ramblings, random musings, fascinations, rants, raves and revelations

I have all been pressured by the sudden turns of events for these past days. Even people from work noticed it. I was angry, pissed and wanted to kick someone’s face at gunpoint. After our agreement, our new landlady has gone MIA [missing in action]. All our stuffs were packed and ready. I tried sending her SMS and calling her but she was not responding. We’re supposed to move in to the new place today but that big-fat-ass-bitchy-landlady just informed us the other day that she cannot allow us to take the new apartment because of some shitty excuses which we know just came from senseless gossips of our current landlady.

We have spent the last 2 days looking for another place. Each one of us had different designations as we conducted our scouting. My sisters already cried out of desperation and that’s one thing I cannot take. These times I could have gone Rambo but thanks to friends who kept on reminding me to be calm. I’m ultra sensitive when my family is involved. Of all people, not my family please…

Anyway, I won’t be writing so much of that as it may ruin my day. I’ll write about that next time nalang. Here’s the lighter and hearty side of my day.

I had pasta! It’s been ages I tasted a home cooked pasta!

Whew!

Pero puta**-in* talaga ‘yong mga taong ‘yon!

I have received some comments and queries for the dopie sandals I wore in some of my posts. I haven’t been able to answer them and almost forgot to even acknowledge. Good thing, I checked on my previous posts. So here it is…

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you either love sandals or you positively hate them and, in truth, I personally fall very much in the latter category – though this probably has more to do with the fact that I rate feet as being just about the most unappealing part of the human body.

Having said that, I can see why sandals would appeal to others without a curious aversion to feet though it must be said that the basic design of your everyday sandal is hardly the most inspiring of forms. That could be about to change, however, thanks to this new take on sandal design known as the Dopie.

With the current popularity of ‘flip-flops’ [Havaianas, Crocs, et al], I bet that the importers of these new sandals would make a killing should they decide to bring these to the Philippines. These are called Dopie sandals. You place that notch between your toes and pray that your cool sandals don’t fall off. A strap is included for ‘Dopie beginners.’ By making sure that they bring over all the colors available, and of course by making sure that they’re unreasonably expensive, the flip-flop fashionistas would be on this like stink on poop.

Apparently the result of a “search for a sandal in a simpler and purer form”, the Dopie, apart from having a cool name, are manufactured from EVA and rubber so as to provide comfort promoting flexibility whist being light and are designed to remain firmly attached to your feet courtesy of a sole that folds up between the toes. And, for those new to wearing Dopies they even come with a detachable strap to assist beginners with learning how to wear them.

Dopie is best to be worn when going out and strutting it around the metro but not on beaches or rough roads.

I got mine for Php1500 at Chocolate Clothing Co., Robinson’s Galleria. Not all of their stores have these sandals though.

Jc, Kiko and I had a great time out last Saturday. We went to Sea Side [aka Dampa] near Mall of Asia for a “full” dinner and then proceeded to MOA to watch Hancock. [Dampa post will be after this]

Hancock was a bit of a surprise. It’s a story about a superhero who’s down on his luck and is looking for redemption. It was a genuinely funny movie that only descended into cornball cheese a couple of times. I knew nothing about the story before I went to the movie, so there were a couple of very unexpected bits.

It’s not the best story in the world, but it works pretty well for a dumbass blockbuster movie.

Hancock is very much in the spirit of Iron Man, from earlier this summer. Our hero is an anti-hero… drunk, smug, angry, selfish, and powerful. But unlike Tony Stark, his story starts to turn not when he is beaten into a change of perspective but because there is something going on inside of him that is clearly aware of an ambivalence about his behavior. Even as he “saves the day” and screws up massively in the process, causing tens of millions in damage as he “helps,” one gets the feeling in the audience that he is a bit of a fuck-up, but also a bit willful about being lazy and missing the mark, like a teenager who has grown into the body of an adult but who hasn’t gotten over the itchy need to show everyone that now “I am a man!”

Just thinking about one of Hancock’s destructive take-offs [destroying a bus bench and leaving a massive hole in the cement it was screwed into] or landings [leaving car-sized holes in streets]… can anyone who has dealt with a brooding teen male be unable to imagine that kid taking off and landing exactly like that. “Stop playing with the X-Box and save that damned busload of children!” “Damn it! Why are you always interrupting me before I get to the next level!” SLAMMM… through the roof… another destroyed TV set…

Truth is, one of the things I missed in the movie was any real effort by Hancock when he felt even a little bad about breaking stuff to put it back together. You know, kick all the rubble back in the hole… pick up some of the debris… something like that. But like most teenagers, they will leave stuff just anyway… out of sight, out of mind.

The transition for Hancock begins when he saves one man, Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), who is a PR man who is not very good at his job. It turns out that in spite of the business he has chosen, he actually wants to save the world, not just convince people that he does. As a result, Hancock immediately becomes his new project, a super-lost-puppy into whom Ray feels he has insight.

Ray brings Hancock home… or vice versa… and so begins the Henry Higgins-ing of the hard-edged, super-powered Eliza Doolittle. There is an immediate comfort between Ray’s young son and Hancock. Just as immediately, it is clear that Ray’s wife, Mary, is not comfortable with this guy in her house. Hiring Charlize Theron to play “The Wife” is a bit like watching and episode of Law & Order and seeing a familiar face from TV or stage wander in and out of the first act while the cops have the story all wrong. You’re really trying to figure out what she is doing there.

The story continues… Hancock agrees to be incarcerated as Ray plots to turn his image, really selling Hancock on getting past the pain of being disliked for all his “save the day” heroics. Again, this is kind of a classic dramatic idea… very My Bodyguard, as the little kid not only gets protected, but finds the heart of the not-so-gentle giant in the process.

The thing that is so compelling about Hancock through this part of the film is that Hancock has the feel of “one of us” given these kinds of powers… and that part has been pretty much universally praised as being entertaining as hell. Ironically, the “I am alone here” speech you’ve seen in the marketing materials is part of a somewhat cynical, prepped speech before he goes into jail. But Will Smith’s performance makes it clear that he is reading a speech… and actually believing it… almost freed to feel by the artificial nature of what he has been given to read.

It is a key element to this whole movie that Ray is right about Hancock, from start to finish. He sees what no one else really can. It is his love, which is oddly free of judgment – even when he is criticizing – that moves Hancock towards his better self. And this becomes the theme of the entire film… the power of love and the power of self-sacrifice and self-awareness.

Another interesting element is the anticipation of what Hancock will actually do when he is “saving the day.” His choices are often unexpected, even to himself. And they are often emotionally driven. His mood has a lot to do with how he makes choices. And faced with a life in which apparent consequences are solely how others see you and how you see yourself, the choice not to indulge himself endlessly is an issue of nothing but his increasing maturity.

I really enjoyed the first half of the movie but a sudden twist of the story destroyed it all.

When the story soon exposed Ray Embrey’s wife’s true character, I started to feel that something is getting so wrong. I just think that it didn’t fit. I was expecting more of Hancock and how he can be a better hero. I expected more of him pursuing what Ray Embrey has started. I would have appreciated if some villains from another planet came in and Hancock defended the world.

I don’t know. I guess I’ll leave it to you guys to decide.