bebebel’s Neighborhood

Here are some of my favorites:

We Give in Sometimes (Japanese-inspired video, love the graphics!)

Learn the tricks of fire
And wash yourself with it
Taya (Notice the play of lights)

Kagabi
Di matapos-tapos ang
Nobelang nabuo sa mumunting isipan 'ko

Pag-Agos (Not your usual traffic scene)

Kailan ang huling unos?
Sana (Video-Game inspired)

Wala na bang makakapantay at di na ba dapat pang maghintay
Ako lang ba ang nagkasala?
Kumakapit sa natitirang sana.

A bit behind posting, yes..but it's never too late for aesthetic pleasure:

University of Santo Tomas - Manila
18 December 2009, UST Paskuhan*

(click to zoom)
Dancing of Lights at the UST Main Building. Giant Christmas Tree situated at the Grandstand Inside the UST Main Building lies a wide array of historic culture (where the Museum is, as well). More of Christmas art decors around the University.
One of the highlights is the 15-minute fireworks display.
Counting down to 2011, wherein UST celebrates its 400 years as the Royal Pontifical University in the Philippines.

I graduated from UST back in 2003, with a degree in Business Administration... and look where I am now! Lolz. I guess, that part of my study is applied in doing special projects and handling people at work. (In case you're still wondering, I'm a graphic designer/ photographer, career-wise)

It is always good to look back at a part of my history. Lots of great memories here in my Alma Mater, which never fails to bring back that certain "school spirit" in me.  Now that UST is nearing its 400th year, it gives me something to look forward to --- can't wait to be a part of it!

----

Happy Holidays to you, your family, friends and neighbors from all of us at Vox.
See you in 2010!

(...which I think is a good thing these days.)

The fact that this is a remake of a Hong Kong rip off of Japanese horror films should be a tip off that this isn't very original. The fact that this stars Jessica Alba should be a tip off that this isn't very good.

Honestly, the early part of the film that is most like The Ring and The Grudge are the best.  Alba isn't too terrible as a blind woman.  Of course because this is a film she can't just be a random blind person. She just happens to be a concert violinist.  This leads to lots of scenes of Alba pretending to play the violin which is pretty bad.

The scenes of her dealing with day-to-day life are the most interesting. There are details like her not turning the lights on in her apartment which are of course obvious but nice to include. Also nice are the scenes of her learning to see once she has eye surgery. The montage of her trying to make sense of the world around here is pretty interesting as are the scenes of her doctor telling her that people will assume she can see and treat her oddly because she doesn't know the things we take for granted like how to get out of the way of someone walking toward her on a crowded street or even how to read.

The scenes of her seeing dead people are even pretty good.  There's the lame bit where she sees the ghost of someone who just died and there's the obligatory child with terminal cancer that is lame.  The scenes of her seeing what appears to be the home of the person who donated her new eyes are interesting though. It is funny how they made Alba totally avoid ever saying "I see dead people" because they didn't want to make obvious comparisons to The Sixth Sense.

Then the film goes totally off the rails in the attempt to track down the person who donated the eyes. One of the problems is that there's a reveal where we see the donor and she is contrasted with Alba It is a pretty good reveal and it should be a shock but the donor looks too similar to Alba which blunts the reveal.  Then they go and find the donor's family and it turns out they are in Mexico.  Now I'm no expert on organ donation but it seems odd that the donor would come from another country. Also there's the fact that Alba is partially of Mexican ancestry.  They don't have to have her speak Spanish and I've never seen Alba do it so I have no idea if she even knows Spanish, but it is just weird when they ignore her ethnicity and don't even mention that she may or may not know Spanish when you have other characters speaking it.  Then again they cast Parker Posey as her sister and they look nothing alike.  Maybe they are supposed to be half-sisters or something but these things just distracted me from the world of the film.

Of course none of that is a big deal. That isn't what makes the film go off the rails. What makes it go off the rails is the big reveal of the meaning of the visions she's been seeing.  They couldn't just have it be something small. No, it has to be this big mystery they have to solve and they manage to shoehorn in a big explosion.  It is just silly.

three thumbs up

The eye has a Grudge
Against the Sixth Sense. But She's
Easy on the eyes...

My friend/co-photographer took these images Thursday last week.

He took a lot, but here are some samples:

Looking down...
It was fun doing the photo shoot, but I'd really rather be behind the lens :-)
I'm more comfortable taking my photos at home, thank you very much.
(And with a timer too!)

But who knows?! I did get the hang of it!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!
A CHEERIO CHRISTMAS & A BLISSFUL NEW YEAR!!!