Tuesday, January 31, 2006
LITEL MIS PILIPINGS
Presenting my latest short film...



All comments and suggestions are welcome. Be as brutal as you want to be. Thanks!
Monday, January 30, 2006
UNE
How do broken flowers look like?

People are breaking up. Some have already broken up. At the same time, there are also those who want to rekindle old flames. All of this happens, as I reap the benefits of being single.

I took a walk along the old memory lane; the lane concerning "that letter (and add 's to "the letter") which I dare not mention". I felt nothing actually. I didn't reminisce. Okay, I did thought about past memoirs but there were no sparks. No traces of regrets, of remembering how it felt, of wanting to go back. I realized a bit later that perhaps I am contented with the way I live. Very often I would nag at my closest friends, "What are the odds of me getting married?". At times, I knew I was just kidding. (Yes, I was) But then something occured to me. I am indeed happy.

Last Saturday, as I did a Bob Harris, people were looking at me as I sat and ate alone in a restaurant. I couldn't help but wonder what those people could have mumbled in their inner thoughts about my solitude. Hypothesizing, I bet the group of boys on my left might have thought what a loser I was. The mother sitting across me could have wondered if I was waiting for a date or if I was hooking up with someone. Surprisingly, what prompted me to smile was the Carrie Bradshaw-aged woman to my right. We were kind of similar in every possible way, except for the age, of course. I sat there watching her eat her cheeze pizza and read her messages. Later on, Michael Buble would start to sing and pump my frantic fantasies. At this point, I even had a hallucination of pulling off a Benjamin Braddock - Mrs. Robinson but I was too tamed to do so.

Walking alone is one of my favorite moments. It gives me time to think about matters I couldn't manage when I am occupied with other things. I even absorb inspiration as I embrace blankness in this routine. Aside from my "Adaptation" motivation to dig inspiration, walking alone is one of the best ways for me to pile up information and inspiration, realization even. A proof of this was the recent success of my short film. Although I wasn't that happy after the shooting due to dissatisfaction, someway, somehow, perhaps thanks to my "insane manner of thinking" that manifested in my editing, I managed to pull it off. People loved it, which kind of surprised me. Add the fact that they loved the narration which they would not believe that it was I who did it. Well, just like good ol' indie filmmakers do, I don't give a damn about words that come out of people's mouths so long as I was able to deliver my piece. This another good thing about being single - you get to prioritize your work better.

Right now, I'm having a dilemma whether the film is good enough to be released in a hostile environment like, say a video open. I know I'll get through this. With a long walk, some good friends and a glass of vodka to aide me, I'll be done in a jiffy. It sure is fun to be une.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
CRAIG'S VERSACE BESOS
Since we're on the topic of comedy, here are some of my favorite clips from my favorite show - Saturday Night Live.

VERSACE POCKETS

A Saturday Night Live actress, Maya Rudolph has been famous for her impersonations of celebrities like Christina Aguilera and Beyonce Knowles. But she has given one of her best comic performances by mock portraying fashion mogul, Donatella Versace. In the video you are about to see, you shall witness the birth of Versace's new product - Versace pockets. Now, frozen food comes with a 'disposable' tote worth thousands of dollars. Who said celebrities can't eat frozen food?



BESOS Y LAGRIMAS

Young diva Christina Aguilera has been widely recognized worldwide because of her singing prowess. Thanks to Saturday Night Live, we have now discovered a side of Christina one would never have thought she had. In this Telemundo telenovela parody, we see Christina act as the object of affection of all males in the spoofed Mexican soap. Elena!



CRAIG FENSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SPOKESMAN

Robert de Niro is arguably one of the best actors in this time. More known as a dramatic actor, Robert de Niro has given his audience a peek at his funny side in movies like Analyze That and Meet the Fockers. In Saturday Night Live, thanks to a very creative script, de Niro acts as Craig Fenson, the spokesman of US' Homeland Security. Please. If you have any information about the people in this video, do contact the hotline. This means the end for Shaif Hirboush and the rest of his merrymen!



Enjoyed? Tune in again next time if you want to see more of these. That's all folks. Now, get out!

PS:
Maya Rudolph is a goddess! Never fails to make me laugh!
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
POST-ITS
Tonight is one of those nights... Boring as the common people would call them. Normally, I would have been watching material from my collection. Otherwise, I would have been "simu-dating" with Carrie. But as I was inspired by a lecture about anecdotes earlier today, I ended up going through testimonials of friends and acquaintances back in the good ol' high school days.

Being funny is something that is natural; what makes something really funny is its naturality. For instance, a person who is unaware he appears funny is funnier than a person trying hard to be funny. That has been my criterion in choosing the following lines which I got from what people had to say about me. (Aside from the fact that these lines made me laugh as I was going through the 75 testimonials) These lines are funny either because of the line itself or how I pictured the person would have spoken the line. Anyways, if you do have any violent reactions with these choices, I give no sh*t, this is my blog! Mine! Mine! Mine! Haha... Just kidding. I'm just looking for a transit to waste on my excess energy for the day. So here are the 7 funniest lines people have to say about Mark Peregrino:

  • mark perigrino (i know the spelling of your surname is in correct... im sorry)
  • c mark po nka2takot
  • sobrang talino ng taong to, talagang masipag pumasok e, pero ano ba talagang ginagawa mo sa skul, nagaaral ng notes o ng anatomy ng teacher mo?
  • lagi siyang available kapag nagpapaturo ako sa algebra...*
  • ang lakas ng mga deck nyan, ang hirap talunin kc glit yan sa red(e red deck pa nman deck ko)
  • ...Paano naman kasi napupuno na ng Magic Cards ang kanyang kuwarto at ginagawa pang wallpaper!
  • klala nyo ba c joanna kramer from the movie kramer vs.kramer? dhl sa nanghihiram ako nun sa knya, nbansagan 2loy ako na joanna! nakakainiss, f*@k tlga...

Up to now, I have no idea why I am doing this. All I know is that these lines bring back all the good stuff I used to have. Although some people would argue, I miss who I used to be.

Talababa:
* - Isn't it kinda funny to imagine that I, Mr. Alphabet for Calculus, used to teach other people in Math?

PS:
Sorry if you were expecting a good laugh. These lines
are only intended to make the person who said it
and I laugh. But hey, if you did give off a smirk,
congratulations to you. Anyways, thanks for wasting
5 minutes to read this. I'll be more inventive next time.
The intro was the only thing that had substance here.
Haha. Anyways, now you know why I'm Mr. Intro.
Monday, January 16, 2006
TIME AFTER TIME
1/14/06. 10:00 am. Woke up to a gloomy cloudy day, I opened my laptop to check messages. There were none. I browsed and surfed until I got hungry. Minutes later inside a mall, I would find my self blaming myself for having ordered that peculiar steak, which was everything pepper. Later on, I went to the hardware store to buy a light to use for my shooting the next day. It kinda felt cool, with the kickass light and all. I was really looking forward to next day's shooting.

3:00 pm. I arrived back home to get dressed for a blockmate's party that night. I was supposed to meet friends around 4 pm in a mall different from that which I came from. I arrived at the train station around pass 4 pm. Coincidentally, I bumped into the people I was supposed to meet. Entering the mall, we bought gifts for the night's debutant. As the girls bought fancy shmancy stuff, us guys tried to look for our own accessory - gradeless eyeglasses. But we failed, so few hours later, we went to my friend's place.

6:00 pm. I found myself inside a room with girls playing dress ups and make up. It was kind of fascinating actually. Later on, I was playing cards with the room's owner. At that moment, I realized it was really tough to form the word seahorse at Scrabble. Several minutes later, more people started to arrive. Later on, the backstage had suddenly turned into a studio as the girls and the boys flaunted their "smart casual" attires.

7:40 pm. We got into a cab in time to go to the party. As we arrived, we noticed that we were pathetically early. So we entered, took a few snapshots and did a few chit chats. The party came and went. It was kind of good - bottles of beers, chocolate fondue, and more photo sessions. As the darkness swallowed the night, the girls started to get paranoid with the psycho-like waiters, so we left.

1/15/06. 12:30 am. We decided to go to the nearby place to get cocoa and coffee. We sat and relaxed, even watched "the most brutal" backstabbing faceoff of one of our blockmates. That was both weird and funny, in a way. One coffee shop to another, we sipped and sniffed until we decided to call the night off. Instantly, I got myself a cab and went home.

1:30 am. I got home. I did my usual routine, opened the laptop to check if I got messages and just waited until I get sleepy. I thought the night was over. It wasn't. I got a call. I answered. It was a friend. I said "Hello" like a hundred times, but she never replied. Turns out, I had an instant access to a private conversation. I thought that it was intended. It wasn't. There they were, two girls, talking about us boys. It was kind of shocking but it in a way, it was mostly humorous. The angel I was, I texted one of them to tell them I can hear them and what they were talking about. I then heard in the phone that they didn't believe, they were laughing even. Then I told them it was in the other girl's phone. Hurriedly, they screamed and the line was cut.

2:30 am. A few exclaims and life threats later, I found myself preparing my stuff including my shooting equipment, to go to the place where the two girls are to be found. Walking at dawn in the dark alley made me wonder how weird it felt like. I was also wondering how in hell I was to get there in the middle of the night. Strangely, as if things wouldn't get any stranger, I found a cab waiting for me at the end of the street. So I waved, got in and went. It really felt weird. I was like driven to narrate to the sleepy cab driver the events that are and have occured but I didn't.

3:30 am. As I entered the place, it seemed that I had the weirdest smile - really big, almost maniacal. The two girls were there waiting for me. They told me what really happened - that one of them was just saving my number but incidentally pressed the call button that paved way for my 5-minute eavesdropping. We entered the room and began the extended night of revelations. I listened to their perceptions and outlooks towards the boys, like I didn't know. They shared a few secrets. I did as well; even narrated my past torrid affair.

4:30 am. The girls prepared their beds. I was outside as I was supposed to sleep on the sofa. The lights were clothes. I said my prayers, they said theirs. I got finished first. I crawled and went inside the room to surprise them. They didn't scream. We ended up talking again. One of them couldn't take it anymore, so she slept. The remaining two of us, still wide awake, continued to talk. Later she yawned, I asked her she if she wanted to sleep already. Then, we decided to call it a night. I went back to my "bed". I still wasn't sleepy so I found myself staring at the darkness.

5:30 am. A few minutes later, the girl I last talked to called for me and asked if I was still awake. I replied. She then went out, appears like she was scared of the bumps that went through the night. We ended up talking again. A few creepy noises later, I decided to accompany her to her bed. We continued our chat as the sun slowly rose. At 6 pm, she decided she's really going to sleep already. So she did. A few minutes later, I slept as well.

8:00 am. I woke up to see that the girls were also waking up. They talked with long pauses in between. I joined them. Then, reality started to bite as one of my groupmates for my shooting that day called me up. I answered and then realized that we were supposed to meet already. I stayed in the room for a while, as I remained talking with the girls. An hour later, we finally decided to bid adieu.

10:00 am. I met up with my groupmates to shoot our short film. We waited for the others who still weren't there for a while. When we got to the shooting place, we started right away.

2:30 pm. A few takes and lots of laughters later, we finished shooting. I called it a wrap. I went home.

3:30 pm. I arrived home sick, tired and famished. I ate my delayed lunch and drank 3/4 of the 1.5 liter of Coke. I checked if I got any messages then I finally decided to sleep.

7:30 pm. Mom woke me up for supper. I didn't want to. I continued sleeping.

1/16/06. 2:00 am. I awoke to a painful migraine. I ate supper. Now, here I am typing away...

"I don't want to lie. I can't tell the truth. So it's over." This quote is dedicated to the woman from my narration to the two girls. Go figure.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
RADICAL
"In the new century, I think we will all be insane." Take that from a homeless woman from the HBO miniseries Angels in America. It's a brand new year. This entails new routines, new ways... A new life. A rebel in my own way, I will go against this flow with my writing style. It's about time for me to go back to my "roots" and write the way I write before I entered the pandemonium that caves me in nowadays. No more depressed, schizophrenic, maniacal works of prose or poetry... (For now). It's time to bring back the mondo free spirited, superficial, spontaneous old me. That includes the films and movie quotes I use for that matter.

For quite some time, I have been reading these books on independent and digital cinema. Just exactly what I need for my aspiring career in the future, I have been more engrossed with these texts far more than compiling thoughts for a research paper. What bothers me most is to read on the lives of the filmmakers who have established this new wave genre. Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, they are the pillars of what is now known as the indie or the art or specialty films. Apart from the other pawns that helped established this genre, the two have worked their asses off to achieve what is now legendary to all of us... Or me, for this matter. To make things more salivating for me, the two of them, considering the fact that they started way beneath from the underground depths of the silver screen, are now established, although now commercial, Academy Award Winning directors. But what truly intrigues me most is the fact that these two didn't take film courses, they didn't even go to college at all; Soderbergh skipped college to work on films as early as he can right before he won the prestigious Grand Jury Prize from the Sundance Film Festival in his early 20's; Tarantino was a highschool dropout and learned filmmaking as a crew in a video rental shop right before he won the Palme d'or from Cannes.

Now what does this have to do with me? Well, if you don't know me by now, I am struggling with my academe. Not exactly on the subjects (well, except for Math), but on the certain field I'm taking for the next three years. Will I stay or will I go? Here's my scenario for plans A - C. If I stay in my current course - Communications Technology Management (and hopefully survive), I would have the upper hand for I have the "Blue Immunity" my shelter provides, I won't have that much trouble in getting a job, I wouldn't have to leave the people I "treasure", but I may turn out to be a Harvey Weinstein of the Philippines rather than the Orson Welles I wanted to be. If I move within the university, I may at some point get better grades which would be beneficial to my other plan to move to UP's film course, which was my most coveted course I just let slip before my very eyes; In this case, I will have the formal training I need, thus giving me more advantages for I may be a Martin Scorsese in no time. Finally and perhaps the most obnoxious, I could opt to end my dilemma on college by simply skipping it; I'd take training in Mowelfund, work at places, submit entries to festivals and be the Tarantino or Soderbergh that beats within my essence. Either way, all roads lead to my other goal to study film abroad, N.Y.U. to be specific.

I hate changes. I do. If only I could jump onto a timeframe and freeze it, I would. If only life can be edited. If only life can change the way you want within a snap. Oh... I can't even snap my dang fingers. Would you please invent that time machine already? I want more life...

Wait a minute, I may very well indeed still be depressed, schizophrenic and maniacal. I can't help it. So much for the effort. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an important operation to attend to. And yes, before I go, "Want some soup?"
Monday, January 02, 2006
DELUSION ANGEL
A poem by David Jewell
From the film Before Sunrise




















delusion angel

daydream delusion
limousine eyelash
oh baby with your pretty face
drop a tear in my wine glass
look at those big eyes on your face

see what you mean to me
sweet cakes and milk shakes
i'm a delusion angel
i'm a fantasy parade
want you to know what i think
don't want you to guess anymore

you have no idea where i came from
we have no idea where we're going
lodged in life like branches in a river
flowing downstream
caught in the current
i'll carry you you carry me
that's how it could be
don't you know me
don't you know me by now.

The Stranger

Kram has moved!
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