Relax See A Movie at Mogwai: Aug. 31-Sep. 5
Posted by Erwin Romulo at August 30th, 2009
AUGUST 31 – MONDAY
9 PM – Were the World Mine
Directed by Tom Gustafson
Written by Tom Gustafson and Cory James Krueckeberg
Timothy, a young gay high school student who feels like an outsider in his community, finds a recipe for the love potion used in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Timothy decides to use the potion to turn his entire town gay, turning his world into a musical fantasyland of his own devising. Were the World Mine is an exuberant musical film that also ends up being pretty poignant.
SEPTEMBER 1 – TUESDAY
9 PM – Grace
Written and Directed by Paul Solet
Madeleine Matheson (Jordan Ladd) gets into a car accident that leaves her husband and the baby inside her womb dead. Traumatized, she is unwilling to accept the death of her unborn child, and insists on carrying it to term. Much to everyone’s surprise, the baby miraculously returns to life in Madeleine’s arms after a bloody delivery. But the baby has a thirst for blood, and Madeleine, unwilling to see her only child go hungry, will do anything to keep her fed. What sounds like the premise for a cheesy horror movie is actually a pretty disturbing yet strangely affecting drama about the role of a mother, and the lengths a mother might take to protect her child.
SEPTEMBER 2 – WEDNESDAY
9 PM – The Soloist
Directed by Joe Wright
Written by Susannah Grant
Based on the book by Steve Lopez
During a major case of writer’s block, L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez (played by Robert Downey Jr.) befriends Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), an incredibly talented mentally ill homeless street musician. Inspired by his story, Lopez sets out to try and help Ayers and others like him, but he finds that reality can be a tough foe to deal with.
SEPTEMBER 3 – THURSDAY
9 PM – Taking Chance
Directed by Ross Katz
Written by Ross Katz and Michael Strobl
Based on the true story of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl (played by Kevin Bacon). Frustrated with his superiors’ disregard for his recommendations pertaining to the Iraq war, Strobl volunteered for military escort duty, and accompanied the remains of Pfc. Chance Phelps, a marine who died at the age of 19, from Dover to the Phelps family home in Wyoming. Taking Chance looks at a much-ignored aspect of the war; that of the bodies coming home, and everything that follows.
SEPTEMBER 5 – SATURDAY
9 PM – Little Ashes
Directed by Paul Morrisson
Written by Philippa Goslet
It is 1922 in Madrid. A young Salvador Dali (Robert Pattinson) enters university of dreams of becoming a great artist. There, he makes friends with Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Buñuel, and for a while, the three of them become the prime movers of Madrid’s rising modern art movement. But Dali finds himself unsatisfied with his current relationship with Lorca, and risks their friendship and reputation as he attempts to cross boundaries. And their ensuing closeness destroys as much as it nurtures.
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Mogwai is a haven for those who crave a taste of something different,a great hangout with a rural heart in the bosom of the urban metro. In both its menu and ambience, it’s a melting pot of Filipino tastes,serving up the best of the traditional and the eclectic, the familiarand the new.
A café and restaurant, Mogwai serves the best home-style cooking in a setting as homely as a rustic watering hole. With a menu especially prepared for the no-frills but discerning diner, it also offers a good selection of native coffees and drinks for those who enjoy a hearty discussion after their meals.
On the second floor, Mogwai has a cinema room dedicated to showing all sorts of films from Hollywood classics to underground cinema,art-house fare to Pinoy grindhouse flicks. Run by practicing filmmakers and film scholars as consultants, it is the only other cinema aside from the U.P. Film Center and Cultural Center of the Philippines to have no censorship restrictions in the country. With its excellent audio-visual facilities, it will have a minimum of 9 screenings, 6 films a week and will consistently premiere the best indie short films and features. Workshops and discussions with top directors, cinematographers, writers and other technicians will be held regularly both for the budding filmmaker and cineastes (Discounted workshops rates for members.)
Unit 62 & 63 Cubao Expo, Gen. Romulo Ave., Cubao mogwaifilmclub@gmail.com Open from 6pm-2am (adjustments may be made for private functions and special events)
Dare to Care: Four Step Skin Care RegiMEN
Posted by Jayvee at August 27th, 2009Among other things, skin is yet another differentiator between men and women. For starters, men are genetically thick-faced. Their skin is 20% thicker than women’s skin. Men also have larger pores, and more facial and body hair. Also, men do not glow as women do, they s-w-e-a-t.
Article by By Ana Santos
All these are reasons why men need to take special care of their skin and use products that are specifically formulated for a man.
If you’re a regular Joe whose skin care regimen is good old soap and water—or worse, you just use the soap your girlfriend or wife uses—it’s time to declare a “men’s section” in your bathroom for your own version of the deeply respected mantra: Cleanse, Tone, Moisturize.
More after the jump.
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UR FOC!!! 1,000 Facebook friends = a special UNO treat!
Posted by Jayvee at August 27th, 2009
RJ Ledesma, former child star and UNO Editor in Chief has something special for our male readers if we get our Facebook profile to exceed 1,000 fans. Clem Castro and Sarah Gaugler seem to agree.
This is the first in a series of UNO’s Really Funky Online Content (aka UR FOC!!!)
Add us up at facebook.com/unomagazine!
MEET YOUR UNO CONTRIBUTOR: Philbert Dy (the Great)
Posted by Erwin Romulo at August 27th, 2009from his blog http://faithlessphil.livejournal.com/
So it’s Cult Cinema Week at Mogwai, and we’re showing a bunch of films that have found new life in the grand tradition of the midnight screening. We’re showing midnight screening classics like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Big Lebowski. And those are great films that deserve their cult status.
But neither one of them can hold a candle to The Room. Over the last five years, The Room has become a cultural phenomenon, a film endorsed by the likes of Paul Rudd, David Cross, Will Arnett, Kristen Bell and Jonah Hill.
First things first: The Room is a terrible movie. But it is fascinatingly terrible. Writer/Director Tommy Wiseau has about zero filmmaking skill, no sense for pacing or storytelling. He has no grasp of characters or of dialogue. He’s also a terrible actor, which is a problem since he’s also the star of picture. Wiseau can barely speak English, his accent so strange and think that he makes Schwarzenegger sound like Laurence Olivier in comparison.
And so yes, the film is crap. But all that crappiness is strangely appealing. Observe:
I definitely have breast cancer
Hi doggy. You’re my favorite customer
You are tearing me apart, Lisa!
But it’s too easy to harp on the “so bad it’s good” cliché in explaining the appeal of this film. The real strength of this film is the sincerity with which Wiseau lays out his ideas. His ideas are terrible and downright misogynist, but he lays them out with a strange earnestness that just wins you over. You get the sense that at some point in Wiseau’s life, he was really betrayed by a woman, and that his only recourse was to spend six million dollars on a terrible vanity film.
Wiseau is at the heart of this picture, a man seemingly who might as well be from another planet trying to understand some of the twistier portions of the human condition. It’s all horrible and strangely compelling stuff, and none of my words can do justice to how downright funny this movie ends up being.
So if you’re free on Saturday, The Room is showing 10 PM at Mogwai Cinematheque. Go check it out.
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Philbert Ortiz Dy is the resident film critic of Clickthecity.com.
Apol Sta Maria’s Ang Alamat ng Panget and Many Other Book Launch!
Posted by Denise at August 25th, 2009Please support August 2009 UNO guest illustrator Apol Sta. Maria as he launches his first (and hopefully not his last) comic book! 
STICK WITH THE ENEMY!!!
Posted by Erwin Romulo at August 25th, 2009
http://stickwithenemy.multiply.com/
Behind the Scenes: Going Back to the 70s with Kamikazee!
Posted by Jayvee at August 25th, 2009A behind the scenes look of the video shoot of Kamikazee’s latest single, ‘Hanggang Tingin’.
Words and photos by Denise J. Mallabo
When I arrived in a studio somewhere in Cubao around 11am, the video shoot for Kamikazee’s latest single ‘Hanggang Tingin’ was already in full swing. As far as experience goes, this was an early call time for musicians since gigs would always finish in the wee hours of the morning. Never the less the production and the band wasted no time. Production designers Wiji Lacsamana and Hannah Liongoren did an awesome job turning maybe two pieces of plywood into a whole house! Complete with Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix posters and other nostalgic fixtures. The music video’s director Denise Castillo said it was based on the hit sitcom That 70’s Show, which made Ashton Kutcher and Topher Grace popular. “Kumuha kami ng scenes from the show na favorite nung boys tapos gumawa kami ng sarili naming version,” said Denise. (In fact the production team behind the shoot had to borrow a red Mustang instead a Vista Cruiser which was not available.) “May parts din na may disco scene. For the performance mala KISS naman yung dating pero medyo uuhhmmm jologs ha ha!”
Every Kamikazee video that’s been released, there’s always something peculiar to look forward to—be it the boisterous dance sequences or the unexpected drama but personally. Personally, I’d go for the cameos. In the past, they’ve had stars like Rica Peralejo, Kaye Abad, Ping Medina and band friends like Parokya ni Edgar and Concrete Sam. This time they went all out. For this one, there’s comedian Nova Villa doing a pseudo make-out scene with drummer and UNO illustrator Allan Burdeos. Folk singer Freddie Aguilar took time off to do a quick scene with the boys who were star struck upon seeing him enter the room. UNO girl and Turbo Goth front woman Sarah Gaugler appeared as the “Jackie” from That 70s Show. There are still more familiar faces but I’ll let you find the rest (Clue: there’s a contributing photographer and a Managing Editor of a certain magazine who dressed in authentic jeproks outfits, dancing there…somewhere) .
The song ‘Hanggang Tingin’ can be found in Kamikazee’s latest album Long Time Noisy under Universal Records. It’s out now in your favorite record bars; do grab a copy of the original album, the entire packaging is definitely worth it.
How to Win a Basketball Championship by Norman Black
Posted by Jayvee at August 25th, 2009
As told to France Pinzon
FIRST OFF…
The number one thing that you have to think about is your talent level—the players. I’ve had a lot of success, but I think the major ingredient to having a championship team is to get them to play in his team. I think that’s the number one thing. Whether it’d be in the professional ranks, where you have to pick your player through the draft, or you get them through trade, or whatever way you might get them, you have to scout those players before you get them. First, make sure that they have ability to play well; two, they have the skill level to go along with their athletic ability, and three, hopefully, they have good attitudes. They’re coachable, in other words.
COACHING IS WORK
Coaching is actual practice and actual games. Every coach has a system, whether it’s a good system or a bad system, most coaches have a system, whether it’s offense or defense. Most coaches know what they have to do offensively with their team; they know what they have to do defensively. That’s based on the talent level that they have. Most coaches form their system based on the ability of the players that they have. That’s best way to get it done.
Next, you also have to sell the system to the players. In other words, you have to get them to execute what you’ve already planned. They have to be able to execute on the floor what you have already figured out in your mind would work on the court. So that’s half the battle right there. Let’s say you have twelve players on a team, you’ll need to have all twelve players on the same page as much as possible for you to be successful. If you have three, or four, or five who are not on the same page then it’s not really going to work.
Communication is important. Coaches should never feel that he’s so above and high that he can’t come to the level of his players and communicate. A lot of times when you’re trying to accomplish things, it’s not as simple as saying, “Okay, run as fast as you can… jump as high as you can.” Sometimes it comes down to explaining why you need to run as fast as you can or why you need to jump as high as you can. The players seem to understand a little bit better when you do it that way than if you just give instructions.
WHAT IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE BEST PLAYERS?
All coaches must be very flexible and they must have the ability to work with what they have, because you cannot always choose your team. You may inherit players; say if you take over a job in the pro ranks, you would inherit a team that you probably would not recruit. But when you first take over that team, your responsibility is to mold whatever you have. You can’t expect to come in and change everything that’s there right away. It’s the same thing for college basketball. For instance if you look at the Ateneo team now, I actually recruited every single player on the team at this moment. During my first three years I didn’t. Last year there were still two players, Chris Tiu and Yuri Escueta, which I did not recruit. I think it’s the responsibility of the coach to be flexible enough to take that talent and mold that talent because that’s basically his job.
FOLLOW THE LEADER
First thing that Chris Tiu really contributed in his time with Ateneo was he was a very good person. He wasn’t actually a natural leader, but he learned to be a leader. He had all the characteristics—but in his senior year he was put in the position where he had to take it upon himself to become team leader. I don’t always have to be the one that polices the players. I can ask Chris so it’s not always one voice that they hear. So it makes my job a lot easier if your star player and leader of the team is also a hard-worker and has a good attitude.
DOES BEING A GOOD PLAYER MAKE A GOOD COACH
I don’t think so. They normally say the average players make the better coaches because they have a lot more time to sit on the bench and see what’s really going on or how the coaches handle the team, while the best players are always on the court. Some of the best coaches have never played before in their lives. Some were just mediocre players; some were great players. It depends on the coach actually. Coaching is all about leadership. Coaching is about managing. Coaches are just like teachers. We basically have to teach and convince our students that this is the best way to do things so they can pass tests. In our case, passing a test is winning a basketball game.
CASE STUDY: CRISPA AND THE CELTICS
Number one is the talent. The Celtics was a very talented team. They had the best players in the league—same thing with Crispa. You had Abet Guidaben, Philip Cezar, Bogs Adornado, Bernie Fabiosa and Atoy Co. Two, was obviously the coaches. Good coaching isn’t always X’s and O’s. It’s not always how good the coach is at putting plays on the board or setting up defense, it also has a lot to do with motivation. Being able to will players to win, giving them the reason to go out and win championships, giving them a goal, setting a goal that they can strive to reach so that they can reach and become the best team in the league.
In the pro level, sometimes it comes down to money, sometimes it comes down to bonuses, how much the guys are earning, how much did they make if they win a championship, how well the management treats its players. So that’s also another form of motivation, but it’s a little bit different from what the coach uses to motivate his players.
RITUALS
When I was a player, I used to like to eat the same thing everyday, like spaghetti. But as a coach I don’t really have any. The only ritual I may have is if I lose a couple of times with this shirt that I’ve worn for the game, I probably won’t wear it anymore. I’d stop wearing it at least to games. I’m not really into rituals. I’m into hard work, and being able to out-work my opponent, scouting, training my team well, getting them into play every game and then motivating them to win.
Today is Aug. 23, 2009
Posted by Erwin Romulo at August 23rd, 2009This photograph was taken 26 years ago. She had just arrived home at Times St. and was just widowed two days before.
The FREE PRESS celebrates its 101st anniversary in this issue. We also take this occasion to pay tribute to the late President Corazon Aquino. Cory!—the private woman who was thrust out of her domesticity to the arena of politics, the prison cells of the Marcos regime, the parliament of the streets, the leadership of the Philippines and the world stage. Manuel L. Quezon III’s “Filipino of the Century” is an inspired retelling of this now-legendary story—one that resonates even amid the flamboyance and machismo prevailing in our culture, as the late FREE PRESS editor Teodoro M. Locsin pointed out in his eloquent editorial on Mrs. Aquino. The highlight of Mrs. Aquino’s international acclaim is, of course, her triumphant 1986 address to the US Congress, which we reprint here.
A tribute to Mrs. Aquino also serves as a tribute to her martyred husband, Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., whose association with the FREE PRESS is underscored by Locsin being thrown in jail together with Aquino (and nine other critics of the Marcos regime) in 1972. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.’s interviews with Aquino are fascinating chamber pieces that hint at Marcos’s impending dictatorship. Another cellmate of Aquino and Locsin Sr. is the brilliant political analyst Napoleon G. Rama, whose article on martial law has unfortunately become more relevant in our time. With the articles by Rama and Locsin Jr., we also reprint the classic political cartoons of former FREE PRESS art director E. Z. Izon.
Former FREE PRESS executive editor Gregorio C. Brillantes wields his lyrical journalism as he takes a retrospective look at Rolando Galman, the much-overlooked casualty in Aquino’s assassination in 1983. We also look back to the body of work of the FREE PRESS and some of the writers who helped shape it. “The Ruling Money,” by the late associate editor Nick Joaquin (writing as Quijano de Manila), is an exhaustive business story as only he could write it—and a departure from his reporting on politics, history and pop culture. Kerima Polotan’s “The Woman of Fashion” is a quiet critique on the thriving bourgeois scene of the Sixties and its devotees at the time. Then there’s the other side of that milieu, lauded by Jose F. Lacaba’s now immortal “Notes on Bakya,” an inventive variation on Susan Sontag that counsels against elitism in art and culture. Finally, here too is Aquino’s soul-searching poetry, written during his eight years in prison. The themes are familiar to victims of political persecution like Lacaba, Locsin, Rama and this magazine, which was padlocked on the eve of martial law and revived in time for Cory’s historic presidential campaign. – Ricky S. Torre
Available at all National Bookstore Outlets and 7/11 Branches. Or you can call 844-2316, 844-2251, 844-2275, 0919-583-8487 for orders.
Before You Say Anything More About Carlo J. Caparas…
Posted by Erwin Romulo at August 22nd, 2009
