Please watch "100", the 2nd BEST PICTURE of 2008

Siyempre kasi ang 1st best pic ay DAYO.

Seriously, "100" is one of the best pinoy movies of the year.

It's funny, touching, insightful, and beautiful with a cackling screenplay by Chris Martinez ("Caregiver", "Bridal Shower") and wonderful performances from Mylene Dizon, my friend Eugene Domingo (my friend talaga hahaha) and Tessie Tomas.

It won the Audience Award at the Pusan International Film Festival in Korea and was also shown in Marrakech.

Here's the full trailer.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=36113969513&ref=nf

Nahihilo ka na siguro

Kagabi ka pa kasi umiikot sa utak ko

B'Day Boi

1. I’m bisaya. Was born in Cebu. But I’m a Manila boy. Moved here when I was 2 years old and have been to Cebu only once, 7 years ago. It was the longest 3 days of my life.
2. I think Gary Larson is a god.
3. I’m a strict non-smoking, non-drinking non-vegetarian.
4. I believe that goodness is its own reward.
5. I can can never get tired of watching the following films: Children of Heaven, The Road Home, Sense & Sensibility, Amadeus, Finding Nemo
6. I’m a relationship virgin and I'm currently accepting applicants for devirginizer.
7. A friend of mine once quipped how I’m always paiba. I totally agree.
8. I’ve been blonde (all shades), brunette, red-, green- and blue-haired.
9. I say, we die only once. Let’s make our death count.
10. I want a closed casket when I die. I don’t want anybody to have an image of me as a corpse! And I want to be cremated and my ashes thrown into the waters of Boracay. And I want it done cinematically, against the sunset, with Cholo Laurel directing.

LEA SALONGA sings DAYO theme song

http://www.inquirer.net/vdo/player.php?vid=1921

Judge Eric

A few weeks ago I sat as one of the judges in the finals of the Talecraft Storywriting contest in Powerbooks Greenbelt. It was a first for me and I was so honored to have been in the jury alongside two publishers, Dean Alfar of Philippine Speculative Fiction and Kenneth Yu of Digest of Philippine Genre Stories. I felt unworthy, really, having only DAYO as my credit. 

Anyway. To the uninitiated, Talecraft is a story creation card game. Its aim is to help writers generate ideas for stories. A player  must create a story from the cards he randomly picks from the stack. There are three sets of cards -- Genre (romance, historical, suspense, etc), Archetype (tomboy, hero, villain, etc), and Key (keywords or plot points). Once he has all three cards, he is free to use his imagination (he is, in fact, left only to his imagination) to create any story with those givens.

Talecraft is genius. Writers, regardless of the format or medium they're working on (film, print, etc) would do well to keep it handy. After all, one of its main aims is to help combat mental block.

There were 9 semi-finalists and they were all fantastic. Sa totoo lang, nanliit ako sa galing nila magsulat. From the nine we chose 5 to advance to the final round in which each finalist was asked to pick a new set of cards. They were then given only 5 minutes to create a new story on the spot based on their cards. 

All three of us in the jury were unanimous in our picks for the 1st Place winner. It's a short, elegant tale about Joan of Arc (cards: Genre -- historical; Archetype -- tomboy; Keyword -- mirror) from 15-year old Jose Renato Evangelista.

Here's the first part of Jose's fantastic semi-final entry entitled "A Day at the Park". To read the rest of the story and the 4 other Top 5 tales, and to know more about Talecraft, please visit http://talecraft.komikasi.com

A Day at the Park


Jose Renato Evangelista (1st Place)

Miranda doesn’t understand what has just occurred. She stands there dumbfounded, cradling a bundle of cloth in her arms. She takes a breath and tries to put her thoughts into order.

It was a beautiful day. Not to be cliché, but the sun was shining and the birds were singing and everything in the world seemed like it was in its right place. So Miranda went to the park, as one does on a beautiful day like this.

She skipped merrily to the park’s center, where a charming stone fountain had been erected so that people may enjoy beautiful days while sitting down on a bench and take pleasure in the tranquil sound of flowing water. There was but one person there to sitting at the fountain that day, however: a tired-looking woman, gently rocking an infant in her arms.

“OHMIGODITSSOCUTECANIHOLDHIMPRETTYPLEASE?” Miranda, loud and giggly, exclaimed to the woman.

“Go right ahead.” Replied the woman; a glint of something in her eyes.

“What’s his na—” As Miranda looked up to meet the Mother’s face, she realized with gripping horror that the woman was already halfway to the exit, and with baby in hand Miranda wouldn’t be able to catch her.

“HE’S YOUR PROBLEM NOW! SO LONG SUCKER!” The Mother cackled maniacally and gave a little jump, all while managing to sprint her way to freedom.

Open Days

Yesterday at noon I stood at the street corner where I last saw you standing, love. The midday sun breathed furiously above me, sending waves of heat to my head like a steamer in a spa working full gear with a broken timer. I stood there open and still the world would not yield me.

The last time I saw you standing, we had not seen nor spoken to one another since you and I decided, urgently as a rainbow, and as genially, to take time off from each other. It seemed, we both agreed, that our feet were no longer on the same orbit and we thought it best to seek and recover our runaway fire on our own. We had to take our leave, simple as that, like snow. And we did.

It was a quarter past the minute when the hands of the clock converged and gazed full tilt at the sun like a compass in perfect agreement with the north. Between your corner of the street and mine was a gentle stream of people flowing from both directions. They were there, just there, like clouds or paper ships, shapes merely, neither bridging nor lengthening the distance between us. I wanted to rush toward you like an eagle on the hunt but my legs declined to be an accomplice to my criminal mind. 

I just stood there for half a minute, and then another minute and then another, taking it all in. I stood there beholding all of you – your radiance, urgent and impenetrable, your implacable stillness, your improbability, and your immense silence, made more immense by the din of the busy car-strewn street around you, and by the countries of yearning and uncertainty that swirled around me. 

I stood in my corner of the street trying to unsheathe your silence and you stood in yours embracing it; the story of us playing out even when you and I were adrift in different continents.

Da Palaboys

We recently shot "The Making of DAYO". Which could be the most truthful title ever as we are still in the process of making the movie as of this writing. Anyway. 

The day-long shoot (stress on "long") began at 7 a.m. with the video shoot for "Kapit", a song I wrote for the movie that mark's the recording debut of Moymoy Palaboy. 

Yes folks, the YouTube sensations are now certified recording artists! So from now on hindi lang mga kanta ng ibang tao ang ili-lipsynch nila.

The song is a midtempo inspirational ditty about friendship that the brothers sing with such conviction and (surprise!) impressive vocals. You'd be surprised at how record-ready their voices are! 

Moymoy and Roadfill are in the movie too, voicing several makukulit na creatures in the mythical land of Elementalia where much of the story takes place. "Abangan niyo kami!" Moymoy says in the taped interview for the TV special. "Try n'yo na lang hulaan. Kung hindi n'yo mahulaan, basahin n'yo na lang sa credits ang mga pangalan namin," Roadfill notes, laughing.

Oh and by the way, I make a cameo appearance in the mtv -- my first! Abangan!!!

Da Wander Boy and Da Manananggirl

Just like the movie, "The Making of DAYO" is steered by Nash Aguas and Hopia Legaspi who play the lead characters of Bubuy, "da clueless 11-year old wander boy", and Anna, "da 13-year old vegetarian manananggirl". The two child stars already have the chemistry thing down pat, having previously worked with each other in Goin' Bulilit and in DAYO for which they recorded their lines together late last year. So when it was time for Nash and Hopia to shoot their portion of the show (they serve as hosts or veejays), it was as easy and breezy as A-B-C (or D-A-Y-O). 

Da Crying Lady

Noel Trinidad and Nova Villa were also a fun pair to shoot. The comedy royalties play Lolo Meong and Lola Nita in DAYO, Bubuy's adoptive grandparents whose abduction into Elementalia by some creatures sets off the movie's action. They too have a light, unforced chemistry together. Interestingly, this was the first time that the two of them have played a couple. And they recorded their parts individually. You wouldn't know it though from the perfect vocal work they turned in for the movie. 

During the interview, Tita Nova recounted her most memorable scene from DAYO. It happens towards the end of the movie and it's so emotional that she got choked up and started tearing up inside the recording booth and was unable to deliver her lines properly! "Ako na yun na artista ha, naiyak," she noted. "I'm sure lalo na yung mga manonood. Very Pinoy kasi ang pelikulang ito."

Da Yayananggal

The mood definitely got even cheerier around dinnertime when Pokwang emerged from the dressing room for her turn in front of the cameras. She'd been up since very early that day and was quite tired but you wouldn't know it from her still-potent energy level under the spotlight. She was definitely on, toying with some of the crew. She was especially "crazy" during the pictorial session, going from glamorous to dramatic to sexy to monstrous (she does play the role of Anna's yayananggal in the movie) and everything in between. And when the staff and crew took turns having their photos taken with her, Pokwang mimicked a different movie poster with each new partner! This is us as Maricel and Aga in "A Love Story".

The perks of being a taong-simbahan

Nakaka-libre ka ng pamasahe. Sa tricyle, sa jeep, sa fx. Tulad na lang kaninang umaga. Di tinanggap ng driver yung pamasaheng inabot ko. "Taga simbahan ka di ba?" nakangiting tanong niya. Tumango ako. "Thank you!" sabi ko. Tapos bigla ako na-conscious. Na-weirduhan siguro yung ibang mga pasahero. "Itong blue ang buhok na 'to, taga-simbahan?!" nagtataka siguro nilang tanong sa isip nila. Gusto kong sabihin na matagal na akong hindi active. Kaya nga nakapagpakulay na ng blue. Bago ako bumaba nag-thank you ulit ako sa driver, na hindi ko talaga mamukhaan. Pero di naman yun ang mahalaga. Ang importante namukhaan niya ako kaya naka-libre ng pamasahe bwahahahaha