the magic kingdom

In preparation for a large task at hand: planning a Disneyland vacation, on a July 4th weekend no less. It sounds daunting: hot, crowded and visions of long lines are dancing in my head. One can only hope.

The Disneyland of my youth seems to be so much different from the Disney of today. First of all, I remember tickets being well below the $20.00 mark. Today, they float arrogantly at $99.00 and above, depending on your choice, with a pathetic single day, single park pass at $47.00. I know I used to do Disney in a day - but they would let you back in the next day for free, at no extra cost. I was there so often, I already knew the good rides (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Matterhorn, Tomorrowland's car ride, the haunted house) so it didn't take so much time to decide where to go and what to ride. Besides, we probably would go when it wasn't a screaming holiday.

The last time I went to the park must have been more than 15 years ago. I brace myself for the changes.

10:36 AM | |

a list of things to do

As life passes us by, here, my partial list of things to do before it's all over:

1. Finish Dylan's baby book. Year one simply came and went in a flick of a switch. Hundreds of print and digital images later, I'm still sifting through the chronological order of his baby pictures stored on numerous disks, hard drives, and media cards, and the events that surround them.

2. Photograph Fabulous Las Vegas. Las Vegas is one of the most interesting cities/subjects of America, in my opinion. It may seemingly be a vast desert wasteland at first glance, but living upon and between the gusts of wind and sand storms, there is a certain charm and captivating character that is in need of discovery. From the 1950's architecture of the Glass Pool Inn to the unimaginable sprawl of cracked earth and desert flowers that bloom there, is a place that must be shown unlike any other.

3. Street luge.

4. Go back to Africa, then explore the Australian Outback and show Dylan the true meaning of "outdoors".

5. Get a diving license.

6. Tour the entire Philippine islands, not all at once, maybe in the course of several years.

7. Stick to my lists of things to do and make sure to cross them off once they're done.

12:09 PM | |

consumed

I, for one, am an ultimate consumer, an advertiser's dream; a sorry sucker for glossy magazine ads, colorful catalogs, avant garde post card flyers. If you present something in such beauty with a grand dose of desireablity, chances are, I will WANT whatever it is, no matter how useless or stupid, just because you presented it so beautifully. Perhaps, my advertising friends, you can tell me why that is? It's not as if I don't know the language of marketing - it's not as if I don't know that superlatives are simply part and parcel to the blurb, the tagline, the premise of why something must be HAD. And yet. I'll be off, rushing to the store to take a look, being fullfilled of expectaions, I will stupidly plunk down plastic in exchange for the thing in question. Only to find out months later (when it's too late to return said thing) that it really wasn't as magnificent and grand and useful as it was purported to be. I'll spend some time kicking myself promising myself that next time, I won't buy such useless things again, until the next thing comes along and piques my desire perceptors and I again feel the need to possess the thing before it runs out, in which case I'll be kicking myself because I DIDN'T get it.

To counteract such stupid behavior, I've learned to chanel patience, also known as waiting for the SALE. In this case, at least you exchange less of your money for the thing in question. Another device is to rummage in discount establishments. It takes a bit of time, but oh, the satisfaction of finding the thing for 40% or even 70% off! It's simply a thrill and I simply can't pass up something that is beyond belief cheap. Third, and possibly my most favorite, is to shop online. There isn't an easier way to find and compare prices before committing the old plastic card. And out of this voracious appetite for consumables, I've learned to scour the web for coupons, additional discount codes, free with purchases, free shipping, deals and steals. Frighteningly, it's now even easier to be the consumate sucker.

9:53 AM | |

desert rat

My husband will soon make his musings public. I think he likes the idea of the stories behind the people who give Las Vegas it's very own character and charm. Well, it certainly is full of interesting folk with interesting lives and I'm excited to "see" it unfold on the net. So, I'm off to create his very own blog. Watch this space for the upcoming desert rat.

8:50 AM | |

orientated up my ass

First of all "orientated" is NOT a word. Second, it irritates the hell out of me when people use the word, and makes me irate when I hear it over the radio waves, and no less when it's being used in an advertisement for a school where people are supposed to be educated so that they can graduate and work in the real world. If an educational institution cannot afford a decent ad agency to create their ads, or an intelligent copy writer to write, or an English teacher who can at least proof the copy before it airs, and the radio station that airs it is oblivious, it's a sure sign of the decline of the state of education and no less, the media. Yes, orientated is shaking things up south of my brain and is creating a sore point of contention.

It scares me to think that I will unleash my son into this very world of education in America, where Algebra should be dropped as idiotic children are now unable to pass the subject. If our children are stupid, let us then make them twice stupid by not letting them have to endure such hardship and pain as mamthematics. Clearly, this attitude is oreintated towards a kinder and gentler nation, no?

8:38 AM | |

at last, things are organized

Yes, indeed. My domain transfer has pushed through and at a cheaper rate from the old registrar, plus free web hosting from doteasy.com which makes everything just fine and dandy! Now, to get back to this blog at long last and recount the days past.

Christopher Ad. Castillo, son of Celso, has made a film. We went to watch it last Saturday, and, well, I have to say I we weren't exactly thrilled. The Sky is Falling is meant to be a "descent into madness" story. A psychologically challenged woman seeing a therapist is the main character of the film. She moves into a house with a "haunted" connotation because of events that unfolded there 15 years prior: a young child stabs her mother to death, then kills herself. The premise is workable, and any one with a good mastery of narrative could perhaps propel the story forward and lead it in various directions.With that said, however, there were many problems I had as the film progressed.

Set aside his stylistics: natural lighting, all hand held cameras, raw sound, no filters, strange camera point of views with no justification - there were just too many things that popped up as question marks in my head. Number One - the thing that bothered me most was that this woman moves into a house that is owned by a Filipino family - no doubt, a friend or relative's house of Castillo's. Where on earth have you seen an American woman living in a house with an ornately framed Last Supper picture hanging over the dinging room area furnished with a carved armoire and wooden dining set, covered with an embroidered table cloth? That whole area just reminded me of Aunt X's house when she invited the entire family for any cause for celebration throughout the year. Number Two - does this American woman really like the whole Asian thing as she likes to go down to the corner Pinoy store and randomly grab sutanghon noodles off the shelf (I'm sure you can spot the freezer that holds the frozen bangus and longanisa, and the boxes that hold the saba and nyog).

Filipino nuances aside and down to the grit. Dialogue was uninventive, vapid and unispired (the crazy Filipino preacher guy on the corner cries out, "The sky is falling!"), well Castillo does admit he did NOT have a script; acting was mediocre (well, not enough lines to deliver and half the time she was just walking around downtown L.A.); the camera angles were ridiculous - what is the point of shooting from below this woman's hip and how many times do we need to spin around a single room?; do we really need to build suspense upon the suspense already happening? So, we are to conclude the woman is a schizo, she made up all these people and yes, she IS crazy. What a revelation! She began a little crazy, gets a little crazier, and somehow, not shown in the film, she is ready to face society again. How did she get over her madness? What event helped her realize her dellusions? Or are those male voice-overs of her therapist all in her head too? If this was inspired by Polanski's The Tenant, it certainly is a far cry from it. The Tenant frightened me to no end. Didn't help that I was only 6 or 7 when I saw it - but it is indelibly marked in my brain as one of the most frightening stories of a man's descent into madness and his displacement in society.

This reminded me of a bad Filipino horror movie displaced with blond and brunette American actors, spiked with your token Filipino friends who you asked to be in the film. A Celso Ad. Castillo film made in America on a budget. 3 for effort, 3 for story, 2 for cinematography; 2.5 stars average rating.

7:58 AM | |

testing...

in the midst of rearranging things - domain registrar transfers, renewals etc. i don't know if this will post at all, so this is a test...

8:47 AM | |