Underworld
Hey, things are looking up.
An Awesome Man’s Tips on Dealing With Rejection
What rejection? An Awesome Man rejects rejection. If you follow simple mathematics, negate a negative, and it becomes positive.
If someone doesn’t want to deal with you, don’t sit and dwell. Don’t even bother. An Awesome Man spares the undeserving the privilege of having to share something as intimate as time spent in conversation with you. An awesome man makes even the most boring of topics life changing discussions. Think “The Purpose Driven Life”, for free! Don’t think about it in terms of wasted opportunity. Rather, think in terms of close-headedness, a failure to see the light on their part. Yes, you are the light, a pretty awesome one at that.
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Sadly, I am no awesome man.
On Downhill Skateboarding
When you’ve raced down a hill on a skateboard at speeds equal to that of cars and survived, it takes a lot more to scare you when you’re off it.
There is life, and there is downhill skateboarding.
5 Reasons Why You Should Catch “Manila Kingpin” in theaters
Of all the movies that came out during this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival, I wanted to watch “Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story” for the sole reason of it not being a spin-off or sequel of some overly done series. I recently went with my friend Dylan (follow her @ dylan-co, her work’s awesome) to watch it, and now here’s 5 reasons why you should as well. If it’s still running, that is.
I. It’s got “heroes” you can rally behind.
Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story has no lead characters with the kinds of mid-sections that you can do your laundry on. Despite the lack of cuts, Asiong and his gang bring an inherent, infectious charisma that just gets you hooked and following their adventures from the kalesa shootouts down to their post-gang banging club time. Asiong Salonga (E.R. Ejercito) may not look like your typical leading man, but that doesn’t make him or any of his gang a pushover. If I were remotely tough (which I’m not), I’d hang out with those guys. Besides, he gets to come home to that smoking hot wife of his every night. More on her later.
II. Asiong Salonga’s wife is really hot.
Really Carla Abellana, where have you been all this time? You’ve got the face that’ll make pretty much any man with balls between his legs wish he was the Manila Kingpin. Your character with her desire to settle for a “normal life” was a nice counterpoint to your husband’s gangster ways. And for kissing E.R Ejercito as much as you did in the movie, I think you should’ve won best actress for that. Straight up.
III. The cinematography is pretty solid.
Yes, the entire movie is black and white. But that totally enhances the feel. The story can get pretty gritty, and save for a few odd moments, how the shots were done and composed really brings out a nice bit of cinema sheen that doesn’t offset the grit one bit.
IV. The entire movie is a testament to the Pinoy Badass
It could be argued that the subject matter can get pretty sexist, but I guess it’s a testament to our local cultural archetypes. To be the bad-ass in this country doesn’t necessarily mean having muscles upon muscles. Rock an awkward sized gold chain, pop your collar without any hint of irony and you’re halfway there. Plus points if you can pull off the denim-on-denim with Chuck Taylors look. It’s the same way the Western world is starting to embrace the idea that real men are those that happily let their potbellies loose and grow Zach Galifianakis-level facial hair.
V. It’s actually a pretty good movie to say the least.
I might be a tad overreaching, but I think it takes movies like The Expendables to match this one in testosterone levels. However, what saves it from being lumped with many typical Pinoy shoot-em-up joyrides is that the characters are well developed, relatable and set against a pretty good story with little to no lulls between the big action set pieces. Great casting and awesome soundtrack (especially Ely Buendia’s song) round out this really enjoyable movie that I certainly wouldn’t mind watching again.
Oh, a special shout-out goes to whoever the Thai stunt coordinator was. Whoever you are, you’re a saint.
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