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x. Anne

So this is the second version of the previous anime list I made a long time ago 'cause I'm getting rather tired of editing the old one. ^^;

Bolded are my favorites
Italicized are series I'm currently watching
Underlined are series I finished viewing

( The List )

( Recommended Anime )

last updated: April 9, 2007

Originally published at Aurorean. Please leave any comments there.

As far as I can remember, I've always seen myself as someone with a really, really poor memory. It's so poor that I could barely remember what I did or ate yesterday, unless of course, there are leftovers in the fridge which could possibly clue me in. My brain also works in a way that I could vividly remember events from my childhood but I often wonder whether it really happened or was just brought about by my overactive imagination.

It's also almost embarrassing to admit that my memory doesn't even give me the grace to remember birthdays and ages, including my own, and I end up having to rely on sites like Friendster and Facebook to remind me. Kind of pointless too since I will forget anyway as soon as I log off from the computer. My brother was nice enough to let me play the "guess his birthday game" with him through text messaging one day. I ended up wasting a grand total of Php10 before he gave up and told me not only his birthday but also my sister's, aunt's, and paternal grandmother's as well. He also recommended that I take the newest memory enhancer pill in the market called Glutaphos. Hmph. As if I'm *that* senile.

Anyway, on that same day I was having the ill-conceived conversation with him, I was also at a dinner party where this familiar lady kept smiling at me and greeting me. I, being polite and all, would smile and nod vaguely back while trying my hardest to recall her name. Finally, on my taxi ride home, I turned to my companion and said, "I remember her name now. It's Pines."

And at the back of my mind, I had known it was related to a tree.

PS. Who names their offspring after a tree anyways? Well, aside from Professor Oak of Pokemon that is.

Originally published at Aurorean. Please leave any comments there.

I finally was able to watch Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) last Sunday afternoon after nearly two months of anticipation. It wasn't easy getting a chance to view it though. First was the rain in all its torrential glory which poured just before we were about to leave the house. When we did get to the mall, I was dismayed to find out that the tickets were already sold out one hour before the showing time and the next show time was not until late in the evening.

Not to be completely discouraged, my companion and I lingered near the cinema entrance in hopes that we might get a chance to enter even without tickets. There were already two queues formed, the second one being ticketless folks like us. Anyway, thanks to my companion's tenacity and an anonymous benefactor, we managed to score VIP passes to get inside. I don't know how it happened either but I sure was practically weeping for joy by the turn of events.

And it was all worth it.

Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo or TokiKake, for short, is one of the best animated movie I've seen in a long time. To summarize, it's a story about a 17-year-old girl named Konno Makoto who gains the power to literally "leap" backwards in time after being involved in a train accident. She soon uses her newfound ability to improve her grades and prevent personal mishaps from happening. Unfortunately, things just doesn't go the way she wants and she is soon forced to make choices that could affect the future of her friends and family forever. It's a relatively simple plot and while it's told in a light-hearted and often humorous fashion, there's a profoundness to it that reflects on the consequences of one's actions.

It made me wonder about a number of things that I've done in the past and the sheer stupidity of it. I am just becoming to realize that what I did before could possibly affect my chances of getting a favorable job in the near future. I guess what's done is done and there's really no point in wishing that I could somehow leap through time and eat that pudding one hundred times over. I do try to learn from my previous mistakes and everyday, I strive to be a better version of myself. Most of the time anyway. Procrastination usually gets in the way.

Given the chance, would you go back and turn events of your life the other way around?

Originally published at Aurorean. Please leave any comments there.

Yesterday afternoon, I ended up watching Mamma Mia along with Julie and Kat, two of my NaNo/Front Row Girls buddies, at Trinoma. For such a sucky and crowded mall, Trinoma has one of the best cinemas in town.

I am admittedly not an ABBA fan. I'm familiar with some of their songs after doing a school production on Dancing Queen back in elementary. Don't ask. But I was willing to go through the film with the intent of if watching Meryl Streep and Colin Firth sing. And I wasn't disappointed.

Mamma Mia!, adapted from the musical with the same name, tells of the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) who is about to marry Sky (Dominic Cooper, that sexy guy from The History Boys ). She lives with her single mother Donna (Meryl Streep) where her mothers owns a hotel called "Villa Donna" located on a Greek island. Before her wedding, she finds her mother's diary of twenty years ago talking about the summer romances she had with three guys and unknown to her mother, she secretly sends out three invites to her potential fathers: Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), an American architect, Harry Bright (Colin Firth), a British banker, and Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgård), a Swedish novelist, in hopes that her father will be present to "give her away".

The whole movie was charged with energy all throughout and will have you laughing and smiling from start to finish and by finish, I mean WATCH THE CREDITS. OMG ). Vibrant dance numbers and catchy songs riddle the entire film that'll make you dance and sing on your seat. The actors suit the characters well and are quite often funny. I did find Amanda's acting choppy and a bit too perky in some scenes although her singing voice was quite lovely. Meryl Streep was applaudable as always and it was a big transition for me since the last time I saw her was in The Devil Wears Prada. It's certainly a highly enjoyable summer film. Watch it, then watch it all over again. I know I will.