Literal Video!

This made my day! ROTFFL! :))

Scatterbrains!

Shoots like what happened during Dan's for his short Scatterbrain (where I played an evil doctor) make you forget how stressful school has become. :)

Thanks to G for the behind the scenes fun vids!

BTS 1


BTS 2

Dancing in Katips!

Sana may drill lagi si Sir Enrico para may libreng dinner all the time! Hehehe! Ang sarap ng food at ang sarap sumayaw sa Katips! (See video below, nyahaha!) O baka epekto lang ng acting workshop, nagiging walang hiya kami sa pagsayaw at pagkain!

Salamat Sir Enrico sa libre! At salamat kina Danna at Issa sa mga pictures! :)


Kapal ng mukha ko, di nabu-blur! Nyahaha!


Mga biktima ko sa Scary Questions exercise sa workshop! Hehe! :)


Thank you, ECS! =)

And now, the video.... (Wahahahaha! :D)



Sana pala Papaya na lang ang sinayaw namin tapos isinali namin sa contest sa Game Ka Na Ba. Baka manalo pa kami ng cash prize!

But I'm A Talent Manager!

Ello! I just got back from a trip to a province down south for a very important mission. It was work but it was fun! Sobrang nangangati na ako to share it with you guys pero di pwede kasi it means spoiling someone for the new show at ayokong ma-evict just because of a blog entry. Hahaha. Now, that's a clue! :) I've probably 10-plus pages of report to write later, sana matapos ko before the deadline.

Isi-share ko na lang sa inyo ang developments sa aking raket bilang talent manager. Karir na ito, woohoo! LOL! :D Remember my friend who wanted me to manage him? So yun, he and I were supposed to meet during the Indie Sine premiere last Tuesday. I told him we could establish connections there and even asked Michiko to intro me and my talent to her filmmaker friends. Sa kasamaang palad, he got stuck in traffic in Makati so hindi siya nakapunta. Sabi ko, patay, pano ko kaya ito mabebenta? Hahahaha! I told you naman di ba that I haven't seen him in 3 years and I have no idea about his acting capability! Pero kebs na, go pa rin!

MICHIKO: Jade, Ned, si Beatlebum, may bago nang karir!
ME: Uy, may talent ako! Ilagay nyo naman sa Endo!
JADE/NED: (confused) Ano?
ME: (holding back laughter) Talent manager ako!

Silence. Laughter. :D

Ayaw nilang maniwala, amp! Hahaha! :D Without me intending to, it just sounds funny every time I say may talent ako. LOL!:)

MICHIKO: Ay Khavn, si Beatlebum... Beatlebum, si Khavn de la Cruz!
KHAVN: Hi! (shakes hands)
MICHIKO: Uy Khavn, me talent si Beatlebum!
KHAVN: Talaga?!
ME: (smiling broadly) Oo, may talent ako! Soccer player siya sa Ateneo!
KHAVN: Ah, nagsa-soccer ka?
ME: Hindi. Yung talent ko na gustong mag-appear sa indie, soccer player siya sa Ateneo! Kunin mo naman! (kapal muks!)

Khavn with a confused look. Can't hold back my laughter already.

ME: (in between laughter) Talent manager ako!

Hahahaha! Paano kaya ako seseryosohin nito? Pati ako natatawa! :) In fairness to me, I did get some audition dates and that's more than enough.

So yun, last Wednesday, my talent and I talked for hours on the phone. He already have his studio pics taken (all expenses paid by him, naman!) pero I just felt na hindi talaga siya seryoso kasi ilang beses na kaming nag-plan to meet up and ilang beses ko na siyang sinabihan to email me his pics and biodata, eh wala pa ring nangyayari up to that day. Worry ko lang, I'll be busy already with the new show at di ko na siya maasikaso. Tsaka siyempre kahit papano, gusto ko rin namang kahit trip-trip lang 'to, meron din kaming ginagawa.

Nag-usap kami and made it clear to ourselves na we're doing this foremost, FOR FUN.:) No pressure at all. Wag niya akong i-pressure dahil di ko nga 'to maku-consider na sideline kasi trip trip nga lang. Wag ko rin siyang i-pressure, soccer and finishing school are still his first priorities. Auditions for Endo would be the following day kaya nilubos na namin ang oras and had a line reading on the phone. (Naks, hahaha!). It would be his first audition, heck the first acting he'll do in his entire life at ayokong mapahiya. Waaah! He promised me, di ako mapapahiya. Sige na nga! :)

Finally, just hours before his first audition, nakita ko na rin ang talent ko! Hahahaha! Same pa rin naman ang itsura niya pero nag-mature ng konti. He showed me the studio pics and in fairness, photogenic siya. Kamukha niya si Tony Leung! (Bentang benta na ba?! Hahahaha!). Natuwa rin ako kasi, alam nyo yun, kaswal lang siyang manamit, parang di nag-effort. So sabi ko, aba confident! At least, alam kong di bading ang talent ko. Pag sisikat, walang closet issues. Hahahahaha! Hindi siya stereotypically gwapo pero kilala ko na siya before and masasabi kong me charisma ang bata. Ngayon, 'yung acting na lang! :)

Pumunta na kami sa audition venue tapos ayun, sinalubong kami nina Michiko at Ned. Siyempre, kapal muks na ako at manager na manager na ako. Haha! Funny thing is, kahit yung talent ko, natatawa sa pinanggagawa namin. Sobrang hindi kami yun eh. Di ko na siya sinamahan sa audition niya sa taas with Jade. Basta enough na yung confidence niya at yung acting tips na binigay ko as former assistant director in mainstream cinema. Naks naman! :)

Hanggang dito na lang muna kasi wala pa yung results sa audition. Pero overall, nag-enjoy kami pareho ng talent ko. Hahaha! We did something new for the first time and oks naman pala. Ang saya pala! Pati talent ko, text ng text pagkatapos na nag-enjoy siya! And while hindi nga niya ako napahiya based on the very positive feedback I got from Michiko, I don't wanna get my hopes high muna hangga't di pa binibigay ang results. :)

Sa ngayon, we're looking forward to our next audition. Me alam ba kayo? Hehehe. And tulad ng sinulat ko, commercial modelling and indie cinema kasi ang gustong i-try ng talent ko. I've contacts sa indie pero virgin talaga ako sa mga ad agencies. May mga mababait ba diyan na pwede akong bigyan ng contacts for tv and print commercials? Manager na manager na ba ang dating ko? May mangyayari kaya sa amin dito?

Susunod! :D

Guilty!

An embarrassing thing happened to me some weeks ago. In fact, I think it’s the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me. See, we have this kababayan who underwent heart surgery and since our small town is pretty much closed-knit (yeah, everyone knows everybody!), Darling (a childhood friend who’s also based here) and I decided to visit the kababayan to exchange some pleasantries and to show our support as well. Before going to the hospital, Darling and I talked about some news that her younger sister Honey heard when she visited our hometown for the fiesta. Honey told her that a relative of the kababayan patient died, she just doesn’t know who. Curious as to who the relative is, the first thing I asked the patient’s mother when we arrived was…

Translated in Filipino

ME: (sincerely, to patient’s mother) Ma’am condolence po. N-namatayan daw po kayo… ng relative?
PATIENT'S MOTHER: (uncomfortably) S-saan mo na-narinig –
ME: …um, narinig po namin kay Honey. Uncle daw or…
(Awkward silence)
ME: Condolence po…s-sino po yun?
(Awkward silence ulet)
PATIENT: (voice cracks) O..okay lang Nay…alam ko na po…
PATIENT’S MOTHER: (starts crying) S…sorry ‘anak…hindi ko lang kasi alam paano sasabihin sa yo…pero talagang sasabihin ko naman eh…(sobs)

Mother and patient started crying together in front of me.

I swear to God I wanted to disappear right there and then! Of course, I didn’t think the parents would hide it from the patient who just underwent heart surgery. Argh! I really felt very very guilty. They told me afterwards that it’s okay. Darling also comforted me by saying she would have asked the same question, I just asked it first. But still, argh! It’s definitely a lesson in tact. I’m so bad! :(

ETA: I still feel guilty. :(

Embarrassingly Geeky

I had some geeky moments last night during the taping of Qpids’ Heartbreak Sunday. (Sorry, no spoiler as to who got eliminated! :D). As usual I was assigned (or assigned myself, heh!) to assist the Love Council and because waiting hours are sometimes longer than the actual taping itself, I had to initiate a chit-chat with them thinking they won’t get bored waiting if I do so. I actually enjoy the chitchats. I mean, our love council are usually composed of actors who I grew up watching their TV shows and movies in the 80’s and early 90’s, so the tidbits that came out from the talks never fail to amaze me. Like when William Martinez told us how he and Maricel Soriano bickered a lot during their Luciano Carlos movie shoots or when Manilyn Reynes shared to us how she and Janno Gibbs hid their “tampuhan” to the fans when they had to sing love songs in That’s Entertainment. As a jologs showbiz fan of the 80’s, I listen to their stories with glee.

Last night, we had Gina Alajar and Lotlot de Leon as members of our Love Council. Lotlot arrived late (due to personal reasons I can’t disclose but I’m sure will come out in showbiz-oriented shows in the weeks to come) and Miss Gina and I already ran out of topic to talk about. So nervously, I told Miss Gina that I love her early movies. Conversation went something like this…

ME: Miss Gina, napanood ko yung mga pelikula nyo nung bata pa kayo!
MS. GINA: Talaga?
ME: (gushing) Oo! Yung Manila By Night! Kamukha mo si Joyce Jimenez!
MS. GINA: Talaga? Thank you!
ME: Grabe noh! Si William Martinez pala, bago naging teenstar, ganun pala ang mga roles niya!
(Ms Gina awkwardly laughs)

Of course it was only after I said that when I realized that in the movie, Gina Alajar and William Martinez had this nude sex scene in the shower where Miss Gina showed her butt and by saying my comments about her looking like Joyce Jimenez and William being not so wholesome pre-Maricel Soriano, I was being tactless! My bad! :)

My tactlessness didn’t end there. When the Love Council was already onstage, Miss Lotlot commented about the large number of fans inside the studio and without thinking again, I asked her, “Para din bang sa Lotlot and Friends?!” She laughed of course, but somewhere at the back of my mind, I remembered reading an article about Lotlot and Friends not exactly doing well in the ratings game. Argh! :)

Somebody has to tell me to keep my mouth shut during the next Heartbreak Sunday and to keep my 80’s pop culture comments to myself. :)

Answer The Phone

I've been working in the industry for 4 years already and I still find it surreal every time a star calls me on the phone. Back when I was still doing AD jobs, I made it a point just to get the phone numbers of the star's personal assistants so I wouldn't have to talk with them directly. My defense is that I wanted to project a "non-showbiz" image so that they would still look at me as some "sort of" authority. (You know some stars can really abuse the kindness of assistant directors when you're feeling close with them. I don't like that. I'm a "work is work, chika is chika" kind of person.) So when THE Aga Muhlach called me on my cell one time and asked me for his call time on the set of All My Life, I stammered in my reply and gasped after the call thinking, "Wow! I just talked to a movie ICON on the phone!" I'm jologs, I know. =)

Earlier tonight, while I was having dinner with my "network" friends, I got another call from a star. The conversation went something like this.

BEATLEBUM: Hello?
STAR: Hello, may I speak with beatlebum?
BEATLEBUM: Speaking. Sino to?
STAR: Marvin
BEATLEBUM: Sinong Marvin?
STAR: Marvin Agustin.
BEATLEBUM: (disbelieving) Marvin Agustin?
STAR: Oo. Yung artista.
BEATLEBUM: Yeah right, and I'm Rico Yan.
STAR: (laughs) Hindi nga. I got your number from Direk Joyce...

Napahiya ako. Sha nga.=) Marvin Agustin of the Marvin and Jolina fame. It turned out he's looking for writers for a TV project he's developing and Direk Joyce suggested my name. Since he was also in the ABS area, he went to where I and my friends were having dinner to talk to me personally. His TV show concept is actually good but I had to turn it down because for one, it's for a daily series (no more daily soaps for me!), two, it's a fast-track project, and three, I'm still writing for Reload. I gave him Masturmind and Byron's cell numbers, instead. I also believe those two are more suited to write the concept he has in mind than me.

Going back to Marvin, I actually got to work with him before in Dekada 70 where I was the script continuity trainee. I had a not-so-good experience with him then. I was assigned to wake him up because he'd be in the next sequence for shoot. So I gently slapped his hand for him to wake up. To my astonishment, he slapped back my hand, strongly, it hurt really bad. (But I was just doing my job! :( ) It seems like a petty thing now, but I disliked him for that.

Of course, he doesn't remember . =)

Buddy Buddy

Had fun with my high school buds today. It was the birthday of their housemate and I got invited to her dinner treat in a Chinese resto in Rockwell. Yey! :) Before that, Chegay (one of the buds) and I watched Finland's Bad Boys: A True Story in Cinemanila. I wasn’t impressed with the movie. Thought it was a bit superficial (tried to send some anti-dictatorship message but fell short) and gimmicky (for sheer entertainment value). Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie’s unique brand of inane fun. (If you've seen the music video of The Rasmus' In The Shadow, that robbery scene was taken straight from the movie.:D)

In Rockwell, was pleasantly surprised when I bumped into one of my closest childhood friends Eric. He is a “real” childhood friend like we’ve known each other since we were babies!? (He is a distant relative, we were neighbors and our families are close friends. Well, all the families in the small city where I came from are supposedly close friends.) I haven’t seen him in ages so it was really cool. We lost contact when that’s it, I studied high school in the Visayas and he studied high school in another city in Mindanao. Actually felt nostalgic in there. I mean things aren’t just the same now that we’re young adults. Same with my friendship with our other childhood friends. You know different interests and lifestyles already. The bonds we had as kids weren't also that strong. Friendship then basically equates to being playmates in neighborhood games. (Tho sometimes, one wishes friendship isn't that complicated a term).

Not like the supposed "deep" friendship we have with our high school and college buds. Chegay for example, I certainly won’t forget her for the rest of my life. She once saved my life, you know! It is a funny story. Chegay and I were both dormers and together with our other dormer classmates Jovi and Ging-ging, we were invited by a Born Again classmate to attend their evening worship service with news celebrity Mari Kaimo as speaker. (We are Catholics but our high school is Presbyterian.) Anyways, I’m not sure what exactly happened but during the service I had difficulty breathing. As in di ako makahinga. I panicked shempre and thought I could die if I just kept mum about it. So I quietly told my seatmate Jovi that I couldn’t breathe. The conversation went something like this.

BEATLEBUM: Jov, di ako makahinga.
JOVI (dead serious): Just trust in the Lord. Have faith in him and He will save you.
BEATLEBUM: Talagang di ako makahinga!
JOVI (annoyed): It’s because you don’t accept him as your personal Lord and savior. Trust in the Lord!
BEATLEBUM (naiiyak na): Di ako makahinga sabi eh.
JOVI: (DEDMA)

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have the heart to exit because we were seated in the middle and I didn’t want to disrupt Mari Kaimo’s emotional testimonial. I mean everyone was crying while listening to his speech for chrissake! I was literally gasping for air (or breathing through my mouth) during the entire service. When it finally ended, I did thank God I was still alive. The girls hurriedly walked back to their dorms after to avoid curfew. They were telling me to hurry up coz I was walking slowly obviously. I told them again that I couldn't breathe. They thought I was overacting. Jovi was still pissed off saying if only I accept Jesus Christ with all my heart and soul. Chegay and Ging-ging were not sure whether to believe me or not (or whether the situation was really that deadly for that matter) so they didn’t mind me. I felt so helpless and couldn’t take it anymore. I stopped walking and began wailing like a baby.

BEATLEBUM: PUTANGINA, DI NGA AKO MAKAHINGA EH!

Okay, there was no cursing but something like that.:) To make the long story short, they rushed me to the ER of the university hospital. I was crying. Felt I would die. Panicked more when the doctors inserted an oxygen tube in my nose. I mean, come on, that was my first time and in the movies, only people who are dying used that to aid them in breathing! But it did help me breathe. And I got addicted with the oxygen to the point where I fought with the doctors when they decided to remove the tube later.

Last I heard, Jovi is already a “Sabadista.”

Hearty Laughter

Thanks Pink for bringing back laughter to my face! :) This is so Joey Reyes movie. I love it!

Some Kinda Funny

Sorry, it's been quite awhile since I last updated my blog. I've been quite hectic tho penniless these days. I had to rush some work for my DVD "raket" or else I'll be a beggar next week. I am not exaggerating. For the first time in three years, I withdrew all the money in my two ATM accounts and nothing's left in them. Nothing! Right now, all I could wish for is another soap writing offer. I'll just eat my pride for money. Hehehe :) But I don't wanna depress you (it's enough that I am).

So what am I going to tell you ba? Uhm, okay I'll just tell you about what happened last Thursday. As you know, I'm going back to school right? Last Thursday was the first day of my lone class for the semester. As always, I woke up late (what's new?) so I had to run (literally) to catch the Ikot jeepney. Good thing I live inside the campus and I study in UP where you can wear a pajama in school for all they care (not that I wore one). I was actually both nervous and excited. Nervous in a way that I'll be studying in a Film institute and I'm aware that the academe can be elitist sometimes. Excited also on the prospect of studying Film, something I'd like to think I'm passionate about. Anyway, to my relief, the class hasn't started yet when I arrived. I forgot the tradition that teachers always come late during first day of school. I looked around and found an empty seat and since I didn't know anybody, I just kept quiet and observed. My classmates surely looked young (17-18 years old is the average age) but I blended well. I donned my best 17 year old impersonation by wearing an AM Blvd shirt, my signature Chucks and my childlike attitude (Hahahaha! :) Feeling!). I'm an observant person so I noticed right away a group of giggling females who all decided they'll wear pink for the day (how juvenile!:). The leader of the clique was telling her friends about how she and her boyfriend couldn't relate with each other because the boyfriend apparently doesn't appreciate Britney Spears. Heh! (I relate with the boyfriend.) The other studes meanwhile have the filmmaker-wannabe 'tude. Geeky and snobbish.

Then Ma'am Gigi Alfonso arrived and we all kept quiet. I should have known my being almost late was a bad foreshadowing when Ma'am Gigi's first question to the class was "Has anyone of you seen My First Romance?" Oh. my. God! :) I tried to be nonchalant about it and was one of the three who raised hands. The others were giving the "Of course not!" facial expression. Ma'am Gigi then asked, "What can you say about the movie?" The other guy who saw it (a Statistics major) said something like it's kilig but it's like a very long commercial, and there were loopholes in the story. (He didn't use the word loophole, of course.) The other girl (member of the Pink clique) was bitchy. She said she really had no plans of watching the movie. She was just dragged by her cousin (yeah right!:) ) and she didn't like it, period. I have no idea why Ma'am Gigi didn't proceed to ask me coz she then told the class, "But it was Rated B so there must be something good with it. You know what Rated B means?" They didn't know. What can you expect? After Ma'am Gigi's explanation, the bitchy girl then added a good thing or two about the movie. I was really trying my darndest not to laugh. Then, Ma'am Gigi asked the whole class to intro ourselves. Man, I feel so old! Almost all of them are in their first year. When my turn came, I just said I'm a returning student. I thought I was free but Ma'am Gigi asked me what it means. So I had no choice but to say I'm a Masters student. (And I swear I heard one of the pink girls saying "Ah. Matanda na pala siya!") I just smiled thinking that if I had not said it, they wouldn't have noticed. My impression worked! :)

I thought that was already the end but Ma'am Gigi then told the class that since Film 100 is about film literacy, she would require us to watch many movies, even the Shoemart (read: mainstream) films. She then asked us to name the last Filipino movie we saw and what we can say about it. What the fuck! :) (Sorry for cursing, kids!) The class in general was bitchy about Pinoy movies. If I had taken this class 7 years earlier, I would have been one of the them but I know better now. One comment plainly disgusted me. A FILM MAJOR said that she has not seen ANY Filipino movies. I was ready to clap when Ma'am Gigi sarcastically asked her "And you call yourself a Film student?", but I controlled myself. Of course, the student didn't hint any sarcasm in Ma'am Gigi's voice.:)

Then my turn came. The class already knowing that I'm a Master's student focused their attention on me. With poise and calmness, I said, "The last Filipino movies I saw were Liberated and My First Romance. With My First Romance, I had no choice coz I co-wrote the movie..." INSERT PSYCHO THEME HERE. Silence. I tried so hard not to laugh but I couldn't. Nervous laughter followed. Ma'am Gigi laughed and said, "See! That's the reason why we should be careful about we say!" After I assured them that everything's okay, I continued with my comments on Liberated ("...inconsistent and uneven although there's an attempt to be artsy fartsy.") The Statistics guy blushingly apologized to me (even guiltily followed me after the class) although I told him that I agree with his comments. The Pink girl did not look at me in the eye for the rest of the class. LOL!:D

Ma'am Gigi proceeded to lecture us that just because most Filipino movies are mainstream fare it doesn't mean that we should not appreciate them. The masses obviously love these movies so there must be something in them that say something about ourselves and our culture. Besides, just because it's a Western film, it doesn't mean it's a good film. For every 10 art movies that they come up with, there are also 100 crap movies that come along. This holds true to any film industry in the world. I agree.

I had fun, by the way.