Sunday, March 1, 2009

Stranger than Fiction (a slumdog spoiler)

“Either our lives become stories, or there’s no just way to get through them..”-Generation X, Douglas Adams

It’s the first of March, and today I’m gonna have to officially start packing. While I rummage through the clutter of books, dvds, cds old magazines collected over the years, I realize how thousands upon thousands of “stories” fill up my little hole in the universe.

Paperback fiction, hardbound biographies, 3-minute songs, full length albums, 20-in-1 pirated dvds, 4x4 lomo photos on the wall, old issues of Rolling Stones, Pulp, Giant,Vouge and Cosmo ..so many stories…too little time.


I don’t know what would happen if the world didn’t have stories to tell, not that its even possible. I mean even our cavemen ancestors had to draw pictures on the wall, eventually they learned language and came up with a story about gods, then they learned to sing praises and dance rituals..and look how far we’ve come.

Now we now have god-knows how many religions, singers are discovered out of youtube and Beyonce’s Sasha Fierce had us all dancing to Single Ladies. Coldplay ruled the Grammy’s. Slumdog ruled the Oscars. Sarah G. ruled the Myx awards and a 10-year old boy eating a sandwich gets runover at the parking lot of the Ateneo while his yaya watched in horror. (this last bit almost had me in tears, truth is stranger than fiction)

Dunno about you but for me Coldplay is so 2000. Frankly I think they should have won the grammy’s for some other song like The Scientist or even Yellow.

Slumdog..well I watched it. I’ve also seen Trainspotting in the 90s. The going inside the toilet - “malabanan” scene is nothing new. In fact the scene in Trainspotting when drug-addled Renton shits on the bedsheet of his girlfriend and then unleashes it at her folks’ at the breakfast table is the more Oscar-worthy shit from Danny Boyle.

“Who wants to be a millionare” is also old, even Kris Aquino has moved on. If they made a film about the Wowowee stampede or the 300-million lotto in the Philippines, they would have had better material that screamed “desperation”. But then again it probably couldn’t end with a kiss and a bollywood number.

Salim, the corrupted bestfriend of the pure romantic Jamal who only wants to be with the girl of his dreams Latika…well they’re ok..but there’s a better movie like this with more blood, more character and more truth..ever heard of City of God?

I like Danny Boyle, he’s great at storytelling, he should have won for Trainspotting back in the day, but that wouldn’t be too politically correct because..the movie dealt with drugs and “choosing your life”

On the other hand, I’ve seen Milk. The true story of Human Rights activist and first openly gay public official Harvey Milk. Sean Penn deserves every bit of that Oscar. It deserves Best Screenplay. Its not just about gays fighting for their rights, its about people who are different resisting the flow, a revolution, scream-for-your-life Punk Rock. And it’s a real-life story that doesn’t end with a kiss and dancing.

Then again, Oscar was never a fan of punk rock. I guess he’s into classy stuff …and who knew he had a thing for Bollywood? Milk, a story about marching the streets screaming for your rights, isn’t exactly a good example. Why do you think they pick Jose Rizal over Ka Andres?

Anyhoo, so I’m packing the stories, those that I’ve read, seen or heard, and those that I’ve experienced in real life with an amazing cast of characters.

Stories shared over lunch, over drinks, over coffee, over the noise of a crowded gig...swapped over a smoke or on the way home, or exchanged quietly through YM, Facebook and Multiply…all of them…great stories..maybe not Oscar, Grammy or Palanca worthy but they make up my life and they fill a little hole in my universe.

And then there are still many I haven’t started with. Too many stories…too little time.



Ps. If my life was a Hollywood movie..I swear..it would have had its happy Slumdog ending by now…modesty aside..ahem.. i’ve had some great cinematic twists..even great dialogue..interesting characters…cool soundtrack…the ingredients are all there…ok not oscar-worthy, but more of cool-cult-classic – Say Anything/Pretty in Pink type….Too bad real life is longer and God sucks at casting.

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates
They say you shouldn't believe the things you tell yourself at night but I tend to believe in seven impossible things before breakfast so I might as well them down.

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