“I was born under unusual circumstances.”

And so begins “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: A man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. From New Orleans at the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, on a journey as unusual as any man’s life can be, the film tells the grand tale of a not so ordinary man and the people and places he discovers along the way, the loves he finds and loses, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.

Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures Present A Kennedy/Marshall Production A David Fincher Film, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas and Tilda Swinton. The film is directed by David Fincher. The screenplay is by Eric Roth, with screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The producers are Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin.  The behind-the-scenes team is led by director of photography Claudio Miranda, production designer Donald Graham Burt, editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, and costume designer Jacqueline West. The music is by Alexandre Desplat.

I was one of the lucky people who got invites from Az to get tickets for the advance screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Benjamin Button's many love

The movie has the same director as that of Se7en and Fight Club, and it's surprising how this movie seems to be their complete opposite.  It was full of picturesque sceneries, relaxing colors of yellows and browns, and beautiful people.  While there were no memorable lines to remember, the shots seemed to be perfect.  It was a story about Benjamin's life, how he dealt with growing backwards, and more specifically how other people in his life dealt with it.  It would be interesting to know how we deal with growing old, and dying.  The movie took its own sweet time showing these, almost three hours actually.

Lookie! It's Dakota Fanning's sister!

So now I have stupid question: did the Button family chose button-making as a family business because their last name is Button, or did they chose Button as a family name cos they want to make buttons?

tabulas

For patron accounts, I've added one new feature: linkbacks. Any time a Tabulas user posts an entry that links to a particular entry of yours, you'll see it appear in the comment view of a page. This will help you discover who's talking about your entries on Tabulas, and it is a way to encourage you to link to other's posts as well!

I've also started processing Tabulas entries for the "Related" entries feature - for those of you who don't know, this is a magical feature which will try to find "related" entries that you've written. Sometimes it's accurate, sometimes it's not. But it's fun to see what entries will show up

Related entries are processed nightly, so you may have to wait a bit to get related entries. All patron account should have had their entries processed, though.

cigarette_girl

Been purging the bookshelf again for more books to giveaway (or sell, although, I've yet to see buyers).  I've already cut the book stuff in half last year.  But I'm still left with alot.  While there are a few books I will never ever give away, I do have some now that I'm willing to part with.

Hence, a book contest!

Some of these books are in really good condition (most are wrapped in plastic cover), while others are in a pretty bad shape (specifically The DaVinci Code) mainly cos I got them second hand that way.  No lost pages or anything that horrible though.

(The Book List)

Here are the rules:

1.  Pick any book you like from the list.

2.  Write in your blog why you want that book.

3.  Include in your blog post the words cigarette-girl with a link back to my site: http://cigarette-girl.com

4.  Leave the link to your post in the comment section, and your email address.

5.  Once somebody posted an entry for book A, I start counting 5 days, and if no else posts an entry for it, then it's yours.  If another person wants the book though, I check which one has a nicer entry and give it to the winner.

I have one condition though:  You have to be living in metro manila cos I'll just be handing you the book.  I'm too lazy to do postal.  Sorry.

I will inform the winner through email.  I'll be crossing-out books from the list as soon as somebody won it.  Contest will run all throughout the month of January until there are no books left or I'm gone, whichever comes first.

p.s. books with ♥ means that somebody wrote something about it already.

One of the bigger complaints I've gotten about the control panel redesign is the lack of accurate hit logging. To that end, I've added back one of the more popular features for patron accounts: viewing your recent visitor traffic logs.

Because of server limitations, you can only view your last 72 hours worth of data, but the data it provides should give you a better idea of where your traffic is coming from.

Check it out in your control panel.

Guess what this place is?

sofa in pic #2 made me think of dementia, something she would like; some people in pic #3 don't know what to do with their eyes *rolls eyes*

(guess!!!)

cigarette_girl

One of the good things with listing things down in my organizer is that I actually remember things that I did.  Having bad memory sucks.  Early onset Alzheimer's is that you?  I usually only rememeber the trivial, always.  Here is my 2008, both the good and the bad.

January: Sam's death brought with it mixed emoions from me.  I was sad because she left at the age of six; but at the same time, I was happy that she doesn't have to keep struggling anymore.  Sam had cerebral palsy.  She couldn't move her arms and legs, she couldn't talk, she ate through a tube in her nose because whenever she tried to eat food through her mouth her throat closes up and she asphyxiates.  She had scoliosis, asthma, and she was prone to pneumonia.  She was very sickly, and feeding and therapy was painful for her.  If you believe in the afterlife, then maybe we can safely assume that she's in a much happier place.

March: Passing the the jurisprudence exams, finally!  That was pretty much the last exam I had to take to complete my requirements in applying for work in far, far away.  That was when I started counting when I would leave.

(click for the rest)

cigarette_girl

Just saw that they made a movie of Veronika decides to die.  Before Eleven minutes, this was my favorite Coehlo book.  I love Veronika. 

For the longest time, I've never really seen the point of living a long life.  Of course I love my family, and I have my friends.  There is really nothing major to complain about with my life.  Sure, i've had my issues with myself, with people, with school then work; but it's nothing I coldn't deal with.  It's also not as bad as how other people had it.  So yes, the thought why I kept assuming I would die by 30 is a little baffling.

You know how when Veronika found out that she only has a week to live, she started really living?  The whole thought that you only have a week to live, makes you stop caring about what everyone else thinks, and just do what you feel.  It's a different kind of freedom.  I think I get it now.  There are times when finding things out by living it feels both great and sucky.