BoobooStrider

Okay, so Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is a blah movie. But the sequel is still so hot right now, it just makes you want to buy one of these rings. So what are you: an Autobot or a Decepticon?

I think I was one of those folks who asked, Maggie Gyllenhaal's replacing Katie Holmes? It was plain curiosity. I thought Katie shouldn't have given up that role. Look at what's she's missing! I had no doubt that Maggie can be a perfect replacement. In fact, she made Rachel Dawes look like a totally different woman from the one in Batman Begins.


From TrendHunter Magazine: Maggie Gyllenhaal almost turned down this offer because of the paparazzi. Apparently, she just had a baby and the paps wanted to take a shot of her sweet angel. Since she didn't plan on pulling off a Brangelina, she stayed away from the shutterbugs. However, a crazy pap pushed her out of her bedroom by lying about a fire raging across the street.

“The paparazzi were just really awful to us. I mean, they called the fire department and told them there was a fire in our little, tiny building in the West Village (New York) so that we would have to come outside with a five-day-old baby,” Maggie said in an interview.

Maggie recalls seeing those photos of her breastfeeding splattered across page six. She was hurt and almost gave up her role for the latest Batman movie. Good thing she didn't because she would have missed being in the highest grossing movie of all time!

The Dark Knight fever is still hot as ice. It continues to break box-office records! As of this writing, it set a one-day box-office record of $66.4 Million on its opening day, making other superhero movies look like poor straight-to-DVD losers. It also knocked out Star Wars: Episode III -- The Revenge of the Sith for gathering $18.5 million on midnight screenings. So many people want to see this film that they're even opening seats at 3AM in some cities. That's definitely hot!

I am eager to see how people would rate this movie. I've written about how I loved the depth of the story. Perez Hilton said he 'liked it but didn't love it'. He added that the movie was 'too dark' and not 'superheroey'.

What's your take on the movie?

*Photo and box-office figures from Wall Street Journal Online

It's that time of the year -- Cinemalaya 2008 has started and there are more than 70 films (full length and short films ) included this year. Make sure you check the screenings so you can catch all the good ones. Last year, I was fortunate enough to watch good films such as Endo. This year, my eyes are on three films: My Fake American Accent, Baby Angelo, and 100. I just saw My Fake American Accent today and it was a good treat.


I was so excited to see this film. I have been in the BPO industry for more 5 years now and I wanted to find out if the director would be able to accurately depict the lives of call center employees -- not just the agents but the supervisors, managers and other departments.

The story of My Fake American Accent revolves on the operations side of the business, with one team of 4 agents, 1 Quality Specialist led by one supervisor who is working on a promotion. The movies touches on the sleepless mornings and nights, the frustrations, the fun times, sad times -- even the times when agents get mugged. The director has given us some of the types of call center employees - the bed hopper, the agent with an attitude problem, the irresponsible agent, the hardworking agent and the clueless agent. Each one has a story to tell.

I kind of laughed at the scene where this writer confessed that she suspended her life as a writer and worked as an agent because writing doesn't really pay for your bills. I remember when I was still an agent, I was also a student and at the same time a part-time correspondent for a major daily and a college magazine. There were times when I tried to make that the 'better' part of my life when in reality, it only constitutes less than half of it.

Whoever wrote the script for this should be given credit for writing the winning lines in the movie. However, I cannot say that this is a well polished film -- there was too much background noise that some of the funny lines were not very easy to understand. Some folks at the audience failed to hear them. As for the shots, it is quite inevitable for independent filmmakers not to use tripods to make the film look 'more indie'. Unfortunately for the viewer, the shots were too shaky.

This is a film that all call center employees should watch. Actually, EVERYONE should watch this. I noticed some people were laughing as if they were being shown something that occurred in a place strange to them. I have to say, a lot of people still think working in a call center is just about answering phones and perfecting your english. They don't realize that there's a lot of hardwork involved.

Okay, I have to say that I thought the producers of The Dark Knight were putting Heath Ledger's death from accidental drug overdose to generate buzz for the movie. For one, they were talking more about how good Heath's performance was and you almost do not hear anything about Christian Bale as Batman. The posters released earlier were also Joker's not the cape crusader.

And the verdict: I was wrong! They were completely accurate in describing this film as an epic. Heath Ledger's performance was beyond great and it gave us a whole new picture of the Joker we first knew some years ago, played by Jack Nicholson. I would say Nicholson's performance was a bit more theatrical than Ledger's.

What I love about this is the depth of the story. It wasn't just about a superhero trying to save the world. It tackles important issues in society and most importantly, terrorism. You could tell that the Joker was supposed to be back for another movie. I wonder if they would replace Ledger? Probably not in the next movie. It's time for a new villain.

Watch it BoobooStriders! It's worth every penny.

PS: Two Face's make-up was so realistic it's as if the cartoon version was brought to life.

This is a very interesting film. 'August' is a movie about a man who starts a dot com company on the eve of the September 11 attacks. It was the time when the internet and e-commerce was said to take over the next generation. Then, planes hit the two towers and everything fell apart. Websites crashed with them and people lost hope.


Not Tom though (played by Josh Hartnett). In this movie, he struggles to revive his company called Landshark, with the help of his brother. The movie got positive reviews when it was shown on Sundance Fim Festival. It will be coming out this month (hopefully it will be released in Asia too). This film is close to my heart. While I do not have a dot com company (maybe not yet), I am so much into making money through the internet. I hope they portray the e-commerce industry well in this film.

Watch the trailer:

Thanks to Chuvaness for writing about this. It's the most exciting event in Philippine Cinema (IMHO). It's Cinemalaya once again. Last year, I wrote about the entries so many times. I haven't really gone through the list of films this years but here are two films that I will definitely be watching.

First is 100 which is sort of a local version of The Bucket List where a cancer-stricken woman lists the things she wants to do before she dies. Sounds familiar? We'll have to see if this one can offer something new.

The second movie is called My Fake American accent which tackles the life of call center employees. I'd love to see how they've portrayed us on this one. There are a lot of misconceptions about call center folks and I want to find out if this movie can help some ignorant (more like stupid) folks understand our lifestyle.

ENJOY and SEE YOU THERE!