I love TCM and old movies...

Yesterday, Tata and I went out with Denden. Had a glorious time, bonding over a yummy lunch of pizza and tartufo al cioccolato at Cafe Mediterranean and a few shots of Baileys at Friday's. What a shame we only get to do this every sembreak!

"SHOPAHOLIC AND BABY" by Sophie Kinsella is in the country!!?!! The 5th installment in the hilarious Shopaholic series!! Unfortunately, both Powerbooks and National Bookstore were SOLD OUT of copies. GrrrrrRRRRrrrr.

What was I supposed to blog about again? Oh yes! Old movies. Right. Will get to that in a bit. First, let me tell you about my day...

I accompanied Tata to the SSS Main Building in East Ave. today. Tata filed her form RS-1 (for employees) while I filed my ES-2 form (for SELF-EMPLOYED people... *nose in the air*).

WHAT AN ADVENTURE! I'll leave the actual details to my twinnie, SHE'S the professional (hehe). I wouldn't do it justice. Let me just say... here's to the power of the TWIN EFFECT!

To make a long story short: We stood up for our rights and didn't allow ourselves to be bullied by close-minded, paper-pushing bureaucrats!! And, thanks to a little Divine Intervention (I REFUSE to believe that there wasn't any!) and a very kind SSS officer (who shall remain anonymous but shall be forever adored by the Francisco twinnies and their progeny)... Tata and I emerged an hour and a half later with our very own SSS numbers. YES! WE EXIST... LEGALLY!

I was rather pooped after that exciting experience, and rushed to the College of Music to meet up with my friend Raymond (the pianist... to differentiate him from Raymond the flutist, hehe) and vented/squealed all about my morning to him. We had lunch at KHAS, which is like the U.P. version of Cafe Mediterranean. Then we went back to CMu to watch the graduation recital of Kuya Eman, which was great! CONGRATULATIONS KUYA EMAN!  I especially loved the J. Rodrigo pieces, Fantasia para un Gentilhombre (Villano y Ricacare, Espanoleta y Fanfare de la Caballeria de Napoles, Danza de las Hachas, and Canario) with Ma'am Luci Magalit accompanying and Lisa Decenteceo page turning (I believe that the page turner is the most underrated job ever... page turners deserve recognition and respect because, without them, there can be NO performance!!).  Aside: Page turning is my minor, by the bye... or it could be  I've even developed my own special technique! I call it the "Highly Angled Wrist School," anyone want to study under me? hehe

Had to leave for home after that. For an hour and half upon getting home, I played the piano/sang whilst accompanying myself, rather awkwardly. And then I got in the mood to watch the "idiot box," as our dad calls the t.v.

I got engrossed in this old movie which was just starting when I switched the channel to TCM. It was FIESTA (1947) starring Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charisse.

Esther Williams (Maria) and Ricardo Montalban (Mario) are twins, born to a champion matador. Naturally, the dad trains Mario to be a bullfighter, like him. However, Mario has another, "less-macho" talent: MUSIC. He plays the guitar and piano, sings, dances, and composes. For his birthday present, his twin sister Maria sends one of his compositions to the director of the Conservatory of Music in Mexico. The director is so excited over Mario's talent, he stalks Mario and tries to convince him to study music. In the end, Maria had to take her brother's place in the bullring so Mario could seize his musical career.

I was so touched with the end... you see, Mario has no idea that his sister is impersonating him. In the last bullfight scene, he rushes to the stadium to discover that Maria is already in the ring. You should have seen the look in Mario's eyes when he saw his sister, courageously facing off against that big, scary bull! There was fear, even panic... but at the same time, such pride!!

Maria gets distracted when she sees Mario, and is knocked down by the bull. I THOUGHT SHE WAS DONE FOR! I was already crying into my handy tissue.

Mario leaps into the bullring and uses his coat to distract the bull and lure him away from Maria's body. A split second later and SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN GORED TO DEATH!?!?!?!?! AAaaAAAaaAAA! (forgive me... you can tell I got pretty involved in this film)

*sniff* The heroism of the two twins... their selfless love for one another... Gaaa! There is no love that is more true, more pure, more powerful, than that of twins'.

FIESTA is now one of my top favorite films. Of course, there's fantastic music and dancing, and a great script! We are talking about OLD Hollywood, after all (1947!!). *sigh* They don't make movies like that anymore.

I'm not complaining, mind you. Heck, 300's a classic! In any period. I'm just a bit sentimental about old movies. They bring to mind a bygone era of gorgeous people, who all dressed smartly and talked smartly... of actors/actresses who could swim/sing/dance/ride horses and of course, act... of witty one-liners and peerless acting that needed no special effects to make each film a hit. *cough, cough... I can't say the same for, say, George Lucas' STAR WARS Episodes 1 to 3*

They don't make movies like that anymore.