The Complete Substitute for All Forms of Sociability

I have no life. I am a stay-at-home gal who earns a little living from blogging and the awesomeness that is google adsense. All that while I wait for the results of the Bar Exam, which is taking fantastically slowly. So to take my mind off worrisome things, I spend some of my time fantasizing about celebrities and men that I only see on my TV screen. One show I like to watch is American Idol Season 9. I've been following this show pretty much consistently since David Cook's time. Most of my bets end up in the top 3. This time around, I got my eyes on two guys and a girl. 1. Casey James He is 27 and is the lead singer of his band, aptly called The Casey James Band . He's from Texas but his drawl isn't very thick. I think he's hot. Judges Victoria Beckham and Kara DiGuardi also agree. He has this whole grunge-y, outdoors-y, Kurt Cobain look to him, only prettier. But most importantly, he can really sing. Last night, he sang Bryan Adam's Heaven and it was HO...

This film won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009. It beat out Ploning , the Philippines' official entry for the same category in the 2009 Oscars (read vatski's review of Ploning here ). While I am not about to compare the two (and I can't anyway since I never watched Ploning properly), I can honestly say that Departures more than deserves its spot at the Oscars. THE STORY Daigo Kobayashi is a cellist for an orchestra in Tokyo with dreams about making it big in the industry. Unfortunately, the orchestra gets disbanded, leaving Daigo without a job and 18 million yen in debt. At his wit's end, he and his incredibly agreeable wife return to his mother's old home in the countryside and start again. Eventually, he finds a new job that has something to do with "assisting departures" and gets hired on the spot. Of course, it's too good to be true as the job turns out to be that of an "encoffiner" and his task is not to ass...

We reached a milestone moment in our webcomic .

Review class in Negotiable Instruments Law… PROFESSOR: What constitutes valuable consideration? Can anybody here tell me? You, Mr. —, if for instance you execute a promissory note, saying that because of love and affection, you promise to pay P10,000 or order to Ms. ___ who then negotiates to Mr. X. When the note becomes due and demandable, will you pay Mr. X? STUDENT: No, sir. PROFESSOR: Why not? STUDENT: Because love and affection is not a valuable consideration. PROFESSOR: You mean to say that your love has no value at all?

So I finally got around to watching this movie. I’ve always wanted to ever since I saw 2046 , which got its hype from the fact that it starred both Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li , two of China‘s hottest international stars. But ultimately for me, it was Tony Leung ’s performance that pulled the movie through. His and Wong Kar-wai ’s genius for film-making. Indeed, where else can you find an entire reel of film devoted to wisps of swirling cigarette smoke? Or of five seconds of the camera gazing at a hand splayed on the banister of a hotel stairway? I’ve seen movies that use the camera as an effective tool to create mood or dynamism but I have never seen it used as part of the senses quite like in Wong’s movies. To Wong Kar-wai, the camera is his eye, nose, ears and hands, and by extension, ours . Imagine yourself coming upon a room for the first time and finding yourself noticing, not the room in perspective, but the details, the tiny everyday things that seem mundane and insignificant, ...

Imagine a person with the emotional range of a terminator, the aura of Darth Vader and the Machiavellian mindset of Hitler. Now put her in a classroom. What you get is an unusual Japanese drama series that debunks the "heroic" teacher stereotype, presents searing commentaries about the state of the public school system, and gives you a character so evil and negative that the makers of the series had to show a clip at the ending transforming her back into just an actress. The show is called The Queen's Classroom and not for no reason. THE STORY Sixth grader Kanda Kazumi ( Shida Mirai ) is looking forward to spending her last year in grade school having fun and creating lasting memories with her friends. But problems arise when a strict new teacher, Akutsu Maya ( Amami Yuki ) is assigned as their homeroom adviser. Maya ranks her class strictly according to merit, punishing harshly those with the lowest grades while lavishly awarding those with the highest marks. So...

So yesterday, I tried my first 25-minute jog. In place. Talk about a hamster on a wheel. -_- Why? Brown-out. So? So I had nothing better to do, nobody to talk to (I had a fight with my dog so we weren't on speaking terms....XD), nothing to watch and didn't feel like music. Oh and I'm bored with the javagames on my cellphone. So I jogged. It took me fifteen minutes to get my breathing right. Took me five more minutes to get my rhythm. And then at the last five minutes, I wanted to give up. You know how it feels when you're so close to your goal you can taste it but your muscles are giving up? It's always the last five minutes. Always. And always before, I'd give in and call it quits. I've never had a lot of stamina for any manner of physical exertion. Give me a book espousing complicated psychological theories any time. I'd happily prefer pouring over it to playing sports or exercising. But last night was different. I don't know. It might have...

Was surfing through the internet just now and found this little hilarious gem http://www.prillalar.com/drabbles/ . All you gotta do is input random adjectives, adverbs, some verbs and nouns, and voila! Instant drabble.... LMAO A White Occurrence Kiko paced up and down, jiggling his mouth. His very good friend, Mary Sue Swagger, had arranged to meet him here at the parking lot. "I have something wicked to tell you," she had said. Mary Sue Swagger was late, which was very unlike her. Any moment now, Kiko expected to see her bounce up, her nonchalant hair streaming behind her and her arrogant eyes aglow. Kiko heard footsteps, but they seemed rather nonplussed for a delicate and miscreant girl like Mary Sue Swagger, whose tread was silly. He turned around and found Takya staring at him. "What are you doing here?" Takya said slowly. "I thought you said you didn't want to see me again." Kiko had said that, but now he was beginning to wish he hadn't acte...

Since my teamblog with Vatski is, well, dead, I've decided to transfer all my posts from that blog to here. They're mostly movie reviews in which I try to sound like a movie critic. Nothing dramatic. I have nothing new to post anyway. I haven't been writing much these days. After I'm done with the transfer, I might make a post on Battlestar Galactica and some recent movies/series I've seen and books I've read. But that's a big MIGHT.

Discussing the questions in the Mock Bar Exam in Taxation… PROFESSOR: …well, from this, you can tell that the examiner is a practitioner and probably a CPA. I have a few names in mind. STUDENT 1: Atty. A? STUDENT 2: Probably Atty. B. PROFESSOR: Yes, could be. They’re both CPAs. You know, they were my students before. STUDENT 2: Who was brighter, sir? PROFESSOR: Well, you can’t really compare these things. They were both bright students. STUDENT 1: Okay, then who is prettier?

“An interlocutory order is like an ugly woman. It has no appeal.” ~ Remedial Law Professor

The Mock Bar Exam is one of the toughest exams every law student ever has to take, not counting the actual Bar Exam. In the morning before the Mock Bar Exam in Remedial Law ( the toughest bar subject for most people because it deals with the Rules of Court and other procedural aspects of the law)… PROFESSOR: (calling out to a couple of nervous-looking students) Naa ko’y tips. STUDENTS: Unsa man, sir? PROFESSOR: Rules of Court.

Art. 157, Family Code: “The actual value of the family home shall not exceed, at the time of its constitution, the amount of Three hundred thousand pesos in urban areas, and Two hundred thousand pesos in rural areas, or such amounts as may hereafter be fixed by law. PROFESSOR: So I guess this refers to a kariton….with power windows.

Chinese New Year and Midterms exam in Problem Areas in Legal Ethics. Professor walks in and looks quite surprised to see the front row seats virtually unoccupied. PROFESSOR: Why are you all sitting at the back? Is that for unethical purposes? CLASS: (indignant) Mam! Feng shui!

PROFESSOR: All right, Mr. ____. What’s your take on the question? You said you studied. STUDENT: Yes, Ma’am. I studied for three hours. PROFESSOR: You know when taking the bar, you have to study for at least 12 hours everyday. STUDENT: Ma’am, I studied for six hours last night. PROFESSOR: Okay. So what’s your answer? STUDENT: Ma’am, I agree with Mr. ___. PROFESSOR: And this is the result of nine hours of study.

Last night, I watched this Japanese-language drama on cable, called Ryomaden ( official site in Japanese ). It's based on the life of Sakamoto Ryoma , an historical figure who played a key role in toppling the Tokugawa Shogunate from power and paving the way for the Meiji Restoration and Japan's modernization. I don't understand the language but I could pretty much follow what was going on. It's interesting, in the way that swords and samurai are always interesting. It also helps that the actor who plays the title character is not bad on the eyes. This type of drama is called jidaigeki , a period drama that deals with real events, figures and way of life from Japan's history. And apparently, NHK airs one just like it every year, ensuring that Japanese people never forget where they come from. I wish we had one like it on Philippine television. I know a period drama series would require a considerable budget for the costumes and set alone, but with the amount of non...

PROFESSOR: …What is meant by the “Neighborhood Rule?” Is it that you write only the first name of two candidates sharing the same name in the ballot and because you are neighbors with one then your vote is counted in his favor? I have this student who said that a “scatter-shot” warrant is one where the person is everywhere and you shoot him. Next time I’m going to photocopy answers like this. Is it a violation of his intellectual property rights? I know it’s not an intelligent right. CLASS: (laughs) PROFESSOR: Why are you laughing? Do you know what a “scatter-shot” is?