Star Wars: Now Showing

In a few more days, Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith will now invade the cinemas and a multitude of die-hard avid fans (me, included) will again swarm the malls trying to be the earliest bird in the long queue of a million people awaiting to see how the story will end. Or should I say... how the trilogy meets the old trilogy. What really can't coincide in my mind is how the hell the first three episodes (which includes The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones) have a more superior technology than that of the last three episodes when these three are actually prelude to Star Wars 4; A New Hope. So what could be George Lucas' excuse here? That the FORCE was actually exacerbated by the annihilation of all powers under the Empire? I wonder should Lucas put this episode into denouement of blasting all planets which led to devastation of apparatuses responsible to the creation of state-of-the-art machineries. Ergo, technology in all planets will all start from scratch. Death Star dies. Zero. Blunt.

After watching Star Wars 3 and have gotten yourself engrossed with the superb digital effects and Dolby stereo which could pop your timpanic membrane up, get your ass home and watch Star Wars 4 via DVD to reconcile how the movie ended with how A New Hope started. Eeuuw! I bet you'd turn the DVD player off and opt to watch Kamao series instead (while munching your leftover popcorn since you can't eat `em inside the theater due to your mesmerism over the movie).

I don't remember having seen the first trilogy since I bet I wasn't born yet when these three invaded cinemas worldwide. All I knew is that a lot of freebies i.e. mugs, caps, miniature characters, shirts; with all Star Wars characters and other what-nots printed on these mega-expensive items are being sold in all participating stores. I don't remember exactly how I got addicted to this movie (not necessarily with the plot, cause it's really futile) to the extent that I think I am a Darth and even naming myself one. I don't know how I got into Tatooine but I have envisioned myself I suddenly sprouted in Sith, so I became the King of this place (I don't even know where this was). Bottomline is... I am a Jedi, an evil one. You can't track my story in the six episodes coz it's not in there. My biography alone as Darth Obert is even more than those 6 episodes which made George Lucas a rich man.

When Star Wars 1 was shown in the Philippines, I was there at the first-day showing in SM City along with my friend Aldwin (I don't know where he is now, he's also a Jedi) and since we're still students at that time, we didn't eat popcorn. We only had enough money to buy tickets. Since then, I have memorized all the characters in the movie, and gets troubled pronouncing "Shmi." Few years after, here came Star Wars 2 and I was already in my internship. Again on the first showing day, we all gathered to the nearest mall to catch the Attack of the Clones (wondering to see a story of how Taiwan-made PCs conquered Greenhills) along with my co-interns from DLSU and our Clinical Supervisor sir Jhun (who I think is Jabba the Hut at that time). As soon as "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." starts scrolling the screen, my jaw starts to lock in awe and fascination. I'm a Jedi once again! And after the curtain calls, it's the same old crap. We contributed to make George Lucas to become four million richer again. We fooled ourselves more than he fooled us.

Since I am Darth Obert and my wife's conceiving a child in her womb right now, who could it be? If he's a he, shall I name him Skywalker? Or if she's a she, shall I call her... uhmm, Starapple? Does that sound very Star Wars-y name?

Just meet me in the movies. May the FORCE be with you... and also with you.

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My Baby's Fourth Month

Finally, a triumph! Here's now a glimpse of my baby via ultrasound. Thanks to modern technologies of science that soon-to-be parents like me can view at least the silhouette of the fetus which is a product of my genes. I still can remember vividly how my heartbeat is pounding fast as I am viewing the screen with the figure of the baby kicking as if it's showing off while being watched by its parents. I can't help but feel proud how it feels to be a father.

The baby is now in its fourth month. With what I learned in college of medical science (ironically, this was my report in Physiology 2), the baby's heart now pumps about 25 quarts of blood a day. This will increase to be about 300 quarts by the end of pregnancy. All of the teeth have formed and even has a scalp hair pattern (God, don't let the baby inherit my chromosomes involving hair pattern)! The baby is about 3 ounces (85 grams) and 6.3 inches (16 cms). The gender can't still be detected by ultrasound. Though gender predictions at this point are much harder to rely on. More subtle changes, such as the development and positioning of the eyes and ears, will take place, making the fetus look much more human. Movements now are being observed, and the baby now really kicks a lot.

Whew! I wonder how I will be called five months from now... Dad? Papa? Itay? Tatang? Tatay? Itang? Papay? Father? Pere? Vater? Padre? Pater? Patris? Sator? Ojca? Patria? Far? Whatever.....

Threesome

Threesome...

Three things that scare me: earthquake, fire, plane crash.
Three things I love: my personal computer, my mobile phone, my digital camera.
Three things I dislike: elevators, Pinoy trash movies, being told what to do when I know better.
Three things I like to do but can't: cook, swim, eat in a smorgasbord
Three things you will not find in me: umbrella, hankies, pen.
Three things I don't understand: Physics, Philippine politics, Bible.
Three things I can't leave without: wallet, mobile phone, my pouch with "something" in it.
Three things I can't live without: my computer, radio with loud speakers, money.
Three things I prefer to do when bored: sit infront of my computer, play the guitar, sleep.
Three things I want to experience before I die: be crucified at Golgotha, dine with the British Royal Family, join Fear Factor.
Three ways to describe my personality: moody, boring, evil.
Three best-loved collections I have: my complete Beatles albums, Superman stuff, my old cassette tapes.
Three of my absolute favourite foods: sashimi, potato salad, eggplant for viand.
Three things I’d like to learn: speak French, direct a movie, to mummify.
Three movies that made my tears fall: Schindler's List, Alive, The Cure
Three movies that scared me: The Eye, Sixth Sense, Amityville

Three words why I wrote this: I am bored!

It is I... Dark Lord

Welcome to the wrath of the Obertians! The time is near. We will now dominate the earth and annihilate all humankind. We will propagate pestilence. Plagues will be everywhere. Prepare to meet thy doom. No more riches but widespread agony. No more happiness but neverending misery. No more love but abhorrence. And I... will be king! Life will now be ephemeral since I will soon be the epitome of boundless existence. Come now on your knees and plead to suffer the eternal melancholy. I am your messiah! Bwahahaha (echoing uncle Scar's devilish laugh while Jeremy Irons' fatal glare backdrops the scene)!!!

Scary, huh. Not really much a blasphemy nor being agnostic but this is only what I get from reading Dan Brown and Jessica Zafra's books plus watching the only movies that pull me up to enter the moviehouses which should have the following requirements: (1) serial killers, (2) bloody killings, (3) good against evil battle, (4) adrenalin-stirring chase of ghouls to its prey and (5) Kris Aquino crying in the scene with fake tears falling from the lateral side of the face to break up the monotony so I can die laughing.

This is only what my new blogskin suggests. If the picture speaks, this is what it says. My blog is now dressed-up with a newly-edited fresh-from-the-oven skin which depicts more of my personality than the previous one which used to have a freaking connotation of a boy-next-door type of an owner. So coquettish. Ugh! This, I believe is the more apt description of me being an evil wolf inside a sheepskin. Thanks to my Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft FrontPage (all pirated worth P40 each) alongside Eddie Vedder's howling voice while singing "Last Kiss" as I was conceptualizing my new skin. Ironically, Nina's "I Don't Wanna be Your Friend" also contributed inspiration why I came up with such design, hahaha.

Obertianism is flourishing again after ages of hibernation. Kudos!

November Born Personality

I received this personality description of November born like me from email (thru my friend San), and I was quite appalled and mesmerized for exactly 0.56 microsecond that everything is true although one is actually a big LIE. I'm not romantic. I wish I am but I hardly can. Anyhow, read on if you want to know me further and this is perfectly me!

NOVEMBER:
Has a lot of ideas.
Difficult to fathom.Thinks forward.
Unique and brilliant. Extraordinary ideas.
Sharp thinking.
Fine and strong clairvoyance.
Can become good doctors.
Dynamic in personality.
Secretive.
Inquisitive.
Knows how to dig secrets.
Always thinking.
Less talkative but amiable.
Brave and generous.
Patient.
Stubborn and hard-hearted.
If there is a will, there is a way.
Determined. Never give up.
Hardly becomes angry unless provoked.
Loves to be alone.
Thinks differently from others.
Sharp-minded.
Motivates oneself.
Does not appreciates praises.
High-spirited.
Well-built and tough.
Deep love and emotions.
Romantic.
Uncertain in relationships.
Homely.
Hardworking.
High abilities.
Trustworthy.
Honest and keeps secrets.
Not able to control emotions.
Unpredictable.

I wonder why it didn't show here that I am friendly and an extrovert. Am I not? :o)

Breaking Me In Two

God, it's 4:09am and I am still awake. This is the adverse effect of working in a graveyard shift. I looked for things to keep myself busy but all I can do is to sit here in front of my PC and scribble thoughts to written words. I can't sleep and I won't sleep, either. Why? My heart is breaking me up in two. At this point in time that I am writing this, my friends are enjoying the night (with the fruit of the pay day, of course) chanting along with the reggae beat in Timog Ave, where I am supposed to be with. I now visualize Melch and Francis tossing up cider drinks while boy-hopping along the bar with guys wearing shirt printed with cannavis sativa on it. And Macy, oh I hear her now yakking "No Woman, No Cry" in a Bjork's singing voice, hehehe. Kay is silently pulling down the pants of a guy in the corner while smoking pot... in her thoughts :o). And Neil, oh the Neil who is every woman's dream to wed and bed is now cracking up a new Jologs quiz: "What is the name of Juan Rodrigo's character in Mara Clara?" to a newfound girl in the dark corner of the bar. Girl slaps her, oh yeah... in the butt! I wonder if Mark Lester is also with them. Above all, I've been thinking of them the whole night. It must really be fun. And I'm not there, huhuhu. How I'd wish I can suddenly pop-off here thru a warp zone and join the fun. I miss these guys since I was already transferred to graveyard.


Where am I right now? I am in the middle of my pitch-black room as only my monitor lits up the dark while lying in my bed is my girlfriend hybernating. Of course, I am more than glad to be with her for the night. With pride to see her carry our child in her womb (I can't do that, dummy). But what breaks my heart in two is to think that my friends are all there enjoying the night and I am here in the dark clicking my keyboard while sipping tap water.


I'd better go to sleep now.

What Movies To Watch, I Think

Two of the newest DVD movies I bought recently which caught my eyes while rummaging at a video store in SM Megamall. Along with these two is "Killing Fields" which I last saw when I was still in gradeschool. The only thing I remember in that movie now is John Lennon's "Imagine" (strangely, I don't remember the plot anymore). But before reaching the cashier who was gnawing bubble-gum at that time like a goat in a famish, I dropped it because of the synopsis which I find very disturbing. More astonishing was when I already watched the other two movies left in my hands to be purchased, they are more disturbing than what I thought. The following are:

C A R A N D I R U

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One of the most-sought movies I have been eyeing in the video stores. This is another disturbing and uncanny flick, as I can term it, from an official selection of 2003 Cannes International Film Festival after Steven Spielberg's adaptation of liquidation of Jews in Schindler's List. The first few parts of the movie is quite stiff and nothing more extraordinary to most of the movie buffs. It's some sort of a Carlo Caparas-like elucidation of all main characters' individual tragic narration of how-we-got-into-prison stories. Very Pinoy style on how to bore viewers. Worse is, it is dreadfully a predictable plot of blunt social relevance with which you're always perfectly right on your estimation on what's next in the succeeding frames. The only fine craft I admire in this movie is that the actors are meticulously chosen to give justice to the characters they have portrayed. Well-rehearsed lines and superb acting prowess all combined to one. One of my most favorite characters among all the inmates is Highness, who depicts an annoyingly dogmatic idea of his chauvinistic side of how to pick and treat women and I love his transformation to an ambivalent lover whose heart broke into two - a Don Juan de Marco inside the prison cell? The story itself is a common sight which we have seen in a lot of movies about prisoners, but the denouement is what this film detaches itself from all the rest. Short but sweet, everything ends in a bloody death of more than a thousand inmates which is a memory of the massive carnage spearheaded by Amon Goeth. Recommended to watch when cable TV has ran out of movies for the day.

Click here to view trailer

M Y S T I C R I V E R

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Another jaw-dropping, mesmerizing performance of a movie-god Sean Penn. His tear-jerking scene of that remarkable line "is mah daughter in there? is that mah daughter in theeere? oh God, noooo!" Yeah, oh God, how you forgot to breathe after that cut seeing Sean Penn in a standing-ovation-required performance. I was wondering why didn't Clint Eastwood insert that situation in Sean's I Am Sam acting feat of an MR cum obsessive-compulsive father who fights for custody of his only daughter. Wonder how a mentally retardate father screams like that? And adding Emmie Rossum lying in her limp body covered with mud and dried leaves while "That's All I Ask of You" soundtrack is being played supplementing the unrivaled wailing act of Mr. Penn. Whoah, that is very Oscar-award engaging. Anyway, I don't seem to understand why the author of this story needs to inject the past haunting incident of character Dave. What's that for? To desperately drive Tim Robbins win the best supporting actor award? Okay fine, he did (applause, applause). But with that initial premise, would you still suspect character Dave to be the villain of the criminal-hunting story? No you won't, because you already knew ahead of time that his case is already justified by mental disturbance. Evidently, you will opt to suspect other characters in the movie who is capable of killing Christine, err, Katie Markum. Think of a wildcard in the movie like the police inspector himself. The motive: he wants to be promoted by fabricating his own solved murder case. Why not the mother of Katie's boyfriend? Motive: she had eavesdropped Katie and her boyfriend's plan to elope and killing Katie is the best way to stop her son from leaving his family. Or why won't you think of Sean Penn's aide in his grocery store? The director's motive: to drastically confuse the audience of thinking if they are watching a sequel of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. It's gonna sweep all the awards, I bet you.

Click here to view trailer

A Poetry I Have Written

AN INVITATION TO DEATH
by Norberto E. Reyes, III

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I will take you
If you want to fly with me
In my world... an abyss where
My mudcastle prickly ripened with
Glasswall gingerbreads,
Roofened with vulture heads.
Let us snorkel down under
And swim about with my clouds of
Thick parsley and thorned toffee.
Should you mall and roam around
With my Abbey Road of epee posts
In shimmering and glimmering lights
Of blue flame fire in every head of my knights
Stood by side by side
Each hand fervently held
Blood-dried headless bodies of them...
Wolfgang, Ludwig Von and Sebastien
Thunderous roar of voices ahead.
Stay away, keep hold of the key withheld
Yet, swallow the first nightingale that fled
Buonarotti, Picasso and Van Gogh's head.
I'll let you walk over my dungeonful of seas
Where Montague's Capulet swims unclothed
In her head is the axe I plunged in
Mussels in her mouth I compelled to sing
A house you'll see I built in cobs and needles
DO NOT unveil the door, M'sieur, I warn
For there lies my closet full of damn yarns
Psychedelic hues of magentas and blues
And the book no living head has read
The story of sex, rebellion and vengeance
Amongst the rotten volcanoes there hides,
Whomsoever unchains each dies...
Of ruthless death...
Unbearable wrath...
The phenomenon stay let damn covered
For the doom of this world's millennium
Falls to ashes, burns to ruins
Pillars of my Parthenon them sings
Cometh to me my friend, let's fly
The fangs of my nimbus now unties
Soar high - but touch nothing - for you die
Ask nothing - for I lie
Lest,
You'll witness the enigma of where I dwell
Where everything is mine, I own the hell
But the devil is not I but
The divine angel that hides
Come...
Just close your eyes and take my hand
The fare is but your blood in my sand
"Gulp!"

My First Post... Ever!

I actually don't know what to do with this so I will just type this one just to fill up the page, hopefully before the day ends.