The Wizard that is Oz

Having come to the office after lunch (like in so many other days of my working life), I was able to catch The Oprah Winfrey Show. Today's show (or at least today's episode as featured in Studio 23) is sort of a health quiz with Dr. Oz.

I don't know if Dr. Oz is a wizard or a genius but he sure made watching an episode about health issues entertaining. He brings body parts (yes body parts) showing what the internal organs of a healthy person looks like compared to an unhealthy one.

Anyway, some things I learned from him:

1. The fat around the midsection (or the beerbelly) is called omentum.
2. You get enough water when your pee is clear (or you can read through it). A yellower pee means that you don't get enough water and your body waste is not all washed out.
3. The best way to remove the sting of a jellyfish is by rubbing it with vinegar (acid).
4. People who have orgasms at least 200 times a year age better (haha!). - This translates to sexual intercourse which results in orgasm of at least every other day.
5. If you lose 35 pounds, you gain about an inch of your penis. :-)
6. More people have heart attacks on Monday mornings due to stress.
7. The most important number in a persons health is his/her blood pressure.

Movie Dreams

I watched in Hollywood squares that a person has an average of 1000 dreams per year. That translates to 2 or 3 dreams per night. Though most of us don't remember about our dreams, some fragments stay with us, even if only during the first few waking moments.

Having been on earth for 26 years and 7 1/2 months, I had approximately 26,600 dreams. But of course I don't remember all of them, I can barely remember the dream I had last night.

From the dream fragments that I remember, I recall dreams about flying (or more correctly, hovering, just like the way kung fu fighters skin over the treetops) and being pursued by someone who is just running below me.

Lately, however, my dreams seems to take a kind of movie-feel. I don't remember exactly what these dreams were, but I can remember that when I wake up, I have the feeling of having just watched a movie or participated in one. And, mind you, these are no ordinary movie-dreams. Not the trashy violence and sex ridden types but first rate movie-dreams. If there is someway I could remember these dreams and write them into a screenplay, I'll be a famous screenwriter.

One dream I can still remember is something like a drama. I forgot how the dream went but I can remember that in that dream, I was supposedly the son of somebody called Harry Hausens. I did an internet research on this name and I came up with a person named Ray Harryhausen, a pioneering model animator who did work on some old movies like Mighty Joe Young, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts. How appropriate that my supposed father in my dream is someone who is or is named after a famous movie person.

My Digital Life

Yesterday, I was finaly able to buy an external hard drive. My company issued laptop is running out of space because of the redundant back ups of files (very redundant indeed). I no longer have space (in my laptop) for my mp3 files and movie files.

At least with an 80gb external drive, I will be able to save a lot more files of whatever nature.

I used to have 13++gb of music files, most of which were deleted, thanks to our ever reliant Technology group. All music and video files are no longer allowed to be saved in our "d" drive but you can't store much in the "c" drive because your computer will runout of operating disk space or something like that. And now I am storing all my music cds into wma format. So far I have used less than 8gb for my music files. Much less than my original files.

My internet life (in the office) is also severely limited by the various programs that blocks most of the good stuff: no friendster, no g4m, no game sites, no job sites and no porn sites. I don't mind much blocking the porn sites, but the inability to access the other sites is very frustrating. And we can't even use proxies anymore.

Because of all this internet blocking, my internet life is limited to very few sites, like blogspot, imdb, wikipedia, yahoo, my banking sites and some other "harmless" sites. I'm only able to access friendster and g4m through my cellphone (which most of the times have network problems) or when I go to internet shops.

These are a few of my favorite.... movies.

I am a movie lover and if you have the opportunity to go to my apartment, you will have no doubt. I collect DVDs and VCDs of different kinds of movies. Here is a list of some of my most favorite films:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Ang Lee's best film. A hybrid of HK wuxia films and western style sentimentality. Every movement flows, every dialogue a poetry.
2. Moulin Rouge - My favorite musical created by the visionary Baz Luhrmann. The films is very energetic and fresh that no matter how many times I see it, it always brings a smile to my face.
3. The House - A film I rediscovered and loved the first time and second time I watched it. Wonderful screenplay, direction, acting and editing.
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey - The film that inspired Star Wars. Kubrick's opus stands the test of time and looks great 29 years after its original release. Forget the story, just be astounded and awed by the wonderful special effects.
5. Delicatessen - Jean Pierre Jeunet (pre-Amelie) working with Mark Caro. A funny film set in post-war France.
6. Cidade de Deus - A powerful film about a place as told through the lives of the people who live in it.
7. Gone with the Wind - Beautifully photographed. The colors alive after more than 50 years since its original theatrical release (thank God for Technicolor!). Almost 4 hours long but not a dull moment. After all, tomorrow is another day.
8. Casablanca - Hmmm, watch it again, Sam.

Someday when I have the time, I may be able to expand this list and be more concrete on why I love these films.

On Writing

Having just recently watched The Hours, I was reminded of what I always wanted to write and how words always seem to not enough to express what I feel. It seems like human vocabulary will always be inadequate in expressing and writing down our experiences.

Even Shakespeare's works is just a drop of water in the Pacific Ocean of human experiences.

I am also reminded of Douglas Adam's books. In his book (in the Hitchhikers' Guide to Galaxy), he says that the universe has no literature since literature supposedly mirrors life and there is no mirror large enough to reflect the universe.

When writing, as when working, my mind always wanders such that what I put in words almost always meanders. I cannot get focus.

Again, I stop here. I would like to claim that I can not put a sensible conclusion to this blog because I have the writer's block. But then I am not a writer. At least not a writer of belles lettres.

* * * * *

. . . I wanted to be a writer, that's all.
I wanted to write about it all.
Everything that happens in a moment.
. . . All our feelings - yours and mine.
The history of it.
Who we once were.
Everything in the world.
Everything mixed up.
Like it's all mixed up now.
And I failed.
I failed.
No matter what you start up with, it ends up being so much less.



- Richard Brown, The Hours

Blogging Envy

Friday afternoon and work time is almost over. Here I am again surfing the net. After downloading posters of some movies I like, I chanced upon a blog created by a creative gay guy. I am struck by how easy word seems to flow from him. Once again, I feel envy... envy because he is creating something that I wish I could do effortlessly. But then, I do write pretty well (at least grammatically).

When I was in high school, I used to join and win in essay writing competitions (local and provincial). On ordinary occasions, I write good. When I am inspired I write better but when I am inspired and really know what I want to write about, I can produce a finely written work.

Hmmm, that reminds me, his way of writing is not very different from mine. It's just that he seems to have more life experiences than I have. But then I cannot blame him or myself. The events of my life will not make an interesting Maalala Mo Kaya or Magpakailanman episode. My life's a bore.

Suicide

The suicide of a 12-year old girl in Davao was in the news last night. Nothing particularly new about suicide, except that it was done by a 12-year old girl, a child. I am shocked that someone as young as twelve would take her own life.

* * * * *

Her suicide is such a waste! I believe that she is an intelligent girl. Her diary indicates that she committed suicide because of extreme poverty and how it affects her ability to get education. She may be no Anne Frank, nonetheless, here intelligence is above average. Not everyone keeps a diary, much more a twelve-year old girl living in a barrio.

* * * * *

Suicide, to some, may be the fastest way to escape problems. A sure way to put an end to it all. I say, these people are selfish. They only think of escaping and ending their problems. Have they no idea that by killing themselves, they are creating problems (emotional and financial) problems to their loved ones who get left behind?

* * * * *

My current attitude on death is summed up in a song Old Man River:

"I'm tired of living but I'm scared of dying."

* * * * *

There are times when the idea of suicide entered by mind. I cannot do it and I will not do it. Life's still beautiful. We just need to go out once in a while and, as they say, smell the flowers.

* * * * *

LEONARD: Why does someone have to die? . . .
In your book, is it someone have to die? . . .


VIRGINIA: Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more.
It's contrast.


LEONARD: And who will die?
Tell me.


VIRGINIA: The poet will die.
The visionary.