A List of My Favorite Films (Part 1)

I think it's about high time that I post a list of my all-time favorite films, and I'll present them by not saying too much about the film so you discover on you own why I find these films worthy of my list. Plot summaries were mostly taken from Rotten Tomatoes, with a short side note after each summary.

Films are not ranked because I found it absolutely hard ranking one over the other, but my all-time favorite is without a doubt "the one." There are forty films so far, and I'm pretty sure the list will continue to grow. I have barely gone through the pages of my 1001 Films to See Before You Die!

Argo (2012)

Plot summary: Based on true events, Argo chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis-the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades. On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA "exfiltration" specialist named Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movie.

You Should Watch This Because Of: Ben Affleck and him leading the nail-biting and mattress-gripping escape of the six Americans out of Tehran.

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Plot summary: "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

You Should Watch This Because Of: (Mainly because of) Kevin Spacey's brilliant performance, and the ending. It doesn't get started at around 1h35 minutes (running time is 1h45, mind you), but the ending will totally make up for it. Hey, we all watch a movie to see the ending.

Se7en (1995)

Plot Summary:  A diabolical serial killer is staging grisly murders, choosing victims representing the seven deadly sins. First, an obese man is forced to eat until his stomach ruptures to represent gluttony, then a wealthy defense lawyer is made to cut off a pound of his own flesh as penance for greed. Somerset (Morgan Freeman) initially refuses to take the case, realizing that there will be five more murders, ghastly sermons about lust, sloth, pride, wrath, and envy presented by a madman to a sinful world. Somerset is correct, and something within him cannot let the case go, forcing the weary detective to team with Mills (Brad Pitt) and see the case to its almost unspeakably horrible conclusion. 

You Shouldn't Watch This If: Anything related to the seven deadly sins easily makes you sick.

You Should Watch This Because Of: The vividly-depicted seven deadly sins. And Kevin Spacey (again).

Cidade de Deus (City of God) (2002)

Plot Summary: Fernando Meirelles' City of God is a sweeping tale of how crime affects the poor population of Rio de Janeiro. Though the narrative skips around in time, the main focus is on Cabeleira who formed a gang called the Tender Trio. He and his best friend, Bené (Phelipe Haagensen), become crime lords over the course of a decade. When Bené is killed before he can retire, Lil' Zé attempts to take out his arch enemy, Sandro Cenoura (Matheus Nachtergaele). But Sandro and a young gangster named Mane form an alliance and begin a gang war with Lil' Zé. Amateur photographer Buscape (Alexandre Rodrigues) takes pictures of the brutal crime war, making their story famous.

You Should Watch This Because Of: The compelling narrative nature of the film as it based on real-life events. The violence and brutality was magnificently depicted without skipping the emotions that wrap the poverty-stricken Rio de Janeiro.
 

Poor for all the Wrong Reasons

In the 1950s and early 1960s, the Philippine economy was ranked as the second most progressive in Asia, next to that of Japan. Back then, South Korea after the Korean War was  as battered and poor as Manila was after the Second World War – but look at Korea now. In the Fifties, the traffic in Taipei can be attributed to the bicycles and army trucks clogging the roads, the streets flanked by tile-roofed low buildings. Kuala Lumpur was a small village surrounded by a jungle and hectares of rubber plantations. Bangkok was criss-crossed with canals, with only Wat Arun dominating the city’s skyline. Visit these cities today and weep — for they are more beautiful, cleaner and prosperous than Manila. In the Fifties and Sixties we were the most envied country in Southeast Asia. Why is it then that we were left behind? Why is it that we are somewhat stuck in a warp where we are to be held helpless for the coming years? Why is the Philippines poor?

But what does it mean to be poor exactly? As Edilberto Alegre describes it, to the common tao (ordinary people) it means the “condemnation to life-long hunger-never enough rice, never enough corn, never enough kamote, never enough kamoteng kahoy and bagoong and leaves. It means wearing torn clothes and going barefoot. It means schooling, if at all, stops at Grave IV. It means bearing pain because medicine is expensive. It means working in the rain, in the heat of the sun, in the mud, in the refuse of the rich, in the offal of the middle class. They are Other. They look different. They are dressed differently. They smell differently. They move differently.  They speak differently.  They are totally unlike us. At most, they are an abstract-a hazily floating ephemeral image. They are just a mass, a conglomerate of bad smelling offal, a percentage of our total population, poverty similar to the cockroaches and ants which are always there in the dark — a given, a condition, a presence which we need not deal with.” Replace every single “they” I have said, and I just described the Filipinos and the country in general.

So why then are we poor? F. Sionil Jose emphasizes on the following reasons: 

1. Social and moral malaise on colonialism is partly to blame, as we inherited from Spain a social system and elite that, on purpose, exploited the masses. 

2. We are poor because our nationalism is inward looking. Under its guise we protect inefficient industries and monopolies. We did not pursue agrarian reform like Japan and Taiwan. It is not so much the development of the rural sector, making it productive and a good market as well. Our nationalist icons like Claro M. Recto and Lorenzo Tanada opposed agrarian reform, the single most important factor that would have altered the rural areas and lifted the peasant from poverty.

3. We are poor because we have lost our ethical moorings. We condone cronyism and corruption and we don’t ostracize or punish the crooks in our midst. Both cronyism and corruption are wasteful but we allow their practice because our loyalty is to family or friend, not to the larger good.

We can tackle our poverty in two very distinct ways. The first choice: a nationalist revolution, a continuation of the revolution in 1896. But even before we can use violence to change inequities in our society, we must first have a profound change in our way of thinking, in our culture.

The second is through education, perhaps a longer and more complex process. The only problem is that it may take so long and by the time conditions have changed, we may be back where we were, caught up with this tremendous population explosion which the Catholic Church (I am using the term Catholic Church loosely here, as I may refer it to religions in general) exacerbates in its conformity with doctrinal purity. We have developed a fatalistic attitude as expressed in statements such as “bahala na ang Diyos”, “ginusto ng Diyos”, “oras na”, etc. This fatalistic attitude pervades our poor countrymen and even the so-called educated. We are afraid to question such long-held beliefs since we think that it is tantamount to committing sin. We need to outgrow these childish beliefs which are destructive to ourselves and society and have to learn and understand more deeply our inherited religion and thus develop a more mature faith. The aggregate and adverse impact of fatalism are for a populace to throw out their hands in despair, helplessness, inaction and to seek solace in wishful prayers which in effect only gives credence to the oft-quoted remark by Karl Marx that “religion is the opium of the people.”

We are a rich country, resources-wise and manpower-wise. We are a society of a hundred-million, and it is taking us forever to look at the fact that we are a hundred-million strong! We are a country with vast natural resources, and we are all using and abusing them for all the wrong reasons! It all boils down to us. We are our own enemy. And we must have the courage, the will, to change ourselves.

References:

Alegre, Edilberto (2001). What Does It Mean To be Poor? Retrieved from http://pimephilippines.wordpress.com/2001/03/11/what-does-it-mean-to-be-poor/

Constantino, Leticia (2003). What is Filipino Nationalism? Retrieved from http://sundalo.bravehost.com/What%20Nationalism.htm

Jose, F. Sionil (2006). Why Are The Filipinos So Poor? Retrieved from http://liberaleconomy.wordpress.com/2006/11/23/fsionil-joses-why-are-filipinos-so-poor/

Scott, William Henry (1994). Barangay : sixteenth-century Philippine culture and society. Quezon City : Ateneo De Manila University Press, ix, 306 p. : ill.

Scientists: Breaking Stereotypes (and protocols)

For those keeping track of my life (as if someone does, with the exception of my family), you would know that I'm currently pursuing graduate studies in some East Asian country while doing laboratory work involving cells and tissues. I think choosing this path rather than going to medical school was a good decision, even though there's the occasional "I just want to strangle everyone here" moments. I easily get over such moments though.

Seoul Searching, Days 1 and 2.

We could have been at Atlanta, touring the CNN headquarters or roaming Georgia Tech. But that's another story.

We left Gimhae on an express bus, which is quite ironic since there's nothing fast with the express bus and it still took us four hours to reach Seoul. KTx, which only takes 2h40m to travel from Busan to Seoul, is quite expensive: 30000KRW more than the express bus fare. At least with the bus, we can catch up on some Zs.

Hunger Games Philippines' #HGP6DayGiveaway Promo

In a few days, Hunger Games Philippines will be celebrating two important things: first, the start of the one year countdown for premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the second of four installments of the much talked-about The Hunger Games series, and second, HGP's second anniversary as an organization!

Hence, from November 22 to November 27, we will be giving away a Hunger Games Item EVERY NIGHT through various contests.Instructions will be given every night during HGPPrimetime except for the Nov. 27 contest which will be a Photo Essay contest!

For more details, refer to the posters above.

Happy Hunger Games and May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor!

(Unfinished Post) The Best of the Latter Half of the 2011-2012 TV Season (Comedy)

I'm quoting mostly AVClub reviews for my reasons, but I've linked some to other sites as well. Click on the links to read the full reviews.

1. 2 Broke Girls, “And Martha Stewart Have A Ball”

"I also liked that Martha Stewart was such a game guest star and that the episode played like a weird collection of a bunch of stuff season one had left hanging out there, like Johnny or that weird bacon cupcake the girls came up with over spring break (which has become a recurring character)."

Left Manila on a delayed airbus.

How to Turn a Simple Speech into a Full-blown National Issue, Tito Sotto Style.

1. Be a bearded, bigoted actor-turned-politician who decides to deliver a 'turno en contra' about a pressing national issue.

Crazy Quips by Crazy Women: Milagros 'Mitos' Magsaysay and Michele Bachmann

The similarity doesn't end with their crazy eyes. We can trace it back to their brains, and then back down to their mouths. Fingers, in the case of Mitos.

Here are two of politics' most fascinating women, thinking out loud about God sending a message through natural calamities:

Mitos Magsaysay: "Heaven must be crying… we have to undo what has been done."- her vague tweet that subtlety blamed the termination of the RH Bill debates at the lower house for the habagat that wreaked havoc in Manila and nearby provinces. She later denied it.

Michele Bachmann: I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending." – remarks made during a presidential campaign event in Florida that the 2011 East Coast earthquake and hurricane was a message from God.

Crazy Fan Theories So Logical We Bought It

Yep, fans are crazy people.

I can't think of someone who doesn't belong to a fandom, be it some culturally significant film or a book that revolutionized how kids and/or adults read. I also admit belonging to some, although for someone who spends a lot of time watching (and partly reading) it would be hard not to belong to at least two.

But some fans bring fanaticism to a whole new level, often deeper than the multi-layered dream in Inception. I am referring to the fans who don't believe in the phrase coined by Freud (or whoever really said this): Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. These people, who, rather than enjoying the material as it is, try to come up and present logical reasoning to the things that seem incomprehensible to the average viewer and/or reader to satisfy everyone's already mindblown brains. Although some are really logical that sooner or later we wouldn't be surprised when producers and authors reveal that the theory isn't a theory at all, most are just really out of this world. But hey, these theories are good for an afternoon read and something to ponder upon before sleeping.

And that's what I did the whole afternoon and what I plan to do before sleeping, all thanks to user FrancisDollarHyde on reddit who posted this: What 'fan theories' have blown your mind with their devastating logic? And I would like to share those that I've found to be really interesting.

Hunger Games Archery Tournament

Photo by Elisha Darusin, Multimedia District

Hunger Games Philippines, in partnership with Benel Archery Club (http://www.benel.com.ph/), brings you: THE HUNGER GAMES ARCHERY TOURNAMENT! July 21, Saturday at Benel Archery (17 Calbayog St. Mandaluyong, near Shaw Blvd MRT Station).

Teaching archery to the participants and demonstrating it to the guests will be Earl Benjamin Yap, gold medalist of the 2007 Asian Archery Championship and 2008 Southeast Asian Archery Championships! For just 300 pesos (entrance fee + snacks already included here!), you'll be trained by professional archers which include Mr. Yap, after which you'll put your newly-learned skill into action by competing with other participants for a chance to win a MOCKINGJAY PIN, a GIFT PACK FROM Astroplus, and VARIOUS MERCHANDISE from our sponsors! And yes, runners-up will get consolation prizes too!

Not feel like competing? Just pay 50 pesos and you'll be able to watch archery demonstrations and see the participants battle it out! Our sponsors will be setting up booths where you can purchase food and various Hunger Games products!

Confirm your attendance by filling out this form: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDdVS0RKcDAteHZ6RV9mTnphdFFZWEE6MQ

Payment details will be sent via email. Registration fee is non-refundable but transferrable. Participants will be asked to sign waiver forms (spectators and guests don't need waivers anymore), and minors will need a signed parental consent aside from the waiver.

For more details, visit http://hungergamesphils.tumblr.com/contests-events

Blog Blog: Doctor Puppet

Who doesn't love a puppet-ized Eleven?!

We have come to love the adorkable Eleven over the course of two seasons, and now animation artist Alisa Stern has made him much more adorkable: taking photos of a puppet-ized Eleven going around the world! Although he's not going around in his trusty old TARDIS (which I'm sure is parked somewhere), he still manages to go round-and-about, visiting famous landmarks like the Brookyln Museum (above) and Coney Island.

Here's Eleven at the Grand Central Station

The Doctor really deserves this much-needed vacation, don't you think? I mean, after saving the entire universe every single day? I hope the Daleks aren't there to ruin your vacay!

And at the Central Park. We love a smiling doctor, don't we?

Check out the other photos at http://doctorpuppet.tumblr.com/

On Steve-Adam and Eve-Jane (1/n)

First of a series of posts regarding my stance on same-sex marriage.

The internet is abuzz with discussions regarding gay marriage as Obama publicly expressed his support for the controversial issue in a recent interview with ABC News. This announcement was met with both praise and condemnation from the Americans, which currently splits the country apart.

Back home the same topic splits the country into two, with the religious arguing that it is not just immoral but also against the teachings of the Bible, and those who believe that there is nothing legally and morally wrong with gay marriage if we are to set aside religious arguments.

As I casually read and cringed at some arguments of those against it, I happen to stumble upon this:

Of course this is nothing compared to the very cringe-worthy tweet from Ferdinand Topacio, the lawyer of the infamous Arroyos who vowed to have his balls cut if the couple didn't return from a scheduled check-up abroad. The tweet said:

History has taught us that blood flowed when the slaves and the African-Americans fought for their rights. Indeed it will be a hard fight, a steep climb in fact for our LGBT friends just to attain theirs. But in this case, would we really care if this man's blood flows just to rebuke LGBT rights? The same man who offered his testicles to the heavens above as a collateral for his masters' return?

Going back to the lady who questioned the capability of LGBT couples to raise a perfectly healthy and heterosexual child, at least four US courts beg to disagree with you. Here are the four court decisions that would refute your claim:

• “The evidence presented by [the] plaintiffs and defendant establishes that the single most important factor in the development of a happy, healthy and well-adjusted child is the nurturing relationship between parent and child.” (Chang, 1997)

• “Based on our own philosophy of child rearing, and on our observations of the children being raised by same-sex couples to whom we are personally close, we may be of the view that what matters to children is not the gender, or sexual orientation, or even the number of the adults who raise them, but rather whether those adults provide the children with a nurturing, stable, safe, consistent, and supportive environment in which to mature. Same-sex couples can provide their children with the requisite nurturing, stable, safe, consistent, and supportive environment in which to mature, just as opposite-sex couples do.”(Sosman, 2003)

• “Lesbigays who have children often create a network of fictive kin or ‘chosen’ family (friends, former partners, and willing relatives) for social and emotional support as well as to offer their children suitable adult role models of the other sex. This support network may be entirely gay but generally represents a mixture.” (Ambert, 2004)

• “Children of married gay parents benefit directly from knowing that their future holds the prospect of marriage. […] If a child sees that Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the neighbors to the left, are married, and that Mrs. and Mrs. Jones, the neighbors to the right, are married, and that the child’s own parents are married—that, I think, sends a positive and reassuring message to children, about both the importance of marriage and the stability of their community,” (Rauch, 2004)

Next: Legality.

Tatak Pinoy!

This widely-circulated video of thephilippinestm™ uses Charlie Brown by Coldplay as its background music. It has already "premiered" in the famous New York Times Square, where it definitely got the attention of the passers-by. This joint project by the biggest advertising names in the country which includes PublicisJimenez Basic and Campaigns & Grey could be the biggest and best tourism campaign the country has undertaken.

On Spratlys and the Scarborough Mess

I see it fitting to repost this entry I made almost 10 months ago in light of the recent dispute with China over the Scarborough Shoal.

Photodump: Manila Ocean Park

Where: Manila Ocean Park
When: April 14, 2012
Who: Me and my cousins
What: Wholesome family bonding

First Listen: Picture Show (Neon Trees)

Picture Show is the second full length studio album by Neon Trees, which happens to be one of my favorite bands. Their second album is slated for an April 17 release but the internet, being the internet, has provided us with links to listen to some of their tracks in advance.

The Hunger Games: An "In-Depth" Review

The Advance Screening of The Hunger Games at
Mall of Asia Premier Cinema last March 21. (Photo from Ariela Badenas)

The movie adaptation of The Hunger Games premiered almost a week ago here in the Philippines, to much fanfare and hype. I was able to view it during the advance screening of the film last Wednesday at Mall of Asia together with my friends from Hunger Games Philippines. (A shout-out to our friends at Astroplus! Thank you for the seats!) Fast forward to today, the movie has already raked in $1.71 million locally, the highest among the Asian nations. It goes to show that when Filipinos fanaticize, they fanaticize hard. So hard it would be Christmas for the distributor and the cinema houses.

On Kony and Invisible Children

Post in its entirety was taken from visiblechildren.tumblr.com. Certain portions were boldfaced for emphasis.

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For those asking what you can do to help, please link to  visiblechildren.tumblr.com wherever you see KONY 2012 posts.

UPDATE: Facebook has blocked this blog. Complain here and post on Facebook about visiblechildren.tumblr[dot]com instead. And tweet a link to this page to famous people on Twitter who are talking about KONY 2012!

I do not doubt for a second that those involved in KONY 2012 have great intentions, nor do I doubt for a second that Joseph Kony is a very evil man. But despite this, I’m strongly opposed to the KONY 2012 campaign.

KONY 2012 is the product of a group called Invisible Children, a controversial activist group and not-for-profit. They’ve released 11 films, most with an accompanying bracelet colour (KONY 2012 is fittingly red), all of which focus on Joseph Kony. When we buy merch from them, when we link to their video, when we put up posters linking to their website, we support the organization. I don’t think that’s a good thing, and I’m not alone.

Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they haven’t had their finances externally audited. But it goes way deeper than that.

The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. 

Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them,arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.

Still, the bulk of Invisible Children’s spending isn’t on supporting African militias, but on awareness and filmmaking. Which can be great, except that Foreign Affairs has claimed that Invisible Children (among others) “manipulates facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA’s use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony — a brutal man, to be sure — as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil.” He’s certainly evil, but exaggeration and manipulation to capture the public eye is unproductive, unprofessional and dishonest.

As Christ Blattman, a political scientist at Yale, writes on the topic of IC’s programming, “There’s also something inherently misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous, about the idea of rescuing children or saving of Africa. […] It hints uncomfortably of the White Man’s Burden. Worse, sometimes it does more than hint. The savior attitude is pervasive in advocacy, and it inevitably shapes programming. Usually misconceived programming.”

Still, Kony’s a bad guy, and he’s been around a while. Which is why the US has been involved in stopping him for years. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent multiple missions to capture or kill Kony over the years. And they’ve failed time and time again, each provoking a ferocious response and increased retaliative slaughter. The issue with taking out a man who uses a child army is that his bodyguards are children. Any effort to capture or kill him will almost certainly result in many children’s deaths, an impact that needs to be minimized as much as possible. Each attempt brings more retaliation. And yet Invisible Children supports military intervention. Kony has been involved in peace talks in the past, which have fallen through. But Invisible Children is now focusing on military intervention.

Military intervention may or may not be the right idea, but people supporting KONY 2012 probably don’t realize they’re supporting the Ugandan military who are themselves raping and looting away. If people know this and still support Invisible Children because they feel it’s the best solution based on their knowledge and research, I have no issue with that. But I don’t think most people are in that position, and that’s a problem.

Is awareness good? Yes. But these problems are highly complex, not one-dimensional and, frankly, aren’t of the nature that can be solved by postering, film-making and changing your Facebook profile picture, as hard as that is to swallow. Giving your money and public support to Invisible Children so they can spend it on supporting ill-advised violent intervention and movie #12 isn’t helping. Do I have a better answer? No, I don’t, but that doesn’t mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because it’s something. Something isn’t always better than nothing. Sometimes it’s worse.

If you want to write to your Member of Parliament or your Senator or the President or the Prime Minister, by all means, go ahead. If you want to post about Joseph Kony’s crimes on Facebook, go ahead. But let’s keep it about Joseph Kony, not KONY 2012.

~ Grant Oyston, visiblechildren@grantoyston.com

Grant Oyston is a sociology and political science student at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. You can help spread the word about this by linking to his blog at visiblechildren.tumblr[dot]com anywhere you see posts about KONY 2012.

March: The Month of The Hunger Games

These past few months have been really crazy for us at Hunger Games Philippines. For months, we have been planning event after event for the Pinoy tributes, considering the fact that most of us are juggling academics (2012 graduates!) and org work. But suffice to say that our efforts are not put in vain. Because we and our various partners love this fandom, here are more events that they can expect from us this month: