still shooting pepe diokno’s above the clouds in the mountain province with a trek up mount pulag to culminate the shoot. i cant post most of the photos yet as we are still shooting a few more scenes down in baguio but here’s a shot of the art department at the peak with a view of the sea of clouds. it pays to not work a day in your life with projects like this.
clockwise from left: arman montallana, mikee supetran, carlo tabije, ramon recana, docdoc, russel amis, randy, and me
when i was looking for hotels to stay in siem reap, some friends suggested 1961, an art cafe hotel gallery space exhibit space slash slash slash artsy fartsy place. this is owned by loven and faith, a pinoy couple and would have been perfect except that we were traveling with a big group and the place is not that kind of touristy hotel. it’s more for the crazies like carlo and me. and jetro of van gogh is bipolar.
nevertheless, we made sure to visit this place while in siem reap. the hotel is located towards the end of the river in a quiet side of town. there were exhibits on display when we got there but since we went at 3 in the afternoon, there were no people around except for a russian photographer moonlighting as a tour guide named olga who i spoke with, and a few others. this place is just awesome, just standing there made me want to pick up paper and start to draw. or a hammer. very quaint, really nice space and actually reminded us of home. chos. Continue reading
im pleasantly surprised the effect of sea breeze and being on a ship have inspired me and afforded me time to write! In the last 24 hours ive posted 3 articles with photos and currently reviewing and editing 3 more prior to publishing. That’s more than what ive done in the last few months.
im also surprised to find myself writing more about food than my design work haha actually, im currently dishing out articles using my phone so i only have access to photos of food we’ve eaten via my camera phone. Years ago most people would say grace before eating. Now they post on instagram before praying. Most of my design materials are in my laptop so ill post about the new eq lapu lapu commercial and tide’s newest commercial with vic sotto, plus the relaunch of breeze detergent when i get back on land.
carlo makes it work
will be leaving for cambodia soon so i hope to write more about that. purchased tickets last year hoping my dad could make the trip but he passed away last august so we’ll be keeping his wishes alive by proceeding with the trip. thank God cebu pacific air agreed to reimburse his tickets after we filed an appeal and submitted a copy of his death certificate. carlo and i will be travelling with my mother, sisters tina and ana, aunt temay, and cousin mia, plus a friend of tita temay.
by march, my art department team and i will be busy shooting pepe diokno’s 2nd feature, Above the Clouds. We’ve already done locked in most of the locations so far and the artdep will resume preparations when i get back from cambodia. Let’s see if i have time to write about it while shooting.
We’re almost back on land so ill be missing the bunk beds and the food here aboard 2go. Also excited as my family from mindanao will be arriving in the morning! Wohoo
Cheers!
there’s a nice little ramen place at the 5th floor of the oracle building in katipunan, where serenitea and sizzling pepper steak is situated on the not-so-ground floor.
the place is called roku, a japanese ramen restaurant. eaten there twice now and their food is alright but reasonably priced. most of the dishes were below 200 and may fit the budget of most of the students on katipunan.
i do have to confess my only reason for posting about roku was because i thought my phone camera’s hdr function was awesome and the interiors looked amazing haha im rockin a galaxy note 2 so yeah, hdr is awesome! 😉 well, there was another reason for carlo and i to go back to this resto but we’re not saying what 😉 cheers!
roku is located at the 5th floor of the oracle building in katipunan, quezon city. and im being redundant 😉 cheers!
designed the stage for noel cabangon’s recent concert “tuloy ang biyahe” for his music museum and peta performances. it would only be my 2nd time to work for director melvin lee as designer (did one of his virgin labfest plays) and my first to dress up the peta theater. did this sketch as quick as i could before the song ended as the concert was winding down to an end. click on image to enlarge
i was headed for mindanao on the day of cabangon’s music museum run so i only got to supervise the ingress of the set and i missed watching the show. im glad i was able to catch the performance on its 2nd night (dec 14, 2012) at the peta as it was a fun ride. i know only a handful of noel’s songs but all were beautifully written and sung with so much passion. enjoyed his guests especially the APO (minus one), which i dont remember having watched perform live. gloc 9’s sirena was powerful as ever and ogie alcasid’s song writing skills are still topnotch as he sang two new songs. yet, it was always noel’s night and his brilliance in writing was clear and his voice unparalleled.
im glad i took this journey also in designing for theater and stage. it’s a different beast from designing for film as there are still factors ive yet to learn and take to heart. i wouldnt say my design for the concert was groundbreaking. maybe next time ill play more on concepts. needless to say, im excited in taking this new direction 🙂
here’s a video of kanlungan i took during the concert. i remember mike serrano in our little tambayan office at the back of the gg hall in CRL listening to a cassette tape (what year was this?) of buklod’s album and he introduced me to this song. the arrangement during cabangon’s concert “tuloy ang biyahe” was, in a word, magical. the string and wind section was awesome. love the slower tempo during the concert. just wasnt able to catch the first few minutes of the song. i do have a copy of the recording with the FILharmoniKA 😉
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here are my set sketches. took inspiration from train stations and our own mrt platforms. as the set had to be minimal i only built arches and a fence.
setting up at the peta theater in quezon city for the rerun of noel cabangon’s “tuloy ang biyahe.” my arches this time lack a few details from the previous set so im slightly disappointed not having the time to check the work in progress yesterday (was in a shoot). worked with direk melvin lee for a virgin labfest stage play at the ccp where my set consisted of fake boulders. now my set consists of posts and a cyclone fence. this would be my first time to work in this theater and as a fan, im excited.
benjamin padero 