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The Inquirer Roundtable PLUS My 2013 Theater Roundup

January 6, 2014, 6:48 am
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At the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Makati office two weeks ago, the paper's first ever theater roundtable gathered eight of 2013's breakout stars for close to three hours of "insightful, revealing, often hilarious and altogether memorable conversation." 


The stars were Arnell Ignacio ("The Addams Family"), Chimmi Kohchet-Chua ("The Bluebird of Happiness"), Poppert Bernadas ("Lorenzo"), Aicelle Santos ("Katy"), Jayvhot Galang and Jojo Riguerra ("Maxie the Musicale"), Teetin Villanueva ("Collection"), and Mikkie Bradshaw ("Carrie").


Four of us who write the reviews for the paper were present: Gibbs - the editor, Walter Ang, Cora Llamas, and me.


Read the story in its entirety in the online version here.

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Because lists are fun, and because it's six days into the new year, and also, because year-end roundups seem to be all the rage these days - check out Gibbs Cadiz's, Katrina Stuart Santiago's (in two parts), and Fred Hawson's.

This is far from exhaustive, of course. For example, missed "Lorenzo," PETA's "D'Wonder Twins of Boac," and a multitude of straight plays. Also, saw only one of the five Virgin Labfest sets (the Revisited, or the best of the previous year, so it doesn't count here), and didn't catch any of the Andres Bonifacio shows that swamped the final months of the year.

And so, the decision to merge and trim, to narrow down this list to at most 10 productions, 10 lead performances, and 10 featured performances under the premise of "personal favorites," which is to say, exclusions do not equate to judgements on merit. Also, the lists are in alphabetical order, since ranking is a far too taxing job this early in the year.

PRODUCTION


The Addams Family
(Atlantis Productions; dir. Bobby Garcia)
At the Meralco Theater where it played its 10 performances, this production gracefully rose above the shortcomings of its source material - paper-thin book, eclectic but unexceptional score - to give Charles Addams' titular clan of macabre eccentrics a rich and spirited life.
[THE REVIEW]

Boeing Boeing
(Repertory Philippines; dir. Miguel Faustmann) 
Maybe it was just the body giving in to the stress of an entire day at the Philippine finals of the International Public Speaking Competition, or maybe this was really the funniest production of the year. Last time a show achieved this level of hilarity was Atlantis'"Avenue Q."
Carrie
(Atlantis Productions; dir. Bobby Garcia)
Rare is that local production that turns a Broadway flop into an insightful success. This was, pardon the pun, a "bloody" good show - visionary, stripped of stilted fantasy, instead bleeding with palpable horror.
[THE REVIEW]

Collection 
(Dulaang UP; dir. Dexter Santos)
"Collection" is loud. It's loud, loud, loud, loud, loud. Everyone's shouting, racing to beat each other to the top, fighting for things they "deserve," killing each other (literally, by the end). What an exhilarating ride; would instantly jump at the chance to witness it all again.


Der Kaufmann/Ang Negosyante ng Venecia
(Tanghalang Pilipino; dirs. Tuxqs Rutaquio & Rody Vera) 
In the words of fellow Inquirer reviewer Walter Ang, a complete mindfuck. This was Shakespeare as a Nazi concentration camp pastime, where good-guy/bad-guy delineations were effectively blurred, where the swastika flag lording over performer and viewer was but the icing to this production's terrors.
[WALTER'S REVIEW]

Red
(The Necessary Theater; dir. Bart Guingona)
This two-man show happened to be the year's most cerebral production - talk of Matisse and Pollock, art and mythology populates this one-act play - but on the shoulders of Guingona and Joaquin Valdes, was also the most mesmerizing. 

Sa Wakas
(Culture Shock Productions; dir. Andrei Pamintuan)
A middle-class Pinoy love story told in reverse - in fashion akin to Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along" - and set to the music of Sugarfree? This was a triumph for the original Filipino musical, from the vibrant staging to the terrific performances, plus that lightly devastating ending.

They're Playing Our Song
(9 Works Theatrical; dir. Robbie Guevara)
An astute portrait of that gritty, problematic relationship most familiar to the audience - and one that, in the very capable hands of Guevara and lead actors Lorenz Martinez and Nikki Gil, was never reduced to whimsy and vapid cuteness. 
[THE REVIEW]  

LEAD PERFORMANCE 


Julia Abueva
"Cinderella" (Resorts World Manila)
Abueva, then all of 17 years old, was simply enchanting as Cinderella, as an embodiment of youth's fragile innocence. In fact, the production's most magical moment was her rendition of "In My Own Little Corner."
[THE REVIEW]

Pinky Amador 
"Piaf" (Atlantis Productions)
This was a complete disappearing act, an enthralling performance of unparalleled intensity and daring. The year's best piece of acting, period.

Mikkie Bradshaw
"Carrie" (Atlantis Productions)
A star-making turn defined by fearless dedication to character.  Bradshaw's Carrie - hunched posture, harried gait, nervous speech - was the epitome of inner beauty, if only because her singing was so far off from the physical unworldliness she so effectively conveyed. 

Regina de Vera
"Der Kaufmann/Ang Negosyante ng Venecia" (Tanghalang Pilipino) 
De Vera's Portia was the fairest presence in this twisted tale, an elegant and impeccably dressed blonde beauty who might as well have been queen of "Merchant's" Italy. Yet, not for a second did we forget that she was also its truest villain.

Topper Fabregas
"Boeing Boeing" (Repertory Philippines)
With his exquisite comic timing and an exceptional ability in playing awkward man-boys with a penchant for dead-pan comedy, Fabregas ensured that his portrayal of Robert was the funniest character to grace the stage this year. 


Bart Guingona
"Red" (The Necessary Theater); "Closer" (Red Turnip Theater)
This year, Mark Rothko and Larry the potty-mouthed dermatologist - arguably two of the theater canon's most articulate beings - paid Manila a visit. Wait, so it was just Guingona playing dress-up both times? Really?

Arnell Ignacio
"The Addams Family" (Atlantis Productions)
As Gomez, Ignacio oozed with magnetic charm in a performance fueled by unerring comedic instinct. Without him, "Addams" would have been only half as lustrous, half as hilarious.

Lorenz Martinez
"They're Playing Our Song" (9 Works Theatrical)
In Martinez's portrayal of Vernon, the high-achieving composer finding his way through a cluttered life, it's the quieter moments that mattered more. His unpretentious rendition of the jukebox staple, "Fallin'," was undoubtedly the musical's highest point.

Aicelle Santos & Isay Alvarez
"Katy" (Spotlight Artists Center) 
Two triumphant interpretations of a single character: Santos, as the teenage Katy, burst with infectious youthfulness; Alvarez, as the adult Katy, was a luminous portrait of sorrow. That Katy so seamlessly transitioned from fledgling to full-blown lady was this show's - and the two women's - greatest success.
[THE REVIEW]

Cris Villonco
"Closer" (Red Turnip Theater) 
"It would be Alice in this actress' hands that is the reason to see this show, where the shifts are all made believable," wrote Stuart Santiago. For whether she was the fearless stripper or betrayed lover, lost girl or vindicated woman, Villonco never hesitated to dive straight into the heart of the character.

FEATURED PERFORMANCE

  
Jennifer Blair-Bianco
"Grease" (9 Works Theatrical); "Boeing Boeing" (Repertory Phils.)  
While everybody else was either singing and dancing to bring down the ceiling, as in "Grease," or running and tumbling and slipping for laughs, as in "Boeing Boeing," Blair-Bianco kept it all at a minimum and emerged each production's most human element.
"Spring Awakening" (Ateneo Blue Repertory)
The saving grace of a show marred by jarring disconnect between actor and material. While the rest of the cast fumbled on that stage, Cruz, in her brief turn as Ilse, displayed the maturity and skill of a seasoned performer.
Tirso Cruz III
"Katy" (Spotlight Artists Center)
A staple patriarch figure onscreen playing Katy's father with sagely, overbearing watchfulness. Cruz's was the least showiest portrayal on a stage inundated by explosive theatrics, but his character's heartbreak was the most visceral.

Audie Gemora 
"The Producers" (Repertory Philippines)
Gemora breathed magnanimous, glamorous life into the role of the cross-dressing director Roger de Bris, down to the shaved legs, the hungry eyes, and every flick of wrist and sway of hip. (And that's short of calling his the featured performance of the year.) 
[THE REVIEW]

Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo
"Carrie" (Atlantis Productions)
The clarity - in speech, song, and character - that marked Lauchengco-Yulo's compelling interpretation of Carrie's mother was but further testament to her peerless skills. Her Margaret was truly a pitiful creature of darkness, a most terrifying victim of religious fanaticism.


Leo Rialp, Alexander Cortez, Stella Cañete, & Jean Judith Javier
"Collection" (Dulaang UP)
These four formed the comedic backbone of - and undeniably provided color and life to - Dexter Santos' extravagant and ambitious auditory assault. Somebody should write this quartet a spin-off. 

Jojo Riguerra
"Maxie the Musicale" (Bit by Bit Company)
Amidst the seemingly endless, self-indulgent noise of "Maxie," Riguerra's relative silence and lack of embellishment as the policeman Victor was a breath of fresh air.
[THE REVIEW]

Joel Trinidad 
"The Bluebird of Happiness" (Trumpets)
His intelligent grasp of character and ease with comedy transformed Night into a charming, scene-stealing villain.
[THE REVIEW]

Joaquin Valdes
"Red" (The Necessary Theater)
Valdes' one main task was to hold his own against Guingona's Rothko. And that, he did quite spectacularly, in a performance that glowed with enviable actorly intelligence.

Marco Viaña
"Der Kaufmann/Ang Negosyante ng Venecia" (Tanghalang Pilipino)
"Antonio was introduced in the beginning of that play in calm quiet sadness; that Viaña believably sustains this throughout the narrative was just brilliant," wrote Stuart Santiago. Indeed, when Viaña's Antonio uttered his famous first line, "In truth, I know not why I am so sad," his sorrow was almost too real.
[STUART SANTIAGO'S REVIEW]

PHOTO CREDITS:
ABSCBNnews.com:"Sa Wakas"
BroadwayWorld.com:"Boeing Boeing," Julia Abueva, Lorenz Martinez, Isay Alvarez, Jennifer Blair-Bianco
Colors.ph: Pinky Amador 
kaimagsanoc.blogspot.com: Jojo Riguerra
Philippine Daily Inquirer: Joaquin Valdes
axlppi.blogspot.com: Audie Gemora
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Twin Sorrows

January 17, 2014, 7:22 pm
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Stone Telling 10 is finally out! There are three of us from the Philippines featured in this issue (theme: Body). Read "Trepanation" by  Alyza Taguilaso (she's also a med student!) and "His scent" by Cindy Velasquez. And here are the links to the table of contents and my poem.

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i.

Like the hand pressed on the mother's chest
forgets it ever knew the cadence of heartbeat
only waiting, cursing the gathering dark
bleached in grey dots on the morning sky
She fumbles for her glasses, earrings, the mirror
eager to escape this fancy anticipation
for a taste of sour, salted rain
the flowing river silently sculpting
statues and sinews on the daughter's face.

ii.

there's a storm outside, where there was calm
but here they speak in hushed, wispy tones
careful not to mislead the walls into falling
or fussing over unwashed clothes, or
unmade beds, and the foggy hand mirror
shrunken on the sink, like a seed
unwilling to swallow the rain, or perhaps
the mother's skin, flaking in the absent sun--
this patch of brightness growing cold
tracing smaller and smaller circles
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That Dinagyang Weekend

January 31, 2014, 9:30 am
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"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
--T.S. Eliot.

2014 is shaping up to be a wild year. For starters, climbed my first real mountain (see upcoming post).


NEWS: Have another poem accepted for publication. "After Wall Street," inspired by Martin Scorsese's latest piece of genius, "The Wolf of Wall Street," with Leonardo DiCaprio in a performance that should win him the Oscar in a just world, will appear in the April issue of UK-based Popshot Magazine.

SUNRISE AT THE ILOILO RIVER ESPLANADE I


CRAZY: Last weekend, went to Dinagyang for the first time in almost/probably a decade. Was with T and J, two Tagalog-speaking virgins of the festival. Everything's changed. It's... massive. A real world-class festival. On Sunday morning, streets were clogged with people, so unlike the chill, rustic Dinagyang of childhood. Also, met E and had a pretty crazy Saturday involving lots of pastry, some alcohol, and vomit (not mine). 


TRAGIC: Some of you might have heard. A fire ravaged Iloilo City's Chinatown. Ten business establishments wiped out, including ours. The backstory is so ludicrous (it involves bureaucracy, the ineptitude of firemen, and fucking Mainlanders), it still makes my blood boil. But whatever, kismet. Entire place, mostly wood and older than my 60-year-old father, was already falling apart, and I've always said it's only a matter of time before *things* happen. People back home are coping, thankfully, and the outpouring of love and support from the close-knit community is heartwarming. Business as usual (the hows and whys are too intricate to detail here). Life goes on, or as Sondheim would say, "Stop worrying where you're going. Move on."
 

SUNRISE AT THE ILOILO RIVER ESPLANADE II

 

Goodbye, for now. 

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Ten Things About Pediatrics

February 7, 2014, 7:03 am
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The Year Level 5: ICC Year blog posts - stories and anecdotes, patient encounters and hospital drama, and the many colors of UP med school from the perspective of a third year. Here's the thirteenth entry, under our four-week rotation in the Department of Pediatrics.
  

1. On our last day in Pedia, this fat baby! I loved, loved, loved this little human bubble. He was my favorite patient, but then I didn't really like most of the kids that we handled to begin with.


2. We had an 18-day rotation, compared to 20 for other blocks. The last Friday was declared a non-working holiday, and we were so grateful to China. Below, the exhibit made by UP Meridian, the official Chinese-Filipino students' organization of the College of Medicine.


3. Two Pedia ER duties (1PM-4AM). Both benign but high-yield. Both with leisurely one-hour dinner breaks. Both involving a lot - A LOT - of kids from the bawling academy. Also, for both nights, the brother gave us food. Below, C fulfilling a fangirl fantasy.

 

4. Slept at T's bachelor pad after the second duty. Didn't really get much sleep; we were up at 6 photographing the sunrise. 


5. In relation to #4, notice the weird massive wall of cloud that graced said morning. For strangers, red-roofed structures on the foreground comprise the Philippine General Hospital complex.


6. Here's another view of said wall of cloud, but let me take this opportunity to rant about one of the worst preceptorials I've ever had. It involved Dr. A., former chancellor of UP Manila. This was what happened: He was an hour late for our 10AM precepts. He spent the next hour discussing measles and dengue fever, even though our case was atopic dermatitis. Then, furious knocks on the door. Patient's mother asked to be sent home after having wasted the entire morning in the hospital. "It's fine with us if you don't check my baby," she said. Dr. A. (to us): Just tell the patient to buy a solution with moisturizer. We were aghast, of course. What solution? What moisturizer? And the worst part was: He didn't even personally see the baby. 
 

7. Project Pie after one of our duties. Here is the photo of the best pizza ever made - mozarella, gorgonzola, feta, ricotta, cheddar, anchovies, pepperoni, olives, sun-dried tomatoes. And why is everyone in the EDSA (near Mall of Asia) branch desperately trying to perfect an American accent?


8. As mentioned in the previous post, went home for Dinagyang. Mangrove is thriving by the River!


9. Two more photos of the glorious Iloilo City sunrise from the Iloilo River Esplanade.


10. There was basically a lot of waiting involved. This was not a clean rotation. The schedule changed everyday. Consultants were late most of the time. And so, people were either playing with sick babies or taking advantage of free Wi-Fi in the library.


Notice how this post is not much concerned with the intricacies of the pediatrics rotation. What rotation? Also, that this post is more than a week late must mean something. (We just finished our first week in Surgery.)
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What a wicked show!

February 8, 2014, 5:31 am
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My review of the Asia-Pacific touring production of "Wicked," currently playing the CCP Main Theater until Mar. 9, is in today's Philippine Daily Inquirer - here. PLUS, stuff about the benefit auction for Yolanda victims, and then some.

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"Spectacle" is the word that best describes "Wicked" - and that's putting it mildly.

Upon entering the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), where this touring production of the Tony Award-winning musical plays until March 9 before heading back to Australia, one is greeted by a gigantic metallic dragon perched on the proscenium.

The beast's sole purpose is to come alive - that is, sway its head this way and that - for a few seconds at the start of the overture, before returning to its lifeless state for the rest of the show. It's more a decorative centerpiece, actually, but it is also a perfect harbinger of the scale of things to come. Once the curtain opens, there is no stopping the extravagance of the show's technical elements from attempting to overwhelm the senses.

With premium seats priced at P7,000 (and yes, this is almost always a full-house affair), this version of "Wicked" is the real deal. It is an exact replica of the Broadway and West End productions, which means flying out to New York or London is suddenly no longer necessary for this musical hordes of Filipino devotees (and new converts).

Save for the Australasian cast of first-rate triple-threats, everything is as it appears on the other side of the globe. That is, Eugene Lee's set design, Susan Hilferty's costumes, Kenneth Posner's lights, Wayne Cilento's musical staging and choreography, and Joe Mantello's original direction, now recreated by Lisa Leguillou.

Queen bee
 
As 21st-century Broadway entertainment goes, "Wicked" is the undeniable reigning queen bee.

It is tear-jerking drama and riotous comedy. It is trite romance anchored on the indispensable love triangle and smart-ass pop-culture commentary. It has the bitch-fighting elements of "Mean Girls," a pro-animal stance that would make Peta (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) proud, and a semester's worth of material for a political science class.

That is to say, Winnie Holzman's book for the musical seems to suffer from some form of identity crisis, which becomes especially glaring when one remembers that what "Wicked" set out to be in the first place is an unauthorized revisionist look at L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and/or the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz."

Yes, it is about the life and times of Elphaba, the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West, and her relationship with Glinda the Good, but this nearly three-hour musical apparently wants to be a lot of other things as well.

Fans of the Gregory Maguire novel, upon which "Wicked" is based, may be disappointed to know, if they still don't, that this stage adaptation has reduced the author's labyrinthine fantasy into a simplistic tale of good and evil, and the gritty shades of grey in between.

Pure rapture

Ah, but how easy it is to forgive Holzman's lapses in writing when the finished product is a song-and-dance extravaganza of the highest order, a musical that's as close and true to the spirit of entertainment as any show could possibly get.

There are flying monkeys and flying witches. The dancing is pure rapture. The set, dominated by gargantuan cogwheels and scaffolds, fluidly shifts from the witches' school (complete with a towering statue of The Wizard) to Glinda's bedroom (equipped with a well-appointed rack of luxury shoes) to the Emerald City (beautifully lit by Posner in hues of green) to a cornfield featuring the farm girl Dorothy Gale's fallen house in the backdrop.

For fans of "Oz," there is the added delight of Baum's characters in cameos: the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and, in one of the show's cleverest pieces of humor, Dorothy, held captive in Elphaba's cellar.

Let's not forget "Defying Gravity," now karaoke fodder, singing contest staple, and "Glee" property (well, not really). But as a musical sequence, it has become undeniably one of the musical theater's most iconic Act I endings. The sheer grandiosity of seeing Elphaba literally soar to the night sky is matched only by a few - say, the falling chandelier in "The Phantom of the Opera."

A slight surprise, then, that in retrospect, "Wicked's" most potent ingredients are actually its most earthbound elements.

Its most gut-wrenching scene happens to be its quietest, which makes the pain all the more cruel. During the "Dancing Through Life" sequence, Elphaba, alone on the ballroom floor, executing her own outlandish routine amidst stares of amusement and disbelief from both actors and audience. It's the one moment that perfectly captures how it must feel to be an outcast.

Leading ladies

Which brings us to the pair of leading ladies who, with only their voices and overflowing talent, are the most spectacular part of this musical. (It is the male characters who do most of the sitting on the side in "Wicked.")

In this production, those ladies are Jemma Rix and Suzie Mathers.

Rix, one of those extraordinary women blessed with lungs of steel, almost never leaves the stage. As Elphaba, she has three solos that require insane belting ability, in addition to duets and group numbers.

It's a performance that's mostly noted for the exceptional vocal talent involved, but Rix is just as accomplished an actress, skillfully charting Elphaba's course from awkward and naive to sympathetic but maligned.

Mathers, on the other hand, is the comic heart of this production. Her portrayal of Glinda is as buoyant as the bubble she descends on during her first entrance, but she adamantly refuses to fall for the trappings of the dumb blonde stereotype.

Her rendition of that ode to outward appearances, "Popular," reveals an eye for physical comedy, an ear for musical phrasing, and a knack for comic timing. In her considerably briefer turn as a leading character, Mathers manages to always send the audience into fits of electrical laughter, in a performance that literally and limitlessly flies.

The rest of the cast are just as capable in their roles; Emily Cascarino as Elphaba's sister Nessarose, and Edward Grey as Boq, the future Tin Man, are especially affecting.

Pop-heavy

So, let it be said: Those expecting to see theater of laudable depth and intelligence are better off watching something else - Repertory Philippines' masterfully crafted production of "Wait Until Dark," for example.

But for those seeking to be visually dazzled and wildly entertained, or for those who just want to feel, to laugh and cry and have an altogether fantastic time, well, there can't be a more satisfying show right now.

The pop-heavy score, by Stephen Schwartz (also of Disneys'"The Hunchback of Notre Dame,""Pocahontas," and "Enchanted"), is already a peculiar attraction in itself.

When it opened on Broadway in 2003, "Wicked" was a critical disaster. "This show does not speak well for the future of the Broadway musical," declared The New York Times.

Eleven years later, look how audiences worldwide - Manila included - have fallen for and embraced its magical spell.   

*     *     *     *     *

Before anything else, know that these photos were taken using a poor man's phone. (Click photos to enlarge.) Begin with the CCP, afternoon of January 31. 


The CCP main lobby. "Wicked" programmes are sold at P500.


The Oz Dust Boutique, named after "the swankiest place in town,"  sells all sorts of merchandise, from shirts to copies of the original Broadway cast recording.


To enter the theater is to see the Time Dragon and a map of Oz, its green center being the Emerald City.


This was how close we were to the stage.


Packed house for a Friday afternoon matinee.


The cast at curtain call.


The January 31 1:30PM performance of "Wicked" was a benefit show for the victims of Supertyphoon Yolanda in Tacloban City. All proceeds, including ticket sales and venue rental, went to that cause. A post-show auction, where an afternoon tea with cast members, two CCP backstage tours, and a makeup kit from MAC Cosmetics (the show's makeup sponsor) were up for grabs, raised P205,000. The event was hosted by Tessa Rufino-Prieto Valdes, whose outfit could give Glinda a run for her money; Mathers, Rix, Steve Danielsen (Fiyero), and Jay Laga'aia (The Wizard) assisted her.


An online auction, where "Wicked" paraphernalia such as a Glinda training wand prop and a music sheet signed by Schwartz, and a vacation package for two to see "Wicked" in London are up for grabs, is ongoing until Feb. 15 (5PM PST). Email bids to bid@wickedthemusical.com.ph. Look online for further instructions.

*     *     *     *     *

That evening, attended the opening night performance of "Red" by The Necessary Theater, starring Bart Guingona and Joaquin Valdes. From the 2013 theater roundup - here: "This two-man show happened to be the year's most cerebral production - talk of Matisse and Pollock, art and mythology populates this one-act play - but on the shoulders of Guingona and Valdes, was also the most mesmerizing."

And so, took these shots while waiting.

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PDI Review: 'August: Osage County' by Repertory Philippines

March 1, 2014, 10:51 pm
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My review of Repertory Philippines'"August: Osage County" was in yesterday's Inquirer - here. It's no secret that I loved the film version (unjustly ravaged by American critics), starring Julia Roberts and the great Meryl Streep. Also, no title for this one since the big boss decided to try something new: a common header for the reviews of two shows that are basically about the same subject matter. The other one's by Cora Llamas, on Tanghalang Pilipino's "Mga Ama, Mga Anak" (the Nick Joaquin play) at the CCP.  

*     *     *     *     *

"August: Osage County," the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play by actor-writer Tracy Letts, is set in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, a speck of a town of less than 4,000 people somewhere in the Great American Plains. The state is just north of Texas, so it's perfectly acceptable to assume that they must speak in a sort of Southern accent there.

But in the context of Repertory Philippines' running production of "August," geography and speech patterns become irrelevant. Without its seemingly distant, all-American facade, Letts' three-act, three-hour tragicomedy about the dysfunctional Weston family remains an instantly familiar brand of entertainment hereabouts.

That is, "August," packed with planetary portions of juicy dialogue and a dash of physical aggression, is in its indisputable way the mother of all soap operas - and it couldn't have landed on a more fitting shore, in a country that feeds nightly on unending servings of teleserye or TV soap opera.

More menacing

The world of "August" is confined to the crumbling Weston residence. Director Miguel Faustmann, who's more widely recognized as an actor, has created a three-tiered set that's as cluttered as it is detailed, aptly mirroring the laborious existences that walk its creaky floors. 

Faustmann just about scaled down the original Broadway design, but combined with Katsch Catoy's lights, this more intimate setup also imbues the house with a darker, more menacing air.

"But... a house is not a home when there's no one there," goes the '60s ditty made popular by Dionne Warwick. "August," meanwhile, makes a case for a house that's even less of a home - and more a hellhole - when stuffed to the brim with people.

The prologue introduces us to the patriarch Beverly Weston (an appropriately slurry Leo Rialp) literally waxing poetic - he's quoting T.S. Eliot - before Johnna, the Indian woman he's hired as house help (played by Angeli Bayani).

That's the only time we see Beverly; by Act I, he's been missing for five days. In playwriting parlance, that means a grand homecoming, where the rest of the extended clan descend upon the homestead to rekindle old ties, bicker with each other, share old stories, and bicker some more.

It's a time-tested formula that's at work here, in which all the characters are cooped up under one roof and left to their own devices for a theatrical fight to the finish. The fighting becomes especially bloodier because of Letts' ruthlessly eloquent dialogue (someone screams, "Eat the fish, bitch!") and his seven cogently written female characters.

At the core of this gladiatorial household is Beverly's wife Violet, a drug addict whose mouth is a volcano of cuss words, insults, and oral cancer. Here, she is played by the legendary Baby Barredo, and one would be hard put to conceivably find another actress to take her place. 

There is no other way to clearly illustrate Barredo's turn as Violet except to say that she literally sets the stage ablaze whenever she speaks. It's a magnificent performance by any standard, where the insults erupting from her mouth literally sear the ears, where her piercing, eagle-eyed stare ("Nobody slips anything by me," she intones) can make even the viewer at the backmost row shrink back in fear.

It's a rare and extraordinary thrill, really, to witness Barredo revel in the character's malevolence and sink her teeth into her meatiest role of late with undaunted voracity.

Ferocity

But Barredo finds her match in Pinky Amador, who plays the eldest Weston daughter Barbara. Barbara is a weary fighter, burdened by marital woes, menopause, and an inherent need to "run things," to quote her iconic declaration in Act II's sensational fight scene.

Amador, who was last seen onstage as the title character in Atlantis Productions'"Piaf" a year ago, brings very much the same brutalizing ferocity to her Barbara. It is a completely unhinged portrayal, derived perhaps from the actress' awareness that tuning up the volume and sharpening her own set of knives are the only ways that Barbara can go head-to-head with her monstrous mother.

And this is the thumping heart of "August," really - the struggle of two women over power and control over the household, and the gradual blurring of the lines, where mother and daughter eventually become indistinguishable from each other.

In this sense, the casting, or rather, pairing of Barredo and Amador is a masterstroke, so much so that this "August" can reconsider changing its marquee to bear "The Baby and Pinky Show."

The rest of the veteran cast impeccably embody their roles. In particular, Liesl Batucan affectingly captures the muddled, narcissistic soul of Karen (the youngest daughter, whose idea for a funeral dress comes with a thigh-high slit).

Sheila Francisco is a whirlwind of brazen nuttiness and nastiness as Violet's sister Mattie Fae, and Bayani, in her few lines, is a surprisingly strong presence as Johnna.

(In fact, only Thea Gloria, as Barbara's daughter Jean, betrays any hint of difficulty grasping the character, but hindsight seems to justify her coarse, plodding manner of speaking as a fairly accurate depiction of the pothead adolescent.)

Restraint
 
Given that there's not an "un-juicy" role in this play, there is always the danger of any production of "August" - more so this Repertory version that features some of the country's finest stage performers - becoming a deafening Grand Guignol, whose terrors take the form of frayed relationships, pulped egos, and violently uncapped wigs (the last one happens to Violet herself).

Enter Chris Millado, artistic director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, who directs this "August" - the first time he's ever helmed a Rep production. In the programme notes, he highlights ensemble work as the most essential factor in staging the play.

And that's exactly what transpires on that stage. As a director who's quite experienced in dealing with the spectacular (2012's "Stageshow" comes to mind), Millado's mantra appears to be "restraint," and it shows in the way his actors handle the endless, exhilarating wordplay that is this play's most satiating pleasure.

The result is a tightly directed show that leaves no room for unnecessary showboating but with nary a dull scene. Thus, the great irony of "August" is cleanly fleshed out: That the laughs become bigger and more frequent just as the characters sink deeper and deeper in the muck of their lives.

"August: Osage County" by Repertory Philippines runs until March 16 at OnStage, Greenbelt 1, Makati City. Performance schedule: Friday 8PM, Saturday 3:30PM and 8PM, and Sunday 3:30PM. The show is almost 3 1/2 hours long, with a five-minute intermission between Acts I and II, and ten minutes between Acts II and III. Call (02) 571-6926 or (02) 571-4941 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph for tickets. 
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PDI Review: 'Toilet: The Musical' by Ateneo Blue Repertory

March 7, 2014, 11:23 pm
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My post-run review of the world premiere - because it really is - of "Toilet: The Musical," which ran February 12 - March 1 at the Ateneo de Manila University, is in today's Inquirer - here.

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'Toilet: The Musical'--far from perfect, but Ejay Yatco's music shines

The experience of watching Ateneo Blue Repertory's "Toilet: The Musical" (which concluded March 1 after a three-week run) approximated that of sitting in the middle of a Bornean rainforest, at three in the afternoon in May, to see some cool animals appear.

The university's Gonzaga Exhibit Hall, which lacks air-conditioning and whose ubiquity of windows is a light designer's nightmare, should never ever be used as a venue for any stage production. The final matinee performance of "Toilet" was a standing-room-only affair, and for more than two hours, the audience busily brandished makeshift fans to ward off the unbearable heat that plagued that sauna of a "theater."

The stage design was also problematic: Was there really the need to extend the right and left sides of the stage in the form of wings, such that those seated on the first two rows had to uncomfortably turn sideways whenever something was happening up there?

What this arrangement achieved was the periodic disruption of the show's momentum, when focus could have easily been sustained by utilizing just the central performance space.

Spatial and environmental issues aside, there's much to laud in "Toilet: The Musical." Ejay Yatco's original English-language work brimmed with promise despite a rather flawed premiere by BlueRep.

Stereotypical characters

Certainly this musical broke no new ground with its story. It's set in an unspecified high school (could be any famous Manila private school teeming with kids of the well-to-do, English-spouting kind) and concerned eight main stereotypical characters: the troubled artist, the slut, the religious fanatic, the jock with a brain - you get the drift.

The primary weakness of the musical's book (by Bym Buhain and Miyo Sta. Maria) was ironically its desire to lend every one of its characters equal treatment. The upside was that "Toilet" wasn't just another superficial, Disney-fied sing-along like "High School Musical."

The downside? For a rather simple premise, there were too many stories - eight main characters! - competing for the viewer's attention.

In keeping with the idea that "we are all our real selves in the toilet," the school janitor (played by Darrell Uy) also doubled as the omniscient narrator - an annoying role that was essentially filler and could have been done away with.

There's also the stock closeted gay relationship - too sleazily written to even be involving - between the teacher and the sensitive yearbook editor who commits suicide at the end of the show (not a spoiler, promise!).

It begged the question: Was this "Bare 2.0"? (Well, the central homosexual romance in "Bare" was quite poignant and perceptive, to begin with.)

A life of its own
 
The music of "Toilet," on the other hand, took on a life of its own: It was the real star of the show. Count them - 22 original songs, both music and lyrics single-handedly crafted by Yatco.

The songs ran an impressive gamut of styles. But the fact that they refused to break the integrity of the storytelling and, more importantly, became full-on participants in the projection of emotions for every scene, was Yatco's biggest success here.

"Just Wait Awhile" deftly illustrated the unspoken adolescent agony over identity, and opened the show by establishing a unifying milieu for its characters: All of them are struggling to present a nice face to the world, to "just hold it in, put on a smile," and put up with the pressures of school and home.

"Don't Fall in Love" hinted at the subtleties of forbidden love. "Friendzone Song" satirized that heart-mangling situation of romance that fails to take off as a serious teenage horror.

With last year's "Sa Wakas" (by Culture Shock Productions), and now, "Toilet," Yatco is fast proving himself to be one of, if not the most exciting, young musical director and composer of the contemporary local theater scene.

In general, the predominantly student-actor ensemble could flesh out the basic intricacies of their roles - never mind emotional realism - even as they had to suffer through the endless stomping and galloping that marked Jim Ferrer's angst-ridden choreography.

Franco Chan, as class jock and valedictorian Paul, glowed with a natural leading-man sensibility, while Mica Fajardo showed she could be flat-out hilarious as the Bible-quoting slut-in-disguise Lucille (until the character kind of morphed into a wailing witch in Act II).

Stage presence
 
But it was Krystal Kane, as campus slut Therese, who displayed the sort of stage presence heralding the birth of a potential future theater star. It was all visible in the way she composed herself, the way she could shine through the group numbers without once chewing scenery, her effective use of body language to convey adolescent sexuality, her ravishing singing.  

"That Type of Girl," Therese's jazzy, self-expositional number, was the perfect avenue for Kane to audition for a future production of Kander and Ebb's "Chicago."

"Toilet" also boasted an ingenious piece of musical staging. Early in Act II, resident fat girl Tiffany (Cassie Manalastas) sings "Skinny Disney Princesses," an ode to fatness, thinness, and everything in between. The climax of that number literally featured Snow White, Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, Belle, and Aurora dressed in frilly, high-cut modernist versions of their signature gowns, barricading Manalastas from "food" (the boys in oversized cardboard cutouts).

It's the epitome of the show's characteristic whimsy, but also of the daring creativity that coursed deep in this production.

All things considered, BlueRep's "Toilet: The Musical" was far from perfect, but it's an admirably brave attempt - and for a first try, that would do.   

Sunset at the Ateneo. March 1, 2014.
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PDI Review: 'Cock' by Red Turnip Theater

March 14, 2014, 8:43 pm
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My review of Red Turnip Theater's "Cock" - Red Turnip is not a guy - is in today's Inquirer - here. This must-see production runs until April 6 at Whitespace, Chino Roces Ave. Ext., Makati City. (It's right across Mead Johnson Nutritionals.) Get your tickets at TicketWorld now!

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'Cock' teases with pulsing energy

A mere kilometer from the Magallanes MRT station, in a nondescript building called Whitespace, a play of diminutive scale rages with astonishing explosive power, one that ravages the robust human facade and inflicts damaging blow after blow upon the fragile emotional soul.

This tempestuous play is "Cock," by the British playwright Mike Bartlett, and it made landfall March 7 as the fledgling company Red Turnip Theater's second production.

Yet, to describe this "Cock" as a sort of storm might be misleading for the unsuspecting audience member, who'd enter the venue expecting to see a cast of thousands and a set of wicked proportions (pun intended).

There is nothing in this theater-in-the-round that hints at physical spectacle. An overtly economical imitation of a chandelier hangs above a circular red carpet, which is flanked by low wooden barriers segregating it from the four sections of Monoblocs.

Power struggle

Denis Lagdameo's set is obviously intended to be a cockpit, and unless one is a closet gambler or patron of the Pinoy pastime, the prospect of watching squabbling roosters hardly makes for an exciting thought.

Who are we fooling? "Cock" is about a different kind of power struggle: three people fighting to possess one man's presumably priceless penis. Pardon the bluntness, but sugarcoating simply won't do in this age of Miley Cyrus and sex-scandal celebrities.

A less risque synopsis would go something like this: Gay man breaks up with his boyfriend, has sex and falls in love with a woman, then finds himself in the confusing middle, as both lovers try to win him over once and for all.

It is temptingly easy to dismiss "Cock" as just another gay play. (It is, in fact, the first in a string of brand-new theater productions this year to feature the homosexual lead - to name two others, Resorts World's "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert" and 9 Works Theatrical's "La Cage Aux Folles").

That, however, would be a short-sighted way of viewing this play, which is so much more than just the fleeting dalliances of the modern young gay man. True, the enduring questions about homosexuality are speckled throughout the show - one of the characters asks, in Mendelian fashion, "Where is the gene?" - but they're totally beside the point.

The single, most fitting term that encapsulates all of "Cock" appears to be "identity" - and it's not just the kind that many an out-and-proud man grappled with back in the closet.

Beating heart

The beating heart of "Cock" is John, a despicable creature who appears to be no more than just a wiry human reservoir of indecision.

At the start, he and his boyfriend are already teetering on the brink of breakup; yet for the rest of the show, he will be maddeningly incapable of choosing between two people, what he wants out of a relationship, what he wants from love - basically the stuff that epic romances are made of. It is John's perpetual state of vacillation that truly informs this play.

There are three supporting characters: M is John's on-and-off boyfriend ("You're like a brother," John tells him); W is the not-so-lucky girl who scores; and F is M's father, who appears only in the play's final 30 minutes.

That they have single-letter names but are infinitely more resolute in their choices (in everything, really) only highlights the irony that John, as the lone character with a proper name, is the one with a murky interior and a perpetually unmade mind.

And they feed on his lack of definition. M treats John like a child, stunting his growth instead of nurturing him. F, as loving and accepting a father-of-the-boyfriend as he is, sees it fit to meddle with the messy affairs of others and manipulate his son's relationship.

Only W is likable enough, but her being the gentlest, most generous spirit in the room ("a female, a chick, cow, bitch," as M describes her) probably clouds judgment.

Presentation

As far as subject matter is concerned, there really isn't anything extraordinary with Bartlett's work. Shades of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" are splattered all over it.

The key lies in the presentation, and director Rem Zamora's technique is what makes Red Turnip's "Cock" pulsate with such volatile energy. (See how the title literally spawns a myriad of puns.)

The pacing never misses a beat, the tension always kept at a maximum. And all four performers throw Bartlett's naturalistic lines across the room like volleys of gunfire.

It's a royal battle that actually forces the audience to choose sides from the outset: The four seating sections are named after the characters. Scenes are divided by the sound of a bell, evoking a boxing arena - and by the time this play reaches its culminating dinner scene, it has morphed into one hell of a bloody fight.

Funniest lines

Red Turnip's "Cock" features what should go down as the year's fiercest quartet of actors. Topper Fabregas is an extremely infuriating John, whiny and needy and so unsure. Niccolo Manahan revels in the sheer bitchiness of M, who gets to speak both the funniest and cruelest lines.

Audie Gemora is a stern, almost reverential figure as F, until he appoints himself the middle man of the love triangle. And Jenny Jamora is especially ravishing as W, imbuing the character with equal measures of sweetness and graceful ferocity.

In this stripped-down environment, the play becomes the actors - the sharp line deliveries, the evocative use of body language, the palpable and believable emotions - as they carry the entire weight of Bartlett's text.

That is how they become the raging storm at the heart of this little play. Zamora and his actors have virtually made it impossible for the audience to not get carried away by the sheer passionate force of their production.

There is, of course, the requisite sex scene. How it is done is also reason to see this production; copulation on stage has never been this classier - or more erotic.

In the end, Red Turnip's "Cock" is really 90 minutes of hyper-articulate actors attempting to tear each other apart with just the deathly use of eloquent language. In the face of an entertainment scene saturated with musical extravaganzas, crowd-pleasing rom-coms, and exorbitantly priced concerts, this is an offer to delicious - and too rare - to be refused.

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Ten Things About Surgery

March 19, 2014, 9:35 am
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The Year Level 5: ICC Year blog posts - stories and anecdotes, patient encounters and hospital drama, and the many colors of UP med school from the perspective of a third year. Here's the fourteenth entry, under our four-week rotation in the Department of Surgery

But first, an explanation. As of this writing, we're halfway through the first week of Community Medicine - our block's last rotation - and have seven normal days of LU5 left. Then, it's the final exams, the comprehensive exam, and grand OSCE (the practicals) before the 4-month vacation begins. I meant to make this post right after the end of rotation, but instead found myself writing theater reviews for three consecutive weeks (I'm not complaining). So here's to memory!


1. The pata party. One of the highlights of this rotation was the suturing practice session. Our models were pork legs. Later, we had the legs cooked - fried to oily perfection - for one helluva atherosclerotic party.


2. This April, we Intarmed kids will be receiving our undergraduate degrees - BS Basic Medical Sciences - which is really another way of saying we now only have two years between us and that M.D. We had our graduation photo shoot one Saturday, and that thing on the lower left corner is my technologically clueless finger.


3. At the Surgery Minor OR, we were allowed to do wound closures on our own. My first (and only) one didn't look so pretty, though, which shouldn't really decrease my patient's aesthetic value as long as he keeps his shirt on and his lower back covered. Here's T and P, who celebrated their 2nd wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day.


4. It was during this rotation that the sister came to Manila to watch "Wicked" with her two brothers. And since she's an artsy little cat, I brought her to the National Museum. Carlos "Botong" Francisco's five-mural series depicting the history of medicine in the country brings back (dreary) memories of Humanities II and how we had to write a paper on those paintings. 


5. "Wicked" was the first time the three of us siblings watched a play together on our own. Since sister dear is a shy one and a huge fan of the musical (even though she doesn't know the lyrics to "No Good Deed," which makes her being a fan questionable), we headed over to the stage door after the show. Actually, we ran to the stage door right after the curtain fell, just as the rest of the audience were still recovering from the spectaculotion.


6. The day after we saw "Wicked," I ran into Steve Danielsen (Fiyero) and Emily Cascarino (Nessarose) in National Bookstore, Robinsons Ermita. (Well actually, I kind of stalked them for a while, just walking behind them to see where they'd go, and debating with myself over whether or not to approach them and prove I'm a "Wicked" fanboy.)  


7. Gela and I had this really creepy septuagenarian patient with a popliteal cyst at the OPD. While waiting for the resident monitor, we asked her, "Ma'am, if you can share with us one life lesson, what would it be?" She said, "Always seek the Lord." That wasn't the end of it; she rambled on about how she's seen apparitions of the cross and all that, and how Filipinos are really the chosen people of God. (Those are Amorosolos in the picture.)
 
 

8. Surgery is a menial rotation. It's like brushing sand on cement walls, or picking ferns in the forest, or painting fences in the farm, milking cows and growing mushrooms, feeding birds in the park, sharpening pencils, selling paper, ironing gloves and worn-out denims, mopping an entire house in a span of thirty minutes. So we played Spot the Teddy a lot!


9. Mediscene, the annual play competition of the College of Medicine, marked the last day of Surgery. Our class ended up not joining (here's an epic tale of lies, betrayal, and stupidity). But anyway, this was the second consecutive year where entries had to be musicals - an idea I strongly despise. Cora Llamas, Walter Ang, and his bestie Ronald Elepano were the judges (I invited them). The freshmen (Class of 2018) had an orchestra that produced elegant, enchanting music, meaning the others didn't really stand a chance as far as wow factor was concerned. Beat that. (The photo is of 2019, or the second year Intarmed kids.)


10. Let me immortalize the issue with the exam. We had two exams that were absolutely disconnected from the rotation. But here's what happened with one of the previous blocks: During their first exam, the resident monitor allowed them to look the answers up in the textbook. Said monitor even allowed them to take the exam home. Know that Surgery never changed their questions, until this happened, when some of them got 99%. The most scandalous, most disgusting part of the issue had nothing to do with our exam being totally new; it's that people who knew about it actually tried to sugarcoat, bury, repress the issue. It was never discussed openly; it was never put out there for everyone to know; and nobody - NOBODY - took full responsibility for it. When I found out about it, a week after our rotation had ended, I lost my faith in certain people. And you wonder why this country is the way it is? Excuse me while I barf - again.

Caucasian family watching fish. Greenbelt, Makati City.
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Ten Things About Internal Medicine

March 24, 2014, 8:00 am
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The Year Level 5: ICC Year blog posts - stories and anecdotes, patient encounters and hospital drama, and the many colors of UP med school from the perspective of a third year. Here's the fifteenth entry, under our three-week rotation in the Department of Medicine.


1. Preceptorials took up the bulk of this rotation. The most memorable session involved Dr. A, one of the country's gods of nephrology, who is also inseparable from his ever reliable can of Coke, and our octogenarian patient from Negros with renal hypertensive disease. The following conversation (abridged) was the highlight of said session:

Dr. A: When did your BP [blood pressure] start to go up?
Patient: It was 200/100... 200/80...
Dr. A: Yes, so what was your BP in 1990? 1994?
Patient: It was... yes, it was high in 1980, 1990...
Dr. A: [shifting to Hiligaynon] Lilinti-an! Ano ang BP mo sang 1990?!


2. Every year, the last block to rotate in the department gets to do the student grand rounds, where third years study and present a case all by themselves, in addition to organizing the entire event - from invites to resource speakers to microphone men. The downside is that the entire three weeks are basically devoted to preparing for this... thing, which means time that should normally be used for reading and studying is instead sacrificed to make scripts and Powerpoints. (There is no upside.)


3. Some generator or electrical thing or whatever blew up or gave out, leaving the OPD with insufficient power to sustain the clinics' air-conditioners. This started on our first day at the clinics and outlasted the duration of our stay.


4. UP Meridian had its Neuro OSCE review and induction dinner on the second-to-the-last day of the rotation. So many new kids in town to promote Chinese Asian culture!


5. An epic "Wicked" adventure: The last Friday of February, Sister C and I went to Diamond Hotel to stalk the cast of the musical, because Sister C is such a huge fan girl, and "For Good" is the anthem of her life. We hung out at the lobby, where we met all of them (and where Sister C had fangirl photos and got her programme signed) except for The Wizard, Madame Morrible, and Glinda. So, for the sake of Suzie Mathers (word has it that she's one stealthy serpent), we ended up in line at the CCP stage door after that evening's performance. There was also a sunset walk along Baywalk, but I can't seem to remember much of it.

Sitting in front of the elevators was quite the strategy.


6. I ended up seeing majority of the shows for the first quarter of the year during the weekends of this rotation. Repertory Philippines'"August: Osage County," Ateneo Blue Repertory's "Toilet the Musical," and Red Turnip Theater's "Cock" were the ones I reviewed for the Inquirer. Photo #1: The day I first watched "August," Caucasian family amusing themselves over Greenbelt fish. Photo #2: Curtain call during the final show of "August," because brother wanted to watch (because I made him watch the movie, and he adored it).


7. "Mga Ama, Mga Anak" by Tanghalang Pilipino at the CCP. It's a Filipino translation by Virgilio Almario and Pete Lacaba of the Nick Joaquin play. Terrible script - so many cringe-worthy moments - or as Cora Llamas stated in her review, excruciatingly obvious writing. However, terrific performances from the cast, especially Celeste Legaspi as the modern wife and Cris Villonco as the resident pokpok.


8. "Rak of Aegis" by PETA featured the songs of, well, Aegis. This was a totally fun musical (the first act could stand on its own, seamless as it is), but the last quarter weighed everything down. The resolution needs to be rewritten because there is no other way to put it except to say that it's a cesspool of confusion. But, "Sinta" and the laugh-out-loud, ingenious use of bubbles! Also, Jerald Napoles and Ron Alfonso - the macho-funny and the bakla-funny, respectively - are both destined to go down as two of year's best comedy performances.


9. "Full Gallop" - a one-woman show about former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, here played by the iconic Cherie Gil. In the play, Vreeland is fresh from her European exile following her savage termination from the magazine and preparing to host a dinner party that seems headed for disaster. This one's confusifying: Gil was superb, sure, but at times, it felt as though she were only playing herself. It's indisputable, however, that the food during the opening night gala was just fabulous.


10. "Ang Nawalang Kapatid" by Dulaang UP is a musical version of the Mahabharata, condensed and translated into a two-hour musical. This spectacular show with an extraordinarily agile and hard-working all-student cast is, by far, the best production of the year. Which is to say, watch it during the rerun in July - if you can get a ticket! Last photo not-so-clearly shows the swarm of squealing high school/college girls mobbing Ross Pesigan, who's one of five actors to go au naturel in the ending. 

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After Wall Street

April 1, 2014, 5:54 am
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Popshot Magazine's 11th issue, with the theme "Journeys," is out today! In it, "After Wall Street," my poem inspired by Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street," which - and now I sound like a broken record - should have won Leonardo DiCaprio his Oscar. Popshot is an illustrated literary magazine based in the UK; order a copy here. 

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Years back, we were damn proud,
and we coated the city with arrogance
like fog creeping in beneath muted sunshine
on a cold November morning.
We were young, new to everything:
the money at stake, the cars, the clothes
and how can we forget the women
who would wipe our shoes
if only to simulate the taste
of rich man's skin and perfumed sweat.

Now here we stand - drenched in the rain
that's come to cleanse the city
where young men left their garbage
piled high on desks beside rolls of cash.
Lugging our legs to pay for lawyers
and quell an angry nation's hunger
to see businessmen crucified.

This is Calvary
in the shadow of glass and spires.
No crosses and iron nails
to mark the passing of crime.
Just corpses walking the street–
young men who once made fortunes
out of gold dust and blood. 
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Ten Things About Community Medicine

April 11, 2014, 11:39 pm
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The Year Level 5: ICC Year blog posts - stories and anecdotes, patient encounters and hospital drama, and the many colors of UP med school from the perspective of a third year. Here's the sixteenth entry, under our two-week rotation in the Community Medicine section of the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Note 1: As of this writing, we are officially done with third year medicine proper and have started the epic four-month vacation.

Note 2: Many people don't see Community Medicine as a real rotation. Because it really isn't, if we go by the definition of 'rotation' as 'see patients here, prescribe drugs there, do tests everywhere'. Community Medicine is an immersion; it is, as someone put it, the art of getting along with strangers.



1. Our group was assigned to Barangay 733, an urban-poor community along the border of Makati and Singgalong, Manila. The main health center is Fabella, which served as a sort of headquarters for our rotation. But we only went their twice; the rest of the time was spent with the people.
 

2. Meet our volunteer health workers (VHWs): Ate Linda (right) and Ate Lucie (left)! (Now that sounds like a Woody Allen film.) There's also Ate Kenneth and Elna and Joanna, but it was mainly these two extremely generous people who accompanied us for the length of our stay.


3. Captain Jigs is the current leader of the barangay, seen below with his bevy of councilors.The barangay hall is a place of overstated simplicity.


4. Saturday in 733 is aerobics day - unless the instructor doesn't come, which was what happened during the one morning when we'd all dragged our asses out of bed to get to the barangay before 7-freakin'-AM.


5. Boys walking in their underwear, but that's not such a strange sight in this country. (One of them wore boxer-briefs over briefs, which totally defeated the purpose of covering up, and which only magnified his, um, giftedness.) They have a "fraternity" called the Society of Blues, which we assumed is short for "boys who dig pot."


6. The main thrust of our group's immersion was to reinforce our VHWs' knowledge on taking vital signs and administering first aid. During our final presentation in class (no photo), we did a radio play, reenacting the iconic lines and unforgettable scenes during our stay.


7. The final presentations featured an overwhelming number of people in drag and hipster outfit. And Pinoy rap numbers. "'Nung ma-in-love ako sa'yo, akala ko'y pag-ibig mo ay tunay." 


8. Herbal Medicine session! I chopped all that oregano in the first photo!


9. It's impossible to ignore the disparity of wealth in this part of Manila. Just a couple of streets away is the bustling, ultra-chic La Salle neighborhood. And Zark's Burgers, which is the regular La Sallian's method of choice for getting heart disease.


10. The barangay assembly, which morphed into "The Last Stands of Ex-Capt. Rosales." It was the ultimate showdown, as the previous and current regimes struggled to one-up each other. The bigger tragedy, though, was that none of the issues really got resolved; people here have the tendency to avoid confrontation and just sweep their issues to the side.


Postscript: The Intarmeds of Block 8 with Dr. Gene Nisperos, who's part of the pioneer batch of the program. And congratulations to Vince (center, in gray shirt) for, you know, life!

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Climbing Mt. Maculot

April 16, 2014, 11:43 pm
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This happened on January 9 - three months ago - but then a lot of other stuff got in the way, like reviewing shows (yey!) and studying (ugh.) and pretending to like babies in Pediatrics. It was Quiapo Day, or the Feast of the Black Nazarene, when we did this climb. And since this was officially my first "real" mountain (I'd gone on two pseudo-mountaineering trips back in high school, but they were really more of wilderness trekking), I thought I'd just dump all my unedited photos in this post. 

Mt. Maculot is officially part of Cuenca, Batangas; on a map, it stands on the southern border of Taal Lake. Much of what you need to know about the mountain and organizing hikes (day hikes!) can be found in Pinoy Mountaineer, which is run by Gideon Lasco, a fellow Intarmed.

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The view from the Buendia LRT station at 6:30AM.

During the tricycle ride to camp, first proper glimpse of Mt. Maculot.

Base.

Starting the trek.

Bamboo, which used to be my frustrated-horticulturist father's favorite plant. (Now it's orchids.)

Our first glimpse of Taal Lake.

Trail marker.

Hike member Josh.

Rest stop 1, featuring Hike leader Sgt. Sexylegs (a.k.a. Terence) in white shirt. His thighs are so much bigger now, thanks to CrossFit.

Hike member Orly, who loves to dance.

The Plains below.

Rest stop near the top!
 
The Mt. Maculot Rockies

The summit.

Mt. Makiling in the distance.

Hike member/mother Hannah having lunch.

Hike member Madison being... silly.

Swallow.

Hike member Samuel Antoine.

Selfie!

Hike members Jim (left) and Orly.

Taal Volcano.

Sgt. Sexylegs and I. Seriously, the man has no body hair.

Lunch break.
 

A leaf insect!

Men being adventurous. Upper right of set features Hike member Jom and his swanky camera.

The group before the descent.
 

Saying goodbye to Cuenca, Batangas.
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The Extended Summer, Week 1 (Holy Week)

April 21, 2014, 8:42 am
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These days, I've been sleeping a lot. Way to start the epic extended summer vacation. Also, where are all these mosquitoes coming from?!

Church Visits: 10

Holy Week is a huge thing in the family, and not because it means getting the trusty passports out (because that would just be so not Catholic). We take our Visita Iglesia seriously; Iloilo province, after all, has some of the country's finest selection of churches. And to the three psalmists of this year's Santa Maria Parish Easter Vigil, you were disasters. What a shame.

 In the town of Janiuay, Iloilo, ruins of the old church and the staircase leading to the new structure beside it.

Books Started: 1
  • On the Road (by Jack Kerouac)
Two weeks ago, watched "Kill Your Darlings" - a severely underrated movie directed by John Krokidas and featuring an atrociously underrated performance by rising star (and new favorite actor) Dane DeHaan - which reignited pretentious quasi-obsession over The Beats, hence, this choice for a first non-academic book since David Mitchell's "number9dream" back in October, I think. Said "obsession" started with the puzzling movie "Howl," starring pre-Instagram-ranting, Ben Brantley-hating James Franco as Allen Ginsberg; in "Darlings," Ginsberg is played by Daniel Radcliffe (good) and the controversial Lucien Carr is played by DeHaan (exceptional).

But the book, which just had a movie adaptation (two years ago, was it?) starring actress with palsied face, more famous as girl who played Bella Swan, is beginning to feel like a chore. The protagonist, Sal, keeps going places yet doesn't seem to know where he really wants to get to - a tiring charade, really, almost like he's goading the reader to scream what the author could barely mumble, which is, "Settle down!" 

Aerial view: The CCP area, Harrison Plaza, the green of Manila Zoo, Quirino Avenue, Malate. Taken during my flight home last Tuesday.  

Films Watched: 9
  • Blue Is the Warmest Colour (France, dir. Abdellatif Kechiche)
  • Gravity (dir. Alfonso Cuaron) - second viewing 
  • Enough Said (dir. Nicole Holofcener) - second viewing
  • In the House (France, dir. Francois Ozon)
  • Ilo Ilo (Singapore, dir. Anthony Chen)
Tempted to call this a miracle, if only because the simplicity of the filmmaking conjures a whole universe of unspoken emotions.  
  • Metro Manila (UK, dir. Sean Ellis)
To borrow from "August: Osage County," what a load of horseshit! Clearly, Ellis has a very poor understanding of the Philippines and its people. He's obviously intoxicated by the land - witness no less than eight frames of the famed Rice Terraces during the opening sequence - that the finished product reeks of a foreigner's clumsy, barely studied take on this country. Plus, sloppy dialogue! And tons of continuity issues (one moment, they're in Balintawak; the next, they're in Recto)! The saving grace of this disgusting poverty porn is John Arcilla; Ana Abad Santos and Miles Kanapi are great too (Kanapi's the best character in Lav Diaz's "Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan").
  • Neighboring Sounds (Brazil, dir. Kleber Mendonca Filho)
Loved this film, its slow unfurling perfectly capturing the way we spend much of our time observing others. Nothing much happens here - the highlight has to be Maeve Jinkings' bored housewife making a vibrator out of the washing machine - but then, so is the case with real life.
  • Rio 2 (dir. Carlos Saldanha)
This was fun - totally bought the auditions shtick, overdrawn as it is (but who can possibly refuse a baby capybara belting out "Memory"?). However, lacks the novelty and huzzah! factor of its predecessor, which is to say, "Shrek 2" remains the only animated feature to have bettered its original. 
  • Two Lives (Germany, dir. Georg Maas)
You gotta love how the Germans make their movies: As with last year's "Barbara," so much subtlety, without ever letting the suspense dip.  

Watermelon shack along the national highway, Oton, Iloilo.
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PDI Review: 'Games People Play' at the Ateneo Blackbox Theater

April 25, 2014, 7:51 pm
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My review of the fifth run of "Games People Play," an eighty-minute, two-act play that started out as just director Ed Lacson, Jr.'s final exam for his Master's degree at UP Diliman last year, is in today's Inquirer - here. If it runs again - and yes, it will, later this year - do try to catch it. 

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'Games People Play': Power in simplicity

Remember that story about the fair-skinned, virginal girl with the evil stepmother whose talking mirror has dreams of becoming a Miss Universe pageant judge? How about the one with the girl in supposedly eternal sleep, who can be awakened only by the kiss of a stranger? And the farm boy who scales a beanstalk and earns the ire of a giant apparently living in the stratosphere?

Familiar tales, all of them, even as the current generation's ever-increasing reliance on 21st-century gadgetry threatens to wipe the trusty, hardbound storybook off the map.

But how about the tale of the children ruined by their own home - a story, it should be noted, without the sanitized, glamorized Disney happy ending?

Such is the conceit of "Games People Play," a tender, oftentimes hilarious, ultimately disturbing account of the many ways family and environment can horribly twist the process of growing up for a child.

Inventiveness

"Games are not supposed to be boring," one character proclaims, and as directed by Ed Lacson, Jr., this Palanca-winning play by Glenn Sevilla Mas has been transformed into an electrifying example of simplicity as power onstage. (It ends the fifth of its unjustly brief runs Saturday night at the Ateneo Blackbox Theater.)

The stage is essentially bare. Cardboard cutouts of a castle, a church facade, and trees are the only design elements, set against a stark blackness that works like an invitation to the audience to fill all that space with imagination.

The lighting design is testament to this production's inventiveness. "Games" does not make use of any of the theater's available implements - apparently the challenge imposed on Lacson during his directing finals for his Master's degree at the University of the Philippines Diliman last year, when this production was first seen.

All the better, then, to highlight the achingly beautiful storytelling that is this play's most potent feature, set to music by Teresa Barrozo.

Mas, a native of Antique province, weaves snippets of world-famous fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm into the story of three children growing up in an unspecified rural Visayan town. Here, the establishment of context is first-rate, as Mas infuses the play with a distinctly provincial feel. The school festival with an emcee speaking in English rife with mispronunciations is spot-on.

Games that define childhood in wide open spaces under the sun are used as devices to signify and explore chapters in the characters' lives, which makes for a rather unconventional, nonlinear plot.

Julio is the archetypal confused boy on the verge of discovering his sexual identity; Luna is the innocent girl with a drunkard father and a mother who prays to a hundred saints every day and has sex with her husband twice a year; and Diego is the typical rough-playing boy, except that he struggles with parental neglect and abandonment issues.

Coming of age

"Games" tracks the lives of these friends from childhood to the fringes of early puberty. It's a coming-of-age story in this way, but one defined by an atmosphere of awkwardness and sadness masquerading as humor.

Witness Diego, prior to a game of bahay-bahayan, laughingly deliver what may perhaps go down as the year's most heartbreaking line: "I played tatay, and I didn't know how to play one because I never had one."

But it is also through this faultless provincial setting that "Games" becomes a commentary on rural Filipino life, where Catholic sensibilities pervade the air, where homosexuality largely remains a stigma, where masturbation is a sin and sex an embarrassment, if not a reason for a trip to the confessional.

The second act, in particular, can almost pass for a treatise on sexual repression as a poison that lasts into adulthood, exemplified by that perfectly staged final scene, where the characters meet again in their late-20s and find themselves still unable to express their innermost selves.

Centuries-old social constructs, too, are presented, then covertly challenged. The enduring notions of masculinity, for example, are capsulized by Julio's mother telling her secretly gay son, "Boys need to go out and sweat; that's how they develop muscles."

The subtlety with which these issues are treated is admirable, thanks in part to its seen-from-the-eyes-of-a-child perspective. Age the characters a bit more, and it becomes quite irresistible to call "Games" a "Spring Awakening" for provincial Pinoy puberty.

Delicious performance

The three actors - Kalil Almonte as Diego, Abner Delina Jr. as Julio and Thea Yrastorza as Luna - beguilingly inhabit their roles, convincingly playing kids without the jarring effect that usually comes with adults pretending to be 6-year-olds.

They speak the mostly English dialogue with a Hiligaynon accent - an artistic decision that came up only during rehearsals, we heard. They also portray a myriad of other roles. Almonte, in particular, gives a delicious "doble-kara" performance of Julio's two sisters, the brassy one and the catatonic one, rapidly alternating between the two characters during a particular scene, while Delina provides a riotous portrayal of Luna's outrageously prayerful mother.

On occasion, "Games" strays into far-too-literary ground. "Playing with marbles has become predictable," mumbles Diego - and off the bat, you wonder: Are children ever this eloquent?

Maybe, if reared through the proper means. This play, after all, is also about a balancing act - brash sexuality vis-a-vis gentle, child-like fragility.

In this sense, "Games" tries to pass itself off as merely a cautionary fairy tale, even though it really is a tragedy - and in the hands of Lacson and his team, a magnificent, marvelously realized one.

 The team behind "Games People Play": (Seated, L-R) Almonte, Yrastorza, and Delina; (Back, L-R) Barrozo, Mas, and Lacson. 
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The Extended Summer, Week 2 (Graduation)

April 28, 2014, 1:08 am
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A weeklong return to Manila for a special day for Intarmed Class of 2016, plus lots of eating.


Books Abandoned: 1

I couldn't take Kerouac's "On the Road" anymore, could no longer bear to keep up with this traveling lost soul's ramblings, so I just... dropped it.

Interesting Planes Seen: 8

China Airlines A330-300, because I've only seen the A340 and B737 in Manila.

Philippine Airlines A321, simply because.

Cathay Pacific B777-300. Not really a special case, but who can resist these beauties.

Cathay Pacific B777-300 in OneWorld livery!

China Southern Airlines Embraer E-190LR!

Singapore Airlines A330!

This was soooo weird: Uzbekistan Airways B767-300ER!!!

KLM B777-300ER, or the current sole representative of European carriers in Manila. (I've seen Lufthansa A340-600 and B747, Air France A340, and Swissair MD-11).

Shows Watched: 2

My review of "Games People Play" was in last Saturday's Inquirer (see previous post). That afternoon, went with fellow theater loyalist Tricia Isada to see Atlantis Productions'"Ghost the Musical" at the RCBC Theater; my review will be in the coming Saturday's paper. Also, "Games" will have its sixth run at the PETA Theater this August/September, so they said during press night, so do try - really try - to catch it.

The team behind "Games" during the post-show Q&A: (L-R) actors Kalil Almonte, Thea Yrastorza, and Abner Delina Jr.; Ed Lacson Jr., director; Glenn Sevilla Mas, playwright; Teresa Barrozo, sound designer. 

Sunsets Captured: 2

1. Manila Bay, Saturday. Checked out the Aliwan Festival parade along Roxas Boulevard while waiting for Malate Church's 6PM service.


2. Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2, Sunday. Because our flight was delayed for an hour.


Mountains Appreciated: 2

Aside from being the best place for plane spotting in the airport, the NAIA Terminal 2 domestic pre-departure area also affords a view of both Mt. Banahaw (left in photo below) and Mt. Makiling on a clear day.


Graduations Attended: 1

Because yes, I finally have an undergraduate degree, even though it's sort of a fake one. After their fifth year (or third year medicine proper), the Intarmeds receive their B.S. Basic Medical Sciences degree to account for the first four years. This year's ceremony - because we get the degree during the UP Manila university graduation - was at the Philippine International Convention Center.


My original IPC group during first year pre-med, minus the newlywed Vince Severino.

Iloilo Team, Sembreak 2012.

Five cum laudes from our class. Guess who?

The guest speaker was Cardinal Tagle. "You're a fake. You're all fake!"


And so it happened that the ceremony felt way too long and boring, and so I had to get out and run into these girls and have this mirror selfie.


This year's student speaker was the summa cum laude from Biochemistry. After his speech came the requisite lightning rally.


BONUS: Father napping in style at the airport.

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PDI Review: 'Ghost the Musical' by Atlantis Productions

May 2, 2014, 11:21 pm
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My review of Atlantis Productions' first show for its 15th anniversary season, "Ghost the Musical," based on the 1990 film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg, is in today's Inquirer - here. This production closes next Sunday, May 11.

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In 'Ghost the Musical', something is really dead

Musicals based on movies are a tricky concoction, mainly because it's rather impossible to predict that balance between faithfulness to the material and new creative input that would guarantee a respectable adaptation, if not a first-rate hit.

Take the case of two hugely popular Disney films. On Broadway, the critically acclaimed "The Lion King" has been running for 16 years and continues to earn more than a million dollars each week. "Tarzan," in contrast, was labeled as "clumsy,""cartoonish,""attention-deficient," and "wrecked by its concept," and closed after 16 months.

With this thought, one enters the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, where "Ghost the Musical" is playing until May 11. Minutes into the show, it hits you: Someone, or rather, something, is dead in this "Ghost"-- inspiration.

Recall the film version: an Academy Award-winning hit, and now undeniably one of the enduring celluloid romances of the 1990s. The story is about Sam, the titular ghost, trying to protect his lover Molly from his murderer (and former friend) Carl through the aid of the psychic Oda Mae Brown.

Master class

"Ghost" the movie is a master class in making an audience (perhaps excluding the heartless and the hifalutin snobs) swoon at its unfolding romance, shed tears over the tragedy of lost love, and laugh heartily at Whoopi Goldberg as Oda Mae attempting to cash a $10-million check in "tens and twenties."

"Ghost the Musical" pretty much drags the whole movie onstage. But along the way, it looks like the musical has dropped its heart.

"Ghost" is not exactly lightweight material-- it's stuffed with human issues. But the musical rings hollow.

The romance has been reduced to literal-mindedness, much of the comedy has been sapped out, and for the most part, this musical makes you feel like you're watching a retelling of some melancholy-suffused tale, except that you're no longer required to feel something.

It's mind-boggling to think how Bruce Joel Rubin, who won an Oscar for the movie's screenplay, could have written this plodding adaptation, one that tells the story in a fractured manner, somewhat like the way you'd watch an amateur marionette show at the children's park retell "The Iliad."

With the stark exception of "Unchained Melody" (which, by the way, is not an original from either movie or musical), most of the songs have the uncanny ability to pass through the ears like ghosts, unable to register in the mind.

The otherwise capable ensemble is even burdened with group numbers that seem to have been written just because the makers felt they were a requirement for a splashy musical. One of them, we now recall in shadowy snippets, has the ensemble scrambling atop furniture, supposedly to enact the daily grind that underlings of the Manhattan financial district undergo.

Soulless material

It's a great shame that Atlantis Productions, whose track record includes some of the finest local staging of Broadway imports (the exceptional "Next to Normal" and "Avenue Q"), has to open its 15th anniversary season with a musical with such soulless material.

If anything, "Ghost" is middling proof of director Bobby Garcia's ability to steer his people in (mostly) the right direction, even as the ship they're all aboard is hopelessly sinking.

How, by the way, is pop balladeer Christian Bautista in the role of Sam? He's all right, actually-- not exactly enough to make you jump up and down your seat, especially given that weird look of bewilderment on his face in all the emotionally charged scenes. But it's a decent turn.

The songs sit comfortably in Bautista's willowy tenor, and he even treats us to a memorable "rock-ified" rendition of the musical's only inherently memorable song, "Unchained Melody."

The only remotely cartoonish element in Bautista's Sam arises during the fight/action scenes. Which is to say, if the man has any ambition of becoming a kung fu star, he needs more practice with his moves.

Searing anthem

In contrast, Cris Villonco is simply devastating as Molly, the role of Demi Moore in the film. Eternally saddled by a seemingly unspeakable sadness, her slender frame almost too delicate, her voice half-drowned in tears, Villonco's Molly is, at times, almost too painful to watch.

It is this very pain that Villonco brilliantly translates into music, elevating her big Act I solo, "With You," from being just another sob song to a searing anthem of human despondency, along the vein of Les Miserables'"I Dreamed a Dream."

And of the two other major characters? Hans Eckstein, in his first big stage role, is an annoyingly sinister Carl with a dreamy singing voice that has difficulty swimming past the roaring chorus.

The role of Oda Mae Brown is a tougher call: Its linguistic and behavorial peculiarities, plus the fact that Goldberg originated the part, have cemented it as an African-American woman's part.

The good news is that Ima Castro does not, at any point, attempt to be a mere Goldberg impersonation. Instead, she makes the role her own-- a sassy, perky, occasionally vulgar woman who appears to have wolfed down an amplifier.

Witness Castro attempt to bring the ceiling down in "I'm Outta Here," her big solo written like a nightclub act, complete with her name in neon marquee and her body garbed in a skimpy red dress.

Economical stage

All this happens on Otto Hernandez's admirably economical and functional stage. A wall of stainless white cloisters the performance space, and when Sam's ghost appears onstage, it not-so-obviously conveys the sense of his being "trapped" in the in-between.

This same wall also serves as an all-around canvass for GA Fallarme's projected backdrops (the scene where Sam and Carl are "riding" an elevator is excellent), but one sometimes wishes the images were of a higher resolution.

The lights (by Dong Calingacion) do a serviceable job in identifying who's dead and who's alive, and the flying objects shtick is mostly a recycled technique from last year's "Carrie."

But Bautista as a ghost passing through doors happens in too dark a spot to even be appreciated. Here, the word "illusion" is apt: the illusion that something is even happening.

A final warning: Those looking for something really fresh, something genuinely rousing, would have to wait til the middle of Act II-- yes, it may seem like an endless search at first-- for the solo number of the hostile subway ghost, played by Jamie Wilson.

The title of the song is "Focus," and-- surprise!-- it's a rap number. Suddenly, as Wilson vibrantly tackles the tongue-twisting demands of this number, with sparky lyrics that go, "Now feel the tension/That's the key factor/Focus your attention like a nuclear reactor," this increasingly tiring piece of theater acquires a sheen of novelty.

Truth be told, it's quite tempting to bob one's head, tap along to the rhythm, maybe even shout, "Uh-huh, uh-huh!" or some other random hipster phrase in response to this unexpected moment of authentic creativity.

Throughout this song, the subway ghost teaches Sam how to move things like a poltergeist, and every now and then, Sam would exclaim lines like, "What am I doing wrong?"

During those moments, though, a different thought interjects in the mind: "It speaks!"-- in reference, of course, to the entire show itself.
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The Extended Summer, Week 3 (#Laboracay)

May 7, 2014, 9:47 pm
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By some strange twist of fate, I found myself in the overrated island of Boracay for Labor Day weekend. Which is to say, yes, I survived the sweltering heat and ocean of sweat and the stampede of beach-deprived people that descended upon the place, and still sort of had a good time. (Okay, I had a great time.)

The portmanteau "laboracay" - 'Labor Day' and 'Boracay' - is perhaps one of the most annoying words ever coined on Philippine soil. To quote The Marocharim Experiment, it is "irritating, grating, almost insectile in pronunciation and enunciation." Head over to Instagram and look that hashtag up, and you'll drown from the sheer amount of pictures chronicling people's obsession over their bodies. It's not just annoying; it's baffling, really, and to a certain extent, disturbing. (How many abs shots does it take to fix a brain?)

The first time I went to Boracay, I skipped a summer refresher course to join my brother and his med school friends (who are now our PGH residents), and the trip served as a great introduction to the madness of the island. This second time, I knew what to expect - or so I thought.

This time of year, Boracay turns into an ugly haven of debauchery by night. Beach parties scattered throughout the coast, empty bottles and cigarette butts and the occasional condom packet half-buried in the sand, and the noise of partygoers and sound systems reverberating across this speck of land.

While lining up to buy four cheese pizza at the Two Seasons (because that's what everyone buys there), the girl ahead of us exclaimed, upon receiving her order, "Wow, it's so cheesy!" Surprise!

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This trip served as a 1st anniversary celebration for my Hong Kong trio. A year ago, E, the Walter White of Iloilo City, A, my cousin who now looks like a legit Cantonese bouncer, and I went to Hong Kong - the first time our generation in the family traveled abroad without parental supervision. Check out my five-part photo blog: Postcards from Fragrant Harbour.

Now on to the real thing.

DAY 1

When you're traveling with E, some form of disaster is bound to happen. For instance, the car horn getting stuck and subsequently dying. (Thirty minutes later, it rose from the dead.)


Those mountains signify the Antique-Aklan border.


Boarding the boatling.


The short boat ride from Caticlan to Boracay.


The waiting game began at the Boracay port, as E struggled to look for a place to spend Thursday night because we surprisingly arrived a day in advance. Now try spotting A!


Finally, a place to call 'home'. First selfie, while people fixed the room.


First sunset! For three afternoons, I literally just watched the sun go down the horizon. This island may have the makings of a wasteland, but the sunset here really is peerless - even the overrated Manila Bay ought to kneel.


A having fun burying his foot.


Good lord, the multitude of Mainlanders! Here, they were so amused by the dancing service staff of some establishment. (The song was "Nobody" by those Koreans.) 


Maturity by the beach!


Our first (and sanest) party on this island! Fortunately, this was the only one that I managed to document in my phone.


And a selfie to end the first day!


DAY 2

A and I were up by 7 and went for a swim. Then, it was an entire day of walking back and forth the island because I was with the two most indecisive people in the world, and one of them was eternally distracted by the endless parade of eye candy.

At the Sandugo Sandals store. 


Scenes from Station 1.


And that's gardening at #laboracay for you!



DAY 3

We stayed at this quaintly rustic bed-and-bath complex - definitely nothing fancy - and outside our room, this rooster would wake us up at the ungodliest hours.


Last afternoon at the beach. Last afternoon to photograph what can only be one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. I basically just sat there for an hour, white sand beneath my #blessed ass, iPhone in hand, "Next to Normal,""American Idiot,""Hit List," and Train blaring in my ears. Magical!


Child of #laboracay.


Men of #laboracay.


Woman of #laboracay.


This Mainlander daddy was thirsty.


This next set of photos is my most educational. One couple even showed us the best way to use a selfie stick.


The sun's going down...


... and it's gone.  All in all, three "Before Midnight" moments during this trip. Three!


By the sea with A.


Sand sculpture!


Kids wanna be mermaids.


And so we said goodbye to this island and this crazy weekend and that Saturday night that I can only remember in hazy fragments and with the help of A and E. (I'm being hyperbolic here.)

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SIDE TRIP 1: Malumpati Cold Spring Resort, Antique

The Malumpati Cold Spring Resort in Pandan, Antique is nestled in the foothills of the Northwest Panay Peninsula Natural Park. To get there, one must traverse a long and winding (and bumpy) road deep into the heart of the woods, but the drive is so worth it. The cold water, cool breeze, chirping of birds, blue skies, green trees, laid-back atmosphere - just about every hackneyed phrase to describe the stuff that rustic Edens are made of is applicable. It's just an hour's drive, maybe less, from Caticlan, so if you have a car, do check this place out. Just don't go there on Sundays, or else be prepared to enjoy the place with an entire barangay.

On the road: Logging - legal or illegal - is never good for the environment.


The resort!


The popular diving board(s).



Kids approaching deeper waters. Yep, the spring is deep in parts.


A cave.


E having the time of his life.


E's first dive, viewed counter-clockwise:


The view from my spot:


One last shot of E's fake-dive.


SIDE TRIP 2: Roxas City, Capiz

Six months since the eye of supertyphoon Yolanda passed over Roxas City, traces of the immeasurable horror and destruction still live - in the bent and barren coconut trees, in the skeletal remains of abandoned warehouses and roofless buildings. But make no mistake: Life has returned to this city, and inspiringly so.

On the road: The mountains of the Northwest Panay Peninsula Natural Park. 


Arrival in Roxas. Proceeded straight to the seaside for mid-afternoon lunch, and snapped this photo while restaurant-hopping because E is, again, the most indecisive person in the world.


The Immaculate Conception Metropolitan Cathedral.


Robinsons Place.


And... they have a hill behind Robinsons! People here should realize they're lucky to live in a relatively young city, with lots of room for city planning.

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Oscarthon Year Four I: The Films

May 11, 2014, 11:46 pm
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There really was an abundance of good films last season, even though cynics continue to believe and insist otherwise. "Dallas Buyers Club" was arguably the weakest of the nine Best Picture nominees, and "Olympus Has Fallen" was the year's worst film (with Sean Ellis'"Metro Manila" and the delusional "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" giving it not-so-tough competition.) 

The weirdoes included "Upstream Color" (which tried but failed to usurp "Berberian Sound Studio's" throne) and "An Oversimplification of Her Beauty." Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" was jarring. (The movie was set in modern times, but actors spoke Shakespeare's original text.) France's "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" was terribly pleased with itself. "The Book Thief" was a cheap excuse for crying in the cinema.

We saw a record 96 films for this year's Oscarthon - some, we watched more than once (like "Blue Jasmine"); some, we abandoned after thirty minutes (like "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" and "Lone Survivor," or the substandard Zero Dark Thirty imitation). In the spirit of trying out new things, here are some of our choice tweets (twitter.com/vincengyu) regarding the past season:

[Apr 11, '13] Let me echo Ebert here: I hated #OlympusHasFallen. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this pretentious, self-indulgent, brainless shit.

[Apr 21, '13] Vishnevetsky* reviews the Tom Cruise film that tried to be "Independence Day" but ended up a sex allegory.

[Apr 25, '13] Iron Man 3 is quite a breath of fresh air after the brainless muck of The Avengers and Thor. #ironman3 #marvel

[Jun 18, '13] When it isn't a fight scene, or during the quieter moments, the cinematography of "Man of Steel" actually becomes good poetry.

[Jun 28, '13] World War Z as the ideal film to commemorate the end of Infectious Diseases**. Rogue rabies rocks!

[Jul 13, '13] Tonight, "Before Midnight." Best 2013 film yet.

[Sept 1, '13] Oh the things I do for Jessica Chastain. #WatchedMamaalone #trash

[Sept 11, '13] Got pissed at the #MIBF*** for their lack of David Mitchells, so went to see #Transit and loved it because I'm a sucker for fragmentation.

[Sept 30, '13] Question: Are the feelings in #SanaDati justification enough for its overwrought story, or the unnecessarily tortuous execution thereof?

[Oct 4, '13] You guys, GO SEE "GRAVITY." NOW.

[Dec 12, '13] Lee Pace as Thranduil is the best thing in #TheDesolationofSmaug. Plus, of course, Cumberbatch the very eloquent dragon.

[Dec 20, '13] Dammit "Fruitvale Station." That's one powerful climax. Like, POWERFUL.

[Dec 22, '13] Denmark's "The Hunt" is outrageously manipulative. It's also really good. Horrific. Disgusted AND hypnotized. Ugh all these feels. #thehunt

[Dec 23, '13] Italy's #TheGreatBeauty: drop-dead gorgeous photography all over, but also, baffling, self-indulgent, intoxicated by its artsiness. Bedtime!

[Dec 26, '13] Kiarostami's "Like Someone in Love" is simplicity at its most captivating. Watch as companion piece to "Certified Copy" for best results.

[Dec 27, '13] [Reply to Tricia Isada] Watched 'Banks' last night. EMMA THOMPSON IS SOOOO FUNNY. :D

[Dec 28, '13] 'The Spectacular Now' is just BEAUTIFUL. In the words of Joe Morgenstern (of The Wall Street Journal)-- unforced, unhurried, unpretentious. 

[Jan 5, '14] Perfect points for entertainment value, but Best Picture?!? NO WAY. #AmericanHustle

[Jan 8, '14] #12YearsASlave IS DEVASTATING. This is the real deal, you guys.
[Jan 11, '14] "Are we breaking shit now? 'Cause I can break shit!" Funniest scene in #AugustOsageCounty, which most critics hated for illogical reasons.

[Jan 13, '14] Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyers Club, August: Osage County, Her, The Wolf of Wall Street, & Enough Said = EPIC PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND.

[Jan 19, '14] In a just world, 'Short Term 12' would be a serious BestPic nominee. Emotional punch is right up there alongside 'Her' et al. #shortterm12

[Feb 7, '14] #TheCounselor can get annoyingly cryptic, but #CameronDiaz in confession has to be one of the season's most hilarious scenes.

[Feb 11, '14] In true [A.O. Scott] fashion, time to listen to the #InsideLlewynDavis soundtrack again. And again. And again. #BestFilmof2013

[Mar 2, '14] How to make the #Oscars (Monday morning PH time) a nightmare: #AmericanHustle wins Picture & #JLaw wins supporting actress.

[Apr 1, '14] First movie in 2 months: Lav Diaz's magnificent 'Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan'-- an epic four hours of mesmerizing cinematography.

[Apr 17, '14] Sean Ellis has a very poor understanding of the Philippines & its people, and it shows in his disgusting poverty porn "Metro Manila." (1/2) Only fun thing about "Metro Manila" is spotting the theater people. Thank heavens, too, this movie has John Arcilla & Ana Abad Santos. (2/2)

* Ignatiy Vishnevetsky is one of the contributing critics for RogerEbert.com. His review of "Oblivion," starring Tom Cruise and Olga Kurylenko, can be found here.

** Infectious Diseases is one of three modules comprising the course OS 217 for Learning Unit V in the University of the Philippines College of Medicine. The two others are Oncology and Trauma.

*** MIBF, or Manila International Book Fair, is purportedly the Philippines' biggest and longest-running book fair. In 2013, it ran from Sept 11-15 at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

OBLIVION ~ IRON MAN 3 ~ THE CALL ~ THE PAST (Iran) ~ MAN OF STEEL ~ WORLD WAR Z
BEFORE MIDNIGHT ~ HELI (Mexico) ~ MUD ~ EKSTRA (Philippines) ~ NOW YOU SEE ME
LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER ~ ON THE JOB (Philippines) ~ THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES
THE WOLVERINE ~ MAMA ~ SIDE EFFECTS ~ TRANSIT (Philippines) ~ THIS IS THE END
THE BLING RING ~ SANA DATI (Philippines) ~ PRISONERS ~ AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS
THE GREAT GATSBY ~ GRAVITY ~ CARRIE ~ THE HUNT (Denmark) ~ CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
UPSTREAM COLOR ~ THE GREAT BEAUTY (Italy) ~ THOR: THE DARK WORLD
FRUITVALE  STATION ~ THE GRANDMASTER (Hong Kong) ~ BLUE CAPRICE ~ FRANCES HA
LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE (Japan) ~ THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR (France) ~ THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATON OF SMAUG 
POST TENEBRAS LUX (Mexico) ~ AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY
SAVING MR. BANKS ~ CRYSTAL FAIRY (Chile) ~ THE SPECTACULAR NOW
THE WORLD'S END ~ NEIGHBORING SOUNDS (Brazil) ~ THE KINGS OF SUMMER
THE WAY, WAY BACK ~ HER ~ IN THE HOUSE (France) ~ AMERICAN HUSTLE
12 YEARS A SLAVE  ~ TWO LIVES (Germany) ~ AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
BLUE JASMINE ~ ILO ILO (Singapore) ~ MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB ~ BASTARDS (France) ~ THE WOLF OF WALL STREET ~ RUSH
ENOUGH SAID ~ MOTHER OF GEORGE (Nigeria) ~ IN A WORLD... ~ THE BOOK THIEF
SHORT TERM 12 ~ WADJDA (Saudi Arabia) ~ THE FIFTH ESTATE ~ THE COUNSELOR
ALL IS LOST ~ NORTE, HANGGANAN NG KASAYSAYAN (Philippines) ~ NEBRASKA
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS ~ CHILD'S POSE (Romania) ~ PHILOMENA ~ DON JON ~ THE HEAT
KILL YOUR DARLINGS ~ THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (Belgium) ~ ABOUT TIME
MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM ~ CIRCLES (Serbia) ~ METRO MANILA
DRINKING BUDDIES ~ GLORIA (Chile) ~ THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY
LABOR DAY ~ LE WEEK-END ~ A TOUCH OF SIN (China) ~ SPRING BREAKERS
THE SELFISH GIANT ~ LAURENCE ANYWAYS (Canada) ~ THE INVISIBLE WOMAN
WHAT MAISIE KNEW ~ YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET (France) ~ LONE SURVIVOR

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

SEE ALSO:
1. Oscarthon Year One Films and Results
2. Oscarthon Year Two Films and Results
3. Oscarthon Year Three Films and Results
↧

Oscarthon Year Four II: The Results

May 15, 2014, 10:17 pm
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In the previous post - right here - we tackled the 96 films we saw for our fourth Oscars marathon. Now it's time to play Academy member and/or film critic extraordinaire. Below are the films and performances that appealed to us, touched our souls, displayed some semblance of truth and humanity. Everything is listed descending order, but as Ebert said, how indeed does one "rank" movies or acting? For consideration: 96 films, 65 male leads, 48 female leads, 88 supporting males, and 82 supporting females. We're proudly sort of obsessive-complusive.

I. SUPPORTING ACTOR


1. Dane DeHaan, Kill Your Darlings
2. Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
3. Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
4. James Gandolfini, Enough Said
5. Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Archie Alemania, Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan; Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips; Jake Gyllenhaal, Prisoners; Bradley Cooper, American Hustle; Benedict Cumberbatch, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug; Jeremy Renner, American Hustle; Bogdan Dumitrache, Child's Pose; Ryo Kase, Like Someone in Love; David Oyelowo, Lee Daniels' The Butler; Tahar Rahim, The Past; Nebojsa Glogovac, Circles; Josh Brolin, Labor Day; John Gallagher Jr., Short Term 12; John Arcilla, Metro Manila; Jeff Goldblum, Le Week-End.

II. SUPPORTING ACTRESS


1. Lea Seydoux, Blue Is the Warmest Colour
2. Pauline Burlet, The Past
3. Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
4. Amy Adams, Her
5. Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Cameron Diaz, The Counselor; Margot Robbie, The Wolf of Wall Street; Angeli Bayani, Ilo Ilo; Ilinca Goia, Child's Pose; Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine; Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels' The Butler; Scarlett Johansson, Don Jon; Juliette Lewis & Julianne Nicholson, August: Osage County; June Squibb, Nebraska; Carey Mulligan, Inside Llewyn Davis; Jasmine Curtis, Transit; Sarah Paulson, 12 Years a Slave; Emma Watson, The Bling Ring; Allison Janney, The Way, Way Back.

III. LEAD ACTOR


1. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
2. Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
3. Sid Lucero, Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan
4. Joaquin Phoenix, Her
5. Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Mads Mikkelsen, The Hunt; Robert Redford, All Is Lost; Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight; Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club; Joel Torre, On the Job; Miles Teller, The Spectacular Now; Bruce Dern & Will Forte, Nebraska; Christian Bale, American Hustle; Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips; Ali Mosaffa, The Past; Casey Affleck, Ain't Them Bodies Saints; Tye Sheridan, Mud; Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station; Tadashi Okuno, Like Someone in Love.

IV. LEAD ACTRESS


1. Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
2. Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
3. Luminita Gheorghiu, Child's Pose
4. Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
5. Paulina Garcia, Gloria

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks; Brie Larson, Short Term 12; Lindsay Duncay, Le Week-End; Sandra Bullock, Gravity; Julia Roberts, August: Osage County; Amy Adams, American Hustle; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Enough Said; Berenice Bejo, The Past; Rin Takanashi, Like Someone in Love; Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now; Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha.

V. THE TOP TEN FILMS


1. Inside Llewyn Davis, dir. Joel & Ethan Coen
2. Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan, dir. Lav Diaz
3. The Wolf of Wall Street, dir. Martin Scorsese
4. Gravity, dir. Alfonso Cuarón
5. Her, dir. Spike Jonze
6. 12 Years a Slave, dir. Steve McQueen
7. Short Term 12, dir. Destin Daniel Cretton
8. Child's Pose, dir. Calin Peter Netzer
9. Before Midnight, dir. Richard Linklater
10. Enough Said, dir. Nicole Holofcener

THE NEXT SEVENTEEN:
  • The Spectacular Now, dir. James Ponsoldt
  • Captain Phillips, dir. Paul Greengrass
  • Blue Jasmine, dir. Woody Allen
  • American Hustle, dir. David O. Russell
  • Ilo Ilo, dir. Anthony Chen
  • August: Osage County, dir. John Wells
  • Kill Your Darlings, dir. John Krokidas
  • Le Week-End, dir. Roger Michell
  • The Past, dir. Asghar Farhadi
  • Like Someone in Love, dir. Abbas Kiarostami
  • Nebraska, dir. Alexander Payne
  • Frances Ha, dir. Noah Baumbach
  • Transit, dir. Hannah Espia
  • Neighbouring Sounds, dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
  • The Hunt, dir. Thomas Vinterberg
  • The Place Beyond the Pines, dir. Derek Cianfrance
  • In the House, dir. François Ozon
SEE ALSO:
1. Oscarthon Year One Films and Results
2. Oscarthon Year Two Films and Results
3. Oscarthon Year Three Films and Results
↧
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