BEN AND SAM: FINALLY REVEALED!

Shooting started finally last October 5, I had to go to the location a day before to coordinate some stuffs - I wasnt able to sleep and the rest of the day is a challenge between overwhelming emotions and grueling physical requirement for the production. I had to cook twice for the needed food prop. I did everything I could to get myself accustomed with every production detail. It was totally a learning experience. I didnt consider myself as the writer/associate producer but an intern, since that's my first time to be in a real film production. When the shooting wraps at around 4 AM, I was very relieved. Finally, I could go home and sleep everything off - hoping that I could go back to my real mode. Im not a very sociable person but I was able to blend in

Finally, Ben & Sam come out of the paper and reveal themselves in the flesh.

Here they are: RAY AN DULAY  and JESS MENDOZA

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Executive Producer: Jazmin Trinidad Tecson

Story and Direction: Mark Shandii Bacolod

Screenplay: Archie del Mundo

Director of Photography: Rain Yamson

Co-Producers: Arturo Go and Sean Lim

Line Producer: Roan Ng

Assistant Director: Karla Pambid

Production Designer: Eduardo Roy Jr.

Art Director: Jerome Zamora

Stylist & Wardrobe Master: Jay Gabor

Costume Designer: Tessa Aquino

Hair & Make-Up Artist: Sarah Jose

Assistant Production Manager: Romuald Lagasca

Editor: Charliebebs Gohetia

Colorist: John Tan

Film Scorer: Eric Narvaez

Musical Director: Christian Banawa

Script Supervisor: Jayar Diaz

Production Assistant: Michael Sayat

THE RAGE OF ONDOY: THE AFTERMATH

PHOTO CREDITS OF SAVANN OEURM

BEN AND SAM: TEASER TRAILER STILLS/ STORYLINE

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=142631147620

Co-Producer and Director of Teaser Trailer Sean Lim

Director Mark Shandii Bacolod

Ben and Sam is the film I wrote for Director Mark Shandii Bacolod and for our producer Imaginative Media Productions (with producers Jazmin Trinidad, Mark Bacolod, Sean Lim, and Arturo Go).

Ben and Sam

Storyline

What could be more tender and passionate than a love that is found during the times of unfathomable longing? At times when everything is unreal, superficial, and uncertain – if love is genuine, it will cross boundaries and will know no limits and sexual categories. But how does unconventional love carry on in the modern world where patterns of morality are still as ironically primeval as the people who creep around it?

Ben is a college student who seems to be the most popular guy in campus. He lives a very luxurious life. And everything seems to be perfect and grand. Not really. He has never recovered from the horrors of his childhood under the hands of an abusive father. His mother has never recovered from his father’s lost and is now suffering from an acute case of post-traumatic stress disorder – making her slowly lose her sanity. Aside from this dilemma, Ben has yet to face the greatest of it all – accepting who he really is and fighting for the person he really loves.

Sam is the new guy in campus. He has transferred from the province carrying with him the burden of a painful past – his boyfriend who is a student activist was killed. All through out, he shares everything that is happening to him to a mysterious caller. Finally, when he gets to find a new love – it will be revealed in the end that the caller is no other than but his very supportive father.

Ben is athletic. Sam is artistic. Ben is sad. And so is David. Ben is committed. Sam is waiting. The first kiss will reverse how their old world turns. The second kiss will stop their new found world from turning.

Everything would seem to be perfect and gay. But not for long. Suddenly, they will become infamous. The butts of the jokes in the campus: Campus Queers. George, who is Ben’s best friend, is secretly jealous of everything that Ben has: his girlfriend, his popularity, his otherwise charmed life – until he discovers that Ben is someone he doesn’t really like. They may never have a gay ending.

POINT AND SHOOT

WHY DID JERRY STOP WRITING...OR DID HE?

After years of steady work as the "enfant terrible" of Modern American Literature,Jerome David Salinger suddenly declined to get published. He took his family to a small farm house in Cornish, New Hampshire...and at 90 years old and still very strong (he has been a vegetarian all his life), J.D. remains to be the most reclusive famous author who refuses to be read after the last publication of his last short (actually, very long) story HAPWORTH 16,1924 (a letter form narration of a 7 year old boy genius Seymour Glass to his family requesting for books and sharing his thoughts and experiences in a camp) SO WHAT NOW? WHAT MYSTERIES SURROUND J D SALINGER'S STRONG DENIAL OF HAVING HIS GREAT BODY OF WORKS PUBLISHED...or why did he stop writing? There are no clues until now..except a strange autobiography written by his daughter Peggy...why did he stop...and why is he not allowing any of his latter works get published? I have carefully thought out some possible reasons for this: 1. Salinger, like some writers, does not think he is what the media think he is - "genius"...and for some strings of luck that the public think he is so....he doesn't want to hit and miss anymore...and gets exposed in the process 2. He may have been living a long life...but he knows that his days as a writer is only good for two or three decades... 3. At this point, Im already tired and dont want to pretend I know were this note is going so I guess the most convenient answer is JERRY IS CRAZY 4. Religion and the roundabout experience of Salinger through and around them made his creative voice contradicts his periodic beliefs 5. The JD Salinger of the early years is much much much the Jerry from the backyard...some people really grow old...imagine Jerry using cuss words in his books at 70 or 80 6. Again, JERRY IS CRAZY 7. Holden Caulfield, yes the boy, according to Peggy disallowed her dad from writing using his voice...Jerry has been devastated ever since 8. Guys, you gotta be honest...those short stories are sooo hard to read...and yet of course, they are brilliant to the core 9. JERRY IS WRITING (and is published) under a pseudonym STEPHEN KING (hahahaha!) ...and to end this...let me say this, " Im Holden Caulfield, yah morons!!!"

"FIDEL" SPECIAL SCREENING ON AUGUST 28

Mark Shandii Bacolod's directorial film FIDEL will have its Special Screening on August 28, 7pm at the AFP Theater in Camp Aguinaldo.

How far would a man go to defend his dignity?

This is not just another sad story of an OFW.

This is the unspoken truth about the plight of Filipino males in the Middle East.

A Filipino worker is on the death row for killing his Arab employer. Because of a lady reporter who is bent on doing a full story about him, government officials are now trying to help him. But Fidel, the accused, doesn't seem to cooperate.

Filipino trial lawyers are asking him to say it was self-defense but Fidel insisted that he killed the Arab on purpose, out of revenge. He seemed withdrawn and full of hatred, contrary to what Vega learned about his past- a boy-next-door type of person who grew up with a loving family. Fidel was also the president of his religious class in high school and was very active in socio-civic projects in college. His profile doesn't fit the picture of a killer- and yet he admitted the crime.

Sister Lourdes, the nun who belongs to an NGO who helps OFWs started talking to him regularly. Soon Fidel opens up to Sister Lourdes and shared his painful experience in the hands of his employer. He was raped.

The revelation added to Sister Lourdes' desire to help Fidel. She now understands why Fidel would rather be called a killer because it is such a shame for a man to be raped by another man. And Sister Lourdes discovers that Fidel is not alone- because there are a lot of Filipino males who are being raped but are too embarrassed to file a complaint.

With the connection of Father Allan, Sister Lourdes and Vega started a massive media campaign to free Fidel. This irritated Fidel because he doesn't want to be freed. He feels like his life is already over. And the day he killed his employer was the day he accepted his fate- that he will also be sentenced to death. Story and Screenplay by Charlotte Dianco with cinematography by Rain Yamson II. Produced by Piperstorm Pictures and Periwinkle Entertainment Production in association with Imaginative Production, SD2 Sound Designers Studio, Voice Studio and Outpost Visual Frontier. Starring Lance Raymundo, Andrea del Rosario, Maria Isabel Lopez, Jao Mapa, Fonz Deza, Nonoy Froilan, Von Arroyo, Marife Necesito and Snooky Serna. This event is INVITATIONAL.

Mark Shandii Bacolod, the director of FIDEL (a good friend of mine)

Everyone is invited. Please text or call Charlotte Dianco or Mark Shandii Bacolod if you are coming or send them a message thru Facebook for your name to be included in the Guest List.

MANGHUHULA (THE FORTUNE TELLER) INVITES BLOGGERS TO ITS SPECIAL SCREENING

Manghuhula is another take of director Paolo Herras (Rekados, Lambanog) to his magic realism cinema. This time, the magic is about knowing what's gonna happen in the future. Manghuhula or fortune teller is already an image of a society that desires to know the truth at this time of uncertainties. But what if the one who possesses the gift of clairvoyance is abused by the same corrupt and evil society?

PLOT: MANGHUHULA

Messina, an outcast and failed fortuneteller returns to her hometown to save her daughter Claire from a syndicate that aims to exploit her gift of fortune telling. When Messina returns, she finds her daughter caught in debt and the squabble of a petty syndicate running a band of fortunetellers for the unwary, desperate answer-seekers. For years, their hometown has been grooming one great fortuneteller just as they had hailed Dorothea as the town's leader. Dorothea is the grandmother of Claire who appears in her dreams. A helpful fortuneteller named Rachel teaches Messina that the only way to save her daughter is to embrace a gift she has vowed to give up, the ability to see the future no matter how bleak and inescapable.

CAST:

Eula Valdez......Messina

Glaiza De Castro.....Claire

Emilio Garcia...jakob

Chanda Romero...Dorothea

Pinky Amador....Letty

Bella Flores....Rachel

THERE WILL BE A SPECIAL SCREENING ON AUGUST 28, 2009...ALL BLOGGERS ARE INVITED...YOU HAVE TO SEND ME YOUR NAME SO THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO ADD YOUR NAME IN THE INVITATION LIST

THE KING OF POP IS DEAD; MICHAEL JACKSON (August 29, 1958–June 25, 2009)

The King of Pop has just died. I am so instantly depressed...and can't do this.....................

Global Primary Care on Lesotho

Global Primary provides improved health services within the context of primary care. For Lesotho, a small country in Southern Africa, the challenge is HIV/AIDS, with an estimated 24% of the population infected.Our programs target HIV–related health care issues in Lesotho – including support for HIV–orphans, laboratory equipment for HIV clinics, nutritional supplies, a community health worker program and access to health care.Global primary care is committed to zero overhead – meaning 100% of your contributions go directly to our programs. Any funds necessary for overhead are raised separately. Additionally, any contributions you make are tax deductile.Global Primary provides improved health services within the context of primary care. For Lesotho, a small country in Southern Africa, the challenge is HIV/AIDS, with an estimated 24% of the population infected.Our programs target HIV–related health care issues in Lesotho – including support for HIV–orphans, laboratory equipment for HIV clinics, nutritional supplies, a community health worker program and access to health care.Global primary care is committed to zero overhead – meaning 100% of your contributions go directly to our programs. Any funds necessary for overhead are raised separately. Additionally, any contributions you make are tax deductibl

Text courtesy of  http://www.globalprimarycare.org/

Cannes is over...and PHILIPPINES' BRILLANTE MENDOZA BAGS THE BEST DIRECTOR AWARD...or how Ebert becomes THE WORLD'S WORST FILM CRITIC OF ALL TIME

Cannes 2009 Best Director Brillante Mendoza is the only second Filipino to win a Palme d'Or( Raymond Red won for Anino in the short film category in 2000)

The last laugh, hahahahaha!!!!! Now that the Cannes Film Festival is over and done, hahaaaaaaa!!!! and having BRILLANTE MENDOZA proclaimed as the BEST DIRECTOR (after reknown critic Roger Ebert had called his film Kinatay "The worst in Cannes history")...his success is a clear vindication for all those dimwits everywhere who blessed the words that came from the rusty pens of an armchair critic aptly named Roger Ebert....

I now proclaim Ebert as THE WORLD'S WORST FILM CRITIC in the History of Mankind.

Moving on...........I congratulate Mendoza for such a wonderful feat and for making us all proud back home.....NOW WHO CAN REALLY ARGUE WITH SUCCESS?

THE PUNK and THE BUTCHERED...or how Ebert tried too hard to demolish Kinatay

Kinatay (Butchered) premiered at Cannes last May 17, and earned mixed reviews from critics (not that we care so much about them), but the most notorious one was the blog entry of American critic Roger Ebert (who we hardly recognize without the great late Gene Siskel), who bullied that this film is "the worst in Cannes History) 

The Philippine delegation of Kinatay in the red carpet (Mendoza, Cabral, Martin, and Lopez)

So for some people who are curious to know WHO THE PUNK I AM - WELL, here you are. If you were directed from Roger Ebert's page - then come here - tell me more. 

I am not some dude. I am not a street punk. But I can give you a good fight, if that's what you need.

Hear me out first - I am not overly sensitive. I know the difference between a REVIEW OF A FILM from  a REVIEW OF A COUNTRY - I am five times a film student and had some A's. I work as a freelance writer but I can be very careless when I write. Sometimes, it's just that I am overwhelmed by my emotions, and yez, sensitivities.

I've helped quite a few with their causes (which I believed were mine too) - I am so proud to be a Filipino whatever some punks abroad say about my country. I can die for my cause, and for everyhting I believe in. But I am not a punk. 

I so hate hearing people apologizing for wrong reasons - and to wrong people. 

I AM A FAN OF BRILLANTE MENDOZA. That's never going to change for now.

I am not going to allow anyone throwing bad discourse to Filipino films and its industry as a whole.  

I may be bordering to blind patriotism - but that's not too bad compared to people who vomit about the fact that they were born, raised, and developed in a country that has never had no real recourse to solve its internal strifes. So what are you doing, punk? 

I still maintain that Mr. Ebert's review is a DEMOLITION JOB. A job so unfair to discredit something beyond what's decent and acceptable in the underlying ethics of film appreciation (or in his case, the sheer lack of it).

I still believe that Mr. Ebert has not enough zest anymore in life to enjoy anyting beyond his taste, beyond his comfort zone, and BEYOND HIS KNOWLEDGE. To all Filipinos abroad, or maybe some of those who are here - who had no balls of thunder but to lick Mr. Ebert's trivial legacy - the more shame at you all.

Yes, I haven't fully watched Kinatay yet, and I don't care whether it is good or bad - for whatever it's worth - it still has my confidence for the mere fact that it had reached Cannes with no less but not a leaf of hibiscus...along with 9 other films, it deserves a GOLDEN PALM.

WHO CAN ARGUE WITH SUCCESS? It's the film that's competing already and not Mendoza anymore. Does it bear the country's name. Yes, but of course. Does it give a bad impression of the country?  who the hell is anyone to pass on judgment like that? 

Anyway, IT'S NOT REAL ANYWAY, IT'S JUST A MOVIE

The City Goes To Bed...

From Laramie to a small spot in Manggahan

by Archie del Mundo

The city has just woken from an eternal nightmare

and I am trying to sleep from my own scary blaze

I can't close my eyes

the demons are dancing on the beat of my fears

They are attacking my spirit

They have just emptied my veins

They have just destroyed my sanity

And I am all alone again without a friend

I am full of blood and tears

My eyes can't be closed because they are beaten to the blues

I've just gone home from a fist of hate

A liquid of disgust, and broken bottle of intolerance

It's not only my possessions that were taken away

but my moments of pride and self-identification

I've been a victim of intolerance

I've been terrorized by countless rejections

but not until last night's horrors of hate

I am disappearing each block

I am wavering to every step back home

I've been infected of wrong desires

Now I have to stand up and pick up my dirty clothes

shoot them in to the bin

I am washing my face, practicing to make it look tough

readying my gears to fight back

collecting my thoughts and saving my strength

to rather spread compassion and understanding

and vow to the highest note...

hate is going to end and love will prevail

and acceptance

and freedom

and equality

and.......

I AM HOLDEN CAULFIELD, YAH MORONS!

PHOTO AVAILABLE AT: http://westwolf270.deviantart.com/art/holden-caulfield-finished-106886242

What's with a sixteen year old boy who almost had a life of breeze with parents and relatives who were practically throwing money at his feet, owned very expensive suitcases and rollerskates, a houndstooth sweater for goddam poop - and why do we love him so much that it almost caused us our own self-identification? What's with this Holden kid?

HOLDEN had had a dysfunctional family ever since Allie died. And he wouldnt want Phoebe's innocence to be rotten like his. He so hated how people gravitate around the material greed and tend to forget the basic desires: happiness and a goddam huge vocabulary.

I say, do you love your sister or your brother that much as much as Holden did? Can you stand in the rain just looking at your goddam sister circling around that goddam carousel? Holden did, and he didnt goddam bother catching pneumonia. Did you ever punch a hole in the wall, or break a goddam window when your six year old brother died? Or have you ever scrubbed the goddam wall at your sister's campus because you woudnt like them children seeing F*ck you written all over the goddam place? Holden Morrissey Caulfield did. Have you?

Was Holden a goddam homophobic? Yes he f*cking was. For reasons, he had had to endure every goddam pre-adulthood schooling moments with "flitty pass" A kid like him won't have enough activism to equate social passes or whatever. A freak of nature, what's a 16 year old boy doing inside a 6 feet body and greyish hair?

Did he act like a complete moron when he got stinky drunk, like dunking his whole head into a sink full of chunky ice and stayed the whole goddam hours in front of a radiator? Did he ever try to call someone by the name Jane Gallagher by any chance?

Did he hate girls who talk gibberish too loudly, or girls with lousy legs...or girls whod be bitches eventually? Or he hated boys who wore lastex swimwear, or secretly took pity of poor students who had cheap suitcases?

Was his angst too early for 1950s? There wasnt Vietnam yet. No goddam nuclear wars. Nor Nike sweatshop scandals.

Do  I still love Holden and wont do things that he won't approve?

Yes! Because I am Holden Caulfield, yah morons!

HOLLYWOOD STARS TAKE TIME TO BE CLUMSY AND...STUPID

Reason enuf why his not in this year's People Magazine's stupid list Katherine Heigl is eye-poppin'

Jennifer Garner is amazed

Mel Gibson, your fake Aussie is all tongue-out

Our dear Reese just couldn't make up her mind which yet another sweater to buy

And Jessica is just plain nuts all over the place

DON'T LEAVE 'EM BABIES

This is a little effort from me and my little Photoshop skills. But the purpose is huge. The challenge is gigantic. Please help us to direct the right aid to Lesotho to help them combat HIV/AIDS (Lesotho has the third highest HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate).

What we can do...send help by posting your pledges of support (not financial). Planning is underway to transmit proposals to World Bank and other rich countries to send aid to Lesotho

For Some Sentimental Reasons

San Miguel, Manila

Paco, Manila Legarda, Manila

For some sentimental reasons, I miss these places in Manila. The crazy walks. The lazy Sunday morning. The grand carinderias. The strange but rather nice people. And of course, some work friends in the past - you'd stop and think for a while...how did they get to be so nice to you when you're face would paint trouble all the time

A FIRST LOOK at KINATAY (BUTCHERED)

Kinatay (butchered) is the Philippine entry to the 61st Cannes Film Festival which starts on May 13. It stars good staple indie film actors Mercedes Cabral and Coco Martin, who both had their share of the Cannes Red Carpet last year via film Serbis (Sex and Cinema At Your Service).

The story is about chop-chop killings. The film is directed by Brillante Ma Mendoza (Serbis, Tirador, Manoro, Kaleldo, Masahista)

Let IVAN find his peace with JUSTICE

While it's not yet 'justice served' for the family of Ivan De Guzman, what has been known so far is the fact that his killer is still at large. Almost seven months have passed since Ivan's body was found charred by fire, beaten and stabbed - we still don't know yet if he was murdered for hate-related motives.

I hope that in time, no faces like of Ivan's will figure in any form of murder for mere reason of hate and intolerance.

WANTED FOR MURDER, ARSON, ROBBERY

Let's all help to locate the whereabouts of one FRANCIS MORRONDOZ y FILIO whose last known address is 11 Athena Saint Michael Subd. Lias, Marilao,Bulacan

postscript: this is my fifth attempt to post this article but for some reasons not known to me...my blog's layout seems to change in blue

PHILIPPINES scores a BACK TO BACK triumph in CANNES with Brillante Mendoza's film KINATAY (Butchered)

This year's Cannes Film Festival's poster

The New Genius of Filipino Cinema

Hooray! Philippines' Brillante Mendoza will once again prove to the entire world that Filipino Cinema is at par and one of the best. Mendoza's new film Kinatay (Butchered) is in competition for Palme d'Or (Gold Prize/Best Film) at this year's Cannes Film Festival, slated mid May.

The film is of thriller genre and a story about a policeman (we remember Jaguar of Lino Brocka where Philip Salvador played a guar-ja or security guard , which was in-competition 29 years ago in the same international film festival in France.)

Ms. Jaclyn Jose is sandwiched here by compatriot actor Julio Diaz and director Mendoza the entire delegation of Serbis last year at the Cannes

It can be recalled that Mendoza also had us proud when his film Serbis (Sex and Cinema At Your Service) also competed for the same last year. It is indeed a back to back victory for all of us!

Mabuhay!!! The international poster of Serbis (Sex and Cinema At your Service)

What Street Food Do You Go Crazy About?

Mobile Beef Noodles?

Mayukmok (or native potato crushed and ground with coconut milk and margarine)? Giant Quek Quek (or chicken eggs deep fried with cornstarch and egg filling)?

Or Green Mango with bagoong (dipped or spread with ground minute shrimps)?

When Motherhood Becomes A Huge Responsibility

Would you believe that this is our dear Kate Hudson? Bumpy and ugly and she's not liking her photo being taken at this period of pre-maternal insecurities. But she will always be loveable come what may Our favorite Rainbow family. Mr and Mrs Pitt (pregnant with Baby Pitt Number 2[x2])

The twin-bearing Crest Icon of the Millenium could not smile at this point

Exploring Caramoan (ooohhhh!!! Aaaah!!!!)

The not so explored beauty and splendor that is Caramoan

Caramoan Islands are in Camarines Sur, Philippines

Photo Courtesy of caramoanislands.com

Call Center Days of Yore

Batch 22 " Children Of All Ages" according to Trainer Deng/ Teleperformance Manila February 2005 Batch Number Forgotten February 2007/ Sykes Asia Makati City

What I love about being in these two groups of call center wannabes - the fun of being together. The No Holds barred conversations about life, love, and the job that awaits us then.

I miss these guys. I still love them all.

Chagos Folks: "A Paradise Once Ours'

Simple story: there was no story to begin with. The Chagos Archipelagos in the Indian Ocean was mythically erased as a chartered territory. Depopulated by the intention to strategically base the American/British military zones. Yes, this is where the jets are. This is where their fighting planes and submarines are loaded. An old Mauritian folk in the old Diego Garcia Between 1968 and 1973, the entire population of this small group of islands in the Indian ocean were systematically removed from their homes and exiled, by a government who deliberately ‘maintained the fiction’ to the rest of the world that they didn’t exist, and therefore had no rights (http://www.letthemreturn.com/). The Chagossians have all the right to return to their original homes. The Chagos People's Homeland Campaign is continuously heading to the battle to repossess the islands. Including the Mauritians in Diego Garcia. Although, we thank DG for consistently hiring Filipino and Singaporean professionals to work in the atoll - we all have to decide objectively to whom the islands rightfully belong. British/American soldiers escorting an exiled Chagossian

Diego Garcia, BIOT : An Island within an Island

DG is one major paradise

As huge as the guys who caught it ...and all they have to do is eat them

The dear old banana boat