The Carver's House

Below is a script snippet of my play, "Kung Paano Ako Naging Leading Lady." Give it a quick read to get an idea of what's going on. It's only a little over a minute, so it doesn't give away much.  :-) Then check out the video at the end to see how it all went down on stage. The video was taken during the technical dress rehearsal so the performance was a few bits shy of total performance level. I just thought it was interesting to compare the original text with the actual staging. - - - - - - LEADING MAN She’s only here because you’re helping her out, I get that. If she were here to steal something, that’s going to be a problem. But now the only problem I see is her English. VIVA I am efficiently acclimatized to English, sir! LEADING MAN Yes, yes, and we’re so proud of you. MELY Viva, siguro doon ka na muna sa kuwarto. VIVA Sige, ate. Ginulo ko na ang buhay mo. MELY (to LEADING MAN) I will just bring her to my room. VIVA Hindi na, ate. Mahah...

3D modelling, rigging and animation, compositing, layering, matte painting, motion capture, motion tracking, color grading, and so forth and so on. Such is part of life of the visual effects department--making the unreal seem real on the movie screen. Below is a collection of before-and-after reels--you can just imagine the kind of headaches people had to go through to fool the eye. My favorite would have to be Jurassic Park, considering that film was released a whopping 20 years ago. The quality of its special effects is still pretty solid by today's standards. Pirates of the Carribean 3 The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby VFX from Chris Godfrey on Vimeo . Fast and the Furious 4 Jurassic Park Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1 Marvel's The Avengers

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This is the continuation of a series of blog posts about how to make comics stories. In the previous post in these series, we had an overview of how a comics creator can divide a story outline into chapters or issues and end each with a cliffhanger. Assuming that a comics issue has 20 pages, let's now look at how we can fill up those pages. Every scene in your story will take up one or more panels. In determining the number of panels you need for each scene, you consider two factors: 1) How much information will this scene give the reader; and 2) How immersed you'd want the reader to be in that scene. Amount of information: Let's say your scene involves one round of a boxing match--two people in a boxing ring. If you use a lot of panels to depict the round, then your scene is  decompressed . If you decide to just use a few panels, that scene is  compressed . In the first issue of Civil War (written by Mark Millar), Captain America debates with Commander Maria Hil...

The Death of DOMA. The DOMA Demolition. "DOMAlition." The Defense of Marriage Act was deemed unconstitutional today with a 5-4 vote at the US Supreme Court. What does this mean for the American LGBT community? Smithsonian.com summarizes it in their website , but we're talking about taxes, medicare and social security, military benefits, and immigration. Individual states can still decide whether or not to allow same-sex marriages. What DOMAlition actually does is recognize that marriage is not limited by definition to heterosexual couples. Speaking of LGBT... Do you know what those six colors of the Rainbow Flag stand for? Here's the rundown: red (for life), orange (for healing), yellow (for sunlight), green (for nature), blue (for art), and violet (for the human spirit). Get its history in this New York Times blogpost.

Two strangers go off into the wilderness and try to survive for three weeks. The hitch--they start off buck naked. It's Survivor meets Adam and Eve. According to the Discovery website , the new reality series, "Naked and Afraid" is a skill-and-will contest, but there are no prizes to be won. The couples are only to bring one personal item, but beyond that they're working with what's available. What will they eat? How about water? Shelter? Clothes? Will they work together or get on each other's nerves? Or both? A good number of comments have accused Discovery of catering to prurient interests, spinning a popular reality show concept by having contestants go au naturelle for the sake of experimentation and curiosity (science?). Plus, there's still that camera crew following the contestants around, so the whole idea of "reality" is tainted from the get-go. It won't be surprising if a number of contestants are actually actors seeking a break...

I was at the CCP last Saturday, to watch the technical dress rehearsal of my play, "Kung Paano Ako Naging Leading Lady." I wasn't able to attend a number of rehearsals prior to the TDR, so I was coming into the theater with a little more naivete. The play was the third of the set. The first one was "Pamamanhikan," written by Bernadette Neri and directed by JK Anicoche. It's a poignant light drama-comedy about the relationship of two elderly women as they prepare a meal for a visiting daughter. The second one is Em Mendez' "Ambong Ambo," directed by Roobak Valle. It tells of two sisters who are at a bit of odds because of their father, who suffers from delusions. I'd call this a more surrealistic drama, as it makes references to the epic tale "Ibalong" of Bicol. Do forgive my superlatives...When "Kung Paano..." came on, I was in for a delicious ride. I was shifting in my seat during the performance, nervous and exhi...