Because I Love You

Ciudad have gigs at Rock Radio Alabang and Big Sky Mind tomorrow.

The 1st Philippine International Animation Festival, sadly without much promotional and marketing muscle, begins tomorrow at Megamall Cinema 12. As I understand it, admission is free. Which is both good and bad. Good because it's free, bad because you're likely to be in a long line filled with otaku and/or drivers killing time. But! It's a surprising lineup, including the French adaptation of Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese (2/7, 4PM; 2/9, 630PM). I saw the trailer when Neva was still at Flip and it was magnificent; I can't believe we have a chance to see it in a theater. They're also showing Transatlantique, which, if it's the Transatlantique I remember, is one of my favorite short films EVER, animated or not. Also, I now have a chance to see Oscar nominee The Triplets of Belleville (2/10, 650PM)! Yay! I think they're showing the Hey, Arnold! movie on Sunday, too.

Pelikula at Lipunan begins Feb. 11, featuring Lino Brocka's Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang @ 3PM & Tim Burton's Big Fish @ 9 PM. Cold Mountain will be shown on Feb. 14, but I'll be at the Ciudad Album Launch @ Freedom Bar (as you should be, too). Ditsi Carolino's Riles will be shown on Feb. 15, 3 PM & Eduardo De Castro's Zamboanga, one of the earliest films in existence, will be shown on Feb. 11 (630PM) and Feb. 15 (9PM). I think Trinka Lat's Anna Banana will be shown either on 2/14, 3PM, which says Short Films, or 2/15, 10AM, which says Short Fiction Works. I'll get confirmation on that.

If anybody knows the official websites to these events, or any site where the schedule is up, tell me and I'll put up a link so it's easier.

Kill Bill's gone from Makati, so if you want to watch it (again), you'll have to go to places like Megamall. Check Click The City's Movie Guide. Return of the King is amazingly still out, and fortunately, some places are still showing A Tale of Two Sisters so you still have a chance to watch it! Go!

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FREAKY

I was riding a cab home late the other night, and it's really frustrating but they recently set up some kind of checkpoint near the gate of my village so that right before I'm home, traffic slows to a mild crawl. Plus, there was road repair going on so the road became one lane only at certain points and cars had to take turns. Anyway, I'm in the cab in a long line, sleepy and bored, when suddenly I hear a loud "WHUMP" and a flash of light goes off behind us. The cab driver, looking at the rearview mirror, lets out a yelping "NAKU!" and his eyes widen, so I of course look out the back window, and the car directly behind us, an expensive-looking BMW (is there any other kind? I should say it looked new) has a POOL OF FIRE DIRECTLY BENEATH IT. The two passengers leap out of the car, the guy on the passenger side doesn't know whether to make a run for it (probably expecting the car to explode at any second, as I was) or help, and the other guy is more calm and cool, but still a bit rattled. He pops the hood, and goes to the front, sidestepping the growing pool of fire at his feet, and lifts the hood up, right, and a ROARING FIRE POPS UP TALLER THAN HIM. It takes him by surprise (I would imagine his eyebrows were singed), and he lets go. The hood slams back on the car and the fire disappears a little but everyone can see it now through the grill in the front. He opens it up again, the fire doesn't pop up this time but it's still there and it's still tall. Meanwhile, the bus directly beside the BMW, on the opposite lane, frantically tries to swerve away from the car and get some distance, but this is hampered by the traffic. Amusingly, the passengers of the bus began filing out. I guess everyone was expecting the car to explode. Even my cab driver was inching forward as much as he could, trying to gain as much distance as possible.

I remember being told in school that rarely, if ever, do cars explode when they catch fire. It's an instinct in us to run for cover when we see something like that because in every film and TV show, once a car catches fire you haul ass, and hopefully leap away from the fireball at the last moment, preferably in slow motion with a kickass grimace on your face. But I also remember this one time when I was watching one of those reality TV shows, and a car on fire actually DID explode, so now I'm not as confident.

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Since when did Belle & Sebastian's "Step Into My Office, Baby" become the new song of the Sexbomb Girls?!

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American citizens! Read. Well, actually everyone can read it, but then forward it to your American citizen family/friends.

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I will leave off by quoting the entire post of Neil Gaiman on Feb. 1, Sunday:

Or dead again, anyway
You know, in a world in which Bush and Blair can be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, "for having dared to take the necessary decision to launch a war on Iraq without having the support of the UN" I find myself agreeing with Tom Lehrer: satire is dead.