Anthology of the S(er)pent Virgin

George Lucas and Problem of promoting "Red Tails (2012)"

xenia_chloe — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:17:21 GMT

Originally posted by weber_dubois22 at George Lucas and Problem of promoting "Red Tails (2012)"

In an appearance on The Daily Show last night, George Lucas said that he had trouble getting funding for his new movie, "Red Tails," because of its black cast.

"This has been held up for release since 1942 since it was shot, I've been trying to get released ever since," Lucas quipped to Jon Stewart. "It's because it's an all-black movie. There's no major white roles in it at all...I showed it to all of them and they said no. We don't know how to market a movie like this."

"Red Tails," which stars Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Terrence Howard, is based on the Tuskegee Airmen, the group of pioneering black pilots who fought in the United States' segregated armed forces during World War II. The movie is directed by Anthony Hemingway, the rare black director getting a chance to direct a big-budget feature.

Last week, Lucas told USA Today that he was worried that if Red Tails was a failure, it could have negative repercussions for black filmmakers. "I realize that by accident I've now put the black film community at risk [with Red Tails, whose $58 million budget far exceeds typical all-black productions]," he said. "I'm saying, if this doesn't work, there's a good chance you'll stay where you are for quite a while. It'll be harder for you guys to break out of that [lower-budget] mold. But if I can break through with this movie, then hopefully there will be someone else out there saying let's make a prequel and sequel, and soon you have more Tyler Perrys out there."

SOURCE

Songs from Skins US

xenia_chloe — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 16:04:09 GMT

While I may not like the US version of the series so much, it did help some more unknown acts. I'm bookmarking this song here.

Luzon Truck Service & Delivery : Rolling Stones Trucking Company

xenia_chloe — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:52:01 GMT

Have I told you that my dad Reggie Villanueva owns a trucking company?

Anyhoots, he does. It's called Rolling Stones Trucking.

His fleet delivers goods all over Luzon.
We even delivered some PCOS machines last May. Awesome, right?

Call Malou Villanueva (my aunt) at (02)719-4273 for inquiries.

On snatchers: a warning

xenia_chloe — Wed, 19 May 2010 07:52:33 GMT

Nowadays, it seems that some snatchers will also call your contacts to try to ransom your sim or phone from them.

This happened to me when my friend Nikko's phone got stolen. Because her phone is post-paid, she doesn't actually need a new sim and her contact can be restored, for free.

So, my sleepy gentry self said, upon realizing who they were and what they wanted, "Ah, so kayo yung nagnakaw ng phone ng kaibigan ko? Hindi na nya kailangan yung sim --"

Ask me anything

xenia_chloe — Wed, 19 May 2010 07:44:41 GMT

"Are you laughing more than you did before?"

-- Once, again, I find myself in the wichitarecordings youtube channel.

Exhilaration Plantation

xenia_chloe — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:49:08 GMT

It's summer again. Last summer, I went through a rollercoaster of emotions. I also went ziplining and swimming with whale sharks.

Now, it's just blah. Friends and family don't have any plans yet.

I badly need to get out of the city or do something out of the ordinary. Jump off a cliff. Cut something to pieces. Take a random bus to a beach. Get away from html codes. Get published (!!!) Be seen. Be heard.

If no one will come with me, I think I'll go by myself. I've sorta done this before when I went on a day-trip to Laguna.

My fear about that is that I might get too emo/drunk/crazy while on the solitary trip.

Anyway, in the meantime, I've finally created it, a new blog to document all my adventures, attempts to entertain myself, my articles in other places, art work, psuedo glitterati moments.

Of course, I'll confine my sappy happy feeling and cryptic self here. Lucky lucky LJ.

So yeah, lay-outing pending finalization, I present Exhilaration Plantation.

News

xenia_chloe — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:48:19 GMT

I learned that the problem with Young Adult and Children's Literature in the Philippines is not that no one reads; it's that no one writes. So, yes, friends, we can do this. We can write YA Lit.

The truth is there is actually a big market for novels for high school kids. Hello, Twilight, only better, hopefully.

This, according to my friend Tarie who helped facilitate a talk with Cindy Gourlay (Tall Story) and the editors at Cacho Publishing.

Link to come, when she's posted it in her blog already.

In cooking news, I can now bake a chicken mushroom casserole and make Kitsune Udon. Take that Top Chef Masters.

I need to go to the beach with friends or something. I hope that pre-election Nueva Ecija trip pushes through. (Haha espionage action and suspense!!!)

In work news, I feel a) vindicated and b) like this song:

Love Poem

xenia_chloe — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:19:25 GMT

There is always something to be made of pain.
Your mother knits.
She turns out scarves in every shade of red.
They were for Christmas, and they kept you warm
while she married over and over, taking you
along. How could it work,
when all those years she stored her widowed heart
as though the dead come back.
No wonder you are the way you are,
afraid of blood, your women
like one brick wall after another.

-- Louise Glück

Belated Happy V-Day all!!!!

Moonlight-ing

xenia_chloe — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:55:28 GMT

This month has seen the sun in Aquarius and the full moon in Leo. Apart from "Do not be afraid to learn something new or to be different" in full bloom, what does this suppose to mean?

************
Why have I been obsessed with jobs lately? And earning money, even if it's like a drug that kills me and I'm screaming "Make it stop! Please make it stop."

Maybe, its Aquarius and Leo talking.

************
Why do I always feel so distant? Work makes me feel especially distant. I feel like the low-energy makes me unable to handle all sorts of friends. (Yeah, that's the sad part.)

************
I have to paint again.

************
Some notes from my family:

If you're mad at your cheating husband, break up with them. Don't see a witch doctor.
If you're seeing things and you insist that these things are making you sick, your sickness probably has to do with blood poisoning.
Don't be such a Luddite.
Remember to hop-off away from side of the motorbike that's got the exhaust pipe. If not, you may get burned.
When Forex is offline, you can go to BDO to get a cash remittance.

************
Some people are coming over.

The Late (Yes, late) New Year Post

xenia_chloe — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:12:56 GMT

Anais Nin says, We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.

My New Year post came so late because, I didn't want to join in on the January 1 New Year posts.
Also, I was trying to live that holiday transition as much as I could, staying away from the PC and actually being with people.

I remember saying last New Year's that 2009 better give me something great (because my 2008 was awesome.)

I guess it gave everyone all it had. Though mostly terrible, it was all great and I will never forget.
Can anyone ever forget?

The last months of the year were particularly good for me. Reuniting with old friends (from high school, grade school and the ever present college friends), getting understood by some people in my family (tear.tear), spending Christmas with cousins and siblings killing zombies with peashooters and also finding some second wind to plan my life and keep pushing for poetry, money and what not. I've been painting again too, after seven years. I'm also thinking about starting a new Blogspot or Wordpress for these public plans. Keep sappy LJ private for secret hearts only.

Here's some photos of December, to anyone I imagine wants to see.

In December Drinking Horchata

xenia_chloe — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:30:53 GMT

Hmm Brittany Murphy died at age 32 yesterday. Another layer on the 2009 cake of death. (I'll miss her for Clueless and Sin City and Faster Kill Pussycat, and even The Little Black Book).

I don't want think about what Anais Nin would say about 2009 yet because Anais Nin is reserved for the New Year. I will also wait 'til then to post my Facebook status message collage.

I will, however, say that I did look forward to December as this month of wild rumpuses with friends.

In some ways, it didn't disappoint. (There was Juju's birthday, after all. That was fun, and enlightening on the subjects of mass delusions, twin ESP, hired Gossip Girl operations on someone's love life and hitching a ride from strangers.)

Lantern parade was quiet but still intoxicated and heartwarming. I did get to see Sheena and Gab and Nefer and Dayot and Anj and Pallon and Kevin, all of whom, I haven't seen in real life (IRL) for some time now. And then Valerie slept over after more drinks with Me, Myka and Mary. (Hmmm, to link them all now or later?)

There's also my recent tear-jerking moments and arguments with my mom when after years of being taught, I had to unlearn that I am not evil nor am I an inadequate offspring.

The theme for this supposed wild rumpus is Horchata by Vampire Weekend:

In December drinking horchata
I'd look psychotic in a balaclava
Winter's cold is too much to handle
Pincher crabs that pinch at your sandals

Here comes a feeling you thought you'd forgotten
to sit and sidewalks to walk on

The song still works, though. (Despite what happened or didn't happen to me and my friends this month and despite what people say about Vampire Weekend.)

Here it is from Youtube. I couldn't find a music file with an embed code because apparently, MySpace bought Imeem earlier this month. (Maybe we can call this an icing swirl on the cake of death. The death of Imeem.)

Questions to be answered:

to create a new blogspot or to not? *shrugs*
What does MEW stand for?(As in the Danish dreampop band MEW)
poetry submissions

Happy Holidays all.

Tawkin' Smack (Or what's a better title? Who cares?)

xenia_chloe — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:35:57 GMT

Writing has been swift, lately. Maybe it's the painting that helps. (Sandy was right.)

This non-Google centric language is back in the swing of things, I guess.

To break from what you see on TV and Facebook and Twitter everyday, let me just share how the nerdy poetry and language geek in me has been doing.

I went to Valerie's fund raising for Maya-maya at Conspiracy and the taxi driver asked,
"Ano ba ang conspiracy? Iba ba yun sa connivance?" *smiley smiley. * We spent the whole ride knit-picking about it.

My brother Odin bought a Twilight book and a copy of The Giver. He's 13 and he thinks Twilight is a bust compared to the other books he's reading. There ya go. Straight from the mouth of babes.

I re-read The Giver and got into the whole accuracy of language thing again. The word love is almost obsolete, the book says. (Must buy sequels Messenger and Gathering Blue.)

Incidentally, I can has new poem. And its about recent events and yes, language too.

P.S.
The movie 2012 tanks.

3

xenia_chloe — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:56:02 GMT

And justice to the victims of the Maguindanao Massacre.
Pretty annoyed at people in my network who play Cafe World on Facebook and don't even know what this is about. And people who keep saying "IDK, I don't know," about anything. It's not a mantra. If you don't know, find out. Google it.

I realized again how fun it is to drink with cousins. I know how to put subtitles on Video now. Huzzah. That and I got a hair cut.

On a note on creative pursuits, Revise, revise, revise.

(Photos from learntarot.com, fotosearch.com & hskdesign.net)

What Happens Between Days

xenia_chloe — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:59:14 GMT

I've had days of staying up late for no reason at all. Sometimes, we find things to talk about on plurk or through text or face to face. It feels like a privilege to see how days transition.

We finally moved to my dad's new house, in speaking of transitions. Us four elder siblings have our own rooms. Mine is cream and orange. Thing is, there are carpenters who sleep and work at our house still. There is still the sawdust and the smell of paint and the hammering of strangers. My sister sleeps in my bed still while the her room gets cleaned up. How can one sleep like that?

So I haven't had sleep yet. And I haven't posted any pictures.

A friend says sleep is for the weak. Maybe he's right. (Then again, Jason Bourne said, rest is a weapon. Then again, Ra's al Ghul tells Bruce Wayne that life doesn't wait for until we're rested to attack (or something better phrased.))

I'm thinking about keeping LJ locked and using a tumblr or a blogger or a wordpress to publish my more publishable and public creative/day to day pursuits. I have art work for work now. Maybe that. I don't want to publish poetry though because the web is a dangerous place. And Wifi is a leash, I just want to say. (I found this in SoulPancake, which I've been reading a lot, along with Liberation Theology.)

My former company who kept me contractual for years is offering a senior position. It's interesting - to say the least. (The safest I can publish here.)

I wonder if that discounts my actually leaving them for this company I'm in now, which I like.

I should put in writing more reviews for the movie review blog and watch a play for the stage play review blog.

The sangria and the pizza at Uncle Cheffy's are to die for. I went there with new work friends.

Uhm yeah, that's it for now. Woohoo.

Review: Fairyland by Paul J. McAuley

xenia_chloe — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:47:13 GMT

I spent a four-day weekend at my mom's in Pampanga to avoid typhoon Parma.

There, I finished Fairyland by Paul J. Mcauley last weekend. (I started reading a year ago. Take a hint from that.) The concept of nano biological infections that propagate memes and infest people with belief systems and behavior patterns is what got me to read it. Also, ancient Druid, Greek and Arthurian elements making their way to a future biotechnological dystopia.

This review by Russ Albery, I think, would spare us the trouble and explain it best.

Rather than building a strong story through the whole novel, only certain plot points carry over. I was left wondering why I read all that detailed, heavy plot when only a few results built into an overall story.

...I also had trouble with the episodic feel of the book. The three parts are so separate that it feels almost like a collection of linked novellas; even the large cast mostly resets between parts, carrying over few characters other than Alex and Milena.

Here are covers of the book. The first is of the copy I have, which is from the Future Classics series. The second is the original cover.

Waiting by the Sea

xenia_chloe — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:59:16 GMT

It's been 2 days since my sister woke me up saying the house was waist deep with water.
I was texting friends about how it's Noah's Ark at our house and how the Tiger City of Mandaluyong sucks big time. Later we found out other places in Metro Manila got it much worse.

We decided to walk the waist deep waters to get to my grandmother's condominium unit. Shots of gin offered by friendly neighbors as we went along.

Moments later, we were all dry and online or watching the streets from above. Eating caviar and hot soup. How lucky of us. Yes, I know this. How like a princess.

But the "work" doesn't stop, of course. There is the taking people into account.
Calling friends. Checking disaster maps and looking for her; that poignant green pixie hiding somewhere in the city.

An engine cuts through the wet charcoal rain and I am reminded that this is real.
I lived through it 2 days ago and people are dying on their roof tops still. Some are swimming happily in underpasses cum 'lympic sized swimming pools.

There is a call for solidarity. There is a real "I told you so. You never should have built houses in Provident. Shame on you for spent emergency money on five star restaurants in New York.''

It would hurt if I said that I had wished for a catastrophe or if not, the green pixie. I admit that this was inconsiderate of me. I should have been careful with what I wished for. I needed dust or some activation code. Some meme for a life's purpose other than to write English Language resources and save up for a house. Where is this meme now?

Is it in Facebook or Twitter or encrypted somewhere in this blog?

Amidst trendy messages about joining a fan page against some insensitive girl mixed with the useful posts on relief ops, I remember why I only keep few people close in real life. I remember how good it is that my siblings and I treaded rat piss water together or that we have a dad here (and yes, a nice stepmom) and a grandmother with a big condo unit and a mom in another city. How friends call or text or ym wishing you well, saying '"Call us back, dammit."

There are donation boxes to be filled, strangers to help and friends to look for. There's our house that we need to clean.

The little green pixie said, wait in this light house, Gwendolyn. Wait here. The muck in the streets will clear out. Mop the floors. Brush your hair. Go to your office. Drink Vitamin C.

I'm keeping this as a reminder:

One-Shot Comics

xenia_chloe — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:43:04 GMT

I like one-shot comics because you don't need to collect every issue of something. Also, I like bargain shopping so last Friday, I bought 3 comic books from a friend for 30Php each. (Thaaaaaaaaaaat's amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayzing!!!)

I just put down The Eaters by Peter Milligan. Evidently, there's a short commentary on how people twist the words of their faith to justify say, cannibalism. I wouldn't actually call it blatant racism. The story is set and written in 1995 and I wonder how it would play out right now in the States with Barack Obama being president over there and all.

It centers around Cassandra Quill, who likes stupid buff jocks, that her Catholic family, the Quills always end up eating. The Quills get an Apple Pie award for being an ideal American family by the way.

Oh and their named the Quill Family. A bit like my cannibalistic college friends :P

I am also not sure if the recent zombie-stoner movie Eat Me takes off from this book because the title for that film was also The Eaters. Probably not. I hope.

Maybe Quentin Tarantino would do this some gorey justice.

Self-Portrait

xenia_chloe — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:45:16 GMT

Jeeps and buses were for going somewhere.
Their metal bodies and those thin strips of neon décor
vectoring towards one point.

Geometrical windows frame signs
she would watch for: her mother’s gate, father’s van, lover’s head
drooping from a balcony.
Her body frozen forward

poised to move, alight
at the right moment but not today;

not these nights.
There is no body
To alight.

No jeep or bus or train.
The hair on her head
(when there is no head also)

flapping like a swallow.

Play The World Challenge

xenia_chloe — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:58:28 GMT

I've been downloading flags and emblems and putting snap texts and images into articles.
Fun facts and quick definitions.

So my folders are full of emblems now. Guess which states/countries/cities these represent by
September 11, 2009 and I might throw a whole LB buko pie your way; given that you reside in Manila and can pick it up at my office in Eastwood.

These are all public domain images, by the way.

Holiday Says Madonna

xenia_chloe — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:53:56 GMT

I should be at home now. Got in 9:30am. But o well.
Reviewed previous articles. Added in new pics; which today were clarified I could add.

Must take a break and eat before working on last new article for today.

***
What to feel when one of your gal pals randomly gifts you cute lingerie and asks you to flash it to her?

***
Nonoy's running for president and Mar Roxas is his VP.
This means no First Lady Korina Sanchez. Good news there.

***
Dear Noel Gallagher, I sorta know how you feel.

(See super secret encrypted plurks.)

***
National Heroes Weekend-- I was hiking, walking, meditating and reading at UPLB. (Then I went to Pampanga.) I also went shopping for buko pie.

Like the kids in Avatar: The Last Airbender, I felt the energy of the sun and the earth move under my feet
I feel the earth move under my feet. I feel the sky tumbling down. Yey for chi and empowerment and rejuvenation! (I know this is corny but I don't say anything about your gym memberships and jogging dates.)

***
I saw a segment on MTV where Butch Dalisay talks about his pen collection.
I wonder what TV show that was for.

***
On another note, congratulations to the winners of the 59th Palanca Awards for literature.

Of Lists: A Return to the Cynical Self.

xenia_chloe — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:34:15 GMT

I'm drowning out the noise now. Detaching from hype. True friends know that you're always there even if you're quiet and invisible. And they will let you know likewise.

A few days ago marked the anniversary of when everything meant everything. A kiss meant letting go of all worries and ambitions and then simply being with someone forever. Yet the same kiss meant two people losing their pride and letting each other go.

Now it's all nonchalance and a smug distance from people; including my self from a year ago exactly (which is nice and necessary).

There is a list of songs that can widen this distance.
A list of stage plays I've seen and reviewed. ( Do people believe in messages or do they make art because they can craft? Or because they like the applause?)
Of paintings and poems and movies I read and saw and used for study or for fun.
A list places I've been to.
New people I've gone out with. (Some, I will never go out with again).
Events that rocked people (but maybe not me.)

Events like

a president dying and people making her a saint. (Too much.)
Another president eating a disgustingly expensive dinner.
A blockade on imported books that got a small group of intellectuals angry when people hardly read, let alone read local books.
A national artist award controversy that got people "caring" about high-art.
A picture of a female student activist being dragged and cupped by anti-riot police that got people on the blogosphere raging (when this happens all the time.)
Elections nearing.
A promise to finally end 40 years of a revolution.
A promise to continue this 40 year revolution (So is 40 years still a revolution?)
A black president of the United States
A pandemic but not really
The King of Pop dead
Farah Fawcett dead

New developments in my family. New developments with friends. New friends. New job. New office.

I don't know. I want to know. How now brown cow?

In the mean time, there are awesome sharks. Cookiecutter sharks are fierce. There are also Tiger sharks that I want to be in the next life.

We Got a Gorilla for Sale. McGuilla Gorilla for Sale.

xenia_chloe — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:28:03 GMT

Apology Letter for Killing Your LIzard

xenia_chloe — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:15:37 GMT

Because everyone will have to write this letter at some point.

Dear [name],

I know I upset you greatly when I stepped on Bugger. I know Bugger was very important to you, because unlike your other lizards, you found him outside your door one day.

I shouldn't have been so careless. I remember you told me that you frequently let your lizards out of their tanks, so I shouldn't have jumped around your room the way I did.

I am very sorry for stepping on Bugger. I will try my best to be more careful around your pets in the future.

While I know they don't sell Alligator Lizards at PetsMart, would it be all right if I bought you another lizard instead?

I hope this doesn't affect our friendship. You're a good friend to me, and I'm sorry I let you down.

Sincerely,

[name]

from http://classic.goffice.com/SampleText_Apologies.aspx#841

Breaking the Fourth Wall

xenia_chloe — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:46:32 GMT

There is something about stage plays or about acting in general that I find exclusive. Or perhaps it would be better to say, that I feel excluded from it, even if I help out with my friends' film and stage projects and was part of a theater organization that required me to act every now and then. And even if I've written film and TV scripts. My first acting gig was as the leader of a a gang of junk food and chips that were fighting a gang of vegetables. I was 6. I think I've mentioned this before.

A friend said theater required networking, being sociable and having lively personality like every other profession. My full time jobs need require that I be personable every now and then for people to remember my work and me.

Mostly though, especially in terms of art, I'm the reclusive writer type who likes to live from day to day (trying to accumulate some material wealth or trying to get by and writing about it and the city and the people and how accumulating wealth is impended.) I also don't have the rigor and discipline that theater people have. I used to dance ballet but I quit when I was 8. My muscles hurt and I was more concerned with some domestic issues, even if my mom did want to spend money and time on my dance lessons. Excuses, again.

So yes, the stage is so removed from me, which works out when they need a new perspective. Hello writing reviews for stage play.

Today, she said,

xenia_chloe — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:44:51 GMT

Do not seek the because - in love there is no because, no reason, no explanation, no solutions.- Anais Nin