life's a party

These days, i'm into...
...preprod for an indie 35mm movie. director's a fil-am graduate from nyu, and he seems nice. hope that this will be another happy learnin adventure for me. shoot starts november.
...script analysis (ok, unrequired and uncalled for, but i learn a lot just by tryin to figure out what went wrong, plot-wise. heheh. i reckon that it'd be wiser to not give out unsolicited opinion though)
...cinemanila movies

a run-through of the Cinemanila films I’d seen so far:

Lilya Forever (Russia) - powerful subject matter, letdown ending. story of the triumph of the human spirit, this ain't. white slavery victims should better stay away from this film cause it offers a really discouraging option (read: suicide)out of the rut they're in.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John (local) - hackneyed to the ummpth power. no offense to a friend of mine who was one of the writers of this gil portes-directed melodrama. i do believe though that, given much more freedom, my friend can do much much better than this.

Dear Wendy (USA) – a period film about innocents who nurture a peaceful-but-intense relationship with guns. may test your patience in the first hour but the disturbing outcome at the last thirty minutes should be well worth it...and drives the point home, too. lars von trier (the film's writer, and who directed one of my fave movies of all time, "dogville") delves into the same thematic territory he's tackled in dogville: a fatalistic view on the nature of all things, living or non-living.

Moolade (Africa)- interesting subject matter (women in an african village protesting against female circumcision and all that feminist angst), trite storytelling. sayang. it could've been an important film that people (regardless of gender or race) would take seriously. instead i heard a handful of scattered laughs from the audience (in scenes that probably weren't meant to be funny, mind you). loved the local color, though. twas the first time i actually saw african tribal mudhuts on the big screen.

The President’s Last Bang (South Korea)- winner of the coveted Lino Brocka award in the recently-concluded Cinemanila. darkly funny, but i wonder if it's politically correct...in the literal sense. the makers portrayed the government as a bunch of fumbling morons. no wonder it was banned in korea! a roll in the hay was all that it was, and i couldn't help admiring the film's technical polish. pinagkagastusan talaga. and they didn't pull any stops when it comes to showing blood and gore. astig. the humanist in me was cringing, though. hahaha.

...AXN's "Lost". Compelling stuff.
...AXN's "CSI" and "CSI Miami". I've always loved mysteries, and i guess i've always loved CSI, even when i didn't have time to watch TV.
...videoke

Current Videoke Repertoire:
1. Complicated by Avril Lavigne
2. You Oughtta Know by Alanis Morrissette
3. Run by Kitchie Nadal
4. Bulong by Kitchie Nadal
5. You Learn by Alanis Morrissette
6. Total Eclipse of the Heart
7. The Yes Yes Show by Parokya ni Edgar
8. Alone by Heart
9. Broken Vow (duet of Sarah Geronimo and Mark Bautista...hehe kitschy)
10. Bakit? by Gloc 9 and Cookie Chua
11. I Will Remember You by Sarah Mclachlan

Probably missed out on a few titles, but these are the songs that come to mind when i'm out on a videoke spree. Haha. I so love videoke, it's embarassing.

...gimik nights

Life's a party. And for the moment that I can afford it, i'm Party Girl reincarnated. Haha. So let's dig in. After eight straight months of gruelling work I like to rationalize to myself that I do deserve to have some fun right now. And not think of stuff that will be bad for me. wink, wink.

Postscript
By the way, the Frog Princess has broken up with his Prince Charming. Guess it wasn't such a fairy tale, after all. Doesn't change things, though. With or without the Prince Charming, the Frog Princess will always be a Princess to me. What's done cannot be undone. haha.

one adventure last weekend should merit a separate entry. for the meantime, got a party to attend to...and the tab's on someone else. haha. bring it on.