2016

January – February

1. Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do – Studs Terkel (Serving as the main inspiration for my thesis right now, I am really grateful for having come across this book under my Women and Work class. It weaves my favorite aspects and issues in humanities such as history, class, and affect.)
2. Sailor Moon R – Kunihiko Ikuhara (I think Mamoru sucked big time that I started to feel pity for him.)
3. Honor Thy Father – Erik Matti (Just like OTJ, it was okay. It could have been great but it was okay.)
4. Sailor Moon S – Kunihiko Ikuhara (It was better than my middle school self could have ever imagined.)
5. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy (Sapul sa female and neo-colonial experience.)
6. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? – Jeanette Winterson (The making of an angry lesbian? Sapul sa being queer within religious upbringing.)
7. f(x)=1cm – SM C&C and MUH Lab (Ah, Victoria, why did you have to post that historically, politically, and human rights ignorant picture on your Instagram?)
8. Jessica Jones – Melissa Rosenberg (Fantastic flawless first half of superhero and neo-noir genres that culminated in one of the best climax episodes in television (with the great David Tennant!). However, though the treatment of rape, abuse, and the trauma that haunted Jessica Jones was very sensitive, the second half of the show became just another run-off-the-mill superhero/television show.)
9. 3 Stars and a Sun – Nor Domingo (The use of Francis M’s songs was innovative and entertaining enough. There were some themes that were aptly explored considering the middle class audience (current) PETA usually caters to, but it didn’t quite delve deeper. Not really surprising since the majority of the sponsors are not really radical, if not outright Yellow.)
10. Sailor Moon SuperS – Kunihiko Ikuhara (I stopped hating Chibi-usa. I would still hate her if I were younger and watched this though. LOL.)

March – April

1. Review of Women’s Studies Vol. IV No.2 1994-1995 – Thelma B. Kintanar
2. Sailor Moon Sailor Stars – Takuya Igarashi (Yeah, I ship Usagi and Seiya. I am so predictable. But really, they’re so fucking cute????? The only reason why they’re not being shipped more is because Mamoru/Usagi ship has been established for so long, it’s hard to break traditions that don’t work anymore???? But anime Mamoru, though I don’t hate him–Ikuhara probably does lol–is really as interesting as a doorknob compared to Seiya <3)
3. The Two in Tracksuits – Yoshihiro Nakamura (I wanted to go to a quiet place to heal after watching this relaxing film.)
4. A Popular Education Handbook: An Educational Experience Taken from Central America and Adapted to the Canadian Context – Rick Arnold and Bev Burke
5. Popular Education: An Alternative Educational Approach – Ma. Theresa V. Tungpalan
6. Ayashi no Ceres – Yuu Watase (I really enjoy the very feminine gaze of any Yuu Watase works, but I wish she outgrew her very heterosexist views now.)
7. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch – Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
8. Vanishing History and Other Poems – Edel E. Garcellano (This book is so male and middle class, I cannot.)
9. In Good Company – Paul Weitz (Made me very sentimental. I think it was at this point that I fell in love with the concept of silence.)

May – June

1. District 9 – Neill Blomkamp (Wonderful anti-hero.)
2. Beginners – Mike Mills (I watched this because Ewan McGregor and I began to hunger for films that are “silent.” It was.. meh, but not too meh. Just the right meh. A neutral meh, if you must.)
3. Jane the Virgin Season 2 – Jennie Snyder Urman (I don’t care about anyone saying he’s sexist or a nice guy trope. I’m #TeamMichael.)
4. X-Men: Apocalypse – Bryan Singer (Only First Class was good.)
5. Golden Slumber – Yoshihiro Nakamura
6. Steven Universe Season 1 and 2 – Rebecca Sugar (I easily cry, but boy, did this cartoon make me cry. Pearl, stop making me cry!!)
7. Finding Dory – Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane (It was… not great. I could predict every emotional scene it was trying to blow the audience with. Pixar needs to push their storytelling. They’ve been banking on cutesy nostalgia for so long. It was somehow a breakthrough at first, but they need to evolve now.)

July – August

1. The Illusionist – Sylvain Chomet
2. Love at First Hiccup – Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg (I can’t believe I even managed to finish this.)
3. Requiem for a Dream – Darren Aronofsky (Someone should make Duterte watch this. Or not. It really won’t make a difference with that guy.)
4. Seventeen’s One Fine Day “13 Castaway Boys” – MBC (Be prepared to crave Korean food when watching this.)
5. Steven Universe Season 3 – Rebecca Sugar
6. Stranger Things – The Duffer Brothers (On one hand, I finally have a good show from the West again. On the other, I can’t continue that sci-fi young adult novel I started years ago with almost the same themes. Another lesson from Father Time, I guess.)
7. Titan A.E. – Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, Art Vitello (The music is definitely 2000. Haha. It was okay but it dragged a lot. And character developments and betrayals were quite predictable, if not forced. But there was a cool action scene that involved… space mirrors. That was great.)

September – October

1. Train to Busan – Yeon Sang-ho (My favorite movie of the year. Anyone who thinks it’s overrated is either colonial/neo-colonial or pretending to be a special snowflake. :) )
2. Reply 1997 – Shin Won-Ho (It has a cute concept apt for nostalgia. But you have to endure lame domestic abuse jokes if you really must watch.)
3. The Booth – Yoshihiro Nakamura (This is the movie that made Nakamura famous? ._. The non-linearity of it is fine for a Nakamura film but sometimes, it was unintentionally funny and ridiculous.)
4. Isang Harding Papel – Abner Delina Jr. (I am very happy that the play consciously chose to reverse traditional gender roles. There was this tableau scene that was so violent, creepy, and still apt for a GP rating. o_o )
5. Kimi to Boku Season 1 and 2 – Mamoru Kanbe (I cried. Man, coming of age youth shows still get me. When will I grow up? Should I grow up? The show tells me to grow up but… man…)
6. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves (Entertaining enough to pass time with.)
7. Into the Woods – Rob Marshall (Same.)
8. Prophecy – Yoshihiro Nakamura (It has the good elements of a good Nakamura film. However, it’s still a copy of a good Nakamura film. Which makes a lot of things in it contrived.)

November – December

1. Natsume Yuujinchou Season 1, 2, 3, 4 and OVA – Takahiro Omori (The first seasons made me want to punch Natsume. The latter seasons made me want to apologize for wanting to punch Natsume. There was also this one episode that made me want to scream YES THIS IS WHAT TELEVISION IS FOR, YES THIS IS WHAT ANIME IS ABOUT. It was so smart and quiet and yes, I cried.)
2. Luna’s Alphabet – S.M. Entertainment
3. Yami Shibai Season 1 – Tomoya Takashima
4. Kimi no Na Wa – Makoto Shinkai (The director’s really good with music. Not as fantastic as Voices of a Distant Star, but it’s good enough to be so popular globally? I wonder why only now did the themes he has explored time and again have touched the audience.)
5. Saving Sally – Avid Liongoren (Good animation, sucky story.)
6. All Men are Mortal – Simone de Beauvoir (Egoistic boy becomes depressed after achieving immortality. A good attempt at historicizing existentialism though.)