Jose Silva: Stairway To Alpha

June 29 to July 5 

Jose Garcia Villa 

TsongkiBenj

Maid In Manhattan 

The Silva Mind Control

Jose Garcia Villa is a kindred spirit. I want to make my mark through my pen, not wanting any other life. The ideals that I hold as a writer, he has lived them, and with style! He defied convention with his poems that were way ahead of his time, and got into trouble with the conventional mainstream. His passion pushed his self-exile to the United States, where his talent was finally recognized, to the bohemian life of a true artist.

Villa is "the foremost Filipino poet in English," and "a rebel, an individualist, and a non comformist all his life," says Arturo Roseberg in Pathways To Philippine Literature in English (Phoenix, 1958).

"His admirers think he is a genius, his detractors say he is a poseur, those in between think he is just plain eccentric. And they are all correct, for Villa is all that and more."

But who is the real Jose Garcia Villa? Only he can say. He writes:

"My name is Jose, my name is Villa.
I was born in the island of Manila, in the city of Luzon.
My true name is Doveglion.
My business is ascension.
Biography I have none and shall have none.
All my Pure shall beggar and defy biography."

His name Doveglion, he says, reflects his personality and temperament. Inside Jose Garcia Villa was a dove, an eagle and a lion. I found in that book, from the Cebu Public Library on June 9, 2013, a selection of his poetry, all untitled. This is my favorite:

"Since the virtues of my mind are compacted true,
Though this mind stand heretic, unfriended and alone,
Its shape can never perish to a skeleton.
Yea, though tongues mislabel and minds misconstrue,
This mind shall itself and its light not rue:
There directs in it an element superior to bone,
Invincible and austere, factor to God alone,
And Time and Death in vain for it shall sue."

(See also my story on Bienvenido Santos)

I believe the big picture is more important than the bottomline. I admire the Japanese philosophy of long-term vision and kaizen (continuous improvement). 

That was my text read by TsongkiBenj on his weeknight Nite Chat on June 3, 2013. It was my take on the Bill Gates quote he shared: "Most people overestimate what they can do in one year but underestimate what they can do ten years." TsongkiBenj said that Chinkee Tan also believes in kaizen. He also read my other text:

Two boys dreamed of snakes. One thinks its an evil omen, the other thinks it will bring him good luck. Who is right, and will their belief affect them? 

I first sent that to Kasindak-Sindak, his Sunday night paranormal show. I wanted to hear the opinion of Dea, the show's resident dream interpreter, but it ended when I sent it. TsongkiBenj said it was a good question, too bad that Dea wasn't there. 

During the show, somebody was trying to call me from a landline with a Quezon City area code. I think it's them (their studio is in Novaliches) because every night they would get a listener to answer a news trivia they featured on that episode. I didn't answer because my phone speaker was broken. The prize is a gift pack from the multi-level marketing company Royale Business Club. I already won in 2012 when they featured a short inspirational story that I e-mailed. But I didn't claim it, and never mind why. 

In their episode last month, TsongkiBenj also read my text: 

I believe it. I'm living it. I found spiritual tranquility because I have learned to let go of the past. I accept people for what they are, and then I move on 

It was my reaction to the quote from a Hindu philosopher: "Judge nothing, and you will be happy. Forgive every thing, and you will be happier. Love everything, and you will be happiest." 

Tsongkibenj's reaction to my message was "Ang galing!" or the Filipino equivalent of "Wow!" (topic)

I was in Cebu when he read it, although their system still reads "Manila" because I've registered my number on their text service. I was tuned in to their station, 92.3 NewsFM, most of the time in early 2012 when I was living in Tanza, Cavite. I've written about their programs Todo-Todo Bigay Na Bigay, Nite Chat, Ibayong Pinoy and Remoto Control, Healing Galing, Chillax Radio, Kasindak-Sindak, Magbago Tayo and Chink Positive, which was my Sunday morning habit when I was living in Northgate, Alabang in late 2012

The topic was Vice Ganda, a controversial gay comedian here in the Philippines. Apparently, he made fun of Jessica Soho, the country's most respected broadcast journalist, during his concert. Since Jessica was very chubby, Vice spoofed what it would be like if a fat woman is gang-raped. It seems there are people who enjoy jokes about fat people and rape victims

"If tonight is all we have, stay please." Chris Marshall (Ralph Fiennes) wants to be a senator. He's in the heat of the campaign blitz when he falls in love with Marissa Ventura (Jennifer Lopez), who wants to be somebody else.

"Are you running away from something you don't want, or from something you're afraid you want?" he asks.

What Marissa wants is to tell him that she is really a hotel maid, but she's afraid to. In life, "sometimes we are forced into directions that we have ought to find ourselves," says her good-hearted boss (Bob Hoskins). A person is more than his job. "We serve them," he reminds her, "but we are not their servants."

Chris confronted Marissa. She lied, she says, just "To have someone like you look at me the way you did."

You are One with the Infinite Intelligence of the universe. In everything you do, "You will get lucky, meet the right person, solve an apparently insoluble Catch-22, get a flash of insight worthy of a genius," teaches the late great Jose Silva. I believe that a Higher Power led me to find The Silva Mind Control Method For Getting Help From Your Other Side (Pocket Books, NY), co-writted by Robert B. Stone, Ph.D. I got my now out-of-print copy of this 1989 classic from a garage sale in downtown Cebu together with Superbeings. "Benefits begin almost immediately,"

Silva says, as proven by thousands of people throughout the decades. "The more you use the contact, the better those benefits become." And "The higher your expectation and belief, the better." Relax your body, relax your mind. Your brain-wave frequencies have slowed down, and your brain's right hemisphere is activated. "The right hemisphere is your connection to the non-material or creative realm - the other side."

When you use the Silva Method, "benefits begin almost immediately," they write. Expect and believe that your desires, which already exist in the mental plane, are sure to materialize in the physical. You can be all you can be because "your mind is under your control day and night; it is your access to magnificence. Daydreams will open you up to brand new horizons and night dreams will bring understanding."

Your Higher Self communicates with you directly or through intuition."The right brain acts like a radio receiver, and we get the message loud and clear." You now control both hemispheres of your brain so "you get centered in your thinking" so "you become enlightened." Always remember that "you are already part of God. What it means is that you will be better at demonstrating it in your life."

You are never alone because "you are in touch with your Higher Self now, and it is connected to the Higher Selves of others who will be participating in your day, via the other side." As you meditate more and more, "you are opening the mental self to the physical self and the Higher Self. As a result, the mental self can better control the body, and better receive intelligence from the Higher Self." You are always in contact with your Higher Self. "You have the ability to get help from the other side for yourself and your world. You can relax quickly and deeply, and have developed the ability to mentally picture a problem situation and bring it through to solution."

So now "you can begin to use the contact to better your own life and the lives of those around you." With the Silva Method, "you have now begun to use your developed connection" easily. "The more ways you use your centered thinking to solve problems, the more new ways will become available to you."

Believe in your own ability. "You have already proven it. And be confident about your assured success. It is already beginning to manifest."

Jonathan Aquino's Journal 

June 8, 2013 

10:25 p.m., Saturday 

Lahug City, Cebu 

I'm in the mood for metaphors. I find myself once again in an elevator. I'm feeling a lot of things inside. I can't tell which is acceleration and which is gravity. I learned just now that the force of the latter disappears when two bodies come together, and they'll move in a geometrical curve. Space bends near objects with mass, and that's how scientists proved that Einstein's theory of relativity is correct. It's not my first. My initial descent defies linear time. Once is enough for a wise man, according to people who use quotes instead of their brains. I'm better now than before I saw what I could have only seen through those many rides, even when the door opened into a carnival horror-train that carried me like a roller-coaster. If I'm back again, then it means I need to see more. Perhaps my eyes are not seeing enough, or maybe I've been looking at the scoreboard instead of the ring. I really hope that what's been found is not diminished by what still needs to be sought.

I have chosen this. Even before I entered, I have made this decision. I knew even then what I needed to do. I've set my course, and now it is my destiny. There have been times when my rides stopped just at the edge of the cliff, and there have been times that they plunged into the rocks below. Somehow I survived. I do not remain unscathed, but the wounds have healed, though the scars will perhaps stay forever. I don't want another one. Yet I must know why I'm on it again. Somewhere in my mind is the illogical thrill of a new adventure into the familiar unknown. I don't what will happen. But I'm sure a diamond will emerge from the crucible. I just hope this time I can still get through the fire

Photos courtesy of:

Badge: 350.org
Jose Silva: mindvalley.com
The Silva Mind Control: barnesandnoble.com
Jose Garcia Villa  filmnoirbuff.com
Maid In Manhattan fanpop.com
TsongkiBenj: flickr.com

Shibumi: My Favorite Novel

June 22-28

Shibumi

Greg Laurie

Meditation 
Pol Medina Jr

Kingdom Of Heaven 

I finally found last April the character who mirrors mine most. He is Nicholai Hel, the hero of Trevanian's Shibumi, now my favorite novel of all time. It's a major event for me. Never has a story moved me so much, never have I identified with a character with this soul-stirring intensity. Nicholai and I have so much in common that I find it uplifting, life-affirming and unnerving at the same time.

"Pleasure, study and comfort were adequate to him," writes Trevanian. Nicholai "did not need the crutch of recognition, the reassurances of power, the narcotic of fun. Unfortunately, circumstances had made it necessary to earn a living."

Nicholai created a Zen garden in Japan in the immediate aftermath of the war. "His real life was centered on his house, built around a courtyard, in a narrow side street in the Asakusa district." I'm also the type who'd rather stay at home than be with superficial and back-stabbing company. I'm a homeboy continuously searching for the right house, away from undesirable elements.

We are both old school. Nicholai "trained in classic, rather old-fashioned jiu-jitsu," while I'm into aikido and tai-chi. I was never into basketball or football. Nicholai "did not really like team sports, preferring to win or lose by virtue of his own skill and toughness. And his emotional toughness was such that he almost always won, as a matter of will."

Solo sports is for people like us. I've created my own, which I call solitary deep sea swimming, at the edge of a watery grave in the strait between Cebu and Bohol. For Nicholai, it's caving, or what came to be known as spelunking. "The moments of risk and daring in the caves were personal, silent and unobserved; and they had the special spice of involving primitive animal fears." 

We both meditate, but Nicholai has the rare natural gift of mystic transport. "When I depart, I don't leave," he tries to explain to his Go teacher, Otake-san. "I am where my body is, as well as everywhere else." This is what I've been searching for. "I don't become one with everything," he says. "I return to being one with everything." 

I'm waiting for the publication of my story, "The Art of Understated Perfection," about Nicholai's guiding philosophy and his foster father, Gen. Kishikawa. Their poignant relationship, I revealed, reminds me of my own late foster father. Of all the things I've ever done as a writer, that was the most special. My poem, Shibumi, is part of my entry for the 2013 Palanca Award this coming September.

This is the first time I felt driven to produce two stories and a poem about one character. That's how Nicholai Hel affected me.

"Nikko" is handsome and looks younger than he is. He became an orphan when he was still very young. He started living alone when he was still a teenager, lived in the streets amidst the Hiroshima bombing but still made a life for himself. He feels contempt for shallow people.

Nicholai, in the isolated grandeur of the home he has built in the Basque Pyrenees, has created another spiritual sanctuary. His garden has "that sweet melancholy, that forgiving sadness, that characterizes the beautiful in the Japanese mind," writes Trevanian. "There was intentional imperfection and organic simplicity that created, then satisfied, aesthetic tensions." 

A lot of things about Nicholai set him apart from the "tyrannical masses," but he's indifferent that he's different. "You're a recluse by nature," Hana, his concubine, tells him. "You despise the outside world and you don't need it." Nicholai has vanquished his enemies, those who had destroyed his home but cannot touch "the idea of garden in Hel's mind of which that plot had been an imperfect statement." 

He began to start anew. "But monsieur," protested his loyal servant, Pierre. "It will take forever to rebuild the chateau!" 

Nicholai says meaningfully: "I didn't say we would ever finish." 

I'm all alone in the world, like Nicholai, searching for where I can build that garden, where I can call my own. "Home...after so many years of wandering."

I enjoyed Pastor Greg Laurie on James Dobson's Family Talk, which I heard early Saturday evening, May 25, 2013 on the Cebu station 98.7 DYFR FM, "The Life Changing Radio." I felt like I was there, smiling everytime the audience would applaud.

The first person Greg approached to spread the Good News was a woman alone on the beach. He was so nervous, he recalled, that he just read his tract. Then he's supposed to ask if there's any reason why she couldn't accept Jesus. She said there's none, and Greg was rattled. "What have I gotten myself into?" (smile).

Fast forward ten years. He's now a pastor in Southern California, and he was scheduled to appear in New York. He decided to get in touch with Oscar, his estranged father, in Jersey. They had dinner, and he was soon calling Oscar "Dad" for the first time. The new wife, Barbara, asked Greg how he had found Jesus. He saw that his father was listening intently. Greg recalls being nervous again, feeling like he was on trial and his father was the judge (smile). 

The next day, they went for an early morning walk. The father told the son that he now wanted to accept Jesus too (smile). Oscar knelt, and Greg was so flustered, not wanting to kneel on the sidewalk too (smile). Oscar was ecstatic, absolutely certain that Jesus had healed his heart problem, and Greg warned him not to jump the gun (smile). But Oscar insisted they rush to his doctor, who was Jewish (smile). They found that the heart condition was gone (smile). 

Oscar had "lived for fifteen more years," says Greg (smile). "He's in heaven now."

(See also Huggybear's stories on Chuck Swindoll and Chuck Colson)

One effective long-term anti-stress technique is meditation. Just focus on your deep breathing, count 10-1, then do positive affirmations

This is my text read by Shalala on May 29, 2013 on the radio show Todo-Todo Bigay Na Bigay. Shalala said: "Ganda (beautiful)!"

He added: "In fairness!"

The episode was about skin care and the effect of stress. Guest was dermatologist Charlie Mendez. I was tuned in to 101.9 Radyo Singko, the Cebu station of 92.3 NewsFM

What's BAD is that Pol Medina Jr., author of the incisive Pugad Baboy comic series, has been stripped from his job (pardon the pun). 

Medina did a cartoon about lesbians in an all-girls school, which is a matter of logic and public knowledge. There's nothing wrong with that; it's just the way it is. Then the Church, which condemns gays but keeps mum on priests molesting altar boys, rained its self-righteous wrath. 

WORSE is that it's not even Medina's fault: the Philippine Daily Inquirer published the cartoon on June 4 then they fired Medina by forcing him to resign. 

The WORST is what it shows about our society: we Filipinos are still mentally primitive, unable to appreciate satire. We haven't evolved: still intolerant and immature, justifying censorship by our hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness

The Holy City is about to fall. Saladin and thousands of his Saracen warriors are on the verge of conquest. "I gave my life to Jerusalem," laments the Templar Knight Tiberius (Jeremy Irons), burdened with a lifetime of endless war and eventual disillusionment. "I thought we were fighting for God," but instead, "we were fighting for land and wealth!" He will leave. "Will you come with me?" he asks Balian (Orlando Bloom). The young knight, intent on going to the besieged city, answers: "No!"

Tiberius, with an air of sadness and admiration, told him: "You are your father's son!" It is time to part ways -- and follow their own destinies. "God be with you!" Tiberius hails in farewell. "For he is no longer with me!"

Inside the Walls, Balian is rallying the men to fight. The bishop tells him the two of them must escape. What about the other men, women and children who'll be left behind and massacred? "It is unfortunate," says the bishop, "but that is the will of God!"

Balian ignores him. But the bishop challenges: "How can you fight if you don't have knights?" It's true. Everybody is looking at Balian. The complete silence conveys everything. He looks at a young boy and asks him who he is. The boy says he is a servant. "Are you born a slave?" asks Balian, and the boy nods. Then he tells him: "Kneel!" Balian turns to the men gathered around him: "Those of you who can bear arms and fight," he commands, "KNEEL! As one, the men of Jerusalem falls to their knees. Balian intones the sacred oath. Then he declares, at the top of his voice, "AND ARISE A KNIGHT!!!" 

At the end of the day of the first attack, it's a bloodbath on both sides. Saladin tells his men not to burn the bodies because their dead will not be resurrected on Judgement Day. At that same moment, Balian is telling his men, gesturing to the bodies of his dead knights: We must burn them "or all of us will die of disease in three days!" 

"If God does not love you," an enemy soldier tells Balian, "how could you done everything you've done?" 

"What is Jerusalem worth?" says Balian when he finally comes face to face with Saladin.

"Nothing," says the Saracen leader, walking away. Then he looks back and says: "Everything!"

Jonathan Aquino's Journal 

May 24, 2013 

5:51 p.m., Friday 

Lahug City, Cebu 

I feel an unbearable lightness of being. I just finished two major projects today. One is for next year and I'm hoping the other will reach climax sooner.

I'm free now to do my other long-term personal projects; one will happen in 2015 if it's successful. There are some short-term goals for daily bread too, of course, but they're more like stop-gap measures. 

I know the kind of life I need, and the things I have to do to achieve it. I'm lucky for that because I notice that a lot of people don't even seem to have any idea of what they want. It's sad that some people equate social status with quality of life.

I'm a writer, an artist, I find strength in solitude. I know I don't belong to the corporate world, and that's fine. I believe that a person is measured by his integrity, not his resume. I cannot be in a situation where I'm forced to conform to rules that I find senseles

Some might call me a rebel or a renegade, or any such essentially meaningless terms. I don't believe in labels, and I'm sure they have a word for that. I've met a lot of filing-system-minded people, and I find it amusing that they just don't realize how pathetic that mentality is. I might have found it funny if it wasn't so tragic because it keeps multiplying like Gremlins under the rain

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures."

~ Lao Tzu 

"Tao Te Ching"

"Wish I could hold you in my arms,

keep you safe and keep you warm,

but now all I can do

is hope and long for you..." 

~Dingdong Avanzado

"Wish I Could"

Photo Credits

350.org. dayspaforthemind.com. ign.com. studywithebook.blogspot.com. moviesnewtrailers.com. nationaldayofprayer.org.  light8.com. Trevanian.com. alphacoders.com. tunaynakaligayahan.blogspot.com. wallpaperhere.com. city-data.com

Full Movie: The Legend of Bagger Vance

(Photo: traileraddict.com)

A Tribute To Eddie Romero

 June 15-21 Edition

Tanging Yaman 

Deo J. Fajardo Jr.

Eddie Romero 

Lav Diaz 

Raymond Red 

Laurice Guillen's family drama Tanging Yaman is special to me. Gloria Romero's character made me cry! She was so much like my grandmother who raised me when my parents died. So the film strikes a resonant chord within me, even if I never had any brothers or sisters.

My favorite character is Boyet (Marvin Agustin), who looks like Huggybear with the same streak of independence and sweetness. He hugs his mom Celine (Hilda Koronel) as he comes home to Pampanga from the city where he's a working student. "Oh, I'm dirty," protest Celine. Boyet says he likes the smell: tortang talong (eggplant omelette) and sinigang na kanduli (local fish stew)

Boyet's rich uncle Art (Edu Manzano) gives him a job. His father Danny (Johnny Delgado) warns him about Art. The two brothers hate each other. Boyet learns that Danny had squandered his share of the inheritance. Still, Danny was their father's favorite even if Art is more successful. And Art never forgave him for that. Boyet doesn't understand why he should be involved with events that happened long ago. Art looks down on Danny as the black sheep and a failure, ending up as a mere tricycle driver.

But Art is a bigger jerk. When he heard that his son Rommel (Jericho Rosales) dropped out of medical school, he confronts him.

"I can't even stand being in hospitals," says Rommel, "and you want me to spend the rest of my life in one?"

"Every time I ask, you tell me everything's okay!" Art shot back.

"Because you only hear what you want to hear," says Rommel.

Art tells him he's an ungrateful, spoiled brat. "You've gotten used to having everything you want!"

"No, Dad," says Rommel. "It's always you has the final word. We never had any freedom."

Art hit him. "Get out of my house!"

Rommel leaves, driving through the storm, tears blinding him. Suddenly, he lost control. The car skidded down the embankment. Rommel is trapped as the car sinks to freezing waters below.

The news shocked the entire family

Art is crying as he and Danny stand on the shore. "Is this God's way of telling me that I was wrong?"

"Mother always tells us that God punishes those he love," says Danny. "It's hard to explain. But I understand. I still feel it even after all these years."

I'm glad they published the screenplay. It's sort of nice to know I'm not the only one who writes Tagalog dialogues with the script and slug lines in English.

Tanging Yaman is timeless, with its poignant theme written by Fr. Manoling Francisco and performed by Carol Banawa, her hauntingly beautiful voice as unforgettable as this cinematic treasure

On June 3, 2013, I was in National Bookstore in Ayala Cebu. I browsed the Tanging Yaman screenplay, a book by Deo Fajarado Jr., and another one on Filipino filmmakers which include Eddie Romero, Lav Diaz and Raymond Red. (See also Huggybear's tribute to Marilou Diaz Abaya, Mario O'Hara and Celso Ad Castillo in "A Celebration of Filipino Movies." Watch the films of Cinemalaya and Cinema One Originals. Watch Filipino FULL MOVIES here on 2Rivers)

Action director Deo Fajardo Jr., has a book about getting into showbiz. I went straight to the chapter about how to be a script writer. As far as the format goes, I think I'm on the right track. His advice was to show your script to producers who, he says, are always looking for materials. I already did that. I've sent my stories to Star Cinema and GMA Films but they never even bothered to reply (so much for attracting new blood).

Deo's proteges are some of the biggest action stars in the country: Robin Padilla, Raymart Santiago, Michael Rivero and Rudy Fernandez. I skipped the one about how to be a make-up artist (Watch his full movies Mga Batang Riles and Carnap King here on 2Rivers)

Eddie Romero's movies "are delivered in an utterly simple style - minimalist, but never empty," goes the citation for the National Artist Award conferred in 2003. His films are "always calculated, precise and functional, but never predictable." Writing a tribute to the venerable film icon under the trees of Cebu's I.T. Park, I saw that my piece is getting bigger and longer. So I let the rhythm move me, and soon I was conceiving a full magazine article. It will be more than an elegy to a revered filmmaking icon, who died last May 28th. My story will celebrate both the man and his movies. I'll send it for publication and keep my fingers crossed.

In the meantime, you can now watch, IN FULL, Romero's classics movies Kamakalawa and Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Na Kayo Ngayon here on 2Rivers

The unconventional filmmaker Lav Diaz belongs to the seemingly dying breed of men with independent minds. I have great respect for people like him, and they're my favorite endangered species. With Batang West Side, he (by habit) broke tradition and set the record for the longest Filipino movie ever made: a whopping five solid hours and more. With their vivid, lingering scenes, his films defy our ingrained machine-gun MTV of images. Our Establisment-obsessed culture needs radical visionaries, people like Lav Diaz, who'd rock the boat and damn the torpedoes

Lav Diaz's breakthrough movie Batang West Side (West Side Kid), hailed by Variety as a masterpiece, won as the Best Asian Feature in the Singapore Asian Film Festival. 

I'm not surprised that he broke his own record with Melancholia, a film about summary executions that runs for a staggering eight hours - and winner of the Orrizonti Grand Prize in the 2008 Venice Film Festival. Lav Diaz, goes the Venice citation, is the "Ideological Father of the New Philippine Cinema." 

Lav's Kagadanan Sa Banwaan Ning Mga Engkanto (Death in the Land of Encantos) luxuriates in long shot and extended scenes, "all in favor of realism," writes Bibsy. "Cinema verite at its most acute"

The movie scene that moved him most is from Matimbang Ang Dugo Sa Tubig (Blood Is Thicker Than Water), an early film of the late Fernando Poe Jr. In the confusion during the Japanese invasion, a boy runs after a truck full of refugees, wanting to get in. But he gets left behind, alone in the war. It was, says Diaz, "so sad and horifying."

My admiration for Raymond Red is heightened with a sense of identifying with his struggle for creative freedom. I know how de-motivating it is when the integrity of your work is violated by other people. Small meddling minds thwarted his vision for his earlier films, Bayani and Sakay. So he swore to do films his own way, with his own money. Years passed, away from the camera, and some people are beginning to wonder what happened to him. All of a sudden, he came out of nowhere with his comeback film, Anino. Then he stunned the world by making history as the first Filipino to win the Cannes Palme d'Or

His triumph is a few steps for his career, says Carballo, and hundreds of steps for the Filipino. Red was still in school when his first film, Ang Magpakailanman (The Eternity) won the grand prize in the student category of the Experimental Cinema of the Philippine. Even before he was 21, has built a solid reputation and an impressive track record of high quality films 

The great British film critic Tony Rayns was impressed, comparing him to Orson Welles. 

Red's Himpapawid, his first full length feature for almost a decade, was showered with accolades. The protagonist (Raul Arellano), driven by desperate poverty, hijacks a plane. He then jumps off. This high-altitude drama goes deeper than the poverty that drove him to desperation, but it really soars up there with all the great modern-day film classics

Jonathan Aquino's Journal

June 1, 2013 Saturday 

Lahug City, Cebu 

One of my role models is Richard Feynman, the maverick Nobel-winning physicist. I began reading today Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From The Beaten Track, a collection of his letters. I'm going to craft a timeless story about him.

I was surprised that such a universally admired genius also had detractors, though mostly these are backstabbing colleagues. So I got to thinking: Is there anybody without critics? I can look anyone straight in the eye and say I've done him no harm; I don't have enemies. Still, I've had my share of self-righteous judgement from hypocrites. 

I think most people have been criticized at some point, justified or not. I find it sad that there will always be those who will attack everybody else just for the hell of it, like the scorpion who stung the frog carrying him to the other side of the river 

It's their nature

I did some groceries from Robinson's Fuente Osmeña Circle before going to my barber downtown around noon. I used up the remaining balance in the BDO debit card from my last company. Since I need to stock up and I don't have a can opener, I got some easy-open San Marino corned tuna. I like the taste. It's now one of my favorites 

I'm almost finished with the revisions on my screenplay that the director and I had discussed. I added a new scene that immediately gave the story even more depth. 

It's actually my reworking of my short story "They Call Him Legion." That was my very first published fiction, appearing on December 2004 in Philippine Graphic and giving me my first nomination. It was inspired by Al Pacino's monologue scene in The Devil's Advocate .

The other source of inspiration is a chapter from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was the Devil scene with Ivan Karmazov, who is part of "My Most Unforgettable Literary Characters." It's one of my earliest magazine articles, published in Philippine Panorama way back in January 2005 

The story happens in a dark, empty church. Here's an excerpt: 

"An old man came in slowly. His walk was not the stride of someone with a purpose nor was it the shuffle of a restless stroll. He came slowly up the aisle. There was nothing remarkable about him: an ordinary, close-cropped hair, a shabby overcoat, old black trousers that has become gray with age. His shoes weren't polished. It reminded me of my cousin who used to visit me when he was in the city - a bit awkward, self-conscious. The man was not someone you'd notice in the crowd." 

Huggybear's Favorite Tagalog Songs By Jimmy Bondoc

I Believe 

Kumusta Ka 

See The Original Version By Nonoy Zuñiga 

Also Today:

Nonoy Zuñiga, Jaime Garchitorena, Jimmy Bondoc, Kansas, Amy Grant, Lou Pardini, Lionel Richie, Sting and The Police and Smokey Robinson

(Photo lyricsdog.eu) 

Huggybear's Favorite Song By Jaime Garchitorena

Just A Smile Away

 Today:

Nonoy Zuñiga, Jaime Garchitorena, Jimmy Bondoc, Kansas, Amy Grant, Lou Pardini, Lionel Richie, Sting and The Police and Smokey Robinson

(Photo shelf3d.com)

.

Huggybear's Favorite Song By Smokey Robinson

Just To See Her 

Also Today:

Nonoy Zuñiga, Jaime Garchitorena, Jimmy Bondoc, Kansas, Amy Grant, Lou Pardini, Lionel Richie, Sting and The Police and Smokey Robinson

(Photo ebay.com)

Huggybear's Favorite Song By Kansas

Dust In The Wind 

Today:

Nonoy Zuñiga, Jaime Garchitorena, Jimmy Bondoc, Kansas, Amy Grant, Lou Pardini, Lionel Richie, Sting and The Police and Smokey Robinson

(Photo wikimedia.org) 

Huggybear's Favorite Song By Lou Pardini

What Might Have Been 

Today:

Nonoy Zuñiga, Jaime Garchitorena, Jimmy Bondoc, Kansas, Amy Grant, Lou Pardini, Lionel Richie, Sting and The Police and Smokey Robinson

(Photo thelyricarchive.com) 

Huggybear's Favorite Songs By Amy Grant

Somewhere, Somehow 

(with Michael W. Smith)

That's What Love Is For 

See also Michael W. Smith 

Today:

Nonoy Zuñiga, Jaime Garchitorena, Jimmy Bondoc, Kansas, Amy Grant, Lou Pardini, Lionel Richie, Sting and The Police and Smokey Robinson

(Photo) 

Huggybear's Favorite Songs By Lionel Richie

Say You, Say Me 

[Theme from White Nights]

White Nights Trailer

Still 

The Only One



All Night Long 

Today:

Nonoy Zuñiga, Jaime Garchitorena, Jimmy Bondoc, Kansas, Amy Grant, Lou Pardini, Lionel Richie, Sting and The Police and Smokey Robinson

(Photo israbox.com)

Huggybear's Favorite Songs By Sting and The Police

Fields of Gold 

It's Probably Me 

[Theme from "Lethal Weapon 3"]

Lethal Weapon 3 Trailer

King of Pain 

Englishman In New York 

Money For Nothing 

(with Dire Straits) 

All For Love 

with Rod Stewart and Brian Adams 

(Theme From The Three Musketeers) 

See also Huggybear's Favorite Songs 

By Dire Straits,, Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams 

(Photo: Last.fm) 

Huggybear's Favorite (Tagalog) Songs By Nonoy Zuñiga

Kumusta Ka 

Doon Lang 

See also Nonoy Zuñiga's English Songs

(Photo sunstar.com.ph) 

How Daniel Day Lewis Inspire Me

June 8-14 Edition

Daniel Day Lewis

My Ideal Day 

On Dress Codes 

My Househusband 

Daniel Day-Lewis has inspired me in so many ways. I find it fascinating how a writer can (and has) become greatly empowered by an actor. It's a tale of two different individuals, each from the other side of the planet.

But I believe that divergent artistic paths comes from and then returns to the same source: a wellspring of creativity and fellowship that, like two rivers, flow through us all.

Daniel has played an Irish paraplegic, an Indian warrior and an American President, among many others. He has been accused during the Salem witch hunts and has terrorized New York at the turn turn of the century. Just like one of this other characters, he is a revolutionary.

His stunning range gave me strength that I'm doing something right. My recent published non-fiction articles were stories on advertising, film, physics, psychology, education, New Age, Jack Canfield, to name a few. I'm waiting to see in print my earlier submissions: on cloning, ancient aliens, mythology, evolution, communicating with the dead, Ramon Magsaysay and shibumi, the Japanese concept of understated elegance.

I even had an article on Abraham Lincoln published in 2009. It was inspired by Doris Kearns Goodwin's A Team of Rivals, from where the film was based. In my 2010 article, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Celebrities," I wrote that Steven Spielberg will direct the film version

He had studied the life of Lincoln. Most people can google even the most minute details. The crucial difference is that he is an actor in a class by himself who will bring an enigma to life. Daniel is a living legend and Lincoln is an icon, and Time got the idea perfectly in their cover story "The World's Greatest Actor Playing The Greatest American President."

Just like most men of unparalleled talents, Daniel is a "bit shy and soft spoken in person," says Time, "endearingly so-but warm and affable and exquisitely courteous." What he had in common with his character is a "thoughtful charisma."

Jared Harris, the son of the late actor Richard Harris and who plays Ulysses Grant, says Daniel's "attention to detail and commitment is truly impressive."

His method is radically unconventional. The final product is absolute perfection that totally shatters all expectations. Daniel creates his roles but stays in character. He's probably the only the actor who does that

I now don't mind if some people think my writings are, well, different from most. What I find even more important is that I do my thing my own way. This is about more than just my career: it's about my integrity as an artist. And this writer has learned that from the greatest actor in the world

My ideal day is waking up at dawn, looking forward to the day knowing I will make a difference. Then going to bed at night with a clear conscience and a sense of fulfillment from seeing that my day has been productive. And in between, just following my passions and not being forced to do things that I don't like. I want to be away from things that don't matter to me. This is what I want my life to be- every single day of my life

As long as you're neat and presentable, what you wear has nothing to do with your competence. It's understandable that food chain crews wear uniforms. But it is ironic and demotivating to be in an American call center that forces its employees to obey a dress code. This rule comes from a narrow-minded Filipino management that wants its ranks filled with conformists.

Only primitive minds think that jeans and sneakers make you less professional

I can relate to Ryan Agoncillo's character Rod. I know how it is to be a bum. In fact, as I write this on May 12, 2013, I'm happily enjoying my new-found freedom from a company that's the complete opposite of Googleplex: low-paying, bureaucratic, hierarchical, rules-oriented, with a paranoidly imposed dress code where sneakers are banned and you get sanctioned if you don't conform to their weekly "theme day" costumes. I also know the feeling of not wanting the people I care about to worry.

So I understand how Rod must have felt when he left his job because they were screwing him. Call it pride, but it's a guy thing. I wouldn't mind if people think I'm down and out because that's when you know who your friends are. But I would never publicly expose how I desperate I am. I told my girlfriend because I can't afford to hide it. Rod obviously can, so he doesn't tell his wife Mia (Judy Ann Santos).

With a touch of serendipity, Mia, a housewife who sells insurance on the side, was rising meteorically to the corporate peak when she took an offer that came just at the right time. So their roles are reversed. Rod's new best friend was their controversial though seemingly scatter-brained neighbor, Aida (Eugene Domingo), a single mom and a kept mistress who seems to live in a world of her own.

Rod finally got the time to bond with his kids and even more important, learns more about himself. Sometimes (and I learned this hard way) when we lose what we think our priority should be, that's when we discover what's truly important in our lives. The best thing that ever happened to Rod was losing his job.

"As long as I keep it straight in my mind who I am and not get that confused with who I'm supposed to be, I think I'll be all right 

~Bob Dylan 

Jonathan Aquino's Journal

I'm humbled to the core by how my life is being guided by mysterious forces that defies my finite mind. I was walking around I.T. Park, wondering what to do. Then I saw a friend, whom I'll call him Mikael Daez to protect his privacy and because he looks like the actor. He was my training classmate in the bureaucratic call center that I just left two weeks ago. Mikael is now with what I'll call Company X. So we hung around in one of the sidewalk tables, drinking iced coffee. He just happens to be there, his apartment, like mine, being stiflingly hot in the day time.

Thanks to that "chance" encounter, I was blessed in a critical way: I learned that I can still get my backpay (he got his) if I process my resignation and clearance; I thought I wouldn't because of a training bond which apparent is only applicable to regular employees.

"Angels brought you here, dude!" I told him. Gosh, I'm so corny, but I believe with absolute conviction that "coincidences" is how Higher Intelligence works.

I'm not insignificant and I'm being cared for. My existence is not just a freak of nature. I can't find the words to show grateful I am. I feel comfort - and peace - beyond understanding

May 13, 2013
11:47 a.m., Monday
Lahug City, City