Monthly Archives: March 2010

musings

triptych: jhem

here is another short film we worked on for a class project back in 2002. we were tasked to group in teams of 5 (me with mike talampas and marco dela torre, from the salamin group, plus jm epilepsia and dennis domingo). the plan was to create a triptych of sorts with jm, mike and myself directing 1 episode each. marco scores the whole thing, dennis writes the screenplay, mike handles the camerawork and i edit everything. i have yet to upload the first two shorts but here’s the 3rd part, which i directed and edited. i was heavily influenced by lynch’s mulholland drive here. mind you, this was produced in 2002, and some sets we shared with the other shorts in this triptych. it was fun producing this but please dont take us seriously. hehehe

triptych: jhem stars ezer marin and reena david, two of ateneo’s best student actors and bestfriends of my cousin tootsie. most of our actors in triptych turn out to be ateneans. this short used to be titled jake but rockstar god and bestie jhem claims this is his story. ergo the change of name

🙂 cheers!

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food trip, music

focaccia @ a.venue

rockstar jhem invited us to one of his gigs at capone’s a.venue in makati ave (mar25). we have been missing out on his gigs so we made it a point to watch this night. carlo and i arrived early so we could dinner at a.venue. it was a tossup between japanese, italian food or those big burgers they were offering there but italian ruled so we ate at focaccia.

ordered their soup trio, putanesca and mushroom cheese rollup pizza. OMG ang sarap! the soup trio (of tomato cream, squash and mushroom) was fantastic. it came in shots actually, a sampler serving, and was really good. the pasta was also good but serving was kinda small though.

the pizza we loved! for those familiar with yellow cab’s dear darly, this is soo much better. apart from the fact that they have various “flavors” for the rollup pizza, the dough is much thinner and the effect is overall fantastic. winner siya haha

and yes we got to the gig part. i was pleasantly surprised i enjoyed the rock gig. it’s been a long while since we ventured to listen to rock music but i liked what The Beltrans had to offer. there were a couple of pitchy notes in the middle of the set but overall, great performance. rockstar jhem, you rock! 🙂

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musings

salamin unearthed

so i finally decided and got to uploading the short film we worked on back in 2001 when we were dreamers. salamin was born out of ambition and drive to be the next big-shot filmmaker of the decade. nearly 10 years later, here i am burned out and i havent even directed a short film since 2004.  but i hope this reminds me of things i lost.  like passion, ambition, creativity, vision and a future with the elusive oscar.

official website here.  watch the whole thing here:

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art & design, filmmaking, food trip, laundry therapy, movies, musings

cold onion rings, alice in gateway and a p300 masssage

yesterday we went to gateway for dinner and a movie. burgoo was a huge disappointment. tim burton’s alice in wonderland could have been more wonderful. i reckon it could have been lord of the rings-ish but the screenwriting didnt soar as much despite the multilayered original material. good thing the massage we had afterwards was beyond expectations 🙂 always welcome after days of shoot.

our search for food led us past the burgoo restaurant in gateway and we were enticed by a photo of its shrimp and rib platter. we also ordered soup and an appetizer. the food was cold, dry and utterly disappointing. wasting good food would be sacrilegious but this was not in any way good. and despite being very expensive, we ate about 40% only and left the rest behind. it was rather heartbreaking (heartbreakingly expensive!) and frustrating, and we didnt even have the energy to bring this up with the management. apparently there are other accounts by friends who’ve had the same experience with burgoo restaurants. how can management continue with this kind of service? and the waiter had disturbingly pink lipstick on. i had nightmares afterwards. carlo also writes about this experience in his blog.

with a heavy heart, we trudged to the cinemas on the top floor.  in a nutshell, depp’s performance was wonderful and i loved helena’s red queen. anne hathaway drowned in her plum lipstick and white hair. mia’s alice was a wonderful look, and the fashion was gorgeous. but the movie didnt have to be in 3d i think. tim burton is known to weave fantastic tales and paint gorgeous landscapes but when it was time to recreate an insane world and make it his home, this movie came as a letdown. the plot was too thin for such a crazy world. depp’s mad hatter was a surprise. beneath the layers of makeup and silk, he showed human emotion that transcended his character from being just a 2-dimensional cartoon to a living breathing creature. i miss the pink fur of disney’s cheshire cat but this version’s blue eyed wonder fascinates. this is this decade’s Hook and just like the spielberg pan, this confused and divided its audience.

after days of preparation and shoot, carlo and i sought to get a massage. after the movie, we headed for the one near his office in kamuning. an hour and a half later, we were renewed and ready to farm peas, white mellons and zombies again. love it ! cheers and have a good day.

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musings

Im currently in a really shitty state right now. This may be because of two things. One is that i might be burned out. I realized that this morning before my alarm went off at 2am (in preparation for a shoot). Ive been having a really shitty time preparing for shoots and meetings, terminally lazy and id rather sleep or stay at home all day. I eventually became emotional because im so stressed and caught in a place i dont want to be in. I need to break free.

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musings

Today

I keep forgetting to groom properly. I noticed my nails (toenails especially) to be uncomfortably long but it took me about 4 days before i remembered to cut them. Ive been meaning to shave my hair off but it’s already the fifth day and i havent done anything. Normally when i dont shave my scalp gets irritated after a while. Then my t-zones start to redden and get inflammed. ive been able to control this with medication but it’s irritating on some days. As in irita siya haha. Summer’s here and the heat’s gonna be a factor to the never ending saga of my irritable t-zones.

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