Tickling or Whatever-Verb-is-Appropriate That Hopeless Romantic In Me

There lies somewhere deep within us a hopeless romantic that deserves to be tickled or whatever-verb-is-appropriate once in a while for it not to vanish/die/disappear because we have to admit we need this hopeless romantic at least once (or twice?) in our lives.

I don't remember having tickled or whatever-verb-is-appropriate my hopeless romantic nature this 2009 and since it is about to end barring any global-warming-induced hitches, I was faced with the question, Which movie to tickle it or whatever-verb-is-appropriate with? Since 2008 left me exhausted when I chose to tickle it or whatever-verb-is-appropriate my hopeless romantic nature on someone, this year I figured... watching a movie would be a less taxing endeavor. 

So, (500) Days of Summer or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Both movies have long titles, and I've heard both are good ones. But since I believe that oldies are always better--in movies, music, arts, and even science, research, politics. Basically, you name it, chances are our predecessors are better at it--I watched Eternal Sunshine.

Again, as a testament, to my liking of the film, I quote here a random line said by Joel Barish (played by Jim Carrey) which stuck to my mind for some reason...

Sand is overrated. It's just tiny, little rocks.

Thanks (or maybe no thanks) to Jecy A. and Google for informing me how great the movie is. So, I was going into the movie, thinking... This has got to rock. This has got to knock my socks off.... Despite watching the movie "pre-briefed" (and in Dr. Sheldon Cooper's of The Big Bang Theory words: Once my mind is pre-bombed, it can never be re-bombed.), I still liked it. This decision sure ranks as one of the better decisions I've made this year--despite its seemingly shallow nature.

Like The Beach, Eternal Sunshine made me think--which is what I love about movies, they make me think of all things philosophical (and otherwise) that wouldn't come to mind if not for the movie itself--about the possibility of erasing someone or something from one's mind without affecting other unrelated memories? And can the mind, as what happened with Joel's, develop a resistance to the erasing process once it has started? Is the mind that powerful?

In the end, what the Eternal Sunshine leaves in its viewers' minds is not the possibility and conveniablity (yes, I know that's not a legal word but it sort of means, for me, the state of being convenient) of having memories erased once these memories hurt us but the consequences and the emptiness it leaves. That no matter how bad/painful/[insert negative adjective here] these thoughts, these memories, these people make/made us feel, they still define who we are as a person.

That, everyone, is the moral "lesson"--if you may--of the movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Altered Eclecticism

"It is enough for a person to have to die once, don't make him have to die twice."

-Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

I'm not even halfway done reading this book and yet I'm already quoting it. Well, technically I lifted this quote from Bob Corbett (http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/personal/reading/saramago-gospel.html) who did a review of Saramago's "irreverent, profound, skeptical, funny, heretical, deeply philosophical, provocative and compelling" book.

First things first, I'm a Christian--a Born Again Christian, to be specific. But I don't let my faith, my religion interfere or hinder me from intellectual pursuit (yeah, right). As a UP student, I'm taught to be critical of things but I do not drop my faith altogether because this same faith helps me keep my feet on the ground and provide the answers, the solace I need in times of great distress and challenges. But still, I have questions.

And the answers to these unanswerable questions I try to find in other sources--a method in research called triangulation.

I have wanted to read this book by Saramago the first time I saw it at the bookstore. The title, book cover and the author's "Nobel Prize for Literature" made me want the book but the price (yes, that one thing) kept me from buying it. But as a Christmas gift for my blockmate, I picked this book thinking I'll read it first before giving it to him. But it turns out he preferred receiving a long-sleeved polo. So there, I was stuck, fortunately, with the book, which is, by far, the most expensive book I've bought with my own money, for myself.

Anyway, this book, aside from giving a bit different account (take note I'm at pg. 58 of the 341 pages) of Jesus' life, instills in me a rather fleeting doubt of the truth of what the Bible says. Add to this doubt, my UP professors' unsettling empirical facts that goes against what is in the Bible (ie, there were no tables in Jesus' time and yet the Bible says, in different accounts, that there were tables). Remember, lies are like cockroaches--if you see one, there are others. All these "additional" facts made me, yes, doubt the truth behind God and Jesus Christ etc. But I assure you, or anyone else who cares, that this doubt is not big enough to make me refute my faith in Jesus Christ.

Yes, I understand there may be alterations to what really transpired in those times thus, I shouldn't believe everything that is laid for me as facts. What I do is this, I become eclectic. Yes, I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior, I believe that our faith (supproted by our actions) saves us, I believe that everyone should be treated equally--men, women, rich, poor, I believe that things--whether we like it or not, whether it seems good or bad--happen to us because God allows them to happen, and that He wouldn't let it happen if it's not good for us, in any way. I believe we have no right to judge others according to morality because the very idea of morality is a mere social construct. Thus, the central thesis of my so-called eclectic belief system is this: If what you're doing does not hurt others in any way, do it. Because chances are it makes you really happy. As a social science major (I don't want to call myself a social scientist just yet), I believe in this,

".... in a great history little truths can be altered so that the greater truth emerges."

-Umberto Eco, Baudolino, Chapter 40

Maybe, just maybe, Saramago altered the "truth" so that the greater truth emerges. Hmm get it?

"Men, forgive Him, for He knows not what He has done."

It's now about how long it is; it's how you use it.

I have said time and again that if I quote things, it only means I (to say the least) like them. Lines from movies, songs, books, etc. So here's the latest batch of words to live by. Or at least, listen to.

"If you want to find something, you have to stop looking." -Dr. Temperance Brennan, Bones

"Nothing in this world worth having comes easy." -Dr. Kelso, Scrubs

"I'm trying to get there, Turk, I'm just not there yet." -Carla, Scrubs

"Don't come here editing my life just 'cause you're not happy with yours." -Kenny, Last Kiss

"There's no Morocco. There's never been a Morocco." -William Miller, Almost Famous

"Let's get scared together." -Carl Allen, Yes Man

"He's like Gandhi, only better: He likes puppets." -Dwayne the Bartender, Forgetting Sarah Marshall

"Friends are like glasses. They make you look smart but get scratched and then bore you. Lucky for me, I got Sophie." -Julien, Jeux d'enfants

"Perversion is a matter of taste, like Chinese food. You like it or don't." (paraphrased from Jeux d'enfants)

So it's safe to say I like the movies (and/or the actors) where these lines came from. As with the movie, I especially like the line from Almost Famous because it shows the "secret" aka unique character/essence of the movie. You won't understand what the line means unless you've watched the movie--or Googled it. Haha

More than the movie's story, I like it's ending because it sort of gives you, us, the viewers, the chances to think of an ending of our own. Maybe, just maybe, (and I say this because I'm pro-William-and-Penny) William called Penny, just like what Russell suggested, and did what they failed to do the entire movie. Talk. Haha

Anyway, do you agree with my new list? Good. No? Go make your own list, and get back to me. I may like some of them.

The Birthday and Christmas Timeline

1st Birthday Party. You're too young to care and enjoy. People go to your party to eat amazing food (1st birthday party foods are usually better than good because it's the first the family tends to overdo the first one, really) and watch you drool over your mom's (or maybe your dad's or the yaya's) sleeve. And hey, no one's complaining because at age 1 everything is considered cute.

Christmas When You're One. Chances are you're probably asleep with your parents "oohhh-ing" and "awww-ing" about how great it is to spend their first Christmas with you--although you don't know what the hell is happening.

7th Birthday Party. You (or your parents) invite your "friends"--but you and I know they're the same people who bully you at school and at the playground--(and their guardians) to a party with prizes, clowns, cake, ice cream, spaghetti.... and if you're lucky, magic. Everybody's nice because hey, it's your party.

Christmas When You're Seven. Or when you're young. You and your family troop over some relatives' place for a big reunion--or maybe your family is the one hosting the ritualistic event. You (and your equally young and pissed) cousins are tasked and sometimes bullied into performing something that shows how cute and talented and fun kid all of you are. It's either belting out any Celine Dion song (to knock their socks off) or singing and dancing to the latest dance craze. For seven year olds this year, it would be "Nobody, Nobody But You."

16th Birthday Party. You're not quite sure what to do, who to invite and what the theme is gonan be (if there is gonna be one) so you just go with the "safe" choices of either just treating some friends out to dinner (or at home) or not having a party altogether.

Christmas When You're Sixteen. You spend most of the time, during the annual family reunion, locked up in the attic (or somewhere) telling the kids horror stories or watching cable in your uncle's and aunt's room.

18th Birthday Party. Finally, the day when you're allowed to do something you want. Either have a grand party complete with dresses, tuxes, ties and 18-somethings or you just treat all the cool people you know out for drinks. Yes, you're legally do buy what you want to drink so might as well exercise it.

Christmas When You're Eighteen. You're allowed to drink with the "adults." You're offered drinks and obliged to drink them. Yay! for some. And for some lucky ones, they're allowed to get drunk.

20th Birthday Party. You feel somewhat nostalgic for not being a teen-ager anymore although you know deep down you have done a lot of not-so-teen stuff when you're halfway through the last decade of your teen years. You definitely treat people out for drinks... and do some other stuff 20-somethings do--whatever that may be.

Christmas When You're Twenty. You actively participate in organizing your barkada's Christmas Party because you realized it is more fun to celebrate Christmas (even an early one) with your friends and/or classmates. You do "fun stuff twenty-somethings" do, and try to forget about these things the morning after.


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Although this is not a verbatim transcription (Hahaha, alam na) of what my Christmas and Birthdays are like, I can safely say this is an honest guess of what usually happens on Christmases and Birthdays during these "formative" (haha) years. And since I haven't gone past twenty I have yet to experience what Birthdays and Christmas are like when you're twenty-one and so on. So tune in for updates. Haha