THE KING AND I AND MANLINESS

Yeah. What was I doing, watching a musical that was released 55 years ago?

Yeah. I was bored and have watched Eurotrip about 73 times already so I decided to watch this dusty DVD set I bought in Passi for 2o bucks. Right after watching The King and I, I just felt "Man, what a steal!". A timeless classic movie like that would probably cost 200 or more in those original DVD outlets (Talk about overpriced). But the movie was really worth more than 20 bucks.
I bet that dress was used as a tent after this scene.
The movie, which popularized the childhood song "Getting to Know You" and real life Thai monarchs, King Mongkut and Prince Chulalangkorn, was directed by Walter Lang and released in 1956. The story came from Anna Leonowens, a real life Anglo-Indian teacher who actually came to Thailand in 1860s to teach King Mongkut's children and wives about everything in the Western world.

Uh. The film was good. Uh, before this sounds like a bad movie review, I just want to express this. You know, I was really astounded by Yul Brynner's personality. He's the real man. He's the man even though he wears one of those weird, pointy Thai outfits. He's the man even when he smiles and laughs. He's the man even when he dies at the end.

Yul Brynner's the man, man.

He's still the man even when he dances the fricken waltz, man.

It's just really awesome to see what manliness was in the 1950s to 70s. The domineering, masculine, tough guy who tolerates no nonsense and chatter. The guy whose words seem infallible once spoken. The guy who has enough ego to make his subordinates cringe in his command, but not big enough for him to seem like an air-headed braggadocio.

I want to be like that, man.

Today's men or "men" are really, well, not manly enough compared to their predecessors. I've read somewhere that men have been well-behaved these past few decades that somehow, their masculinity is compromised. I mean, men using exfolliants on their faces are now tolerated for chrissakes. Not that I have anything against exfolliants.

But yeah. I want to be that classic man. I know I may seem far from those kind of guys by the way I act, but...it will turn out different on the long run.

KABIRTHDAY

Pota, kagwapa sa imo!

The 30 Day Song Challenge

day 01 - your favorite song
I'm Still Here by Johnny Rzeznik (The name of this blog says it all)

day 02 - your least favorite song
Seven Black Roses by Chicosci (The voice man. I mean, Justin Bieber is annoying but at least he's on key. This one, it's just a pile of crap)

day 03 - a song that makes you happy
Life is Good by Junk (The soundtrack of my fun highschool moments)

day 04 - a song that makes you sad
Hear you Me by Jimmy Eat World

day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone
Just the Girl by The Click Five (Ofcourse it's the girl. XD)

day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere\
Standing in Motion/Rainmaker - Yanni Hrysomallis (My summers in Negros)

day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event
Friday Night by McFly (The most vivid memory from this is the Science Camp in Maasin, Iloilo)

day 08 - a song that you know all the words to
Hello (Glee Version) - Jonathan Groff and Le Michelle (I sing this while cleaning the house and doing stuff. Therefore I memorized the song, even the singers' adlibs...and no, I don't sing Lea Michelle's parts)

day 09 - a song that you can dance to
In Da Ayer by Flo-rida ft. T-Pain (Check out my FB videos XD)

day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep
Nocturne 18 Op. 32 No 2 by Chopin

day 11 - a song from your favorite band
Easy Tiger by Kids in Glass Houses (Epic band)

day 12 - a song from a band you hate
Maskara by Rivermaya (Ever since Rico Blanco left, the band sucked. But don't get me wrong. I love them before that)

day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure
Baby by Justin Bieber (Seriously, I get it why many teenage girls are gaga over this song. It's very catchy.)

day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love
Javanese Gamelan Stuff (Yeah. I like music all over the world. Gamelan music is very haunting and sort of calming)

day 15 - a song that describes you
God Must Hate Me by Simple Plan (I don't exactly know what to put in this part. hehe)

day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate
Just the Way you Are by Bruno Mars (I heard this from a friend waaaay back before it got really famous. Shame. This song would be very great if only my girlfriend would hear me sing it for her)

day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio
Everything Taylor Swift (I'm seriously starting to hate her)

day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio
Everything Classical especially Tchaikovsky (I have a thing for his music becuse they're very whimsical)

day 19 - a song from your favorite album
Vox Populi by 30 Seconds to Mars (From the album This is War. Just an epic album. No one can fathom the greatness of this album)

day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry
Vicinity of Obscenity by System of a Down (I'm comical even if I'm angry. Just listen to this song)

day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy
Crash by Matt Willis or Dirty Little Secret by All American Rejects

day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad
The Man Who Can't Be Moved by The Script or The Middle by Jimmy Eat World

day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding
So Close by Jon McLaughlin

day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral
Helena by My Chemical Romance (I don't want a typical funeral if I die XD)

day 25 - a song that makes you laugh
Prom Night by Rebecca Black (The dumbness is hilarious)

day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument
Love is All that Matters by Eric Carmen (Not the whole song. Just the piano riff)

day 27 - a song that you wish you could play
Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton (The piano parts are magical)

day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty
Start of Something New by HSM Cast (I sang this once. I sucked. From then on, I will not perform publicly ever again)

day 29 - a song from your childhood
Sleeping Child by Michael Learns to Rock

day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year
Pose by Daddy Yankee or On and on by Missy Elliot (From watching SYTYCD marathons)

Photos from the internet. Jimmy Eat World artwork from vinc-s

ABOUT A DEAD FISH

This post is about a dead goldfish, so if you are a no-nonsense kind of person, you better not read this because it's very stupid.

OK, here it goes.

Up in the Third floor of the Engineering building, in BioLab 1, there is an aquarium, right below the tall cabinet that holds the TV. In this aquarium lived three veil-tailed goldfishes and a fish that resembles a shark (a minishark!!!). Sometimes, when our teacher drones get boring, I stare at these fishes (I sit at the tables nearest to the whiteboard because of myopia). Looking at them swimming is actually relaxing, those long tails and fins floating sinuously with them. Sometimes, they move around frantically, like they're dancing some aquatic version of Tarantella. Other times, they'll stay still in the same position for several minutes and as I stare at them, they seem to stare back at me, as if they're looking at the depths of my soul (I had this as my status).

I dunno why but when I look at fishes, they all seem to do the same thing at me. Staring at my soul. Fish eyes are creepy. That's why I don't eat fish.

So, with these three goldfishes, I had a favorite. I named him/her, Alex because I can't identify his sex yet. I know him/her because he/she has this lump on the side of his/her mouth (maybe a tumor).

Again, fish do these stuff with their mouth (filter feeding, I think), like kissing or something. It's hilarious watching them do that.

So, this summer, I would watch Alex swimming idly while being there for our summer classes and one day, I noticed he/she was missing. I looked for him and poked around the glass tank and there he/she was, lying still behind a big Conus shell, looking weird. I noticed he/she was paler than the other goldfishes and he/he sort of, looked sickly and tired.

I looked at the poor fella and felt bad for him/her. While the other fishes were swimming around and going on with their fishy lives, Alex laid there, probably feeling sick and tired. I felt bad for the little fish, as he/she floated there, looking like he/she is gasping for air, like how an old person wheezes for breathing. It's very weird for me, watching a dying fish but it's really heartbreaking to see the young fella.

Then, yesterday, after we got back from Guintubdan and went to the Lab to store our water samples, Miko (a friend and a fellow fish watcher) told me that Alex was missing. I looked at the aquarium. He's not there. I looked behind the shell. Nil. I shook the tank. Nada.

Alex is dead.

Or maybe he was just transferred to another container. Or maybe he's just camouflaging himself behind that algae-infested glass. Maybe he leaped out of the aquarium!

But, I'm kinda guessing he/she's dead.

I'm kinda sad because of that.

But the whole world doesn't care about that. I mean, of what significance will the death of one goldfish be? Maybe Osama Bin Laden's will be very significant. Or AJ Perez's. But a goldfish?

I'm the only one in the world that grieves with Alex's death.

Bye Alex. =(

THAT SHIRT'S DOPE, MAN!

I am never into fashion. I buy Garage magazine, but I'm never into fashion. I'm into models but not what they're wearing. But somehow, I find myself looking at a small armful of my t-shirts everyday, wondering what to wear to not look like I've been wearing the same stuff every week.

That's the only fashion conundrum I have. Not to wear the same shirt for two days in a row. But that's not really the point. There's this amazing dude, I've seen this morning while idly waiting for the printer to finish printing our Ecology research.That dope Asian guy's name is Cheng Guorong from China. He's looking kinda angsty there. Looking at that guy, he looks like someone who'll layer coats and sweaters and look like a male supermodel walking the runways of Milan with Emporio Armani clothes. And that disheveled hair, looking like you got out of bed. I've been trying to get that vibe with my own keratin strands but it just looks like I shaved my head with a lawn mower. And the face, man. Like one of those astig movie stars in Asian movies, chock full of bad-assedness.

January 30, 2010 - He was walking in Tian Yi Square, Ningbo in the Zhejiang province of China when an amateur photographer snapped a photo of him. The 34 year old guy seemed to have a knack in wearing clothes, so when his pictures were posted online in a local Chinese forum, he was nicknamed as 'Brother Sharp'. The thread titled "Behold the number one ultimate, gorgeous, handsome passer-by! Blind your dog eyes! Seeking detailed information on his flesh", grew longer and longer as netizens started taking notice of this stylish dude in the street. Why the sudden popularity? Turns out that the guy is not a model, a movie star, or a male fashionista for that matter. 'Brother Sharp' is homeless.

Yeah. Like begging, scrounging on trash cans, wandering in the streets. The whole homeless enchilada. The poor guy is also mentally unstable, as more people started hunting him and taking pictures of the confused dude.

But the guy's look received rave comments, with people dubbing him as "the most handsome underdog of the century". People also posted pictures of him in various bad ass incarnations such as:
andThe guy even developed a new style of fashion. Known as homeless chic, Brother Sharp's outfit didn't look much different from what the male models wore in Dolce and Gabbana fashion shows. Proof? Here: Just goes to prove if you're really good-looking, you will always appear that way. And that fashion can be derived anywhere. I wouldn't be surprised when all of us will start wearing dungarees in the near future.

I'll leave fashion for Brother Sharp and other vain guys. I'll stick to my shirt and jeans uniform. XD