Rough Cut, Work-in-Progress But Here We Go Nonetheless

EDSA XXX rough cut, work-in-progress exhibition screening premiere night tonight. I have nothing to wear—but no, I’m not just saying that because I’m a girl and girls play that silly game with their clothes. I really have nothing to wear.

Goodbye, Bilbao

Oh Charlie!

The ex-husband figures in an accident that required some bandages and a few stitches here and there. What does three-year-old daughter Charlie do? Fuss over him, with only one concern: that my face which he’d had tattooed on his arm

Displacement

I’d probably remember very little of Bilbao aside from my hotel room. I’ve been here six days—and yet, I’ve seen very little outside of the room. Every morning, I tell myself I’d walk around this beautiful Spanish town and take

Lina Alabed and Gracia Querejeta at the Guggenheim

Tonight, I saw two films by female directors Lina Alabed and Gracia Querejeta. Zinebi 54 presented them as part of its tribute to this year’s international jury. Both films are very different from each other: Gracia’s is flippant, cheeky, and

This Paranoid Life

If there’s anything I am getting to work on in Spain, it’s my paranoia first and my Spanish second. I kid not. It happens every day. The breakfast area is surrounded by televisions, so I get to watch news from

Hello From the Seriously Stressed!

Travel broke my laptop—or its internal fan anyway. Now I am saddled with a workhorse that shuts itself down every 20 minutes or so. But that’s not even half of all the bad, bad things that happened this month. Here’s

Haircut: The Star Trek Kind

When I moved to Manila, the stylist to whom I’ve given the thankless task of cutting my hair made me promise not to do it myself ever again. Because I used to, all the time. Hey, it’s just hair. It

The Cold, The Cold—and Handwashing Duels With a Stranger!

The thought of setting foot in several zero-degree cities in the next three weeks fills me with dread, so much so that I actually panicked and ditched all the clothes I’d planned to bring, and replace them all with turtlenecks

Help Us Finish?

Remember that film that’s been keeping me busy this year? Well, we’re just about done—but we need your help to finish. Click this link to find out how you can help. It’s a fun, crazy film, I promise! It’s also

One Day, I’ll Be Bullet-Proof and Nothing Will Hurt

Slowly, Manila tries to be home. I am adjusting, I think. I have gotten used to the noise and the smoke, I think. I am even making friends, I think. Which makes the next sentence all kinds of ridiculous: but

What We Did in Hong Kong

Now that we’ve settled on the exact shooting dates, I can finally share with y’all what the four-day Hong Kong trip is about. Christopher Doyle. Yes, that Doyle. The one who speaks more than 70 languages fluently. The one who

Malware No Funware

But that would be stating the obvious. I just had the shittiest three weeks in recent laptop memory all because of a malware called my myincredistart. It sends browsers crashing no matter what browser you use. Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer—the

One Disease Cocktail to Go

You know shooting starts the next day when you come down with asthma, fever, migraine, and ulcers at the same time. And really, there’s nothing you’d rather do than keel over and spend the next two weeks unconscious. But you

Sometimes, the Universe Finds a Way to Give You What You Need

So there we were reducing casting to the barest minimum due to budget constraints, and then we learn that most of those who auditioned, from the unknown to the established, are willing to act FOR FREE! Warms the cockles of

Running Low on Sleep But…

it’s hard not to look forward to what September brings even though all it’s brought me so far has been exhaustion of the constant kind. I’m tired, tired, tired. I’ve been sleeping only three to four hours a day but

Poverty Is Porn?

I’m sure I’m not the only person this side of the hemisphere who finds the ongoing discussion on poverty porn ridiculous—and no, you do not need superb Amplifiers to hear the deafening indictments online. I don’t get the contention, honestly.

Burn-Friendly, Sadly

I burned myself four times this week. Go ahead and snicker–I can’t explain how that happened either. One was a frying accident; the other three were just me being stove-dumb. I suppose it doesn’t help that I put off cooking

Lucky in Many Ways

I suppose that all things considered, I am a lucky girl—and no, I do not need a contactless card to tell me that. True, my mother died when I was nine years old but my grandparents, aunts, and uncles loved

Uncle Adorable

I find the way my uncle communicates to his nephews and nieces very cute. He sends out either an email or a Facebook PM, and talks to us so politely you’d think we’re members of the board of mfried.com for

Goodbye and Good Night, Jesse Robredo

I knew Jesse Robredo as the father of Jessica. The year was 2003. My sister and I had both won the Ramon Magsaysay Essay Writing Contest for the Visayas–my sister for high school; I for college. She wrote about Hilario

Yesterday at Fernbrook Gardens

The stylist said, “Breakfast at Tiffany ang peg natin girl ha?” I was freaked–how could he have known I adore Audrey Hepburn? But that’s exactly how he played it with my hair and makeup even though I didn’t drip diamonds

Today, I Am To…

take myself to Alabang, and not get into trouble while at it. That’ll be hard. How on earth am I supposed to find theNOLA Garden Gates out of well, a bajillion places that probably dot the road? My uncle’s 50th

Spaghetti Sunday

For someone who knows her way around ftps and WordPress, I am awfully lazy. I know I should give this blog’s appearance an overhaul—it’s ugly, and this gets to me every time I post an entry. But then I open

After the Flood

So I’m trapped inside the house thanks to a major flood, and what do I do? Cut up one of my favorite LBDs. I don’t know where I’m going with this, but I pray to God I end up somewhere

Acceptance

I have no right to be passing fashion judgement on anyone–I am currently wearing the skankiest shorts this side of town and a top so tiny I’m surprised no one’s accused me of having stolen it from my eight-year-old daughter,

Seven Distractions

Every time I have more time than I know what to do with, I find myself window-shopping online. This might not be such a bad waste of energy if only I don’t end up obsessing over every pretty thing I

Instead of a Search Engine, Yam

I love my friends. They’re very clever. One time, while googling dresses because I need to come up with the design for my bridesmaid frock (yes, bridesmaid frock—don’t ask!), I saw this. I’d wear this dress. It will go perfectly