dingdong96

Yeah. Killed off my Project 365. Apparently it was unsustainable for me. After all, I don't always have a camera with me and I end up trying to catch up. Well, it was a good one month (yes, I did manage to last for 10% of the project, posting about 5% of the required pictures). Howell...

Unfortunately, tumblr cannot delete the blog entirely as it is my primary blog - the main reason I actually started a blog outside of livejournal. I'm keeping Dingdong Daze though, so I still have a tumblr blog. Although it seems livejournal is easier to update. Hmmm...lemme check why I started this then. I think the link looks much nicer if posted on facebook. And then there's twitter - yes, I've jumped on to that bandwagon too.

So, after a long hiatus, busy days, I'm back to blogging. And facebooking. And now tweeting. Keep connected guys! We all need that every now and then.

As dark clouds loom over the city this foggy afternoon, my mind wanders to tonight's little catching up story. Having gotten the information in advance, all I could say is, no crying, ok? Feel free to express yourself but crying, well, that one I couldn't take. The emotions may be overwhelming so I can't blame you if that happens. If it does, don't blame me if I stay quiet and detached - it's a coping mechanism I have somehow perfected through the years. But do know that I empathize and I know you're strong enough for this and cartoon me is eagerly looking forward to brighter days. To paraphrase someone's facebook status, "there is a reason why some people are no longer with us". And to quote Sheldon, "There, there..."

I've been spending some time lately at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. One of my birthday blessings last June was finding out I got into this year's Virgin Labfest Fragments - 3-5 minute scenes from plays to be performed by the Sipat Lawin Ensemble (alumni of Philippine High School of the Arts, incidentally the more artistic counterpart of my alma mater). And of course, I'd also like to watch the rest of the plays at the Virgin Labfest. The realization: we've got some great talents here!

I mean talents in writing, directing, and acting, as well as the technical fields that bring theater magic onstage and changing our moods. Appropriately named as Virgin Labfest, these are largely untried and untested works being staged for the first time, making it quite a gamble for the producers. After all, producers have been avoiding that same gamble in theater by bringing in box-office Broadway hits and casting pop stars. It's a fairly old discussion so you know the drill. Bring a bunch of unknowns and cast the nation's premiere theater performer into a decades old show already filmed wonderfully onstage, you'll still have people clamoring for tickets at exorbitant prices.


Seeing a lot of the shows, conversing with the writers, and seeing the actors go in and out of CCP definitely rouses that artiste feeling. I'm definitely in the right place and with the right crowd to develop the artist within me. Who knows, maybe a year from now a similar blessing will drop from the skies and bring me back here. But in the meantime, let the learning continue. Feeling artist muna ako.

I was mentioning this in my facebook status for the past few days: how I've gone into a routine of cooking lunch for myself and then laying on the couch watching a Woody Allen movie. It seems I've got a few more days to go in this routine, given the many number of movies Woody Allen has written and directed in his career (as well as the availability of even his obscure works thanks to the Metrowalk pirates, as well as fellow Allen enthusiasts).

(While writing, I seemed to have a hard time remembering where I upload pictures for my blog. Was I away for that long?)


Day 1: Match Point
Thanks to my aunt in Chicago who gave me a copy, this actually started my routine. If I'm not mistaken, this was the first movie done by Scarlett Johansson as Woody Allen's muse. She does a great performance here but so do the English actors (the likes of whom Woody Allen must be discovering a lot lately given his geographical transfer from New York to England). I particularly like how this one starts with how luck gets into the picture in a tennis game when at the point when the ball hits the net, it goes up and could go in either direction, scoring a point for either player. The analogy returns near the end of the movie, where a similar scenario, this time involving a ring, shows just how lucky the main character is.


Day 2: Melinda and Melinda
The movie starts off with a conversation between friends about a story and how one of them perceives it as a comedy while the other perceives it as a tragedy. Two stories then proceed with similar details and true enough, one of them (obviously the one involving Will Ferrell) ends up like a romantic comedy, while the other an emotional tragedy. Radha Mitchell does great in both stories as the title role Melinda. With the comedy part a bit slow to progress, the film is generally serious and is not the usual Woody Allen comedy. It does bring up opposing views on life - whether it is tragic or comic - and it basically depends on the way you look at it.


Day 3: Another Woman
If the previous day was a bit heavy, this one is definitely heavier - both in concept and execution. This one involves a woman in mid-life crisis slowly realizing how her unemotional attitude has led to an empty existence. Extremely serious and with no subtitles (darn!), this one will definitely need a few more screenings to capture all necessary elements.


Day 4: The Purple Rose of Cairo
The seriousness of the past selections led me to look for something lighter and more familiar. Although this one has quite a tragic ending, the premise itself is light enough to ease the tension - a movie character pops out of the screen and leaves his co-actors in mid-scene. The conversations of the screen actors and the interaction with the viewers afterwards is priceless.


Day 5: New York Stories - Oedipus Wrecks
True to my theme, I just watched Woody Allen's part in this three-story tale about life in New York. And similar to the magical realism in Purple Rose, this time, Woody Allen's mother disappears and suddenly becomes this huge head in the sky. Hence, all embarrassing stories and pictures return ten-fold when these are shared with the rest of New York.


The end is not in sight. More Allen movies in the coming days - and I'm looking forward to it.

... for I have sinned. My last blog entry was last year, late in September. Do you remember? Badiyah!

And just as an update, my last entry was filled with excitement for the movie version of Nine. Since then, it has lost all major awards, is now out on DVD in your favorite pirates' stand - and still hasn't been shown in local movie theaters. If it has, where have I been? I'm looking forward to Iron Man 3 The Musical since it's been a while since I've seen a musical on the big screen.

Here's an option:

Hmmm... is it? It remains to be seen. Quite promising seeing the people behind the project. Although Chito Rono directing a musical is something I don't find appealing just yet - Pinoy suspense or horror, ok, but musicals? We'll see. And I'm also not too enticed by the provincial setting - the cinematography seems to be nice but I'm still haunted by memories of Abadeha. So I'm equally excited by this but more so to see what's in store for the Philippine movie-musical.

So, in conclusion.... I'm back!

Since it's a bit closer now, I think it's close enough to be excited about it without being disappointed at possible delayed local release. We'll see...

Sharing...


Here's my dream: capture all of these empowering thoughts into one script that'll transform the world :)

Thanks to a close friend who sold me his old DSLR, I've been lugging around this piece of technology that helps me get good shots of life around me. Admittedly, I'm no pro and to even get a good clean shot (no blur) sometimes takes some effort and extra fumbling with the DSLR settings. I've attended a class, and I have a book, but I've never bothered that much with the technicals. I subscribe to the lazy thought that people with "the eye" get the good shots, and I'm hoping this doesn't dwell too much on the technicals.

And the signs that you've actually "made it" as a photographer:
1. getting published
2. having a photo in an exhibit
Now, don't go all positive on me that making it as a photographer is done by simply declaring it. Neither should you shoot me down by saying it takes more than those two.

Anyway, I consider myself halfway there. After all, these days, "getting published" has gone broader than the broadsheets and I consider getting a picture into a blog or a webpage not owned by me already as "getting published". So, thanks to Hogi who invited me to a bloggers' preview of an upcoming show and to my sister (who still owes me dinner at Penguin)who's yet to publish my pics in a website for a backpacker's place in Malate, I am now a "published" photographer. Some are photos, some are snapshots, but still all came from me :)

1. tymeless
2. Photos for a soon-to-be-published website
3. The Bachelor Girl

Now, on to that exhibit...

It's been so long. Apparently my livejournal account is still alive. This was my first blogging site. Visiting it again made me think, I haven't really been blogging for the past few months. I've written stuff, provided updates through Facebook, posted pictures, but not really truly (madly deeply) provided a more comprehensive update through a blog entry.

So apparently, this is another one of those "I'm back" entries. After which I'll be active again until work peaks up again. After which expect a similar entry. Well, we'll see.

Also, it's been a long time since I've updated through Livejournal, I'm not quite sure anymore if this gets cross-posted to Multiply or Facebook. Hmmm...let me explore...

Pumasok sa dining room si lalaki. Nagdadabog si babae habang nagtatadtad ng karne. Tinanong ni lalaki kung galit si babae. Nagsabi si babae ng "hindi" pero patuloy na nagdadabog. May binigay na ulam si babae kay lalaki, "O, kainin mo!".

Sa takot kay babae napakain si lalaki ng hilaw na karne. May naamoy na kakaiba si lalaki sa kinain nya pero di nya ito pinansin. Patuloy sa pagdadabog si babae habang nagluluto. Patuloy din ang pagtanong ni lalaki kung galit si babae at kung bakit ito nagdadabog. "Galit ka ba?" , tanong ni lalaki. Sa wakas, nagsabi si baba ng "oo". Bakit?, tanong ni lalaki. Sagot ni babae, "Ang ingay kasi ng aso mo!".

Kumain ulit si lalaki ng binigay na ulam, pinikit na lang nya ang mga mata para hindi mandiri sa hilaw na karne. Sa kanyang pagpikit napansin nyang tahimik naman at wala namang kumakahol kaya walang dapat ikagalit si babae. Bigla syang natulala.

Tumakbo sya sa labas ng bahay na parang may hinahanap. Lingon sa kanan, lingon sa kaliwa. "Doggie?"

Napangiti na lang sya nang lumapit sa kanya ang alaga nyang aso na mukhang bagong gising. Sa kanyang tuwa, kumanta sya at kinantahan ang kanyang aso ng "You".