Where is that Grandfather Clock?

I could not recall clearly, but I have a hazy memory of a big clock inside the living room of my grandfather’s house. That is when I am just a little kid and it is the first time I saw a clock that big. I remember then that I am amazed by that golden colored thing that swings back and forth like our “duyan” (swing) that was hanged from a guava tree in our backyard.

Growing up, I came to know that that big clock was called as a grandfather clock. Is that clock meant for grandfathers that’s why it was called as grandfather clock? I don’t know but what I do know that that grandfather clock is not there anymore.

When I start building my own family, maybe I will consider buying my own grandfather clock. Maybe the howard miller grandfather clock will fit what I want for a grandfather clock.

Maybe, when I already have my own grandsons and granddaughters, their mind will be impressed by a big clock that I will place in my own living room. Then their mind will wonder about that non-stopping swing of the bright and golden pendulum.

I remembered my grandfather’s grandfather clock and I want my grandchildren to also have a memory of their grandfather’s grandfather clock.

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In 2012 the World will End in Boredom

I did not expect that our world will end in year 2012 as predicted by the Mayans, thousands of years ago. I also did not expect that our own world will die because of boredom. Death by boredom, this is what I think is the hidden message that the apocalyptic film 2012 is telling the filmgoers.

2012 is about the catastrophic death of the world in the year 2012 because of the sudden increase of activity of our sun that triggers the heating of the Earth’s inner layers, causing the instability of the Earth’s crust. What you will have is the sudden movements of the crustal plates accompanied by strong earthquakes and tsunamis. Your eyes fill feast on falling buildings, exploding volcanoes, big cracks on the earth, and large waves that eat up large coastal cities.

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The graphics and special effects of the film are cool. It is nice to see building dropping like dominoes in the first part of the film, but as the film goes on you will be bored and the continued catastrophes will only make your eyes glazed. The focal characters do not also help much and their problems, as shown in the film, are puny in relation to the catastrophic events that are happening all around them. The beginning of the film is also turned me off because the scenes are too slow in directing to the focus of the film.

Another problem that I had is their premise of who can only be saved. Only the G8 countries (the 8 richest nations in the world) were informed of the catastrophe. Is the group of G8 countries equate to the whole nation of the world? Where is the United Nations? Are they saying that the poor nations do not deserve to know that the apocalypse is coming? Is the gene pool of human beings living outside the G8 countries not worthy enough to continue in the post – apocalyptic civilization?

The information black-out on the information about the apocalypse is overrated. Other nations, outside the G8, also have the capacity to collect information about an event as large as what occurred in the film.

2012 taught me one thing: never watch a movie showcasing large scale catastrophes ever again.