This is my Hunger Games version of the classic Christmas song, The Twelve Days of Christmas.

It was inspired by a Harry Potter version I saw on LiveJournal.

Twelve Districts ’round
Eleven frosted cakes
Ten snares from Gale
Nine tracker jackers
Eight arrows and a bow
Seven mockingjays
Six cornucopias
Five grooslings
Four dandelions
Three Quarter Quells
Two flaming capes
And the boy with the loaves of bread

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I made these three quizzes way back in 2002 and 2003, previously hosted in my various other domains and sites. The Lord of the Rings one was particularly popular and was responsible for making one of my domains gain a lot of hits as well as “blog authority.”

These web tests are now available again at my newly-reacquired domain, Xirculo.com, in the Quiz page: Which Lord of the Rings Elf Are You?, Which Fushigi Yuugi Seishi Are You? and Are You A Pervy Obi-Wan Kenobi Fancier?.

Below are my own results and what-not to the aforementioned quizzes:

I am Elrond, Lord of Rivendell. I chose Elvenkind over Humanity and was gifted with great wisdom. During the War of the Ring, I called a Council of the free peoples of Middle Earth and founded the Fellowship of the Ring, all the time wearing a tiara. In the movie, I’m played by Hugo Weaving.
|| Which Lord of the Rings Elf are you? @ Call Me Madame ||

Which Fushigi Yuugi Seishi are you? @ Call Me Madame

Hot, wet Jedi Master!
I am a pervy Obi-Wan Kenobi fancier, go me! Are you?
By Aviendah and Shi
Endorsed by Sen. Padme Amidala

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The above image was posted just an hour or so ago at the Harry Potter Fans LiveJournal Community. It was credited to this website and is said to be a preview picture of the upcoming fifth movie installment of J.K. Rowling‘s phenomenal Harry Potter books.

When I first saw this picture, my reaction was: WTF?

Two (2) questions sprung to mind right away, as it happened and will most likely happen with other fans:

1. Where is THE scar?
The lightning-shaped scar on his forehead is not merely Harry’s physical identifier – it is a mark made by The Dark Lord himself that has impact on the entire magical world. Don’t tell me that it just, well, disappeared!

2. Why are his eyes BLUE?
Okay, aqua at best. But still. His eyes are green, as in the very eyes that a hell of a lot of people said he inherited from his mother Lily. “You look just like your father, but you have your mother’s eyes.” As in his mother’s green eyes.

Or maybe it is just all those lighting effects on the image, hence the screwed colors and the mysterious disappearance of otherwise very noticeable markings.

As for the shorter, barber’s cut hair: I have no problem with it. Perhaps Harry was over the Beatles by the end of Book Four and became a fan of, say, The Backstreet Boys or BoyZone when the OOTP arc rolled about?

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I was able to get a copy of the paperback release of Candace Bushnell’s bestselling take on the mating rituals of modern-day Manhattanites, Sex and the City.

Most of you may also be aware that this novel spawned the wildly popular HBO television series of the same title.

I have finished reading this book today and was very amused with the whole thing that I found myself wearing this sanctimonious little grin even after I put my copy down.

Bushnell’s writing style is delightfully unforgiving. It was like I was listening to a friend who had one too many martinis talking about his or her love life (or lack thereof) in the big city.

There is neither sugar nor fluff, only the harshness of glamour and urban living and a feeling that it is best to meet the passage of time head-on, clad in our best Manolo kitten heels and sipping something expensive and alcoholic at the Hamptons.

The use of “code names” like The Bone, Mr. Big, Mr. Marvelous and the like are amusing and intriguing.

At one point or the other, while reading through a passage in the book, I found myself wondering if Bushnell really was writing fiction.

Honestly, Sex and the City sounds more like a cross between a gossip column and a city girl’s tell-all blog than fiction.

Amazon.com describes the book as such:

The “Sex and the City” columnist for the New York Observer documents the social scene of modern-day Manhattan.

The reader gets an introduction to “Modelizers,” the men who only have eyes for models, as well as a more common species, the “Toxic Bachelor.”

Reading like a society novel gone downtown and askew, Sex and the City is a comically sordid look at status and ambition and the many characters consumed by the sexual politics of the ’90s.

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Happy April Fools’ Day 2006!

While at the mall today, I came across original video CD and DVD copies of the newly-released Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is, by far, the darkest and most fast-paced out of all the four movie adaptations of J.K. Rowling‘s bestselling children’s book series.

I must confess that I have not had the chance to watch the film during its theatrical release last year. As a result, over the months that followed, I picked up feedback pertaining to the way the movie allegedly “veered off” the book’s story.

However, I decided to watch Goblet of Fire without any biases, preconceived notions or towering expectations. I ended up being pleasantly surprised. Not blown away, but satisfied.

I liked the shadowy mood that prevailed throughout the film. It was well established with the very first scene wherein a poor, unsuspecting Muggle witnessed Voldemort holding a conference with his minions.

The underwater and maze scenes of the TriWizard Tournament’ second and third tasks were impressive with their special effects and almost claustrophobic feel. You can actually feel that you are Harry, performing the task with little to no idea what lies ahead.

The acting of the younger cast has generally improved since the last film. They were equally comfortable in amusing and awkward moments typical of teenage life as well as in life-or-death situations.

As for the adult cast, the additions of gossip-monger Rita Skeeter and Auror-turned-professor Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody were not as compelling as the appearances of Marauders Remus Lupin and Sirius Black in the third film. Lord Voldemort did not appear long enough to carve a hauntingly fearsome impression onto the viewers’ minds, but perhaps he will be given more screen time in the fifth movie, as he should be.

There were just three notable differences between the book and the movie that I could not help but point out:

1. Hermione’s Yule makeover
It was more surprising and magical in the book, as she looked so different from the way she usually does, that is, her hair was no longer bushy and her teeth were smaller. This metamorphosis was not emphasized in the movie.

2. Barty Crouch Jr.’s identity
In the movie, his identity as an active Voldemort servant was exposed early on – at the Riddle house during the opening scene and at the Quidditch World Cup. In the book, no one suspected that this Death Eater, who supposedly died in Azkaban years back, was a major player in the Dark Lord’s Operation:Resurrection.

3. Neville Longbottom and the gillyweed
Although Neville possessed knowledge about gillyweed’s power to make someone breathe underwater, he was not able to share this with Harry because the latter did not ask for his help in the book. It was Dobby the house elf who found out about gillyweed’s properties and subsequently stole some for Harry’s use. In the movie, it was Neville who gave Harry the advice to take gillyweed.

By itself, the movie was nevertheless enjoyable and entertaining. Its fairly lengthy running time was barely noticeable because the film was well-paced and there never were any dragging or boring moments.

The following is a plot synopsis from Amazon.com:

Harry’s fourth summer and the following year at Hogwarts are marked by the Quidditch World Cup and the TriWizard Tournament, in which student representatives from three different wizarding schools compete in a series of increasingly challenging contests. However, Voldemort’s Death Eaters are gaining strength and even creating the Dark Mark, giving evidence that the Dark Lord is ready to rise again.

In the unsuspecting lives of the young wizard and witches at Hogwarts, the competitors are selected by the Goblet of Fire, which this year makes a very surprising announcement: Hogwarts will have two representatives in the tournament, including Harry Potter!

Will Harry be able to rise to the challenge for the TriWizard Tournament while keeping up with school or will the challenges along with Voldemort’s rebirth be too much for the young hero?

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“No, it’s not the stars that are so beautiful and wondrous. They explode or collapse and fall away and you never see them again. But if you’re very lucky, you find that the moon and the stars can work together. When one star burns itself out, the light from the moon will get you through until you see the next star.”
~Linda Holeman, Starlight, Star Bright

“Despite being of sound mind and body, and in the middle of my teenage years, I have not known a great love – or even one of mediocre quality. Because of this lack, I have submerged myself in the love of others. I’ve rolled in it, soaked it up, swallowed it whole.”
~Linda Holeman, Love, Unrequited

The quotes above are from the compilation of short stories entitled Toxic Love, penned by Linda Holeman.

Toxic Love is generally considered as suitable for the Young Adult genre but the sentiments it evokes are, in my opinion, deep and poignant – mature in their deceptive simplicity.

I am very much reminded of the style of another YA author, Francesca Lia Block, and her own collection of short stories, Girl Goddess #9.

As for Eastern simplicity and sensibility, I highly recommend the works of the very talented Banana Yoshimoto, especially her compilation of brilliant shorts, Lizard.

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I am glad that I was able to, finally, get my hands on a copy of Arthur Golden’s book-turned-movie Memoirs of a Geisha.

It was the second to the last copy available in the bookstore and the last one that remained sealed in its plastic packaging. The last copy of the book was on display on one of the easy-access racks and it was badly thumbed through already.

Needless to say, I am more than halfway through the book and I have had it for only a few hours.

So far, I have noted several differences between the original story and what was portrayed in the movie.

However, film is a different genre and dramatic license must be taken in more than one instance to make a tight story that will fit in a two-hour onscreen rendition.

As I devour the hypnotic pages of my new paperback, I must say that, so far, I like the novel better than the movie.

Here is a book description from Amazon.com:

In this literary tour de force, novelist Arthur Golden enters a remote and shimmeringly exotic world.

For the protagonist of this peerlessly observant first novel is Sayuri, one of Japan’s most celebrated geisha, a woman who is both performer and courtesan, slave and goddess.

We follow Sayuri from her childhood in an impoverished fishing village, where in 1929, she is sold to a representative of a geisha house, who is drawn by the child’s unusual blue-grey eyes. From there she is taken to Gion, the pleasure district of Kyoto. She is nine years old.

In the years that follow, as she works to pay back the price of her purchase, Sayuri will be schooled in music and dance, learn to apply the geisha’s elaborate makeup, wear elaborate kimono, and care for a coiffure so fragile that it requires a special pillow. She will also acquire a magnanimous tutor and a venomous rival.

Surviving the intrigues of her trade and the upheavals of war, the resourceful Sayuri is a romantic heroine on the order of Jane Eyre and Scarlett O’Hara. And Memoirs of a Geisha is a triumphant work – suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.

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The greatest conspiracy of the past 2000 years is about to unravel…

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher.

Solving the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci…clues visible for all to see…and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion – an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

The Louvre curator has sacrificed his life to protect the Priory’s most sacred trust: the location of a vastly important religious relic, hidden for centuries.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to work for Opus Dei – a clandestine, Vatican-sanctioned Catholic sect believed to have long plotted to seize the Priory’s secret.

Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory’s secret – and a stunning historical truth – will be lost forever.

Before anything else, a very Merry Christmas to one and all!

The Da Vinci Code reintroduces readers to Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist, who first appeared in Angels & Demons.

With the attention that the book has attracted over the years, it is more or less expected that a film version will come out soon enough.

After much speculation from fans and detractors alike, the movie adaptation of this novel will premier in May 2006.

The 28 December 2005-2 January 2006 Asian edition of Newsweek magazine contains a very nice feature article on the film as well as some gorgeous photographs of the cast and the sets.

I have taken the liberty of scanning in the images, as I want to share these with people who are waiting for the movie with bated breath (as I am).

The casting can be described as no less than powerhouse. I particularly loved how Silas was portrayed, at least in the stills.

Enjoy!

Sir Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing

Alfred Molina as Bishop Manuel Aringarosa

Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu, with the Mona Lisa‘s stand-in

Paul Bettany as Silas *fangirls*

Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu and Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon

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Over the weekend, I finished reading Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella.

I was able to purchase a copy from PowerBooks while I was in Metro Manila last week.

Can You Keep A Secret? is Kinsella’s follow-up foray into the chick lit world sans Becky Bloomwood of the four-part Shopaholic series. The book’s heroine is marketing assistant Emma Corrigan, who has a few too many secrets to comfortably keep.

I must admit that I was disappointed with the book. It is not as humorous as the Shopaholic novels.

There are also too many parallels with the aforementioned series, such as:
1. A ditzy heroine who believes there is so much more in life awaiting her
2. A dark, brooding love interest who built his own company, is rich and is reputed to be a genius
3. A scandal through mass media that badly damages the heroine’s reputation and already flimsy pride
4. An irritating female co-worker occupying a nearby desk: Artemis for Emma and Clare for Becky
5. The heroine’s immediate supervisor whose name begins with the letter P: Paul for Emma and Philip for Becky
6. The heroine’s ability to quickly incur financial debts
7. The heroine is an only child
8. The presence of a sister figure who outshines the heroine: Kerry for Emma and Jessica for Becky

There are other similarities that I will probably recall later on, however, Can You Keep A Secret? is nonetheless fun enough on its own.

I am still awaiting the mass market paperback release of Kinsella’s new novel, The Undomestic Goddess. I have already seen the book and read its synopsis, but the edition was the large print paperback and it cost nearly a thousand pesos.

Here is the summary of Can You Keep A Secret? at Amazon.com:

When her plane en route from Glasgow to London experiences horrible turbulence, Emma Corrigan is convinced she is going to die.

She babbles all of her most intimate thoughts and secrets to the handsome American man sitting next to her. But the plane lands safely, and Emma bids him an awkward good-bye.

When she enters the office on Monday and learns the CEO of the company, Jack Harper, is in for a visit, Emma is horrified to learn Jack is actually the man in whom she confided on the flight. He knows everything, including that she hates her job and that she is not quite sure she loves her boyfriend.

But Jack does not fire her on the spot; instead, he quietly replaces the office coffeemaker she hates and gives her advice about her personal life, which she finds infuriating. So why can’t she stop thinking about him?

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I have just finished watching the 1984 rebellious teen dance flick Footloose. I am still adrenaline-high from grooving along to 1980s hit songs such as Footloose and Holding Out For A Hero.

I found myself browsing for updates on one of next year’s most awaited movies, The Da Vinci Code. The film’s teaser-trailer is downloading as I write this.

The aforementioned international bestseller by Dan Brown has a prequel that, in my humble opinion, also deserves its own time on the silver screen: Angels & Demons.

The first Robert Langdon novel has just as much action and suspense as its successor. The setting is The Holy See itself, which vastly increases the intrigue factor.

Here are casting choices for my dream Angels & Demons movie:

Robert Langdon – Tom Hanks
He wins by default.

Vittoria Vetra – Angelina Jolie
The physicality and the outfit called for in her Tomb Raider character just about prepared her for this role.

Max Kohler – John Hurt
He has the depth and talent to give life to the tortured, genius Konig (“king”).

Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca – Benicio Del Toro
Charismatic and intelligent, with just the right mix of earthiness, sensitivity and underlying menace.

Cardinal Saverio Mortati – Paul Sorvino
This is a difficult one, but I will go for a seasoned actor with Italian roots.

Commander Olivetti – Robert De Niro
He may be a bit too short and a bit too old, but his earthy toughness would wonderfully complement Del Toro’s enigmatic chamberlain.

The Hassassin – Oded Fehr
Highly dangerous in more ways than one, with sex appeal to boot.

Gunther Glick – David Wenham
He has the range to go from bumbling (Carl in Van Helsing) tabloidish reporter to all-business (Faramir in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) Pulitzer aspirant.

Chinita Macri – Queen Latifah
I will give this role to my most adored African-American actress. She can very well pull off the no-nonsense, strong personality of the BBC camerawoman.

Finally, I will go for Alfonso Cuaron as director. His dark, deep vision suits the overall mood of Angels & Demons quite well.

The soundtrack will constitute mostly Gregorian chanting, in the likes of Gregorian: The Dark Side.

Here is the plot of Angels & Demons from the author’s official website:

When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol – seared into the chest of a murdered physicist – he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati…the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth.

The Illuminati has surfaced from the shadows to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy…the Catholic Church.

Langdon’s worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican’s holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces he has hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.

Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair…a secret location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war…

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I finished Paulo Coelho’s Veronika Decides to Die last Sunday and found it fairly touching, with an ironic twist for the ending.

I first discovered Coelho’s works through the popularity of The Alchemist, which I subsequently bought and read voraciously. Veronika is the second book of this brilliant author in my collection.

I adored the character who became Veronika’s love interest: a rich, highly educated, schizophrenic music lover named Eduard, who also happens to be quite handsome. He sounds exactly like my kind of man.

Yesterday, I bought two “chick lit” paperbacks. This new inclination for such reading fare has, I believe, been indoctrinated into yours truly by the very charming Shophalic series penned by Sophie Kinsella.

My newly acquired tomes are Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes and The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. Right now, I am nearly 200 hundred pages into the former.

So sue me from being a pink-loving girly-girl.

Here is a summary of Veronika from Amazon.com:

The bestselling Brazilian author of The Alchemist delicately etches this morose but ultimately uplifting story of the suicidal Veronika, who creeps along the boundary between life and death, sanity and madness, happiness and despair.

Veronika, 24, works in a library in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and rents a room in a convent; she is an attractive woman with friends and family, but feelings of powerlessness and apathy tempt her to find “freedom” in an overdose of sleeping pills.

When Veronika awakens in the purgatory of Villete, the country’s famous lunatic asylum, she is told her suicide attempt weakened her heart and she has only days to live.

In a sedative-induced haze, Veronika finds companionship in white-haired Mari, who suffers from panic attacks, and Eduard, an ambassador’s son who has been diagnosed as schizophrenic, and she begins to question the definition of insanity.

It is her supposed death sentence from the devious Dr. Igor, who is trying to shock her back into reality, that allows Veronika to reacquire the will to live and love.

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I finished reading The Rule of Four late last night, after towing it around for the past several days.

This book is the literary debut of the writing team of Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. They are kind of like a low-key, erudite version of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, the duo that penned the Academy Award-winning screenplay of the film Good Will Hunting.

The Rule of Four is, without a doubt, highly intellectual, but there are many stilted moments that take away the thrill experienced in discovering centuries-old secrets. In this case, the object in question is the enigmatic, subliminally heavy Renaissance text Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, which is being obsessively dissected by a Princeton senior.

Perhaps the novel was too intent in mixing scholarly incisiveness, pulse-pounding suspense and youthful angst that the final product seemed like a satisfactory yet unexciting mishmash of various literary genres.

As of the moment, I am midway through Paulo Coelho‘s Veronika Decides to Die. It is far less breathtaking than the elegant grandeur that is The Alchemist.

However, Coelho still retains his fresh spirituality and deadpan sensibility. Veronika Decides to Die reminds me a bit of Amrita, Banana Yoshimoto‘s “longest novel” on amnesiac rebirth.

Amazon.com provides the following book review:

A compelling modern thriller that cleverly combines history and mystery.

When four Princeton seniors begin the Easter weekend, they are more concerned with their plans for the next year and an upcoming dance than with a 500-year-old literary mystery. But by the end of the holiday, two people are dead, two of the students are injured, and one has disappeared.

These events, blended with Renaissance history, code breaking, acrostics, sleuthing, and personal discovery, move the story along at a rapid pace.

Tom Sullivan, the narrator, tells of his late father’s and then a roommate’s obsession with the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a 15th-century “novel” that has long puzzled scholars.

Paul has built his senior thesis on an unpopular theory posited by Tom’s father – that the author was an upper-class Roman rather than a monk – and has come close to proving it.

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My parents and I are going to the town of Concepcion early tomorrow morning to visit my maternal grandparents.

They live in the barangay of Nino, which, all in all, is a good three hours away from Iloilo City. I am so looking forward to seeing Lolo and Lola again, after almost a year.

I am grateful that it rained tonight. This will make the roads far less dusty than usual, and that is a very good thing as we will be using an open-window jeepney for transport.

It is quite fun to travel long distances via jeepney because it really makes you appreciate and savor the entire concept of completing the journey from one place to the other.

Over the past 24 hours, I finished the second and third installments of Sophie Kinsella‘s Shopaholic series, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan and Shopaholic Ties the Knot.

These books were both fun romps, but I have to say that I still love Confessions of a Shopaholic best. It goes without saying that I plan to get the fourth book, Shopaholic and Sister, the next time I go to the mall.

Never mind that I go to the bookstore practically everyday, just to make sure that I get first dibs on Dan Brown‘s Digital Fortress the very moment it hits the shelves. It is left as the only Brown book I have yet to read.

In additio, have I mentioned that I have actually made a down payment on my reservation of the sixth Harry Potter book a week ago?

Here is a description of the second Shopaholic book from Amazon.com:

In this sequel to Kinsella’s bestselling Confessions of a Shopaholic, Becky Bloomwood, a personal finance “expert” with her own TV show, is more of a financial mess than ever: she can’t stop shopping, even though she can’t afford anything.

She’s even assigned her flatmate, Suze, to monitor her spending, but to no avail: Becky is full of cute rationalizations, like “Foreign money doesn’t count, so you can spend as much as you like,” and can’t stop herself from sneaking into posh boutiques.

Her work-obsessed boyfriend, Luke, runs a financial PR agency, and when he gets the green light to open an office in New York City, he brings Becky along.

Upon her arrival in the Big Apple, she euphorically discovers Barney’s, Saks, Sephora and sample sales but when wind of her shopping excesses gets back to the British press, she loses both her relationship and her TV job.

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This meme was shared by a friend. Go ahead and try it yourself.

Instructions
1. Enter “(your name here) needs” in a Google search.
2. Read through the link descriptions, looking for those that actually form a sentence.
3. Post the first 15 results.
4. Enjoy!

· Shirley needs the Holistic approach.
· Shirley needs help.
· Shirley needs a dollar.
· Shirley needs overhauling.
· Shirley needs Supreme Court Reporter v.44.
· Shirley needs me.
· Shirley needs advice.
· Shirley needs the public to escape depression.
· Shirley needs love.
· Shirley needs more spells.
· Shirley needs the following: any donated items; volunteers to help with sales, inventory and pricing items; and help designing and distributing fliers.
· Shirley needs to be on the thoroughfare between the development and the car park.
· Shirley needs to remain free.
· Shirley needs more sand.
· Shirley needs Harvard.

I have just finished Sophie Kinsella‘s Confessions of a Shopaholic, which I got on paperback (contodos 20-percent Laking National discount) yesterday during my Graduate School lunch break.

The book is light and spirited, with a few emotional chords here and there. Overall, it is definitely chick lit. I highly recommend Confessions to those who want to experience unadulterated extravagant fun. Pun intended.

Amazon.com provides the following book summary:

At age 25, Rebecca Bloomwood has everything she wants. Or does she?

Can her career as a financial journalist, a fab flat and a closet full of designer clothes lessen the blow of the dunning letters from credit card companies and banks that have been arriving too quickly to be contained by the drawer in which Rebecca hides them?

Although her romantic entanglements tend toward the superficial, there is that wonderful Luke Brandon of Brandon Communications: handsome, intelligent, the 31st-richest bachelor according to Harper’s and actually possessed of a personality that is more substance than style. Too bad that Rebecca blows it whenever their paths cross.

Will Rebecca learn to stop shopping before she loses everything worthwhile?

When faced with the opportunity to do good for others and impress Luke, will she finally measure up?

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At the dawn of the Millennium, the nation collapsed. At 15% unemployment, 10 million were out of work, 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence, and fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act a.k.a. The Battle Royale Act.

This is the dystopic future in which Battle Royale takes place. Also known as Batoru Rowaiaru, it was originally a bestselling novel by Koushun Takami.

The first film, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, premiered in Japan on 16 December 2000. The sequel, Battle Royale II, was helmed by Fukusaku’s son Kenta and it was released on 5 July 2003. There is also a manga version available.

The novel, manga and first movie’s plots are basically the same, wherein the 9th Grade Class 3-B from Shiroiwa Junior High School goes on a field trip only to be gassed unconscious in the bus. They come around on an island where their teacher Kitano informs them that they have been placed in Battle Royale, a competition in which each is given a different weapon and they must kill each other until only one is left alive.

The BR franchise was a cult hit not only in Japan but also in other parts of the world.

Battle Royale‘s popularity is largely due to the stylized, graphically gory first movie. Amazon.com has the following review:

With the Japanese currently leading the way in thought-provoking cinematic violence, it’s only fitting that Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale is being touted as a Clockwork Orange for the 21st century.

Based on the novel by Koushun Takami, the film opens with a series of fleeting images of unruly Japanese schoolchildren, whose bad behavior provides a justification for the “punishments” that will ensue.

Once the prequel has been dispensed with, the classmates are drugged and awaken on an island where they find they have been fitted with dog collars that monitor their every move.

Instructed by their old teacher (“Beat” Takeshi) with the aid of an upbeat MTV-style video, they are told of their fate: after an impartial lottery they have been chosen to fight each other in a three-day, no-rules contest, the Battle Royale.

Their only chance of survival is through the death of all their classmates.

Some pupils embrace their mission with zeal, while others simply give up or try to become peacemakers and revolutionaries. However, the ultimate drive for survival comes from the desire to protect the one you love.

Battle Royale works on many different levels, highlighting the authorities’ desperation to enforce law and order and the alienation caused by the generation gap.

To end this post on a positive, uplifting note, I would like to wish my fellow Filipinos: Happy Philippine Independence Day!

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