Kurt Cobain and KC Concepcion

OK, I'm watching a Kurt Cobain biopic on HBO right now, and it's been going on for 14 minutes but no one's said a word yet. Did the producers put a tight leash on the script so that they could spend more budget on making the actor look eerily like Cobain (or his hair at least)? So it's worth paying thousands to the hair stylists instead of the writers, I guess. No wonder those people go on strikes.

Ok, minute 17. Somebody finally speaks (Kurt answers the phone and someone talks. Kurt never says a word. Maybe the actor playing Kurt doesn't know how to talk?)

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I've been out on leave from work for two days now. Damn health problems.

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Ok, back to the movie, Kurt (who's being called Blake in the movie) is talking now. I think I'm gonna tune out before Kurt offs himself (or before Courtney Love kills him, however this movie decides to end things.)

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I got to meet my brother's nephew (by way of his wife's brother) last Sunday. He's 9 months old and doesn't know how to speak yet, and he's a cute kid. What makes him cuter is he has a crush on KC Concepcion (yes, this KC.) He literally stops whatever he's doing and gets a big smile on his face whenever KC appears on TV (whether its the shampoo ad, or the vitamin ad, or any other TV appearance.) Even if he's playing with his toy car, or when he's on the verge of crying, it doesn't fail. The moment KC is on TV, he stops and looks at the TV and does nothing but giggle and stare at KC. 9 months old palang yan ha.

The kid has good taste.

*On a shallow note, woah I just found KC's multiply site! Blog! Pictures! Videos! Shit, obsessed stalker mode to infinity na 'to! =D j/k

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The Kurt Cobain film on HBO is called Last Days by Gus Van Sant (who also directed Good Will Hunting.)



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Now playing: The Dresden Dolls - Good Day
via FoxyTunes

An Extraordinary Machine

Things I learned the past few months (or a few minutes ago):

Worrying is counter-productive. Just because you declared on your resume that you're a person who "works well under pressure" doesn't mean that getting stressed out will automatically turn you into a well-oiled machine. There's still that part of the equation where you have to put actual effort in transforming the stress to something else more positive. Stress is no use if it remains a negative lump of knot in your stomach.

Most everything that rises to the top is the cream of the crop. There are exceptions though. There are times when you find out it's just scum.

Facing the truth is a lot harder if you've managed to build your path by lying through your teeth. Or by making excuses. Lies and truths are pulled out from the same hat.

Anxiety is brought about by stupidity, in a word.

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Just got back from watching Die Hard 4. That was a freaking awesome movie. Great jaw-dropping action and a pack of characters who just wouldn't die (I think Maggie Q is actually still alive at the bottom of that elevator.) Ironically, the villain died after one gunshot. The movie felt like a whole season of 24, minus the intense drama, packed into 2 solid hours of ass-kicking action. Bruce Willis' John McLaine is Jack Bauer with a good heap of humor (or is it Kiefer's Bauer is McLaine minus the wisecracks?)

Too bad it got lost in the Transformers/Harry Potter/SpidermanShrekPirates 3s muddle. Other movies I saw the past month: Transformers (asteeeeeg) and the 5th Harry Potter (Some people were disappointed by it. I actually liked it a lot. I didn't finish reading the book though, so I guess that could be one of the reasons I liked it.)

Finally... The Simpsons is opening this Wednesday! Woohoo! Can't wait! :D

little tests, why I can't be a motivational speaker, and why Natalie Portman owns my soul.

I need a shirt (white, plain)

I need a pen and paper (not anymore)

I need a drink (a glass of water would suffice)

Last week I was on a team building weekend get-away, and one of the activities we had was to choose 15, from a series of 50something, statements that best describe us. Each of the 50something statements fall under one of six different categories: Acheivement, Autonomy, Influence, Relationship, Security, and Balance. These six categories are actually categories of motivational factors. We chose our 15 statements beforehand. During the event itself, the six categories were revealed to us and we then had to tally how many of our chosen statements fell on each category.

Once the tallying was done, I found out that, according to this little test, my dominant motivational factor is Relationship, as 4 of my fifteen statements were on this category. I would have thought that the category that would win was Influence (who got three, as do Autonomy and Balance), so I was very surprised that Relationship did top the survey.

Why the surprise? Let's see. I have had only one serious non-platonic (after consulting my mental thesaurus because I did not want to use the word "romantic") relationship in the past. I also have none in the present, not even plans. If you asked for the name of my best friend, well, you won't get an answer. I never strike up a conversation with anyone I'm not already friends with(unless I'm drunk, and in that case, I shout at any one that's in front of me). I enjoy doing many different activities while I'm alone (going to the mall, eating, watching the tv). Simply put, on a scale of Yes to No, my rating of how sociable and eager to relate I am to people is No. Not that I'm anti-social (I'm not), or I'm uncomfortable/scared of being with people(I, again, am not)... But relationship as the main motivating factor to my performance at work (let alone life) just does not strike me as accurate.

In fact, I think it's the worst kind of motivational factor, because most of it's power rely on how other people respond to you. You can be the nicest, kindest, most generous person in the world and it still would not matter if you work with people who are plain assholes (not that I work with any), or the situation is just so extreme that you can't stop feeling negative about every little thing. And once you do succeed in making a relationship work, how would it help you then? When things are going shitty, your friends will make you laugh, but it will not increase your job satisfaction. It will not take away the bad policies of your company. It will not set you up for a more lucrative position in the future.

It just doesn't make sense to make relationships your motivation to succeed.

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Maybe it's my lack of relationships that's motivating me to choose relationships as the dominant motivational factor in improving my performance at work (and in life). What a trick. I hate self-evaluation-conducive tests.

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One of the things we did in the short gap between drinking and sleeping was to play spin the bottle. Once we got bored with asking one person a question that they may not want to be asked, we moved on with asking each other questions that we may usually find in a Grade Fiver's slum book. One of the questions asked was "I am happy because _____" (okay, so it's more fill in the blank than answer a question). I answered that I am happy because I am financially-stable. if you were to ask me that again, this time I would say that I am happy because I realize that I don't need to get paid to do my passion.

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Speaking of passion, one issue I'm really passionate about is this policy our company has about not paying its employees any holiday premium for working on a holiday. I deserve a fucking good explanation at least, on why they are not following the labor laws of the Philippines. On why we are being cheated out of what is fairly ours. I don't think the company I work for is going bankrupt anytime soon. Its number 11 in the Fortune 500 list for fuck's sake. Why can't they pay their employees(us) a decent holiday premium for working our asses off on Christmas? On New Year? at 3 in the fucking morning!???!

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I am writing this at 5 in the morning, Dec 23. I was supposed to sleep about 3 hours ago, but as I was about to lie down my bed, I turned the tv to HBO, which was then showing Closer. Which is why I am still awake up to now. Because really, can you actually go to sleep after watching that movie? Wow.

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I'm writing this now, Dec 25 4:25 am. Have a great Christmas Day everyone.

also posted on my Multiply: Bloodsport and Riot

Just because it's so good

Another serving of Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan:



And another over here too

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Just caught the Aussie Grand Prix on Star Sports a while ago.. Between Michael Schumacher crashing to the wall and Jenson Button's engine blowing off (with flames and all) at the very last turn of the very last lap of the race and stopping literally about five meters from the finish line, that was a really entertaining race. Heh. (Podium? 1. Fernando Alonso, Renault; 2. Kimi Raikonnen, McLaren-Mercedes; 3. Ralph Schumacher, Toyota)

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It's April! It's Summer! Ang iniiiiit!

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edited to add:

Just caught Ice Age 2 earlier this evening. It was a funny movie, especially when the acorn dude is on the screen. Plus that mini-sloth tribe was hilarious as hell too! :-)))

There also seemed to be alot of computer-animated movies coming up... Most of them looked like they were too kiddy though...

Michael Jackson and the Brownie Factory

Watched Charlie and the chocolate Factory yesterday. The movie was really good... Fun to watch (especially the Oompah-loompahs' musical numbers, hahaha...) I was seated beside Mela (my life in a box), who (I think) was hyperventilating when Charlie finally found the last golden ticket (don't worry, she survived the rest of the movie ;P), and behind us was a group of grandmothers, who were reacting to every fucking thing that happened in the movie
Grandmother 1: Ay, mabait kasi si Charlie eh...
Grandmother 2: Gwapong bata pa, ano?
Grandmother 3: Ay, ayan na! ayan na! Tanggalin mo na yung wrapper Charlie, bilis!
(short silence) ay... wala pa ring golden ticket?
Gotta tell you though, their reactions were as funny as they were annoying...

Johnny Depp was also really creepy as Willy Wonka. Two words: Michael Jackson.
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I used to buy these brownies in the cafe inside Aristo in La Salle. Those brownies were awesome!!! They were really fudgy, it's like you're biting into a brownie that was 90% chocolate fudge... yum... For some reason though, they stopped selling it some months ago. I probably shouldn't tell you, but I mourned that for about a week (the same way that I mourned when Tubby's raised the price of their Mocha Mud Pie to P150), and every time I pass by Aristo, I'd always come in and check if they had those brownies for sale again. They never did. Sometimes, when I think about it, I still feel kinda... sad and... empty.

Or at least until I got a taste of Sugarhouse's chocolate brownie, woohoo! Out of all the brownies I've tasted, this is the only one that comes close to the taste (and it's also like biting into a brownie that's 90% chocolate fudge. )




I gotta say, those brownie are so good it makes me want to write something in metaphors.