Just got my birthday gifts to myself: Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.

It’s such a joy going through them, Pulp in particular, since I haven’t seen it in years. Pulp Fiction is my default answer whenever anyone asks me, “What’s your favorite film?” I don’t know anymore if it’s my absolute favorite film of all time, but then again I’m starting to regard these kinds of questions in a different light. Certainly different from my high school days, anyway. But still, I am certain it’s in the top area.

Pulp Fiction is part of a group of films I saw in 1994 (which includes Reservoir Dogs, even if it did come out in ’92) that cursed my life. I say cursed because these films are what made me want to be a director. Which is not a career choice your parents particularly jump for joy over. It involves a lot of toil, struggle, hard work, very little money, constant headaches, most likely ulcers, migraines, high blood pressure, etc. But 1994 changed my life, set me on a path that is very difficult yet there is nothing that can get me off it.

As such, it was so nice getting home and popping in the Pulp Fiction DVD. I was re-watching scenes, since I didn’t have time to watch the whole thing, and the line “Would you give a man a foot massage?” actually took me by surprise and I found myself laughing out loud at 3 AM. That’s how long it’s been. My favorite movie, that I’ve seen at least 50 times, caught me by surprise. But I still remember so many things: the yellow-red flash burn during Brett’s execution, Tony Rocky Horror, the pilot discussion, etc. I could still recite Ezekiel 25:17 by heart.

Also, in all the different formats that Pulp Fiction came out on on home video, I’ve never seen the famed deleted scenes. So this’ll be a first for me. I can’t wait. :)

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Just got home from Mustang Bar in Pasong Tamo, which is much smaller than I expected. There was a P200 entrance fee, and I ended up thinking, “Holy shit. There’s another thing I haven’t done in years. Pay entrance.” Inside, Joey, Chris, Alexis, and Ernan were already nursing beers. Before I arrived, Chris and Joey had already danced on the bar. Joey even took off his shirt, though Chris didn’t dare. There was only one really beautiful girl dancing, and it was her first night, her audition. We think she got the job. The other girls (disappointingly, only around 3) weren’t too pretty, just a smidgen above what you’d find on a good night somewhere along P. Burgos. They danced okay, but seemed to overcompensate at every turn because they knew they didn’t hold a candle to the Nubian 18-year-old who’d just come from America (according to Chris; how he got all this information from dancing with her on top of the bar I don’t know). Of course, wearing a bright yellow shirt wasn’t too helpful; there was more than one time where I had to do a full-body spin to keep from getting pushed and/or pulled to dance on the bar. If you know me, then you know there is no grace in this body. The funniest part of the evening was when a couple of socialites climbed on top and started dancing, and they were actually better than the Mustang dancers, putting them to shame. Of course, they weren’t much in the looks department, but they could move, at least.

There was also an actual fight in the street outside that we watched for a minute or two. Very Fight Club. Earlier I’d seen two guys threatening each other, one already taking off his shirt and the other, a security guard, giving his partner his shotgun.

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Before Mustang I had dinner with Joey Tolosa, Trinka, Criselle, Tina, Sexy Man Mark, and Neva at Super Bowl. Some chismis, some laughs, I had to defend Reign of Fire, lots of screaming because we couldn’t hear one another even though we were all on one table. PatMal joined us later, where there was more tsismisan and more than one story I’d relate from the MAP. Pat had on a turtleneck, which I promised I’d blog about, Joey must’ve been doing SOMETHING strenuous because her belt buckle somehow managed to move all the way to her right hip, and Criselle got a flashback to her high school plan to get elected President care of Tina, a plan that involved “putting all the squatters on one island and blowing it up.” HAHAHA! Criselle didn’t deny it, though, just turned red while laughing at her former self. Arlyn, of course, was now a corporate whore, Trinka begat yet another discussion of her cup size, and I lectured about why Whisper with Wings is now the market leader.

Criselle’s ingenious plan reminded me of a short story Mo wrote in freshman year college. Many people forget that he was originally an English Lit major. Anyway, in this short story, what happened was it started snowing in the Philippines. But instead of what you’d think: maybe a happy, poignant story about the country’s first winter? Of course not, this is Mo we’re talking about. Maybe a Philip K. Dick-style tale about the ramifications of sudden climate change and what that would do to our relationships with one another and comment on our dynamic human nature? Uh… no. What Mo’s story was about was ALL THE SQUATTERS DYING, having frozen to death with no shelter and clothing. And the country suddenly experiencing economic prosperity.

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I’ve got a LOT to blog about what I learned in school today. I took down more notes in the morning than in any other day of the program. But I’m tired, so it’ll have to wait a while. Should really get to sleep. Have a meeting tomorrow. Maybe after that, I can write about it, though we’ll probably catch some films at Cine Europa, which is ongoing now at Shangri-La, completely free. The Israel Film Festival is also taking place at Greenbelt right now, but I don’t think it’s free. There’s also American Rhapsody playing if you’re interested. And David Cronenberg’s Spider is out.

And Pat’s got a blog: http://www.geocities.com/triciamalay. Now off to sleep.