I DoBiDooBiDoo: Wala Nang Hahanapin Pa

Bilang isang taong taga-production (at likas na laitera), ito ang aking mga natatanging puna sa I Dobidoobidoo: Una, halata yung makeup ni Sam. Oo, gets namin, mahirap dapat siya at kung hindi siya paiitiman hindi niya magiging kamukha yung pamilya niya, pero sana dinamay niyo na rin pati leeg at braso diba? Pangalawa, off-sync yung audio sa video, medyo nakakadiskaril lalo na pag kumakanta sila. Pero ilang frames lang naman, at nang magtagal halos di ko na rin napansin (or baka nagkasabay na rin matapos ang ilang sequence). Bukod rito, wala nang hahanapin pa...pwera sa kantang iyon, na hindi kasali sa repertoire. Pero malay natin, magka-part two, at magkaron ng pag-asa ang mga nais makarinig ng remake ng Prinsesa, Kumot at Unan at Yakap sa Dilim. Sam does an exceptional job as Rock (I thought the siblings' names - Jazz and Raprap - were a cute touch, though I wonder how Tito Boboy feels about the dog being named after him), and Tippy shines in her film debut (laking gulat ko lang sa kissing scene, first movie palang may kissing scene na? Agad-agad?? PBB Teens??). They are believable as star-crossed young lovers as they harmonize Panalangin and Ewan. Gary V's rendition of Paano was particularly moving, and Zsa Zsa's Tuyo ng Damdamin strikes an all-too-familiar chord. Frenchie and Teacher Sweet are adorable friends with Awit ng Barkada, and Jaime Febregas rocks DoBidoo. But the scenes that take the cake are Neil Coleta's Kaibigan, which Chris Martinez presents with the most delicate delivery, cloaked in the most unassuming of ways; and, of course, the show-stopping Di Na Natuto with what is destined to be the most-talked about bed scene of the decade, performed by Eugene Domingo and Ogie Alcasid, wherein they strip down to their souls as they simultaneously strip down to their knickers. All in all, the movie was very well-made, halatang pinag-isipan at hindi tinipid. Pinaglaanan ng panahon at pera. Nasa tamang konteksto ang bawat kanta, maayos ang pagkakaset-up at hindi lang basta-basta kumakanta ng walang dahilan. Simple lang ang kwento, pero makulay ang produksyon, at mataas ang production value. Mahusay ang mga areglo at maganda ang pagkakanta ng mga awitin. Above all, masaya siyang panoorin. Definitely worth watching. Sana suportahan natin ang pelikulang ito. This film proves that Pinoys are capable of creating something of this calibre, it is a prime example of excellence in the form of entertainment. Kudos to the team behind it, my one regret is that I wasn't part of the prod team that did it. ;)

See I started out just wanting to settle in and watch maybe The Lorax til I fell asleep. At about nine minutes into the movie though I just had to pause it and face something that's been bugging me since I don't even want to be aware of when. I don't wanna watch The Lorax. Don't wanna watch Dear John either. Even if it is (*sigh*) Channing Tatum. Tengene. Ganun katindi. Kahit si Channing Tatum di umubra. Waaah. Bakeeet. Bakeeeeeeeeet. Get it together. Umayos ka. Pagkagising mo bukas normal na ka ulit. Alak lang yan. Wag ka padala. Hinga. Ok. Keribels. Fight. :D

Hey I just met you And this is crazy But here's my number So call me maybe ... See I've been waiting all day For you to call me baby So let's get up Let's get on it Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight ... QQ$*^@#^#@&^#*@#&$(*#&@^$ This is crazy nuts.

Self-confession

Five o'clock on a Sunday morning. Tired, sleepy, weary of work, little to look forward to and a lot to think about.

May bumabagabag sa isipan ko. Hindi ko alam kung cabin fever lang ba, or housemate syndrome, or wala lang akong ibang maisip bukod sa trabaho, or legitimate siya na concern.

Ayokong isipin na legitimate ang concern.

And yet, here I am blogging about it at this ungodly hour. At pinaglalaanan ko talaga ng panahon.

Wala ako sa huwisyo to be thinking of these things. I am not of sound mind nor body.

I think I may be going nuts. But then again, I've always been a self-professed head case naman diba?

I don't know how long I can keep this up...

I need a battle plan! Diba sabi natin we won't play these games anymore?

Ano ka ba. Day off lang ang solusyon dyan. Bukas, malamang, iba na. Liliwanag din ang lahat.

Find common ground. Have fun. Look on the bright side.

Alalahanin, hindi pangkaraniwan ang iyong pinagdaraanan. Maghunos-dili, huwag padalos-dalos.

My Birthday Wish List

Usually when people ask me what I want for my birthday, I honestly answer "Nothing." This year, however, there are a few things on my secret wish list:

1. Flowers. After watching Valentine's Day (where Ashton Kutcher plays a florist) I suddenly wanted to buy myself a nice bouquet for my desk at work (as if my table isn't cluttered enough with all the colorful little toys strewn accross it). Gerberas are my favorite :)
2. An iPad 2. I've been wanting an iPad for a while now (if only for stress relief and to play my favorite Story series games), and while it's great that my dad recently bought himself an iPad 2 and has left the old iPad at home for me and my brother to fight over, it might be nice to have one that's really mine, that I can bring everywhere and really abuse :p
3. The rest of Nick Bantock's Griffin and Sabine series of hardbound books. Purchased the first in the series a couple of weeks ago, I used to have the first three but for some reason can't seem to find them anymore, it would be nice to have the complete set again.
4. A pictorial. Of myself :p this is my last birthday before I turn 30 next year, it might be nice to have something to remember my youth before it fades away :p
5. My early twenties body :p hindi ko man lang nasulit ang kapayatan ko noon!
6. A recording session to record demos of some of the songs I wrote years ago (na ni wala pa ngang chords o areglo, pano kaya yun)
7. If I were to celebrate at all, I would like for my brother to sing for me. Kung ayaw niya, kahit si Sam Concepcion nalang. Kaso baka maiyak ako :p
8. Matauhan siya. O kung hindi na talaga mangyayari yun, Lord sana matauhan na ako.
9. A new car, or Red refurbished
10. For my show to do well, ratings-wise and money-wise, for my kids to grow as actors/actresses with a love for their craft and a passion for excellence
11. To love and be loved.

Happy 29th to me in six sleeps :)

Hello, 2011

Obviously, this post is a tad late. Needless to say, I will not even bother to put punctuality on my list of New Year's resolutions. But what I will put are the following:

1. listen to at least one new album every week (and if time or bandwidth doesn't permit, at least one per month. and hopefully write a pseudoreview. and hopefully learn something new in the process and broaden my musical repertoire, and sophisticaten my musical palate.)
2. read at least one book a month
3. create being the possibility of love. for that i give up that i can't :p it is possible to not let your rackets get in the way of your possibilities!
4. learn something new everyday
5. teach something new everyday
6. take better care of my health. eyes, teeth, skin, cardio/diet, etc.
7. learn how to make my money grow and work for me. what that would look like is annual increments saved and that ceiling untouchable to grow a nice nest egg. open a mutual funds account.

today's learnings: PMS is not an excuse to be sensitive or bitchy, hormonal imbalances really do exist (!) but! it's not an excuse, because hormones can be conquered. :) yay

also, there is such great joy in being able to come home early, scratch my kitty on the head as she closes her eyes and purrs, and listen to my brother sing "heaven is a place on earth" while taking a shower, at the top of his lungs, off key and with full conviction. :)

Why Food Is Better

1. Food will never leave you. Except in the form of crap. But see, at least crap can be expelled from your system. True love cannot.
2. Food will make you fat (if you don't work out). True love will hurt at one time or another no matter how hard you try to work it out.
3. Food is readily available (for a price, oftentimes cheap). True love is rarer than gold or diamonds. and infinitely pricier.
4. Food can bring hypertension, stroke and heart attacks (at least in excessively fatty amounts). You might even die. But you probably would welcome death when faced with the agony of true love anyway. At least with food you'd die fat and happy.
5. Food will never make you cry (except for onions, but they don't mean to, and it's not the heavy on the hart kind of crying like you're soul's being wrenched out of your body, so it's ok).
6. You can always tell when you've had enough food, and you can stop having more. just stop stuffing your face or throw up or something. True love fools you into thinking you can keep taking a crapstorm from anyone. and live to tell about it. with pride.
7. food doesn't have to e special. oh crap, neither does true love.

a stifled soul whimpers amidst election hullabaloo

times like these i wish i was well-versed in the language of music-making so that i could just up and play something cathartic.

something along the lines of mutemath or radiohead. with layers upon layers of instrumental tracks and hooks and breaks and loops and shifts.

something that washes over you and takes with it everything you want to let go and let be. something that emanates outward into the universe, and calls out strongly, desperately, powerfully for salvation.

vodka would be great right about now.

You Gotta Let Me Know

...should I stay or should I go?

One of Those Senti Days

I don't know whether it's because I'm getting old, or the experience of starting a new chapter in my (work)life that is making me nostalgic these days.

Quite often I find myself looking back at the past, both recent and distant, and feeling that things generally look better in retrospect.

Not to say that the present state of affairs in my life aren't desirable. Nothing's really wrong with what's here and now, just...different? And yet... familiar, I suppose, in the sense that it's not totally foreign territory. I have, after all, been through similar incarnations of this stage. Perhaps the cyclical nature is what is prompting this inquiry.

I suppose it is human nature to wonder and imagine. Maybe my imagination is just a little more untamed than others. Either that or I keep letting it run away with me. But despite all the images that my mind conjures, I am comforted by deja vu, and pretty certain, at least up to this point, that this is where I ought to be.

No to WeetBix, Yes to Conchords

In light of my recent admiration for Kiwi Zoe Bell, I decided to try yet another completely-from-New-Zealand product, called WeetBix. It appeared to be a healthy and affordable alternative to cereal, and since the packaging looked pretty promising, I purchased a box. I took one bite...and spat it back out. Maybe I should have bought some fruit to go with it.

But while WeetBix have failed to sustain my Kiwi-love, Flight of the Conchords renews it with a quick re-listening of Foux Da Fa Fa on imeem and a click towards their website at http://www.conchords.co.nz/, which is unassumingly funny and froufroufree. Check out the Foux Da Fa Fa video here: http://66.160.141.45/videos/bb/flight_of_the_conchords_foux_da_fa_fa.mov and find more video clips from their HBO show at http://www.hboasia.com/fotc.

Because of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof...

...I now have a girl crush on Zoe Bell, who plays herself in the movie. You gotta love a girl with amazing upper body strength. The car chase scene towards the end, with her hanging on to the hood of a speeding white 1970 Dodge Challenger for dear life, absolutely awesome.

2012

Where will you be in 2012?

Sa Nalalapit na Pagtatapos ng The Wedding...

Marami akong napagninilay-nilayan habang inaantabayanan ang pinakahihintay na huling araw ng taping.

Natutunan ko na hindi porke umeere ka, magiging priority ka. Di ko alam kung palakasan lang ba ng boses o sikmura o padrino, pero kung anuman yun wala ata ako nun. Pero lahat ng bagay ay nagagawan ng paraan, kung matiyaga ka. At may mahabang mahabang mahabang pasensya. Mahabang mahaba.

Be nice to people even when you're having a hard time. People are more likely to want to help you if you're pleasant.

Totoo na hindi mo mapapasaya ang lahat ng tao sa lahat ng oras. Para maging masaya ka, dapat mong tukuyin kung ano ang mas pahahalagahan mo at kung kanino ka makikinig. Kung kaya mong mapasaya lahat, bongga ka. Kung hindi...well, I guess you can't have everything. 

Masaya magtrabaho pag magaan kasama ang lahat ng katrabaho mo. I love my colleagues. They are the best: count-on-able, supportive, hardworking and a joy to work with. I have been so blessed with all the people I have worked with on the show, mula 2007 pa hanggang ngayon...I have learned so much from them, and I am most grateful.

Matutong mag-relax. You can't always do something about everything. Learn to leave things be for the moment. And pray for the stars to align and the universe to hear your prayer. Change will come. It always does. At ang lahat ng bagay ay may katapusan. Look forward to that, if not anything else.

At the end of the day, you did your best, and that is all anyone can really ask of you. 

Life is short. Work hard. But party harder.

And on that note...off I go. :D

Four Days to Go

I can hardly believe it. Totoo na ba ito? Eere na ba talaga kami? After a seemingly endless wait, our pilot airing date lies only four short days ahead. Nakakakilig. At nakakakaba.

We had our presscon today at Dolphy Theater. It was beautiful. Anne was the ultimate blushing bride, gorgeous in a Francis Libiran creation, as she walked down the aisle to meet her two good-looking grooms Zanjoe and Derek onstage, whilst a string quartet played "Can't Help Falling In Love" via DVC playback. The AVP played, they sang the theme song, we had a lengthy Q & A portion. Everyone got to eat (courtesy of Tamayo's Catering and Turk's Shawarma, not to mention Bettany cakes - their banana fruit cake is deeelish) and everyone got their SWAG (courtesy of Fernslim, Natasha, GSM Blue, Bench, and several others), photo ops and upsots. My feet hurt, as I've been in five inch-high platforms all day and we did a great deal of walking (even running!), but I daresay it was worth it.

After nearly two years, our labor of love, our baby, our show, is finally setting foot on the network program grid. The first two weeks are closed, all that's left to do is polish and dubout by the weekend, and we're set to watch our pilot together with quickened pulse and bated breath...and the hope that our audience comes to love the show and all it's charming characters as much as we do. 

I can hardly wait. :)

It's Been A While, And Yet...

It's been nearly a year now since my last blog entry.

I remember how frustrating it was to be working on pre-production for a show for over a year. I celebrated my second year anniversary of working on that same show last March.

It's gotten so I don't think I really care anymore. It's all very "so what?" and "now what?" for me, especially work and career-wise.

And so I entertain myself by listening to Fiona Apple on imeem.com. That woman has an amazing voice. The kind I wish I had. And there's something particularly soothing about listening to the pounded-out piano and deep, deep bass riffs with over-ear headphones (thank you Tabby for lending them to me, unbeknownst to you).

I didn't know that Pharell did a Criminal remix, very not bad to my ears. I love that song.

2:12 p.m. on a Thursday

Ever since I was little, it was very clear to me how my life would go: do well in school, proceed to the next grade. Do well in grade school, proceed to high school. Make good in high school, get into a good college. Do well in college, land a great job and live happily ever after. Simple.

Two decades later. I did well in school, got into the only college that was ever really an option, serendipitously landed a job at the company of my dreams, and...now what? Apparently, not quite as cut and dried as I thought it would be.

What happens when the dream you thought you always wanted turns up to be not quite what you expected? Do you hold on to the idea of what you think it ought to be or give up on it, in the hopes of finding a new dream?

There probably aren't any right or wrong answers here. We each pave our own paths, take our steps, choose our choices. I suppose, ultimately, the fear of judgement, rejection or failure goes conveniently hand in hand with the lethargy of one that ignores persistent little nudges that edge you out of your comfort zone.

And so I remain, exactly where I am, as I am, tossed around by waves of events and dragged by a current of circumstances, all the while managing to keep my head above water, and the faintest sliver of hope afloat.

Neurotic Thursday

As I sat in my office cubicle, randomly surfing the net, I heard an acoustic version of "With You" being played nearby. I stood up to find the source of the music. A neighbor was playing a clip from youtube. I thought it was Sam Milby. Turned out to be an unknown Caucasian dude. Sounded pretty good.

***

I just got back from performance assessment with my boss. I must say I am quite relieved. And utterly grateful. And yet the neurotic in me refuses to let me celebrate too long. What of next year's appraisal? What happens when my show finally airs or we start taping and they figure out that I'm not all that after all? The voice in my head keeps insisting that I am not worthy. What a way to quash var-pay joy.

But at least, I'll get to pay off my credit card bill na! Or kahit half man lang. And my pending Globe bills (yeay I'll be able to get my old number back!). I'll buy an electric fan, pay my dad for what I charged to his Visa, maybe get a facial, manies and pedies, a full tank of gas, shopping, groceries... (as if magkakasya lahat! Nangangarap pa ko bumili ng condo at mag-invest sa mutual funds, at bumiyahe's magbakasyon, at paayos ang oto ko, at makapag-ipon. Sheesh.)

Hence the perpetual dilemma: how to survive the demands of the job without slacking and yet making full use of all available time and resources and possibly still finding alternate sources of income to augment current cash flow to maintain standards of living and concurrently have the luxury of a comfortable lifestyle.

What good does thinking do? Sometimes it feels like I just keep turning things around and around in my head and yet I keep seeing the same thing. I need an epiphany. Or a mirror. Or a surgeon. Or LSD.

My Secret Identity

Your results:
You are Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman 80% Spider-Man 75% Supergirl 65% Iron Man 60% Green Lantern 55% The Flash 45% Catwoman 45% Hulk 40% Robin 37% Superman 35% Batman 30%

You are a beautiful princess with great strength of character.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Labor Day Morning

i was considering blogging about work concerns, since it is labor day and all, but it is 5:17 am and i am giving in to the tiredness borne from working straight from 2:30 pm til past one in the morning. for some reason even just a couple of hours past my required eight weigh extra heavily on my shoulders...literally. it sits, irremovable, between the blades of my back, in a spot that i am unable to reach to massage myself with equally weary hands.

but at least...i get labor day off! or rather, i can work from home, or wherever it is i choose to spend the holiday. hopefully all i'll need to do is make one call to follow up on my script. perhaps i shall do it while getting manies and pedies. or before i go for a dip in the pool. or on my way to the mall. or in the comfort of my very own room whilst i tidy up a bit. there's such comfort in the slow, irregular unraveling of a totally unplanned day.

but first, a good night's sleep.