My Daily Thoughts - January 26, 2018

Well, the new year is already into its first month so let me begin changes in my old habits so that I achieve the goals I want in life.

First is to lose this weight.  I am already at 246 pounds and I really really want to lose all this unnecessary weight.  I want to be lean looking.

So to do that, I will try intermittent fasting which my friend Argel did, and he looked much thinner now!

So I will start it later, Saturday, January 27, 2018, and my window for eating is between 4PM to 12 midnight.

I will just have to take note which time I took a last bite, so I can take in my time to start eating on Sunday, which should be around 2PM.  That means my last bite should be at 10PM.

I think I can do that.  I really wish I could do this everyday!!

Wish me luck!

Another thing I want to implement today is walking!  I have to walk!!  Just to lose all these weight!!  And of course, to save money.  So no more riding Grab for this coming week and ride public transportation.

Let's compare budgets:

This computation is only for Monday to Friday - January 29 to February 2.

Budget 1 is to go cold turkey and really avoid Grab riding.

*Going to school - 50 + going home (39) = 89 pesos per day -  267 pesos per week + gym days (140 + 34) = 441 pesos per week

Budget 2 is to ride Grab on tutoring days

* Going to school - 50 + gym days (174) + 1050 (tutoring days) = 1274 pesos per week

Budget 3 is to ride Grab everyday

* Going to school - 1750 + gym days (174) + 1050 (tutoring days) =   2994 pesos per week

Budget 1 = 441 * 4 = 1764 per month

Budget 2 = 1274 * 4 =   5096 per month

Budget 3 = 2994 * 4 = 11,976 per month less 1,100 (Grabrewards) = 10,876 per month

10,876 - 1764 = 9,112 savings ******** which can go to concerts and traveling etc.

* And anyway, walking is good for my health 😶😶😶

Movie Review: Christopher Plummer Shines in 'All the Money in the World'

It's amazing to see Christopher Plummer, who is already 88, deliver such a tour de force performance in Ridley Scott's movie, All the Money in the World, for a role that had already been done (by the disgraced Kevin Spacey), so it had to be reshot.

Otherwise, nobody would watch the movie!

He played the billionaire Paul Getty in the movie and the way he handles himself shows glimpses of the billionaire's eccentricities, greed for more money, and the icy demeanor he has shown to his own flesh and blood, even when they need him the most.

I am not going to divulge much of the movie except that both Michelle Williams and Mark Whalberg are good in it.

It's set, once again, in Italy (two Italian set movies in 2 nights!) but this time, it's gloomy and dark because of the movie's theme and the events it presents.

There is a particularly violent scene where a vital body part is cut off, so I hope for your sake, that you've eaten all your popcorn by that scene.

There is a lot of discussion about money in the movie and the dangling of threats and demands which may be a no-brainer to family-oriented societies like the Philippines.

Is there a way you can measure how much you love a family member? Your son, your father, your grandson?

In this movie, everything is calculated that it almost already bordered on the absurd and ridiculous.

I'm sure you'd leave the theatre thinking, with all that MONEY in the world in Getty's stash, why did it have to reach such a long standoff?

Haagen-Dasz Ice Cream Addict!

One reason why I decided to settle in HK before was that I could always buy Haagen Dasz ice cream at any 7-11 store!

So when I get a fix for it at weird hours of the day, like 2AM, while I'm writing, I just go down my flat and walk to the nearest convenience store!

Seeing How the Other Side of the Fence Lives: Book Review 'Crazy Rich Asians'

While we were all busy opening gifts and feasting on the noche buena last Christmas Eve, I was also busy finishing Kevin Kwan's 'Crazy Rich Asians', in time for its Hollywood incarnation to open in 2018.

It's been ages since an almost Asian cast have peopled a major Hollywood production.

Amy Tan's 'Joy Luck Club' was the last one pa ata - and that movie is a MUST to watch on Mother's Day - and bring LOTS of TISSUE because it's a major tearjerker.

Crazy Rich Asians is more fun and crazy and I hope it will be a visual feast - fashion-wise and production design-wise.

This is also the first time that I care about the casting since I love two of the major characters in the book, Nick Young, who is going to be played by Malaysian actor, Henry Golding, and his cousin, Astrid Leong, to be played by Gemma Chan.

It would also be fun to see how Constance Wu attacks her Rachel Wu role, Nick Young's fiancee.

In terms of looks, their faces were not exactly the ones I was expecting but I just hope they do justice to their roles. I have so much love for these characters it would be sad to see them messed up onscreen.

I now fully understand the pressure actors have when they have to do adaptations from characters in well-loved books - especially when you have read the book first - and the movie just comes years later!

I don't know if they will be 100% faithful to the book (usually they're not), but that's understandable, since in movies, you only have 2 hours maximum to present the whole story.

So I won't be surprised if some of the fun moments and other crazy family members will be edited out.

As for Kris Aquino, I don't know where they will place her here but this type of movie should be right along her alley. I'm just happy they put at least one Filipino in the cast!

I hope they put more as they complete this trilogy!

Saoirse Ronan Shines in Brooklyn: Movie Review

Saoirse Ronan will surely snag that Oscar nomination for Best Actress this January as the buzz for her performance in Lady Bird has reached even the local Twitterdom.

Two years ago, she received similar buzz for the movie Brooklyn, which was well-loved by critics and the Academy picked it as one of the Best Picture nominees and there are ample reasons why they gave it so much love.

The immigrants' tale in America has many predecessors already, even from the Irish point of view but it is the sheer force and gravitas of Saoirse Ronan's performance plus the authentic "Irish-ness" of many of its characters which makes the viewers feel empathy and actually care about what happens to them.

As for me, I couldn't take my eyes off Emory Cohen, the love interest of Saoirse in the movie. It's the best 'boyfriend' performance I've seen from an actor in years - he not only is very disarming, but he plays it with such coyness and sincerity, you end up rooting for him, even if his character is Italian-American.

There are many parallels to the Irish immigration experience to America to the Filipino immigration there, a hundred years later. I just wish our stories are as well-documented in film as the Irish experience has been.