Updates

gma is a skrull, and other “balut eggs”

skrull

Photo from Filipino Voices.

Comment: They spelled saguisag wrong, though. It should be sagisag (symbol). Unless it’s someone’s surname.

I believe I’ve already shared this picture at my Multiply account.


Budjette Tan invented the term. “Balut eggs”: those moments when Filipinos (or something Pinoy) suddenly pops up in foreign movies, TV shows, novels, and comic books.

He writes, More and more frequently, Balut Eggs have been popping up in the panels of American comic books. Read more here.

In Marvel’s “Black Panther,” one of Mephisto’s minions says, “Kumusta ka na?” (How have you been?) What’s up with these Tagalog-speaking demons?

In “The Copybook Tales,” written by Fil-Canadian J. Torres, the lead character gets a call from his young brother who refers to him as “Kuya (older brother).” Torres’ upcoming graphic novel is called “Lola (Grandma)” (also published by Oni Press) and it’s about stories told to him by his own lola; stories about supernatural creatures in the Philippines.

Lynda Barry’s “One Hundred!Demons!” has an entire chapter devoted to her Filipino speaking-grandmother, where she spells out the dialogue phonetically. You’ve got to read it out loud to understand what they’re talking about. She’s even got a chapter where she compares her boyfriend to “kuto (louse).”

In the DC Comics epic “Kingdom Come,” Superman crashes into the United Nations building, sending people into a panic, with someone in the crowd blurting out: “NANDIYAN NA ANG SIVA ULO! PAPATAYIN NIYA ULO! (Here comes the madman! He’ll kill us all!)” Now that was either a typo or some Filipino dialect that we’re not aware of … Or the guy was so shocked and surprised that he forgot how to speak Filipino properly.

One of the earliest Balut Eggs I can remember is that spotted in an issue of “Uncanny X-Men,” drawn by Filipino comic artist Whilce Portacio. In that story, we see Colossus wearing a jacket with the word “MAKULIT” written on the back, as well as the Philippine flag. This, of course, got all the Pinoy fanboys excited. It was Whilce winking at us, telling everyone that there’s a Pinoy in the Marvel bullpen.

We were all hoping that he’d introduce a Filipino mutant in the team, but that didn’t happen. He did, however, place a Pinoy, front and center, on the “Wetworks” team. That guy is Grail, one of the team’s top assassins, a martial artist and an expert in Escrima, Arnis de Mano, and Kali. His real name is Joel Alonday (named after a friend of Whilce).

Years later, Whilce introduced the world to more characters and creatures from the Philippines through the comic book “Stone,” which stars the amulet-wielding Gerry Alan (named after Filipino comic book artist Gerry Alanguilan).. Thanks to “Stone,” the Western audience got their tongues all in a twist trying to pronounce words like manananggal, duwende and tikbalang (Filipino ghouls and goblins). The story is even set in the Philippines and shows familiar landmarks like Megamall.

Around the time Whilce and Gerry were drawing “Stone,” Leinil Francis Yu and Edgar Tadeo started drawing “Wolverine.” In one scene, Yu snuck in a bottle of White Castle Whisky, being drunk by one of Wolverine’s enemies.

In an “X-Men Annual,” also drawn by Yu, we got to see our favorite mutants munching on Chow King take-out food. (Which is weird, because the X-Men were supposedly in Hong Kong. Maybe Chow King had a mutant delivery guy who could teleport!)

Most recently, in “Secret Invasion,” Yu drew President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as one of the people who welcomed the invading Skrulls to our planet. We also got to see Captain Marvel and Marvel Boy fight in the parking lot of Ali Mall. It would’ve been interesting to see the MMDA try to arrest them for traffic obstruction.

lost and found (almost)

Back when I was in high school, one of my aunts left a bag filled with books at our house. I don’t know where that bag is now; it is possible that I had spread its contents all over my room and in my brothers’ room before going to college. Maybe, on the day I’ll finally feel compelled to look under the beds and into the deepest recesses of my closet, I’ll find those books.

One’s irrevocably lost, however. This one book that I read and liked – liked so much that I lent it to one of the student editors at my high school’s newspaper (I was still just a staff writer, I believe). He didn’t return it, of course. Bastard. And now I can’t find the book anywhere because I can’t remember the book’s title/author.

Anyway, yesterday I felt the urge to post the book’s details – what little I remember of the darn thing – on a couple of LiveJournal communities. Just to finally find out what the book’s called. I shared:

– the first chapter of the novel tells something about a group of boys in a school. one of the boys has just swiped some coins, and the school’s trying to find out who it is
– there’s a scene involving the boy and the mother of his best friend talking in a church
– fast-forward to several years later. the boy and his friend are now young men.
– there’s something about brothels, and syphilis
– there’s something about a family of bankers, or a family with a bank. they are Methodists. the boy’s best friend belongs to this family
– there’s a hint at a relationship between the boy and his best friend
– there’s a scene on a ship where someone gets killed.
– i remember the book as being very graphic

Oh, the things that stay with me.

This morning, I received two replies, and some more details about the novel that finally gave me the answer. It’s Ken Follett’s A Dangerous Fortune!

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(I don’t remember this cover, though. I may have had the UK version.)

And now I believe it’s out of print. I’ve been searching online through our local bookstores and can’t seem to find it. Ngarr.

So. If ever you find a copy, message me? :) Thanks a bunch. It’d be fun to revisit the novel that I admired so much back in high school, now that I’m older.

spiral

spiral2

Photo from deadlantern.com

Mason is an asthmatic loner living in an apartment in glum Portland. He works as a telemarketer at an auto insurance company; at lunch he eats alone, consuming a sandwich, an apple, a carton of milk. He paints, he listens to jazz. He really likes jazz. Berkeley, his unusually protective boss, seems to be his only friend.

This film was screened in 2007 at the Santa Barbara film fest, and won the Gold Vision Award. I found the film well-photographed, well-acted, with some affecting scenes. Conclusion’s not that original, but it’s serviceable.

However: It’s frustrating because in some key scenes, instead of sticking to the musical score, the filmmakers opted to use pop/alternative rock songs. Aren’t we all for atmosphere? You give me a rainy Portland and then shift to an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

It’s frustrating because it could have given a deeper insight into a telemarketer’s life, and into Mason’s life. Berkeley (played by Chuck‘s Zachary Levi) is a truly intriguing character, and I would’ve wanted to learn more about him.

Sure Spiral won that award, but it could’ve been more.

You can stream it here.

james, james

I had the luxury of having a friend with movie passes, so we watched both on the same day. Both origin stories, of which I have little to no prior knowledge, and both with main characters named James.

(If you want to gauge my “prior knowledge”, let me tell you something: I thought Logan’s first name was really “Logan”, and I thought Captain Kirk’s name was really, well, “Kirk”. I recognize the terms “Vulcan”, and “Klingon”, and I know “Spock” is a name for someone, but I don’t know who. I’m sure there’s someone named “Data” in the Star Trek universe, but maybe he comes later in the game.)

So.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

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Photo from shockya.com

All that hype (and indignation over the leaked copy) for this. If you’re going to give me cardboard characters and a derivative plot, might as well give me decent CGI and compelling fight scenes. I can’t remember how many times Wolverine shouts “Victor!” and assumes that pose. Too many times, I guess. I did enjoy the first few scenes—nice credits sequence, nice-looking clean-cut Asian guy with the crazy gun skillz, Reynolds in the elevator with a line that made me laugh, Pippin (or was it Merry) and his light bulb. Then Logan moves to Canada, becomes a lumberjack, and gets a girl who asks why the moon is lonely, apparently to make an important plot point. How pitiful, how sad, barf.

I watched it for Liev and Ryan Reynolds and the Gambit character. The first two didn’t get enough screen time, and Gambit was disappointing.

Moving on.

Star Trek

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Photo from Post-Gazette

Nerd bullies, gadgets, overwrought militaryspeak, bright-colored uniforms – now that’s more like it. Before we went into the cinema, my friend with the movie passes said, “Bet this is going to suck”, and even planned to just walk out and shop if the first scene bored her. It didn’t suck, we finished the film, and we left the mall happy. It’s a fun ride, and I wouldn’t mind watching this film again.

I don’t know why, but for the most part of the film, the fact that Harold and Kumar’s Harold is playing the young Mr. Sulu completely escaped me. The entire time I just kept wondering who his character was. I didn’t even realize until today that that was Eric Bana, and that woman was Winona Ryder. Toink.

hitch and farley

I’ve recently finished two Hitchcock films starring Farley Granger, thanks to YouTube and a couple of kind souls.

I won’t bother praising Strangers on a Train – I’ve seen Psycho and Birds and Vertigo; this by far is my favorite. Robert Walker was amazing; I thoroughly enjoyed that first scene on the train (I beg your pardon, but aren’t you Guy Haines? – very strong homoerotic undercurrents in this scene) and that scene with his character’s mother. It’s father, isn’t it? (Laughter) It’s him.

strangers1

(Photo from Film Reference.com)

Speaking of homoerotic undercurrents, Hitchcock had an interesting problem with Rope. The play it was based on (written by Patrick Hamilton) was explicit in stating that the two lead characters – Phillip and Brandon – and their schoolteacher, Rupert, are homosexuals. In order to get past the censors, “Hitchcock faced the constraint of presenting the three major protagonists as homosexual without ever stating such explicitly (Bouzereau 2001).”

rope-pic-2

(Photo from thisdistractedglobe)

Seriously, though, five minutes into the film I already had a hard time understanding how it did manage to get past the censors. (Later on the viewer will realize that there is only one bedroom in the apartment where Phillip and Brandon are staying, e.g. when Janet asks where the telephone is, Brandon says “It’s in the bedroom” — indicating there is only one bedroom — and she responds “How cozy!”) But hey, hooray.

Other details:

As Hitchcock was filming for the first time in Technicolor, the film crew had to wield gigantic cameras which both set and actors had to accommodate. This was further exacerbated by the fact that Rope was to be performed in real time and, in order to maintain the suspense, Hitchcock insisted the film be shot in long takes that would often near the maximum possible (10 min) length for colour film cartridges at that time. This meant that – in order to accommodate the cameras – the entire set had to be mobile with walls, chairs and tables being continually moved during filming. A task made even harder by the fact that this was performed so quietly a direct sound-track could be filmed (Truffaut 1983).

This is what I find fascinating – despite this display of ingenuity, Hitchcock would later tell French director Truffaut that the film was “a stunt… I really don’t know how I came to indulge in it.”

I disagree. It is genius.

Except for the fact that James Stewart was miscast (Cary Grant, the first choice, who turned down the role because he didn’t want to be perceived as gay – I know, pfft – would have been better; but who cares what I think, I’m saying this 60 years after the fact), and I was bored by Rupert’s speech in the end.

In any case, genius. And John Dall was perfect.

As for Farley. Well, Farley. He’s quite a character. I like the guy.

LOS ANGELES – In Farley Granger’s newly published memoir “Include Me Out,” the former screen idol makes a revelation that is unusual among Hollywood tell-all books: He was bisexual.

Granger describes a Honolulu night that epitomized his life. A 21-year-old virgin and wartime Navy recruit, he was determined to change his status. He did so with a young and lovely prostitute. He was about to leave the premises when he encountered a handsome Navy officer. Granger was soon in bed again.

“I lost my virginity twice in one night,” he writes.

It appears that he also dated Arthur Laurents, who, if I’m not mistaken, wrote the film adaptation of Rope.

Old (gay) Hollywood. I love it so.

nightmares and dreamscapes, 3

Part 1.

Part 2.

Umney’s Last Case

macy

This one stars William H. Macy, who got nominated for an Emmy for his role in this show. Good, because he’s good.

As for the episode itself:

I enjoyed the 40’s hommage and the conversation between the creator and the created to a point, then things just got so muddled toward the end that I found this adaptation frustrating.

You Know They Got A Hell Of A Band

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An even bigger mess. Yuck.

I remember going Pfft when I finished reading the story Autopsy Room Four is based on, so I didn’t even bother to view the episode.

* * *

Personal favorite: The End of the Whole Mess. Good story, affecting drama. And I’ve always liked Ron Livingston, even when he played that jerk in House.

Battleground, for William Hurt. Fifth Quarter, maybe, but the story isn’t much. Umney’s Last Case, but they should have fixed those final scenes.

Do I want more? Depends on what stories the producers are going to adapt next.

(Photos from Liljas-Library.com)

beautiful strangers

One of my high school friends was going to graduate – finally, we always say as a joke – and it was their town fiesta yesterday, so we went. I wore a white, frilly peasant blouse that was perfect for the heat that early afternoon but turned out to be a bit of a mistake when rain poured at around six p.m. What the hell’s wrong with the weather? What’s with these heavy downpours in the middle of April? Anyway, my friends kept asking who just got christened so maybe it was a mistake to wear that blouse from the very beginning. At seven, walking home, slightly shivering, I saw a girl, probably 10 or so, in a green sleeveless shirt and gray shorts walking toward me, staring at me and smiling. Uh-oh. “Hi, ate,” she said. Shit, I thought. Do I know you? Are you a godchild? Do I have to give you money? Do you need me to walk you home? Crap. She was carrying bags of chips in a plastic bag, she must have come from the grocery store and was on her way home. Like me.

“Ang ganda mo,” she said, and off she went.

I couldn’t remember if I smiled back.