where can you run to escape from yourself..??

Songwriters: Armstrong, Billie Joe; Bowie, David; Pritchard, Michael; Wright, Frank E., Iii;

I love Green Day. they sing loud songs. they sing mellow songs. with lots of curses/swearing in between. i love them still

21 Guns reminds me of their song Wake Me Up When September Ends. very relaxed. a bit of melancholic melody. but with a very deep message.

i think america’s bad side of politics is bringing out the best in this group.

keep on rocking Green Day!

a very popular book. a best-seller.

my personal review:

a very straight-to-the-point, practical approach on how one should pursue one’s “Personal Legend. ”

a very simple yet engaging and meaningful narration of the character’s (Santiago) decision and determination to realize his dream (literally everything started with a recurring dream.)

very inspiring and encouraging. every now and then, cant help but pause upon passages that really holds true to one’s life.. to my life. o well, i think, the essence of the book, first and foremost, is for the reader to be able to relate to Santiago’s dream and his pursuit of realizing that dream, no matter what. Secondly, how the reader will be able to apply such in his own personal journey of realizing his/her dream. are you, or am i, brave enough to do what he did despite the odds? where am i on my journey to that ultimate goal in life? am i almost there but hesitant to embrace it like the crystal merchant? the merchant was afraid to do his ultimate wish/dream.. pilgrimage to Mecca (being a moslem).. cause he was thinking what else is there to dream about after fulfilling his highest hope? he was speaking for most of the humanity, i think. (was able to relate more to his character hehe.) with all the fears and uncertainties that CHANGE may bring into his life,he wasnt ready for that. he’s more at ease within the comfort zones he had been trying to live with every day of his life.

everything in the book was “realistic” and very much practical, until that point where Santiago spoke with the desert, and the wind, and the sun, and ultimately with the One who had the hand on every life and everything that existed in this life.

at that point on, the book made a 360 degree turn for me. sobrang bilib na sana ako. biglang naging fiction/fantasy ang dating. i mean, i know this is all fiction. but the metaphors and similes were acceptable and practical pa early in the book. but near the end..? it just wasnt what i expected it to be. hindi na naging makatotohanan. dont get me wrong, i still appreciated the book as a whole. just a bit disappointed with that part mentioned.

can’t help comparing this book with Celestine Prophecy, which was a good read, too. in some ways similar in laying out simple but often ignored truths about everyday life, but way different since it was more of a spiritual quest/journey. fiction and all that, at the end of Celestine Prophecy, you cant help but wonder. you are left with questions. these things couldn’t have happened. couldn’t have been true. but what if it did happen? what if that indeed was true? guess you just have to read it, to be able to relate to what im saying

below are some great passages from The Alchemist. there are quite a lot but i’ll only post those that are personally significant to me.

“It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.”

“Wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”

“I dont live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man.”

“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”

kinda late but was able to finally watch the film. pretty engaging but not much action in there. they sure did an acceptable version relating what needs to be related based on the book. but i guess “play time” constrained the film makers. there’s just a lot going on in the book that wasnt presented quite well in the film.

the title seemed got lost and wasnt relevant at all in the film. but in the book it was very much one of the centers of the story.. Harry’s curiousities and decisions kinda influenced and revolved in the mystery of the half-blood prince’s true identity.

there’s a bitin factor at the end of the film, that you wanted to see the 7th and 8th film immediately. one cant help but wonder how will Harry continue, single-handedly, what Dumbledore has started now that the latter is gone. will he be able to defeat Voldemort? or he will end up sacrificing his own life?

having said all these, of course im still very much looking for the final installment, which will be divided into 2 films.