Experiencing Spike Jonze's "I'm Here"

Why are the most beautiful of love stories usually the saddest? I'm Here: A Love Story in An Absolut World, a short film written and directed by Spike Jonze, had me pensive and a little sad. I had thought, "Wow. This is The Giving Tree of contemporary times," and then after digging up some background information, I found out that the children's book by Shel Silverstein was indeed the inspiration for I'm Here.

In the film, people and robots cohabit the world (or L.A., at least). The plot revolves around the "lives" of Sheldon and Francesca, two robots having starkly contrasting "personalities." He works at the library and conforms to human rules, while she's the life-of-the-party kind of girl: sassy, fun-loving, and vibrant. She behaves as if she's more human than robot: she drives (when robots are "not allowed" to) and parties a lot. In fact, she loses an arm at a rock club, and this is where the drama begins.

If you want to watch I'm Here, you simply need to click this link. The soundtrack should be enough reason to see this film. Oh, and don't skip the intro.

Getting my movie pass

 It's even better if you watch the movie while logged in to your Facebook account, because you can invite your friends to watch it with you. I especially loved this part, especially since I don't live in the same city as my best friends, so it made me feel as if we were really sitting next to each other in the cinema. "I'm Here" is not just a short film; it's an experience.

Almost felt like the girls were really there

Facebook Mothers' Day Meme

Wondering why your friends seemed to have aged a bit in their profiles? Don't worry. May 8, 2011  is Mothers' Day, and here's the Facebook status that started it all:

"In honor of Mother's Day, change your profile pic to a picture of your mother (solo or not) and keep it there till May 9. I did and so have several others. If you like this idea, please repost this as your status so everyone gets the word and see how many beautiful mothers we can get on FB :)"

We love you, Mama!

If you're a nanay, 어머니, mama, mommy reading this, HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!

Attack Caught on Cam

It's been a long time since my last post here. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I just have to share this morbid news that I picked up from The Korea Herald:

Photo credit: The Korea Herald

Qian Liu, a 23-year-old Chinese student at York University in Ontario was found half-naked and dead in her apartment by the Toronto police. This was a couple of hours after a friend from China called up other friends in Toronto, who, in turn, contacted the police.

Qian Liu and her friend were chatting via webcam at 1:00 in the morning on Friday, when a yet unidentified man knocked on her door. A struggle ensued, and everything was witnessed by Liu's friend in China until the webcam was finally shut off. Unfortunately, everything was on live streaming and wasn't recorded. For the full story, read "Chinese student's last moments witnessed on webcam" on The Korea Herald.

You'd think it's stuff urban legends are made of, but unfortunately, it's not. What would you have done if you were Qian Liu's friend?