Mitsuru

Now Director Martin Scorsese ’s long march to Oscar glory is finally over. I was rooting for him to finally get the nod this year. I even wrote about it in my blog, B.M.S. when I reviewed his movie The Departed last January 31, 2006. You could read it here He finally ended his Academy Awards drought with the film, the action- packed The Departed , a fitting tribute to the man who specializes in violent but notable films such as Goodfellas, Mean Streets, Raging Bull and Taxi Driver among many others and certified classics in their own right. I caught the Academy Awards on TV late and missed some of the “minor” awards but I was glued on the boob tube for the rest of the evening and enjoyed the show quite well. I cheered for Jennifer Hudson who bagged the Best Actress in a Supporting Role trophy for her portrayal of Effie White in the movie, Dreamgirls where her version of the song "And I am telling you I’m not going" was a showstopper and made the movie her own despite t...

“Where were you in ‘86 EDSA Revolution?” This caught my eye while on a jeepney cruising along the Quezon Bridge near Quiapo a long, long time ago. It was written on a wall of an old dilapidated building along the Pasig river. The handwriting was crude. written in black paint, and whoever put it there and for whatever reason we will never really know. But it was a good question, come to think of it, for this year's 21st Anniversary of the People Power Revolution, an event that changed not only the history of the Filipino nation and its people but also proved to the world that change could be achieved peacefully. The people in the communist world soon followed thereafter as they emulated and learned the lessons of our unique form of ending a tyrannical regime without bloodshed. Thus, we Filipinos could lay a claim that we had a hand in the collapse of the Soviet Union and the communist bloc in the late 80s to the early 90s and in the process changed the lives of millions ...

Gibbs Cadiz a.k.a. Gibo tagged me to do this... 1. Grab the nearest book. 2. Turn to page 123. 3. Mark the fifth sentence. Pick up the next three sentences and post. (In other words, post sentence nos. 6-8 on page 123.) 4. Acknowledge the book and the author. 5. Tag 3 people in turn. If a man and a woman danced with their arms around each other, people assumed that they were having an improper relationship and started to spread the word. Reactionary newspapers wrote groundless articles that gave social dancing a bad name, and so most people had made up their minds that it was unwholesome. We’d just have to resign ourselves to hearing that sort of talk. - from NAOMI by Junichiro Tanizaki Actually this is my second copy of this book. My first one, I got from one of those National Book Store year- round sales, bought for 35 pesos about 10 years ago in Recto. Among my finds then were books by Mishima, Oe, Amos Oz, Kundera and Marquez . The second one I got for free in the book exchange i...

Powered by Podbean.com Valentine’s Day , the day for lovers, for people in love and for those in search of that elusive L-O-V-E, has its origin from Christian and ancient Roman traditions. Actually, there were a lot of claims and counter-claims by the so-called experts, scholars and historians on the purported origin of this celebration and tradition. Nevertheless, it has been celebrated all over the world as the day of hearts and will continue to be so as long as there are romantics and young-at-hearts in our midst. However, in this materialistic world of ours, where for some people, love is measured by the size of the bling-blings, the number of red roses or dark chocolates, or the high price of the gift bought from that high-end store -- Valentine's Day has become one of the biggest commercial successes in business the world has ever seen, and a lot of people in the business industry have literally been laughing their hearts out all the way to the bank. Still, to most people, to...

Ever heard of Ghost Riding the Whip or Ghost Riding or simply Ghostin‘? This is an on- going craze sweeping the United States for some thrill- seeking people , most of them teenagers whose idea of fun hovers on the wild and dangerous side. Ghost Riding originated in the Bay Area in California popularized there by the Hyphy culture (a style of music and dance associated with the Hip Hop Culture) and is actually when a person puts the car in neutral or allows it to idle and then the driver and oftentimes his or her passengers exit the vehicle while it is still running and dance to the beat of loud rap music beside it, in front, on the hood or up on the roof. Some people call it dumb and moronic, some say it’s plain stupidity, I call it as a typical form of teen rebelliousness, a wrong outlet for self- expression and a crazy notion of having fun. This F-U-N thing have already claimed two lives and more will be expected if these fad will continue which I know it will come hell or high wa...

After a relatively mild December and a milder January, mother nature had turned this side of the world into a winter wonderland even for just a day or two with just a couple of inches of snow in my place in Southeast Michigan compared to what the northern part of the state where at least 8- 10 inches deep of soft and white snow have marked the landscape. But this is not Colorado, that skier’s paradise were the cold and the snow were at its best for a real winter blast. This is Michigan where the weather could turn nasty at any time of the day. The dreaded Michigan weather is now rearing its ugly head; there is very little snow but the wind chill is deadly hovering at minus 3 to minus 12 degrees centigrade where the cold wind would caress you and make you feel the thousand needles pricking your skin, boring deep down inside your body and gnawing into your bones. That’s how cold Michigan is, nowadays. People would rather stay inside the comforts of their homes and warm themselves in the...