Movies

Alyssa Alano would have remained a minor curiosity in the dustbin of Pinoy cultural excreta, otherwise known as Kuya Germs's The Master Showman -- had it not been for YouTube and email.

I am now in the chapter of Long Tail where he talks about democratization of means of production. Chris Anderson points out that the pre-Long Tail economy was one based on scarcity. The means of production -- factories, printing presses, TV stations and editing facilities -- were too expensive for common people to possess. (Might I add that I hesitate to include the "masses" in this because again it's the middle class who have the income to buy these things. Yet this may change when the internet becomes more pervasive in mobile phones -- which makes technology more affordable, even to the masses. I need to write more on this later.).

Times like these, I wish I could follow Jim Paredes's example and move to Australia.


On the news today: Manila's City Council has formed a resolution to ban The Da Vince Code movie. Interviewed on ANC was Congressman Abante, whose character unfortunately is the reverse of his name.

His arguments:

• The Philippines is the only Catholic country in Asia.
• A portion of the Catholics in our nation -- and he quoted 26% -- are "weak" Catholics because they don't even bother to hear mass.
• In light of these statistics, we shouldn't show The Da Vinci Code -- we might further weaken our Catholic country.
• Moreover, Abante stated, Dan Brown's book weaves fiction and fact together. Doing this might mislead the ignorant Filipinos to question their faith (and thus weaken the foundations of this country).
• He also stated that there is a clause in the Revised Penal Code that makes it a criminal offense to show movies that offend religion, and Da Vinci Code falls under this.
• What I picked up from the debate (other anti-Da Vinci Code advocates were interviewed) is that Filipinos should not be left to decide for themselves.
• Also if I remember my Constitution correctly, freedom of speech is a basic right, and where a law conflicts with this (as the clause from the Revised Penal Code does), then the Constitution prevails, since it is the fundamental law, after all.
• Get this: they want the movie -- and eventually the book -- banned all over the Philippines.

By Ian Brodie.

This book is the ultimate guide for those who wish to visit New Zealand. I brought this with me while I went through the Lord of the Rings - Red Carpet Movie Tour, which is the best tour you'll ever get in New Zealand, especially if you're a fan of the books and movies ;-)

NZ is one of the most beautiful places in this world and it was a good stroke of luck that Peter Jackson (a New Zealander, in case you didn't know hehe) decided to locate Middle Earth in NZ.

You'll also want this book if you're the DIY travel-type, or you simply want to save money. Armed with this guide book, you can rent a car, bring your trusty GPS and travel on your own. This book will take you to the places the ordinary day tours cover, and even those places that they won't. Visit Hobbiton, where the beautiful, green rolling hills and the giant oak tree convinced Peter Jackson that this would be indeed be the place where Bilbo would celebrate his birthday.

The strangest thing happened to me while googling on the web. I wanted to write about dating shows in the Philippines as a prelude to my review of Blind Date which is currently showing on the new, excellent ETC (Entertainment Central) channel.

I vaguely recall one match-making show which I think was hosted by Ronald Remy (remember him?) or someone else, and co-hosted by a dating computer that was embodied in a cabinet-sized box with fascinating blinking lights while speaking in a monotonous synthesized voice – the late ‘60s version of a computer.

IT’s a rare thing to do so much in order to coordinate an event that other people (read: normal people) would consider trivial. From my point of view, it all started from several, sporadic suggestions from friends and fans.

Our friend Romel Lalata started finalizing the sketchy plans when he sent me a text message outlining the ultimate couch kamote trip: conduct an organized vigil to gather friends and fans to watch TV on March 1, Monday, 10 a.m.