Muppets: The Movie

I was finally able to watch “The Muppets” on the big screen today. The screening is four months delayed here in our city – I don’t know the reason why, maybe the mall people were prioritizing the blockbusters which were often advertised on TV.

I have originally planned to watch it yesterday with two of my friends but the only theater showing the film had to close early for some repairs, so I ended up going to the same theater today, all by myself *sniff*

I went to the theater at 1PM (an hour early than the scheduled screening) bought a ticket and went off to grab a bite – went back to the theater and walked inside, following the dark corridor, expecting a crowd of noisy children and doting parents…

Only to find the place empty. OTL

I was alone - the entire theatre, with a seating capacity of about 500 people, all to myself. I grinned and took a middle seat on the upper box. A minute later, my initial delight turned to sadness. Where are all the Muppet fans? I know it’s a Monday – but it’s already the start of the Summer vacation for some schools, there ought to be people in the theatre. L

Ten minutes later, a family of three walked in: the boy eagerly holding on to his mother’s hand. I know they’re only watching because this is the only ‘cartoon’ show on the marquee, but at least, there are now four people…

Sometime later two high school girls came in and seated themselves in the front row. One was a foreign exchange student – probably American.     Six people: and the screen started showing trailers of upcoming movies.

Then, I recognized a figure coming in: Dennis, (a friend who I used to work with in the Student paper, back in College) He was being led by a little girl. I waved at them, and after recognizing me, they sat beside me. The little girl, who told me later that her name is “Rain”, sat in the middle. I arranged our things, and I knocked over my bucket of popcorn in my efforts~ ugh there goes my hard-earned money: rolling in the deep(est) recesses of the movie house.

Dennis, I believe, is a fulltime rockstar, playing (bass?) guitar for one of the famous bands in the city – their fanbase has also extended to the entire country – after winning a national band competition. Anyway, we chatted while trailers of Titanic 3D, Battleship and Avengers were shown.

After the movie: Rain, Dennis and a Muppet wearing a striped shirt and a hat

 

 The movie then started and I found myself squealing as each muppet came out~ Gonzo, Scooter, Rolf, Animal and the Band, Fozzie, the Swedish Chef, Camilla and the chickens, Dr. Honeydew and Beaker, Statler and Waldorf, Pepe and the rest of the Muppets. Of course, I squealed like crazy when Kermit showed up, and later, Miss Piggy.

Something tugged at my heartstrings as the story progressed: the Muppets had disbanded, and they are not as famous as they used to be. TV shows are mostly showing crap, and for the Muppets, well, just like the early scenario I narrated, only a few are paying attention.

The Muppets Show: Timeless 

Being a die-hard Muppet fan, I fought back a tide of tears as the gang played their signature heartwarming song, “The Rainbow Connection” – I sang along and had nostalgic flashback of my childhood years, eating dinner with my family while watching Gonzo fearlessly fly though hoops of fire, Miss Piggy breaking into a song while throwing lightning fast punches and good ‘ol Kermit dispensing nuggets of wisdom. I could have grown up to be stuck-up, pessimistic and hateful, if not for these Muppets who taught me to appreciate the simple pleasures that life can offer. I might be labeled as a ‘goody-two-shoes’ but I’m happy about who I am and I believe that’s just who I’ve become after finding my own Rainbow Connection.

I'm a sentimental fool - and the song "The Rainbow Connection" - and the inspiration for this blog, reduces me to mush

 

 The movie ended and Rain sang along to “Mana Mana” – and I said to myself, there’s still hope for the Muppets, the generation today would still be able to experience the happiness brought by these beloved Henson creations. The children who used to sing along to Kermit’s banjo may have already grown up, but somehow, their children would still be able to meet the muppets – and somehow, they’ll find themselves singing along until they’re able to make melodies of their own. #

 

Notes:

1. Jason Segel and Amy Adams are adorable - Segel did a wonderful job singing "Muppet or Man" with Walter (the new muppet who can whistle a storm), and Adams, with her irresistible charm and terpsichorean  talent is amazing as always.

2. The songs! Bret McKenzie (the songwriter) is a genius! "Life's a Happy Song" and "Man or Muppet" are beautifully written and executed in the movie. The latter even won the Oscar for Best Song. (So, I'm still bitter that Kermit's "The Rainbow Connection" didn't win the Oscar when it was nominated back in the 80s.)

3. Miss Piggy is a blond bombshell! - she can even upstage Selena Gomez in this movie~ :P 

I think the only muppets I haven't seen are Johnny Fiama and Sal Minella~ 

4. I have downloaded the soundtrack, and while  listening to the songs again, I was delighted to discover something I have overlooked in the movie: the song that the Barbershop Quartet were singing; the one that Jack Black was referring to when he said, "You're ruining a good song." is in fact Nirvanan's "Smells Like Teen Spirit:". The Muppets version is now on 'repeat' in my playlist, :P

5. I love the cameos of stars: NPH! Jack Black! Whoopi! and Jim Parsons as human Walter! Beat that.

6. The receipt from the ticket I purchased in the movie house, reads "The Muffets". XD

7. Finally, I learned a new word: "Maniacal" - I used to pronounce this as "man-yakal", thinking about the way "maniac" is pronounced ("main-yak"), but in the movie, the antagonists pronounce it as "ma-na-ya-kal". So there. I'm ending this post by doing exactly that: *maniacal laughter*

10 Things I’d love to DO if I had more time

I’ve also recently found out another hobby: visiting bookstores and curiosity shops: trips to these imagination-inducing places inspired me to list: 

 10 Things I’d love to DO if I had more time:

…arranged in no particular order. I just had to write these down. Some are sane; some aren’t. Suspend your disbelief, and make your own list to!

1. Read more MANGA – Finish Battle Royale; download Bakuman and all other titles recommended by other Mangaholics.
2. Watch more MOVIES – I’ve been buying a lot of DVDs (Blu-ray) of rare, vintage movies; but I have only watched 25% of what I have in my stash! (note to self: Hoarding is a dangerous obsession) Given the time, I’d love to spend lazy, rainy weekend afternoons on the couch, watching movies - those independent/foreign films are on top of my must-watch list.
3. Cosplay – Yup! “Channel your inner geek and don your favourite anime costume.” That’ll be the signage I’d be holding up to have others join my cause (or lack thereof), *smiley* Who to cosplay? I’ve been lusting after Ky Kiske’s (Guilty Gear) Blue-white outfit and erm; Bridget’s (but no way I’d be wearing hers, or I mean, his, costume). Rey and I are planning to go as Jigen Daisuke and Arsene Lupin III, respectively, during the rumoured GSC cosplay on December, but we’re still looking for a gorgeous Fujiko who’s willing to bare enough cleavage to distract fans from our shoddy cosplay outfits… any volunteers?
4. WRITE Stories – There are a lot of plot ideas floating in my brain matter; some are already mutating into horror flicks if not written down – so I think I’d really have to do something about it. A story, if not written down, or passed along, I believe, is like a stew that’s been left too long on the oven – the good stuff often evaporates away – leaving a black crust clinging on the pan. Neil Gaiman has taken root in my imagination too~ hence the inspiration.
5. GO places – Not the usual trip to the bathroom; I’d like to go around; wander around the city; hop on one of the buses going to the province – get lost somewhere; travel!
6. Sleep under the STARS – Camp around and get friendly with mosquitoes; count meteors; just listen to the sound of crickets, and not having to worry about bedtime and missed TV shows – and updating social networking sites.
7. PLAY videogames – Technically, I’ve been doing this a lot lately – I’m virtually unbeatable in my PC’s Guilty Gear version; but I’d like to spend more time in arcade stations; spending hard-earned cash on tokens – without having to worry if people (especially my students) would recognize me – banging on the buttons and using expletives not learned at home~ *smiley again*
8. Learn to play a MUSICAL instrument – A violin would be cool; but the guitar’s more versatile; I dunno; Music doesn’t like me. I think I have an innate power of causing rain through my vocal chords. Still, learning how to play an instrument looks gratifying and artsy~
9. PAINT – with a brush, on a canvass, with latex/acrylic – this is actually one way of releasing stress – I miss doing this – I’ve painted a lot in the past – I’d love to make more artworks to give to friends.
10. SHOOT People – with a camera of course – take their portraits and photoshop their smiles – yep, photography seems really interesting – photomanipulation even more so.

Doodling - my way to de-stress

So there, those were my top 10 – I’m currently doing some measures to fulfill these idiosyncrasies of mine… Happiness isn’t a one-time deal - it’s actually collecting those little moments of bliss that life can offer.

Repost from my Tumblr: originally posted on Nov 20, 2010 and on Facebook July 27, 2011 

Good Reads - 10 Books I’m glad I’ve read

10 Books that will always stay with me~ 

 (1) Contact - Carl Sagan: I never really paid attention to the movie when I first saw it, but when I happened to read this book, the inner geek in me resurfaced~ and imagine me as Jodie Foster floating up her capsule, crying and murmuring…”So beautiful~ I never thought…” - watch the movie - It’ll make you think - Read the book - it’ll make you “wonder”. Sagan is an alien - he is to deym brilliant to be human.

(2) Little Women - Louisa May Alcott: She’ll always be one of my favorite authors, and hers is the immortal quote: “Far away in the sunshine are my aspirations, I may not reach them, but I will try to follow where they lead…” Little Women was also the first book (unused) that my mother bought me - back when “Alemar’s” was still in business~ so technically, it’s the first “new” novel I ever owned. I have lots of beautiful memories attached to the story~ I’m like Jo in many ways. 

(3) David Copperfield - Charles Dickens: Sob Sob - and I thought Oliver Twist had reason to cry - DC will always remain with me…

(4) Little House on the Prairie Series - Laura Ingalls Wilder - I grew up lodged between the shelves of our Elem. library - reading The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, and *gasp* Sweet Valley, but these books about Prairie life gave me lifelong learnings I’ll always treasure

(5) Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling: Of course, I grew up alongside the Boy Who Lived~ HP made me want to read again - and write again~ and believe in the magic of Life~

(6) The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon: I’ve always loved Magical Realism - This book makes me want to go to Barcelona and trace the path that the characters took~

(7) The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery: I’ll always be a kid at heart because of this book. Ma’am G has a baobab tree on her backyard~ hope I could see it one of these days…

(8) Stranger Things Happen - Kelly Link: Slipstream~ Weird~ Fragmented Memories~ Magic~ Angst~ Read her collection of stories~ You’ll be amazed about what you’d discover in you~

(9) The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky: I’m sorry J.D. Salinger~ but I found a better voice in “Charlie” than with Holden Caulfield - Catcher in the Rye was good ~ but Wallflower reminds me soo much of Jean Webster’s “Daddy Long-Legs” 

(10) The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - Yup, I love The Little Princess (Sarah Crewe), even the innocent boy-heir (Cedie), but the “ugly” girl who’s got nothing to do but skip rope all day, gets my vote for “Unforgettable Children’s Classic Novel”

Others: Collected Works of Ryonusuke Akutagawa, The Client (John Grisham), Battle Royale (Koushun Takami), Greek Mythology (Edith Hamilton), Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen), Cry to Heaven (Anne Rice), Neil Gaiman’s Collection of Stories and The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

 

The reason for my slouch and awkward posture

inspired by Angeli~) - originally posted and filed under “Notes” in my Facebook page on September 29, 2010, and reblogged on Tumblr  - November 18, 2010
P.S. The book covers I have chosen (copied from the net) are also the book covers I have of the books I mentioned~ 

Of Rice Paddies and TOEFL Exams

I accepted a tutoring job again, this time to help somebody prepare for a TOEFL exam. The guy’s name is Tom, and he’s a 25 y.o. Chinese guy. He currently lives with his father, who is an agriculturist. Today’s the first time I visited them at their home. It was raining hard, and it took me several minutes to locate their house. I was drenched and soggy, but their warm welcome brightened me up.

I gave Tom the test I made, and while he answered it, I had a nice, long chat with his father – mostly about his travels abroad, and his job to help farmers increase the yield of their crops – specifically, Rice~ I sympathized with him when we came to the topic of an observed phenomenon: the art of farming is dying – with more and more rural teens preferring to succumb to the lure of the city and leaving their fathers – and their hectares of land behind. I remember reading somewhere that the average age of farmers in Asian countries are somewhere between 40 to 50 y.o., quite alarming, since a lot of things in farming involve manual labor.

I remember my grandfather, and my childhood days of visiting his farm, climbing mango trees, fishing in the pond, straddling his carabao, running along the borders of the rice paddies and generally having a good time with other children who have never heard of TV and whose blissful, rustic lives are mirrored in their eyes. Had I been gifted with stronger arm muscles, I would have gladly traded this city life with life on his farm – to wake up to the fresh air and the singing of birds, and to see the unbroken expanse of star-strewn skies at night.

Tom’s father is a kind man. I can see that he loves his son very much. He’s doing everything he can to ensure that his son may have a shot at success. He: the agriculturist – and his son: the Chemical engineer. It’s inspiring, really.

Here's to Patty

Its quite interesting that I can still sing along to songs I haven’t heard in over 12 years.

When I was 13 y.o. my father went to another city in order to receive training – a part of his job (He used to work in a factory). That was probably the first time that he was away from home for several weeks. Well, when he came back, he got me a tape of Patty Smyth. (Note: In 1999, ipods, DVD players and MP3s were unheard of~ and my generation only had audio cassette tapes), I used to play the tape all day, changing from Side A to Side B, and turning the tape over and over, till the roll gave out~ to which I’d tape back again with a bit of scotch tape.

Years passed, and pop music invaded the air waves. I began to make mix tapes of Alanis Morisette, Hansons, The Moffats, The Goo Goo Dolls etc.

Patty Smyth was left to rust in a drawer, which eventually got discarded along with piles of junk from my childhood.

A couple of days ago, I suddenly had the inspiration to download Patty Smyth’s 1992 album online – and guess what, now that “I Should Be Laughing”, “One Moment to Another” and the famous “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough” is playing on WinAmp, I can still flawlessly sing – along to all of them. Except for “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough”, these songs have never experience airplay in local radio stations in more than a decade, more so on the TV, and yet, I could freakin’ sing-ALONG with them.

Cell memory? Nostalgia? I don’t know… I love the feeling. 

Cover of the Cassette tape,
thanks to Google images for this

A younger Patty Smyth (not "the Patti Smith")

Today’s the birthday of a comic artist I’ve loved when I was a kid: Miss Khandie F.~ 

When I was young, my mother would leave me at the comic stands at the public market, and I’d rent my favorite comics for 25 cents~ “Bata-Batuta” was my favorite, and I adored a lot of artists from there. 

My heroes~

When I was young, all I ever wanted was to work for GASI Publishings with these people~  Sadly, I didn't grow up fast enough, and the company, I think, already closed down.

Photos above were taken from Ms. Khandie's FB, hehe 

I wrote to one of them, Miss Khandie, and she answered me back ~ she was, technically, my first (and only) pen-pal~ and she inspired me to draw. She was really good at it~

Well, almost 14 years had gone by, and we had stopped our communication~ thankfully, Facebook managed to reunite us again, and I even found my other favorite artist, Mr. Jan Michael A.

I still get teary-eyed whenever I think of those good ‘ol years - the 90s: the waning Golden years of Pinoy “komiks”. Although my dreams of becoming a comic artist have been put on hold (the business isn’t doing well nowadays~ and the big publishing houses have ceased operations), I still treasure the memories and the inspiration that my “idols” have given me.

X-Men First Class: Movie Rant

 I just got home after watching the last full show of X-Men: First Class at the Mall. I don’t usually devote more than two paragraphs to rant about films I’ve watched, but this one is probably motivated by the mixed reactions I have heard about the film, courtesy of my friends who told me I’d be wasting money on it, and well, to show off my Marvel geekiness.

Classy, indeed.

First off, the film was made with class. I am very much satisfied by the way the storyline was handled, and the way the historic beginnings of my Uncanny team was made to fit the world we are in now. The locations, costumes and characters were woven seamlessly into the plotline of the movie: I guess, enough to satisfy Comic book purists, X-men (TV) series–followers of the 90s, and even the neophytes whose encounters with the X-Men were only through the recent movie franchises.  Those who complain about the lack of action in the movie must belong to the latter – had you been acquainted with how the X-Men started, you would have appreciated how everything (well, almost everything) had been masterfully brought to the big screen in 2 hours or so. If you came to watch for the fight scenes and all familiar brawls – go rent a DVD of the first three movies, or better yet, go watch Kung Fu Panda 2.

First Class, I think, chose to focus on the characters – their “humanity” and their origins – and this is best accomplished, not merely through the excessive display of their powers, but rather, on their motivations and interactions with others.

Enough with my preaching, and on to the things I like about the movie.

The Cast: James McAvoy (Charles Xavier / Professor X) is convincing, he was bending bullets in Wanted, but now, it’s the other bender: Michael Fassbender (Erik Lensherr) who made each of his own appearance a delight to watch – he’s so classy and Kevin Bacon (Sebastian Shaw) is a perfect and effective villain.

I was delighted with the others too: I kept on clicking my fingers together everytime I see them onscreen Where have I seen this face before? I kept on asking myself, halfway through the movie, I managed to connect them to random pieces of information: Lucal Till (Alex Summers / Havok) – was the guy in Taylor Swift’s “You Belong with Me” video;  Nicholas Hoult (perfectly casted, btw, a pretty boy for the role of the Hank McCoy / Beast) was on Skins – which I have yet to pop into my DVD player; Jennifer Lawrence (Raven Darkholme / Mystique) was on the A-list of Oscar’s Nominees last time – for Winter’s Bone I think; January Jones (Emma Frost / White Queen) is on the cover of a back issue of a GQ magazine I have lying around in my room. (Eep, busted); Rose Byrne (Moira McTaggert) – she was difficult to place, I had Wikipedia to help me remember her, and what a revelation: she was the manipulative girl in Wicker Park, the pilot in Sunshine and the priestess Briseis in Troy. Darwin (the guy who's got adaptive mutation) was also a vampire on Twilight

Would you even call this a BEAST?

The choice mutants: Out of the numerous X-Men considered to make it to the big screen adaptation, I like how they were narrowed down to the select few. (Others might be asking Where’s Rogue? Where’s Cyclops? Jean Grey? Gambit? etc. etc.), but hey, the first generation of the muties who were given more air time have a special symbolism: they are to lead various groups later on: Sean Cassidy (Banshee) is to be the leader of Generation X, Alex Summers (Havok – that’s Cyclop’s brother, folks), is to lead X-Factor, and even Emma Frost (White Queen) will be future leader for the X-Men.

The villains (Angel Salvadore – played onscreen by Lenny Kravitz’ daughter, Zoe, Riptide and Azazel), also played key roles to the duality of X-Men characters~ not everything is black and white – no such thing as real villains, nor real heroes.

And finally, the acting – no exaggeration, no over-the-top screaming (no pun intended, Banshee), and no faking – the drama and the humor were exactly where they should be~ my disbelief was really suspended, I didn’t even have to compare the movie incarnations with the characters I have been familiar with on the comic books, on the 90s TV series and on the trading cards I have collected. The prequel also flows seamlessly with the known movie releases – a cameo of Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Romijn is enough to prove that.

So there, I walked out of the theatre eagerly anticipating the next one – if the producers plan to do it like Star Wars (backtracking), then, I guess, there’ll be two more in store.

End

 But wait, there’s more: useless trivia:

La Vie en Rose by Edith Piaf – that’s the French song that kept playing on the movie – how do I know? I’ve watched Marion Cotillard the other night, and Piaf’s on my playlist.

Anya – that’s Magneto’s daughter who got killed in the comics – causing his rage, it wasn’t the mother, as it was seen on the film. Max (that’s Erik Lensherr’s original name) had a much complicated past than what was seen on the movie, and his first encounter with Charles wasn’t underwater, it was on a psychiatric hospital. How do I know? I followed their love affair, erm, I mean, friendship throughout my childhood years.

Other discrepancies: Moira McTaggert wasn’t CIA – she’s a geneticist, Emma Frost’s adamantine form is a secondary mutation she wasn’t suppose to discover, until some time later, Alex Summers is Cyclops’ younger brother, he’s supposed to appear, much later in the X-Men storyline, Mystique and Xavier didn’t grow up together and she’s not responsible for turning Hank McCoy into a Beast, Riptide doesn’t spin tornadoes, he spins himself and throws shurikens – and definitely not as handsome and dapper as Alex Gonzalez, Ororo Monroe (Storm) should have been portrayed as a young thief, and Wolverine wouldn’t be drinking in a bar – he’s in the jungle somewhere, being experimented on – the age was right – Wolvie’s more than 200 years old.

Oh well, I love those little oddities they’ve inserted on the film. They even managed to make Emma Frost’s outfit appropriate. The Hellfire Club is also classy, and the origins of Cerebro was also inserted.

So, before I dispense more useless trivia (I’ve collected from reading the tiny print behind my old trading cards), I have to end my rant, and sleep… with two fingers on my temple ala Charles Xavier.