Common Courtesy

I am fuming mad! Just a couple of hours ago I was in SM North EDSA. I was at the snack department/area of the store and grabbed 3 pouches of fish crackers. I immediately went to the nearest cashier to pay for my loot, in front of me was a woman of chinese descent in her mid or late 50's . The cashier clerk was already scanning the merchandise she was buying. After all the chips, chocolates, and other junk foods were scanned she asked the clerk to wait for some other item. Then came a teenage girl with a bottle of mineral water who appears to be the woman's daughter. I thought that it was the end of it....Apparently not.... the old lady asked the clerk to wait some more for some other items to be included. I think we waited for almost 5 minutes until some other teenage girls came with some junk foods to be included. They bought a total of almost 500 pesos worth of junk food. By this time I was already mad as hell. I was probably staring at the lady like I would like to kill her or something because her son a young man who appears to be fresh out of college stared back at me with "what's your problem?" written all over his face. I really would like to confront them and give the old lady a lecture that it is not proper to keep people waiting. I let it slide.... and just end up hoping that they would all choke to death with all the junk food they bought.

It is extremely frustrating that most people in this archipelago are clueless when it comes to common courtesy. I actually tend to overlook things when the culprits are the poor and the uneducated... I usually tell myself that these people do not know any better and usually place the blame on the institutions of this country. But when the misbehavior is committed by the rich and educated lot, I am extremely disgusted. These rich and highly educated people have no reason to throw their weight around anybody.

My Electrical Engineer cousin worked in Japan under a joint project with Meralco for six months a couple of years ago. When he went back home here in the Philippines he cannot help but talk and marvel about the demeanor of the Japanese. According to my cousin the Japanese are very courteous and gentle people. They go about their business around the office very quietly and according to him even inside the train the Japanese hardly talk to one another. They are very mindful that they are sharing the train with other people hence very respectful not to bother the other passengers. We then concluded that the good manners can be attributed with the high education level of the Japanese. However, here in the Philippines apparently no amount of money or education can make a difference.

See You at the Movies

Last week I was able to see two movies. The first movie I saw was last Monday, I watched the movie World Trade Center. Everybody knows that it is the story of the two Port Authority police officers who were trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center. The movie shows the harrowing experience of being pinned down by tons and tons of debris. The movie reminds me of the July 16, 1990 earthquake here in Manila and central Luzon measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale. I can still remember the images on the TV screen of people being pulled out of the rubbles or pinned down with no hopes of being squeezed out. Overall the movie seems so constricted, I dont know if it is just because of the claustrophobic setting. But there is something missing about this movie.

Last Thursday I watched Flags of our Fathers, from the poster alone we all know that this is about the celebrated image of the Marines raising the flag on Mount Suribachi for propaganda and fund-raising. I have been a huge fan of Clint Eastwood as a filmaker eversince I saw in 1992 the movie Unforgiven. Eastwood is a very good storyteller, he is also able to convey in the silver screen the subtle nuances of emotions. Whenever I watch his movies I feel like I am intimately involved with the movie's characters. The same thing is true with the Flags of our Fathers, you can feel the pain of lost, agony of surviving, and the distant flicker of hope. I hope that Adam Beach gets nominated for his performance in this movie. I strongly recommend that you all watch this movie as well.

As if these two movies are not enough I urge you dear friends to check out the two on-going film festival in the metropolis. The first one is the 8th CineManila International Fil Festival which runs from November 3 to 15. The movies are being screened at SM City, Megamall, Mall of Asia, and Greenbelt.

2006 Cinemanila International Film Festival Official Selection
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
1. 9TH Company, Dir. Fyodor Bondarchuk (Finland,Russia,Ukraine)
2. Climates ,Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey,France)
3. Citizen Dog, Dir. Wisit Sasanatieng (Thailand)
4. Everlasting Regret, Dir. Stanley Kwan (Hong Kong)
5. Heremias ,Dir. Lav Diaz (Philippines)
6. It's Only Talk ,Dir. Ryuichi Hiroki (Japan)
7. Kubrador ,Dir. Jeffrey Jeturian (Philippines)
8. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, Dir. Park Chan-wook (South Korea)
9. The Wind That Shakes the Barley ,Dir. Ken Loach (UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Ireland)
10. Taking Father Home, by Ying Liang (China)

DIGITAL LOKAL COMPETITION
1. Anino ng Setyembre Dir. Briccio Santos
2. Gamot sa Pagkabagot Dirs. Ato Bautista, Jason Donato and Shugo Praico
3. Manoro Dir. Brillante Mendoza
4. Numbalikdiwa Dir. Roberto Bonifacio
5. Raket ni Nanay Dir. Lawrence Fajardo
6. Squatterpunk Dir. Khavn dela Cruz

DOCUMENTARY FILMS IN COMPETITION
1. The Gift of Barong,Dir. Benito Bautista (USA/Philippines)
2. Hors Le Murs, Dirs. Alexandre Leborge and Pierre Barougier (France)
3. Paper Dolls, Dir. Tomer Heymann (Israel)
4. Serambi, Dir. Garin Nugroho (Indonesia)
5. Storm of Emotions Dir. Yael Klopmann (Israel)

SHORT FILMS IN COMPETITION
1. The Ballad of Mimiong's Minon, Dir. Jon Ballesteros
2. One Man Show, Dir. Dohna Sarmiento and Glenn Ituriaga
3. Hopia Express, Dir. Janus Victoria
4. Misteryo ng Hapis, Dir. Mark dela Cruz
5. Embers, Dir. Marc Laureano
6. Sakdal Laya, Dir. Tey Clamor
7. Buog, Dir. Milo Tolentino
8. Grandma's Recipe, Dir. Imelda Betiong

The second film festival is the 9th Cine Europa which runs from November 9 until November 19 at Shang Cineflex. The great thing about this is it's free admission. Woohoo! The festival features the following contemporary and critically-acclaimed films:

Austria - Karo und der Liebe Gott

Belgium - Everybody Famous

Belgium - When the sea rises

Czech Republic - Zelary

Finland - One way ticket to Mombasa

France - Russian Dolls

Germany - Das Wunder Von Bern

The Netherlands - Simon

Portugal - Delfim

Spain - Cosas que hacen que la vida valga la pena

Sweden - Klassfesten (The Reunion)

United Kingdom - Breakfast on Pluto

See ya at the movies!

Taps

I am one of those dorky people who loved watching CNN, the kind who would stay glued on days end. My mom can't even understand why I stayed glued on the tube recently awaiting the results of the US Mid-term election. I was more than overjoyed to learn that the Democrats finally after 12 long years secured the majority of the seats in the lower house and later would also secure the majority in the Senate. According to the polls the Americans are not happy with the way things are going in Iraq, hence the result of the election. I am never in favor of aggression and war. It seems so easy for the leaders of this planet to stage a war and send the countless hapless ordinary people to be slaughtered. I will however forever always put in high regard the soldiers that battle it out at the fields. While watching the result and aftershock of the mid-term elections I came across a story that was aired in CNN.

The story is about Sgt. Will Mock . He is a 23 years old soldier from Harper, Kansas. He is definitely very young, and once again I am stirred to anger because we send our youth to fight these various ideological, political, social driven wars. I think there is definitely something wrong with a society or a civilization as a whole when they send their kids to fight their battles. We are suppose to nurture our youth and give them bright future and not send them to be slaughtered. I just can not understand the logic of war.... I don't also want to say that these brave soldiers died in vain.... They definitely died because of their conviction that they are doing these for all of us...... ''To end or stifle terrorrism"....And even just for this, I think we owe them our deepest respect and gratitude.

Sgt. Mock talked about how the war changed him. I was particularly moved when he talked about how he felt whenever the Taps was played during memorial ceremonies... "Every time we lose soldiers and we have our ceremonies here for the fallen comrades and they play the taps for those men -- that's probably the moments that will stay in my mind more than ever," he said. "From now until the day that I die, every Memorial Day and Veterans Day when I go to the local cemetery in Harper, Kansas, and they play the taps, I am sure it will hit me pretty hard then."

Each war that is raging in this beautiful blue planet should be a concern for everybody. Every fallen soldier should be mourned..... everytime the Taps is played should remind us of their valor.....

House M.D.

Woohoo! Thank God for DVDs, I finally was able to watch all the 22 episodes of House M.D.'s season 1. I did it in two days non stop with occasional bladder breaks and 8 hours of requisite nocturnal sleep. I missed some episodes during the show’s regular TV screening due to school and my hospital duties. But since it is semester break and my dear niece has a DVD copy, I wasted no time in making sure I get to watch my new favorite drama/comedy/action/educational teevee show!

Gregory House M.D. is a great character. He is the kind of person that you will either love to hate or hate to love. He is the kind of bloke that is difficult to love, and much much more difficult to understand but is easier to hate. I am very empathic with this kind of people…although I have to admit I will never let my self close to this kind of people even within a ten foot pole. I really understand it when some folks do not like people… you know, the kind of people who would really exert effort to avoid any interaction with the rest of mankind. I must admit I dreamt of becoming a monk once when I was a child but have eventually decided not to pursue it later in life…..huge sigh :)

Dr. House can almost always get away with his anti-social demeanor because he is a brilliant diagnostics doctor. On a personal note, therefore the reason why I can’t afford to be anti-social is because I am not brilliant at all :( His unconventional way of working… imagine albeit not personally seeing his patient he still manage to come up with the most accurate diagnosis…. Is not a hindrance at all in doing his job. House succeeded to more than accurately diagnose his patients to effectively heal them of their illness with the help of his crew of brash medical specialists. His team is made up of a neurologist (Dr. Eric Foreman), an immunologist (Dr. Allison Cameron) and an intensevist (Dr. Robert Chase). Uh… I am half guessing that an intensevist is an intensive care unit specialist? His crew is both unluckly and lucky to have him as a boss. He also has one loyal friend in the person of Dr. James Wilson an oncology specialist. To round up the people he usually have to interact with is his boss Dr. Lisa Cuddy.

Aside from the fact that the show is full of drama about life, love, racial and workplace issues, it is also a rich source of medical information. At the same time, one can not help but be endeared with the great Dr. House despite his coarse behavior. Tsk tsk…I heard that some Pinoy doctors are proudly claiming that they are the epitome of Dr. House in the Philippines. I know that rude doctors abound here in the Philippines and it’s kinda sad that they found a new reason to assert their lack of tact. Whew, let’s forget about them Pinoy doctors for a moment I have another time to talk about them. I can’t wait to watch the season 2 DVD. I heard it is also good and packed with Dr. House’s antics. I’ll still try and find time to watch it non-stop even during next semester’s like when I watched Prison Break during my Mid-term examination last semester. Wooohooo!