Please Change the movie title from Dracula: Year Zero to....

....something else really! I mean come on! Dracula: Year Zero?! How many Dracula movies have we seen already? Do you still remember Dracula 2000 starring the then unknown Gerald Butler? I've seen it yes, but not so thrilled about it though. Since they have tapped Sam Worthington for this project, I was really expecting Sam to influence the producers and film makers with his creativity and assertiveness to please change the films movie title. For the love of me,I just don't like and it doesn't make any sense either.

According to this interview form ShoWest, their changing it to Prince Black, The Roman Prince. Much better, but not catchy enough. Now don't look at me and ask for possible titles because I won't be able to give you anything! I am no friggin' creative writer....maybe just a poser, that's why I have put up this blog. LOL I'm trying to convince myself that I can write, but that would take a whole lot of convincing on my part. Being the pessimistic that I am.

I hope that this film would see the light and eventually gets released, a couple of months ago Miramax closed down and Sam's movie "Last Night" with Keira Knightly and Eva Mendez had to be put in the shelves.

I do not know if anyone is reading this blog but if by any luck Sam has stumbled upon this page.... all I can say is thank you and good luck to all of you projects! :)

Never thought I would say this but....

What have I gotten my self into?!? I could just stay in my previous job where I do not have to worry about meeting deadlines ( not like that I have any...I'm still in training) or bringing them at home just so I could finish a task. But then...it also means that I don't have to take 80-90 calls per day! Nor, do have to work on weekends, holidays or Graveyard shifts!

What I'm really trying to say is.... I miss my friends terribly! I miss our building, the establishments within that we just normally pass by and ignore day-after day-after day. I miss the K-9 units (Labradors & German Shepard mostly) as well that usually greets us with lazy or sleepy looks on their their chubby faces. The Labradors are my favorites because they soo machuba (tubby), I always feel like giving them a squeeze whenever I see them. They always cheer me up.

Even though I'm going through some kind of a withdrawal symptom right now, I'm still very thankful for the opportunity that was given (hey, I get to have a Laptop of my own, which is what I'm using right now). After all, who wants to work on Christmas and New Years Eve right?

I just hope that my old colleagues would remain in touch (that's for you IHG peeps reading this blog!) and I sincerely wish them all the best of luck!

P.S.

Anyone wants to watch Clash of the Titans with me? Just text or leave a message here :)

SURVIVOR : Heroes VS. Villains

After several years of NOT watching this reality show, last Friday, I decided to take a peek. It has caught my interest just by the title alone. I knew that some of my favorite contestants (and most hated ones.... READ: Johnny Fairplay and Boston Rob!) will participate in this seasons Survivor. So, I was able to to catch the match between the opposing teams reward challenge. You expect nothing less of the drama that's going on over there, and surprisingly it's between Colby (Survivor Outback) and the shows host Jeff Probst! Now Jeff is never hot tempered, in fact he is so cool that he can neutralize the tension between contestants. Also he's never bias. When he won Best Reality Show Host at last years Emmy's a lot of the critics agreed that it was long over due. But man, last weeks episode... you could tell that Colby was getting on to Jeff's nerves. He even said, " I will start the game when I want to !".

Going to the other contestants, one of my favorites Rupert Boneham is back. Too bad my all time favorite Andrew Savage (both of them came from Survivor Panama) has not. Savage (as the host fondly calls him) comes across as some one who is bossy, but he makes a very good leader. Unfortunately it has not translated into the way his team played, they just kept loosing! If you were able to watch that season, you will see that his team obviously was the weakest. And they have lost so many challenges and lost many team members as a consequence. However, when they get to camp, he will not put any blame on anyone and would even encourage them to just look ahead for the next challenge. It's a shame though, after his stint with Survivor, he went back to civilian life ( he's a Lawyer BTW) and has not participated in any of the shows events I think.

Everybody has to watch out for Boston Rob (Rob Mariano, Survivor Marquesas). I understand that there are a few of them characters over there now, but these guys learned to play the game by watching him take out one contestant after the other! That son-of-a-bitch is classic, I tell 'ya! He's very good at looking for loop-holes and not to mention he is the master of deception. I don't know how that guy sleeps at night. In Filipino "maitim talaga ang budhi!"

I'm not sure if I will be watching this again. I don't wanna get hooked. I get so affected that sometimes I feel like I'm gonna get a heart attack. If your going to compare Survivor Philippines to it's predecessor...our version is weak, very weak. They don't know how to play the game (just yet that is). Because the truth is, to win the game of Survivor you must betray people trust, back stab and lie to every one's face... and yes, that includes the host.

ABS-CBN has butchered The Oscars!

I knew it! ABS-CBN has chopped off some parts of the Oscars during it's live airing. I am no fool, I have been watching this show for years and there are certain part of the program that I already knew by heart. Like the first award to be given out is for the Best Supporting Actress and the presenters for the major awards will be the winners from the previous year, with the exception of Best Director and Best Film. So when I noticed that I seemed to missed-out the "In Memoriam" tribute this year, I made sure that I watched the replay on Studio 23.

Luckily I did, because they indeed left out this part. Had I not watched it's replay, I would have missed James Taylor's emotional rendition of "In my life". Not only that, they deliberately removed Zoe Saldana & Kerry Mulligans presentation and the one that I'm really pissed-off about is that they have also removed J. Lo's and Sam Worthington's presentation for Best Musical Score!

When The Oscars was still being shown in RPN 9 before it's privatization, nothing and I mean nothing of this sort has ever happened! ABS-CBN was so worried that The Oscars would take up much of Wowowee's airtime that they've decided to butcher it. I am sorry if there are ABS-CBN fans are getting for my randomness rants but you gotta understand, if you really want to have the rights to air the Academy Awards you must be prepared to sacrifice much of your local programme's airtime! It's approximately 3 hours long, and when I say approximately, it means that it IS more that 3 hours.

Hopefully, this will not happen again next year. Because by next year, I'm definitely getting cable!

Toughie or a Dorky"?

Never would I though that I would fall for both! I always prefer the dorky type...think Clark Kent, big spectacles and all.

And now, tough guy, Aussie actor Sam Worthington was seen wearing reading glasses as he and Jennifer Lopez presented at this years Oscars! A toughie and a dorky in one! OMG! I'm definitely falling for this guy. Rally can't wait for The Clash of the Titans! Woohoo!

Note: Picture is curtesy of samworthingtonfansite.com

The 82nd Academy Awards : Part 3

Here are the list of winners in this years 82nd Academy Awards :

List of winners at the 82nd annual Academy Awards:
• Motion Picture: "The Hurt Locker."
• Actor: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart."
• Actress: Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side."
• Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds."
• Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."
• Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker."
• Foreign Film: "El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Argentina.
• Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' by Sapphire."
• Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker."
• Animated Feature Film: "Up."
• Art Direction: "Avatar."
• Cinematography: "Avatar."
• Sound Mixing: "The Hurt Locker."
• Sound Editing: "The Hurt Locker."
• Original Score: "Up," Michael Giacchino.
• Original Song: "The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart," Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.
• Costume: "The Young Victoria."
• Documentary Feature: "The Cove."
• Documentary (short subject): "Music by Prudence."
• Film Editing: "The Hurt Locker."
• Makeup: "Star Trek."
• Animated Short Film: "Logorama."
• Live Action Short Film: "The New Tenants."
• Visual Effects: "Avatar."

The 82nd Academy Awards : Part 2

Oh well, The Hurt Locker won Best Motion Picture at this years Oscars. The moment they announced the winner for Best Director, I already knew AVATAR's fate! Like I said, it was a stiff competion. Conservative voters may have a hand on the results this year. Preferring the "old fashion movie making" that the unconventional highly budgeted, not to mention the most successful movie of all time, that is AVATAR. Anyhow, one can never truly appreciate what it feels like to be a winner if he has not felt rejection & suffering first. Like I've so may times already, AVATAR is already a winner in more ways that one!

This year would go down in Oscar history that a female director was awarded for Best Directing, and I'm talking about Katheryn Bigelow. She has definitely open new doors for women in the movie industry, and she has proved that we women can also compete head to head againts the biggest (male) directors in Hollywood. Congratulations Ms. Bigeow, you have done an awesome job!

There's something that I noticed about the show or it may have jusr slipped my attention. every year, there's a part of the show that pays tribute to actors, directors, writers or anyone who has worked in the movie industry, who has passed on. Appropriately named "In Memoriam". Last year, Queen Latifah was given the task to take on this part of the show, which she ended with a beautiful song. At the latter part they showed clips of old Paul Newman movies (Paul Newman died of Cancer last year).

But today as I was watching the show, I can't remeber seeing any of that for this year> I did notice that something went wrong with the Channel 2's signal at the latter part of the show. Now that's a common problem with live broadcast...somethings always bound to go wrong! Guess I'll just have to watch the replay on Studio 23 then. And you know what.... I really don't mind.

The 82nd Academy Awards : Part 1

This was suppose to be posted yesterday. Just kindly read on :

Okay, this has become a personal tradition of mine, at this to watch the Oscar Awards an I have been doing it for the past, oh I don't know...10 years or so? I'd have to admit though that I started watching the entirety of this much coveted award show when I officially became a huge Tom Hanks fan!

For the past few years The Academy has experienced problems with it's low viewer ratings (people just find it soo long, and it is! ) and they have every trick they can think of to get the viewers at home watching again. From making Chris Rock a host to give the show a fresher face. If you may notice, hosting the show usually falls to the Veteran actors e.g. Bob Hope, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin (who is hosting the Academy's the 2ND time this year alongside Alec Baldwin) just to name a few.. But you know Chris Rock's humor ( loud & over the top! ), some find it unsuitable for such a formal event.... not to mention a lot people got offended by his jokes.

So far, as of this writing, the show is still going on and it's only on it's first hour of airing. The show is 3 hours long, mind you!

I would have to watch every second of it and keep my eyes peeled foe Sam Worthington, who uncannily is wearing horn rimmed glasses ( the guy has blurred vision!). Soo cute! I'm really rooting for AVATAR to win the Best Picture Category this year, although it's got stiff competition from director James Cameron's (AVATAR, Titanic) ex-wife Katheryn Bigelow for The Hurt locker. The ballots has already been tallied of course, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed!

Gotta go, Sigourney Weaver's presenting now....

Up in the Air

My sister and I saw this film just last March 4, that's after it's opening date. As some f you may know, I have just resigned from my job of 3 yrs due to some conflicts with my schedule (I'll tell 'ya, from my point of view it feels like committing suicide!) which leaves me literally exhausted due to lack of sleep. Therefor, this leaves me vulnerable to a lot of things....one, anxiety because now I don't have the means to support my myself and my family for the next few weeks or so, and of course there's depression, for leaving not only your comfort zone, but also the familiar surroundings that has always given you comfort even when your away from home, friends and colleagues who were always there to support you. So basically, I'm just missing everybody! The office, my friends, heck I'll even miss the canine units that's patrolling the buildings!

Anyways, going back to the movie..... Watching movies/ DVDs (if I'm just staying at home) is really my way of coping with stress, so I really coaxed my sister into watching Up in the Air even though I knew she prefers Johnny Depp (Alice in Wonderland) over Clooney. Well, I'm not a George Clooney fan either, but there's so much buzz going on about this film that I just simply had to feed my curiosity.

So, Ryan Bingham's (Clooney) is to fire people in behalf of the big bosses who does not have the balls to do it themselves. In a blunt way of saying it, people like him earn profits from other people's misery! He flies from one State to another, living in isolation and is obsessed about reaching his goal.....of earning 10 Million Mileage. However just like the rest of the world, his company is also a victim of corporate downsizing. Instead of sending their agents to travel in every part of the country (their all over the place!), they will use the power of the World-Wide-Web in firing people. It's like they're giving the bad news to these poor lonely souls via chat room ( how cold and mean is that?!) Not to mention Bingham has to take a newbie (Anna Kendrick, Twilight) under his wings and show her the tricks of the trade.

It's a very good film, and I myself am quite surprised that I'm actually singing it's praises. In the current Economic crisis, this film is very timely. though we Filipinos were not directly hit by it, you will feel empathy for these good and loyal employees, who unfortunately had to be "let go" by their companies. I really felt sorry for the 57 year old employee when Natalie (Kendrick) had to fire him using their new stratagem. He was reduced to sobs and tears. A man so close to retirement and who's probably expecting his pension, was forced to leave the company without...any pay I suppose. It's not that depressing I assure you and it will really be worth your money!

As I end this post, I would also like to share that as of yesterday, I was formally given a Job Offer and would start working the week after next. Watching Up In The Air was a wonderful experience, because one, they don't do movies like that anymore where in it has social and psychological impact, but also in more ways that one...it has given me good luck as well!

Cheers!