Filipino Indie Film: Sa Pagdapo ng Mariposa

I've been invited countless of times to watch Filipino-made indie films, but it was only at the invitation of high-school-laboratory-partner-turned-multi-awarded-film-director (Rica Arevalo, Cinemalaya best director for "ICU Bed #7") that I succumbed to watching. I'm not much of a movie-goer so that's the main reason I haven't gone to any of the Cinemalaya festivals.

So for our monthsary, Sweetie graciously agreed to accompany me to watch Rica's short film "Gusto Kita Too" which was bundled with "Sa Pagdapo ng Mariposa". He didn't have any idea what he was getting into heh.




I saw AJ's plug-post about "Sa Pagdapo ng Mariposa" a few weeks ago so I had an idea what to expect. The film was about the struggle of Carlito Mariposa (Josh Deocares) in finding his true self. Being a physical therapist he becomes the caregiver of the paralyzed Agustin Vergeire (Marcus Madrigal) and that's where the conflict starts. Carlito falls in love with Agustin but struggles in accepting it since he grew up believing that he should stick to the traditional role of men and men do not fall in love with other men!

The storyline was very interesting. It's nothing new to me since I have a lot of friends who went through the same struggle (yup, I'm a fag hag! and proud to be one). Things were going on smoothly with the story, moving back and forth from past to present but this is what unleashes Carlito's angst about his true self. One would be tricked into thinking that after the gripping introduction that the story would end like how the sun sets, slowly and with the same steady beat it had acquired when Carlito showed up as a 25-year old caregiver. BUT! There's a definite twist at the end. I ended up gripping Sweetie's hand in the last few segments because I didn't expect the Carlito to end up like that. All I can say without giving anything away is "Poor, poor Agustin".

The story was very good and interesting. I just felt that they could've paced it faster, an hour and a half just seemed like forever. There was also quite a number of scenes that made me dizzy because the camera kept bobbing up and down. Made me think that whoever was holding a camera was pasmado. I don't know though if it was really presented that way, but it really made me dizzy.

The film also had a lot of songs played in it. They were great songs (Sa Ugoy ng Duyan was sung by Kuh Ledesma), I just hope they didn't need to finish the full length of the songs, it probably contributed to slowing down the pace.

The actors? Let's just say that Carlito scared me real good and I don't want to bump into him anywhere since I can't forget what he did in the last part of the movie. That's means they were effective actors.

Sa Pagdapo ng Mariposa is an interesting film, definitely indie but I have a feeling if you put celebrities as the actors it would be something that a lot of people would watch. I just cannot imagine any of the famous actors playing the roles though because it would probably get controversial.

Sa Pagdapo ng Mariposa and Gusto Kita Too show schedules

June 4-10 IndieSine, Robinson's Galleria

June 11-17 Robinson's Ermita

Up next: Gusto Kita Too and an interview with it's director Rica Arevalo

Pork Barrel

No, I'm not referring to the political term. I'm referring to Portico's yummy pork barrel which I fortunately sampled during the Spot.ph bloggers food tour.


And I'm posting about it just now! Arggghhh!

I know, I know it's been a pain to start posting about my experience in the Spot.ph bloggers food tour which happened last April. It's been a pain, not because it was not fun, but because I ended up accumulating too much content and I got overwhelmed with it all. There was also iBlog4, the Juned Sunido Manila Tour and our visit to the Manila Ocean Park which coincided with the food tour.

Well, enough with the excuses. Here's my first installment of the food tour and I don't really know when I'm going to finish the series (perhaps with 18 Trinoma establishments and 24 from Serendra and Bonifacio High Street I'll probably finish by November hahaha).

Here's a short vlog about my experience at Portico:



My review of the establishment can be found at Lakwatsera Ako.

Isker! Isker! A Horror Video

There's so much content online and there are days when my muse is MIA I just think of becoming a lurker again for the rest of my life. LOL.

Here's a great short horror-film by Mr. Gerry Alanguilan, a famous comic book writer, artist and publisher who has worked with international comic book publishers Marvel and DC (he also has his own published comic books). Gerry is popularly known as the Komikero in Youtube.

Ah, get ready to get shocked.



He's got more videos in his Youtube channel worth watching. Enjoy!

Twitter Unplugged

I was offline most of the weekend and to summarize my weekend this is what I twitted -

the weekend. sm science and discovery center. lego mindstorms. indiana jones. burger king. kopi roti. french baker. and a fever.

I was stuck in bed the whole day on Sunday and I was extremely bored so I went online to check out what was happening in cyberworld and lo and behold Twitter was down! Sad face.

I don't know how many times I twit in a day, but these are things I missed when it was down and not available on Gtalk:

1. I could not do a quick rant.
2. I cannot share what I was eating.
3. I could not plug my new blog posts.
4. I could not bug other twitterers and see who's online.
5. I use twitter as well as a means to discover new reads.

Oh well, I do have a Jaiku account and FriendFeed. I love Twitter, but I hope they'll become stable soon.

Most Talked About Pinoy Chocolate in the PinoyBlogosphere

If you've been blog hopping in the Pinoyblogosphere and lurking in Twitter you would probably heard about what the Pinoy bloggers have been munching on lately - the new repackaged Goya chocolate!


When I was a kid Goya wrapped their chocolates in small no-need-to-bite pieces. I usually got them as giveaways in loot bags from birthday parties and I'd buy some with my meager allowance at the school canteen whenever I had some money left over. I have been longing for the Serg chocolate eversince I made that post about my "Top 10 Favorite Pinoy Chocolates and Biscuits" last year, but I have not seen any in the supermarket.

Well that longing has been bumped off by the new Goya chocolate. AJ of BaklaAko.com has been twittering about his love for the "Goya mint chocolate" flavor, but I have not seen any anywhere. Waaaahh... knock knock to the Goya distribution department, puh-leease provide some at SM Hypermarket Bicutan.

I'm definitely adding Goya to my list of favorite Pinoy chocolates. Try it!

Other posts about Goya chocolates:

AJ, the promotor
Ria, who tried it all

Got a Goya story? Lemme know!

The M.I.A. Muse

My writing muse has gone on a vacation without me. Perhaps she hied off somewhere South to go swimming because I unfortunately missed going to the beach this summer. Arghhhh!


Before I go and end up ranting here are five things that crossed my mind the past few days:

1. David Cook Rocks! I was not able to watch the whole season completely, but I did choose the right manok. I absolutely love how his version of "Always Be My Baby" and "Music of the Night". GIRLS! Watch his ad for Guitar Hero, Sweetie blogged about it.

2. On the local music scene, Nyoy Volante's fans should be rejoicing over his new album "Heartstrings". His rendition of "Because" and "What's Forever For" is adorable. The album shows off Nyoy's unique sound and would definitely make you kilig (thanks Sweetie for getting the album for me!). I've been a fan of his since we were kids doing the tinikling in our neighborhood gym (ahhh the things you do during summer). I will definitely NOT put that photo online.

3. Have you done anything significant today? With all the problems we (as individuals, as families, as a nation) face every day, more often than not we just end up grumbling and ranting about things. This doesn't really change anything eh? I realized when I was trudging along EDSA on my way to do a workshop 30 kilometers away from home that I should do something significant at least once a day and hopefully would brighten someone's day.

4. Magtipid! The 33-peso date at Serendra and Bonifacio High Street. During the Spot.ph Blogger Food Tour Sweetie and I were lucky to get a GC from Portico and we saved it up for a rainy day. That rainy day was last night. Spent PhP15 for dinner and another PhP15 at Timezone. Not bad eh? The clincher was paying PhP75 for parking. Ngyar.

5. Movies! I don't get to watch movies that often (uh, also TV), but I'm definitely making time to watch Indiana Jones this weekend!

My muse though is still missing in action! Arf!

Happy 75th Birthday Dad

I thought May 19 was still a week away. It was my brother-in-law (who's visiting from the US) who reminded me about it when he greeted Dad in advance last Saturday night. This sent me into a panic because: (1) I'm the only child who's here in Manila; and (2) I have not planned anything to celebrate such a special day!

Both my parents prefer simple and practical gifts. They don't like big celebrations and just want to do things privately. I remember the time when we (my Ate, Kuya and me) connived to get them married again on their 35th wedding anniversary (they're celebrating their golden anniversary in 2 years). My Ate was tasked to whisk them away from the house while I had to oversee the physical arrangements and do the inviting and my Kuya did the legwork and took care of the caterer. We had about over 70 guests (relatives and neighbors) in the house surprise them. It was a great night and one of the rare times that we were complete.

I only had 24 hours to think of something. I had wanted to go and find the Flyworld pentop computer that I think would be very useful for Dad, but I was unfortunately confined to stay in after hearing mass because of a horrendous tummy ache. So, I had to be creative. Famous videographer Buddy Gancenia seconded my thoughts on Twitter the night before - do an AVP! Huwwhaaattt?!?

Since I had no other choice that's what I did the whole day. Scanned a gazillion photos and bugged my Ate and Kuya to contribute whatever they could send through email. So I finished the preso just now (and my tummy still hurts!) and I realized a lot of things while doing it.

1. I love my Dad very, very much. Now I understand why at some point he didn't want me to have a boyfriend. Because after all the disappointments I've been through fact is it's going to be really hard to measure up to all the love he's been giving me.

2. I would not be me if not for him (and Mom, of course). I wouldn't be who and where I am today if my parents did not give me all the love and care. I am very lucky to have been smothered with love.

3. 75 years... IS a long time to live. I'm just less than half-way the number of years my Dad has been in this world. I wonder if I'll be able to do so many wonderful things as he has done. (And I wonder if I would reach that age).

Oh well... Dad, you're staff will probably get to read this first before you do hehe.

Anyway, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you very much and thank you for being the greatest Dad in the whole, wide world.

*Photos
(1) Dad in his basketball jersey. His shooting record is still unbeaten to this day.
(2) Dad's James Dean look.
(3) Dad carrying me at the rooftop of the ancestral house in Naga.
(4) Me and Dad in Bali. That's my Kuya who made singit while we were having our photo taken. That's my proof that he's more makulit than me (that's for his grad-school professor).