bahay kubo ni scout

still cute and cuddly!

although, it was heartbreaking to discover that two of them have eye defects. last time i saw them their eyes were still shut so i didn't know. must take them to the vet soon.

thanks to everyone who expressed interest in taking them in.

my cat gave birth around 3 weeks ago to four kittens. oddly, one went missing a few days after. it's not the first time this happened and i'm really curious as to where she hides them. hmmm...

anyway, here are their pictures when they were just four days old. adorable, no?



so here's the thing. i need to find a home for these kittens. if not, my parents will probably just leave them on some vacant lot. i hate it when they do that, but I'm always out of the house so I have little control over it. to prevent it from happening again, i need to find each of them decent shelter. Celine and I can probably take in one of them, and another one can stay with my family, but the last one will have to be adopted.

do you have room for a baby kitty?

The UP Film Institute holds move-over screenings for this year’s Cinemalaya. All the competing entries both for full-length and short film categories are in hallmark.

This year’s edition of “Cinemalaya Goes UP” organized by the Cineastes Studio also includes prime showcase of Cinemalaya’s past winners of Best Picture and choice titles for respective tributes to icons of Philippine independent cinema of yesteryears, namely, master director Manuel Conde and veteran actress Anita Linda. For providing this year’s Cinemalaya opening film at the CCP, Adolf Alix is honored with the exhibition of his two previous films made for Cinemalaya.

Further UP Film Institute screenings complement Cinemalaya principal selection.  

 

A rundown of UP Film Institute screenings is as follows:

For main cinema engagement

July 28 Mon

Manuel Conde Retro: Genghis Khan 2:30 p.m.

Baby Angelo 5 p.m.

Concerto 7:30 p.m.

 

July 29 Tue

Cinemalaya’s Past Best Pictures Showcase: Pepot Artista 2:30 p.m.

Jay 5 p.m.

Huling Pasada 7:30 p.m.

 

July 30 Wed

Cinemalaya’s Past Best Pictures Showcase: Tulad ng Dati 2:30 p.m.

Brutus 5 p.m.

Namets 7:30 p.m.

 

July 31 Thu

Cinemalaya’s Past Best Pictures Showcase: Tribu 2:30 p.m.

100 5 p.m.

My Fake American Accent 7:30 p.m.

 

Aug 1 Fri

Ishmael Bernal Gallery Night with Film Premiere of Adolf Alix’s Imoral 7:30 p.m.

 

Aug 2 Sat

Endo 2/5/7 p.m.

 

Aug 4 Mon

Anita Linda Tribute: Tambolista 2:30 p.m.

Boses 5 p.m.

Ranchero 7:30 p.m.

 

Aug 5 Tue

Manuel Conde Retro: Krus na Kawayan 2:30 p.m.

Cinemalaya 2008 Competing Shorts A 5 p.m.

Cinemalaya 2008 Competing Shorts B 7:30 p.m.

 

Aug 6 Wed

Anita Linda Tribute: Sisa 2:30 p.m.

Cinemalaya 2008 Special Jury Prize Winner 5 p.m.

Cinemalaya 2008 Best Picture 7:30 p.m.

 

Aug 7 Thu

Donsol 2:30 p.m.

Kadin 5 p.m.

Anita Linda Tribute: Sisa 7:30 p.m.



The Cinemalaya 2008 Competition Films

 

FULL-LENGTH

 

100 by Chris Martinez is about a stern, uptight and exacting woman with a terminal illness who tries to accomplish a list of 100 things to do before she dies. Her tasks vary from the simple to the complicated, from the practical to the mundane, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. In the process, she accepts the truth that even if death is something personal, dying never is.

 

BABY ANGELO by Joel Ruiz and Abi Aquino centers on an investigation that ensues when an aborted fetus is found in the dumpster of a run-down apartment complex. The lives of the tenants—a reclusive old man with curious ramblings, a landlord with overzealous thirst for justice and a young couple whose past threatens to unravel their marriage—are suddenly exposed in the hunt for the perpetrator of the baby's death.

 

BOSES (VOICES) by Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil is the story of a musician, who regains back his humanity by giving violin lessons to a child of the slums.  In turn, the child, through the instrument, is able to get back his voice from a muted, abused and desensitized existence. This is a story of a friendship founded on the sublime beauty of music.

 

BRUTUS by Tara Illenberger tells the tale of two Mangyan children, hired by illegal loggers to smuggle wood from the mountains of Mindoro, as they embark on a dangerous journey to deliver the goods to the lowlands. In the process, they discover a world run by the greed of men, a world governed by ideologies that bring about the armed conflict that plague the Mindoro highlands, the home of their own people.

 

CONCERTO by Paul Alexander Morales is about how, in the last part of World War II, a special piano concert is held in the forests of Davao. In these boondocks, a displaced Filipino family becomes acquainted with a group of Japanese officers, similarly camped nearby. Based on true stories from the director's family, Concerto celebrates a family whose reverence for life, expressed through their love of music and friendship, can survive even war, and shows how beauty and compassion can grow in even the harshest of situations.

 

HULING PASADA (FINAL STOP) by Paul Sta. Ana follows the creative process of Ruby, a prolific writer, abandoned wife and protective mother. She writes about Mario, a taxi driver and father figure to a street child. As she tries to resolve Mario's story, she seeks refuge in her own creative output and the line between reality and fiction is blurred. Mario's past becomes entangled with her own inevitable future.

 

JAY by Francis Xavier E. Pasion is the name of the two protagonists in the film, one is living, the other dead. The living Jay is producing a documentary of the dead Jay, a gay teacher who was brutally killed. As Jay recreates and examines the life of his subject, his own life is affected when he unravels his subject's hidden life and secret love.

 

MY FAKE AMERICAN ACCENT by Onnah Valera and Ned Trespeces is a slice-of-life workplace comedy following the lives of technical support call center agents in the span of six months. Speaking with a fake American accent is a prerequisite for the job. This ensemble comedy is an inside look into the maddening, sleep-deprived, caffeine-fuelled lives of those who ply their trade in the call center industry.

 

NAMETS by Emilio “Jay” Abello is a colorful celebration of food as well as love, and the love of food above all, which is central to being Negrosanon and being Filipino. It follows the flirtation between Jacko and Cassie, two Negrenses who grew up in Bacolod, and whose lives revolve around food. The film will be shot on location in Negros Occidental and will be primarily in Hiligaynon, the language spoken in that region.

 

RANCHERO by Michael Christian Cardoz is the story of convicts who serve a special role inside the jail - they prepare the meals everyday. But in a jail where some inmates see no reason to continue living, what is the role of food? Is the food's role to extend life or to prolong the pain of those who don't want to live?



SHORTS

 

Cinemalaya 2008 Shorts Programme A:

ANDONG by Rommel "Milo" Tolentino is a story about a six-year old boy's obsession, family dynamics, and the real value of a hard-fought twenty pesos.

ANG IBANG MGA PAMILYA (THE OTHER FAMILY) by Joel P. Ruiz is about a woman who overcomes the grief of losing her adopted son.

ANGAN-ANGAN (DREAMS) by Sheron R. Dayoc centers on a mute nine-year-old girl named Satra, whose determination to secure a good education reverberates clearly amid the strictness of her Yakan culture. The Yakan are one of the 13 Moro groups in the Philippines. They mainly reside in Basilan, Mindanao.

DIAMANTE SA LANGIT (DIAMOND IN THE SKY) by Vic Acedillo, Jr is about two brothers' journey to compete in a kite flying contest. But getting there takes some time. In the end, they face something unexpected and discover something more precious than winning.

GOD ONLY KNOWS by Mark V. Reyes focuses on the disturbing and gut wrenching tale about the realities of life in the sprawling metropolis of Manila.

 

Cinemalaya 2008 Shorts Programme B:

HULING BIKTIMA (THE LAST VICTIM) by Vitaliano A. Rave is a film noir style about a detective's last minutes.

MY PET by Anna G. Bigornia is a 7-minute animation about an 8-year-old girl and her relationship with her first pet, a chick, the subject of a class experiment.

PANGGARIS by Dexter B. Cayanes is about a prostitute whose life changed when her mute sibling learned to talk, uttering only the word "panggaris."

TRAILS OF WATER by Sheron R. Dayoc is an experimental film about a young boy's emotion as seen through his make-believe story.

TUTOS (COST) by L.A. Yamsuan tells about the dynamics and complexities of a single father-daughter relationship in a postmodern patriarchal Filipino society.

Source: http://upfilminstitute.multiply.com/journal/item/70/CinemalayaPlus_goes_to_UPFI_this_July

hello, friends.

my apologies for the lack of updates. i've tried experimenting with multiply and wordpress, and it took a while for me to decide. please follow the link to the new blog.  i promise to stick to it  this time. see you there!

first off, i'd like to say that i'm pround to make my first ever sale of stock photography in www.Fotolia.com.

earlier this month i tried to dip my feet in the microstock business for the heck of it (and maybe earn some passive income). i wasn't really hoping for much of anything, and was even expecting and looking forward to rejection letters, as long as they had constructive criticism in them. well, i had some of those, for which i'm thankful.

through my application to 5 different agencies, i learned to take rejection and acceptance with a grain of salt. the curious thing is that i submitted the same 10 photos to all these agencies and while one refused ALL of them, the others accepted most of the photos in the batch. in fact, the first picture i sold was one of those that were repeatedly denied in other websites, due to lighting and cropping. weird, huh?

as for other news, my web design initiative got a shot in the arm this week with a new project - my first non-T.Y. website project. hehe. celine's client agreed to incorporate site design revision to the web content package, ergo, me. I really hope it turns out good, coz the guy seems nice, and his business website needs a helluva make-over. i'm so excited! (^_^)

i think i'm gonna use the money from this gig in wireless networking gear for my laptop, in the spirit of making my room supremely independent. plus, it's an investment for a possible future of full-time freelance work. it's all coming together. astig. :)

just a quick update. as you can see, I was able to read and watch a lot of stuff the past two weeks. quite happy about it. ^_^ though for now, i'll be concentrating on my self-study of MS ACCESS (darn complicated), and hopefully finish my personal office project by May 14th.

VL's coming soon! yay! ^_^

finished:

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore
"Sin City" by Frank Miller (comic)
"Sin City" by Robert Rodriguez (movie)
"Batman: The Killing Joke" by Alan Moore
"Veronica Mars" - Seasons 1 & 2 (finally!)
"Sugar Rush" - Seasons 1& 2 (UK series)
"Full Metal Jacket" by Stanley Kubrick
"Princess Mononoke" by Hayao Miyazaki
various web programming tutorials by W3C Schools (haha)

in-progress:

"MS Access Tutorials" by Michael Brydon (no kidding)
"The Demon Lover: Roots of Terrorism" by Robin Morgan

up next:

"Fear of Flying" by Erica Jong
"The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller
"V for Vendetta" by Alan Moore
"Lost Girls" by Alan Moore

stuff to buy:

Ref, Samsung, SM Appliance Center, 11K+ - probably July, or whenever my brother recovers financially
TV, 21", Akira, Macro, 6K - May 6, 2007
DVD Player, Lexing 8066, Makro/Raon, 2K - before end of May
Wireless Router & USB Adapter, 4K - wait 'til Carlo comes back from Malaysia

other things to do:

WEEK 1
1) clean up the closet - Mon, 04/30/2007
2) re-arrange room, books - Mon, 04/30/2007
3) look for laptop platforms - Tue, 05/01/2007
3) free up 50% disk space (40GB) on PC HDD - Tue, 05/01/2007
4) Spiderman 3 w/ Celine - Wed, 05/02/2007
5) Tagaytay get-away  (^_^) \m/ - Thu, 05/03-05/2007

WEEK 2
1) Withdraw 6K from bank - Mon, 05/07/2007
2) Post Tagaytay reviews and pics - Mon, 05/07/2007
3) Submit at least 10 pics to stock sites - Tue, 05/08/2007
4) Wash clothes, comics outline draft - Wed, 05/09/2007
5) Buy DVD player @ Raon - Thu, 05/10/2007 
6) Finish "Dare Truth or Promise" - Thu-Fri, 05/10-11/2007

WEEK 3
1) Online Audit Viewer Beta #1 - Sat-Sun, 05/12-14/2007
2) Finalize video concept/Storyboard - Tue, 05/15/2007
3) Online Audit Viewer Beta #2 - Wed, 05/16/2007
4) Website Design Draft - Thu, 05/17-18/2007

WEEK 4
1) Website Design Final - Sun, 05/31/2007

rules:

* minimal comics, books or dvds 'til end of May. concentrate on:

• ACCESS
  
• STOCK
  
• VIDEO
  
• COMIC
  
• WEBSITE projects

 

* minimize spending, maximize efficiency
* make room independent

 

OLD soldiers never die, they just fade away. So goes a line from an Army ballad that General Douglas MacArthur used in his famous retirement speech before the U.S. Congress in 1951. In the Philippines though, soldiers, or aptly generals, don't do a MacArthur — bid goodbye to their military careers and simply fade away. They get appointed to powerful, if not lucrative, posts in government.

As gathered from news reports, CenPEG has counted about two dozen retired high-ranking military officials presently serving under the Arroyo government. They include five former AFP chiefs of staff:

and four PNP chiefs:

• Police Director General Leandro Mendoza, transportation and communications secretary;
  
• Police Director General Arturo Lomibao, administrator of the National Irrigation Administration;
  
• Police Director General Roberto Lastimoso, Metro Rail Transit Authority director;
  
• Police Director General Edgardo Aglipay, chief of the Philippine Retirement Authority.
  

Other former generals and police officers on the list are:

• Gen. Ermita, executive secretary;
  
• Gen. Pedro Cabuay Jr., presidential assistant/National Security Council deputy director general for counter-insurgency;
  
• Gen. Ernesto de Leon, ambassador to Australia;
  
• Gen. Honesto Isleta, presidential assistant on strategic information;
  
• Gen. Dionisio Santiago, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general;
  
• Maj. Gen. Glenn Rabonza, Office of Civil Defense executive director;
  
• Brig. Gen. Angel Atutubo, Manila International Airport Authority assistant general manager for security and emergency services;
  
• Brig. Gen. Thelmo Cunanan, Social Security System chairman;
  
• Lt. Gen. Edgardo Espinosa, Manila Economic and Cultural Office managing director;
  
• Police Deputy Director General Florencio Fianza, Philippine Racing Commission acting chair;
  
• Police Senior Supt. Reynaldo Berroya, DOTC assistant secretary;
  
• Police Chief Supt. Enrique Galang, Bureau of Immigration executive director;
  
• National Capital Region Police Office Chief Vidal Querol, ambassador to Indonesia;
  
• Police Gen. Thompson Lantion, DOTC spokesperson and Land Transportation and Regulatory Board chairman.
  

at the rate i'm going, i'm definitely going to exceed my modest goal of 9 books for the quarter.

ok, ok. so most of what i've read lately are comic books or, more appropriately, "graphic novels". but though they are easier to finish than paperback novels, i'm happy to say i don't feel like getting any less when it comes to substance.

books read so far:

• "Mass" by F. Sionil Jose
• "Marvel 1602" by Neil Gaiman
• "Murder Mystery" by Neil Gaiman
• "300" by Frank Miller
• "Mystery Play" by Grant Morrison
• "Fray" by Joss Whedon
• "Wolves in the Walls" by Neil Gaiman
  

films watched:

• V for Vendetta
• Babel (whattamovie!)
  

next up:

• "Sin City" by Frank Miller
• "Watchmen" by Alan Moore
• "Lucifer" by Neil Gaiman
• "Angel" by Joss Whedon

i'm excited! (^_^)

last 2004, i signed up for a screenwriting workshop in UP. for a mere P1500, i got started on a deep plunge into pinoy indie cinema. what was to be a 5-day "immersion" bacame a year of inspired madness. for all the experience it made possible, the workshop was definitely a bargain.

now that i'm getting the itch again, i was really eager to attend the UP summer workshops this year. but darn, not if it's this expensive. *sigh* if you have the money, maybe you can give it a try. who knows where it will lead you to.

Basic Digital Cinematography
  Facilitator:            Dix Buhay
  Proposed dates:    May 21 - 26
  Time:                   10:00 a.m. - 6 p.m.
  Venue:                  UPFI Videotheque (at the back of Cine Adarna)
  # of hours:            48
  Fee:                     P 12,000 inclusive of use of equipment, light snacks, handouts, and certificates.
  
Advanced Digital Cinematography
  Facilitator:            Mr. Louie Quirino
  Dates:                  May 28 - June 2 (Monday to Saturday)
  Time:                   10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
  Venue:                  UP CMC Basement or UPFI Videotheque (at the back of Cine Adarna)
  # of hours:            48
  Fee:                     P 15,000 inclusive of use of equipment, light snacks, handouts, and certificates.

books completed:
1) the early ayn rand, compiled by leonard peikoff
2) the prince, by nicolo machiavelli
3) mythology class, by arnold arre
4) the good women of china, by xinran
5) notes from the underground, by dostoevsky
6) po-on, by f. sionil jose
7) tree, by f. sionil jose
8) my brother, my executioner, by f. sionil jose
9) the pretenders, by f. sionil jose

videos watched:
1) 2046
2) the journey
3) spirited away
4) burlesk queen
5) kaleldo
6) ancient apocalypse
7) ancient warriors (3 vols)
8) mean girls
9) pulp fiction

personal goals achieved:
1) finished wiki spanish, beginner's proficiency
2) flash animation reviewed
3) purchased canon S3 IS and accessories
4) digital coloring techniques (anime, spawn comic, photo-realism)
5) digital photography self-taught
6) Team Building in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro
7) much, much better at cooking :-)
8) savings on-track

workstuff accomplished:
1) 4-week Resolution-Oriented Outbound Audits
2) Re-organization of QA Operations Committee
3) Handling Transition Queues Batch 11 & 12
4) Spearheading Uploads Transition from Admin to QAs
5) Teamwise BQ Initiative