mr. magorium's wonder emporium

i remember back when i was a kid, before i go to sleep, with the lights off, i would scan the room for shadows and silhouettes of familiar things. in that corner is my plastic doll, and in that corner another plastic doll and on the shelf are my favorite books. then i'd close my eyes and listen if they would suddenly start moving once i go to sleep. i'd imagine the words of the books start jumping from one page to another and make a mess of the story i love reading. but i never got to hear those words crawling to another page or the toys going off to another playing on their own, without me. but i believed with all my heart that they did things on their own when i don't notice them. i slept soundly, knowing what few toys i have will protect me from the ghosts that lived next door. or my nanny would. ;p

(and even now that i'm older... when i'm in my sister's house... i try to see if my nieces' and nephews' toys would do something too. just in case.)

so i was so excited when i hear about "mr. magorium's wonder emporium." the same way i was excited when the movie "toys" of robin williams was going to show (exclusively) in SM North Edsa back in college.

when it finally came to davao, i took a break from the stressful, christmas shopping i was doing, dumped all the stuff i bought and got a ticket for cinema 2. a little grin was plastered on my face as i entered the cinema. in my mind, a little thought balloon was going agog shouting, "toys and magic, toys and magic. wheeeeee!"

and as the credits rolled and the movie unfolded, the little thought balloon was getting more and more excited, my smile getting bigger and bigger.

i love mr. magorium! i want to play with him. and i wish i could go to his store and just hang out the entire day with eric, the little kid and mahoney, the store manager. and even, bellini the chronicler. i love all of them... even henry the mutant. tee-hee!

the story, is magical yet simple and pure. it tells of wonder, and friendship in unlikely people, and finding dreams in a block of wood. and nothing can feel as good as that!

the movie feels like cotton candy back when it was known as fairy's thread, of caramel apples and a game of tag. it's the joy of mud ball fights (there isn't any snow here) and swimming until your hands are raisins. in other words, i thoroughly enjoyed it and want to watch it over and over. i think it may just have kicked charlie and the chocolate factory from my top children's movies of all time. tee-hee!

toys and magic! toys and magic! and dragons. and wooden dinosaurs. and krakens from a book. and petulant stores. and a book that has all the toys in the world. and giant balls you can never dodge. wheee! what can be greater than that?

and so i slept that night, knowing in my heart, that that little child in her room full of silhouettes and shadows never left and was just waiting in her quiet corner playing with her plastic doll and reading her favorite books, still sure in her heart that toys had their own lives and books rewrite their stories. ;p

the view from saturday

I think I am going to start trusting the gold and silver seals stamped on juvenile fiction books which indicate it is a Newberry or ALA Award Winner.

After two weeks of being harassed by thoughts of two papers, I took a break yesterday and today from school work and grabbed another reading material from my pile of National Bookstore purchases (the stock here in Davao is horrendous! None of what I’m gunning for are available and somebody beat me to the only copy of M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman).

I decided on “The View from Saturday” by E.L. Konigsburg (who has two other Newberry Award books, which I am planning to get after this particular read) which was recommended years and years ago by a friend.

Just looking at the book had that nice feel to it. Just that positive vibe I get when I know I’m going to have a thrill of a ride. And once my eyes set on the words on the first paragraph of the first chapter, I was hooked. My eyes absorbed every page, enjoying the different stories of four children, Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian, connected by fate, by circumstance and by an invitation to a tea party and eventually chosen by their paraplegic sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Olinski, to be the class representatives to the school Olympiad. In the end, the make it and win the Nationals. And everybody asks Mrs. Olinski why did she choose these children? Even she does not know.

Honestly, I am not good with doing reviews of anything. So all I can say is, I closed the book with a smile on my face thinking, “I am going to get my oldest niece this book for Christmas.”

holes

he logical thing to have done on a holiday on a week a paper is due is: wake up, eat, study whole day, eat when you feel like it, sleep when tired or done.

but after stressing over a paper just two days before, i wanted my mind to be on autopilot. so what i actually did was: woke up, read a book, eat, paid the house bills, had good lunch, watched movie, finished book, then researched paper. which actually left me with just an hour! which actually had me finish the day with doing nothing for school. bwahaha!

but i can't help it. i love steve carrell, so i just had to watch evan almighty. and i'm happy i did because he was great, and the movie was fun, and morgan freeman dancing is worth 20 bucks of my 55. so.

and how would i have known that holes by louis sachar's would actually turn out to be a romp of a book! i mean, hello, with a lead character whose name is stanley yelnats who has a no-good-pig-stealing-great-great- great-grandfather... how can it not be interesting? i really couldn't put it down. read it in bed, read it in the restroom, read it while eating, read it while on the jeep, read it while waiting. if it weren't dark, i'd have probably read it during the movie trailers or the boring bits.

it's the story of young stanley, convicted of a crime he did not commit. as penalty, he was sent to Camp Green Lake instead of jail. the name sounds like a good place to be. except the place has no lake and there aren't may things green. and you have to be careful of the yellow-spotted lizard. so the camp turns out to be what exactly it is supposed to be -- a punishment.

we meet his new delinquent friends. we also catch a glimpse of the yelnats curse which began with his no-good-pig-stealing-great-great-great-grandfather and would continue on for the rest of the yelnats boys. we also get to witness a forbidden love story, one that occurs at the time of stanley yelnats, sr. and in the end... how it all comes together.

it's really a fun read, with lots of things to learn from too. i'm definitely getting my ten-year old nephew a copy for Christmas.

the adverse effects of haw-ang

Haw-ang was explained in the movie as that time of the year when the weeds serve a purpose, as they are buried underneath the soil of the rice paddies to become part of the earth. In their absence, the water of the paddies shows a clear picture of heaven.

Sr. Adel, is a young nun was sent to a far-flung Benguet barrio to teach catechism to the children of the community. Typical of missionary stories, it took a while for the people to accept her, but once they did, she was well-loved especially to the once-elusive Dacmay.

I could very well relate to many scenes in the movie because of my experience in Bukidnon as a Jesuit Volunteer as well as my current job with indigenous people. The scene with the children bathing in the river was too close to home, with my own vivid memory of helping one of our community school teachers bathe the kids in the water and afterwards serving them a meal of pansit.

As Sr. Adela did her lobbying to the mayor for the construction of the community school, visions of our own struggles and those of our partners with political figures preventing them from putting up structures or even having an education program for the fickle reason that they are too little a constituency to make a dent in his election numbers appear in my mind. A mild anger brewed in me, at the level of selfishness these people have that just because they can not benefit it can not be done even if it is for the benefit of all.

Yet, while see the story of Haw-Ang unfold before me, up to the point of a Bro. Richie Fernando moment… I see a part of my past idealism I have let go off. Tears flowed not merely for empathy with the characters, but rather for a dream buried by troubles, concerns and bills.

Once in my life, I was Sr. Adela – a young idealist who could conquer the world with only a good heart and good intentions. Someone who’s hunger can be sated by the smiles of children and thirst quenched by a sense of belonging a strange land. Once in my life, I was content with a P1,500.00 monthly allowance because all I needed was faith and nothing more.

A part of me rationalizes (and believes) that there is honor doing duty. That sometimes the heart’s innermost desires have to take a back seat to fulfill obligation. That the goal of life is not necessarily to be happy, but to be good, to know and follow God’s will. And yet a smaller voice in me speaks up and says that God’s will is for my joy. And my joy is the fulfillment of my heart’s desires.

I got in the middle of the movie, so I ended with the beginning which was the concept of Haw-ang being explained. Ironically, it was a better ending for me as it now left me with nagging questions… Have I pulled the weeds and buried it under the soil to nourish me? Have I been reflecting a piece of heaven? Or am I too disturbed to show a beautiful sliver of blue sky?

And once I have the answers, either decision requires courage.

the boy who lived... (spoilers for harry potter 7 ahead! you have been warned)

it's been over a week since i have finished reading harry potter and the deathly hallows. it was just great timing when i have been relinquished the old children's program laptop, which meant i was able to read in bed like i'm often used to.

harry's new name should be "the boy who lived twice!" hehe!

true to the many reviews it has received from critics and fans alike, j.k. rowling was able to write a fitting end to the story arc. the book was action-packed from start to finish, and thankfully was able to answer the many questions left behind by both the order of the phoenix and the half-blood prince. including which side was snape really on, which was actually my most pressing concern.

rowling didn't allow sentimentality and attachment for her characters get in the way of the story. many of them were casualties of this classic good vs. evil battle. many times, i was almost in tears. my heart broke many times over reading the book... the loss of dobby, one of the twins, colin creevey, remus and tonks... and the prince.

i knew i had to reason to believe that he was on the side of the good. and it was beautiful as to why he was. cliche maybe, but something that have driven many to the other side, whether it from the good to the bad or from the bad to the good. dumbledore swore by him... and i swear by dumbledore. (like harry, i'm a dumbledore man through and through.)

now that the series is a whole, everything falls into place. i can not say that book seven is the best, because it wouldn't be if not for the prequels. yet it is great by the reason that it was able to get everything together in the end.

i yearned for more neville and ginny, but well... it is harry's story. but i was glad for that moment of glory for neville. and even before that, when he became a hogwarts refugee, my heart clapped with delight. he has proven time and again how much of a griffyndor he is. i was glad for his moment. more than just for slaying for nagini (but i felt it appropriate that he wield the sword of griffydor himself), but for standing by harry. for keeping his faith in his friend.

and molly weasly, i have always adored you! so elated that she got that bellatrix down. hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? revise that to hell hath no fury like a mother protecting her child! go molly, go molly, go molly!

i loved it when the full-scale battle has finally began. i hated the dying, but it was great reading about the dueling. hail to the house-elves, including kreacher! cooking delicious stew for harry now, eh. and because of them... ron and hermione finally let loose what they feel.

i totally agree with mayette that it was good neither of our three main protagonists had to do a killing curse anyone. that would've sucked. it would seem necessary, but it would've sucked.

self-sacrifice. courage. friendship. magic. honor. love. all this in a wonderfully-spun-web of words. one that has engulfed millions of readers and had them intimately involved with the characters. the tribute to snape was also sweet. and what harry said to albus was sweeter still.

do i want more harry stories? no. the story has been told the way it should have. anything more would destroy the beauty of it. her encyclopedia of characters would be an interesting read as well as i want to hear more the back stories of neville and luna. but i was glad she wrote an epilogue to make sure that there would be less chances of new harry stories.


sigh. ang ganda. time to read the series from one to seven now.

*i did have some fan fiction images on my head with voldemort taking the hood of his cape off saying "harry... i am your third cousin fifth removed!" which has a slight truth to it, if i understood right that they were both descendants of the peverells.

* * * * *
*big, big thanks to oh-so-preggy-but-always-pretty-tin-tin for providing a copy to those of us who did not have enough funds for the book. same gratitude towards mayette who parted with her less than-24-hour-old copy for tatit and i to read in davao. another thank you to rowie and mike who generously gave me their copy for my birthday. all of you guys certainly know how to make people happy. :)

meatfest

in more ways than one. that is 300.

the bodies and the blood. haha!

i couldnt decide whether i should look neck up or neck down. ;p

a testosterone-flick and a visual (on the technical aspect ha!) fest. a-hooo.
and i didn't even feel that grossed out despite all that violence and gore.

i only expected spectacular cinematography, art direction and editing from the movie. hardly thinking much of the story. but i forgot that frank miller wrote the comic book. and frank miller has always something interesting up his sleeve.

i absolutely liked how it dealt with honor and dignity and free thinking and strategic warfare. i can imagine the ateneo basketball team watching the movie for a pep-up before a game. hehe!

astig talaga, mehn.

happy happy joy joy

it lives true to its name, this movie does! my head was bobbing, my shoulders swaying and my feet tapping to most of the sound track. and most parts of the movie, i was giggling like a six-year old. the little penguins were just so adorable! and the jokes were really funny! (or maybe i'm just mababaw). the CGI was amazing. got me mentally oooh-ing and aaaah-ing at it. there were scenes quite reminscent of "the fellowship of the rings." might it be because of sad blue eyes title-character voiced by elijah wood?

and robin williams. my dear robin williams! you never ever fail to crack me up. except when you are serious, of course. but it was quite clear that you were just messing around in this film. me loves you ever and ever!!!

and aha-aha-aha! i want a video of this movie. why? because of the social consciousnes that it has. about caring for the environment and letting mother nature's creatures alone. it's a perfect world, this happy feet is. but at least it teaches kids things, and lets them hope.

i want a baby mumble doll!!!

dooo not bee afreeeed, ahluvyu!

(funny though. read some of the online reviews, and there were a lot of criticisms from the ehm, critics. though i feel they may be taking it too seriously. or maybe that's their job. to take, even cartoons for kids, seriously. i don't know. i still love happy feet. and i still want a baby mumble doll!)

*****
SIMS
i knew it was bad news when bro convinced me to buy it. hardly slept me. and my dreams were just bombarded by mood meters. the creators are backmasking something, i know it. damn shit. ;p