2nd Course! A Lesson on Surrogation

I'm sure that everyone has their own favorite Filipino romantic movie, mine is Blue Moon, though the existence of Mark Herras somewhat blemishes this otherwise perfect movie. Well, after all, every rose has its thorn and everyone Filipino movie has a lead character whose two available emotions are non-responsive and totally non-responsive.

(You don't know how awkward it was to search for this pic in a room with my family.)

I digress. Anyway, everyone has their own favorite romantic movie, and I'm sure in a room of ten Filipino men, 7 out of 10 would say theirs is One More Chance while the other 3 would say Scorpio Nights. Actually, I think most women would answer the same, albeit changing Scorpio Nights to Masahista. People would then start to quote the score upon scores of quotable quotes found throughout the movie. At least one would make a joke about their names, Basha and Popoy, and one would just start to sob uncontrollably.

(Fact: 9 out of 10 Filipino Men have watched this movie. Fact: 1 out of 10 men are legally blind.)

I'm sure everyone knows where I'm headed, the air of sarcasm in my tone makes things apparent, but I assure you, I will not lambaste or destroy nor mock your favorite movie. I quite liked the movie actually, well all of what I was able to watch. Cathy Garcia Molina does a good job directing films, six of her films being on the list of top grossing Filipino movies of all time. Her movies, especially One More Chance and My Amnesia Girl ache with a style reminiscent of Rob Reiner's romantic films. No, she won't be the target, honestly the films are safe from my criticism. Tonight, my main target would be the one and only John Lloyd Cruz.

(He never saw this coming.)

I'm guessing I just drew the ire of most my male compatriots, after all, John Lloyd Cruz is the Filipino man's man. He delivered memorable lines like "She had me at my worst. You had me at my best. Pero binaliwala mo ang lahat... and you chose to break my heart". He is the shining hope for every Filipino man wanting to be loved. He is chubby, not well-built, weak, and not exactly handsome, yet all he needs is to give his patented lines of love and he can, I found it to be, always win the beautiful girl. Derek Ramsey hath no fury like a John Lloyd scorned. I looked up to him, he was my kuya, my idol, my savior, until I asked one question: "Who is John Lloyd Cruz?" then suddenly everything went crumbling down. 

Disregarding the exaggerations, I'm serious when I say that we all should be wary of John Lloyd Cruz, or more appropriately John Lloyd Cruz the character. I was moved by One More Chance, I got teary-eyed with My Amnesia Girl, and I distinctly remember being changed by You Changed My Life. But then when I look back to it, I notice one thing and one thing only, it was the actresses who made me feel that way. I felt the hurt and the sadness from the leading ladies not from John Lloyd, however all the recognitions, warranting its own wikipedia site: John_Lloyd_Cruz_Awards_and_Recognitions, were received only by one man, John Lloyd Cruz. 

Every movie has a different leading lady and consequently a different female lead character, but it always end up with John Lloyd being the same old John Lloyd found in every single movie, with the exception of In My Life where he played a gay guy, though at this point in time what's the difference anymore? All I want to point out is that he never changes. I'm not saying John Lloyd isn't a good actor, he can cry at will and deliver mind-blowing lines with great cathartic power. I'm saying however that even with the conveyed emotions and hammed soliloquies, his character, well, lack for a better word, is devoid of any character. Once you look back and watch the movies again, you will notice that every role he plays is not round, its not even flat, it just doesn't have any personality in it. Again we go back to his lyrical lines, but then if you watch the movie as a whole, it's quite surprising his character was able to reach to that conclusion. It's impossible yet somehow he does something out of character for a role with no character. Watching a trained dog perform the exact same thing would actually have the exact same impact. I mean when Popoy says he loves Basha, why exactly does he love her? The answer is that he just does. When he delivered his signature line, where did his character find that strength, that, source, that passion to deliver it? Nowhere, it seemed like he just felt like it. Make John Lloyd stab a baby and no one would wonder why he did it, they would all just wait for him to say a line like "ang pagmamahal ko para sa iyo ay kriminal" or something like that.

The funny thing is that this lack of character depth is actually what people inherently want. The reason I think why John Lloyd is so popular with guys is that his bland roles make space for the viewer to insert himself as the character. Whether it was John Lloyd or some random guy named Marco, the effect would still be the same, and thus men find it vicariously thrilling to watch him. For girls, I'm not sure, they might project their boyfriend or the one they like to the John Lloyd Persona. For girls, it would be nice to have a boyfriend who would randomly drop lines like a Pinoy Neruda. I guess in the end the most important thing would be immersion. I mean films were meant to be that way. They take the viewer into different worlds and I guess in this case into different characters. Whatever floats the boat.

This post wasn't a rant. It's a movie review...okay, fine, it wasn't. Anyway, since i don't break the motif of our blog so early in its days, I'll leave you with one life-worthy advice: watch Blue Moon

(This would be the nth time I've been telling people to watch this.)

1st Course!

Hello! Welcome to Zensai! A blog about the simple things in life. Food (mostly), Movies, Living, Whatever, we'll take our pick. We bring you an assortment of things which we think would make your life a little bit more exciting! :)

Zensai is Japanese for Appetizer, as such, we hope this blog would be just that. This would be your zensai, your antipasti, your hors d'oeuvres, a pre-meal of what there is to come. We hope to bring you a satisfying and mouth-watering experience through our own words, pictures, tastes. So as to present you with something worth having in your life. I guess this is sort of our service. It's not fair if we experience the fine things in life and keep it to ourselves while other people are unaware. We promise if we ever run into a quaint little bookstore, a rustic yet delicious ihawan, or a warm romantic cafe, we'll be sure to notify you.

The Team:

The Photographer: Enrique Dimagiba

 The Critic: John Lenon

The Writer: RC Marcelo

Zensai started as a conversation among friends. Three friends were eating in a little restaurant in little Tokyo in big Makati city. It was a tiring yet fun-filled day that involved locations like Greenmeadows, Serendra, and Cinema Square. It was at about eight o'clock in the evening when we found ourselves in Little Toyko, a little, if it still wasn't painfully obvious, square located secretly in street in Makati. The square was composed of six different restaurants varying in levels of Japanese Authenticity. The most authentic being the bar and restaurant which was jam-packed with full-blooded Japanese businessmen being attended to by an old, also Japanese, man in a yukata and by waitresses in mini-kimonos. The least authentic would be a restaurant with random generic Japanese posters, it was also closed at that day. We chose the seemingly balance of the two, a modest restaurant, it had a bar, complete with bar stools and the cashier on one side of the building. the other side was flanked with three tables with sets of four chairs. A moldy white wallpaper would complete the whole plain-as-they-come style. It also had seats outside for customers wanting fresh air or a smoke while eating. The restaurant however had one noticeable thing that the others did not have, elevating its convention to a quirk, it was a takoyaki stand. We sat outside, breathing the steam from the takoyaki and craved for its somewhat enigmatic smell. We weren't sure what it was, though we knew we wanted it.

We ordered our respective meals, a gyudon, two unagi-ju's, onigiri, some maki, and of course the takoyaki. We dined right inside the square littered with dozens of paper lanterns and various christmas lights.

The setting accentuated the food. It gave a somewhat "natural" feel, it was as if other than Japan, this would be the closest thing we could get to the perfect spot for Japanese Food. Quite ironically, our entrees arrived earlier than our appetizers, the takoyaki still nowhere in sight. For most, the food was definitely not sub-par, yet it wasn't at all amazing, befitting of being the buffer of the most and least authentic restaurant. As I said, we felt this place to be just sublime yet the food didn't do any justice to it. Well...yet.

After waiting about 40 mins, there was this huge number of orders before us, we got our takoyaki. I swear, the takoyaki completed the picture-perfect setting of Little Tokyo that night. The takoyaki was soft yet firm in its texture, it break out or crumble, though a slight poke with the chopsticks could easily puncture it. The first bite was exquisite, the tangy teriyaki based sauce, more sour than sweet, pierced first into my taste buds. A second later, I can feel the breading rolling around my tongue. It was a different kind of taste, it wasn't like simple waffle or pancake mix you can buy out off any grocery store. The breading was precise in complimenting the sauce, it was as if it was made just for the takoyaki. After chewing more, I got into the center, a mixture of octupus tentacles and vegetables. It's weird having these ingredients but as I said all the ingredients were perfectly made for each other, quite surprisingly. The texture tickles the tongue, and I do confess playing around with it. Actually, I never saw the tentacle, though I can make it out with my tongue. After the first bite, I was raring to have more. The second bite, a voracious chomp, entirely gulping the rest of the takoyaki, burnt my tongue, obviously, it was less satisfying than the first one. With it, we proceeded to our second takoyaki with more caution, opening the takoyaki before eating it. The second takoyaki, danced around my mouth, pulling different sensation and tastes from my tongue. Suffice to say, I, We, were fully satisfied and completely happy.

We spent the rest of the night talking. We were commenting on how it was quite a find to discover this amazing little takoyaki shop, and more so the whole of Little Tokyo. We wanted to come back and try the other restaurants, and we didn't want to think of what would have happened if we didn't give it a chance in the first place. It was an enjoyable sensation to be able to find something well-hidden, and we couldn't wait to tell other people of our exploits. We wanted to share these with our friends but then we realized that may be a difficult thing to do. All three of us share the bane of being located in the south, quite far from most of our friends up in the north. There was no way our friends would spend the time and money to "try-out" something they weren't sure of. That was where we came up with the idea for this blog. A somewhat appetizer, to let our friends, and also you, know if things are worth taking the risk for. After all, the appetizer is the pre-cursor to the main dish, it helps decide if we're leaving to find another place or staying to eat another great dish.

I think it's sufficient to say that this blog is still under-cooked, I hope to use more food-based puns along the blog, yet we hope you stick around see what else we end up cooking for you. :) Kanpai!