The maid woke me up around 8am, asking me if i was going with my Grandpa to our Ancestral house in Balayan, Batangas for the alleged "film shooting" he told me about the day before. I went downstairs to his office, Groggy and lacking an immediate plan, i declined, saying that he go on ahead, i'd just commute later on in the day(amidst my qualms about the expensive transportation fare). When i regained my senses, i suddenly remembered why it was a good thing that i hadn't come with him that early; it was because i was gonna attend Free Comic Book Day, when stores gave away free comic books, the biggest event being held at Comic Odyssey in Robinson's Galleria, ortigas.
I took a shower, fixed myself up, and left. I got there around 10:30-11am, took my lunch first in mcdonald's, because i wasnt sure where the store was located. After eating, i scoured the 3rd floor; that was my only marker for the place. I wandered off into the west wing, i think..and i saw this Pet Store that had a huge window display, showing the pets. NATURALLY, i'd go near the store, looking for CATS. hahahaha. i saw this pair of cats that had a fur pattern resembling a white tiger's. They were so cute, i wish i could take them home, but my grandpa's house isnt pet-friendly, except for my cousin's pug, Gigi. I found comic odyssey a while later, and the place was PACKED. a huge crowd outside, and a long line. I bumped into Mark , whom Luna introduced me to at the Open Gaming Meet(and who also, by chance, knows Tonet . Small friggin' world, right?). He was there with another dude from OGM(Open Gaming Meet), i forgot his name though, i just recall that he was a fellow CFAD Graduate. Carl was with them, also from OGM So we hung around after getting our respective numbers.(this system was far more organized than i have ever seen anywhere else.)
It was one of comicbook Geekdom's most awaited events of the year, where avid fans get to line up in front of comic book stores for hours, to get FREE comic books care of the local comic book retailers, in participation of the international event of the same name. Being the Geek that i am, i was one of those who patiently lined up, waiting to benefit from this Christmas-like celebration.
I saw one of our Artist friends, Wilson, there for the signing and sketching sessions for the promotion stuff. We chatted for a bit, he asked me about work and stuff. Other bigshot artists were there too, like Gerry , Carlo, Harvey , etc. I lined up, waited patiently for my turn. and BOY, DID I WAIT. It took me more than an hour there, just standing in line with the others. This was expected of course, i was in the same event last year, and the year before that. It just never gets old.XD
Photos borrowed from Wilson's Multiply site: http://batangbatugan.multiply.com/While on the line, the guys behind me were talking about the upcoming Green Lantern Series; BLACKEST NIGHT. This was after the Sinestro Corps war, and i was very much curious as to how it will turn out. I never got the chance to read up on the events of the war, but i'll be buying the trade paperback instead, to save me the effort of having to hunt the single issues, part by part. I noticed that the ushers and usherettes were THE VERY SAME people from years ago. It seemed to me that they were a whole, single, english-speaking family. I was surprised to see an old classmate there, Mr. Ken , our "KUYA" from first year college(because of the fact that he was OLDER than our instructor at the time, Mr. Buen ). A fellow comic book enthusiast, we talked about our expectations for the event and such.
I finally got in, and selected 3 titles of my choice; then at the end of the line, a lady gives us 10 more pre-selected comics, as a package. I stayed there for around an hour more, browsing through the non-free stuff, because i was thinking of making the most of my stay there. My friend Patrick had to do an errand at home so he couldn't catch up with me in the event; so according to my schedule, i was supposed to go to the next(and last) comic book store on my route, which is Druid's Keep in Magallanes:
I arrived there, and saw an old friend, Mr. Bong (whom i met a few years ago, in one of Glasshouse Graphics' Seminars) and we catched up on each other's work and stuff. He told me of his problems back at Glasshouse, the reason why he's not working for them anymore. It didn't hinder my dream of working in an international title, but it DID taint it a little. Couldn't blame him though, he has a wife and kid to worry about.So i left the place, only 2 books caught my fancy. I went straight home, and tried to finish up some unfinished business. Ending at around 7pm, i immediately packed my stuff, and sped towards Pasay-Rotonda, where i was told that there were shuttle vans going to Balayan, near our house,no less. I made it to the Last Trip, and was texting my friend Meng that i was already on my way. She wanted to come along, to watch the shooting and, if heaven allows, get noticed by the crew.
The trip lasted for around 2 and a half hours, we left at 7:30pm and arrived at 10pm. It was my FIRST TIME to commute THAT FAR all by myself; the previous trip had only been to Los Baños Laguna, to attend the "company outing". I got out of the van in Antorcha street, where our house was located. It took a while for me to find the house, because i only visit there during ELECTION PERIOD, where one of my uncles, Benjie , was mayor for consecutive terms, and needs family support. My Grandpa, being all Gung Ho every election, had us register to vote there, even though we have no idea who the candidates were. This term however, Benjie's camp LOST because Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita(malacañang's speaker and my grandpa's second cousin or whatever) bet on the opposing party. Oh well, thats Politics for ya. Anyways, i rested for a while at the house, then grandpa gave me some cash to go get myself dinner from the Jollibee near our house.
It was a Small town, and you can already count the modern establishments with your fingers. It was a mix of OLD and NEW; a lot of the houses retained their spanish-era architecture. I was walking along the dark, unlit street, the moon was enchanting even though only half was visible. I felt like a vampire prowling through the night, stalking for victims. It was dead silent in that place, you can hear every little noise even from a distance.
I arrived at Jollibee, but it was already closing time. the McDonald's across the street was closed too, so i had no other choice than to pick any random food stand i could find. Luckily, there was a Shawarma stand near the basketball court. i ate there, and strolled home again. Grandpa had another bed set up for me in his room, the only habitable room in the house(ironic, since the house has a total of 5 rooms).LOLz. Sleeping there was a bit of a challenge, the night was dead silent, the radio was on for the whole night, but in fairness, they kept playing mellow tunes all night. ME LIKEY.XD. love songs galore haha. I drifted in and out of sleep, and that bothered me a bit. i couldn't sleep straight, and i'm gonna need a full rest for the following day.
May 3, 2009.SUNDAY
I finally got some sleep, and woke up near 5am; Grandpa informed me the previous day that the cast and crew will be arriving the very same time. So i got up, fixed myself, and proceeded to join him downstairs to welcome whoever came in. We waited for 30-45minutes before the crew arrived.
It seems Filipino Time is not an alien concept to them. I talked to one of the first crew members(Kuya Boyet) to arrive, and i asked him WHAT exactly is going to take place in our house. He said that it was a film for star cinema, and the main characters would be played by Aga Muhlach and some leading lady.
One of my grandpa's drinking buddies came over to visit and/or assist. He was Kuya Romy, a tall man in his forties; he offered to tour me around the town in his motocross bike for a while, get me acquainted with my heritage. along the way, he showed me the important houses there and who they belonged to, mostly my relatives who were actively involved in politics. He told me that my mother's side, the Martinez family, was said to be one of the most powerful and influential families in Balayan, Batangas. When he was still a student, one of the Former Presidents of the philippines, Manuel L. Quezon, was just a humble Shoeshine boy under my ancestor, Don Pio Martinez. In fact, the suit he wore to his oath-taking as president was a gift from Don Pio. His father, Don Pedro Martinez, was the 4th filipino millionaire. Had stocks in manila hotel, etc. I had previously been oriented about my family's roots, but still i feel no sense of pride; because the question remains: Where did all the glorious family history and wealth go to? The answer was simple; they spent it all.*facepalm*. It doesn't matter if you're the richest man in the country; what matters is how you spend all that and have the enterprising spirit to let it grow for your family, and their family's families.
We stopped by the so-called"Balayan Baywalk", near the edge of the Batangas Bay, and took in the sights. Kuya Romy showed me the place's significant change thanks to the current mayor's efforts, but started by my uncle, the former mayor:
The beach had charcoal-dark sands, and was not pleasing to look at, compared to the white sands of normal beaches. There were a lot of morning fitness participants there; and almost everyone knew kuya romy because he was tito Benjie's official speaker a.k.a. Lapdog. We left the area, circled around town a bit more, then finally we went back home.
By this time, the rest of the crew came in, we met the Director, i forgot her name though. TURNS OUT, it was just a taping for a tv series on abs-cbn; entitled precious hearts something-something. I was initially told by my grandpa that the talents would be Marian Rivera and John Pratts. So i got thinking, it must've been a combination of LIMITED INFORMATION DRIVE(need-to-know basis) and my grandpa being DRUNK. He's a classic alcoholic, he just doesnt resort to physical abuse, he resorts to verbal and psychological abuse. PURE EVIL when he gets it on. Anyways, given that clarification, i still stuck around to watch; it would be a total waste if i'd go home early.
The first of the 2 celebs that were gonna be in the episode arrived; a small brunette, with western features. i was told that this was Denise Laurel, granddaughter of some famous laurel named "doy"? so she hung around the waiting area while the crew started setting up the rooms in our house. I never watch TV these days, so i dont know who the hell Denise Laurel was. They took out a lot of items, added some stuff. It was like EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION, minus the part where you get to keep the new digs.
I got to see how a TV production crew works firsthand; they visualize the scenes based from the location and the requirements of the script, and they plan the lighting etc:
I got to see what a dolly looks like:(the assistant director pronounces it as "doh-li" rather than "doll-lee")
I also saw this Directional Microphone that resembles the one used by Raiden in METAL GEAR SOLID 2: SONS OF LIBERTY:
Kuya Boyet also mentioned that they were fresh from taping at the other house across the street, which belonged to my uncle, Leo Martinez(he's my mom's first cousin, so i get to call him that anyway). They were looking for ancestral houses in batangas to shoot the series; im not sure if the whole series, but a number of episodes.
So it was high noon already, John Pratts arrived, and they went to work with their scenes:
here's me with a photo-op----and YES, the gay Location Manager who took this photo was spasmic. Dang.
They shot this scene a couple of times, because the 2 manangs couldn't achieve what the director and assistant director's preference. The director was nowhere to be found, the assistant director was the one doing all the dirty work. They communicate via those earpiece-headphone thingies. The assistant director reminded me of Ma'am Gigi ocampo, one of my instructors back in college( not because of how she worked; but mainly, how she looked like.LOLz). But this assistant director had LUNGS. She was shouting all day so that everyone can hear whats going on in the set. Gotta admire that lung power haha.
here's a few takes of some scenes:
The taping went on the whole day, til night and on to the next day. As the day progressed, i met a lot of my grandpa's posse; his drinking buddies Kuya Rico(errand boy in his late twenties) and Tito Albert(grandpa's nephew, a guy in his mid twenties). They both had THICK Batangueño accents..and i mean THICK. They pronounce JOLLIBEE as "DJO-LI-BEY" and McDonald's as "MAC-DOONALD".LOLz. They helped assist my grandpa, as well as maki-UZI sa happening.
But an unfortunate thing happened. Grandpa went out and gotten himself drunk at his buddy's house. The worst part is, he CAME HOME, while the crew were still renting the place. When he's drunk, he acts all high-and-mighty, trash talks people, threatens people just to show his superiority; and the fact that he's a lawyer doesnt help. His buddies told me that he drinks there EVERY SINGLE DAY, morning and afternoon-nighttime. Good thing that the directors were too busy to notice, or his voice wasn't that loud as to disturb the acoutsics of the place. He kept ranting ON AND ON about stuff thats got nothing to do with the present situation, except it makes him feel powerful. He goes on about how a lot of powerful and famous people all used to bow to our clan, about how much he can influence those people. JEEZ. He sounded like a broken record on repeat mode. most of the stuff he says MIGHT be true, but the way he goes about it is NOT something to be proud of. So full of hot air. Good thing his associates there were able to calm him down and trick him into sleeping, else we would have a humiliating disaster right then and there. He insisted on sleeping on the hut we were on, while the other production crew members were also with us. I stayed away from him as much as possible from this point on.
The taping continues, and in between takes, i stroll around the venue, "pakalat-kalat", making sure none of our stuff gets stolen or what, and staying away from mr. high-and-mighty drunkard. After one take, John Pratts asked me about the house, he was fascinated with the fact that it was very much antique, give or take a hundred years old. I told him that the house they taped on a few days before ours(just across the street) belonged to Leo Martinez.
I managed to sneak in a little photo-op with Denise before her hair and wardrobe were fixed for the takes:
-she was kinda intimidating--she got this "don't-talk-to-me-i'll-talk-to-you"-aura. Like a stuck-up spoiled little rich coño kid. But she was actually easy to talk to, her looks ARE deceiving. Oh, and i rarely smile at photo ops.LOLz.Hours passed, and it was afternoon already. I was getting tired and bored and thinking about how to get home from there. I asked our driver how, and surprisingly, it was as easy as the way i came. The nearby plaza had every bit of civilization there, even the shuttle terminal. The taping was still going to continue on til the next day; and since i got work the following day, i hadta vamoose by 6pm. After saying my goodbyes to the good people there at the house, i left for the plaza terminal, where i lined up for AN HOUR, there were a lot of people coming back to manila since it was a long weekend.
After what seemed like hours, we finally got on to a van. It was the LAST TRIP for the day, 6:30pm but we got one around 7:30pm because all the vans were in duty. The trip home was faster though, we took the highway going back. The lady to my right, a girl in her mid-twenties, was kinda sleepy(so were we all), and kept leaning on me, swaying her head drowsily from side to side. I got my share of sleep minutes ago, so i when i got around to it, i offered her my shoulder. She declined, feeling a bit ashamed(or maybe she was kinda creeped out at the fact that a total stranger offered her his shoulder to lean on). We arrived outside Metropoint mall around 10pm-ish and went on our separate ways. I had a sudden craving for dunkin donuts so i stopped by and bought a pack o' munchkins and a cup o' hot chocolate. YUM.
The TIEN-o-Meter gives this event a 9 out of 10.
May 6, 2009.WEDNESDAY
I went with my friend Luna and we watched the advanced screening of STAR TREK:The Future Begins, at Festival Mall in Alabang. We arrived outside the cinemas and we saw the huge crowd that showed up for the advanced screening; most of them in their thirties and above. This was STAR TREK, THE scif-fi TV series that started it all, and it had a huge cult following.
We saw the other peeps from OGM there, i spotted Beerkada Creator Lyndon with them, they were all wearing star trek uniforms:
The event was sponsored by the parish of St. James the great, and Singles Apostolate. Hence, it was kind of a church thingy. I noticed there were a lot of chinese people in the crowd(of course, i'd notice THAT.lol). The Program started, they plugged in their special events; after which we were treated to upcoming movie trailers that included G.I. Joe and Transformers: revenge of the fallen.
The movie was AWESOME, it had elements that would please a normal fan and a true-blue trekkie. The characterization for kirk was very nice, althought it employed the typical "from zero to hero" formula. Chris Pine's portrayal was okay, i wasn't much of a trekkie to start comparing him to William Shatner. It was also the first time i got to see spock's childhood in Vulcan. Zachary Quinto was indeed a nice pick for the role of spock. Apart from the similarities in facial features, he pulled off the "Logically boring, yet intense" character of spock quite well.
Leonard Nimoy makes a grand cameo, and has a major role in the movie. 8D
Overall, i liked the movie a LOT, even though i'm not a trekkie. I'm a Warsie. LOL ang corny haha
The TIEN-o-Meter gives this event a 10 out of 10
bat walang marian rivera pics?? pati scandal sa cr nio.. nakow! :))
ReplyDelete[spoiler] nakow! [/spoiler]