Percy Jackson and the Olympians short movie review
I have been dying to see this movie at the Dumaguete Robinson’s Place cinema. Unfortunately, I lack funds to afford myself the luxury of a movie at the mall, so I had to resort to other means just to see the movie.
As of the moment, I really have not finished watching the movie, but I think I have seen enough to make a bit of a review.
You have to understand that this may be a bit of a biased review because I read the books already before I saw the movie. I did, however, hope that directors would learn from the mistakes of others and make a book-to-movie that would more or less have the same appeal as the movie “Angels and Demons.” In that movie, book was still not the same as the movie, but I reckon it was understandable because the book was a bit long and rather complicated.
In Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, I must say that my friend, Ehn, was right. :-s I think the movie made a very simple book become even more simple. Dude, the book was simple and entertaining, and for a mythology enthusiast such as I, I believe the biggest lure of the book is in the manner of which the author managed to portray gods in modern times.
IMHO, the quirks of the book were lost in the movie. It was like looking at pictures chopped and strung together. I still have the book in my mind, and I know the parts that I liked, but the movie just took everything away.
Now, I will not spoil everybody’s fun. So I guess all I can say that it was not what I was expecting, and I was expecting something much better.
My complaints:
* I imagined riptide to be bigger and more…uhmm… awesome
* I imagined Grover quite differently… more on bumbling rather than cool
* I did not want the Annabeth-Percy relationship to be focused on right from the start
* I was thinking more of a summer camp setting not really a boot camp.. but what do I know?
* I was thinking the cabins should have been more.. summer camp like – like the cabins in the Jason Vorhees movies.
* I’m sorry but Pierce Brosnan, for me, is the suave gentleman, not wise centaur type. :-s
* I was missing Clarisse right from the start..
* I felt that Percy – in the movie – was a bit on the confident side, even if he kept saying that he was a loser
… I have more to add, but nevermind.
Oh oh oh aaaaaaaaaaaaand.. I love the book!
A book review will follow because I am still finishing up the fifth novel. 
Passing thoughts on the Dead Poet’s Society
I just finished watching the movie called “Dead Poet’s Society”. I’ve actually seen this movie before, but I believe I was just in elementary then. Ah, the beauty of HBO, where nice movies are shared to everybody – or was it Cinemax?
Anyway, if you have not seen the movie yet, I recommend that you go and stream it somewhere or maybe find a good source or something. 
It is quite good, really, very good. Besides, it would not be voted as one of the Top 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time if it did not strike a few heartstrings here and there. It definitely caused my tears to fall because of sadness, made my stomach hurt out of laughter, and definitely inspired me to do more.
I would like to share with you a conversation I extracted from the movie, which means something to me, and I shall explain later why (I actually just Googled this. ) :
McAllister: You take a big risk by encouraging them to be artists, John. When they realize they’re not Rembrandts, Shakespeares or Mozarts, they’ll hate you for it.
Keating: We’re not talking artists, George, we’re talking freethinkers.
McAllister: Freethinkers at seventeen?
Keating: Funny — I never pegged you as a cynic.
McAllister: Not a cynic, a realist. Show me the heart unfettered by foolish dreams, and I’ll show you a happy man.
Keating: But only in their dreams can man be truly free. ‘Twas always thus, and always thus will be.
McAllister: Tennyson?
Keating: No, Keating.
Extracted from the Dead Poet’s Society.
…
If you are wondering why that dialogue caught my attention, it may be because I could say the views reflected above more or less mirror my sentiments against somebody else’s. I have the same views – more or less – as Mr. Keating’s, while the other person has Mr. McAllister’s point of view.
Ten Inch Hero: Comments and such
If you follow my Tweets, Plurks, and Tumblr posts, you may know by now that I am gaga over Jensen Ackles. LOL Hey, no worries, even D likes the dude and he totally sees what I see in Jensen. But he is not that crazy over Jensen Ackles that he would create a website dedicated to just uploading pictures of Jensen… I mean, we’re not the type to do that okay? 
LOL [note: sorry, it's an inside / sarcastic joke *payce!*]
Anyway, I came across the movie, “Ten Inch Hero” because I saw it in the filmography list of Jensen Ackles in Wikipedia. I have to admit that I took time to see this movie because of *ehem* the hottie hot hottiie. BUT I am about to comment on the movie without being biased because a certain hottie is starring in it.
Seriously though, what peaked my curiosity was the fact that Jensen looked like this in the movie:
I thought, “is he a punk in this movie? Or is he a drug addict? dealer? bad boy? what?” Then I saw this YouTube vid that was posted by a fellow Jensen Ackles fan where the hottie was shown shopping for tampons, wearing an outfit close to the pictures I saw of Jensen Ackles in the Ten Inch Hero. It was too dayum funny that I just had to have my hands on the movie.
Valetines Day post: Definitely, Maybe A Love Story
**Warning: This MIGHT be a spoiler, but I am not too sure if it actually is. Anyway, it might be a spoiler of some sort, so just beware. 
Ahh the day of hearts. Isn’t it lovely? Everywhere you look, you get to see cut-out hearts, balloons in heart shapes, red, white, BLACK, and then some. Some of my good friends (okay, including myself) have reacted with a “Bah! Hambug!” when somebody talks about Valentine’s Day. It’s not that they do not like it, they just believe that Valentine’s Day should be everyday – or they have their own reasons.
Strangely enough, I thought the same thing at first – the “Bah” part – yet being the overly romantic that I am, I easily get drawn to the mushiness and lovey-dovey feel in the air. Ah yes, love, la amour… that’s amore… LOL
Anyway, yesterday, D and I were watching this movie called “Definitely, Maybe” starring Ryan Reynolds (yummy), Abigail Breslin, Rachel Weisz, Isla Fisher, and Elizabeth Banks. The movie was about a father (Reynolds) who was being served with divorce papers and his daughter (Breslin). At the start of the movie, Maya (Breslin) gets s3x education at school, and starts a conversation with her father about his lovelife and his life before getting married. It came to a point when Maya demands that she be told the details of how Reynolds and Maya’s mother met and got married. After much prodding and pleading, Maya gets her wish granted, and Reynolds tells his story. However, he changed some facts and places as well as their names which creates something of a love story…
The movie goes on and on until Maya figures out the reasons of how she came to be. What I like about the movie is that it is something like a romantic movie but without the mushiness and the usual beat of a romantic movie. It leaves you thinking, and wondering, and as far as I’m concerned, that was a whole style of telling a love story. I highly recommend it to everybody.
There is that one point in the movie that made me think a lot about love, Valentine’s day, and romance in general. See, people perceive love differently, and I believe that love is everywhere, as are love stories.
I think it was somewhere in November where Ehn and I had a conversation which ended up with her saying that she doubts romance is dead. I, on the other hand, after being newly seduced by s3x and the city, was totally hit by the love bug. And although I may not be the best lovey-dovey person, I still believe that in a person’s life, there are numerous love stories just waiting to be told. I told Ehn that. I told her that she has a love story to tell, and maybe somebody could just write it for her or something. She was doubtful, but I maintain the possibility. I still do. Thinking about that conversation reminded me of this challenge I had with Z to create a short chick lit which would be published today. Suffice it to say that I forgot about it, but I do have my unfinished work of art. Since I promised to release it today, I am now doing just that – even without it getting looked at by an editor. I do not think I can finish it anyway, so here is what I called “I <3 in transition“. LOL. Please be kind to my work.
So do you think you have a love story to tell? I think you do, if you like, I could tell it for you! hahaha I believe that children who know their parent’s love stories end up to be believers in love. LOL. Okay, I do not know my parent’s full love story, but I know enough. The most recent snippet to their love story is perhaps the most touching part of it all, and I do not know if that is the end of it.
Surprisingly, D liked the movie. He says he liked it a lot – and that is a first for somebody who feeds off war movies and blood and gore. I am glad that he did. I liked the movie a lot as well. For sure, when either Sophie or Frankie come up to me and ask about our love story, I think I already have something to say. It may not be as romantic as others, but I think it has a little twist of its own. Besides, the love story is still in progress right?
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY EVERYBODY!
SEX [And the City] and Unconquered
Hah! Finally, finally, finally! I managed to watch Sex and the City: The Movie [Uncut Version] *juicy*.
I did not realize it, but I forgot what it felt like when one watches Sex and The City. I have been following that series for quite some time already, and watching the movie was definitely fun. I never thought I would laugh like that again. Heh.. I know I am rather late for the SATC bandwagon, but then again, yesterday was the only time I MADE time to watch. Although I seriously had to keep covering Frankie’s eyes on certain scenes *ehem* after all, it was the UNCUT version of the movie. I had no idea it was that raunchy.
The crazy movie invoked in me all sorts of feelings including, love, heartbreak, anger, confusion, and lust(?). At certain points of the movie, I honestly did feel like I could very well relate to almost each story. By almost, I mean that I could never really relate to whatever is happening to Samantha Jones. Ironically, when I took a test to determine which person I am mostly the same, I came out as Samantha Jones. LOL I really have no idea why. But I like her a lot though, I like her more or less the same way I like Carrie.
Anyway, after watching the movie last night – and rewatching it today, I remembered how the Inzane one and I used to watch the said series back when we were in college. In fact, I think one of the very first things the Inzane one did when she had good Internet connection was download all the series’ seasons. I, on the other hand have not so good experience with Internet connection, therefore I have to rely on the telly for reruns of the series.
Thinking about the Inzane one plus a rant of the Deranged blogger pushed me to open my Yahoo email account. There, as I cleaned out the junk that normally piles on top of Yahoo mail, I unearthed emails from the Inzane one which were sent a couple of years ago – right around the time life was crappier and hard pressed [yes, the "I was pregnant with Sophie" stage]. I reread her email, and I almost cried. Somehow it still hurt, but not as much though. A part of the email goes like this…
