Sunday Movie Questions

Jolens3 Comments

How often do you watch a movie? 

At least three times a month. Sometimes more, rarely less.

What movie genre are you particularly fond of? 

Romance.

What was the last movie that you’ve watched and liked? 

Knives Out.

What was the last movie that you’ve watched and hated? 

Wala naman. I didn’t like Cats, but I wouldn’t say I hated it.

What is your most favorite movie of all time? 

My go-to answer used to be Christopher Nolan’s Memento. I haven’t watched it in a long time though, so I’m not sure if I will still like it today.

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Sunday Songs

Jolens13 Comments

1. Do you listen to music everyday?

Yes, ma’am.

2. One band you always come back to?

Eraserheads

3.  What is/are your favorite song(s) at the moment?

“2020” by Great Good Fine Ok

4. What’s your Spotify?

Hanapin n’yo na lang.

5. Top 3 played songs?

“Motion Sickness” by Phoebe Bridgers
“Hanggang sa Muli” by Kenyo
“Makahiya” by Ang Bandang Shirley

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24 Songs

Jolens25 Comments

Some nights I wish I lived right at the heart of a warm city with a 24/7 coffee shop in which I could easily meet someone who’d be willing to keep me company at 3 in the morning while both of us struggle to sleep — too bad my life isn’t a mumblecore movie, ‘no?

I’ve tried melatonin pills, chamomile tea, mindful meditation — wala talaga e. I just can’t sleep, or at least not during the normal hours when most people go to sleep. Nakakabaliw!

Anyway, it’s currently past 3 in the morning and I don’t think I will be sleeping anytime soon so I might as well do this tag that I found on tumblr. Not as exciting as meeting the love of my life and walking along the streets of a city in slumber but, yeah, this will do.

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On 'Hercules' (1997)

Jolens4 Comments

Disney’s Hercules begins with a quintet of Muses singing about the origin of the cosmos and calling this tale “the gospel truth.” The phrase is repeated all throughout the opening anthem — an interesting use of Judeo-Christian jargon, as if hinged on the popular misconception that Greek and Roman myths are akin to ancient religion.

The movie is peppered with similar familiar tropes. As the film progresses, it becomes more apparent how Disney traverses the predictable route. Instead of craftily unknotting the intricacies of the legend of Heracles, Disney dilutes a celebrated story and streamlines it into an easily marketable, family-oriented flick.

Classical myth does not necessarily constitute religion, yet these two concepts are still commonly interlinked. The shared jargon alone (e.g. “gods,” “temples”) makes it easy for people to associate them with each other, rendering religion a convenient template to use when retelling ancient myths.

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On ‘Indak’ (2019)

Jolens9 Comments

“We don’t want to be a copycat of Step Up,” director Paul Alexei Basinilio was quoted saying during a VIVA Convention prior to Indak’s release. “If you noticed in the baybayin translation…that’s indak. We specifically wrote this because we wanted to promote Filipino culture.”

Basinilio presented an interesting causality — to use baybayin is to promote Filipino culture — and some would argue that this was a rather misinformed reach.

Baybayin is just one of the many ancient scripts in the Philippines and it was mainly used by the Tagalogs*. To imply that baybayin is representative of an entire nation therefore reveals a seeming obliviousness to certain nuances surrounding the discourse on Filipino culture. Even using the phrase “Filipino culture” alone already invites further discussion; it suggests the existence of a monolithic (read: singular) identity which may not be true for a country as widely diverse as the Philippines.

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December

Jolens12 Comments

I baked chocolate chip cookies on Christmas Eve. I also ate turkey and spaghetti, I drank wine, and then I watched a movie before going to sleep at around 4am on Christmas Day.

My sleep cycle is still whacked. Luckily I don’t go back to school until next week so I can go to sleep whenever I want. Overall I feel much better now than I did last month.

I still have to go to the clinic to get another blood test done. Sometime in December I did what the doctors call a Lung Function Test, and the technician told me that the results do not suggest I have asthma (“but it doesn’t completely rule it out,” she said). This new blood test will determine if my seasonal shortness of breath is caused, not by asthma, but by allergies.

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