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Two new books on depression note that psychiatrists, biologists, and drug companies tend to view normal sorrow as a disorder and depression as a disease. “This might be an appropriate model for the more severe “melancholic” forms of depression that psychiatrists tend to see, but not for the majority of cases of depression,” writes Paul Keedwell, author of How Sadness Survived. “Regardless of the reason for falling into depression, the journey has the potential to make us better equipped, in a general sense, for life. If we are too busy to think and feel, to be mindful, depression might represent the first opportunity to take an honest inventory of ourselves.”

The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder by Allan V. Horwitz focuses on the validity problem of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. “Just because two examiners concur that a person qualifies for a particular diagnosis does not mean that he has an authentic mental illness. In scientific terms, the diagnosis may lack validity. How do we know, for example, that a person diagnosed with major depressive disorder is not actually suffering from a bout of natural sadness brought on by a shattering loss, a grave disappointment, or a scathing betrayal?” (Sally Satel in the New Republic book review)

In short: You’re allowed to be sad. A bout of depression may be good for you. You’re not sick, you’re just human.

I have a Twisted 8 book-signing with Ige Ramos tomorrow afternoon at De La Salle University in Dasmarinas, Cavite, meaning I won’t be able to attend the rally on Ayala. If you go to the rally, could you describe it to me? I don’t mean crowd size estimates or summaries of the speeches, I need your personal impressions, your reading of the situation, the mood of the crowd, what you saw and felt. Please post your report in Comments—try to stay within 200 words, but I can’t stop you if you want to write something longer. If you take pictures, send me the links. Thanks. I will post a list of unclaimed books from previous contests next week, so correspondents can choose the titles they want.

Since I flatlined in the first ten minutes of My Big Love, directed by Jade Castro and starring Sam Milby and Toni Gonzaga, this review follows the Stages of Death.

Anger. This movie is worse than awful, it aspires to mediocrity. We know this is a studio product made specifically for Milby and Gonzaga fans, but must it be so dull and vacuous? They tossed out the basic elements of storytelling (Conflict? Tension?) and replaced them with insipid musical montages. Is it sheer laziness or a refusal to engage the audience’s intelligence? The pace is leaden, the characters’ behavior unnatural, the dialogue stilted and crammed with platitudes, the score relentless. If that music does not stop, I’m going to shoot the speakers.

Denial. This can’t be by the writer and director of Endo.
- Didn’t you say he was brilliant?
- I meant Raul Castro! (of McCann, not Cuba.)
- But you’re a huge fan. . .
- Of Fidel Castro! Especially when he was hanging out with Che Guevara!

Bargaining. Just 5 more minutes, it might get better.

Acceptance. It’s crap. Not that anyone’s opinion matters, since it’s probably a hit.

Death.
- We’re not really the target market for this.
- Yes. We’re not in a coma.

P.S. I forgot to include Mike’s comments. We’d already figured out the plot from the poster, so he was free to concentrate on details. “Ay, that lamp is from SM. He didn’t transfer the roast chicken onto a proper serving plate! Luma ang equipment sa Gold’s Gym. May personal trainer ba na 24 hours at outdoors? What does she charge, P10,000 a day? Ang cute naman ng brother niya. Saan ba ang barangay na yan at ang cute ng mga istambay?”

Fans of the movie Once may want to check out Glen Hansard’s band, The Frames. Hansard is also in The Commitments, directed by Alan Parker, about an Irish band performing soul/R&B classics. Their rationale: The Irish are the blacks of Europe. Does anyone know what happened to the actor who played Jimmy Rabbitt their manager? That movie and its soundtrack album is the reason every band I heard in Manila in the 90s seemed to cover “Mustang Sally”.  Andrew Strong, who played the vocalist, went on to a solo singing career. You may also want to look up The Commitments, the novel by Roddy Doyle, which zips along very fast once you realize it must be read with an Irish accent—in your head, spare the neighbors. Or you could hire Colin Farrell to read it to you. Another Roddy Doyle novel, The Van, features characters who had appeared in The Commitments (Jimmy Rabbitt’s family). It was adapted for the movies by Stephen Frears, who also directed The Queen. As far as I know The Queen, starring Helen Mirren, never officially screened in Manila. Do the distributors have any intention of showing No Country For Old Men? No Country is said to be a very faithful adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel. I haven’t ready any Cormac McCarthy (Does the book-on-tape of All The Pretty Horses count? It was read by Brad Pitt). His recent novel The Road is being filmed, starring Viggo Mortensen. Now that Ian McEwan’s Atonement has been filmed (and is now suffering a backlash, which is unfortunate as it’s a fine adaptation), the book I want to see on the screen is The People’s Act of Love by James Meek. In Meek’s acknowledgements he thanks Tilda Swinton for giving him a place to write. No, she does not look like Conan O’Brien who is Irish-American. I hear the movie rights to the Meek were optioned by Johnny Depp. Ah, Johnny. Did any of us watching 21 Jump Street anticipate this?

For as long as I can remember, the Oscars have been telecast “live” on Channel 9—so many commercials were squeezed into the breaks that the broadcast ran two hours after the winners’ names were announced on CNN. This year the Academy Awards aired live on the Velvet cable channel, which some of us do not have, so we invited ourselves to a friend’s house for Oscars brunch.

As far as I am concerned this is an excellent batch of nominees, but there is one work of true genius among them, and it is Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. Even its flaws underscore its brilliance. That said, I did not think it could win Best Picture—because The Coens’s No Country For Old Men had swept the guild prizes, and because I didn’t think the voters would like it. It is not a picture that wants to be liked. So I joined Raymond in betting on No Country, while Leo and Chus bet on Blood. The fact that Leo and Chus had not actually seen Blood, and the fact that No Country both impressed and repelled me (I’d like to believe that humanity deserves more than a stain on the bottom of a shoe), were immaterial—we were going for probabilities and outcomes.

- Alright, no one say anything about the host, he’s my husband.
- Is everyone pregnant?
- Obscene proposal to Javier Bardem.
- Why is Amy Adams (from Enchanted) dressed like a matron?
- Or a congressional spouse.
- In something from Karimadon.
- Poor girl, that song doesn’t really work without the rats and cockroaches. She doesn’t even have visual effects or back-up dancers, it’s not fair.
- Tilda Swinton! Upset!
- Nanalo si Aling Tilda, makakabili na siya ng manggas. (Now that Tilda’s won, she can buy another sleeve.)
- All the live action short nominees are foreign.
- Haay ang guapo ni George Clooney! Aww, I’d do Seth Rogen.
- Make up your mind. Clooney or Rogen?
- Obscene proposal to Colin Farrell. A talented actor whose best work is still that sex video.
- Colin, you need to see Chus about your hair.
- The sound is awful, I can barely hear them sing Falling Slowly.
- This show looks like it was thrown together at the last minute. Did the montage-makers go on strike too?
- Ricky texted. They forgot to put Brad Renfro in the In Memoriam montage.
- Ha ha, the orchestra won’t interrupt the winner for Musical Score with a snippet from his musical score. Because that would be ironic.
- Nooo, the orchestra cut off Marketa!
- (Big laugh at “That guy is so arrogant!”)
- Jon brought her back! I love you, Jon.
- (Cate Blanchett grimaces at the clip from Elizabeth: The Golden Age, summing up how we feel about that movie. Applause.)
- Oh no, is Juno going to win?
- La Vie en Rose was so-so, but Marion Cotillard was spectacular as Piaf.
- Tapos na ba? Pag local awards show, last ang Best Actress. (Is it over? On local awards shows, Best Actress is awarded last.)
- Gil-roy! Gil-roy! Oh blast.
- In fairness, carry ni Diablo Cody ang damit na yan. (To be fair, Diablo Cody carries that outfit well.)
- Why is she pulling it down? If you’re going to wear a dress slit to there, be prepared to show “there”. And she’s a former stripper.
- (All together) Viggooooooooooo.
- Sana yung fight scene na lang ang pinalabas para nakahubad siya. (They should’ve shown the fight scene where he’s naked.)
-(I decide to change my cat Mat’s name to Matthias Eomer Federer-Urban-Day-Lewis.) He’s really a writer’s son, note how he summed up the theme of the evening.
- This really is a beauty contest. Marty should wear a cape and crown and pass them on to his successor.
- (All together) P-T-An-der-son!
- Oh well. Which one is married to Frances MacDormand?
- We win! Let’s get halo-halo.
- (We all get up and walk to Kozui for halo-halo.)

According to the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant was a wooden box that contained the Ten Commandments. It could also zap people and reduce them into columns of ash. The Ark was reportedly kept in the Temple of Solomon, which was razed by the Babylonians. According to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, the lost Ark was found in the Egyptian desert by the intrepid archaeologist Indiana Jones (who, considering the amount of time he spent away from his university and the fact that he never seemed to publish any papers, would’ve been kicked out of the academe). The Ark was then snatched by the Nazis, who did not do their research—they looked when the Ark was opened, and were promptly incinerated. Spielberg and Lucas go on to say that the Ark is now stored inside the Library of Congress or some other building in Washington D.C.

According to Professor Tudor Parfitt of the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, the Ark—or a replacement container—is currently on dusty shelf in a museum in Harare, Zimbabwe. In the 80s, Parfitt supported the claim that a South African clan called Lemba was a lost tribe of Israel. Subsequent DNA tests supported this claim. The Lemba venerated the ngoma lungundu, a drum that contained ritual objects. It also zapped people and reduced them into columns of ash. Parfitt concluded that the ngoma was the Ark, which the Lemba had brought to Africa.

Naturally this theory would be greeted with skepticism, but it is fascinating stuff. Interesting how this surfaces while a new sequel to the Indiana Jones movies is in production. By the way, one thing has troubled me since the last Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade. Anyone who drinks from the Holy Grail becomes immortal, right? And Indy and his dad both drank from the grail. Does that mean they’re immortal?

Cats, originally uploaded by 160507.

What is this expression on Mat’s face? Has he seen something Eevil? Has someone threatened to out him? (But he was neutered years ago.)

No, Mat is doing his impression of Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. True, his eyes are yellow not blue, but he does get the scared/demented look of the Ford character. Besides the crazy blue eyes director Andrew Dominik has found a brilliant use for the Afflecks’ genetic rictus. So Casey is the actor in that family, while Ben (Gone Baby Gone) is the director. Good movie, beautifully shot, well-acted, and the sound editing is such that you can hear someone swallowing in the middle of a conversation. 2007 was the year of the American Frontier movie—Blood, No Country, Yuma, this, Into The Wild, parts of I’m Not There. I suspect Americans miss America and what it stands for. They yearn for the big, open spaces and the freedom and possibility they represent. They’re still there, just wake up.

By the way, there’s an interesting article in the New York Times about how Matthew Santos, the presidential candidate played by Jimmy Smits in The West Wing some years ago, was based on a certain congressman named Barack Obama. The current American presidential race has many stunning parallels with the election on that TV show. Didn’t watch it, but I read that Santos won.

I also saw Jumper. Teleportation as a metaphor for Attention Deficit Disorder.

“The Coens may be the first major filmmakers since Preston Sturges to exploit the dramatic possibilities of stupidity. In Sturges’s movies, however, you don’t feel that the rubes and yokels are being put down. Sturges was an affectionate satirist of gabby democratic vitality, but the Coens can be sardonic, even misanthropic. In their world, stupidity leads to well-deserved disaster.” David Denby in The New Yorker.

In Preston Sturges’s Sullivan’s Travels, the successful director of comedies wants to be taken seriously as an artist. He intends to make a grindingly earnest social realist film called O Brother, Where Art Thou? After a series of catastrophes, Sullivan realizes that making people laugh is more useful than lecturing them about their lot. Decades later the Coens made a movie called O Brother, Where Art Thou? which they claimed was based on The Odyssey. Then they said they hadn’t read The Odyssey.

Spotted on the side of a van:

“____massage.ph
Calming the whole nation!
Strictly massage only!
God can see you!”

using pronouns for easier substitution and recycling. Or Remember the future, since everything that happens has already happened.

What happens next?
A. They will resign or be ousted, after which all corruption will be eradicated, justice will be served, the economy will prosper, and we will all live in peace and harmony.
B. They will resign or be ousted, and this time we really make sure we don’t get screwed again.
C. They will resign or be ousted, and be replaced by something even worse than you imagined.
D. They outmaneuver everyone once again because of the numbers, because of a technicality, or because everyone is too busy getting into position for the next election.
E. Nothing, but we will have been royally entertained. These dramas are not the means to an end; they are the end. (This is why local movie production is in the doldrums—movies cannot compete with reality.)
F. Nothing, but we will have been royally entertained, and hours later we’ll forget anything ever happened.
G. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
H. Someone else will take the rap.
I. Someone else will take the rap, then decide to take everyone down with him. (Since everyone is quoting Star Wars, “There is another.” Or was that “Another, there is?”)
J. None of the above. What will happen is. . .

Pisay (Philippine Science) the movie directed by Auraeus Solito, written by Henry Grajeda, and co-produced by PSHS Batch 86, won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Vesoul Festival of Asian Cinema in France last week. Pisay is opening soon in Metro Manila theatres. Alright, the movie had me at the establishing shot—That’s my old school!—and secured my affections shortly afterwards—That’s my Physics teacher! I need a drink—but you don’t have to be from Pisay to enjoy the movie. Think Regal movie of the 1980s, but with a high IQ. Not only will you be extremely entertained, but you’ll actually feel smarter afterwards.

This weekend Noel and I were talking about one Pisay ritual featured in the movie: the posting of the class rankings (from number 1 to 240 in freshman year) outside the Director’s Office. I think of it as Drabacs’ List. These typewritten pages tersely summed up your academic performance: if your name was in the last pages, your chance of survival was tenuous. After the first year I just stopped looking. I spent the second half of high school hiding in the office of the school paper. I was editor-in-chief of The Science Scholar for two years, basically because no one else wanted the position. My term was undistinguished, we may have been the most apolitical staff in the paper’s history, but it had more Scott Fitzgerald/J.D. Salinger references  in those two years than all the other years combined.

When I get around to writing a Pisay novel, it will start like this: The first thing I learned at my high school was to run indoors at the slightest hint of rain. In the 70s, four students had been caught in the rain on the football field and struck dead by lightning. The school’s head of security drummed this into our heads: Rain deadly. Flee! The second thing I learned was that if I stood inside a bus wearing my school uniform, people would hand me their change and wait for their tickets.

Paul Kramer examines the debate on counterinsurgency and torture—a century ago, when America was ‘liberating’ the Philippines from Spain. File under “Parallels, Current Issues”.

“Soldiers, in their letters home, wrote about extreme violence against Filipinos, alongside complaints about the weather, the food, and their officers; and some of these letters were published in home-town newspapers. A letter by A. F. Miller, of the 32nd Volunteer Infantry Regiment, published in the Omaha World-Herald in May, 1900, told of how Miller’s unit uncovered hidden weapons by subjecting a prisoner to what he and others called the “water cure.” “Now, this is the way we give them the water cure,” he explained. “Lay them on their backs, a man standing on each hand and each foot, then put a round stick in the mouth and pour a pail of water in the mouth and nose, and if they don’t give up pour in another pail. They swell up like toads. I’ll tell you it is a terrible torture.”