I am referring to the song that is often sung whenever I get to introduce my name. The feeling of being connected with Beatles’ biggest US single titled, ‘Hey Jude’ is something that makes me proud because of its impact.

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• Rambling Rantings: Hey Jude
  

A Korean Gay Film

No Regret is about Su-min who left the country orphanage where he grew up and went to Seoul to study design. However, after several tough jobs, he unexpectedly found himself selling his flesh as a prostitute in a gay bar and met Jae-min. Jae-min is from a rich and conservative family that doesn’t accept his sexual identity. Jae-min who is smitten by Su-min the former pursued.



Lee Yeong-hoon gave life to an 18-year-old Su-min, a gay escort. Lee Han took the role of Jae-min who is engaged to marry, but is more than willing to give up and start a relationship with the Su-min. Together they fell into a world of complications brought about by their ‘passionate’ love that the society is still not keen in accepting.



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A Giant of His Own

Putot, is a 20-minute short film that features Carl Patrick Taylan on the lead role. The story revolves around a young boy, who takes care of his mentally ill father while struggling to make a living selling shellfish at a squatter colony by the sea. He forms a tentative friendship with Mayang portrayed by Karen Grace Pilapil, a young girl with secrets of her own.



The film is written and directed by a young Filipino named, Emmanuel ‘Jeck’ Cogama, who had its latest film, Itim and was part of the Guimaras: Short Films from the Oil Spill, which seeks to create awareness among the general public on the effects of oil spill. It was shown on ABC 5’s current affairs program SHORTS and Robinson’s Galleria in Quezon City.

Putot is soon to be exhibited in the 26th Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival, USA, 2006. It is also the only Filipino finalist among the 70 films from 52 countries in the forthcoming 29th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France in 2007. Nor Domingo and Meryll Soriano complete the cast.

It is produced by Joel Ruiz’s Arkeofilms with Alma dela Peña as its director for photography, Christine Dy as its production designer.

Cogama began making films while studying Communication Arts at De La Salle University- Dasmariñas. his first experimental film titled, Scythe and won for him the grand jury prize in his school film festival and placed 2nd at University of the Philippines First Inyorai Bidyo Festival. The same film also earned him third place in the 17th Gawad CCP para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video, 2004.

He was also the assistant director and segment producer of ABC 5’s Club TV and Shall We Dance.


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Maricel and I

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After 35 years in showbiz, Maricel Soriano has accomplished what many of her peers could only dream of, thus earning the moniker Diamond Star. At 41, she has gracefully gone through life, survived personal crises and came out unscathed. Her “new” image has intrigue people in show business, and some wondered if she had undergone surgical procedures.

Planet Philippines recently sat down with Maricel for an update on her career, life, family and love.

She arrived on the dot for our appointment. With a ready smile, she stretches her hand with warmth of acceptance and chooses a spot where she would not be hit by a beaming light at UCC Café on Connecticut St. in Greenhills, San Juan. Her tranquil presence debunks her reputation as 'Taray Queen.'

I am myself. She is honest, straightforward, brutally frank and has no fears of expressing herself, leading many people to label her as mataray.

“Who would want that image?”. she inquires as if throwing back the question to her detractors and to those who labeled her as such.

“I can’t help it if they see me as someone mataray. I cannot please everybody. I am myself, which is my personality. I was very much aware that I came from a broken family, and no matter how I deny it in the past, maybe I had all this defense mechanism in me.”

She continues: “Hindi kami mayaman. ‘Di rin naman masasabing may kaya. Kung anong meron, pinagtrabahuhan.”

She explains that what she has become is an amalgamation of her varied experiences in life. Given that she started in show business at the tender age of 6, she has accumulated a vast wealth of insights and lessons that helped her survive the many obstacles in life and made her a stronger person.

Surmounting tough times. The tough times she encountered and the personal challenges she surmounted, she says, have molded her into someone who can fathom the real meaning of work, hardship and pain.

“I can remember we have nothing to eat. I had to work,” Maricel recalls the dark days of her life. She says she is grateful for the process she went through.

There was a point in her life that she felt like a dead man walking. “Ang feeling ko ‘di tumatakbo ang dugo sa katawan ko. Kasi masyado akong nag-dwell sa problema. I came to a point in my life that I became bitter. Galit na galit sa sarili. And it took me a while before I was able to forgive myself.”

Somehow, through the mistakes, no matter how painful they were, she realizes that her sad experiences were the bridge that brought her to where she is now.

Finding inner peace. The one day, she found God, an experience which she describes as unbelievable. “It was the right time, God’s perfect timing,” she says of her spiritual awakening. “Wala talaga akong kawala. Para bang huli ka! I surrendered everything. I embraced everything. I admitted that whatever that had happened in my life, I allowed it and I chose those things to happen. It was so spontaneous, no script whatsoever.”

All throughout our three-hour conversation Maricel never for one moment appeared emotional or dramatic despite the passionate and personal topics at hand.

“I can always say that this is always me. I am still me. I just found peace in the midst of a chaotic world,” she proudly proclaims.

Each day she communes with God. She starts her prayers with the Act of Contrition and proceeds to seek for the gift of wisdom. She credits the inner peace she found to the struggles and crises.

She says she is now more perceptive, sensitive to the feelings of others, and determined to explore and enjoy life.

The joy of motherhood. She reveals that it has been more than a decade now that she had not gone out on a romantic date. She enjoys playing the role of mother to her two teenage sons, Marron, 19, and Tien, 13. Being a mother, she says, “is a growing up and learning process.”

“Each of us goes through a process. We learn life’s lessons through the many times we stand up from failures, and that is how I want my sons to be molded as they grow, to value the beauty of struggle and winning battles,” she explains.


Like other parents who painstakingly rear their children, Maricel does not consider motherhood as a problem but rather as a challenge and a fulfillment.

Art imitates life. In fact, in her role as wife and mother in two of her former hit sitcoms, Kaya ni Mister, Kaya ni Misis which eventually became Bida si Mister, Bida si Misis -- both opposite Cesar Montano -- she tried to replicate the role of the late Nida Blanca in John & Marsha as a loving and supporting mother to her offspring, played by Maricel. The current sitcom John En Shirley is an offshoot of the old show where Maricel now plays the grown-up daughter of Dolphy and Susan Roces.

Maricel is one star who dared during her heydays along with Sharon Cuneta to take on the role of a bida-kontrabida in the film Kaya Kong Abutin ang Langit, which led to more mature roles for her. Looking back, she says it was a brave move and welcomes the idea of doing similar roles in the future.

Asked if there are still dream roles that she hasn’t done, she says, “I prefer roles that are very contemporary. I want to be able to touch more lives through the medium that I have chosen to work with.” Her character in her latest film, Inang Yaya, is one that most mothers could identify with. She is a nanny to a kid and at the same time a mother to her own daughter who is under the care of another woman. The story is something that is a common reality these days.

What she wants to achieve in the roles she takes is to be a “mirror” to her audience and to connect with them effectively. “I am particular with the story. May kurot ba sa puso ko ito? Tinamaan ba ako?”
Maricel sees her chosen profession as a venue to make a difference.

“It is a question of how do I contribute in order to be a blessing to anyone. It is no longer about me. It’s about them.”

In her younger days she dreamt of becoming a flight attendant in order to be exposed to different cultures or becoming a lawyer. Those dreams may have faded but she does not have any regrets about everything that she had gone through and finally becoming an actress. After all, being a Diamond Star is no small matter.

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Was in a State-of-Shock

How would you feel when you suddenly woke up in the middle of your sleep and you were just in your t-shirt and underwear; then a gun poked at your face?

It was such a shocking scene when I was facing a policeman along with other policemen who forced entry into our boarding house with the rest of the tenants asked to squat on the floor. They searched through the rest of the rooms. Two of our drunken co-boarders had a fight and the one ended up wounded when the other companion stabbed him 7 times. The other boarder who witnessed the incident went to sleep after being told by one of the boarders (who was having sex with his girlfriend) to shut the door out of fear and his horniness to go on with what he was doing at the time. Me, on the other hand, I was so tired from the whole day trip to Tagaytay and arrived home at almost 1 in the morning, dozed off and really never thought that the encounter was already bloody. I was sound asleep.

Suddenly, the policemen from our area rushed to our place; thought that the suspect was still hiding in our house. So we were forced to pull out of our rooms and were investigated. I, who really didn’t have any inkling and was not really part of the drinking sessions and was dragged into the whole scandal. We were invited to the precinct, but prior to that I was even harassed by one of the cops insisting me to talk about the incident, which I really didn’t witnessed with my own eyes. The other boarder who was already fabricating stories to keep the other boarder from being pressed with any possible charges, tried to talk his way by telling the cops that I was part of their drinking spree, which I was not.

It was like a movie scene, when we went out of our boarding house and people were snooping. Patrol cars were there with the red lights flashing. I feel humiliation all over me to be dragged into this. When we arrived at the station, after a few statements, they realized that we were not really part of the crime. But, we need to visit the victim since he doesn’t have any relative here in Manila. I was in a state-of-shock the whole day yesterday and my boss sent me home early to get some rest. I slept at around 8pm last night and woke up at 11am today. I was really down like a dead log.

I have decided to leave the place the soonest time possible for my own safety.


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Wanna Take Back My Word...

In fairness to Lia Andrea Ramos, she still did a good job back in the 2006 Miss Universe beauty pageant.
So far, she had given impressive answers in the preliminary interviews. I have gone through the rest of the contenders, even the US's bet is not that interesting in her responses so as this year's MU.
Somehow, the contest is over. I must agree with my friend, Lizza, that I am one person who is eternally confident about our candidates. Maybe, it's just that I have seen how our country's representatives for the these types of competitions are indeed, if not good are excellent.
Kanya-kanyang panahon nga lang yan... 'ika nga. :)
Even if it's an online voting, we proved to the rest of the world that we are never beaten when we hand-in-hand support our fellow Filipino. Our kababayans were united once again in rallying behind her, which made her named as the pageant's Miss Photogenic.
To read full story, click here!
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Miss Universe 2006 Awards

Pageant Almanac

Who were this Year's Top 5

The Thermometer: Who is Hot this Year?

Where Superman Returns failed?

I must say that Bryan Singer’s rendition of the latest outing of Superman, which features Brandon Routh as Clark Kent and Superman was indeed no doubt a success in its technical aspect. The X-Men and Matrix combined awesome special effects were enough to convince me that the Superman movies have gone a long way.

The script on the other hand, miserably failed in exploring further the emotions of Lois Lane and Superman. It was blatantly mentioned in the movie that the world had moved on from the superhero’s five-year missing-in-action, but as a human who was trying to connect with Lois and Superman—I just couldn’t get through. The writers should have worked on the words of Lane’s Pulitzer award winning article titled, Why the World does not Need Superman? If they were still banking on the love angle between Lane and Superman—they could have just written a well-crafted article that they have injected perhaps as a voice-over effect to further establish the pain of not being wanted by the world as their savior.
When Lane was trying to write another article, while Superman is still recuperating in a hospital—they could have started to pour words into the laptop screen with a voice-over telling what exactly is running in her thoughts about the World still desperately needing Superman. It may sound mushy, but the Nicholas Sparks type of heart-breaking drama should very well be incorporated in these parts of the film. Superman failed when Spider-Man 2 was a huge success in establishing each character. I do hope that when the sequel comes out soon, whoever will write the script [if ever Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris will still be doing it again]—both should consider working hard on the characterization.