Last Saturday, I did make it to those two album launches. Right after the Us-2 Evil-0 set finished at Mag:Net, I ran over to Saguijo in time to catch the last opening act pack up their gear, right before Musical O's set. A set which I didn't finish by the way. I was dead tired. Ended up in Hap Chan with bad dim sum but great milk tea and chilled taho.

I'm so happy for Us-2 Evil-0. Half of the band are my friends and I am proud. I don't know the Musical O kids, but they should be proud too.

By the way, look at these awesome album art. Both album art were photographed and designed by the brilliant couple at Everywhere We Shoot. You can say all you want about the Philppines. Yeah, the country is a madhouse ran by madpersons. But we make music and art that kicks serious ass. I don't plan on being any where else (except, maybe Hong Kong or New York, and just for short periods of time).

debutantes

Two bands are launching their first albums this Saturday.

Musical O is launching their debut album at Saguio.


Us -2 Evil-0 is doing theirs at Mag:net High Street.


Do they really have the word, "debutante" on both their albums titles? Try and make it to both!

I've been seeing a lot of good movies lately. Well, I've been seeing a lot of bad ones too. I saw The Ugly Truth on the plane on the way back home from L.A. And then the other night, I saw 2012. They're all right, I guess, for when you you have no choice but to kill time. Or, as a friend says, for knowing how to appreciate good movies by watching bad ones. Actually, you know what, just read a damn book.

So about the good ones, there was Moon last weekend. And I forgot to mention that I was able to catch Inglorious Basterds last month. It was a one-night screening for the opening of Cinemanila, and it was, actually, the only movie I caught during that festival. I hate admitting this to my friends (God, like that time I said I didn't get Radiohead), but I'm not a big Tarantino fan. I enjoy his stuff a lot, but he's not hugely influential in my, er, life. But of all his films, possibly even over Pulp Fiction, I like Inglorious Basterds the most. That's just me. Please don't hit me.

I get what they mean when this is the grown up Tarantino we're seeing in Basterds. Without completely forsaking his visual and dialogue style, Tarantino, in this film, shows that he's got the maturity and guts to let scenes play themselves out. I know that Tarantion films aren't usually considered quiet films, but I see Basterds as one of those quiet films where the tension is as thick as the hot and sour soup at my favorite Chinese restaurant.

Also, props to Tarantino, for liking There Will Be Blood and acknowledging how that movie sort of made him up his game.

+++

I saw Funny People last night. After sexually naive teens in a 40-year old's body, and meandering twenty-year olds who man up and start families, Judd Apatow deals with mortality and the very adult reality of living with your choices. After seeing the trailer, Funny People was a movie that I wanted to like. But I had my hopes tempered by mixed reviews. So I saw it, and yeah, it was a bit of a mess. But it had me laughing through out, and tearing up in some parts. If it just didn't have too many acts that brought you all over the place.

weirdest gig of the year

I haven't mentioned that for almost the whole of last week, I was in Las Vegas and L.A. on assignment. Before anyone thinks this was a high-paying, high-living gig, I'll tell you now, it wasn't.

In the span of the first 48 hours after landing in Vegas, I had to cover Manny Pacquiao's post-fight concert, Manny's victory mass, and a Wowowee episode, then travel to L.A. by land to shoot Manny and Jinkee's house. And during all that, I had to be on my toes just in case we spotted Krista.

It was also ironic that I was in Vegas during the Pacquiao-Cotto fight, but only to see the last round from standing outside a sports bar, the whole freakin' Strip between me and a soundless large screen TV showing Kenny Bayless waiving off the fight. Irony was taken up a notch the next day when I had front row seats at the Wowowee episode being shot in Vegas. I was there, shooting, and making the most of my great view of Willie R's crotch.

It's been years since I've done press coverage and even then it was never this showbiz/gossip stuff. Seriously, for awhile there, I was depressed. But it was also all so surreal and I appreciate the value of that.

And, erm, photos will come out in the January-February issue of YES Magazine, out in the stands by mid-December.

Moon

I saw Moon last night. Not to be confused with New Moon, for crying out loud. This one was directed by Duncan Jones, son of David Bowie, and acted in by Sam Rockwell. Both of whom turn in fine performances.

Moon is about a guy named Sam (Sam Rockwell) who is in the last weeks of a three-year contractual stretch to man the Lunar Industries-owned moon station. This moon station oversees the mining of helium-3, which, in turn, provides Earth with much of it's clean energy. His only company on this three-year gig is the robot, GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey). That's until Sam gets into an accident, wakes up, and finds himself facing Sam.

Who is the real Sam and is the other Sam a figment of an untethered and frayed mind, a clone, or a metaphysical manifestation of needs and wants? Will either Sam make it back home to the wife and kid he left behind? What secrets are hiding in this dark and cold lunar landscape and in the bulkheads of this ominous moon station?

It's all great sci-fi, folks. Sam Rockwell acts by himself and shows his amazing range. Duncan Jones imagines a great story and paces the film well. I like that this quiet movie punches you in the gut and also makes you chuckle sometimes with its gallows humor. Yet, Moon's resolution is just a tad bit hopeful.

I love sci-fi, the imagination that goes into the genre, the cautionary tone, and the hope that is often injected to the text. When confronted with a future, or present, where we humans will do our dumbest best to eradicate our own race and humanity via man-made natural catastrophes, artificial intelligence gone haywire, or cloning misuse, some people just want a cheerier picture. I'll take that.

But I also like sci-fi when it doesn't resolve and when it ends up asking more questions. Like what is the merit and value of reality, love, or one's existence in the face of being infinitesimal in this very large and cold universe?

By the way, if you know me, I'm really a very happy guy. Haha.