WELL, CONSIDERING THE FACT I’M GONNA BE IN LAS VEGAS ON NEW YEAR'S EVE (I'm leavin' tomorrow)...let me give a recap on 2001 today:

First of all, what a year it’s been. Obviously, the September 11 attacks top the highlights of what took place in the first official year of the 21st century. The New York Yankees finally lost in the World Series after winning 3 titles in a row (LIKE they don’t have enough titles already), Pearl Harbor wasn’t as good as people thought it’d be, and NASA successfully puts a space probe in orbit around Mars after 2 back-to-back failures in 1999. THAT, and the Lakers win back-to-back titles last June…despite a turbulent year with that feud between the Big Aristotle (aka Shaquille O’Neal) and Michael Jordan’s true heir (aka Kobe Bryant). THAT, and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan is kaput thanks to the U.S. helping rebels whup their fanatical ass. But Osama Bin Hidin’ is most likely still alive-- Bastard. And lastly, the Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl. Of course, it’s all about the Rams or the Raiders…two former Los Angeles teams. Mostly it’s all about the Rams.

Personally, this year was pretty much a downer for me. I actually grew very cynical and jaded after Denise told me she had a boyfriend, and also, when another girl I used to like in high school indicated to me through a conversation on AOL Instant Messenger how scandalous ladies can be sometimes, or most of the time. I even grew very resentful of people I knew personally who was with someone (my friends included), and even wondered if there was ONE girl out there who didn’t freakin’ have a boyfriend. Yup yup, this year personally sucked.

On the plus side, I managed to write four full-length screenplays this year….the Hard-Cores trilogy (all 3 scripts are 120 pages) and a separate spin-off story (95 pages) to that plot-line. Of course, if you asked me what the story is, you’re gonna be in the dark—since the stories were inspired by personal events that took place earlier this year (specifically, Denise saying she’s spoken for and an interesting night where I chilled with 4 of my friends while they hot-boxed one of my friends’ car!)--causing a real narrative to pretty much be absent from my scripts. Ewan McGregor’s character Curt Wilde remarked in Velvet Goldmine…"real art isn’t based on personal experiences." My scripts can be Neo-Realist films, so SCREW YOU!

Looking forward to 2002, there ARE a couple of things to look forward to…in areas non-romance related. For starters, and in non-chronological order, Episode 2 comes out in May. And second, Spider-Man comes out 2 weeks before Episode 2 does. Third, the Lakers attempt their 3-peat beginning in April…and NASA resumes construction on the International Space Station. Yea, I’m a science guy. Haha! UGH. Oh yea…The Two Towers, the second installment to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, comes out in Winter of 2002. Hopefully, around the time of TTT’s release, Bin Laden will finally be discovered as being blasted to bits by U.S. smart bombs or finally being captured by American or British Special Forces while performing a sex act on an Al Queda male buddy. Whatever.

Anyways, that’s it for now. Here’s hoping next year is better than this year. Either that, or you can call me Cynical Man besides Parman. Or Cynical Boi besides Punkboi. Or Grumpy bastard besides Richard. The list goes on-and-on...

Merry Christmas, everyone!!! Hope all of you have a safe holiday and some kick-@$$ gifts. My family got a new DVD player. See how behind on American luxury, we are???

Woohoo, can't wait till Scary Movie 3—Episode 1: Lord of the Brooms comes out next year. It's gonna be a big blockbuster!!!




Disturbing news courtesy of TheForce.Net.

I saw Lord of the Rings again today (one of my brothers wanted to see it) and just wanted to point out that Sean Astin's character IS Frodo's biatch and Cate Blanchett's scenes are a total waste of time...unless Frodo DOES use that bottle that she gave to him in any of the next two LOTR installments. Too bad I won't know till Christmas 2002, not that I'm actually looking forward to THAT epic film, but another one that comes out 7 months before it.



If you don't know what other epic film I'm talking about, then you obviously haven't read my past journal entries.

Well, I saw Lord of the Rings with my friends today and needless to say...it was a great film but NO Star Wars. What I mean by this is that at 2 hours and 58 minutes, you don't know when the movie is gonna end unless you check your watch. Not to say there were a lot of boring scenes or anything, there WEREN'T. But at least you know when The Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi are gonna end because every SW film has a big battle sequence and a nice John Williams music number at the end. With Lord of the Rings, you get an action scene that you think is gonna mark the end of the film--but then you have several minutes of dialogue, then action again, then dialogue... LOTR doesn't look like it has the same ability to draw repeated viewing by the same moviegoers that the SW films did. ALSO, Rings has very few memorable dialogue (By now you can tell I'm an elitist SW fan, haha).

Also, I like the mythology that George Lucas created a lot better, although J.R.R. Tolkien definitely created an awesome universe for LOTR. But that's another thing, with Star Wars, you ALSO have magic (the Force), you have monsters, you have wierd-looking creatures, and you have cool villians that wear black cloaks (Darth Maul as opposed to the Ringwraiths). Yet, in Star Wars you also have SPACE TRAVEL (duhhh, STAR Wars)--which makes visualizing being in the universe that Lucas created more adventurous than the one Tolkien created. I find it much more exciting imagining myself being in a lone X-Wing starfighter flying through space than being in a small boat going down a river on a trip to Mt. Doom or whatever that volcano is called in Rings. But it's all good. LOTR was a well-down film (despite the fact the death of a major character had its impact diminished by the fact he was still alive and talking incessantly even with THREE ARROWS shot into him). I'd probably watch it one more time at the theater...then see it on DVD.

So Lord of the Rings is being called this millennium's Star Wars, huh (but only better)? We'll see. Independence Day was called "Star Wars for the new generation" back when it came out in 1996...and look what happened. Are people still talking about it? Remember, the visionaries for Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are the books' authors (J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling), not the directors (Peter Jackson and Chris Columbus, as gifted as they are). Which means the real phenomenon occurred with the books themselves. George Lucas is the visionary behind Star Wars itself...not a director trying to be faithful to a popular piece of literature. If Lord of the Rings gets really good word of mouth and makes lots of pocket change (which Harry Pothead, err Potter has done so far)...then you can say it is this millenium's so-and-so. Before then, let's not get our hopes up.

One other thing: LOTR also needs cheesy yet memorable dialogue to be like Star Wars, like "May the Force be with you," "The Force will be with you always," "I am your father" (okay, that one isn't cheesy), and "I was going to go to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters!" Nuff said.


Okay, I'll admit that these Sith Lord-looking dudes (Ringwraiths) look cool:

Although I said I already forgot about her since the semester ended last week, I paid Sandra a visit at the Main Library after I had to go to Long Beach yesterday to drop off the final project for my Production Management class. She's gonna be shelving books at the library throughout Winter Break. Worse yet, she's taking a class during the Winter session, and do you know who her instructor is gonna be? The same dude / bastard / loser / punkass who taught our Audio Operations class and my Film History course last semester. Automatic 'C' right there.

Just wanted to point out that I saw Not Another Teen Movie last Friday. Not as funny as I thought it'd be...but it sure had quite a couple of scenes with gratuitous nudity in it! The chick who is supposed to be like Shannon Elizabeth's Nadia from the American Pie films showed her, uh, bare skin in every scene she was in during the film. And Joy Bisco from The Debut was featured a lot too.

Today, I saw the new full-length trailer to next May's Spider-Man movie...and needless to say: COOL. But Attack of the Clones is still my favorite movie for 2002 since I wanna see it for the film itself. Spider-Man is gonna rock, hopefully, but I'm mostly eager to watch it cuz my two friends and I are suppose to be extras in the World Unity Festival sequence (some scenes from this sequence were shown in the trailer).

Wow, at the very last minute, ALL is well in my college universe again.

I was just exiting the film building where I took my last exam in (for Production Management) when I ran into Denise as she was walking to her art class to turn in her main portfolio. We had a short conversation, and redeeming myself from Monday, I didn't bring up the e-mail thing...since I WON'T e-mail her at all this winter break. But I feel good right now. Kinda funny how this rekindles the memory of 12/13/00 (WOOHOO, THREE consecutive journal entries dealing with that day). A sentimental bastard, I am (in Yoda's voice).

UPDATE: Come to think of it...is it really redeeming that I'm no longer in the position to e-mail Denise? Frankly, that is just SAD. For me that is.

Three finals down, one more to go. Actually, one final down, one more to go...since two of my other classes were taught by the same teacher (the bastard who gave me a low grade on the term paper) and he's too damn lazy to type up exams for Audio Operations and Film History. I was supposed to have an exam for Film History last night, but that one was called off (meaning I was studying at school the whole day for nothing). And I was suppose to have an exam for my Audio class at 12:30 PM on Monday, and that one was called off. Meaning the only class I had a final in so far was my Critical Study of Film course. And that one was kinda hard...the test was nothing but ESSAYS. Anyways, about my last exam, it starts at 8 AM tomorrow...meaning I have to wake up, like 5:30 to get dressed up and stuff. Not that tomorrow is the last time I'm going to Long Beach before the start of next Semester in late January--I have to go to school on Monday before 5 PM to turn in my Production Management project. [sarcasm] Woohoo!! [/sarcasm]

Anyways (again), on a sentimental note: time to blab ONCE MORE about Denise!! Today marks one year since I bought her that Christmas card...oblivious to the fact she's already been spoken for. Like I said in the last entry, this memory is spoiled by her abruptly walking away when I ran into her on Monday. How time's changed. There's a REASON why Denise continues to be on my mind...and I blame one of my brothers for that. He suggested some cool item to me that he bought from Fry's Electronics in Anaheim a few weeks before the semester ended, and that tempted me to buy it so I could use it on that day of the Geology exam last year. I'm not going to tell you what it is--but let's just say that other girl Sandra already disappeared from my thoughts because I didn't use this thingamajig as a means to remember her by. And if this last sentence sounds VAGUE--it's cause I wrote it this way on purpose. (I've been good at sounding vague lately!)

....
....

On a totally different note, whoever invented pen cameras should be dragged out onto the street and shot.

Wow, I think this is the first time she intentionally dissed me in person. I ran into Denise today, and everything was going all coo at first--we each talked about our first final exam, how it went, and some stuff--and then I brought up if she still used Hotmail for her e-mail account. She said YES...and I said we should e-mail during winter break, and what did she do in response? Walk away. No answer or any of that crap. Just walk away. Surprised, I just said bye and she said BYE while just walking towards the Main Library hundreds of feet away, her back turned against me.

Now, overlooking the fact I am SHOCKED AND APPALLED (guess which Simpsons character I quoted that from), that doesn't come as a surprise. The last time we e-mailed...it was a little less than 2 weeks after she didn't return my phone call last July. Although she was cool every time I ran into her this semester (4 encounters in all, for Fall '01 alone ), apparently she wasn't going to be so polite if I dared bring that up the e-mailing thing again. Actually, she was the one who said we should e-mail again last May--but this time; things have changed. So I'm pretty sure I'd be taking a big risk if I decide to e-mail her this break. I could try--but either she won't reply or I won't have to think if I was dissed or not next time. ARG. Oh well. The funny thing is, I left the Main Library just to see if I'd run into her at the building I saw her at last time (math building: LA-5)...and I did. So I would've been too busy contemplating about PERFECT TIMING hadn't it been for me screwing things up at the last minute. Oh well again.

UPDATE: Oh yea, this also takes away from the memory of events last year, in the Geology lab.

UPDATE #2: And can't you just hear Usher's 'You Got It Bad' as you read my entry?

Well...the fall semester at Long Beach State is about to come to an end next week and I just wanted to point out that there was a girl who was very much like Denise (I know, GET OVER HER!!!) whom I talked to during this half of the year. She's very pretty...she's Taiwanese and moved here to the U.S. after high school (NO, she's definitely not fobbish)...and she's graduating from LBSU next Spring. Her name is...well, let's call her Sandra (her real American name is close to this...in that it starts with an 'S' too, haha).

Yesterday, Sandra and I were working on a project for one of our film classes (Audio Production) when we got to know a lot of things about each other while being holed up inside a lab room for a couple of hours (we were the only ones in the room, heheh). First of all, unlike the mistake I made last year with Denise--I immediately asked Sandra if she has a boyfriend. YES SHE DOES, and he's living in Malaysia right now and they've been together for 4 YEARS. The last time she saw him was during the summer. I'm not all that sad about this (okay, I am. Sort of)...since it wouldn't have been a surprise if she was already taken in the first place, and I was just thinking about how thing's would be if I asked this to Denise last year.

Anyways, where was I? Oh yea, we also asked each other what religion we were--since potential relationships (not gonna happen with me and her! Haha) last longer if the couple are of the same faith.. Unfortunately, she's Christian, and I'm Catholic. And her boyfriend's an athiest (for reals!). She goes to a church in Cerritos...and I go to a church in--nah, don't wanna give out info concerning me. She said she'd want her boyfriend to become Christian once he moves here into the U.S....and that she'll only date Christians if this relationship don't work out. DARN, I can pretend I'm Christian!! Haha. NO. And lastly, her parents are currently in Taiwan...and she's living with her sister in the LBC right now. And the last movie she saw was Training Day.

The last time we're gonna have a class together is next Monday...for our final in Audio Production. I'm not gonna ask her for her e-mail address...since the point of asking Denise for her e-mail address was to get something going with her. Also, I'll most likely see Sandra quite often next semester since she's taking one more film class (all the classes for film are in one building). After this May, she'll be among the countless of people I knew here in LBSU that I'll probably will never see again after the end of this year. Oh well. Who am I kidding? STAY, SANDRA!!!!

Haha.

UPDATE: HAPPY B-DAY, MOM!!

"Your report is a study in vagueness." SAY WHAT???! In my 7pm class last night, I got back two papers that I had to do for a film history class. One was 17-pages and the other a 1-page book report. Needless to day...my teacher is a little strict on grading. In terms of that 17-page paper, my teacher was pretty keen on writing "wasted words" on each of my pages. And APPARENTLY there's more to film noir than I thought--in terms of Historical context and all that sh-t. So what grade did I get on that paper? Out of 100: 2 X 5 - 5 X 12 X 1 = ? Solve the equation directly from left to right. And the book report? Out of 50: 8 X 5 + 0 - 8 = ? ARG!! Does that mean I actually have to study for them finals?? PUNKASS!!! Comes to show you that it's better to have a dick of a teacher who's not that strict in grading than a cool teacher who's a biatch in grading. ARG!


Also: This is the same teacher for my Audio Production class (mentioned above). I pretty much bombed the project I was working on with Sandra.

21 Reasons Why Star Wars Is Better Than Titanic

1) Titanic's big, but it doesn't have hyperdrive.

2) Star Wars has WAY cooler action figure potential.

3) Yoda could use the Force to lift Titanic out of the water.

4) Leia is a princess, a senator, a freedom fighter, and Jedi material; Rose is just marriage bait.

5) Ewoks throw better parties than either first class or steerage.

6) When flying towards the Titanic, X-wing pilot Wedge Antilles can't say "Look at the size of that thing!" and really mean it.

7) It would be much scarier to get chased around the boat by a raving madman with a lightsaber as opposed to a handgun.

8) Titanic is egalitarian by portraying poor people as sympathetic characters. Star Wars is egalitarian by promoting bug-eyed amphibians to Admiral (Admiral Ackbar of Return of the Jedi).

9) Said bug-eyed amphibious Admiral manages NOT to lose his ship.

10) We know Cal is the bad guy because he sneers at the poor and treats his fiancee like property. We know Darth Vader is the bad guy because he strangles people and blows up planets for fun.

11) Yeah, Leo can dance, but can he fly an X-wing?

12) People have not lost their lives trying to recreate scenes from Star Wars on the bow of a cruise liner. (PARMAN: Never heard about those incidents before )

13) Rose braves icy water to rescue her man. Leia braves Jabba the Hutt.

14) Two words: John Williams.

15) There are always enough escape pods in Star Wars.

16) Do you know what the Empire does to self-proclaimed "kings of the world"?

17) If Luke were handcuffed to a pipe below decks in a sinking ship, he would use the Force to get the key.

18) "I'd rather be his whore than your wife" just doesn't have the same sting as "I'd rather kiss a Wookiee."

19) Han is frozen in carbonite and turned into a wall ornament. Leo simply freezes.

20) We knew the boat was gonna sink. But who could've anticipated "Luke... I am your father"?

21) Han Solo would've missed the dang iceberg!

Courtesy of TheForce.Net

Today, I saw the war film Behind Enemy Lines. Cool film...if you want a jingoistic flick that shows Americans kicking Serbian rear-ends in Bosnia. USA! USA! USA!

I also wanted to point out that I ran into Denise in a school hallway as I was heading to my 2 PM class today. The encounter was an amicable one.

"Fox was the primetime master on Sunday as its world TV premiere airing of "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" blew away the competition on the final Sunday of the November sweep. Fox's 7-10 p.m. airing of "Phantom Menace" averaged 17.6 million viewers and 7.9 rating/18 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. Fox won the night in adults 18-34, teens and other key young demos. "Phantom Menace" opened up with a solid 14.4 million viewers and 6.4/17 in the demo at 7 p.m., peaking from 9-9:30 p.m. with 19.4 million viewers and 8.7/19 in adults 18-49." Apparently the rise in viewership during the latter half of the film can be attributed to a kick-ass lightsaber duel between two Jedis and one tattoo-faced Sith Lord.


SCREENCAPTURES courtesy of TheForce.Net

Rest mouse arrow on pictures to read my witty captions...for one of them, at least

Yesterday, I watched the Robert Redford/Brad Pitt film Spy Games. Cool movie! If it wasn't for the prowess of Redford's CIA character, Pitt's character would've been in deep (feces) in that Chinese prison...not to spoil the movie for you, of course. I also want to watch Black Hawk Down and Behind Enemy Lines. Nothing beats showing that American pride post-Sept. 11th than watching movies that deal with the U.S. Special Forces and the regular military. 'Nuff said.

Well, I'm like a week late with this...but I saw Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on opening day. Did I like it? Well, let's just say I'm not giving it as much credit as it deserves since freakin' AMC theater (where I watched it), didn't show the full-length teaser trailer to Episode 2 before it (which it was suppose to, according to the Official Site). Obviously, AMC (as well as Edwards Cinema) did not want Star Wars fans to buy tickets (yes, SW fans are that obsessive) just to see the trailer...and prevent regular moviegoers from actually watching Harry Potter. Oh well. I downloaded the trailer to my computer the night before Potter came out--but it sure wouldn't have hurt to see it on the big screen. Anyways, I'm NOT about to watch the Jet Li wannabe-Matrix film, The One (which AMC put the Episode 2 trailer in front of), just to catch the preview. I'll just stick to watching the trailer over-and-over on my comp, thankyouverymuch.

On Friday, I watched Monsters, Inc...and needless to say, I liked it. Along with the short Pixar film that preceded it.


But what I really wanted to say was that the teaser trailer for Attack of the Clones kicked ass--despite the fact it was hella short. Not surprisingly, though, people clapped before and after the trailer was shown, and were quiet during the preview as new Star Wars movie images passed by (QUICKLY) on the big screen. So which scenes from the trailer stood out the most? Let's see...

- Natalie Portman looking GOOD as Padme in the first scene of the preview

- Several clone children going about their business inside a classroom

- Jango Fett's Slave One blasting away at an unseen target while flying through an asteroid field (actually the rings surrounding a new SW planet called Geonosis)

- Obi-Wan floating above a ray of light inside a cave (he's captured by enemy forces on Geonosis)

- THOUSANDS of clonetroopers boarding a transport ship (most likely the final scene in the film)

- A glimpse of the water world Kamino

- The glimpse of Yoda...who is COMPUTER GENERATED in this film

and last, but not least:

- Jango Fett flying in the air in a scene that takes place on Kamino

This trailer was tight...but the real one doesn't come out till 2 weeks from now, when Harry Potter is released.

Lakers are hot, Wizards are not. So far, that is. Yesterday, the 2001-'02 NBA season opened...with the Lakers beating the Portland Trailblazers, 98-87 after receiving their rings during an 11-minute ceremony at STAPLES Center. On the East Coast, Michael Jordan scored 19 points in Washington's 93-91 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. And the Clippers, not surprisingly, lost to the San Antonio Spurs 109-98 at the Alamo Dome. But it's all gravy. If the Clippers lost to the likes of the Cleveland Cavaliers, then that would be different. The season is young.

BTW, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Just wanted to point out that the official SW site today announced that a short teaser trailer for Episode 2 will be shown before Monsters, Inc. starting this Friday. The trailer was actually talked about on a fan site two weeks ago...with the teaser involving clips of Attack of the Clones being shown as Darth Vader's famous breathing can be heard in the background. Sounds pretty cool, but things get even cooler when Harry Potter comes out in a few weeks...since the full-length teaser trailer is rumored to appear before that film.

I haven't read any of the Harry Potter novels, but most likely I'll see the film...and you know why.

Apparently, I have to go to the main library at school on Tuesday nights to see Denise. I ran into her after the workshop today--and just looking at her makes me even more annoyed that she could be taken by someone. Oh well. She was with her brother, who is the only other guy (so far) I've seen her hang around with (obviously, it's her brother!)...besides me.


UPDATE: The beginning of a conversation I had today on AOL Instant Messenger:

CoRollaPnOy: Hi *******
Girl: I want to suck your c--k
Girl: oh my gosh
CoRollaPnOy: huh?
Girl: wrong im

The rest of the conversation wasn't as..."porn-y". But as one of my friends said: that's what I call "impeccable timing!" I wonder who she was cybering with?

Last Friday, I watched The Debut at the local AMC theater. It is the first Filipino-American film to be released commercially! Before the film started, one of the movie's producers stood before the audience to tell us about the making of the film as well as how important it was in terms of representing Pinoys and Pinays in the American film market (my words, not his). He also stated that they needed as many people as possible to watch the film or else AMC was gonna pull the movie out by this Thursday! So I say to you, my Asian and non-Asian friends: go to the theater right away and watch The Debut!!! Sure, it's only playing at 8 theaters right now (I think all of them in Cali)...so drive to the closest one if you can!!! All right then, that's my contribution to Filipino cinema...


Of course, if The Debut's filmmakers really want to attract moviegoers...try to meet George Lucas in person and persuade him to show the Episode 2 trailer on that film only on the release date (YEA, like that's gonna happen). Speaking of which, I bought the Episode 1 DVD last Tuesday. Now all I need is a DVD player to watch it with.

I had another workshop for my film class today, and guess who I ran into at the computer lab at the main campus library? Yup...Denise. It was kinda funny though. The minute I saw her, I knew it was her--and I immediately walked up to her--which supports the fact that the Denise wannabe I saw a couple of weeks ago at the bench next to West Campus Drive wasn't her at all. As my motto goes, I'll recognize a person when I see 'im, or 'er. What was even funnier was that I approached Denise AT ALL...considering there's some bad blood between us--what with her not returning my phone call last July and me talking trash about her on Blogspot and all. Oh well. She hid her disdain, and I hid mine. Of course, if I really DID have disdain, why would I approach her? Anyways, I also ran into the girl I talked to a lot in my Geology lecture class. Kinda funny how I'd run into two girls who were in the same course (Geology lab and lecture) I was taking during the Fall semester last year. Anyways, that's it for now. Maybe I'll run into Denise again in the workshop next Tuesday too. God forbid...just kidding.

AMERICA STRIKES BACK... In case some of you didn't hear yet, American forces have finally begun an attack on Afghanistan. The airstrikes are aimed to destroy air defenses before humanitarian aid can be air dropped to the starving Afghan population. U.S. officials says 50 cruise missiles, 15 bombers (including B-2 stealth bombers) and 25 strike aircraft, both sea and land-based, have been employed. Last I heard, the strikes are described as being in early stages, with the operation lasting till sunrise in Afghanistan. More air attacks are suppose to take place over the next few days.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday tooo Parman, happy birthday to me! I'm 22-freakin' years old today, woohoo. BTW, gotta love the conceit (and extreme lameness) in the birthday song before this.