We had a big meeting yesterday filled with numbers and the ways of the business. I had no idea that the business was that screwed up. Not that it’s bad. Just complicated. And when I studied the numbers, I wish that I had taken accounting or some management class back in college. Dang, I wish that I was good in math. Period. One thing’s for sure, though. The chain reaction of the business has rendered me speechless. I will never complain about work again.
I never fully understood how much TV shows depended on advertising until now. It seems that we all depend on each other so much it’s amazing how the public never feels the difficulty that we all experience. And in many ways, we all make the business beautiful, most importantly meaningful.
God. I never thought that I’d ever write anything as cheesy as that about media.
Last nigh, I rode the shuttle home, ran to the house, got the car and rushed to Town to catch whatever movie I could at past 10; and I caught Catch Me If You Can. It’s a really good movie. The plot is pretty simple but highly entertaining to watch. I just wish that it showed more of Frankie’s adventures, even just a fun montage of sorts.
My only beef is that Leonardo di Caprio wasn’t that cool to watch as Frankie Abegnale. The character was cool, yes, and di Caprio's acting was vaery good, but he was hardly Bond-like. I think on purpose. The suave moves, the witty lines, the handsome clothes, he had it all. He just didn’t have, well, my affections? He was never my type, so I guess that explains it. And he was playing a 17-year-old. So there you go.
All in all, it was a very good movie, albeit some continuity errors that caught my eye. Cinematography was pretty, costumes and set design were wonderful, and the animation of the OBB was visually entertaining. Only creative geeks could’ve come up with an opening as good as that. And Tom Hanks. What else can I say about Tom Hanks? He was incredible! And they all looked like they had fun doing this movie.
*** 8 Mile was also very entertaining. I watched it in G4 this afternoon with Randy and Kat and although Eminem’s acting was nothing fantastic, his good performance cannot be denied. The story was also simple. A bum wanting to make it big in his chosen field and at the same time wanting to break even financially to help support his dreams, his crazy mom and his adorable little sister. As Rabbit the older brother, the scenes with his sister Lily were very heartwarming. I actually found Eminem sweet! Wow, that was weird. Even weirder was Kat thinking that she was actually crushing on him.
What I loved about the film was that even with its simple story, it gave an interesting look-see at the rapping culture in Detroit. Listening to the creative lyrics and watching the battles was just as interesting as watching Abegnale’s art of forging checks. I didn’t like Brittany Murphy very much, though. She looked so messy. Dang, I sound so conservative.
And what the hell was up with Glorietta? They cut the sex scene. (So much for sounding conservative.) Alright, alright, wait! I don’t necessarily NEED to see everything, but the way that it was cut was so distracting and obvious. Rabbit and... shucks. What was the girl’s name again? Ugh. Anyway, they’re making out, they’re making out, and all of a sudden, he pulls his pants up. Huh? When did he even pull them down? Ah, whatever. I was just bothered that they cut something out. I mean they could’ve just raised the rating pf the movie if the scene was that bad for kids. Hmmm, like the profanity of the raps wasn’t enough, right?
Speaking of the movie’s rating, Chris and I saw some weird note on the 8 Mile poster in Mega Mall yesterday: Please be CAUTIONED to bring children age 13 years and below. Hahaha! Crazy.
All that aside, the movie was really cool, and the soundtrack was awesome. I want it. Since the movie was set in the 90s, there were many familiar tunes. I don’t know the titles, of course.
*** I got home in time for a delicious corned beef dinner and my sisters and I were able to watch the Disney Channel premiere of Beauty and the Beast. Yippee! It’s such a beautiful movie. I must admit, though, that I didn’t really like it the first time I saw it in Mega Mall. (By the way, I watched it with the gymnasts the first time I ever set foot in Mega Mall when I was 12. The second time I ever went there was for my 19th birthday. Batang South! :) Plus the beast was more attractive than the human version. When he turned around to show his princely face, my friends and I jumped, “NGYEEEH!!!”
Now that I’m older and more softee and romantic as ever, I cried and cried, even when she just offered to take her father’s place as a prisoner. And the way she said “I love you” was so huhuhu. Bravo, bravo! Huhuhu.
Funny. While watching Beauty and the Beast, Max started barking because he heard the wolves in the movie. Aw, our protector. Go, Destroyer, go! :)
We just finished assembling another episode and some of us hungry producers walked over to Paprika for an early dinner. I was so hungry, I ate 2 serving of Ging's delicious pesto. Actually, Cam and I were supposed to share one, but she ended up giving me the whole thing. Yummy stuff. Cam and Gretch are still in Paprika planning a project together. I'm just waiting for them to come back so that Gretch and I can share a cab to Makati. The Probe Team people are speaking with an English accent. It sounds funny, bordering on annoying actually (no offense, guys! :), and it reminds me of Marelle when she used to talk to Chris and Amelita with an accent, except hers sounded more authentic ("Mr. Costello."). I have to wake up early tomorrow to observe a class in The Little Gym in Festival Mall, Alabang. Then I've to rush to work for a 3pm meeting.
So much crap. And where are my friends? Watching Oro Plata Mata in Greenbelt. I'm so jealous.
Meanwhile, I haven't seen One Hour Photo, Catch Me If You Can and 8 Mile. All these good movies are out right now, as in NOW now, and I haven't seen them.
*** Chris and I sat in Quark's class in Ateneo last Monday (Or do you say "sat-in in Quark's class"? Ah, whatever.). It was my first time to really see Quark teach a class and I was amazed to see him lecture for 2 hours straight before calling a break. Wow. I remember sitting in Joey's class on Independent Film for ACP and he just kept on talking and talking and talking, this film, that film, this director, that writer...my friends are like walking film encyclopedias. If you record everything they say, you can probably make an Every Wednesday book on filmmaking.
Which brings me to this. During Quark's lecture, he'd use certain films as examples to explain a point. I think that it was appropriate since he was teaching a class on filmmaking. But there were many students who hadn't seen some of the movies that Quark mentioned. The student beside us was humming to himself while the class discussed Ringu. There were also other movies like Panic Room and In the Bedroom, two really good movies worth watching. I must admit, though that I haven’t seen Panic Room myself, and I was reminded of the time I sat in Direk Marilou Abaya’s Directing Class and she talked about the ending of Sixth Sense. I hadn’t seen Sixth Sense (Still haven’t.). This is why I know that I cannot be a filmmaker. TV producer sure, but that's different.
I think that if you want to be a filmmaker, you have to go out of your way to watch as many as movies possible. A video production class will teach you how to produce a video, the basics of it and the technical terms. To be in a digital filmmaking class or a directing class, however, requires you to go up a notch. Study the different styles of different directors, the writing styles of different writers, cinematography, lighting, acting, music, immerse yourself in the film world by watching, reading and, ideally, enjoying.
I was talking to Alexis about this once and he was explaining that like everything else, we are exposed to what's in the mainstream. In films, we're exposed to the Hollywood films. But when you truly build interest and passion, you go deeper and you look for other films and that database in your head gets filled up with more facts and beauties in the business. In short, if you really want to succeed in something, you've got to go a step further. So if you want to be as knowledgeable as my friends, well, go watch as much as they do.
We also got to watch Quark's A Date With Jao Mapa during his class and we had fun mouthing the lines and laughing at the back. But I wondered if everyone in that class knew who Marnie was. You'll never know. Maybe they didn't watch Ang TV. Or maybe they didn't watch any local TV at all. If so, maybe they didn't know the history of Marnie and Jao.
My favorite part was when they were making out and Jao started saying, "Marnie, oh, Marnie..." And then Alexa, played by Marnie says, "Did you just call me Marnie?" Hehe. Not many students laughed at that, though. Sad. I wish they laughed as much as we did when we first saw it in fourth year. Aw, that was fun, wasn't it? :)
*** The US Congress gave Bush the go signal for war. Shit.
My mom and I are doing better now. She sent me a really nice text last Sunday:
Don’t work too hard to give yourself the best of everything; instead, make a greater effort to give God the best of yourself and God will take care of the rest. :)
My sister Bianca is in the hospital right now for some kind of food poisoning. Mama and I brought her to Paranaque Med at around 10pm last night and Bianca was really pale by the time we got there. The nurses did some tests and Mama went to the cashier to get a room, so I sat in between Bianca and the doctor and I was asked if we were diabetic. My heart jumped. I said that diabetes was present in our family history, but none of us have been diagnosed with it.
Questions as serious as that scare me, especially since 2 of my titas recently died of cancer, and our first cousin in Denver is going to undergo chemo for breast cancer. I don’t like sickness. I feel that it’s something you can avoid. You eat right, workout and drink 8 glasses of water. So when people get diabetes or cancer, you can’t be rid of them completely, and that just kills me! And my sisters and I hate needles, so that makes the risk of getting diabetes extra scary.
Speaking of needles, I don’t think the young nurse who took Bianca’s blood knew what she was doing. She strapped Bianca’s arm with a rubber band, looked for a vein on her hand and popped the needle in; but she didn’t get any blood at her first pull. So she pushed the syringe pump back and pulled out again, this time getting blood. The blood wasn’t enough for testing, though, so she pushed the pump back and pulled again. I think she didn’t get the needle in right, and I don’t think you’re supposed to push the pump back because you may be putting air into the vein. Right? I don’t know. Call me a paranoid sister, but Bianca looked like she was in real pain and those things aren’t supposed to be that painful. Even when I had dengue and they used a big fat needle to get blood from my arm, it didn’t hurt that much.
We brought Bianca to her room...actually it was her “suite” since everyone that day coincidentally had stomach problems and used up all the more affordable rooms. But her “suite” wasn’t exactly sweet. The floor and the walls were discolored, and the little TV was in this hole in the dusty cabinet. Mama and I just complained and complained until Bianca fell asleep, and to bring some comedy into the situation, I told Mama that she had her shirt on backwards. Haha! She cursed me for not telling her earlier, and I told her that the nurses downstairs were the ones who told me. Hahaha!
I slept in the hospital ‘til 6am and when I went down to go home, I realized that the hospital was horribly small, so small that even the chapel was just a hole in the wall with a mini altar and 4 pews. They didn’t even have a decent library for all their files. The hallway going to the ER had stacks and stacks of brown folders with names and filing numbers. I wanted to take pictures and mail them to Mayor Marquez. Yeah, he has money to send birthday cards to us residents, but hello! Look at the darn hospital!!! And you call my sister’s room a suite?!?!
I’m going to pick up Mama and Bianca from the hospital at 11. They’ll both be glad to sleep on their nice beds when we get home. :)
*** Since I’m on the topic of sickness, our yellow lab Max is pretty sick, too. He just turned 3 human years old yesterday, but he has this condition that makes his body grow twice or thrice as much as it normally should (Remember robin Williams movie Jack?). He has a hyper thyroid that’s secreting too many growth hormones, which is why he’s so huge. He also has a very low metabolism, so he tends to sleep all day like a cat.
Because he’s overweight, the vet said that he could have a heart attack at a very young age. How sad. He’s the nicest big dog in the world. I swear! Grrr. I hate sickness.
It's been a while since I've been on a shoot for fun. So when I heard that my officemate Karen was doing a story on parasailing, I took the chance and asked if I could tag along. I hadn't slept because of the GSM party and the Sugarfree Album Launch last night, but going to the shoot this morning was well worth it.
The two other hosts went before me and they had 10 minutes each in the air. Since I was just a saling pusa, they gave me 5 minutes, but that was good enough for a free ride. I went up 400 feet with a camera in a splash pack and the experience was fantastic. I had a great view of the cove and the mountains around it, and I could barely see Subic and the beach we had come from. I looked down into the water to see if I could find some of the wrecks, but all I saw was dark blue, meaning that the water there was extrememly deep.
After taking a few shots from the air, I started playing with the straps of the parachute. I'd pull the right strap and I'd swing to the right. Then I'd pull the left strap abruptly and make a hard swing to the left. Karen was going nuts thinking that I was going to fall, especially since the wind was really strong at the time. but I was having the time of my life. Before going down, I just sat there and absorbed the beauty that was around me. It was so peaceful with the wind continuously blowing at my face like an electric fan putting me to sleep. Then I noticed that I was getting lower and lower I started to get pissed. I didn't want to go down!
Parasailing has been the best ride in my life so far. I think the only things that can top that would be paragliding and skydiving. But hey, at least I can say that for 5 minutes, I was airborne, and anyone who knows me well understands that being airborne has always been my happy thought.
Captain Mike playing with the controls and dippng me in the water.
Going up!
Yes, this is me at more than 200 feet.
The traditional Probe Crew pose. Thanks for taking shots of me, Gil! :)
