tangled

i finally got ‘tangled’. hehe! i always had a copy of this movie but i haven’t seen it. until this weekend. while predictable, tangled had a very good storyline. the right mix of slapstick and comedy made it an entertaining treat.

imdb summed it as: after receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby princess rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace in the middle of the night by mother gothel. mother gothel knows that the flower's magical powers are now growing within the golden hair of rapunzel, and to stay young, she must lock rapunzel in her hidden tower. rapunzel is now a teenager and her hair has grown to a length of 70-feet. the beautiful rapunzel has been in the tower her entire life, and she is curious of the outside world. one day, the bandit flynn ryder scales the tower and is taken captive by rapunzel. rapunzel strikes a deal with the charming thief to act as her guide to travel to the place where the floating lights come from that she has seen every year on her birthday. rapunzel is about to have the most exciting and magnificent journey of her life.

the animation was great. true to disney tradition, tangled had that pastel colors that endeared disney animated feature films through the years. there were sufficient exciting action sequences and adventure that made the entire movie an enjoyable one. of course there was the obligatory fairy tale love angle, which had just enough cheesiness. evidently, the men and women behind the film wanted to capture not just the traditional watchers of this ‘princess’ movies, the women, but also the men. in fact, the movie was entitled tangled, not rapunzel, for that main purpose – get more boys in the theaters. they were successful in that i guess since this movie did very well in the tills. this movie did not produce one single song that can be compared to classics such as beauty and the beast but the selection was good and very much apt to the storyline. i particularly enjoyed donna murphy’s (who voiced mother gothel) mother knows best.

according to some writers, this rapunzel version is the closest to the original german fairy tale. still, tangled had a modern touch in its characterization. the whole cast was well-written, even the sidekicks pascal, the chameleon and maximus, the castle horse. the movie was a good one because it had a good villain, villainess at that. murphy’s mother gothel was not the traditional evil queen. rather, her wickedness was masked by being a caring mother, who just wanted to protect her only daughter from the evils of the outside world. mandy moore’s rapunzel and zachary levi’s flynn ryder were very likable. witty lines and exchanges, such as below, allowed for a good 90-minute entertainment. 

 

mother gothel: you want me to be the bad guy? fine. now i'm the bad guy...

rapunzel: so mother, earlier i was saying tomorrow is a really big day, and you didn't really respond, so i'm just gonna tell you: it's my birthday! tada!

mother gothel: no no no, can't be. i distinctly remember, your birthday was last year.

rapunzel: that's the funny thing about birthdays, they're kind of an annual thing.

mother gothel: rapunzel, please, stop with the mumbling. you know how I feel about the mumbling. blah blah blah blah blah, it's very annoying! i'm just teasing, you're adorable. i love you so much, darling.

love

Falling In Love

from the book “Letters to my Son” by Kent Nerburn

It is a mystery why we fall in love.

It is a mystery how it happens.

It is a mystery when it comes.

It is a mystery why some love grows and it is a mystery why some love fails.

You can analyze this mystery and look for reasons and causes, but you will never do anymore than the life out of the experience.

Just as life itself is more than the sum of the bones and muscles and electrical impulses in the body, love is more than the sum of the interests and attractions and commonalties that two people share.

And just as life itself is a gift that comes and goes in its own time, so too, the coming of love must be taken as an unfathomable gift that cannot be questioned in its ways.

Sometimes, hopefully at least once in your life – the gift of love will come to you in full flower, and you will take hold of it and celebrate it in all inexpressible beauty.

This is a dream we all share.

More often, it will come and take hold of you, celebrate you for a brief moment, then move on.

When this happens to young people, they too often try to grasp the love and hold it to them, refusing to see that it is a gift that is freely given and a gift that just as freely, moves away.

When they fall out of love, or the person they love feels the spirit of love leaving, they try to desperately to reclaim the love that is lost rather than accepting the gift for what it was, then moving on.

They want answers where there are no answers.

They want to know what is wrong in them that makes the other person no longer love them, or they try to get their lover to change, thinking that if some small things were different, love would bloom again.

They blame their circumstances and say that is they go far away and start a new life together, their love would grow.

They try anything to give meaning to what has happened.

But there is no meaning beyond love itself, and until they accept its own mysterious ways, they live in a sea of misery.

You need to know this about love, and to accept it.

You need to treat what it brings you with kindness.

If you find yourself in love with someone who does not love you, be gentle with yourself.

There is nothing wrong with you.

Love just didn’t choose to rest in the other person’s heart.

If you find you find someone else in love with you and you don’t love him, feel honored that love came and called at your door, but gently refuse the gift you cannot return. Do not take advantage; do not cause pain.

How you deal with love is how you deal with you, and all our hearts feel the same pains and joys, even if our lives and ways are different.

If you fall in love with another, and he falls in love with you, and then love chooses to leave, do not try to reclaim it or to assess blame.

Let it go.

There is a reason and there is a meaning.

You will know in time.

Remember that you don’t choose love. Love chooses you.

All you can really do is accept it all; its mystery when it comes into your life.

Feel the way it fills you to overflowing, the reach out and give it away.

Give it back to the person who brought it alive in you.

Give it to others who deem it poor in spirit.

Give it to the world around you in anyway you can.

There is where way lovers go wrong.

Having been so long without love, they understand it as a need.

They see their hearts as empty places that it will be filled by love, and they begin to look at love as something that flows to them rather than from them.

The first blush of new love is filled to overflowing, but as their love cools, they revert to seeing their love as a need.

They cease to be someone who generates love and instead become someone who seeks love.

They forget that the secret of love is that is a gift, and that it can be made to grow only by giving it away.

Remember this, and keep it to your heart.

Love has its own time, its own seasons, and its own reason for coming and going.

You cannot bribe it or coerce it, or reason it to into staying.

You can only embrace it when it arrives and give it away when it comes to you.

But if it chooses to leave from your heart or from the heart of your lover, there is nothing you can do and there is nothing you should do.

Love always has been and always will be a mystery.

Be glad that it came to live for a moment in your life.

If you keep your heart open, it will come again.

ruined

would never failing to ruin somebody else’s day be considered a gift?

it seems that there are individuals living their lives with this mantra. granting that there are tons to do, this does not mean that urbanities and pleasantries need to be disregarded altogether. observing work etiquette will not kill you, mandrake. but i guess this creature has to do it in each waking day of its life. it is just the way it’s been living and will probably not survive if it won’t be able to wreak havoc even for a single day.

@bookofcomedy:, “some people just need a hug... around the neck... with my hands..”

lump

lumpy and inflamed left cheek greeted me on a monday morning. while i didn’t have fever, that overall feeling of being unwell prevented me from reporting for work. i thought that the lump will subside if i slept all day. so i did just that. slept all day. at about 5:30, i woke up. the swelling is still there and i needed some professional advice to tell me what this lump was all about.

i thought it was just a common case of pimple getting irritated. but the doctor said that this is cellulitis. while it is not red and hot, the lump was tender. tuesday morning, the lump didn’t subside at all. it actually felt even bigger. i started medication already and the inflammation should subside in 3-4 days, according to the doctor. while the consultation was free, thanks to our healthcard, the antibiotics were ultra pricey. 75 pesos per 625 mg tablet and i need to take it 3 times a day for seven days. oh well, the price of getting well.

while i’m still working and checking emails the last 3 days, the lump prevented me from doing the presentation for an IBM event. i didn’t want to take chances that i’ll get better in time for this presentation. luckily, roger is free to take over the aydisi track. thanks to him.

should be well and healthy again. (",)