of pirated dvds and anime

This might sound weird but i’m gonna say it anyway : I fell in love with anime at the ripe age of twenty-seven. Hehehe. Last weekend, Makati cinema square became my hunting ground for pirated dvds. Initially, I had hard-to-find art films, oscar winners and some off-the-mill commercial offerings by Hollywood as part of my day’s agenda; with no idea whatsoever of crossing over to geek street.

So i had Amelie in my basket, The Kite Runner, and a couple of horror movies . Like a busy bee flying from one flower to another, I went from one stall to the other, browsing through the countless titles that soon had my head spinning with a severe case of indecision. So many dvds, so little money! Hehehe. I raided the shops with eyvicat that afternoon, as he himself planned to replenish his stock of titles for his weekend viewings. We are supposed to meet with the bulldog for merienda and dinner later at the greenbelt-glorietta area. With browsing time ticking to its sorry ending, we walked aimlessly, not really looking forward to having another go with the shops.

Just when we were winding down, the shop sort of magically appeared from nowhere. Unlike other shops with sales personnel shouting at the top of their lungs for a bit of attention from the shoppers, this shop quietly sat, nestled it seems at the center of all the hustle and bustle. What separated it aside from its quietness is the presence of a laptop sitting on a glass-covered counter; and a thick folder which, upon closer scrutiny, turned out to be a comprehensive listing of anime titles spanning the genre’s fairly short span of history. We asked the store owner how things are in terms of the price department. He said, being that episodes were downloaded from the internet and copies made are high quality ones, an episode costs at Php 7.00.

I’m usually not the one to gush on things like this. Back in high school when every kid wished for a goku hairstyle, i’m lost in my own created world in my head. I didn’t give a damn on how to navigate one’s way with the Street Fighter videogame—i’m just as fine without knowing that information. In college, you would see me digging musicals rather than spending my allowance on buying the latest issue of comics or manga. It was only sometime upon meeting shattershards, when he introduced me to Avatar, his guilty secret at that time, that I was initiated into the world of anime and the giggling effect that comes with it. Hehehe.

And so I found myself inquiring on avatar episodes with the shop-owner. Needless to say, I was sold with his sales talk—being that the episodes are .avi files and could be played with any media player—and bought the whole of season 3. Most of the pirated copies I bought previously had missing episodes or were poorly transferred that, most of the time, I end up disappointed. Not with this. I gorged on 2 episodes that night, before willing myself to sleep, otherwise i’d be late for work the following day.

Before going home for the province this weekend, I found myself going back to his shop, buying this time, 26 episodes of Samurai 7, an anime title I recently googled, and found many good reviews about. I also ordered Spirited Away, a critically acclaimed anime movie, scheduled for pick up at his shop sometime next week. Adik noh? Hehehe.

For the past two days i’ve been feasting my eyes on the fluid animation and great story-telling that this entertainment genre offers. I’m very happy falling in love with anime at this age, as I am able to appreciate more the things that come with it. It’s more than just a form of entertainment, its high art.

librarian, touring

9:31 pm

I’m aboard a bus, province bound. After an anxiety-filled week at work, i’m finally getting a respite from all the mayhem, and the chaos. The Mummy plays at the on-board dvd player of the bus, making it hard for me to concentrate on my thoughts, mirroring it seems, the troubled week that saw me swamped with piles of index cards for filing; revising and updating a resume i haven’t touched in years; talking with personnel from our legal department concerning an ugly sick pig; and seeking counsel regarding a slave driver hag that doubles as martyr and saint. Sigh. Somebody take me away from all these gossip and intrigue!

Good thing though, that amidst this sea of madness i’ve friends that see me through, every step of the way. They might seem a bunch of misfits to the world, but they are undeniably warm, and squishy, and smiley, just when you need them the most--and hey, i'm just happy to be one of them! :)

Glancing at the television screen in front, i see that Rachel Weisz’ librarian character with the Sylvia La Torre hairdo and outfit meets for the first time Brendan Fraser’s brawny Indiana Jones-ish impersonation of a character. In my mind i’m trying to work on a logical tie-up of ideas but i just can’t come up with a good one—only that i, too, am a librarian like the Weisz character.
Curses! This might be due to the fact of the moving bus jiggling my brain to goo; or the fact that i’ve been sleepless most days, preparing needed documentations for my life projects. Seems my crossroads come in never-ending batches, if you ask me. I really don’t know what to think anymore. I’m numb. I’m tired.

We’ve just entered NLEX and the bus is already accelerating in speed. In a few moments, the lights will be set to dim. Yes, rest for now gentle, try to get some sleep, for who knows, next week you just might find yourself in yet again another highway.

circles

Ah, three years. i can only remember bits and pieces of that nights' curious unfolding. Eyvicat and myself hurrying to meet chyncha and shattershards at powerbooks glorietta. They were waiting for us at the railings, fronting the bookshop. we were like kids, nervous on our first day at school; not knowing what to expect, yet utterly excited in facing the unknown.

We had dinner at pizzahut, at parksquare, with the talk winding down to mine and shattershards' common interest in anne rice novels; chyncha's unique brand of humor (and laughter, if i may add) permeating our very skins. We walked in obscure alleyways afterward, every puddle-filled pothole and crossing stray cat forever etched in memory.

After some twists and turns our fledgling group eventually wound up in a smoky and ill-lit billard hall where teen's and twenty something yuppies mix and mingle like gladiators before an arena fight. Eyvicat and chyncha played like pros in my mind's eye that night. Chyncha gobbled up strong confident men and spit them out like scared adolescents match after match; while shattershards took time explaining to a novice like me the rules of the game, how to weild the stick, so to speak. I didn't become an overnight sensation that night, but one thing was certain. I gained new friends.

Social circles formed in this age far removed from the medieval, are breathing, twirling things; they are never concentric—they coalesce and overlap. Fast forward to three years and a couple of months hence, and we were a group once again; the four of us having a good laugh, sharing life stories over chilli wings and quail egg tempuras [or what we have locally come to call as kwek-kwek, hehehe]; oblivious to customers waning, as even the drunkards in attendance, one by one left the curious joint to retire in the comfort of their own houses.

Just a few minutes away from witching hour, we set out for the streets, knowing that each step, each stride will eventually lead to that parting song. in our hearts we are happy nonetheless, knowing that this path of friendship will, sooner of later, come full-circle once more, in this unending dance of the circles.

header launching

welcome to the official launching of two new gentle headers, which will be up and running anytime soon in my two sites!

the first one is a varation of the "gentle in a tree" header you saw in season one; only this time, there's no foot to nibble on, but you'll have gentle growing out green wings; what with all the branches and the leaves sticking out from behind his back. hehehe.

replacing my "sultry" naked scribbles header will be what i'd like to call "gentle in fierce mode", hehehe.


both photoshoots were done on location at windsurf beach resort in la union. enjoy!

full throttle

and so i am in full throttle again. with blogging and with poetry. opening an account here at blogspot did wonders to my already drying creative juices. the last time i really had one heluva ride writing poems, was about seven years ago. for some reason the emo in me died down a bit; i dunno, life became a little pleasant, i guess. so having no resource to tap into, i stopped writing altogether. about 3 years ago i did a handful cheesy ones (guess why, hehehe), with just one poem standing out from that year's crop. what made that period worth mentioning was it sort of became a bridge to whatever renaissance i am having now, in terms of developing a writing style.

and now i'm back. i love it that i was able to have an online stash of compositions tucked away somewhere; so when the time came that i moved here at blogspot, i just copied and pasted (here)--easy as one two three. i must confess though that i'm not really schooled when it comes to poetry. i just read works by other writers; search my own emotions, and write what i feel and think. its good they have free verse nowadays for i dunno how my writing will end up if you made me write in metered form, hehehe. (i made one attempt, but i dont think there will be a follow-up to that in the near future... very, very taxing!)

so there. the whole of gentle, for now.

lunch with boy and kris

last week was a week for meeting friends. met one blogger last friday, whose thoughts i religiously follow, for dinner and later for coffee that evening. we talked a lot. i talked a lot. hehehe. maybe thats why up to now i'm still paos from all that heavy talking; add to that the cold weather, and some of the sweat from my exercises drying up unchecked... tada! i've now a major cough complete with icky phlegm. complete package ba! whats worse, our office recently undertook applying some sortof of leak protection on our building's roofing system. the smell of chemicals wafting from outside is just too heavy for my delicate lungs to bear; seeing that its gonna go on for a week, i decided to take a break from smelling it even for just a day by making a sick call. taking my meds now. hope tomorrow will be much better for my lungs.

so, back to the topic.. last week was a week for meeting friends. hehehe. met a new friend from just two doors from where i'm living. together with red, who has her place at the third floor, and eyvicat who happened to be in the neighborhood, we ate at a bulalohan just a jeepney ride away from our place. the name of the establishment is R and J Bulalo. nothing fancy, its just like any other place that serve the kind of stuff. open air, videoke... expect to see it convert to a drinking place by night. what separates it from other bulalo places is its walls--its littered with pictures of local celebrities who frequent the place, or have eaten there once. marketing strategy : get snapshots of stars and have them sign on cartolinas, post it on your walls so your place gets a different kind of shimmer. as we were having lunch i can't help but say hi to iwa moto, wendell ramos, boy abunda, kris aquino and a slew of others from both kapuso and kapamilya networks. reminded me of matutina restaurant in our province who has as its endorser the one and the only gloria macapagal arroyo lang naman... hayup! the food was ok. for just Php 150 each, the set meal we got included bulalo; an inihaw bilao consisting of chicken, pork, beef, and hito; an itty-bitty seaweed salad, and a pitcher of iced tea. with all that, we got our tummies filled to the brim. hehehe.

how about this week? i dunno. i've a thing coming this week that i know will not fall under the "meeting friends" category. sigh. and it gives me the shivers, just by thinking about it. i may choose to write about it, or i may not. whatever it is, just wish me luck, that this week pass in my favor. cryptic gentle, its so not you.

snippets from a cluttered mind

3:06 AM

Why is the male waiter at the Jollibee branch i frequent named Fely? Curious, curious thing. I saw him again this evening while i was ordering yum with TLC; and the nametag i saw from afar just shouts, "Fely"!

What was the commotion in the streets all about? There were cops, tanods, and bystanders when i looked out from the balcony at around 2:45 in the morning while i was typing away, roused from deep thought by all the noise outside. Not safe to make usi. Go back inside and lock your door, gentle.

What is it gonna be this morning? sit ups and push ups, cardio-dance, or both?

Hmmm. Spanish sardines with skyflakes. I can't wait to eat breakfast!

Why am i still awake? Hmmm..must be the caffeine working. But i didn't take coffee! It was herbal tea, remember? Cashier at coffee bean and tea leaf said herbal teas don't have caffeine in them. Well, must be premier jitters, then. Sleep now, gentle. Time to rest.

4:10 AM

Edit this one tomorrow, not now. Stop fidgeting. Baaad, gentle, baad!!