fantasy films: eragon

i managed to watch Eragon last sunday. as fantasy flicks go it wasn't all that impressive. basically, it was okay i guess (the 3 LOTR films have really spoiled me for any other film in this genre), just not the kind of movie i'd like to see again.

considering its huge budget (ca. $100M) and weighty cast (john malkovic, jeremy irons, djimon hounsou, and rachel weisz who provided the voice for Saphira), i'm surprised i didn't like it more.

after reading a synopsis of the series (Christopher Paolini's Inheritance triology), i soon realized why. i don't know what prompted the filmmakers to make such changes but really, i wish they hadn't messed up the storyline. i don't really expect the movie to be 100% faithful to the book but in my opinion the alterations were clumsily handled. even the stars' performance was disappointingly disjointed and colorless. oh well…

misplaced items

A friend's latest blog entry about being inadvertently locked out of her room last weekend has got me into thinking about my own misadventures involving misplaced and lost keys, wallet, pens, hankies, umbrellas, etc.

case in point: 10 to 15 min after i leave the office i usually end up calling an officemate to check if i had somehow left my coin purse (5x at least) or cellphone (3x) in my table. so far, i'd been lucky in that most of the time, the item is left where i thought it would be (with one hilarious exception, but that of course is another story). so more often than not, i'd be asking — accompanied by a lot of feeble excuses and red-faced laughter — my long-suffering officemate(s) to please keep the item for me so i could retrieve it the next day.

i figure their reproof (and amused jibes) is a small price to pay compared to the hassles of actually losing these things.

here's another sample: i once locked my own bathroom. it took me about 2 hours to finally locate the key. by then i was practically at my wits' end.

however, few situations could ever compare to the chagrin and comical horror of finding myself locked out of my place with no hope (no celphone, no money) of getting in and realizing that i was due for a meeting in 20 minutes. i couldn't get to a payphone because i left my wallet in my room and my neighbors were all away at work. worse, i was getting hungry and needed to use the bathroom!

after 10 minutes of fruitless hand-wringing and cursing my own stupid tendency to lock doors, i finally ventured out — in my houseclothes no less, and sturdy slippers — to look for my landlord who lives about a block away. blithely ignoring surprised looks from passersby, i practically ran the last 20 meters to his place. and then, guess what. his son was there, but my landlord wasn't!! we looked for his keys in vain; the landlord apparently took it with him.

oh cripes, i thought despairingly. this can't be happening to me. not now, please! 

finally, i saw somebody familiar, the guy who lived 2 floors below me. now, me and this person, we barely even talk except to exchange a brief nod when we happen to bump into each other to do our laundry. without a thought, i walked up to him and explained my predicament. he was quite sympathetic (didn't even blink, bless his patient heart), and lent me his celphone. i finally reached my landlord, who agreed to come back home earlier than planned. whew! talk about having a bad day.

(NB:  just the other week, while i was paying my rent, my landlord actually thought i was there to borrow his key again! i guess that means i'm long overdue for another of these painfully cute episodes. weehehe)

i don't know why, but i have this incurable habit of locking doors. my sister says its a result of being used to living on my own in the metro for too long. (i think there's hint in there somewhere, but let's pretend i didn't notice ). she does have a point though… at least it sounds better than the other (and more obvious) explanation. ahem!

if ever an award is given to people for misplaced things, i'd likely end up among its finalists (*shame-faced grin*). natch!

…and you can quote me on that!

i just downed this huge, gut-busting meal at a cozy chinese resto that's near my workplace (*burp*)

dang. there goes my allowance for this week. down the drain goes my so-called diet plan, which has become a running joke between me and my friends.

i practically waddled out of my chair and had to walk for about 30 minutes before i could trust myself to sit down again. (*burp*) oops, 'scuse me folks. now, if i could just concentrate on my work…

… (keyboard rattles on for 40 minutes)

all morning i'd been reflecting on several 'famous last words' that i'd been uttering a few times lately. here's a couple of samples for your edification.

• me: i have excellent pain avoidance reflexes. i think my physical coordination has vastly improved these– OUCH!!! (knee bangs on a concrete post)

• me: i am fairly organized these days. i always have a to-do list on hand to keep the ball rolling. in fact by know, i should've… (turns to a neighbor) uhhh, have you seen my list?? it was just right here a moment ago.

capisce?

oscar musings

Well, it looks like The Departed will finally procure Martin Scorcese that long-overdue oscar (best director and hopefully, for best picture too). i say it's about bloody time. let's give the man his due and then move on. i know, some folks don't consder The Departed his best work, but hey it's a whole lot better than most films i had to sit through this year. the best, as far as i'm concerned.

and it's not just consuelo de bobo either, because let's face it there has been a passel of noteworthy films that have cropped up by december (e.g., a photo finish for Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima, a companion to his earlier WWII film, Flags of our Fathers).

other films that have been touted as 2007 oscar best picture contenders include Little Miss Sunshine, Dreamgirls, Letters from Iwo Jima, Babel, The Queen, Children of Men, United 93, Pan's Labyrinth (which will most likely be relegated to the foreign film category, along with Volver [Spanish] and Mel Gibson's Apocalypto [Yukatek]).

based on the latest count, The Departed has been voted as best picture by film critics from Florida, Chicago and Las Vegas, as well as Southeastern Film Critics, Satellite, Broadcast Flm Critics. i expect it will win at golden globes as well. Scorcese also got the nod as best director from most of these outfits and other organizations besides. many pundits are already betting that 2007 will finally be scorcese's year. well, i hope so.

as for acting awards, i'm not too interested about the outcome this year. we might as well hand those gleaming statuettes to helen mirren (The Queen) and Forrest Whitakker (the Last King of Scotland)  – their names are practically written on them. my, it looks like 2007 is the year for royalty too. i'm hoping mark wahlberg (Sgt. Dignam in The Departed) will get nominated for best supporting actor, although i'm not holding my breath for this.

i’m having a bad day…

aaaack! i'm having one of those days… (i'm borrowing cathy's immortal catchword to emphasize my point)

i'm up to my neck with stuff that should've been finished yesterday and some of the online tools i'm using are so goldurn slow to load today!  what really bugs me most is that these are the things you just can't rush through conveniently (there ain't no short cuts here for ya, bub)…

i actually thought today was a thursday until somebody reminded me of my backlog (*groan*).