Sunday, February 26, 2012

The Cove



I've never seen any body of water turn blood red as that which happened in Taiji the moment the captured dolphins were all killed.
I'm doing my NatSci 5 homework in here because I'm too lazy to type unless it's on blogger. :|

1. Overall assessment of the movie
At first, I thought that the film we were watching would just be like any other documentary films dealing with environmental issues: the typical interview with the experts, pictures comparing the then-and-now, numerous graphs and other statistical data supporting the facts being presented etc. As the film progressed,it was shown that the people in the film were actually involved with real missions: of saving the dolphins and Taiji and doing it NOW! and of letting the viewers realize how real the happenings are. To be honest, there was no other documentary film that has made me as depressed and angry as The Cove. And in the end of the movie, I can say that I am so proud of Ric O' Barry and everyone else who took part in risking their lives not just for the sake of making the documentary but for actually saving the dolphins despite the threats not only of the locals but of those people in authority trying to protect such activity for monetary gain. 

2. Lessons
When the dolphin trainer Ric O' Barry retold the moment his dolphin committed suicide right in front of him, it reminded me of what a dolphin trainer told us once- that the dolphins in the show are those incapable of surviving out there in the wild. I don't know how real his words were but all I know is that being trapped in a very small space is indeed depressing. It's hard not to be bias but seeing those dolphin trainers in Taiji waiting on the beach for the 'perfect' dolphin they could each bring back made me see them as ignorant and selfish people-not all but some- especially those who know what really is happening.

One of the facts presented in there was that almost 23,000 dolphins are killed yearly in Taiji and that no environmental organization has done anything about it. One scientist had perfectly said it- that size doesn't matter, IWC and other related organizations should protect both large and 'small' whales. 

The method of dolphin killing used by fishermen was very brutal. I have never seen any body of water turn red as that one in Taiji the moment the captured dolphins were all killed.

I think that what everyone have seen in that film would be enough to have them do something in order to stop the mass slaughter of dolphins in Taiji and someday hopefully, all other marine organisms in other parts of the world as well.

3. Is it effective as a medium?
I think that the team led by Ric O' Barry have used the most effective medium in raising global awareness regarding the dolphin slaughter in Japan; in addition, they have made the viewers active participants of the cause by making use of the internet in sending online petition to the Japanese government to intervene on what is being done in Taiji.

If you don't know what's happening to part of the world's dolphin population, it's time for you to find out from those people who decided to uncover the truth themselves and decided to share it with the rest of us.

MV Logos Hope

I really want to go to the floating bookstore, MV Logos Hope, sometime this March. Before March 23 to be exact. I don't care whether I go alone or with my friends; and I don't care even if the  landlady at our dorm said that madaming mandurukot sa Pier 15. And lastly, I shall find out how to go there!


~a very hopeful fay~

[update: We just did. Yay.] 

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

Our Humanities 1 professor made us watch this; and it's the first full-length French movie I've seen. Unlike the first one he made us watch (Old Boy), which, I tell you is very much disturbing, this one doesn't revolve on revenge that much. Though there's a bit of it in the middle, it was done in behalf of someone else.

AND there's a bit of love story in the end too. Sort of added for the main character to fix her life, and not for the entire movie to exist.

Other notes: 
If the actress who played Amélie Poulain, Audrey Tatou,looks familiar to you, 
I could only think of two reasons why: 
1) She looks a lot like Liv Tyler. 
2) You've seen her play Sophie in The Da Vinci Code.

After watching this movie, I was partly dismayed with Ghajini particularly the scene where the woman helped the blind man go to his destination while the woman was describing the setting on the way. Rip-off. 


Amélie Poulain: "She doesn't relate to other people. She was always a lonely child."

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Tarsier

Ate Pao and I had jokingly told my dorm mate, Ate Za, to buy us a tarsier as a pasalubong before she went to Bohol this weekend.

Then as I was sitting  on the student lounge last Wednesday night, reading a play, she suddenly handed me this cute tarsier coin purse. :)

Ate Pao had a much more interesting story:

She was lying on her bed and almost asleep when Ate Za knocked. Ate Pao's room mate had told Ate Za that she's asleep and so, Ate Za just placed the pouch on Ate Pao's hand. 
Ate Pao knew that it was a tarsier purse but she couldn't look up to check what it actually was (since her room mates believe that she's asleep).Since Ate Pao had quite an imagination, she thought it was a preserved tarsier purse,like the frog purse (one with the zipper on its mouth) people get to buy on souvenir shops.


credits to Justine!

Since a tarsier's a kind of monkey, my smiley post is-
Thank you for the tarsier Ate Za!
I hope I'll get to go to Bohol (again) soon.