The Library Girl

Something funny happened to me at the library.

A couple of days ago, the Vancouver Public Library held it’s semi-regular clearance sale, featuring books of all kinds at the remarkably low price of 55 canadian cents. Naturally, book-lovers that we are, Kathy and I were all over that.

My cousin Joy kindly gave us a ride and we proceeded to the sale armed with lists and heavy duty bags, ready to wade through the hordes of hungry literary predators that were sure to descend upon the discarded offerings of the VPL.

I came into the sale really only looking for two books (but of course open to ransacking the whole thing): Alice Hoffman’s “The Third Angel” and Nora Roberts’ “Tribute”, both books recomened to me by Kathy a few weeks ago. Loved them both, and found them quite easily. When we entered, I fully intended to do a systematic sweep starting from the right to the left… but felt this strange compulsion to head straight for the middle table covered with hardbacks. Leaving Kathy and Joy to their own devices, I went to the table and, sure enough, there they were. After eagerly grabbing them, and an Alistair Reynolds novel, I continued my hunt.

After about five minutes, I felt a slight nudge. Turning, I saw this brown haired girl in a red shirt with oversized gold earrings hovering next to me, glancing at the books in my hand. Shyly, she excused herself and gave me a small smile. No harm, no foul; this was the library sale after all, and I’ve bumped into far worse.

I moved along to the end of the table, carefully calculating how much space I’d have in my bag versus size of books, when I felt another nudge. When I looked, there she was again, this time glancing at the books I was glancing at. Again, an excuse me, again a smile. I moved off.

There was another table next to the first one and I jumped on over there, having to push my way past a chinese elderly lady with a little grocery trolley crammed with cook books. Here, on this table, I found a veritable goldmine of books that had long been on my want list. With a smile, I attacked the piles mercilessly, leaving no page unturned.

Nudge.

This time I noticed that there was a faint scent coming from her. Sweet, but with a hint of spice, like perfume gone bad. Again, an excuse me. Again, a smile.

And then again, five minutes later.

Two times is an accident. Three is a coincidence.

Four times is just plain creepy.

I zeroed in on Kathy, standing by the paperbacks, and headed straight for her, ignoring noisy chinese ladies and smelly fat dudes alike. I had to get away from pretty, but creepy, red shirt girl and Kathy was my beacon.

After my visit with Kathy, where I made it patently clear that she was my wife to all who could be watching, I was never nudged again, and I was free to look at books to my heart’s content.

Although Kathy did say that now red shirt girl started bumping into her…

The Joy of Cooking

Oh my god! An update!

Well, my resolution to update this blog everyday didn’t last very long. Sigh. I think this time, I’ll promise to try to blog whenever I can and leave it at that, vague as it is.

Anyway, I’ve recently been hooked on the latest season of The Food Network’s version of American Idol, aptly called “The Next Food Network Star”. Hosted by chef Bobby Flay and judged by some top Food TV execs, the show is your basic reality tv task-driven elimination show. We start out with ten aspiring Rachel Rays and Alton Browns. Each week, the contestants are given several food related challenges designed to test both their cullinary ability AND charisma. What’s fun is that you get a whole host of special guests, ranging from Giada DiLaurentiis to Guy Fiere.

It is tense, it is compelling, it is very appetizing, and I eagerly await each installment.

At around the same time I got hooked on TNFNS, I also realized that I have become highly addicted to two other shows on the Food Network, namely Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (the UK version) and Canada’s very own Restaurant Makeover. I haven’t been watching them regularly simply because I do not know the schedules, but every time they are on, I sit religiously in front of the television and lap it all up.

I think what I like about these three shows is that they show me a different view of the cooking world, one that I never really stopped to think about before. There is so much pressure involved in running a restaurant, it’s crazy. No joke, I think that the head chef of any busy restaurant on any given day is under even more pressure than, say, Cristiano Ronaldo in the UEFA Champions League final. Sure, this might be hyperbole, but… my god, even I feel my pulse racing, my heart pounding, and my blood boiling whenever I see a poor head chef of a dilapidated restaurant trying desperately to get that seasoned chicken breats perfectly seared at the same time listening to his waiter call out the next order AND make sure that the sous chef is getting the fries done just right. And that is just one moment among many in a night that could make or break the restaurant. It’s insane.

Usually, I see that kind of pressure in Kitchen Nightmares because Ramsay only gets called in when things are at their worst. Yes, I know shows like that (and TNFNS) are heavily edited, but still. The pressures in running a restaurant are real. In truth, most restaurants don’t even last a year, and if people don’t work their asses off to get the food right… then they’re all fooked.

A different sort of feel permeates the show Restaurant Makeover. The basic premise is that a top designer and top chef come to the aid of a dying restaurant and do their best to get it back on its feet. The designer overhauls the decor and layout while the chef overhauls the menu. At the end of the renovation, the restaurant is relaunched and left to fend for themselves.

If the general feel of Kitchen Nightmares is one of frantic tension and desperation, the feel I seem to get from Makeover is one of sadness and despair. It’s quite affecting, actually. At the top of the show, we meet owners who are at the point of giving up. They’ve pumped in loads of money and time and effort in an attempt to realize a dream, and we see them falling short of it. One recent episode showed a Toronto pizza joint that has been handed down from father to son, only to find the son completely unable, but extremely willing, to keep the place alive through a combination of a bad economy, poor food, and failing fixed assets. It’s sad… all the guy wanted to do was keep the place alive in his father’s memory, and he was losing it. It’s a good thing Restaurant Makeover stepped in when it did.

I know that all businesses have their troubles and problems and worries and frustrations and tensions and all that. I’m not saying it’s worse for the food business or anything like that. It’s just that I have a passion for food myself, and there’s something so touching, so compelling, and so frustrating about seeing the troubles people go through to keep our bellies full.

I understand that a lot of restaurants could be run better, and should. They must train their staff, keep it clean, and keep a solid hand on the menu. But perhaps if more people watch these shows, they would think twice about belittling a waiter over a dish that’s just a tad too spicy.

Sim-ply occupied by a Longest Journey. And writing!

Hello all,

It has been pointed out to me (thanks Chat!) that I haven’t updated my blog in a while.

Dang it.

Anyway, I’m back.

The three main culprits of stealing my blogging time are as follows:

1. Sims 3. Yes, I love this game. Love it love it love it. So far, I’m only playing one Sim right now, an aspiring wannabe writer who cheated his way to a million simoleans, and killed a girl in his own house so that he could fulfill his goal of seeing a ghost. Oh, and it seems he has a kleptomaniac maid and a golddigging girlfriend.

After I mess this guy’s life up completely, I am going to create a family with me and Kathy and design a house for us, HGTV style.

And, maybe just for kicks, I’ll create a pro soccer player and see what the athlete’s career track is like.

Or acting.

Or culinary.

Or business…

You can see why this game takes up so much time.

2. The Longest Journey – I am also playing a 9 year olf adventure game that still beats the pants off most games released now. The Longest Journey is a point and click adventure in the style of the old Sierra and Lucasart games… but with an epic fantasy storyline. It really deserves its own blog post.

3. The Writing Project – I am also currently working on a super secret writing project that I’m not going to talk about until I can confirm whether it is a green or red light. Shhh. Be patient.

Also, I am reading Terry Brooks’ Landover series of novels. They’re an old cycle of books about a burnt out lawyer purchasing a magick kingdom. And they’re fun.

Addendum

As an addendum to the previous post, I just want to reiterate that I don’t have anything against “downer” films or literature per se (I do, after all, own copies of Pan’s Labyrinth and The Prestige among others), or films that explore the hidden complexities and, yes, darkness that exists in us (Wong Kar-Wai’s Fallen Angels, anyone?).

I just dislike torture-porn, poverty-porn, and the like; films that exist to glorify and revel in these things under the guise of seeking profundity. The kind of message films I like are subtle in their approach and deliberate in their execution, cautionary tales of what could go wrong with either society, technology, or humanity if something is not done.

Those films done well usually have the harsh lessons balanced by some sort of innate hope under the surface, hope that either the characters will succeed in learning their lessons and proceeding with life, or we will.

I have seen too many films of the other kind, the kind that bash you on the head for shock value and then claiming a message.

As I have not seen Kinatay, I cannot say if it offers hope.

But by all accounts, it is brutal and tasteless. Subtle, it is not.

As a caveat, if I seem overly harsh as well, is is because I am probably knee-jerk reacting to the godawful pinoy trolls on Ebert’s blog.

UP, UP, and Away!

Missed a day yesterday, but I’m back posting!

So Kathy and I have fully taken advantage of the summer blockbuster season and made a tradition of walking dowtown every friday to catch the first show. Starting with Star Trek, we’ve gone on to see Angels and Demons, Terminator, and UP. We’ve enjoyed them all to varying degrees, but Trek and Up most definitely stand tall over everything else we’ve seen in theatres this year (I’m including Wolverine and Watchmen in this too.)

And it was during UP that my thoughts turned to another item making recent news in the entertainment world: Brillante Mendoza’s Cannes win.

Yeah, strange, but not as distant a leap as you might think.

First of all, congratulations to Mendoza for winning. Whatever anyone may think of the film or Cannes in general, a win is a win and recognition of talent is something every filmmaker desires, regardless of who is doing the recognizing.

Second of all, I have no intentions whatsoever of watching his winning film Kinatay in the near future unless it is forced upon me (or I am paid to).

From all accounts, it is a disgusting affair, filled with brutality and violence and emphasizing hardship, poverty, and corruption without a hint of hope or the possibility of any of the characters having any growth whatsoever. It is, I gather, meant to point an incisive and pointed light on how terrible the Philippines is both physically and spiritually; Physically, by showing locations of squalor and degradation exactly how you’d see in the depths of Manila’s squatter areas and spiritually by showing the pure evil lurking in the hearts of every single character populating the very loose “narrative”.

As a filmmaker, |I cannot judge Mendoza’s skill as a director without seeing his shot selection, framing, etc, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that his is probably a good director.

But as a storyteller, as a writer, as a film critic, as a development executive, as a fan of stories, as a goddamn human being, all I have to say is I am sick of this. Enough is enough.

Why is it that so many people seem to think that in order to make a film about “ideas”, in order to make a film meaningful, they have to make a film that celebrates the darkness prevalent in humanity? Do we really need sledgehammer after sledgehammer of independent “artsy” films smashing us in the face with their heavy handed messages of “Oh, pain is real. Happiness is false!” to realize that the world is fucked up?

We live in an economic crunch where people are laid off every day and babies are crushed by careless buses and dogs are senselessly killed in fighting rings and people rob from each other and people…

You get the point.

The world is terrible.

And we don’t really want to watch films that remind us of that.

Which brings me to “Up” (and Star Trek).

Up is a fantastic movie CRAMMED with messages. I won’t go into it too much because I want to avoid spoilers, but the major things one gets from it are the need to get over a painful loss, the need to form connections with each other, and that is is the small stuff in life that are important.

It is a film of hope and passion, it is a film that celebrates life and dreams and adventure and love. It is a film that shares much with Star Trek, offering a brighter vision of what the world is, and what it can be.

In today’s world, these are the films I want to watch.

Maybe someday I’ll want to watch films like Serbis and Kinatay. Maybe. Maybe when I’m older and filthy fucking rich where I have everything I need in the world, all the modern conveniences, and a golden fucking spoon… maybe then I’ll need something to make me say “Oh! Dear Lord! The world is terrible! Dear me! Those poor Filipino people! Maybe I should throw some money at them? Oh well, time for my golf game. Tee Time’s at one!”

Heaven forbid.

Live long and Prosper.

Champion’s League

Even with all the hype surrounding Man United and all the pundits saying they were a stronger team, I had a (fearful) feeling that Barca would win it today. My reasoning? Midfield and the lack of Owen Hargreaves and Darren Fletcher.

United’s current midfield anchor is Michael Carrick, who is superb. But against Andres Iniesta and Xavi, Carrick would need more than just Anderson to combat them.

Hargreaves and Fletcher provide the kind of steel that Carrick needs to be able to focus on his passing. If he has to do double duty, then more often than not his passing fails.

And so it happened today.

I was going to post something else today, but I’m too frustrated with the match.

Check back in tomorrow.

Until then, Glory Glory Man United… next year.

Selling Out

As exciting and scary as shopping for new homes seems to be, selling your existing home seems an even more frightening and stressful prospect.

Of course, a lot of that stress often doesn’t have to be there at all, and is sometimes a result of stupid choices on the part of careless owners.

One show Kathy and I watch ocassionaly is called “Buy Me”, which looks at the experiences a home owner has to go through when selling a house, aided as much as possible by an experienced realtor. Unlike other shows, this one doesn’t feature a team of experts coming in and telling the owner what to do, how to do it, and then doing it within a budget staged specifically for a television show. No, this is a show that just plops a camera team into the fray and lets the drama play out before them. Hence, reliant only on the realtor’s prowess and the buyers’ willingness to do what is necessary, we are often in for a treat.

The biggest mistake we see people make, and one which causes an inordinate ammount of stress in the household, is that of purchasing a new house without first finding a buyer for the old one. This means that, more often than not, there’s a heavy deadline looming over the homeowners’ heads as the day of downpayment draws ever closer, and they have to sell the house to have the money to pay before then. If the house is not in good sellable condition, then you can imagine what kind of stress ensues.

Remember: SELL before you BUY!!!

Now, there are a lot of factors that go into selling the house, most of them technical things like making sure the plumbing and electrical are in good working order and so on and so forth. But one thing I noticed when it comes to selling (and buying for that matter) is thinking about the emotional impact that the house will have on potential buyers right from first impression.

There are many savvy buyers out there who know to look beyond clutter and outdated furniture to see the potential any house has for their needs. But there are many more out there who can’t, and end up being stuck mentally with the surface image that they see.

These are the problematic shoppers, and these are the ones homeowners must design their open houses for, by removing personal items, posters, clutter, and choosing the right furniture pieces and, sometimes, renovating.

It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it.

And remember: SELL BEFORE YOU BUY!

Home Shopping

Lately, Kathy and I have been watching a number of real estate and house renovation themed shows fairly regularly. As eagerly anticipated as nightly screenings of Voyager and CSI were, so too, now, are the shows “House Hunters”, “House Hunters International”, “Holmes on Homes”, “Buy Me”, “The Unsellables”, “Designed to Sell”, “Hidden Potential”, and a few others.

Now, normally I watch television shows for a couple of reasons: 1) As research for a writing project that I am currently planning/working on, 2) For sheer entertainment, or 3) For general educational purposes, in the case of informational documentaries found on the Discovery, History, or National Geographic channels. But these house shows are for something entirely different. I watch them specifically to educate myself on all the pertinent information, attitudes, practices, and strategies that we will need when we purchase/build our first house as a family.

Growing up, my own family moved around a few times, but, of course, I was never really involved in any of the decisions. As for viewings, I only got to join my family when we moved here to Vancouver. But for most of the moves, I was too young to appreciate the kind of thought that went into choosing a new home. I thought that purchasing a house was not much more different from choosing a new book or toy.

Well, there are many people who still think like I once did, and thankfully there are resources like these shows to help educate people.

There are so many variables to consider when buying, renovating, and selling a house, and if you are not aware of them and you end up with a shoddy realtor or contractor, then you’re in trouble. Kathy and I have learned a lot of these things just from watching these shows, which give us some confidence for the future.

Also, these shows are just so darn fun.

“House Hunters”, and its sister show “House Hunters International”, are two of my favourites. The show follows families who are ready for a change. In the case of HH, it’s usually a family or single person looking to leave their former house and buy a new one within a certain price range and following certain parameters (e.g. an office, a pool, neighbourhood, etc.) The realtor will then take the buyer around and show them a number of houses fitting the bill, with the show presenting the viewers with three houses from the buyers’ shortlist. What I like about this is that it’s an inside look at many the choices that have to be made when looking for a house. The ability to compare three houses almost side by side is an invaluable experience. I personally like seeing three houses of similar price, but wildly different, say, bathrooms. Does the house with the smaller master bedroom with a large kitchen outweigh other house with the small living room but large office? Does the huge back yard with no pool in one house beat the other house that HAS a pool, but no garage?

Fascinating, because these are likely the kind of questions Kathy and I will ask ourselves.

It’s nice seeing other couples, some young with children, some old, wrestle with these decisions, giving us a glimpse of a possible future.

HH International is similar in style but involves Americans deciding to uproot themselves from their home states and seeking to live in places like Roatan in Honduras or Costa Rica. I like this show for all the same reasons I like the other one, but this one has the added benefit of seeing a massive paradigm shift in people’s lives. So many people don’t realize what they are missing out on, and it’s wonderful seeing them make the choices necessary to build a new life with a completely different attitude than what they came from. A lot of Americans realize that all the modern first world conveniences cannot beat a life which is easier in the tropics, a life where they don’t have to worry about snow, big bad cities, or the like. Instead, they can hire maids and drivers and live in beautifully relaxing houses by the sea.

Makes me miss Manila.

On the flip side, I also like seeing homeowners deal with the exciting, but challenging, mission of selling their house. Again, there are just as much, or even more variables to accomplishing this, and it can be either a light, breezy experience or a very long, very messy, headache.

And this is what I shall write about tomorrow.

(Taken from Kathy)

3 Things I’m thankful for/happy with today:

1. Eating my Spaghetti, even if there wasn’t much left.
2. Reviving my blog.
3. A new story idea!
4. (Bonus) Kathy.

First Draft

Well… that was fast.

I just finished the first draft of my feature screenplay. After a couple of days of furious writing… it’s done.

I’m not trying to brag or anything…

I’m just shocked as heck. Never been this fast. Not even in school.

I guess I just really believe in the project…

First Drafts

Well, here’s my try at yet another new blog. This one will be permanent… I hope.

***

March 1 was an auspicious date for me… that was when I officially began writing the first draft of my first professional screenplay. I can’t really go into much detail, but let’s just say that it’s exactly the kind of script that I love to write.

It was a daunting prospect, one that gave me a profound case of “blank page syndrome”, but at the same time, it was exhilirating.

For a week prior, I had thrown myself completely into the world of the characters that populate this story. I had come to know these bags of bones; their likes and dislikes, their attitudes, their personalities, their voices… even how they look. I made sure to understand them to such an extent that they are absolutely real in my head.

It got to the point where I was primed… psyched… to hit the keyboard and let these voices speak for themselves. And from the minute I typed “Fade In:”, that magical feeling of creation burst forth, like a warm glow emanating from my very essence. This world, the world I live in… the world of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, of Gloria Arroyo and Jun Lozada, of Steven Spielberg and Uwe Boll… this world faded to be replaced by, if even for a few hours, the world that I created.

The characters breathed, the floorboards creaked, the doors swung open, the wind rustled through the trees…

Exhilirating.

I love writing.

And I always will.