#458

What Finding Nemo Character are You?

You're DORY, the happy fish with mad skills.

Three people on separate occasions already told me that i sound Dory-ish. now this!? i really don't know if i should take this as a compliment...

XS: has anyone tasted Starbucks' Christmas blend? are the beans worth buying? i'm planning on getting a bag for my father, once they put it on sale. (err, do they ever?)

<...well ok ok ts for me too.>

posted by moonbeam at December 28, 2003 23:22 | link | comments (6)

#457

mokong! thanks for the tip on uploading pictures. because of you, perhaps in the next couple of days i'l be blogging like there's no tomorrow. : ) weeheehee.

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human anatomy 001: eyes

here is a vain attempt to show you one of those fleeting moments i described back in #450. the nasty red arrow is for the additional family member peacefully sleeping on her father's lap.

don't you just wish that one day men will invent a gadget that can store the images exactly as we see them? taking aside issues of privacy etc, it really would be wonderful to literally capture the moments that we spend alone or with our loved ones. imagine being able to see your mother's funny facial expression (which she can't repeat naturally in front of a camera) over and over. now imagine showing that to your grandchildren...

this will never cease to amaze me: the fact that it would take time, money and painstaking labor to imitate what we readily see. sunsets. 'flying ants' over the rays of the foggy morning or afternoon sun. shadows from twinkling lightbulbs. reflections from bubbles. reflections from oily faces. - i could go on and on with the list. haaay. galing talaga.

God is definitely an art genius, scattering wonderful imagery everywhere. and He gave us eyes as tickets to His museum.

Tomorrow i might go blind. but let it be known that this night, i'm thanking God for my sight.

posted by moonbeam at December 28, 2003 01:42 | link | comments (4)

#456: the dream

look at what i found earlier today.

these are stills from my thesis production a year ago that i almost forgot i even had. don't you just love the effect certain things have on your memory? it is like finding a long lost key to your treasure chest.

and i remember...

the pseudo-socio-psychological discussions i had with my thesis adviser

the weird floating feeling during class hours when you're running only with 6 cups of coffee to support you

the film students' rush upon seeing the first few raw footage of the day's shoot

the after-shoot conversations. this sure beats drunk conversations.

the fear as i travelled from novaliches to diliman, knowing that i'm already 3 hours late for my defense. my worst case of cramming yet. only by God's grace did the panel wait for me. definitely.

i was a student filmmaker then. the stories i had were consummated as the final cut were shown to the class. we all held on to the dream that one day we'll all be working with one another in completing a full length feature and by that time, we won't be the only audience to our work. the horizon was just within our eyesight. yes there was the beyond, but what mattered then was the horizon that was graduation.

but several months after crossing that horizon, I now travel on roads with zero visibility. my life consists of watching free films during film festivals, watching pirated art film dvds from quiapo, reading books and online journals, and doing freelance jobs earning only enough to survive until the next project sans savings. no sign of any progress towards my dream yet. the film industry has not yet declared that they need me. i can count only on my faith to guide me through my day-to-day living. faith that is constantly challenged and strengthened.

a friend told me that I tend to rush up things. perhaps I really do.

these coming months of January and February, it's production season once more as my few remaining undergrad friends shoot theirs. i'll definitely go help them. right now, it is the closest thing to being a filmmaker.

the rest of my thesis crew for day 1. that's me on the left. yup the one with the horns courtesy of mannix. yeng & jeff with the lights. ahhh. the bench. uhrmm.. me. papatalo ba 'ko? =)

posted by moonbeam at December 26, 2003 23:38 | link | comments (3)

#455: christmas thoughts of an insomniac

finally, i wont be hearing christmas medleys (esp those annoying jeepney remixes) for another 10 months or so.

somehow i've come to associate christmas with those traditional christmas carols sung by my churchmates, the traditional christmas carols remastered and edited by streetchildren, and the come-what-may singing style of our drunk neighbors as they give their rendition of Pinoy pop music of the 80's.

i wonder how the music during that first Christmas was.

as told by Luke, there were these songs of the great army of heaven's angels, but only a small group of shepherds heard them.
could they have remembered the tune and passed them to their children?

hmm i'd really love to hear an angel sing.

maybe aside from the angels' cantata held on the shepherds' hill, the only song that night that was offered to the baby in the manger was mary's gentle lullaby, sending him to sleep.

that i'd love to hear too.

oops, i hear the roosters now. Merry Christmas everyone!!

posted by moonbeam at December 26, 2003 01:07 | link | comments

#454: the ring thrower

...and there stood Frodo on the edge of the cliff, staring at the ring he is supposed to cast into the lava below.he hesitates...

he must have been thinking how unfair things were; of how all things conspired to play a practical joke on him, giving him something so precious and asking him to throw it away.

funny, i remember someone from another place and time who felt the same.

posted by moonbeam at December 24, 2003 02:47 | link | comments

#453 the apparition

i know, i know this is a bit of an inside joke, but i'll just attempt to 'bottle it up and pickle it'. here's something from nani, a cool friend of mine: ( he's still a bit ecstatic, having recently finished paulo coelho's the alchemist. for the record, he's really not into books and it took several months to convince him to borrow my copy of the book.)

" ang galing galing nga e, di ba, pag dinescribe ni paulo coelho ung shepherd, iniimagine ko kung ano kaya ung itsura niya. so ayan, inisip ko na lalaki. tapos pala sasabihin nung author na 16 years old lang. so pinabata ko rin ung itsura. tapos tapos sasabihin ni paulo na nag-ahit yung shepherd nung umaga. so ako naman iimagine-in kong balbas sarado pla muna tapos saka pa lang mag-aahit sa umaga pagkagising niya..."

[silence]

"...tapos naalala ko si [girl]..."

talk about cameo appearances by your object of affection everywhere.go nani! i'll go look for your second book. Les Miserables unabridged perhaps?

posted by moonbeam at December 19, 2003 00:23 | link | comments

#452 the announcement

now it's official. after having the approval of all of the household, we name the newest member of our family -> BIGMAC the slowpoke.

 
named after my staple fastfood..err food, this 19th of December, 2003.

haha. you should've seen the reaction of our tiny turtle when another turtle more than thrice its size was dumped into the aquarium with him. but the slowpoke wasnt meant for the aquarium so he was given instead the rare opportunity of freedom within the limits of our front yard. together with maxibon the bald poodle.

posted by moonbeam at December 18, 2003 23:57 | link | comments (3)

#451 a short-lived thought (just passing through!)

is God a matchmaker?

i mean, how does He go about pairing those people whom He has given the gift of marriage? I'm just wondering if He has everything sorted out right from the start, just like that high school game where everyone is given a paper cutout of a half-heart and the task is just to find the corresponding half. or is He like that of friend, who has His set of preferences for you, and it's up to you to choose?

Okay, okay. i see my friends' reactions coming. i know, spending my time thinking about these things are too indulgent already but hey, i just feel that nowadays when the talk is about relationships, it seems that everyone is into easily dismissing everything as God's 'perfect will'. where does one draw the line between God's will and man's desire?

I do hope i'll remember to ask Him this when i'm in heaven already. along with the trivial questions like how much taho i have consumed in my lifetime, how many times i sneezed, etc. etc.

posted by moonbeam at December 15, 2003 02:06 | link | comments (4)

#450: fleeting moments

- only God knows how to mix the humid EDSA wind, neon lights, heavy traffic, tired people, and an old old song coming from a hissing radio on a crowded bus around 9pm to produce a weird but peaceful feeling.

- the solitary walk from UPCMC to vinzons around 5:30pm after having spent the whole morning in front of the PC editing a video and barely beating the 5pm deadline. (this becomes extra special when halfway you bump into a friend and he/she decides to accompany you)

- dried leaves from the acacia tree starts to fall just like from an autumn movie scene and you feel that you're the only witness there.

- a wonderful sunset with God seen from an MRT train.

- you're sitting at the rear part of an FX and an infant from the middle row of the vehicle smiles at you. and the person opposite your seat sees her and smiles at you too (but if a 3rd person does it, it's not funny anymore; something's already wrong with you).

- a boisterous laughter from an old jeepney driver.

- a jeepney driver is accompanied by his whole family (his wife and their sleeping daughter on the passenger seat).

- a metro aide/janitor/etc sings while working.

- that person radiating an aura of peace greets you, sits beside you and says nothing(weehee on this one - hehe ).

- unwanted idle times: A.) upon arriving home at 4pm, you realize that you dont have the keys. so you sit down on the bench and wait for other family members to arrive. your dog and your turtle sleeps several inches away from your feet. B.) you are forced to stop by a certain place that on a usual day you just ignore, and you notice a wonderful view from there.

- those times when old unknown songs are playing on the neighbor's old transistor at night(i especially love this one during black-outs).

posted by moonbeam at December 15, 2003 01:40 | link | comments

#449

Merry Christmass everyone! For a moment, let's put aside thoughts of how much electricity is wasted on christmas lights, how many families would've been helped if the money is given to them instead, and take off our glasses or squint our eyes a bit and stare at the christmas lights and imagine that there is no poverty, Philippine politics isnt a circus, everybody longs for God, everyone we know has seen My Sassy Girl, and all the stars are here!

Now go back to reality. and go pray for the streetchildren.

And do something.

Merry Christmass!

posted by moonbeam at December 13, 2003 18:52 | link | comments (6)

#448

i love watching teabags come to life when soaked in hot water.

posted by moonbeam at December 01, 2003 21:11 | link | comments (2)