Just A Quick Note

Alright, I just saw the recap of The Amazing Race 6 and Adam and Rebecca's so gonna win. Argh, I can't believe I'm this geeky. I'm inside a net cafe of the nearby city. Had to come here because I had to re-sked my flight back to Manila. They texted me that there'll be work on January 3. Anyway, will post a longer entry when I'm back to civilization. :)

Happy New 2005, people! :)

Wednesday

Had to juggle between two Christmas Parties. Stayed longer in Star Cinema's Christmas Party. Finally there was dancing (Sorry, I was too immersed trying to dance that I wasn't able to take pictures of me dancing. Hahaha! :D) Juggled between the Creative Department and Production Department's tables (Ah! The perks of being a multi-tasker! I even got two meal stubs and free hams). Save for the dancing part, it was a "loser" night for me. Didn't win in the Jell-O Eating Contest. Didn't win in the raffle. Huhuhu. :( Went to ABS-CBN's Talk and Variety Christmas Party after where again, I didn't win in the raffle. I also "hated" Monjam for not wanting to be my cameraman so I can have pictures with the artistas. (Boo Monjam! :D) Saw Phoemela Barranda, Kitchie Nadal, Lucky Manzano, Sheryn Regis, Bianca Gonzales, among others. Actually, I can't blame Monjam. Maybe he was embarrassed that I was in a starstruck mode. After all, all the guests there were mingling with the artistas like they're really close friends while I was acting like a crazed fanatic. Loser!!!! Hahahahaha :) But it's okay. At least I saw my crush. Hehe :)


CATHY AND I. I was her apprentice in Till There Was You. She was the First Assistant Director and I was the trainee.


I AND JR. Direk Lauren babies. Hahahaha :D I was Direk's AD in All My Life. JR's Direk's AD in SCQ Reload.


ADOLF, CARMI, CHINO, GUIA AND I. The Creative Department won the Best Production number that night doing a Volta dance number. Chino wore a "tangga" for that. Guia won the Crush ng Bayan Award.


DIVING FOR THE JELL-O


JELL-OOOSERRRR!!!!! :D

Will leave for home (ooohhh yesss!) tomorrow so I’m temporarily saying goodbye. Will be back next year for my Pop 10 Songs, Music Videos and Movies of 2004. I’m now refusing to call it “my Top 10…” The word “top” connotes authority kasi eh hindi naman ako authority sa mga ganon. Just check out my archives for my choices last year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

Tuesday

Twas a "winner" night for me. Found myself having fun in the Star Cinema Creative Department Christmas Party. Had second thoughts joining the party actually. After all, I resigned as Creative Assistant July of 2002 still and my last project with Star Cinema's Creative Department as a talent was still last year's My First Romance. I also am not that familiar with the new Creative peeps. But Ms Tammy coerced me to go and I'm glad she did coz I really had a blast meeting new friends and winning the games. Hehehe :) First, our team composed of Direk Olive, Emman, Pink Tianak, Ms Maya and I won the "charades". Pitted against the newbies, we easily guessed the titles of obscure Star Cinema movies. The most fun part really was the "Creative Idol Season 2" singing contest. The game's simple. All the guests (like 20 of us) had to sing a song from the pop videoke machine and whoever gets the highest score wins. Pink Tianak who was the second to sing (She sang Alanis' "You Oughta Know") definitely raised the bar early when she got a perfect score of 100. Next came Miss Maya who also got a perfect score by singing the classic Misty. Then I got a perfect score too (ahem, ahem) belting out U2's "Stuck in A Moment". (I love it when I'm "paos". I think I sing very well when I'm "paos." Heh!) Finally, Adolf of Gil Portes movies' fame, got a perfect score singing Maroon 5's "This Love". Then came the tiebreaker round wherein all of us "perfect scorers" (hehehe) had to sing the same song. Just apt for the occasion, we were all asked to sing "The Christmas Song." Miss Maya sang first and she did very well scoring a 98. I sang next and I was suuuperb getting a score of 98. (I love my subtle bragging!) Unfortunately for Pink Tianak, she only got a score of 97 (Sorry boo! Hehe :D) And unfortunately for Ms Maya and I, Adolf got a 99 (Boo us! :D Hehe :D).


PINK TIANAK AND I. Nikki McKibbin and Clay Aiken. Go figure! :D


PINK TIANAK, MONJAM AND I. Go Pink and Monjam loveteam!!!! :D


MONJAM, I AND JP ABELLERA. Enough said. :D


Oh love...look at you now... you got yourself stuck in a moment...


CREATIVE IDOL FINAL FOUR. Clay Aiken is more popular than Ruuuben, aight?! Haha! :D


CREATIVE PEEPS

Monday

Monday, went out with my college blockmates this time in I.O. KTV, The Loop. We were a small block in college (only 15 in our batch). Unfortunately, most of them weren't free that night but it's all more than fine. After all, it means I can save money. Hehe :) Videoke is also always fun. Memorable songs we sang were Beyonce's Crazy in Love (haha!) and that "turn around" song. I forgot the title. :)

Here are some pics:


THE SOAP OPERA WRITERS. Haha! The three of us all wrote for soaps. I for Pangako sa 'Yo and SCQ Reload. Waterfowl for Kaytagal Kang Hinitay and It Might Be You. Arah for Kaytagal Kang Hinintay and Mangarap Ka. Yep, we all sang the theme songs of our soaps that night.


BITTERSWEET, YEBIN AND I belting out, uhm, I forgot actually but since Yebin's holding the mic, I'm sure it's a Regine Velasquez song. :)


AKO, hindi patatalo as always. :)


WATERFOWL singing FRIEND OF MINE. She dedicates it to...wag na lang. :D


WATERFOWL AND GEN. In my dreams, they're lesbo lovers. Haha! :D


YEBIN AND I. No! No bad dreams. Haha! :D


I AND BITTERSWEET. The Love Below and The Love Fool. Haha :D


GROUP PIC, GROUP PIC! Maraming salamat pipol! :D

Sunday

Sunday, went out with my "bisaya" friends in Eastwood. It was also a mini-reunion of sorts since it's been ages since I last saw them. I just treated them in Something Fishy (resto's budget-friendly, I swear) and talked and talked till the wee hours in the morning. T'was fun reminiscing stuff. :)

Meet the bisdaks!


PAJO, YOLANDA, LAWRENCE
Pajo, Yolanda, and Lawrence were my high school classmates. They also live in the same condo in Mandaluyong. Pajo works in a call center. He used to look like R.R. Herrera when we were in high school. Lawrence is now a med student in St. Lukes. He's an American citizen. Yolanda works in HSBC. Yolanda and I went to UP together. Yolanda and Lawrence are married to each other. (And I don't understand why I have to tell you all of these. Heh.:D)


MARLON, GENEE, ALISON, AND BONITA
Save for Alison, the three are my friends from Kalayaan Dorm back in 1996. They're all from Cebu. Unfortunately, most of my Cebuano friends are already based there. (Miss them all! We had a blast during our freshman year). Marlon was my roommate for 2 years back in the old boarding house. He's now studying law. Genee was the blockmate of Yolanda so I became her friend also. She just came from China that day. Bonita was also my dormmate in Kalayaan. She's still trying to finish her masteral degree in Psychology. Alison, I just met that night. :)


CHEGAY, ZEN AND HONEY
Chegay was my high school classmate. She's now a licensed Chemical Engineer and also a regular reader of this blog. Hehe.:) Zen is Honey's roommate. She's the only "Tagalog" that night. She's a film buff like me. Honey is my childhood friend. We also went to UP together. She's now taking up her masteral degree in Geology.


BUDAT, JANETTE, LEVY, RANDY AND FRANCO
They're all my high school classmates. Budat works under Gokongwei of Galleria. Jannette was a very close friend in high school. (Chegay, Janette and I already lived in dormitories back then. Since we shared the same experience, I guess that's the reason why we became close.) Janette is now a CPA working for Ford. Levy is Janette's friend. Randy is the "bonggacious" one (in his own words, haha!). He's a CPA for Procter and Gamble. Franco was our Dawson Leery in high school. Most of our memorable HS happenings are stored in video form because of him. He's now a med student in St. Lukes.

Love ko silang lahat! :)

Today

Today is my birthday,
Yehey…yehey…

Yesterday

Despite the fact that I’m still not able to finish my script (my mind’s just so “off” about work), I had a fine time yesterday with lots of highlights leading to my birthday.

1. Woke up lunchtime and went to SM City after taking a quick shower in my old boarding house. I was supposed to shop for some household stuff (i.e. bathroom mirror, trash can, traveling bag, etc.) but ended up shopping for gifts for SCQ Reload staff. We'd have our Christmas Party later that night. Yep, I’m normal. I also do late Christmas shopping. Admittedly, shopping is not my forte (I’m a “I need a shirt so I’ll go to SM and buy any shirt” shopper) so I had a hard time finding gifts. I ended up buying all my gifts in one store because the products there are already wrapped and ready to go.

2. Was pleasantly surprised when I went to Astrovision and saw Direk Lauren in disguise. I found the experience funny because it was like a scene straight from TMZ. He was wearing this dark shirt, over-sized cap and dark shades so he’d blend well with the masses of SM. Tactless that I am, I screamed “Direk!!!” upon seeing him. Hahahaha! :) I just asked him if he has a DVD copy of the first season of Six Feet Under and when he said no, I decided that would be my gift for him. I hastily said a “See you later!” and left him when I noticed the shoppers already recognizing him. My bad! :)

3. While waiting for Michiko (she would be coming from Nestor Torre’s Christmas Party), I killed time by taking pictures of our bare apartment. The pieces of furniture I bought for my bedroom already arrived. I’m a self-confessed cyber-media whore so let me share with you my pics.


The Main Entrance


The Bare Sala and The Unoccupied Room (Olive, our contributing writer, checking the latter)


The Nude Kitchen and Dining Area


Corridor leading to my Bedroom (There are 3 rooms upstairs)


My bed and mirror


My bathroom and closet


Olive and my study table


Pose, pose! :)


Beatlebum, Waterfowl and Olive posing for the camera


Posing some more! :)


The housemates (Mukha naman kaming okay maging kasambahay di ba?! :) Sige na, we still need 1 more to join the "band"! :D )

Yesterday Once More

4. We arrived at the Christmas Party at 10pm. It was a large party. All the people involved in the show were there (from the utility peeps to the cast, minus Hero since he’s still recovering from an eye operation) and even if I don’t know most of them, it was still fun. I won in the raffle a coffee mug holder courtesy of Raphael of SCQ. Too bad Michiko and I didn’t win the DVD player or oven since it would have been more useful to us, new apartment dwellers. Direk Lauren asked us though what we wanted for our apartment and I unabashedly replied that we want a microwave oven. Hehe. Later, Michiko told me that we should have asked for a mini-refrigerator instead.

5. The highlight of the night for me of course was having my pictures taken with the “artistas.” Even if I’ve worked in the industry for almost 4 years already (hence, I’m not too “starstruck” anymore) I don’t think this picture taking habit would end. And guess what? :) I finally had my picture taken with 80’s wonder-kid Chuckie Dreyfuss. Yahoo!!! :) I was a bit flushed though when he told me that he has read my blog. It seems he chanced upon this blog when he googled SCQ Reload. Nakakahiya because it means he has read this entry. Hahahaha :) Good thing he is uber-nice and friendly. We even exchanged phone numbers, laban kayo?! Hahaha! (Hi Chuck! :-) ) Here are my Christmas Party pics.


Chuck and I


Beverly Salviejo and I


Errol and I


Melissa and I


Michelle and I


RJ and I


Our PA Nelson and I (Argh with the hip-hop hands! :) )


I, Michiko and Olive

Our House

Argh, I don’t want to get married. Hahaha! The process of moving to a new apartment alone is killing me. What more, raising a family?! Hahaha! Okay, stop laughing! It’s just that I never thought moving to an apartment would be this difficult and costly. I think I spent half of my writing fees already for the pieces of furniture I need in my bedroom alone. (They will be delivered on Friday so I’m still sleeping in my old boarding house.) Then there’s the electrician and cleaner fees, and I’m already dreading the day when we’ll get the phone, electricity and water bills. Our living room and kitchen are still bare! I plan to subscribe to cable TV, I still have to buy a TV set, and I still have to dot dot dot. Aaaaayoko naaaa!!!! The other day, I don’t know what came to us, but Michiko and I suddenly found ourselves laughing so hard while carrying her heavy computer table up to her room. I think it suddenly hit on us the everyday reality that we will be facing to survivor our apartment life. I did feel a sense of pride when I successfully placed four (4!) electric light bulbs in "watchamakallit". Hehe.:)

***

Incidentally, we still need one (1!) more housemate. The room downstairs has no occupant yet. If you know someone who’s interested, just tell him/her/them to leave their contact numbers in the comments section or tag board of this blog. Thanks.

And I Did It Again

Whew! Predicting the eventual Sole Survivor per season is such a breeze. I got it right last year. And I got it right again this year, even before the first episode was shown! (yawns). Hehe. :D

2046

Finally, I was able to watch a movie in the cinema after hibernating (not self-imposed, of course) for more than a month. Together with Waterfowl, who’s having the time of her life celebrating her freedom from two years of soap opera life (It Might Be You will end this Friday), we watched Wong Kar Wai’s 2046. The film stars my movie idol Tony Leung who reprises his Cannes award-winning role as Mr Chow in In The Mood For Love. 2046 follows what happens to his character after he ended his illicit affair with Maggie Cheung’s character in the earlier film. I’m not a film review writer (I prefer discussing a movie with my friends) but let me just say that the film was definitely worth the wait. It is simply sublime! If you love Wong Kar Wai (he’s “like him” or “hate him”), you’ll love the movie because the film screams Wong Kar Wai! :) From the use of Spanish music/60’s classic song/opera music to convey the story to the visual symbolism in cinematography, everything just falls into its proper Wong Kar Wai place. Zhang ZiYi was good, so were Gong Li and Faye Wong. Of course, Wong Kar Wai baby Tony Leung was the star of the movie. He looks older now, far from the baby-face policeman role he played in Chungking Express, but like wine, he seems to be getting better as he ages. Cliché I know, but true!:) Heh!

Watch the movie na lang. :)

Copyright Thief

I’m doomed. I finally succumbed to the lure of the pirates. I went to Quiapo yesterday and had a pirated DVD shopping binge. The bad part is, I don’t feel any guilt at all. Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Vertigo or hard to find arthouse pieces like Pieces of April for only 60 pesos each?! That’s just heaven for a film enthusiast like me. And that previous statement came from someone who vowed in the past to only buy the “orig”. Of course, I wasn’t really a strong anti-piracy advocate but I put in my mind (I don’t know where the conviction came from) that any form of piracy is stealing. It had been a conscious effort on my part not to buy pirated stuff. I mean, so what if the brand of my clothes is cheap? At least it’s original. So what if I only buy cheap on-sale VCDs? At least it’s legal. Maybe it’s a feeling of pride and at the same time, interestingly as I think now, deeming that by supporting pirated goods, you’re actually promoting crass commercialism all the more. I know the message is supposed to be “support piracy, kill commercialism” but I always thought otherwise. By supporting pirated goods just to have branded or upper class items, you also support the fact that these branded or upper class items are the way to go.

Okay, I don’t know what to say next.

I don’t wanna sound defensive after eating my words by shrugging, so what, these Hollywood producers earn huuuge amount of money anyway, and buying pirated stuff wouldn’t hurt them that much. I could also defend myself by saying that I only buy pirated “imported” stuff so I’m actually supporting the local industries by “killing” their foreign counterparts. The more sensible defense would be that with the advent of new technology, things such as piracy are already inevitable and instead of doing the impossible task of destroying it, the industries should just innovate the way they market and sell their products. But again, I don’t wanna sound defensive. Take a look instead at the titles I bought.

Ghost World
Far From Heaven
You Can Count On Me
All The Real Girls
Angels in America
The Believer
One Day in September
House of Flying Daggers
Thirteen
Super Size Me
XX/XY
21 Grams
Monster
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Cooler
Shaun of The Dead

Now, slap me.

Random Pop Thoughts

I'm supposed to be "pop culture" savvy but I'm so out of the loop these days. Don't ask me why. If housemate Waterfowl didn't ask me to record ASAP Mania so she can watch the farewell production number of the cast of her soap, I wouldn't have known that Camille Velasco is here. Argh. I heart Camille! Voice-wise, I like her better than Jasmine. She's the Fil-Am I was rooting for in American Idol. Had I known she'd be in ASAP, I would have rushed to the studio to have my picture taken with her. Heh.:) I know it's so "reggae slash hiphop slash hippie" but I like her message to her fans in ASAP earlier. She told us to "Thank God, love life and peace!" Ooooh yeaaah. :D

***

Watched this week's episode of Survivor: Vanuatu and I felt sad. My favorite lesbian biatch (and bet to win) Ami was voted off. Grrr to the other lesbian Scout and tomboy Twila! Haha. :) Ami's my favorite castaway this season kasi. La lang. :)



***

My friend texted me and told me Wazzup Wazzup's Tadjock Wallace Tik is interested to rent the extra room in our apartment. I don't know pero natatawa ako. Haha. If ever the deal will push through, I'm sure living with him will be a riot. Not that we're closing our door to other peeps interested to have the room. Maybe you can refer some to me, guys. :)

Looking for a Housemate

Hi peeps, my friend and I are currently renting an apartment inside UP Village (near Philcoa and the UP-Diliman campus.) We have one extra big room, which we plan to sub-lease for 5 THOUSAND PESOS ONLY (including the utility bills). The room can accommodate up to 3 persons. If youre interested (or you know someone who might be interested), just leave your contact number in the comments section below.

I would really appreciate it if you can forward this in your Friendster bulletin boards or e-groups. Thanks.

Beatlebum :)

P.S. If this helps, NO CURFEW and NO PESKY LANDLORDS! :)

Let's Support The Indies

Reposting a letter from my good friends/indie filmmakers Michiko Yamamoto and Emman de la Cruz. :)

November 28, 2004

Mga kaibigan,

Marahil ay alam niyo na, pero gayunpaman,
hayaan ninyong i-share namin sa inyo ang
magandang balita.

Ang dalawa naming full-length independent digital
film project ay napili ng Cultural Center of the
Philippines (CCP) at Film Development Council of
the Philippines (FDCP) na maging kabilang sa
sampung entry sa Cinemalaya Festival, na
magaganap sa Pebrero. Kasalukuyan kaming
naghahanda para sa shooting ng dalawang
pelikula.

Sarong Banggi ang isa. Galing sa malikot na
imahinasyon ni Emman Dela Cruz, kuwento ito ng
isang babae, isang lalaki, at ang gabi ng kanilang
pagkakakilala isang gabi ng dahan-dahang
pagpapaubaya at unti-unting paghuhubad ng sarili
sa isat isa.

Isinulat naman ni Michiko Yamamoto ang isa pa.
Ang matamis-mapait na pagkakaibigan ng isang
batang bading sa isang baguhang pulis sa gitna
ng
karalitaan at kriminalidad sa lungsod ang siyang
sentro ng kuwento. Ito ay Ang Pagdadalaga ni
Maximo Oliveros.

Bagamat malayo ang mararating ng napanalunan
naming grant (500 thousand per film, na ibibigay
sa
amin ng anim na installment, habang ginagawa
ang
mga pelikula), hindi ito sasapat sa kabuuang
production cost ng nasabing dalawang pelikula.*

Kung kayat kailangan namin ang inyong tulong.

Anumang halaga na inyong bukas-pusong
maipamamalas sa amin ay aming ikalulundag sa
tuwa.

Yakap lamang ang aming maisusukli bilang
pasasalamat, kambal siyempre ng inyong
pangalan sa credits ng aming mga pelikula, at ang
pangako na hindi masasayang ang inyong
partisipasyon.

Marami-rami na rin ang ating pinagdaanan.
Kasama namin kayo sa aming bawat tagumpay.
Sanay samahan niyo pa rin kami dito sa
paglalakbay naming ito.

Mabuhay tayong lahat at ating mga pangarap!

Sumasainyo,

Ang mga writers at producers,

Jade Castro
Emman Dela Cruz
Raymond Lee
Ned Trespeces
Michiko Yamamoto

*650 thousand ang budget ng Sarong Banggi,
mahigit 800 thousand naman ang sa Ang
Pagdadalaga nangangahulugang kailangan
naming magtipon ng halos 450 thousand pa.

**Para sa mga donasyong naka-tseke, paki-
pangalanan po si Emmanuel Dela Cruz o si
Michiko Yamamoto

------------------

To know more about Cinemalaya, please click on
the links below:

http://news.inq7.net/gsearch/gws.php?
radiobutton=inq7&searchkey=cinemalaya

http://news.inq7.net/entertainment/index.php?
index=1&story_id=19360


Mga friends, ngayon alam ni'yo na. We need your
help. This is for the good of the film industry :)

Any amount will do and will be gladly appreciated.
You can deposit the money in my account.
Account name Michiko Yamamoto Equitable-PCI
Timog branch Account # 01570-54236 or we can
meet. Please text or email me the amount you've
donated for accounting purposes. If you're not
interested, i won't take it against you. Pero
makatulog ka sana ng mahimbing. Hahaha

Kung feeling mo makakatulog ka pa rin ng
mahimbing, tumulong ka na lang in another way.
Pakikulit na lang yung mga rich friends, relatives
ni'yo for aguinaldo tutal Pasko naman :)
But please, pakibigay po yung pera sa amin at
yung listahan ng mga mababait na nagdonate with
the total amount. Thanks a lot!

Give money on Xmas day! :)

Advance Merry Xmas to all!

Mitch :)