JAI HO! \:D/

YAY! YAY! YAY! SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE! YAY! :D

I’m so glad this film got recognized for Best Picture and all the other awards. Not many people know this but ‘Jai Ho’ actually means ‘Victory’ which is quite appropriate for the mood. (And “Jai Ho” won the award for Best Original Song! Another YAY!) All the categories that I really wanted Slumdog to win, they won. Danny Boyle for Best Director, A.R. Rahman for Best Original Score, “Jai Ho” for Best Original Song (although “O… Saya” would’ve been okay as well) and then Cinematography (This was a must!)

Some categories, I’m glad for the winners (Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger) but some, I wish someone else would have won (broke my heart when Frank Langella lost :( But there were a lot of strong contenders in the Best Actor category so I expected the loss.)

Okay. Back to my celebratory mood now…

WOOOOOOOOOOO!
SLUMDOG MILLIONAAAAAAIRE!

Seriously. Once they show Slumdog Millionaire here in the cinemas, I am going to watch it, even though I’ve seen it already. WHO WANTS TO COME WITH ME? :D

Bang bang bang. Beautiful, dirty, rich.

So this all happened yesterday but I lost my internet so I wasn’t able to post it:

Okay, LSS. I heard it today in class and I kept singing it to myself on the way home. I love Lady GaGa!

So today, we had our JS Turnover which wasn’t as bad as I expected. It was quite short. And I hated the Grade School one because we had to stay LATE and form a gigantic freakin’ human cloverfield. And most Juniors and Seniors don’t care about each other anyway.

Also adding to this cynical post is the news of Sir Alano leaving MCHS. He wasn’t my teacher in the Second Year but it’s still sad to see him go because a lot (and I mean A LOT) of students like him. He’s always so happy! He sends forth rainbows in every direction. He kept joking to us that he would get into a business of selling cellphones and his store would be called “Bright Electronics” (because Bright is his nickname) Oh Sir Alano. You will be missed.

YAY. LONG WEEKEND. Okay, so I’ll watch the Oscars… Study for Social… Study for Fil… I can’t study for Geom. I left my book in the classroom. I’ve got extra time after that so… NEOPETS TIME. God, I’m an addict.

And I’m into wrestling again! I was so random during Recess with my friends. I kept blabbing about my wrestling knowledge because nobody else in class currently watches wrestling so I chose them as my unfortunate audience. Oh Christian. I’d stay faithful to ECW for you. <3

ALSO, from this day forward.. Sir Berns will be known as “THE GENIUS” because he answered the Lenny Conundrum correctly. Like, right on the dot! He spent so much time in conquering the problem, it practically became a part of him. We were doing a seatwork during P.O.E.M. class and then I showed him the solution I printed out from the Lenny Conundrum page. Then after he looked at the alternative solution, he gave it back. Then he said “Nicole, can I borrow it again? I wanna show it to another teacher.” Okay, something’s wrong with his mind. He’s a genius but… wow. Toni’s dad was right. He’s not just a Geometry teacher. He is a mathematician. Damn. I bow down to him. (Which I did.)

This is a special Oscar post…

I’m bored out of my wits here, people. I’m waiting for a certain e-mail. So here are the nominees I’m rooting for in each category because I’ve actually seen some of them already.

Best Film
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button – I was ready to accept the fact that the winner of the Golden Globe is not necessarily the Oscar winner. Besides, there was something about this movie the had that Academy Award appeal that Slumdog Millionaire didn’t have.

Director
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire – I would have went with David Fincher but I thought he did a better job with Fight Club. Slumdog Millionaire had great directing, though. It had a sort of “indie” vibe to it but still pretty epic to view India the way it was portrayed and you could sense the tension there.

Best Actor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon – He made a convincing Richard Nixon. I certainly liked his random thwarts of anger and his display of defeat in his interview with David Frost. You could have felt sympathy for Tricky Dick himself.

Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight – First of all, I was shocked at how Robert Downey Jr. was still nominated for an Oscar. Better him than Tom Cruise, I suppose. Kirk Lazarus wins at life. Anyway, Heath would probably get this one because of the “death card” but he’s got the acting skills to back it up! Still rooting for him, no matter what people say.

Best Actress
Kate Winslet – The Reader – What’s confusing is she’s considered a Supporting Actress in the Golden Globes but she’s considered a Lead Actress here in the Oscars. I myself have not seen The Reader (see how unfortunate I am?) but I am confident that she might finally snag this one. Plus, I saw the trailer anyway.

Best Supporting Actress
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button – Okay, I honestly didn’t know much about Supporting Actresses that stood out this year. So I just drew randomly out of a hat (there was no hat no was there drawing involved) and picked Taraji. She played Benjamin’s mother and I thought she was okay.

Adapted Screenplay
Peter Morgan – Frost/Nixon – It’s the Frost/Nixon interviews that provided the essence of the movie and that in itself was rich enough. It may not be as eye-catching as other movies but it’s still excellent quality.

Original Screenplay
I haven’t seen any of these so I can’t judge! … Yes, I haven’t seen Wall-E, yet. THERE PROBLEMS?

Animated Feature
I’ve only seen Kung Fu Panda but it’s Pixar that usually wins this category anyway. (Geez, why don’t they just make an annual Pixar award, then?)

Art Direction
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button – It was able to show the periods in time that Benjamin Button lived through.

Cinematography
Slumdog Millionaire – I thought the scenes were quite memorable and it was able to get into your mind.

Costume Design
The Duchess – I just have a feeling because when your costume is as fancy as the olden times then you’re bound to win this category.

Editing
Slumdog Millionaire – The formula was clear. Real-life scene, game show scene, flashback scene, back to real-life… It was quite fluid and at the same time, exciting.

Makeup
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button – For the old age and stuff. Because really, the only real make-up in the Dark Knight was the Joker. And Twoface, I guess. But mostly Joker.

Original Score
A.R. Rahman – Slumdog Millionaire – I loved the music in this movie so much! It was so jumpy and vivid which kept me awake during the movie and it wasn’t annoying at all.

Original Song
‘O Saya’ – Slumdog Millionaire – This was the song they played in the beginning of the film and I liked it because it set the mood for the movie.

Sound Editing
The Dark Knight – What’s sound editing? And what makes it different from sound mixing?

Sound Mixing
The Dark Knight – Anyone wanna tell me what the difference is?

Visual Effects
Iron Man – It’s what superhero movies are known for. Besides, Tony Stark’s 3-D desktop thingy? Very. Awesome.

I’ll come again when you have judge on the menu…

Today, I accomplished my movie review for Sweeney Todd. (It’s for my English class.) Now since I have nothing much to blog about, I decided to post it here. Enjoy!

Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway masterpiece comes to life on the big screen when Tim Burton directs the haunting tale of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” The film focuses on the journey of Benjamin Barker on his return to Fleet Street after being exiled due to the mad jealousy of Judge Turpin for his wife. He comes back under the moniker of Sweeney Todd and resides in his loft above Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pie Emporium. After hearing the terrible news regarding his wife and his daughter, Johanna, he only has vengeance on the judge in his mind.

The music and lyrics by Sondheim were able to retell the story of injustice and relayed the different emotions that exuded from the cast.  One particular number, “A Little Priest,” sung by Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) and Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter), revealed their plan of the barber cutting the throats of the unsuspecting victims and having their corpses provide the rich taste that Lovett’s once-terrible meat pies lacked. It also speaks of their frustrations on the social structure imposed and as the lyric goes, “The history of the world, my love / is those below serving those up above. / How gratifying for once to know/ that those above will serve those down below!”

Although the musical score was excellent, Tim Burton’s film adaptation failed to provide a clear ending for some of the supporting cast. Sweeney, Mrs. Lovett and Turpin received their endings but what came of Johanna and Anthony’s elopement? And what would happen to the orphaned Toby? These questions were answered in the ending of the play where the authorities got involved with the scene of the crime but in the movie, as beautiful and moving as it was, simply ended with the barber’s “reunion” with his wife.

Despite the plot holes and the excessive amount of gore and violence, it did have the approval of several film critics and got awarded for its efforts. This film won the Golden Globe award for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) in 2008 and Johnny Depp won the award for Best Actor. The Academy also recognized Depp by nominating him for the same category in the Oscars. The film was also nominated for Costume Design and Art Direction. The latter was won by “Sweeney Todd” for its overall look of nineteenth century London that set the mood for the whole film with all the smoke, the stones, the signs and the general darkness of the setting.

There is no denying that this film was able to capture the raw emotion of characters that were wronged by society and the imperfect inner-workings of the human mind. As the title character, Sweeney Todd’s position as a hero or villain is questionable which highlights the shades of gray in mankind and their flawed motives to attain justice for themselves. “Sweeney Todd” is a musical that touches the issue of corruption and the bloodthirsty desire for vengeance that accompanies it. Care for a shave? Sweeney’s waiting.

So what do you faggots think? 8D I really enjoyed writing this. Even though the word limit for us is 400-500 words, I managed to reach 500 words exactly. Yay for Sweeney!

EDIT: I changed it to the edited, more balanced version of the review. Thanks to Miko for pointing out that you can’t have an all-positive review on a movie. But believe me, it was hard to find a flaw.

In front of her, I felt like I lost… but in the end, I felt victorious.

Our oral exams in English began today. To be honest, I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know how to answer Marxist or Feminist theory questions. I was thinking to myself “What if I don’t understand the poem?” Well, Miss Mireille asked for three volunteers to start off the whole thing. There was a pause. Then our class president, Denise, volunteered herself. I mean, I did want to volunteer but I didn’t want to be the first one. I salute her. So I raised my hand and I became the second volunteer and then Cristine was the last volunteer. The rest, they were picked at random and that’s what irks me the most. Thank God I volunteered. I didn’t have to live through the suspense of wondering whether I would be called or not.

However, as I waited for Denise to finish, I did feel nervous. When I saw the text, I was like “Oh, this looks interesting.” I mean… It was! I got what the poem was trying to say but then there were additional instructions that really threw me off because I forgot all about that lesson! So that part I failed. However, I was able to get my point across. There’s a good chance I didn’t make a Formalist analysis though. When it was finally my turn, I had trouble in expressing my thoughts. I felt so disorganized. I avoided saying “uh” or “um” but it was pretty inevitable that it was going to slip. I did spend some time blacking out, though. I actually slightly went over the time limit too but when I saw her motion to her watch and stop the timer, that’s where I knew I had to wrap it up. My sentences were choppy, my analysis was a mess. I got some points across but it was just really bad. My volunteerism has caused the quality of my analysis to suffer.

But in the end, it was all worth it. I went back to my seat, my pride slightly faltered. It was a humbling experience for me. That’s when I really knew that I couldn’t deliver a speech on the spot. But at least I didn’t have to go through the horror of hearing my class number called out and at least I got it over with. I was free. It was over. The battle was fought. Score-wise, I may have lost but I felt like a winner, personally. Unfortunately, I had an epiphany during the prayer about the poem and I went to tell Miss Mireille about this. She said she was disappointed that I didn’t get to mention that point since she was waiting for it. I would be disappointed, too. But I asked her about how I did in the exam and she said she was more lenient on the volunteers. I was like “Yay!” :D Yeah! I just buttered this bread! Score one for Nicole!

I also ordered for some candy canes to be delivered to my friends and my four favorite teachers: Sir Lee, Sir Dayag, Sir Berns and Ms. Kresta. Speaking of which, I lent her my small collection of Robert De Niro movies today but I asked her to lend me some of her movies in return. I asked her for The Shining, Silence of the Lambs, Fight Club, Dancer in the Dark and Pulp Fiction. Movie buff status, here I come! Too bad she can’t let me borrow Fatal Attraction. :(

Indeed, I can’t have it all. Tomorrow is the Social Studies Field Trip and I can’t go because my mom didn’t allow me. Bleh. No extra credit for me, then. I really wanted to go too because there really is more to Taal than just the volcano. I wanted to go around the place but instead, I’m staying here. Wish everyone going would have a safe trip, then. Sigh.

Also, this WordPress layout? Weirds me out.

The most graphic movie I’ve ever seen…

Movies like Sweeney Todd and Kill Bill don’t even come close. (The Saw series looks bloodier but I’ve never seen a single movie of it, really.) I just watched Gangs of New York and that is by far, the bloodiest movie I have ever seen. It’s one of Scorsese’s newer movies and it’s very… raw. It’s not as good as his older movies. The dialogue is kinda lacking but the script isn’t really Marty’s strong point. His mise-en-scene is. Almost every single scene sticks to your head and the characters are portrayed well. This man knows how to handle violence. He knows how to tell stories with violence. And I must give praise to Daniel Day-Lewis, the epitome of bad-ass villainy. He may have the most cliché-looking moustache in the movie but his movements with the knives, which gives his reputation as Bill “The Butcher” Cutting, solidifies his role as a menacing leader who shows no mercy to his victims. I must admit.. Some scenes were not needed but the essentials were there. The graphic images stayed put. Gangs of New York was good but not as good as Scorsese’s other works.

Will you light my candle?

I’m waiting for the fourth 30 Rock episode to finish downloading. I don’t know why it’s taking longer than usual. It downloaded so fast in the last season. Oh well. I’m also waiting for a South Park episode to finish loading so I can watch it without the video lagging or pausing.

So while waiting, I’m surfing the web while listening to the Rent soundtrack (the movie version). I know I love “La Vie Boheme”, “Rent” and “Today 4 U” but the other songs — the love songs – are just beautiful. The words are inspiring and the music is so comforting. (It could also be the other way around.) It can be a bit too depressing but it’s Rent. The scenes are either really happy or really sad. Anyway… I’ve come to love “Light My Candle”, “I’ll Cover You” and “Without You” after listening to the soundtrack tons of times.

Yes, the theme of Rent is depressing. It’s a group of friends living the Bohemian life and going through hard times and some have it harder because they’re struggling with HIV-AIDS. But the story says something a lot different. It’s basically the opposite. It’s telling people to live their life to how they want it, and as the song said, “living, not dying, with disease” and reminding people that despite how their life is going, there will still be the companionship of their friends.

So yeah. Just sharing my sentiments. (You know what else is depressing? Moulin Rouge! Now THAT’S depressing.) I hope people are living their lives to the fullest. Carpe diem. :)

“Are you sure?” “I’m not just sure, I’m HIV positive.”

I absolutely adore South Park. It’s the mother of all satire. I’ve watched this show since I was a kid but I couldn’t keep track of it because it’s so hard to access here. We had to watch tapes of it. Yes, my brother would rent the VHS tapes by volume so we could watch it. And I remember watching the movie, too. Oh to think that South Park was one of my favorite cartoons in the past. The birth of my humor. Look how much it has grown now. *wipes a tear* Look at me, watching CNN = Politics podcasts and watching streaming videos of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. (I almost typed ’steaming’. Wouldn’t that be a treat?)

So how do I solve the problem of accessing South Park? They showed it for a little while on Jack TV and I have no idea why they took it off. I wish they’d bring it back! For now, the online videos at AllSP.com will suffice. I mean, the videos don’t skip, they’re commercial-free and the loading is pretty fast so it’s all good.

Right now, I’m watching the post-election episode. I think I love Todd Palin.

I just love television so much!

Oh Kenneth Ellen Parcell. You always know the right things to say… Even if you think there’s more or less than ten commandments or if you think choosing is a sin (so you just put in the Lord’s name.) We both love show business and sexy page jackets but you’re just so innocent and silly!

Anyway, I watched the new 30 Rock episode today. Uhh… It’s nice to know that Jennifer Aniston’s character will always be crazier than me. I know I get clingy and all but I don’t want to end up getting called “crazy putty”! (I don’t know what it means but it sounds really, really bad.) Just gonna take a ride on the F-Train now. (And I too would make a white pizza and pot roast for Jack, if I had the resources.)

However, it all boils down to Jack and Liz’s relationship. Basing it on their personality and basically, how they look in general, you just know that they’re the canon characters that will never get together but they just get along so well in other aspects of their relationship! Liz is the badger bothering Jackie-bear with requests and helping him out on his problems…

I should stop before this turns into an analogy.

What the frak, ya’ll?

Lack of a better title.

I decided to finally watch Righteous Kill today. I wanted to see how this Al Pacino/Robert De Niro flick would do. I liked them in Heat but then again, they were enemies that time. I believe that these two are only good when they’re not on the same side. If they’re on the same side, they have to worry about not upstaging each other. But hands down, Al Pacino wins in the acting department. I think De Niro had his last hurrah in the past decade but Pacino… He just keeps going and going. He just keeps blowing me away. Especially as Shylock in Merchant of Venice. But De Niro in his prime will always take the cake for me. Can you beat Travis Bickle? Can you beat Jake LaMotta? Can you beat Don Vito Corleone? No one comes close.

Anyway… Seeing as WordPress doesn’t use cuts like LiveJournal ones… Any comments I will make on the movie would be deemed spoileriffic. But goddamn at the ending! I had a feeling that it was going to be him but I wanted to reserve it for a while and just watched the movie. By the way, Fitty Cent sucks at acting. Seriously. He’s got like the same expression on his face althroughout. It’s ridiculous. His whole presence is ridiculous!

Righteous Kill… It was no Heat but it was still good. Not the best movie but it got me interested in the plotline. Awesome plot, in my opinion. Exploring the shades of gray in people. I like movies like those because in life, there are no fixed protagonists or antagonists…

Everyone is bound to become a pain in the ass, somehow.

Everyone.