The Wheel and Axle

Courteney aced it, of course, though she did struggle with Ugly Naked Guy. Then again, who wouldn’t? Besides, she offset it with saying “The Days of Our Lives” instead of simply “Days of Our Lives” since, technically, Joey incorrectly thought it was The Days of Our Lives.

Yeah, I’m a Friends addict.

Sometimes, especially on a holiday, you just want to disco. Don’t even try to deny it.

(Can you believe this was almost forty years ago? This also would’ve been considered somewhat scandalous back then, but it just seems so tame in the now.)

Fran Drescher has always been and will always be an inspiration to me: funny, creative, and strong, all while having faced several tragedies in her life – including rape as well as cancer.

And now that I’ve seen this interview with Oprah from a few years ago, I appreciate her (and now, also her ex-husband) even more. As she says in this interview, “It’s turning lemons into lemonades and pain into purpose.”

May we all be as strong as this wonderful woman!

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I have rediscovered one of my favorite, how shall I put this delicately, lesser-known actors, Stanislav Yanevski. He’s best known for his role as Viktor Krum in Harry Potter and, uhmm, that…

… that guy who gets eaten in Hostel 2.

Although he hasn’t done much acting, he still occasionally makes appearances in conventions and such, and he seems pretty active on social media.

And he loves traveling, especially on his motorbike.

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As my mentor Jessica taught me when I was developing my aswang novels, the best monster stories work on three levels… and I quote her notes to me back in 2013, “the horror tale, which should be scary/creepy as hell; the psychological, in which the monster embodies some part of the protagonist’s character that he denies or is not aware of; and the metaphorical, where the monster symbolizes some social reality. Hence Frankenstein: homicidal monster, creator with a god complex, the Industrial Revolution.”

Indeed, all the blood and gore and creep factors are great, but what elevates a tale are the added psychological and social dimensions that provide a richer experience for the audience. Otherwise, it’s just blood and gore and creep factors. This is why the likes of Dracula, The Vampire Chronicles, Lovecraft’s works, Stephen King’s novels, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Penny Dreadful, Ringu, and Ju-On work so well. In the Filipino context, we see these layers in Ang Pamana: The Inheritance, Patayin sa Sindak Si Barbara, Sigaw, SRR2’s Aswang, Yanggaw, Dagim, and Trese, among many others.

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Aside from a comment here and there as well as a shared post or two, I hadn’t really been planning to write much about the whole controversy involving the upcoming GMA TV show Alyas Robin Hood, a series whose 15-second teaser trailer evoked visuals that are straight out of Arrow.

Do I believe the visuals are a rip-off? Yes. Don’t tell us that no one has a sole claim on the color green. Anyone with eyes and not in denial can clearly see that production practically copied the CW show’s version of the character from the outfit to the overall feel. Please.

How about the story? We cannot really say because the show hasn’t started yet, but I will point out that – based on a synopsis online – it doesn’t sound much like Arrow. It actually sounds like the premise of Will Eisner’s pulp hero The Spirit. Uhm, yey?

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Continued From:

Murphy’s Law, Part 1: Social Relevance

What is more fascinating in hindsight, to me at least, is that – beyond the strong feminist theme of the show – Murphy Brown is a show that depicts what journalism should be.

In the show, we see investigative journalists do, well, actual investigation. They run after stories, ensure their sources are strong and credible, and deliver their findings in manners worthy of the term “journalist.”

Contrast that with today’s “journalism” and you will cringe. A lot (though not all) of today’s “journalists” are what I call “armchair journalists” whose primary weapons, apparently, are Google and Twitter. How many of today’s new crop of newspeople are really journalists? Too few, unfortunately (Anderson Cooper is, happily, one of them).

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Recently, I got around to rewatching one of my favorite sitcoms from yesteryear. It’s literally been over a decade, maybe even more, since I watched Murphy Brown, but watching it again showed me just what a masterpiece the show was and what a trailblazer it had been – a show way ahead of its time.

In this award-winning show, Candice Bergen plays the titular character, a ballsy, no-nonsense journalist in her 40s who comes back to her news program after a stint at Betty Ford. She returns to work with a much younger executive producer at the helm along with a couple of old and new faces in the news team – including a quirky Southern ditz slash former beauty queen portrayed by Faith Ford, whom I ended up having a girl crush on.

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Even a captain and his ship deserves some fun. Especially if it’s a ship full of hot men.

P.S. Anton Yelchin, the *feels* for you.

Apparently, Michael Bay wants to destroy our eardrums once again… one last time.

Oh, who am I kidding? Despite giving the third movie a 6 out of 10, I still watched 2014’s Dinobot-infused installment. And I know that, because of my love for the Transformers, I will watch this in 2017.

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