adventures in neverland

look who's been sleeping in my bed: my ideal luvers. they keep me informed, warm and bring me to places i have never been. they even make me think, something that i don't usually do. i have no brain. i am shallow. unlike men, they don't complain. they don't make a mess in my tiny flat. they don't fart, they don't make me wait for hours so i could use the bath, they don't leave wet towels on the bathroom floor, they don't put their dirty underwear on top of the dining table. most of all, they are quiet. they are low maintenance, just a shelf or a table and they are fine. dust them once a month, that's all they need.  indeed, books are from heaven, men are from...(you supply the word dahlins!) they entertain me, they tell me that i need to buy a lot of things to make me happy, quench my thirst for celebrity gossips, show me glamourous places and hip restaurants, though at times there are worthy articles about the greek debt crisis, the stat...

just because you have seen both the original and the 2011 remake of joey gosiengfiao's campy  temptation island  and almost all of the local indie sexploitation movies that portrayed the stereotypical gays (parlorista, effiminate, cross dresser, pimp) and their typical luvers (call boy, macho dancer, masahista, estudyanteng walang pera, provincianong ambisyoso, durugista) does not make you a pink cineaste. i don't pretend to be one (pink cineaste, gagah), but i have seen some really good films about gays (or pink films) from all over the world. charrr!! here are some of the noteworthy ones. take note that most of the actors who portrayed gay roles in the following films were (and still are) big stars in their own countries. in the case of  brokeback mountain , both jake gyllenhaal and the late heath ledger are well known globally being products of hollywood's multi-billion dollar star factory. what i am trying to say is that in other countries, superstars ar...

(inspired by dinner with the zomvadings.) the adventures of priscilla, queen of the desert will always be my benchmark for one hell of a great movie about gay men having such a time of their lives. it has it all: great actors with no qualms about portraying out of this world campy characters, riotous and well-choreographed musical numbers, outlandish and pompous costumes, crisp script and a director who knows how to handle such an over the top material with care. local film makers who aspire to come up with a decent and fun movie about gay men that will appeal to a broader audience should use it as a template. don't copy it dahlins. be inspired by it, but avoid being its mediocre little twin sister. shame! most recently, we had zombadings 1: patayin sa shokot si remington . it was a decent enough film, but it lacked the energy, the vibrancy, the honesty that made the adventures such a classique, such a fun to watch. it made global superst...

no, i am not going to ruin your viewing pleasure by writing about the movie. but it's a good one, with a compelling story and an outstanding, award-winning cast.  please watch and i am sure you will enjoy it. instead, i am going to list down the things that went through my head while watching oscar winning director steven soderbergh's latest opus starring some of the biggest and brightest actors in hollywood. three of them are oscar best actress winners. guess who? * the film is a reunion of sorts for gwyneth paltrow, matt damon and jude law, who were together in the beautifully shot and well-written talented mr. ripley shown 12 years ago. * while gwyneth still looks ravishing and young twelve years after their last film together and having two kids, jude law and matt damon are not. * jude law is not aging well. he is losing his sheen as he grows older, unlike say george clooney or brad pitt. but his performance here is one of the bests in the film. (jud...

in a few months, 2011 will be over. how swiftly time flies! it feels like it was just yesterday when i was packing up my hong kong apartment to live elsewhere. oh well lowell, some things never change. but i don't want to dwell in the past. as my fabulous seer friend has told me so many times: what is done is done. stop looking back or you'll never reach your destination. (destination ka jan! baka destiny's child!) for what it's worth, i am heeding this soothsayer's advice. a sensible thing to do for the nonsensical me. so from now on, i will only look forward to what's ahead of me. a new life? why not? a new fantabulous job? most welcome! a new luver? hmmm... in the meantime, here are some of the things worth waiting for: the english edition of haruki murakami's intriguing book, his most recent one. (the japanese edition came out several months ago (was it two years?) to a very warm reception in his home country.) ...

acclaimed director, producer and writer francis ford coppola is back with a new offering: twixt starring a wrinkled and heavier  val kilmer and the fresh as rosebud elle fanning, dakota's equally brilliant younger sister. according to entertainment weekly the film is about a horror writer (val kilmer) "with a declining career (who) arrives in a small town as part of his book tour and gets caught up in a murder mystery involving a young girl. that night in a dream, he is approached by a mysterious ghost (elle fanning)...." coppola said the story was inspired by edgar allan poe (who also appeared in  the film, played by ben chaplin) and nathaniel hawthorne. the drive to make the film came from a dream, coppola said in the movie's website.  http://www.twixtmovie.com/ coppola is of course the man behind such iconic films as godfather ( adapted from mario puzo's book) one, two and three , apocalypse now (about the vietnam war sh...

when i went home a few months ago, i was mostly at the beach or at the pool with my sisters' kids -- horsing around, getting drunk, feasting on whatever food we could bring (leftovers from the previous night's dinner), whatever our helps could cook or whatever we could order. i never had so much fun in my life. it was the first time in nearly 20 years that i had a long break from work and stayed at home, bonding with family and friends. while it was not all fun because of the usual fights, petty jealousies, small misdemeanors and what have you among family members, i would still count it as one of the best vacations that i ever have. we combed the far-flung areas of the visayan islands (as if!) in search for the least travelled places, but with the best beaches and swimming pools. we rode the bancas, tricycles, buses, vans, speed boats, helicopters and planes. actually, the kids did not mind even if we went to third-rate resorts with murky waters and ...