i had my reservations when i heard gerard butler's voice in the trailer, he isnt musical theater material in the first place. i read he had a rock band background, but his voice, well, it seemed he was talking through his lines and you could only go so far as to doing this technique. and since some notes would need to be sustained for 4 bits or 16 bits, his droning becomes disturbing more than his character. benjamin padero wrote a review on phantom of the opera and lambasted the film even if he watched it twice already and have purchased a bootleg copy of the film version.
thankfully he was an actor enough to express all angst the phantom felt on the day they did not do all that the phantom asked of them. but what mainly got my goat with this film is schumacher. joel f*****' schumacher. he is the curse of the phantom. no doubt about the set, which was fabulous, and the music of webber, a classic, the phantom of the opera was a ready hit for greatness on film. and then a director like schumacher comes in.
there are ways of course, on how to handle such a material and still make a killing at the mainstream movie box office. get good looking actors. schumacher got butler, who we saw as lara croft's tomb raider boyfriend in the cradle of life and in crichton's timeline. it however turned unfortunate that butler is too handsome to be terrifying or too young to be the phantom, i think. he lacked seniority and this particular dominating presence to overpower christine daae with his greatness at master class. on scenes when you should be enraptured not by all this mystery about the phantom but also the power of his singing performance, the actor doesnt soar. he however looks pathetic and comes out as some insane opera ghost, a fool roaming around the halls. and i dont blame butler for this, he was miscast.
march 10, 2005
more on motorcycle diaries
pictures of a picturesque journey
more images from my trip through mindanao last year between september to november. during that time i was able to visit san francisco, agusan del sur; surigao and siargao island, butuan city, davao city, general santos, marbel and surallah in south cotabato; lake sebu, south cotabato; zamboanga city and of course my home base cagayan de oro city.
high school girl in full costume
street dance competition, zamboanga city
yet again i was lucky to have been
in zamboanga during their city fiesta (more popularly called fiesta
pilar). that day i gemini and i met up with viejay, who brought with
her an old friend, who is a photojournalist from the philippine star.
he was cool about me tagging along while he takes pictures during the
festivities. so come celebration, i was on the road too, snapping away
and recording the street dance competition on video. had a blast, ive
never gotten that close to taking photographs of strangers. quite an
experience. the music from the drum and bugle corps still ring in my
chest cavity :-)
police barricade during the parade
zamboanga city
everybody that day were in high
spirits and the crowd were clamoring for pictures as well. here's one
unguarded moment from the men on guard hehehe
yakan weaver
yakan village, zamboanga city
on my last day in zamboanga, the
boat i was to take to general santos was delayed for hours (apparently
somebody fell overboard in mid-sea, exciting, no?). so girlie saavedra
and roland, my companion in the bookid, toured me around the city (on
a tricycle--a three-wheeled motorcycle) for the last time. one of our
stops was in the yakan village. i was able to buy a few souvenirs, including
a bag whose weaver i met that day. this old lady was his grandmother
i believe.
marker of the ancestral domain in lake sebu
this you pass by when you go up the lake sebu. it marks
the beginning of the area that is comprised of the CADC 003 and CADC
004, which were awarded to the t'boli and ubo tribes. despite the recognition,
tenurial security remains a dream as issues and old skeletons continue
to haunt these people. some of the their lands were forcibly taken from
them. since the tribes people have no concept of securing land titles
and canned goods, they have been deceived of friendship in exchange
of land areas. migrants have populated most of the areas near the lake
and the tribes people have evidently been pushed up the mountain. environmental
concerns include the progressive encroachment into the watershed areas.
moreover, concerns of the tribes not only include education on modern
methods in land management but might need an overhaul of cultural traits
and customs as well. if they lose that, then they wouldnt be so different
from ourselves.
grilled tilapia from the waters of lake sebu
during the fiesta in lake sebu, the city government organized
a tilapia eat-all-you-can festival. tickets were sold at p100 and mygas,
the tilapia! grilled, fried, boiled, stewed, drowned, you name it! it
was the first time they did that and it's something to look forward
to every year.
maria todi wanan
here is another amazing t'boli woman. before i left for lake sebu, somebody told me to look for maria wanan, saying she was a world-reknowned t'boli performer. then i met the woman and yes, she was wonderful. she founded a school for upholding customs and traditions of their culture, she's been around the world leading a group of t'boli dancers and performers, and she was the one who brought me and a german musicologist to meet y'egas and her brother, m'afil. very intelligent, very interesting woman this maria wanan is.
gemini in siargao
picture of gemini fernandez in cloud nine, siargao island. to get around siargao, one still has to rent out a habal-habal (motorcycle). either that or you go around swimming. cloud nine is where you would find the biggest waves for surfing. and since we didnt know how to, we ended up just looking and taking pictures. siargao is a wonderful place, luv it!
general luna
siargao island, surigao
gemini and i decided to take a short sidetrip to surigao
from agusan en route to cagayan. it was an impromptu decision really.
we arrived in surigao late in the evening and had to check in a lodging
house prior to taking the first boat out to siargao the next day. we
were also supposed to have stayed half a day only but the place was
so inviting it was a shame to have traveled so many miles and not enjoy
it. so we ended up renting a cottage and taking a few motorcycle trips
around the place, swim in the blue waters and be in wonderful company
and beer in the evening. and yes, they have internet on the island hehehe
cheers!
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march 8, 2005
cruising down the freeway in the hot hot sun
a journey through latin america on a bike
watching walter salles' the motorcycle diaries, i couldnt help but be reminded of my travels through mindanao between september to november of last year. and although my two-month something trip pales in comparison to che gueverra's 8-month eye-opening medical mission, i also had my fair share of eccentric characters, majestic landscapes, life-changing moments and dusty roads on habal-habal.
yes, my very own motorcycle diaries. read all about it.
the cinematography of salles' film is great, the film explores beautiful stretches of latin land, picturesque views of the countryside and a grim but real image of poverty, suffering, hope and yearning for a better world and a better life. the music is underscored beautifully. gael works wonders with his performance. one would think he was too handsome for his own good, but gael knows how to handle that and it never becomes a hindrance. i would love to see this film again, reminisce of my own past journeys, and dream of more travel through this country. a tourist in your own country i may no longer be.
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my motorcycle diaries
i was inspired by the film to share a few more pictures of my trip down south. i would definitely recommend going around the country. you will realize there is indeed so much beauty here than you could possibly imagine, and so much love and spirit among its inhabitants.
manong bering at his house on km14
la paz zamboanga
mang bering has lived on the la
paz mountain all his life. he boasts he knows every inch of the mountain
and can even trek through it at night without a torchlight. whenever
he'd take us out through the woods he'd normally make it difficult for
us by not using the footpaths. luckily my companion roland and i were
up to it. in the evenings we'd huddle near the hearth in the kitchen
and tell tall tales of giant beasts and kapres who protect mang bering
and his family while swigging straight tanduay. he'd laugh his heart
out and talk to me in a mix of chavacano and ilonggo, and id confirm
his statements with bisaya.
the trip up to la paz would take an hour and a half on habal-habal (a
motorcycle) from the foot of the mountain all the way up 14 kilometers
(hence the name of the station kilometer 14 hehehe how convenient, eh?)
the road of course starts off cemented until you pass the 3rd kilometer
then all hell breaks loose. to get to the watershed border of the la
paz (this area is a buffer zone to the watershed) you have to continue
up km26 still on habal-habal. the day we went up were escorted with
armed men on convoy. i thought that was rather cool. didnt get a picture
though, but i got it all on video.
lake sebu, late afternoon
lake sebu is a municipality in
south cotabato, featuring three natural, freshwater (of course) mountain
lakes, the biggest being lake sebu. to get to the center of the town
we had to travel on motorcycle (habal-habal, the faster alternative
to jeepneys) for about an hour from surallah (three hours ata from general
santos). most people in this area go around in motorcycles, same as
with la paz in zamboanga. it's the most convenient and cost-effective
mode of transportation. deadma, your lamborghini cant do shit on the
mountain pare.
this shot was taken from the resort where i stayed for two weeks (on
and off). the lake is majestic but the people who live in this ancestral
domain is more worthy of attention. their plight to security and livelihood
may be paralleled to many like them all over the country but nevertheless
as important. talking to a lot of their leaders has opened my eyes to
injustices in the world over.
robert, nelson and a kid guide
watershed falls at lake sebu
south cotabato
to get to this waterfalls at the
tip of the lake sebu mountain in south cotabato, we had to walk through
the rainforest. it took roughly around an hour to two hours depending
on how fast you can crawl through mud and rock, under canopies of giant
ferns and shrubs. if you were lucky enough you would avoid picking up
leeches and other bloodsuckers.
the scene in this place is breathtaking, and yes, i almost died here.
i slid down the rocky wall that i climbed up on (in my underwear, yeah
we took a bath). it was only more than a meter but the experience was
something else, my life indeed flashed before my eyes! what stopped
me from going all the way down the length of the mountain was my (thankfully)
rather long chin.
my companions on motorcycle through the rainforests and ricefields in
lake sebu were robert and nelson. nelson is from agusan and is a forestry
graduate. robert is from the area and is half-muslim, half-t'boli. despite
his mixed heritage, i often told him he'd be the future of his people,
having been enlightened by every thing good and bad about their culture.
i hope he'll indeed take his place in the world.
mother from the ubo tribe nursing her child
we visited the house of an ubo
datu and almost never came out alive! we were asked to wait near the
house and because my friend didnt stop me from my actions, i went ahead
taking pictures of the house and the residents. we were able to talk
to the lady of the house and one of her daughters. suddenly this rag
near me (suspended from the ceiling) started to shake. then water began
streaming out from under the rag. what i originally thought was a bag
of clothes turned out to be a baby cradle! the mother was amused that
i was caught unaware. later she began nursing him and i silently took
a picture before turning my attention to the grandmother who began chewing
betel nuts.
perya at the poblacion during the week-long fiesta in lake sebu
i was lucky to have visited lake
sebu during the height of its municipal festival. in the evenings the
poblacion (sentro) was in full swing with kiddie rides, videoke booths,
and gambling tables. we'd normally take a stroll, eat at the carinderia
that serves a healthy serving of grilled chicken and swap stories of
personal histories, philosophies and theories on life and development
of the native race over red horse. will the drinking never end? :-)
y'egas, extraordinary t'boli artist
had a grand time listening to y'egas
sing! the t'bolis normally tell tales and histories through song and
i had the opportunity to hear y'egas recount the death of their datu
chieftain, speak of the beauty of lake sebu, and detail a local epic
by singing. and yes, she sang in her native tongue so i didnt understand
a thing. but man, her eyes, they will render you helpless and mesmerized.
she has cast her spell on you and you cant resist but do her every bidding.
y'egas (& the t'boli tribe) amused at seeing herself on video
here is an interesting scene of
the tribes people up close with technology. although they are not ignorant
to the sight of tourists with their cameras, it's a different experience
altogether when they get to hold it and see themselves on the camera.
and here, y'egas was watching and listening to herself. everybody were
highly amused.
picture taken during one of those
foggy mornings in la paz zamboanga. me with my walking stick, my videocam,
and a raincoat ready for a drizzle or a trip through the rainforest.
cheers!******************************
march 7, 2005
stereotyped!
"what the...?"
this isnt the first time it happened. one incident i was riding a taxi from katips to mandaluyong. the young taxi driver then began to strike up a conversation. apparently he was learned and well-read (if you consider "the da vinci code" as serious reading). ewan, tamad mag-aral, he said he could have been one of the office people. now he just drives office people to their office.
then he asks me stuff about drawing. he assumes i was an artist designer, he goes on asking me about the stuff i do. i ask him, na-oobvious bang "artist" ako? he said, yes (as clear as day). although i laughed off his assumption (considering it's true) i wasnt all too jolly about the stereotype.
recently one of the prod staffs at a shoot we did during the weekend asks me if i were "indeed" from the up fine arts ("taga up fine arts ka, diba?"). i said yes. he tells me he knew a lot of people there. later i ask him how'd he know i was from up, being curious as to who perhaps could be a mutual friend or if we've met before in the campus. he then tells me i look like somebody from there.
ano ba?!
ive nothing against goatees (esp unruly ones). nothing against my bald head (ive been shaving off my hair since the summer of 1993, a few months earlier before richard gomez came out and sported the same style-- and then everybody went skinhead). nothing against weird clothing, silver rings, bracelets or black tshirts. but come on, ive fallen into a type.
despite my appearance, i could also be a musician, or one of those bohemian junkee types. but ive gotten myself into a visual trap. i dont really mean to look like some artiste, it's comes with the environment and the background (and maybe even the vibes we emit, or the color of our auras). i feel like some pathetic wannabe, desperate for confirmation and attention. im no f*****' mascot!
maybe i should grow some hair and wear a coat and tie. or not.
now i know how jollibee feels. without effort, everybody knows he's the jolly bug because of that cool, orange blazer he wears.
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march 2, 2005
googling with glee:
"have you ever googled yourself?"
last sunday we quasi-celebrated jeh's birthday dinner at congo grill. she was born on a leap year and thus doesnt have a real birthday every four years. it is a running joke on those born like her as to when theyd celebrate their birthdays every year.
company found lorybeth astarte jeh her friend francine (did i get that right?) ronnie and atty lyman manzano (the last name, for purposes of googling). we arrived late at timog and i missed most of the sinigang (paubos na when we got there) and im a sucker for sinigang.
after dinner we killed time at seattle's best because it had wifi. thus the googling ang giggling. really, have you ever googled yourself? masturbation at its best, or worse depends on the outcum. you should try it, you might enjoy yourself ;-)
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the aviator: flying friendlier skies
the wave of the future
watched aviator last monday when my boss dante and i found ourselves with time to waste in between meetings in makati. i was surprised by the film because i didnt really think id like it, but i did. leonardo's performance was really good here, i never really liked him and although people have lauded his talent since he was a kid, i never was bowled over. in the aviator i felt he just upped himself and entered jack nicholson's level of intensity. you cant get away with the boyish body that he possesses but his performance was engaging. at one point i even saw him get into tom cruise territory (tom in born on the fourth of july) --although i also dont really like tom cruise. actually he's better than tom probably hehehe the only time i liked tom cruise were in born on the fourth of july and last samurai. ok you can add top gun to the list (we grew up watching that flick).
titanic was alright, though it was more kate winslet's film (who, btw, didnt win for eternal sunshine, which is a bummer, my bet was on her on account that it was my favorite film). i liked leo better in baz lhurmann's romeo and juliet, mainly because he was more fitting as the other half of two young star-crossed lovers there. but in aviator he surprisingly fitted howard hughes' bearded look and age.
cate blanchett was a real thrill in the film. she was wonderful as katherine hepburn, her characer had the tendency to just be a copy of somebody famous except that cate filled her up with this feeling, breathing character who loved hughes despite everything else. i loved that scene at the door when hughes tells her he cant come out because he havent shaved. she retorts, "so have i." and all throughout the scene we see all this history and pain and graciousness between these two ex-lovers. asteg talaga the film (spoken like a true cono hehehe).
scorsese could have won oscar for this film but maybe he'll only get a lifetime achievement award (hopefully not posthumously). anyhu, there are still ray and constantine that i have to watch before they find themselves out of the theater. if i had the resources i could have just watched them on pirated dvds but my player's conked out. that leaves me no choice but to dish out for greenbelt glorietta and galleria.
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here are pics i took of myself using a holga 120, a gift from cuzin tootsie. im still on experimenting the medium format camera, and so far ive used only 35mm daylight film. my self portrait. a lot of people told me i look like my brother-in-law in the last pic, others asked when this was taken (last december) because i looked fat daw, and most ran away screaming (scary daw hehehe). still some liked the bulletin board background of my sister (with the justice league stuff) more than my bald head. sabi nga ni ricky davao sa "bayaning third world," kanya-kanyang rizal.
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warning, egs, oscar spoilers:
i was very happy when i learned eternal sunshine of the spotless mind won best screenplay, it was my bet to win, along with jm (epikunwari) and tootsie's (bohomo). andrei (manofmars) texted me the news while i was watching aviator. he then updated me on the news as to who won what. the incredibles was also my bet for animated film and im glad that won. shrek the first film was a much funnier one than its sequel. it wasnt nearly as good as when disney came out with toy story 2 (which was as funny as the first).
tutay how did we fare on this year's bets? we werent even able to decide on what we are betting on hehehe perhaps next year ulit
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february 25, 2004
the punjab lasso:
keeping your hands at the level of your eyes
i reread the libretto today and it explained why we keep our hands at the level of our eyes. thus reads:
GIRY: But remember: your hand at the level of your eyes!
RAOUL: but (hu-)why...?
GIRY: Why? The Punjab lasso, monsieur. First Buquet. Now Piangi.
MEG (holding up her hand): Like this, monsieur. I'll come with you.
GIRY: No, Meg! No, you stay here!
(to Raoul): Come with me, monsieur. Hurry, or we shall be too late...
this part of the song wasnt included in the film thus a lot were confused, myself included, with the significance of the action. of course Buquet was talking about the magic lasso in the middle of the first act but that didnt explain much. in the stage version the lasso would magically suspend itself in mid-air (that's how it caught raoul in the underground lair).
enough talk about lassos and opera ghosts.
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today's a day off thank God. it gave me the opportunity to do the rest of my laundry, which consists mostly of sheets and towels. now i can change my bedspreads and sleep on freshly washed cotton sheets. the beauty of washing machines and spin dryers. i bet you havent thanked God they were invented :-) it's about time you do.
over, sideways, and under on a magic carpet ride:
a journey through the heartlands of vineyard california
watched sideways last monday with drei (manofmars) and diane (poink123). the movie was very simple but very real. it helped that the production was independently produced (partly by fox searchlight) and directed by alexander payne, whose previous work on election, also portrayed rural america. in the film we find two friends on a wine tour through sunny california. along the way they encounter great wine, great sex, and a few cheeses in between. life and relationships were likened to wine which ages greatly in oak barrels, it's consistency getting darker and clarity heightens every year. of course wine peaks and begins its descent to decay. yet its value rises and should be more cherished. people going through midlife crises find themselves on a similar path with the aging of wine, every moment cherished and life changing, chances taken and are explored, enjoyed, and lived. some things cant be taken for granted like binding friendship and marriage, new friends and old ones, red wine, chardonnay and pinoit. asteg the film, try to catch it while you can.
me wished we had more time to enjoy the night but i got a text that the ayala area was on alert due to bombing threats. of course i wouldnt want to argue with chances so it was bye bye early to both diane and drei.
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here's a picture of me taken last
thursday (feb 18) while on a break during a shoot at our garden studio in
mandaluyong. the wall behind me was built, which i supervised, for the shoot.
it was a replica of a real wall found in korea, and this was made out of
plywood, styrofoam, and painted in cement. eto trabaho ko. astig. that's rajie at the far end and another carpenter, working on a signage props for this shoot. he's the head setman/ artist of my boss (dante mendoza). he's muslim and that has brought a particular connection of understanding between us, natives from native mindanao. originally my boss thought i was muslim also, seeing that rajie and i spoke the same language at times and we seem to understand each other clearly. that and the fact that i sport a billy goat's goatee and a tubao or an arabian's headgear (yung red!). he's also deaf in one ear and we have to either talk out loud in front of him or speak clearly in his good ear.
we took photographs of korean talents in winter clothes, running through fake snow (styrofoam and rock salt). it was very hot that afternoon and the koreans werent exactly enjoying having to act as if they were freezing in impossibly hot weather. oh well, the things you have to do for a chance to be on the papers hehehe
also, we shot in the ayala underpass that evening. earlier i took digital pictures without permission and the guard on duty bounced on me and was raving mad. he was also badly scared. i wondered why he was so angry. i reckoned he would be more friendly if a tourist or a pretty girl were doing that. i later realized i looked like some terrorist (haha) and this happened when the ayala bus bombing was still fresh on everyone's minds. cheers! :-)
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february 23, 2004
return to the point of no return:
watching the phantom of the opera again
keep your hands at the level of your eyes
must be something in my head. although i hated the film i couldnt keep away from the music of webber so i coaxed faisal to meet up with me and watch the phantom last saturday. the 2nd time around it wasnt so bad. i got over how bad their singing were and just let the music and the book flow through.
but that still doesnt excuse schumacher. ha!
a
lot of things were confirmed from the first time i saw the film, like indeed
butler was too young (and apparently a lot of the reviews out on print followed
this common perspective). the singers on the film are an acquired taste,
and are hard to take in, but perhaps as it goes they grow on you. maybe
after the 5th viewing i wouldnt mind much that this version is below standard.
i also had an issue with the editing! how the film was cut totally prevented
some scenes from soaring into nirvana. like when butler runs and starts
singing "you will curse the day you did not do," on the rooftop, among other
things. the cut to the next shot was a bit late, so it stops you from going
into a semblance of orgasm. in spite of butler's singing that would have
been a great scene if not for the editing. faisal also was not impressed
by the film version, he being another connoisseur of musicals, classical
or otherwise. i forgot to mention in my first review that i was surprised webber acted as producer for this flick (and co-wrote the screenplay with schumacher). am i missing something here? maybe i just didnt get the grandiose setup of phantom of the opera the musical, as how he understood it or saw it in his mind. either that or webber is a lousy filmmaker.
was with astarte lorybeth and ronnie last sunday. the conversation during dinner was peppered with songs from phantom and angst from watching the film. loribeth claims she'd turn a better christine. astarte and i felt that the film could have been better. ronnie commented id enjoy pedro penduko more. and most likely i might.
even the trip to ncca intramuros and eventually malate last night was not saved from lamenting the doomed christine. drei (manofmars) enjoyed the film not as one, but more on its music (or that's how i got it). his friend cedric also didnt like the film. jm (epikunwari) doesnt have plans to watch it so bully for you.
the second viewing of the phantom of the opera was nevertheless a more enjoyable experience. i was, in a way, over my disappointment and frustration. i came in the theater hoping to have a good time (and knowing that i know what will disappoint me i chose not to be distracted) and i did. funny that nearing the part that christine seeks out his father's ghost and singing "wishing you were somehow here again," i began to feel drowsy again. and so i noticed on both occasions when i watched the film i was beginning to doze off at the same part. i thought i was just tired during my first experience with the phantom but to have it happen to me twice!
what kind of dark, voodoo magic is the phantom weaving and casting on his audience?
minnie driver is still funny and miranda richardson demands your utmost respect, i love her cute french accent. the vicomte is still a sissy towards the end (i had the same reaction when i first heard the london cast recording), crying and singing out and being helpless and all.
surprisingly the "point of no return" was a rather powerful scene. i would have enjoyed it the first time if i didnt fall asleep. this time i was battling to keep awake, and i was successful half of the time. there was a particular intensity and a dark undercurrent of sensual power felt in the scene as christine and the phantom were battling their own erotic desires of belonging and submission. and i wished she didnt have to rip off his mask but just let the song go on and on past the point of no return.
in a way i cant hate musicals forever. in fact, there has never been one that i hated. that was why it surprised me why i reacted violently to the film. they still should have gotten actors from the stage. they should have gotten a musical director. wait, i meant a director adept at musicals. they should have gotten a different choreographer (masquerade was crap!). they should have built bigger sets. oh well. you cant have it all. not all can be a moulin rouge. or a west side story. and webber can apparently do a bad version of himself.
and what is it with keeping your hands at the level of your eyes? anybody, enlighten me please :-) cuzin ej? dianeski?
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february 18, 2005
decided to make this all simple for this month, my life's been too much of a rush and i havent been having the time to do anything much. at least i can easily update you with stories using a stress free template :-)
and oh yeah, im running on times new roman, one of my least favorite type faces, mainly because we've been using it since windows came out and the romans at it since well, you get it.
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ive been busy back at work, or have i told you that? the last time i wrote i think i was still in cagayan. been in manila since the beginning of february. when i got back at the office we already had a shoot for smart communications. just yesterday we finished this other pictorial with korean talents. nahurot akong korean english no! "ok, where you now? you in taxi? you go there stay aircon room. you this, you that, sit down read. you others extras like korean winter." they understood me perfectly.
it was a lot of fun, and i got home early and with my weekend free, which is great. in this line of work, you dont get weekends free. you dont have an 9-6 clock in time like the rest of the labor workforce slaving in 4sq.m. blue grey cubicles like lab rats on observation. i work 21hour days for 7days with no assurance that i could watch movies because youre just gonna doze off anyway from fatigue.
but the work is interesting and fun, i get to go out in the sun, walk the streets of dvsoria or down the aisles of airconditioned malls, stay in the office for hours, or long hours in production studios during shoots. thus i remain.
but i have others plans still. i wanna study again, do a film, write a book, publish, produce, create, act, perform, etc. etc. and it seems my boss is open enough to let me do these things.
btw my boss's company will now soon be a real company. we already got a name and pretty soon, maybe IDs! how exciting! hehehe and then we can now call ourselves a production house probably. astig.
enough about work.
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trashing the phantom of the opera:schumacher's folley
saw this last week. was texting diane (mod poink 123) and jm (epikunwari) and mike (checkeredegg) if they wanted to watch it with me one friday night (or was it a thursday). diane was off to baguio to do her thesis and jm was with a group date. mike and zee couldnt make it so it was gonna be just jetro (no cyber counterpart) and me.
warning: i will be nitpicking phantom here so if you havent seen it or dont want to read my review of a bad film, dont proceed hehehe
i had my reservations when i heard gerard butler's voice in the trailer, he isnt musical theater material in the first place. i read he had a rock band background, but his voice, well, it seemed he was talking through his lines and you could only go so far as to doing this technique. and since some notes would need to be sustained for 4 bits or 16 bits, his droning becomes disturbing more than his character.
thankfully he was an actor enough to express all angst the phantom felt on the day they did not do all that the phantom asked of them. but what mainly got my goat with this film is schumacher. joel f*****' schumacher. he is the curse of the phantom. no doubt about the set, which was fabulous, and the music of webber, a classic, the phantom of the opera was a ready hit for greatness on film. and then a director like schumacher comes in.
there
are ways of course, on how to handle such a material and still make a killing
at the mainstream movie box office. get good looking actors. schumacher
got butler, who we saw as lara croft's tomb raider boyfriend in the cradle
of life and in crichton's timeline. it however turned unfortunate that butler
is too handsome to be terrifying or too young to be the phantom, i think.
he lacked seniority and this particular dominating presence to overpower
christine daae with his greatness at master class. on scenes when you should
be enraptured not by all this mystery about the phantom but also the power
of his singing performance, the actor doesnt soar. he however looks pathetic
and comes out as some insane opera ghost, a fool roaming around the halls.
and i dont blame butler for this, he was miscast.another way to tackle this film is get a good-looking actor who could sing. emma rossum is beautiful and looks perfect as christine daae, angelic, sweet, innocent and likely to be victim to the angel of music's hypnotic presence. and she can sing. unfortunately, she cant sing opera. and the role of christine requires you sing opera. it is amusingly irritating that after carlotta sings "think of me" christine replaces her with a below-standard rendition of the aria. an added blow yet, she sang it pop! in fact, there were a lot of singing that was made easy for her by singing in pop and the orchestra getting louder to drown out her sustained, unsustained notes, like her high c at the end of the song "the phantom of the opera." again, another unfortunate casting. i was thinking they should have picked actors from broadway instead. and i hated when her notes is already sang out loud yet her mouth opens as if she was singing at a whisper! kainis. her face should have been distorted, with her mouth wide open and her veins sticking out, or at least like sarah brightman (who sang the original christine), her eyes would be wide open and you could see her brain from her esophagus. again i blame schumacher.
patrick wilson (playing the vicomte raoul de chagny) was a saving grace in the singing department. his performance in key songs like "all i ask of you" was more than welcome, to say the least. that would probably be all i can say about him. he was, btw, in angels in america. didnt know he could sing, and that was an interesting revelation.
schumacher directing the phantom of the opera is abysmal. choice of actors,
treatment of the musical (pop singing in an opera?), acting direction (christine
and her dazed, unaffected performance), blocking and staging (masquerade,
point of no return, and wishing you were here again, among others, were
sorely lacking of emotional and plot-driven direction), story development
(schumacher too early revealed phantom's itsura by putting too much light
on him in the lair scene with christine) and so on and so forth.so is it really that bad? not really. loved miranda richardson (as madam giry) and minnie driver (as carlotta) was great in the film. webber's music is still magical, except that singing performances matter a big deal in musicals and we have substandard singers hitting his notes. didnt schumacher learn anything from the recent musicals that came out? chicago! moulin rouge! evita! aside from being good actors, everybody sang well and with so much emotion you cant help but cry.
dont get me wrong, i love the phantom of the opera. i havent seen the show onstage but i listened to the original london cast a whole lot and ive read the libretto. michael crawford, sarah brightman and michael ball. man, they were the best. and im not saying that because they were the original performers. like with les miserables, the singers change but the quality of the singing does not.
and comparing the works of past directors tackling a webber musical, alan parker and norman jewison did magnificently with evita and jesus christ superstar respectively. madonna may not be an actor but she outdid herself in evita, and her singing got a whole deal better. antonio banderas IS che. even if webber company released JCS 2000 i still loved jewison's film version of jesus christ superstar. thing is, the singing was never compromised. they are musicals in the first place. and i cant help but compare POTO to evita especially. parker did such a great job with evita, the scope and grandeur of argentina, evita's campaign for leadership and monopoly, historical facts and whatnot, they were all there. schumacher made crap of his film version. if he wanted great acting, he should have just gone to the real source and not based it from the musical. besides the acting wasnt even that good.
if baz lhurmann did the phantom of the opera, he might take it into a totally different direction but judging from his direction in strictly ballroom and his musical experience with moulin rouge, id think he'd do greatly with POTO. parker already done fame the film and evita. why didnt he just do phantom too? im griping and bitter. jhem (evil teleri) told me this has turned into another passion of the christ for me. i so wanted to love the film but it just left me frustrated and disappointed. i hope they dont compromise les miserables and miss saigon in the film versions. and rent should remain true to its spirit.
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letters to digital friends
here's a YM chat record i sent to cuzin tootsie (bohomo) while she was offline:
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 05:45:45 +0800
From: "- 2tC -" teptep@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: ey
To: "Asante sana squash banana" paderewski@yahoo.com
hehe..juker kaayo ka thir...unsa na balita karon? so back to katips naka?
paderewski@edsamail.com.ph wrote:
You currently appear invisible to teptep.
paderewski: hoy mata na! im bored tutay. as in. been in cagayan since christmas. walay gakahitabo sa akong life diri. waiting for paolo tiangco to contact me regarding racket sa bukidnon. video docu. we have yet to talk again. he lost his phone man gud. no way to contact him. only by email. and he hasnt replied yet. meanwhile i lay wasted and restless. if by the end of the week he doesnt contact me ill borrow money and make my way back to manila where things happen.
paderewski: hay
paderewski: listening to accuradio classical music on the net. it's comforting but the p20/hour rate here is insane. and im broke.
paderewski: i should just have written these down an email
paderewski: but i find this convenient
paderewski: im in dvsoria, to escape from blumentritt and rer. seeking solace in an internet cafe with badaircon but their headphone's great
paderewski: the connection's pretty fast, hence my fascination with radio on the net.
paderewski: wanna write and produce a film but ive no money to pull through with it. the irony of creativity and financial capability. sure you can come up with something with nothing. but my type of stuff just happens to grow only around papernotes from the central bank of the philippines
paderewski: i smell coffee. great, newly brewed coffee. i miss katipunan and my life in UP, full of hopes and dreams and the idea that everything's possible and things do happen. things are not just happening to me here in cagayan. and im so friggin bored
paderewski: speak to me. wake up. wake up. hey. yo! oy! oy! btw, i bought a copy of bridget jones's diary yesterday, to add to my collection of british comedy that i love (including a boy's life)
paderewski: ill probably post this conversation again into an email so you wont miss any of my angst ridden moment in cyberspace. i do take comfort in the net, and my online friends. i miss all of them. and the bigger world out there, out of here.
paderewski: currently listening to an instrumental piece by, would you believe, elvis costello. and it's pretty good. title's "the identity parade" and it plays like a 60's tv show
paderewski: been surfing through myspace this afternoon and hey, wait. gotta get off the net now. im running p40 on my tab and that's already pretty scary, considering im broke. ive like less than p800 to last me till i get to my next racket. and if i were in manila, i wouldnt even have time to stay on the net. that
paderewski: that's irony for you
paderewski: and im wealthy (supposedly) in manila
paderewski: taxi fare's so way up, flagdown is p30 and so i spend p150 from the office to the house. that's why ive resorted to commuting when i can or have the energy to do so.
paderewski: what can i do here in cagayan? any ideas? even the supposed atmosphere in may's dos isnt doing any good. i might as well get some coffee and hang out at the capitol.
paderewski: hey, macarthur park's getting shaped up by the government and it's really amazing, theyre doing such a good job at beautifying the place. the capitol building is back with white paint, adn the little fishpond in teh front is unfenced, just like when we were kids
paderewski: theyve tiled up the pathways and planted new carabao grass all over. theyve even built cement picnic benches. might send pics soon
paderewski: gotta go, im running 2hours14mins here and i still have to buy tita an her vitamin c's. i guess she caught the bug as i did. will stop over the dvd area and exchange the "love actually" we purchased yesterday because it was running on PAL system.
paderewski: alright, cheerio and see you soon!
