Thursday, April 08, 2004I haven't written in a long time. I've given up on making this blog nicer. It was supposed to look really good, but instead, it's just all red. No more JavaScript yadda yadda. But you know, all read isn't that bad. If you're wondering why the font is purple, well, red and purple is the color "theme" of my arrows. Speaking of arrows, we wrote to Eric Buhain, the chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission, requesting his kind assistance. To make the long story short, we asked him to sponsor me and my archery by, you know, providing me with a bow and a few more arrows. Mother says they'll start acting and deciding on what to do with me after Holy Week. That day, I got mail from NAAP (National Archery Association of the Philippines), and, guess what, there finally is an Indoor Archery Competition for me to join! Yay! I wouldn't need my own bow for that, but then I figured, won't it clash with the SCB-A summer training? Then, to my relief, I saw that the indoor competition is still on October. Yay! But won't that clash with some college entrance exams? Yes, it's Holy Week. It's time, once again, to stop, reflect, and repent. For you non-Catholics, Holy Week is the last week of the liturgical season of Lent, which comes right before Easter Season. Holy Week commemorates Jesus Christ's suffering and dying during His last days on earth. Speaking of Christ's passion, I watched Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. I knew it was going to be hard to take, knowing that Christ did suffer greatly, and the fact that two people have actually died watching it. Not to worry! I took extra pre-viewing measures. I watched the The Making of The Passion of the Christ so that the impact of the graphic violence wouldn't be as great on me as on those who have hyperventilated and fainted watching it. At least I now know how they actually did the nailing-of-Jesus's-hands scene. Then, I roughly viewed the pirated VCD, so that in case I wouldn't be able to take it, I would know when to start closing my eyes. I know it quite diminishes the experience, but please, I haven't even watched Braveheart yet. Well, you don't need to know how great the movie is. It's superb. It's amazing. It is one of the very few movies that actually made me cry. Other movies just make me teary-eyed. (I cried while reading Angela's Ashes, but I just get teary-eyed when I watch Mufasa's death scene in The Lion King) During the scourging scene, I kept muttering "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it, Mel! Stop it, Roman centurion!" Having viewed it previously, I couldn't wait til Abenader came. The scene that always gets me--see, I'm getting sad remembering it--was the scene when Christ falls the second time, and Mary rushes towards Him as scenes of an incident wherein Little Jesus falls and she rushes to carry Him flashes before us. The movie has a lot of flashback scenes, but they're injected a la There Will Come Soft Rains. Hahaha, can I digress for while? Patty once thought that There Will Come Soft Rains was There Will Come Soft Drinks! Hahaha! Patty talaga...I never really figured out the relation of the title to the story. Anyway, yes, The Passion. The movie uses juxtasp-, juxtaps-, juxstas-...forget it! The movie puts the old and new side by side. Say, Mary Magdalene is kneeling down, wiping Christ's blood off the floor near the pillar. The scene cuts to when the Pharisees are about to stone Magdalene, and Jesus saves her. In that scene, Magdalene is kneeling and crawling to touch Christ's feet. (A bit of trivia here: that wasn't actually Jim Caviezel's body in that flashback scene, but his apparent double,...Mel Gibson! Ahahaha! William Wallace-Mad Max! Hahaha!) By the way, with all of the movies on Jesus that I have watched, they always seem to cast someone who has already had previous exposure as Mary Magdalene. Monica Bellucci, Debra Messing, Yvonne Elliman...The thing with Monica Bellucci is that I've never seen her before, but apparently, she's been on one of the Matrix flicks. With the case of Debra Messing, I couldn't help thinking Will & Grace, Will & Grace, Will & Grace, laugh, laugh, laugh...and Yvonne Elliman, I kept singing "If I Can't Have You" from the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. That song, much like most of the soundtrack, is a BeeGees song. And also, Elliman's rendition of "I Don't Know How To Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar was my Chorale audition song, which apparently works because it has gotten me into Chorale through both of my auditions. It's actually very funny to compare The Passion with JC Superstar. One was viewed by the Pope while one is sometimes hailed as blasphemous. Judas Iscariot in one looks and acts like Al Pacino while Judas in the other is already belting out Andrew Lloyd Webber from the very beginning. If the other one's ending shows Jesus rising from the dead in a simple, silent, and spectacular way, the other one shows Judas with back-up dancers singing. All week last week, I watched Channel V's The Year That Was. Okay, I know. You're asking, "Ana is watching Channel V?!" Well, it just so happens that they showed an all-week special on 1984. I never really liked the 80's even though I'm an 80's baby, but I knew that 1984 was a powerful year for the music industry, but I didn't expect it to be THAT powerful. I knew '84 saw Boy George and The Culture Club with "Karma Chameleon," one-hit-wonder Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax" (from which the t-shirt came from), Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" predating USA for Africa and the recent "What's Going On" All-Star Tribute, and of course, the song that saved the entire music industry on its own, Michael Jackson's "Thriller." As it turns out, all these following songs were from 1984! There was Van Halen's "Jump," Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson in "Say, Say, Say," Lionel Richie's "All Night Long (All Night)," even "Radio Ga Ga" by Queen, "Dancing In The Dark" by Bruce Springsteen, "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder, "What's Love Got To Do With It" by Tina Turner, and a lot more songs which makes you think why all these hits packed and squeezed into one single year! Kenya believe it? It's interesting to note that George Orwell had a book titled 1984. Hmmm...and I happen to have the 45 vinyl record singles of "Say, Say, Say" and "All Night Long (All Night)." Also, if you take the name Cindy and switch the y and the i, it will result to Cyndi Lauper's "Cyndi." Lastly, the "Dancing in the Dark" video was directed by Brian DePalma. I was walking around in Alabang Town Center years ago, when a music video being shown in some clothing store caught my eye. It turned out to be..."Dancing in the Dark!" Now, I never really knew Bruce Springsteen then, but what caught my attention was the girl in video. Guess who it was...Courteney Cox! It's looked very 80's, especially Courteney's pixie hair, so I said, "This must be before Friends!" I found out just last week that it was DePalma himself who picked Cox for the role of the lucky teenager who gets to dance with Springsteen onstage. Speaking of Friends, we only have a month with the Central Perk gang. On May 6, I think, Phoebe, Chandler, Monica, Ross, Rachel, and Joey...okay, and Gunther will sign off... Speaking of Friends, my friends have, all the while, declared my status as "missing in action." This was lifted only recently when I chatted with Lizzie in Messenger. That was the night Sam was to fly off to LA. They had some sort of despedida thing with her of which I was never told...heck! I didn't even know she was leaving! I didn't even know that a few days before that, Manna left for Oz! *Sigh* Just like my alter ego Phoebe, I'm always the last to know. Signed, Pheebs posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 18:55 -------------------- |
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