Finally, a screenplay after eons

Yes, one by me, and a friend, Hans Estialbo, is finished after ages and ages. This screenplay for a short had been two years in the making in fact. I still hope it sees film production any time soon--somewhere in between working night and day, being a first-time Kinder mom and a five-year-and-counting wife and housemate.

I don't even know what came over me that day, I just had that urge to again do something I badly wanted to do, create something again. And then maybe that Usana energy pill helped. Or maybe it's the Cannes fever all about. Whatever it was, suddenly the screenplay vein in me popped alive again.


Basti, Bahista tells the story of a slob of a bass player who succumbs to drug addiction, battles with the challenges of unemployment, loses the only precious possession he has in life and then tries desperately to get it back. In doing so, he finds what just might be the true meaning of his life, too.(Not sure if this synopsis actually gives you a picture of anything, but I don't want to spoil it, you know. I mean, if you plan on reading the whole thing at all).

Holler at me if you want a read at it. Or if you want to produce it with me (and Hans if he's still interested).

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.