Daedelus - Tailor-Made (Floating Points Remix)

Ran

I saw Ran the other day because it was the Japanese epic.It wasn't what I expected. Don't get me wrong, it was indeed "epic" in the highest degree. But man, I was wrong in expecting a movie about people kicking ass. Sure, asses were kicked but Ran is a tragedy and when Kurosawa does tragedy, you know it's gonna be depressing as all hell.

Seriously, the end of the movie will have you contemplating putting your head in an oven. Even if the movie is close to three hours, things escalate, or rather, descend into chaos quickly. This movie has hatred, anger, envy, betrayal, murder, scenes of chaos and war, scenes of horrific bloodshed and violence. This movie will have you contemplating putting your head in the oven. The film flat out tells you in the end that the gods have abandoned humanity and that mankind is only good at inflicting misery and suffering on itself. The film tells you that man is born crying, cries and cries throughout his life until he finally dies. Goddamn.

There's no uplifting message here; the film goes full on nihilism. I guess I'm not used to films like these with such a strong, depressing message.

The story is about the patriarch of the Ichimonji clan, Hidetora, and his three sons: Taro, Jiro and Saburo, oldest to youngest respectively. Hidetora realizes he is too old and decides to cede authority of the domain to Jiro and live out his remaining years in peace as ceremonial leader. Saburo, however, tells his father rather bluntly that it's a stupid idea and he relies too much on the supposed love and affection of his children. Saburo tells him that the age they are living is one of conflict and strife and that the his siblings could turn on each other at any time. Hidetora refuses to believe his family could turn on each other and is angered at Saburo's protests so he banishes Saburo. This sets the stage for the conflicts to follow and it goes downhill pretty fast.

I won't spoil anymore. Nothing I write will do this film justice. This is just one of those things you just have to see. This film is supposedly based on King Lear, but not really. Kurosawa allegedly only saw the resemblance after he'd started but this should give you some basic idea of what to expect. All I can say is leave all your idealism and hope at the doorway. This film will mercilessly kick you in the balls until you lose faith in humanity.

And I thought, Throne of Blood was brutal...

Lion's Share

The government came out with a peace deal today that gives the MILF (Moro-Islamic Liberation Front), our very own Muslim insurgency group, their piece of the pie and what a piece it is. Seventy five percent of the profits from resources mined? That's the price of peace?

Normally, sane societies don't cede anything to rebels and terrorist groups like the MILF, would be wiped off the map rather than "negotiated" with. But seeing as how our military just cannot put down the threat and our dear dismissive President is all too eager to take the easy route and just give them the money to shut them up, I guess this was inevitable. The lesson here is that force wins if only eventually. Make no mistake; this is a failure for the country. I doubt the peace will be lasting, knowing them.

On the bright side, all that money might cause them to fight among themselves and they'll kill each other.

That's the plan maybe?

The Show Trial Show

Americans should be more grateful they live in a country where a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty instead of bitching on social media if they don't like the outcome of a case. Some perspective is helpful. I doubt North Korea has a legal system slightly better than "show trial then execution". Regardless of the opinion one may have on "that" case making headlines over there, it really is disgraceful how the media has made a big deal out of it. 

You know, media don't really add anything useful when it comes to court cases. Think about it. All they do is rile up people's emotions; no doubt to get ratings. They put pressure on prosecutors and provide attention to other opportunistic, amoral, populist hacks who just want to soak up the spotlight. The result? Usually overcharging the suspect until the list of alleged crimes amount to little or nothing. I don't like the media butting it's brown nose in things they don't understand or really care about. The media can invite all the spotlight hogging, "legal analysts" they want but it doesn't really change anything other than public opinion and public opinion is the last thing that should ever matter in court. 

They're like vultures picking on the carcass of a dead horse.

Fever

On Saturday I had a cold and sore throat. On Sunday it was a fever with several muscle aches. I'm still not a hundred percent today.

Figures I'd get sick. I probably got it from school. No surprise when you think about it. It's crowded and the air-con gets busted often making it warm. It's a incubating chamber for diseases.

A good sleep should fix it.

Saving Private Riddick

I had a bout of insomnia one night and so I flipped the TV on to HBO.

Damn. I forgot Vin Diesel actually had a role in Saving Private Ryan. It was odd seeing him as he was then. I was picturing in my head Vin Diesel was going to hop in a muscle car or something and shoot the Germans with an M16.

That was one strange evening.

No Raisin

There are never enough hours in a day.

Midnight Express

History repeats itself.

A Filipina convicted of drug smuggling was executed in China today. I suppose there's shock and outrage over this but that would be meaningless. She broke the law so she was executed. End of story.

The Vice-President tried to fly to China to grab the headlines negotiate on her behalf but was denied. I doubt grovelling to the Chinese ever solves anything especially when we're in no position to bargain in the first place. The President himself wrote a letter to China asking them to commute her death sentence into life imprisonment. On what grounds, I wonder? Did the President honestly believe the Chinese, who execute people faster than you can say "Tiananmen", wouldn't execute this ONE woman simply because he asked them not to? It's kind of insulting when you think about it; telling the President of another country to commute a sentence and instead keep her imprisoned (at their expense I bet) for life just because.

You see, it's because we ought to feel sorry for the poor woman. It's not her fault! It's the poverty and desperation. She was just trying to provide for her family! Nope. Sorry. That's not the way it works.

The phrase "rule of law" gets tossed around too much these days usually by supposedly smart people. Not many people have seen the "rule of law". Many doubt such a thing exists. It's like a unicorn; a mythical creature of legends. I've seen it a few times, twice or thrice, I think. We're told it exists. It's kind of like faith, you know? You can't see air but you can breath it in, right?

China seems to follow the rule of law. The Filipina broke the law and faced the penalty. Perhaps the outrage is because, having so little experience of it, it's just such a difficult concept to grasp for us Filipinos. But don't worry, I'm here to help. The rule of law simply means nobody is above the law. You do the crime, you do the time. No special treatment. It's truly a shame a communist cesspool like China does it better than THE FIRST DEMOCRACY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, THE ONLY CHRISTIAN NATION IN ASIA! PINOYPRIDE!!111

Rule of law? Explain that to Erap...

Aphex Twin - Acrid Avid Jam

Squeeze Me Gently

Ever since classes began I've had little time to do this one thing I like. No, surprisingly it's not video games but target shooting.

It was only early this year that I first fired a gun and I found it a fun experience. The police officer who was there to teach me gun safety told me that I had a knack for it and needed to practice. I haven't had the time.

The trickiest part of shooting the gun is the pulling of the trigger. Aiming is easy but the actual firing needs practice. The trigger of the gun needs to be squeezed gently; only your trigger finger should move. The tendency is to "pull" the trigger which leads to problems. If a shooter "pulls" the trigger, he pulls the gun along with it and throws his aim off. I was told the reason for this is that people generally fear "the bang" and jerk the gun in anticipation. Everything must be steady and only the trigger moves. Once that's mastered, what's next is to learn how to keep one's aim steady but one thing at a time.

I'd rather be firing than be on the firing line.