Girl Action

I Spit On Your Grave is for us women who can handle a pair of garden scissors, fish hooks, and a shotgun without batting an eyelash. "Hell has no fury like a women scorned" is pretty much the idiom of choice in this movie and the many definitions of "revenge" can be seen here in graphic detail.

The movie, a re-release of Day of the Woman (a 1978 controversial rape revenge film) have been condemned by film critics for its graphic violence and lengthy depictions of gang rape. The film was named in 2010 one of TIME's Top 10 Ridiculously Violent Movies.

Go ahead, watch this for kicks. For the male viewers, I suggest that you hold on to your nether regions while watching.

taking a breather

I just finished two articles for the newspaper and all that food writing has made me hungry. Had ibos (sticky rice) in the ref, so I fried them and sliced some mangoes to go with the delicacy. Ibos and mangoes -- comfort food for us Pinoys (particularly for Ilonggos) -- a delicious way to satisfy our starch and sugar craving without breaking the bank. To add to the yum factor, I slathered some butter and sprinkled sugar on the ibos -- fattening!

Anyway, this weekend, I'll be taking a breather. I had such a busy week. The kids are sleeping over at their grandpa's house, so hubby and I are catching the last Valkyrie show at the mall. Nothing like Tom Cruise, the Führer, and some addle-brained Nazis to complete my hectic, cuckoo week!

movie date gone awry

So much for Twilight. I forgot that I am no longer in NY. I am in fact in the backwaters of hell and the movie won't be in theatres till Wednesday. Till then, I'll be doing some serious thumb-twiddling.

dark night

It was a truly dark, disappointing, hot and humid night last night when I and two of my friends were not able to watch "Dark Knight" as planned because all the tickets to the time slots that we wanted (which were not in the wee hours of the morning) were sold out. Apparently, all the residents of the 5 boroughs of NYC had the same idea as the 3 of us and trooped to the movie house this weekend like lemmings armed with pre-paid, reserved tickets. Ugh! We ended up venting our dark frustrations on Mama Mia! and thankfully went out of the theatre a notch happier humming "S.O.S" and "Dancing Queen".

We'll give it one more try next Thursday. We're planning on hitting the streets of NY early to catch the first show just to get the frustration out of our system.

In the meantime, I'm bracing myself for major challenges this week. Batman is actually just my way of forgeting my woes. There's more to my life right now than watching brooding billionaires in black briefs (hmm... now that would make an interesting tongue twister, don't you think?).

serendipity

I think I've watched "Serendipity" a hundred times and each time, I get so pissed when I watch that scene where Kate and John meet again in the skating rink in Central Park (click on my You Tube video on the left). Why the hell is she dressed like a frumpy school teacher? What's with the baggy pants and blah long sleeved shirt? Hey, if you know you're meeting someone that you think might be the one, why will you wear that outfit? I know she's been running around looking for him all day, but jeez, she could have at least made an effort to dress up. That outfit just ruined everything for me. Really, a total deal breaker.

love in the time of cholera

I'm talking about the movie "The Painted Veil", not the book. I just watched this film and it depressed me. I like Edward Norton (except when he lost his mind and had an affair with Salma Hayek, what's the deal with that?). He is so appealing in a nerdy, aloof, sexy kind of way (I can't resist men with brains!). He produced "The Painted Veil", a movie based on the classic novel by W. Somerset Maugham.

It is s a love story set in the 1920s that tells the story of a young English couple, Walter, a middle class doctor / bacteriologist and Kitty, an upper-class woman. They get married for the wrong reasons (as we all are prone to do...) and relocate to Shanghai, China. There, Kitty falls in love with someone else (happens to people who get married for all the wrong reasons...). When he finds out about her affair, he volunteers for a job in a far-flung village in China ravaged by Cholera and takes Kitty along. That or an ugly divorce -- apparently, a fate worse than death (or Cholera) in the 1920s.

Their journey brings them together, and love blooms in the midst of disease and death (how romantic can this be?). This movie was beautifully made (in the genre of "The English Patient"). Love and relationships can be both tragic and meaningful. Norton and Naomi Watts absolutely glow!

I love you JH!

Few men can make me go limp and speechless but the dude up there can. Swoon! Swoon! Anybody expecting an unbiased, intelligent, coherent review of 30 Days of Night can just forget it. I LOVE JOSH HARTNETT! Those eyes can melt steel and my heart (did I say that? Give me a slap for being cheesy! -- oh, but I love him, I love him, I do!!).

I know I'm going to have a lousy day today because I'm about to do something really stressful (and never mind what that is), so I'm posting Josh's photo here to counteract the bad vibe of this day. I watched the movie, which was based on the three-issue mini-series of horror comics written by Steve Niles and illustrated by Ben Templesmith, with my husband the other day (of course, he wanted to give me more than just a slap on the face for going gaga over Josh). 30 Days of Night is a treat for vampire lovers as it depicts the scarier, faster, more violent Nosferatu type vampires (as opposed to the romanticized, velvet-wearing lotharios). What made them creepier was that they spoke in their own demonic, ancient vampire lingo. Eeww. The humans (except for JH, of course) were kinda boring compared to the relentlessly hungry bloodsuckers.

Watch this film and enjoy the gore (and of course JH). The only irritating part is that this film is set in Barrow, Alaska, a cold (obviously), isolated town where the sun goes on hibernation for 30 days each year (meaning the town is virtually in darkness for a month making it a perfect gorging venue for the vamps) -- and so, there is absolutely NO NUDITY in this movie. Josh was wearing this thick jacket the whole time that revealed no interesting body part whatsoever (except for his beautiful face -- sigh!). I was still expecting him to give me a short preview of half, okay, a fourth of his tush as the movie was about to end, but nothing, he gave me nothing! Oh well, I guess I'll have to watch reruns of Pearl Harbor for that (damn you Kate Beckinsale!).

this vampire desperately needs a good dentist