Death Proof

Yesterday, my friends and I decided to check out the ongoing Cinemanila film festival and we decided to watch Death Proof, a film directed by the legendary Quentin Tarantino. The film is a parody of exploitation movies, the kind of movies shown in so-called grindhouses. In fact, this film is, along with Planet Terror (a film directed by Robert Rodriguez), is part of a two-movie set complete with trailers called Grindhouse.

As we settled in for the movie, in walks to applause none other than the man, Quentin Tarantino, himself! He gave a short introduction, punctuated with jokes and laughter, to the film. He then settled in with the audience, which is composed mainly of budding filmmakers (Quark Henares among them) and film buffs, to watch the film.

Death Proof is about a bunch of women from the show industry being offed serially (or should I say in sets?) by a deranged stuntman on his “deathproofed” muscle car. As expected, it’s full of action, including a longish car chase involving not one but two muscle cars. And, of course, there’s an exaggerated amount of blood and gore. In addition the film is full of intentional bad filmmaking. It’s an obviously synthesized crap movie. Which makes it quite enjoyable for what it is.

Rating: 3/5

So Long Sweet Summer

by Dashboard Confessional

So long sweet summer
I stumbled upon you and gratefully basked in your rays
So long sweet summer
I fell into you
Now you’re gracefully falling away

Hey thanks
Thanks for that summer
It’s cold where you’re going
I hope that your heart’s always warm
I gave you the best
I gave you the best that I had
You passed on the letters and passed on the best that I had

So long sweet summer
I stumbled upon you and gratefully basked in your rays
So long sweet summer
I fell into you
Now you’re gracefully falling away

Cat O’ Nine Lives

Saw a car in front of me pass right over a kitten. Thankfully by some miracle it didn’t get hurt. And it immediately scampered to the side of the road. Lucky kitten. Must have been quite a scare though.

UPDATE: My brother has a stranger experience, he saw kittens dropping off from under a van in front of him every hundred meters or so. Each kitten, after hitting the pavement, safely scampered off to the side of the road. They must have nestled in the spare tire well or something.

Langues, Langues, Langues

Yesterday evening, I started French lessons at Alliance Francaise de Manille. I’ve had an on and off relationship with French. Tried studying it on my own through the years. A few years ago, I took the exact same course but I didn’t push through with it so it all sort of went to waste. But I’m thinking, if I persist this time around, I just might succeed and become conversant. I think so because now I can practice it more with Aby who is also taking up French and maybe even with my French bosses. I think so because I’ve learned English, Tagalog, Cebuano, some Hiligaynon, and even a bit of Maranao. And I probably would have learned Arabic had I more time. My teacher in that language was said to have been amazed by my progress. So I’m thinking this should just be a matter of seeing it through to the end. As with all things.