Archive for December, 2005

More to Gael than being an actor

Wednesday, December 28th, 2005

Let me just say for the nth time that I really love Gael Garcia Bernal! *sigh* An actor with brilliance, intensity, true talent and a heart to go with his good looks. Sayang wala ako sa Hong Kong nung pumunta siya dun to support Oxfam’s campaign for fair trade at the WTO meeting they held there.  :(

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Gael Garcia Bernal, new force in celebrity activist ranks 

The 27-year-old star of films like The Motorcycle Diaries and Y Tu Mama Tambien has joined the aid group Oxfam’s campaign for fair trade at the World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong.

Gael Garcia Bernal spoke out against the war in Iraq while presenting an award at the Oscars two years ago. This week, the Mexican actor joined the aid group Oxfam’s campaign for fair trade at the World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong.

The 27-year-old star of films like The Motorcycle Diaries and Y Tu
Mama Tambien is emerging as a new force in the celebrity activist ranks. Bernal says his activism is personal, inspired by the plight of uncles, aunts and cousins whose farms are suffering under free trade.

Bernal said U.S. corn imports flooding into Mexico at low prices under the North American Free Trade Agreement are driving Mexican corn farmers out of business, endangering a crop that has a long tradition in Mexican culture. He said the genetically modified U.S. corn doesn’t taste as good as white corn grown in Mexico.

Bernal said he appreciates the ability of celebrities to put the spotlight on previously ignored issues. But he said they must be dedicated to their causes and back their words with action. Bernal said he makes sure he knows about the issues he talks about by making site visits and research.

Bernal says he also works with a shelter for children with AIDS in Mexico, raising funds through premieres. He said he was approached by Oxfam when he protested at a G-8 summit of world leaders in Scotland in July.

Celebrity also comes with responsibility, Bernal said. "Doing this, dedicating myself to acting, to doing films, allows me to have a responsibility that’s maybe bigger than what I would have if I wasn’t an actor, with these issues," he said.

(c/o http://gaelonline.com/press.php)

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civpro: definitely a buzzkill

Wednesday, December 28th, 2005
Something that spoils or ruins an otherwise enjoyable event, esp. when in relation to ruining a drunken or drug-induced high.
Ex.: We were having a great time at the party until Jim puked all over the floor. That was a major buzzkill.
– c/o http://www.urbandictionary.com/
Words cannot describe how apt this is to describe CivPro’s effect on the holidays (although I am using it to describe the drug-like intoxication the holidays brings, not like I got drunk or stoned or anything *ahem*). It’s the 29th and I have yet to read anything!!*sigh* Better get a move on…  Enough fun already.
Yesterday my cousins and I went to Enchanted Kingdom and spent the whole day (until midnight when they had to kick us out) getting on scary rides, getting wet on scary rides, getting bored while on queue at these scary rides, eating hotdogs and ice cream… definitely fun! How I wish I can stop feeling guilty I spent my time having fun instead of reading cases.
Law, my passion and my favorite addiction, you are definitely a buzzkill (a contradiction if ever there was one!).

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Happy Birthday Baby Dhanice! =)

Sunday, December 25th, 2005

Lately I have had more time to go out than usual and this is the only time I got a chance to type something out… it’s my sister’s birthday today and she’s a true blue teenager now (13) so I guess we shouldn’t call her Baby anymore (or in my case, Bebs and Bebeh, out of sheer laziness. Hehehe). But I think she wouldn’t want us to stop. I’m happy she turned out okay despite my influence. hehehe. Or did she? I can’t read minds, you know… anyways, back to ME. (haha! what a diva thing to say!)

I didn’t get to go to mass as planned. (Sorry God I will make up for it somehow.) However, I did get to watch the Pope’s Christmas message and he actually said "Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon!), to my shock and surprise. The commentator said the Pope realizes the devout Catholicism of our country or something of that nature. Yey! It’s about time! Mabuhay ang mga Pinoy!

I’ve become addicted to watching "Etheria". Maybe it’s bec. of Ping Medina? Or maybe it’s because wala nang "PBB" sa ere and I need a reason to watch TV? So far the story’s shaping up well. Due to the fact I have been out every single night for the past week I didn’t get to watch and am now in the dark as to whether Hagorn and Minea are a couple already. :( "Only You" din. Hay. La naman ako magawa tapos na e.

I need a distraction. I am now absolutely sure I have gotten over my crush. How depressing! Ang dalang ko nga magkacrush tapos mawawala din pala… Hanggang crush na lang ba ako uli? Slim pickings na lang ba palagi dahil nasa law school ako? And am I ever going to meet anyone new? Is this the effect of not dating? I hope not. I am still adverse to dating as I maintain courtship is entirely FAKE. Hence, I may end up single for the rest of my life. *gulp* :P

Am totally enamored with Chuck Palahniuk!!! Would love to get to know more of his work. Am now kicking myself for wasting time and not downloading an e-book or two while online. "Fight Club" rocks! I totally did not expect that twist… Brilliant! :D I definitely want to have his… Haha! Kidding! I won’t go there…

Merry Christmas everyone! ;) Cheers to my blockmates who like moi haven’t picked up a single case or flipped through Regalado as of yet…

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‘Tis the season for poetry!

Saturday, December 17th, 2005

Christmas party’s over and I have Kalin’s wonderful gift of romantic poetry to read again and again. This is the BEST gift I’ve gotten in a long while and I am happy I’ve rediscovered the verses of e.e. cummings, Rilke and Neruda in a time I can properly enjoy them, what with no CivPro and all… This, incidentally, is the first poem I read out of the book (and– a happy coincidence! It is one poem I love so well):

‘Sonnet XVII: Love’

I don’t love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don’t know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

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This evening we went to the mall and I got a cd/mp3 player/boom box for my room and it was sheer bliss listening to the "Il Postino" soundtrack and Andy Garcia spouting one of my favorite poems:

TONIGHT I CAN WRITE
PABLO NERUDA

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, `The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.’

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night, whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another’s. She will be another’s. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

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Neruda, you never cease to leave me starry-eyed! Hehe. (Pardon my mush) For some reason, after a long while, I finally am back to my old appreciation for poetry which was slowly quashed by literature of a different kind… that of the Rules of Court, Labor Code and the New Civil Code that we have to keep near and dear to our hearts and memorize verbatim up to the last comma. *sigh* Mass Comm did not prepare me for this kind of studying, that’s for sure. With our relatively long holiday break I am glad to be surrounded by Christmas carols and the prospect of reading my backlog of books, watching the two Korean dramas I have left and of course, updating my blog. I also look forward to writing again, be it stories or poetry, borne out of inspiration from reading great literature (Although I never show it to anyone so no one’s the wiser even if I do get any done. Haha!). I guess being as creative and sensitive and such as I would want to think/claim I am, I can only function in that way in an environment of idleness at decadence. Hence, Christmas time is perfect! Hehe! Merry Christmas everyone! Hope your holidays is as inspiring as mine is…

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christmas break at last!

Wednesday, December 14th, 2005

Christmas break was but a dream that we tended to look forward to since November. Aside from the seemingly endless study sessions we had all day for 6 days of continuous class days, (we had to contend with temperamental professors, 50 cases a day for Saturdays, memorizing provisions) I had to fight off the continuous temptation to just drop everything and watch TV or movies or go to the mall to "unwind". It seems like the need to unwind never wears off. I am sooo glad Christmas is here, it’s my favorite holiday if not just for the carols and the tons of Christmas food that we get to eat only on this season like ham, chestnuts, bibingka and puto bumbong (my favorites in the whole world, perfect with hot chocolate!).

I love Christmas! It’s the only time I don’t mind getting up at dawn to hear mass eventhough it’s so cold that I complain about taking a cold bath and I’m so sleepy that I beg for another 15 minutes of sleep…

Pinoy Christmases are the best. I don’t mind giving gifts (or receiving them for that matter) for kris kringles that are apparently unique to us… Although I have scores of inaanaks that I have to give gifts to, I don’t mind. I love thinking about what sort of gifts would fit each of them. At this age I don’t really wait for gifts from my parents anymore since they give me money in an envelope like the happy employee I was way back when…

Maybe another reason why I like Christmas so much is that it is also a precursor to New Year and my birthday… I can’t wait for either event! :)

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