[Technicolor Musings] Dissecting Gay Lingo

pRIdE by Megan Terry via Flickr.

I've never been particularly good with the local gay lingo, perhaps more formally known as swardspeak. Given the quirky language stems from a weird mix of English, Filipino / Tagalog and Spanish languages and interlaced with various local pop culture references, it's never been something easy for me to pick up. And I freely admit that I'm not exactly great at speaking our own language (I know - shame on me), but that's the consequence of my upbringing and so I just roll with it for now.

But it's interesting how what is pretty much its own dialect has developed specific to queer culture. But have you ever wondered why? What functional purpose does a secret language serve the queer community? At the same time, even when we speak in normal English or Filipino, the way most queers speak is also tailored to the audience in some manner. We've developed a different set of cultural norms of sorts in how we communicate and what we like to talk about.

So here's my quick take on the "language" and some insights as to why it works.

[Movies] Here Comes The Bride (2010)

I haven't watched many local movies over the years. Admittedly a large part of it is related to my lack of appreciation for the kinds of movies we end up producing and partly also due to my challenges with the language at times. Our movies tend to follow time-worn formulas instead of original stories since movie producers opt to create things that history has established that the masses will more likely enjoy instead of exploring new creative ground. Thus we get all these different movie tropes specific to local cinema such as the poor guy falling in love with the rich girl (and vice versa), the comedy with slapstick routines and nonsensical dance numbers and the high dramas centered around Chinese-Filipino families.

So yeah, I'm pretty jaded when it comes to local cinema.

Now I do have a reasonable respect for some individuals in the industry, and among them is Eugene Domingo. Sure, she can do the kind of shallow, comedic slapstick that the studios love but she's also capable of a lot of wit when given the chance plus she's amazing when it comes to diverse character ranges. She's quite the actress in this regard and thus every now and then I indulge.

So prior to our catching a screening of her film, Ang Babae sa Septic Tank, my partner and I went on a sort of Eugene Domingo marathon to catch up with her more recent film ventures. And thankfully, most of them weren't too bad at all.

[TV] Modern Family: Season 2

The family sitcom has always been a staple of network television. Through the years, the nature of the sitcom has also acted as a sort of informal barometer of the state of the family, how society continues to evolve and how the roles have shifted around with the advent of feminism and other such relevant issues.

Thus the show Modern Family really does well in trying to pain a complex portrait of our current state of affairs. While some might argue that the sometimes convoluted entanglements of the show are a bit hard to believe, taking in a grain of salt will help any viewer find some common ground with the show. After all, not matter how crazy TV gets, nothing's quite as insane as our own real-life families and our day-to-day interpersonal relationships. The brilliance of the show is how it manages to capture a lot of what makes life, well, life, and presents it to us as comedy. And because we see it on TV instead of our own dining tables, it becomes even funnier.

I continue to enjoy the show since it has a healthy mix of family issues tied together with more prevalent trends. After all, you do have a cross-generational marriage and a gay couple in the mix, and that alone is enough to throw in a lot of different issues and concepts for the writers to play around with. And thankfully the show has not taken up a soapbox just yet. Thus the issues largely remained tied to the family instead of using the show as a vehicle for making political statements and the like.

[Google] News Badges Means I Follow Republicans?

So just over a week ago, Google announced the launch of Google News Badges, a rather comical way of tracking what you read on Google News. Yeah, this got an eyebrow raise from me at the time as well.

Now the gamer geek in my generally enjoys the idea of trophies. Sure, they're meaningless achievements with no monetary value, but they do provide an interesting incentive to keep playing. After all, games are already seeded with all these different secrets,bonus areas and hidden items, so why not track them, right?




But to have the same system be applied to a news aggregation site like Google News? Yeah, it does feel a tad weird. Given that I'm a regular Google News user anyway, I decided to see what badges I might earn with my normal browsing habits. And the result was those four badges up there - at least so far. I guess all my following of the current US budget issues has tagged me as being interested in Republican-related news despite my general affinity for the Democratic party.

Has this enhanced my Google News experience thus far? Not really, at least that's yet to be seen. The badges are hard to attain since you don't know how many articles are needed to win one. Plus you don't even know how an article is tagged in the badge system - thus my wondering why I still don't have a badge related to queer news. Go figure. The other benefit to the badges is supposed to be to help me identify new sections that I might want to create in Google News to track topics of interest, but thus far I'm not seeing anything that I'm not already reading.

But let's continue this experiment and see where it goes. As much as Google Labs is already dead, it looks like Google will continue to tinker with weird ideas like these badges.

[Books] Ender's Game

The problem with science fiction and fantasy books in this country is that bookstores typically don't put that much importance in their value. It's easier to decide to invest in stocking up on faster-moving bestsellers that appeal to a wider audience than to a science fiction piece that may or may not work with the already limited audience that caters to these kinds of stories. Thus you stick to the bestsellers of the genre - the big books that have already proved to do well in international book markets and thus should be a reasonable risk. So other authors get marginalized and forgotten except within smaller reading circles where such treasured books are shared among like-minded individuals as brought in from other countries or more generous bookstores.

Admittedly, this is not some marginalized book. This is in fact a rather popular series that I only found the time to read just recently. But my initial thoughts on the science fiction challenges within the context the local book market was just something that I thought about when I was reading this book. It's sort of related, although maybe mostly not.

It's probably ironic that what helped me get around to reading this book is the fact that I now have a Kindle. As much as there's a sense of fulfillment in finding the actual paper books in stores, bargain bins and wherever as you assemble a particular series. But then having access to all of them at once with an ebook reader does save you a lot of legwork. And if anything, reading this book convinced me that it'll be worth the adventure to try and collect physical copies of the various books in this series.

[Movies] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part II (2011)

Well, it's the end of another era. In the same way that the initial end of the Lord of the Rings movie franchise (before The Hobbit truly found its feet), a lot of geek fans felt pretty good that things wrapped up as well as they did while also feeling a little sad that the movies are over. And one can only imagine how the studio executives felt once they realized their cash cow of a vessel was sailing off into the horizon.

Now here's a franchise that pretty much raised an entire generation of kids. Spanning 7 core books and 8 movies, the Harry Potter franchise is one that has raised a generation of kids to be lovers of fantasy even if only to a limited degree. It triggered a new wave of books targeted at younger audiences and help spur other franchises to multimedia success. Yes, even Twilight owes a bit of gratitude to the ground that was broken when Harry Potter first hit the big screen.

And with hordes of fans and casual movie-goers alike having watching the child actors of the movie franchise grow up right before our very eyes, it does present a unique experience that is hard for anyone else to replicate. And thus for good or for ill, this movie marks a pretty momentous event in our shared cultural history.

[Movies] To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)

For the longest time, I always confused this movie with The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert for one reason or another. I suppose the imagery of drag queens performing in a relative wasteland can get pretty confusing. But then I finally sat down and watched both movies and I've never made the mistake since.

It's funny how many people compare the two movies given similarities like those that made me come to the inaccurate conclusion of which movie was which. But then the two had very different creative goals, at least in my opinion, thus understanding that is what really sets them apart. But yes, they certainly shared parallel lines of creative development given how they were released within a year of one another.

And in a movie that features relatively well-known actors dressed in drag the whole time, you know that the end goal isn't entirely serious. The shock value of seeing the trio dressed as women was designed as a crowd draw in itself, a way for the movie to rake in ticket sales. But beyond that, you might be surprised that there's more to this movie that just an elaborate gimmick. I'm not saying that there's a life-changing message woven into this narrative. But it is a pretty funny movie.

[Movies] Jaws (1975)

This is one of those movies that fall into the category of movies that everyone expects you to watch but you never seem to get around to. Not much of a catchy title for a category, I know, but you get the picture. Despite multiple awards and rave reviews left and right that often call it one of the best movies of all time, I have to admit that I only sat down to watch it pretty recently, thanks to my partner of course.

As part of our continued information exchange treaty - the one that any geek couple gets into once they decide to commit to one another, I had long promised to watch this despite my hesitations when it comes to horror. As much as I respect such movies and have seen quite a few compelling suspense stories that are worth raving about, I just don't handle being surprised / shocked /scared very well. I guess it comes with being a bit of a nervous Nellie in life or whatever you want to call it.

But a good movie always deserves a shot (and heck, even some of the campy bad ones too). So I finally got around to watching this with my partner safely at my side and admittedly it wasn't too bad. And this is no just because the movie and its effects are a little dated. If anything, it's really a good movie with a pretty interesting story at heart. Admittedly some of my courage was probably in the fact that I've never been one to particularly enjoy swimming at the beach anyway. Thus it didn't generate as strong a personal reaction as it could have for someone who knows how to swim.

Still, it was quite the experience.

[TV] Fringe: Season 3

Science fiction shows get a really bum rap in network circles these days. For any series that is even remotely related to the sci-fi genre, it's a small miracle in itself for a show like that to survive past its first full season, if even that.

And don't even get me started on Fox. *coughs* FIREFLY *coughs* Dollhouse *coughs* Sarah Connor Chronicles *coughs*. Sorry, must have been something that ate. =P

But still, we still have those glimmers of hope amid all the other geek tragedies we've witnessed in recent years. And thus we take whatever we can get in this regard and end up enduring some of the stranger science fiction ventures (read: FlashForward) just to support geek TV.

But then some real gems come along and just blow everyone away. You know what I mean - the shows that come in with brass knuckles and steel-plated leather boots that show everyone else who's boss and what it means to be really, really geeky. And in this regard, we have one J.J. Abrams to thank for this show getting as far as it has.

[Games] Dead Nation (PS3)

While I maintain an abstract appreciation for the horror genre at large and for zombies as part of that group, I've never been a fan. And the computer games that have capitalized on this segment of the market including all the survival / horror games that have been created over the years have certainly made a name for themselves, but generally never struck my fancy. But my partner is a big horror buff, as I've mentioned on this blog many times now, and so I've learned to appreciate the glorious undead a wee bit more since we started living together.

Another thing I've never really been good at would definitely be first person shooters. The games get me way too tense and that ruins my chances of surviving the level since I tend to panic. I hate the need to be constantly on the move and trying to adapt to new challenges. And I don't often enjoy competitive game play - I guess in that regard I practically hold up a little flag and ask if we all can't get along or something. This is why I favor local cooperative games versus the head-to-head / player versus player games, except maybe for real-time strategy. But even that's pushing the envelope.

Thus given the options made available as part of the PlayStation Network's Welcome Back program, this game did appear to be one of the better ones in the mix. I figured that if ever my partner could have a good time and it's a free game, so why complain right? And thus we made it one of our selections for the package - and then I can't quite explain what happened after.

[Books] Nation

Long-time readers of this blog would already have figured out that I'm quite the Terry Pratchett fan. I've been hooked on his Discworld series for years and have been doing my best to collect all the books, to which I've largely succeed, I believe. But then the man is more than just the author of Discworld - he has had the occasional venture outside this realm in terms of his literary projects.

A friend of mine had called my attention to this existence of this book along with a hearty recommendation. And you know how it goes - it takes a fellow fan to really make a good case for a particular book or movie. Or even just the act of recommending the book, since this is coming from a person you trust, triggers the decision to try it out for yourself in order to see what your friend was talking about. Thus I continue to believe in the power of social networks like Shelfari. While they may seem a bit specialized, they're still a great venue for sharing peer reviews and getting feedback from fellow readers. But I digress.

This book definitely felt very different from other Pratchett books I've read, and I'm not just talking about the fact that it was not set on Discworld. It's more than that. The tone he took on her, despite it being marketed as a young adult novel, is quite mature and at times rather introspective. At times I even found myself comparing it to some sort of stage play unfolding before me through the text or something like that.

But clearly, pretty much anyone has something to be gained from this book.

[Movies] Ang Babae sa Septic Tank (2011)

The local indie movie scene is known for producing a particular type of movie, or so they say. You know what I mean - in a third world country like ours, the natural instinct in order to be "realistic" or "cutting edge" or even "risque" is to focus on what have become traditional themes like poverty, child exploitation, corruption in government and the rest. The stuff that make our country less than ideal or that separate us from the rest of the world somehow.

Not that I'm saying that other countries don't have these things - I'm just saying that our so-called "serious" movie makers tend to interpret their role in life as to needing to create movies that practically celebrate the bad stuff about this country.

Local film festivals like Cinemalaya are all about focusing on the indie film scene and giving them a chance to showcase their best works. While I do have my misgivings about the culture of this group as partially stated above, I still believe that there are some good projects among the riff-raff that deserve to be supported one way or another.

Thus may partner and I finally watched a Cinemalaya movie together - and admittedly this was my first time to watch any of these movies during the actual competition period. Thus my thanks to Greenbelt 3 for managing to become part of the main competition screening and giving more people access to this stellar event.

[Technicolor Musings] The Fear Of Getting Tested

I'm pretty sure that it's universally accepted that HIV / AIDs is pretty damn scary. Everyone who has engaged in sexual activity has probably thought about it at least once, perhaps more so if you're a gay man. Or among men who have sex with men, if you're the type who rejects gender labels and identification with roles of sexual orientation. After all, gay sex has just about 0% risk of pregnancy and thus the need for condoms generally gets thrown out the window by a significant portion of the sexually active queer population.




HIV testing awareness ad campaign by Narisa Spaulding via Flickr.

In my previous 7+ year relationship, I had never gotten tested for HIV. I could claim that it just never came up in our discussions or the fact that we were a monogamous couple, but of course those reasons won't stand up in court. Heck, I can't look you in the eye and say it was a strictly monogamous relationship since we did involve a few others in terms of our "activities".

So when I finally got tested for HIV for the very first time in my life with my current partner, I admit it was scary. As much as I knew that my chances seemed small, naturally the risk factors where still present in both of our histories. While we all do our best to keep safe, everyone slips up at least once or twice in their lives.

[Movies] Akira (1988)

It's how there seems to be a whole host of movies, TV shows and other such pieces of pop culture history that people assume I've seen. And when I reveal that I haven't, gasps and other expressions of shock and surprise are often heard. While I am a geek, I'm only human and I've only had enough time and exposure to consume so much media. But as a geek, I've also done my best to keep up to date with as much as possible, thus I tend to know a little about most things on the periphery of my geek areas of coverage and a heck of a lot more about those things that I'm passionate about.

Not that I'm averse to getting recommendations of things that are "must-see" in the opinions of others. I could just do without the surprised gasped and implications of judgement of worth that come along with the whole exchange. You should understand what I mean when you think about your own experiences in this regard.

This movie was definitely one of the bigger ticket items on things that everyone assumes I've seen and yet until recently I hadn't. I'm not sure why I ended up waiting this long to watching it. In the past it was really a question of time and finding a copy of the movie. But when I started living with my current partner, that sort of came along with a copy of the movie in his collection. Sweet. And yet it's already been two years of living together and only now did I watch it.

Regardless of the reasons for the delay, I'm glad that I finally got to watch it. Admittedly, it's a pretty awesome movie.

[Theater] Aida (Atlantis Productions)

At this point, I suppose you say that I've become a bit of a patron of Atlantis Productions. The local theater group has been staging popular musicals since 1999 when they first touched many lives by running a successful staging of RENT. That was one of the first theater productions that I had seen done by a professional group apart from a staging of Camelot, although I forget who ran that one. I didn't get to follow many other Atlantis shows immediately after that and it wasn't until 2007 when I finally "met" the group again with their staging of Avenue Q.

Since then, I've come to trust the level of quality that they bring to the table in their efforts to do justice to the great shows that they bring into the country. And they don't sweat the small stuff - they've consistently gone after the bigger name shows that have raked in Tony Awards and fan acclaim alike and I'd like to think that they've done a fairly good job for the most part.

This show felt like one of the first times they've stumbled for me. I'm not saying it was entirely a bad play, but it definitely wasn't their strongest effort to-date. Then again, there are a lot of elements that go into this production that may or may not have played a factor in the final outcome. It does merit a bit more study at this point.

[Games] LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (PS3)

I now own a total of 7 LEGO-themed games for the PS3, at least by my last count. What can I say? I'm such a sucker for these games! I suppose the repetitive puzzle-solving nature of the games appeal to the logic centers in my brain or something. Plus LEGO humor is pretty amusing, at least for me.

And this collection of 7 also includes this latest foray into the LEGO Universe, this time by Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. While I haven't exactly earned my sea legs when it comes to the Pirates fan groups, I'd like to think that I do share a healthy appreciation for the franchise, primarily because of my geek friends, and this is despite not really feeling the whole pirate genre as a kid. Probably the closest that I ever got to appreciating more of the genre was because of Marauder from the Robots in Time series, which featured an Asmovian robot escaping the authorities by going back in time. And this in book, the target robot hid in the age of pirates, thus providing a lot of relevant information on the pirate life. At least that's how it worked for a science fiction geek like me.

But like the Pirates movies, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this game. In fact, I'm pretty surprised how quickly the whole thing has gone and as of the time of this writing, I'm pretty much just finishing off all the secret bonus stuff, as is the pattern in any LEGO game. And if anything, I think it's safe to say that I'm just in the mop-up phase of my gaming time with about five trophies left for me to attain and a few more stages to play through in Free mode.

[Books] The Alienist

I normally work through books fairly quickly. Once I start, there's that determined need to finish things. This has become all the more true ever since I started the Geeky Guide and its book reviews. After all, if I stop reading, then I won't have anything to write about.

This book though ended up taking me almost three years to finish, mainly because of personal issues that came in the way. After all, the book was a gift from a friend who stopped being a friend after a while. Then my personal situation changed until finally I found myself wondering where the time had gone.

So I ended up starting from the very beginning in order to maker sure that I didn't miss anything about this particular book. It's one that's pretty generous in terms of details (both supplementary and those essential to the plot). Given that, it can get a little easy to get lost unless (1) you read the book straight through within a reasonable amount of time or (2) you take notes as you read.

But isn't that the case with most other good mystery / crime novels?

[Movies] Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

I'm a huge Transformers fan. I have been since my childhood when the original TV series was still on the air. I still have many of my original G1 Transformers with me and I continue to collect figures that tie in with the original series.

However, being a fan is never a good thing for a practical review of any movie, TV show or book. When you're too close to the subject that you're trying to review, you end up skewing things along emotional paths. Thus you get reviews that overly praise the material based on what you were looking for as a fan. And on the other end of the spectrum you get reviews that are overly negative since your fan expectations, which are different from your regular expectations, weren't met.

And thus my difficult with this movie review. I love the core franchise of the Transformers series but I've come to hate the Michael Bay monstrosities he's released into the world. The first movie survived my initial scrutiny because of the fan in me being happy to finally see a live action Transformers movie., The sequel was beyond horrible and made the fan in me lost several thousand geek IQ points. And then this movie came along.

As part of my dedication to this blog continuing to feature reviews that are useful to everyone, especially non-geeks and and non-fans, I'll do my best to keep my head as I write this.

[Movies] 200 American (2003)

I feel there's a lack of sufficient movie "expertise" when it comes to LGBT-focused movies. Sure, there are fellow queer bloggers like me who try to get the word out about what movies are great and which ones aren't, but still they're rather few and far between. Front line critics like Roger Ebert don't exactly include the mostly direct-to-video LGBT movie market as part of their scope after all, at least not typically.

And thus I've amassed a rather large collection of LGBT movies that may or may not be good. I'm slowly finding out one movie at a time, but admittedly it's a long and sometimes painful process. But there are just so many of them out there floating amid the porn torrents that you eventually give in and take a gander. For the most part, we end up trusting either the recommendations of close friends or the personal comments made by the scant others who took the time to post a review for the movie in question.

I'm not claiming to be the new voice for LGBT movie discussion and critical thinking. But I am trying to do my part in helping other people figure out if a particular movie is worth the risk of getting into or not.

For this one, I'm definitely leaning towards no.

[Movies] Kiki's Delivery Service / Majo no Takkyūbin (1989)

The love that my partner and I share for Studio Ghibli has resulted in our following the Tumblr blog Studio Ghibli Gifs, since Tumblr just LOVES generating more animated GIFs than all the LiveJournal userpic makers ever did. And who wouldn't be able to love little snippets from your favorite Studio Ghibli films in a meme-ready form?

A the same time, following the site act as a constant reminder for me about the Ghibli movies that I have yet to see. Given enough interesting images from a particular movie, I find my curiosity reaching breaking point, and thus I schedule a viewing session with the boyfriend, since he has a great and nearly complete collection of their movies. Don't you just love it when the man you love has the ability to introduce you to something as magically fantastic as Studio Ghibli? Yes, this is but one of the many reasons that I love him.

But I digress.

The images associated with this movie had me really curious and so a few weeks ago we finally sat down to watch this movie. Studio Ghibli movies always require one's full attention. This is mainly because (1) my partner and I agree that they're best viewed in the original Japanese with English subs versus the dubbed versions and (2) there's just so much love that goes into these movies that it helps to focus in order to appreciate the level of detail. Simply amazing, especially for predominantly hand-drawn movies.

[TV] The Big Bang Theory: Season 4

And now the reviews have finally caught up with the current season - at least for this particular show. I still have a lot of ground to cover with other shows that have finished their runs for now as part of my writing queue, but I'll get there in time for sure.

The continued success of this particular show has a lot to do with the willingness of the writers to develop the characters. I mean come on, we've seen many sitcoms that have challenges with juggling an ensemble cast like this and typically the resort to killing all reasonable progress in their fictional lives in exchange for the safety of the status quo. But here the writers were willing to push the characters forward and for the most part they've all gotten to a new level of character development over the years.

Except maybe for Raj - he's kind of stuck. But then that works for him.

I continue to enjoy the show, although this season started not quite as strong as I had hoped. Then again, they found their way in time and by the end of the run it was pretty clear they were rocking things.

[Google] First Impressions of Google+

Everyone knows that Google doesn't know social. Orkut, their first social network, only gained popularity in Brazil and India. Buzz was a PR disaster given the privacy issues that were raised after it was aggressively launched for all users. Wave was a product that everyone agreed was amazingly useful provided people could figure out what to use it for. Time and time again Google has stepped up to the plate in the social game and pretty much washed out.





But now there's Google+, the search giant's latest foray into the world of social networking. And in an environment that's dominated by Facebook, everyone's taking notice of whether or not this new service is going to fly or if it's going to bomb out just like all of Google's other social ventures have.

Now I admit that I'm quite the Google fan boy, and all my friends know this for the most part. I signed up for Orkut before I ever even thought about going to Facebook. I spent time trying to appreciate Buzz and build relationships there. And I still use Google Wave event though the application is no longer being actively developed. And I'm definitely not using it like it was designed to be used - at least I think that's the case.

So I approached Google+ with a fair amount of caution mixed in with my excitement for a new Google product. But after being able to get into the limited beta and playing around with the site for a few days, I can definitely say that I'm impressed with what they've done here. It's a potential game-changer to be sure - but not quite in the same manner that everyone thinks it will be.

[Books] Eric

In my continuing adventures in reading the Rincewind-centric Discworld novels, the results have been interesting. While I still don't feel an increased degree of liking towards the character, I do appreciate the evolution of Terry Pratchett's writing style and the increasingly complex issues and concepts he tries to tackle amidst Rincewind's adventures. I guess he does make for a good backdrop for that sort of thing - he's the ultimate straight man from a comedy perspective and he's designed to appear plot neutral (even though he really isn't).

This book was a lot shorter than other Discworld books and it reminds me of the brevity we saw in early titles like Equal Rites and Moving Pictures. Shorter doesn't mean it's necessarily worse - it just means the book involves a much more concise narrative that is generally more focused on what things are going on. It also means juggling less characters around than what we've seen in more recent novels of greater length.

This book did feel a little underdeveloped for once, at least from my perspective. Going back to my earlier examples of other short Discworld novels, those books still felt nicely complete. This one felt like he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do and so it just fizzles out and ends much earlier than I anticipated, at least in terms of the plot. Then again, you can only do so much with a character like Rincewind.

[Blogosphere] Announcing Baduy Pride!

Tobie and I have just started a new blogging venture together called Baduy Pride. The blog is all about celebrating love and the joys of our gay geeky relationship. So yes, it's going to be an ultra mushy, sappy blog with lots of geek references, LGBT themes and all that sort of good stuff.



We're really appreciate if you paid the site a visit every now and then to show your support. And if you really like it, then feel free to follow the blog and wear your baduy pride colors proudly!

[Movies] Green Lantern (2011)

I became a Green Lantern fan shortly after Kyle Rayner took over the role of Green Lantern after Hal Jordan went mad and became Parallax - at least in terms of the comics. So yes, I was one of those who fell prey to the classic marketing gimmick of rebooting the comic with a new protagonist in the lead.

Green Lantern didn't always seem like a cool character to me - probably because I felt the concept of the power ring felt too much like magic. Plus it was insanely powerful and entrusting an individual with that kind of flexible might seemed wrong to me. But regardless, he's come a long way from his campy construct days to the rather expansive cosmic police force that they've become in the comic books.

When they announced the production of a Green Lantern movie, I felt the same skepticism we all feel when it comes to a new comic book movie franchise being established. It's a combination of skeptical excitement mixed in with irrational fear - I'm sure the geeks in the audience know exactly how I felt at the time.

But was it as bad as the critics presented it to be? Well that's hard to say right off the bat...

[Technicolor Musings] A Few Thoughts On Pride

Well, this year's Pride Month is already over. Not everything went quite as planned given the less than ideal weather at the tail end of the month, but for the most part it was a great celebration of LGBT Pride and I'm definitely looking forward to next year being even bigger and better. We're still nowhere near the big Pride celebrations like we see in the US and other countries, but we're getting there.



Gay PRIDE 7826 by Brian K. Leadingham Photographyvia Flickr.

And before we completely leave Pride Month and return to our regular, somewhat less colorful lives, I thought it might be prudent to post a few more thoughts about LGBT Pride and some of the bits that I feel are more important than others.

[Pink Scene] New Date For White Party Manila 2011

For those who are still wondering, the so-called "official" White Party Manila has been re-scheduled for Saturday, July 16, 2011. Entrance for the event is P100 and there are also limited P500 VIP tickets available as well.

Although I have no idea what benefits you get with a VIP ticket.

And I have no idea who DJ Thiago Vinicius and the Panty Monsters are.




So will your Geeky Guide and his partner show up at the "official" White Party?

I highly doubt it. My partner and I celebrated the Almost White Party last June 25 (the traditional weekend for the White Party), and so we already feel like we've properly commemorated LGBT Pride. Pride Month is a lot more than just some silly party and it just feels...wrong, for lack of a better term, to celebrate it in the middle July.

But please, don't let me stop you from going if your heart is set for it. Go enjoy the event and if anything, please try to remember to celebrate LGBT Pride admidst the debauchery, hehe.

For VIP ticket reservations, contact (0917)887-4851

[Theater] Blue Repertory's Little Shop of Horrors This July

[Updated July 20, 2011] New press release included below with the updated show dates.

I always like supporting school theater groups - you'd be surprised at the level of talent that you just might encounter there.

I've been a fairly regular support of Ateneo's Blue Repertory theater group given how I have friends involved with them along with the fact they put up some great musicals. And it looks like this July they're starting with a pretty awesome one.





Little Shop of Horrors is an Alan Menken - Howard Ashman musical based on the 1960's black comedy of the same name. While I never saw the original movie, I'm sure a lot of you share my appreciation for the 1986 movie musical that starred Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene and Steve Martin.

Personally, I'm quite curious as to how the group is going to manage the show since the "star" is actually a talking plant with an appetite for meat. But then I bet that was probably one of the most fun parts of the story as well.

For more information about the show and how to get tickets, the official press release can be found after the jump.

[Movies] The Red Violin (1998)

Here's another case of a movie being recommended to me by a friend, more specifically my boss actually. I had previously caught snippets on cable TV (back when I actually had cable), but never managed to catch the beginning. And this is definitely one of those movies that you need to see from start to finish since simply jumping into the flick somewhere in the middle can be pretty confusing.

And that's not a bad thing by any standard. It just speaks of how tightly-knit the narrative of this movie is. It's not necessarily a fast-paced story nor an action-packed one, but it is a good one.

Of course it turned out that my partner had already seen it before - he seems to have a penchant for movies of this nature. Or just movies in general, really. He watches movies like how I read books and such. But that's another topic entirely.

This movie had a great story in it. And that alone makes it worth more than most that we see in theaters these days.