Rizal, the Hero and the Lover

This year, 2018, marked the 122nd death anniversary of  Dr. Jose Rizal. The very first Rizal day was commemorated back in 1898, two years after he was executed in Bagumbayan, Philippines. 

We all know already Rizal as the patriot who loved his country until his final moment.  This time around, let us try and know him as the man who experienced love in his lifetime.

Dr. Jose Rizal from KAMI.com.ph

Here are some of Rizal's many lovers over the years.

1. Segunda Katigbak

Segunda Katigbak from ironexplores.com

Rizal knew Segunda Katigbak through her brother, Mariano Katigbak, who was Rizal's friend and classmate. Rizal was very much like all adolescent boys when he met her. Because Segunda was studying in the same school as her sister, Rizal would go to La Concordia College not only to visit her sister but also to have the chance to see Segunda. He lost hopes on pursuing her when he knew that Segunda was arranged to marry Manuel Luz.

2. Leonor Valenzuela

Leonor Valenzuela from spot.ph

Rizal used his excellence in writing to get his way with Leonor Valenzuela. He wrote letters to her using invisible ink. The invisible ink would only be seen when touched with light. According to historians, this trick of Rizal made Leonor fall for him. Although, the most probable reason for Rizal to use this trick was that he was also fond of another girl that time who was also named Leonor, coincidentally.

3. Leonor Rivera

Leonor Rivera from en.wikipedia.org

Leonor Rivera was a distant relative of Rizal. They were also childhood friends. You know what happens with childhood friends. As they grow and mature, they notice changes and soon after, they become childhood sweethearts. Leonor learned about Rizal's nationalistic aspirations and she was not happy about Rizal leaving the country. Eventually, Leonor was arranged to marry Henry Charles Kipping. Rizal was hurt upon learning about her marriage.

4. Nellie Boustead

Nellie Bousted from ourhappyschool.com

Rizal met Nellie Boustead on one of his European trips. He stayed with her family and even hanged out with Antonio Luna, who was pursuing Nellie at the time. Little did Antonio knew that Nellie was developing feelings for Rizal. Antonio burst out on a gathering under the influence of alcohol, raging into sarcastic remarks about Rizal and Nellie. According to historians, a duel was about to begin between Rizal and Antonio. Luckily, they were intercepted and apologies were made. This has got to be one of the biggest "what ifs" in our history, but they say that there are no "what ifs" in history.

5. Josephine Bracken

Josephine Bracken from en.wikipedia.org

Josephine Bracken is Mrs. Jose Rizal. They met when Josephine and his father reach out to Rizal while he was exiled in Dapitan to treat the ailing eyes of her father. Soon after, they fell for each other and settled in Dapitan.

Jose Rizal was indeed adored by many, there were also Suzanne Jacoby, and O-Sei-San, to name a few more, and maybe that was because of his personality. He was a very clever man. Because he was a frequent traveler, he had to have the personality of a man willing to adjust and adapt to any culture and nation.

He was clever enough to successfully interact with different people and actually leave a mark on their lives.

Top Five Moments from Sir Paul McCartney's Free NYC Show

Because I enjoyed every bit of Sir Paul McCartney's live-streamed NYC concert, I watched it repeatedly, to be honest, I made a list of moments that I mostly enjoyed.

Paul McCartney and the band from YouTube.com

1. I've Got A Feeling
If you have watched most of Sir Paul's concert films and some of his recent performances, you would know that on the first time that he will switch to his Les Paul, he would play "Let Me Roll It". Surprisingly, he played "I've Got A Feeling". Nothing big here, just a fun twisting of details that most fans would surely notice.

2. Mini Stories
Sir Paul has been doing interviews over the years about his entire life, but the short stories he shared before starting songs were incomparable. An example of this was when he shared the story of how he got to sing the vocals on "Love Me Do". Another one was the story of the line, "Life goes on, bra!" in "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da".

3. Classic My Valentine
As a dedication to his wife, Sir Paul played his 2012 single "My Valentine" through a megaphone for a nostalgic effect. That made the song sound like a song that has passed the test of time. This was indeed a classic one.

4. Raw Blackbird
Sir Paul has played Blackbird multiple times, even when he was still with Wings, but never in the center of his audience which actually made him forget some of the song’s lyrics.

5. From Me To You/Love Me Do
These songs were the first Number 1 singles that the Beatles had. "Love Me Do" first and then "From Me To You" came surging in next. After the Beatles' early tours, "From Me To You" has never been played live again. Not until Sir Paul did it in NYC.

Super Sale

They say that not all superheroes wear capes. Yes, because some of those superheroes we look upon are not concealed with masks, nor capes, but they come with discounts and promotions instead.

Such heroes are called "Super Sale" and they offer you necessities with a discount ranging from 10% - 90% off the original price, sometimes even more. However, keep in mind that satisfaction does not always go with those.

SALE signage from unsplash.com

Every year, during the Holiday season, these superheroes (or money-savers) will surely be spotted regularly at each street, every mall, and marketplace. But wait, there will be more. With the technological advancements that we already have now, sales will also be spotted online also.

Looking back, online selling was already a thing since the early 2000s or even earlier than that. However, this selling was limited only to items that were already used (hand-me-down items) like books. Compare that with what we have now and you would see the difference.

Still, there is this one question: WHY ARE WE SO FOND OF SALES, DISCOUNTS, AND PROMOTIONS?

70% off signage from unsplash.com

Financially speaking, not everyone in this world was born with a silver spoon. Not everyone would have the privilege of inheriting a fistful of treasure enough to sustain a costly living until your dying age. On the other side of such a fortune, there would still be those who need to work hard every single day just to put food on their family's plates. For them, shopping could be a stress-reliever, but it would never be a hobby or even an addiction. Shopping would only be done when necessary.

Since the available budget may not be that big, items that have the greatest significances will always be prioritized. This not only teaches us the value of our finances, but also the value of working hard for and always being hungry to achieve our goals.

As for another reason, here is what I think. People want the idea of having their chance to buy a costly item at a lower than normal price. They have this feeling that they will trick the owner of the brand if they can buy such products at a lower price.

However, there are downsides of buying discounted products. You tend to buy things that you do not really need. Since they are at a lower price, you want to seize the chance and buy them. You fear that you may not be able to buy them later anymore if you just passed by them at the moment you saw them. 

We have to change our views on the superheroes. Let us not bit off more than we can chew.

If too much love will kill you, too much shopping will be just as dangerous. You will not only be killing your own finances but also of the people around you. 

Too bad that when that happens, Super Sale might not be there to rescue you.

Paul is Live. Paul is Really LIVE.

Being an average Filipino, especially in times of the rising cost of commodities, is hard if you are idolizing artists. Take for example if you are a Beatles fan. 

Imagine how much a single ticket to watch the remaining Beatles perform costs.

Aside from that, consider what happened back in 1966 here in the Philippines when the Beatles came to perform two concerts. They all hated the Philippines. In a similar scenario, they had problems also when they toured Japan earlier that same year. However, Paul McCartney has already returned to Japan and toured it repeatedly. Former Eraserheads frontman, Ely Buendia, tried to lure Ringo Starr back to the Philippines through Starr's project "Postcards from Paradise" but it was not successful.

With that, I say that the only way to ever watch them is via YouTube or any online live streaming services. I cannot say in words, nor express completely how grateful I am for the Internet today.

Last September 2018, Sir Paul McCartney made this happen. For the first time, as far as I know, he played a surprise concert in New York City and live streamed it on YouTube! Yes, people from around the planet were able to witness him and his band play live. We were watching with millions of people.

The free concert was part of the promotions for his latest album, "Egypt Station". Among the songs played in the free concert were "A Hard Day's Night," "Blackbird," "Let It Be," and "My Valentine". "Come On To Me," "I Don't Know," and "Fuh You" could be heard in the album.

Thumbnail from YouTube

Weeks after that free concert, Sir McCartney was again featured on a live-streamed show in YouTube for the Austin City Limits Music Fest. He played again an almost-3-hour set.

My screenshot of the concert as I was watching it

What a living legend Sir Paul really is.

Final Score In A Skyscraper

Back in September, it was reported that the sixth installment of the Die Hard franchise was retitled into McClane, from the unofficial Die Hard: Year One.

John McClane in Die Hard from deadline.com

The film was said to explore the rookie year of John McClane while still exploring his present-day adventures.

Since we do not have further updates after that, let us enjoy ourselves with these two Die Hard-like movies form 2018.

As an impact of the first Die Hard movie in 1988, the movie itself has become a separate movie genre. When a building, or any structure (like cruise ships, and plane), would be hijacked by terrorists and only one man could do save the people being hostage, you would call it a Die Hard film of this actor, of that actor.

Jackie Chan had his one in City Hunter, and arguably, Harrison Ford with Air Force One. In 2018, Dave Bautista and Dwayne Johnson had theirs. Two former professional wrestlers in two different films, Final Score (Bautista) and Skyscraper (Johnson).

Skyscraper already received mixed reviews upon the release of its movie poster. The jump featured in the movie poster was mathematically impossible to do. The Rock would definitely miss his target. Bad publicity was still publicity. It worked and it made me want to try and watch the movie.

Skyscraper Promo Poster from mensjournal.com

The movie gave the Die Hard genre a twist. The Rock had an obstacle with him. He was amputated and was given an artificial leg. Of course, the movie exploited this artificial leg and made all sorts of situations convenient for The Rock with the help of his artificial leg.

The movie also borrowed bits from Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon with the mirror fight scene at the end of the film.

Overall, it was an enjoyable film. But it was just a silly take on the Die Hard genre. 

Final Score was more low-key than Skyscraper and that made it more worthwhile to watch, for me. 

It was like this - it let its action and overall feel do the talking. Having Pierce Brosnan in it definitely did help. Although while I expected him to die in this one, I hoped that he could have done more action in the movie. 

In Final Score, Bautista was accompanying his niece into a soccer match which Pierce Brosnan's character would also come and watch. The problem was that there was a terrorist looking all over for Pierce Brosnan's character. 

Final Score Promo Poster from cinenews.be

Brosnan's character actually just changed his identity. He was actually the terrorist's brother.

I loved how the movie fit some Die Hard references like how the number of terrorists was identified, and the call made saying that Bautista The Rock was the only chance they could have in order to save the hostages. 

There was also added drama in the movie with the father of his niece, who was actually a colleague of Bautista who died in the line of duty.

Overall, the movie made more sense with its mixed drama, comedy, and over the top action.

Dave Bautista was in the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, and I thought that he would be typecasted into villain roles. However, he now has Escape Plan 2: Hades, and Final Score in his resume, and of course, his portrayal of Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Top Bond Blonde Henchman

One of the trademarks of a Bond film is the henchmen/woman of the Bond villains. Together with the movies main villain, they plan and execute elaborate plans to kill James Bond.

With lots of henchmen/women over the course of the Bond movies, only one was successful in directly inflicting a tragedy to Bond. That was Blofeld's henchwoman, Irma Bunt, when she fired a machine gun that hit Tracy Bond just moments after James and Tracy were married. Aside from Bunt, most have been unsuccessful in doing that task laid out by their boss.

However, we have seen Bond hurt in some of his fights against this specific category of henchmen.

Necros (left) and Bond (right) in The Living Daylights from moviemarmiteman.blogspot.com

They are what we fans call "the Blonde Bond henchmen" and they are tall, muscular, strong, often silent, and of course, Blonde. Those are what sets them apart from other henchmen.

6. Edmund Slate portrayed by Neil Jackson

Edmund Slate in Quantum of Solace from http://jamesbonddatabase.blogspot.com 

Since the reboot that gave us Daniel Craig and Casino Royale, the henchmen of the villains have not been a big deal and have been more realistic ones. Starting off this countdown is a minor henchman in Quantum of Solace. Slate is just another lead that Bond needs and meets in a blade fight to get to know more about Quantum.

5. Erick Kriegler portrayed by John Wyman

Erick Kriegler in For Your Eyes Only  from pinterest.ph

In the film For Your Eyes Only (1981), Erick Kriegler was a KGB assassin working for the main villain, smuggler Aris Kristatos, posing as an athlete and was a marksman. What made his portrayal memorable was the ski chase scene while Bond was skiing with Bibi Dahl, niece of Kristatos. However, the final showdown with Bond was not quite exciting. He fell to his death.

4. Hans portrayed by Ronald Rich

Hans in You Only Live Twice from jamesbond.fandom.com

Hans in You Only Live Twice (1965) was the first reincarnation of the Blond Bond Henchman, two films after Red Grant in From Russia With Love. He had limited screen time and did not say much throughout the film but the final fight in Ernst Stavro Blofeld's volcano lair was a feast for our eyes indeed. Bon Appétit!

3. Richard Stamper portrayed by Gotz Otto

Richard Stamper in Tomorrow Never Dies from die-hard-scenario.wikia.com

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) was one of the Bond films that followed the fundamental formula of the earlier Bond films. Part of that fundamental formula was the main villain and his henchman. Elliot Carver (portrayed by Jonathan Pryce) had a henchman who was just as theatrical as him. Although Stamper was mostly silent, he had time to exchange quips with Bond every now and then. He took pride in being trained by Dr. Kauffman, who was coldly killed off by  Bond.

2. Necros portrayed by Andreas Wisniewski

Necros in The Living Daylights from tvtropes.org

Necros in The Living Daylights (1987) was one of the coolest and lethal Bond Blonde Henchman. He disguises himself in order to blend in and be left unnoticed for him to do his orders. He disguised as a milkman delivering to an MI6 safe house in England to capture Georgi Koskov and bring him to Brad Whitaker. The second time he was in a disguise was when he killed off Saunders, MI6 contact in Vienna, with a triggering explosive. That time, he was a balloon seller in a carnival. Saunder's death enraged Bond and was acted very convincingly by Timothy Dalton.

The final fight between Bond and Necros was high above the sky in the opening of a plane, while hanging for their lives. Bond ultimately won the tight match by outwitting Necros, cutting off the laces of his own boot which was being held by Necros.

1. Red Grant portrayed by Robert Shaw

Rosa Klebb (left) and Red Grant (right) in From Russia With Love from flickriver.com

From Russia With Love (1963) was one of the greater Bond films, if not the greatest (it is, for me). One of its strength was the plethora of villains that it had. There was Blofeld's Number 1, Rosa Klebb, Kronsteen, and Red Grant. Grant's strength was first shown in the pre-title sequence, defeating a Bond-like agent with a garrote watch. Before he was selected for the mission, Klebb hit him in the abdomen with a knuckle and he did not move a bit. Strong guy indeed.

Grant killed off Captain Nash who was supposed to be Bond's contact in the Orient Express. He did a good impersonation that Bond did not notice he was an impostor. He only did when he drugged Tatiana Romanova, leading to their exciting exchange of words and brutal fight in a dark and tight space. Thanks to Q Branch's goods, Bond made it out alive.

As far as I am concerned, only George Lazenby's Bond was not able to experience the Bond Blonde Henchman. What he had was a redhead henchwoman in Irma Bunt, and that would require a different blog post.

Happy Trails, Fans!

Bruce Willis, Die Hard, and John McClane. You're not a true action hero fan if you do not recognize these. 

Die Hard Movie poster from Wikipedia website

Die Hard has been one of the most recognized action films due to its unique plot, and of course, the chemistry between John and Holly McClane, and also Hans Gruber's Yippee-ki-yay.

Moreover, it's not usual to have an action-packed Christmas movie.

Jackie Chan in City Hunter from filmlinc.org

This film has been obviously well-loved not only by fans but also by actors and filmmakers. Jackie Chan's "City Hunter" (1993) had the same plot of having foreign terrorists becoming in-charge. Additionally, Chan wears a white tank top which was similar to what Willis wore in the first Die Hard.

Jake Peralta, the lead character of the TV sitcom "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", expressed his obsession with the Die Hard movies all throughout the show's five seasons. There was even a whole episode that replicated the plot of the first Die Hard. Peralta even listed the villains' names in his wrist. Other references were the Nakatomi Plaza cake and the visit of the whole cast to the Nakatomi Plaza itself.

Screengrab/Post from 9gag.com

Die Hard had spawned five sequels. However, some of the sequels had received mixed reviews. My personal favorite in order were Die Hard 1, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Live Free or Die Hard 4.0, Die Hard 2, and A Good Day to Die Hard.

Die Hard 2 got the second lowest because I felt that it was very similar to the first Die Hard, just except that it happened in an airport. The fifth Die Hard got the lowest place because I felt it was not a very Die Hard-like movie. I never even had the chance A Good Day to Die Hard completely from start to end.

With news of a planned sixth Die Hard movie, however, without Willis in the role, fans would be completely mixed. Some might want to see the origin story of John McClane. Some might want to see more action, and less talking, with Willis in the lead role, of course.

What I'm sure of, we just want to hear John McClane say this again "Yippee-ki-yay, Motherf*cker!"

Happy trails, Hans from a post in Twitter.com