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i revel in my poverty

but sometimes i wish i have more

not more more

rather a little bit more.

dealt a cruel hand

by fate’s lackadaisical wand

and my own insoucient ways

i have no choice but to embrace

nay, revel and celebrate

poverty as it is.

but truth be told

there is really nothing to revel about.

and p.s.

poverty sucks!

i wish i have more.

not a bit more

but more more…

bill gates more!

i wish…

hahaha!

Rock Bottom

 

She knew this was the time.   

It was getting worse. Her whole body would shake at any given time and her world would seem to collapse with it. Nights were much, much worse. All alone in her room, very much awake, she would think of almost anything. Her past would haunt her as well as the present. The sight of a simple book or the sound of a certain melody would trigger a sudden urge or incomprehensible anger. The world was gradually shrinking and she was being enveloped in it. This sense of isolation was so overwhelming she would find herself crying at a corner of her small room with nothing but her ever-dependable drug of choice as her only solace.

Reality sank in. She was no longer in control. She would go mad eventually if she continued on this course. Deep within her, she knew it was only a matter of time before insanity takes place. but first, there’s a question that’s been nagging her for a long time which she was terrified to answer knowing fully well what the answer might be. was she an addict? she just could not face the fact that she became one. that she had become one of those scums that used to be the favorite topics of the guys when they were on a laughing trip. those miserable scums addicted to cough syrups and rugby. it’s unbelievable that she became one of them. certainly, she’s got a lot of class than those lowlifes. sometimes, a person would be surprised at the courage that she can muster when faced with such a frightening reality–that she were desperately hanging on to her sanity by the tip of her fingers; and given two options between sanity or insanity, of survival or death, she chose the first option with what’s left of her reason which was really nothing much at that time. She learned the gravity of the situation when she entered this fancy rehab clinic in one of the suburbs south of manila and began to participate in its daily rituals and chores. She had a hard time reading a paragraph from the ‘bible’ aloud and she cannot speak lest she mumble and eat the words. it was much worst later on. writing her daily journal took a lot of effort with a lot of focusing and concentration which before would just flow in naturally and effortlessly from somewhere within her brain. 

her stint in the fancy rehab didn’t have a positive effect on her life. she continued on with her old lifestyle. and somehow, the affliction had worsened. 

She was on the last phase of a downhill ride in her life. the moment that she crashed down to earth, suicide was no longer an abstract and distant thought but more and more of an option. the only way out from all her sins, tortured conscience and crushing guilt. it was the lowest point in her life when all the problems that she can think of , much, much more than she can handle, descended on her in one sweep fall.

it was a process that began with a denial of how deep down the hole she were in; she tried to let fear from creeping inside her and she shifted her thoughts to something more pleasant, even entertaining a false sense of hope, that she can still do something to delay the impact and thus gain precious time; where time is measured as: a moment = eternity. then somewhere along when she was running out of options and groping for more drastic ideas bordering on the ridiculous and the wild, fear gradually entered until it resided in every cell of her body and she found herself sweating hard in an air-conditioned room. having just ran out of options, a state of panic seized her entire body. she then instinctively closed her eyes as if to erase this painful part of her life in her memory’s databank, or more like a child moving his head from side to side wishing that these were all a mistake or a nightmare and that it would go away by itself. meanwhile, her brain was working so hard and at such a frightening pace that something in the remote recesses of her brain automatically and methodically began shutting off the different switches to prevent it from overloading [something like the engine of your car blowing out since the pistons cannot keep up with the rapid pace of its movement]. 

after which she experienced a profound change–more of the divine than of the mundane. the last refuge in a sea of chaos. it was like drowning when the sensation of peace and total solitude and acceptance kicked in after the initial fear. in fact, it was her only refuge. after working her brain so hard and pushing it to its limit, well beyond its imaginary envelope, the sad realization that she was after all just a tiny, finite speck in an infinite space dawns on her; that no matter how advanced and intelligent we have become since the days of the apes and the monkeys, we are just but a minute detail playing a most insignificant part in the history of evolution and lending it with our unnoticeable existence as fast as a shooting star disappearing from our sight into heaven’s bosom. we surrender to something greater than ourselves. just like what our primitive ancestors did when faced with an incomprehensible situation, we kneel to something that’s beyond finite and comprehensible.

it was at this point that she knew she was an addict. was it really that hard to admit to herself that she was one? was it too much of a reality for a woman like her? Maybe.

She instinctively ran out of her bedroom, past the livingroom and into her dad’s little sanctuary — his home office. she pulled open the topmost drawer of her father’s desk and got hold of the cold, uncaring .38 caliber revolver that her father kept.

No tears. No regrets. This is her final escape.

Remembering My Father

 

 

i’ve tried writing about my father for so many years now, but everytime i was in front of my pc, i couldn’t seem to pull it off. tears would suddenly flow just thinking about my papa. it hurts to write in the past tense about somebody that you really love. yes, i was hurting. and i couldn’t seem to shake it off.

my father was not an emotional person. he did not display his affection to us in public. but he would let us know his affection for us in our everyday lives. but still, i’ve regretted the fact that i wasn’t able to hug him and kiss him and tell him that i love him so much up until he died. i’ve regretted the fact that i wasn’t able to graduate from college at the time of his death when it was his desire to see me march on graduation day. i’ve regretted the fact that he lent me his name and i wasn’t able to live up to his expectation. i’ve regretted the fact that he passed away in a manner that does not befit a good man that he was.

my father was a newspaperman. although he studied law at mlqu and passed the same year he graduated from law school ( he also attended the Harvard International Seminar under Henry Kissinger), he opted to work for the manila daily bulletin. he started out as a cub reporter for manila daily bulletin (the precursor of bulletin today and manila bulletin) and rose from the ranks to become the daily columnist and editorial writer for bulletin today for 2 decades. as a columnist, his idea is to “inform the public and to impart to them my opinion in a balanced manner.” 

for him to sustain his daily columns, he read a lot on politics, business, economics and languages. i remember him took up mandarin and french (at alliance francaise) language courses so he can read more books that were written in chinese or french. 

he didn’t work late hours as most newspapermen did. he would leave at 5am and was home at around 5pm. everytime he arrived, one of us (we are four boys in the family) would remove his socks and put shoe trees in his shoes. apart from this, we would get him a bottle of cold beer (his maximum intake was a couple of beer) or a shot of his favorite whiskey or a snifter of brandy once in a while. a platitio of adobong maniawaited him everyday or nilagang mani. he would chat with us for a while, asking about our day and would begin reading his magazines like time, newsweek, fortune or his book of the day. he was a serious person. but come dinner time, he would play around with his kids and that would make our day. 

in our family, the disciplinarian was my mom. i never remember my dad raising a hand on us or using profane language at us. the most that he will say is pambihira!. no p.i.s and no bs. but when he thought that we had outstepped our boundary, one look from him was enough for us to be on the straight and narrow. he was a decent man, my papa. he was decent in the way he talked, the way he composed himself, the way he dressed and the way he dealt with other people. 

i would always want to think that i was his favorite child though my brothers would of course laugh off the idea. he gave me his name. that explains the a period in my name. when i was diagnosed with a leg condition, he lost his cool and punched his working table in his room. that was the only time i saw him display his anger. he didn’t go to mass for a couple of sundays either. and because i was told by my doctor to be bedridden for about a year (this was when i was in grade 5), he bought me my very own television set. later on, when my mom took me to a different doctor, i was told that i need not be bedridden for a year and that i can use a leg brace. but the television set stayed in my room.

on my first year in high school (which was in parañaque), he would bring me to school and since i would normally go out at around 3pm, he made some sacrifices and adjustments and would be at the school an hour or 30 minutes before 3. and that’s for one whole year since i was still in clutches or braces then. i think that those were the happiest moments of my life being with him alone driving me to and from school. we would usually stopped by an ice cream house in zapote or josephine’s in kawit for a halo-halo on our way home. he would tell me some anecdotes from his office or news on the political front and i would tell him my experiences in school. i skipped out the bad experiences, of course. 

my elder brothers and i attended the same high school. i don’t think that there was an occassion that my dad was called in the principal’s office for some misconduct done by my brothers. and i hope i can say the same way with me but, surely, it won’t be me if it happened that way. my dad would be called in by my high school principal about some things i did in school. he would gamely talked to the principal. and everytime he went out of the principal’s office, i would be shaking with fear what my father would tell or do to me. but he never scolded me nor did he discuss anything that was said to him by the principal. the only time he did was when i slapped a classmate with one of those huge hardbound literature (or is it algebra) book in the chest. you see, my father was a non-believer in violence. he never even owned a gun. he was once given a gun by a senator from capiz during the 60’s but he gave it to my mom’s brother.

there was some sort of tradition in our family. everytime there was a cause for celebration or a birthday in the family, we would go out and had dinner at those five-star hotels or restaurants. at my young age, it was an education in good taste as much as an adventure in knowing the culinary differences in other parts of the world. i would count the days for the next birthday to come but unfortunately, me and my brothers celebrate our birthdays months apart. i also remember that every sunday lunch, we always had nilagang baka. always! if not, we had pochero. the only difference will be the matching viand. we either had grilled liempo, or chicharong bulaklak or grilled tamban or grilled chicken to go with the nilagang baka. i do not really know the reason for that but my father would insist on it. i really had no problem with that because i would usually be the first one at the table and had the bone marrow for myself before my brothers would even had their share. 

papa was a simple man. he was not ambitious. he wouldn’t step on any man’s shoes (or any woman’s for that matter) just to get promoted. he just did his work. if i may, let me quote the respected columnist mr alejandro roces on his may 6, 1985 malaya column:

“it is national press week week and a good time to talk about the good things that can happen to persons connected with the press. one of these things is the appointment of a man who began in the lowest ranks of the working press as publisher of bulletin today…

…we are referring of course, to the appointment of apolonio batalla as publisher of bulletin today…

…members of the press are happy about batalla not because it was such a long jump, but mostly because it came quite unexpectedly, because it could not have happened to a more deserving person…

… how refreshing it is to witness in an organization that is powerful, the positiion seeking the man, instead of the usual man seeking the position”

i may not approximate my father’s hard-earned success, but i have every intention of matching the goodness of his heart.

isang kolektibong aksiyon

ang sabi nila, ano nga ba naman ang mabuhay ka sa mundo. kailangan mo ba talagang magpakahirap sa trabaho kung pwede ka na lang namang magpakasarap sa buhay. hindi ba kung tutuusin ay isa lang tuldok ang kasaysayan ng ating buhay kung ikukumpara sa kasaysayan ng ating mundo simula pa ng hindi pa naisusulat ang kasaysayan.

siguro naman kung susuriin mo ang ganitong pananaw ay may punto rin naman. ano ba nga naman ang buhay ng isang magsasaka o ang buhay ng isang katulad ni barack obama sa pangkalahatang kasaysayan ng ating mundo? sa tingin mo ba naman na ang e=mc2 ng isang propesor na tila hindi nagsusuklay ng buhok ay may kahihinatnan o importansya? sa tingin mo ba na ang imbensiyon ng telepono ng isang taong nagngangalang bell ay may silbi sa pangkahalatang litrato ng bagay-bagay? sa tingin mo ba, kung saka-sakaling mawawala si bill gates o si warren buffet sa mundong ito, may pakialam ba ang karamihan sa mga taong maiiwan nila? malamang maging laman ng mga pahayagan ng isang linggo at pagkatapos ay mabibilang na lang ang istorya ng buhay nila sa mga librong kinumisyon ng kanilang mga pundasyon o pamilya.

pero bumalik tayo sa puntong kung ang buhay ng isang ordinaryong tao ay tatagal ng mga limampu o hanggang animnapung taon, may kahihinatnan kaya ito sa kasaysayan ng mundong nagkakaedad na nang milyong taon. ano nga ba ang animnapung taong buhay mo, matagumpay ka man sa napili mong propesyon o maging tambay ka man sa kanto skung ikukumpara sa milyong taong kasaysayan ng mundo. so why bother achieving something in your life when you’re nothing but a speck (not even!) in the history of humankind.

pero sa isang banda, kung susuriin mo ang kasaysayan ng mundo, malamang nagkakaskas pa rin tayo ng bato o ng kahoy para lang magkalingas o magkaapoy ang mga hibla ng tuyong dahon kakailangin natin sa pagpapainit ng ating kapaligiran o sa pagluto ng karne ng bagong katay na baboy damo.

dahil na rin siguro sa kolektibong kontribusyon ng ating mga ninuno na napunta tayo sa estado ng ating buhay na kung saan may mga makabagong teknolohiya na nagpapadali sa pamumuhay natin. nandiriyan ang pagliit ng mundo sa pamamagitan ng internet at ang pagsulpot ng mga makabagong komunikasyon katulad ng radyo, telebisyon at selpon.

di rin natin siguro makakaila na sa isang kolektibong aksyon nagkaroon ng pagkakataon ang mga minorya ng ating lipunan na magkaroon ng boses di lang sa paggawa ng batas kundi na rin ng partisipasyon sa pagpapatakbo ng gobyerno.

ganito rin siguro ang kailangan natin sa pagtutol sa mga di makatarungang isinasabatas ng ating mga mapanglinlang na mambabatas para lang maipasa ang kani-kaniyang interes. isang kolektibong aksyon na di lang matatapos sa pagsupil sa mga lideratong may hangaring saliwa sa hangarin ng karamihan ng ating mga kababayan. isang kolektibong aksyon na kung saan maipagpapatuloy natin ang pagbantay sa mga lideratong na may pangsariling interes at isang kolektibong aksyon na makakatulong sa ating sariling interes bilang mamamayan ng bansang ito.

maaaring mas kinakailangan nating ang isang matinding kolektibong aksyon di na lang sa paglaban sa mga mapaniil na liderato ng ating bansa kundi na rin isang pandaigdigang kolektibong aksyon upang labanan ang mga modernong problemang kinahaharap ng mundo natin katulad ng polusyon, sa pagkalap ng basura, sa pakikiisa sa pagbigay galang sa inang lupa, ang pagtigil ng iligal na pamumutol ng kahoy, ang paglaban sa paglaya ng ating mga kababayang nalulugmok sa kahirapan, sa mga karumal-dumal na krimen, sa pagkalat ng droga sa ating kapaligiran at marahil marami pang bagay na kinakaharap sa pagsagip ng ating kapaligiran at pati na rin ng mundong siya lang nating matatawag na tirahan.

ang punto ko lang po, kung pagtutulung-tulungan nating lahat ang mga nararapat gawin bilang isang mamamayan ng ating bansa at pati na rin bilang mamamayan ng ating planeta ay magkakaroon ng isang malaking kabuluhan sa pag-usad ng sibilisasyon kung ikukumpara sa maggagawa nating bilang isang indibidwal.

the freak show

there was a time in my childhood when the only form of entertainment during town fiestas were the fair (or perya as what we call them) where ferris wheel, octopus, carousel were the available rides and bingo, beto-beto and a shot at a prizes using bb guns are available if you’re not motion-inclined. but still, there were some side shows where all you need is to pay a peso to enter house-like enclosures to see human beings with deformities and billed as such (i.e. the human dolphin) with their limbs like that of a dolphin. these were called freak shows

still, there were some who were viewed as freaks because of their physical attributes like the dwarves or those born without any appendages, deafs, blinds, mutes or simply those with polios.

it is easy to judge these people with disablities as freaks. but are they really freaks? are they really freaks of nature or simply individuals that were born unlike those of us who are complete and ‘normal’.

the way i see it, these people are not freaks. it may not conform to the proper definition of being a freak but still, these are people that didn’t choose to be born with physical aberration. these are normal people who are capable of rational thought and is capable of being productive in a most honest way.

lately, headlines in the local newspapers are filled with people who would push some new laws with their own agenda in mind. some headlines would display ‘normal’ people who would display irrational behaviour such as stealing funds from government coffers.

it is sad that these people who have high educational background would display irrational thoughts or behaviour.

one general who was tasked to manage funds for his organization was found skimming off money and bringing it to the US using his sons, no less, for this illegal act.

another general who was also tasked to manage funds for the Philippine National Police was caught in Russia, of all places, with an undetermined amount of money in his possession.

another general who violated every possible human rights just to further his fight against so-called enemy of the people. 

a former president who has a penchant for merlot of the petrus brand who would play mahjong at the middle of the night with his cronies seemingly with governance not a part of his limited vocabulary.

then there was the zte deal. abalos, jdv, fg, gma and a lot more who have the intention of stealing people blind.

there was also the time when gma herself went on national television categorically stating that she will not run for another term only to renege on her promise and run winning with the help of garci.

and what about the senators outmaneuvering each other so that one or two of  their colleagues won’t get the nod of people come 2010.

there were also local government officials caught for dealing large amounts of illegal drugs.

and what about the judges who would find some technical loopholes to release big time drug dealers.

government employees (from bir, bid, lto, etc) committing fraud and theft like there’s no tomorrow.

last but not least, the members of the lower house of congress. lately, these bunch of nincompoops are pushing for a constituent assembly to prolong gma’s stay on power whether it be the presidency beyond 2010 or changing the system of government so that gma can be voted as a prime minister.

well, we can go about enumerating all these shenanigans in our government and it won’t fit this blog. 

so now, the big question is who are the real freaks? those who were born with disabilities or those who were not born with any physical defects but chose to ignore the rule of law as if they themselves were above the law.

the so-called freak shows of my childhood  is nothing compared with what’s happening to our society now.

the fraud in the present administration  is the real freak show. these shameless people in power who would flaunt their ill-gotten wealth and cling to power at the detriment of the public at large.

it’s one big freak show. and nobody’s enjoying it. when it will end is something only madame auring can predict.

palparan

                                                                    

the butcher of samar

 

 

i promised myself to be apolitical and to not write anything about philippine politics here in facebook. in fact, i’ve refrained myself from writing anything political not only here in fb but in my other blogs as well. i’ve gotten calloused by the way this administration has broken every rule in the book. but i just can’t help but comment on this thing about palparan being voted into congress under the party list bantay. it really riled me up. it’s just another manifestation of the brazenness of the gma administration when it comes to shoving into our arse whatever it wants. and doing this with impunity at that. isn’t it pathetic that we, as a people, would simply let gma and her minions do whatever they want to do and get away with it cleanly. from the hello garci scandal, the pidal episode, the piatco terminal, the human rights violations, the nbn-zte fiasco and a lot more that didn’t make it through the headlines. it is simply outrageous that we are letting this happen. they’ve done practically everything to undermine the system that they should be upholding. 

instead of solving the real problems besetting this country- the corruption, the decades old mindanao question, the rights of the indigenous people and other seemingly insurmountable issues, the gma administration seem to be preoccupied in enriching themselves or building a war chest to push their own candidate to capture the 2010 presidency or building a much larger war chest to counter every lawsuit that may come their way once they got booted out of office in 2010. in other words, self-preservation. so what else is new? this did not happen during the cory and fvr administration. but they were not able to answer all the issues besetting the country either. but at least, they contributed something to push our country out of the doldrums.

palparan is nothing but a two-star/bit thug. he;s just another manifestation of the ills the gma administration is all about. how can one let a person who has violated every imaginable human right get voted into congress when, clearly, his party-list bantay didn’t make the cut in the first place. palparan is nothing but a criminal. it’s tiring to see all these shenanigans happen right before our eyes. how can we prevent another occurrence of this type? how can we, as a people, try to stop such brazenness on the part of the powers-that-be?

palparan is just another pawn to (or another vote) to get cha-cha moving in congress. ahh… why is gma so afraid of her shadow that she is so desparate to cling on to the presidency beyond 2010?

clearly, we haven’t matured as a nation. we would vote for every actor, newscaster and trapos out there. i won’t be surprised to see madame auring and diana zubiri voted into congress; and for every mistake that these clowns make, we would just forget everything as if this does not affect our daily lives. corruption has become a way of life and is so accepted by almost every one. it’s one big freak show. when do we learn as a people? learn is the operative word here. we should, on our own little way, educate our neighbors on how not to fall for the promises of these shallow politicians and see them for what they really are- wolves in armani suits who looked after their own interests and not of their constituencies.

educate. educate. educate. let’s do our part before we sink deeper in the muck that we so apathetically, pathetically and unwittingly created for ourselves. start from the grassroots where a lot are prone to promises, the glitter of the personalities and their campaign and the free lunch on every political rally that they attend.

may 2010 is just around the corner and all the viable candidates are not so viable at all. we need someone who has the political will to stop the corruption, the will to say no for every illegal favors being asked of him. someone who can truly usher this nation back to where it was before — when we were the 1st in southeast asia and 2nd only to japan in the whole of asia. i know it’s a momentous task but isn’t it worth the try?

must there be another martial law to keep the people in tow? i think not. but we can definitely change the unethical, immoral things that’s been plaguing this country for so long. all we need is one uber-mensch to clean this up. a strong man maybe but not necessarily a dictator. whoever this person is, he definitely is not included in the list of the viable presidentiable for 2010. one can only hope.

i rest my case. and i just hope that i am still here when we have escaped the vicious cycle that has enveloped us for decades. keeping my fingers crossed.

labong (bamboo shoots with chicken wings)

bamboo shoots with chicken wings

first time i cooked this dish, i overshot the runway and had a salty labong in my hands. at that time, i was mindful of the secret my mom shared me in preparing labong. the secret in preparing labong, as told to me by my mom, is to salt ‘em up and gently ‘piga-pigain’ the bamboo shoots. but what happened was that i put too much salt on it as opposed to just sprinkling salt on it just so that the bamboo shoots acquire a taste. a most delectable dish, this labong, when done right. and an easy one to prepare and cook, too.

ingredients:

labong (bamboo shoots) 20 pesos worth of shredded bamboo shoots
chicken wings 3 pieces with wingtip chopped off
onions half of an onion sliced horizontally
tomatoes 3 pieces diced
garlic a clove or two of garlic, crushed and then minced
salt
pepper

preparing the bamboo shoots
wash the bamboo shoots with baking soda. remember, bamboo shoots may be delectable but you do not know who shred it or the places it had gone to after being harvested. and yes, you’re going to eat this. so better you eat it clean.

rinse the bamboo shoots thoroughly after having soaked it in a large bowl with water and baking soda. then salt it up. but not too much. just right. and leave it be for 5 minutes.

add your purified water onto the large bowl just half the amount of the bamboo shoots that it contains. set aside.

preparing the chicken wings

chop the chicken wings into 1-inch chunks starting from the tip and working your way upwards. you may want to use your rubber mallet in doing this. or better yet, let your suking butcher do it.

having done this, season the chicken chunks with salt and pepper and set it aside for 30 minutes.

the cooking process

1 heat up your wok and add about a couple of tablespoon of oil into it. when oil is hot, add the chicken chunks and brown them a bit.

2 cover the chicken chunks with water and bring it to a boil. lower the heat once boiling and let the chicken chunks simmer until liquid is reduced to about half its original amount. pour the chicken broth into a separate container. remove the chicken chunks from the wok.

3 now, add oil into the wok and saute the garlic. before the garlic turns brown, add the onions and the tomatoes. saute the whole mix for a minute or two before adding chicken chunks.

4 add the labong together with its water and the chicken broth and bring to a boil. if necessary, add more water to cover the labong and chicken chunk mix.

5 lower heat and let it all simmer for 10-15 minutes or until bamboo shoots are tender.

serve with fried liempo or any fried fish and steamed rice.

enjoy!

movies i saw this month (september)

the bucket list

jack nicholson, morgan freeman and directed by rob reiner

named one of the top ten movies of 2007 by the national board of review alongside michael clayton and the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford, the bucket list warmed my heart and tickled my imagination… ok, ok, so i’m exaggerating. still, the bucket list is one of those movies that made me feel good afterwards. this is plain, good ‘ol entertainment. it also made me come up with my own bucket list. i just can’t resist the idea of having my own bucket list. hehehe.

this is the story of carter (morgan freeman) and cole (jack nicholson) who were both checked in a hospital for cancer. carter was an auto mechanic who once dreamed of being a history professor and cole was a hospital chain tycoon who did not believe in having suites in his hospitals and, thus, was forced to share a room with carter. from there, the story evolve until they both passed away.

in a scale of 1 to 5, i give this movie 3 and a half stars.

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21

kevin spacey, jim sturgess, kate bosworth, laurence fishburne and directed by robert luketic

this movie is based on jeff ma, an mit math wizard who, with his other mit math wiz asian friends, came to vegas and went home with bags and bags of money. jeff ma loved to tell the story about a time when he and the rest of his crew decided to take a dip in a vegas hotel swimming pool and they have nowhere to stash this old duffel bag full with $900K worth of money. in the end, they decided to stash it under a pool chair.

the story is about ben campbell (jim sturgess), an mit student, who passed the harvard medical school but has no wherewithal to enter it. he was eventually recruited by one of his professors (kevin spacey) to join a group of card-counters who would once in a while go to vegas and make some money for their efforts. until, of course, a house investigator (laurence fishburne) stumbled upon their game.

i love the story. i love blackjack. and i love kate bosworth. what more do i need to say?

in a scale of 1 to 5, i give this movie 3 stars.

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apocalypto

directed by that jew-hating, alcohol-loving, car-thrashing free spirit – mel gibson.

i like apocalypto. it is a rare movie that will keep me glued to my seat and not pause and run to the kitchen for more food and drink replenishment. and seeing this movie made me stick to the movie until the end without any food break.

this movie is tokyo drift mayan version with some rambo-esque inspired scenes in the beginning of the movie and latter part of it. and if you’re looking for some rare historical fact or insight about the mayan civilization, then you’re watching the wrong movie. this is a watch-and-be-entertained kind of movie rather than the watch-and-learn-history type of movie. if you want historical facts, then go see the history channel.

in a scale of 1 to 5, i give this movie 3 and a half stars.

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the contract

john cusack, morgan freeman and directed by bruce beresford

this is a movie that i would not recommend for others to see. there is nothing to say really except that it’s a waste of time and money. a weak storyline. a tired john cusack. an uninspired morgan freeman. this movie is supposed to be a thriller and i ain’t thrilled! a rene requiestas movie is a better thriller. hell! michael jackson is a better thriller than this! from the director of driving miss daisy, this sure is sucks.

no star for this one. this movie is pathetic.

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p.s.

laura linney, topher grace and directed by dylan kidd

saw the dvd copy in my brother’s room. i think the plot is passable enough to see the movie. it may be one of those movies where the popcorn is worth it. but still, i hesitated seeing it. laura linney was not a favorite. and i think of this as one of those girlie movies. but the hope that this may turn out well clung to me. so when i had nothing to do one sunday night and the choice was this movie or that edward burns movie, sidewalks of new york, i opted for this one. i braced myself for an uneventful and boring two hours and, oh well… the first ten minutes of this movie caught my attention somewhat. what with laura linney in that cleavage-revealing blouse. it was actually an eye-opener of sorts, the movie i mean, since i never strayed (meaning, pushing the video button on the remote to check on the local cable channels) from it. for the first 10 minutes or so, that is. and it all went downhill from there. surprisingly enough, i found laura linney in this movie hot! always saw her on a different light in her past movies– matronly (remember that clint eastwood movie where laura linney appeared as old squinty eyes’ daughter) and not as a diane lane/heather graham/angelina jolie type. the only thing that kept me from changing the cd was the very notion that laura linney will take her clothes off! unfortunately, she didn’t…

in a scale of 1 to 5, i give this movie one and a half stars.

favorite line:
an upset louise (laura linney) to ex-hubby played by gabriel byrne on his sex addiction recovery: you’re on step nine, aren’t you? huh! you’re making amends? (shouting this time) i fucking hate step nine with a passion!

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big stan

robert schneider, david carradine, jennifer morrison, emmett walsh and directed by rob schneider

the problem with an adam sandler/robert schneider comedy movie or a steve carell/will ferrell movie is that they lack cohesion and continuity. it’s no different from watching a tito, vic and joey movie of decades past. sure, they do give you some good laughs but that’s all. it’s better watching reruns of movies from mel brooks, woody allen, gene wilder/richard pryor, steve martin, robin williams, chevy chase and so on. or tv reruns like seinfeld or ally mcbeal or boston legal where you get hysterical laughing and somehow enjoy the stories, too.

but seeing this this robert schneider movie is something of an improvement. i had good laughs from beginning to end and the story is not that bad either.

word to learn from this movie:
schadenfreude defined as enjoyment taken from the misery/misfortune/suffering of others.

in a scale of 1 to 5, i’m giving this movie two and a half stars.

beef curry

curried beef

you can say that this dish is just another variation of beef stew with curry added. which is quite true, actually. the idea of a beef stew with curry added must have been a carryover from india prepared by indians of islamic affiliation and copied by the brits who came in india under the employ of the east india company. curry is largely indian in origin which has spread throughout much of the far east and east asia like thailand, malaysia, india and cambodia. in japan, where curried dishes are a hit, it came by courtesy of the brits. here in the philippines curried dishes are somewhat limited with the adobong sumbilang and ginataang igad (eel) sa dilaw. and of course, the pinoy favorite curry-curry with bagoong.

beef curry

thanks largely to those commercial curry bases available in supermarket nowadays, cooking a curry-based dish is no longer as cumbersome as before. the curry base that i usually use for this particular dish is the golden curry brand #5 (there are actually 5 golden curry brands to choose from, 1 to 5, with #5 being the spiciest as they claim but believe you me, #5 is not that spicy which explains why the japanese are from japan and not from bicol). so if you want your beef curry spicier and hotter than usual, add more curry or simply just add chopped siling labuyo to the fray.

ingredients:

600 grams beef kalitiran
3 cups water
2 medium-sized tomatoes diced
3/4 medium-sized onion diced
1 1/2 golden curry cubes (a box of golden curry has 2 square packets inside with each square packet divided into four cubes)
1 huge potato peeled and quartered
1 carrot peeled and cubed
1 chicken broth cube
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 teaspoons rock salt

preparation and cooking time: 1 1/2 hour to 2 hours

1 season the meat with salt and pepper and place it overnight in your chiller. an option is for you to add about a couple of knorr liquid seasoning to the meat.

2 after an overnight stay in ‘le chiller’, brown the meat on all side then set aside.

3 using a heavy-bottomed enamelled pot or caldero, saute the garlic in the cooking oil used in browning the meat. saute for a minute or two before adding the diced onions and tomatoes.

4 add the meat when onions are soft and transluscent. turn the heat to high just to bring it to boiling point before turning it back to low heat and let the meat and the onions and tomatoes simmer for 5 minutes. add a teaspoon of rock salt and cover the pot while you’re at it.

5 after 5 minutes of letting the meat sweat it out, pour in 3 cups of water covering the meat and bring it to a boil by putting heat to high. once boiling, add in the golden curry paste/cube (cut into smaller pieces so that it would melt easily), chicken broth cube and the remaining 2 teaspoons of rock salt. turn heat to low, cover the pot and let ‘em simmer.

6 mix once in a while.

7 add the quartered potatoes and the cubed carrots into the mix during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

serve with steamed stringbeans, asparagus spears and sayote with butter on top and hot steamed rice.

enjoy!

korean beef stew

korean beef stew

there was a time when you say korean food, one would think of kimchi. but as koreans come and stay, and as long as korean telenovelas are seen and raved about, we filipinos get to acquaint ourselves more and more about koreans and their culture. so now, when someone thinks of korean, one thinks of hyundai starex, tia ling, samsung, lg, seri pak, jumong, kimchi, and last but not least – taran! – korean beef stew.

and now, you have a choice of decent korean restaurants to go to when one craves for something piquant and spicy (whereas before you go to the mall and dine at that popular korean fastfood chain kimchi). here in our small town, we used to have a korean restaurant, korean-owned, that serves genuine korean food with genuine korean ingredients (even the garlic comes from korea or so they claim) and that snobby korean ambiance. service is good. you are served six different appetizers that are free of charge and unlimited in supply (from 2 kinds of kimchi, pickled yellow radish, sweet dilis, stir-fried togue and potato salad). plus decent prices and good, genuine korean food made this restaurant a hit not only among korean expats but pinoys as well. until, that is, the great flood came and drove the restaurant back to korea. a pity! now, there are two korean restaurants in the neighboring towns that serves the local korean expats. but they are not as good as Woo-jung, that original korean restaurant that was driven back to the 38th parallel by the great flood.

korean beef stew

cooking time and preparations: 2 hours

ingredients:

600 grams beef short ribs
1 liter water
7 tablespoons white sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons chinese cooking wine
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
2 stems leeks
2 green siling mahaba (pangsigang) or whatever you call it in the english speaking countries
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

1 in a heated wok, put about 3 tablespoons of oil and brown the short ribs (preferably in batches). if short ribs is not available, you can use any of the stewing beefs from shanks to brisket.

2 using an enameled pot or any kalderos around, saute a tablespoon of garlic in oil used in browning the meat. saute it for a minute in low to medium heat without browning the garlic and add the half teaspoon of minced ginger before putting in the browned beef short ribs.

3 let the beef simmer for 5 minutes before adding the liter of water (covering the meat in the process). bring to boil.

4 add the sugar, the soy sauce, the chinese cooking wine and the sesame oil. cover pot and let the whole thing simmer lowering the heat setting to its lowest.

5 cook for an hour and a half to 2 hours. add sugar or salt to taste. this dish should be on the sweet side rather than on the salty side.

6 add the chopped leeks (a quarter of an inch long), the green chilies (sliced diagonally) and the toasted sesame seeds (fried in a wok without using oil and stirring constantly until toasted; similar to frying dilis) before serving.

7 skim the oil.

serve with stir-fried togue in onions and green/red bell pepper and piping hot plain rice.

bon apetito!