The Juggler

I never ever thought
I'd become a juggler by profession
but today I have been very good at it.
Not quite perfect a trajectory and rhythm
as I had hoped to achieve
but I did it
only the balls were rolling
lazily around my feet
sooner than I hoped.

September 17, 2010
6:30pm, Figaro, Tomas Morato

After a promising SONA, P.Noy takes on ManilArt

Only a day after finding out that Noynoy's SONA seemed very promising and inspired the Filipino people to "dream again," I find out about something else about him that's actually laudable on another count. The new Philippine President, barely a month into office, is gracing the 2nd ManilArt - his "first formal engagement together with the art community.

It's refreshing that after instilling hope that something can still be done about the government and our burgeoning budget deficits, President Noynoy is also making efforts to revive art in the country, and in so doing might actually draw more people to support the industry. May this be the start of a renewed art revolution in the country!

The ManilArt exhibit led by distinguished artist Jonathan Sy will officially open on July 29 at the SMX Convention Center, and run up to August 1, 2010. Will try my best to be there. Hoep you do, too!

Strength in Weakness

“God told me ‘My grace is enough, it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.’ Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen…Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size – abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.” – Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10
Today it seems I have a million things to do, and in so little time. My own brain is in itself a microcosm that does not stop buzzing and humming with a jumble of thoughts, words, desires, chores, deadlines.

Weakness right now to me is directly proportional to a perpetual massive headache and sloshing right in the middle of the pond of Not Knowing What To Do First…all while I get anxiety attacks of how to send my daughter to school with the little that we have. Or should I home-school her? See how question after question pours in?

If God’s strength is made perfect in weakness, then let the headaches and sloshing roll in! I am letting Christ take over. Let His name be glorified once I get through!

Sierra Madre/Boston Celtics Almost-Victory

I loved looking at Mt. Sierra Madre - one of the longest mountain ranges in the Philippines - up close, and for the first time too! I got a breathtaking view even if it was only from the car, as my friends and I together with my husband Raffy made our way from Lingayen, Pangasinan (for a beach getaway weekend, which turned out to be so much fun!) down to Tarlac to go to my friend Sheen's house.

The canopy on the road, too, was just beautiful. All green and refreshing. I took several photos and here are a few of the good ones I think.

I don't know if my posting these was meant to be delayed. Because just today, over at Staples Center in LA where the NBA Finals are, the Boston Celtics  - the winning "green team" of the NBA - lost to the LA Lakers in an action-packed game 7. *Wail* Being a fan and bullying the Lakers fans in the office backfired on me!

Here's to the Celtics' almost victory, and to the Sierra Madre that I've seen up close finally for the first time!

Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite

It's actually a book that my Creative Director recommends, basically for creative people to become more edgy, think out of the box. Check out Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite here. The phrase also constitutes...well, the mantra that I'm trying to imbibe for myself right this moment.

To be a well of ideas that never runs out, I think this mental state will do me a lot of good. Although it runs a bit contrary to that philosophy in another book on thinking and making decisions, entitled Blink. I've yet to read it, though.

Author Paul Arden, who also wrote other books on advertising and creativity such as It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be, was the Executive Creative Director of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi during its hey days. His British Airways campaign is always regarded as one of the best advertising campaigns of all time.

A year before he died, he wrote a book entitled God Explained in a Taxi Ride, which (according to Wikipedia) "attempted to explain the meaning of life in 125 pages."

Take-home for me: Artists or writers like me always strive to find the best, most out-of-the-box, wowing ideas everyday...but at the end of the day always turn to God for life's true meaning I guess.

The Million Dollar Idea List

It's exactly what it is, according to the book Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain. A list of ideas that if ever produced or invented, will make you richer by a million dollars.


First on my list is a battery-operated microwave oven.

I was going to write my second one but I was reminded I need to produce copy for an event invite for one of our banking corporation clients (which I’m sure has more than a million dollars’ worth of assets). They need it this morning, or else.

Hmm. Interesting how I’m doing something giving me a teeny fraction of a million dollars when the one I’m doing it for is probably getting millions more by the second.

Back to work so I can get back to my million dollar list soon!

The Afterparty

After about a month of fussing over our daughter Jaira's 3rd birthday party (that was Dora-themed, by the way) and laboring over it the whole day of the party done at Garden Ville subdivision in Calumpit, Bulacan, we took to drinking. It was Margaritas and Dry Martinis for me, my sister-in-law and a friend and cold light beer for my husband and the boys, at a place called Umbrella at The Cabanas in Malolos - pretty nice place actually, too bad I didn't take photos of the whole strip, will do soon.

Here's a nice photo of my husband and I. Hooray, and yes we didn't look as dead-tired as we really were.



As I write this, I'm trying to ignore a splitting headache, probably caused by too much thinking and writing for work since last week. I'm behind deadlines and I've a big zit sitting right beside my right eyebrow and I really want to sleep for about two days straight.

This is reminding me that marriage is still swingin' hot for me I guess - a good thing! - since things done with Raffy no matter how hard always come through on a high note, like cocktails.

That, or headaches is a way of life for me, less felt when happy things like Raffy or my dear daughter Jaira are around. :)

Two kinds of people in the world

"There are two types of people in the world. Those who come in the room and say, "Well, here I am!" and those who come into a room and say, "Ah, there you are."
- Frederick L. Collins, Writer

Got this from the book Ideaspotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea by Sam Harrison.

And just like that I've learned that I'm neither kind. I come into a room and just simply...do my thing.

Or maybe I'm realizing I really want to be the latter and not the first kind.

Which one are you?

Go ahead, I'm listening.

Behind the supposed Noynoy victory...

...is a whole lot of hoopla still, and burgeoning uncertainty for the Philippines by the day.

I am a self-confessed Noynoy doubter. My bet was actually either Dick Gordon or Gibo for president, though I know it's highly unlikely that any of them would make it. If you ask me, I'd say whatever comes out of the elections now is the government Filipinos deserve. Why? The majority of us just NEVER learn. I mean, come on. Erap on 2nd place? It's bewildering for me.

So anyway, back to Noynoy, who is supposedly a shoo-in for the win, at least as of the May 13 Comelec tally. I can say I am not happy he's going to be president, although I am relieved that it's not going to be a Villar presidency. But for sure I'm not looking forward to the political circus, which I'm sensing is just around the corner, since Gloria is (wow! diba?) congresswoman and a Marcos-trio is going to walk all over our laws and what-not, too.

Add that to the Kris Aquino madness. I read about this happening on Facebook, which was even reported by GMA News, where Kris allegedly declared she's willing to fly out if if she causes any distress in her brother Noynoy's presidency. Some clever Facebook-er had the grand idea of making a "Kris Aquino Despedida" fanpage out of this. Read about the rest of the circus on the news sites and all together let's say "Oh boy" with a dead fish face.

Oh well. What can I say. Good luck, Noynoy.

Photo courtesy of Philnews.com

Whad'ya know, Willy Wonka's flavor-changing gum has come to life!

Just read an NY Times article on gum ads particularly the ones by Stride, the gum company that also happened to bring to life the rather interesting piece of candy from the 1971 Willy Wonka (starring Gene Wilder) film: gum that changes flavor while being chewed, replicating a three-course meal by tasting first like tomato soup, then roast beef, then blueberry pie. Which by the way I always found cool since having seen the movie when I was 10!

Only Stride's gum creation was not really a three-course meal gum, but a gum that changes fruity flavors as you chew it - going from, say melon to berry, to citrous to mint (check out NY Times for details). But hey, it's almost the same idea!

(Aside: Don't you think though that this original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is way better than the Johnny Depp remake that focuses on Charlie's story? Plus, I really do believe that people who’ve seen the first Willy Wonka have more interesting personalities than those who haven’t. I’m convinced that it does things to your brain: the whole lot of the orange-faced Oompa Loompas that are throngs of real midgets and not CGI, the perpetually eerie expression on Gene Wilder’s face, the works. And aren’t you amazed at how vivid the imagery is, still, even after years and years since first seeing it?)

I just find it amusing that inventions that might have been unheard of many years ago are now mushrooming any given day. Childhood fantasies come true (and heck, who would have thought the Philippine elections a couple of days ago will be successfully automated despite booboos on the sidelines!)...and now I can’t wait for the day I Michael J. Fox’s flying skateboard-trolley-like bike in Back to the Future roaming EDSA’s sky space.

...well, that is of course if God allows it and the end days don’t happen soon.

Now I've two things to look forward to: the day Jesus comes again, or being as cool as Michael J. Fox. I'm okay with whichever comes first. Feel free to ask why.

SHE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED

Call me the fire beneath the waves,
the stillness in the storm

I am the claw of the crow,
the glide of the swallow

Call me Jesus for I love Him,
Call me the Fallen One
for I succumb to stumbling

Call me a flower,
Call me beautiful,
Call me a woman for I cherish my womb,
Call me an abomination
for my balls command

I saw heaven as I gazed upward
while my feet are in hell

I am an abomination,
I am a curse--
They call me poet,
they call me Woman.


Photo: "Woman In the Waves," a painting by Paul Gauguin, taken from www.1st-art-gallery.com

One for the Books: Ricky Lee

(This article originally appears in Talk Talk Tilaok April 2010 issue)

“Hindi naman totoong walang nagbabasa na Pilipino.” – Ricky Lee

It was a breezy Sunday morning when I walked up the familiar green gate of Ricky Lee’s house in Xavierville, Quezon City. Matagal-tagal na rin simula ng huli akong pumunta sa bahay na ‘yon, na laging bukas sa lahat ng kaibigan, estudyante, workshopper o kahit sino pang gustong bumisita o matuto mula kay Ricardo Lee, the multi-awarded film and TV scriptwriter, fictionist, journalist and playwright. As for me, once an attendee in his 2004 scriptwriting workshop, I’d always have fond memories of learning and simply having a good time in that house.

I couldn’t help but feel giddy to be back in the home of possibly the best storyteller in the Philippines; the mind behind many of the Filipino film classics, from Himala, recently recognized by CNN as The Best Film of All Time in Asia-Pacific, to Moral, Salome and Karnal. Springing in an era considered to have been Philippine film’s golden years, Ricky Lee did not stop churning out thought-provoking stories that captured the Filipino soul: you got Anak, Rizal and Tatarin among his latter works to prove that.

With 150 film scripts since 1979 under his belt, many of them award-winning, on top of his works as a journalist, fiction writer, TV consultant and in the past few years, as a novelist, he continues to write with a childlike openness that only thinks outside of the box.

Sir Ricky greeted me with a warm embrace right off the staircase, akap ng guro at kaibigang matagal nang di nakita. The interview he granted me, while shedding light to his current activities driven by a newfound passion, was also the chance I’ve long been waiting for to rekindle ties with a respected mentor, with everybody’s “Tatang.”

Revived fictionist
Since 2004, Ricky Lee has been ABS-CBN’s drama division creative manager, and on exclusive terms. During this onslaught of TV work, however, the fictionist in him was being brought back to life. He confessed, “Hindi ako nakapagsulat ng pelikula outside. Puro telenovela ang hinandle ko, from Lobo to Maging Sino Ka Man, Lovers in Paris, hanggang Dahil May Isang Ikaw.”

“During those years, dahil buhos na buhos ako sa TV, dun ako nakapagisip isip na matagal kong nabitiwan ang pagsusulat ng fiction, kaya nagkaroon ako ng craving for creative work. On the side, nagsulat ako ng mga nobela. Three years ago nang nasulat ko yung draft ng tatlong nobela,” he added.

On Para Kay B and his new advocacy
His work bore fruit, and on November 30, 2008, his first novel “Para Kay B (O Kung Paano Dinevastate ng Pag-ibig ang 4 out of 5 Sa Atin)” was launched at the UP Bahay ng Alumni. The book tells of five unconventional yet touching tales of love built on the ‘statistic’ bannered by the title of the novel. Although he has aready previously released books Trip To Quiapo, a scriptwriting manual, and Si Tatang at mga Himala ng Ating Panahon, a collection of his short stories and articles plus the screenplay of Himala, Para Kay B is close to his heart for it was a dream come true.

Bulto-bultong kaibigan, tagahanga, dating estudyante at kilalang celebrities ang dumalo, not only as spectators but also as helpers in mounting the event. Heartwarming, lalo na dahil sa ginawang reading ng mga excerpts mula sa nobela nina Piolo Pascual, Lorna Tolentino, Gina Alajar at iba pang artista.

Lee explained that writing his first novel, along with the launch and the mall tour efforts that followed, propelled his advocacy, na buhayin ang pagbabasa ng mga Pilipino ng literature na sariling atin. He told me of his observations. “Napansin ko, ‘pag pumunta ka sa mga library at sa mga bookstores, usually 10 o 20 percent lang ang Filipiniana.

“Naisip ko, mas exciting yatang pumasok sa field na ‘to at patunayang pwede akong magsulat ng nobela sa Pilipino na maraming magbabasa. Para dumating yung time na pupunuin ko kasama ng iba bang Filipino writers ang mga bookstores natin hanggang maging 80 percent Filipiniana naman.”

“Ginawa kong madaling basahin, para masabi nung mga nakabasa sa iba na ‘Uy mababasa mo ‘to,’ kahit na nobela,” he added. And he was right, for after Para Kay B was released, he was pleased with the response he got from the readers.

“Napatunayan ko na hindi naman totoo na walang nagbabasa na Pilipino. Hahanapin mo lang sila, tutuntunin, kasi nawala na sila sa habit ng pagbabasa, o natabunan na ng TV, pelikula at kung ano ano pa.”

Which is why, he said, instead of simply waiting for people to read published novels, a Filipino book author must go out of his way to reach out to them, and that he did. “Talagang pinagpaguran ko. And then nagba-blog ako, nagfe-Facebook, sinasagot ko lahat ng nagbabasa, nagfi-feedback tungkol sa libro. Kumonekta ako sa readers ko, hanggang nakikilala ko sila lalo,” Lee added.

On being encouraged by OFW readers
Ricky Lee went on to tell me about OFW readers’ response to Para kay B, and how this further encouraged him to write more books, specifically his second novel in the works, “Aswang.”

“Si Ricky Lo, na madalas ipagkamali sa akin, bumili sya ng 20 copies at nagregalo sa mga kaibigan nya abroad. May mga tumawag na daw sa kanya kaagad, saying ‘Uy nabasa na namin in one sitting! Ano pa bang mga gawa ni Ricky dyan?’

“So lalo akong na-encourage na ituloy itong advocacy, at ituloy ko itong Aswang at iba pang mga libro. Hindi ko magagawang magbasa sila lahat pero may malaking number ng mga Pilipino na nagbabasa na enough para mabuhay ka bilang isang nobelista.

Joan: Is there a difference in terms of fulfillment between finishing a screenplay and a novel?
Ricky Lee: Oo, ibang-iba, ang sarap sa nobela! Kasi sa pelikula, from step 1 hanggang final draft ng script, hanggang matapos ang shooting, may nakasawsaw at mas may kapangyarihan pa kaysa sa’yo. Pagkatapos ng lahat, madalas hindi mo na ma-recognize yung trabaho mo.

Sa nobela, marami akong kinonsulta. Nagfocus group ako, nag-survey, nakinig ako sa lahat ng tao. But in the end, ako pa rin ang nasunod. Sa pelikula, pag pinanonood na, natutukso akong sabihin sa katabi kong nanonood na ‘yung part na yan, hindi akin yan. Pero sa nobela, aking-akin.

Joan: So, more books from Ricky Lee in the future?
Ricky Lee: Oo, maglilibro ako ng maglilibro. Importante ang libro e. Importante rin ang pelikula at TV, magkakapatid lahat yan. Pero libro ang kailangan itulak, so gusto ko doon.

Joan: How about your writing workshops?
Ricky Lee: Hindi naman ako tumigil sa pagwoworkshop ko ng libre sa mga gustong magsulat, simula pa noong 1982, at hindi pa rin ako titigil. Magpapaworkshop pa rin ako, under ABS-CBN or kahit ako lang, sa film and TV, maybe even fiction writing.

Iba rin ang kasi ang nakakapag-share ka ng talent. Kung i-co-consider ko ang sarili ko as mahusay, malaking dahilan doon ay dahil hindi ako tumigil sa pagwo-workshop. Kung may naituturo man ako sa kanila, natuturuan din nila ako. Kaya naman nagiging mas bukas ako, mas flexible and in the end naging mas imaginative.


Joan: You’ve been talking of Ricky Lee as a writer. Sino naman si Ricky Lee bilang isang tao?
Ricky Lee: Hindi ko hinihiwalay ang pagiging writer ko sa pagiging tao ko. Parang ang isang doktor, nanggagamot siya may bayad man o wala, dahil doktor siya. Ako writer, parang part ng breathing ko na iyon, magsusulat ako hanggang sa mamatay dahil writer ako.

Kalahati ng writing ko ang pagtuturo. Ang paniniwala ko kasi, an artist has to share always. Di ka huhusay kung di ka nagsi-share. Mabubulok ang talent mo. And finally, music. Music ang passion ko. Maski anong klaseng music---rock, ballads, broadway, jazz, rap, hiphop. Nagpapatugtog ako habang nagsusulat.

Joan: What is your message to OFWs who also want to write?
Ricky Lee: Isa sa mga topics closest to my heart ay ang buhay ng mga OFWs. Ang first and second plays ko, Pitik Bulag sa Buwan ng Pebrero at DH with Nora Aunor ay parehong tungkol sa mga OFW. Marami rin akong pelikulang nagawa tungkol sa kanila, Miss x, Flor Contemplacion, Anak at Dubai.

Pero gaano man ako kainteresado o karami ang maisulat ko tungkol sa mga OFWs, in the end ang pinakamakakapagkuwento pa rin ng buhay nila ay sila rin. Napakarami nilang mayayamang karanasan doon na sana ay marinig natin sa sarili nilang boses.

He needed to go to Regal Films for a meeting he said, and was sorry he had to rush; it was already past lunch time. Habang nililigpit ko ang laptop at siniguradong na-record ang aming interview, nakangiti akong napaisip sa mga susunod kong gustong gawin: basahin ulit ang Para Kay B, iba pang akda ni Ricky Lee at ng iba pang Pilipinong manunulat, at patuloy pang magsulat at mamuhay nang bukas ang isip. Thanks to ever-generous, tireless artists like Ricky Lee, people like me can prove that yes, Filipino books can flourish; and that yes, life itself can be much fuller and more meaningful.