nothing climactic here

LITorgy

2010-07-15T01:38:00.001+08:00

Play Review: Spring Awakening

2009-10-18T18:45:00.007+08:00

It's been so long since I've last watched a play on stage. So when I've heard Spring Awakening will be produced by Atlantis Productions this year at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in the RCBC Plaza, I've immediately etched in my to-do list for the year not to miss that event. That was ten months ago. Ten months later, I've seen Spring Awakening and it was not as engaging as I thought it would be. I was actually a bit disappointed.

The production had it all, cathartic lighting, effective stage production and memorable song and dance numbers. But all aspects were ovarcasted by a cast of inept and inaudible thespians. Leading the pack were Joaquin Valdes playing Melchoir, Kelly Lati playing Wendla and Nicco Manalo playing Moritz. The actors gave expected portrayals on their characters much like you expect Star Cinema would produce another love story with a happily ever after ending. It was neither risky nor endearing but they were too much-Melchoir was too angry; Wendla, too innocent; Moritz, too awckward. The story dictated those emotions on them but the performances were often teetering on single tonalities instead of a spectrum of emotions.

However, Valdes who in one instance stumbled with his lines was more at home singing Melchoir's songs. His earlier songs were a struggle but later songs such as "Left Behind" and "Mirror-Blue Night" showcased his sensibilities with the character. Not the same could be said on Lati's songs as her soft voice was often overpowered by the instruments playing in the background (literally, the band is in the background). Extra effort was given to listening her sing "Whispering" but still the lyrics could not be heard.

The supporting cast delivered their performances. JC Santos played Hanschen and Nar Cabioc played Ernst, gay lovers serving as comic relief that counters the tragic circumstances from our more heterosexual characters. One stand out was Bea Garcia playing Ilse. Her introspective performance of the play's most elusive and infamous character overshadowed those in the same scene with her. Cheska Inigo and Jett Pangan effectively changed from one adults character into another without losing momentum against the younger cast. There were other cast members including celebrities Sitti and Miguel Mendoza. Well they sang. That is what you expect from performers whose day job is to sing anyway. Just don't expect them to dance. In the "Bitch of Living," Mendoza looked like a big kid in tantrum hitting his foot on a chair.

Performers used microphones on their song numbers to transport the play into today's standard of what a concert is. However, it was frustrating because their singing still cannot be heard against the lambast of drum beats and guitar chords. Their dialogues were accompanied with fake foreign accents. It was easier to listen to but not all mastered their lines.

That aside, director Chari Arespacochaga was innovative with the mise-en-scene. Production design was limited to props being moved by the cast and erected walls that effectively turn from classrooms to outdoor meadows. Lighting served to cue the transition as well as an extension of a character's emotion. Spot lights were used to highlight introspection and heavy lights were for tense moments. One example, at the end of "Song of Purple Summer" light from the background passed the stage then glides through the aisles passing every soul sitting in the auditorium. A resonance of hope stirred the listening heart.

There was no awakening on this adaptation at all, only entertainment you can feel but not hear. What else would give importance to hearing other than a musical anyway? I would still recommend it to my friends, maybe on the next production. Or preferably the soundtrack. That way you get to control the volume.

PS: News has sprung out that a film version of Spring Awakening will be made with McG at the director's chair. McG is no Rob Marshall. In fact, there is a petition against him directing films. What was that? Oh yeah, to-ta-lly fucked!

The Philippine Production opened in Manila on September 25 to October 18, 2009 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Building, Makati. It was staged by Atlantis Productions.

the young girl and the sea

2009-08-28T23:19:00.003+08:00

Here's a story that would make Alice smile. A 13 year old girl desires to sail across the world on a boat solo. Her parents, both circumnavigators, have given their support but child protection has taken her into temporary custody to prevent her from doing so. She has the proper breeding and right equipment. Age is the only major deterrence for little physical and mental maturity can make you unfit in the eyes of others to handle a demanding endeavor. Wait four or five years when she is legally an adult then she can sail around the world without the fuss of being too young. There, an ocean of responsibilities will be waiting ready to test her very spirit. But for now she remains on land with psychologists trying to measure her capacity for a great adventure.

don't sue me

2009-08-22T02:51:00.006+08:00

Internet had been the place for free speech. If not in the streets, then one is allowed to express his opinions online. But a recent ruling has forced Google to allow a defamed female model access to the IP address of an anonymous blogger who labeled her with derogatory terms. The blogger is being ruled to be held responsible of their offensive derision. Now, when Internet it at its infant stage, we can grabble on the scope of our online freedom. Enjoy it while it lasts for we are slowly moving toward more thorough online cleansing and lesser curse words in comment boxes. You'll never know when Big Brother will be knocking at your online door. So here goes. Charice, you are one fugly slut. Don't sue me.

Apostrophe FAIL!

2009-07-12T22:21:00.000+08:00

her name is Mary

2009-06-14T21:50:00.002+08:00

going home early in the morning

2009-06-07T17:00:00.000+08:00

Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-23T20:52:00.005+08:00

A Slumdog’s Path To Success

Directed by: Danny Boyle
Screenplay by: Simon Beaufoy
Based on a novel by: Vikas Swarup
Cast: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor
Running time: 120 minutes
Language: English and Hindi

D. It is written.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) is a hybrid of Western technique and Eastern story-telling, an example of post-modern, post-colonial, and globalized film-making. But even with all that terms to ponder on, Slumdog Millionaire is still a feel-good film about an impoverished orphan winning an Indian game show and the girl of his dreams. It’s also an underdog story, a melodrama, and a love story filmed into one. Not to mention it ends with a group dance scene. Basically, this film curiously treads on different waters. Fortunately, so does its director.

The film is directed by Danny Boyle, a British film maker with the reputation of never making the same film twice. He has made films ranging from drug-induced dramas (Trainspotting, 1996) to post-apocalyptic sci-fis (28 Days Later, 2002) to existential pseudo-thrillers (Sunshine, 2007). All of which, he has made fit into the genres they belong into. Yet, as multi-faceted his filmography may seem, his most recent vehicle takes his to a whole new territory: a foreign land called India.

Based from Q & A by Indian writer Vikas Swarup, the film is about Jamal Malik (played by Brit thespian Dev Patel) a call center “chai-wallah" (tea-server) and a contestant only one question away from winning 20 million rupees in India’s version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. We stumble on Jamal being tortured for questions of cheating on the game show. He proclaims he did not but we still get a kick at the Trainspotting-like torture scene.

Eventually, Jamal gets to tell how he knew all the answers through flashbacks of important life moments triggered by flashbacks of him answering the questions or vice versa. In layman’s terms, it’s a flashback within a flashback. But it is not that easy. In fact, the film’s structure feels calculated to the most precise instances that it only feels easy (edited by Chris Dickens).

An example: on a flashback we see a teacher reading The Three Musketeers to his students. In come a young Jamal and his older brother Salim being forced into the classroom by their mother. The teacher verbally harasses them before hitting Jamal at the back of his neck with the book. There is a subjective sound of the book hitting him. Then, we jump cut to the present with the older Jamal’s back neck in sight.

Boyle’s attack on the script (written for the screen by Simon Beaufoy) is fluid, blurring the differences in time with well-placed transitions to make the plot more logical than it actually is. But as the story moves, the camera does follow with the same momentum (cinematogaphy by Anthony Dod Mantle). It blurs, cants, and pans whenever it deems necessary. Add to that coloured subtitles and a mixture of Hindi and Western scores (greatly composed by A. R. Rahman) that serve as floor grease to an already moving film. The results are a camera often frantic and a film often kinetic.

However, kinetic does not mean fast-paced. On the contrary, it is humbled. The same way an American couple becomes humbled when they see not just the Taj Mahal but the poverty-stricken “real India.” Or the way a British director gets seduced to the vibrant colours of Mumbai. Though it is a film about India, it is not necessarily an Indian film. It is a fusion of Western tongue and Indian flavour, a product of curiosity and global reach. The rags-to-riches story does not come of as arcane and useless. Instead there is a breath of fresh air that makes it work. Poverty, violence, prostitution seems, for the lack of a better word, fun. In these hard times, the romance mode may just be our savior.

This film was cast with nameless performers. Its main actors, Patel and Frieda Pinto playing Latika Jamal’s love interest, were generally fresh for the eye and were able to hold their own. The supporting cast consists of actors from Indian cinema. But standouts include Anil Kapoor as the game show host and Madhur Mittal as Salim, Jamal's elder brother for having such ambiguous characters. Special mention goes to Loveleen Tandan who has helped in co-directing the younger versions of the characters. Same goes for the young actors who played them. Probably the best scene of the film: a young Jamal covered in excrement triumphantly attaining a celebrity’s autograph.

Slumdog Millionaire is Danny Boyle’s take on India, an India that is fast-paced, light-weight, brutal, and endearing. It goes by like a morning breeze. But it’s also a breeze that lingers after the credits have ended. With such vision realized from its cast and crew, one wonders whether or not it is fated to succeed from the start. 5/5

Descend

2009-02-17T14:20:00.008+08:00

A mother wraps her arms around a crying child.
She hums an old lullaby about a baby rocking on a tree.
For some remote reason the child understands this language of song.
For his wails slip into murmurs. His breathing hush.
His movement calm. His body exact.
And the mother, ever the humbler, continues with her song
Until the last note, the last sound.
The eyelids fold.
She rests her child on his solitary crib.
Care first, head last.
Then it is done.

Lush leaves, once done with their swaying,
Bleed red then away from the tree--
Fall to the ground.
Gravity abound.
Yet there is an ebb and flow of things.
For the flowing wind guides them on their landing
Until the last leaf touches soft earth.
How fluid everything seems
With the breeze all-encompassing
That every leaf dropped so slow.

They must be blessed.

cds unlimited

2009-01-27T13:30:00.003+08:00

Me and Anjo went to Quiapo for some picture-taking and cd-buying. I'll try to post some more pics later. The vendor did tell us not to take pictures because its bad for business. But the way I see it, it's free publicity. They have lots of cds.

I've watched Slumdog Millionaire recently. I'll try to post a review soon as well.

cat food

2009-01-21T19:48:00.005+08:00

I was standing at the entrance of National Book Store in Greenbelt 1 to pass the time, listen to jack's mannequin, and wait for something to happen so that I can take a picture of it when a cat walked by heading towards the grassy field. With disregard to everything happening around it--all the people walking, me observing--the cat circled around a small patch of grass and started eating its leaves. This might be normal; I don't really know. I never had any type of pet. I'm just like 'This cat is mad. Your teeth are too small for that!' The cat went on for five more minutes (yes, i kept time) before finally realizing its mistake and venturing off to find other foods. It was just amusing to watch that feline trying to feed itself and fail. Here are some pics of this crazy cat.

Though it does look like that the cat was cleaning itself with the grass rather than eating it. That would have made a lot more sense. A blog entry about a cat, this deserves a Palanca!

PS: I'm thinking of changing my blog again. At first, I thought maybe just the layout. But I'm thinking of changing the address as well. Actually the whole thing. Though I'm keeping the entries. Its just a thought, for now. But if it does happen; people, bear with me. I will find my own patch of grass eventually.

Movie Review: Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-01-17T17:55:00.006+08:00

A Curious Case of a Film

Release dates: January 8, 2009

Directed by: David Fincher

Screenplay by: Eric Roth

Based on the short story by: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas, Tilda Swinton,

Rating: PG-13

Running time: 159 minutes

Forrest Gump once said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You’ll never know what you’re gonna get.” That is until all the chocolates are gone and all you are left is an empty box. Benjamin Button is right. “Nothing lasts;” even a film 159 minutes long.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) is directed by David Fincher about Benjamin Button (played by Brad Pitt), a man who since birth has aged in reverse. It roots from an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story with the same name. Both stories have the same premise. However Fitzgerald’s story relies on the comic circumstance that age is just a perception. Whereas Fincher strips the premise off with humour and instead replaces it with pathos—along the lines of other fantastic films like Big Fish (2003) and Forrest Gump (1994). Eric Roth penned the screenplay for both Gump and Button thus both showing similarities in tone.

The story starts with an elderly woman on her deathbed at a hospital in New Orleans 2003 just as Hurricane Katrina is about to make landfall. The elderly woman asks her daughter to read a diary to her about a man with a “peculiar birth” thus triggers Benjamin’s life story told in flashback Big Fish-style.

On the director’s chair, Fincher orchestrates his crew well. His magnificent production design (set decoration by Victor Zolfo) takes us to different places and times of the last century in less than three hours. While the score (composition by Alexandre Desplat) injects an other-worldly appeal in every scene.

For the characters, their aging process is necessary. When we first see Brad Pitt, his character is wrinkled and fragile. But as each year brings us closer to the present so do they bring more youth for Benjamin. This is done by putting Brad’s face on different actors and adjusting his feature though CGI. Increase the hairline here, remove some wrinkles there; and presto, Brad transformed from an old prune to the hunky Hollywood demigod we all know.

However the film does have its flaws. When you draw the whole plot of the story, you will pretty much get the pinpoint the three acts easily by looking at Brad alone. The first act is when Brad is hidden by prosthetics and CGI. The second is when Brad’s age is similar to his character’s. The last is the instance when the audience actually gasped at the revelation of a physically-25-year-old Benjamin.

Instead of tying them together, Fincher isolated the acts into parts. Notice the lighting (cinematography by Claudio Miranda). Act one and three has minimal lighting while act two is bathed with sunlight. One might argue that lighting is used one for a symbolic reason of differentiating Ben’s years and two for a practical reason of hiding the CGI. Then again this is a film relying on its stars to earn profit and who is more profitable than one of Hollywood’s sexiest man.

The second act is where the film lags mainly because the perversity of Ben’s life-long relationship with Daisy (played intentionally-transparent by Cate Blanchett) is at its lowest. There are no ackward pedophilic tendencies; just your normal good-looking couple sailing around Florida. There is also a sequence about one character getting hit by a car that turns gimmicky because of Benjamin’s omniscient point-of-view. He cannot know every person’s action or how they stand in the grand scheme of things. He might age differently but he is not God.

Fincher collaborated with Pitt on darker films like Se7en (1995) and Fight Club (1999). His approach is like that of a psychologist treating his patient. He observes and picks parts that are considered as pivotal. Shoots and elaborates on it leaving the rest behind. His mission is to make this curious case objective, to create Benjamin Button not as a social outcast but as a person who’s meaning in life is to be different. The outcome is a film that can feel glassy and distancing but also can be reflective and introspective.

For those who want to watch the film for Brad Pitt, you won’t be disappointed. But for those who want to watch out of curiosity alone, bear the long duration and a weak second act. 4/5.

Clouds

2009-01-13T19:57:00.003+08:00

The clouds blushed pink today
Like students with their small crushes.
I tried to take a picture of them blushing.
But as much as crushes go
They changed from pink to yellow to gray
Before I even had a chance.

PS: No pic. Oh well so much for a photo blog.

Driving Lesson

2009-01-02T15:25:00.007+08:00

The start of the new year always welcome new beginnings and new ventures. For me its leaving my student years behind and getting ready to charge ahead into adulthood. Its about finding a job and paying taxes. All that adult stuff that once disgusted me when i was a naive teenager. And in true adult fashion, I have just recently started getting some driving lessons.

I kept thinking to myself that since mothers consider giving birth on the first day of the new year lucky maybe its lucky, or at least easy, to learn driving on the first week of the new year. And the more I thought of it, the more grand my imagination became. 'This will be easy;' 'I will have my driver's license this time next month;' 'Maybe I can have a career as a race car driver;' yeah right! As soon as my foot touched the accelerator, the car hit some stupid bush. And when I was trying to back away a twig got caught under the car. It got so tangled that when the twig was removed a car part was left dangling underneath. Then a police car drove near. But even before causing a ruckus, our driver immediately got into the driver's seat and drove home. That is not before leaving some curious bystanders amused by the awesome failure that is my driving.

Oh well, the year is long and there will be more driving lessons to have. Slowly but surely I will learn. The only question is how many cars will I crash before I actually learn how to drive. I'm guessing that zero would be a dream anything more than that would be reality.

In the mean time here are a couple of pics of me in front of the wheel. Notice the smirk on the first pic. That was taken before the car even started. Go figure.

On a side note: Happy New Year!

Finds

2008-12-29T22:52:00.008+08:00

My aunt is back from Australia this holiday season; and it is her mission to have a uniquely Filipino vacation. So far she has done many things that would fall on such a category. She had a pleasurable dinuguan and puto snack. Unfortunately it led to a painful stomach ache so bad that she was bed-ridden for a day. She became witness to the pious magic of a Simbang Gabi as well as the pious amusement of Wowowee on TV. She went to a pamangkin's wedding and catched-up with family and friends. She even did that most Filipino trait: shopping! And Tiendesitas in Pasig was one of the places we went to.

I for one am not a social shopper. I choose to shop alone because I often see shopping as a sort of therapy where you have a chance to be in touch with your inner self. You know, picking the stuff you like, chossing this color, this pattern, this brand over the other ones is a personal activity that affirms the identity you have. On the surface, it seems to answer questions normally found in a slum book. But on deeper reflection, shopping allows a person, like me, to let an inner identity out, even for a moment, and celebrate its solitary stance with the act of choosing. I'm just rambling here. But I'm saying this because when we went to Tiendesitas, I was so tired of following them around that i just left them and did my own shopping. I did not buy anything because I had no money. Nonetheless i found a lot of things that i liked.

When the day was over, my mom bought a pantry cabinet or something while my aunt did not buy anything. Oh well. She still has a week left before she goes back to Australia. I hope she finds what she's looking for.

red

2008-12-24T23:23:00.003+08:00

Hehe, one of my firsts from Adobe Photoshop.

yellow

2008-12-22T23:12:00.006+08:00

One thing I like about photography more than any other modes of art is that cameras can capture masterpieces out of accidents.

I was actually lying down when I shot this. Burdened by insomnia, I played with my camera in hope of slowly drowsing off. I pointed it towards the light. Then I pushed the button. The camera made that low clicking sound producing this silhouette. Notice the glass in front of the lamp. It's so random! Haha!

Now, I'm not saying that this is a masterpiece but one never knows.

third time

2008-12-22T22:00:00.000+08:00

OK so, this is My. Third. Time. creating a blog. And, well, I'm embarrassed of constantly repeating this create-blog-delete-blog cycle. Still, I persevere (or never learn).

Quick and simple, this is a photo blog. But its not just about photographs. Basically its whatever comes to mind and is good to write about.