lightning fast lady killer k

the evolution of a filipino cinephile

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:15:02 GMT

for my friend Alexis, on the day of his funeral.

a note, before i begin: during Alexis's wake i was sitting with digitaldaydream, pilya, sevenbohemia, sleeplessplanet and slambradley. we were reminiscing about the Livejournal days, which, compared to the Friendster, Facebook and Twitter days, were the happiest social networking days of our lives. a lot of my friendship with _fiction_ developed here, and i even made a tribute to him back in 2005. it only seems fitting that I return to LJ with this entry.

“So,” he says, holding up his fist as if he were holding a microphone--“what’s your favorite Stanley Kubrick movie?”

I’m thinking to myself, ‘oh my God. And I thought I was a dork’ as I stare in bewilderment at this tall and lanky teenager with short cropped hair who crouches in attention and periodically looks away while talking to me. He would then follow his older brother Chris around as they interviewed up-and-coming filmmakers for an Inquirer 2BU Special on new Philippine Cinema. It was the summer of 2001. It was the first time I met Alexis Tioseco.

After that I’d see him around the 2BU offices, since we both became writers for the section. Fellow writers nicknamed him Ardie, since he supposedly resembled an aardvark. Without fail, every time I’d run into him he’d do the same thing. He’d hold his fist up and go--

“Mr. Henares! Top 5 John Hughes films?”

“Mr. Henares! Godfather 1 or 2?”

“Mr. Henares! The Lord of The Rings is boring! Would you agree or disagree?”

Soon after we became part of a group who would gather at this food arcade in Ortigas every Wednesday to drink beer and talk about cinema and other people (mostly just other people). Since we were all very creative we came up with the most creative name: The Wednesday Group. This was where Alexis and I became friends, talking about everything from cinema to who the hottest girl in his then-campus UA&P was to hip-hop music. Around that time I released my first movie and found it touching how, being the very naive college kid he was, he’d champion it in forums and message boards like PinoyDVD and Pinoy Exchange. Even then you could see how much he loved cinema, writing away and making argument after argument about movies that were read by a total of 15 people.

And then he saw Lav Diaz’s Batang West Side, and his life was changed forever. Watching Lav’s opus prompted him to lead a life dedicated to furthering and promoting Filipino film. He wrote to film festivals and critics incessantly, asking them to watch certain movies he felt strongly about. He championed filmmakers like John Torres, Raya Martin and Sherad Sanchez before they made their first features. I asked him once why he didn’t pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker. “This is where I can make a real difference,” he told me. “There are already so many great filmmakers. Why try to be one of them when I can help make their work known?”

A few years ago Alexis’s father, Boy Tioseco, passed away. His loving and warm family asked him to stay with them in Canada, where he grew up. After all, he wasn’t that interested in the family business anyway and he didn’t really have anything to stay for in Manila. He opted to stay, because he knew his place was here, and his work was here.

He loved Manila so much that he even convinced his girlfriend, fellow film critic and programmer from Slovenia, Nika Bohinc, to stay with him. And this, to me, was a love story of legend—two wonderful people who didn’t grow up here and didn’t have to stay made a decision to live in this country despite everything it was because of their love for each other, and their love for cinema.

And this is how we repay them.

I haven’t been able to sleep. This all just doesn’t make sense in my head. People who commit suicide have an air of finality around them, like they were ready to die. People who are sick give us time to grieve a little and be ready for their exit. Alexis and Nika were living life to the fullest, making plans and literally changing the world. You don’t just end a film in the middle of act 2. Even the vaguest, most challenging film by Alexis’s beloved Apichatpong Weerasethakul wouldn’t have that. It’s not proper storytelling, and it’s not the right way for two wonderful people dedicated to its masterful art to say goodbye.

It’s weird when someone you love is suddenly gone. You get these snippets of memories, remember insignificant details, and that’s what gets you crying. In the past two days I’ve had so many flashbacks, and they usually involve Alexis and Nika being really happy-- Alexis with that wide-eyed, mouth opened smile and Nika with her sly grin and raised eyebrow...

Alexis is making Lia and I edit his Amazing Race audition tape. In it, him and our friend Chris Costello go “i’m Chris. ½ Irish, ½ Filipino.” “I’m Alexis, ¼ Chilean, ¼ Italian, ½ Filipino.” “Together, we make 1 full Filipino!”.

Nika sees a bunch of giggly Assumptionistas screaming at each other next to her at Mag:Net. She turns her head, looks at me, and mimics their faces. I laugh uncontrollably. Every time we see each other after that we make that face.

Alexis is raving about chocolate polvoron. “I’ve had polvoron before,” he tells me, “but have you tried this chocolate polvoron? It’s ridiculous.” A few months later this obsession is replaced with one for Boy Bawang. That kind of lasts for 4 years.

I’m at Alexis’s house early in the morning for a Super Noypi shoot. I’m surprised to see him up and about. He sits on his father’s bed and puts in an obscure Eastern European film. He brings out his notebook and starts making notes. THIS IS AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING.

I catch Alexis and Nika buying tickets for Drag Me To Hell. I run up behind them and start shouting, “Are you two buying tickets for a film that is supposed to be entertaining?!” There is a look of shame in Nika’s face, followed by a defensive “we love all cinema, Quark” declaration from Alexis.

Nika is complaining about having food poisoning. “Oh my God my best friend for two days was the toilet bowl.” The cute little blonde then starts making vomiting motions.

I’m with Alexis and Cecile. After much prodding by Tioseco, we watch Godard’s Une Femme Est Une Femme. He ends up falling asleep. He always falls asleep.

I’m sitting in Alexis’s class, filled with eager students excited about the hot teacher and about being able to watch films in school. He announces that the first film will be a two-hour silent by Murnau. There is a collective groan.

After that I have my last ever dinner with Alexis and Nika. “Have you seen this thing on the internet? Keyboard cat? It’s crazy,” Alexis says, eyes wide, getting ready to launch another one of his monologues. Nika rolls her eyes and says, “oh no. This is not even funny.” He then goes on to talk about a scene from the gameshow “Where in The World is Carmen San Diego” and how Keyboard Cat expertly appears in the youtube vid to play off an annoying contestant. He may be internationally respected Alexis Tioseco, but to me he was still that lovable dork.

At the height of his career, when he was already flying around the world to judge for festivals, hanging with his idol Jonathan Rosenbaum and maintaining the renowned Asian cinema website Criticine, we weren’t really seeing eye to eye creatively. He called me a sellout during a public forum and also didn’t agree with me joining the Metro Manila Film Festival. Normally this would cause a rift between friends, but it didn’t affect our relationship in the slightest. Later that day we still ended up exchanging names to stalk on Facebook and debating on whether Wong Kar Wai really deserved all that praise. I think it’s because we both knew that the other was coming from a genuine love of cinema anyway, and that was the only thing that mattered, really. Alexis would go against all odds and fight the biggest names tooth and nail for what he believed in, and I’m proud he did that til the very end.

I told him once, when he started petitioning against the Metro Manila Film Festival back in 2005, "ano ka ba, Alexis? Don't you know there's no hope for the film industry? wag na tayong maglokohan." He answered, in his Canadian accent, "hay naku Quark. i will dedicate myself to changing your view on that."

And he did. He really did. Thank you, Mr. Tioseco.

the top ten musical long-playing recordings of 2008

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:09:00 GMT

2008 was mostly a crap year for music. I find it incredibly frustrating that nothing really new or exciting has come out since 2004, and most of the "new, exciting" bands are just rehashing old styles. That having been said, there ARE still a number of gems, and you will find most of them on this list.

There is one good thing about this year, though, and that's the fact that this is the best year OPM has heard in a long time. A multitude of great new bands released records, including Taken by Cars, Ang Bandang Shirley, The Dorques, The Rinka Collective, Yosha, the Out of Body Special and The Vince Noir Project. A lot of promising stars defied the sophomore slump and came out with really good follow-ups like Drip, Up dharma Down and Pedicab. Lastly, old favorites like the Itchyworms, Sandwich and Ciudad came out with some of their best material for 08. This year in Pinoy rock for me was more exciting than the last five years combined, to tell you the truth.

Right. On to the music!

10. Beck - Modern GuiltThis may sound a bit off, but I'm not a big fan of Beck when he's being Beck. Classics like Odelay and The Information don't really appeal to me, but I do adore the records he centers around certain styles or themes. For example:Midnite Vultures, with its Prince-ish, cheesy disco sound; or his folk masterpiece Sea Change, which has become one of my all-time favorite breakup records. His latest album belongs to that vein of Beck album, checking 60s psychedelic rock and 70s folk rock for inspiration and brilliantly combining the songs with his signature beats and beeps. As if that weren't enough, Beck brings in Danger Mouse and Cat Power to collaborate, resulting in my personal favorite release from a major artist in 08.
recommended tracks: Orphans, Gamma Ray, Youthless

9. Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
Listening to Black Kids' dance masterpiece Partie Traumatic, the following are the first lyrics you will hear:
Knock, knock
Who's There?
Call the ghost in your underwear
Call the ghost in your underwear who?
Call the ghost in your undearwear "boo!"
how can you not love these morons?
recommended tracks : Hit the Heartbrakes, Listen To Your Body Tonight, I'm Not Gonna Tech Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

8. Up dharma Down - Bipolar
I am a bit ashamed to admit that "Oo" is the number one most listened-to song on my iPod; not because of the song itself, but more because it exposes me as a weepy sap who listens to songs on repeat when in love. Much has happened to UDD since that gem was released two years ago -- relationships were formed, some were destroyed; bonds were strengthened, crimes were committed. Bipolar shows how much we can all change in such a short time, and it's painfully evident in everything from the chaos of its opener "Blessed" to the solemn resignation of its closing bonus track "A Purse of Stories". There's a line from the quiet break-up song "Unspoken Definites" that could sum up what Bipolar is all about -- "I've got everything to lose, so why not lose it anyway?" It would be too presumptuous and amateurish of me to say that I feel I've matured along with the band as well, but isn't that what good music does when all is said and done?
recommended tracks: Taya, Unspoken Definites, and my sentimental fave Sana, which is a tribute to one of my childhood heroes Odette Quesada

7. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrrow Stairs
A lot of people have been complaining about Death Cab for Cutie's new record. "It's mediocre," they'd say, often following it up with the question "why couldn't they have done something as good as the other albums?" Can't say I didn't see it coming, though. DCFC has finally reached that point in their career where they really don't have anything else to say, and instead are focusing on expanding their musical horizons. It happens to the best of them -- R.E.M. and "Monster", U2 and "Zooropa", even The Beatles and the white album. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just means that most of the time what you'll hear will be art for art's sake. Besides, there are a lot of gems in Narrow Stairs, like the powerful opening track "Bixby Canyon Bridge", the depressingly poignant "Grapevine Fires" and the masterfully-written "Cath" (how could you not be in awe of lyrics like "she holds a smile like someone would hold a crying child"). Alas, there are songs like "Talking Bird" and "You Can Do Better than Me" that feel like Ben Gibbard took a shit on his hand and hurled it at his fanclub. So what do I say when I hear people complain about Narrow Stairs? "It's still pretty good. You know-- it's like all their other albums were my number 1 or 2 of the year and this is just like... a 7."
recommended songs : Cath, Grapevine Fires, Bixby Canyon Bridge

6. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
On the initial listen, Vampire Weekend's debut album is a bit of a disappointment. Then again that's probably because all year long every blogger and their sister has been praising this band to high heavens. After giving it a few more chances, however, I've found that "Vampire Weekend" is, at its very heart, a good-natured, friendly pop album that just happens to use esoteric, rich people instruments. The album already feels like an instant classic, and I predict that every track on this record, much like the songs on Moby's Play , will be used in every possible commercial. They'd also get a lot of airplay on Wes Anderson films if it didn't feel like Wes Anderson films were the primary musical influence for the band.
recommended downloads: A-Punk, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, Oxford Comma

5. +/- - Xs on Your Eyes
Back in 2006 +/- made their debut on this list with Let's Build a Fire, which I still consider to be their best album, . Their latest record is a totally different animal -- something more mature and, well, subdued. This is the first album where they really wrote and recorded together as a band, and it shows. Much of the electronics have been replaced with a fuller, more organic sound; which is great because Chris Deaner, one of the greatest drummers alive, really gets to shine in this record. It must also be said that Patrick Ramos's material on this record is his best yet, and I've always been a big James Baluyut fan and the man's just the gift who keeps on giving. I won't lie -- a big part of why they're on this list is because they came over here and gave one of the most memorable ~~concert~~ experiences I've ever had in my life.
recommended tracks : Snowblind, Subdued, Unsung

4.Tokyo Police Club – Elephant Shell
Two years ago, Tokyo Police Club's EP "A Lesson in Crime" was my EP of the year. It had an effect akin to getting punched in the face, except after you're riled and ready to get into a fight you find that your opponent has run away. Their debut LP, Elephant Shell, hardly packs as much punch as the first release did, but it's still the sort of rare rock n' roll record where you're not afraid to smile and actually have fun while you're dancing. Just take a listen to the "Your English is Good" anthemic catchphrase "Oh! Give us your vote! If you know what's good for you!" and Tessellate's addicting bassline, and you'll find that its unpretentiousness and powwow attitude will make you want to stay in the ring longer than you have to.
recommended songs: Tessellate, Your English is Good, Listen to The Math

3. Ciudad - Bring Your Friends
A lot of people criticize me for putting Ciudad on my top of the year lists because they think I'm tooting my own horn. Nothing could be further from the truth -- I haven't been Ciudad's manager for more than two years now and Bring Your Friends is their first album that I didn't name, have a song in or even have anything to do with. If I am at all still connected to Ciudad, then it's as their biggest fan for 14 years now. Their latest album is a triumph, exhibiting a certain sense of depth that can only be gained through pain. From the moment frontman Mikey Amistoso sings “don’t be certain, I’m not hoping, I can’t see the sky” in the opening track "Vanessa, Wait for Him" to his final words of resignation, “this is the last thing I want to do… I can’t imagine life beyond this” in the closer "The Last Thing I Want to Do", it feels like reality has finally caught up with them. Listening to Bring Your Friends f is heartbreaking. It’s also comforting, and strangely enough, elevating.
recommended tracks: Underwater, My Emptiness, You Should, The Last Thing I Want to Do

2. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
If there is a band I feel closest to in the United States, it is Mates of State. Not only because they give great intimate live shows, or because their albums are so delightful, but mostly because as a fan I was able to see them blossom from cutesy indiepop boyfriend/girlfriend to troubled husband and wife and then further on into grown-up parents. All their albums seem to mirror the stages in their lives as a couple, and I find myself rooting for these two not only as artists, but as people. Their fifth album Re-Arrange Us is their best album since their 1999 debut My Solo Project, mostly because it's the one that sounds most different from that. The sound is fuller, more ethereal, utilizing everything from grand pianos to strings and horns. The beauty is, even re-imagining these lush pieces in the Mates of State signature drums+keyboard arrangement, these songs are more significantly evolved.
recommended tracks: My Only Offer, The Re-Arranger, Jigsaw

1, Taken by Cars - Endings of A New Kind
A milestone in my history of music list-making, since this is the first time a Filipino album has made it to the top. I'm not saying that this is a classic like the Eraserheads' Cutterpillow or Cynthia Alexander's Rippingyarns, but it definitely has the makings of one. At first listen Taken by Cars feels like another generic dancepunk act, and they're good at what they do. One of my favorite singles this year, "Weeknight Memoir in High Definition", is irresistibly head shaking, as are songs like "The Blackout", "Uh Oh" and "Neon Brights". Tracks like the quiet "The Afterhours" and the elegant "Shapeshifter", however, are what shot this album to the top of my list. They show vocalist Sarah Marco's soulfulness and solace, and perfectly fit her cool, distant voice. The pundits can hate all they want and say things like "Taken by Cars just rips off bloc party", but I'm really proud and in love with this band, and for my money they can kick Bloc Party's ass any day of the week.
recommended tracks: Weeknight Memoir in High Definition, Neon Brights, The Afterhours, Shapeshifter

HONORABLE MENTION: Kaki King's Dreaming of Revenge, and those dreams are beautiful. CSS's Donkey has arguably more solid songs than their initial outing, but lacks the wit and tongue-in-cheek appeal the first one so brilliantly displayed. Ben Folds' Way to Normal is nice, but way too normal. Juliana Hatfield teaches us How To Walk Away, and it's solid, but it just didn't make the list. I love Flight of The Conchords, but I'm not sure if I'd feel the same way without the TV show. Portishead have outdone themselves again, shedding off their trip hop skin and once again making new roads of music with a sound that is both retro yet uber-experimental. Hot Chip's Made in The Dark, TV on The Radio's Dear Science, Cut Copy's In Ghost Colours and Foals' Antidotes are excellent dance albums. I'm especially proud of The Dorques, because their album is a hell of a lot of fun (though honestly Alessandra Tinio is sorely missed in the record).

BEST EP: Strangely enough this wasn't a good year for EP's, but following the local theme of this article Eggboy's Dragzbanny EP is a great electronica record. Diego Mapa is one of my top three Filipino songwriters ever, and even though his songwriting genius only shines in the more oldskool Eggboy track "Suko Na Ako", the rest of the EP is a good testament to Mapa's evolving

SINGLES FROM ALBUMS NOT ON THE LIST:
Alphabeat's "Fascination" and MGMT's "Electric Feel" are my favorite singles of the year, though if we count singles from albums not released this year then Paramore's "That's What You Get" is the hands-down winner. Oh, and I really do love Juliana Hatfield's "My Baby..." and "This Lonely Love".

VIDEOS OF THE YEAR:
Spike Jonze is my lord and saviour. Kanye West's video for "Flashing Lights" is another reason why.

Jorma Taccone will be a great man, just you wait. And if it's not for Lonely Island's addicting and hilarious "Jizz in My Pants", then it's for his portrayal as a heartbroken sap in Gnarls Barkley's "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"?

Encyclopedia Pictura's video of Bjork's "Wanderlust" is a bit overrated, but nonetheless a wonderful testament to vision and originality. And if you don't love it yet, you will when you see it on 3D.

Kieth Schofield's video of Supergrass's "Bad Blood" is the best performance vid of the year, and I suspect we'll see some local band ripping of the video sometime soon.

Funnily enough, when all is said and done, i still go home to Patrick Daughters' brilliant video of Leslie Feist's "I Feel It All", His promos for "1 2 3 4" and "My Moon, My Man" were the best of 2007, and now we have this. Feist's videos always make me smile, and remind me of how lovely life is.

2007
2006
2005
2004
2003

2008

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:01:05 GMT

after the hell that was Super Noypi, Mihk and I decided to make a pact for "Drama-Free 2007". of course, because fate is such a douchebag, 2007 ended up being one of the most dramaful years of my life. so for last year we both decided to trick fate and go for "Penniless 2008", and it worked! take that, you dumb bastard!

2008 was by far one of the best years of my life. i went to great places for the first time, i saw two concerts that will forever be scorched in my mind as not only great gigs but great life experiences, i was able to actually hang out with personal heroes (and one of the hottest women alive), and i did so many things creatively that i was really happy about. what really made the year, though, was you guys. so, to the lovely new friends who i feel like i've known my whole life and the kids i've been proud to call friends for a while now: thank you from the bottom of my heart and the marrow in my bones. there's no other way to put it :)

I usually make a list of my top 10 favorite things about the year. however, there are just too many for 2008, so forgive me if i cheat and expand to 15 :)

15. Prisoner of ABSCBaN! Last year was the first time I really dipped my feet into mainstream television, and it was quite... educating, to say the least. We did a pilot called "Petiks" which might not see the light of day and another show called "Parekoy", premiering Jan 8. The work was hard, but the moments between takes were a blast.

14. The Rock Awards and The QLE. People misunderstand the QLE as being a reaction against the Rock Awards, but I think they perfectly complement each other. The Rock Awards is more about the scene -- it's all these lovely people who make the same kind of music getting together and celebrating , while QLE is really more about celebrating everyone's personal preferences and sharing music you may have missed out on. I never got to thank everyone for the fun, small, intimate party that was the QLE, and it's gotta be said that this year's Rock Awards was one of my favorites.

13. Hello Commercials! this year was my favorite in terms of advertising output! did a lot of spots i was really happy about like PNB, the Belo ads and a hilariously insane insecticide ad. I also got to work with Pilita Corrales for Anlene. that chick is so fine.

12. Us-2 Evil-0: the band that i have to thank for a lot of the Rakista ideas. you have Boga the pickup guru, Mich the mental case (only when it comes to being replaced, Michelle!), Nix the reluctant heartthrob and of course, Wincy, my muse who unbeknownst to him is providing me with enough material for a novel.

11. Rakenrol will have been gestating for 4 years by February, and when it gets released I fear it may be a bit dated. But it's our baby anyway, and we'll always be very proud of it.

10. Asian Hotshots Berlin! the crazy parties. the food. the lovely people. the art. the graffiti. the really hot festival organizers. the kickass tour guides. the sunlight through the hostel window on cold mornings. the food. HAVING THE DIRECTOR OF NEKROMANTIK BUY ME BEER. it does not get any better than that. Ich bin ein Berliner!

9. Death Cab for Ciudad going to watch my favorite foreign band with my favorite local band : priceless. i wasn't a big fan of the last album so i thought i'd just be steady the whole time, then they started playing songs from The Photo Album and We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes and I started screaming like a girl, hahaha. having mikey being screamed at in Chinese in the middle of a hawker center was lots of fun too.

here: my New Year's gift to you. Death Cab doing "Title and Registration"

8. Goodbye Music Videos! so yeah, after an eye-opening music video project in the middle of the year i've decided to keep my dignity and semi-retire from making music videos. having said that, though, (and because you're all friends so i can say this without being too self-conscious) most of my favorite videos i've ever made were done this year, including Sandwich's "Procrastinator", Pupil's "Disconnection Notice", Urbandub's "Evidence", Sponge Cola's "Pasubali" and especially Taken by Cars' "Shapeshifter". Not a bad way to say goodbye :)

7. Rockeoke, as always, was the ultimate social networking tool. It's better than Facebook, I swear! Lots of lovely performances from you this year guys, and everything from Rockeoke Idol to MOMOL Night is a bit of a blur, but a good blur. Even better than the band Blur.

6. The Eraserheads Reunion just made me very happy to be Filipino. Eraserheads is unquestionably the greatest local band ever, and seeing tens of thousands sing along to their music just proved that. I consider myself immeasurably fortunate to have these people as my friends, but even these days I sometimes freeze up and get starstruck in the middle of conversations with Buddy, Ely or Raimund.

5. Dita Na Me, Wr Na U? From that awkward first dinner in the Japanese resto to the final moments hanging at the house, Dita Von Teese was a hurricane that went by quickly but left us all dazed in the aftermath. Her show was amazing, but hanging with her one realizes that she's also one of those people who are so nice that you start not getting sexually aroused by them. Yeah, she's THAT NICE. Love goes to her manager Melissa (since i am president of Melissa Fan Club Philippine chapter) and her main man Albert, who all my friends say is the most insane party animal they've encountered in their life.

4. Rockband. How can a videogame be better than all the things mentioned above? If you play "That's What You Get", "Monkey Gone to Heaven", "You're No Rock n' Roll Fun", "Kool Thing", "Maps" and "Brass in Pocket" on the Activision game, you just might understand. If you play it with the friends I have, drinking and cheering and tsismising between songs, you WILL understand.

ya see that? two of my favorite things from 2008 come together.

3. I Heart NewYorckelodeon. It should be cool enough driving and bonding with my long lost cousins along the Los Angeles Highways. But then I get to go to the Nickelodeon Kids Choice awards. And then in the middle of the burger, pizza and Sundae buffet I run into Emile Hirsch, Jack Black, Ice T, Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin and Cameron Diaz. Going to New York to visit my best friend would be enough to put this on the list as well. But then I go to a Wong Kar Wai and Ang Lee talk. And the next day I run into Tiffany Limos and Michel Gondry, and he loans 20 dollars off of me. Then I get to go to his house and stalk his DVD collection. In the middle of all this I get to watch Anathallo, Minus the Bear, Wolf Eyes, Kimya Dawson and Spoon. Dayum.

2. +/- Versus Manila Versus was one of those bands that changed the way I looked at music, and their single "Double Suicide" is one of my favorite songs ever. +/-, on the other hand, is a current fave, and the last two albums have ranked in my yearly top 5. Knowing that, if you ever told me that one day I would be treating them to Sizzling Bulalo and Pares somewhere in Anonas I wouldn't have believed you. They were such wonderful people, with killer senses of humor to boot. If that weren't enough their sets were so tight and heartfelt that they immediately became one of my most memorable concert experiences.

This is +/- ending their set with my favorite song of theirs, Queen of Detroit. They asked us to start dancing onstage, which resulted in either hilarity or a showstopping, poignant moment in rock n' roll history.

1. Rakista was originally meant to be an indirect spinoff of our movie Rakenrol, instead it became an animal all its own. I was always aware that it was a very special thing and a fulfillment of a lifelong dream to a) create my own TV show with one of my best friends (diego), b)do whatever the hell i want with almost no intrusion whatsoever, c)get everyone from my beloved students (like king, zig and mihk) to my personal idols (RA and yvette) to some of my longtime best friends (like erwin, ramon and mikey) to write and direct, d) get two of my favorite songwriters of all time (mikey and diego mapa) to write the music, e)discover my own ramon bautista in wincy, f)work with such a great production team, g)make stories on national TV about very personal things like English teachers i fell in love with and the Eraserheads reunion and most especially h)manage to put in a murder mystery, ninjas and zombies (and cast good friends like JC, Wanggo and Audrey as them as well) into the plot as we went along. I remember telling Sharon and Pong at one point that I was really fulfilled with Rakista, and that I was just relishing every moment because I knew it would be too good to last.

Just like Penniless 2008. Happy New Year, y'all.

forever geek

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 05:43:18 GMT

"Alam mo, yung relationship natin, Woody Allen na Woody Allen no?"
"Hahahaha. What are you talking about?"
"No, it's just-- wala. We're both neurotic. And awkward sometimes. Tapos funny siya in a non-funny way. Tapos palagi tayong self-deprecating. Alam mo yan."
"Oo nga no. Pwede."
"Yeah. We're definitely Woody Allen. We're not like, let's say, Mikey. Mikey's so Cameron Crowe. You know, wide eyed and musical."
"Hey. i want to be Cameron Crowe. In fact, I used to think we were Cameron Crowe."
"Deyn. Tapos na yan. Masyado nang maraming HURT."
"Hahahahahaha."
"Tapos si Ramon, ano iyan. Michael Winterbottom. Yung steady lang, pero minsan may moments."
"Ok ok, I get it."
"And you know what makes us Woody Allen the most?"
"What?"
"Palaging may running commentary about what's going on between us."
"Oo nga no."

quick plug again!

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:19:47 GMT

so sad, i'm just using this elchay to plug shit. alas...

this is wincy ong. he is just one of the many talented stars of RAKISTA, our new TV show airing this Thursday on TV5 at 7pm. The show was created by Diego Castillo and me, with the lovely Mads Adrias as executive producer. Directors for the program are me, drywall, edsel abesames, RA Rivera, hoykingcoy, and of course, the supahstah x_boyfriend. with writing by me, diego, erwin romulo, king, zig, yvette tan and sleepless

this is dita von teese, lying on my bed. just sharing :)

edit: oh and wow we appeared on perez! double yoo tee eff!

quick plug!

Mon, 05 May 2008 22:41:01 GMT

hello, just a very quick plug post. if you're not doing anything this wednesday (May 7) night, i'm performing at route 196 for Stripped backed by the veritably hot Mikey Amistoso. if you're not familiar with stripped, it's a more intimate performance series usually featuring an instrument and a voice, with the performers covering some of their favorite songs. so yaay i will now try to cover sufjan stevens, elliot smith, +/- and my favorite song of all time, "Lines and Lines" by the Spinanes.and if everything works out me and mich will have a collaboration onstage. yee haw!

so see you soon :)

cool random event #1,462

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:21:23 GMT

i'm in the parking lot of Power Plant, Rockwell, when I think to myself - hey. the Killers suck. but the first album was such a good album. hmmm. haven't heard that in a while. let's listen to Hot Fuss again.

i tune into 88.1, the default station for those cool iPod transmitter thingies, and start playing Hot Fuss, except for some weird reason it plays Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie. i look at the iPod to double check, but sure enough--

Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
The Killers
Hot Fuss

since it doesn't make sense that Dolemite (my iPod) would do this to me, i figure that it must be the other stations messing with my frequency (which often happens). i tune in to the nearest station, 88.3, and it's playing something else. i look at 107.5 and a dj is talking. weird. must be from some other station. i tune back to 88.1 and there's static for a while, but after 30 seconds Soul Meets Body comes back. whatever. it's a great song, so i just finish it. after Soul Meets Body a weird chillout type song starts playing, which i found weird because what the hell kind of radio station would play Death Cab then Ibiza. the song then abruptly stops, and after 5 seconds DCFC's Lightness starts playing. this freaks me out because i don't understand why any radio station would play that song.

i look at the car behind me. and start driving fast. the song disappears. i stop. it comes back. i drive forward fast again. it disappears again. i slow down, and make way for the car behind me. as he closes in the song returns, and soon after we're driving side by side. i roll my windows down, and make the motion for him to do the same. he does so, looking at me quizically.

-hey! you listening to death cab?
-yeah.
-cool. i'm getting it in my radio.
-ok.
-ok. bye.
-bye.

i drive away quickly, hoping to avoid the awkwardness after the moment.

oh my god

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:40:17 GMT

holy shit. is this it? please let this be it.

tribute : jade castro

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:37:49 GMT

i don't know when i exactly became a fan of Jade Castro.

it could've been a random day in 2001, when we were looking at entries for Eat My Shorts at UNTV and i came across a short called "Hopia Love Me Too", which had the very arresting and humorous first scene of kidnappers making a ransom demand to a Chinese father and having him hang up on them, telling them that he couldn't care less about his kidnapped daughter.

It could be during the days when I was a Livejournal lurker who'd read interesting discussions on cinema, with Jade's ruminations very low-key realist but possibly also the most hopeful of the bunch. I don't recall when I exactly began writing to him, but thanks to LJ archiving this was the first time I wrote on his blog.

it could've been that time i found out that we wanted to do the exact same kind of movie and he was the only writer i've ever e-mailed in my life, asking if we could collaborate. even though the movie never pushed through, we remained friends and constant script-checkers.

it could be when we spent two years working on a film called RAID, which was supposed to be the next Jologs. I came in during draft 6, and I left during draft 9. Jade spent countless hours with a total of 5 different directors, and he never wavered and kept churning out drafts for a movie that would never see the light of projector.

it could be when I first saw Endo last October, the only Filipino film that ever made me cry. Endo was exactly the film Jade was meant to make -- a funny, charming, unpretentious and ultimately touching piece of cinema about a temp worker and his problems with committing both professionally and personally. Jason Abalos plays Leo with nuanced recklessness and innocence, and Ina Feleo is so startlingly good in this movie. I can't wait to watch it again, and I think all of you should do yourselves a favor and watch it too.

the thing about Jade Francis Castro is this-- he's not an angsty blogger who thinks he knows how to save Philippine cinema and insults local movies but hasn't done shit yet. he's not an independent filmmaker who doesn't care about reaching out to an audience and stays on his high horse. he's also not a victim of the industry who has either become a shell of his former self or a total cynic. Jade was the only guy who hated the industry we belonged in as much as I did, yet throughout his many misadventures as a concept development guy, telenovela writer, script doctor, racketeer, indie film producer and prisoner of development hell, he never gave up. Jade is someone who's been through the worst shit possible in this industry, but still keeps hoping and fighting for the best. and the best thing is, if you tell him that he'll just laugh you off and change the subject.

so let's celebrate Jade month. catch Endo right now at SM (Megamall, North Edsa, Manila, Southmall, Fairview, Centerpoint), Ayala (Glorietta 4) and Gateway. visit the sites at endothemovie.com and endothemovie.multiply.comfor more info. and two weeks from now let's all trek out to the malls to watch his big-screen debut, My Big Love!

congratulations, masturmind. i cannot think of anyone who deserves this more than you :)

mumble you want a revolution

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:07:01 GMT

Since late last year I've had a new semi-obssession, and it's called MUMBLECORE.

Mumblecore, according to Wikipedia, is "an American independent film movement that arose in the mid-2000's. It is primarily characterized by ultra-low budget production (often employing digital video cameras), focus on personal relationships between twenty-somethings, improvised scripts, and non-professional actors." In other words, it's people sitting around talking about the most random shit (usually relationship-centered) shot in a very amateurish way.

I first stumbled onto it when I read an article about a film that intrigued me-- Joe Swanberg's Hannah Takes The Stairs. I didn't really pay the catchphrase any mind, though, until Alexis showed me the trailer for Aaron Katz's Quiet City.

I was totally blown away after seeing that. This is the type of cinema Diego and I always wanted to do, and we'd jokingly throw pretentious terms around like "Urban Depression Cinema" or "The Art of Loneliness". Hell, we even worked on a video together that was just THAT-- Sandwich's "Masilungan".

We'd seen it before in movies like Primer or The Ice Storm, but here was actually a group of people who were cheeky enough to say "hey let's do movies like that and call it a movement! And let's have it be about nothing more than people talking about relationships!" Gotta love it.

The funny thing, however, is that when the people behind Mumblecore discuss it, they sometimes do so with either the tongue placed firmly in the cheek or their heads hung low. The term itself was a joke by Mumblecore sound designer Eric Masunaga, who, unbeknownst to many, played guitars for the very emotional ‘90s indie rock group the Dambuilders. Joe Swanberg supposedly hates the term, and Funny Ha Ha director Bujalski isn’t too appreciative that they’ve been labeled as a collective as opposed to being acknowledged individually. This is one of the reasons I was drawn to the movement; Mumblecore is actually the cinematic equivalent of Emo, and don’t let their post-rockish scores convince you otherwise. The weird haircuts, the quiet empty moments where people just look away, the incessant discussions about love and relationships, the apparent refusal of the creators to be boxed and labeled; it’s like watching Jeremy Enigk in action, except this time he’s holding a camera.

And just like the early days of Emo, Mumblecore is spread through word of mouth by loyal followers and tastemakers alike. It’s interesting how the “Mumplecorps” took a very DIY approach to distributing their films, creating Myspace accounts where just anyone can contact them and sending out copies straight out of their DVD burners. This makes their cinema closer to indie rock than to Sundance-seal-of-approval American Independent cinema, and an indirect form of rebellion to a more established one. Since gaining popularity other alternative forms of distribution have been set in place; from being made-to-order through Comcast to premiering in the Independent Film Channel to being sponsored and heavily promoted by Netflix. Joe Swanberg even has a Mumblecore anti-soap called “Young American Bodies”, which I encourage all of you to check out so you get a clearer idea of what Mumblecore is all about .

After a very tiring and nail-biting search (since most of the movies aren't available on video), I was finally able to find some Mumblecore films. I’ve seen three so far; Funny Haha, which is arguably the first film of the movement, and Swanberg’s first two features Kissing On The Mouth and LOL. The verdict? I'm actually kind of disappointeed. The movies have almost no visual sense whatsoever, and apparently the “mumble” in Mumblecore isn’t a joke. Most of the time the characters just keep rambling about the most inane things, saying “like” every other word. Example:

Ellen: He's the reason we're not together anymore, you know?
Laura: Wow, it's like a role reversal. I it's so stereotypical for like, a guy to want sex in the relationship
Ellen: He's such a-- he's a woman, that's what he is. He, umm-- he just wants to talk about stuff, and i don't want to talk about it. Cos I already did that with him for... however long. It's like the beginning part of the boyfriend/girlfriend thing where you're making out and sex and whatever. But after that dies down, then you usually get to know each other and begin to deepen the relationship. But we already know everything about each other. So, like, it's a really weird sensation.

“Funny Haha” simply follows Marnie (played by the cutie Kate Dollenmayer) around as she tries to stir up conversations in parties and passively look for a suitable mate. The sound is mostly incoherent and there is absolutely no sense of pacing in the film. “Kissing On The Mouth” is a bit better, but even with the hardcore sex moments (Bujalski masturbates to climax onscreen and 3 out of the 4 characters have full frontals) I found myself surfing the net while just listening to the dialogue. By and far “LOL” is the best of the bunch, with more well-rounded characers and a semblance of a plot, probably because Joe Swanberg was more confident and surehanded in making his second feature. That having been said, it’s still just an “ok film” and far from being a great work of art. The sad truth is that Mumblecore, contrasting other significant movements in history, doesn’t have any masterpieces. Unlike Dogme 95’s “The Celebration” and “The Idiots”, for example, or the French New Wave’s “400 Blows” and “Breathless”, no Mumblecore film has become internationally acclaimed on its own merit. If ever, it’s always promoted as a “Mumblecore” film first, and then the accolades follow later. It’s the movement that’s making waves, not the films themselves.

And yet they’re there, making it in American Cinema, building their own audience, getting people excited-- and that’s what matters. What I’ve come to realize is that the reason I became so obsessed with Mumblecore is that I fell in love with the idea that a bunch of kids so passionate about film could just get together, work on each others’ movies, and make a difference. Many filmmakers have been inspired by Mumblecore to just go out there and make that first film, and most of the time this inspiration has nothing to do with the films themselves. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that a lot of the inspiration could have come from the confidence that if these films have made it, they can do better. It’s also a film movement we can relate to – one that could only have formed in the world of blogs, Youtube, Myspace and DV. I shamelessly admit that I was so taken by the whole thing that I actually made a Mumblecore-inspired music video and teaser for Sponge Cola--

And just for kicks we throw the word around the set any chance we get:

ME: Hahahaha. By the way, Pong, kunan mo na si Yael.
PONG: Pano? Wide? Close up?
ME: Mumblecore pare.

and even off-set...

MIHK: ganda ng Cloverfield! Mumblegore!

Yes, anyone could have done it, but in the end it was still that small group of like-minded filmmakers who met up over drinks at SXSW and left the bar forming the first significant American film movement in a long while. It reminds me of what Wayne Wang once said – “With digital cinema anyone can get a camera and just start shooting away. There is no fucking excuse.”

berlin

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:07:40 GMT

best q&a ever/having Jorg the director of Nekromantik watch my movie and buy me a beer after/lunch with Kidlat and Nick at the ambassador's/cutest filmfest organizers in history/moshing after 8 years to a swedish punk band/dancing to the mighty moguls and seeing them in normal clothes at the hostel the next day/me khavn john not being able to sleep dahil ang daldal ng roomate namin/dancing to bollywood/video art at hip bars/attempt to stalk hal hartley ending in failure/axel and his mastery of tagalog/kiko soeder, golden emissary of berlin and his taste for the barely legal/videokeing "Ligaya" in english for the germans/schweinshaxe/leberkase/currywurst/doners/pinkel w grunkohl/fantastic graffiti/seeing where run lola run was shot and reenacting...running/reichstag/hamburger banhof/checkpoint charlie/beer now officially in my blood/seeing an original Banksy on the street/almost getting recruited into scientology/cute audiences who wanted to recreate the me+quentin pic/funnest. film festival. ever.

it was a blast, to say the least. can't wait to head on back.

Guten Tag! Don't you just love posts from people who visit foreign lands and start speaking in the n

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:12:47 GMT

allo! i am in Berlin, in Citystay Hostel. i am having problems writing fluently because that horrible fucking annoying "giiiiiiiirll -- it's easy to love me now. would you love me if i was down and out? would you still have love for me" (repeat 32 more times) song is playing at full volume. GODDAMMIT

anyway. Berlin is great. a lot shorter than i thought it would be, in the sense that there are hardly any skyscrapers. however-- that's a good thing. so many things are changing in this city right now that i'm afraid in ten years it's going to be another one of those megacities and will lose its old world charm. it's perfect the way it is, and strangely enough aside from the lack of skyscrapers its just like i thought it would look -- ie a look totally based on Lola Rennt, Wings of Desire and Anton Corbijn's video of "One" by U2

lots and lots of stories to tell, and hopefully with accompanying pictures in the near future. in the meantime, if you have friends who live here please do tell them to trek on to The Berlin Asian Hotshots Film Festival and catch Keka (which opened the festival yesterday and is playing again Friday at 11pm), along with other Filipino film such as Perfumed Nightmares, Himala, Todo Todo Teros, Huling Balyan Sa Bunhi, Squatterpunk, North Diversion Road, Nick deOcampo's classic films and Confessional! also, Friday night it's Filipino night with me pretending to spin but really just playing my iPod because i didn't have time to bring CDs.

btw, speaking of Confessional, you must watch it. it is glorious. and thanks to Jerrold for commenting about additional screenings, you can! catch it at UP, Jan28, 7pm and Jan30, 5pm. you will not regret. and catch Rico's film Altar as well, if it's showing! fun stuff :D

the war goes on, my friends

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:32:54 GMT

seeing as how fucking evil 2008 is turning out to be, me and my fellow warriors of light have decided to once again come out of the shadows and face evil head on. tonight, to celebrate, we be doing it twice.

Us-2 Evil-0 returns. first band in Route 196, last band in Saguijo. hope you can join us. let's take arms!

oh, and look who's decided to continue fighting the good fight as well.

you may remember this piece of _fiction_ 3 years ago and my subsequent tribute to the boy
(who is no longer a boy but a manly man with a charming Slovenian ladyfriend).

what happened since then? well, Alexis Tioseco has travelled on to become the most internationally respected Filipino film critic there is, having been passed the torch from Noel Vera. And me?

I made an MMFF film.

I'm very proud and happy that Alexis stuck to his principles, however. and i'll continue fighting with you. though not in the same way, because honestly i can't imagine filmfests without such masterpieces as Tatlong Baraha and Resiklo, but yes I'll keep fighting ;)

and don't worry my boy, people may try to take your thunder and steal your ideas, but you're still number one in our hearts!

by the way, i'm really sorry. i can't resist. i have to post this again.

hehehe

Hello 2008, You Fucking Asshole

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:59:59 GMT

I think my shoot yesterday goes down in personal history as “saddest shooting day in my entire life.”

It wasn’t a hellish shoot. In fact, for the most part everyone had fun. It wasn’t stressful, either. I think the sorrow in the air had something to do with that. By the first hour everyone’s frame of mind, including mine, was probably like this: “ah hell. Let’s just take whatever and when our time’s up that’s what we have.” No tempers flared, no mean words were exchanged. Everybody was just – sad.

Why? I’d like to say “the usual reasons”, except whenever “the usual reasons” happen to friends they become the most heartbreaking things in the world. Someone was on the brink of depression because his relationship was on the rocks, someone’s family member was very sick, someone else was just consumed by depression, understanding what happened but just wishing she got over it right away. I’m not a big fan of destiny, but it was so weird that this specific day everyone’s world seemed to be crashing around them.

The painful part of it all was that most of the people involved were in front of the camera, so when we’d shoot it was fun and jumping and “performance level” and all that. Then the playback would stop, and people would let go of their instruments, sit down by themselves and just get lost. Two of the band members were the only ones I ever looked at as an older brother and sister, and I’d seen them go through this eight years ago, and wished to God they’d never have to go through it again.

What was really great, though, was that towards the end of the shoot we all kind of found comfort in the general wretchedness. We made jokes about it. We were at a point where we couldn’t really care less, so we started pretending that we were shooting a music video for Glenn Frey’s classic, “The Heat is On”. We all started showing each other 2 Girls 1 Cup and by the time MTV came to interview us we were all madmen, saying that the website was the main inspiration for the video and that all the kids should check it out. At the end of the night we all told each other, “hey look! We’re all together again, just like the old days! Let’s bring back the radio show!”

Shortly after the shoot I drove Mikey to a meeting he was supposed to have with Ciudad. On the way we were listening to In Rainbows, and I pointed out how I thought U2 was baduy when I was a kid because they were such an old man band, and now Radiohead is as old as U2 was then. Mikey, who’d just turned 27, pointed out that the length of time we were from 40 is the same length of time we were from second year high school, when Ciudad was formed. Quite disturbing.

I decided to sit in at the Ciudad meeting, and as usual it ended up being a non-meeting. We spent most of the time gossiping about our friends. We all cheered about Mikey being the new Mong and encouraged him to romance all the ladehhs. Also, once again, 2 girls 1 cup was brought out for everyone to view. How that horrible piece of cinema can bring people together so much, I don’t know.

It was just as it was, 13 years ago: I’d go practice with Ciudad and then head over to NU and hang with my friends. It was weird because at that most depressing time in our lives I realized that I’d known these people for half my life already. I wasn’t with friends – I was with family. And no matter how much shit we may go through in the coming years, 13 years down the line I still hope I can go home to them.

I remember, during the debacle that was Super Noypi, Mihk and I making a pact that the next year would be “drama-free 2007”. It seems we brought all the demons out by making that pact, because 2007 eventually became one of the most drama-filled years of our (and many other people’s) lives. So we made a pact that 2008 would be drama-full, hoping to pull a fast one on God with reverse psychology. The second week of 2008 has just started, and already we have this. Looks like we jinxed it again.

Except this time, for some weird reason, I have a feeling that everything will be ok.

David Lynch's iPhone ad

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:15:13 GMT

someone wrote in the comments, "I love David Lynch more than my father."

couldn't have said it better.

and here's one of the many reasons why...

The Return of Rockeoke! and another announcement

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 09:39:10 GMT

Due to insistent public demand, mostly because everyone's kamag-anaks from abroad are still here and they're looking to SING SING SING! Rockeoke returns TONIGHT! Mag:Net Bonifacio High Street, 930 pm. Some new songs on the list -- Linger, No Rain, Say it Ain't So, and other nice tunes we can get nostalgic and drunk to.

Also, the regular Rockeoke resumes this Monday, Jan 7 and Jan 21:)

Hey kid lovers(i know what you're thinking but i didn't mean it that way)! Want to land that dream job at Blow-Up Babies but have no experience with photography or graphic design? Boy, have we got good news for you! Blow-Up Babies is on the lookout for its official marketing guru! No experience necessary-- all you need is an aura that exudes coolness, perkiness and that quintessential nothing-can-stop-me attitud. You know, like the Care Bears. Plus 462.5 points though if you have a marketing background (though fresh grads are always welcome), and plus 732 points if you have your own car! Just send your resumes to Blow-Up Babies, 2nd floor Serendra, Shops at Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig or cinema level of Gateway, Araneta Center, Quezon City!Or call 9097999 or 9137710. We're so excited to meet you, we can't wait!

the top ten musical long-playing recordings of 2007

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 20:34:29 GMT

Dancing and pain; that is what 2007's top 10 is all about -- songs that move the hips or break the heart. It's been quite a strange year for music; so many of my favorite artists from both my youth and the recent years returned, and almost all of them came out with major disappointments. To add insult to injury, some of them, especially the Smashing Pumpkins, were life-changing artists too. Another uncanny aspect to this year's list is that it's filled with bands that I didn't expect to like as much. I'm so sick of dancey postpunk revival music-- but lo and behold, they make up half the list! Which is probably a good sign -- at least some people are evolving. Oh! And I'm excited to tell you that unlike the past few years I'm having a very difficult time choosing album of the year, so at least there are two albums this year that are worth it.

All in all, it was a so/so year in music. Either that or I'm getting old. I used to have 1,500 tracks collected for the year and for 2007 I'm down to 725. That's why the list is early, I guess. Or maybe it's because of my guilt over giving it in late last time. So without further ado ...

10. Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This
This Melbourne supergroup releases another beautifully unclassifiable record, mixing together everything from Eurotrash to rockabilly; electroclash to good old fashioned synthpop. Vocalists Cameron Bird and Kellie Sutherland have mastered the fine art of boy/girl mixing to a T, and their carrier single "Heart It Races" is one of the most LSSable songs from the past year. Places Like This isn't necessarily Architecture's best album, but it sure is the most fun.
recommended tracks : Heart it Races, Debbie, Hold Music, Nothing's Wrong

9. Jose Gonzales - In Our Nature
Jose Gonzalez is one of those indie artists that will always get love from the ladehhs, and for a number of good reasons. Number one is that his music, reminiscent of Nick Drake and early barebones Elliot Smith, will always be used by men as make out music. Number two is that he makes some of the most lovely covers I've heard in a while, including a version of Teardrop that's almost as good as the original. Number three, the most important of course, is that he gets a much-envied spot on the OC soundtrack, which ensures thousands of instant teen female fans. So, girls, you know what to buy next. And guys, get this album right away and put it to good use!
recommended tracks: Down The Line, Killing for Love,Teardrop, Cycling Trivialities

8. New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom
The only new artist this year to make it to the countdown, New Young Pony Club are a fun, fresh and quite attractive addition to dancepunk. Bands like them and CSS are bringing an aspect to the sub-genre that it sorely lacks -- a sense of humor. Whether vocalist Tahita Bulmer sings "I can give you ice cream, we could be a sweet team, melting in your vice dream, spawht" in a faux-brooklyn-whore accent ("Ice Cream"), or talks about you knowing that you're the bomb ("The Bomb") she does it with a vibe that is totally inviting; a breath of fresh air from a usually elitist scene.
recommended tracks : Get Lucky, Ice Cream, the Bomb, The Get Go

7. !!! - Myth Takes
This album, for lack of a better word, is epic!!! Percussion, trumpets, handclaps, electronic devices, even black lady backup singers!!! !!! is going all out with their major label debut, and it pays off!!! Myth Takes is the best party record this year, and one should probably look forward to hearing a lot of these songs in commercials, TV interstitials, product AVPs and the OC (yes it's cancelled but that won't stop it from uncovering the best in todays cutting edge music!) in the next few years!!!
recommended tracks: Must Be The Moon, All My Heroes are Weirdos, Heart of Hearts,Bend over Beethoven

6. Blonde Redhead - 23
For almost 10 years now Blonde Redhead would be that band that I'd listen to occasionally but never really get into, so it's a pleasant surprise that they've finally made my top 10. Cool. This strange trio, composed of twins who also look like gay lovers and a high-pitched Japanese art student who recently got trampled by a hourse, have finally stopped emulating Sonic Youth and developed a sound uniquely their own. The result: their previous masterpiece Misery is a Butterfly and now this, their seventh album. Dark, nostalgic and haunting, yet also at times extremely dancey,23 is strong, challenging stuff. They also have the coolest album packaging and some of the best music videos released this year, so bonus points to them. Recommended tracks : Dr. Strangeluv, Spring and by Summer Fall, Top Ranking

5. Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs
After such serene, sleep-inducing albums as Blue Screen Life and my personal favorite of theirs, Summer in Abaddon, Rob Crow and co release a record that feels less unified than its predecessors. Seraphs sometimes feels like a mixtape, opening with " From Nothing to Nowhere", a considerably heavy track, and jumping to the signature Pinback-sounding "Barnes" before moving on to the very optimistic and upbeat "Good to Sea". The rest of the album is equally as confused, but after a while it grows on you, and one may later realize that this is a breath of fresh air compared to the earlier records, which can sometimes sound like one long song.
recommended tracks : Good to Sea, Walters, Blue Harvest, Barnes

4. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
This is just fucking glorious. Everytime Spoon releases an album they seem to skirt around the top 3, and they're one of the bands I admire the most right now. It's great how they always manage to subtly reinvent themselves, resisting the temptation of staying in the comfort zone music critics and hipsters have created for them. The one thing Spoon does better than anyone is achieve more with less, and that's most apparent in the brilliant "Don't You Evah", easily one of my favorite singles this year. The bonus CD is pretty damn good, too.
recommended tracks : Don't you Evah, Finer Feelings, My Little Japanese Cigarette Case, Finer Feelings

3. Interpol - Our Love to Admire
Anything that comes from Interpol I will hold dearly to my chest; sniffing the album sleeve, almost licking the surface of the compact disc. Lucky me, then, that Our Love to Admire is still pretty good. I was afraid that after leaving Matador records, which seems to be the good luck charm to many a band, Interpol would get bland. They haven't. Their third album is a very steady effort-- something that's perfect for driving or playing in a store. I must admit that I do miss the long instrumental jamming interludes that the first two albums had, but at least these guys didn't end up becoming the Killers or something.
recommended tracks : Pioneer to The Falls, How My Heart Behaves, The Scale, The Heinrich Maneuver, Pace is The Trick

OK. I can't take it. I was going to choose between two really good albums this year, but it's tearing me apart. So for the first time in my history as a music fan I'm deciding to make it a tie.

1.Radiohead - In Rainbows
I've tried many different configurations of what I'm about to say next, but this is the one that really hits the spot : I LOVE THIS ALBUM SO MUCH. In this so/so year of great life-changing bands coming out with the most mediocre crap, the untoppable Radiohead comes out with something that is enough to make you kneel upon initial listen. It's their best album in 7 years; a collection of some great old stuff (especially "Nude", which they've been performing on and off since OK Computer) and minblowing new material ("All I Need", "15 Step"). It seems the band has finally gotten over their experimental Kid A/ Amnesiac phase and combined that with their alt rock roots to make something I can only describe as good music. And the best thing about it? IT'S TOTALLY FRAKKIN FREE. Thing is, with the "choose-your-payment" policy Radiohead's been implementing in their site, it seems as if the band is making more money than they ever have, and without the backing of a big record label or major radio/television promotion the band is more popular than ever. Mark my words -- it's 2007 right now, but in three years this will be considered the most important album of the decade. Hopefully Kid A will be number two, hahaha.
recommended tracks : just download the whole damn thing

1.Feist - The Reminder
Now I know this seems like an unlikely candidate, especially since Leslie Feist's sophomore release has now become Marie Claire/ Starbucks fodder, but when this album was first released I was going through a very difficult time, and The Reminder just seemed to singlehandedly get me through it. Filled with songs about regret ("So Sorry"), changing ("I Feel it All", "1 2 3 4"), distance ("the Park") and gratitude ("Intuition"), The Reminder is the only album ever made that makes me cry, and even while listening to it as I write this I'm getting teary-eyed. Making this number one was a very personal choice; one I may regret later, but one that is also unquestionably a reminder of myself in 2007.
recommended tracks: again,i advise you to get the album. It's quite powerful, when listened to in order.

HONORABLE MENTION : Moving Units' Hexes for Exes. After 3 long years, my favorite dancepunk band releases their sophomore effort. They sound cleaner, more polished, more practiced... and that's exactly the problem. Hexes for Exes will grow on you, and it has its fair share of gems, but I miss the grit and lo-fi sensibility that placed Moving Units a cut above the rest. Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew's Spirit If... is a great mood album, and gets loads of bonus points for featuring 90s indie rock heroes like J. Mascis and Spiral Stairs of Pavement. Minus points though for not enough Feist or Emily Haines, which is probably why this isn't really a BSS album in the first place. Arctic Monkeys' Favourite Worst NIghtmare has the most 5-star rated tracks in my iTunes this year, but for some reason I can't bring myself to listen to the album straight through. The New Pornographers' Challengers, Mice Parade's Mice Parade, and Modest Mouse's We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank are great listens. Elliot Smith's New Moon is a really strong record, something I prefer to his two previous releases. On the local front, Cocolulu's "8 bit love + singles" was my favorite.

DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE YEAR : the biggest disappointment isn't really a disappointment because i knew in my heart that Billy Corgan no longer has it and whatever he does will suck eggs. it's just that right before listening to Zeitgeist I went through a 236-song Smashing Pumpkins marathon and almost lost my voice because I haven't screamed along to music since, well, Melon Collie and the Infiinite Sadness came out. So i listen to the new Pumpkins with low expectations and man were those expectations too high. And it's so funny how one forces oneself to listen to an album over and over in the hopes that it would "grow on you". it didn't.

Minus The Bear's Planet Ice was also quite disappointing. It was one of my most awaited albums of the year, and it ended up being the proverbial "ok lang". Finally, we have Dinosaur Jr.'s Beyond it's a nice old school alternative album to listen to, but I can't believe we waited like 13 years for this! I'm just happy that Lou Barlow's back with the band, ya know? Haaay, how we set our idols up only to destroy them.

BEST EP: Yeah Yeah Yeah's Isis is solid. No song is wasted, and the strength of the songs will leave you reeling after the short listen.The EP seems to be Yeah Yeah Yeah's strong point, because all the EP's that came before this one packed more punch than the full-length albums as well.

BEST LIVE ALBUM: I'm almost tempted to go ahead and say that Juliana Hatfield's Live Album is it. Since it's her first live recording, it feels more like a best of of her whole career, and so it should be sought out. But! Amazingly enough there's something even better, and it's Life Without Buildings Live at The Annandale Hotel. Life Without Buildings released only one album in their career with a very small label, but over the years they've garnered a huge cult following who have discovered their music through mix tapes, accidental listens and the "music:______" box of livejournal. Annandale, released half a decade after their album Any Other City, is the closest thing fans can get to a second album. And it has some rare songs in it as well! If you haven't heard Life Without Buildings before, this is a good place to start.

SINGLES OF THE YEAR : Most of them have already been mentioned, but y'all might want to try and give Arcade Fire's "No Cars Go" a listen. It's an old song, but the Neon Bible version is exceptionally great. "Knights" by Minus the Bear and Maximo Park's "Books From Boxes" are ace singles from mediocre records. Oh, and if you haven't yet you HAVE to hear Jenny Owen Youngs' cover of "Hot In Herre".

MUSIC VIDEOS OF THE YEAR: No question about it, my current favorite music video director is the great Patriick Daughters, whose videos for Feist, made at the same time, totally blew me away early this year. Check it out : the now-classic 1 2 3 4 and My Moon My Man, which I might like even more simply because it's been my dream since forever to make a music video in a walkalator. Props also for the video of Interpol's No I in Threesome, another of those vids that make you stare at the goddamn monitor trying to figure it out.

Also, my man Tom Kuntz has gone and made a video that isn't comedic... and it's wonderful. Here is LCD Soundsystem's All My Friends which makes you feel weird then almost want to cry then feel weird about almost wanting to cry. genius.

Dougal Wilson's Bat For Lashes promo is just amazing, and for some weird reason I'm quite in love with Jason Albertin's video of Emily Haines and The Soft Skeleton's Our Hell

2006
2005
2004
2003
.
wow I just realized Thom Yorke's been number one two years in a row. daymn.

So what's on your list, elchay frenz?

warfare, love, sex videos, rock and roll

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:26:10 GMT

goddammit, trillanes.

now, i do admit that i believe in magdalo and voted for the guy, and really i did wish all the best for him when he got elected, but what the hell was that stunt?! how am i supposed to believe in this guy as an alternative to our corrupt government when his concept of "serving the Filipino" is walking out of due process, getting a bunch of angry soldiers with guns together, and raiding another hotel full of innocent bystanders? it's barbaric, not to mention poorly planned. in other words, pampagulo lang. i don't know why instead of going on and on about how corrupt GMA is they don't just hold an interview and present the facts. i mean, everyone's dying to have them on air anyway.

and then you have miss crimes against humanity. if the UN has findings that the AFP is behind the killings of the leftists, it's only a matter of time now before they get to her. Arroyo is getting sloppy, and scared. she's grasping at straws, and her mistakes are getting bigger and more numerous every time. i know that Filipinos easily forget, but the phrases "media blackout", "salvaging", "arrest without miranda rights" and "curfew" are very strong ones, and like the worst allergens they open very old and deep wounds.

but enough of the negative, and on to the positive-- pilya is my idol. almost getting teargassed, creeping out of her safe urdaneta home to take pics of the events that transpired, GETTING INTERVIEWED ON CNN! whodathunk that our baby TAMTAM would be capable of such things? read about it here. Mich recently blogged about dealing with her apprentices growing up. to me Tammy will always be that little angsty ICA girl who complains about everything. ah, that heavy thump in the heart-- that is pride, my friends.

+/-

speaking of little girls growing up, you have Maui, my ex-girlfriend, who i will always remember as the one who forced me to have our picture taken with Ed Roland of COLLECTIVE fucking SOUL. and last week, in one fell swoop miss Maui Reyes was able to achieve two things many of us have been dreaming of -- getting engaged and getting namedropped in Neil Gaiman's blog. how? best if the lovely couple explain themselves here and here. congratulations, you two!

as for me, the only kilig-worthy moment i got with Neil was him telling me "why yes i did see your film, and i quite liked it, actually. in fact, I forgot to say this in the interview but it was one of the primary influences in me holding a short film competition here next year(!)" malamang stir, but when my imaginary keka deluxe edition dvd never comes out at least i'll have blurbs from Jessica Hagedorn, Quentin Tarantino and Neil Gaiman at the back, hahaha.

+/-

rock awards will continue, and i am a fucking mess.

it's the first time in its 13 year history that i will be directing the rock awards, and along with the facts that there're 42 bazillion other events at the same time, a celebrity drought, and slight chance of really heavy rains, PGMFA might extend curfew. fun fun fun. good thing i have the best office in the world, furball, to help me.

this is what a normal day at furball is like--

1. RA gets ready to shoot Asia Agcaoili's new sex video, Rock Hard

2. while not shooting, Ramon and Jun discuss Allen Dizon's uncanny abilities to attract everyone with his tantalizing look (this is not staged btw)

quote of the day:
Asia Agcaoili: i-post nyo yan sa facebook ha! don't forget to tag me!

ganda.

+/-

we have a new band. we are called Us-2 Evil-0. we played first gig in secret in the recesses of BF Homes, but are now a bit more encouraged to battle against evil. gig 2 will be at Mag:Net, Bonifacio High Street on December 1 along with other new bands for Revolver. we hope to see you so you can share our message of love.

yes. that shirt again. yes. sweat stains rule.

yaay yaay yaay!

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:13:48 GMT

yaay!

you better go. Sputnik is the best comic store ever and Mogwai is the best bar ever next to Mag:Net High Street (hehehe). we're gonna help curate the movies so just tell me if you want to watch anything you've been looking for for a while. if you haven't gone yet (and of course you all have because you're hip happening people) do try the lapu-lapu, the sole fillet and the chicken liver pasta. the food is beautiful.

as for Sputnik, it's the best place to go if you want comics that aren't just about busty women wearing tight latex beating each other up and. though if you are into that, they have that too :) i highly recommend you all go and get Adrian Tomine's wonderful new graphic novel Shortcomings. it's very different from his usual stuff -- more talky and plot-based; less quiet and poetic. it's his most honest work, though, and while reading it you might sometimes squirm because you know he's talking about himself and you feel embarrassed for him.

+/-

fuck yeah,got a mention in Ben Templesmith's website! yes, cheap thrills, that's my middle name. we interviewed the 30 Days of Night co-creator at NU (and as always the ever-reliable Charlie Satan has an audio file of that) and later that night he went to Rockeoke with Tals and the rest of the Fully Booked crew.

My personal favorite moment has to be Jaime Daez dedicating a song to Mr. Templesmith, which ended up being "Everytime I See You" by Fra Lippo Lippi. though, of course, this is a close second--

also, i noticed that many people who comment on the "Shallow Graves" video question vocalist Miggy Chavez's sexuality. all the things people say about Miggy being gay are so not true! I mean, look at this guy fuckin rock out onstage, man!

Rockeoke resumes Monday, November 19. see you there, friends :)

EDIT: last things last -- check us all out on SOP today (November 18)! and then later on that night i will be guesting on Rock Ed radio (how different can your shows get?!) to talk about the one subject i am unquestionably THE authority on.

yes, friends, it's the ROCK ED EMO SPECIAL "AMBOT SA EMO" tonight at 8! only on NU 107! i guest with Melvin of Typecast and Nix Puno of Us-2 Evil-0!

the future of rock and roll, again

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 20:56:17 GMT

alas, it is once again the end of the semester, and you know what that means -- it's time for my students to kick some serious cinematic ass. today (yes today) at UView in Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street, 4pm -- Short Film 2007 will be screening their final films. do pass by and join in on the fun!

+/-

you horrible bastards, not passing by rockeoke! look what you missed!

it's a good thing this happens twice a month, and the second one's on monday! it's free entrance, man. bring yr friends and family, get drunk, and belt out modern rock classics such as...
U2's "One"
The Bolshoi's "Away"
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
The Strokes' "Last Night"
Green Day's "When I Come Around"
Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train"
A whole lotta Juan dela Cruz and Beatles songs

and 120 more songs! i swear i'm going to have to post the whole list someday. and if the pictures above aren't enough to entice you, here's the fucking ultimate, man --

SHERYL CRUZ SINGING MEREDITH BROOKS'S BITCH

ewan ko lang ha. this over happy mondays anniv any day, mah fren.

+/-

take a look at my new pride and joy

MONGOLOID, a custom designed Munny by none other than one of my favorite Filipino artists, Louie Cordero (whose art is also the userpic of the day). now, if you want great fucking Louie Cordero toys Mongoloid isn't available, but this is--

Nardong Tae 100 limited edition toy is being launched this Wednesday, October 17, at Embassy. 10 lucky people will get custom painted ones. Go to the event or reserve yours now before they're all gone! You can pay for reservations at FRESH, located in Sgt. Esguerra st. QC right next to Old Spaghetti House. visit the website too!

+/-

ok last, last. buy the new issue of HOMESTYLE MAGAZINE. Britney sex video, old pics of the Pope as a Nazi, mathematical proof that God exists, the last digit of pi, why Angel Locsin really did move to channel 7, everything you wanted to know about everything. it's all there man.

+/-

you're a wizard, harry.

ROCKEOKE!!!

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:32:24 GMT

hey i just plugged rockeoke plug it as well because you have more readers

sender: Mich Dulce
04:20 29Sept 2007

hehehe. so, we've done the dry runs and now i think it's finally time to launch--

ROCKEOKE NIGHT AT MAG:NET FEATURING THE JOHNNYS AND YOU!

hosted by Mich, Rockeoke Night is a semi-regular night at Mag:Net where everyone gets a chance at singing their favorite rock and roll classics to A LIVE BAND! Examples are --

Erasure's "A Little Respect"
Gang of Four's "Damaged Goods"
Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm"
Madonna's "Like A Virgin"
The Smiths' "Girlfriend In A Coma"
Britney Spears's "Baby One More Time"
The Cure's "Let's Go To Bed"
Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors"
Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car"
The Raconteurs' "Stead As She Goes"

and around 120 more songs! where else can you find such great variety as this!?

by the by if you have any requests/suggestions just post them here and i'll make sure they get to the johnnys. they're ready and willing to play whatever you want. ENTRANCE IS FUCKIN FREE. AW YEA.

la haine engendre la haine

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:45:22 GMT

so i saw Coheed and Cambria the other day...

and i found it very strange that all around me there were children. CHILDREN. they weren't even the target market annoyingly referred to as "Tweens". these were 9 year olds sporting emo haircuts, hanging on to their fathers whilst sitting on their chairs. in my mind i wondered if, back in '85, when Guy Picciotto was flinging himself through basketball hoops and crying during gigs, he foresaw the masses of little children sporting bad haircuts he would later indirectly inspire.

also, old man me only discovered then that Pete Wentz was actually not the frontman of the band, but the bass guitarist. this brings forth the query -- why is this man supremely popular? because he is banging ashlee simpson, i guess. and then he starts talking about Iraq and politics and i can't believe it because the army of 9 year olds surrounding me start cheering.

WE BELIEVE IN YOU PETE WENTZ! WE SUPPORT YOUR VIEWS REGARDING THE ADMINISTRATION AND HOW WE ARE FIGHTING A WAR NOT WORTH BELIEVING IN! scream the 9 year olds. or maybe not. my mind tends to wander when i hear songs with titles like "The Carpal Tunnel of Love".

i miss the days where bands like Blink 182 knew their place in the world and would just use the concert stage to curse a lot and make sex and shit jokes. alas.

+/-

ok FOB fans. now it's time to get back at me and throw tomatoes at me. come one, come all to The WhyNot? Forum.

concept (7) Ingenious Filipinos, 15 minutes each - sharing their ideas, passions, dreams.

The WhyNot? Lineup :

MARKETING MAVERICK. Dondi Gomez, Managing Director Unilever Philippines.

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATOR. Gang Badoy, RockEdPhilippines

RAINMAKER. Entrepreneurship Professor Jay Bernardo, AIM - ACE

TECHNOLOGIST. Dr. Greg Tangonan, Ateneo.

DESIGNER. Brian Tenorio, Tenorio Manila.

DON'T WORRY HE JUST LOOKS LIKE A PEDOPHILE. Quark Henares.

DREAMER PRIEST. Fr. Ted Gonzales, S.J. Center for Family Ministries.

Performance by radioactivesagoproject. Hosted by Bam Aquino.

---

It's going to be on September 27 (Thursday) 7pm to 10pm at Warehouse135, Yakal St Makati City.

* ONLY 300 slots available *

Entrance is P300, which already includes one drink and light snacks.

For reservations, email whynotforum@gmail.com or SMS 0928.5055713.

http://whynotforum.multiply.com

+/-

and best director name ever goes to Kenneth Anger, the sexually-experimental Theleman who went to dancing school with shirley temple

volume II of The Films of Kenneth Anger is coming out. seeing as my birthday is coming and all, that would be a nice gift. and then i can watch Scorpio Rising on mute whilst listening to "Sugar We're Going Down". it should prove very disturbing.

+/-

happy birthday, Mihk. it seems so long ago we went home after a very tiring Super Noypi shoot and you had a mini-celebration with me, potatocoatedair and Mang Rudy. may you have a drama free 08. but then that's what we wished ourselves a year ago, goddammit.

+/-

hey look guys. it's HAPIPAKS.

let's plug this muthafucka!

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 05:33:12 GMT

ok, time to move on :) hahaha.

tonight, if you're not doing anything, you should probably go to Mag:Net High Street. it's Rockaoke Night with the Johnnies. So basically you can have them play any fucking song in the world and sing along to it karaoke style. comment if you're planning on going and i'll get you in for free, and bring your friends as well. it's my biz partner's little experiment and it has a lot of promise so let's help her out!

+/-

around March of this year I was judging for the CCP short film competition and there was one film that clearly blew everyone else out of the water. it was a short called CARPOOL, directed by Jerrold Tarog

we unanimously voted it first place and I was an instant fan. i even copied the DVD to show to whoever passed by the house. it was exciting, fresh, fast and asskicking-- and it even starred my former student anti-amkid activist JUJU!

so now, thanks to a comment by its director two posts ago, i'm deathly excited for mr. Tarog's first feature -- CONFESSIONAL

dude you can't go wrong with drugs, doomed love, killing and music by Shiela and The Insects. you just can't. coming soon from Cinema One Classics

+/-

speaking of trailers, kimpoy's got a film coming out and it looks fun! can't understand what the hell hank palenzuela's saying but then no one really understands what hank says anyway :D Champ and Karl Roy in one film. Crazilly.

Trailer for MANILA ROCK by Kim Marvilla

+/-

you know what? while i'm at it I might as well plug my damn self! check out the Youtube page, mah frenz. been addicted like mad to uploading as of late. new stuff like the latest Imago video and the Belo ad are in there, as well as old skool skeletons like Monsterbot's "Explosive", The Pin-Up Girls' "Down" and Chicosci's "Shallow Graves". ayuzzahh!

My Life with The Quentin Cult Vol. II

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:34:11 GMT

Matthew experimentego called my last post a "Geekgasm", which is probably the best term to describe what I was experiencing. I only realized this two weeks ago, but I AM a Quentin geek. You know that you’re a fan of the filmmaker when you can remember seeing each and every one of his films for the first time. Jackie Brown I saw with some High School friends in the now-defunct “Louie’s THX Theater” at the NU107 premiere of the film (I had to beg my dad to do that). Kill Bill Volume 1 I saw in the AMC theater in New York, with Mikey and Lia. It was a nice afternoon, we had just come from a delicious hurried pizza lunch, and all that blood and gore seemed like apt dessert. Kill Bill Volume 2 screening was with the barkada formerly known as “The Wednesday Group”. There was a girl dressed up as the bride complete with yellow tracksuit sitting in the front row. She left alone as the credits rolled, but I remember wanting to ask her if she had the yellow Onitsuka Tiger shoes as well. I saw Death Proof at Mann’s Chinese Theater, one of the only remaining theaters Grindhouse was at, in L.A. with Annette and Haro.

That’s another great thing about Tarantino movies – they’re best enjoyed in the presence of other people. It’s actually endearing- not annoying- hearing people recite the Eziekel passage along with Jules Winnfield. It’s great watching people squirm and turn their heads as Mr. Blonde cuts Marvin Nash’s ear off. One of the fondest memories I have of watching Kill Bill is seeing Ramon turn to me and say “I fucking love this” as The Bride slams the door repeatedly on Buck’s head. Death Proof’s premiere in Manila, which, according to Tarantino is his favorite screening of the film, had a number of cool moments; number one of which was seeing Tikoy Aguiluz throw his fists in the air as if he’d just scored a homerun.

It’s 3AM and I’m going home from a Mag:Net High Street’s “God Knows Hudas Not Pay” gig. I’m inside my village already when I get a text from Ryan Eigenmann (from “The Eigenmennz” as pinggoy funnily puts it)

Jaipur. Now.
From: Ryan Eigenmann
3:03

“Oh fuck,” I say.

“Holy shit,” Essa says, “I thought he was in Boracay?”

“I guess he’s not,” I say.

“Would this be pathetic? To turn around and head back to the Fort to hang out with Quentin Tarantino?”

“Maybe.”

“But it’s not stalking.”

“Yeah. You see. That’s a good point. It’s not as if we’re stalking the guy. We got invited to go to Jaipur. Why not?”

“That’s a good rebuttal. Ikaw. It’s up to you.”

I then arrive at the ultimate criteria I always have for decision making : “this may seem foolhardy, yes, but would it be something I’d blog about?”

In the blink of an eye I make that 180 degree turn.

When we get there Tarantino is sprawled out on the couch, grooving to the hip hop music and talking with Ryan and his lovely girlfriend Cathy. He sees me and says the most surreal thing –

“HEY MAN! I saw your Trailer!”

“Oh. You did?”

“Yup!”

“For which film?”

“For the movie with Wendell, man!”

“Cool! Keka?”

“No, no, no. Not Katya (for some reason he kept calling ‘Keka’ ‘Katya’). The one with the girl with the glasses!”

“Oh. Gamitan. “

“Now, you see, you’ve got me intrigued! I have a little crush on the girl with the glasses. I’m worried about her fate now. Because she’s gonna get used, right? Does she get her revenge?”

“I can’t tell you that."

He laughs. “That’s the correct answer, Quark” (OHMIGODHEKNOWSMYFUCKINGNAME)

“Don’t watch that man! “ by this time I had given him the other films, you see “Just watch Keka.”

“I can’t just watch Katya! I’m gonna watch this one first. I’m gonna have a fucking QUARKFEST MARATHON, OK? You gotta guide me through this! I kind of have it planned out. I’ll watch the girl with the glasses movie, starring Wendell. Now, Wendell will be my guide, and he will take me to Katya

“But you gotta promise me that you’ll watch Keka, ok? Even if you end up not liking Gamitan.”

“No no no no no. I can’t promise you I’ll watch Katya. If you hate Reservoir Dogs you come into Pulp Fiction in a bad mood! But let’s say I do watch Katya. Where do I go from there?”

“The horror film. But that’s a co-direction.”

“Ok. And then the superhero movie?”

“No. Don’t watch that. Maybe you can use it as a coaster.”

The whole fricking time I’m just sitting there trying to breathe in all the surrealism. The phrase “Quarkfest Marathon” just keeps playing over and over in my head. See?

The blur is Quentin Tarantino. The salivating retard is me.

The rest of the night is equally surreal. Suddenly there’s a line of people waiting to talk to Tarantino in the middle of people bumping and grinding. One of those people is a British English teacher at I.S. and out of nowhere her and Tarantino are having a discourse on English education in this country. I see my cousin, and she introduces me to her girlfriend. That was not a typo. We move to Cuisine and everything turns into an episode of "Entourage". Manolet Dario buys us drinks. Moet is popped and poured. Our table suddenly has its own waiter courtesy of Tim Yap, who brings us to the VVIP section of Embassy (yeah I know all of you know where that is it’s just my first time in ‘Emba’ and i kind of find it funny that there is such a thing as VVIP that’s all). For some reason we end up waiting for Tarantino and the lovely Tiffany Limos of Ken Park fame outside at 6am, our only source of entertainment being the new “Where’s Waldo” book where there’s like a whole fucking Waldo family already. We run into foreign Greenpeacers looking to get drunk and we end up bringing Tarantino and Tiffany home. A drunken Marie reveals my stash of pirated dvds in the car and Tarantino gives us trivia tidbits about how Fassbinder’s Ali: Fear Eats The Soul is a remake of Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows. THIS SHIT YOU CAN’T MAKE UP.

Back to 1995. Diego and Myrene had both just seen a premiere of Pulp Fiction, and they loved it. So, for the two weeks after that, this is what it was like in the NU Booth...

DIEGO: YOU HEAR ME TALKIN HERE BILLY BOY?! I AIN’T THROUGH WITH YOU BY A DAMN SIGHT! I’M GONNA GET MEDIEVAL ON YOUR ASS!
EVERYONE: HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA
DIEGO: Five long years, I had that uncomfortable piece of metal. Up my ass.
EVERYONE: HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA
MYRENE: Hey, did you see a sign saying “dead nigger storage” in my front yard?
EVERYONE: HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA
ME: You know why you didn’t see that sign?
EVERYONE: BECAUSE STORING DEAD NIGGERS AIN’T MY FUCKIN BUSINESS, THAT’S WHY! HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA

We quote Quentin, and we quote Quentin, and we quote Quentin. 7 years down the line Diego and I are doing our radio show “Let’s Fun”, and what happens?

ME: AGHHHH! I’m dyin, man! I’m dyin!
DIEGO: Excuse me, are you a doctor? I didn’t know you know medicine! You’re gonna be ok! Say it! You’re gonna be oK!
ME: I’m gonna – aggckkkkkkk—

We quote Quentin.

Two days after Jaipur madness (actually, the next day) Tiffany kindly invites me to have dinner with them at Cesar Montano’s restaurant. Midway through her invitation she says, “oh. Wait a second.” Someone else then goes on the phone.

“Hey Quark. It’s Quentin.”

“Oh, hi Quentin!”

“Hey I just saw Keka.”

“Really? Wow. Cool man.”

“I loved it!”

“OH MY GOD! REALLY?”

“Yeah, I totally did! You had me around the palm of your hand, man! I didn’t know what was going to happen next!”

“Oh. Wow. Thank you so much – “

“And I love your ending! You know – ‘it doesn’t matter if I get caught, or if we escape. It’s the end of the movie, ok?’ I love that! And Ryan is SUCH A FUCKING ASSHOLE in the film. I mean, the only complaint I have is that Bobby Domingo didn’t get killed in that movie! He’s such a jerk!”

“Haha. Yeah he—“

“ ‘Oh excuuse me! I’m just your star! If you want your work to be shit, fine!’ Hahaha, I love his lines! He’s such a great character. You really wanna kill him!”

“I know, it’s –“

“And my favorite scene is the one where she’s describing what she does. ‘Oh yes, we at Tech Support are assholes. And that’s because we ARE smarter than you.’ Did you write the subtitles?”

“Yes. Yes i di—“

“I knew it, man! You had to have written it. There was a sort of rhythm or meter to those subtitles. You did really good, Quark.”

There are other aspects to this story; how he had me invite Katya to the dinner so he could meet her and talk about the film with her (“i’m a big fan, and you need that in Manila because it’s so hot—a big fan! Pa-dum-tss!”), how he called Ryan and was repeating Ryan’s lines to him over the phone, how TJ Trinidad silently made his way to meet Tarantino because he was blown off as a fan the first time (“Dude! He called me a great character actor!”), how at one point he was singing the Keka theme song (except in English).

However, all of that is a blur now. The only thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was how lucky I was. I’ve always felt that “making art” - or whatever you might call it – was the result of being inspired by others’ works so much that you feel almost compelled to throw something back at the world in gratitude. And for the first time I felt that I had actually come full circle, because I found myself literally giving something in gratitude to a person who pretty much changed my life with his art. In the midst of all the talking and laughing and socializing, I couldn’t concentrate. I was still trying to get over the shock of this one simple realization --

Holy mother of God.

Quentin just quoted me.

for more geekgasming, see Life With Julie

My Life with The Quentin Cult Vol. I

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:54:18 GMT

It was March 1995, I remember. The schoolyear had just ended and to celebrate I headed on down to Yves Vincent, my neighborhood video store. I asked them the question I had asked a thousand times before – “andiyan na ba ang Pulp Fiction?” To my surprise Gorie the clerk said, “oo, sa wakas andito na.”

It was laserdisc, but it ended up being a bad Chinese copy. I paused the movie and reflected on whether I should continue watching despite the shoddy quality and decided that yes, I should. Little did I know that that bad Chinese bootleg laserdisc would go on to change my life. With its hysterical and realistic dialogue, surprises around every corner, uncomfortably lovable characters and unconventional way of revealing plot, Pulp Fiction became my favorite film. It wasn’t only that – all my life I had known that I wanted to be a storyteller, but it was only after watching Pulp Fiction that I realized what medium I wanted to work in. With cinema characters became more real, collaborating with people to tell a story seemed more fun, and most importantly, I realized how rewarding it would be watching your intended audience react en masse WHILE watching your work with them. Pulp was that turning point in my life that made me decide to be a filmmaker.
“Hey, you know what? I’ve got enough of these in my luggage and don’t think I really need any more”, he says, as he hands us a gold box with a logo saying, “Tanduay 50 years”. Quentin Tarantino is handing me a Tanduay Anniversary box. In his motherfucking hotel room. I may have dreamt of something like this when I was a brand new film fan at the age of 14, but if I ever did it was one of those fantasies that were swept under the rug for eternity like getting to make out with Teri Hatcher or having an affair with your hot high school teacher. Tarantino paces back and forth as he talks, doing his signature hand motions to stress certain points. I feel like I know this guy, with all the interviews I’ve seen and read of his before this moment. This is just like another one of those interviews – except it’s all happening in front of me, and apparently I’m the interviewer. “Ok, Ok. Favorite character I’ve ever written. That’s a good question. I think, without a doubt, it would be The Bride. Then Jules. Then Mr. Blonde. Then Gogo.” Tarantino’s got a bit of a reputation – egomaniac, asshole, conceited filmmaker – but I find that impossible to believe. I just dropped him a line to tell him that I’m leaving his videoke vcd’s with the front desk, and suddenly this guy invites me up to his hotel room to shoot the shit and talk film an hour before he has to leave for the airport. And really – Tarantino’s doing all the entertaining . He’s telling me about how he got Michael Keaton to play the same character in both Jackie Brown and Out of Sight. He’s talking about his plans for his next film, the wonderfully-titled “Inglorious Bastards” (“It’s the next huge mountain i have to get over. It’s a big mountain, but after that I’m thinking maybe I can see the clearing”). Finally he talks about how much he likes it here and how he wants to come back as soon as possible (“All this is business. But now I’ve done my job and I’ve met a lot of great people and when I come back there won’t be work anymore. I’ll just drop by and say ‘hey guys!’ and hang out”). I then realized something about Quentin Tarantino that’s never really been touched on by the thousands of articles written about him: the guy’s a sweetheart. It’s endearing how much cinema means to him, and how I can honestly believe this guy’s going to watch every single Filipino DVD handed to him during the trip. He's a swell guy, and it’s great when the person who’s indirectly changed your life actually ends up being a swell guy.
Sandwich guitarist Diego Castillo and I didn’t like each other much, back in the day. To him I was an obnoxious spoiled brat, and I thought of him as a scary neo-nazi. One summer day in 94 he comes in to NU 107 wearing a t-shirt with the logo “Reservoir Dogs” on it, and I ask, “what’s that? A band?”

“It’s a movie.”

“Yeah? Never heard of it.”

“Rent it. I think you’ll like it.”

And that was the longest conversation we’d had at that point. I don’t know why, but right after that I headed on to Yves Vincent and rented a laser of Reservoir Dogs. It blew me away. It was the first time in my young pubescent life that I’d ever seen people talk about horribly obscene stuff, or saw bystanders get shot randomly, or watched someone getting tortured (to Stealer’s Wheel’s “Stuck In The Middle With You” nonetheless). I didn’t even know that there were movies like this! Reservoir Dogs set me on a path to becoming a cinephile, but It was also the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Shortly after that Diego would recomment films like A Clockwork Orange, Goodfellas, The Shining, Fresh, Boyz N Tha Hood, Taxi Driver, The Godfather and Scarface. We’d talk non-stop about those movies, and we haven’t stopped talking to this day. We’re now about to start the first movie we’ve written together, and I dedicated my first movie to him and his then-girlfriend Myrene, because, as the credits said, “they started it all.” Probably should have put Tarantino in there as well.
This is how I met Quentin Tarantino – in the middle of a commercial interlock one of our photographers at Blow-Up Babies calls me and tells me that Cinemanila head Tikoy Aguiluz has just booked the studio for a shoot with Tarantino, Cirio Santiago and Eddie Romero. Before they could say “blueberry pie” I was rushing out and driving like the devil, calling all my partners to get there before the session was over. When I got there I saw my partner JA touching up the aforementioned portrait.

“What?”

“Wala na sila. Pati nga ako di ko naabutan eh.”

“What?”

“Oo. Pumasok lang sila, nagpapicture ng 2 minuto at umalis.”

“What?”

“Bawal nga magpapicture yung iba eh. Umalis na sila.”

“MOTHERFUCKING SHIT FUCK GODDAMMIT HOLY CRAP FUCKING SHIT”

A few days later our photographer Mia Tengco said she could hear me scream the aforementioned phrases from inside the studio while she was taking pictures of a 2-year old and her mommy.

Whatever. The kid will eventually hear those words anyway so it’s better if they start young. I call Tikoy and ask him where they are and he says Cibo. So I run over there and he welcomes me into the restaurant. They introduce me to Tarantino and I kneel down and say, “Mr. Tarantino, I became a filmmaker because I saw Pulp Fiction. It is an honor and a pleasure to meet you.” He was very gracious about it – you know, “the pleasure is all mine” and all that. I cut him off by saying,

“As tribute, I present to you my softcore porn film.”

Which makes the above statement #8 in the “stupid things I say when I meet people I admire series”. Yes, I wonder myself why it was Gamitan that I first gave him. Truth is, I couldn’t find copies of the others at the time. We talked a bit, but that first meeting I think I was just staring at him, my mouth agape the whole time. Before he leaves I decide it’s the best time to have a picture taken with him, and I look around and the only person I can find is Raymond Red! So here --

Me with Cannes Palme d’Or winner Quentin Tarantino. Photo by Short Palm d’Or winner Raymond Red. When I was a high school film geek trekking out to all these film festivals to watch films by my favorite short filmmaker Raymond Red and you told me that one day he would take a picture of me and Quentin Tarantino I would have never believed you.