Salo-Salo is in a Film Festival!

Edited 10/28/08 -- Travis WILL be coming and will be on the panel as well. :)

[Once again: here's the trailer for Salo-Salo:]



How cool is that?! Travis can't make it that up north, but I'll be up there to say hello and will be a last-minute member of the Saturday panel as well. :)

15th ANNUAL FILIPINO AMERICAN CINEFEST FEATURES NEW WORKS,
PANEL DISCUSSION: “FILIPINO AMERICAN FILM, WHAT’S UP, FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER?”

Filipino American artists will celebrate their own cinema with the premiere of at least nine new works at the 15th Annual Filipino American Cine Festival on Friday, October 31 ( 1-5 pm) and Saturday, November 1, 2008 (3-6 pm) at the San Francisco Main Library, Koret Auditorium (100 Larkin Street @ Grove Street, Civic Center, San Francisco)

All screenings are free to the public. (Please see schedule below.)

The yearly festival is organized by FACINE or Filipino Arts & Cinema, International, a not-for-profit media arts organization based in San Francisco that aims to promote and develop Filipino American as well as Philippine national cinema.

Two full-length documentaries, five short films and two web videos form the centerpiece of this year’s festival.

Cielito Torrijos’s Pag-asa sa Paglaya/Hope after Freedom, is a compelling documentary on a timely subject, the social rehabilitation of Filipino ex-offenders and the divisive issue of death penalty abolition in the Philippines.

Jonald J. Reyes’s That Asian Thing inquires into the question of the relative invisibility of Asian America in mainstream American culture by way of interviews with prominent artists in Chicago.

The festival is open to all media artists of Filipino ancestry as well as non-Filipino filmmakers ith works whose subject is Filipino or Filipino American.

Two action-adventure videos by LA-based filmmaker Ron Santiano which take a bow to popular adventure series like Heroes, while featuring Filipino American actors, provide interesting mix to this year’s festival: EVE: Beauty & The Blade and Wonder Woman.

Five short films complete the programme in a variety of genre and subject: the hilarious instructional video, Salo-Salo (how to cook dinuguan/meat cooked with pork blood); Yasmine Gomez’s music video You Will Remember, featuring Lumaya; and the short features, Jeannie Barroga’s Be His and Robert Casipe’s Afterplay, both inquire into the complexity of women’s relationships with men.

Noel Shaw’s Kundiman completes the program in a highly charged, provocative look at the impact of politics on an individual’s life.

A panel discussion will follow the screenings on Saturday, November 1 with guest filmmakers, Ron Santiano, Yasmine Gomez, Noel Shaw, Robert Casipe, Jeannie Barroga, Travis Kraft and Madley Katarungan, to be moderated by FACINE Director, Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr.

The festival is co-presented with the Filipino American Center of the San Francisco Main Library. For information, please contact, Mauro Tumbocon, Director, FACINE at (415) 756-7331 or email: mftworks@hotmail.com

Find below the full schedule of the festival.

Friday, October 31, 2008

1:00 – 2:11 Pag-asa sa Paglaya/Hope after Freedom (New Breed Productions, 71 min, 2008) Produced by Cielito Torrijos

2:11 – 2:31 Short Films Special: Blast from the Past

HoME (5 min, 2002) Directed and written by Matthew Abaya
she (7 min, 2001) Directed by Mark Bella and written by Bella
and Christopher Castillo
Silencio (9 min, 1995) Directed, produced and written by Michael
Arago

BREAK

2:45 – 4:10 That Asian Thing (Groovy Ghost Films, Inc., 84 min, 2008)
Directed, produced and written by Jonald J. Reyes

4:10 – 4:50 Wonder Woman: Balance of Power (Redcape Cinema, 40 min,
2006) Directed, produced and written by Ron Santiano

Saturday, November 1, 2008

3:00 – 4:20 Short Films Collection NOW

Salo-Salo (Poolboy Films, 5 min, 2008) Directed by Travis Kraft, Produced by Madley Katarungan
Be His (JNJ Productions, 7 min, 2008) Directed, produced and written by Jeannie Barroga
Eve: Beauty and the Blade, Episode 1 (Redcape Cinema, 30 min, 2008) Directed, produced and written by Ron Santiano
Afterplay (Tiny Oak Pictures/Crosshairs Entertainment, 12 min, 2008) Directed and written by Robert Casipe
Lumaya: You Will Remember (Subject to Change Productions, 4 min, 2008) Directed, produced and co-written by Yasmine Gomez
Kundiman (Pinoy Noir Films, 20 min, 2008) Directed, produced and written by Noel Shaw

4:30 – 5:45 Panel Discussion: Filipino American film: What’s Up, Fifteen Years After?

Guest filmmakers: Ron Santiano, Yasmine Gomez, Noel Shaw, Robert Casipe, Jeannie Barroga, Travis Kraft and Madley Katarungan
Moderated by Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr., director, FACINE

(from abrenian.com)

Ron "Opie/Richie" Howard Votes

All right... you know where I stand. Right there with Ron Howard.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

BakitWhy.com LAUNCHED!

At PINKS in Hollywood, waiting for hot dogs: Kat, Ahmad, Dustin, Justin,
yours truly, Krystelle and Bernard -- Jeremiah taking the photo.

Congrats to the kool, BakitWhy folks!

Go check them out -- I'm so PROUD of this website and what they're to doing to unite the Pilipino-American community :)

http://www.bakitwhy.com

Your Ate Madley
("Ate" yes, NEVER "Tita"! LOL)

BakitWhy.com Announces Newest Beta Launch

BakitWhy.com Announces Newest Beta Launch Designed for the Everyday Pilipino-American Internet User

Oct. 16, 2008 – Los Angeles, CA – A one week "BlackOut", from October 16–23, will make way for a newly redesigned online community, providing up-to-date and user-friendly functions that will help foster a fresh generation of social media users. A seven-day micro site will be in place during this exciting transition. The new BakitWhy.com site will offer features such as easy functionality, a national events calendar, as well as video spotlights on up-and-coming artists. The new Beta version of BakitWhy.com will continue to dedicate itself in helping to facilitate the everyday Pilipino-American identity, no matter what region or generation.

Known as a progressive advocate, information resource, and a place of discovery for and about the Pilipino-American community, BakitWhy.com will offer users material that cannot be read out of a textbook. Rather, shared personal experiences from a diverse transnational team will provide consistent and engaging content as well as help create a web presence for Pilipino-Americans. BakitWhy.com will be a premiere web destination; mentioned and associated with Pilipino-American communities both online and offline.

When the Alpha version of the site launched in the spring of 2008, BakitWhy.com developed its product to be structured as a content provider that evolved out of a mere blog. Spaces for conversation and debate, a place for community organizations, businesses, leaders, and organizers to effectively communicate events and campaigns will all be inclusive parts of the new Beta version of BakitWhy.com. With the assistance of video bloggers, or "vloggers," the utilization of numerous multimedia outlets will seek to diversify and promote a more user-generated product. This aims to help viewers feel more actively involved with their community online by creating a bridge that connects 3000 miles with one click.

During Pilipino American Heritage Month (PAHM), the Filipino American Library (FAL) named BakitWhy.com "Organization of the Month." Also, after only four months since its inception, BakitWhy.com served as one of the major media sponsors for FPAC, the largest presenter of Philippine arts and culture in Southern California. Pilipina-American blogger Jillian Fortin writes, "While there is a call for awareness and appreciation for our history, BakitWhy also reminds us that similarly, we must be cognizant of the inevitable growth that lies in the present and very near future. They've far surpassed any Asian-American centered viral site. They attempted to bring cultural awareness back down to earth, past the AzN hYpE, with the tones that have enabled Filipino-American traditions and stories to withstand the tests of time…the focus on what really matters."

With such feedback, BakitWhy.com will continue to focus its efforts in providing content that seeks to create engaging conversation, while honoring the Philippine heritage. More importantly, BakitWhy.com aims to help influence a more positive representation of the different lifestyles of Pilipino-Americans that the mainstream media has often lacked to provide. For more information, please visit www.BakitWhy.com.

Contact:
Kathlyn A. Amidar, Director of Public Relations
Kasama Media, LLC
BakitWhy.com
(949) 378-4204
kathlyn@BakitWhy.com
www.BakitWhy.com

###

"About You" Cecilio and Kapono

Still too much I can't talk about -- so I'll just let YouTube videos speak for me. (Song starts at 4:30). Man... I AM SICK.



I know everything I have to know about you
And I'm not sure I really want to go without you
Our small moment that we shared
Is only yours and mine
No one else is really going to know
That I care about you

And all the questions that I asked myself about you
Give me answers that don't make me want to doubt you
Won't you come and be with me
And then I think you'll know
That if you come and stay you're going to see
That I care about you

Won't you be a high for me
Take my hand and fly with me
Don't want you to cry for me at all
Would you sing your song to me
Tell me you belong with me
Tell me it's okay for me to fall

All the things you tell me with your eyes about you
And all it helped to make me realize I want you
Won't you come and help make up my mind
You know it's up to you
Follow me, I know that you will find
That I care about you
About you

I'll Know" (Guys and Dolls)

I don't know why this song keeps getting to me!

Adobo by Non-Filipinos

Spent the day in West LA with Travis as he taped Kababayan LA, hosted by Jannelle So.

Manolo Carrillo, Jannelle So, Scott Tang and Travis Kraft

First Travis' adobo (with bagoong?! LOL):


Then tasting Travis' and Scott's adobo recipes with a little fashion show in between (??? I didn't get it either.)


After the taping, we dropped by a local Barnes and Noble to pick up the UK magazine reFRESH Aug/Sept 2008 that he's in -- pretty cool. Next stop: BROADWAY! (ha j/k)

Stubborn Stubborn

Image by Mikey aka DaSkinnyBlackMan via FlickrI've been trying to force myself to write something on this blog but all I could come up with us was "there's just too much going on and it all sounds retarded, so fuck it, I'm not gonna say ANYTHING."

(Stubborn little bitch that I am.)

But then I just read from Micah in Learn to Duck about this cool plug-in called Zemanta that gives you suggestions on what to write about via random Flickr.com pictures, then suggests links, etc. Kinda like your very own, built-in 7th grade creative writing teacher in your home PC.

So... because I'm acting like 12-year old... I decided to do it -- and the picture above was the one spoke to me the loudest. FIGURES, HUH? How very me.

It's called Trash the Dress -- which also reminds me of a cool phenomenon lately where after a few years after the wedding, a bride goes out and PURPOSELY TRASHES HER WEDDING DRESS... to have one more last great time in that dress.

Of course right now I'm feeling a little sorry for myself ("Am I ever gonna get to WEAR one of those fucking things?") but it did remind me of the BEST VIDEO I've seen this week about this exact topic that you'll-never-guess-who showed me. (It was Travis, I knew you'd never get it -- he liked the videography.)

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did -- and Viva New York!
(I recommend you see it in High Def: CLICK HERE. Or watch it below and click on Full Screen.)


Frances + James TTD - Times Square + Coney Island from StillMotion on Vimeo.

The Colors of the Wind

(Someday this picture is gonna be worth a lot of money!)

Okay, I was trying to make use a Stephen Schwartz lyric to make sense of my night!

"The Colors of the Wind" is from Disney's Pocahontas -- and the wind blew me to into the Barnes and Nobel in at The Americana in Glendale at 9:00 pm (that was corny, but I tried) -- and there was Stephen Schwartz and author Carol de Giere signing books for with about eight people left in line.

Thank goodness I had some cash, so I grabbed the last book, Defying Gravity and ran downstairs to pay for it. Back upstairs and there were only two guys in front of me... thank goodness I still had battery left in my cell phone because they were taking pictures!

I know they (and the B/N staff) were happy I was the end of the line so I kept it short -- introduced myself as the weird combination of bookwriter/composer at ANMT, I told him I thought he was great and told Carol she kept up a great website, Musical Schwartz. After they both signed my book, Carol clarified that I was bookwriter of MUSICALS and I said yes -- and I thought it would've been great to chat for awhile but it was late so I got out of their way...

I couldn't keep the sh*t-eating grin off my face though -- I'm not one to NOT appreciate a "God shot" when one kicks me in the face! This week I was told that "all I was was a blogger" -- that I wasn't doing really doing anything else... but guess what? I was actually going to the bookstore to work on the outline for Sailors and Nurses again, after a long hiatus away from it.

If meeting Stephen Schwartz wasn't a sign to BEGIN AGAIN, I don't know what is!

And away we go...

For a While

"I forget that I'm not over you for a while."

Thanks, Nina Simone.



Lost in day to day,
Turned another way
With a laugh, a kind hello
And some small talk with friends I know
I forget that I'm not over you for a while.

A wave, an easy grin,
A smile to put them in,
Got other lives to listen to
And some music that I have to do
I forget that I'm not over you for a while.

Days go by with no empty feeling,
Until I touch my hair and touch my skin
And remember you're gone.

People say to me, "hey Nina do you need some company?
When you have some time to spend,
Drop around-you need your friends."
They forget that I'm not over you for a while,
They forget that I'm not over you for a while.