Damned In Blue

I applied for a master's degree at one of the Philippines' best universities. Initially, I wanted to get into the creative writing program to hone my writing chops and help me advance in my content writing career. There are a lot of things wrong with that statement. But I'll get into that later. I passed the entrance examinations but not quite. Instead of getting into the creative writing program, I was transferred to the Anglo-American Literature program of the university.  How they made that determination, I'm not sure. I would assume I didn't perform well enough to get into their CW track but I did good enough to get me into another program...that I didn't apply for, Again, lots of problems with that premise. But please bear with me. I was initially hesitant to get into the Anglo-American Literature track because I have no intention of learning about Shakespeare and his contemporaries.  Nothing wrong with them, mind you, but it wasn't even part of my choi

Since 2009 or as far as I can remember, there are only four movies I've seen that truly moved me. To be clear, I've gone and seen lots of movies over the years, so it's not like I have a small pool of choices. However, my film standards have gotten much simpler. Back then, I look at organic unity, theme, plot, and other elements of a story and production that make up a great movie. Nowadays, as long as I don't fall asleep while watching it, it's already not a bad film. And there are lots of good films in the past 10 years: Most of Pixar's stuff is good to great. And the MCU films are a treat to watch. But again, only three films continue to haunt me after months and years of watching it. The first three were Mother! ,  Arrival , and Oldboy . It would take me an entire day to write about each film and how awe-inspiring they are in different ways. But that's not the purpose of this post. Rather, I'd want to discuss the fourth movie I've seen for the pa

  I swore off writing on this blog in 2009 when I transitioned to writing for a different one. The reason was simple: tabula rasa . I believed I turned into a different person back then, that I'm ready to make the change with new challenges looming over the horizon. I was ready to turn in a new leaf, to let bygones be bygones, and embrace the uncertainty that tomorrow brings with an open heart and mind. For years, this sentiment ring true. I did change. The part of me that was this blog for years was scrubbed off from my essence. It became a shell of what this blog represented. At least, I tried to. But let's face: the more things change, the more they stay the same. You can't teach old dogs new tricks. I could go on and on with these empty platitudes that govern our lives. Because that's all there ultimately is, this void that we're trying to fill to make ourselves feel alive.