Old Antics

I woke up last Sunday after another round of reediting my short film, “Kwerdas” with a pending message in my cellphone’s inbox:

Ei d na aq nakarply sau, nasa dvisoria kse aq nun. Sorry ah, d aq nakapunta. Nyway, hw bout cine tau bukas? Nabbore n rn s thesa dw s bhay eh, waddya say?”

That’s Gerry, a film buddy, who sent the message at 1:17 AM. I invited him to join me at Big Sky Mind bar in Broadway corner E. Rodriguez for a Saturday gimmick but he hasn’t replied. I spent the night re-editing Kwerdas at RG’s house, which resulted to an eleven-minute film – a version that I really love because I added some new ingredients, tweaked some parts and made the whole short more glacial in its pacing, making it more effective (I believe so) and more sentimental in feel than the original 7-minute version (all of my creations have depressing themes – even the music video that I made for Color It Red – maybe I should try making comedy and horror flicks in the future). After the reedit, I made a 36-second trailer and a seven-minute clip worth of bloopers. Yeah, you guess it right: I’m obsessed with my short film.

Going back, I woke up at 9AM with the message waiting for me and I replied instantly. I asked him where are we watching, what are we watching and when are we watching. He replied after an hour (he’s also asleep when I texted) and told me that he doesn’t know what to watch but he suggested to meet at SM North EDSA by two in the afternoon. Afterwards, he sent me a message telling me that Thesa would like to see Dan Boyle’s “Sunshine.” I replied back, saying that I’ve seen the movie twice, with morbid squalor.

I recall it as a Black Saturday, I sandbagged Jesse, another film buddy, to watch a movie at SM Fairview, with no idea what movie to watch. We’ve just found out that Sunshine is already out in theatres. Delighted that the director was the same person responsible for Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, we grabbed tickets and get disappointed. We even suspected that other moviegoers are getting ready to strangle us because we are laughing all the way, and this is a science fiction-drama. Much horrific is when we learned that Jed also bought a ticket for Sunshine near the end of our viewing. So Jesse and I have no choice but to watch the movie twice. Err…

So Thesa, Gerry and I met at Fully Booked, SM North. Thesa and I were wearing probably our most comfy outfits. Thesa is on her usual T-shirt, maong pants and slippers. I’m wearing a college shirt, fatigue pants cut into short and slippers. Gerry, on the other hand, is dressed to kill, with polo shirt matched with slacks and leather shoes. He mentioned how he felt so out of place with his outfit. Well, he came from church so it’s considerable. Thesa commented that she liked my shirt. I told her, “It’s a Don Bosco shirt. Gusto mo bigyan kita?” Then she replied, “Naku, wag na baka pagkamalan pa akong bading kung suot ko yan!” Gerry and I laughed. Both of us are Bosconians and we know what she’s talking about (emphasis on the are because “Once a Bosconian, Always a Bosconian.” Haha). Well, I think there’s nothing wrong with a girl wearing a club shirt from an all-boys school.

We went straight to the cinema houses. I told them that I will watch anythinng except for 300 and Sunshine. So we checked out the options. The Reaping is so Holy Week, we need to veer away. We don’t want to see Rocky Balboa because the idea of seeing a film about boxing after hearing the news that Manny Pacquaio won just hours ago is too overkill. We don’t actually want to see Happily N’Ever After and Norbit, because we just don’t want to. Our choices lie between Miss Potter and Ang Cute ng Ina Mo. Nobody wants to make a decision of what to watch. Gerry suggested that we have to watch Ang Cute ng Ina Mo because we are Filipino film students and we need to support Filipino films. That’s too idealistic, I retorted, but we end up falling in line for the Ai-ai de las Alas starrer.

The movie will start at 2:55 PM. We checked the time, it’s only 2:30 PM. We dragged our asses to the nearest snack station. Thesa went for the hotdog sandwich and large iced tea. The stupid vendor (SV) moves in a glacial pace, with the line of human beings getting longer and longer at the back. Then we learned that SV can’t give Thesa’s P7.00 change so I gave her my order and told SV that she could get Thesa’s payment in my money. SV seemed not to get my point so I told her to please prepare my order first and just fix the problems with the change later. I also ordered for a hotdog sandwich and large iced tea. Gerry also asked for the same order as ours but as luck spanked him in the head, I got the last hotdog, so he went for the large buttered popcorn instead. Then I noticed that my sandwich has been rotating inside the microwave oven for more than three minutes already. This marks the moment that I reminded the SV that my hotdog sandwich is already done. Stupid her, she told me that it’s just “preheating.” Three minutes? Oh God! That’s a microwave oven for Christ’s sake and bread should only be heated for just a minute! She removed the hotdog sandwich from the oven and the supposedly soft bread turned out as stiff as a day-old garlic bread and thea hodog was so hot I can’t take a bite.

The SV is responsible for us being late in the movie. Ai-ai is already on all fours with a bunch of soldiers shooting ranges when we were able to find our seat in an almost filled in theater. Anyway I’d stop the bickering now. What can we say? The production design is fantastic and the set was magnificently decorated. It is definitely another Wenn Deramas/Ai-ai de las Alas film, notable with its usual way of bringing laughs to the audience. Nonetheless, it’s a feel good movie. It’s recommended for people who dream of experiencing temporary escapism because it doesn’t require the audience to think critically. It just aims to tickle everyone’s senses. In our case, it’s a good choice all the way since we just want to relax. We definitely had a good time exercising our jawbones and abdominal muscles. We were so satisfied with the film (especially on its production design) that we watched it all over again, well until we left the theatre halfway of the movie on our second helping.

Dinner at Sbarro is semi-traumatic as it challenged our stomach’s capacity. They serenaded me for a treat which I fall upon into. Gerry and I have the same order: spinach and mushroom pizza and white pizza. Go vegetarian! Thesa had a beef lasagna. It’s a big meal and stuffing all the food to our mouths is trauma. Over pasta we talked about UPCAT experiences and I reminisced about how my parents would not allow me to study in UP Baguio where I was qualified wherein I should have taken Social Science major in Social Anthropology.

Out of unexpected gluttony, we all agreed to walk all the way to Quezon Avenue. It’s the best way to burn all the fats we acquired from eating those pasta. Out of nowhere, we are talking about Kitchie Nadal and Barbie Almalbis, about their poster as product endorsers of the clothing line, BAYO. We are commenting on how Barbie has been beautified while Kitchie looked sunburned in the poster. Gerry blurted out in the middle of serious conversation:

Gerry: Did you know that Kitchie and Barbie are actually sisters in real life?

David: Oh come on…

Thesa: Don’t fool us, Gerry.

Gerry: Seriously…

Thesa: Where did you get that information?

Gerry: From a close friend. Actually they share the same family name. Barbie Alamalbis’ surname is actually Nadal.

David: So she’s Barbie Nadal?

(one second silence, then massive laughter…)

In the middle of the strolling(?) EDSA are talks about future films and projects. I raised my eagerness to make a horror and a comedy flick one day because all of my creations are very slow-paced and depressing. I also like to shoot a night setting, I added. Thesa reacted because she loves shooting during the night. Gerry emphasized how he frequently uses the pan on his works, reason enough to cast into his memory Tabel’s prelims production, which has a very long pan sequence. Well, that’s actually a very memorable scene, by the way.

Then we finally arrived at Quezon Avenue where Gerry resides. We checked the time it’s already quarter to eleven. Bye time.