tin·tin·nab·u·la·tion --

When I was about 12, I decided to find out what my purpose was and what I meant in this world. I decided to look it up.

I started with a baby name book, but I could never find my name there -- my name the way I spelled it.

The way my real name is spelled has always caused me problems -- my parents would insist on returning cerificates of merits and diplomas if my name was missing the "h" --

In the baby name books, they would have all variations of my name, except for the one that starts with a "k" and is followed with an "h" -- so I would have to settle for the one with a "k" and no "h" -- but I never felt it was accurate. Something was missing. Something is missing.

So I decided to go with my nickname, which was also my Chinese name. Tintin -- the dictionary gave me "tintinnabulation" which meant the sound of ringing bells and there was also a disease "tinnitus" which is when you hear ringing in your ears. And I did hear ringing in my ears -- at 12, I thought -- "Wow! I really am a 'Tin'."

* * *

Sith Happens --

<-- I found this catchphrase in one of the t-shirt sites I visit.

My sister, my J and I had a plan --
1. We were going to splurge and purchase tickets for the Premiere Theater of Shangri-la.
2. We were watching the earliest show and the one that takes you straight through lunch.
3. We were watching on a weekday -- Thursday.

We did all this, hoping to avoid having to deal with annoying children and annoying crowds.

Imagine our surprise when we arrived at Shangri-la to find that the Premiere Theater was the only theater that sold out its seats for the first show of Star Wars.

Already my sister was concerned -- I told her, "No parent in his/her right mind would shell out PhP300 to have their children watch here when they can save money by going to the regular theater."

See me eat my words together with the unlimited popcorn.

Parents paraded in with yayas and 5/6-year olds in tow.

During the movie, these children did cause a mild disturbance and it took the parents a while to decide to drag them out of the theaters for the benefit of the rest of the audience.

Which leads me to this concern -- WHY IS THIS MOVIE RATED GP? It's rated PG-13 in the US.

I actually know the answer to the question = MONEY.

It annoys me how utterly random our Ratings Board gets -- it took them 2 months to deliberate on Kill Bill and it's taking them months to decide what to do with Sin City -- and these are movies that have a definite audience and came with a clear rating R.

I am also appalled at the thoughtlessness of parents who drag their children to movies that are not appropriate to their ages. I've always had this chip on my side -- it started when we watched the midnight show of Stigmata and parents dragged children in their f**king pajamas into the cinemas.

Of course we can say that parents know what their children can and cannot handle.

Of course we can say that some children are smarter than others.

Of course we can say that it's the parents prerogative how they want to educate their children.

Of course we can say that it doesn't really affect our children here in the Philippines.

If this is the case, then what is the point of a Ratings Board?

* * *

And about the movie --

I thought George Lucas ended it well. It isn't his best movie, but it wasn't as bad as the first two (which, honestly, I thought weren't that bad.) Part of what made the movie special for me is the realization that this is it. This is where it ends. It is a journey almost 30 years in the making -- and we were here to see it happen.

My biggest problem with Lucas is that he can't do romantic dialogue well. It was a cringefest everytime Anakin and Padme got together (and they got together a lot).

The discussion on our way home was whether we would let our children watch it from Episode 1 to 6 or to watch it in the order we did: Episodes 4 to 6 first and then flashback to Episodes 1 to 3.