I’m in love.

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I use prepaid internet cards, and what I do most of the time is I just visit my usual haunts, copy and then paste the articles I wish to read onto a Word file. So you don’t waste time reading the things while your time’s dripping away. But since I haven’t had much time for leisure reading this week because of class, the Word file is now 128 pages long.

Shit.

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Today was a pretty relaxed, easygoing day, which I desperately needed. Passed by the Chanco household to pick up something PJ graciously sent me (rubber shoes). I sure miss that guy. The Chancos are practically a second family, and it was nice seeing his younger sister Rachel again, who I’ve basically watched grow up since she was in grade school. It’s eerie seeing her so, well… grown up (she’s a sophomore in college now), because then I feel grown-up. Which of course I hate. Went to a meeting with my Hey, Comics mailing list, got to borrow a bunch of books and meet some new members, then met up with Genie, Joey, Trinka, Sib, Bars, David, Garon, Tebs, Carla (sp?), and Don over at Dencio’s to celebrate Genie’s first paycheck. We were supposed to bowl at Xybr Bowl (gotta love that vowel-less name!) but it had been invaded by damn dirty Koreans! (this is not a racial slur, just a description of the particular Koreans who were there) Neva arrived and we went to her dad’s house in Marikina, visiting her dog Mittens who was sick with an ear infection. She didn’t need to be brought to the vet, but Neva put some ointment in her ear and got her some good dog food.

Neva, as you might know, is very much an animal person. And it’s really cute watching her with animals. If she sees a cat or dog she will AUTOMATICALLY call out to it WHATEVER the circumstances (walking down the street? “Here, miming…” Rape-slay ongoing over in the corner? “Here, miming…” EDSA 2? “Here, miming…”). Whenever Mittens sees her she goes nuts, doing backflips and rolls. You can see actual glee on that dog’s face. Neva’s face lights up too and she starts doing her animal cooing voice which is adorable, and I think came built-in upon purchase. Neva went across the street to buy the dog food, and between the time she left to the time she opened the door again, Mittens sat staring at the door whining.

Finally, finally caught Signs. Which I liked. It’s pretty good, though coulda been great. Probably my favorite of M. Night Shyamalan’s films (which I’m sure will elicit a violent reaction from Quark). He took a lot from Hitchcock this time around, but put it to good use. What’s up with casting yourself in an important supporting role, though? I hope he’s not one of those directors who’s just aching to be a celebrity himself. Though he is a pretty arrogant bastard. Talented, though. Hope he gets on with the next part of the Unbreakable trilogy. It’s nice to see some comedy creeping into his films, though sad to see that Mel Gibson’s acting range is unfortunately limited. You could just see him hammering away at this wall of emotion but he couldn’t bring it down. Whereas for Joaquin Phoenix and Rory Culkin it’s a walk in the park. Other comments contain spoilers, so I’ve put them in inviso-text (highlight the portion below this, but only those of you who don’t want certain important parts of the movie spoiled):

I really didn’t like that montage that happened when the alien was carrying his son. I mean, cutting to the wife’s dying words was fine, but then that couch scene (“There are two types of people in this world…”)? Come on! And how “convenient” that the girl’s nervous tic about water meant that the glasses of water were strewn about the house? And why was there only one alien? And if their weakness is water, are we to assume that for almost 72-plus hours it didn’t rain once all over the world?


Just wanted to plug RES, one of the finest magazines currently being published. In fact, I think it’s my favorite magazine now, because a lot of the cool ones have already died off (Raygun, Bikini, etc.) Spin and Rolling Stone still plod along, but really they’re just husks of their former glory. RES is of particular interest to filmmakers or anyone interested in film. It started out as film-centric, but they now have articles on music videos, websites, graphic design, and ad agencies, extending its umbrella of coverage to most “new media” outlets. The latest issue, for example, has the future has its theme, and the cover piece is an interview with director Chris Cunningham (their feature interviews are almost always excellent, and end with a bibliography of the subject’s work; really useful). Other articles include a Sonic Youth interview, an update on music video director Jonas Akerlund’s debut film Spun (starring Jason Schwartzman!), Naqoyqatsi director Godfrey Reggio, and an interesting piece on how to make a movie with digital stills. Check out the website, too, which just got a design overhaul. Other favorite magazines of mine are Filmmaker and The Comics Journal, which are excellent in their own right; very scholarly and wise and in-depth and interesting. Why RES stands out, though, is its graphic design, which I enjoy very much; it’s alive and kinetic and makes it look like being a film buff, or being involved in anything digital, is sexy. Which Filmmaker and The Comics Journal do not. Ah well…

They even offer a downloadable mix tape every once in a while. Ain’t that nice of them?

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Oh yes: for those interested, Brian Tenorio’s website is http://www.tenorium.com.

Funny thought: wouldn’t it be great if our pets could have blogs? Mittens with her picture in the corner and daily entries all being a variation of woofs and barks. It would probably be boring after a while, though: “Chewed bone. Missed Neva. Ass sniffed by rottweiler. Hungry.”