm proud that my cousin saw past that. Indeed, Venus Raj's beauty is a true representation of our beautiful islands, tall, strong, dark-skinned, and beautiful. And if she hasn't had any "MAJOR, MAJOR problems in her 22 years of existence," - now she does, and I'm sending her all the light and love in hopes that she can do something good about it!

Go, go, go Venus Raj!!!

Jerry F4ever ;-D

Sigh. It's past my bedtime and I just finished wrapping some presents for friends: a mother (her birthday tomorrow) and daughter (the latter being my godchild, whose Christmas present I ordered and just arrived). I thoroughly enjoyed wrapping the gifts - but it took me one hour to find the perfect motif for the ribbons and charms. So now, it is past my bedtime and tomorrow is the last day of the working week (yahoo!) -

To watch or not to watch? I'm now at episode 10 of The Hospital starring dreamy Jerry as Dr. Su Yihua, and am I having a ball!

This time around, I am enjoying my eye candy sans the anger and violence of Dau Ming Sz (of my all-time favorite Meteor Garden). In The Hospital, Jerry's character is more subdued as the underdog (ahem!!!). His acting is more dynamic than as he was in Magic Kitchen (where his acting was subject to criticisms, i.e., Jerry just smoldered. [lol!] - and I have to agree, his acting in Magic Kitchen was flat). But this time around, the variety of facial expressions of Dr. Su is absolutely - sigh - heartmelting.

Overall impact? Mushy in an Asian sort of way. I was thinking before that The Hospital was another poor imitation of Grey's Anatomy (which I avidly watched until I couldn't stand the musical chairs of romantic and sexual partners). Well, the producers of The Hospital, also known as White Tower, did follow the Western suit of creating TV serieses based on lives of professionals in the medical field, and though not an original concept (what's original these days, anyway?!), The Hospital is highly watchable (I'm biased :D).

Eye candy is number one, second is the Asian flavor of dealing with the issues (the ceremonies behind transactions, blind respect for hierarchy, the awkward fight for idealism which is a "new" concept for "obedient" Asians, to name some), and the assimilation of Western "values" into the Asian context is quite interesting. I would like to say I'm in it for the story. Well, maybe, but definitely I'm in it for the pleasure of watching Jerry move haha - and okay,I admit, to see the unfolding of the subplots, which are well, Asian kinda good.

And I love that, Asian kinda good...

To watch or not to watch. I'll decide while I take a bath (which reminds me, Jerry has a safe and sexy bath scene which almost made me faint! hahah!)

More on this latah!

P.S. Love his team up with Janine Chang! Sweet!

Got the image from tsinoy.com

Hana Yori Dango, Meteor Garden, Boys Over Flowers Visited 2

"That is so codependent!" my mom huffed in exasperation when she saw that I was reacting emphatically to a scene in Boys Over Flowers.

I bit my tongue. BOF is not worth an argument with the Queen Mother.

I wanted to say, "Aren't most love stories codependent?" (Save for A Walk to Remember which was very inspiring and spiritual.) But I kept mum...

Her Western preferences are so full of S-E-X! Betrayal and violence. What makes it any different from my preference?

Though I concede HYD, MG and BOF have more than their fair share of violence and betrayal, the sex thing is not so blatant. In fact, the kissing scenes are tame and decent (save for the episode in MG where DMSz forces his kiss on Shan Cai in the school balcony. His lack of social skills and restraint was made evident in that scene. Either that, or I'm defending the story hahahah! In fact in the manga version, there are "up yours" hand signals and expletives). But for all 25 episodes of the Korean Version, there are only a few kissing scenes which are more sweet than sensual.

Besides, the redemption of Tsukasa/DMSz/Jun Pyo's role were threshed out clearly (from my point of view) that his wrongdoings are forgivable if only as a TV show. I haven't thought about the real life plausibility of his character's evolution.

After all, I'm all in it for the fantastic relief. After all, it is a most girls' codependent dream to be a catalyst for change. After all, in A Walk to Remember, Jamie Sullivan was a catalyst to Landon Carter's improvement.

One more thing that fascinates me about HYD/MG/BOF is that Tsukushi/ShanCai/JanDi's role as a middle class girl thrown into the world of the spoiled, rotten and rich and overcoming obstacles just to get by is a feat many of us would like to achieve... And of course turning the frog into a prince just by being oneself is the height of that dream. Though Shan Cai and Jan Di's role of being violently oppressed by the F4 is too much for reality, it sadly resonates most women's capacity to suffer. The healthier thing to do is WALK AWAY, but Tsukushi/ShanCai/JanDi is a radical activist who stands up for her "rights", to the point of putting herself in harm's way. Oh well, that's why it's called fiction. The danger is that impressionable minds might think it's okay to brave it out; in real life it's called being foolhardy (but that calls for another discussion).

Going back to the fantasy, it is every person's dream to be the kind who doesn't give up even in the face of destitution and humiliation. To still have that strength to stand straight, chin up, shoulders back and walk steadily, confident that the world is still a friendly place despite all the hardships. And getting the happy ending - which Tsukushi/ShanCai/JanDi got in the end, after many twists, turns and tears.

And those back up guys, the rest of the F4. I love saying that the F4 in MG are hunks, while in BOF they're cuties. But nonetheless their characters which are seemingly shallow eventually revealed men whose loyalties are towards the righteous (Tsukushi/ShanCai/JanDi) - to the point of them being there for the T/S/JD at every whiff of trouble - is again, another favorite fantasy. In real life, we know that people only help to a point, because they have their own lives to lead; besides nobody likes to be anyone's charity case. But the genius of Yoko Kamio lies in that Tsukushi/ShanCai/JanDi was never portrayed thus. At the same time the F4 were not portrayed as guys who keep tabs, what is given is a gift; and it is implied that after all things in each characters' lives are taken care of, they attend to our protagonist.

Is this codependent or not? LOL...

Oh my, count on it, there's a part 3 of this...Jaa Ne for now!