Day 2 - Paris: Photos

Just photos for now:


Chillin and freezing at the Amsterdam airport, our layover.

Our hotel room. Welcome to Paris! Tiny as a box.



Starting the day in Paris with an underwhelming breakfast: omelette. Cause it's the only thing I understood on the menu.


Paris street.


Your basic Notre Dame.

Your basic Louvre.

Your basic Venus de Milo.



The Arc de Triomphe. This photo doesn't give justice as to how big it really is.

Eiffel Tower view from the Arc de Triomphe.



Champs Elysee from the Arc de Triomphe.

Champs Elysee at dusk.


Under the Eiffel Tower. Raya says they hang out under the tower and drink. What a gimmick eh?


The Eiffel Tower! Glittering with its regular light show.


Paris as seen from the Eiffel Tower. Wow.


Tropical third worlders freezing. It's -2 degrees and raining.

On the Seine, Eiffel tower in the back.



Crepes for midnight snack. Nothing like Cafe Breton. These are huge things. This is egg, cheese and chicken.


The creperie.

After drinking, with Raya, a Pinoy filmmaker in Paris. Bastille monument in the back.


Outside our hotel, Henri IV Boulevard, at 6 in the morning, the morning we left for Nantes.

More tomorrow.

France 2007: Day 1 - MNL - AMS - CDG

I hate flying. Will someone invent teleportation already. Today Margie and I spent 20 hours or so getting to France. No sleep last night, wanted to save it for the plane. Had the misfortune of having the only aisle chair in the plane with a metal safety box of some kind in the seat before it, cutting off my leg room and making for just a FANTASTIC 14-hour flight to Amsterdam, our first layover.

The KLM Stewardesses were nice. Normally I ignore them but these Dutch ones were especially nice. Kahit Virgin Mary-blue yung uniforms, and for that matter the entire plane. The food was better too, but like all airplane food it was still shit. Just a little prettier.

In Amsterdam I found myself staring at the Dutch. The last time I was in Europe was in '97, and my memory of it is spotty. I remember Rotterdam, with big fat chickens running on the road; Amsterdam and the canals and the Anne Frank House and the wax museum, and one of our tour-mates getting hit by a tram. But I didn't have much contact with the Dutch. They're very tall which I suppose is typical of Europeans, but also they speak very good English, and with an American-based accent. The women are pretty, very fair and most with striking blond hair, though there are several with jet black hair and pale eyes. The men are huge, in coats that made them look even bigger. Unlike HK and Singapore and even the States, this time I really felt like I was in a different country.

Our hotel, Hotel Castex, is small but is very nice. We took a brisk walk outside where it was two degrees. Two. Degrees. Buti na lang we took notes in Amsterdam on how to dress for the cold. It's the first time in my life to wear a scarf. And it's raining too. We got to the hotel at 11 PM, after settling in it was too late to eat or get a drink so we just walked, on our street a stray cat followed us and played with my leg. Even the cats look different. Fat and furry. I'm calling him Pierre.

Anyway, should get some sleep. We only have one day in Paris and we'll do all the places we can tomorrow. Will meet up with Raya, another filmmaker, who's in town as well. Unfortunately there's a strike and the subway isn't running, so it looks like it will be all walking for us. Good thing our hotel is in the City Center. and close to everything. For example, around the corner is the Place de la Bastille where the Bastille Prison stood until it was stormed in the revolution. All that history, just around my corner. What a city.

I'm almost forgetting we're here to work.

Whew

After a month, finally finished an almost-script for Baby Angelo. AA and I wrapped it up in Starbucks last night at 1AM, with me polishing up the rest by about 4. I feel confident about the material, AA's writing is so fluid that it immediately brings up clear images in my head.

Also, the shorts are in the can, writing-wise. Still need to work a bit on Connie.

Sending off Baby Angelo in a few hours to the Cinemalaya people. Wish me luck.

Hammering away

I'm writing in the stairwell of a condo in Ortigas, where AA and I have decided to hole up for the vacation to write out Baby Angelo. It's 1:10 AM and AA and our host, Tweet, are asleep; I of course am still up and can't sleep, maybe I'm namamahay, but I'm pretty sure it's because once again thoughts are flying through my head. I'm also bent on finishing this bottle of wine by myself.

Last week T and I flew to Hong Kong for a much deserved vacation. It's my second time, the first way back in '91, and I couldn't remember any of the trip except that on the street, a Chinese businessman collided into me and didn't so much as mutter an apology. This time though being much older, and taller, the HK Chinese were actually very congenial. Sure they sound rude at times, but I think it's mostly because of the way they speak (loud and curt). We stayed at the touristy Tsim Sha Tsui (of course) and did a lot of walking and shopping and eating. Also checked out HK Disneyland, T's first time (and lifelong dream). It's a lot smaller than the other Disneyland I've been too, California, and a lot hotter. You can do the entire park in four hours. It was fun overall, though it was difficult suspending disbelief when you see the very white Disney Princesses speaking in Cantonese, and the Pinoy noses peeking from under the ornate costumes.

Writing Baby Angelo is a slow process, and til now we're still laying the groundwork. Cinemalaya should really consider lengthening the screenplay writing process, how is it possible to write a 60 page screenplay in just one month? I know poets who can only write one poem in an entire year.

Tweet's condo has a huge view of Ortigas Center, great to look at at night but all that light does force you to wake up early.

Tomorrow, applying for a French visa for our trip to Nantes. Woo hoo.

And he's back.

I’ve stopped blogging for a while because I’ve run out of things to say. The last few months before I stopped, I just gurgled something half-meant and General Patronage; something pleasing and inoffensive to friends, clients, prospective clients, stalkers, and my sister (hi ATK!), but it got so dull that I bored even myself.

But now I feel like I’m at a point in my life, my career, than I’m somewhere exciting, that I have to write again because I’d like to read back and remember. I’ve begun pre-production on two short films shot at the same time: Sammy and Felipe and Connie. Both films are adaptations of one Butch Dalisay short story which he graciously allowed me to produce. National Book Award winner Tara Sering is co-writing with me. Akyat-Baba, Paikot-Ikot was my entry to Cinemalaya 2007, but didn’t make it to the Top 10 grantees, which turned out to be for the best. The project got selected for Produire au Sud, a producer’s workshop, and so Margie my producer and I are flying to Nantes, France at the end of November. My entry to Cinemalaya 2008, Baby Angelo, was selected as one of the 25 semi-finalists for Cinemalaya ‘08. I fully intend on getting the grant this time. This one is co-created by my good friend Abi Aquino. And finally, our baby, Arkeofilms, is venturing into a bigger ocean. This year we made a stand on what we want to do, and I smile when I think of the possibilities.

It’s a good time to make movies.

Reset.

New blog from now on. Everything else, erased. Chucked away. This blog coming soon.