Go pyro!

I went to the last night of the World Pyro Olympics at the Esplanade behind the SM Mall of Asia. I've never seen so much humanity in my life. And all in one go, too. (Well, maybe except Edsa Dos and the Philippine Centennial Fireworks display at the Luneta.)

More people showed up tonight than the opening last December 26, when we only made it as far as Blue Wave and then the fireworks all started and we ended up watching at the parking lot behind Gerry's Grill. Note: It's not adviseable to go to this event with girls wearing high heels. You must be ready to walk for miles. And don't bring a car. It's useless in that sort of traffic.

Tonight, I went with my brothers, met up with Tamadita and her sister. We sat on the rocks outside the sea wall. My youngest brother said, "Sure we have a good view. I just hope there won't be a tsunami." (Nyar. I swear he's just so morbid.)

I didn't get to meet up with Bluekessa and her friend, and one of my brothers got lost in the crowd. We searched for him all over the place and it was just impossible to find each other even if we made panawagan already.

When it was time to go home, it felt like a scene from Night of the Living Dead. You know, darkness, huge empty lots, a gigantic mall, and lotsa people all heading towards the exits.

Australia won by virtue of hormones, I think. I was lucky enough to have seen their show last Monday. My favorite part was when they let go lotsa little fireworks and everyone went, "Sperm!" :)

So that was Christmas

The gatecrashers
Originally uploaded by xkg.

Our last shoot of the year coincided with the network party. We were doing a three-episode marathon. (The third in the series was a last minute addition. As in. You have to ask Clarissa how that went.)

We started at 7am, finished by 9pm. By that time, the registration was already closed. So we all headed to the ever trusty McDo and feasted on fries.

Boy Bawang

If you do a Google image search on Boy Bawang, this one is among the top search results:



But I was really looking for this:



Who would have thought that Boy Bawang actually has a website? Yey, Boy Bawang! Click here.

Scarlett Johansson, I hear you

Ms. Johanson, who is currently Woody Allen's favorite actress, shares her shopping philosophy in this article by Lynn Hirschberg from the New York Times:

"Sometimes you realize that the best presents are the ones you buy for yourself...[I]f you're working hard at any job, you have to treat yourself. Nobody's really taking care of you, so it's a good idea to buy yourself a piece of jewelry or a cashmere blanket. It's like, I earned this. If you wait around for someone to give you wonderful socks, you may miss out. Shopping is a great way to pat yourself on the back when no one else will."

Ah yes. Now, if only I actually get me some time to shop. Throw in a massage, a footspa and a really good night's sleep and I'll be a very happy kitty. Nyar.

Brokeback's back online

The New Yorker has reprinted Annie Proulx's short story that's now a movie by Ang Lee. Bookslut interviews Proulx and she actually likes the movie version, although Jake Gyllenhaal thinks differently of what the cowboys actually are. He has disclaimed that that Brokeback is not just a 'gay love story', that what Jack and Ennis go through is a very strong feeling. "The idea ultimately is, if you have love, no matter what that love is, whatever the boundaries, you have to hold on to it." Okay.

A couple of months back, the rumor mill had it that Brokeback Mountain was going to be the closing film for Cinemanila. I guess that didn't push through as the film opens this December in the States. But I'm so looking forward for when the movie actually opens here.

Two film review choices. Here's something from the New Yorker and the other by Choire Sicha.

Banana Hearts and Rainy Days

Was in Makati the other day stalking SEA Games athletes looking for my grad school reading requirement which is unfortunately nowhere to be found. (It's a long story, this. I had to beg and gnash my teeth and tear at my hair. But now I need to churn out 100 hundred pages of fiction. I had apparently enrolled in a novel writing class, wah! Now I still beg, gnash, tear etc.)

Due to many things happening at the same time, I don't really have time to form complete sentences right now. So go read other people's blogs:

Butch Dalisay now blogs!

Nerve's Scanner, which now comes out daily, wants us to ogle the French rugby team's calendar.

Or listen to Jessica Zafra's podcast, where she talks about having ancestors who favor grand entrances and ending up with one of the last items in the catalogue, the dangers of living in seclusion, the perils of minor pseudo-celebrityhood, and how the internet is changing the way we live.

Hotness follows

Slate gives academics everywhere tips on how to be the hottest professors on campus:

Don't play favorites, yet don't deny students extra credit or a second chance on a paper or test. Don't "get sidetracked by boring crap." Don't refer to yourself in the third person. Don't ever call on students. Don't be "mean," "hateful," or "ambiguous." Don't take attendance. Don't be "high on Viagra and full of yourself." Don't be "distractingly spastic." Very important: Don't talk about stuff in class and then put other stuff on the test. Most important: Don't give low grades. Do show slides. Do offer easy assignments. Do crack jokes and "provide a fun teaching atmosphere." Do show up at your office hours. Do give A's on all group projects. Do walk your dog around campus. Do resemble a celebrity of some sort. Finally, try your best to be "awesome."

This wee bit of wisdom is taken from the site RateMyProfessors.com, where "the students do the grading." But first, certain heartbreaking facts: while 47% of American classrooms are wireless, a huge percentage of Philippine schools still lack classrooms--or a decent registration process, natch. Next, it says that language departments account for the hottest professors. What do they mean by "language"? Do they mean English (or Filipino?) or the more exotic sort that comes with accents. (Hmm.. if I sport a Visayan or maybe Batangas accent, will that make me hot? Hmmm...) Also, while the article says that "hotness can have a powerful effect on students," it must be said that there's a huge possibility that hotness might not be the very first thing on professor's minds.

If we do believe the said criteria, I can just imagine that I'd probably one of the avoided people on campus. ("She gives out 5.0s, ahhhh!") At any rate, hotness is a bit difficult to achieve when it's so hard to get up early in the morning in the latter -ber months. But, oh, we do try.

Baboosh!

One of my online guilty pleasures, from the "land of the brown, l'exotique and the natives," has been posted on MeFi.

The post refers to him as a third world incarnation of Derek Zoolander. I ran across his blog earlier in the year, and hands down, my favorite moment is the one about this Vuitton bag where he even posted receipts of his purchase. Debauchery, my sweet folks.

When in doubt, cut to seagull

Enjoyed this Mefi thread about cinematic devices, how they add to good storytelling, and what you lose when you spend too much time taking things apart:

One of the worst things about learning the hows and whys of any artform or craft is that the knowledge can detract from your enjoyment. I have cinematographer friends who, rather than, as an average filmmaker, asking, "What happens next?" (the goal of any good writer or director) while watching a scene, will instead ask herself, "Where are the lights?" or "How's it lit?". I find it very difficult to watch any film and not think about how it may have been written.

Also includes such gems like the power of the cut (Where shot A shows a gun, B shows a flock of birds all flying in different directions) and "When in doubt, cut to seagull" --or pitbull if you're Robert Rodriguez. The discussion is all very Film 100. But also got to agree with Manhasset there. And if it's not film school, it's a little like loving reading and writing and then suddenly enrolling in the creative writing program, where you are forced to have three markers ready in neon green, pink and yellow and you highlight like crazy for devices that show character, scenes where the conflict is condensed, good dialogue that works. You lose a kind of innocence that way.

Dead Dylan Thomas Reading

As a tribute for his 52nd death anniversary, Swansea animation studio iCreate launched Virtual Dylan, a minute and a half 3D film of Dylan Thomas reading "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." The reading will be followed by a documentary.

But since there is no surviving film footage of the poet reading his own work, what they did was to combine existing photos, voice recordings and the molds of his death mask. The death mask itself was actually too flat for a 3D rendering so they also used footages of the actor Bob Kingdom reading from Thomas' work. The making of this project was dubbed a veritable "Madame Tussauds for the 21st century." Here's a glimpse of the Dylan Thomas' death mask:



Can you say creepy? They had to add another ten layers of virtual skin and added some hair to make it look more, uh, alive. While I heart Dylan Thomas (especially when you're sixteen and you spend your afternoons pawing the shelves of the Arts and Humanities section at the Main Lib), it's certainly a far cry from this photo where he was a bad, bad boy rockstar poet:



Here's also you can hear him reading the poem, which might be the same recording the iCreate people used.