In the House of Flies

Back in time…

… for the release of the much-awaited Back to the Future: The Game on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms tomorrow (December 22nd), and on PlayStation 3 and iPad shortly after, we release our complete interview with some of the people behind the creation of the video game, originally published in the Dec 2010 – Jan 2011 issue of UNO, out in stores and available on eReader format now!

by France Pinzon

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Who Let the Dogs Out?

The Philippine football club is in it to win it this year in the AFF Suzuki Cup. Amidst all the drama in playing the world’s most celebrated sport, the Azkals’ head coach, Simon McMenemy, remains rather unfazed and focused on leading the team passed the formidable Indonesia squad come Thursday (December 16th, live on ESPN STAR Sports).

When they flew in back to Manila last week for a short break, I had the opportunity of chatting with the England native about the squad remaining as the underdogs of the tournament, their mood going against the three-time AFF Cup runner-up, as well as the politics they needed to endure midway through the season. Here’s how the interview went down:

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R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen

What did Doc tell you? 88 miles per hour!!!

No one’s really more excited about this than I am. Because they dearly love to spoil us, Back to the Future: Blitz Through Time (on Facebook) will be one of several free social games that adventure game developer Telltale Games (creators of Monkey Island and Sam & Max, among others) will be releasing before the much-anticipated debut of the five-episode Back to the Future: The Game, set to come out in early December (and will go on to releasing the remaining four episodes through April 2011).

It’s pretty easy. Your main mission is, you guessed it, reach 88 miles per hour, but by doing so you need to match the colored molecules, which will then start a chemical reaction in your flux capacitor, thus, powering the engine of the time machine. When the engine hits 88 mph, you get warped into a new time and that’s where you can build up on your points. Naturally, your score competes with other players’, so make sure you’ve had enough practice with Bejeweled Blitz first for a more decent showing in this one.

Try the game out here!

Knock ‘em dead, Pacman!

Holiday boxing day, November 14 over on this side of the world. You can get yourselves a copy of the comic biography Pacquiao: Winning In & Out of the Ring, while you’re at it.

Written and illustrated by Jose Gamboa. You may also get the E-book version, in limited supply, though, so hurry.

Ely Buendia on Flying Solo

I’m not going to play it cool, I’m a big fan of Ely Buendia. So when I bumped into him in (would you believe it) Legazpi City, Albay, all hell broke loose in my head (well, not really “all”), and a 5-minute, no, 10-minute chit-chat had to happen. We talked mostly about working on his album In Love And War, and here’s how the interview went:

How’s working as a solo artist?
I’ve never tried it before so it’s something new. When you’ve been in the business as long as I have, medyo you want to try out different stuff. See, I wasn’t supposed to be doing this alone, as you well know. I was planning this with Francis (Magalona). We were supposed to tour the country after the release of the album. So this is my way of honoring that.

Do you control everything?
Yes, I have to! Well, just this once, it’s also liberating to be this—tell the band to play this and they will play it.

How about the touring aspect?
We have a couple of shows lined up na for the provinces. Right now, I’m concentrating on the provinces, while my other band Pupil, parang teritoryo kasi ng Pupil ‘yung Manila. I didn’t want to get people mixed up.

Kasi ngayon pa nga lang, people are asking, “Solo na ba talaga si Ely? Wala na ba talagang Pupil?”

So, this is more like a side project for you?
Not in the sense na I don’t take it seriously. I mean, this could be my main project, at least now, while the third Pupil album is still being mixed. So I’m pouring all my energy on this one.

You were supposed to work with Francis on this; was there any song that you guys did together and were supposed to do that you put in the album anyway?
Nakagawa kami ng tatlong songs lang, actually. The first one is “Higante,” na we wrote together, that’s really a 50/50 effort. And si Francis, he came up with this idea of doing a remake, yung “Bus Stop”—it’s a ‘60s pop song. Tapos, we did another one, but this one he wrote by himself, the song’s called “Bleeder.” Ang tumugtog naman dun, ‘yung banda ko, Pupil, which just goes to show you how flexible everything was. Kung sino yung we felt could do justice to the song or make an interesting arrangement, ‘yun ‘yung ginagamit namin na band. As a matter of fact there’s like five or six different bands playing on In Love And War. So it’s in the spirit of collaboration.

Other than Pupil, who were the other artists that contributed in this project?
Andun ‘yung Hilera, which is one of my favorite young bands today. Also Turbo Goth, tapos andun din yung, I don’t know if you know them, medyo underground sila—The Purplechickens.

Having done this album, is there a different sense of personal achievement on your part? Is this your way of getting to do the things that you weren’t able to do with your former bands or with your current band?
Surprisingly, I still have a lot of stuff that I want to do. I have played with three bands na, actually, (before) I released a solo album. When we started doing In Love And War, it just felt so natural and fresh para sa aming dalawa ni Francis to be doing an album. And nobody’s really done it before. Kaya, I’m still pretty excited about the album. It’s one of the best albums that came out this year. And I love playing the songs live. I have the band with me, which includes members of The Hardware Syndrome, Francis’ old band and nag-click naman ‘yung tugtugan.

Sad Sad Sad

Closet Land (1991), written and directed by independent filmmaker Radha Bharadwaj (also check out Basil, 1998), is a film that revolves around only two characters: an interrogator (Alan Rickman) and a young children’s book author (Madeleine Stowe), who was held captive in an interrogation chamber and was accused of implanting hidden anarchistic messages in one of her unpublished stories. The seemingly torn but stern officer uses several torture devices on his poor subject to try to break her: handcuffs, a hot skewer and a pair of pliers, to name a few. How splendid, right?

I’ve said this before: Rickman should be remembered more as the abusive Interrogator in this flick than as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter franchise, methinks. (Sorry, sis!) Not too late to beef up your dark-and-disturbing-movie collection with this one. The monologue and the chic white suspenders are just some of the highlights. Stowe as the ill-treated victim is a no-brainer.

Here’s the first part of the film on Youtube. Continue to the next if you feel like it.

Meatballs, Mojitos and More with Vicky Herrera

Vicky Herrera talks music by jayvee

The interview got sidetracked a little bit, but all’s good since the discussion went to music instead. Model, radio jock, boutique co-owner and now UNO contributor Vicky Herrera recently joined us to go check out the Hangover Resto Bar in Makati. Read all about it (“Meatballs, Mojitos and More”) in our October 2010 issue. Grab a copy now!
Interview by France Pinzon | Photo by Mitch Mauricio

Victoria P. Herrera, more known as Vicky, feels the need to get away. Having been working since college, the 23-year-old model, radio DJ, writer, boutique co-owner and youngest of a brood of entertainment and lifestyle mogul siblings, reckons it is finally time to take a short break and start paying attention to things other than work.

Fresh from doing bubbly co-hosting duties on the morning show “The Dollhouse” (with UNO June cover girl Sarah Meier) on the now defunct FM radio station U-92, Vicky is fixated on traveling at the moment, but isn’t exactly excluding going back to modeling and freelance writing in the coming months. (Check out her article “Word Up” in this very issue.)
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1.21 Giga-WHUUUTs!

Happy 25th Anniversary, Back to the Future! Life wouldn’t be the same without you!

Go to http://www.weregoingback.com for more updates.