TOPAC TOPICS

Topac Topic#1: cbsreview of MILLIONS

Here's a simple question: What will you do if you discovered a bag with a quarter of a million pounds (British currency) falling from the sky (or from a train)? Will you turn it over to the cops? Will you spend it for yourself? Will you share it with the needy?

You bet (hopefully not with that money) it is not that simple. And the conflict does not yet end there so I'll further complicate. What if the money is product of a heist and the mob is out to get it at all costs? Will you still turn the money over to the authorities and disclose yourself to the mob for the kill? Will you keep the money instead, under the rule of finders-keepers, and spend it in a way you deemed best for society?

You'll spend the money, you say, For the poor, you might add, Gradually, you assure, So the mob won't notice.

But there's a further catch. Pound Sterling will be replaced by Euro in seven days, which means, there's no way but to spend the money lavishly (for how do you spend all of a quarter million pounds gradually, discreetly, within a week's time) otherwise you'll end up with something of no value. Or why not end up being dead?

Here's more. You're either 9 years old and a braggart in school, or 7 and talk to dead saints who advise you of what to do with the discovery. So, what will you do?

Director Dan (Trainspotting) Boyle came up with a fantastic movie, Millions, so you can find out what 2 lovely kids will do if they were you.
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Topac Topic #2: The Idiot and the Idiot Box

This is probably why I don't get to watch tv that much - we are of the same pole. But sometimes I get to endure its company and view life at its unrealistic best (please people, I don't mean reality tv, spare me the insanity). I remember ER's breakthrough moment when they acted out on tv the same way they would have otherwise done on stage, live. There were two things difficult about this very revolutionary idea. First, for that particular show they had to perform twice, one for the East Coast audience, the other for the West's. Second was the scoring. How do you put musical scoring for a tv show done live? Twang! The idea was great. They put a Rastafarian guy (probably acting as a companion of a patient or something, or was he a homeless bum?) who kept on "drumming" the hospital walls with his drum sticks. The tempo and the beat coincided with how the story was flowing.

And then one time I caught David Duchovny being interviewed by Dean Lipton on his show before the latter's studio audience of film students. I heard about Mr. Duchovny's penetrating mind but it was hearsay, the opinion being of other people's. The tv show called something like The Actor's Studio was my first chance to hear him from outside a script. I listened. The man, for sure, is pure genius as he talked about his Masteral Thesis at Yale (or was it Princeton?) entitled The Magnetism and Magic of Modern American Fiction.

As said, TV gives away some lesser-known but interesting facts about movies and movie people. From the Charlie Rose interview of Sydney Pollack I learned that this great film director used a creative vanity under the category of entertainment trivia: There is one line, a completely catchy sentence, which he used in four of his films, as spoken by a specific character under different circumstances. From Conan O'Brien's interview of James Spader, viewers came to know that Spader's zero inhibitions (a great plus if you're an actor) was largely due to growing up in a household dwelled in by people (parents, siblings) who were always in the nude.

But if I really missed something on tv, and quite recently, it is the CSI's final show of the season. Two hours. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Bummer.
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Topac Topic #3: A Short History of Suckers

There is a sucker born every minute. Whoever coined this must have had a lifetime of suckerings, and boy, can I relate. If I looked at the NY Times Book Review Section right now, one fact will baffle me as always: how can a book as terrible as Tuesdays With Morrie continue to remain on its bestsellers list? Deja Vu all over again, where years ago this horrible goo called The Bridges of Madison County (O dear Shakespeare, my mother's favorite book!) enjoyed the same status, written by a similarly clever writer who probably knew too how to laugh - if callously so - all the way to the bank while saying, Suckers unite, let us declare, the world is huge, there is space for one more, any kind, every minute, who will have to read my book!
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Topac Topic #4: My Internet Route

Since I don't chat and don't want to know, my Net Path is very easy to trace. I simply read my e-mails and foom!, off I go to my path that barely breaks, my sense of direction being worse than bad. First, of course, is my own blog to find out if Jobert finally came to senses and left my single readership. Then I'll hop on to Angela Solis', who will lead me (link me, da) to Tekstong Bopis', who will lead me to Freude, who will lead me to Jet David, who will lead me to Belleloved, who will lead me to Jobert, who will lead me to sin...

Of course the path sometimes breaks, as in real life where a road detours, and then I get lost and can't find my way home...

Sometimes I jumble, parang lotto...from Tekstong Bopis, who will lead me to his Team Angas, who will lead me to Kanto Girl, who will lead me to ex-art student (who's so cute and delightful, "I did went" notwithstanding) or to Ursula Lear (who writes like a scholar from Sorbonne)...

from Jet David, who will lead me to QuietRivers or to Kiwipinay or to APO Jim Paredes or to Durgaspeak - who will all lead me to great things big and small...

from Jobert who will lead me to Markahanmomukhamo (O ayan, minarkahan ko na po muka ko po, 65, bagsak).
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Topac Topic #5: Bounty

U, where are u? u-hoo...