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term="Twain M."/><category term="Umm al-Quwain"/><category term="Uusimaa"/><category term="Valletta"/><category term="Vang Vieng"/><category term="Venice"/><category term="Vienna"/><category term="Vivo R.S."/><category term="Vonnegut K."/><category term="Weisberger L."/><category term="Werfen"/><category term="Woolf V."/><category term="Xinyi"/><category term="Xochimilco"/><category term="Xuanwu"/><category term="Xuhui"/><category term="Yamadera"/><category term="Yeongdoungpo-gu"/><category term="Yoder R."/><category term="Yongsan-gu"/><category term="Zafra J."/><category term="Zagreb"/><category term="Zambales"/><category term="Zhongsheng"/><title type='text'>ihcahieh: Depressed | Demented | Deranged</title><subtitle type='html'>How do you vanquish the enemy when the enemy is yourself?</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>2740</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-3312096552462912016</id><published>2025-07-03T20:34:00.008+08:00</published><updated>2025-07-03T20:51:19.404+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="American"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Literature"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Twain M."/><title type='text'>The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tom_Sawyer&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXgZlfaGGsQFwTVI8CJZ3TNFddgu8vvRp65meL8fAelaq3-arw14hz46MxUUtnY2bzsHfxb6MJtg5WCJchuFGL3D5_6FlEKibSARlG8d9YqWGJQZqOmDCd1OYny5X3EoIR3BHGlCSPmIRjsHiaQ-GL6H6WAvjYJ_aPOCmwXTVRnuWpXDlQ5TIlgFa426x/s1600/71iNq8XUwSL.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Tom Sawyer is an orphan and living with his Aunt Polly and half-brother Sid in the town of St. Petersburg in Missouri. His stubbornness often gets him in trouble, even more so when he hangs out with the town outcast Huckleberry Finn, who is almost the same age as he is. In terms of romantic interests, Tom is infatuated with Becky Thatcher, the new girl in town who also happens to be a judge’s daughter. His adventures include disappearing with Huck Finn and another boy for a few days and being believed by the townsfolk to have drowned, only for them to reappear at church during their supposed funeral. But perhaps their greatest adventure yet is witnessing a murder at a cemetery in which an innocent drunkard is framed up and ends up in jail. Will the young boys have the courage to side with justice despite the danger?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;If you were a 90’s kid growing up in the Philippines, then Japan’s animated adaptations of world literature in the form of cartoons should be familiar to you. There were many memorable titles like Princess Sarah and Cedie but we also got Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. These were cartoons you’d watch early in the morning while having breakfast and waiting for the school bus, pre-Cartoon Network era. That has been the extent of my familiarity with Tom Sawyer, so when I saw cheap copies of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in a bookstore, I immediately bought a copy each for my library!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I’d say that I liked the TV series more because of the format. They played on TV back then like soap operas where you get to spend half an hour each day with your favorite characters. In book form, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is short at just around 200 pages. The chapters are quite brief and not difficult to read. Since this was published in 1876, there are words often used by the author that have changed meaning over time, like “gay” and “ejaculation” to name a few. Mark Twain also loves the adverb “presently” which makes sense but doesn’t seem to be used much nowadays as it was before.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Mark Twain also drops the N word a lot, usually through Huckleberry Finn’s lines. The main villain happens to be a native American named Injun Joe, who murders someone and pins the crime on another. He has no backstory and just fulfills his purpose in the story as the main antagonist. He dies in a cave and becomes a tourist attraction afterwards. Without much knowledge about the author’s life and his ideologies, it’s hard to ascertain whether Mark Twain was indeed racist and the traces we see in the novel were just overt manifestations or he wrote the novel as a social critique of such an issue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Unfortunately, I have no time to read about Mark Twain and his life. I guess I was just a bit surprised, which is a normal reaction considering the political correctness with which we find ourselves existing nowadays, for an author to be that obvious when dealing with such words and characterization. There isn’t even any subtlety in it. Again, we can just choose to view this as a social critique being descriptive of the norms back then instead of being a normative text encouraging readers back in the day to condone such behavior.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I had fun reading the novel. The main premise is anchored on the murder investigation of Injun Joe and this main theme is punctuated with mini adventures here and there. The ending is not that realistic considering how the two buddies suddenly became rich at such an age without any of the adults surrounding them trying to take advantage. Whether people back then as well as the small rural setting are indicative of such honesty and genuine care for one another, I find that ending a bit too idealistic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;In any case, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a coming-of-age classic through and through, giving us a sneak peek of life in the Midwest 200 years ago. While ways of life have obviously changed in the span of two centuries since this novel’s publication, the main themes of boyhood and growing up tackled by Mark Twain still ring true nowadays, and perhaps that is what really lends something to this novel’s enduring appeal to new generations as a masterpiece of American literature.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/3312096552462912016/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/3312096552462912016'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/3312096552462912016'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer.html' title='The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXgZlfaGGsQFwTVI8CJZ3TNFddgu8vvRp65meL8fAelaq3-arw14hz46MxUUtnY2bzsHfxb6MJtg5WCJchuFGL3D5_6FlEKibSARlG8d9YqWGJQZqOmDCd1OYny5X3EoIR3BHGlCSPmIRjsHiaQ-GL6H6WAvjYJ_aPOCmwXTVRnuWpXDlQ5TIlgFa426x/s72-c/71iNq8XUwSL.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-1673359234137084866</id><published>2025-07-01T13:52:00.007+08:00</published><updated>2025-07-02T14:32:42.394+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ironheart (Disney)"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Television"/><title type='text'>Ironheart - Episode 6</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
2. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCqvFAiZCUI-l_EOjXRaTy6p551iR01awlB1tnAaOjB_kPRGwfkdBUBbFX3WRQk2fAcnDrnff9n05MpUpWZBd6TUtB-mTW4IMaOW-F14rPdRim_zKIceanXllyExU_ov5XWF4LVpO0tXdfm0xPLqthzIAvOfj9zAu6IRuT8RGdlwr5vOa36oQG2A1ssaef/w400-h168/4.png" style="text-align: left;" /><br /><br /></div>
3. <div style="text-align: center;">
4. <span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><span lang="ko-Hang">6. The Past Is the Past</span></span></span></span></div>
5. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
6. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">FLASHBACK: Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen) helps Parker out of his predicament by offering him a Faustian deal: a tool in the form of a magical cloak in exchange for something that he wouldn’t miss. Zeke is held against his will at Parker’s mansion, his programming hacked to protect Parker at all costs. Riri finally completes her new magic-infused suit and heads to the pizza place where she squares off with Zeke and implants a virus on him to override his programming and have him reboot. He thanks her but tells her they aren’t quite done with their beef yet. Riri confronts Parker and her suit’s magic element undoes Parker’s invisibility. After successfully getting possession of the cloak, she leaves a “de-magic’ed” Parker in their once HQ. She finds Mephisto waiting for her downstairs and he tempts her to make a similar deal with him. Her heart’s greatest desire is obviously to bring Natalie back to life. She agrees. As she hugs her newly-resurrected BFF, veiny tattoos start to creep through her arms similar to those of Parker’s.</span></span></span></div>
7. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
8. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div>
9. <a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM2lXxeHMdrdgwb6gM5WIEJSl-YqkN-cTkm9mZQecU5KlBG4G0zu3sThBZsOBgWuTkE_tpV6RtmNJ-zgP-Y5il4mBjxqtn3IwZK57fKgso7UNcqIoWx8-laPrhcOzfT94XWBYpuPsfJ_WPECqKf1pou1yfi1NYXoZ2I5NE28oTtHN3XAAeDOVt2XU9_X93/w400-h168/3.png" style="text-align: left;" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">So Mephisto’s modus operandi is to hunt underdogs and tempt them into a Faustian deal? Sorry, I don’t know anything about the character. Is this how he operates in the comics? It’s disappointing that his appearance is in a show that nobody would probably watch, after being teased since the advent of Marvel Television so much that he has already become an in-joke at this point. We don’t even get him in his full fiery glory. Maybe Sacha Baron Cohen couldn’t be bothered to get into costume? What I find interesting here is how Riri actually took the bait, but then again after six episodes of arrogance and lack of direction in life, the decision seems to be in-character. If anything, I kinda like the morally ambiguous young Avengers they are forming here. At least they are not your goody-two-shoes templates that you are forced to root for. Perhaps this is what really connects this character to Iron Man aside from the tech capabilities? The arrogance? The selfishness? And their seemingly helpless nature without that damn suit. Hey, at least neither Parker nor Zeke died!</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29dK1ceAfc_JFAmayxAfBmvQY92k63XoykF4bscLEOxQKOIgeVUcHz13jFdhr3DQVubfWHMhpjq-_PbxHIgSvsWHj9zYYDbo7f1FOCe95s6EPZW8JS8HP1fUBN4jlPP0N6RWKsoGCBg_3rzRQcjiZbFIuToZWU907Ko_GQpVT9w_nkgXbHvHxmMD7zIao/w200-h84/1.png" style="text-align: left;" /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFU5CEw_PWrFSNFBASc6cXhMHw1bmRwpgc5fGVJIz0vxqr20NgWV8FozKF9b7aHX-IKNX-ZDbrnTjkvtTocp4Tgq0dqLt442iyOStAyxxT1irrZTBM8oBAIE_nYsIFgwkVdjhYRkQ5ZbDqqAqtETf2Sj52q0tJ_qkLcHY3txJUZmk1c7NM8t3M4BZiYJc/w200-h83/2.png" style="text-align: left;" /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: yellow;">“I go by a lot of names. Some of them are actually a bit, a bit cruel and hurtful to me, but I like you, Riri, so, uh, you can call me... Mephisto.” </span><span style="color: red;">–Mephisto</span></span></span><br />
10. <br />
11. <div style="text-align: center;">
12. <a href="http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-5.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><<Episode 5</span></span></span></span></b></a><span style="color: red;">                                                                                   </span><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"></span></span></span></b></div>
13. &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/1673359234137084866/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-6.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1673359234137084866'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1673359234137084866'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-6.html' title='Ironheart - Episode 6'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCqvFAiZCUI-l_EOjXRaTy6p551iR01awlB1tnAaOjB_kPRGwfkdBUBbFX3WRQk2fAcnDrnff9n05MpUpWZBd6TUtB-mTW4IMaOW-F14rPdRim_zKIceanXllyExU_ov5XWF4LVpO0tXdfm0xPLqthzIAvOfj9zAu6IRuT8RGdlwr5vOa36oQG2A1ssaef/s72-w400-h168-c/4.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-8536771509323625631</id><published>2025-07-01T11:45:00.007+08:00</published><updated>2025-07-02T12:54:27.296+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ironheart (Disney)"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Television"/><title type='text'>Ironheart - Episode 5</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
14. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz0rZrFqzD-VP8r3SuFTi-JGlCua44XRyentDl88P_fkgvfLziTLVt9SSCghCN3UwVd5gvOSHWZ1ptrfh1ZWM7wsg5rH-nrhWUK-ebWkt9bu710v0N6WpSLh19hhvgyNUwf1OkEhUIyARu-9RPhnp6rWzEelGMb6WhvBdDACm7bDJy29kCgsxVuvQYQbo6/w400-h168/1.png" style="text-align: left;" /><br /><br /></div>
15. <div style="text-align: center;">
16. <span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><span lang="ko-Hang">5. Karma's a Glitch</span></span></span></span></div>
17. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
18. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">The mom’s friend’s witchy daughter assumes that Dormammu might be powering Parker’s cloak, pretty much like what Kaecilius was doing in Doctor Strange. Parker puts out a kill order on Riri. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. in control of the suit sits atop a government building with a full on existential crisis, which makes it easy for the suit to be captured by Slug. Riri manages to fend off Clown, Jeri, and Roz through improvisation, while N.A.T.A.L.I.E. breaks out of bondage right in time to save Riri as Slug is about to ram a van on her. A newly upgraded Zeke appears and zaps Riri, tearing her suit apart short of killing her. He tells her to get out of Chicago before Parker finds out she isn’t dead. Zeke decides to run off but Parker has all his tech hacked, giving him full control over him as his new puppet, just as the gang disbands after they find out that Parker killed their previous tech guy. Riri gets help from everyone to devise a new suit, enlisting mom’s friend’s witchy daughter’s help to infuse it with magic, which overwhelms the suit and erases N.A.T.A.L.I.E. before she can be fully downloaded.</span></span></span></div>
19. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
20. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div>
21. <a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8xfI21Ufpnfl3FUp0RM6IsPgQ7HKodiojj_4wuAR7JoopdRolvM3CRyDn7W0ylybrhe7hnJ1SJTBdRWMzoxlWe1KAaQUV9wYmYUXBm2g8QD5FfCIinDh-dOUuZ7gX0_jKbT6kTmfRQ6HH7TUxKSosRGKM_Bc483UvYtUdLHFynLvkJgH3yeL5d96ouHh/w400-h168/3.png" style="text-align: left;" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">I like the new suit. It’s less Iron Man and more Ironheart. Now we see the marriage between tech and magic that they seem to be proposing in this show, although it seems they are reserving the full exposition for the final episode. A little bit of Parker’s personal, not magical, backstory is revealed when we find out that the mansion he is trying to rob is his father’s, who threw him out when he was 12. Overall this episode is just too long at almost an hour and the only exciting part is the opening sequence where all the action was. I kinda feel bad for Zeke. That guy really just wants to walk away but always falls under the spell of one manipulator to another. Will he die in the finale? I suppose Parker will. If Ezekiel doesn’t, I doubt he can be useful in the MCU as a whole considering there doesn’t appear to be any other Iron Man related project in the works? Anyway, let’s see what that fusion of tech and magic will be like in the final episode. Just show me Mephisto once and for all. This is getting exhausting, brah.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8I3fWpfJuts8SHKH9UfrRVLrzM4q4D4KRu25p9qdRfKju1AIdcZwxaSccF51d8yvNgQEow4hOkhjBGwNOGP85GfGAvDHqFaN5S-s0ag-hQxTSZ2MibP0wG9N7onwUfLmV2WC3FYTvHZJBgLwPde0hOGyU-ogZ14rhUnR5t_EXwHV1ZUEpvCUgHUpUgpeV/w200-h84/4.png" style="text-align: left;" /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYr-9a6NKBRLPpjnE3sgdnPDz1taQG_JiiqHyDNPYehZiYFxxAhYz70cu3_kn95u9KuRFNLPMbfBKp6Qve3eDrvq_DdKnMFGhhJQ2mVOjwACkZfN46k9n8Z0cHiySaUslYku2L6Zj5uMBdqP40mCW4vCnZ50IJ9-jJvgKx7nu-uytcGzdsllovxD5bGKcy/w200-h84/2.png" style="text-align: left;" /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: yellow;">“You know, I spent my whole life trying not to become Obadiah Stane... just to find myself where he left off, taking down an iron freak.” </span><span style="color: red;">–Ezekiel Stane</span></span></span><br />
22. <br />
23. <div style="text-align: center;">
24. <a href="http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-4.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><<Episode 4</span></span></span></span></b></a><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;">                <a href="http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-6.html" target="_blank">Episode 6>></a></span></span></span></span></b></div>
25. &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/8536771509323625631/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-5.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/8536771509323625631'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/8536771509323625631'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-5.html' title='Ironheart - Episode 5'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz0rZrFqzD-VP8r3SuFTi-JGlCua44XRyentDl88P_fkgvfLziTLVt9SSCghCN3UwVd5gvOSHWZ1ptrfh1ZWM7wsg5rH-nrhWUK-ebWkt9bu710v0N6WpSLh19hhvgyNUwf1OkEhUIyARu-9RPhnp6rWzEelGMb6WhvBdDACm7bDJy29kCgsxVuvQYQbo6/s72-w400-h168-c/1.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-9118800733742953969</id><published>2025-07-01T10:07:00.004+08:00</published><updated>2025-07-02T10:18:12.224+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ironheart (Disney)"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Television"/><title type='text'>Ironheart - Episode 4</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
26. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKbbHKY-knYWXwEWkVDjQ0N6M7SQA_GchmxPd7DkIRGXEEkud02CubmU6VzsN7UWmZAy0HSJNY5R_f21JGSCvMf6gV9JUDnunkw31uxqZBIi2GmzLowimoKdyTxLr8f2AiylVSRL-_bN-_kVtjaLOwOX7a-vnm3n6ENq6mSoyUPycosj_bt5eznBL2BP_/w400-h168/2.png" style="text-align: left;" /><br /><br /></div>
27. <div style="text-align: center;">
28. <span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><span lang="ko-Hang">4. Bad Magic</span></span></span></span></div>
29. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
30. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Parker holds a mini eulogy for cousin John at the pizza place and tells Riri he has plans for her. He later dismisses her saying that he is getting a new tech guy. Riri gets paranoid analyzing the patch of fabric from Parker’s cloak, discovering that it seems to be heat combustion at work but can’t determine where the energy is coming from. Her paranoia prompts her mom to take her to her friend’s sweets shop who turns out to be a Kamar-Taj drop out with a daughter engaged in witchcraft. They magically transport mother and daughter to their witchy workshop in a parallel dimension and magically analyze the patch of Parker’s hood. What they find out makes them panic, advising Riri about bad magic and how she should stay away from whoever owns that hood. Ezekiel is implicated in the HEIRLUM heist and detained. Parker breaks him out of prison and takes him back to their HQ. Ezekiel undergoes a procedure he designed himself to “upgrade himself”. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. fetches her brother when Riri has a panic attack. He isn’t pleased with what Riri did to his dead sister’s memory.</span></span></span></div>
31. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
32. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div>
33. <a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4doMaU_agDTDGijNA4tv3hjfi4mUQ6ePX0sSaXGhUr71HU_tJ6PAd8gY6-CFlCrRQhT5FR64Kc5wAueNEYHPWfH4ypOTj29ZYHdYAwldl_XjCHYry25Y5dMB-oAeeY1lfptolzznKlMyYdLXYLL6cWSyD0e9rcP34lJWr2h4HeRkpOlR-Rdz4VbxCl7xL/w400-h168/1.png" style="text-align: left;" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Finally we are getting more tech and magic overlap. It’s a fun surprise how one of the mom’s friends ends up being a Kamar Taj dropout; and the daughter, a witch. After Agatha All Along, the MCU seems more lax now playing around with magic. There is no direct Mephisto namedrop but I can’t think of any other “bad magic” user right now. Wanda is dead. Agatha is a ghost. Who else could it be? What I loved most about this episode, though, was Ezekiel’s dressing down of Riri. What he says is actually true. What a selfish individual, right? I can’t blame the guy for being mad. He was living a boring but safe life incognito and this random teenager blackmails and manipulates him into supplying her with what she needs for that damn suit. Every time somebody asks why she does it her only answer is because she can. And now that person she manipulated is taking the fall for her. What a POS. Let’s see if she can be redeemed as the finale rolls along. After all, this is her show, ain’t it? Anyway, Ezekiel Stane seems like he will be a villain. I wonder what kind.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsMngdv_GahsiC7PVxApP_EVQtKI5YaNi1WfvSRIvHVnjyh_aTqPdnb7sfuIISk-kVGTg4nxgoni44LeoGHvbpOC5PWRoKY7FM9totrqpXOOHybygMnGSslt4Z27DovEXavvHqFNGuR6AsVvk2cYydjwpuPNUhPNiJOLf26rV3sqVEfE0MW5VD41Z5AsN/w200-h84/4.png" style="text-align: left;" /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vTQiTxGr0OfU6o5MkrWq5HOqWRMTj2D4FN_x5kBNUIsyx9RUUrecMLKsnaT_SkrGqGn6EQareBC8mt9ycyf5Y85r7g4R3rYg2QSf7O38wYPGlmI5JcNnBjvVEr5GswKr1qHW1kP9G1x0aprWCXT1lhQbElUg1UUr1yGUlDOvZdr8vvzZ5YJHoffQeoVu/w200-h84/3.png" style="text-align: left;" /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: yellow;">“I should've known never to trust you. You're just a selfish kid who can't take any responsibility for herself. You lie, you cheat, you manipulate.” </span><span style="color: red;">–Ezekiel Stane</span></span></span><br />
34. <br />
35. <div style="text-align: center;">
36. <a href="http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-3.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><<Episode 3</span></span></span></span></b></a><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;">                <a href="http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-5.html" target="_blank">Episode 5>></a></span></span></span></span></b></div>
37. &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/9118800733742953969/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-4.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/9118800733742953969'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/9118800733742953969'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-4.html' title='Ironheart - Episode 4'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKbbHKY-knYWXwEWkVDjQ0N6M7SQA_GchmxPd7DkIRGXEEkud02CubmU6VzsN7UWmZAy0HSJNY5R_f21JGSCvMf6gV9JUDnunkw31uxqZBIi2GmzLowimoKdyTxLr8f2AiylVSRL-_bN-_kVtjaLOwOX7a-vnm3n6ENq6mSoyUPycosj_bt5eznBL2BP_/s72-w400-h168-c/2.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-6558552864591821971</id><published>2025-06-27T01:56:00.001+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-27T01:56:36.858+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="British"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Golding W."/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Literature"/><title type='text'>Lord of the Flies</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhApa349dDIZEi8MUvNmxdbjjk9yY8fgmLq2g7a64lM96c5odwp2XrH2R4BdbwMtKaNbor72jFkZXTR9o7aTZ3TYcMhxK6MCymj-ZCL_7bILCW2AM4bsHPzZBH6l70c6f2liZBJChzCjfET5sggm6Jxy6aACSgC4eNTj7lD_vMnOvMD_1I7iZfi8qJk5rK-/s1600/51V8IkcFhmL.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;A group of preadolescent boys are the only survivors of a plane crash that maroons them on an uninhabited island. Blonde boy Ralph and his fat companion, whom he names Piggy, find a shell and use it as a horn to call the other boys. Ralph becomes their “chief” as he stresses the importance of maintaining a smoke signal which they will accomplish by making fire. Accompanied by a silent boy named Simon and red-haired Jack, Ralph manages to start a fire on top of the mountain by using sunlight and Piggy’s glasses. Later on, Jack gains popularity as the main hunter of the group, providing meat to everyone by hunting pigs that abound on the island. As wants and needs are either ignored or met, loyalties waver. A tug-of-war of power begins between Ralph and Jack, further fueled by rumors of a beast roaming the island. Will these boys make it through until they are finally rescued?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;The book was published in 1954 but this is the first time I’m reading it. I can’t help but compare it to more recent titles, the most recent one coming to mind being the 2022 film Triangle of Sadness. If you want a local option, there’s always 1980’s Temptation Island as well as its 2011 remake. If you opt for a reality show, then there’s Survivor. Whatever your point of comparison is, the storyline is the same. What happens when a group of people are stranded on an island far away from civilization? What power dynamics will come into play? Will they survive? Lord of the Flies is unique because the group is composed of children.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;In a way, that is one weird thing I find about the concept. What happened to the adults? Was the pilot the only adult on that plane? If there were other adults on the plane, why did all of them die and how did the children survive? In any case, this is fiction, so anything goes. There doesn’t seem to be any explanation regarding this issue. Anyway, Lord of the Flies serves as an allegory of society and the unwritten rules that we follow to be accepted as a part of that group. The what-if scenario is what if those unwritten rules lose relevance overnight because they no longer apply in the new environment?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;And that’s exactly what we get. These boys follow some form of structure in everyday life by going to school, obeying their parents, etc. Those rules are thrown out of the window because they don’t apply on the island anymore. The main theme is survival. Ralph has the charisma so he becomes their leader for a while, until he is no longer useful. Jack’s leadership gains momentum because he has the skills to provide sustenance, pretty much like how Abigail ascended from the bottom to the very top of the chain of command in Triangle of Sadness. The author has a clear manner of storytelling making all of these very obvious and easy to follow.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;But what really fascinates me about Lord of the Flies is its critique of human nature. We are all born and raised in a society with a plethora of rules that we “should” follow. These rules are what usually “rigs” the system in favor of this group or that group, and most of the time it is just the accident of your birth that determines where you stand. What happens when all of those rules lose their relevance? What happens when human nature and literal survival become the main factor in how we should live our lives? Lord of the Flies gives you an interesting case study… through children, which makes it all the more tragic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;And that’s another aspect of Lord of the Flies that I guess serves as an allegory for the misery and suffering of children worldwide. Of course, we are not talking about every child, but rather just those who are forced to give up their childhood and innocence in exchange for survival in a chaotic world they never asked to be a part of in the first place. When you look at what’s happening in the world, particularly in places with war and abject poverty, Lord of the Flies becomes child’s play, really. It is sad that there are children who have to tread such a path, but in the end, that’s just life. Lucky are those who get exempted from such tribulations.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/6558552864591821971/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/lord-of-flies.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/6558552864591821971'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/6558552864591821971'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/lord-of-flies.html' title='Lord of the Flies'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhApa349dDIZEi8MUvNmxdbjjk9yY8fgmLq2g7a64lM96c5odwp2XrH2R4BdbwMtKaNbor72jFkZXTR9o7aTZ3TYcMhxK6MCymj-ZCL_7bILCW2AM4bsHPzZBH6l70c6f2liZBJChzCjfET5sggm6Jxy6aACSgC4eNTj7lD_vMnOvMD_1I7iZfi8qJk5rK-/s72-c/51V8IkcFhmL.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-7255472377676479134</id><published>2025-06-26T22:53:00.025+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-30T21:53:38.403+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Tanghalang Pilipino"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Theater"/><title type='text'>VIRGIN LABFEST 20: Set A - Bubot</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://theaterfansmanila.com/guide-the-virgin-labfest-2025-synopses-cast-and-more-details-announced/&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHmPoZBOSgGI5rwuSXULAvd5VTlYfO2oQXDRJl1xksmp-N6lAZVzerojc0r-dUYKk_DcW2Jkgo5Wbt8AcLY8x0HK4OjVpAIrjfYCMw3nUNUe_ykBKwl5w-UTuPYt3b1S38jIiWnwKzSTAQJ-pgE3__80TVjMA0mvRWw7RTMTtNuX-6ej5Xr4hs1dYaPpM/s1600/0123456789.png&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;ANG BATA KAG ANG ILAGA - Orphan boy Isaac (Rigel Hechanova) is always teased by his playmate Dom (Kizabelle Lopez Aromin) for not having parents. He was left at the orphanage one evening and has lived there ever since. Isaac considers Sister Mercy (Ina Azarcon-Bolivar) and Joana (Aubrey Savet) as his mothers. Life at St. Jerome’s Home for Children is simple and the children make do with what they have. While exploring the basement, Isaac finds a little rat that he wants to take in as his pet, even though he knows that nobody would agree. He spends most of his time at the basement with his new friend, until one day it is nowhere to be found.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;And then there is always one entry that is just so unique. The main character of ANG BATA KAG ANG ILAGA is a puppet controlled by three women: two puppeteers and a voice actor. The dialogues are a mix of Hiligaynon and English, and there are no subtitles, which I find fascinating. The pet rat, along with flashback scenes, are depicted via shadow play using an overhead projector, which gave me serious high school nostalgia. Overall, this entry is a work of art and easily stands out. Just don’t expect much from the storyline, though, because the premise is that of childhood innocence and how harsh realities of life are processed by a child by virtue of imagination. The play is far from exciting, but poignant and original nonetheless.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;TAKBO, BATANG TONDO - Summer vacation is here once again and the children of Tondo are busy with their role playing antics: Albin (Prince España) played the father’s role last time, so he is now pretending to be a policeman; Tomtom (Felicity Kyle Napuli) is now a pregnant sari-sari store owner; Kyla (Ericka Peralejo) finally gets to play a robber, which is a far cry from her more privileged upbringing; while Saymon (Ian Magz) is mad because he is now playing the baby when he really wants to play the role of the pregnant woman. When one of Kyla’s limited edition props she borrowed from her dad goes missing, tanod Dudong (Bong Cabrera) is forced to intervene.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi928W4FFZXEY-hJnzuELHbhwui0Z7tnokmgMDJBv0gQ0vDh8EYW569RNFjLxZwPmUTff_0_-_xjSbfkzGNyTAEHqOO9_HAkFX7P9pLWhZ8yM5DqJnJwgX66TbxKn46L6neD4j7rGDBae-BEQz5mOjhNKPMXijE-UAJTqBR5DxLN7iWBvgyzJLH-hLDF1NA/w142-h200/SET-A_-ANG-BATA-KAG-ANG-ILAGA-2-min.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ZTlWuuVesbwXk4R_MXs33XbGLrI59p2z7ATXzgNjA6WChKSUTcjJTaM84T-yW7KYZCXoAhDtORJhpt97dVFkQL8s3Ugr3X9NdPtjDeIEUWiip2VEVZErewsUvRa3t8Ww5_Fk3CRU0xtUJrX9v7AzQ1fZ_jqli8IzNGGeUVRquAULwGR20RVg40Vhbt41/w142-h200/SET-A_-TBT_-TAKBO-BATANG-TONDO-2-min.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbg2mPdmZXlkEmKI5zqqXMkvCluPJNaXo3eqFEWhbAbYimuxgu0gRZWsYI8sjT_q1TgfBikjY7uV8jIVHKnLDU1MhM_xeaPEStkKz2BPOI1VrRcJSdTf6meobd0Fq7UzSpYfpf90P0k-L8QgDa105osRoL3NIyMP9vPaD_SmqCO1H7fIznBj7Qo2jdu407/w142-h200/SET-A_-POLAR-COORDINATES-min.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;TAKBO, BATANG TONDO is a complete miss for me. I understand that this set’s theme is all about childhood, growing up, and innocence, to which this entry remains loyal. There’s just nothing much happening, which made for a boring 45 minutes. It also doesn’t help that the actor who played Saymon looks way too old to be within the age range of his playmates; the forced high pitched whiny voice making the act even more disconcerting. If the idea was to show how Tondo kids play around, then the expectation is achieved, but in terms of exposition, I felt like a part of a captive audience forced to watch children being children pretending to be adults. Maybe I just had wrong expectations?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;POLAR COORDINATES - As if life on its own weren’t complicated enough, high schooler Igo (Jack Denzel) questions the relevance of solving polar coordinates to his daily life, despite pushy Math teacher Ma’am Onquit (Sheryll Villamor Ceasico) fiercely defending the importance of her chosen discipline. It’s a good thing that classmate Bobbie (Michael Hilao) is eager to help. Back at home, Igo is pestered ad nauseam by his younger sister Sab (Chloe Dominique) while their parents Manny (Randy Villarama) and Risa (Martha Comia) seem to be heading to divorce town. Will Igo endure, or will he be calling it quits?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;As someone who actually flunked both Math 17 and Math 100, I can relate. This play saved Set A, maybe because you have a teenager as the protagonist going through the mindfuck we all had to go through which we referred to as Adolescence. If you never had even a single pressing issue that felt like a life-and-death situation back in high school, were you really in high school? The 45-minute runtime is packed with a plethora of themes like peer pressure, sexuality, relationships, etc. Brilliantly acted and unfolding through the complexity and beauty of Math (eww), POLAR COORDINATES to me, is the best entry of this year’s labfest.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/7255472377676479134/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/virgin-labfest-20-set-bubot.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/7255472377676479134'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/7255472377676479134'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/virgin-labfest-20-set-bubot.html' title='VIRGIN LABFEST 20: Set A - Bubot'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHmPoZBOSgGI5rwuSXULAvd5VTlYfO2oQXDRJl1xksmp-N6lAZVzerojc0r-dUYKk_DcW2Jkgo5Wbt8AcLY8x0HK4OjVpAIrjfYCMw3nUNUe_ykBKwl5w-UTuPYt3b1S38jIiWnwKzSTAQJ-pgE3__80TVjMA0mvRWw7RTMTtNuX-6ej5Xr4hs1dYaPpM/s72-c/0123456789.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-2558441353458981452</id><published>2025-06-24T15:03:00.022+08:00</published><updated>2025-07-01T23:21:16.255+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ironheart (Disney)"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Television"/><title type='text'>Ironheart - Episode 3</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
38. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCSCyGDKYmiDMCzGAog2ZotoCBGoTh5iVO6hkpmQpBv_WjLi9F9hbnHNBT4tnreoxd4l21tuB_K3YpBlwzXxEQ0KvCPoDXTD0hA0wpKKPU2sJuLwfIzgKfXddjtlMvmovIOVOxJJxIQxdeN6HDOIVsF1p9JSijwFLNKvS7eGG-DFFJrpV5d9Se_gIOh2qV/w400-h168/4.png" style="text-align: left;" /><br /><br /></div>
39. <div style="text-align: center;">
40. <span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><span lang="ko-Hang">3. We in Danger, Girl</span></span></span></span></div>
41. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
42. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">The gang’s next target is biotech company Heirlum, but John is hesitant. Even then, Parker gets his way. Heirloom’s HQ is composed of multiple greenhouses that activate an alarm upon detection of anything metal, which means Riri’s suit is a no-go. Police find her in her mother’s house for questioning regarding the death of the gang’s former tech guy, and she becomes paranoid. Joe invites Riri over to his house and she discovers that his real name is Ezekiel and is actually Stark Industries’ ex-COO Obadiah Stane’s son. She borrows his biomesh tech to sneak in a piece of metal device at Heirlum HQ so she could covertly extract a patch of Parker’s hood and analyze its energy signature. The CEO of Heirlum refuses to be blackmailed and is killed by Parker. Riri gets a patch of Parker’s cloak but the alarm is triggered, trapping everyone. John finds Riri with a piece of the cloak and a fight ensues. N.A.T.A.L.I.E. in control of the suit rescues everyone except John who is left to suffocate in one of the greenhouses. Riri drops and leaves Ezekiel’s tech behind, probably incriminating him.</span></span></span></div>
43. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
44. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div>
45. <a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKH1k756gfPvd37cRfWoDW38OgnMnLyfYRJw0ouut1nV5WvhpIF8Apmg50qcBs-vWGaXtLy8MqGjhw67GwMoSlBt5ZA3ehEwNzqGctaAVHySJviE3ddati2xgikyYMqWhvBTuqQ4tOQbXsvmN5C8mghMaJV-E5-9O47-G1_kZPGw3pAaHqeb6eVcDeH2iY/w400-h168/1.png" style="text-align: left;" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">And there’s your Iron Man connection. I’ve heard about Obadiah Stane before, but never really knew the extent of his relevance. For the sake of this series, though, it explains why Joe/Zeke has possession of all that tech. I guess the question now is whether he will become an antagonist given how he might see Riri’s accidental incrimination of him as betrayal? I mean, the guy is also an inventor, so that’s a villain origins story right there. As for Parker, his cloak has been the focus of the episode from the very beginning, and now we are getting more details about it. What I thought to be him glimmering from place to place is false. Apparently, the cloak just makes him invisible. His eyeballs turn to all black in one of the scenes but there have been no other traces of magical powers just yet. I honestly thought that Mephisto would finally show up at the end of the episode, but it looks like they are saving him for a bigger reveal later on. Overall, this episode’s heist had more at stake but still lacking in action despite the fight scenes.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz5kYwbo-lLyIEgiz9D-ztLQzCtk0K6JLr2JRDSbKicM_GQW3k7SM0M9jkR65d_jU8tp4Lr6TXOhqQQsDGLyY50Ja6i_4mYTAWzll4LzZyAJmuKapPZyiJHut8Xs9ep3WE0zCWztxk845qkiW32WGI_WqUf7AvTnA6ApbY-2MQ8D7aSVE_YsYSEZn-KxWn/w200-h84/2.png" style="text-align: left;" /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCsNQONcd8y24fpwviZA5Sd2t9B_Ij41KwxDGbIcQv0vmDpnQZp2aEHtqNPVYqeYKVhGju8XuriNz4ou5jTy40KDLiesGiDv1rsDEGshHbZjfE4CQZdL962DO07bRMhbWOwd9_tlTpQNZ5hv9nNU-_jdr9tI9X9ht0d83Sf99gmsHWoM1iusNO34LYqbx/w200-h84/3.png" style="text-align: left;" /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: yellow;">“How does that work, actually? I've seen something like that before. Vibranium? Pym tech?” </span><span style="color: red;">–Riri Williams</span></span></span><br />
46. <br />
47. <div style="text-align: center;">
48. <a href="http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-2.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><<Episode 2</span></span></span></span></b></a><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;">                <a href="http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/07/ironheart-episode-4.html" target="_blank">Episode 4>></a></span></span></span></span></b></div>
49. &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/2558441353458981452/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-3.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/2558441353458981452'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/2558441353458981452'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-3.html' title='Ironheart - Episode 3'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCSCyGDKYmiDMCzGAog2ZotoCBGoTh5iVO6hkpmQpBv_WjLi9F9hbnHNBT4tnreoxd4l21tuB_K3YpBlwzXxEQ0KvCPoDXTD0hA0wpKKPU2sJuLwfIzgKfXddjtlMvmovIOVOxJJxIQxdeN6HDOIVsF1p9JSijwFLNKvS7eGG-DFFJrpV5d9Se_gIOh2qV/s72-w400-h168-c/4.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-4598152602310542603</id><published>2025-06-24T14:23:00.018+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-26T16:08:42.420+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ironheart (Disney)"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Television"/><title type='text'>Ironheart - Episode 2</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
50. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAZm2Csa49BUzpct0oXBhBzjADBypxgV8tVVVikycmcKpoH_w-XqVKyqHHHbv8RB81Dckq7cDEca2ytMfsMWF0TqtZAhu2mkac2peXltfLU0qijy3Q0Gi547XFbPN7C7RqH21xZyuNVjb4iXOmbZL7erdpo736wwjb-oAM-_VSfxpP-M9gw_ju58Z1MLy/w400-h168/1.png" style="text-align: left;" /><br /><br /></div>
51. <div style="text-align: center;">
52. <span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><span lang="ko-Hang">2. Will the Real Natalie Please Stand Up?</span></span></span></span></div>
53. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
54. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Parker introduces Riri to his crew: drag queen and once Madripoor-based hacker Slug (Shea Couleé); pyrotechnics specialist Clown (Sonia Denis); brawny siblings Jeri (Zoe Terakes) and Roz (Shakira Barrera); and Parker’s cousin John (Manny Montana) who is good at throwing knives. Riri is still adjusting to Natalie being her new AI and is also trying to find prospective lab owners through the black market which leads her to Joe (Alden Ehrenreich), whom she blackmails and leads her to his covert lab under a silo storage space. There, Riri completes her new suit and Natalie forces herself to be its AI after a jailbreak operation from Riri’s laptop. The gang’s first mission with Riri is to hack and disrupt the test run of a tunnel car transport system under Chicago run by the company TNNL. The CEO is blackmailed by Parker after he glimmers into her car and forces her to sign an agreement putting all of them in the company’s payroll with monthly six figure salaries. Natalie warns Riri about Parker’s energy which she cannot pin down to any found on Earth.</span></span></span></div>
55. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
56. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div>
57. <a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzjb1qCG7XrRE2Wqb6-rPKRNBdmC062kIIPzmlgU0AwKlgEiDA9wSZdyAkTBgYcJAEUNuNGfFhKetTufNBuQGbm9IWWOnDRJzpBDXQdJ8GtyDW_ViPlGMV1wvGDUpYpVvGZ54_nWuzNF4F7C9Mait55NTKZymIF286JAeGCgQaudhaUcTUpzutKnholb81/w400-h166/4.png" style="text-align: left;" width="400" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Is it weird that I am just watching this for the magical elements? After watching episode 2, I believe we can confirm Mephisto after all. The hints are not at all that subtle, like that Faust poster featuring a guy with horns as Riri is being warned by Natalie about Parker’s energy force. And then of course we have that scene where his back tattoos are moving on their own and seemingly extending down his torso like bloodied engravings. He does say that it is the price he has to pay after what “he” did to me. The only magical power shown so far is the way he glimmered into that CEO’s car. Only three episodes are out so far so we’ll see if more magic will be displayed in episode 3, but I believe Mephisto is as good as confirmed at this point. The devil is, indeed, in the details, and you will find him if you pay attention. So far, I am bored. The heist was not that fun and this Mephisto reveal is the only intriguing part of the storyline worth anticipating. As for Riri, it is obvious that she will choose to be a goody-two-shoes in the end, so no surprises with that.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDjzv3QC1UKBDLysxtjXte0S5xuhfxDeBcXy1pkEZCQUQ-Uyox0pHJdWYPENHkLfmQBFBGr7b42sa8xGGi9fHNP_xIwM5TzYWIKd5H3FpHoy6Z0BonGwaue-BDVleBrT0xdckmY2qO4WkGHcR6ReqepLyoBqLwnk-cMg3vl4cGILOgJbEllotwahrA8S2/w200-h84/3.png" style="text-align: left;" /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs3zA0gsP5q2aIWVzYut-KgCVZTFlaNyCJE9vnCxgw5hg9iJZmjn0bgNu31K3T0kpC2Jvw2aH1Vo4BD132j4fLQfTAp7N5pomvQ5WPI-KeZ85H0KKaIUq92WeJhQL0O1blF89RPc-K2VMGpqUuhNjcFgpl1FtBRDMQwIRy_5gf496Gvj63qTrSX8Phak4J/w200-h84/2.png" style="text-align: left;" /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: yellow;">“Price I gotta pay. After what he did to me.” </span><span style="color: red;">–Parker Robbins</span></span></span><br />
58. <br />
59. <div style="text-align: center;">
60. <a href="http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-1.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><<Episode 1</span></span></span></span></b></a><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;">                <a href="http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-3.html" target="_blank">Episode 3>></a></span></span></span></span></b></div>
61. &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/4598152602310542603/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-2.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4598152602310542603'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4598152602310542603'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-2.html' title='Ironheart - Episode 2'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAZm2Csa49BUzpct0oXBhBzjADBypxgV8tVVVikycmcKpoH_w-XqVKyqHHHbv8RB81Dckq7cDEca2ytMfsMWF0TqtZAhu2mkac2peXltfLU0qijy3Q0Gi547XFbPN7C7RqH21xZyuNVjb4iXOmbZL7erdpo736wwjb-oAM-_VSfxpP-M9gw_ju58Z1MLy/s72-w400-h168-c/1.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-1593614636497749688</id><published>2025-06-24T13:01:00.021+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-26T13:31:50.676+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ironheart (Disney)"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Television"/><title type='text'>Ironheart - Episode 1</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
62. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69__lkxMWlNKt-ddUv0lpdFWaJtyEpH5T_UPrYsUbQ0vAhWYR_Lnu0wfgWIaEMfbykHH_1a5KBD_XAP-qHH7anG2NujuxFWojEHo1z88dMp1qFCMS0-_HwWHYVrSCXsPLlmz1VRpobuNtMsGGk4zHPyDXLrz9yI6lm2m6aAlnMrNCXRWerg35WZcs-YUX/w400-h168/1.png" style="text-align: left;" /><br /><br /></div>
63. <div style="text-align: center;">
64. <span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><span lang="ko-Hang">1. Take Me Home</span></span></span></span></div>
65. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
66. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">After her “internship in Wakanda” Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) goes back to MIT to continue her studies. While the inspiration is there, the cash just isn’t. She sells fully-working projects to other tech students to fund her own tech projects, something the academic community does not tolerate. Riri is expelled and heads back to Chicago flying in the Iron Man inspired suit she made on her own. The machine falls apart just as she is about to land, and her mother’s coming-home welcome is that of mixed disappointment and concern. As she is haggling for scraps at the local junk shop, she is recruited by some neighborhood thugs working for gang leader Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), who easily convinces her when he dangles a wad of cash from a box. His modus operandi is petty theft and burglary, and the team needs Riri to replace their tech guy. As Riri creates another Iron Man suit from scratch in her mom’s kitchen, an overnight brain scan produces N.A.T.A.L.I.E. (Lyric Ross) as her in-suit AI, modeled after her dead best friend.</span></span></span></div>
67. <div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
68. <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div>
69. <a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9h6CVrGNmj4K4DaqCt2AvraI2FNDrKLDSrc0b3hS8q5PxagbLSEBbFIXUtym-LSCYiXx9gAxk7Vres_n5rNQ64jHO4qc4ZSktt768xKItDKxDRfWpvvpSP6I6cM83cIB09aqIwlwaIq3CIKLp0Yi24hmBTDjoxx6i_Hz3K4k3kbfRwiQJxKv5tmPMEKaI/w400-h168/3.png" style="text-align: left;" width="400" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Like I always say and continue to do so, I’ve never seen any of the three Iron Man films. I just went along with my general knowledge of the guy being the billionaire tech genius. I really have no reason to watch Ironheart because the material doesn’t appeal to me. This series seems to be just yet another way of introducing a Young Avenger, even though we technically met Riri already in Black Panther II. The reason I’m watching is because they have been teasing Mephisto again, whose involvement in the MCU is as good as an in-joke now. Sacha Baron-Cohen is part of the cast and is rumored to play the role. As for the pilot episode, the only indication of magic so far is Parker’s body full of tattoos and a locked vault which contains a strange cloak over a makeshift mannequin in humanoid form. The song playing in the background also mentions the word Devil over and over again so they aren’t being subtle, really. Iron Man and his derivatives are on the tech side of the MCU, so the decision to marry it with the magic side seems odd to me. Let’s see how this will work out.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifvs4VB2AXI-WgKvMFZ9aawbfK-Px9Ip0NtTZ25OjkNAIjJLbD09Flu5PjnzZVUFOxuCoQLuTxwWAkS38UJCdD8Q2OdX8tMTw8-VHa4CvmW3tqz1a1asmprsAtEqhQMx2hJINb5EOy86MjOVjKdwygCCz22a7o0kjfkH31lzd-WcyYJW-7vUsoLp_l4IWB/w200-h84/2.png" style="text-align: left;" /><img border="0" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWI-6Ymw1_gz6PCZ64QnXXH82mxPKHmxOGOPsJD3rQrObUArhnAZili4Rn8D2Ge7kvzwzj2MPk1oU2VnwzNseLc-gK7oFZriahYZnru70DLa7g8zAPF4IBMrIHWfKbn_Wh_-JH5ZWKc8s_Yv8mMr_UsLx8escHn1oyiWaPNj66vRCO3gBn0YXqRptrNFf/w200-h84/1.png" style="text-align: left;" width="200" /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: yellow;">“I wanna build something undeniable. I want real-life scientific epiphanies.”</span></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;">–Riri Williams</span></span></span><br />
70. <br />
71. <div style="text-align: right;">
72. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-2.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;&lt;span face=&quot;&amp;quot;verdana&amp;quot; , sans-serif&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: red;&quot;&gt;Episode 2&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/1593614636497749688/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-1.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1593614636497749688'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1593614636497749688'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ironheart-episode-1.html' title='Ironheart - Episode 1'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69__lkxMWlNKt-ddUv0lpdFWaJtyEpH5T_UPrYsUbQ0vAhWYR_Lnu0wfgWIaEMfbykHH_1a5KBD_XAP-qHH7anG2NujuxFWojEHo1z88dMp1qFCMS0-_HwWHYVrSCXsPLlmz1VRpobuNtMsGGk4zHPyDXLrz9yI6lm2m6aAlnMrNCXRWerg35WZcs-YUX/s72-w400-h168-c/1.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-8667608482308270232</id><published>2025-06-22T18:38:00.030+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-25T22:49:58.745+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Tanghalang Pilipino"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Theater"/><title type='text'>VIRGIN LABFEST 20: Set D - May Asim Pa</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://theaterfansmanila.com/guide-the-virgin-labfest-2025-synopses-cast-and-more-details-announced/&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHmPoZBOSgGI5rwuSXULAvd5VTlYfO2oQXDRJl1xksmp-N6lAZVzerojc0r-dUYKk_DcW2Jkgo5Wbt8AcLY8x0HK4OjVpAIrjfYCMw3nUNUe_ykBKwl5w-UTuPYt3b1S38jIiWnwKzSTAQJ-pgE3__80TVjMA0mvRWw7RTMTtNuX-6ej5Xr4hs1dYaPpM/s1600/0123456789.png&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;ANNIVERSARY - Lesbian grandma May (Bibeth Orteza) visits the grave of her wife Anne Marie every year, bringing some beer cans along with her. After all, she is in her 70’s, so who’s going to stop her? This year is different as she is scandalized by Rob (Jamie Wilson), the husband of the woman buried next to her wife, pointing a gun to his head as she arrives for her annual visit. What could’ve been a suicide is prevented and the two strangers become once-a-year friends, relishing the memories of their departed loved ones. However, Rob still brings his gun with him year after year. Will the next one be the time he finally shoots himself?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Death is a predominant theme in this year’s Labfest. I thought ANNIVERSARY would be another May-December story, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it is more of a narrative about friendship, the kind you never expect to find. At a cemetery, of all places. This play sticks out like a sore thumb because the dialogues are in English, with just a mild smattering of Taglish here and there. The play is well-acted; the ending, poignant but predictable. The narrative enters philosophical territory but does not delve deep, which is good, because the audience seemed appreciative. Just the right amount of feels and prompt for reflection.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;DON’T MEOW FOR ME, CATRIONA - Phoebe (Angelica Panganiban) is migrating to Canada soon to be with her boyfriend, which means that her mother Reting (Peewee O’Hara) needs to move in with her son residing in Bicol. If it were up to Reting, she wouldn’t really leave the city nor abandon Catriona, her house cat that has gone missing days before her bus trip to the province. As mother and daughter wait at the new terminal for the bus departing at 4 AM, the deep-seated grudges they have against one another start to bubble to the surface, culminating in a not so ideal separation between the two, probably for good.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8o8Q0ECUGUlilVTHGELddTXybwwwU71-T1QJD0ppjwRUowOE_n6GIrrmg4V-0WkT9Q26CvVhO9JmJMxA2Z_pZ-Z50WDcxKyMgUvoDTas0Qbr0g6Q9yWeJGpFhPUL8JMDyldqhyphenhyphenIrEnpgsR2wN069mL-8RT4KvGmnvDtNVXj1fjxRyE7R8tuJMuZwWYy4I/w142-h200/SET-D_-ANNIVERSARY-min.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1DY5OhJI7anEknae0krBYcWEBwQgpi8xC4GlTcnGJS0khGk-lvWetvzhYh_-eLvQ3vKRkBDRQj75VwGoX-O4THUnPwos_xKR8Hja39pPkFjOe16DTw13qaGVr1YWyEtQSjGlQn5rDlvqY19aChNrfAWJt0eDvZ23vtDsCQn0CZxyy9csrrSirQQGyJZ-x/w141-h200/SET-D_-CATRIONA-min.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN4xIguFPrQdzmLxM47elTj3XyMAdlL3pOt9npS0oTWzrDdyyNBHAfnejE-jWqDZ5R9W8Afz4rfXwCU9_1gg3686GZS7FQ3e8nlBIOpEDcHR903ldHFuAaNozeZF0UbEkUAiot-IDoEEfRqytn7_rH-WQRtF6owDr3BTHi0dFwyuQZMG_lF5jU20kl0qZM/w142-h200/SET-D_-MOMMY-G-min.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;A millennial probably wrote this play. The only thing funny about DON’T MEOW FOR ME, CATRIONA is the mom’s behavior and her tirades obviously fueled by her impending senility. Anyone in his late 30’s and not yet an orphan will be well familiar with the feeling, but what this play really is is an ode to the Filipino cultural defect of having one child be designated as the elderly parent/s’ caregiver/retirement plan, and Angelica Panganiban embodies the relevant repressed emotions quite well in her theater debut. The only thing that didn’t really fit in the storyline is Catriona the cat herself as well as her irrelevance to the bigger picture.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;MOMMY G - Gina (Sherry Lara) celebrates her 65th birthday in style as she prepares a small feast that will serve as a reunion for her children. The eldest, Kuya Ben (Jonathan Tadioan) is ever supportive and serves as her overall assistant. Middle child Toni (Manok Nellas) is more authoritative and is married to a man 25 years her senior while youngest daughter Sofie (Sheenly Gener) is a lesbian. The only one unaccounted for is Ramon (Gelo Molina), the 19-year-old son of Gina’s deceased amiga whom she will be introducing to her children later on as her boyfriend. Can her children accept a stepfather way younger than they all are?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Every year there is always one Labfest entry focusing on a dysfunctional family and set either at a reunion or a birthday party. MOMMY G is THAT entry this year. The audience was wild from beginning to end. The venue was in an uproar all night. What I liked most about this play, though, is how you already have a clue of what the main revelation will be but the playwright still takes his/her time in developing the rapport among the characters so that by the time that climax is reached, the punchline is just cathartic. Despite being an absolute riot, that closing scene with dim lights and a birthday cake hits deep, having to face the gravity of the situation after all the laughter. The sudden tonal shift is jarring like that.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/8667608482308270232/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/virgin-labfest-20-set-d-may-asim-pa.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/8667608482308270232'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/8667608482308270232'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/virgin-labfest-20-set-d-may-asim-pa.html' title='VIRGIN LABFEST 20: Set D - May Asim Pa'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHmPoZBOSgGI5rwuSXULAvd5VTlYfO2oQXDRJl1xksmp-N6lAZVzerojc0r-dUYKk_DcW2Jkgo5Wbt8AcLY8x0HK4OjVpAIrjfYCMw3nUNUe_ykBKwl5w-UTuPYt3b1S38jIiWnwKzSTAQJ-pgE3__80TVjMA0mvRWw7RTMTtNuX-6ej5Xr4hs1dYaPpM/s72-c/0123456789.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-1622626726038301663</id><published>2025-06-21T21:23:00.000+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-25T18:39:30.605+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="American"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Hawthorne N."/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Literature"/><title type='text'>The Scarlet Letter</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIw2IZ4MLAcfG7MeD__SJm3ktGGogH2JGLguFemWGq8i0mZotILjttNylhXqVcQTq5K_WbxewydPGWpTQIbW95ZDLwwK-WtZaI8exh2GtkHfqNr57_kUV_ET7T8TI5mw1-VfocfyTonZmtjgkJ4oS4s57n0EbjamPk4DX05ssKwbY3TBql3QG-0nWbg9Q3/s1600/0123456789.png&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;In mid-1700’s Puritan Boston lives a young woman named Hester Prynne who gains notoriety by giving birth to a child whose father remains unknown. Hester crossed the Atlantic as a married woman, but her husband is believed to have been lost at sea. She is led to the gallows for public shaming and forced to wear a scarlet letter A, which stands for Adultery, embroidered on her clothing for the rest of her life. She also refuses to name the man who sired the child, despite constant harassment from the townsfolk. In prison, she is visited by a physician named Roger Chillingworth whom she eventually recognizes as her long lost husband assuming a new identity. She also refuses to name her lover when he asks and the two strike a deal to not reveal one another’s secrets. As Chillingworth worms his way into the household of church minister Arthur Dimmesdale, he gets closer to finding the answers to his many questions about his wife.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;So apparently back in the early days of what would emerge as ‘Murica, you had to embroider an A on your clothing if you were an adulteress? Elegant, I must admit, and even classy, but effort much? Nowadays we just slut shame people on social media, you know. If you grow up in the Philippines, you wouldn’t even need a literal marker on your clothes because people would just know. Nothing beats traditional data transfer through the lips of bored neighborhood aunties. Anyway, what strikes me as predictable is that the methods have changed alright, but people meddling with each other’s business still is, pretty much, the norm.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Or maybe we are really just creatures with built-in propensity for slut shaming? After all, aren’t we the only social species on this planet? By “social” I don’t merely allude to operating in groups, which other animals in the wild also tend to do, but rather through mutual cooperation. Everyone has a reputation, and that reputation serves as a concise yet invisible signboard telling everyone whether you are a good collaborator or not. In the case of The Scarlet Letter and slut shaming, perhaps this is really just our way of socially marking who is an easy lay and who is a prude. I can’t even decide whether any of those two is either bad or good.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;To be real, though, slut shaming is useful if the sole purpose is to mark who is sleeping with a lot more people and, thus, has more chances of carrying sexually transmitted diseases that may or may not kill you. From a self-preservation point of view, this makes sense. But let’s not kid ourselves here, because what people really enjoy here is the branding. The stigma. It’s really just schadenfreude and some sort of lynch mob mentality. This is even more evident now with social media. We just really need to crucify someone on a regular basis, not to mention how we enjoy playing that game of shoving our beliefs down one another’s throat.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I must admit I was confused at first as to where the plot was headed. I was reading thinking Hester’s pregnancy was a result of some indecency committed against her, but as you get closer to the concluding chapters, it seems as though she just moved on with her life and actually cared for her baby daddy. In this regard, what I find fascinating is how the husband, who should’ve been the victim, ended up being the antagonist while the two adulterers became the protagonists somehow. At this point I don’t know whether the author is romanticizing adultery or mocking societal norms or, maybe, a more fun option: both.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;In any case, my main takeaway from The Scarlet Letter is that as a species, we will always be judging one another. This just seems to be part and parcel of being a human being who has to exist in a society governed by rules and traditions that are not really universal truths but rather conventions agreed upon by a group of people once upon a time. Perhaps what we are doing wrong is treating these conventions as gospel truth, when the truth of the matter is that mankind and the societies they inhabit change overtime. So should the rules, no? Unfortunately, a lot of people hold onto those with their lives in an effort to ascribe meaning to what could be a meaningless existence after all. In the end, it’s all a boring and repetitive game of “My belief system is better than yours.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/1622626726038301663/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/the-scarlet-letter.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1622626726038301663'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1622626726038301663'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/the-scarlet-letter.html' title='The Scarlet Letter'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIw2IZ4MLAcfG7MeD__SJm3ktGGogH2JGLguFemWGq8i0mZotILjttNylhXqVcQTq5K_WbxewydPGWpTQIbW95ZDLwwK-WtZaI8exh2GtkHfqNr57_kUV_ET7T8TI5mw1-VfocfyTonZmtjgkJ4oS4s57n0EbjamPk4DX05ssKwbY3TBql3QG-0nWbg9Q3/s72-c/0123456789.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-1543609652547518476</id><published>2025-06-20T11:28:00.000+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-25T18:39:36.368+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="British"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Haddon M."/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Literature"/><title type='text'>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curious_Incident_of_the_Dog_in_the_Night-Time&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDilvQD28dwc0NfpFRNaqtwtv86QCkOF9wk2-8r-d6ssMCE4iJeAijZCnFetCVYjbmap3AxPe_k_zbQyw-dd_0mSxSuI3ilzPd3L1Tf3xdpYoK8Pe5wiTgkfk_SdHzokiUml1t9FO84zVkk6TruFfBbhh7ZpqF3grMvhE1m2xcmAdhsdBnjblYagDU8KRq/s1600/1234567890.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Neuro-diverse Christopher John Francis Boone is 15 years old and has been told that his mother died of a heart attack at a hospital. He lives with his father Ed in Swindon. His favorite color is red and he abhors yellow and brown, which causes some difficulties when it comes to toilets and food choices. Christopher is very good at Math and is planning to take A-Levels at his school, he being the only one to be able to do so. One night, Christopher takes a walk and strays towards their neighbor Mrs. Shears’ lawn where he finds her dog Wellington dead with a pitchfork to the stomach. Christopher is initially blamed for the crime and detained by police for questioning. When his name is cleared after clarifications from his father, Christopher gets obsessed with Wellington’s murder and makes a promise to himself to investigate and seek justice for the dog despite his father’s pleas for him to stop meddling in their neighbors’ business.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Every novel we read will most likely be an invasion of someone else’s mind, and some of those minds we invade tend to function similarly to ours. What makes The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time unique is that it gives us a glimpse of how the brain of a person with neurological challenges works. Most reviews for this novel indicate that Christopher is on the autism spectrum, although the author argues that he did not write the character with such illness in mind. Some claim he has Aspergers. Whatever he has, it seems as though the author’s aim is to introduce a narrator with a distinct frame of mind, and it’s fascinating.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;The first and only time that I read this book was in 2008. 17 years later and one tends to forget all the details. All I can remember is that Christopher was autistic and there was a dog. Flipping through the first pages certainly jogged my memory, but I admit that the selective amnesia has given me an enjoyable reading experience the second time around. A narration like Christopher’s comes across as weirdly unique. Sometimes I tend to have internal monologues like that and I think of them as isolated and strange. In Christopher’s case, though, it is the norm for him, and I had fun piecing up the puzzle of how his mind works.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;In terms of structure, the novel has several plot twists and unexpected turns that would serve as the centerpiece of any other novel. In the case of this story, though, the reader gets torn between being scandalized by the revelations and dealing with the nonchalance by which Christopher receives the news. Since the author does a brilliant job in delving into the brain of a person with such a condition, the reader gains understanding. Personally, I feel like this novel paves the way to somehow get more empathy not just for individuals on the spectrum but also how they view the world around them, and the limitations thereof.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;The novel is also unique in its use of diagrams and other non-verbal print on its pages to provide the reader with a more visual peek at Christopher’s thought process. You have Math problems, random signboards, samples of geometric patterns, etc. The chapter numbers are chronological but all prime numbers, which I find to be rather specific and adds more novelty to the narrator’s storytelling style. The narrator’s use of language, characteristically unfiltered unlike most of ours dictated by social norms, can be raw, with figures of speech often not translating well enough to a line of thinking that is more straightforward and quite literal.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Overall, I had fun reading this novel, but what I really got curious about was the perspective of the narrator, that of a child or teenager processing the demise of his/her parents’ relationship. Rare is a novel outside YA fiction that deals with the perspective of someone younger tackling harsh adult realities. Even if you have experienced a similar childhood trauma, you usually end up processing it through an adult’s perspective as you grow older. This is why narratives like this are interesting because we can try to see everything from the point of view of a person without much life experiences, and this is where the power of imagination really comes into play.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/1543609652547518476/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/the-curious-incident-of-dog-in-night.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1543609652547518476'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1543609652547518476'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/the-curious-incident-of-dog-in-night.html' title='The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDilvQD28dwc0NfpFRNaqtwtv86QCkOF9wk2-8r-d6ssMCE4iJeAijZCnFetCVYjbmap3AxPe_k_zbQyw-dd_0mSxSuI3ilzPd3L1Tf3xdpYoK8Pe5wiTgkfk_SdHzokiUml1t9FO84zVkk6TruFfBbhh7ZpqF3grMvhE1m2xcmAdhsdBnjblYagDU8KRq/s72-c/1234567890.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-4286235693310084730</id><published>2025-06-19T17:12:00.017+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-25T22:53:28.683+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Tanghalang Pilipino"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Theater"/><title type='text'>VIRGIN LABFEST 20: Set C - Kinalburo</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://theaterfansmanila.com/guide-the-virgin-labfest-2025-synopses-cast-and-more-details-announced/&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHmPoZBOSgGI5rwuSXULAvd5VTlYfO2oQXDRJl1xksmp-N6lAZVzerojc0r-dUYKk_DcW2Jkgo5Wbt8AcLY8x0HK4OjVpAIrjfYCMw3nUNUe_ykBKwl5w-UTuPYt3b1S38jIiWnwKzSTAQJ-pgE3__80TVjMA0mvRWw7RTMTtNuX-6ej5Xr4hs1dYaPpM/s1600/0123456789.png&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;MGA MAGINDARA SA SIYUDAD - Maureen (Raf Pineda) and Maylene (Donna Cariaga) are taken in as children by the owner of a traveling circus. The duo form part of a spectacle, both of them portraying mermaids singing in costume as people in search of momentary distractions pay to get entertained. Decades later, Maureen is tired of the life they’ve always known and plans to sneak out to join a singing contest in the city. Maylene does not agree and reiterates what she considers as a privileged existence within the premises, with enough food despite the questionable lodging arrangements. Is it right for one to wish for more by leaving the other behind?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;This is one of those dramas masquerading as a comedy. To be fair, MGA MAGINDARA SA SIYUDAD tries to be funny but the punchlines are few. Somehow, this works because it helps shift the focus to the gravity of the duo’s dilemma. I never really found out whether Maureen and Maylene were siblings, but the obvious theme here is that of choosing between pursuing one’s dreams and fulfilling an unwritten obligation toward someone. The ending suggests that abandonment was the choice, Maylene now being a solo act. And then the moral question: Was Maureen wrong to choose to live his life over taking care of Maylene?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;THE LATE MISTER REAL - Ex couple Boyet (Roi Calilong) and Raquel (Shé Maala) “meet” again years later at a makeshift isolation facility in their town. She arrived from Canada more than a week ago and spent a week at an isolation facility in Manila before getting the go signal for a local transfer. He, on the other hand, has been suspected of being positive for COVID, which is how he has ended up in the room next to hers. Bored and without any other options, the two spend their idle time catching up on each other’s lives. The chat remains happy until past issues and unresolved grudges are brought to the fore. Will they get out of there as friends or enemies?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvOlBk7JiN8d7XwhbfE-DtaeqGx29WTaeIXnPQtBQTtHUdM3-U9bvD6TQC8nI0C__WGR86a6B0O0ddI1MCj0wKYGjptodibGkO_j8xpY3u7IYNixxcNHI-AIi2jyX5LUczLxZjifVbL_bYQKfXxkw4OrjdSDnioQ30acbjBFHcz0TSkKu-dvDoTRUecyB_/w141-h200/SET-C_-MAGINDARA-min.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9gsoG5vTaBzNS9sm-IXTtAut8pGZMEudljPdYezL9CkvBzAOsWD1MGJKd8qPQJ1gVV6DF0Y_a0NkgOqbfxsikTtTUiidyLfxcuUDoH423ejr8wZHZSqb6O1e3M7Ze4L9CRLzWTFVOe36KBeeOtEDFjJfZC9RH_091WCl8LR9Vv8ylDuHSNhi5MkX1xaol/w142-h200/SET-C_-THE-LATE-MR-REAL-min.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGCMjEIp5lQkFYFsfJGF1vcvuoR4QY4ZBbnwdFSUHWgGX4_OxA-9cJEEC2wbCYrSr4g8aK9pW_NOQ9bq29vw37B-urs-DQAmNsgaiBr11aHDvFJfm8xtheeHEKeRR0b_3T2PQbFYNzpIB65FKItIhvyDjkAHad8Q2Gj8DhviZ3HCoiSscL9sfEHl_XWMR/w142-h200/SET-C_-ANG-PROBLEMA-SA-TROLLEY-2-min.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Well, damn. Why did they pack this set with all the heavy themes? Just a friendly reminder, THE LATE MISTER REAL contains themes like suicide, which might be a trigger for some of you. I like how the playwright structured his play, though, with everything starting out so vague and the audience having to peel layer by layer until they get to the core of the storyline. Such technique of exposition leaves a lot of room for revelations. The narration could’ve been chronological but that wouldn’t have had the same emotional impact. The title is a spoiler, but the advance warning kind of doubles the blow once the climax of the story is reached.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;ANG PROBLEMA SA TROLLEY - A trolley is something that the urban poor in the Philippines use as a form of transport, basically hijacking the train tracks, getting them from point A to B cheaply. It is turning out to be an ordinary night for psychology student Vesper who is in a rush to get home to review for his exam the next day, while trolley operator Odell (Mario Magallona) is just about to finish his night’s last trips when passenger Dido (Joshua Tayco) stops the trolley out of the blue and declares that he is jumping off to his death to the creek below. The two do their best to stop him, until he reveals the reason why he wants to end his life.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Another suicide narrative. I thought ANG PROBLEMA SA TROLLEY would just be another derivative of moral psychology’s trolley problem. What we get instead is adrenaline rush and a literal trolley, as the cast simulates an ongoing suicide attempt onstage. The play is peppered with comedy through the humorous banter between Vesper and Odell and that’s a good thing because it somehow softens the intensity of the main theme. The audience was engaged all throughout as if the trolley was a rollercoaster of emotions they&#39;re also riding. I believe this one has a good shot at making it to Set E next year based on audience impact alone.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/4286235693310084730/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/virgin-labfest-20-set-c-kinalburo.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4286235693310084730'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4286235693310084730'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/virgin-labfest-20-set-c-kinalburo.html' title='VIRGIN LABFEST 20: Set C - Kinalburo'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHmPoZBOSgGI5rwuSXULAvd5VTlYfO2oQXDRJl1xksmp-N6lAZVzerojc0r-dUYKk_DcW2Jkgo5Wbt8AcLY8x0HK4OjVpAIrjfYCMw3nUNUe_ykBKwl5w-UTuPYt3b1S38jIiWnwKzSTAQJ-pgE3__80TVjMA0mvRWw7RTMTtNuX-6ej5Xr4hs1dYaPpM/s72-c/0123456789.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-8163823886927003649</id><published>2025-06-18T23:03:00.006+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-18T23:12:39.698+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Filipino"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Film"/><title type='text'>Flower Girl</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flower_girl_2025&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4b_Pgql0lOXepvpje27Ry_RbHSkhMd0zE-rj7_jRynEtAx745d9q1BJ_C6cjH4qSsV0hyAQcMpYVfnkEHQChxIxPmyi4AgHOAipw_pzUZEPivtIqEezDalGQS1kdkTix-QNdh3-cqXQftwq8v_freDnUdnWh5vHryFgWs6lG33zAaMQDvQFG8JQGwjr0Y/s1600/1234567990.jfif&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Celebrity endorser Ena (Sue Ramirez) is a transphobe. Her gender philosophy is simple: You are a woman if you were born with a vagina. End of discussion. When she makes a stopover at some random gas station en route to a gender reveal party, she is scandalized when she finds a drag queen using the womens’ restroom. An argument ensues and the tranny playfully “puts a curse” on Ena, which the latter simply brushes off. The following morning begins with Ena’s boyfriend Robert (Martin del Rosario) getting ready to go down on her, except there’s something missing. Poochy is missing. Who TF is Poochy? Poochy is Ena’s pet name for her vagina. A confrontation at the same gas station toilet later on ends up with Ena receiving a magical flower. The catch? She must find someone to love her unconditionally despite her lack of private parts before the flower loses all of its petals. Otherwise, Poochy is gone for good.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I wanted to give Flower Girl a higher rating because despite the silly exposition, the topic it tackles is really thought provoking. Perhaps my reluctance has to do with whatever is missing from the screenplay. Yes, unfortunately Poochy is not the only thing missing. Maybe it has something to do with the really short runtime? The film clocks out at just an hour and fifteen minutes which already includes the end credits. Somehow, this movie comes across as an extended short film of sorts. The ending is anticlimactic, as if the writer didn’t know how to conclude the storyline so they just decided to stop filming at that very moment.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;As for silly exposition, how weird does this film get? Well, there is a scene where it starts raining dildos and mock vaginas out of the blue, hitting almost every character involved in the story. And then there is an entire sequence where Ena is finally reunited with Poochy, except that it is no longer part of her but rather a giant vagina mascot who, judging from the voice behind the costume, seemed to be Gladys Reyes in an uncredited cameo. The two dance, talk, air their grievances against one another, and even end up cuddling afterwards. It’s weird like that, but it works. I honestly don’t know how, but somehow it works.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;As for nudity, there are a couple of racy sex scenes that qualify more as soft porn, maybe not even because there is no real nudity involved. The sex scenes are mostly there not to titillate but rather to poke fun at the circumstances that the characters find themselves in. The only nudity we can consider as such are the full frontals from two of the actors which, again, are debatable because they just show you the lower part of their bodies without any genitalia. What you get is similar to a Barbie or Ken doll devoid of private parts, achieved either through costume or prosthetics. Maybe even CGI? I couldn’t really tell.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Anyway, one of the questions I immediately asked when I saw the trailer was really practical in nature. If she doesn’t have a vagina anymore, how does she take a piss? This is directly mentioned by one of the characters but not answered. What they ended up justifying were menstruation and ejaculation, which were depicted via nosebleeds, kinda. In any case, if you do not watch this movie as a pro-trans rights argument in film form, the storyline can also be tackled as a critique of modern day relationships as well as the role that sex plays in it. It’s a tale as old as time. Relationship for the sake of romance, companionship or sexual satisfaction?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;The silliness works because the real issue here is trans rights, a touchy topic always fueled by vitriol from both sides, usually accompanied by hardline religious or political ideologies. Films that discuss such issues are usually preachy or too tragic that they tend to repel pedestrian moviegoers. With Flower Girl’s irreverent humor and rather literal imagery so simplified that it’s hilarious, the audience gets to relax through the humor and just end up asking the questions themselves. What is womanhood nowadays? If the sole criteria is being born with a vagina, what happens when the vajayjay disappears? Do they cease to be women, then?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen=&quot;&quot; class=&quot;BLOG_video_class&quot; height=&quot;266&quot; src=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/embed/xmC5yZiLE-o&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; youtube-src-id=&quot;xmC5yZiLE-o&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/8163823886927003649/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/flower-girl.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/8163823886927003649'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/8163823886927003649'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/flower-girl.html' title='Flower Girl'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4b_Pgql0lOXepvpje27Ry_RbHSkhMd0zE-rj7_jRynEtAx745d9q1BJ_C6cjH4qSsV0hyAQcMpYVfnkEHQChxIxPmyi4AgHOAipw_pzUZEPivtIqEezDalGQS1kdkTix-QNdh3-cqXQftwq8v_freDnUdnWh5vHryFgWs6lG33zAaMQDvQFG8JQGwjr0Y/s72-c/1234567990.jfif" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-1368794381493433809</id><published>2025-06-13T16:25:00.000+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-14T12:46:50.449+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="American"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Flynn G."/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Literature"/><title type='text'>Sharp Objects</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Objects&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90r3uLIEiJ518V9F6QS7lQAZqIYCscbQUAIJCkDwxDuXaMtfvZbkFc7_8Tw8qr01mJXyUdnOgwcfePlJ2ez9QQaxaFn1J8aUC1yuQnFm5xMUmQrg0PcdarPoi77hrXiR6IOXB-W7dyjzLx8xhfx4W6mxsOlK1xqMqT2X5mxWtzNowh-ss_RdzCOuSnp6P/s1600/18045891.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Camille Preaker has been living her life far away from home in Chicago as a police beat reporter for a newspaper that nobody really reads. She is forced to go back to Wind Gap and confront the ghosts of her childhood when news of two teen murders catch the attention of her editor. Both teenage girls were strangled and had all their teeth removed, some sort of modus operandi pointing to a possible serial killer. The townsfolk are quite convinced that Jon Keene, the older brother of one of the victims, is guilty of the crime. As Camille investigates, she goes back home to the family mansion and gets into a weird family reunion with her mother Adora, stepfather Alan as well as her 13-year-old younger half-sister Amma, who has grown up so fast she doesn’t even recognize her the first time they stumble upon each other around town. Camille struggles with her mental health as traumas of the past return, with a vengeance, to haunt her.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Apparently, Gone Girl was the third novel. Sharp Objects was the first, and there is another one wedged in between entitled Dark Places. The three novels do not seem to share a single literary universe. The only commonality they have is their author, Gillian Flynn, who seems to be carving out a niche for herself in the literary subgenre of deranged women with haunting tales to tell. I’ve only read Sharp Objects and Gone Girl so far, but I’m now rather eager to also delve into Dark Places, which I can’t seem to find at any local bookstore. In any case, I believe Amy Dunne, Adora and Amma, and Camille Preaker are enough to spook me.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I guess this is one reason why I enjoyed reading Sharp Objects. We live in a society where women are not really allowed to be this unhinged. The societal norms in place seem to mind, unless the person in question is a man who, by all means, is permitted to go full-on psycho. Of course lurking not far beneath that cuckoo exterior, romanticized to sell stories either in book or film form, is an undercurrent of mental illness brought about by trauma. These women are not crazy just because. These women are disturbed because a life experience paved the way for them to be that way. I love how Flynn sheds light on this specific factor.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;There is something creepy in Sharp Objects and the way it is written. It’s as if there is this persistent cloud of mental fog present while you read, along with some cryptic feel that provokes you to flip the pages faster to know what is going on. Now I know that HBO came up with its own adaptation starring Amy Adams pre-pandemic. I am now excited to see what they did with the material, whether that creepiness managed to effectively translate from word to screen. I guess this is the reason why Amy Adams became the de facto image of Camille Preaker in my head as I was reading this novel, at least based on the trailers I saw online.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Even then, there was this disturbing phenomenon in the first few chapters as far as character image is concerned where I wasn’t really envisioning Amy Adams as the protagonist but rather Rosamund Pike. Rosamund Pike, why? You might ask. Pike portrayed Amy Dunne in the big screen adaptation of Gone Girl, and somehow I sensed traces of Amy Dunne in Camille Preaker, as far as her internal monologue was concerned. The sarcasm. The dry wit. As I breezed through more chapters, I realized that this particular voice of both characters must be the author herself, hence, the similarity. Why, hello there, Gillian Flynn.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;But that’s the extent of the comparison between the two novels. Gone Girl was scandalously delicious to read as a novel and watch as a movie. Sharp Objects is just as tantalizing, but what they really share is that angle of scandal in the structure of the story, followed by some sleuthing around to put the puzzle pieces together. Of course, the deranged woman trope is also a similarity, but I believe Amy Dunne is more of a nutcase than Camille Preaker is. The former, to me, is a legit psychopath; the latter, just a damaged person trying to navigate through life despite some very scarring childhood trauma.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/1368794381493433809/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/sharp-objects.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1368794381493433809'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1368794381493433809'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/sharp-objects.html' title='Sharp Objects'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90r3uLIEiJ518V9F6QS7lQAZqIYCscbQUAIJCkDwxDuXaMtfvZbkFc7_8Tw8qr01mJXyUdnOgwcfePlJ2ez9QQaxaFn1J8aUC1yuQnFm5xMUmQrg0PcdarPoi77hrXiR6IOXB-W7dyjzLx8xhfx4W6mxsOlK1xqMqT2X5mxWtzNowh-ss_RdzCOuSnp6P/s72-c/18045891.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-4807432576849709378</id><published>2025-06-12T20:44:00.016+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-23T17:12:44.782+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Tanghalang Pilipino"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Theater"/><title type='text'>VIRGIN LABFEST 20: Set B - Manibalang</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://theaterfansmanila.com/guide-the-virgin-labfest-2025-synopses-cast-and-more-details-announced/&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHmPoZBOSgGI5rwuSXULAvd5VTlYfO2oQXDRJl1xksmp-N6lAZVzerojc0r-dUYKk_DcW2Jkgo5Wbt8AcLY8x0HK4OjVpAIrjfYCMw3nUNUe_ykBKwl5w-UTuPYt3b1S38jIiWnwKzSTAQJ-pgE3__80TVjMA0mvRWw7RTMTtNuX-6ej5Xr4hs1dYaPpM/s1600/0123456789.png&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;MINATING NI MARIAH ANG MANTO NG MOMMY NI MAMA MARY - Once a scammer, always a scammer? Mariah (Lian Silverio) makes a living by scamming Americans until he repents and decides to adopt some kind of religious devotion by participating at a Lenten exhibit where he designs Mary Magdalene’s costume, with the aid of his fling/boyfriend Mentong (Esteban Mara). Trouble finds them when fellow devotee Monang (Mosang) claims that the costume was stolen from their parish’s own Mama Mary idol. Parish priest Mijares (George de Jesus III) arrives and tries to mediate.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;There always seems to be an obligatory slapstick entry among the three entries in a set and this is definitely it for Set B. I don’t usually appreciate slapstick, but what MINATING NI MARIAH ANG MANTO NG MOMMY NI MAMA MARY also manages to do is initiate a discourse about religion. If everyone in a religious denomination is considered equal in the eyes of their god, then why do some of them feel “more worthy” to deem others “less worthy” of practicing their faith, in a way they see fit? It’s a good debate hidden not so deep beneath the kanal humor on the surface.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;UNANG ARAW - In a faraway highway hidden from everyday life somewhere in Mindanao, a jeepney zips through as the four people in it believe that they are being chased by an enemy’s car, only to find out that the vehicle’s passengers are among their group. Suspended cop Egay (Aldo Vencilao) leads the quartet. Tambok (DMs Boongaling) serves as the getaway car driver. Enteng (Ybes Bagadiong) is the jester. Arnel (Earvin Estioco), on the other hand, is there to prove to his uncle, the Mayor, that he has what it takes to kill and earn his rightful place in the family. But is life really fair in a death squad? What happens when you are no longer useful?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHHY6MjuPPkomj1lPgfbeCqVWXHcmoquzuMuid5YWm99Ao__op0eBwoUnTM8IWx9vFmCoSZuQ0XTvq3104SlSeMcURVshm-xp70ZOWRj2ReV4NJEOsEBPbzhUbJhWyFULausr4YCqA34OGgXhXIviQm_VFxxyTOUiyITY4nKs7IQjuMTMy0srJrleXfXpB/w141-h200/SET-B_-MARIAH-2-min.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcAX-lE6q0QwVgEXmDQB46DLhpzfkUgMSQeTk5owhcgntli7Ogb_Sa8lbu-FHVBnUx96RvJEzDwUiePXAsQE1twxDtz3KLhR2qnd5mkhmHq7nqFnjsmfpN4Q1tVTCCrdmSjJtDKdhaf6mbNbzH955JRLbMJDCuAgQTfTaMBrQAg8A3_9Lqb3zizYSX0hNF/w142-h200/SET-B_-UNANG-ARAW-min.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFVEPcqP2uiL21HFbPbR1ohXvVwzYG8Yi6sT9TkKuzMO0H4EWtz1YObp32GyqM8AjQZtgAfKsUv4DSMXpdrQtp9CK9cBcM6BCQ0ktYv5_O00YmYQhGwfWbMBMnVCxt74Ss2rMGhPI_OMvR1_rhJZhQUKn90ybdKNjtGWOZTzXQGhOSwf_B14Mf8bB6Pimw/w142-h200/SET-B_-PRESIDENTIAL-SUITE-min.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;And then there’s the entry that deals with the harsh realities of modern day society. I wasn’t really that aware of the topic, even though the flashing word MINDANAO at the beginning was already a dead giveaway. Later on, as more details are revealed, you find out that this is a narrative about murderous people in power. Add the specific years flashed on the wall and all subtlety goes away. No names are dropped, but the circumstances are too familiar to dismiss as coincidence. UNANG ARAW is hard to watch because of the violence involved but, as always, a necessary story to tell. For awareness. For accountability. For justice.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;PRESIDENTIAL SUITE #2 - Senator Wilma Zaragoza (Clottie Gealogo-Lucero) suffers from a heart attack as she is grilled at the senate for various accusations. Her children set up camp in the hospital to monitor not just her condition but also people’s opinions about her on social media. Eldest son Constantino (Andoy Ranay) boasts his contribution to the family by being his mother’s man friday. Influencer Gertrude (Kiki Baento) reflects on running for a local position to recoup her husband’s failed Crypto investment. Youngest, Father Richie (MC dela Cruz) bemoans the use of his church as a front for money laundering. As PR guy Andy (Ariel Diccion) analyzes the family’s “social media health” in real time, tough decisions will have to be made.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;This is also kind of slapstick, but I don’t really care, because the satire is strong in this one. Whoever wrote PRESIDENTIAL SUITE #2 did a perfect job in lampooning each and every political dynasty, past present or future, operating in this country. No holds barred, from the campaign jingle all the way to the sinister twist at the end! The Virgin Labfest is no stranger to narratives that are heavily political, but there is always room for admiration for those that manage to perform an impressive balancing act between comedy and social relevance. I have yet to see the other three sets, but PRESIDENTIAL SUITE #2 has been the best so far.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/4807432576849709378/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/virgin-labfest-20-set-b-manibalang.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4807432576849709378'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4807432576849709378'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/virgin-labfest-20-set-b-manibalang.html' title='VIRGIN LABFEST 20: Set B - Manibalang'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHmPoZBOSgGI5rwuSXULAvd5VTlYfO2oQXDRJl1xksmp-N6lAZVzerojc0r-dUYKk_DcW2Jkgo5Wbt8AcLY8x0HK4OjVpAIrjfYCMw3nUNUe_ykBKwl5w-UTuPYt3b1S38jIiWnwKzSTAQJ-pgE3__80TVjMA0mvRWw7RTMTtNuX-6ej5Xr4hs1dYaPpM/s72-c/0123456789.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-4442647191009003936</id><published>2025-06-11T20:47:00.004+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-11T20:54:48.797+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Filipino"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Film"/><title type='text'>Only We Know</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.imdb.com/title/tt36409255/&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD0TC8V8H9Bv4XZx0A741R-7jEhCbTBQvRzV3xwmjVZR4cs7m8Px0rFrOpmc4CTCpTVVoUDTQmzJUMDcnAUcI9_DJK1ONVKglOht7TFSd-EifKFozJyHODvAFM-j0s1DDcY7-eFBqMqA27SvIZTGNoyIe3AL0j3G8YVsSlWEjFQMGPmuFf3rHZAAkgcND5/s1600/0123456789.png&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Retired philosophy professor Betty (Charo Santos-Concio) muddles through her mundane everyday reality by applying what she is teaching to her daily life. She remains good friends with her ex-husband William (Al Tantay) who is now waiting for baby number four with his new wife. Across the street is young widower Ryan (Dingdong Dantes), whose grief for the sudden passing of his wife still hasn’t been totally processed even a year after the aneurysm that took her life. His friends try to persuade him to date anew so he can move on with his life, but he isn’t quite ready yet. Noticing one another’s existence for the first time in a while, Betty and Ryan start inviting each other for dinner and engaging in talks about life. They even agree to sign up for a dating app and begin dating their respective matches. A unique friendship and companionship blossoms.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Judging from the way Only We Know is being marketed, I was expecting an awkward May-December storyline shoehorned into a cringy teenybopper Star Cinema formula. So imagine my delight when the opening scene turns out to be a philosophy lecture focused on Existentialism and Absurdism, framed through a discussion of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. I was, like, whoah. Calm down, Star Cinema. You have my attention. I’m seated. Go on. The film is, no doubt, attempting to be a rom-com, yet by leaning more on the philosophical aspects, the end result is a mature take on adult friendship that transcends both the romantic and the sexual.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Not one kiss. No showing of skin. In a way, we can argue that this is indeed teenybopper. But that’s not right. This is the opposite of teenybopper. The film, or franchise, that first came to mind when I was searching my brain for a similar narrative style was the Before Sunrise series. Lots of talk about life in general, except you substitute the tireless walking around picturesque European cities with the jarring monotony of life in upper middle class Philippine suburbia. Oh wait, there is one scene where they head to the mountains, and that mix of cloud and fog made the ambiance even more conducive for philosophical chatter!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;It’s weird that Charo Santos has never starred in a romance themed film. I wasn’t alive yet during her heydays but it seems to me as though she’d been acting forever. Anyway, there is always a first time. She could have gone full-on Nicole Kidman with a raunchy comeback vehicle a la Babygirl, but I’m glad that she did not because they ended up with a better offer. I wouldn’t even dare consider Only We Know as a rom-com or even plain romance. The relationship between the two protagonists is more akin to that of mentor/mentee, of one human being guiding another on how to navigate the intricacies of life.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;The story is philosophical like that and, consequently, mature. Sure, there are some rom-com tropes scattered here and there but they are utilized more as a plot device to move the story forward. The rapport between Santos and Dantes is awkward, and that awkwardness transcends the screen. Perhaps this is one reason why the audience chooses to view their relationship as that of a teacher and a student, in a non porno fetish kind of way, but rather in a manner through which you can see an older individual trying to pass wisdom to a younger one who is going through a life crisis.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;That romantic aspect of the film is harder to grasp, and is aptly summarized by one of Betty’s lines roughly translating to her not being obliged to label whatever relationship she has with Ryan. Because of this, I don’t believe that Only We Know will be making a killing at the box office. Neither lead actor has the kind of fandom that makes a box office hit. The formula is neither teenybopper nor dependent on teenage-coded feels. If anything, the mature way this movie is tackled feels more like it belongs in the indie scene. I am confident that it will find its audience, but maybe not necessarily in cinemas, in the long run.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen=&quot;&quot; class=&quot;BLOG_video_class&quot; height=&quot;266&quot; src=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/embed/1uHPLrgurX8&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; youtube-src-id=&quot;1uHPLrgurX8&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/4442647191009003936/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/only-we-know.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4442647191009003936'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4442647191009003936'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/only-we-know.html' title='Only We Know'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD0TC8V8H9Bv4XZx0A741R-7jEhCbTBQvRzV3xwmjVZR4cs7m8Px0rFrOpmc4CTCpTVVoUDTQmzJUMDcnAUcI9_DJK1ONVKglOht7TFSd-EifKFozJyHODvAFM-j0s1DDcY7-eFBqMqA27SvIZTGNoyIe3AL0j3G8YVsSlWEjFQMGPmuFf3rHZAAkgcND5/s72-c/0123456789.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-4259749421773359060</id><published>2025-06-10T19:59:00.010+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-10T20:16:34.854+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="British"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Literature"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Wilde O."/><title type='text'>The Importance of Being Earnest</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Importance_of_Being_Earnest&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHO0Hqox69wsnHbQJ4wVZhp72pXngXcaSAjY_VKSSqTNaEyJTbgoPi4boVuX92hP0CEF6AWi2eP8nPRvd2M_GOXNkEDvN4wsC5vxyzr-xvzgkG2lbC9zJH0saBBd3JfD0iHXa1FkGwyyqa89XWoR67lHOGa4YUbHaM0BmQ8verADDklRDsmYjp-m2yThf/s1600/315ccc0702439fe7d1f0c8493f006e12072107ee.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Young lad Algernon has maintained a friendship with a certain Ernest Worthing, who is revealed to be living a double life when Algy finds his cigarette case with the phrase &quot;From little Cecily, with her fondest love to her dear Uncle Jack&quot; engraved on it. Jack explains that he uses the pseudonym Ernest whenever he is in town. Algy admits to having the same modus operandi, revealing that he made up a sick friend named Bunbury so he can use him as an excuse whenever he is not in the mood to socialize with family and friends. Jack aims to propose marriage to Algy’s cousin Gwendolen, who falls in love with his name “Ernest” at first sight. The same thing happens to Algy when he pays his friend a visit and intends to propose marriage to his charge Cecily. He pretends to be “Ernest” and the young lady also falls in love with the name. Now both men have the same problem and attempt to resolve it by getting rechristened.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Oscar, Oscar, Oscar. You are fast becoming one of my favorite authors. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel. The Importance of Being Earnest is a play. The Signet Classics edition combines this play with two others from Wilde: Salome; and Lady Windermere’s Fan. It is my first time reading The Importance of Being Earnest but I believe I’ve already seen it either as a film or as a play before, so I am already a bit familiar with the plot. Salome is a short 30-page script, the author’s very own take on the biblical account of John the Baptist’s beheading. Lady Windermere’s Fan is around 70 pages of Victorian era soap opera.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;What I always remember about The Importance of Being Earnest is the clever play on words along with some puns. Earnest as an adjective means “sincere” or “serious”. As a name, Ernest is used as a plot device to fuel a story about deception and mistaken identities. I was afraid that it might come across as too confusing, but Wilde’s narration is easy to follow. He plays around with the premise a lot and this serves as the source of the play’s humor. What I enjoyed the most, though, is how the play explores the concept of alternate personalities, a certain duality meant to be used as a shield from established societal norms.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Of course the twist in the end is that Jack’s name has always been Ernest all along. This twist is cathartic but rather contrived, even though it works well to conclude the play. Most reviews never fail to mention the parallelisms between the characters and Oscar Wilde himself. Perhaps finding a biography of the author should be my next project, just to explore the similarities even more, to see how much of Oscar ended up being in Jack and Algernon. Overall, the play is kept satirical and comical, which makes it serve like some sort of farce, a harsh critique of the societal norms of that particular time period.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;As for the other two works, Salome is creepy. The dialogues are repetitive, which makes the material even creepier. It must have been a challenge to publish or have the material staged back in the day given how it can come across as blasphemous. What you’ll find really impressive, though, is how Wilde manages to pack so much in less than 50 pages. I mean, come on! Of course, the play is lacking in context but anyone who is familiar with the original material would know what it is all about. The metaphorical dance between Herod and Salome is just so thrilling to read!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;As for Lady Windermere’s Fan, it comes across as some sort of dated soap opera written really well, with all the twists and turns that make you anticipate what happens next. I believe I’ve already seen the premise remade on film and television. It’s just so catchy like that, an easily malleable narrative that can be adjusted accordingly to suit any time period. It must be a true testament of a writer’s talent to amuse and impress with narratives this short. For the record, I am, indeed, impressed.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/4259749421773359060/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/the-importance-of-being-earnest.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4259749421773359060'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4259749421773359060'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/the-importance-of-being-earnest.html' title='The Importance of Being Earnest'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHO0Hqox69wsnHbQJ4wVZhp72pXngXcaSAjY_VKSSqTNaEyJTbgoPi4boVuX92hP0CEF6AWi2eP8nPRvd2M_GOXNkEDvN4wsC5vxyzr-xvzgkG2lbC9zJH0saBBd3JfD0iHXa1FkGwyyqa89XWoR67lHOGa4YUbHaM0BmQ8verADDklRDsmYjp-m2yThf/s72-c/315ccc0702439fe7d1f0c8493f006e12072107ee.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-7824439706082058505</id><published>2025-06-09T17:27:00.011+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-09T17:53:05.843+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Resorts World Manila"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Theater"/><title type='text'>Delia D (Resorts World Manila)</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/events/2025/1/17/meet-the-cast-of-delia-d-a-musical-featuring-jonathan-manalo-s-songs-1607&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFWmRUYmSyd4MHjcdaa4EELMOcEZ5BP0fl3nw0ZRSXh0t4cUgj54qqBhFi-xxXaLA6jOcbEKxrWlZa053jhocsFlWBXFyn1wgzgoauguG3P-SVaCSp28tvsvSmhPzN86supUZE2VZqX8oQccbc30WnjUdip44OStCKzXQuWlujjjx2pNzcGdV1sqIVoVV/s1600/1234567890.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Drag queen Delia (Phi Palmos), who goes by the stage name Just Delia, has always dreamed of becoming a singer but hindered by the “lip-sync only” rule her drag mom Eme (John Lapus) enforces at the bar Drag &amp;amp; Tell which she operates and where she works. Opportunity finally knocks when a TV network launches a singing competition called Idols of the Galaxy. There, Delia goes head to head with other hopeful contestants: heartthrob Raymond (Omar Uddin); bully Phoebe (Chaye Mogg); singing couple Billy (Alfritz Blanche) and Sheryn (Nastasha Cabrera); and awkward power belter Kiki (Shaira Opsimar). When showrunner Sir T (Floyd Tena) rigs the competition in favor of Delia, his new ward is launched into superstardom as Delia D. As she navigates the path to greater success, she realizes that the view from the top is indeed awesome, but can also be lonely as principles and friendships are compromised to reach for a brighter star.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I wasn’t really that impressed by the storyline because we’ve all read, seen, and heard this before so many times already. It doesn’t matter which gender you identify with, this premise of an underdog who reaches for the stars only to go back down because success hasn’t been up to par has been redone ad nauseam. In the end, it just loses its appeal with every new derivative narrative coming along. What Delia D accomplishes, though, is adding to the growing number of LGBTQIA+ storylines that aren’t as tragic. At least the younger generation can watch happy stories where characters like them don’t end up dead, as if that’s the only way to conclude a gay story.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;This musical is almost three hours long if you add the total runtime of Acts 1 and 2 plus the 15-minute break in between. It is long because the storyline is neatly divided into two parts. The first act follows Delia’s journey as a TV singing competition participant with the curtain call marking her win. You then wonder what they will be showing you in Act 2 considering how the storyline already seems complete. You quickly realize that the second half will be all about stardom and its challenges. In short, Act 1 is all about the dream, while Act 2 is all about the deconstruction of that dream. Overall, the long runtime is tolerable. The show is fun.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;While all of the actors involved can sing, Opsimar’s Kiki and Tex Ordoñez-De Leon’s Mamon are the ones who will blow you away with their powerful voices. The seeming imbalance in vocal prowess is weaved into the story, given the roles these two women play. The story revolves around Palmos’ Delia so we get a fully fleshed out character we can root for. This is where Kiki is at a disadvantage. She benefits from the ugly duckling makeover from Act 1 to Act 2 but her character is just the stereotypical rival trope who doesn’t even go full villain to impress you. Luckily, what was lacking in characterization, she makes up for through her voice.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;As for the drag aspect, we can’t really consider Delia D as a full-on drag musical. There are elements present thanks to her work as a drag queen, but if you dig deeper you will realize that this musical is really more of a social critique of the local entertainment industry where you have “reality” shows left and right that are as good as scripted and “singing” competitions where the contestant’s voice is not really what determines the outcome. The LGBTQIA+ aspect serves as icing on the cake, giving us a rare glimpse of how difficult it is to be a star, even more so when you do not conform to the conventional gender ideologies involved.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;As for other aspects of production, we get movable sets as well as maximization of new theater tech in the form of huge flat panels meant to imitate the ever ubiquitous smartphone screen. In the end, what you get are more interactive audiovisual props that serve as a valuable plot device at times to move the story forward. Costumes are downright colorful thanks to the drag aspect of the storyline, while an orchestra contributes a lot to setting the mood and complementing the energetic choreography onstage.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;The only real downside is the weird layout of RW’s stage as well as the obvious wear and tear. Some of us in the front row had to be relocated because the ceiling was leaking due to heavy rain! Understandably, this isn’t the production’s fault, but rather the venue’s. Time for maintenance, Resorts World?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen=&quot;&quot; class=&quot;BLOG_video_class&quot; height=&quot;266&quot; src=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/embed/tbyQ0apbzc0&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; youtube-src-id=&quot;tbyQ0apbzc0&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/7824439706082058505/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/delia-d-resorts-world-manila.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/7824439706082058505'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/7824439706082058505'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/delia-d-resorts-world-manila.html' title='Delia D (Resorts World Manila)'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFWmRUYmSyd4MHjcdaa4EELMOcEZ5BP0fl3nw0ZRSXh0t4cUgj54qqBhFi-xxXaLA6jOcbEKxrWlZa053jhocsFlWBXFyn1wgzgoauguG3P-SVaCSp28tvsvSmhPzN86supUZE2VZqX8oQccbc30WnjUdip44OStCKzXQuWlujjjx2pNzcGdV1sqIVoVV/s72-c/1234567890.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-169218743320627332</id><published>2025-06-04T21:17:00.003+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-04T21:34:09.720+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Film"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Hollywood"/><title type='text'>Ballerina</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballerina_(2025_film)&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiau5ihASIZ-ICDYGeq4zeQSjbvW_QSLv-LXFoetMwOQKHuSvKlDrSfPzEuLtaMziSF15kZxSTYROyTO8q1EyCuwbhPYw9MeYFpYBC7SuFcXcDwiOBaSosbui6zCsOAxB2VJ8ymMq4wcSMaZzOIwgBHMXtglZyE87a2Fco8KTgZkRzEdJ-6pXa_wBLIAUgD/s1600/1234567890.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;A young girl grows up an orphan as she watches her father die in front of her after their residence is sieged by a group of men with a distinct tattoo on their forearms. New York Continental Hotel owner Winston Scott (Ian McShane) comes to her rescue and introduces her to the Director (Anjelica Huston) who operates a theater and trains everyone from ballerinas to assassins in the tradition of the Ruska Roma. Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) grows up with vengeance in mind, moving on from one action-packed mission to another but desiring revenge on the person responsible for the death of her father. That person turns out to be the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), the leader of a 200 year old cult based somewhere around the Austrian alps. When Eve causes a ruckus in the small town, the Chancellor calls the Director and threatens the truce between their two clans. She sends John Wick (Keanu Reeves) to contain her ward.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I’ve never seen any of the John Wick films, so I went to see Ballerina blind without much context. However, I’ve seen Atomic Blonde which, although not confirmed to be directly related to the John Wick universe, always seemed to share some sort of connection in terms of style thanks to the involvement of Derek Kolstad and David Leitch in both productions. Atomic Blonde was almost a decade ago, so I’ve almost forgotten how intensely brutal the fight scenes can be. If there is such a thing as second hand embarrassment, there should be a similar concept for second hand pain, because the fight choreography in these movies seems like it really hurts.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I cannot really elaborate on the connections with John Wick due to reasons already stated in the previous paragraph. What I can deduce is that this whole Ruska Roma thing seems to be the main lore around which the John Wick films operate. Ballerina has its own group, which is the Chancellor’s cult. They seem to be as savage a group as the Ruska Roma but blatantly labeled as ruleless in this movie. Whether this group has already been mentioned in other John Wick movies is a question mark for me, but it is clearly implied that the two groups have some sort of understanding not to mess around with one another. And then came Eve.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Things seem to be going really well for Ana de Armas. For someone who is a relative newcomer in Hollywood, she already has an Academy Award nomination under her belt for Blonde. Nowadays she seems to be reveling in her Angelina Jolie kickass action heroine era, and we’re all here for it. She already gave us a taste of what she can do in this genre via her extended cameo in Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond in No Time To Die. It’s nice seeing her follow through and showing us what more she can do. Who knows, maybe she can give Charlie Theron and Scarlett Johansson a run for their money?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;As for Keanu Reeves’ involvement, the trailers and the posters make it seem as though he is also front and center in this movie, which might end up disappointing people when they finally watch and discover that he is only in it in a cumulative ten minutes or less of screen time. He does play a pivotal role in the storyline’s resolution, but he is definitely not co-lead. More like extended cameo? It just so happens that his world coincides with Eve’s. Given how the narrative is concluded with a $5M bounty on Eve’s head, I suppose there’s still a big chance of seeing these two together should a sequel be greenlit?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Overall, Ballerina is worth the price of the admission ticket if what you are after is an adrenaline rush brought about by graphic fight sequences. There is a flamethrower duel. A brutal fight scene involving a pair of figure skating boots. Lots of gunshots and stabbing. Close contact combat. And that resourcefulness in utilizing everyday objects you wouldn’t really consider lethal, that has always formed part of the reputation of the John Wick franchise. I enjoyed this film without that enjoyment depending too much on its connection to a franchise I’ve never experienced yet. I can’t say the same for those who will see this BECAUSE of the franchise. I guess it’s for them to find out.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen=&quot;&quot; class=&quot;BLOG_video_class&quot; height=&quot;266&quot; src=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/embed/0FSwsrFpkbw&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; youtube-src-id=&quot;0FSwsrFpkbw&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/169218743320627332/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ballerina.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/169218743320627332'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/169218743320627332'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/ballerina.html' title='Ballerina'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiau5ihASIZ-ICDYGeq4zeQSjbvW_QSLv-LXFoetMwOQKHuSvKlDrSfPzEuLtaMziSF15kZxSTYROyTO8q1EyCuwbhPYw9MeYFpYBC7SuFcXcDwiOBaSosbui6zCsOAxB2VJ8ymMq4wcSMaZzOIwgBHMXtglZyE87a2Fco8KTgZkRzEdJ-6pXa_wBLIAUgD/s72-c/1234567890.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-3044482132117052450</id><published>2025-06-01T23:02:00.010+08:00</published><updated>2025-06-01T23:07:59.813+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Bautista L."/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Literature"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Philippine"/><title type='text'>Dekada &#39;70</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekada_%2770_(novel)&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYVmGcRjiwpNUjtuw4tDTAzZKTyitt8-ON24ivnahkly0YIZ-1tuSjNaZ_a4Zf4Gmq9py7hvQFcYud9Wq_7_Mi7X4nudbw4R2JxgW95O61YXV6tTX-UrKTdL06WjRG4LAbAwWgvAeFgCp23srTH3d_zbfULvjuJKgxBUw5d-whpZ00iZrIHM0LqEfeDIs/s1600/5F4EA4AB-15A7-48C3-9838-A06F08F9EEAA.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Si Amanda Bartolome ay ina ng limang lalaking anak; nag-iisang babae sa kanilang tahanan. Mamumulat at magsisilakihan ang kanyang mga anak sa kasagsagan ng Martial Law na malaki ang magiging epekto sa buhay nilang lahat. Maayos naman ang buhay ng mga Bartolome. Isang magaling na engineer ang asawa ni Amanda na si Julian at masasabing comfortably middle class naman ang pamilya nila. Ang panganay na si Jules ay maagang mamumulat sa pagka-unfair ng mundo at sasama sa kilusan upang kalabanin ang gobyerno. Ang pangalawa na si Gani ay maagang mababaliw sa babae na magiging dahilan ng pagpapakasal niya ng maaga. Ang pangatlo na si Em naman ay mawiwili sa pagsusulat at tatahakin ang buhay ng isang peryodista. Ang buhay naman ng paborito ng ama na si Julian ay mapapariwara at maiuugnay sa bawal na gamot habang ang bunso namang si Bingo ang huling makakatapos sa pag-aaral. Sa gitna ng lahat ng ito ay mapapaisip ang isang Amanda Bartolome. Ano nga ba siya? Sino nga ba siya bukod sa pagiging ina at asawa?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Pinakaunang surprise for me was finding out na may pagka-Taglish pala ang atake rito ni Lualhati Bautista. Thank you. Bihira lang ako makagawa ng Taglish na review. Ang hirap kaya i-avoid lahat ng loan words from Spanish and English kada naga-attempt ako mag straight Tagalog! Hindi naman totally code switching galore si Tita niyo Lualhati. Yung Taglish niya rito is more on the usual everyday Taglish of the middle class kasi nga naga-unfold ang kwento as stream of consciousness ni Amanda Bartolome. Naaliw ako kasi 1983 ito na-publish e, so it must have been rare for a Filipino novel na maging Taglish like this.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Napanood ko na rin naman yung movie na lumabas nung 2002. Ang downside nito si Vilma Santos talaga ang nasa imagination ko habang binabasa ko yung libro, na hindi na rin naman masama kasi na-realize ko na, wow, bagay nga talaga sa kanya yung role. Even though napanood ko na yung movie version, first time ko lang mabasa itong novel. Bukod dun sa Taglish stream of consciousness ni Amanda, ang isa pang kinagulat ko talaga is how I’ve always associated this novel with Martial Law, which it is indeed associated with pero kung susuriin mo yung narrative, it’s really the story of a mother, a woman, na hindi alam kung ano ba talaga ang papel niya sa mundo.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Siguro kaya medyo naalala ko rin yung Mrs. Dalloway ni Virginia Woolf dito kasi para kang nangi-invade ng consciousness ng isang babae. May pagka-voyeuristic siya like that. Pero aliw na aliw ako sa pagbabasa kasi nagandahan talaga ako sa character arc ni Amanda. Kung tutuusin, hindi na rin naman talaga bago yung ganitong uri ng kwento. Maraming sad middle-aged woman stories ang nagkalat mapa literature man or film. Pero ito naaliw ako ng todo kasi madalas kinakausap niya ang sarili niya, kasi stream of consciousness nga ang style and parang may parts na na-proud ako sa kanya kasi she was willing to learn about life at hindi siya takot i-admit na minsan wala talaga siyang alam.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Kaya rin siguro maganda yung character arc ni Amanda. Lahat naman kasi tayong mga tao dumaraan sa existential crisis, pero mahirap nga siguro talagang maging babae at maging nanay sa Pilipinas na punung-puno ng machismo, lalo pa noong panahon ng Martial Law tapos lima pa yung anak niya na halos lahat flirted with danger when it came to political ideology. Even then, I realized while reading this novel na oo Martial Law yung background nung kwento pero this more on kwentong nanay and kwentong babae more than anything else. Na kung babae ka, ang purpose mo lang ba talaga sa buhay e maging asawa at manganak?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Syempre hindi naman ako babae, so masarap din magbasa ng mga ganito paminsan-minsan. Nakaka-enlighten kasi. Hindi man ako masyadong maki-sympathize with the other sex, I feel that I am learning a lot at mas naiintindihan ko ang mentality nila with stories like this. As for Lualhati Bautista naman, pangalawang novel na niya ito na nabasa ko after &#39;GAPÔ. Mas gusto ko ang &#39;GAPÔ hands down but Dekada ‘70 comes in close second. Kitang-kita rin in both novels ang political stance niya, lalo na yung pagka-anti-American imperialism niya. Ang maganda dun, talagang naglalatag siya ng arguments kaya hindi ganun ka-preachy ang dating. Kaya marami ka ring matututunan na ibang viewpoints about international relations habang nagbabasa.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/3044482132117052450/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/dekada-70.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/3044482132117052450'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/3044482132117052450'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/06/dekada-70.html' title='Dekada &#39;70'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYVmGcRjiwpNUjtuw4tDTAzZKTyitt8-ON24ivnahkly0YIZ-1tuSjNaZ_a4Zf4Gmq9py7hvQFcYud9Wq_7_Mi7X4nudbw4R2JxgW95O61YXV6tTX-UrKTdL06WjRG4LAbAwWgvAeFgCp23srTH3d_zbfULvjuJKgxBUw5d-whpZ00iZrIHM0LqEfeDIs/s72-c/5F4EA4AB-15A7-48C3-9838-A06F08F9EEAA.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-1833669292653456582</id><published>2025-05-29T22:59:00.001+08:00</published><updated>2025-05-29T22:59:33.823+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Literature"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ong B."/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Philippine"/><title type='text'>Ang Mga Kaibigan Ni Mama Susan</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ang_mga_Kaibigan_ni_Mama_Susan&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibP_7hP1vY9dyD-yovZ8Z7Wq_44u151LMJCJUkqbThhck_6TgmMDddj3b68BZWFfg0G00Zg7p6-rL1t2pgU8O6IoCD6tzWv-X6X7kWAc-Yz-VPUZbU6aAoYk5IFggK14ww2FCQAkrsPPhsItBQLdUFjnQyl71-D6gdgT_fhem0byNRcN0m6MSmkBqk-Gep/s1600/Mama_Susan_and_Friends.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Labing-anim na taong gulang si Gilberto “Galo” Manansala at nakikitira sa kapatid na babae ng kanyang inang pumanaw na. Iniwan na rin ng ama si Galo upang sumama sa ibang babae. Hindi man masaya ang binata sa kasalukuyan niyang kalagayan, hindi naman niya maikaiila na malaki ang tulong nito sa kanya dahil kahit paano ay nakapag-aaral siya sa Maynila kahit na tila ba ginagawa siyang katulong sa bahay ng mga pinsan niya. Matapos ang dami ng pinagkakaabalahan sa paaralan ay magkakaroon si Galo ng panahon na lumuwas sa Tarmanes upang dalawin ang kanyang lola na ayon sa mga natanggap niyang sulat ay palala na ng palala ang lagay ng kalusugan. Ang sasalubong sa kanyang pagdating ay dalawang batang hindi niya mamukhaan at isang bahay na puno ng mga nililok na mga tauhan at sinasambang panginoon mula sa pananampalataya na hindi rin naman niya kilala. Doon din niya makikilala si Mama Susan at ang kanyang mga kaibigan.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Naaliw naman ako ng lubos kay Bob Ong dati pa lang noong unang basa ko ng ABNKKBSNPLAko?! Nilimas ko yata lahat ng akda niya sa National Bookstore ngunit ang mga binasa ko lang talaga ay ang mga katha niyang Non-Fiction. Naaalala ko na tanging Ang Alamat Ng Gubat lang talaga ang nabasa kong isinulat niya na kathambuhay. Itong Ang Mga Kaibigan Ni Mama Susan ay matagal nang nakasalansan sa aking aklatan subalit ngayon ko lang talaga ito binigyan ng pansin dahil maganda naman kadalasan ang sinasabi ng mga tao ukol dito. Maayos naman ang pagkakasulat ni Bob Ong at kinilabutan din naman ako kahit paano.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Ang kanyang uri ng pagpapatawa at ang madalas niyang pagtukoy sa mga bagay-bagay na naghihikayat sa mambabasa na magbalik-tanaw ang ilan lamang sa mga salik na talagang nakakapagpasaya sa kung sinumang magbabasa ng mga akda ni Bob Ong. Hitik din sa ganitong mga sanggunian ang aklat na ito at mababasa pa rin ang katalusan ng may-akda kahit na katatakutan naman talaga ang totoo niyang pakay. Masasabi ko na ang unang kalahati ng aklat ay katulad lamang ng iba niyang mga katha na Non-Fiction. Dahil dito ay maaaring mayamot ang mambabasa dahil sa pangalawang kalahati lang talaga magsisimula ang mga kababalaghan.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Ang akdang ito ni Bob Ong ay isa sa mga binabansagan nila sa wikang Ingles na Epistolary na nangangahulugang ang kathambuhay na iyong binabasa ay hango sa mga sulat na kadalasan ay galing sa iisang tao lamang at ang mga pangyayari ay isinasalaysay mula sa kanyang sariling pananaw. Kung tutuusin ay hindi nga ito ganap na Epistolary dahil hindi naman sulat ang ating nababasa kundi talaarawan ng pangunahing tauhan. Ito rin marahil ang dahilan kung bakit tila kakaiba ang karanasan ng pagbasa nito dahil tila ba sumisilip ka ng walang paalam sa kaisipan ng isang tao na hindi mo naman kilala.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Pagdating mo naman sa bahaging iyon ng aklat ay tuluy-tuloy na rin ang katatakutan. Kahit paano ay makararamdam ang mambabasa ng kilabot habang sinusundan ang mga nangyayari sa pangunahing tauhan. Malalaman din natin sa huli na tila ba sinasaniban na rin si Galo ng mga kaibigan ni Mama Susan at ang malala pa nito ay mukhang siya na ang magiging bago nilang katawan na gagamitin sa kanilang mga layunin. Naaliw din ako sa katapusan ng kathambuhay na ito dahil may tahasang bilin din ang di umano&#39;y mga ligaw na kaluluwa sa mambabasa. Kung marunong kang mag-Latin, mauunawaan mo ang ibig sabihin ng mga kataga.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Naaliw man ako sa naging katapusan ng Ang Mga Kaibigan Ni Mama Susan ay nakulangan pa rin ako kahit paano sa piniling gawin ni Bob Ong at kung saan niya piniling dalhin ang buhay ni Galo. Wala rin naman akong ibang maisip na maaaring ipalit. Sa kadahilanan na rin na ang tagpuan ng mga pangyayari ay hindi sa lungsod kundi sa isang pulo na ayon sa pagsasalaysay ng may-akda ay sinukuan na ng pamahalaan at simbahan dahil sa mga kababalaghang nangyayari roon, wala na rin namang iba pang maaring kahinatnan ang mga pangyayari. Mainam na rin na binitin ng may-akda ang mambabasa&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/1833669292653456582/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/05/ang-mga-kaibigan-ni-mama-susan.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1833669292653456582'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/1833669292653456582'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/05/ang-mga-kaibigan-ni-mama-susan.html' title='Ang Mga Kaibigan Ni Mama Susan'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibP_7hP1vY9dyD-yovZ8Z7Wq_44u151LMJCJUkqbThhck_6TgmMDddj3b68BZWFfg0G00Zg7p6-rL1t2pgU8O6IoCD6tzWv-X6X7kWAc-Yz-VPUZbU6aAoYk5IFggK14ww2FCQAkrsPPhsItBQLdUFjnQyl71-D6gdgT_fhem0byNRcN0m6MSmkBqk-Gep/s72-c/Mama_Susan_and_Friends.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-4696063286287325356</id><published>2025-05-28T22:59:00.006+08:00</published><updated>2025-05-30T10:56:15.206+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Film"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Hollywood"/><title type='text'>Lilo &amp; Stitch (2025)</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilo_%26_Stitch_(2025_film)&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1Jclv2JCWG4U5J94ZHixARe9JEBJ4b_QVvQqymL4GnqUNJJIq1LSr5W0fXATvNBuP9lPRDGFdC73KU0uMicKrJUQDqskR0ycnyDZKPnL3JIbIrOpyIi_ULJUFD3zQcwam0Oltc1PGYs90ElU5SUxr1BEIaVRaLHj2gsEGNIAuWSfHcU6ffMVlcD_R5kg/s1600/1234567890.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Mad alien scientist Dr. Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifianakis) creates an alien genetic experiment illegally. The United Galactic Federation finds out and puts Jumba to trial, confiscating Experiment 626 and ordering its destruction. Experiment 626 manages to escape and ends up crash landing on planet Earth, winding up at a pet shelter on one of the islands in Hawaii. There he is found by a lonely Hawaiian girl named Lilo (Maia Kealoha) who is desperate for friends. Not only is she an outcast and bullied by other girls at school, she is also an orphan, her legal guardian being her teenage sister Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong) who is forced to make ends meet for both of them due to their parents’ early death. She names her new pet Stitch (Chris Sanders). Jumba manages to convince the council to give him a chance to travel to Earth to retrieve his experiment, in the condition that he will be supervised by self-proclaimed Earth expert Agent Wendell Pleakley (Billy Magnussen).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Another day, another Disney live action remake. Another firestorm of polarizing opinions care of bickering Disney adults. This has been Disney’s greatest challenge so far when it comes to recycling and milking their IP’s for more box office dollars. Should they copy the originals scene by scene to satisfy the gatekeeping fans of the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;original&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;or should they innovate and tweak the storylines to suit the sensibilities of a younger generation who serves as their new default audience? Either way, that’s Disney’s problem, not mine. As a moviegoer, all I need to justify is whether the film was worth the PHP390 (USD7) admission ticket. So, was it?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I was entertained. The film is, when viewed as standalone independent of the source material, actually fun. I was in a half-packed theater on a weeknight and the kids among us were reacting positively. Laughter among that specific crowd was not scarce at all throughout the film’s run, which led me to conclude that all the negative chatter must really just be coming from one specific demographic: the fans who grew up with the original animated feature. Who knows, maybe those kids who enjoyed that night will get their turn to complain when this live action remake gets yet another live action remake two decades from now.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Time really flies, given how it has already been two decades since Lilo and Stitch first set the box office ablaze. Feedback has been promising so far when it comes to opening weekend numbers, the film already earning in one weekend what two separate Marvel movies this year have struggled, and continue to struggle to achieve in its entire run. Even if Fantastic Four didn’t suffer the same fate, it is already a guarantee that Lilo and Stitch will end up giving it a tough battle for 2025 Disney box office supremacy. Is it safe to say that moviegoers liked it in general to command such numbers despite mixed reviews? That seems to be the case.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;At the end of the day, the driving force for kid-friendly films like this is still the mere fact that this is the kind of film parents will bring their children to. Perhaps this is where the Disney adults are overestimating the effects of their fervent gatekeeping of an IP they grew up with. My suggestion is always the same. If you loved the original animated version that much, nobody is really taking it away from you. Watch that instead. Let the kids of THIS generation enjoy THIS remake. After all, it is their generation’s to judge, not ours, right? Maybe we should just accept that as we grow older, we are not the main target market anymore. No?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;As for the complaints as to what was changed from the original, I guess it’s a blessing in disguise that I can barely remember how the plot of the animated version developed. As for the ending, the neighbor grandma who ends up being Lilo’s foster parent summarizes it quite well: If Nani gives up her youth to support both her and her sister which should not really be her obligation, wouldn’t she be the one left behind? Not by Ohana but rather by the world itself. You are basically forcing her to be the parent that she shouldn’t be. Besides, the ending makes it explicit that she gets to spend time with Lilo and be at school at the same time anyway thanks to Jumba’s portal gun. So what is the issue, really?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen=&quot;&quot; class=&quot;BLOG_video_class&quot; height=&quot;266&quot; src=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/embed/VWqJifMMgZE&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; youtube-src-id=&quot;VWqJifMMgZE&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/4696063286287325356/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/05/lilo-stitch-2025.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4696063286287325356'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/4696063286287325356'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/05/lilo-stitch-2025.html' title='Lilo &amp; Stitch (2025)'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1Jclv2JCWG4U5J94ZHixARe9JEBJ4b_QVvQqymL4GnqUNJJIq1LSr5W0fXATvNBuP9lPRDGFdC73KU0uMicKrJUQDqskR0ycnyDZKPnL3JIbIrOpyIi_ULJUFD3zQcwam0Oltc1PGYs90ElU5SUxr1BEIaVRaLHj2gsEGNIAuWSfHcU6ffMVlcD_R5kg/s72-c/1234567890.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-9211090964458355551</id><published>2025-05-27T21:09:00.011+08:00</published><updated>2025-05-27T21:27:55.370+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Bautista L."/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Literature"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Philippine"/><title type='text'>&#39;GAPÔ</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27GAP%C3%94&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnwz2uYHVcMcaeSbs6n2ZLkQo6D-zrAsZUdm5nRCIMat5R1nd2xeBNux3Oo30ibiAMIpOcdSMRhuyiQ6mnQP1OTR5-FjezEzop6FcDqEhN2yTiYokixCAqeYjWET4AVmZpyLQHL_Ie2vdk-JXJCmqVbKI9TpZoipD-owqqMIxWWd_u5Wnsom4OpwTDIhmB/s1600/1234567890.png&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: black; text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Puti man sa panlabas na anyo ay kayumanggi naman sa kaibuturan ng kanyang puso si Michael Taylor Jr. Laking Olongapo, si Mike ang bunga ng pagniniig ng ama niyang Kano na hindi niya nakilala kailanman at ng Pinay niyang ina na ginawang puhunan ang katawan upang mayroon silang ikabuhay. Ngayong dalawampu&#39;t taong gulang na siya at matagal nang sumakabilang buhay ang ina ay kasama ni Mike sa iisang bubong ang kaibigan ng nanay niya na si Magdalena na katulad din ang ikinabubuhay sa namayapa niyang ina. Ang ikinabubuhay naman ni Mike ay ang pag-awit sa Freedom Bar kung saan nakilala niya ang kanyang mga kaibigan na sina Modesto, isang manggagawa sa himpilang pandagat ng Amerika sa lupain ng Pilipinas, at ang baklang si Ali na doon naghahanap ng lalaki. Ang kani-kanilang pakikipagsapalaran sa buhay ay pag-iisahin ng mga kasawiang palad na kanilang mararanasan sa ilalim ng makabagong Imperyalismong Amerikano.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Ito ang kauna-unahang akda ni Lualhati Bautista na nabasa ko bagamat nakanood na rin ako sa pinilakang tabing ng isa sa kanyang mga akda. Gayunpaman, magkaiba pa rin ang isang aklat at ang isang palabas, kaya nasiyahan naman ako sa aking pagbabasa ng &#39;GAPÔ dahil pinapatunayan nito ang husay niya sa pagsusulat, kung paano niya nagawa na pagsamahin ang ganda ng daloy ng mga pangyayari, ang pagkamakulay ng kanyang pamamaraan ng pananalaysay at pati na rin ang mga paksang malaki ang kaugnayan sa lipunan. Lahat ng iyan, sa isang akda na napakaikli at kayang basahin ng isang upuan lamang.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Ang pangunahing paksang tinatalakay dito ay ang pagkakaroon ng Amerika ng mga himpilang pangdagat sa lupaing sakop ng Pilipinas, lupain kung saan batas nila ang pinaiiral at maraming iringan na nagaganap kung saan makikitang talo at aba ang Pilipino sa sarili niyang bayan. Naging maingay ang usaping ito noong matapos ang Martial Law at naging matunog lalo ang usapan nang magpasya ang pamahalaan noon na tanggalin na nga ng lubusan ang mga himpilang pandagat na ito. Gayunpaman ay mayroong isang buong bayan na tinatawag na Olongapo kung saan pansin at dama pa rin ang kinalabasan ng ganitong kalakaran.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Bawat pagkakataon na maririnig ko ang pangalan na Olongapo ay iisa lang lagi ang pumapasok sa aking isipan: mga Pinoy na mapuputi at tila ba dayuhan sa sarili nilang bayan. Ang iba ay bunga ng pagmamahalan sa pagitan ng dalawang kalinangang magkaiba ang mga pananaw sa mga bagay-bagay. Karamihan, bunga ng panandaliang aliw. Kahit hindi pa ako nakatungtong sa Olongapo kahit kailan, tila ba buhay na buhay sa aking kaalaman ang mga dapat kong asahan kung ano ba ang buhay doon noon at ngayon dahil ito ang laging ipinapakita sa mga palabas na ang tampulan ay ang lungsod na ito.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;“Ke alak, ke gamot... &#39;pag lagi mong iniinom, nagiging manhid ang katawan mo. Katagala&#39;y hindi ka na tinatablan. Totoo &#39;yon pati sa kaso ng pagkaapi.”&lt;/i&gt; Ang talagang pumukaw sa aking pansin ay kung paano ipinamukha ng may-akda ang buhay na buhay na kaisipang Kolonyal na malalim na ang ugat sa isipan ng bawat Pilipino. Nakuha man natin ang kalayaan mula sa mga mananakop, ang kinahantungan naman nito kung pagbabatayan ang makabagong kaisipan ay nandiyan pa rin. Hindi na nila tayo kailangan pang sakupin ulit dahil ang kinagisnang kamalayan na rin natin ang nag-uugnay sa atin sa kanila. Marahil, habambuhay.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Ito rin marahil ang dahilan kung bakit ang lakas pa rin ng dating ng akdang ito dahil kapansin-pansin pa rin hanggang ngayon ang mga puna ni Bautista sa lipunang Pilipino noon pagdating sa kabaliwan natin sa kahit anong may kaugnayan sa Amerika. Kahit na matagal na silang nakaalis dito, buhay na buhay naman ang lakas ng kanilang kalinangan sa ating mga diwa. Magaling ang paglinang ng may-akda sa mga tauhan at kung paano sinasalamin ng bawat isa sa kanila ang pangkaraniwang Pilipino: Si Modesto na inaapi sa sarili niyang bayan; Si Magda na sabik na sabik makarating sa Amerika; Si Mike na lumaking hindi kilala ang ama.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: black; color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Ang mga tauhan na nabanggit ay sumasalamin sa mga pangkaraniwang Pilipino na may kinalaman sa paksa na tinatalakay ng aklat. Maaari namang sabihin na si Ali ay sumasalamin sa kadalasang iniisip ng mga tao kung ano ba ang buhay ng isang bakla. Sa ganitong pamamaraan, ang pananaw na ito ukol sa kabaklaan ay buhay na buhay pa rin sa lipunan hanggang ngayon at tila hindi na magbabago pa. Nakabibilib din naman na sa kapanahunang isinulat ni Bautista ang &#39;GAPÔ na tago pa ang kabaklaan ng mga Pinoy ay nagawa niyang gawing isa sa mga pangunahing tauhan si Ali. Kaya marahil ipinagbawal ang pagpapalimbag ng akda na ito noong una niyang sinubukan.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/9211090964458355551/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/05/gapo.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/9211090964458355551'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/9211090964458355551'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/05/gapo.html' title='&#39;GAPÔ'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnwz2uYHVcMcaeSbs6n2ZLkQo6D-zrAsZUdm5nRCIMat5R1nd2xeBNux3Oo30ibiAMIpOcdSMRhuyiQ6mnQP1OTR5-FjezEzop6FcDqEhN2yTiYokixCAqeYjWET4AVmZpyLQHL_Ie2vdk-JXJCmqVbKI9TpZoipD-owqqMIxWWd_u5Wnsom4OpwTDIhmB/s72-c/1234567890.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8879518290175104767.post-8304220898931854616</id><published>2025-05-26T13:44:00.004+08:00</published><updated>2025-05-26T13:44:53.083+08:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="British"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Gaiman N."/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Literature"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Pratchett T."/><title type='text'>Good Omens</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Omens&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie0fbeSS89VJ_f68acI_Bo4R39IyZPwL23UWuzRzly34NEta8vfYHX4byYP7KQ0s6-VgceH3KQR7qodhfQ262yBv00Hz1qiQfr0UkSiS66QTE0719AKwTu168WiWwYbtvljOc2ITEiXxOmgez0yWgBxY17gtGYNQn8ZWRJmT_TmUk7S7ZV47czcR_L_3xJ/s1600/81HYWl3GJ3L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;11 years ago the devil Crowley, roaming the Earth for centuries in the guise of an ordinary human, is tasked to oversee the proper placement of the Antichrist in human society. The plan was simple: switch him with the newborn son of the American cultural attaché to make sure that he grows up privileged and in a position of power. Enlisting the help of a convent of Satanic nuns, Crowley never expected that the sisters would botch such a simple plan. The Antichrist grows up as Adam, the child of a simple British couple residing in Lower Tadfield. Flash forward to the present as Armageddon is set to take place, the forces of good and evil begin to mobilize. A literal hell hound as well as the four horsemen make their way to their master to carry out their plan, but they seem to have the wrong boy. Crowley forms an unlikely alliance with angel Aziraphale as they try to stop the end of the world, growing fond of the human race after centuries of dealing with them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;a name=&#39;more&#39;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I find it amusing that this novel has two authors. This seems to be a rarity in literature. Reading about the writing process from interviews of both Gaiman and Pratchett out of curiosity, it appears as though they almost had a 50-50 division in terms of word count. That’s cool and complicated, when you think about it from a writer’s perspective, considering how sometimes you consider your book to be an extension of you through words, so a rare novel like this with two authors probably makes those authors feel like Siamese twins or something. In the end, it all worked out, even though it ends up being obvious who wrote which.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;The writing style is comedic through and through, peppered with sardonic wit and irreverent set pieces. Some of the cultural references are rather specific to the British crowd, but there is enough comedy in there that comes across as universal. I suppose that the comedic part is all thanks to Pratchett and the fantasy element is Gaiman’s? I don’t know. American Gods is the only other Gaiman work I have read so far and while that novel has its own bits of funny parts, its brand of comedy does not really match with what you find here in Good Omens. In any case, this novel is a fun read. The plot is simple; the premise, familiar.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;I would have liked the novel more if Warlock also played a bigger part in the narrative. He does get his own share of the spotlight, albeit abruptly, towards the end. It seems clear to me that Pratchett and Gaiman are positing a Nature versus Nurture argument here. If you snatch the son of the devil away and give him to loving parents who will raise him with love, will he still end up evil when he grows up? This theme is a perpetual favorite among many writers and we can’t really dismiss its appeal because it has always been and will always be controversial. After all, it talks about human nature itself, the crux of our very existence.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;If that’s the case, then the authors make it clear which side they are on. Adam cancels Armageddon after a debate with the representatives of heaven and hell, arguing that mankind is just as they are and should be left alone to realize their own mistakes, giving them the opportunity to change. It’s optimistic like that. My only problem here is how anticlimactic that sequence ended up. I suppose the TV series will do a better job with it thanks to the wonders that a medium like film can do, but it just ended up boring for me on the page, as if the main event did not live up to the hype being built up from the very first chapter.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; font-family: arial;&quot;&gt;Another aspect of writing I appreciate here is how the authors make it a point to linger with one character as he or she is introduced to such an extent that the reader ends up feeling as though they know those characters well, even if they are side characters who are just there to move the story forward. It’s weird because this book has a lot of characters and even though I can’t remember all of them by name, I do have a good idea of who they are and what they contributed to plot development!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/feeds/8304220898931854616/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/05/good-omens.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/8304220898931854616'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8879518290175104767/posts/default/8304220898931854616'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.ihcahieh.com/2025/05/good-omens.html' title='Good Omens'/><author><name>ihcahieh</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03679524174484441585</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nYFbB2KFfGvXBwz4G6YUkdAA1l9U-l1XsQvMgsAtzrJZ7ue-wZdvgwwo2BmqBwbsbFS7SwEqTe9DoTHsj4icAvpbysDxqV2u5burN0D9aCj7eKYkTXaEMxFOZkc0aJU/s151/*'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie0fbeSS89VJ_f68acI_Bo4R39IyZPwL23UWuzRzly34NEta8vfYHX4byYP7KQ0s6-VgceH3KQR7qodhfQ262yBv00Hz1qiQfr0UkSiS66QTE0719AKwTu168WiWwYbtvljOc2ITEiXxOmgez0yWgBxY17gtGYNQn8ZWRJmT_TmUk7S7ZV47czcR_L_3xJ/s72-c/81HYWl3GJ3L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>

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