Post-it, Update, and A little more

I'm not sick anymore! Yessir, after 2 weeks of solitary confinement, i have finally kicked the sickness in it's hypothetical ass. Fuck you chicken pox (and any other sickness that leads to the sickee's confinement due to fear of contaminating other people!) Anyway, I celebrated my newly rekindled freedom with a pretty solid night out with the lady, and the friends. I'd post pictures of the night (or at least a link where you can see em) but then again, that might give away my identity, and i really don't want this blog to be about who I am, but more of whats inside my head. Anyway, more details after the jump!

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So yes, after two, agonizing, weeks all confined inside my room, i was finally let out last saturday. Fucking shit it was a nice feeling. I couldn't technically contain myself, i couldn't even sleep the night before. Bad thing though was i had class every saturday mornings, so i was pretty tired during class that day. I was welcomed pretty warmly by my peers though.

After that class, i headed home, slept a bit, dressed up, and headed towards my lady's house. After that, we did some errands and stuff, and eventually made it to my friend's birthday party; where i was also greeted quite warmly. It was a fun night. But i don't wanna dwell too much on that. I do however, wanna dwell on how i was during the 2 weeks i was confined in my room.

Honestly, I think those two weeks were pretty productive; painful and hellish, but productive! The first two days were pretty much JUST pain, but the rest after that was smooth sailing...except for the fact that I was going crazy due to lack of actualy human confrontation. I did alot of work: caught up on my readings (which by the way, even though i read alot...im still behind, that's how hardcore my school is), played some pretty neat video games (Final Fantasy Tactics: War of The Lions for the PSP. Review coming soon), downloaded and watched some pretty amazing movies (around 14. Includes, The Birdcage, Hancock, Onion Movie, Big Stan, Zohan. Reviews coming soon, as well), and I wrote some songs either my band can use, or i just can use as a solo secret project. I also did some 'no-shit' thinking, meaning i was thinking of alot of things for the hell of thinking about things. One example was this movie idea that i really wanna pursue. I won't tell what the movie is about, and how it goes about (cause, well, it's the internet...anything can get stolen here!), but i will disclose that it's a zombie film. I was thinking before that there isn't really a local zombie film industry here in the Philippines. I was thinking, maybe i can start a cult following haha! I mean, i know it wont make any money and all, but, I'm pretty sure i can scare at least a couple of people. Zombie films are a passion my girlfriend and i sort of shares. By 'sort of shares' i mean, we watch them together alot, and we enjoy them...together. Bottom line, I NEVER watch zombie films alone. Too Scared. Really.

Anyway, yeah I've been thinking alot about that film idea and, i think it could seriously work. Now i just have to think of ways to fund it, and write it! If anyone out there can help me out, i'll be glad to partner up with you!

On the topic of films, i was also thinking alot about our local film industry, and how it seems to be going down the drain, if not completely flushed already. Theres either, an apparent lack of originality, or complete decadence in our films, and hence, alot of people are demanding for some pretty huge-ass changes; like hollywood style changes. I know these people mean good intentions (duh) but i honestly think thats waaay too ambitious for our little obscure industry. I dont know, and please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think what people are asking from our industry players are too ambitious.

Maybe we should start first with small obscure changes. For example, since we filipinos are so fond of 'formula' movies, why not just change the 'formula' a little bit; like, if the formula says 'A' should die when 'A' goes inside the room, let's do our own little twist to it...i don't know how, but the bottom line is, we don't need to erase the formula in order to not follow it, we just have to change it a bit to how we like it. Another idea i'd like to see in local films is an apparent spoof or mockery of the formula style of film making...i think that would be a riot.

If that doesn't work, another way of changing our film industry could be to not bank on high budget films. Sadly most films that boast of a "high budget" here in the Philippines, are nothing more than a film that features HIGHLY OVERPAID actors. Thats about it. Even the film's highly publicized, 'Hollywood'-style special effects are effects even my 13 year old brother can do with his 2001 lap top, in under 4 hours, for less than 1/16th of the price ("Resiklo", "Mulawin", "Enteng Kabisote" anyone?). I think films today should focus of story-driven films. Last year's "Tribu" is a good example. Yes, it had the feel of Brazil's "City of God", but like i said before, it had the Filipino stamp in it. When you watch it, you're not gripped by the violence, or the cussing, you're gripped by the reality of it all, the reality that THAT film, and the events in it, happened in YOUR country. Screw the fact that people say its the Philippine's "City of God", yes, it is, so what? We do have a nation under the poverty line, and the film maker merely made sure that people knew that, and understood what happened below this line.

Another fine example of this point is UNITEL's "La Visa Loca". Yes. It's a comedy, and it stars Robin Padilla. But it stars...a REALLY FUNNY Robin Padilla. This is unlike any local comedy i've seen so far. Some comedies stick to the whole slapstick formula of local movies, some desperately try to equate themselves to the wittier style of western comedy (with disastrous results, unfortunately), but "La Visa Loca" seemed to have mixed both: it was formula-based but was fused with western style comedy. Plus, Robin Padilla's character actually did what EVERY US VISA reject has been dying to do ever since they got rejected: to reject a foreigner the Philippine Visa, and to have them grovel at their feet. Of course, this DIDN'T really happen in the linear events of the film (it happened in one of Robin's Character's daydreams), but still, it was pretty damn amusing.

Whew, look at that, that was quite something ey? Anyway, that was just what i was thinking about for the whole 2 weeks. Please, comment if you agree or disagree, i'd like to hear your thoughts. Anyway, just to keep things a little business-y, i think I'll do three more album reviews the next following weeks (Panic's new one, Tokio Hotel, and Phantom Planet's most recent one), and maybe a nice little film review of a classic film...i don't know which one yet, but i'll figure something out.

Cheers!