THE DAILIES OF A FILMMAKER

For some reason, a couple os staurdays ago, I was invited to a party dubbed as "exclusive to the most adorable men in Manila". Oh wow, "adorable" havent heard that word and my name spoken in one breath So, having really heard it though, I looked around  hoping they meant it for another bunch of people but…Moi? adorable? do i look like a friggin cute puppy to you? or an over-fed panda with big brown eyes!? Adorable seems like a word used for cuddly things that are asexual!…ugh.

Anyways, Yes, amidst all the sweetness and adorability, I was having a very good conversation with a fellow-filmmaker who enthusiastically talked about his previous works, and he said a line that got my intense mind going again…sigh… he randomly said,

"Is love merely an intoxication? or a natural reaction of the senses?

Hmmmm…Himayin natin…

How can love be an intoxication? Simple. Becasue it can give you a wonderful high, make you do anything in the name of ecstacy, drive away fear, throw inhibitions out the window and leave your jaws tired from incessant smiling and excessive petting (that is, ofcourse, not mentioning all other parts of the body that tend to get overused in the early phase of fallin in love). BUT, BUT… just like tama ng ginebra, this high, this intense ecstasy of the blood-pumping organ (the heart! you one track minded fool!) This pure pleasure eventually, through time, plummets to reality level and either leaves you with a bad I-wish-this-never-happened kind of feeling or, on the other hand, make you want more and thus be relegated to the ranks of Adik-adik. In any case, Love  when called an intoxication, is deemed as a fake temporary high…a manufactured altered state…70% proof…lambanog…juts…chonki…BAD … BAD … ergo, Love is bad for the system? Fucks up ones life? addictive? destructive? BAD NEWS!…Is that it?

(silence cuts thru the thick noise of the world. Love it)

What about this… is love just a natural reaction of the senses? A mere agreement of the chemical components of two homo sapiens? an attraction determined by the scent of secretions? serotonin level stability? hormonal balances? GAYUMA? Why not? think of it…Didnt the smell of that last person you were madly in love with drive you nuts!? Have you ever had one of those moments when in the absensce of the beloved you are driven to insanity by the mysterious occurence of his scent in your room? Even if he had a bit of that masculine musky odor didnt it just get you going? Doesnt the smell of his lips give you a stiff… neck! (you one track minded fool!) isn’t touching the best way to make love? Isn’t physical attraction a thing of the senses? and doesnt love start from there? Personal chemistry? doesnt that make up love? These beong said, does that mean that since it’s a scientific thing, we will be able to control it in our lives some day? Take away the unpredictability of love and just treat it as a science. Is that what we want love to be? something that Dra. Belo can solve for you?

Alam ko naman na may mga sagot kayo sa mga tanong na ito. Ang pakay ko lang naman eh para may mapagisispan tayo…Ano ba talaga ang pag-ibig para sa atin?

Para sa akin kasi…espiritual ang pagmamahal. at Iya’y tatalakayin ko sa bukod na entry

The malaysian Strait Times ran a major article today that told about THE HAPPIEST COUNTRIES ON EARTH and what a delight to see that,
out of 178 countries, THE PHILIPPINES RANKS IN THE TOP 20 OF THE HAPPIEST COUNTRIES IN THE WOLRD!

Published by the British think-tank, NEF or the New Economics Foundation, this study measures the people’s well being and their impact on the world around them. Here are the highlights.

Number one on the list is Vanuatu (a very poor country in the south pacific islands).

They are followed by Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, and Panama (very poor countries in sud America).

The Philippines ranks in the shining number 17!

Indonesia is number 23.

Malaysia is number 24.

The United States of America didn’t even make it to top 100! Coming in at a lousy 150.

Italy is happiest lot in Europe at 66.

Russia is the lowest, unhappiest country on earth.

The head of NEF added that, “ it is clear that no single nation listed in the happy planet index has got everything right, but the index reveals a pattern…long and happy lives means living within our environmental means”.

A correspondent from Vanuatu was asked what makes them happy and he replied, “people are generally happy because they are very satisfied with very little…this is not a consumer driven society. Life here is about community, and family, and goodwill to other people. It’s a place where you don’t worry too much”.

This brings me back to a conversation I had with a journalist when she was featuring my Black and White photos in Metro magazine. I told her that I like taking stolen shots of people on the streets all over the world, “and funnily, the happiest faces that iv’e captured are not the ones in Paris or Barcelona or Vienna but the photos i took of the poverty stricken families that live on the sidewalk of Juan Luna street in Binondo, manila!” She so wiesly replied, “because they dont have much to lose so they just live life!”

So, makes you think huh?

In the bigger scheme of things, aren’t love, happiness and peace of mind the most important things?

Money? Fame? … Or genuine happiness and peace of mind?

Sino ang panalo?

yung fab na mayaman?

o yung simpleng masaya?

(photos: headline-children in the island of Bohol, above me and my children)

My dear one,

I am breezing through this because i just have the
need to tell you what i have to say….

I struggled to get up this morning because i had
very little sleep. I practically had to shove myself
out of bed, had breakfast at the cafe lounge, and
scurried through a shower not even able to shave nor
moisturize.

It was an hour s trip to Jalan Baik where I was to
check the location of the shoot. With my
cinemtaographer and staff, I studied the place and
planned my shots. It was peaceful and wish you had
been there.

I was back in the hotel by 2 pm. I plopped in bed
again but couldn’t sleep so i fixed my things and
asked the hotel to make up my room as it was a mess.
While they did, I took a walk on Bukit bentang to have
lunch at an unholy hour of 3 pm and then proceeded to
just cruise the area. Looking for stuff interesting
enought to buy. Not much.

I’m back here in my room and waiting for 6 pm
because my whole staff and i are having a run through
of the pre-prod presentation tomorrow to client.

and heres what i really have to say….

Through all that , my dear one, through all that…not
one hour, not one minute did I not think about you.

Yes, the only thing i did today was think of you.

I’ve not felt
this way in years.

Love,

the man whom you swept away