Did You Know . . .

. . . that there were neither pilgrims nor Native Americans in the Philippines in 1621?

Wishlist

My mother-in-law is spending Thanksgiving in the good ol' US of A, and it just occured to me that I am the only one in the family who has not (yet) asked for anything for her to bring back from the land of the free and the home of the brave. I want a PS3 console, but I think that went out the window when my wife - her daughter - asked for an iPhone.

So earlier today, I came up with a list of five movies that my sister-in-law can hopefully find at Best Buy. Sometimes you get lucky and find the hardest to find films in the most unexpected of places (The Seven Samurai, Naga City) here at home, but that doesn't really happen too often.

Here is my list:

1. Animal House

One of John Belushi's best-known movies. When he was 30, this was the No. 1 movie in America. He died three years later.

2. The Paper Chase

This movie demonstrates why the man who invented the Socratic Method should be rotting in the seventh circle of hell for all eternity.

3. Dr. Strangelove

I have seen some of Kubrick's films ─ Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange ─ and this should be a good addition to the library.

4. Two of Us

This is for the Beatles fan in me. They could have screwed this story up in so many ways, but they did alright. I have seen this on VH1 a long time ago, but I wouldn't mind watching it again.

5. 61*

The original homerun race. Before ballplayers had incredibly huge heads and necks.

Tonight, Tonight

For the sheer lack of anything more productive to do tonight, I think I will just load the entire Eraserheads catalog into my iPod and then play the Jordan Challenge-less NBA 2K11 on my rather outdated PS2 until my hands hurt.

I think I am finally getting the hang of this weekend thing.

Happiness

Fourteen months after its publication, and two months after I discovered that this issue actually existed, it finally arrived.



Of course, not until after I tried asking Bufini and some bookstores first, looked for and found the email address of the magazine's circulation department, waited for a about a month or so for them to reply to an email, and finally, talked to a sensible guy who provided me with the manner of payment and delivery.

Never underestimate the persistence of a fanboy.

Status Report

For the past three weeks since I returned to The Seagull*, I have been able to watch:

all 9 episodes of Season 2 of White Collar
all 11 episodes of Season 1 of Covert Affairs
all 12 episodes of Season 1 of Human Target
all 12 episodes of Season 4 of Burn Notice
all 7 episodes of Season 4 of Chuck
all 4 episodes of Season 6 of Bones

Not bad for three weeks.

Most of these are series which I have been able to follow at one time or another over at Solar TV (aka RPN 9). They usually aired on Saturday evenings, quite conveniently after all those lovely Saturday mornings and afternoons spent at Diliman. I am not discounting the possibility that I may have enjoyed them only because they made me forget things that happened only a few hours earlier, if only temporarily.

What is unfortunate is that, for some stupid reason or another, after a season or two, the network stops airing these series altogether and switch to new shows (Vampire Diaries, anyone?). The fact that Solar TV is the only channel on free TV which satisfies this demand, is the only thing that is stopping me from watching Willing Willie everyday. Well, that and the fact that Georgina Wilson is not co-hosting with Papi.

Covert Affairs was recommended by RQ. I find it a somewhat cheesier version of Alias. It's OK if you can stand all those flashback scenes about the lead character's (portrayed by Piper Perabo. Yes, that Piper Perabo.) "sawing pag-ibig", as RQ put it. I decided to tolerate it anyway only because Emmanuelle Vaugier is in it.

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* Sorry, but you have to know and see my Facebook account for details on this.