WALANG HIMALA! *BANG!*

I had my first taste of directing a shot (yep. just one) last Friday. It did not turn out as smoothly as I wanted it to be and I was really terrified half of the time. The shot did turn out quite good though and I would have to credit all the other people, who were crewing for me, and direk for pulling it off. Thanks people!
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Mr. Miong. Pensive as ever.

This may seem like a mirror image of Ning's blog, but for the benefit of those who don't visit her blog, please try to catch the numerous independent films from the recently held Cinemalaya Film Festival at the UP Film Center. These films should dispell the notion that Philippine cinema is dead.

I was able to catch "Big Time" and "Pepot Artista" yesterday. My sensibilities were more attuned to "Big Time", but "Pepot Artista" strangely made me feel nostalgic (especially with all the Guy and Pip dance sequences).

Anyway, here are the screening schedules:

July 21 Thursday

5:00 PM Ang Pagdadalaga ni
Maximo Oliveros (by Michiko Yamamoto, Raymond Lee, and Auraeus Solito)
"Jury Price"

7:30 PM Sarong Banggi (by Emmanuel Dela Cruz)


July 22 Friday

7:30 PM Lasponggols (by Sigfried Sanchez)


July 23 Saturday

5:00 PM The Six Cinemalaya
Shorts:

Alimuom (by Rommel Tolentino)

Babae (by Sigrid Andrea Bernardo)
"Best Director"

Blood Bank (by Pam Miras)
"Best Screenplay"

Kultado (by Lawrence Fajardo)
"Jury Price"

Mansyon (by Joel Ruiz)
"Best Short Film"

Panag-inipan (by Anna Isabelle Matutina)

7:30 PM The Cinemalaya Best Picture Winner "Pepot Artista"


Enjoy!

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By the way, Manong has a new blog. Hope you enjoy his artworks and relevant social commentaries ;)

MY LITTLE CONTRIBUTION TO GAIMANIA

I know every other blog may have some mention about Neil Gaiman's visit to Manila but that particular event (at the Rockwell Tent) trully left an impression on me that I will never forget and always hold dear. I just feel so compelled to write a little entry about it and wear it as a badge of honor stating "YES! I WAS THERE TO SEE NEIL!"

Neil Gaiman was just GREAT! I also loved the vibe and the enthusiasm which the other fans at the event imbued into each other.

Anyway, to end my short Gaiman entry, here is something from the man himself (this was taken from his blog):

So what I was trying to get across was that in terms of enthusiasm and sheer volume, the Filipinos pulled into the number one spot, forcing Brazil (which previously occupied the World's Most Enthusiastic Country spot in my head) to number two. It's perfectly possible that the next time I go back to Brazil it will reclaim its title.

..or maybe not. We'll show those Brazilians!
(No offense meant! Peace and love to all the Brazilian Gaiman fans out there!)


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Rubber Johnny



I originally saw the preview of this Chris Cunningham video on his director's reel dvd (the one from Palm Pictures). It scared the bejeezus out of me and it felt like someone stuck an IV drip of coffee into my head. Mikey did show me a link where you can watch the full video.

You can watch "Rubber Johnny" here.

It is not for the faint of heart for it contains a lot of disturbing images. The video is set to the music of another artist I admire, Richard D. James a.k.a Aphex Twin. I hope you enjoy it! MWAHAHAHAHA!

I couldn't believe it when Manong told me that the pint-sized action star, Weng Weng, had a cult following in the net. I can remember imitating his karate moves everytime the trailer of "For Your Height Only" came up on TV.

Here is a clip from the said movie. Enjoy!