1:30 to go.....

Only an hour and a half to go before we bid 2004 goodbye. Yes folks, it's been 365 days or as I would rather count, 525,600 minutes. Overall, it's been a good year for us, here are some highlights of my year, in no particular order:

1. Carlos was born March 28, 2004

2. Valerie goes to school for the first time and absolutely loves it!

3. Had dinner with 2 people who are close to my heart, Dean and Nikki Alfar.

4. I became part of an indie filmmaking group called SineBuano and become its executive director.

5. SineBuano launches its TV program on RCTV36

6. We finally get on the broadband wagon

7. I finally got my hands on a Canon 300D

What are your highlights for 2004?

Here's to another year of blogging, have a happy new year!

Home at Last!

We are finally home! I'm back in Cebu!

Finally, I can have eight hours of sleep in the comfort of my own bed, without having to wake up to the screeching sound of children's voices and the loud stomps from their feet. aaah, heaven once again.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Manila!

Yes, I am in Manila with my whole family and the 2 yayas or angels, as my wife calls them. We flew in last 21st to attend the company's Christmas party and an Ordoñez family reunion..and hopefully try to sneak in a little time for photography.

Christmas is a time to spend with friends and loved ones, a time for sharing and giving back the blessings you received. It is a time for renewal of old friendships and revival of lost ones, a time for forgiving and forgetting, a time for love and joy.

From my family to yours, we hope that you had a wonderful christmas and may your new year be prosperous!

Cebuanos and Theater

Tonight, my wife and I saw Al's theater adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon at SM City Cebu. We almost enjoyed it, if not for the college student that sat beside me who kept texting and in between lines I could hear the almost silent "click, click, click" of the keypads on her cellphone, as well as some ring tones from a person who I assume does not know the ethics of using his mobile phone. How I would've loved to stand up, grab the phone from their hands and throw them as far as I can. Back in the day, I would've but I guess wisdom got the best of me and instead gave the lady beside me a stabbing stare.

Cebuanos have yet to learn the do's and don'ts of watching a stage play or even a movie actually. When will they ever learn? Does it hurt so much when they turn their mobile phones off for just an hour and a half, so that people who paid good money will be able to enjoy the play? Damn it.

A Day Divided in Three Acts

FIRST. This morning I talked with students of Paref Southcrest School about making a documentary film, nothing major, just the basics. Colon: Ang Paglantaw by Jurly was shown as a guide to what a documentary looks like and that a documentary may be as short as 5 to 10 mins.

It's been almost a year since I had a speaking engagement, it was good to know that I can still hack it.

SECOND. I finally got to talk with the officers and members of the Autism Society of the Philippines Cebu Chapter and got their go signal for on-cam interviews with some parents and their children.

Magene and I agreed that it was a good topic. I was surprised. Twice already she agreed with a film project which I conceptualized, maybe she isn't against filmmaking at all.

We were off to Big Bucks for dinner and cigarettes.

THIRD. Jurly then informed me that someone was there making a scene in his usual flair, I responded by saying that I'd rather stay at Big Bucks than watch his display of zealousness.

After being informed that the dust has cleared, we then proceeded to meet with Nick de Ocampo and the Cebu Film Festival Secretariat for Pelikula at Lipunan slated on the latter part of January.

The people behind this project seemed to have done their homework. they've covered almost all the bases, now it's a matter of getting the home run.

Dissolved

I got a call from the International Academy for Film and Television this afternoon telling me that my directing class has been dissolved because there were only 2 enrollees, I and Ryan Cho of South Korea.

Roy Eisenstein was supposed to be our mentor. I was really looking forward to this class. In fact, when Roy told us that we were supposed to film a short monologue, I immediately started writing and planning my shots. shit.

I plan to continue shooting the monologue I wrote with the help of Jurly. I think it's a good piece and Magene agrees.

No More Script

december 24th
nine p.m.
eastern standard time
hereon in i shoot without a script
see if anything comes of it
instead of my own shit....

I along with the people that'll be behind the production of Code Name: Bugoy have decided to shoot with just a storyline, a couple of dialogues without a screenplay.

The screenplay I was writing will not be the pilot episode. Jurly and Gerald decided that the pilot episode should be explosive enough to keep the audiences wanting for more. After the story conference, I went home wondering what will happen with Bugoy, "how will the actors get a feel of what's happening? how will they know where to go?"

Then I though about the people I will be with.

Jurly has always shot his films without scripts, except for "The Witness", and his forte is comedy. Gerald's technical genius will lead Bugoy to where it should go. "Fuck it. Let's shoot" I finally said to myself.