Wow, it seems to be a lifetime since I last updated this. I've been so busy the past couple of months dealing with my film class projects that I had almost forgotten this blog existed in the first place.

In actuality, I had written a couple of unfinished drafts the past month that are not yet ready for publishing. Hopefully, I could get those done with by month's end.

Just wanted to let you guys know that my personal statement film was accepted for tomorrow's Media Arts Showcase at the College of the Canyons Performing Arts Center. I found that out while on break from my work last Saturday. This scene almost captures my reaction from the news:



For my personal statement film, I had some classmates (most of them reluctant to even participate) each read a sentence from an outline to describe who I am as a person, an artist, and a filmmaker. I also incorporated clips from my high school graduation video and previous shorts that I did back in Long Beach. Also for this project, I was able to shoot some scenes for the first time on actual film (in this case, super 8) as opposed to video. I also used 6 different musical tracks within the final cut (edited on Final Cut Pro), which only lasts approximately 4 1/2 minutes!

While I'm happy my project made it to the screening, it was a shame I wasn't able to finish my other project before the deadline. It was a portrait of a classmate named Paul Zeigler, one of the first people I befriended when I started at COC and a great raconteur (which is a reason I chose him). Unfortunately, the project became cursed in my eyes after capturing some footage of Paul that almost got us in trouble with a teacher (for whose class I was doing the Portrait Project), this was followed by a 2 week suspension for returning audio/video equipment late, audio snafus in the phone interview that wiped out bits of really interesting stuff, plus the subject suffering from chronic back pains going back to his days as a flight attendant. By the time I was able to get the footage I need, I wasn't ready to cobble together a rough cut to show for the panel. The cut I was able to come up with lasted 6 minutes, a minute longer than the 5-minute limit imposed to us by the instructor. And I've always said to Paul that 5 minutes wasn't enough to cover his life and personality in a nutshell, and that I could film him talk for an eternity.

Suddenly, an ambitious documentary short is looming beyond the horizon...

Today marks Election Day in the Philippines, and I recently took part in the electoral process for the first time as an absentee voter, having mailed my vote a few days before.

Here's my picks for Senator (in alphabetical order):

Angara
Arroyo
Aquino
Defensor
Escudero
Kiram
Legarda
Pangilinan
Recto
Roco
Villar
Zubiri

And for party-list, I picked Akbayan.