Pa-Bitin!

Today was a day of shortfalls. I got bitin so many times to day I just stopped. 

Bitin One:

I was supposed to go to the gym early today to get a good workout. I wanted to wake up at 6am to get to the gym early. However, I wasn't able to too well last night. It felt bitin when I woke up at 6. I just went back to sleep to get some more shut eye. But then it's still bitin. I had to wake up na at 8 to get to work early enough. 

Bitin Two/Three:

We had our early dry run at ABS this morning with Willie. Since Willie arrived late, we didn't have much time to rehearse the segment anymore, but he insisted anyway. He wanted to get it right and he did naman. But when we finished, the staff only had a few minutes to seat the audience and brief them thoroughly. They just fast-tracked everything.

We took so long to finish becuase Willie wanted to revise the "new" Coke segment song. He felt it was bitin and so he had Chuchay record it instantly. As in on the spot recording with his own audio posse. To be fair, the song sounds okay naman, though for me it could use more lyrics so it won't sound too bitin.

Bitin Four:

Show time! We were seated at the gallery and while the "giling giling segment" was rolling, Mr. M (ehem) decided to pick me as one of the BIGATEN! Finally! My five minutes of TV fame is handed to me. I had the chance to win pa as much as P35K! I went down immediately! Until one of the Segment Producers called out that I cannot join - I'm disqualified daw because apart from the fact that we're from clients, I'm kind of a regular fixture na in the studio. Shucks, bitin again! I had the chance na eh, biglang nawala pa!

Bitin Five:

After Wow, we had another meeting with ABSi at the famed 9501. We ordered their chocolate cake. I swear, that's got to be one of the best cakes I've ever tasted. It tastes like Miss Polly's cake and that's my ultimate weakness. It's soo good. But I already had enough sweets for today. Had Starbucks Raspberry Black Currant Blend, Cibo Iced Tea and now the cake. My throat was already painful when I started eating it. Darn. Then the fruit platter I ordered (which sells at 120.00) only had 8 measly slices of fruits. Bitin ng o, especially the watermelon. Harang.

Bitin Six:

I attended Body Combat, Body Jam and Retro Groove tonight. I had a little extra time and so I went for it na. Weird lang, for the first time, I didn't get tired. I was hoping I'd gasp for breath to save my life at the end of Combat, but I was able to last for some more. Even finished the whole two hours of Jam and Groove. Bitin pa. I wanted to do more, but there was none na. Strange. For the first time.

Bitin Seven:

I wanted to talk to this person. We just keep nodding at each other but I didn't go for it. I was just brimming with torpe-ness. Hay. Again. I had the chance but my friend made me harang and so I didn't get the chance to approach the person. Hay. For me, this is the biggest bitin for the day!

Bitin Eight:

I got home and there's still food left. It was lo-mi. I love lo-mi. But it was just left over nalang. Sayang. Konti nalang. But it's okay. Pero bitin lang talaga. Sana there was more.

Bitin Nine:

I really want for this day to last longer for so many reasons I cannot disclose now. But really, this is a happy day for me.

Bitin Ten:

There's no number ten. Imagine, countdown ko, bitin pa rin!?

Catching that Willie Magic.

Everything's coming up Willie for me the past few days. He is probably the artista/host that everyone want's to hate but he is just too charismatic in his ways that you probably can't as well. I was like that once, but now I am not fighting it anymore. I am just embracing whatever I can get from it.

This week alone, we had several encounters with him already. During the long Christmas break, we already had a meeting with him for our newest segment in his show. He was just his usualse self berating about the things he likes, he doesn't like and his creative vision for the show and its audience. He just goes on and on. We let him talk. Afterall he is the creative manager of his own show and he knows it best.

In one of the meriendas in the office, Shali told me that she hosted a Wowowee-kind of Christmas party for her folks when they went to Baguio. She even bought a "Giling Giling" CD just for that. Well since I watch Wowowee almost daily during the long break, and the countless times I had to monitor our segments, I got a little excited over the fact that now I can listen to it on my ipod. And so she lent me her CD and synced it right away. The same night on my way home, I was already listening to his medley and imagining "some things" I will not expose here. It was a fun tune to keep you company amid traffic in South Super Highway and Nagtahan.

Yesterday we had a dry run at ABS. Even before we started Kuya already dropped by to say hi (well not really - he said "ano na naman ang problema??") to us. And then he invited us over to his newly acquired place from an old Chinese family just along Bohol Avenue. He asked us if we could go and have drinking with him. Mabait naman. 

Everyone was pensive during the waiting time. He had to squeeze in another meeting in between. And finally it was our turn. While waiting time was longer than the actual dry run, I knew he was just too excited to go out, show his new purchase and go drinking. 

After dinner with Neth and Paul, we went to Willie's party. It was a huge house. To be fair, when the man was sharing with us his vision for the building, he really knows where to put his millions and make his creative visions come true. He had a solid vision for that place and we liked what we heard. After a few rounds of beer, it seemed surreal that here is a man who's living it large talking to the rest of his staff like they were his close friends. 

I really cannot take that away from Kuya. Even after all his yabangs and all that, he is just a man brimming with excitement and child-like disposition who means no harm. He is just someone who really wants to make kwento and want you to be as excited as he is on his new found luck. That's Willie. Feeling close na ba?

If I had millions too, I would be that or even more excited than he is. I too would be sharing the things that I want to do with it. But then again, I don't have it. I can only make yabang what I want to achieve and that's it.

I liked that while he was making yabang the whole time, he recognized too the people he owed his successes now. He gamely said in front of Tita Carol (owner of Herbs and Nature) that his house in Tagaytay was care of Liveraid, and so on. That's why Tita Carol means so much to Willie. He remembers. May utang na loob naman. He still remembers the people who was close to him when he was down. And now that he is back, he is giving back.

And he recognizes too his role in life. In the scheme of things, his level of charisma and believability is hard to question, and put down. Remember he's faced already tough situations before. He was never afraid to explain and ask for an apology to people. He is not afraid to cry, get angry or worse, to vent in national TV or as they claim, around the world via TFC. Here's a man who can make you feel he is sincere with whatever he does. His words will blow you away. Whether that's sincerity or not is a different topic but you know when talks, people listen.

In closing, I think that's the precise reason why the masa loves him. Here's a man who's been through hell and back. Here's a man who rose from the ranks and is now on top reaping life's lemons. He turned it to lemonades and is now one of the richest guy in the Philippines. He did say after all that the best guys are those who have experienced life's challenges. And that he is not afraid to go through it again.

I wanted to get a photo taken beside his expensive cars, but that would make me look very cheap, yes? Sana photo nalang with Willie. Who knows it might be worth millions na soon.

Oh well. 

Kaya Naman Pala...

I never liked any of Joel Lamangan's work. He is pretentious, over the top and just way to cliche as a movie director. I never liked any of the film he had directed so far, not the Flor Contemplacion movie, not Sidhi, not the Sarah Balabagan story nor Deathrow nor Filipinas.

His style is very predictable; it's something that would delight a Christopher De Leon or Maricel Soriano, but never a Jaclyn Jose. His work is just too over-acting for me. When it's feeling artsy, it will never run shy of showing you bathos and pathos scenes, so much it ought to be called the crying game. His brand of comedy is less credible - it's slapstick bordering on almost stupid. And his attempts to do indie and sexy, expect it to be sleazy and still a commercial sell-out. While I know he has a couple of awards(!) to boot that he is a good director, my question is: how credible are those award giving bodies, anyway?

This is not meant to bash Joel Lamangan. I have no personal grudge against him, heck I don't even know him. I'm just commenting based on what I feel and what I know. Last night, all of these made sense when I (carelessly) chose to watch Desperadas 2 as the other MMFF movie to watch for last year.

I watched the movie not knowing it was him who directed it. I had to endure almost 2 hours worth of boredom and tears. I wanted to step out of the cinema (which I did, actually - thrice - to "use the restroom") and ask for a refund from Greenbelt Cinemas, but I came with a friend who laughed at every single scene. This friend enjoyed, I didn't. Something must be wrong in this picture.

I could go on and list all of the problems I saw in the movie, but I will just go through the major ones:

1. Story line was not developed properly. There were 5 half sisters in the movie. Each sister had her own story to tell. In the end, nothing put those stories together aside from those casual beach scenes which looked like a cheap copy of Sex and the City. Maybe there was one: when Iza Calzado steals the yaya of Rufa Mae, the half siblings get into a hissy hating each other for pirating the maid insensitively. This goes on until the end until they reconciled. Shallow but this was an interesting twist. Ruffa's scenes could have been deleted and all and we will never notice it. Ogie's scenes were not integral. Wendell Ramos' role is just as well not important. They could have saved precious kinescoping hours if they removed those scenes. Marian's character didn't even mature. She was just there for her produce placements. Her character said she designed good clothes and uniforms, we never saw her in action. The only time we saw her doing "that work" we see clothes ripped from the net pa and she proudly claims that as her own.

Rufa Mae's story had the best potential. She was this sexologist who got involved with a maniacal congressman who did nothing but to spend taxpayer's and jueteng money on Rufa Mae. It's half good to see their love story develop and reach a point where she had to break up with over a juetengate expose. Though how the whole thing happened, it was never explained.  I also liked the sub plot on Post Partum, but it was never expounded. Too bad, that could have been a good selling point.

2. Linear Story Telling is not story telling. There are several major characters in the movie and they are all linked to each other. However, when the characters were developed they all developed separately. In the end, the movie had just too many subplots leading to none.

3. Since the movie had no real story they found a way to make the ending was just convenient. Since the characters developed separately, they somehow had to create an ending that will all put it together. They decided to use Ogie's character to tie everything together. He paid off Ruffa's debts to the people she scammed, Rufa Mae's hospitalization, Wendell's sex operation, Iza's failed suicide attempt and for Marian to design wedding gowns for the wedding. All had nothing to do really with Ogie's character Lugaluda. Gosh

4. Contrived Plot lines: There were several contrived if not downright incoherent and illogical scenes in the movie. If Ruffa was really intent in managing her finances, how was she even able to finance the distribution work she had in the movie? She had the money to buy all her expensive blings and bags, but not to pay off her victims? So with Rufa Mae, she had all the money to eat at hotels and buy Hermes Birkin bags and LVs but not to pay for her hospital bills? Marian had a raging stalker but she never bothered to check how this guy tracks her? Congressman was not sly enough to get a cleaner plan to launder money when he is a gambling Lord and owns half of the country? C'mon!

5. The painful part was the fact that the whole movie was edited POORLY. There were scenes were the audio dubbing was just poor! There was a scene where Marian was supposed to be talking (it had audio) but her mouth was closed. There was a scene where Will was talking but no audio came out. There was a scene where Iza kept yapping but no audio came out. A lot scenes was edited carelessly that scenes literally jumped. The color grading was not consistent - therefore the kinescope output was just as bad. Product placements were not too subtle, it was very annoying. Why had taglines needed to be said?? And many others pa. But the most glaring of all, and yet something we all know, was Marian's poor English diction. I am really wondering why she was given speaking parts in English pa?

6. The display of branded luxury items were gross. Chanel and Chloe shades, Berkin Hermes, LV, Botega and Balenciaga bags and all those ex-deal with Ben Chan brands are just over. It's not right.

Rom Coms need not be like that. Cathy Molina and the other Star Cinema directors did very well producing good movies - movies that are generally good technically and story-wise. How come this movie still came out like this?

I am wondering now what the point of MMFF is really all about. If there're two winners here, that definitely isn't the audience - it's Star Cinema and Mother Lily. More Mother Lily in fact. Her outrageous, nonsensical films almost always make it to the filmfest. We're left grasping with good movies, and here she is producing movies below par. She instigates movies that are below average and an insult to the viewing public.

I came out of that movie house feeling bad. Sana talaga we come up with more movies that are better made and better thought, and not just movies that entertain us. Heck, I was not even entertained!

When I found out today that Joel Lamangan directed this movie, I only had one thought, Kaya Naman Pala.. si Joel pala. Next time talaga, read the poster first before deciding to watch a Regal Films movie. The combination of Joel and Lily is just too toxic for me.

Hey. If you are getting offended by what I wrote pardon me. This is just my opinion.

I am really hoping for the day when Pinoy Cinema becomes more consistent/

Not Practicing What You Preach

For the past few months, I've been an advocate of austere living given the tough times these days. I've been churning work for months now specifically just about how to get by during these tough times. To be exact, smiling back at life even when life is much harder now. We've repeatedly said there are things that you cut back on but never a smile that only Coke gives you.

That's true. The essence of family togetherness should not be about the material things and the temporary satisfaction that it gives to you. It's about the crucial moments that you spend with your loved ones that make togetherness and bonding really special. What more? Never give up the smile that an ice cold Coke gives you, as it makes the whole moment together nicer than nice. 

This is something that I constantly remind people, look for in our ads and even in all TV executions that Lot, Shali and I worked on with GMA and ABS. It was message loud and clear.

Since my last trip to Hong Kong, I had never spent a single cent on shoes, bags, pants nor shirts for the last three months. I managed to curb my spending appetite and just fancied on opening a new top every other week which I bought from HK. I trafficked it so well that even now I still have some pieces I had not used nor opened from that trip. Good. Thought to self, all my polos are still wearable and definitely nice pa rin. So there's no need pa to buy new ones, or put out new ones. I just casually mixed and matched all my clothes.

Then came the holidays. I did very well during Christmas. I managed to go to Zara, Celio, CK and Topman and leave without buying anything. Every time I was about to buy something, I would stop and ask myself I indeed needed it. And would end up putting it back on the shelf and quietly leave. I was able to stop myself from buying extra Pumas and jackets too! Big feat! I only splurged on food and cabs during the season. We had mandatory expenses in the office but that's fine. And had to buy my cousins and inaanaks gifts, that's it. Nothing for me.

(oh except for those rubbers that I really needed since sira na my gym shoes).

So at the end of the year I felt extremely well. I managed too to stop myself from buying a new wristwatch which I had wanted so badly. I was mastering the art of controlling gratification and just managing what I have.

This was true until the year ended. December 30 was Rizal Day. The same fateful day I broke my clean record; The day when all stores decided to collaborate and launch an evil attack on my clean record and assault my wallet; The day they launched every consumerist's dream word: SALE. 

It started with 2 pairs of jeans from CK and a tokong shorts. But hey, I really needed a new pair of jeans anyway. And they were on sale anyway. Then it was followed by a pair of Topman jeans and three tops on sale. 

I didn't stop just yet. I bought mom a Puma jacket. I got stuff from Zara. At this point I was already feeling very very guilty. I couldn't think how I ended up buying all those stuff which I really don't need yet. Worse, these are all unplanned purchases. To be fair naman, I had waited for the yearend sale naman talaga at Zara so it was quite planned but the amount I paid was just too much - from a store on sale (!) and in one go. Sigh.

I felt betrayed. My spirit was down. Deep in me, I was feeling guilty for buying all those. I needed reprieve. I need help.

Eto na. I was feeling remorse na nga and all that. But did that stop me? No. The following day I went into the biggest trap of my life - this watch store. I was there to try it on lang and ponder further until i thought I was ready to buy. But there was a small voice that pushed me to buy it. When I wanted to say that I was going to think about it, I said Im going to buy it. Too late. The next thing I know I couldn't stop the cashier from swiping my card and charging it. I knew I wanted to hold back but I couldn't let it out.

I stepped out of the store feeling more low. Really disappointed with myself and feeling useless. How could I have let it happen.

I went down to the ground floor feeling flushed. I needed a Coke light. To make me smile. Smile back at life and realize that it's okay.

Certainly, I had not practiced what I preached. It all happened in the last 3 days of the vacation. My fault.

Pero time to pick up the (bills) pieces and pay them soon. In the meantime, I know where my paychecks will be going this month. And furthermore, I am banned from all these malls na muna in the meantime. Disciplinary actions for me.

Spank me, please? 

:-)