Yay! Piso finally became the Billabong Cloud 9 champion!

Edito Alcala or “Piso” won the recently concluded Billabong Cloud 9 Invitational. Piso won over 48 international surfers including the defending champion Wade Goodall of Australlia.
Piso is the second Filipino to win the international event in Siargao. Rodolfo “Osot” Alcala won the title in 1990s.

Billabong Cloud 9 Invitational is joined by professional surfers from all over the globe. According to reports, pro surfers including Jason Shibata (Hawaii), David Reardon-Smith (USA), Tipi Jabrik (Indonesia), Marlon Gerber (Indonesia), Granger Larsen (Hawaii) and Laurie Towner (Australia) rode the waves of Siargao.

This is a good news and I can’t help reminiscing my Siargao experience so here it goes. We went there last February 2008 for The BEAT Special.

Who is Piso? Piso has long been a local hero. I remember the Mayor of their town telling me that Piso will be a future champion. That was last February and obviously she didn’t make a mistake. I was fortunate enough to interview Piso during our visit in the island for our show The BEAT (formerly Sapulso). I’m trying to find my script for that story to give you guys more details but I think it’s on my other computer; I’m still in Pan Pacific. Piso during that time is still starting out his surfboard repair shop which he told me is his bread and butter. The guy breathes the waves and he practically knew surfing by heart. He offered to give me a few surfing lessons but because of the busy schedule (very busy schedule) I had say no. See our pictures from the grave after the jump.

Edito 'Piso' Alacala - the Billabong Cloud 9 Champion during our shoot. Yes that's him, real surfer huh?!

L-R: Yours truly, mayor's husband, Piso's surf board, the mayor, G-spot cameraman, and ace barbers' left hand :p

Pan de Surf - Pandesal that is shaped like a surfing board. Piso's fave breakfast.

Siargao as how the local describes it is the surfing capital of the Philippines. I don’t know if they already passed a bill in the congress or at least in locally but heck (yeah you need to do that if you want to claim a title, I learned this when I was writing for Manila East Watch) the place indeed looks like a surfing haven.

Another trivia perhaps is Siargao and Surigao are two different places. Surigao is the major island that is divided into two provinces (as in Surigao del Sur and Surgiao del Norte). Siargao on the other hand, the surfing capital of the Philippines is a two hour boat ride from Surigao City. It is composed of 11 small municipalities which thrive on coconut and obviously tourism.

Back to the news: Goodall took home US$4500 as the second placer while Piso won US$7,500. And that’s more than enough to complete his small surfing board shop.

The BUZZ For In Search of a New Host - Logo

Following the suspension of Cristy Fermin, ABS-CBN’s The Buzz is now in search of a new host – temporarily. Reports indicated that among the celebrities being eyed to replace Cristy Fermin were the following: Ai Ai delas Alas, Angel Locsin, Gretchen Barretto and Charlene Gonzalez.

The Buzz is currently hosted by Boy Abunda and Ruffa Gutierrez alongside Jobert Sucaldito and Phoemela Baranda.

“It was deemed that Ms. Fermin did not conduct herself with due regard to social conventions and public morals,” said the statement. “Her statements went beyond the bounds of decency as they involved innocent children who are not party to her personal dispute [with former actress Nadia Montenegro].”

Fermin’s suspension raised different opinions where most of which thinks that the suspension was not enough. What do you think?

10th Cinemanila Film Festival - DEKADA Cinemanila Unveils New Films Official Ad Image

Today is the start of the 10th Cinemanila International Film Festival and it will run until October 29. Storm Gateway Cineplex 10, Araneta Center if you want to take a glimpse of what one of the largest film organization in the country has to offer for its 10th year.

The line-up of films contains careful selection from acclaim film and movie award giving bodies. Expect to see Cannes Film Festival, Venice and other international film festival award winners. Films from over 35 countries were gathered to make up for this event. A warning tho, this is not a mainstream event, ever heard the word indie? So if you guys are looking for films that are literally explosive and are easily describable as blockbuster, then don’t come here. In my opinion, films here are for the intellects, for those who know how to appreciate visual and moving art.

The first film you can watch is by Hong Kong director Johnny To. Entitled Sparrow the film was first shown in Berlin Film Festival.

Lav Diaz’s winning opus at Venice’s Orrizonti section, Melancholia, will try to get the Brocka Award with other critically acclaimed films from Australia (Lucky Miles), Israel (Band’s Visit), Iran (Night Bus), Iceland/USA/Philippines (Truth About Queen Raquela), Japan (United Red Army) and even Russia (Vanished Empire).This is for the International Category.

The Philippines’ Adela and Confessional have to face off with the likes of Indonesia’s Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly. The latter is incidentally the winner of last year’s Boracay Co-production Meeting. Also in the running are choice picks from Malaysia (Flower in the Pocket), Thailand (Love of Siam), Singapore (12 Lotus) and Indonesia (The Photograph).

There is also a Tribute to Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Section which showcases films that were showed at the Directors’ Fortnight of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival (talk about the cream of Cannes Festival).

For more information you can check the official website of Cinemanila.

Here’s my script for ERASERHEADS: The Reunion Concert The BEAT Special. It aired last September 1, QTV 11 of course, 10pm  . This segment took a few hours to complete. And I know kaya pa siyang mapaganda, kaso wala nang oras. Unexpected things happened. Enjoy our fruit of labor LOL. It’s just the audio part, I had no time to write video descriptions! It supposed to be a one body segment, kaso ginahan ako magsulat, so our Program Manager decided to make it a two body segment.

VO

MARCUS ADORO…

BUDDY ZABALA…

RAYMUND MARASIGAN…

AND ELY BUENDIA, 4 DIFFERENT SOULS DESTINED FOR GREATNESS…

THEY ARE THE ERASERHEADS, ONE OF THE GREATEST FILIPINO BANDS THAT THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!

/breaker

HULING EL BIMBO, FRUITCAKE, MAGASIN, PARE KO, TOYANG, ALAPAAP, WITH A SMILE, LIGAYA, TINDAHAN NI ALING NENA, PARA SA MASA AND MANY OTHERS WERE AMONG THE BAND’S MOST POPULAR SONGS.

EVERYBODY LOVED THE BAND WHICH WAS FORMED IN UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES, DILIMAN IN 1989!

FILE SOT (PREVIOUS FEATURES ON THEM BEFORE THEY DISBANDED>)

THEIR PHENOMENAL RISE TO STARDOM WAS UNPRECEDENTED BY ANY PINOY GROUP! THE WAY THAT THEIR FANS AND SUPPORTERS LOVE THEM IS SO INTENSE THAT THEY ARE DUBBED AS THE BEATLES OF THE PHILIPPINES!

THE BAND PRODUCED A TOTAL OF 13 CHART BREAKING ALBUMS, INCLUDING POP U! IN 1991, ULTRAELECTROMAGNETICPOP IN 1993 WHICH GOT 6 PLATINUM AWARDS AND CIRCUS IN 1994 WHICH RECEIVED QUINTUPLE PLATINUM AWARDS!

APART FROM THEIR TOP RATED ALBUMS, THE BAND IS ALSO KNOWN FOR THEIR OVERSEAS PERFORMANCES. THEY ALSO RECEIVED THE MOST COVETED MTV ASIA VIEWER’S CHOICE AWARD IN 1997.

BUT PERHAPS, ERASERHEADS’ GREATEST LEGACY IS NOT IN THE RECORD SALES, NOR IN THE SONGS THAT TOPPED THE CHARTS. IT IS IN THE WAY THEY CHANGED THE PHILIPPINE MUSIC INDUSTRY, SHOWING TRUE FILIPINO CREATIVITY AND TALENT!

PUT A SHORT MONTAGE OF GUITAR STRUMMING

BUT THE GREAT PINOY BAND DREAM ABRUPTLY ENDED IN MARCH 2002. (INSERT FILE ON THEIR BREAK-UP IF THERE IS NO VIDEO AVAILABLE, AT LEAST CLIPPINGS FROM THE NET, SCORE WITH NEWSY MUSIC)

THE BAND BROKE UP, ALONG WITH THE MILLION OF THEIR FANS’ DREAM OF GREAT MUSIC!

THE FOUR MEMBERS CONTINUED THEIR QUEST FOR MUSIC EXCELLENCE WITH MARCUS ADORO PERFORMING AS MARKUS HIGHWAY, BUDDY ZABALA IN THE DAWN, RAYMUND MARASIGAN IN SANDWICH AND ELY BUENDIA IN PUPIL!

THE BAND MEMBERS HAD NEVER BEEN SEEN TOGETHER ON STAGE SINCE THEY DISBANDED 6 YEARS AGO, SO WHEN A SMALL BLOG POST HINTED THAT A REUNION OF THE QUINTESSENTIAL 90S BAND WAS IN THE OFFING, THE NEWS AND EXCITEMENT BROKE LOOSE LIKE “ALOHA MILKYWAY” EXPLODING!

/transition

VO

BUT AS IF DESTINY PLAYED ITS TRICKS, A BARRAGE OF PROBLEMS WERE ENCOUNTERED SHORTLY AFTER THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF AN ERASERHEADS REUNION CONCERT!

Up sot from news

THE ORIGINAL SPONSOR FACED SOME LEGAL ISSUES.  THERE WAS AN IMMEDIATE CHANGE OF VENUE AND ORGANIZERS, AMONG OTHERS. AND ON LATE AUGUST…ELY BUENDIA’S MOTHER PASSED AWAY.

/transition

VO

BUT INDEED, NOTHING COULD STOP THE HISTORIC REUNION OF THE ERASERHEADS, AND SO LAST SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2008 AT THE FORT BONIFACIO OPEN FIELD, THE STARS, SUPPORTERS AND FANS CAME IN DROVES TO SEE THE BAND!

MOTS – anticipation, what they wanna hear, matagal nilang hinintay etc, both artists and fans ito

/transition

Val SU

After 6 long years, the ultraelectroagneticpop band eraserheads is reunited for a one night concert! Kaya toyang, nena, Shirley at mga pare ko, shake yer head and overdrive sa alapaap ng ligaya with the greatest Filipino band, Eraserheads!

VO

MINUTES BEFORE THE START OF THE CONCERT, THE CROWD WAS ALREADY WILD…(PAUSE VO THEN INSERT SITNERS OF ANTICIPATING CROWD—) - CHEERING AND COUNTING EVERY SECOND TOWARDS THE MOST ANTICIPATED EVENT!

AND WHEN THE BAND FINALLY CLIMBED UP THE STAGE…(PAUSE VO TO ALLOW SCREAMING, NOISE BARRAGE OF CROWD)…. FORT BONIFACIO SIMPLY BECAME, INDESCRIBABLE.

Up sound

(UPSOT EXCERPT WITH “ALAPAAP” PART OF SONG)

THE FIRST SONG TOOK THE AUDIENCE TO THE SKY!

UPSOT EXCERPT WITH “LIGAYA” LINE…THEN VOICE OVER:

HAPPINESS IS ALL AROUND THE FIELD…

UPSOT EXCERPT WITH “SEMBREAK”…THEN VO…

AND FOR A WHILE…IT FELT AS IF TIME STOOD STILL WITH THE ERASERHEADS ON STAGE…

THE CROWD SANG EVERY LYRIC OF THEIR SONGS! MARCUS ADORO AND BUDDY ZABALA GAVE A GOOD TUNE WITH THEIR GUITARS. RAIMUND MARASIGAN BEAT THE DRUMS, WHILE ELY BUENDIA SANG HIS HEART OUT.

EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT, UNTIL THE LAST SONG OF THE FIRST SET ‘LIGHTYEAR… ELY.  THIS AMATEUR FOOTAGE TELLS ALL….(JUST LET THE VIDEO ROLL SO VIEWERS CAN SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING)

NOT LONG AFTER THE LIGHTS WENT OUT…

A SHORT BREAK WAS ANNOUNCED AS THE COUNTDOWN TIMER FLASHED ’20:00 MINUTES’ ON THE HUGE VIDEO SCREEN.

AFTER WHAT SEEMED LIKE MORE THAN 20 MINUTES, ELY’S SISTER CAME OUT ON STAGE ALONG WITH THE OTHER BAND MEMBERS AND THE CONCERT ORGANIZERS.

-BREAK FOR GAP-

SECOND GAP:

VOICE OVER:

TWENTY MINUTES AFTER THE LONG BREAK….

ELY’S SISTER CAME OUT WITH THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ERASERHEADS…

BEARING THE BAD NEWS…

UPSOT OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT

(SHOT OF CROWD’S REACTION…NO VO)

UPSOT APOLOGY OF THE GROUP AND THE ONE MINUTE SILENCE

/breaker

Band members approaching the audience

FANS AND SUPPORTERS WERE STUNNED AS THEY WERE REQUESTED TO IMMEDIATELY LEAVE THE VENUE, AND MANY EXPRESSED THEIR SHOCK AND CONCERN OVER ELY AND HIS HEALTH.

MOTS

VO

IT CAN BE REMEMBERED THAT ELY HAD TWO HEART ANGIOPLASTIES; A SPECIAL OPERATION ON THE HEART LAST JANUARY 2007.

Sot buddy

MANY BELIEVE THAT THIS, PLUS HER MOTHER’S RECENT DEATH, COMBINED WITH THE PRESSURES OF THE REUNION CONCERT CAUSED EXTREME PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL STRESS THAT NEARLY BROUGHT DOWN THE ARTIST. AS OF PRESS TIME, IT WAS REPORTED THAT ELY’S CONDITION IS STABLE.

Sot organizer

Val SU

Despite what happened, fans and supports of eraserheads are hoping for a happy ending both for the band and ely’s health.

/transition

UP ELI SINGING (PARA MAS DRAMATIC AND ENDING.  LAST SAY NI VAL, LAST VIDEO NI ELY)

/end

Of course, here’s the video:

Fast news. Jollibee Foods Corp. acquired 70 percent of Taiwanese restaurant chain Lao Dong for 61.1 million pesos. That’s equivalent to US$1.37 million. So they basically own now that company.

And last year, Jollibee also acquired a Chinese restaurant chain Hongzhuangyuan for about US$50.5 million. Now that’s a lot of money.

Why? I’m not entirely sure. I’m not a business expert. Perhaps Colayco can answer that. Until I get the chance to ask him, I’ll just have to keep my answers to myself (or I can give you something to read).

Fact is Jollibee wants to expand. Who doesn’t anyway. If you’re a big company and you can do it, why would you choose not to?

Jollibee is so large that it can actually feed the entire country. Ok, I was exaggerating. Another fact, they have 1,5000 outlets operating throughout the country and 194 operating overseas. I remember my old joke: Your place is not civilized or not a city unless you have a Jollibee branch.

I guess I’m seeing that they want this to happen (see the image). Jollibee on top of McDonald’s - literally. That may be something that Pinoys can be proud of. But why are they buying Chinese Restaurant Chains? Why not American or any other Restaurant lines? I just hope they won’t serve dumplings and hot noodles in their stores anytime soon.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has declared every third week of June as the “Typhoon and Flood Awareness Week.” This is under the power of Proclamation No. 1535.

Sorry for the harsh title. I’m just a bit uncomfortable whenever I hear a blah, blah week, or a blah blah day, or a blah, blah month. I’ve just had enough of these holidays, occassions and celebrations. I mean, we only have 365 days a year and how many days out of that number are holildays? How many weeks are connected to a celebration or another awareness program? And to make things worse, President Arroyo has this habit of “moving holidays“, turning supposedly solemn and historically important days into convenient schedules that are always moved in weekends. I don’t know what history purists think about this but as for me, I’m not buying it.

Anyway, the week is for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) to do its job. I can’t believe they need a special week to do that. The President ordered them to do a massive information and education drive on typhoons, floods, drought and other forms of destructive weather phenomena during this week.

And what are they gonna do the rest of the year? Prepare for that special week? Besides, how are they going to accomplish that if it’s raining like Noah’s time, all major roads are inaccessible, electric power lines are down and classes are suspended while the rest of the country stays at home drinking some hot soup?

A typical Oblation run scene!

It’s my alma mater’s 100th and so here goes Alpha Phi Omega fraternity with their yearly Oblation run, but this one’s special. 100 Oblation runners for the 100th year of the University of the Philippines. You can do that math or you can do some learn some history, either way you’ll find out that UP was established in 1908, and so beings the 100 years of academic excellence, freedom of expression and all the other terms people would like to use to self-serve them and lift their ego.

No I’m not a member of Alpha Phi Omega and no I didn’t watch this years Oblation run nor the last year’s nor the year before last year’s and so on. The only time I watched it was when I was a freshmen. You should know why. So if there is a friend of yours who opted to watch Oblation run more than once there can be only a very few explanations to that. If that friend is a she, she may be just fan, her class was ongoing during the run, she had a boyfriend who is an APO member, she is an activist who supports the cause or she could be a nymphomaniac - she is your friend so you’ll just have to choose. If that friend is a he, sorry but I couldn’t think of any reason to see Oblation run more than once besides the fact that he is gay.

Anyway, here’s the report of 24 Oras.

To all iskolar ng bayan, happy centennial!