Month: April 2013
Iron Man 3
Admit it – after The Avengers, this is what we’ve all been waiting for (unless you’re an Avengers nut and still waiting for Avengers 2 and thinks of this movie as just some sort of filler). We’ve been watching the trailers over and over. We’ve been speculating what the plot will be. And now the time of hitting the replay button on Youtube and speculation is finally over – Tony Stark is finally suited back up in Iron Man 3. And now, after watching it with my friends Ivan, Fernan, Nhel, and Gia, I too have suited up and wrote this review.
This time around, we find Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in a constant state of alert thanks to the events in The Avengers, always making suits to prepare for whatever expected and unexpected threat. In such a time of personal crisis for Tony, who doesn’t need any more problems, the mysterious and dangerous terrorist Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) rises and teaches the president lessons by doing different terrorist acts, and through some chain of events, things get personal between Iron Man and Mandarin. Then, as if things aren’t heavy enough yet with the Mandarin and his own mini-paranoia, two people from his distant muddled past – geneticist Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) and scientist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) suddenly resurface. With all these problems, what Iron Man is made of will truly be tested.
Acting – 10/10
This is the third installment so I pretty much don’t have to say anymore how perfect the mainstays RDJ, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Don Cheadle. Since we’re not talking about the heroes, let’s talk about the non-heroes. Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian was superb, switching from being a nerdy loser with impaired social skills and legs in into a slick silver-tongued scientist in a suit. And good old veteran Ben Kingsley – where should I even begin? Well, for starters, he makes a good terrifying terrorist with a twisted sense of morality and conviction, but…LET’S STOP THERE, I don’t want to spoil anyone.
Story – 10/10
Why I am giving a perfect grade for a predictable superhero movie storyline? Because Iron Man 3 doesn’t have that. Whatever you thought the movie would be all about in the trailers will be ejected once the show starts rolling. It’s more serious, darker, and non-linear as compared to the previous two. God, it’s so hard to actually describe how good the plot is without spoiling you guys about the story, you’re just going to have to watch it. I’m sorry guys, it’s just that in making reviews you need to tell your audience why a movie is good without spoiling it, but I can’t seem to do that with this one, as I give out very vague and little details.
Pacing – 9/10
Iron Man 3 has more of everything – action, drama, humor, and plot/character development development. And what’s good about this is that it doesn’t follow the usual plot/character development → action → plot/character development → action pattern that is usual with superhero movies, because both action and plot/character development happen so closely and alternately that they almost happen simultaneously, as Tony Stark faces off with his enemies and confronts his inner demons in the process. Plus, the action scenes are not only adrenaline-pumping, but highly creative as well, making great use of the in-universe new capabilities of the Iron Man technology.
Cinematography – 9/10
Well, despite it being a top-notch movie, it doesn’t really bring anything new cinematography-wise. However, I gave it a high grade because the CGI had such a good improvement that the suit almost looked lifelike and tangible, and that many glowing and shining Iron Man suits zooming around was just pure mecha goodness (I didn’t spoil you, you should’ve watched the trailers).
Overall – 9.5/10
In the long line of the Walt Disney-Marvel movies, Iron Man 3 has become my second favorite, with Thor on top (sorry guys). And honestly, story-wise I prefer Iron Man 3 over The Avengers. It’s that good, really. It’s much more serious and darker, but thankfully nowhere near as what the trailers and posters suggest, and fans who think Iron Man 3 should be as dark as Nolan’s Batman franchise. But despite the upgrade in the gravity of the storyline, it retained its high-tech charms meant for the kids and kids at heart. Go suit up and watch it, do not wait for The Avengers 2 to see Tony again on the big screen!
Snapping Fate’s So-Called “Thread”: End Of What Could Have Been An Era
“We were never meant to be baby, we just happened…”
-Kanye West, Knock You Down
It’s quite saddening to end something that hasn’t even started yet. Honestly, I’m not sure if it even began in the first place, and I’m not sure either if it already truly is over. But since I’m neither getting anything nor anywhere, it’s pretty much safe to assume that it is. It’s over – Lin and I. Well, we never were, but I’m sure you get the idea.
It all began on March 10, when I bought her an entrance ticket for Cherry Con. As payment, as well as some sort of way to make a move on her, I asked her if she could come with me to watch a movie Saturday the following week. She told me that she’s going to see if she could make it, which obviously meant no, but I thought it meant “yes, just not next week”, so I naively interpreted what she said like a gullible child that thought a girl like Lin is incapable of deceit, and believed her, even after giving me the same answer with a different excuse the following week. Two weekends later, after going to the beach with my office friends and Christian Camp, after not answering my calls and replying to my messages, I stopped believing in whatever she said. But you know me, once a fool, always a fool, so I believed her when she told me that we’re really going to go out on March 15. But I hastened things, which turned out to be both a big mistake and a revelation.
In Tagcom last April 7 at Robinson’s Midtown, an event I thought we both wouldn’t go to, just before Fernan and I watched GI Joe: Retaliation, I found her by the event area, being a darling to the photographers. Acting as if I wasn’t kept out of the loop, I approached her while Fernan took a picture of us, which is perhaps the last picture of us, and had a little bit of small talk. Fernan, being a total wingman, hatched up a plan to get me and Lin have a surprise movie date, so I went along and told Lin that he had to leave because of an emergency and it would be nice if she’d go instead of him. If Lin truly was the compassionate maiden who I thought she was, if she truly saw me in a different light – or even just a valuable friend, this would’ve been the perfect plan. But she was, is, and never will be who I thought she was, so she either consulted her “friends” or used them as some kind of a front so that I couldn’t blame her for a semi-expected no. A failed plan and a wasted ticket…not really because Fernan waited and watched the whole tragedy unfold, so we pushed through with our original plan. He saw me got rejected and crushed…it’s okay I guess, I kind of did that on purpose so that he’d know what having a crush truly means.
Before I went off with Fernan, I made her pinky swear on our promise. The “promised day” came, but semi-expectedly, she didn’t keep it, even if it was something as sacred as a pinky swear. But that time, she didn’t even bother to give me an excuse/reason that I no longer would believe, she just straight up left me hanging onto absolutely nothing, just like the things between us and their meanings, as well as how she sees me. The first time we met, the time when she lent me money for my Dominator, AMORE A VENEZIA, OXP, CHERRY-CON, all those times we were seen with each other that our friends in the cosplay scene tease us and ask me where she is when I’m not with her – were all of it nothing to her? Well, maybe they all are. Maybe I just fell too fast and put inappropriate colors to the things we did and talked about and times we spent together. But I would’ve been happy enough with her just spending time with me, she didn’t have to feel the same way for me. Now I can’t be happy when she comes to mind, for I think I know the truth now.
She only wanted to be with me because she didn’t want to be alone. She only wanted my company. She only wanted a human being that has a physical body so that she wouldn’t seem singular in the eyes of others. She only wanted an entertaining soul that would chase away her boredom. She only wanted a substitute for her beloved “friends”. It could’ve been anyone, but she chose me, not because she wants to be with me, but because I can and want to be with her. She didn’t need to drag anyone else, because there was always someone who is more than willing. But when it’s the other way around, I couldn’t even yank her a single inch closer. That’s not friendship. That’s not a girl worth investing your time and effort with. That’s not a girl worth giving your heart to. After all, only a fool gives everything to someone who considers him or her as nothing. Only a fool considers someone priceless after being considered by that someone as worthless. Should I have met Lin a few years before, I would’ve been that fool, her fool. But she met me now, so I never will be.
I thought she was Aya Toujo. Honestly, she almost was. But when I compared them both, I realized why Aya Toujo is considered a standard. It’s not her beauty nor intelligence, for so many characters share such traits. It is her goodness, kind-heartedness, and decency that made her as such. Aya would never make a guy she doesn’t like tag along so that she wouldn’t be alone. Aya would never make false promises that gets broken every time as easily as a twig in a forest trail. I thought Lin was Aya Toujo. It was just a thought, for the truth is that although they shared beauty and intelligence, Lin is a mere little speck easily erased by Aya Toujo’s heart made of the purest light.Was everything fate? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe we were fated to meet, but never to be anything more than two cosplayers who asked the same person to make props for us. Everything that came afterwards was just a disappointment dragged on for two months that I let happen, all because I was blind and delusional.
Well, I’m not sure if I should be happy that I didn’t end up with Lin or feel awful because she treated me like crap, which won’t be the case if she wanted me as well…but then again, would I want a girl with a personality like that? I guess we’re not each other’s losses then. Although honestly, she lost something, or never really had in the first place rather – me. We could’ve just been friends. I would’ve been cool with that. Now she’ll never be friends with someone as cool as me. She’s never fated to be.
A Very Ugly Flower
After what seems like aeons, my schedule finally got freed up, and what do I write about first? This anime called Aku no Hana, which means Flowers of Evil in Japanese. It’s not the incest shoujo manhwa, nor is this about some kind of Magical Girl subgenre anime, it’s actually just a simple School Life/Slice of Life anime about a perverted teenager named Kasuga Takao who steals the gym clothes of his classmate, crush, muse, femme fatale, and Venus Nanako Saeki, and got caught by borderline psychopath classmate Nakamura Sawa, who blackmails him into becoming some kind of a slave for her in exchange for not to telling anyone. Sick and twisted, right? Well, it gets worse.
Craving for more of the beautifully rotoscoped, vilely humorous and entertaining, and deeply philosophical social commentary-ish anime that only has two episodes as of the moment, I turned to the manga to see if they share the same story. And what was supposed to be just a simple comparison turned to an addiction, as I got hooked with the story that I swiftly breezed past half of it in just two days. In fact, I’m almost at the latest chapter! But despite my love for the manga and its social and philosophical themes that mostly question sexuality and normalcy, I have nothing but absolute contempt for the protagonist.
I swear to God, aside from doing stupid, juvenile, yet horribly perverted and life-wrecking stuff that even I, a long-time manga enthusiast, got queasy with, he deeply wounds the heart of Saeki, a total Yamato Nadeshiko that could go along with the likes of Aya Toujo and Kozaki Onodera, and even corrupts her to a certain extent, all for a freak like Nakamura.
I don’t know how in the world did a low, perverted, and spineless being like him got with Saeki – beautiful, intelligent, responsible, hardworking, charming, sweet, and nice – the complete package I have been searching for my entire life. Then when he finally gets a chance with the one he wants, blows it all off just to do indecent acts with the crazy bitch Nakamura, all after she made his life almost like an impossible hell. And to make matters worse, when Saeki went after him even if she has already found out what he has done (including her gym clothes) as well as who he truly is, after she went as far as take the same damn road to depravity, he still chooses Nakamura and the gut-churning things they do. Seriously, is that what you do to someone who tells you that both of you are in a precious relationship? To someone who truly loves you, cares for you, cherishes and sees something something special in you even if you are worth nothing? Ugh. And I thought Junpei Manaka is the worst. Damn it, stupid manga protagonists, only made worse by the fact that there are real people like them.
Then again, I couldn’t help but think that maybe it’s just how the way it is. After all, he’s a pervert, and so is Nakamura, therefore they go perfectly well together…down the road of depravity and destruction. Aside from that, I couldn’t help but realize that even though I totally understand Kasuga because I am somewhat different compared to the regular people in the society, I am sickened by the unspeakable horrors he and Nakamura did so shamelessly without even thinking of the consequences towards him and the people around him and by how much he damaged Saeki’s heart and soul. I also realized that even though there is a need for us to admit that deep inside us lies great desires to do wrong things of varying gravity and be accepted and understood despite such truth, we should never embrace, cultivate, frolic, and linger on such things. After all, transcendence is not achieved by turning to our fallen nature, but rising above it.
If I were a pervert like Kasuga, I never would need someone like Nakamura who would condone my, for all I need is someone like Saeki, who will accept, understand, and will change me for the better. I would tell Saeki the truth, rise above my urges, become a decent man for myself and her, and live happily ever after. I’d probably be called a worm by the likes of Nakamura, but I don’t care, because I know I’m not, but people liker her are, for they do nothing but squirm in the dirt, helping the flowers of evil bloom – a very ugly flower.
Okay, enough introspection, just read the manga and watch the anime, even though I have horribly spoiled you guys. Then again, everything in this post is just a tip of the iceberg…
April’s Fool
After I woke up from my beautiful dream, I decided to play League of Legends, for there is nothing better than a game to escape the reality that I’m a 22-year old single loser who never had a girlfriend and can’t get the girl he likes. But then I remembered my vow yesterday, so I decided to write this post to take back my previous one (click here for the previous post). It’s not because I do not honor my promises, but because it’s already April 2. BELATED HAPPY APRIL FOOLS EVERYBODY!
For once in my life, I decided to pull a prank on the people I care about. I don’t know why, but I just thought that maybe it’d be nice to pull one off. Question is – what kind of prank? In my mind here were my ideas:
- Fake a relationship status – needs someone else to complete, much hassle
- Say that I’ll be skipping work when in fact you’re not – might get into trouble
- Say that I’ll stop being an otaku – that’s too unbelievable
- Say that I’ll stop being a gamer and cosplayer because of my realizations at Christian camp – PERFECT!
The reason I chose the last one is because I’d have a convincing reason to “quit” gaming and cosplaying, plus it would be believable because my friends know that I could actually quit them. So I made a post about it, showed it to the people concerned, made them feel genuinely sad regarding my sham decision, making it a complete success.
I admit, it does feel bad to pull a prank like that because I’m preying and playing on the emotions of others, and it did feel like I’m totally denying myself because it’s obviously not what I wanted, but it did feel irrevocably awesome the moment they believed it. I’m sorry guys. You know I love you.
Well, if there’s something I learned from the prank, it’s the fact that my friends really do want me to keep playing and cosplaying, and for that I thank them. And among them, I would like to especially call out to my friend Nhel for knowing me too well and saying “James, okay lang maglaro at sumali basta alam mong may limitasyon yun tsaka importante rin na nagsasaya paminsan minsan. Mahirap itanggi kung sino ka talaga James.”
Duh, Nhel’s right. I can never deny who I am. Reinventing myself and becoming someone else is a part of who I am, making cosplaying and gaming parts of who I am, integral parts of my fandom religion. More battles to come, more characters to become.
In all of this, I realized that perhaps the greatest fool is me, for in my mind I had doubts that this would work because nobody really cares, and the only way this joke would work is for you guys to do so. I guess you guys do. So for everyone, thank you for riding along my April Fool’s joke. Thank you for caring.
Dream Blog: Dreaming Of Autumn In Summer
“All I know is that in my dreams you love me…”
-In My Dreams,Reo Speedwagon
When a dream is so beautiful, waking up to reality almost feels like dying, a stab straight to the heart…
I was standing across the pedestrian lane towards some mall, waiting for someone. Finally, she arrives…Lin, with smiles on her lips and crescent chinita eyes warmer than the summer on her beautiful face. A little small talk, then we walk towards the mall. I swear, it felt so beautifully real that I thought it’s a dreamlike reality when it was actually the other way around.
But even in a dream, a place that possesses perfection only second to heaven, I still had a realistic and human worry – work. In the dream, I actually skipped work just to be with Lin, and I didn’t even make a sorry lie of an excuse to my beautiful boss Ma’am Gab, and we’re already buying tickets for a movie titled “Autumn” that starts playing at 3:43, which isn’t even a real movie but I didn’t notice because I’m too captivated with Lin to do so, and work starts at 5, which means Ma’am Gab will call me during the movie and I’m certainly damned in work. BUT I DIDN’T CARE, not because I’m badass, but because my dream finally came true and nothing else mattered at that moment. Once again, I thought wrong – my daydream just became a dream in every sense of the word.
After bumping to my pastor, which I even introduced to Lin despite being told not to go out on dates with just the two of us because of the risk of temptation, we ate at this Chinese restaurant and I ordered sweet and sour pork. It’s probably Chowking. I hope not, I wouldn’t want to take her out on a mere fastfood chain, but then again anything’s more than alright as long as I’m with her. Once again, we had chitchat and small talk, and I don’t even know what it’s about, but I don’t care, for she was so close to me that I could see nothing else but her beautiful face and hear her beating heart.
After we eat comes the main event, the theater. I know I’ve been with her for what seems like hours already even though it’s just actually minutes in real life (Inception much?), but it still feels too good to be true, which actually is! Anyway, I sat there, watching the trailers and her watch the trailers, and then the trailers show this movie where Ultron is beating the living LED lights out of Iron Man, and when he succeeds he says that he has finally defeated Megaman, so in my head I was “NO! THAT’S IRON MAN, STUPID!”. I thought of something. The gears of my cerebrum started turning, waking me to the reality and the realization that it was all and nothing but a beautiful dream. Beautiful, but just a dream nonetheless.
I was awake in bed, still gasping as if I was on the shore after nearly drowning, thinking of her and how painful is the truth that I am stuck here in this reality where Lin is the subject of my unrequited feelings that have no assurance of being returned whatsoever, where I got less better things to do like watch movies and anime or read manga and novels, and where I got training for work at 1PM which isn’t even paid and considered as overtime. And perhaps the worst part in all of this is that I never could go back, my link to that wondrous feeling eternally severed. Damn it, this reality blows, for I have nothing to look forward to. I wish I never woke up and got stuck in an infinite loop of beautiful dreams like that.
Oh how I wish that the reason why I woke is because reality will soon be as good as a dream. If not, I’ll hook myself to one of those machines they use in Inception. Oh Lin, in this scorching summer you are my autumn, for like the leaves I have fallen for you in this world and the other one.
P.S.
I have a theory that maybe dreams are visions of alternate events in an alternate reality. Maybe in another world, faraway across the stars, we’re chatting each other, talking about the date we had.
Farewell, My Fantasies
There are things in this life that we want to do so badly that they become what we need to do. But oftentimes these things are not what we truly need to do. In fact, they are what we need to stop doing. So from this day onwards, thanks to a fresh revelation I have received in Christian camp, I have decided to hang both the mantles of cosplaying and gaming in order to focus in more worthy things in life – the real things.
I know it doesn’t sound like me. I know you people either know me too well or read me too easily. I know you’re either surprised or thinking that I’m playing you, and honestly, I’m just as surprised as you people are and I wish that I’m playing as well, but I’m not. This is the truth. And you people know me – I tell the truth most of the time.
Gaming and cosplaying have both become great parts of my life and identity. In both of these ways of life, I get to become someone else even for just a few hours – something that I direly need. Be it through being in a virtual battlefield wielding sword and sorcery slaying my foes or donning a tacky-colored wig and a costume of a character from a visual work of fiction running around wherever there are people who are wearing the same thing – I felt good, liberated, epic, as if I have been given a new life that I could never experience if I never became a gamer and a cosplayer. And that is where the problem lies.
I have been immersed too much in illusions, much so that I’ve been losing quite a hefty amount of real time, energy, and money on them. So much resources spent on things that I could only hold on to for a moment and is lost forever afterwards, leaving me with nothing. In all those times I spent defeating my enemies, I could’ve been defeating my old self and improve on things that I should. The money used to purchase costumes and wigs could’ve been saved for actual clothes and gadgets that would make me look cool and respectable. The energy I used to go to Pacific to play when I could’ve just read books or to some faraway mall for cosplaying while I could’ve just expressed my love for anime and manga at home through the most basic way – watching and reading them. Real things used to pay for my fantasies and escapism…isn’t watching movies and anime and reading manga and novels more than enough?
However, despite my turning away from what were integral sacraments of my fandom religion, I never could deny the good times and friends they have brought me. If it wasn’t for DoTA, I would never be friends with Ivan, Fernan, and Nhel – my greatest comrades and confidants for almost five years now. If I was never a gamer, then I probably would have nothing to talk about with my childhood friends Kevin and Andrew. If it wasn’t for cosplay, I never would’ve known that there are people like Jun, Aron, Jamie, Tobi, Kevin, Knievel, Sean, Melody, Ivan, Ivan, Almira, Kyne, Kim, Gerdy, Mukuro, Xai, Nicco, Sena, Roeffy, Jansmark, Ryan, Lanie, Ken’etsu, Aki, Mich, Johann, Bianca, and Lin – that’s a lot, it’s as if the anime core value of friendship has been imparted to me through cosplaying. Damn it, never though these two things brought so much unforgettable people into my life and now I’m going to leave them behind like two ex-girlfriends. But I need to. For my sake. Of course, I’ll still be in cons but will no longer be caught dead looking like an anime character.
Farewell, my fantasies. You have brought me so much joy, but I need to leave you. I need to reach for the real things. Now I don’t how to not feel nostalgic and look at my past cosplay pictures…
I put the I in the UNIVERSE. I hope I can put U too. 