Overkill
(published in the June issue of The Benildean)
Sampling overpriced latté one dog day afternoon triggered momentary annoyance over everything for me. My unfortunate item of ridicule: The Da Vinci Code movie poster nailed atop a waiting shed peopled with coeds in dirty white.
I resolved that The Da Vinci Code is an oversell which brought me to another painfully overrated film—James Cameron’s 1997 shipboard romance blockbuster, Titanic.
If you ponder on it, Titanic and The Da Vinci Code practically bear no difference from one another. Both films are overrated. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, translated in 40 languages, primarily in hardcover, and was released in the United States under Doubleday Publications in the year 2003, is a worldwide bestseller with over 60.5 million copies. Three years later, Anchor Books released 5 million paperback copies of the book, and Broadway Books released 200,000 paperback copies of The Da Vinci Code Special Illustrated Edition. I was already seriously considering putting a barf bag over my head when I learned that a computer game version of the book published by 2k Games was premiered May 13th of 2006, which is playable on both the Playstation 2 and Xbox.
Titanic’s popularity had also escalated to the point of hopeless stupidity. Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On invaded the airways for months on end that by its sixth week of non-stop airplay, the neighborhood dogs began to yowl in apparent misery. I, myself, nearly succumbed to the idea of romancing a ledge when radio stations came up with a re-mixed version of the song. Some genius probably thought that inserting the cheesy dialogues of the about-to-drown Jack and Rose in between chorus lines was pretty. It wouldn’t surprise me the least if Celine Dion socks that genius with a microphone head if she learned of his odious opus. Now, I am eagerly awaiting Hans Zimmer’s Kyrie for the Magdalene with inserted Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu dialogues: This is the Bois de Boulogne?; We must find anozzer way!; I've never met a girl who knew that much about a cryptex…
Both Titanic and The Da Vinci Code also drew a multitude of film aficionados on its first screening day. Never mind the sorry fact that movie theaters hiked up the ticket price (minus the fresh theater floors and all). I know somebody who had seen Titanic sixteen times; the same person resolved to see The Da Vinci Code more than the flashlight-bearing movie theater attendant.
Another similarity both movies share is the purported legitimacy of facts presented in the storylines. In fairness to Cameron, Titanic is based on an actual luxury super liner, the RMS Titanic which sank April 12th of the year 1912. Although Rose Bukater and Jack Dawson were fictional characters, the movie features the real ship chief, Captain Edward John Smith, and one of Titanic’s most prominent passengers, the Countess of Rothes. The definite number of people who perished in the Titanic mishap disclosed in the movie (1,523, according to an investigation by the U.S. Senate) is also accurate and so is the cause of the majority of deaths which is hypothermia.
However, the movie presents a scene or two that is later to be discovered nonexistent in the real Titanic catastrophe. In the film, Nearer My God to Thee is the last song played by the Titanic band led by Wallace Hartley. However Harold Bride, the wireless operator who survived the sinking claimed that it was actually Songe d'Automne, a popular ragtime song at the time. Another thing, the movie featured a three-man band; the actual Titanic band was composed of eight musicians.
Now, as I contemplate whether or not to discuss the legitimacy of facts of The Da Vinci Code and my personal opinions on this Ron Howard movie masterpiece, I could almost hear the conservative fuddy-duddies in my head chanting “Sacrilege!”.
Mind you, I have been accused of being a bleeding heretic because of one published opinion article. And because my parents acknowledge this accusation as somewhat true and people now see me as an atheist in baby pink, I resolved to shut my trap and fix a halo above my head.
However, I guess it won’t hurt to spout a sentiment or two about this popularly supposed scandalous film. One, believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. Two, respect for religion is the duty of all civilized human beings.
With the creators of Titanic and The Da Vinci Code leering in joy over the incredible success of their blockbusters, I can’t help but be disgusted with the idea that with these two films, we are sinking Titanic and selling Jesus’ head over and over again. An overkill, if you may.
I was supposed to end this column piece with a quote on overratedness. But quotes, an imperative in every blasted motivational book and highschool autographs, are, well, overrated.
Why, all of a sudden, Cesar Montano’s underrated film The Great Raid looked inviting.
***
“Always tell the truth. That way, you don’t have to remember what you said.”
--Mark Twain
It is supposed to be a rape case, and as a woman, I should be feeling especially offended and perturbed. But I am emphatically not.
“Nicole”, the 22-year-old Zamboanga City native who claimed she was raped by Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith while three of his companions, all servicemen as well, cheered on, should have known the repercussions of engaging in a drunken spree with four liquored- up strangers and afterwards even hitching a ride with them.
And she shouldn’t have buddied around with them…
The June 6th issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer came up with a news article stating that Nicole “never used the word rape but only the word “sex”” when she first confided the supposed incident to another US serviceman who was eventually questioned by the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The same serviceman later identified as one Bamberger said Nicole had admitted that a condom was used in the sex act.
The pieces of evidence that reveal that Nicole supposedly only used the word “sex” and never “rape” and her alleged rapist using a condom during the deed bring about doubts whether or not there was an actual rape that happened or it was nothing but consensual sex between two matured individuals.
The case is still being tried in court so I should stop gnawing into the controversy and play down my ranting.
However, there is one thing I am sure of: Freedom is a package deal. With it comes responsibility…
…and consequences.
And she shouldn’t have buddied around with them…
I resolved that The Da Vinci Code is an oversell which brought me to another painfully overrated film—James Cameron’s 1997 shipboard romance blockbuster, Titanic.
If you ponder on it, Titanic and The Da Vinci Code practically bear no difference from one another. Both films are overrated. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, translated in 40 languages, primarily in hardcover, and was released in the United States under Doubleday Publications in the year 2003, is a worldwide bestseller with over 60.5 million copies. Three years later, Anchor Books released 5 million paperback copies of the book, and Broadway Books released 200,000 paperback copies of The Da Vinci Code Special Illustrated Edition. I was already seriously considering putting a barf bag over my head when I learned that a computer game version of the book published by 2k Games was premiered May 13th of 2006, which is playable on both the Playstation 2 and Xbox.
Titanic’s popularity had also escalated to the point of hopeless stupidity. Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On invaded the airways for months on end that by its sixth week of non-stop airplay, the neighborhood dogs began to yowl in apparent misery. I, myself, nearly succumbed to the idea of romancing a ledge when radio stations came up with a re-mixed version of the song. Some genius probably thought that inserting the cheesy dialogues of the about-to-drown Jack and Rose in between chorus lines was pretty. It wouldn’t surprise me the least if Celine Dion socks that genius with a microphone head if she learned of his odious opus. Now, I am eagerly awaiting Hans Zimmer’s Kyrie for the Magdalene with inserted Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu dialogues: This is the Bois de Boulogne?; We must find anozzer way!; I've never met a girl who knew that much about a cryptex…
Both Titanic and The Da Vinci Code also drew a multitude of film aficionados on its first screening day. Never mind the sorry fact that movie theaters hiked up the ticket price (minus the fresh theater floors and all). I know somebody who had seen Titanic sixteen times; the same person resolved to see The Da Vinci Code more than the flashlight-bearing movie theater attendant.
Another similarity both movies share is the purported legitimacy of facts presented in the storylines. In fairness to Cameron, Titanic is based on an actual luxury super liner, the RMS Titanic which sank April 12th of the year 1912. Although Rose Bukater and Jack Dawson were fictional characters, the movie features the real ship chief, Captain Edward John Smith, and one of Titanic’s most prominent passengers, the Countess of Rothes. The definite number of people who perished in the Titanic mishap disclosed in the movie (1,523, according to an investigation by the U.S. Senate) is also accurate and so is the cause of the majority of deaths which is hypothermia.
However, the movie presents a scene or two that is later to be discovered nonexistent in the real Titanic catastrophe. In the film, Nearer My God to Thee is the last song played by the Titanic band led by Wallace Hartley. However Harold Bride, the wireless operator who survived the sinking claimed that it was actually Songe d'Automne, a popular ragtime song at the time. Another thing, the movie featured a three-man band; the actual Titanic band was composed of eight musicians.
Now, as I contemplate whether or not to discuss the legitimacy of facts of The Da Vinci Code and my personal opinions on this Ron Howard movie masterpiece, I could almost hear the conservative fuddy-duddies in my head chanting “Sacrilege!”.
Mind you, I have been accused of being a bleeding heretic because of one published opinion article. And because my parents acknowledge this accusation as somewhat true and people now see me as an atheist in baby pink, I resolved to shut my trap and fix a halo above my head.
However, I guess it won’t hurt to spout a sentiment or two about this popularly supposed scandalous film. One, believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. Two, respect for religion is the duty of all civilized human beings.
With the creators of Titanic and The Da Vinci Code leering in joy over the incredible success of their blockbusters, I can’t help but be disgusted with the idea that with these two films, we are sinking Titanic and selling Jesus’ head over and over again. An overkill, if you may.
I was supposed to end this column piece with a quote on overratedness. But quotes, an imperative in every blasted motivational book and highschool autographs, are, well, overrated.
Why, all of a sudden, Cesar Montano’s underrated film The Great Raid looked inviting.
***
“Always tell the truth. That way, you don’t have to remember what you said.”
--Mark Twain
It is supposed to be a rape case, and as a woman, I should be feeling especially offended and perturbed. But I am emphatically not.
“Nicole”, the 22-year-old Zamboanga City native who claimed she was raped by Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith while three of his companions, all servicemen as well, cheered on, should have known the repercussions of engaging in a drunken spree with four liquored- up strangers and afterwards even hitching a ride with them.
And she shouldn’t have buddied around with them…
The June 6th issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer came up with a news article stating that Nicole “never used the word rape but only the word “sex”” when she first confided the supposed incident to another US serviceman who was eventually questioned by the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The same serviceman later identified as one Bamberger said Nicole had admitted that a condom was used in the sex act.
The pieces of evidence that reveal that Nicole supposedly only used the word “sex” and never “rape” and her alleged rapist using a condom during the deed bring about doubts whether or not there was an actual rape that happened or it was nothing but consensual sex between two matured individuals.
The case is still being tried in court so I should stop gnawing into the controversy and play down my ranting.
However, there is one thing I am sure of: Freedom is a package deal. With it comes responsibility…
…and consequences.
And she shouldn’t have buddied around with them…
posted by Louella | 9:24 PM
1 Comments:
i enjoyed your piece. superb work. from a common man's point of view, everything is where it should be. i was never a writer but i live for books and letters, and i can totally picture out in my head what you were talking about( even the remixes of the Celine Dion song).
i am bookmarking your blog. i hope you don't mind.
keep up the good work.:)
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