Close Range: Wyoming Stories

I just finished reading a book, which is a collection of short stories by Annie Proulx. It is a compendium of eleven tales of the hard lives of ranchers and country wives in Wyoming; yes, this includes the famous Brokeback Mountain, which was adapted into a film starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Close Range: Wyoming Stories is a great read and very interesting. Proulx has a certain knack for painting great imagery of a laid-back place that always play a huge part in each story. They are poetic, teeming with life, humorous and at times heart wrenching. Brokeback Mountain came in last in the collection - like a reward for staying - and reading the previous tales made one understand more of what kind of hard predicament Ennis and Jack were in.

I loved the movie, and after finally reading the story in print, I fully understand why Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana won the best adaptation at the recent Oscars. It was a 35-page story packed with emotions, and translated on screen as what the reader would imagine it to be. They kept the best lines in the book and added some more - something of which cannot be said on any Harry Potter adaptations.

Next stop: I'll buy the DVD. I'll take Jack's line to Ennis: "I wish I knew how to quit you. "

Order on the fifth

Now that the official DVD of the Goblet of Fire is out, friends had asked me when the next Potter movie is coming out. Well, here is the news for The Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book adaptation: it should come out in the summer or spring of 2007. Production has already started and we should expect a teaser trailer by the end of the year.

If you have met new characters in the fourth film and loved the amazing dragon, the lake and the humongous maze, then brace for more. Harry's personality will turn a bit - teen angst. He is the CAPSLOCK Harry this time: petulant, dejected and left out.

Things to looks forward to:
1. The Dursleys will be back: big D and his gang; Dementors at Privet Drive; Harry's expulsion trial
2. Hermione and Ron getting their Prefect badges
3. Harry's anguish over Cedric's death. For all those Robert Pattinson (Cedric) fans, I heard that you'd see some of him in this fifth film; the Hufflepuff golden boy will appear in flashbacks (not as a ghost, I hope).
4. Harry's first kiss, and first date (yes, they should come in that order)
5. The Inquisitor Club (slimy Slytherin gits)
6. Grawp, Hagrid's younger 16-foot brother
7. Luna Lovegood (an eccentric fourth-year Ravenclaw who looks at Harry and Ron with dreamy eyes)
8. Ginny Weasley coming into the forefront (Bat-bogey hex)
9. Dumbledore's Army (a group of students led by Harry learning Defense Against the Dark Arts unbeknownst to the teachers); the Room of Requirement; fireworks mayhem
10. A new DADA teacher from hell: Dolores Jane Umbridge
11. The Order of the Phoenix (of course, the title wouldn't be quite right if they miss this out): Mad-eye Moody (the real one), Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shackelbolt, Nymphadora Tonks
12. Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Sirius Black and Kreacher (an abominable house-elf). Will we get to see the tapestry of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black? I hope so, for it figures largely in the sixth and seventh books.
13. The OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) - it's the magical world's O-levels
14. Harry's one-on-one Occlumency lessons with Snape. And, of course, Snape's Worst Memory: a pensive scene back when he and Harry's parents were still at Hogwarts (young James, Lily, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew were casted)
15. Nagini attacking Arthur Weasley
16. Dumbledore's arrest and spectacular escape (for book fans: Dawlish was casted so we should expect this scene)
17. The duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore, which should be awesome
18. Real battle between the good and bad wizards and witches (kiss ass!); someone falling into the veil: Sirius Black (oops!)
19. Bellatrix Lestrange: a Death Eater deep within the circle of the Dark Lord ("little bitty baby Potter")
20. The Prophesy that should be a kick in the gut for a cliff-hanger ending


Here are more parts in the book which has a huge chance of being left off, but would look good on the screen:
1. Hagrid and Madam Maxine going to the giants' lair (boring when Hagrid told this story, but a huge special effects feat on film)
2. Harry and the Weasley twins in a Quidditch scuffle that led them to be banned from playing anymore Quidditch
3. Thestrals: the invisible horse-like creatures that pull the carriages from the train station to the school. Harry and his friends will ride them to get to the Ministry of Magic
4. The Weasley twin's departure from Hogwarts; this should be awesome, but they have left out Peeves (a poltergeist that plays practical jokes on students: "GOT YOUR CONK!") in the previous movies.
5. Dobby the house-elf from Chamber of Secrets. We missed him in Goblet of Fire, and I'm pretty sure again this time, but he was the one who told Harry of the Room of Requirement (I hope they don't give that to Neville again)
6. Quidditch games (special effects cost a lot), but I do hope we'll get to see Ron's Keeper try-outs. How about the Seeker match-out between Cho Chang and Ginny Weasley? It's a great foreshadowing of Harry's love life
7. Harry and his friends meeting Neville visiting his parents at St. Mungos, a hospital for wizards (I'm really praying that they include this one; this is heartbreaking); crazy Gilderoy Lockhart (their teacher from Chamber of Secrets who lost his memory)
8. Firenze (the centaur who saved Harry in Philosopher's Stone) teaching them divination

The book was huge and there was so much going on that I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be able to pack into a two and a half-hour of film. Maybe they should start to consider extending it to three hours, fans wouldn't mind.

And oh, the sixth film should come hot on its heels (2008).

Pin Crasher

That's the name of our team last Saturday; made up of Herman, April, Arlene and me. We didn't win but we weren't that bad either. We ranked 11th among 24 teams, and I ranked 13 for the female bowlers of 40 something; not a bad standing.

I really did well considering my scores during practice. I scored 144 and 145 for my first and last games (without the handicap). Not bad, huh? Oh, just so you know, it was a 9-pin tap game. Go figure that out.

An Englishman will burn his bed to catch a flea

"Remember, remember, the 5th of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot;
I know of no reason, why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot."

That is a popular English rhyme often quoted on Guy Fawkes Night, in memory of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. And this is where the movie V for Vendetta begins. Guy Fawkes was a member of a group of Roman Catholic conspirators, who attempted to assassinate King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and the members of both houses of the Parliament of England by blowing up the House of Lords (Palace of Westminster). Fawkes is largely responsible for the later stages of the plan’s execution, but they were, however, detected before its completion and were executed for treason and attempted murder.

Then we now move forward to the future of a totalitarian Britain, a time when the World War III has come and gone; a time when the United States of America is no longer in power, where everything was left in chaos. In order for England to prevail, the citizens became complacent under one law – a fascist state, where the government controls what people see on television, read in the papers, and when can they venture out in the streets.

"It is for their protection," as what the iron-fisted Chancellor Sutler (John Hurt) reminds the passive populace. He leads the single-party Norsefire that keeps control of the country through food shortages, suspended civil rights, secret police, a planned economy, and suppressing the nation's various political, ethnic and sexual minorities.

Then came V (Hugo Weaving), a knife-throwing, poetry-quoting caped crusader living like the Phantom of the Opera and hides behind the smiling mask of Guy Fawkes. He rescues Evey (Natalie Portman) from being molested by the secret police and gained an ally. He is a terrorist and anarchist who started an elaborate, violent, and theatrical campaign to bring down the government by blowing up London landmarks. He then took over the government-controlled airwaves, to urge his fellow citizens to rise up against their tyrannical and oppressive government - telling them that they are all imprisoned and showed them the bars.

This is a story of a government who should be fearful of the people it governs and of a terrorist who can be called a hero. V for Vendetta is based on the ten-issue comic book written by Alan Moore (though he removed himself from the movie credits after being appalled with the script) and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd. The first-time director James McTeigue helmed the movie while the Wachowski brothers (Andy and Larry) of the Matrix fame wrote the screenplay.

The movie isn't a disaster as what other people may think. If people were bogged down by the pompous metaphysical mumbo-jumbo of the Matrix sequels, this movie with all its lofty philosophizing is very thought provoking. It focuses more on the characters than on exploding buildings and fight scenes. It is a movie with action, ideas and an uncanny vision of a possible future.

There's talk on this film about glamorizing terrorism and will strike to some as irresponsible or even treasonous, but I think it is a cheeky way to show that, indeed, one man's freedom fighter can be another man's terrorist. There surely is a certain seductiveness in the psychology of terrorism when you are sure you are on the right side; just think of the other movie Munich.

Quitters never win, and winners never quit, but those who never quit AND never win are idiots

I went back to the alley, after five long years, to play four games of bowling yesterday. I'd say, I did quite good base on my expected average: 60. I know it's pretty low, but I'm really not that good at all in that sport. I did fair well with these scores: 65, 73, 72, and 84. Abysmal, but who cares? I did enjoy it.

After such a long time, why go back to it again? We were just preparing for the fun bowl on Saturday sponsored by the Maybank Club. Chances of winning for our team may be dim, but, hey they also give out awards for those with the lowest scores! I think I have a good fighting chance on that.