First day of the Monsoon League today at Alabang.

What I miss most about playing Ultimate Frisbee is for one entire day, life’s shit, important or otherwise, doesn’t matter; for that day all that matters is getting that disc.

That said I also miss my team / old friends / swatting down the disc on defense –sarap! / catching it in the endzone / beer afterwards / eating afterwards / winning

Meanwhile, I did not miss the swollen knees / the burning sun / sore body / blisters / losing.

See you next week pinks. Oyoyoy!

I love Dr. Seuss, ate up all his books when I was a kid.

Stumbled onto this one online, thought I’d share. As applicable today as it was when I graduated high school.

Oh! The Places You’ll Go

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look’em over with care. About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down a not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed. You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.

You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.

And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And if you go in, should you turn left or right…or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.

No! That’s not for you!
Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all. Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don’t. Because, sometimes, they won’t.

I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.

And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.

You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)

Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

Baby Angelo grabbed a couple of nominations for the 2009 Urian Awards (the only local award-giving body that matters, IMHO), which was two more than I actually expected, so, yay.

Archie Alemania is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as M.D., and my buddy Cristina Honrado is nominated for Production Design. Cristina is already an Urian winner for her work in Lav Diaz’ Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino. I’m especially happy that Archie’s work was noticed for such a small role. He played against type and was wonderful to work with.

That said I’m a little disappointed that Jojit Lorenzo, Katherine Luna (though she’s nominated for another movie) and Ces Quesada weren’t recognized for their performances. They were so low-key and grounded and played their ensemble roles well.

Once again indie films dominated the awards. Mainstream, take a hint.

Full list of nominees here. I hope Francis X Pasion’s Jay wins the whole thing, for the record.

And people look up.

And when it rains, it pours.

–

Get up Joe.

John Hughes

1950-2009

To the king of American teen movies, may you rest in peace.

My top John Hughes films:

1. The Breakfast Club

When I first saw this in the eighties (I was a pre-teen) I thought, wow this movie is DEEP. Hughes wrote this in two days and shot in sequence, and the actors ad-libbed many of the scenes; which is why the movie feels so real. Sure, this is America and not third-world Manila, but we all could relate.

There are so many good scenes in the movie but the ending left a long, lingering impression.

2. She’s Having a Baby

This one’s not a teen movie but this scene below killed me when I first saw it.

3. Sixteen Candles

Molly Ringwald. Anthony Michael Hall. And of course, Gedde Watanabe as Long Duk Dong.

Again lots of good scenes, like Molly’s grandparents feeling her up, but this scene between Molly and Anthony was sincere, touching and damn funny.

4. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Just way too much fun.

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.” -John F. Kennedy

Yesterday on the treadmill I watched Carlo Caparas make a fool of himself on ANC as he defended himself regarding that scandalous, entirely undeserved National Artist Award. He, with shades and all, was flanked on either side by writer Butch Dalisay and critic Alexis Tioseco. Of the ten minutes I saw, Caparas’ defense was solely based on him being masa and the people against him being elitist academics.

*groan*

Butch Dalisay with calm diplomacy informed him in so many words, you’re just not good enough, I don’t give a flying fuck if you can draw; and Alexis gave him a spanking by telling him that the movies of previous National Artists for Film (Brocka, Bernal, etc) were hardly what you would call elitist and academic. It was so pathetic I couldn’t even watch anymore. Still, I couldn’t help but feel for the guy. He’s clearly not the villain. And why should he return the Award? It’s a 1M a year grant and a monthly stipend.

Learned that the Funeral mourning the death of the National Artist Award (I love this community– such a flair for the dramatic) was dispersed due to the rains and people had trouble getting rides, and so the entire thing fizzled out on its way to the NCCA. Yes, there’s nothing scarier than a bunch of wet artists clad in black pumping their fists in the air.

-Woke up the right time (8 am) but slept in just cause it was so cold out. Sleeping in with the rain is one of the best feelings in the world, I half expected my Mom to come in and announce school was cancelled for the day.

-Light day at work for me, but not for everyone else, so I went to the gym over lunch, skipping the prawns Cristina brought to the office today, but not without snatching one on my way out for a lunch workout.

-Had Korean for lunch and a business meeting afterwards. Exciting stuff. Waited on Tracy, Monster and Mario to finish work though I was starving already by the time they were done (9 or so PM).

-Vastly prefer Twitter now over anything else. Today I got my first celebrity reply, from Armi Millare of UpDharmaDown, now I’m really a huge fan and when she replied, I got really kilig. But you know I just acted cool, didn’t use smileys or exclamation points, just periods and short sentences, no gushing. Reminded me of the time I first met Michael V, I also acted cool, chatted about the weather, the movie we were about to make; I was all pithy and interesting, but I was in truth SHITTING MY PANTS.

-Dinner was with the chums at Lorenzo’s Way in Greenbelt; crispy pata, gising-gising and bamboo rice. The crispy pata wasn’t that crispy, but the meat was tender and wonderful. I quit meat for 14 years before becoming a “flexitarian” last year, which probably explains why afterwards  I felt a little nauseous.

-Drinks afterwards at Corinne’s where we watched the latest episode of Top Chef Masters, though my interest in this season is cut in half by the absence of Padma Lakshmi, replaced instead by this Asian lady with a big head whose job it is to state the obvious in a peppy, TV hosty voice.

Corazon Aquino

1933-2009

Farewell. Here’s hoping that this time, we won’t soon forget.

Illustration by Anita Kunz for Time Magazine.

Congratulations to all the winners at Cinemalaya! Every one of them won. Did awards distribution occur? It’s bizarre, for example, that Best Picture winner Last Supper No. 3 didn’t win anything else, nor did Jury Prize winners Colorum and Fe. Did these films write and direct themselves?!

Best Film: “Last Supper No. 3”

Special Jury Award: “Colorum” and “Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe”

NETPAC Award: “Baseco Bakal Boy”

National Council for Children’s Television Award: “Dinig Sana Kita”

Audience Choice (Full Length): “Dinig Sana Kita”

Best Director: GB Sampedro (“Astig”)

Best Actress: Ina Feleo (“Sanglaan”)

Best Actor: Lou Veloso (“Colorum”)

Best Supporting Actress: Tessie Tomas (“Sanglaan”)

Best Supporting Actor: Arnold Reyes (“Astig”)

Best Screenplay: “Ang Nerseri”

Best Cinematography: “24K”

Best Production Design: “Mangatyanan”

Best Editing: “Astig”

Best Musical Score: “Dinig Sana Kita”

Best Sound Recording: “Astig”

Best Short Film: “Bonsai”

Special Jury Award (Shorts): “Blogog”

Audience Choice (Shorts): “Tatang”

Best Director (Shorts): Dexter B. Cayanes (“Musa”)

Best Screenplay (Shorts): “Behind Closed Doors”

—

Pepe Diokno (of Engkwentro) only came up with a “Special Mention” but had the last laugh: his film is invited to the Venice Film Festival, becoming the first of this batch to get invited to one of the major international festivals. Sweet!

Work kept me away for most of Cinemalaya week and I was only able to watch Thursday night and all of Friday. Disappointed to have seen just three competing films, but it was great being back, the atmosphere was wonderful. It was great seeing filmmakers of all sizes, programmers, students, friends.

Thursday

The plan was to watch Ana Agabin’s 24K. We all had Monster buy the tickets and we arrived late, so we pretty much just went in without looking. So we’re sitting there and Dennis Trillo is mumbling something about term papers, and I’m wondering where is Jojit Lorenzo (the reason we’re watching) and all the mining? When we realize with a start, it’s not 24K, it’s Astig by GB Sampedro, or if we were to base it on all the press, by Boy Abunda.

Sampedro is good. Boy (lead in story #2) and Timmy Eigenmann (lead in story #4… go Timmy!) were very, very good. Though, in the middle of the show I found myself drifting to the exhibit of the 13 Artists exhibit just outside, where my friends Christina Dy and Raya Martin had installations. CD’s was badly lit and the mounting was awful though, I was pretty pissed that you can see the other works through her doorways and I wasn’t able to experience the space she created.

Spoke briefly with critic Gibbs Cadiz, who had seen all the films. I asked which films I should watch and he said, “For you? Nerseri, Engkwentro and Panggagahasa ni Fe.” I wonder what he meant.

Friday

Did a Jerrold Tarog mini-festival as I saw Confessional (co-directed with Ruel Dahis Antipuesto) and Mangatyanan back-to-back. Watching the two together was a treat. Confessional was fun and gimmicky (in a good way) and the performances were on point, especially Publio Briones as the mayor and Owee Salva as the girlfriend. I met Publio afterwards and gushed a little bit, hehe. Mangatyanan was a lot more introspective with Che Ramos capably carrying the film on her newbie shoulders. She has such a watchable face, and is quite pretty when she smiles, which unfortunately happens only a couple of times in the film. Although I felt the treatment of abuse, its effects and recovering from it, was a little simplistic, I still thought that the film was excellent and was clearly in a different league.

What to watch for the 9 PM show was between Vic Acedillo’s Nerseri and Pepe Diokno’s Engkwentro. Engkwentro won out because it was playing at the Main Theater, a much better venue. Engkwentro is clocks in at just under an hour, which suits its style best, as it is shot in a series of real-time long takes. Zyrus Desamparado as Tomas, leader of a rival gang, was AMAZING. Very present and spot-on; villainous and menacing without even trying. Daniel Madrana as the young boy was also terrific; Felix Roco as the lead was in and out for me, but he was mostly good as well. Diokno did a fantastic job with them. That said, I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching something I’ve seen before. Also I made the mistake of going to the bathroom and missing the big ending; oops.

Saturday

Had work, unfortunately. Damn.

Really want to see the other movies, especially Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe and Nerseri. People (actually, other filmmakers I’ve spoken to) seem to be falling over themselves with these two, along with Engkwentro and Mangatyanan. The audience favorites seem to be Dinig Sana Kita and Last Supper No. 3. Hopefully I can catch some of them in UP.

Or not. Ang layo e.