Becoming a Superhero

Yesterday, in the midst of the whole Christendom's observance of Black Saturday, I thought of rummaging in my pile of DVD collections on what to watch to beat my weekend boredom. I was expecting to see movies perfect for the Holy Week. I was eyeing for Passion of the Christ, or Jesus Christ Superstar, or The Ten Commandments, or the like (though I was also tempted to check out Da Vinci Code, or Stigmata, or The Last Temptation of Christ, but I don't want to suffer condemnation... just yet). The lower shelf of our DVD rack has mostly suspense-horror flicks so what I am looking for may not be in there. The upper shelf, however, is mostly doomsday movies and action-packed films so they musn't be in there as well. When I checked the middle shelf, what caught my attention though are the superhero films which are my most treasured collections. I pulled up the DVD cases one by one. Everyone greeted me like as if they were just waiting for me to check them out - Halle Berry came out to wave hello first in her skimpy catsuit, Christian Bale nodded from the dark batcave, Tobey Maguire cleaned up his spider cobwebs in the ceiling to make way for me, Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh both unfurled their red capes which served as carpets on my way inside, and everyone else waved and greeted and nodded. Suddenly, I was a superhero again... just like how I dreamt to be one when I was a kid...

I switched my laptop on and started collecting thoughts. The first thing that came to my head is to replace my Facebook's cover photo to showcase my friends... uhrm, yes that what I call them... my superfriends. I downloaded individual pictures of them and piled them up in one 850x315 photo and uploaded to my Facebook wall right away. I liked the result.

Memories of my childhood suddenly came rushing to my head. I remember the DC and Marvel comics that I collected when I was a kid. I buy the ones I only liked - Aquaman, Batgirl, Batman, Captain America, Catwoman, Daredevil, Elektra, Flash Gordon, the Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hawkeye, Hulk, Invisible Woman of Fantastic Four, Ironman, Robin, Spiderman, Storm, Superman, Thor, Wolverine and Wonder Woman. The problem is, I don't read them. I mentioned "collection," not reading materials. Once I have these newly-bought comics in my hand, wrapped securely in their plastic covers, I put them in a box I called my "sanctuary." I just look at the covers, letting myself drowned in awe on the strength and powers of each superhero, dreaming to be one of them... or one like them.

Since I got attached to superheroes, Superman's letter "S" got branded in my chest 'til I grew old. I am him. He is me. Of all the superheroes created, his powers are the most invincible and indestructible. On the other hand, I wanted me, a superhero, who was born and raised on earth. Not elsewhere. My personal favorite then was Robin. He was, to me, the most good-looking of all superheroes. My opinion is that the world's crime-buster shouldn't be just powerful and highly-skilled, he should also be handsome. But Robin is just a Boy Wonder in the comics, that's it. A sidekick, a second-rate hero, just Batman's shadow. I then preferred Green Lantern. Among my comics collection, his covers are always glowing. Along with Arrow, their covers are stand-out because of the shiny, neon green that emanates from the glossy paper enhanced by the light that strikes within the plastic covers that wrapped it. But my comics confuse me. I think Green Lantern has multiple personalities. In one of the covers he was Alan Scott, but he was Hal Jordan in another and he was Kyle Rayner in one of my newest copies. I started to dislike him. I went back to being a Superman and this time, I thought it would be so lonely to become a superhero without a girlfriend. I chose Wonder Woman as my partner in life, but I find it weird that she wouldn't want to fly with me because she has an invisible jet. This damned flying thing of hers should be given to Invisible Woman of Fantastic Four. It matches her better than Wonder Woman. But nothing in my comics has this story. So I had to live up with it...

I have to see my comics once again. I opened sanctuary in my mind and started browsing to my collections once again...

And my comics became movies...

My cousins used to have a video rental shop where I chance upon seeing a free movie after school and during weekends if my playmates are not available to play with or if the weather doesn't allow us to play outdoors. And yes, these videos being rented are not VHS tapes but, uhrm... Betamax tapes. Being a Superman fan, I saw all four movies of Clark Kent's, from Superman (1978), to Superman II (1980), to Superman III (1983), up to Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Although I preferred the handsome Robin, I was also a follower of the Batman movies, from Michael Keaton's Batman (1989), to Batman Returns (1992) up to Val Kilmer's Batman Forever (1995). Matt Salinger as Captain America (1990) wasn't a big hit in the movie houses and in my cousin's video rental shop, so it was shelved in my memory and I honestly don't remember any significant scenes to that movie. Flash Gordon was also a movie in 1980 which I remember seeing with my cousins but it wasn't as striking as the other superhero movies created to amuse children. John Wesley Shipp was the only The Flash I remember seeing in the screen in 1990. Ironically, it wasn't Flash who I remember most in the movie but Mark Hamill who played The Trickster. I hated him in this movie because I only wanted him to be just Luke Skywalker in the movies, and nothing else.

Back in the 80s, the TV programs were infested with superhero series which I always look forward to after a long wait watching the most famous newscaster Harry Gasser from RPN 9 during those times. Although there was no Wonder Woman ever made to hit the movies, I remember seeing Lynda Carter's TV series to be one of the most-sought TV programs when I was a kid alongside Lou Ferrigno's Incredible Hulk, which I remember it to be more of a horror program not to be seen by kids. I also remember watching the reruns of Captain America in the afternoons, usually after Flying House and Superbook, as played by Reb Brown. Though I didn't like Captain America personally when I was a kid, he was one of the superheroes I liked to draw because his costume was like the star-spangled banner wrapped in the man's skins and its colors are very vibrant.

More and more superhero movies sprouted in the big screen in the 90s and 2000s. Brandon Routh took over the red cape of Superman. George Clooney and Christian Bale both wore the rubber suits in the batcave. Alicia Silverstone and Chris O'Donnell popularized Batgirl and Robin, respectively, during their times. All X-Men movies were big hit, with perfect casting that stars Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden and Anna Paquin, among others, who have all immortalized the characters. Newer Avengers evolved who gave justice to their characterizations of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, as played by Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow, and Mark Ruffalo as Hulk who was acclaimed to be the better portrayal compared to Eric Bana and Edward Norton who played the character earlier. Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield both wore the webbed unitard costume of Spider-Man. Ryan Reynolds seemed to be the most-liked superhero by the movie producers appearing as in multiple characterizations of superheroes like Green Lantern, Hannibal King, Deadpool of the X-Men and was also rumored to be remaking the newest The Flash. Catwoman was played by three beautiful models who had the best catwalks in their catsuits - Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry and Anne Hathaway. Daredevil and Elektra were played by Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, respectively.

And of course, from the long list of superheroes, Superman will again be revived and the red cape will once again be worn by Henry Cavill.

Behold... the superheroes of the world...

The Coldest Place To Go on a Summer in the Philippines

I heard dried leaves crawling in the roof as they are being blown away by the summer wind. Out there are nocturnal animals who are slowly drifting away. The rays of the sun crept up the window panes eating up the vast darkness in the room. I smelled the breeze from the wheat fields. No city sounds. No smog. No pollutants. I soon realized I woke up in the rural areas!

It's our family's second day spending summer in my sister's place in San Pablo City and it's mom's second week in her homecoming to the Philippines. Today, we are bound to a famous destination in San Cristobal, a spring where they say it's evidently a rare kind of man-made and natural resources combined, which is starting to make names to foreign visitors because of its unique summer setting and experience you will never get from most of the resorts and beaches in the flanks of the 7,107 islands of Juan dela Cruz.


We headed through the rocky and rough roads of San Pablo City entering the edgy straights leading us to  an endless driving to nowhere. It's a normal statement in the provinces to hear the locals saying "it's near here, it's just there (pointing to a direction where your eyes can't see its endpoint)" and it turns out to be a half-hour drive. The arrows in the streets leading us to Bato Spring are countless. Until we found ourselves greeted by a signboard confirming we are now in the said place, at last!

Welcome to Bato Springs, indeed!

We were warmly greeted by a scalper, err... i mean, an usher who just casually priced our entrance fee by counting the number of heads and rounded the sum into the nearest thousands (to get rid of the odds in the total amount). He was surprisingly amazing as he calculated quickly in his mind, without pause, no swallowing of spoiled saliva, and laid down the total amount. We paid him quickly without rechecking his calculation in our mobile phone calculators because we wanted to get in right away. As soon as I parked the car to a soon-to-be-converted-cottage open field, I pulled up my calculator and started computing... my jaw dropped, because he was right. He must have been doing that all his life, I thought.

We parked just right next to a large man-made pool with waterfalls all over the sides of the scenic view and surprisingly, what I saw was... a sea!

Yes, a sea of people!

Everyone's dipping in the crater-like water-filled container. Everyone else passing by are complaining how cold the water is but I wonder why there are still enormous people in there. We wanted to try and test it. Our first dip was electrifying! It was the coldest water that ever touched my skin. It was like bathing in a pool of melted snow and it's freezing us to death. I felt like all my blood vessels have constricted and the pressure has suddenly gone up. I tried swimming a few times but I gave up after some time. I stood up pretending that I preferred taking pictures instead so I did a few shots. The scenery was majestic so I took the chance to take some shots with it while I'm on the foreground (notice in the photos that I almost don't want to touch the water so I make it a point that only a portion of my skin is dipped).

We noticed another large group of people walking towards a higher ground like as if there is a pilgrimage going to Mount Golgotha. We got curious so we decided to follow these people. Over the stony edge of a hill-structure is another sea of people, all trekking their way up and then down to a slope of spiral staircase made of slippery rocks. When the crowd cleared, an amazing and jaw-dropping scenery revealed in our own very eyes. It was a huge waterfalls crawling through a pile of rocks with colder water than where we came from. The folks say the waters from below come from the falls up here that's why the temperature is lower than what we have experienced down there.

We tried to dip again in the water but it was like suicide. The moment the big toe touches a tiny drop of water, you will feel the electricity rushing through your veins. It was like doing a straight sip of slushie and your brain freezes. What else we can do but... taking pictures of ourselves in the falls (notice that I still almost don't touch the water).

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It's one of the best summers of my life. If you want an extra-ordinary summer dip, try the Bato Springs in  San Cristobal. It's worth changing a phase of your life.