Nightbirde's Incredible AGT Performance

If you haven't seen this video yet, then you might have been living under a rock in the last few weeks. This is Nightbirde performance on America's Got Talent.

 

video uploaded in youtube by America's Got Talent

There are so many amazing things to say about this video. Not only does Nightbirde have such a beautiful tone that is perfect for recording, she also puts in such an authentic performance. Which makes sense of course, because she wrote that song and it is about her life and all the difficulties and doubts she experiences. Her song "It's OK" is also so beautifully written, with lyrics that resonate deeply with anyone who has faced adversity and that validate their fears and sense of loss while at the same time providing inspiration.

Then of course there was Nightbirde herself. Her positivity amidst so much darkness in her life is astonishing and compelling. Her words are perfect quotes to help us get through tough times:

"It's important that everyone knows I'm so much more than the bad things that happen to me."

"You can't wait until life isn't hard enough before you decide to be happy."

"2% is not 0%. 2% is something."

This last quote was especially inspirational and heartbreaking for me. 2% is a huge mountain to climb, and you can sense from Nightbirde's face and that voice that she knows and feels this, but she also knows that there is still a chance, no matter how small, and she's taking it. I join the world in hoping that she beats the odds and survives.

Quarantine Stories Part 11

More than fifteen months after we first got placed under lockdown and Metro Manila is still in some form of quarantine. Thankfully, more and more people are getting vaccinated, including some of my family and friends, which will definitely help build herd immunity. I'm also grateful that the company I work for is securing vaccines for all its employees. Some of my colleagues already received their vaccination notifications but I still haven't. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long for mine. Given the current situation, many of my friends still feel it might be too risky to meet up face-to-face so many get-togethers still happen through online video conferencing. My friend Michelle celebrated her birthday recently and she organized an online game night so we could all have a virtual party with her. It was a really fun night, highlighted by a round of Bingo which Michelle wanted us all to play. There were six of us playing bingo block-out so it took a while for it to finish. It came down to the wire, with only 3 numbers out of all 75 left and almost of us waiting for just one number. As luck would have it, I ended up being the winner. Everyone in the group was saying it was most fun they've ever had playing bingo and I completely agree (and not just because I won haha).

My winning Bingo card!

The initial idea was for us to play online Steam games and since Steam has its summer sale from June 24 to July 8, I decided to purchase a few more games online. However, it turns out Niki didn't have an active Steam account so he didn't have any of the games we did. Since we wanted everyone in the group to be engaged, we decided to play other online games. We ended up playing Just Once, Codenames Philippine edition, and many different Jackbox games. Nothing beats face-to-face gaming with great friends but the online games we have are the next best thing, especially during this pandemic.

This wasn't the only online event I attended. Just a week before that, our department at work had a whole-day online team-building event, the first time I ever participated in one. We had some org-building exercises led by our HR team, a lot of games, and even a raffle where I won a portable neck fan. All of the games played were team activities, including a Pictionary-style game, a variation of Bring Me, a video-recreation game, and a trivia quiz done over Kahoot where all players played individually but the scores were averaged to determine team score. My team placed 2nd overall (our prize: GCash credits!) but the individuals with the highest scores in the trivia quiz also received special prizes. I topped that trivia quiz, correctly answering 25 questions the fastest, so I ended up with some extra GCash funds. Cool!

While these online activities have been good substitutes, they are just that: substitutes, I am hoping it won't be to long that some of my groups will already be fully vaccinated and we will finally be comfortable meeting up in person (while still following safety protocols, of course).

The 2021 French Open

(This post is really late but the last two weeks were extremely grueling for me due to a very intense workload so I only found time to write about this now.)

The 2021 French Open concluded last June 13 and when the (red) dust settled, Novak Djokovic was left alone standing atop the men's draw, holding up his 2nd Roland Garros trophy. On the women's side, Barbora Krejcikova surprised the tennis world by winning the women's trophy. Congratulations, Novak and Barbora!

What was your favourite #FlyBetterMoment from Roland-Garros this year? #FlyEmiratesFlyBetter #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/uVjzCHevts

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 14, 2021

As a Rafa Nadal fan, this is surely not the outcome I wanted. The fact that Daniil Medvedev moved past him in the rankings earlier this year meant that Nadal dropped to #3 in the world and he ended up on Novak's side of the draw. Rafa had more than his fair share of chances in one of the most hard-fought matches I've seen the two of them play. Yes, their semifinal was "only" four sets but the momentum kept shifting and both of them kept battling back when they were down. That said, Novak ended the match by winning the last 5 games to book a place in the final. There, he faced Stefanos Tsitsipas who, prior to that match, had amassed more points than any other player in the ATP tour this year. When Tsitispas went up 2 sets to love in the championship match, I'm sure most people were thinking the title was his. Not me, though. I was actually texting my friend to say that I am not counting Noval out and I'd be willing to bet that if he won that 3rd set, he would end up taking the match in five. As it turned out, I was right.

Obviously, the ideal state for me was for Nadal to have won his 14th title at Roland Garros. However, I am simply in awe at Novak's resilience and durability. In my opinion, his mental strength is second to none in the history of tennis. I don't think any other player has come from behind - including when he was match point down - as often as he has.  How significant is this win at the French Open?

• This is Novak Djokovic's 19th major title. He is now only one behind Roger Federer and Rafa. Given the fact that he's still the #1 player in the world, I wouldn't be surprised if he ties both of them this year and even moves past them both with his 21st.
• Djokovic is now the only male player to win each Grand Slam tournament at least twice in the Open Era.
• Don't look now but Novak is halfway towards winning the Grand Slam (or all four majors in the same year).
• It is also an Olympic year. If Djokovic competes and wins the Olympics along with Wimbledon and the US Open, he will achieve the Golden Slam, a feat accomplished by only one other player in history, Stefanie Graf.
• Novak has now been #1 for a men's record 326 weeks. Only two other players in history have been ranked #1 longer than that - Martina Navratilova at 332 weeks and Graf at 377 weeks. Novak will surely move past Martina within the next couple of months. He may very well end up being ranked #1 longer than any other player, male or female.

On the women's side, I was sad to see Iga Swiatek lose (I felt she hit too many errors) but I was happy about Barbora Krejcikova's win. I will admit that I didn't know who Krejcikova was prior to the French Open. But during the event, as she kept making it further into the tournament, I discovered that she was coached by Jana Novotna. I was (am) a Jana fan and I mourned her passing in 2017 due to cancer. This nostalgia made me root for Krejcikova. What's even more amazing is that she not only won the singles title, she also won the doubles trophy, a rare achievement in tennis these days. Congratulations Barbora!

Wimbledon is about to start in a few days and I am quite sad that Rafa won't be playing. My second favorite male player, Dominic Thiem, has also withdrawn from the event. That said, I am still looking forward to see what will happen. Will Novak Djokovic go into a three-way tie with Roger and Rafa at 20 major titles? Will Roger Federer snap Novak's streak at the slams this year to win his 21st major? Will one of the next gen players surprise Novak and Roger and become a first-time Grand Slam title winner? On the women's side, will Serena Williams finally tie Margaret Court's record 24 Grand Slam titles? There's so much history to play for and I am really intrigued to see how things will unfold.

Watching Local Films on IWant TFC

I subscribed to IWant TFC last year but it's really only recently that I have started to optimize it. I discovered that the IWant library includes films from the Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema including a couple from critically-acclaimed director Mike De Leon. Here are the movies I got to see in the last couple of months.

Kisapmata

photo from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisapmata

This movie was released during the 1981 Metro Manila Film Festival but only now, almost 40 years later, did I get to see it. I remember my mom telling me a long time ago that watching Kisapmata gave her a feeling of claustrophobia and I gotta say, I fully agree. Vic Silayan plays the lead role, a retired policeman named Dadong, and he is so domineering, intimidating, and even menacing that you can't help but feel the same fear that the characters feel from the way Dadong laughs, makes snide remarks, or manipulates the people around him. (He won Best The story unfolds in a way that you know something sinister is happening in the house but you don't immediately know what it is. It's in the second half that we start to slowly understand what is really going on behind closed doors (literally) and the revelations are quite jarring and chilling. I can completely understand why this movie swept the 1981 MMFF, winning a whopping 10 of 13 awards! While this movies is pretty intense and heavy, it is definitely very highly recommended. Kisapmata is now one of my favorite films.

Kakabakaba Ka ba?

I actually watched this film once, many years ago, when it was shown at the UP Film Center. Mike De Leon's range as a director is truly one-of-a-kind because he directed Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, a musical comedy a year before his psychological thriller Kisapmata was released. While this movie is light and easy to watch, it still injects really interesting social commentary about how religion can potentially be used to control the masses. It seems Mike De Leon's favorite actress back then (maybe still now?) is Charo Santos-Concio because she appeared in three of his movies, including this one. I also forgot that Christopher De Leon and Johnny Delgado can sing. The song "Bigyan niyo po kami ng tinapay" (I don't know if that's the official title of the song) is so catchy that I think it's a shame I can't find a clip of it on youtube. The climactic musical number where the devious plans of the Grand Master in Japan are revealed is so engaging and lot of fun to watch.

Oda sa Wala

Oda sa Wala is a very unique movie. I haven't seen any film - local or international - quite like it. It is extremely minimalist, with very few characters and little dialogue. The story revolves around Sonya, played by Pokwang (who goes by her real name Marietta Subang in the credits) who lives what seems to be a bit of an empty life. After watching it, I knew it was very interesting and intriguing but I didn't appreciate it as much as I expected I would. However, I found myself thinking about it a lot, trying to understand and analyze what happened and figure out why Sonya did some of the things she did. When a movie stays with you like that, you know it's pretty darn good. (SPOILER ALERT: I will talk about some details of the movie.) Towards the end, when we learn that what we saw in a certain scene wasn't real, it makes you wonder what other scenes could've just been in Sonya's head. Visually, this movie is stunning, from the cinematography to the framing to the color-grading. I was also really surprised at how good Pokwang was. She delivered an impeccable performance (she won Best Actress award at the QCinema International Film Festival). You might need to be in the right frame of mind to watch Oda sa Wala but I do recommend it.

Death of Nintendo

Death of Nintendo is a coming-of-age film set in the 1990s. I read some positive reviews about it and since I kinda wanted to watch some lighter fare, I decided to give it a go. To be honest, I thought it was just okay. I'm not particularly sure t know what makes this movie significantly different from other coming-of-age films. I also wasn't quite certain where the story was headed or even what happened in the end. I also wasn't a fan of the cliched use of domineering parents as plot devices, causing kids to act or react in certain ways. I do like how Philippine culture and traditions are presented here and the use of the Pinatubo eruption and the incessant power outages in the 90s as backdrop added flavor and personality to the film.

*****

My IWant TFC list now contains dozens of movies and I'm excited to watch some critically-acclaimed Filipino classics such as Himala, City After Dark, and Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos. I have of course added other more recent films and some light-hearted, feel-good films too. I'm definitely looking forward to watching more local movies.