Monday, July 24, 2006
singular
“pasensya na po sa abala.”
“sige sige, parepareho lang tayo sa mundo.”
These were the last words that the Kunduktor said to the man beggar as he alighted from the bus. I was behind him, waiting patiently as he slowly went down. He has a nerve or muscle related problem. His knees and arms shook as he moved, his eyes firmly locked at the path he wishes to tread, his mind unsure if he can make it back to the curb.
He introduced himself as a former bus driver. He slowly walked around the bus asking for help. I gave him some cash, so did some of the passengers. Others did not notice the man; I guess apathy kills more than we will ever know.
When I gave him my alms, he looked me straight in the eye and whispered:
“Diyos na ang bahala sayo.”
I gave him my poker face and acted as if I didn’t hear a word. Inside, my heart bleeds.
In the end, if you really want to think morbidly about it, what the Kunduktor said was true: parepareho lang tayo sa mundo. From the rich folk of condos and gated subdivisions, to the middleclass to the poor of the shanties: we will all leave the earth someday. We will all laugh and cry, fight and retreat, crawl, walk and crawl again, and in the end, the sum of our actions decides our destiny. We are all bound by a singular fate: the final test to know if whether we are worthy of paradise or its counterpart.
On a bus, a helpless man asks for help. He says “diyos na ang bahala sa inyo” when you give of whatever you can spare.
And if you don’t give even if you have:
“Diyos na ang bahala sa inyo.”
...
curiosity killed the cat: www.insuranceandnews.com
Thursday, July 20, 2006
bread
I always thought that everyone she sold food to hated her.
The first time I took notice of the vendor by the MRT Edsa Ayala bus stop was when she was ardently coercing a jeepney driver to buy more than he needed. The poor guy wanted to get “Suman” from the lady and he wanted two pieces and due to a steady stream of convincing on the vendors part, the dude went away with four.
The lady just shoved the extra 2 “Sumans” down the loose pockets of the jeepney driver’s vest.
This would be the reason why I though that all her customers hated her. Then one day I found myself buying bread from the lady.
“magkano po?”, I said while pointing.
“quatro.”
“dalawa ho”
The lady looked at the three pieces of bread. Here we go.
“kunin mo na lahat.”
Then she flashed the sweetest smile you could imagine in a 1 kilometer radius. The fat lady, with her glass eye, short cut hair and thick sun kissed skin was on the charm offensive.
“sige na ho. akin na lahat.”
I always thought that everyone she sold food to hated her. As it turns out, everyone hated her and loved her all at the same time.
…
curiosity killed the cat: www.godchecker.com
Friday, July 14, 2006
film review: So Close
The best thing about bus movies is when they start as you sit down. And the best thing about this is when the movie you chance upon kicks off with a bang. Okay, here’s the low down of So Close in 50 words or less:
Lin and Sue are cute and sexy assassin sisters. They kill someone but then theI know I know. What a vague 50 words or less nut shell. But hey, seriously, with movies like this, you don’t really look at the plot. It’s the action scenes that you gun for pure and simple. But then please consider the three things that I will point out below as the main elements that make So Close such a wonderful chic-keng-fwoo-film:
criminals who hire them want to kill them too. Then there’s this chic cop who
wants to bring them in. In the end, the sisters, with the help of the chic cop,
kill their pursuers.
the watch. look at yours. it’s downright pathetic compared to the watch worn by one of the assassin sisters. watch the movie to really know why.
surveillance manipulation. Big Brother don’t know shit. a backgrounder is in order: some dude invented a way of hacking into any surveillance camera on earth which he aptly called (drum roll) World Panorama. He tried selling this invention to the authorities, but was turned down. Suspiciously, the underworld got wind of the World Panorama. They tried to aquire it and when the inventor turned them down, he got, killed. The dude is the dad of the two chic assassins whose brutal killing they witness when they were young. this is how scars are made.
imagine such crazy power: you can hack into any surveillance camera. you can mess with any video surveillance system. you can knock on big borthers house, ask to see the dude and say: you don’t know shit.
“everybody loves kung fu fighting!” – carl douglas / 1974. yeah. kung fu fighting chicks rock. there’s a reason why Tomb Raider made it so big despite having a girl lead, and its because guys love girls who can fend for themselves. with So Close, the girls kick ass and they do it with so much motherly mercy: instead of beating the crap and shooting a bad guy in a fatal area, they beat the crap and shoot the bad guy in the leg. it’s kung fu love at its finest.
So Close is a good bus film, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. pretty Chinitas who can kick ass. It’s a no brainer my friend.
