Is that a Swatch?

Just got my DSL back today. After getting my motherboard replaced, by router decided to conk out on me so I had to wait again for another whole day before getting mah net.

So just coz I was uber happy for surfin' broadband again, I cut in on my writing time and took in a bunch of writers blogs.

Imagine my surprise when I saw one wearing a Swatch watch.

Not that they've stopped making them, but I haven't seen anyone wear them in years! Save for one girl who had this nice looking Pop Swatch with what looked like a quartz bracelet, but anyway...

Most of the Swatches I see in stores look pretty...normal now. It used to be that a Swatch watch made your eyes scream. I remember my cousins wearing some really loud (annoying?) colors. Ah, the 80's.

Paranoia, anyone?

When does a joke stop being humorous and start being offensive?

Muhammad Hassan--real name Mark Copani--is a WWE wrestler. His shows got cancelled because his actions (or mere presence?) was deemed offensive in light of the London bombings.

The American Anti-Arab Discrimination Committee also thought his carousing around the stage beating up the undertaker and then having his assistant--who acted dead--be carried out over their heads like a martyr before rushing back to choke the undertaker was done in severely bad taste.

Frankly...I don't get it.

Sure, it could be indelicate. It could be offensive. But in light of how people have reacted in the past...isn't this just another day on the ring?

Aren't wrestlers supposed to beat each other up? If he'd been, say, some random white dude wrestler named Saw, would he have receieved the same kind of negative attention?

Was it because he was portraying an Arab? Are the people so dumb that they think some wrestler who goes by a Muslim name beating opponents up on national television is how every Muslim believes?

Maybe. We are talking about people who suddenly thought Muslims=Terrorists after 9/11.

Had it been against their religion, I would have understood it. I would have found it annoying if a wrestler named The Priest came up there then started saying mass while beating people up. But some Italian American dude who just took up an Arab screen name...

What's next? Maybe we should just pull out every Muslim show on TV because it might offend somebody. Let's alienate all of them, because their terrorists. Flush them out, because their too violent.

It's so easy to go from one thought to another. It's so easy to build hate just by planting a small seed of doubt in an already scared populace.

By not wanting to offend one nation, you've managed to offend a whole lot of others. Just goes to show where the priorities lie at the moment.

Enter: The Timeline Zone

Since I quit my job last Friday, the past two weeks have been spent doing something more paramount than drunk and crying with celebration, and that's called: adjusting.

Being back to my own timezone certainly is enough to laugh myself to hysteria. But tons of things happened in the past weeks that caused me to get used to some new things:

1. Windows XP. I've been on Windows 2000 for the past years by choice. I just don't feel anything for Microsoft and valiantly put off the upgrade until my PC crashed and I had to get "the upgrade' that i've been telling myself i'll be getting.

2. Dial-up. My lan-card took a dive, so while my PC is off being serviced, i'm back to 56 kbps and am having a bit of a DSL withdrawal.

3. Daylight. I haven't seen daylight for awhile, except during "daybreak". Usually I wake up because it's gotten too hot to sleep due to the midday sun. Then I cloak myself off to watch TV or work, until darkness comes in and I emerge to---work some more.

4. Free time. Now that I've quit one of my jobs and am no longer married to my PC, I have more time to go out, move up in my DVD queqe, teach debate, read, and all that other fun and gooey stuff.

5. Write, write, write. With several outlines and a script needing to be done, this is now my fulltime job, which--sadly--could eat up number four.

6. Working out. I'm back to my fitness routine. I didn't have any energy before, but I will now!!!

The trouble with language...

Last Thursday I went out of the house to meet up with Xarra and to sign up for my union: the Screenwriter's Guild of the Philippines.

After paying the requisite fee, I stayed for awhile at the office talking to the Guild secretary. I was trying to explain why my script--which I copied onto an open source scriptwriting program--didn't have page numbers.

I was apologizing and explaining the dilemma that I ran into when I decided to transfer this to another scriptwriting program after the old one I used (a beta) had somehow crashed. I was telling him that the new, open source one didn't print page numbers, nor did it print a production/shoot script. Or maybe it did--never did have much time reading the manual.

He was 80 or something and just didn't get it. I kept explaining what a scriptwriting program was and why I ran into some problems and couldn't produce a shoot script because I ran out of time and paper just printing.

"It's called TrademarkedScriptwritingProgram. It's kind of like MS Word, but for scriptwriters...it auto formats your script...I know that's the format, the problem with this one was that I didn't know that it didn't print a production script...yes, I know it's supposed to have page numbers. It even has to have scene numbers, and that's a production script, but the program...I understand the format, I've seen it. The program does....Yes, I work out of a computer, and I know what a script looks like, but the problem was....Yes, I was wrong. I didn't know it was supposed to look that way. Next time, I will put numbers there. I was stupid because I didn't know a script was supposed to have page numbers."

Isn't arguing with old people fun?

We also had a nice debate on language.

I think there's a problem with some filipino writers in that the way they write is just so...old school. Which is nice and pretty and phonetic, but the thing is no one talks like that. Not even politicians talk like that. I've heard a few activists talk like that to make it seem more "masa", but the deep technical words only come out because there was simply no way to translate it.

But I don't agree with writers who want to translate to formal filipino because that's what they claim the masses understand.

First of all, old school filipino language isn't easy. It's pretty complex, and just the fact that no one speaks it makes it damn hard to understand.

Second of all, the masses aren't stupid. My grandparents generation are all well educated. My parents generation bred activists. The 80's...well, they're a stretch. But with the internet, my generation and those that followed suddenly got pushed.

Knowledge is cheap nowadays, and the kids show it. There's an edge there that wasn't even present when I was their age.

So it frustrates me that some writers and producers think that they should baby the filipino movie going public.

About twenty years ago, we were the third largest movie industry, right next to India and the United States. We had quality movies because the people who wrote and made movies didn't treat the audiences with kid gloves.

Deep issues were hashed, without thinking that the publuc might not get it. They weren't worried about offending anybody, but instead told what needed to be said.

Granted, it was a difficult time. The economic and political atmosphere of the country was tensioned at best, and you didn't need to look very far for inspiraton. Movies were an outlet and a reflection to what was happening.

When things settled, we joined the American media in becoming PC.

Let's be politically correct and not say anything to offend the masses, who will hate us anyway for the simple fact that they're poor.

Bad words, I know. But it's the truth. Just like it's the truth that any poor person living in a thrid world country hates their government. Or even in a first world country.

It sucks being poor and they rant. Fuck, i'm not even poor and I rant.

But the fact of the matter is, they are poor, not stupid. Some are misinformed, many are desperate, but they aren't dumb. They can go beyond the cliche drama's and improbable action and kitschy romantic comedies.

People wonder why we can't produce more quality movies, and the reason is expectation. For a short while, that was the trend: a break from the politically ridden movies of the Marcos era. Enter the days of 80's excess.

But those times are over. And thus the industry should change.

I say stop insulting the public by sugarcoating it all. Get some balls, say what you mean, then accept the results. Who knows? We might get to like it.

Hello First Day of Forever...

My supervisor said it best: after your last day of work begins the rest of your life...

Although this time, it began a little early. Like, last Saturday kind of early, where for the first time since the Tagaytay workshop, I acted as a production assistant.

For two days at the workshop, I was a Production Manager. The job didn't really sink into my head, it was just sort of something that I had to do in order to get through the five days. An output. A requirement for graduation.

This time, it was for a legitimate production to be aired at a specific venue. I was doing it for no money and solely for the experience.

Honestly? I was expecting it to be like another Tagaytay Workshop experience...

Instead, it was an eye opener. The place we went to was an eye opener. 36 hours I spent propped up doing a lot of the grunt work was an eye opener. The people I worked with was an eye opener.

And suddenly, we are reminded why we want to be writers.

I knew that it was a lot of work, I was expecting it. But even though I readied myself for the physical demands of production, I forgot about the psychological strains of working with people who are already incredibly stressed out because of pre-production.

For someone who doesn't eat chips or drink much caffeine, I have consumed more Iced Mocha Fraps Venti's, sodas, energy drinks, Extra Joss!, and Redbull in the past two days than I would in at least two months. I even had the nerve to shovel in some junk food.

When I came home mid Monday morning, my body was still so pumped up that I was tempted to run around my room just to take the edge off.

But all it took was me staring in front of the workload left in my PC and I just quit. Crawled into my bed and just died on it, hoping to escape my responsibilities for even just a few hours.

I woke up at around ten to check on things. Chatted a bit with my friend concerning business, then passed out again an hour later.

It was exhausting.

I learned a lot. More on directing than production, though I learned some of that too. But mostly, I learned the process of handling people (or in some instances--how not to handle them). It was a bit of an eye opener.

Not the most brilliant 36 hours, but it was an educational 36 hours. Totally humbled me. Totally schooled me.

Shouldn't I be wistful...

I've done it, it's official. I've handed in my resignation and it's bye-bye hugh paying job.

There's a part of me that's saying "idiot" for walking away from all that cash...but a bigger part of me is asking "honestly, besides that vacation...when have you ever felt the money?"

I'm sure I did. I have...when I look at my bankbook, I see the numbers. But the thing is...the numbers never add up. Not really. They never go up to the amount that I have in my head.

So i'm sad. For the money. For the weirdness that I will feel in the next few days, when I have to sit down on my chair at 1am two weeks from now and not be logged on for this job.

Everything has happened so fast this year. I went through two jobs in just seven months. I've met so many people and learned so many thing yet we're barely through the year. It's amazing.

I don't know what's going to happen after July 15th, nor after I make my first short. Hopefully a paying job will turn out. But so far, with everything happening right now--leaving, being a production assistant, writing...everything is happening so fast, that i've yet to really sit down and clear my head and just...digest it.

Ah, to be busy. Maybe somewhere down the line and I'll finally get the time to have another one of those things...you know, a vacation?

Great Expectations

Semi-enjoying an unexpected two day vacation...well, maybe not a vacation but more of a breather. A cool 48 hours where you aren't expected to fucking reach for a deadline or just do some work.

Today, I spent most of my time sleeping and just reading, not really doing anything. Which I don't mind since the next few weeks are bound to be really busy.

The re-writes to the script should come in a few weeks, then after that it's a couple of hours of sitting with the translator, trying our best to flip it without losing anything in translation. Then there are the long hours in pre-production, the (hopefully) two day shoot, the long grunt to post production. Then finally, that last push to get it to the theaters.

It hasn't quite sunk in yet. Making the movie. I guess i'll believe it when i'm there shooting it.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I will once again be poor for the next frigging months. Right now, i'm pretty lucky that i've got some money to spend. But knowing what it's like to not have any money, i'd like to put a little padding besides the allowance that i've given myself. After all, there's still next year that I am looking at.

Making movies is fun (and hopefully profitable) but since reality states that 90% of local indies never generate any bucks, we are all using the movies we cut as a calling card.

The goal for this year is to "make a name for yourself". To do something that will hopefully land us a paying job that will allow us to make more movies without ever having to look at our bank accounts every two seconds. To finally, finally be allowed to work our asses off for something that we completely love.