balikblogger: Blog

the balikbayan

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:40:56 GMT

ok. so i am 'balik'-ing to canada. i am returning, so to speak, to my home and native land of canada...eh. i'm taking a 9 month contract at much music where i will not be 'direk' but i will be a pr-editor. editor plus producer. preditor vs aliens part 3. while toronto feels the same, i know i'm not. so we'll see how this experiment goes. i figure i will treat this contract as a 9 month paid scholarship in mass media, avid editing, working in a 'team' environment, and whatever else much more music has to teach. anyways. my chest has been hurting for the last week at the prospect of leaving my wonderful life, family and friends in manila, but there were too many serendipitous (sp?) events that conspired to keep my ass in canada, with wifey, family, snow etc. i'm also feeling i'm meant to bring back to the pinoys ober here all the things i learned ober der. i am gonna keep the apartment (to the tune of papa don't preach...i'm gonna keep my baby). ohhh...gonna keep the apartment. anyways. almost done my humber gig. going now.

humber theatre

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:35:56 GMT

had fun today at work. this is my composer/musical director gig for the graduating class of Humber College theatre students. it's fun because i can be as much of a delinquent as i want because i'm neither student or teacher. of course i deliver the goods, but i play by my own rules. school rules! coming from the university drop out... it's funny because education is the way my dad made it out of paranaque manila. and his eldest child is a drop out who is building a career in the philippines. i figure i have the equivalent of a couple of degrees. there was once a day when i was an enthusiastic theatre student at york. woah. i wonder who from my class is doing it. god. theatre...well...it's paying my bills so yeay theatre. toronto is freezing.

christmas 2007

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 03:25:08 GMT

at home playing guitar hero on ps2 with my sisters. this game is totally the most addictive. i'm typing to still my eyes. sony... i'm so happy to be in frigid small town kingston. happy to be with the family in the home i spent my youth in. so grounding. so humbling. i type this in a warm, plush, electronic reclining chair. slowly it leans back and is perfect posture. this was nans chair. it still smells like her. just saw the movie perfume, and was reminded the power of scent. nan is so tangible in this smell. more than in a picture or video. it's comforting. in kingston i feel like time stills. like i can step out of life and enter this one, which is more and more feeling like a dream sequence. god bless everyone this christmas. through our trials and joys.

bombs at the mall...

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:51:10 GMT

hay naku. again, just when faith was being restored in manila...a bomb goes off. literally. got a text from my roommate that a bomb went off in glorietta mall..he saw people screaming, crying, and this is not in the far reaches of the philippines. this is just there...in what is our equivalent of 'the eatons centor'. man. and its so weird how casual people are about it. how people are already laughing. how people don't even miss a beat. god, i know if this shit happened in toronto, the whole city would stop. anyways, to all those who hear about it and are wondering if i'm ok. i'm ok. i'm working. i'm healthy. i'm fine. but wow. bombs at the mall. song title... kawawa our nation. r

Urian awards

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:27:00 GMT

me and odie were nominated for urian awards for our work on Ang Pamana. that's nice, me as editor, odie as d.p., but our sound should have been nominated...if anything, our sound and niccos performance. anyways...but we will rep every single person who worked on it. even if we don't win and i'm asleep in the audience by best supporting actor...i go for all of us. if it was just for me i would skip it...but if there's a chance that i can big up everyone if i get to the podium...i will. http://www.gawadurian.com/ anyways...that's that.

LISTEN UP!!!

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:40:47 GMT

my BFF sent me this. everyone needs to see this. very important. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNLcwqUOXfQ. noel, if you're reading this, jotham needs to see it!

smokey mountain

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:44:35 GMT

the new doc is up. smokey mountain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ybvqE94K4 it's nice. i put it up not really having any expectations on response, and i received a note from someone who i went to elementary school with in kingston ontario, where the film worked like a 'wake up' call to her material problems. anyways, you'd think that i would stop stressing over financials after seeing something like that...anyways. enjoy and pass it around. - r

new podcast up

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:00:07 GMT

i'm trapped in the apartment because of the rainy rains. instead of going crazy, i have been working on music stuff. new podcast. number 4. rain songs. http://romeocandido.podomatic.com/

typhoon

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:42:37 GMT

there is a typhoon coming. so things have slowed down. i don't think i did anything productive today. i was really thinking hard about it too. no songs to sing. no stories to write. so maybe a blog for whoever. it kind of feels like the calm before the storm. i hope it's that way for the work. so, in the past week, me and ria pitched our new film to star cinema. this is the 5th in a series of pitches that have escalated through the ranks of the star cinema studio. i was nervous. i think i might have been underprepared. i dunno. anyways, we pitched our concept which most of them liked, however, it is 'high concept' and unlike anything they've 'ever' done, as it is a film for the 'massa', anyways, fingers crossed. we'll see. i'm just doing my best to be open to whatever. recently the new 'motivations' are to be purposeful, thankful, detached and devoted. is that what it was? i swear, the other day i repeated it while walking on the baywalk during sunset. anyways, i guess detachment to old mantras is in full effect. here's a performance from last week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpHokSeRQKI

bebot

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 03:29:52 GMT

ew. i just saw a bunch of filipino transvestites performing bebot on tv. there's just something wrong when they were saying 'somebody say hooooo...say ho ho...say hooooo...say ho ho'... had another random run in with imelda marcos. when i first saw her i thought she was a unicorn. now, she's just around. so crazy. have a studio pitch on friday...send good vibes. here's some pics.

harmoniks with the world

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:33:49 GMT

NEW VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu7knlNW8Vk enjoy

drama

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 07:31:08 GMT

you know. i'm really always trying to take the zen road when it comes to conflict resolution. work, life, spiritual, emotional, social, whatever-al. but when relationships, working or otherwise, are meant to end, they will end, no matter what. people come, and go, and come and go, and some leave to not be heard of again. you know, for someone who does his best to resolve differences, i'm always in the middle of drama. maybe, if i cause drama, then i'll be too busy to be embroiled in other people's cuz i will just be caught up in my own. or not. buddha says that life is suffering, and bruce lee says to be like water, and chow king has the best halo halo in town. and then, i'm working on a documentary on smokey mountain, and all my problems are wala lang and i should be grateful for everything i have. which i am. ok...i'm fine. what we should really be thankful for is 'transformers'. did you see that sh**?

new podcast.

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:55:12 GMT

http://romeocandido.podOmatic.com/entry/2007-07-01T09_43_00-07_00 the new podcast. lucky number 3rd.

hong kong, part 1 - ofw

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 05:42:27 GMT

it's sunday in hong kong. i am staying at the parklane hotel, a nice swishy hotel at causway bay. it is the only day off for many filipina and indonesian domestic workers, who gather at victoria park, for picnic, gossip, and hang out time with people who are their family and home away from home. i know i cannot even compare my struggles to these women and workers, but i am in solidarity with them, in having to leave their family and loved ones in pursuit of economic opportunities elsewhere. there are so many of them, it's like the philippines, but here in the middle of hong kong. it made me sad actually, which is probably why my blogpost isn't all about how cool it is in hong kong (which it totally is), but more about my sunday lonliness away from my family. i don't know why sundays make me miss home so much, but it does. when i was young i was always so bitter at 'having' to spend sundays at home, but that conditioning is deeply ingrained, so now, when i don't have that feeling of family on sunday, i just feel the void. and so i look at all these workers, with no place to call their own, other than a blanket, banig, plastic on the ground, finding comfort in eachother. they are happy together, getting a once in a week break from their work as caregivers, home-maintainers, hotel staff and god knows what. i joke about being an ofw alot. its a joke, mostly because it's such a ridiculous comment when i oftentimes get to live in the lap of luxury, especially now, as i use the wifi in the nice marble floored hotel lobby. but the longing is the same. anyways, love to everyone on the other side of the world. in my head i am laying out a blanket / banig in victoria park where we can have our sunday hangtime and laugh our weekly troubles away.

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:34:47 GMT

when do you know what you're supposed to let go of and when to do it? how are we supposed to know if the things that were once good for us are still good for us?

new podcast up

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:02:00 GMT

http://romeocandido.podomatic.com. malate 2007

new song is up

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 09:06:08 GMT

new song is up 'baby' http://www.myspace.com/thebalikbayan enjoy

ramblings on self and identity

Mon, 28 May 2007 04:01:21 GMT

of late i have been asking questions. firstly, what defines me? is it my family? my wife? my work? my cultural identity? my age? my sprituality, or sometimes lack thereof? i've been asking these questions because i was far from the things that gave me definition. when i'm working i'm 'direk'. when i'm with caroline, i'm 'arje'. when i'm getting paid, i'm 'rich bitch'. when i'm in kingston i'm 'my mothers son and my sisters kuya'. when i'm by myself...then what? so i turn to music, i turn to the internet, i turn to my video cameras and gear. so then i create something, i write a letter, i film something to make me feel, productive. it's easy to say that i am defined by the things i create. but once they are created, they are merely footprints i am leaving in the world, on websites in blogs, on youtubes. recently i have been going to church again. not to go to mass, cuz dudes...i fall asleep...but just to feel some kind of 'connection', maybe not even that, maybe it's familiarity...maybe it brings me back to the time when i thought god was actually in church, and that the only way to get his (when god was a he with a beard) attention, was to go to the 'house that god built'. mom was telling me that alot of my new good fortune is coming from the fact that i have been going to church. but i'm feeling more and more church is everywhere, like the living room with the windows open and the wind blowing through it. like the baywalk during sunset. like trapped in traffic when the sounds drown out. it's been hard being away from the things that define me. leaving me to either fill the void, or realize that life is already full in its incompleteness. they always say it's the 'journey' not the destination and all that. it's hard to be in awareness of that, especially in such a goal oriented world. especially when i've been sooo goal oriented for so long. there was an old school new age statement to 'be still and know'...i'm trying to grasp that again, because for me it's 'be still and go manic'. maybe for the kids it should be 'be chill and grow'. whatever. but more importantly, anyone watch quinton jackson kick chuck lidells butt the other day?

SMOKEY MOUNTAIN

Mon, 07 May 2007 12:14:52 GMT

ok. i went to smokey mountain today. smokey mountain was made famous in the 70s and 80s when footage of families foraging and suviving off of this huge pile of garbage in manila went on air. i'm starting a new documentary. and i still kinda don't know how to feel. ok, so i went to tondo. i'm just a tourist there for sure. i felt weird having my video camera pulled out. my god. the conditions. i really felt like i was in one of those unicef tv shows...the ones where they are begging for money...'for the cost of a cup of a coffee you can...'. but when i started looking through those first world prejudices, i was just in awe. the people and the children were smiling, warm, friendly. of course, at night time i have to get the heck out of there, but in the day, there was just a spirit there amidst the burning trash, amidst the oppressive conditions, and the heat, oh lord the heat. i go back on friday and more times to do interviews with people. i still kind of don't know how to feel, and i wish i had pictures to share. but at the end, i will have a short documentary for it. and it feels good, to not just be hustling for commercial gigs, and to do something for 'the people'.

manila bay

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:46:04 GMT

i guess god is the best painter. and there's really no more proof than all the sunsets here in manila bay. just outside my window. a one and a half minute walk. i miss home. my friends and family. i share all these sunsets with you. This is from April 10-17

happy birthday to me

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 10:35:15 GMT

another year older. watched the sunset on roxas. a sight that never gets old. contemplated self, love, life and got lost in thoughts of family, friends, future. many things happened this year. grew up. regressed. made friends, lost friends. lost myself and found myself. lost nan and tita fely. life is short, i pray that i'm making the best of it. happy birthday to my fellow aries' out there. tita aying. lani montreal. masia 1. lor guerin. karen ancheta. omz. martin. ate karen. and all the others in the 'aries is the best' tribe. for my birthday i just want my family and friends to know that i love and cherish them and i only pray for their happiness. i will continue the day being thankful for what i have and what i don't have and will try to understand that it's all part of the plan... spent the weekend with family at sonia's garden...an oasis of flowers, good food and tranquility in batangas. it was beautiful and peaceful and i was with family which is like bundling inside a big blanket of unconditional love. i'm forever grateful for that. to think, on this day, many years ago, i was born in flowers cove newfoundland and spent my first night in a sock drawer in a clinic that had no incubators. god bless you mom and dad. to think that you went to canada to give us a better life and i am in the philippines hoping to give you one.

idol

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 00:33:38 GMT

so we are shopping in san fransisco. and there he was. i went to him straight and told him that he was one of my idols. for all you who think bobby mcferrin is only 'don't worry be happy', please youtube the man. watch his ave maria, his stuff with chick corea, his rendition of blackbird, god, this man is for real one of the top ten creations that god gave to the music world. i think he would come in after the cello. ch-hello? anyways, i went straight to him. everyone who i was with thought i was just being strange and talking to some weird dreadlock on the street. johann, who is equally obsessed with him as i am, didn't even recognize him until i said "jo...bobby mcferrin". i apologized for being such a starstruck loser to which he just smiled politely. johann then went into singing 'thinking about your body' because he is equally as much of a starstruck loser as i am. anyways, every once in a while i meet someone who not only makes me feel like a stargazing stalker, but who is a reminder of the path that i walk. one of my new songs, the sky is falling, i even was emulating his vocal arrangement for his ave maria. anyways, who cares.

you say goodbye..and i say hello

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 03:34:57 GMT

bye makati. hello malate.

moving

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 02:13:14 GMT

what is it that they say? the most stressful things to deal with are death, losing a job, divorce, sickness and moving. well, happily i am experiencing only the moving, and kind of the losing the job, and we just dealt with the death, so, well, it's not stress that i'm experiencing, but a bit of uncertainty. now on year 3 here in manila, i have gone through 2 cycles and i'm assuming that i am entering a third. the first cycle was a whirlwind of activity as i entered the television advertising business (see blogs from 2 years ago). that was crazy...just me being busy, getting paid, and learning a ton of stuff as a director. i was also living with the inlaws and basically hand held by someone that the production company assigned to me. so, just a big baby in a strange city. year 2 i became a film director again, working on ang pamana, working on the soundtrack, working on the music videos and everything that came with it. i also lived in a nice condo that was paid for by a company that i signed to, and things were busy, creative, and full of promise. now it's year 3, or cycle 3. i am moving out of my delux condo in makati to live in a really cool space in malate. and if you haven't been to malate...well...it's just different. it's manila. in makati...it might as well be a first world situation...with all the comforts of the first world available. but malate...is basically downtown manila. old, busy, full of life, and just full of history and energy. my view overlooks manila bay which is beautiful. also, just around the corner is Malate church, where at night, it becomes the spot where the prostitutes and pimps come out. its an area full of ex-pats...aka white people, artists, balikbayans (like me) and a whole assortment of gays, squatters, tourists, and traffic. so a change...for real. also, on the work front, after finding no real opportunities in canada, i have to 're-enter' the television commecial arena...which has changed in the one year that i was out of it. ang pamana is up and running and touring film festivals now and doesn't need my attention anymore, so i have started to detach from it. i have no 'assigned' person to hold my hand anymore, i have no apartment being paid for by employers, and i have a philippine passport, so i now live here. i am no longer a tourist. i am on the hustle, and i am looking up at the mountain again as opposed to being on top of it wondering how i got there. but life is like that no? it works in cycles? it continually shifts under your feet to keep you dancing, to keep you moving, to keep you unsettled, so you can keep on growing. i've come to realize lately that in all my 'outward' pursuits, i forgot to do my 'inner' work...whatever that means. but tomorrow i move to malate, and to what i think will be a new cycle, new stress, new dance...

san fran

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 02:42:41 GMT

san fransisco was nice. was picked up by johann camat, a dear old...and gay...friend from my miss saigon and kuya days. he's there with dorothy camat and their daughter joey. at their house i reunited with caroline after a 3 week separation, her staying in toronto while i was in manila. soon we got together with carmen, her husband matt, and her pod in her belly. it was a good time being surrounded by so many loved ones, especially after being in manila, hustling, in transition and feeling weird about not working. i also saw trina off in manila the day before, so i was in need of some kind of family connection, which i got in san fransisco in abundance. the fest was good. i was a bit disappointed by the size of the first screening, as it was sold out, but a small theatre. but the second screening more than made up for it, being in a big theatre, filled to the brim, and with such a great audience. they were great, they got the jokes, they screamed through the whole thing, and it felt like the movie found a bit of a home in san fran. included are pics of joey, me and carmen, and a 'no skateboarding' sign that looks like a 'no unibrow' sign'. leaving everyone in san fran was hard. started with saying bye to caroline at the airport in the morning, then carmen in the afternoon, then dot, johann, joey and vance in the evening. it was very hard parting with them as they all know me to the core, and it's very hard to find, and hold on to relationships like that. i'm so thankful they are in my life and that we can continue to support and love eachother without conditions. anyways, back in manila where i will be moving out of my swanky makati place to live in an artsy place in malate...like the east village of manila. new chapter for sure. ok.

hello

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 03:58:36 GMT

hello so, back in manila, struggling with different things, being homesick, the heat, starting over in terms of work. feels like transition time again. not like life isn't a series of transitions with a couple of slow points. but things here have soooo much more...um...life? there's so much opportunity for a guy like me here...where in canada i was met with lots of walls, locked doors, roadblocks in terms of work. maybe i am still meant to be here. maybe there's more for me here. i have been busy. for those who haven't checked out my youtube i put soo much stuff up. also made a new podcast of new music for anyone interested. just send me an e-mail. anyways, gotta make this note quick as i am in starbucks on an hour wifi card and i think i'm done. love to all.

leaving on a jetplane

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 18:09:58 GMT

again i'm off. to those who i didn't get to say bye to...bye to you. i'll write more in this later. i leave with mixed feelings. truthfully i didn't want to go. didn't want to leave family, friends, dog. but i do want to leave canada where my abilities don't seem to be that appreciated..well...appreciated...but noone wants to pay for them here. so i'm off to be direk again...i'm off to do my work again...i'm off to try to attempt to learn tagalog again. it's sad to go, but a blessing to do what i love doing...even if it's on the other side of the world. and to my friend jen...i'm with you...and to rebecca...you are ugly. i'm glad i got to see you both. let's keep our heads in the space where we can acknowledge our blessings despite the rugs that have been pulled from other feet. maybe they're pulled so we can fly on the magic carpet...cue aladdin music here. love love powers powers to us.

new moon, year of the boar, nans 40th day

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:37:46 GMT

today there are three events that intersect, and my friend carmen pointed out how significant a night like this can be. i have had a very challenging time in canada. there has been death, business drama, interpersonal static, and career brick walls that i have experienced in the last month and a half. there have been, however, beautiful moments. moments of clarity, creativity, love, and a dog named buddy candido. carmen told me that there are three things i should invoke as midnight strikes and as the new moon begins. first, i should be thankful for all that is abundant in my life. and for that i should be grateful. i am blessed to have so much love, for and from, the many people in my extended family. this feeling of abundance attracts more abundance. feelings of lack attracts the same. so, as midnight hits, and as we enter the year of the fire pig, i will bang a gong (get it on) for the many blessings i have had. what a year this has been, shooting a film, recording a soundtrack, making music videos, sitting anonymously in the back of a packed theatre watching people watching Ang Pamana. Hearing my music on the radio in the Philippines. Seeing my music videos on MTV in the Philippines. it has truly been the most creative time i've ever had in my life. from tv ads, to film, to music, to theatre. i live to create and the world facilitated just that. i should stop complaining about the petty things. those things wash away with the tide, but the work stands strong. I have so much love for my loved ones. caroline, who lifts me up ( a la josh groban) when i take on the weight of the world on my own shoulders. i'm sorry for being messy. it's the abundance of crap that engulfs me like a cloud. even when we're poor we're good. i lived the high life in manila for a long time, it is nice to scale down and really understand the value of money. money finds a way to us in the most unexpected ways. the saying that 'the universe will provide' is in fact the truth. i gotta let things go. i tell people to trust yet i lack it for myself. speaking of letting go. part of the process of going into this new year and new moon is to let go of things. i have held alot of resentment towards a bunch of people. i let it go. as hard as it is, and as much as i like to relish in grudges...out i say...i exorcise you from my soul and body...allelujah. life is short. too short to spend energy haterizing. so, out damn spot. out! the third part of the new moon process is to be specific about my goals, what i want, and what i will do to get them. (closing eyes) let's 'shoot for the moon' as they say. only big dreams in this big head of mine. happy year of the boar. happy birthday dad. happy new moon. happy 40th day nan. love and powers to all. r

go here

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:01:54 GMT

everyone. go here. spread the link please. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=romeocandido

THIS GREAT DIVIDE

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:41:38 GMT

this great divide. when anna and i got the call to come home we rushed down on a bus. trina picked us up and then we rushed to the hospital with that feeling in the stomach, the feeling that this time was it. i had come from rehearsal for a show i was doing the music for, a theatre show called SINKIL, the music was for a play about a young woman coming to terms with her mothers death. the music rested in my laptop on the way to the hospital. when we got to the hospital, we were quite shocked at what we saw. we weren't used to seeing nan like this. our memories of nan are filled with images of her being stoic and strong. but at this point, she was helpless, and suffering, and the three of us rushed to her and did our best to comfort her dispite our own agony at seeing her. we just loved her as hard as we could. anna took her hand, trina sat by her legs and i was behind her just telling her to 'sleep na'. this continued for what seemed like forever. i don't know where i heard it, but i remember that the sick can always hear, so we should always talk to them, give them love, be with them even if it doesn't look like they are receiving it. so in my helplessness, i turned to the only thing i could think of that might be able to give her additional comfort...my music. i played the music on my pathetic laptop speakers, and it instantly transformed the space around nan. no longer was the oxygen mask and her mumbling the dominant sound in the space. it was this hypnotic instrumental that i had worked on for the theatre show. in my head i just kept envisioning nans soul riding to the light on the waves of the music. eventually she fell asleep to it. her last sleep. trina, anna and i stayed with nan, after dad took mom home. i don't remember how long it was, but it felt like a long time, watching her breath, watching the gaps between her breathing lengthen, waiting in anticipation for the end. when it came it was natural, sad, poignant and beautiful. the three of us just loved her strong as nans grip on annas hand tightened, and then eventually loosened. then it became quiet. life is a blessing. all of it. the pain, the agony, the sadness too. without those things we can never appreciate that we live, that we love, that we laugh, and that we have eachother to share the burden and multiply the joys. i recorded the vocals to the music weeks after nans passing, to ease the sadness and to share the emotions i felt during the time of nans transition from this life to the next. i pray that when the music is heard with thoughts of nan in mind, that she will feel only love from wherever she is. www.myspace.com/thebalikbayan THIS GREAT DIVIDE LYRICS are you waiting for me from across the great divide can you hear me thinking the thoughts i have inside maybe there's no anger when love is all we had baby you're no stranger you know all that i am wait for me (can you wait can you wait) wait for me wait for me away from me (can you wait can you wait please won't you wait) away from me i can see the morning the dream of you it fades can you hear me calling for you to stay in place maybe there's a heaven and this ain't all we have i will call you friend then you know all that i am can you hear me calling....for you can you hear me calling...calling out...for you.

nan

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:12:56 GMT

my nan passed 10 days ago. the mother of my mother. don't want to write much yet. just loving her right now and wanted to share. life is short. recognize all your blessings before complaining. that goes to me too.

call my name

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 14:17:53 GMT

canada

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 18:32:25 GMT

been in canada for 12 hours. loving it and its coldness. i'm gonna start cooking so if anyone wants to come over and eat come on by.

ten more days til canada

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 10:04:00 GMT

so. we opened to 22 theatres in manila. it played for a week, 5 shows a day, with me and the team eagerly waiting box office receipts and gross. it started slow as we don't have a major star or studio support. we had amazing reviews from all the papers...a critical success you can say. however we were competing against happy feet, casino royale and borat...let alone other big filipino films with big stars. over the course of the few days we saw the box office numbers grow and grow, largely due to the favourable word of mouth that spread through the city. however, theatre owners only see the bottom line, and our bottom line couldn't compete with the dancing penguins and the new...edgier bond. so our film rolled out into other cities after one week playing in manila. i was initially bummed because i felt a little 'grand opening-grand closing', but i was able to get perspective on what happened. A) we are still an indie film, without the network support and all them free ads on tv. B) we don't have a star, and this country, with its large population below the poverty line, wants to watch stars...wants to be whisked away from their every day reality. C) we were marketed to the A-B markets (english newspapers, cable tv stations) but we played in C-D theatres, (theatres in the 'lower socio-economic' areas) so there was a bit of...i dunno...a bit of a mix up. anyways. i am soooo looking forward to going home where i'm not 'direk'. where i can just be me, cook for my friends, take care of my family, work in theatre. i'm a bit tired from the whole thing. from the last 7 months of grinding. from making a movie, making a soundtrack, making 3 music videos, getting it on radio, doing newspaper interviews, getting things on mtv. i feel the last 7 months of experience we earned 3 years of lessons. more. i don't even know anyone who got to do what we did. and it continues. right now the movie is playing in cebu and outside cities. it's cool cuz we flew to cebu and did our publicity tour. it was wild just being in a random city, stopping in a random theatre and observiing random people watching the film. even with the manila release, we had in the tens of thousands watch the film. that's just crazy to me, seeing as when i was touring with Lolos Child it was theatre by theatre, person by person. now there are people who have seen the movie, talked about the movie, quoted the movie, who have absolutely no idea who we are. crazy. anyways....noone said it would be easy. love to carmen who is having a baby. a boy. so our psychic friend said.

couple of days to go

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 09:23:52 GMT

so. right now the canadian cast went to be on a talk show and i have a second on the internet to myself. things are real busy right now as we are opening on tuesday and there is lots happening. tonite, the gang is on tv, monday is our GALA OPENING which will be riddled with V.I.P.s and local celebrities, then on tuesday we are having a big concert to launch the album. we have a huge...i mean huge text out where more than 100 000 people will be texted the info on our movie...and every day about 3000-5000 downloads of our trailers, wallpapers and music videos are going into peoples 3G enabled phones. i keep hearing that people saw me on mtv but i have yet to see. there is just so much swirling around us but i just feel...well...nervous. i'm just hoping people come to see this movie. it's a very different experience this time around having a movie out. it's not like when i toured Lolo's Child and i just wanted people to see the film. this is different in that there are just soooooo many people involved. i will be performing for the first time in two years. i'm actually excited. normally there's just that wierd pukey feeling i get, but this time i just want to do it. anyways....to all my peeps out there...just cross your fingers for us. it's one of those things where it can change everything...or nothing. i'm just hoping to make another film. ok....later.

malacanan palace

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:14:39 GMT

so, caroline and i went to malacanan palace (the philippine version of the white house) last night for some awards event where the president gave a bunch of filipino artists a 'national artist' award. i think i want one too. the food gave me a stomach ache. you'd think that the food would be better. anyways...here's some pics. oh...on the way there we passed a billboard for our film on EDSA. IT"S HUGE!!!! here's a pic of that as well.

new music video on myspace

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 05:56:41 GMT

hello. the first video for the film soundtrack is on you tube. here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZqCBS-h0sw

van city

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 21:48:01 GMT

in vancouver attending the vancouver asian film fest. it's cold, rainy, and very vancouver. the film fest is good. small but full of very enthusiastic asian canadians who are doing their best to keep the culture alive. its interesting being here because it was in vancouver where i performed my one man show 'eat away at me' and a man named jim won chu told me that i should turn it into a screenplay. and from there my film career began. now, ten years later i'm here with my second film getting ready to go back to manila where the activities really begin. we're staying in a really nice hotel room (not paid for by the festival) with a kitchen, living room, that overlooks the ocean. i've had a very hard time leaving this room as i have enjoyed my time bundled up under blankets, working off the wireless internet in the room, and watching canadian television. its weird. i feel like a visitor here...not just van city, but canada as a whole. i see the other asian filmmakers and i remember all too well what it was like being here...hustling...working on different payiing jobs as i had big dreams to make my films happen. now i'm so fortunate to be on my second film and developping more. i think we are in canada to give us a brief reminder where we come from. a small touchstone of the many years i spent grinding in these community events. trying to be vocal while being part of the 'minority'. trying to be seen and heard by the canadian mainstream...many times being unsuccessful. now we're on the brink of being released in the philippines where we have billboards of our film on the highway, videos on mtv, songs on the radio, and tons of gala events and premieres. you know, we didn't get into the 'big' film festivals, but we're getting more than enough shine in the homeland where i'd rather the shine come. its weird where the last couple of years has led me...us...and the other people who want to come to the philippines to try and make it happen. anyways. to the 604 and their clean air and their amazing sushi....and the VAFF who keep fighting that fight. and to the rest of the asian film fests and volunteers...we're in it together.

even more pics from hawaii

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 01:32:45 GMT

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g295/cmango22/hawaii%20international%20film%20festival%202006/

all the pics

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:56:06 GMT

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33942718@N00/sets/72157594347508811/

pics pics pics

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 20:59:12 GMT

more hawaii film fest pics. catherine and phoemella, nicco+darryl+christine, me and christian (programmer of fest), johann and dot, and us at the governors party

more pics

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 20:51:30 GMT

caroline and matty, me in the camo,

pics

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 20:49:48 GMT

me and matty libatique, me and my goddaughter joey (bangladesh monkey), the boys,

hawaii

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 22:54:37 GMT

HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FEST 06 We premiered last night to a sold out house at the Dole Cannery Stadium, in theatre 18. It was a small house, but it was attended by a quality audience, from film critics, fellow filmmakers, festival programmers and to the very esteemed director of photography Mathew Libatique. If you google his name you will see that he is the hottest director of photography in Hollywood…and he’s pinoy. It was a late show so we did the question and answer session before the movie. Everyone did great. The audience was very receptive. The movie played. The theatre was 5.1 dolby so soundwise it was perfect. The top of the image however was a little cropped off, so there were definitely shots that cut peoples heads off on the forehead. The movie sucked the audience in. People laughed from the top and were gulat at all the right spots. When people stay right through to the last credit, you know it connected. It was funny cuz the old white people loved it. LOVED IT. “It was the scariest thing I’ve seen since The Sixth Sense.” said one American woman who also had a film in the festival. A big compliment cuz that movie was my peg. So if anything, we can all be proud that our film can cross the cultural divide and connect with people who aren’t pinoy. Of course the Filipino/as loved it. So, in a nutshell, that’s that. It’s too early to know what ripples were created from the screening, but I know the pebble has been dropped into the pond.

typhoon

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 06:35:13 GMT

wow. what a night. other than dealing with family matters, yesterday in the philippines we were hit by a stage 3 typhoon. head on. this country hasn't seen anything like this in the last 20 years. super storm. i actually saw rain going up. yes. you heard right. it was sooo windy that drops would fall off the roof and be carried up the building. what? the rain was not falling down yesterday. it was falling sideways. crazyness. kind of beautiful in it's awesome-ness...but really scary. lights, water, communication, energy...everything was down yesterday. most things are down today also. i just found an internet cafe running off a generator. the real devestation was apparent when i left the house last night. floods...toppled billboards...and trees uprooted everywhere. makati, the financial district of the country...the roads are blocked up by trees that were just uprooted. i took a couple of pics with my phone on the way here, but it's just madness. people died in yesterdays storm. i heard a billboard fell on a parked car. anyways...i'm living in the philippines...i'm supposed to experience some kind of natural disaster at some point. prayers for my mom and nan whoever reads this.

in the philippine inquirer today.

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 03:39:07 GMT

Pamana' gets CEB's only second `A' rating this year >> >> By Marinel Cruz >> Inquirer >> Last updated 00:17am (Mla time) 09/11/2006 >> >> Published on page F2 of the September 11, 2006 issue >> of the Philippine >> Daily Inquirer. >> >> ROMEO CANDIDO'S "ANG PAmana (The Inheritance)," a >> suspense-drama about >> Filipino folklore, was given an "A" rating by the >> Cinema Evaluation >> Board, which cited the movie's "technical >> excellence" as one of the >> reasons for the incentive. >> >> The "A" entitles "Ang Pamana" to a 100-percent >> amusement tax rebate. >> This is only the second such rating handed out by >> the CEB this year; >> the first was given to Jeffrey Jeturian's >> "Kubrador." >> >> "The story [of `Pamana'] is very well told and the >> approach is very >> original," CEB chair Christine Dayrit told Inquirer >> Entertainment. >> "Watching the movie was a hair-raising experience." >> >> Dayrit said the board screening committee was >> impressed by the work of >> Gerard Salonga, who did the "really haunting" >> musical score. She >> pointed out that the score was recorded by a live >> orchestra and that >> the final mix was done with Dolby Digital 5.1 >> surround sound system. >> >> She also commended cinematographer Odyssey Flores. >> >> No big stars >> >> "It is interesting to note that the film is not >> star-driven," said >> Dayrit. "The characterizations are so well-developed >> that big stars >> are not needed. Phoemela Barranda's acting is >> exceptional." >> >> The suspense-drama on local legends such as the >> manananggal, kapre, >> duwende and other creatures also features Jaclyn >> Jose, Alan Paule, >> Victor Neri, Cholo Barretto, Ketchup Eusebio, Angel >> Aquino, Susan >> Africa and Tirso Cruz III; and Filipino-Canadian >> actors Darrel >> Gamotin, Nicco Lorenzo Garcia and Nadine Villasin. >> >> The movie is co-produced by Candido's Digital >> Sweatshop and >> "Masahista" director Dante Mendoza's Centerstage >> Productions.

we got an A

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 08:28:54 GMT

so. it's wierd where and when we get our validation. i'm still trying not to need it so much. anyways. while the toronto film fest raises champagne glasses to toast films from around the world, I am at the local starbucks grinding the scripts to our next projects. our writing room, consisting of carmen de jesus, ria limjap and chad rialp, and i have been grinding away on the next films. and when i'm not working on something, i go crazy. i don't know what to do with my idle time. so, to the scripts...because the script is really the most important stage to a film. anyways my dad will be happy to hear, but ang pamana : the inheritance got an A grade. in manila there is an entity called the Cinema Evaluation Board. and they watch all the locally made films, and the panel judges it based on a number of criteria. technical, story, this and that... i always had a bad taste in my mouth for a group of people who got to 'rate' films. it's so subjective. but, then, critics get to destroy movies with their comments...so... anyways, the A grade isn't given to everyone. it's rare actually. and politics didn't get us this grade because noone knows who the hell i am. and these guys gave an A grade to a film with marijuana smoking and cousin on cousin action. great for us. only one other film got an A this year. A film called Kubrador which is just kicking ass. a digital film...playing in toronto in fact... anyways. for you dad. an A.

PREMIERE!!!

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 10:35:00 GMT

so. we are premiering the film at the hawaii international film festival. a wonderful festival where i met pat morita in 2002. i think i read that harrison ford will be at the awards ceremony. i will try not to geek out around him if i run into him. my god. so many things have happened. bangkok was great. finished our film. brought it back to manila. showed it for a distributor. they loved it, and signed on to distribute it. then we had to get our 'rating' from the censorship board. what we wanted was a pg13 rating. what we did NOT want was a R18 rating. so, after fighting for our LIVES, we finally got the R13 rating, meaning that all filipinos 13 and above can watch the movie. it's fair and it gives our film a little 'intrigue' at the R rating. a side note...i was wearing my 'ninoy aquino' shirt during the evaluation. his neice, jacky aquino was on the ratings board, and i'm sure wearing my shirt helped our cause. after numerous rejections from film festivals with our 'rough cut', we finally were able to send the FINAL FILM to fests getting very different responses. it's great. people are finally getting to see what the film is as a finished thing...i've always been 'explaining' the other cut that they saw...anyways. things are moving there. started working on the next 4 scripts with a room full of writers, headed by my best friend carmen dejesus. we did miss saigon together long ago and were roommates and she's like the leia to my luke. been very productive. haven't done a commercial in ages. i miss the money, but the things i'm working on are sooo fulfilling. people have also been responding in an overwhelmingly positive way to the music that i made for the movie. it's great validation. anyways...so many things to say. congrats to my cousin cara on her new baby.

kingston

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 03:40:16 GMT

i was cleaning my phone of messages and pictures and i saw one in my family house in kingston. a picture of my mom the last time i was in kingston. it was the morning. it was cool out. then i got a bit emotional. we are in a big big studio in bangkok doing the sound mix of the film and it all of a sudden felt i couldn't be further from my hometown than where i am. just on the other side of the world. chasing my destiny...whatever that may be. i remember kingston...where i was just a brown boy in a white town just wondering what my place in the world would be. i wonder if someone told me when i was there that i would be where i am today. if my 33 year old self got a chance to talk to my 16 year old self. what would that conversation be like. it would probably include kuya me telling junior me 'don't eat so much rice'

muay thai

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 09:21:20 GMT

um. spent last night watching ripped thai men knee eachother and kick eachothers heads. where am i?