October 13-19

I first heard of Marilou Diaz Abaya when I read a now out-of-print collection of the movie reviews of the film scholar and critic Isagani Cruz in the mid-90s. That book really taught me to appreciate movies, especially Filipino movies, so much so that I would tend to applaud the director more rather than the actors. Isagani was very vocal about his admiration for Marilou, pointing out the significance of even camera angles; In Brutal, for example, Amy Austria plays a battered woman, and there's a scene where she is sitting at the edge of the screen, that shot showing her feelings of being cornered, of being trapped in a situation that is suffocating and ultimately fatal to her spirit. It's sad when I first heard just last Oct. 12 that Marilou, one of the greatest Filipino filmmakers of our time, has died. By way of paying tribute, here's the link to watch, in full, her cinematic masterpiece, Rizal

Watch Rizal

The (sadly) now-defunct radio station NU 107 had a tagline: "Once a rocker, always a rocker!" I love music and appreciate all kinds of genre but I also dont believe in labels. Then again, like in Rock of Ages, "I love rock and roll!" I super-duper enjoyed the bus DVD during a trip from Manila to Calamba via Skyway on Sept. 15, 2012. It was a collection of live performances, really awesome. First was The Eagles with the accoustic version of Hotel California: "On a dark desert highway...!"

(I like Desperado: "It may be raining, but there's a rainbow above you...")

See Huggybear's Favorite Eagles Songs

Then Scorpion with Wind of Change: "Take me, to the magic of the moment...!"

Then Guns 'n' Roses, Slash with his formidable double lead guitar and Axl Rose running all over the stage, "Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door...!"

Next was Bon Jovi with Always: "I'll be there, forever and a day...!"

(I like the theme from Young Guns 2, Blaze of Glory: "I lived life to the fullest, let this boy die like a man...!"

See Huggybear's Favorite Bon Jovi Songs

Next was Queen. Freddie Mercury, fully alive and half naked, on the piano, singing the incredible classic Bohemian Rhapsody. During the Italian opera acapella part, they played a recording, with deft kleigh light magic hiding the stage, but they came for a rousing finale

(My favorite Queen song is A Kind of Magic, theme from one of my favorite movies of all time: the original Highlander with Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery).

See Huggybear's Favorite Queen Songs 

Watch Highlander

Next was Dire Straits with Money For Nothing featuring Sting: "That's the way you do it: you play the guitar on the MTV...!

(My favorite Dire Straits song is Walk of Life; I remember singing that while swimming in a forgotten beach when I was fifteen and I almost drowned.

See Huggybear's Favorite Dire Straits Songs 

Next was guitar god Eric Clapton with the theme from Phenomenon starring John Travolta, Change The World, featuring Babyface: "I will be the sunlight in your universe...!"

(I also like Tears in Heaven, which I first heard in Santa Rosa, Laguna in 1992, where they have the best dinuguan in the galaxy)

See Huggybear's Favorite Eric Clapton Songs 

The DVD then began skipping and pixelizing, obviously pirated. There's supposed to be Phil Collins, Mr. Big and Bryan Adams.

See Huggybear's Favorite Songs From 

Phil Collins and Bryan Adams 

It was about the time we're passing the airport. A plane flew overhead, hopefully an aerodynamic harbinger of good things to come

When I think of Glee, I always think of the mohawk-hair guy, Puck, singing Sweet Caroline, in an episode I've seen way back. I saw only one full episode, a rerun from Season 3, on local channel Studio 23, Sept 1, 2012. Puck gets in a fight with a bully who insults him deep through the bone because he has nothing to show for himself and probably won't even graduate. Tina falls into a fountain, and when she gets up, she has become Rachel, whom she idolizes. She sings Because You Love Me: "For all those times you stood for me..." and she finally achieves her dream of a standing ovation. She and Rachel goes to a famous singing coach played by Whoopi Goldberg, and they sing What A Feeling. "Take your passion! And make it happen...!"

I know the cast's faces though not their names, and they all switch roles in Tina's dream. The gay guy becomes her boyfriend. In a waking scene, he refuses to wear drag for the national finals. "Just because I'm gay," he says, it doesn't mean I want to wear women's clothes!" So Puck puts on a dress. The female teacher tells him: "You're the ugliest woman I've seen!" But one of the female cast says, "I'm strangely turned on!"

I like the Shannon character best, and I love the song she and Puck sing, Mean: "Why do you have to be so mean..." Shannon wants to leave her husband (or boyfriend?). At first, she says, "What's the world worth if we don't give second chances?" But she finally had it. She doesn't hate him, she says. "The worst part is that I love you!" she tells him. "But what does that say about me?"

Logan and his brother Viktor are immortals. They can never die nor grow old because they possess the mutant genes for accelerated healing. Shoot them down and watch them get up and get you. They fought side by side during the Civil War, then through two world wars and then in Vietnam. Stryker, a government scientist with his own secret agenda, recruited them to join his group of powerful mutants. Logan walked away in disgust at their bloodlust. In search of peace, he found love. He and Kay were happy living in the mountains of Canada; he as a lumberjack, and she as a pre-school teacher. Then one day, Stryker appeared, an intrusive ghost from the past. Viktor has been killing their former teammates, he warned. Logan's past destroyed the fragile peace of his new-found life. Then one day, he found Kay's body, with no signs of life. Logan vowed revenge.

"No law, no code of conduct," he told Stryker. "Just point me in the right direction and get the hell out of my way!"