laurganism.com

laurganism.com is my latest domain acquisition. It was created on August 16, 2005. It contains book, movie reviews, opinions, Filipino culture, and random weirdness.

Napoleon Dynamite

I heard about Napoleon Dynamite during my vacation in the States last summer from some news thing I stumbled upon while channel surfing. The reporter was saying how this movie made being dorky the “in” thing in some American high schools and naturally, that made me curious. Not curious enough to get my own copy of the movie though, but if I could’ve seen it for free I would have (I was already low on dollars and I didn’t think that my PC could play foreign DVDs. I just found out very recently that it can. Had I known that while I was in the States, I would’ve hoarded all the cheaper DVDs at Costco).

Anyway, I did get around to seeing Napoleon Dynamite for free last Friday from a friend who did buy the DVD in the States. Here’s what I think of the movie in four words: I don’t get it.

Watching Dynamite was like being an audience member of some world-famous starving painter who’s supposed to be a real artist and all. I’m sitting there, expecting the dude come up a gorgeous landscape or horses or some comprehensable image of sorts. But to my dismay, the artist starts drawing all these lines, geometric figures, and splashing random drops of paint on the canvas. The audience sits in awed silence. I’m staring at the guy with knitted eyebrows. Two hours later he’s done, exhausted, and then he proudly calls his mess on canvas an “art piece”. The audience members claps, throws roses at him, and discusses among themselves about what a masterpiece the painting he is and how the guy must be a fricking genius to have thought of such a thing. Everybody leaves to have cocktails with the artist except me, because I’m still sitting on my chair, staring at the painting with a confused “huh?” expression on my face.

Yes, that’s exactly what watching Napoleon Dynamite felt like for me. Okay, maybe the dry, blase-ness of the characters, and the events that came from out of nowhere was supposed to be some artistic statement of sorts. But I didn’t get it. I couldn’t even relate to any of the characters because they were either too weird, too stupid, too dull, or all three. Neither did I feel sorry for them. Whenever Napoleon did something, I felt the same kind of amusement I get from watching the most socially-awkward guy at school interact with more “normal” people in class. It’s hardly even amusement, really; I felt more embarassed for the guy than anything else.

My rating? 1/5 (I was supposed to give it a 0, but I thought the soundtrack was great). I have no idea what the American youth sees in Napoleon Dynamite, but whatever it is I suppose it’s better than Britney Spears. In any case, I am so glad I didn’t pay for the DVD.

Yay for Capitalism

During the summer when I was no longer a high school student and not yet a college student, I was still very much a moron. I was convinced that SM* was an evil evil place because Henry Sy only pays his workers a little above minimum wage, does not give them benefits, etc. Then I grew up (to some extent), adapted a capitalist world view and finally understood what Henry Sy does what he does.

This afternoon, I went to shop at Shoemart SM Makati for the first time since I chose to “boycott” it. The place was given a drastic makeover last year–the interior looks more cheerful and clean and the quality of the merchandise has improved by far. Although I have been there a couple of times, it was only to accompany my sister or my mother at the shoe or household department; I never really bought anything for myself there.

The only item in today’s shopping list was a tote bag but I ended up going to the women’s department and staying there for a good hour and a half. I always had the impression that SM catered to the masses and thus, the clothes they sold were cheap, low-quality stuff I wouldn’t be caught dead in. But to my surprise, I found a lot of great-looking tops way below my budget range (I never buy tops worth more than Php 500 or $10) that I immediately began grabbing stuff off the rack (in the end, the most expensive one I got only cost Php 350). Deeper into the womens’ department were dressier clothes, and I was very happy with the designs and prices of knee-grazing skirts they had. Although I was tempted to, I didn’t buy any because I felt a bit guilty about my unscheduled shopping spree. But I’ll definitely be grabbing a couple of them in the future since Pat’s always complaining about how short my skirts are.

I had to be very careful about the clothes I chose though, because the problem with affordable, mass-produced stuff is that everyone buys them. (The same holds true with any popular store here, I suppose.) In the end, I walked away with 3 collared button-up shirts, 3 sparkly hair scrunchies, a hot pink belt, and a white tote bag. Total amount spent: $27. In the States, 27 bucks would be like, one shirt (why did I ever go shopping there?). I was incredibly happy with my purchases and I couldn’t shut up about how much I want to go back again. Even if I were filthy rich I’d still insist on going to SM for my clothes. I don’t care for brand names; all I want is stuff that looks good on me without paying a ridiculous price for it. May the exploitation continue.

* SM is the biggest department store chain in the Philippines, owned by a Chinese business man named Henry Sy. (Think Walmart of the Philippines, except SM is so huge, it’s practically a mall in itself.) This business venture made the guy so rich, he has enough money to take care of the next four generations of Sys.