pilmpes

ayi and i saw three excellent films last weekend. puro festival films. the first one was part of the belgian filmfest in megamall, ma vie en rose (my life in pink), which i had already seen sa isang european filmfest before.

it's a gift din pala to be forgetful kasi i get to enjoy books and films several times over. kaya, i again enjoyed the story of seven year old girl-boy ludovic who claims to have been given a y chromosome at birth by mistake. hats off to georges du fresne who was a natural as ludovic fabre.

i told ayi that the indie film mga pusang gala which was shown at the pink filmfest earlier this year has been released commercially and was actually being shown na sa gateway. speaking of indie films, ayi said she wanted to see ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros which was previewed in the tv ad of the recently concluded cinemalaya independent film festival.

buti na lang, i was reading the news dun sa coffee shop sa araneta while ayi was reading neil gaiman's coraline, there were three screenings pala of ang pagdadalaga ni maxi that day at the UP film center and we still had time to catch the last one at 7:30. special screening daw to support the film in its participation sa film festival in montreal, pakiramdam ko special screening para sa amin ni ayi.

she was thrilled pink pa kasi she got our pagdadalaga ni maxi postcards signed by nathan lopez who was given a 'Special Citation for Best Performance by an Actor' at the cinemalaya awards night for his performance as maximo oliveros. The whole cast was actually good, kahit si pepe smith, even if it's second nature na siguro for him to portray an old drunk. Great story by michiko yamamoto who wrote magnifico which is now added to my list of must check out films.

the next day, we completed our own mini pink filmfest weekend by seeing mga pusang gala sa gateway mall. we progressed from 7 year old girl-boy ludo to 12 year old queer maiden maxi and then finally to gay mang boyet portrayed by ricky davao. superb acting din in this film, especially by irma adlawon who played marta, boyet's neighbor. the storyline of pagdadalaga is definitely superior but watching mga pusang gala made me start to want to try to think to want to start to try to write a story for film, again. it's that good.

the best part of that weekend...was that i spent it with ayi.

powerbooks sale til the end of the month

book discount color guide:

5% - yellow sticker
10% - violet sticker
30% - blue sticker
40% - red sticker

20% - on books without stickers
50% - on bargain books area

lena baker

"pardon for maid executed in 1945"

As Baker sat in the electric chair on March 5 1945, she said: "I am ready to meet my God." Moments earlier she had said: "What I done, I did in self-defence or I would have been killed myself. Where I was, I could not overcome it."

in limbo

i bought myself an umbrella last friday.
top ten things i always lose because i misplaced them.

1. pens
2. hankies
3. diskettes
4. umbrellas
5. books
6. slippers
7. socks
8. coins
9. receipts
10. jackets

aceh

it's happy news that GAM and the indonesian government had reached a peace agreement. i hope it would last this time, and if it does, i pray that the island be spared the fate of east timor after the 1999 referendum.

make poverty history

if you missed it the first time, here's click! and the other videos watch these now.

st. ives

friday na, di pa ako nakakain ng munggo.

pero palabas pa rin ang CRASH. pwede pa humabol ang di pa nakakapanood.

balik na ako sa national center, mula tuesday ng hapon eh sa eurotel ako nagtrabaho, ginawa kong office ang rm. 525 na me view sa farmer's plaza na inuulan ng tatlong araw.

me natutunan akong masarap gawin, magshower na nakahiga sa bathtub. actually kwela rin na nakalubog sa bathtub tapos nakabukas yong shower.

channel 100 ang asian adult channel sa eurotel, channel 106 naman ang american/ european. yong channel 100 eh naka-connect sa PC kasi me cursor pa. minsan kapag tamad yong operator eh nakaminimize yong screen at makikita mo pa ang desktop screen.


me libre na namang live jazz mamaya, mishka adams and the blue echoes uli. pero sa gateway naman, hehe kaya libre pala kapag tumambay ka lang na nakatayo, mapapa-gastos ka din kapag gusto mong umupo kasi sa cafe havana o sa italiani's ka uupo. sayang yong aug 27 cookie chua with infinity, demet, me kasabay na prosecution conference sa ilo-ilo.

meron ding screening sa bukas ng hapon ng willy wonka and the chocolate factory, yong naunang version na si gene wilder ang gumanap ng willy wonka.

yong DEKALOG ni kryzstof kieslowksi ay palabas pa rin sa sm megamall. 10 storya na base sa ten commandments na ginawa ng direktor ng bleu, blanc at rouge. bale 5 films na me tig 2 storya.

wish ko lang makapanood ako eh hanggang leeg ko ang kelangan ko pang isulat na trabaho. hintayin ko na lang lumabas kopya sa quiapo. mamaya maghahanap ako ng munggo.

thank god it's munggo

naghanap ako ng munggo kanina sa turo-turo na katabi ng 7-11 malapit sa lrt 2 station sa cubao, sa kanto ng st. mary at aurora na kapag gabi ay sangkatutak na babae ang nakatambay na iaalok sa akin ng kanilang bugaw, na madalas ay matandang babae, bakla o babaeng tomboy ang itsura, "chicks sir?" "kuha ka ng babae?" "sir ilan?", marunong din sila dahil kadalasan akong maalok kapag galing ako sa atm ng bpi na katabi ng 7-11, sigurado nga namang me pambayad ang bagong withdraw don, minsan naringgan namin ni cheryl magsigawan yong mga bugaw ng "hoy dito na yan, tatlo ang kelangan dito!" "ah hinde, nauna na dito", kahit nga iyong turo-turo na sinasabi ko eh inuman talaga yon na nagtitinda lang ng ulam kapag tanghali, pagkatapos non eh patuloy ang pagiging inuman niya na me bidyoke, na me mga babaeng pan-table, hindi ko pa nakitang magsara yong puwestuhan na iyon, gabi, madaling araw, umaga at hapon bukas siya, hindi nawawalan ng customer na naghahanap ng ka-table, napansin ko din na mga kuwarto kuwarto pala ang itaas ng lugar na iyon kapag tumingala ka sa labas, kamot din ako ng ulo ko na bakit matagal kong inisip na apartment ang asa bandang taas ng maliit na building na iyon, syempre kwarto kwarto, bakit ko inisip na pang-table lang ang ka-table, kapag gabi me manang don na me isawan, na kapag maaga aga pa eh yong mga babaeng nakatambay sa kalye at pang-table na wala pang ka-table ang kumakain ng mga binabarbekyu niya, kapag bandang hating-gabi na ay hapo nang nakakatulog si manang na nakasandal sa pader na hawak ang pamaypay niya para sa isawang uling na unti unti nang namamatay sa pagmadaling araw.

bakit kaya biyernes nagluluto ng munggo ang mga turo-turo at karinderya?

CRASH

i got this in the e-mail last thursday:

"CRASH" Excellent film.
No further explanation needed.
In cinemas now.

NIZA

i saw it last night, and i so very much agree, if you are to watch only one film until the end of this year, let it be CRASH.

happy birthday....

...richiekins!!!

war of the skies

i saw mishka adams and her band sa bistro 70s two tuesdays ago, galeng. jazz na pala ang tuesdays ng bistro. we should count our blessings pagdating sa accessibility ng world class music acts sa atin. for P150 pesos pwede ka nang makarinig ng live jazz, sus me consumable amount pa para sa pagkain.

ang mahal kaya ng kelangang ibayad sa north america at europe para makarining ng kasing calibre ng the jerks. eh dito P100 entrance lang. ganun din dati nung pinanood ko ang lampano alley, shites, ang mahal kaya pumasok sa blues bars sa ibang bansa.

another thing that we should be thankful for - the price of beer. magkano lang dito sa mga pwestuhan, P35 ang pale, kahit light. eh sa bangkok nga 90-150 baht ang isang bote ng beer. at...AT san miguel pa ang beer natin!!

galing ng live jazz, demet. to the uninitiated: what the musicians do is go through the regular rendition of the song and then lalarga na sila isa-isa sa pag improvise, halos di mo na makikilala ang song pero yon pa rin yon, parang platform lang yong song para lumipad sila, and then after nilang pumunta kung saan saan they all go back to the song. clap clap clap!!! whew.

outrage!

i usually don't do this in my blog but i think you may be interested in reading this urgent action from AI:

IRAN EXECUTES GAY TEENAGERS

Two gay teenagers were publicly executed in Iran on 19 July 2005 for the 'crime' of homosexuality The youths were hanged in Edalat (Justice) Square in the city of Mashhad, in north east Iran. They were sentenced to death by Court No.19. Iran enforces Islamic Sharia law, which dictates the death penalty for gay sex. Shocking photos of the execution are at the links below

http://www.outrage.org.uk/imagezoom.asp?file=37 http://www.outrage.org.uk/imagezoom.asp?file=38 http://www.outrage.org.uk/imagezoom.asp?file=39

One youth was aged 18 and the other was a minor under the age of 18. They were only identified by their initials, M.A. and A.M.

They admitted to having gay sex (probably under torture) but claimed in their defence that most young boys had sex with each other and that they were not aware that homosexuality was punishable by death.

Prior to their execution, the teenagers were held in prison for 14 months and severely beaten with 228 lashes. Their length of detention suggests that they committed the so-called offences more than a year earlier, when they were possibly around the age of 16. Ruhollah Rezazadeh, the lawyer of the youngest boy (under 18), had appealed that he was too young to be executed and that the court should take into account his tender age (believed to be 16 or 17). But the Supreme Court in Tehran ordered him to be hanged. Under the Iranian penal code, girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 can be hanged.

Three other young gay Iranians are being hunted by the police, but they have gone into hiding and cannot be found. If caught, they will also face execution. News of the two executions was reported by ISNA (Iranian Students News Agency) on 19 July. A later news story by Iran In Focus, allegedly based on this original ISNA report, claimed the youths were executed for sexually assaulting a 13 year old boy. But the ISNA report does not mention any sexual assault. A report of the executions on the website of the respected democratic opposition movement, The National Council of Resistance Of Iran, also makes no reference to a sexual assault.

The allegation of sexual assault may either be a trumped up charge to undermine public sympathy for the youths (a frequent tactic by the Islamist regime in Iran). Or it may be that the 13 year old was a willing participant but that Iranian law (like UK law) deems that no person of that age is capable of sexual consent and that therefore any sexual contact is automatically deemed in law to be a sex assault. If the 13 year old was sexually assaulted, why was he not identified and also put on trial (under Iranian law both the victims and perpetrators of sexual crimes are punished)?

"This is just the latest barbarity by the Islamo-fascists in Iran" said Peter Tatchell of the London-based gay human rights group OutRage! "The entire country is a gigantic prison, with Islamic rule sustained by detention without trial, torture and state-sanctioned murder. "

According to Iranian human rights campaigners, over 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979. "Altogether, an estimated 100,000 Iranians have been put to death over the last 26 years of clerical rule. The victims include women who have sex outside of marriage and political opponents of the Islamist government. "Last August, a 16 year old girl, Atefeh Rajabi, was hanged for 'acts incompatible with chasity.' "

Britain's Labour government is pursuing friendly relations with this murderous regime, including aid and trade. We urge the international community to treat Iran as a pariah state, break off diplomatic relations, impose trade sanctions and give practical support to the democratic and left opposition inside Iran," said Mr Tatchell.

Protest to the Iranian Ambassador: info@iran-embassy.org.uk Tel: 020 7225 3000 Fax: 020 7589 4440 Iranian Ambassador Embassy of Iran 16 Prince?s Gate London SW7 1PT If you live outside the UK, protest to the Iranian Embassy in your country, and press your government to break off diplomatic relations and impose trade sanctions against Iran. Email this news release and photos to your friends. Urge them to protest.