tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-259670662017-02-09T12:53:18.314+08:00Third Eye. Third Nipple. Third World.Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.comBlogger236125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-21178840546795299832014-05-25T06:10:00.000+08:002014-05-25T06:10:41.149+08:00

What I've been struggling with for the past fourteen years of trying to put food on the table through telling stories for the masses is my inability to escape my belief that all stories are allegorical and that the characters, places, and occurrences within those stories are symbols. All of them. Listen. Whether it's gossiping about how your neighbor's teen-aged daughter is pregnant or it's a

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-61915779918898287522014-05-02T02:06:00.000+08:002014-05-02T02:06:05.240+08:00

“Enemy” is a 2013 movie directed by Denis Villanueve and adapted by Javier Gullón from José Saramago's 2002 novel “The Double”.  It features Jake Gyllenhaal in the role of two men of opposite characteristics who look exactly alike, down to their scars. The movie is stylish, cryptic, and surreal. The following are my notes in attempting to decipher it. I’m sure some of it—if not a lot of it—is

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-65866793277710340522014-05-01T00:03:00.001+08:002014-05-01T00:03:51.610+08:00

“Enemy” is a 2013 movie directed by Denis Villanueve and adapted by Javier Gullón from José Saramago's 2002 novel “The Double”.  It features Jake Gyllenhaal in the role of two men of opposite characteristics who look exactly alike, down to their scars. The movie is stylish, cryptic, and surreal. The following are my notes in attempting to decipher it. I’m sure some of it—if not a lot of it—is

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-22897567761428153622013-09-13T13:03:00.001+08:002013-09-13T13:03:22.960+08:00

I lost the Pope Francis photo.Here's Jonathan Pryce instead. Pope Francis said atheists would be forgiven by God if they followed their own conscience. Some thoughts:1. Atheists have been following their own conscience ever since they turned atheist. 2. This is the pope trying to woo humanists, freethinkers, and other forces of secularism. The world is becoming increasingly secular and people

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-74373404134341843262013-07-04T22:27:00.000+08:002013-07-04T22:27:26.295+08:00

My political views have always been left-of-center ever since I became an adult. I believe that there's too little for the many and too much for a few, and this makes me angry. But I have never been comfortable with leftist organizations, even as a student in UP Los Baños, because the propaganda turns me off. Propaganda, in my opinion, is the greatest insult to a person's intellect. Propaganda

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-39060461278394180532013-06-25T02:26:00.001+08:002013-06-25T02:26:33.841+08:00

What makes Don Draper, in my opinion, one of the most interesting characters on TV in recent years is how morally ambiguous he is. He is cynical, arrogant, vindictive, manipulative, unfaithful, and hypocritical. Yet he is also capable of committing extremely noble deeds, of being protective and nurturing. His best work as an advertising creative shows that all human desire is anchored in love.

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-42157197666251813862013-06-24T00:48:00.003+08:002013-06-24T00:48:43.747+08:00

I get the feeling that people are polarized over Man of Steel. On one end are those who hated the CGI on steroids, the absence of the iconic theme music from the Christopher Reeves movies, and the morose tone of the story. This group generally appreciated the exploration of a god-like alien's humanity but wasn't so impressed with the spectacle of superpowered fisticuffs. I believe those in this

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-18437464832783659092013-06-22T01:13:00.002+08:002013-06-22T01:13:42.949+08:00

Having just finished the season finale of my favorite TV show, Hannibal, I was left thinking of the whole ratings game. Hannibal, while a superb program, stank at the ratings. So much so that it was, for a time, in mortal danger of not being given a second season. It's not that people weren't watching it. It was just that people weren't watching it where it mattered: the small screen, where the

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-77005710081043206122013-05-18T04:48:00.000+08:002013-05-18T04:48:21.788+08:00

The most amazing show I've seen on TV in recent times, I must say, is NBC'S "Hannibal". It's just a crying shame that the low viewership is causing the network to think hard if they want to make a second season.  The problem is not the writing. Lesser writers would be tempted to turn the show into a serial-killer of the week whodunnit, or even worse, Hannibal worship, where each episode is

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-73178521904979061922013-03-16T15:42:00.001+08:002013-03-16T15:42:55.286+08:00

walang pinsan-pinsan sa titi ng tulisan walang pangit-pangit sa titing nagagalit walang matabang babae sa titing madiskarte walang mata-matanda sa titing nagnanasa walang banal na kepyas sa titi ni Satanas walang menor-menor sa titi ni Mang Kanor

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-21060394931007725172013-01-10T00:55:00.001+08:002013-01-10T00:55:25.985+08:00

Hello, friend. You've been including me in your list of people to whom you send religious quotes on a daily basis for months now. While I appreciate that you remember me, I cannot say I appreciate the religious quotes. To better understand how I feel, imagine me sending you quotes like these every single day: Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-23469250117920189672013-01-09T11:25:00.001+08:002013-01-09T11:25:28.472+08:00

Something I posted in a discussion about movies: "Learn from Hollywood" is not as easy as it sounds. More money is spent making Hollywood movies because they're shown all over the world. The audience is global so ticket sales are global. Filipino movies are generally only shown in the country. The audience is local so ticket sales are local. If a Filipino producer actually makes a

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-11096579503646774472012-12-30T06:55:00.000+08:002012-12-30T06:55:09.502+08:00

The world is not going to be forever divided between the rich and the poor. Humanity's compass points towards freedom, equality, justice, and rational thought. It may be derailed from time to time, such as when the Nazi Party came into power in Germany and espoused the idea of one race being superior to others, but history shows us that humanity always gets back its bearings and continues its

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-12463261249917109212012-12-20T22:48:00.001+08:002012-12-20T22:48:35.601+08:00

I have a reputation of being lucky during the holidays because I tend to win minor prizes in Christmas party raffles. One time I won a TV. Another time I won some gift certificates. There was that time I won a washing machine. Things like that. One buddy jokingly suggested that maybe God was trying to woo me into believing in Christmas by letting me win these minor prizes. Or maybe Satan was

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-88975631481500237442012-12-16T05:35:00.003+08:002012-12-16T05:35:38.969+08:00

I admire and enjoy the Bible as a work of literature. Reading a few chapters of the Book of Genesis again tonight, I now conclude that Adam and Eve's story is my favorite. While this is traditionally seen as The Fall of Man, I beg to differ. The Serpent, deemed by some as one of the incarnations of Satan, is a Promethean character. As Prometheus was punished for stealing fire from the gods and

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-26285832397378273462012-12-16T05:27:00.003+08:002012-12-16T05:27:46.622+08:00

Someone was suggesting that it was the increasing secularism of American schools and the atheism of Chinese society that brought about the Sandy Hook shooting spree and the Chengping stabbing incident. Someone else said God wouldn't let the innocent suffer so that he can make a point. My answer to both: Well, in the story of the Exodus, the Tenth Plague of Egypt was God coming down at

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-57509095323502568172012-12-07T11:33:00.000+08:002012-12-07T11:33:27.072+08:00

With our daughter's baptism coming up, I can't help but feel like I'm betraying my principles by agreeing to it. Whether I like it or not, I'm still culturally a Christian. So, yeah, I'll do the motions, however meaningless they seem to me. This reminds me of that time when a buddy asked me if I were planning to raise my daughter atheist. Hell no. I will teach her all about Jesus and Allah and

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-3729272057301735212012-12-06T03:00:00.000+08:002012-12-06T03:05:59.815+08:00

Some rambling thoughts after watching the digitally restored and remastered film, “Himala”: It’s called confirmation bias, this very human tendency to hear only that which fortifies what one believes in and to dismiss everything else that contradicts it. I’m sure we are all guilty of it in one form or another, some more than others. In the movie, many remember the legendary Nora Aunor as the

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-12851118449251094002012-11-03T14:47:00.001+08:002012-11-03T14:47:26.334+08:00

Some sources estimate that the amount of money that goes around in the whole world is 44 trillion dollars. There are currently about 9 billion people on the face of this miserable planet. If we all lose everything we own and share this 44 trillion dollar pot among ourselves equally, we would all start out with about 4 dollars. 4 dollars. That's not a lot of money, but for us Filipinos, it can

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-18504792007141811692012-10-21T23:05:00.000+08:002012-10-21T23:05:18.938+08:00

On April 2, 1672, Maga’lahi Matå’pang, a Chamorro chieftain from the village of Tomhom, discovered the Spanish missionary Father Diego Luís de San Vitores and his Filipino servant Pedro Calungsod had baptized the chieftain's daughter without his permission. This was the last straw for the Chamorro chieftain. The missionaries were baptizing Chamorro children throughout the land, disregarding

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-32713069041979310662012-10-19T09:16:00.001+08:002012-10-19T09:16:59.963+08:00

The only people I know who actually give a shit about Pedro Calungsod's sainthood are those who decry the Archdiocese of Cebu's scandalous 60 million peso budget for the celebrations. Let's read beyond Catholic propaganda and look at what happened: In 1672, the priest Diego San Vitores and his sidekick Pedro Calungsod were killed in Tumon, Guam by the village chief, Mata'pang, after the

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-53628834328953414952012-10-18T00:59:00.000+08:002012-10-18T00:59:17.233+08:00

Said to a fellow writer over cigarettes earlier: I suppose what we write for network television is the vulgar cousin of literature. Then again, telenovela writers contribute more to the modern myths than literary writers. Pop culture, after all, is shaped by the collective consciousness. What we pull from our assholes may not have the celestial glow of art but they are consumed by the masses.

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-56661667756211747372012-10-05T00:07:00.000+08:002012-10-05T00:07:05.185+08:00

There was a time when the government, the church, and the mainstream media were the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost of opinion-making. They were gods and demons fighting among themselves for control of our hearts and minds. Then came the Internet, the biggest wrench thrown into the gears of the old patterns of power. Because of the free and swift flow of information and ideas, the power to

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-27333022093012436072012-10-03T04:23:00.002+08:002012-10-03T04:23:54.736+08:00

Sa lahat ng rebolusyon, may mananatiling reaksiyonaryo. Okey lang naman yan. May mananatiling iwas sa pagiging pulitikal. Okey lang din 'yan. May magpo-post ng kinain niyang Pepperoni and Cheese Stromboli sa Sbarro. Okay lang din 'yan. May magsasabing mabuti ang Republic Act 10175 dahil nakakaasar na lahat ng Pilipino sa Fezbuk ay may kakayahang mag-broadcast ng kanyang opinyon, maski gaanong

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25967066.post-4804359717631945462012-09-29T23:36:00.001+08:002012-09-29T23:37:57.522+08:00

Randy Q. Villanuevahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026575373008530887noreply@blogger.com0