Love and Other Drugs (2010)

When I saw the trailer of this movie I told myself, Heaven and Earth may collide but I will never pass up the chance of not watching any Jake Gyllenhaal movie and of course, by saying that, I am being biased.  I love Anne Hathaway  too in the sense that she  brings sunshine in every role she portrays although there are times I think she was being such a whore but of course, character-wise I think she does it well.

Based on Jamie Reidy’s (2005) book, The Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman, this film is a comedy romance drama about a pharmaceutical salesman, Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) the hottie Jake Gyllenhaal yes, and he showed a lot of his body parts here, whose sales take a turn for the better when the sexual performance drug, Viagra, is released onto the market. He works as a drug representative for Pfizer in the late 1990s with Bruce, a veteran salesman (Oliver Platt), and they work the rounds of the hospital staff. Jamie sleeps with nearly every woman he can find. While targeting a well-known physician (Hank Azaria), he meets patient, Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway). After a one night stand with her, Jamie, who is a slick ladies’ man from way back, forms a relationship with Maggie.

Maggie is an artist(I totally love the way she conveys her emotions using her eyes), is a free spirit and very determined, she tells Jamie she is only interested in casual sex. Jamie takes advantage of that fact. The real reason behind Maggie’s actions is that she doesn’t want to complicate her life with any commitments, and she has been bruised in the past. She has early-onset Parkinson’s disease. Her illness produces complications for the relationship, and comedy merges into serious drama when Jamie wants to do everything so that he can come up for a cure for Maggie’s disease. For different reasons, love and commitment aren’t easy for either of them, and the film tries all the time to balance drama against comic relief. Eventually, Jamie and Maggie decide to make a go of it, and they form a permanent attachment.

I must say that this movie is a grown up movie, with all of those love scenes and boob scenes..kids? don’t bother watching this ok?:) I have a lot of realizations about this movie, like being ill really sucks. Being in love can also suck, despite the indescribable, life-affirming highs. As a film driven by the inevitable heartache that ensues when love and illness collide, Love and Other Drugs captured the essence of a couple struggling to make their relationship work even though in reality they know that they have to face a lot of low backs. And here I remember a lot of movie with a theme like this, who would ever forget A Walk To Remember, Sweet November, Nights in Rodanthe and more..

These movies have tapped our emotions one way or the other and why wouldn’t you cry? I doubt if I was ever in that position of living someone and finally have found that someone then in the end, he/she is gonna leave you anyway? what’s the point of meeting that person anyway? but of course, destiny will always answer this questions.. Then, I feel for those whom have to deal with Parkinson’s disease everyday of their lives, Parkinsons is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that impairs motor skills and other related to it which results to slow movement, tremors, instability, and dementia. When Maggie attended this convention wherein People who also have Parkinson’s are sharing their experiences, I was laughing & I want to cry all at the same time, they make jokes out of their experiences but we all know that having that condition is really hard.

Now, the question is..Have you found your very own Jamie Reidy? who will stand by you even though you are so sick or so pessimistic that not even your parents can stand the sight of you? I hope I’ll meet mine soon or maybe that person is just around the corner.

I use to worry alot about who I would be when I grew up. How much money I would make or someday I would become some big deal. Sometimes the thing you most want doesn’t happen. Sometimes the thing you never expect often does. You meet thousands of people and none of them really touch you. Then you meet one person and your life is changed forever.

We Miss You Tito Eddie :(

If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever..

I can still close my eyes remember how my Tito Eddie used to take care of me when I was still a kid, up until I grew up he’s always there for me and my family..but now that he’s gone..I am still in denial…I can’t seem to accept the fact that he was gone..that instant..Denial and shock kept me going that first week and then came Hope.You see, hope for someone that is now gone almost teases your brain into thinking they will come back. Those first couple of months I truly believed I would see him again. I hoped for the moment I would turn the corner and he would come to our home and visit us. I can’t even begin to tell you how fixated my mind became in believing this would happen. Then came reality. The realization that this really did happen. It wasn’t just a awful dream. I needed to wake up. Breathe in this new air of a new life. Accept it. But what I didn’t know, what I had failed to read and understand and what took me almost up until now to come to this realization that the hardest part about death, the real hell about losing a loved one.. is that I was going to endure. I was going to be okay. Never the same. But that I would survive this together with my love ones and it would eventually become my beloved past.

Eduardo Dizon, my uncle..too young to die from a heart attack that left him unable to take care of his family not even his beloved mother…I know he did everything…almost anything just to survive, but I can just imagine that Heaven is still the best place for him right now..

Tears are the silent language of grief.

The things is….

The subject of death is never easy to talk about. Many people go through it, while others haven’t yet. For the latter, those type of people don’t know how to talk to people who have lost someone, like me… Its difficult.

There aren’t enough words in the world to tell someone that you’re sorry that someone died. For people who never lost a person, they don’t know how to cope with others.

When you lose someone close to you, it shatters your world and existence. A part of your soul dies, but you learn to move on. Death is a natural state of life, but understanding it is strange.

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal..

My only wish and prayer is that wherever my Tito Eddie might be…I hope he’s in good hands, I hope his life is way better now, that he is at peace. Someday, we’ll all be together again, until that day…

FAREWELL TITO EDDIE…We Love You..

AZKALS anyone?

I don’t know how weird it is, but I grew up with the reality that sports (in general) I guess any physical activity you could think of and I are not a match made in heaven mijnus the not so strenous sports like volleyball and badminton.  Although basketball seems like the greatest game on earth (at least, in the Philippines),  incoming flying balls scare the hell out of me, which makes me ineligible to play almost all kinds of sport or maybe I am just too scared to try it, maybe in the near future.  When I was in high school, Intramurals were nothing more than a three-day-well-deserved vacation for me.  But like that story told by whomever, there’s always a twist, that moment of realization where whoever is in the story should reconsider everything she thought was right in her life.  I guess mine dramatically came with the Azkals (Philippine National Football Team) and the recently concluded Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup.

I first heard “football” when I learned to play that random game where the rules are basically similar to a baseball game with the exception of batting the ball.  I guess they called it “football” because the player will kick the ball, which is bigger but lighter ‘cause it’s made of plastic than a baseball, rolled by the pitcher.  I never understood football.  Waiting for a goal seemed like the closest approximation of forever.  Teams and leagues evolved worldwide.  David Beckham became a star, a hot star.  Everyone tweeted madly about their favorite teams and players during the World Cup last summer.  Nothing hit me.  My life still went on without inhaling the football spirit and chanting the words of football fanatics.  Then came the news about the Azkals’ victory over the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup champion, Vietnam, last December 05.  It finally hit me and google search hits about Phil and James Younghusband crazily went up.  I never thought (or should I say who would have thought?) that the Philippine national football team could do that in any lifetime, in my lifetime, at least.Of course, I was very interested with the players as well, not to mention they’re cute and I can go on..

Frankly, I don’t know the terms and rules in football, and you can kill me now but I can’t even namedrop one of the greatest football teams in the world.  I don’t know how I knew it, but seeing the Azkals play their hearts out since I’ve turned my eyes towards football and the team, I could not help but smile you know that smile you see on people’s faces in weddings or that face on parents when they see their kid play as a cactus in his kindergarten’s first school play? Yeah, that smile.  I felt proud and grateful that I am a Filipino, and it felt great.  I don’t know how I can emphasize how great it was, but really, it was awesome.

The team lost against Indonesia in the AFF semi-finals yet I have realized so much because of them.  I would have not noticed them if they did not qualify for the semis.  I or we would have not known that they’re there, willing to represent the Philippines and proudly scream Mabuhay ang mga Pilipino (Long live the Filipinos) for the whole world to hear.  As much as I hate to admit it but I am one of those Filipinos who only took time watching and cheering them on because they WON (against Vietnam).  Why would I/we bother supporting a losing team? Before the Azkals’ 1^st game against Indonesia, I expected them to win.  I wanted them to win.  Who wouldn’t? But I realized, this time, it’s not always about winning.

I did my research so I know that Each team gets to play a home game.  The Azkals’ home game was their first game in the semis.  They tasted the warmth of any home game in Gelora Bung Karno in Indonesia.  Just the idea of it annoys me.  That’s more painful than how I imagine heartbreak feels like.  Being only familiar with basketball games, I know that a home game will always be advantageous to the team: whatever the players do (even an obvious foul), the audience will always be on their side (consistently booing the referee and the other team).  When I heard that the Azkals could not play in the Panaad stadium in Bacolod since that venue did not pass the AFF standards, I felt, with my “basketball knowledge”, that that decision deserves a teary-eyed boo.  HOME GAME.

I thought it was unacceptable and unfair.  Finding some comfort from tweets of undying support for the team, I eventually realized that if Azkals defeated Vietnam in Hanoi, they CAN win again even if it’s in Jakarta.  They can win anywhere.  That’s how fearless Filipinos are.  Backing out has always been excluded from our Plan A to Plan Z.  We keep in mind that failure is inevitable but will not always be enough to stop a Filipino dream.  Honestly, the team not playing in Bacolod was, in a way, in favor of them.  The Azkals were saved from a game where politicians and celebrities hungry for power and any chance of corrupting Filipinos’ minds and wallets and attention could have overshadowed the history that the Azkals were trying to create.  Yes, that home game, which the team has worked hard for and dreamt of for years, was stolen from them, but they were given a well-deserved opportunity to play the game they love whole-heartedly for their country who loves them back without the unnecessary drama of politics and show business.

I never knew how far Indonesians would go for the sake of their country until I watched the AFF Suzuki Cup.  I must admit that they deserve our respect for not giving up as much as the Azkals did.  I have always been proud of how Filipinos support each other in whatever competition known to man: beauty pageant, singing contest, reality show, vying for a Guinness book of world records spot, athletic events, any contest where a winner will be declared.  But I never knew that the time that we will be rooting for our own football team would come.  Although it was frustrating that we were not there during the games to cheer for the Azkals and make them feel the love we’ve deprived them of for all these years, I know that there were a lot of Filipinos who watched, cheered, shouted cursed because of the red card given to Greatwich at their TV screens.  I salute the Filipinos and the team.

Perhaps supporting our national football team is something we’re not used to (or maybe the support we showed during the AFF Suzuki cup 2010 games was not even half of what we’re capable of and what the world sees every time Manny Pacquaio steps in a boxing ring) and the Azkals has just entered this football arena of fighting for one’s country’s pride and glory.  We may seem amateur on this one, but this is definitely a battle we should never back out from.  Filipinos are not just known as the greatest boxer of all time punching and knocking people out.  Filipinos are not just capable of belting out the highest octave possible.  Yes, Manny Pacquaio and Charice Pempengco represented our country quite well and absolutely made Jose Rizal and all the heroes who died for us proud, but we should not hide behind them forever.  The Azkals are willingly giving us that chance to come out and see a different light this time.

Some say heroes are born while others say they are made.  I do believe they are born heroes, but they have to be made into one as well.  I don’t know if it’s just me or our country really needs heroes, lots of them, to erase or change the stereotypes we created for ourselves and how the world thinks of us, Filipinos.  Luckily, they’re given to us (and probably some died without us knowing that they existed), and the Azkals are one of them.  They are heroes, and heroes always save the day, but they need us as much as we need them.  The responsibility given to them as part of our national team will be more challenging if we continue to live in a society with a questionable system of justice and equality and a government which still fails to eliminate corruption and its roots.  Those heroes cannot just pull us out of all these dilemmas and give us the taste of victory and the world’s honor while we sit comfortably and constantly demand them to win and make us happy.  We don’t even have an internationally-qualified stadium made for them.  They need us to help each other out, to lighten the burden they have to carry for our country’s triumph.  I will always be grateful to the Azkals for reviving that faith on real change I’ve or we’ve lost along the way and for making us realize that football players and other athletes in the country lack the attention and support (in all aspects) that they deserve.  They may not have brought home the AFF Suzuki Cup trophy this year, but what they did was enough to jumpstart the game of the Azkals, the game of the Filipinos.  And with that, history will be made.

I Am Number 4

They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They killed them all. I am Number Four. I am next.”

On a scale of 10, I’ll have to give it a 9.

I saw it today and I can really say that it was a must-see movie. It stars Alex Pettyfer as  John Smith/Number Four, Dianna Agron as  Sarah Hart (You’ll probably recognize Dianna Agron as cheerleader Quinn on the famous TV musical series Glee, now we’ll get to see her on the big screen with the Dreamworks and Disney collaboration) and Callan McAuliffe as Sam Goode.

“A place is only as good as the people you know in it.” - John Smith 

The action packed thriller revolves around an extraordinary young man, John Smith (Alex Pettyfer), who is a fugitive on the run from ruthless enemies sent to destroy him. Changing his identity, moving from town to town with his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant), John is always the new kid with no ties to his past. In the small Ohio town he now calls home, John encounters unexpected, life-changing events—his first love (Dianna Agron), powerful new abilities and a connection to the others who share his incredible destiny.

How about the villains? The Mogadorians are regrettable villains. Apparently they’re bad simply because they’re bad. They don’t colonize, they don’t enslave, they’re not after resources, nothing. They destroy worlds, that’s what they do; there isn’t any deeper motivation than that. With their weird nose-gills, neo-tribal head tattoos, and flowing black trench coats, I actually don’t like looking at them. Horrible creatures. 

I’m not going to go all movie critic because I am not although there are times that I am, depending on the movie that I have watched, but I’ve to say it was a nice movie. I wasn’t bored at all. The plot is somehow unique and intriguing and totally promising. It was in fact very unpredictable that every next scene might surprise you or so  I say since I experienced it first hand. The characters are hot especially John and Number Six portrayed their roles very well. There was not much drama which I totally liked. The fight scenes were amazing, I totally love it, breathless I may say. I want more of that on their next sequel. I am actually loving this kind of movies.

The sequel The Power of Six, with be out on August 23, 2011and will be about Number Seven. Can’t wait!

The film also stars Teresa Palmer, Kevin Durand and Callan McAuliffe. Produced by Michael Bay, the film is written by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar and Marti Noxon based from the book by Pittacus Lore.

To end this movie review, I somehow can link all the past movies that I have watched for the past months, teen angst, aliens, vampires, teen witches, teen magicians or wizards then back to teen angsts once again…what’s next? Is this the only way teens now days they can escape what seems to be a boring, not-so-cool life that they have right now? if they were living in that so-called existence? hmmm…

EDSA 25

What is the true spirit of EDSA?

I wasn’t there at that time to begin with, I just remembered how my mom and my grandmother told me how People Power was like during that time. Indeed, it was the most peaceful revolution the world has ever seen. Up until now, people around the world were inspired to unite and do something for their country especially if their country is at stake.

Thanks to the internet and some videos that I have watched in you tube together with the pictures and newspapers that recounts what really happened that monumental day, I can imagine how amazing the power of unity, prayers and hope can do.

The headline that says, “It’s all over” meaning, Corazon Aquino was then declared as the new president and former president Ferdinand Marcos was ousted, caused the whole nation to celebrate. Frankly, I was a little biased, although of course I can understand why people felt the way they do before, but as my mom and my grandmother recounted, life were easier, more productive, even to the extent of glorious during the Marcos era. The Marcos clan was so popular since they were like the Kings and Queens of Scotland.

Imelda Marcos, the wife of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, has landed on Newsweek’s list of “greediest people of all time.” According to the newsmagazine, Marcos “saw it as her duty to provide ‘some kind of light, a star’ for the impoverished Filipino people over whom her husband presided. So she took $5-million shopping sprees to New York and Rome, reportedly owned the world’s largest collections of gems and 3,000 pairs of shoes.” But you know what, I can categorize Marcos as the Robinhood of our country, granted he “stealed”, but our country was also benefiting from it, our economy was,’t that bad during those times.

And what about the Marcos and Mubarak  comparison? I find it insulting. Tunisia’s Ben Ali, Egypt’s Mubarak and Libya’s Gaddafi are tyrants -- they could easily be compared to Marcos.  I don’t think Marcos is any way worth comparing to them. Yes, they both cling to power for how many years, but they are different people.

They say, after Marcos flee, it marked the end of dictatorship and and the birth of new hope and freedom for the Filipinos, is it really? or it just marked the start of greediness of other people to take over the weak? the people who are hoping for change? the naive way of thinking that there will be a change if we can just trust…but can we trust them?

FEBRUARY 25, 2011 Marks the 25th anniversary of Edsa Revolution, but honestly, where are we now? what happened to our country ever since the revolt happened back then?

25 years and 5 presidents later..are we really considered free? Idealistically speaking? are we learning and going to the right direction towards being a great nation?

The fact that second revolution happened when we ousted former president Joseph Estrada only proves that we are still back in our good old days, greediness is still out there..or maybe, it didn’t leave after all.

It may sound pessimistic but after how many years, the story never changed..it is still the same. The events occur and only the characters change…are we getting used to this?

I don’t want to lose hope..I still want to believe that our race is worth dying for….

I really wish the true spirit of EDSA will not only be alive today but everyday..

The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)

I have watched the movie before I get to read the book and thanks to my friend who lend me I guess I’m really a devoted fan of Nicholas Sparks and what’s with him making me cry all  the time with the stories that he writes. I wanted to say so much about this book . . . but I guess it really doesn’t need that much said about it. It is quite simple really.

Do you believe in love?

Do you believe there can be a lasting, eternal love for one other person here on earth?
Nonbelievers.

It’s the most beautiful description of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl, then loses her again. It’s how every person wants to be loved one day.

The Notebook opens in a rest home. An elderly resident is telling us his story. He spends his days visiting a woman that often does not remember him. Each morning, he enters her room with a notebook containing memories of his life and love. He hopes that sharing these past events will jog her memory, but it is not to be. Yet, he tries each day and does not give up.

The second scene of the book takes place in October of 1946. Noah Calhoun has returned from the war and purchased his dream house in New Bern. He came into a windfall, bought the 1772 house, and restored it in an attempt to forget his past. We find out that his past includes a long lost love. This lady was his first and only love and she went away when they were teenagers. He has never forgotten her.

The Notebook then flashes back to Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson meeting and falling in love in the summer of 1935. Fifteen year-old Allie is visiting North Carolina. She is introduced to seventeen year-old Noah and likes him immediately. They spend the summer together sharing everything including their first sexual experiences. By the end of the season, it is clear that these two are in love and meant for each other.

However, Allie returns home and loses touch with Noah. Her parents have implied that Noah is not right for their daughter because he is of a different class. Noah writes to Allie often, but his letters go unanswered. He moves on with his life as best he can by enlisting in the service and going to war.

Let’s fast forward now to 1946. Noah is living in and restoring this big house all alone. Allie is 29 and engaged to a successful lawyer. She reads an article about Noah in the paper and decides that she must see him one last time. She tells her family that she is taking a trip to shop for antiques and heads to New Bern.

Once she meets Noah face to face again, it is clear that the passion they shared so long ago is still there. They spend two wonderful evenings together sharing magical experiences. However, Allie must soon return to her other life and the man she is about to marry. Will Allie return home to a safe, comfortable life? Will she leave Noah a second time? Or will she stay in New Bern, where her heart belongs?

The last quarter of the book involves an elderly couple and their undying love. It is the couple in the rest home to which I was referring earlier. The woman has Alzheimer’s disease and often forgets the life she shared with this other man. He doesn’t give up hope and tries to give her back her memory each day. The doctors and nurses are stunned and touched. This man’s undying faith sometimes fools the disease, and his love gets her memory back once in a while. Those moments they share are priceless and the author describes them well.

Are these two people Noah and Allie or another couple? Did Allie leave? Did she find her way back? I’ll never tell.

This book is a real tearjerker and I can’t really describe how wonderful it was written. How strong is their love that can survive one of them not having any memory of the other? Every day he goes to see his wife and read to her hoping that she will recall the words. Never does he say who he is. He wants her to remember on her own, and hear those precious words that he misses so much. “I Love You”. He never pushes too hard. Their love is one to be admired, even though it is fictional. One could only hope to live as long as these two, and have the passion and love that they felt from the beginning. I was praying through the whole book that she would remember..Although, at the first part  I have to confess, I was kind of annoyed with Allie. Why did she wait so long to find Noah? She was just about to get married before she figured out that she needed to see him again. Now, I suppose her place in post-war high-class society had something to do with it. However, in the rest of the book, she seems like a strong woman who says her piece. All of a sudden, when it comes to Noah, she obeys her parents? Please.

I believe it is probably my favorite book and it is truly the most loving of all love stories. If you’ve seen the movie, it is good, but is bereft of the beauty of the words and the full experience of the story.

If The Notebook sounds appealing to you, I also recommend A Walk to Remember also by Nicholas Sparks. It, too, is a love story that I happened to like.

Get it, read it, love it.

-xxx-

"What makes ME super excited about the weekends?"

I always look forward on weekends, it's not that I'm not excited on waking up everyday of my life even on weekdays, but weekends is what I really love. It's the perfect time for relaxation and other things that I might want to do, the thing is, I always want to spend my quality time especially the weekends on things that I really love and here's the video that I created to show some of those things. Enjoy!


P.S.


If you enjoyed this then why not answer the same question above?:) and join the super astig contest :) Here's how:


Visit  Azrael Coladilla's site :) 


Here's the Mechanics:

1. Blog, Tweet, Plurk or Post on Facebook the answer to the question, "What makes you super excited about the weekends?"

2. Add a photo or a video clip to make it super!

3. Post the URL link of your super entry as a comment to this site: 
(Reminder: Make sure that your post is not set to private.)

4. Super deadline of entries is on Sunday, February 6.

5. The Super Pwede winning entry will be determined by a panel of judges including (Azrael Cordilla) and representatives from Globe.

6. One (1) grand prize winner will get a Super Free weekend fun & pamper package worth P5,000 for you and a friend.

10 consolation prizes of P200 Globe Prepaid load will also be given out for you to experience Globe Prepaid’s Super Free Weekends!


So, what are you waiting for?:) GO! :)


Cheers,
Gracee