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The Motorcycle Diaries

A few months back, my sister offered to lend me her copy of The Motorcycle Diaries. I was a bit busy at that time and I forgot about it. I only remembered when my friend Cez and I were talking about traveling the width of the USA and she mentioned in passing the movie, that it was about traveling (and also that it is about Che Guevara). I decided I should watch it (for the travel part) so I borrowed it from my sister and watched.

It turned out to be quite a good watch. It’s about the adventures of two friends as they made a decision to leave what they have to do and people they love behind to travel across South America. Most of us probably had the same conflicts and stayed pretending that we can do it later. But do we really NEED to do these things? Can’t the ones we love wait or at least go with us? Can we really do it later? But these two, travel they did with just a few bucks, some bags, an old motorcyle, and their wits. The epitome of the spirit of adventure.

It is also in a way a view on the plight of the rural South Americans and a glimpse of the influences behind Che Guevara’s ideology later in life. One scene of this aspect that I particularly liked is when they asked a couple they met along the way on why they are travelling. The couple responded “To work.” then threw back the question. There was silence as the friends took the answer in and finally answered “We travel just to travel.” It captured the essence of the issue.

The movie is probably not for everyone but do at least give it a try to see if it is for you. If it is, you won’t be disappointed.

Rating: 4/5

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Superman Returns

I’ve been holding off watching Superman Returns for the longest time because I wanted to watch it on the IMAX cinema at the SM Mall of Asia. But tonight, I finally watched it with some MBA friends.

Never being been into Superman, preferring Batman and his brooding nature,
I wasn’t expecting much. But the movie was so lame. It’s practically a glam movie with a dragging love story between Lois Lane, Superman, and Cyclops :P with Lex Luthor and his not-so-nefarious scheme thrown in as a side act. Needless to say, Superman wins against both Cyclops and Lex. So typical.

Good thing the 20 minutes of 3D footage sort of saved the day (or should I say the night?). I’ve said this about IMAX before but I’ll say it again: It’s great! The technology needs further tweaking but in time it will be the standard of cinema.

Rating: 3/5

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Ignorance

Yesterday, there was a group presentation during class in Cross-Cultural Management, a subject that I’m not exceptionally fond of. This presentation didn’t make my feelings about the subject any better. The presentation was supposed to be about Germany and its culture. The presenting group was in full force and strutting about wearing swastika armbands. Someone made a joke about white power. They didn’t get it.

Then towards the end of the presentation, they showed famous Germans which included Hitler (infamous more likely and not German) and Martin Luther King (errr I think you meant Martin Luther?).

This from MBA students 8-|

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2006 June 25 Anilao, Batangas

Just came back from a day dive trip with Rhichie. It was supposed to be a reunion of sorts of my advanced open water (AOW) classmates but at the last moment, everyone begged off. Only Rhichie and I were left but we decided to push through anyway. We drove to Aquaventure and met up with Norman, our AOW instructor, for the dive. With him were Seema, a new diver, and Kiko, our underwater videographer for the day.

First dive, at Mainit, was hohummm. The vis was great but there was nothing much to see. The second dive was more exciting. Waay more. We dived Layag-layag but we encountered a very strong tidal downcurrent. It was so strong that the fishes were no longer minding our presence and were just swimming to keep their position. It’s so interesting observing them up close and motionless. But the current was so strong that we had to essentially abort the dive. As we ascended, air bubbles we were making were no longer rising up but were staying around the depth they were made. It was quite a sight: thousands of bubbles filled the water. After surfacing, the boat came to pick us up and delivered us back to the resort for lunch.

After lunch, Seema left for Manila while the rest of us rested for the third dive. Just as soon as we prepared for the third dive, it started to rain and I was growing a bit lazy about taking it. But I decided to anyway since I’ve already committed to it. And good thing too because we saw not one but two blue spotted rays, two rock fishes, and some weird bottom-dwelling winged fish. That dive definitely made my day.