Pounding The Keyboard

“Ponyo loves Sosuke!” Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea is a 2008 Japanese animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki (world-famous for his magnificent animations like Spirited Away , My Neighbour Totoro and Princess Mononoke ) and is certainly one of the sweetest animated films you’ll ever see. Ponyo is a fish who yearns to be human while Sosuke is a five year old boy who rescued her when she tried to swim ashore and got caught inside a jar. Ponyo licks the blood off Sosuke’s little wound and it helps her turn into a little girl. Unfortunately, her sorcerer father tracks her down and brings her back to the sea. The scene where Ponyo is reunited with Sosuke is priceless. She jumps off a big fish, stares at him with wide, excited eyes, unmindful of everything around her including a raging storm, while he is stupefied, she runs to him, leaps towards him and embraces him tightly. You’ll thank whoever invented cinema for that scene. There are no villains in this...

Many months ago, I was having an animated conversation with a friend when our topic shifted to Carlo J. Caparas (who at that time was a recent recipient of an award; I forgot what award). Let’s call my friend Totoy Buto (he’s quite thin) and this is how our historic conversation went: Totoy: Na-meet mo ba si Carlo J no’ng nagsusulat ka pa sa komiks, pre? Me: Hindi, hindi na yata siya nagsusulat no’n. Busy na siya sa movies. Totoy: Pansin ko lang, parang panay ang tanggap niya ng award ngayon. Me: A, oo, mula nang maupo si GMA, parang naging award magnet na siya. Totoy: May ibig kang sabihin? Me: Wala. Totoy: Tingin mo ba, deserving siya sa mga awards niya? Me: Hindi ko alam, hindi ko alam kung ano mga criteria do’n. Totoy: Parang malakas siya ke GMA, ‘no? Me: Mukha. Totoy: Papasok siguro sa pulitika ‘yan, solid nga naman ang magiging credentials mo kung marami kang awards. Me: Puwede. Totoy: Sabagay, mga minor awards lang naman ‘yon. Magiging kasindak-sindak siguro kung manana...