Perks

Dear friend,

I watched Perks today. I'm so, so, so glad I did. Really good movies are far and few lately, I think. Anyway, I've been excited about the movie ever since I read the book and saw the trailer. The book made me depressed, honestly. I cried buckets in various chapters of the book (which made me self-conscious because other people who've read the book said that they were inspired and uplifted) and felt a certain heaviness after I finished reading. I kind of expected that I'd be depressed over the movie too but strangely enough, it didn't. The film was...poignant. There's a sadness there that was just too massive for words, but then there was also a kind of happiness that pervaded in the entire film. It was happy and sad. Just like how Charlie said...

"So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

So here I am being a complete fangirl over Perks. I liked the book, but the movie just made me like Perks even more. Here are some reasons why I actually made a fist pump when the movie finished:

The film's screenplay was written by the novel's author, Stephen Chbosky. The film was also directed by the author. Because the movie was written and directed by the novelist, he had complete control of how the film looked like. He knew each of the characters inside out and he rewrote the novel into a screenplay that had all the important elements that were needed. The book was truly brought to life. I think that's amazing.

I liked the cast. I thought that Logan Lerman was perfect as Charlie. He was so endearingly awkward. I could finally understand why Charlie the wallflower managed to find himself in the midst of friends who love him dearly. Logan is a great actor. I can totally see him win awards in the future. Ezra Miller was amazing as Patrick, I can't imagine anyone else who could play that sassy character. It fit him like a glove. I also liked Mae Whitman, who played Mary Elizabeth. I never thought much of the character she played while I was reading the book but in the movie she had so much more personality and was one of the sources of humor in the film. Finally, I liked Emma Watson as Sam. I think her acting has vastly improved and has veered far, far away from Hermione Granger. She was able to fulfill the idea of Sam, which from Charlie's perspective, was far from perfect but perfect nonetheless. I'm so glad the cast were good actors.

I liked that it made me cry. Weird, I suppose, but true. I guess I can relate to all the characters in different ways.

I liked the ending scene. I loved the last bit of script with Charlie talking. The way it was written....ugh, it was perfect. It kind of made you feel infinite, even though you're just confined in your seat.

After all the blabbering I've done, the point I'm trying to get at is that Perks is a movie that I'm glad exists. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of it so I can watch it anytime I want. I guess that's all I really want to say.

Love always,

Isa

30 before 30

I saw this in my friend's blog and decided to follow in her footsteps. She actually posted this topic a while back and I've been struggling to complete my own thirty things since I read hers. Making a list like this is harder than I thought because it's not a bucket list. It is, kind of, but not really because you don't really want to "kick the bucket" at thirty. I'm rambling again. Anyway, enough chatter. Here it is, in no particular order:

1. Learn how to cook real food
2. Live on my own
3. Travel to different Asian countries (Europe seems like a distant dream right now. Maybe after 30?)
4. Swim with dolphins and/or whalesharks
5. Make someone happier
6. Fulfill a wish
7. Learn how to fix a car
8. Have a byline in a widely-read publication (at least once!)
9. Write a script
10. Eat authentic pho, ramen, bibimbap, satay, curry, and other delicious Asian cuisine (when I do #3)
11. Learn how to scuba dive
12. Be a proper surfer and catch my own wave
13. See a real, live panda bear
14. Learn a dance genre well
15. Teach someone a skill that I know
16. Learn a skill well enough that I can teach someone else
17. Travel alone?
18. Try starting a business
19. Get a promotion
20. Be good at yoga
21. Bungee jump
22. Learn to read music
23. Be able to sufficiently play an instrument (meaning, beyond the basics)
24. Dye my hair (or some part of my hair) blue/pink/purple
25. Re-learn how to drive a stick shift
26. Climb a mountain
27. Watch UAAP Cheerdance Competition live
28. Get a master's degree
29. Learn more about photography
30. Learn some basic self-defense moves

happy place thoughts

I'm slightly intoxicated. I can feel it in my toes, which means that I'm in my happy place. Thought it is a great state to be in, being intoxicated, I still would rather be intoxicated in other ways.

My friend is in the throes of a different kind of intoxication. The kind of intoxication that comes from another person. You know...the relationshippy kind. I don't know if anyone else have felt that kind of feeling...the moments when you feel ten times better about yourself and you think that anything you do is better because this one person thinks you're a million bucks. You feel great, needless to say and you get this boost of confidence that comes from nowhere in particular. You get some sort of strength from that.  I haven't felt like that in a while.

So here I am slightly intoxicated and thinking about love.

Love...it's not something that can really be talked about simply because it can't really be defined in the same way. It eludes me. But even though it eludes me I still have some thoughts about it. Being without it makes you think about it, apparently.

Love...it's a gift. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's an effing cliche. But they don't become cliches for no reason. It's a gift because it's something that you don't come across everyday. Nobody wakes up one morning and decides that they'll fall in love...they just sort of do it...I guess. It just happens. In fact, it's more than a gift. It's a privilege. A few years back, I never thought that about love that way. In my mind, I wanted an "epic" kind of love. You  know, the kind of love that has so much obstacles and hardships and fights that you just have so much to deal with. Blame it on television shows. I my mind just had the idea that if we had more hardships we'd appreciate each other more.  But I realized that it's not that way. Somehow, for the better part of my life, I had some skewed, fairy tale outlook on what love is. Love isn't about falling in love with each other at first sight, it's about truly seeing a person and deciding not to look away. It's not about the mushy, chasing-each=-other-around-the-park-while-laughing stuff that makes up a relationship, it's about staying when everything is all fucked up. It's not about needing someone, it's about wanting and choosing to want someone to be there. Anyone can feel love...but not everyone can choose to love, I think.

My toes are numb. Goodnight.

Isa Dreams of Sushi, too.

There's a documentary I watched recently that I can't seem to shut up about. Take a look at the trailer and see why the question as to whether or not I'd like the film was a resounding "uh, duh."

Jiro Dreams Of Sushi is a documentary that places a spotlight on sushi and the master who makes them, 85-year-old Jiro Ono. I knew I had to watch this documentary the moment I saw the trailer because one, the documentary features the only sushi chef to be awarded 3 Michelin stars, and two, I love sushi. Sushi is a beautiful, beautiful thing! If there are other movies or videos that show high definition images of sushi, I'm all for it.

The documentary focuses on Jiro, his 10-seat hole in the wall, 30,000 yen a plate restaurant at the Ginza metro station, his two sons and his legacy to each of his shokunin and to the sushi-eating world.

The film is food porn, a fact that made my sushi-loving heart soar. The 1 hour 20 minute minute film had a rich source of what I'd call sushi montage. Various images of ingredients being sliced, charred, flipped, massaged and finally put together under the graceful hands of Jiro all come together to present the final image; a single piece of sushi placed carefully atop a shiny black rectangular plate, ready to be enjoyed.

It's beautiful, it's artful, it made me hungry.

Aside from the breathtaking imagery, the film is able to impart nuggets of wisdom through the voice of Jiro, who has strong opinions regarding discipline, work ethic and the journey towards perfection.

Opinions and statements like this:

One thing I also liked about the film was that it gave foreign eyes like mine a glimpse of the market, where Jiro's son visits everyday to buy a day's worth of seafood. I like the idea that there are specialists for each kind of seafood, which in turn guarantees quality. The Japanese take quality really seriously, apparently. I also liked that the film touched on the issue of the depleting tuna population. Jiro and his shokunin are in a business that relies heavily on the gifts of the sea, and it is for that same reason that they put importance in its sustainability for the next generation.

The film, in my opinion, drives a simple point: Jiro is the best because he loves what he does. Everything else, his role as father (he was rarely home), chef (he has three Michelin stars), and teacher (his apprentices went on to have their own restaurants), as well as his constant need to better himself are after effects of this one point. It's inspiring.

If it's not obvious already, I liked the movie. It made me want to be in Japan and take a place in one of his seats. It made me dream of sushi, but in a different way. Unfortunately, this dream is a bit far-fetched. Ticket to Japan + 30,000 yen + expenses that will let me live = Bankruptcy! So I'll just resign myself to just reading about the whole infamous Jiro experience here.

But I'll keep dreaming about sushi, anyway. :)