Von's Archives

Oscar Forecast 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:43:00 +0000

Two years ago, I got 6 out of 8, last year 7 of 8. Let's hope I get them all this year.

Just in case any of you are new to this, it's not always the best film or performance that wins. Sometimes, it's the best campaign—think presidential elections—that gets the gold. And no, I have neither seen nor do I need to see any of the nominated films to make these predictions. For more information on my Oscar obsession, see "Notes on the Oscar Nominations."

Best Picture
No Country for Old Men

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood)

Best Actress
Ellen Page (Juno)

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)

Best Supporting Actress
Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)

Best Director
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men)

Best Adapted Screenplay
No Country for Old Men

Best Original Screenplay
Juno

For the Record: Print Crossing Cultures

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Print Crossing Cultures
A Graduate Student Colloquium at the University of Toronto

Keynote Speaker: Natalie Zemon Davis, Princeton University and the University of Toronto

Saturday, February 9, 2008
Alumni Hall, Victoria College, University of Toronto
91 Charles Street West, Toronto, ON

Schedule:

10:30-noon: Panel 1: Translating Works and Worlds

Vernon R. Totanes: Colonialism, Nationalism and the First Books Printed in the Philippines

Bronwen Masemann: "A good observation in the Jesuit": Reading and Translating Charlevoix's *Histoire et Description Générale de la Nouvelle France* in the British Atlantic, 1745-6

Margaret Carlyle: Women Printing Across Chemical Cultures: d'Arconville's Translation of Shaw's *Chemical Lectures*

2:00-3:30: Panel 2: Transnational Print

Kyle Wyatt: "Rejoicing in this unpronounceable name": Constructing Peter Jones's Authorial Identity

Nadine Fladd: Expatriate Border-Crossing: Mavis Gallant and *The New Yorker*

Ania Dymarz: Myth-making and Translating: An Anecdotal and Critical Reading of Cultural Crossings in the Myths Series

4:00-5:00: Keynote Address, Natalie Zemon Davis: Books and Printed Papers in a Multilingual Plantation Society: the Case of Colonial Suriname

5:00-6:00: Closing Reception

Event sponsored by the Toronto Centre for the Book, the University of Toronto Collaborative Program in Book History and Print Culture, and the Office of the Principal, Victoria College

Photos from Toronto to San Francisco to Manila

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:44:00 +0000

I left Toronto on August 2, a few days after my relatives (three aunts and one uncle on my father's side, plus their children) threw me an advance birthday party. I arrived in San Francisco on the same day, where another uncle picked me up. The next day, my friend Eric took me to Napa Valley for the only tourist-y thing I did on this trip—and I don't even drink alcohol!

Ate Vivian and Kuya Joey, my cousins, treated me to dinner with their families on separate days. It was a good experience because my last visit to San Francisco was almost ten years ago, when my nephew was too young to know who I was, and my two nieces had yet to be born.

Ralph and Mark, my former high school classmates, also took me out for a picnic with their wives and other friends. That was not all, however, that I did before I left for Manila on August 7. Unfortunately, it did not occur to me to take more pictures. It's a good thing that I was able to take a few when I met Rene and Che, my classmates in college, the day after I arrived.

In case you're wondering, yes, I gained weight during my six days in San Francisco. I suppose this is proof that when two or three Filipinos are gathered together... food will be served =)

Fearless Oscar Forecast 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 23:26:00 +0000

This is a tradition I started via email a few years ago. Last year, I put it on Filipino Librarian, and got 6 out of 8 right. For more information on my Oscar obsession, see "Notes on the Oscar Nominations."

Best Picture
The Departed

Best Actor
Peter O'Toole (Venus)

Best Actress
Helen Mirren (The Queen)

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)

Best Director
Martin Scorsese (The Departed)

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Departed

Best Original Screenplay
Little Miss Sunshine

Winter in Orillia, ON

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 06:25:00 +0000

I've been to North America before, but never during winter, not even fall. I was more fearful than excited about winter, and snow was just one more thing I needed to deal with. Nothing to blog about. Except when I got to play in the snow.

Through the International Student Centre, I was able to join the free, annual International Student Weekend hosted by the very generous and accommodating Rotary Club of Orillia, which is about two hours north of Toronto, and has had the most snow this year in the province of Ontario. I also enjoyed interacting with other international students, including those from continents I've only ever dreamed of visiting =)

My first photos in heavy snow...

| View Show | Create Your Own

On the snow mobile...

Snow tubing...

FIS3005: Historiography

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 02:24:00 +0000

This presentation should have been up a long time ago, but for some reason, SlideShare wasn't cooperating, so I couldn't put it up. And eventually forgot about it.

Like the last one, this won't really make much sense unless you were there and I'm putting it up for posterity. The only advantage this time is that I didn't have to convert from Keynote to PowerPoint, just from Keynote to PDF. So everything is as it should be.

FIS3005: Journey 4

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 01:25:00 +0000

The presentation above is based on "Untangling the relationship between displayed emotions and organizational sales: The case of convenience stores" by Robert I. Sutton and Anat Rafaeli (Academy of Management Journal 31 [1988] 461-487), which is discussed in "Journey 4," in Doing Exemplary Research (ed. Peter Frost and Robert Stablein; Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1992). The article may be downloaded as a pdf file via Anat Rafaeli's website.

I came to class wearing what I used to wear in a previous life as a "banker": long sleeves, slacks, leather shoes... and my smiley tie! I then started by showing a video of Cumberland Bank and Trust because it was the only one I could find online. It was almost like being back at a service quality seminar =)

It won't make much sense unless you were actually at the presentation (that's if it made sense to the class at all), but I'm really just putting this up for posterity. Some garbage was added when the file was uploaded (e.g., not all bullets were converted, there's a missing title), but that's SlideShare Beta.

Goodies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 04:20:00 +0000

Create Your Own!

Yesterday my parents arrived in Canada. It was like a family reunion with three aunts, one uncle, husbands, wives, cousins and kids. I brought home so much stuff that I knew it was time to put together a "goodies" slideshow and post =)

I got the MasterCard freebies a few weeks ago when I applied for a credit card. I don't know if they'll give this student with no credit history a card, but the water bottle has been very useful.

Cards are now being used for so many things! Who knew that you could put dental floss and perfume in them? And I got them just by walking around.

Then there was the org fair where just about every org was giving something away: Ballpens, Post-It pad, Excel gum and KitKat.

I attended an orientation for graduate students and won a Broken Flowers DVD and free entrance to a movie at Cumberland. Now I just need to figure out when I'll have time to watch...

Last night, my relatives gave me a lot of stuff on my wish list: a desk lamp, scarves, gloves, hand towels and magnets; plus instant noodles, lotion, tissue paper, fabric softener and a first aid kit! And the marinated chicken breasts are already in the freezer =)

Here's what my parents brought (some from my sister, others from my brother): Sustagen, Fibermate, Chippy, blank CDs, and instant lomi. Guess which one I didn't ask for? =)

And then there's Scripture and the Quest for a New Society, the book that I started editing in Manila and finished from Boston; and the eighth edition of History of the Filipino People, which I'll be using for my dissertation.

Seven Songs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 03:32:00 +0000

Filipino Librarian, the blog, just got tagged by Manuel L. Quezon III. If I weren't so busy (actually, lazy is probably more accurate), I could probably think of a way to turn the meme into a reference question that would justify posting it on that blog. But I can't, and that's why I'm continuing the meme on this blog. The instructions:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now.

I can't really say that I'm "into" all of these songs right now, but they're the ones I hum every now and then:

Arms of Love (Amy Grant) - lyrics
Stella Maris (Bukas Palad) - mp3 sample
I Won't Last A Day Without You (Carpenters) - video

There's A Fine, Fine Line (Avenue Q) - lyrics
Corner of the Sky (Pippin) - sing-along
Nothing's Gonna Harm You (Sweeney Todd) - post
Something's Coming (West Side Story) - lyrics

And now I'm tagging Sacha, Rickey, Ghee, Ayeza, Gibbs, Paolo and Clair.

My Suitemates

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 21:24:00 +0000

| View | Add Favorite

Koji is from Japan, majors in computer science, and is 25 years old.

Donald is from California, majors in the classics, is 27 years old, and will be leaving our suite by next week.

Mustafa, my roommate, is from Michigan, majors in Near and Middle Eastern civilizations, and is 27 years old.

Except for Donald, all of us are first-year PhD students at the University of Toronto, and new Graduate House residents.

Paraisong Parisukat (Square Paradise)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:13:00 +0000

| View | Add Favorite

It isn't quite square or paradise, but it might as well be =)

Graduate House (GH) is where I live. I cross the street to work out and swim at the Athletic Centre (AC). Robarts Library, where I've been spending a lot of time, is the main library. The Faculty of Information Studies (FIS) is where I'm doing my PhD.

None of the buildings are particularly attractive. In fact, despite winning architectural awards, GH and Robarts have been nominated as the ugliest buildings in Toronto. And while I agree that they are pretty ugly, it must be said that I'll be spending more time inside the buildings. My roommate Mustafa says that our room reminds him of a jail cell... but it's a very comfortable one =)

So it's probably appropriate that Paraisong Parisukat was, in fact, a movie about a woman who worked in a shoe store. It wasn't quite paradise, but it was comfortable...

My First Meal

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 22:59:00 +0000

I don't cook. I rice cooker and I microwave. Now you can add indoor grill to the list.

I bought the chicken fillets at Dominion; Tita Gee gave me the uncooked rice, plate, and George Foreman grill; and my suitemate Koji offered the use of his rice cooker. Tita Gee actually lent me a rice cooker, but since Koji's was already set up, I took the path of least resistance =)

By the way, the chicken is unseasoned; I've had six meals of the same thing since the first time; and I expect that I'll have many more. But don't worry, I used to do the same thing in the Philippines—except Ate Norma was the one preparing my meals for me. I actually prefer bland, predictable food. And this probably says quite a bit about bland, predictable me =)

Comments

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 02:32:00 +0000

If you've never tried to leave a comment on this blog before, I would appreciate it if you would do so now. There have, apparently, been some problems on other blogs, too (see Known Issues for Blogger in Beta).

My guess is that if you do not have a blog on Blogger (aka "blogspot"), you will not have a problem leaving a comment. If you have an existing Blogger account (www.blogger.com, not beta.blogger.com) and a Gmail account, you may have a problem leaving a comment on this blog, which is on Blogger Beta.

Please logout of your Blogger account , and try to leave a comment on this blog using your Gmail account username. If that still doesn't work, please leave a comment on Filipino Librarian, or email me. Thanks!

Graduate House Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:08:00 +0000

| View | Add Favorite

The photos above were taken at my new mailing address:

Graduate House 408C1
60 Harbord Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5S 3L1

I share the 3-bedroom suite with three other people, one of whom is my roommate. All of us are PhD students, but in different fields.

Tita Gee gave me the bigas, asin at poon (literally, rice, salt and god) because it's supposed to be a Filipino custom... one that she found out about when she got to Canada. Bringing these items first into a new residence is supposed to be good luck.

The living room is rather sparse. The only veteran tenant said that hardly anybody uses it. But the sofa seems rather comfy, so I'll probably do some reading there.

The kitchen seems to be quite complete with oven, microwave, and refrigerator. Tita Gee gave me a rice cooker and grill, but I still need to get my own plates and utensils. I suppose I could borrow from the others, but I think I'd like to wash my own stuff and know that what I'm using is really clean... if you know what I mean =)

There are two bathrooms, but my roommate and I are using the one without the bathtub. I don't think I'm going to have a problem with him because one of the first things he did was wash the shower curtain. And we cleaned out the stuff left by the previous occupants together.

The place reminds me of a hotel, especially the keycards for the doors, but there are some unpainted walls. Architectural license, I'm told. Whatever =)

The sheets in my room were provided by Tita Ying, who also gave me some towels, toiletries and laundry detergent. I've agreed to share the shelves in the cabinet with my roommate. He's much taller, so I'll take the three shelves at the bottom.

The "GH goodies" on the bed were in the bag I found in my room: Lipton chicken noodle, Lubegel, Trusted condoms, Mentos, Cadbury, Student Services ballpen and Old Spice Red Zone. Guess what I'm going to open first? =)

Graduate House

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:17:00 +0000

Tita Gee and Tito Bill helped me move in today. Pictures will follow.

In the meantime, check out the website of Graduate House.

This is my first post from my home for at least the next eight months.

My parents are coming!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 14:16:00 +0000

Last night I bought two tickets for Legends, a play starring Joan Collins and Linda Evans. My dad might like it, but it's really my mom who'll enjoy it more because I remember that she used to watch Dynasty all the time when I was younger.

Anyway, for the benefit of the few who are reading this and looking forward to my parents' arrival, here's their Broadway-in-Toronto sked:

Mon, Oct 2, 3 pm - Forever Plaid (c/o Tita Ying)
Tue, Oct 3, 2 pm - South Pacific (c/o Tita Gee)
Wed, Oct 4, 2 pm - Legends

I'm actually the one who's always been into Broadway, but for some reason, my parents seem to have "inherited" my taste =)

"The Dash" by Linda Ellis

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 18:58:00 +0000

When I was in first-year high school, Bro. Jim Dunne, SJ, came into our classroom and wrote this on the board: "Life is what you do while you're waiting to die."

It sounds rather morbid for high school boys, but it's very true. He wanted us to think about how we would spend that time. Would we waste it or make it count?

Anyway, I remembered this because I just received an email that I would normally ignore. The email had a link to a "movie" based on a poem—"The Dash" by Linda Ellis—that focused on the "dash" between the date of birth and the date of death that usually appears on tombstones. A little Googling led me to the following:

Poem - Read the words as you listen to the author read the poem
Movie - Read the poem with images and background music
Song - Listen to a sample of the poem turned into a song
Story - Read and/or listen to how the author came to write the poem

It's probably good to reflect once in a while on the "dash" to which our lives will eventually be reduced.

Thanks to Weng Meneses for the email =)

Caitlin

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 05:11:00 +0000

| View | Add Favorite

Caitlin is an artist. Sed was the one who invited me to Boston. Caitlin and Sed are, quite obviously, together =)

I took the photos on the busiest shopping street in Boston, MA, on 16 July 2006.

Birthdays

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 21:36:00 +0000

| View | Add Favorite

Thank God, for relatives!