synthesis

there are 35 entries on this blog. =D






i loved lit 13. my grades beg to differ though

y tu mama tambien

i think i've seen this twice already, so i didn't have to watch it again for the quiz. it's true that this is one of my favorites. it has gael garcia bernal and diego luna in it! haha. but more than that, it showed parts of what teenage life is all about for some people. it had sex, alcohol, drugs, girlfriends, and many other adventures or misadventures. the fact that they didn't hide any of those makes it a good representation of reality. some may argue that american movies did just the same. but i think those american teen movies were already sensationalizing everything. they don't have the rawness, that it-looks-real element in them, which i've found in y tu mama tambien. i felt that there were real emotions in this movie. there was genuine sadness which luisa carried all throughout the movie.

when i was watching it, i felt like i was part of the adventure. it was really great. and i felt sorry for julio and tenoch. that one, awkward night changed everything. they had a great friendship, even though they sort of betrayed each other. the movie is rather philosophical. it's like telling you to make the most out of life. and one can only be a total scoundrel for a certain period of time. after that you grow up, tuck your shirt in and be a good man. and then it's time to face the world.

my neighbor totoro

i honestly think this would pass as one of my favorite movies. i know it's old but it's really the first time i've seen it. i've heard of miyazaki before, and i've seen parts of princess mononoke, and they were good, so i knew this one would be good as well. it gave me a happy feeling. everything felt so light when i was watching it. it sort of connects one to his childhood memories where no problems were up in the air. i think this is exactly the kind of film one should watch when in need of both fun and relaxation. i'm definitely a big fan of cartoons, but not usually of asian ones, but i really liked this. i think totoro was very, very cute especially when he smiled. and he was so kind.

i think the world in the film was sort of ideal. there's the happy family. even though the mother was sick, they were still very happy. there was hope of her joining them in their house. there were the helpful neighbors, the responsible father, the reliable sister and the cute little girl in the house. mei was a brat sometimes but that made her all the more adorable. and then there was kanta, reluctant to appear kind but is always ready to lend a helping hand. he is reminiscent of the little boy neighbor who refused to talk to girls his age. and of course, there was the totoro, the cute creature alive in every child's fantasy. he had friends, too.

i really like this film. it's the kind i can watch over and over again.

kwaidan

the stories gave me quite a scare. it was good that even though it attempted to freak the audience out, it didn't involve the usual dead people showing themselves to those who are alive because they want something done. yes, they may have been ghosts in hoichi the earless, but those ghosts are at peace with the fact that they are not alive anymore. the stories here are mainly supernatural and weird. it's the first time i've heard of a man who sees the grinning face of a man when he looks into a cup of tea. that was really weird.

i particularly like the first story, where a man left his good wife for a better position in the society. when he did come back to her, no one was expecting that the ending was going to be gruesome, for lack of a better term. but personally, i think the ending rocked. the final scene had a great impact. maybe it was the old wife's way of getting back at him. and she did it ruthlessly. i say...way to go! i also like the story of hoichi the earless. what was scary was that he didn't know he was actually communicating with ghosts. and it was as though having ghosts around were as mundane as having people in flesh walk around.

and i also think every scene in the movie was like a painting. the movie went on very slowly at times, but every scene was beautifull captured. it really puts one in a dreamy state where ghosts can come alive, and where the weirdest of thing can always happen.

the bicycle thief

this is a very depressing story! it wasn't exactly boring. i thought it was like il postino. it had a very calm beginning but the ending was hearbreaking. first, we are introduced to ricci, one of the many men struggling to earn money. then we meet his family. he has a wife, a very nice and supportive one. she even sold all those sheets so ricci could buy the bicycle which he needed for the job. and he has a son, bruno, who is my favorite character. he was so cute that i started to adore him when i first saw him onscreen. i really wanted to cry when i found out he already had a job! and at that place! i was like, no way. he is just a kid who should be in school or at home playing. he had the right to be a brat. i wanted to really hug him and steal him from that harsh world so he can be pampered here. although it made me angry that he was made to go through things he shouldn't have been involved in, i think his being quick, witty and obedient was what made him all the more adorable to me. when his father slapped him, he was shock and he cried. i wanted to slap the father. well, suffice it to say that i wanted bruno out of that world and with me! hahaha.

the story is very simple. i wonder if this was an indie film. it's also very depressing. poverty had been palpable all throughout. i love bruno.

raise the red lantern

the story was not very unique in the asian world. there have been lots of stories about mistresses; they can be conniving, ingratiating, or just really bland. but i think the story managed to heave itself up by throwing in little things like the maid who died and the girl who went insane in the end. the movie actually reminded me of joy luck club. one of the girls' mother in that story became a concubine and was deceived by a sinister lady. what was evident in this movie is the mystery. some important things were sort of blurred. only the interior of the maid's room had been shown clearly. but there was meaning in that. they wanted to show that the red lantern was there. veering off course, i want to point out that it's funny that the fourth wife went to a university for a semester. we can all relate to her. haha. in the end, i pitied her. i think she felt really bad about having stayed in that place even if his husband was very rich. she missed the way things used to be. maybe she was asking herself questions like what if her father had not died? like if she continued studying at a university? life would have been so much better for her. she probably wouldn't have ended up a lonely concubine wishing things had not changed too much.

dr. strangelove

interesting is such an overused word in this journal. but i'd like to use it again here. the story is interesting. it was eccentric. yes, i guess eccentric is the word. the story seemed to be revolve around something serious. it was set during a war between the russians and the americans. and this story was a combination of comedy and suspense. it's like dark comedy. the general just ordered the dropping of a bomb in russia where a doomsday device could be activated and the famous leaders gathered in the room to talk casually about it. they even had the nerves to drop witty statements. another interesting entity is the character that played dr strangelove. he played three characters in the story! haha. and dr strangelove was really weird. what's with the hand? he kind of reminds me of a mad scientist. a really brilliant and hilarious one. his ideas were twisted. he suggested for people to stay underground where they would be safe and said that for every man, there should be ten women. haha. also, i liked the ending but i hardly expected it. maybe i did expect something dark and comedic at the same time, but i didn't really expect them to die all to suddenly. and the music seemed to poke fun at their demise.

the movie had boring, dragging parts which almost made me sleep. but the coming events compensated for those dreary parts. in the end, i liked it.

casablanca

this was named as the ultimate hollywood film of all time. yeah, i guess you could call it that. it has all the makings of a great movie. it has a stellar cast, fine story, great director, and, of course, brilliant scriptwriters. the movie wouldn't have been that memorable if it weren't for the witty lines like i stick my neck out for nobody. and the ever so famous last line about rick's friendship with renault. and rick's final message to ilsa. that was really sad. they loved each other. if laszlo had not come, the two of them would have been happy, i guess. but if he had not come, there wouldn't exactly be a story to tell, right? haha. even if this movie's really old and is often watched in black and white despite the advancements in technology (some rabid fans prefer it that way), this is definitely not so-ten-years-ago. it's one of my favorites, actually. although there were some dragging parts, the film, on the whole, has a great story and is very entertaining. i love the lines, especially. i love the uniqueness of the characters. none of them seemed bland to me. ilsa was overly dramatic all throughout. she was very beautiful, btw. she's the quintessential lady of a bygone era. beautiful and demure. i remember when i was a kid, i would revel in her beauty. haha. i like this movie a lot.

einstein's dreams by alan lightman

it's true and i quote sir exie on this: it's nothing like we've ever read. although no one can readily conclude whether this was a story or just a series of essays, i think it can be considered a masterpiece. it's like the kind of book i can plunge into whenever i feel like being mellow. it's nice to read it slowly and visualize every scene and object described. using all those sentence fragments was a technique. every single one of them has a picture to show. i also like the language. it's lucid and lyrical. this is actually the best novel we've discussed in class. the best short story is the falling girl, and this is the best novel. haha, that's just my opinion! i really like this story. overall, it was really interesting. time is a nice subject but who knew one could derive so much ideas about it. i really had a great time reading it. the theories were very interesting. what if time did flow backward? what if there were really a place where time stood still? where parents and children hug forever? that's dramatic. and that's the scene that i liked best. this story is elegant and beautifully emo and i love it. what if people went to live on higher places in fear of getting old? what if one can be transported to the past? but i think that's similar to the case in time traveler's wife. the story is imaginative, thought-provoking, and beautiful. i like it so much that i can't say anything objective :)

metamorphosis by franz kafka

this is quite a famous work. i think the story has a lot of symbolisms. mainly, it was about isolation. and i think his personal life was able to throw in a lot of ideas to the novel. i read about kafka's life and managed to find similarities between them and samsa. one can see it in their names, their families, the society they were part of, etc. they both just felt isolated. anyway, this is an interesting story. even the readers would be seized by that claustrophobic feeling. most of everything that was written took place inside the house. the only allusion to the outside world comes in the form of the sister would look out the window. there was also a hospital outside. maybe it's like telling them that there is life out there and only by going out will they be able to cure themselves? in a way, they were sick. sick of their lives, of not knowing what to do, of the uncertainty and sick of the burden that was the vermin gregor samsa. maybe they needed to get out and break free from all those things.

also, in the story, gregor was transformed into a vermin literally. i mean, people saw him as a vermin. it was understood in the story that it was indeed a physical transformation. but there was something more to it than just that. the metamorphosis itself could represent his isolation from the family and from the rest of the world. he was so into his job that he hardly had time for anything else. and what i did not understand about him was that he was being too kind. maybe it's because he loved his family so much. they were very dear to him. and i think the fact that his family appeared to be mean and he still loved him made us want to empathize with him more. the parents, on the other hand, were rather antagonized. they were just leeching money off of him. in the end, it was revealed that the parents were really like that. the ending was a bit satirized. it was happy, all right, since there was new hope, new beginning, but then they'd be using their child again. what a happy event. such mockery.

what's interesting, too, is the supposition that gregor likes his sister. it's nasty, i know, but that could be true. why the hell would you kiss your sister's neck.

persepolis by marjane satrapi

this is the first graphic novel i've ever finished. i used to just skim through the others. haha. this is particularly different from the other popular graphic novels. firstly, it's in black and white. aren't the rest already beautifully colored? and the issue here is sort of very serious. i mean, it wasn't fictional. it did not concern superpowers and fictitious events. it presented what actually happened. it was sort of a time of war, as seen in the eyes of an innocent girl who was just growing up. i think it was unique in a sense that it managed to entertain readers using a story with a fairly harsh setting and using a serious topic. i personally liked the graphic novel. her words were simple, her explanation of what happened was clear though it was just an overview but i thought that was okay. the readers aren't in it for the scoop on iran anyway. i'm planning to read the sequel during the sembreak when all bad memories are forgotten.

the demon lover by elizabeth bowen

i felt that this story was able to set that scary atmosphere right from the beginning. in the first paragraph, it already gave away hints that something supernatural was in the midst. i was curious to know what that supernatural creature would look like. would it be a ghost, a monster, or a demon? i didn't really know. and the letter made everything seem mysterious. how exactly did it get there? and the message was quite scary, too, if you'd think of it. the message was short, but the person who wrote it really made a statement by just writing that letter and placing it on that table. it was a very sly move. obviously, it was mrs. drover's former lover. maybe she had feelings for him, but the passage of time eventually let those feelings fade. or maybe, thery weren't even real. and at the time when the story was unfolding, there were no feelings to speak of anymore. there was actually fear already and maybe bitterness. i think he didn't treat her very nicely. and she didn't have particularly beautiful memories of him and them together. and the "mystery guy," the former lover and soldier, had a domineering disposition. at least that's what i sort of deduced from the way he behaved with mrs. drover (when she was single) and the way he came back. it's like telling her that hey, i'm back, and we made a promise remember? be true to your word. although the message didn't blatantly include threatening phrases, the scary way of presenting should have been enough to freak mrs. drover out. also freaking her out could have been the former lover's way of delivering revenge against mrs. drover. she got married when he was on duty somewhere, remember?

i also vividly imagined the house. the dust and the old things. the isolation. in the end, mrs drover rode a taxi which made a turn 'round the bend when she didn't even tell the driver which way she wanted to go. the ending was scary. was the driver the demon lover? and where were they heading? it was a deep and scary plunge into the unknown. also, was mrs drover sane at that time? or maybe she was just hysterical? either way, it was a very scary experience for her. and for the readers who had been with her.