National Artist for Visual Arts and Film: Carlo J. Caparas

We really should stop bashing Malacanang's choice this year. I mean, CJC can't be THAT bad, can he? Coming from someone-who-almost-majored-in-Film's POV, here's what I know about him:

a) He's a very efficient director. (Hey, shooting a whole film in seven days is a feat. I'd know. We spent TWO YEARS doing our 20-minute feature thesis. Who cares if it's rancid pito-pito? A film is a film is a film!)
b) He's well-patronized. (If he can't captivate a wide audience, Ch. 2 and 7 won't have spent millions serializing his comics for TV. Oh, wait, sorry-- My bad. His stories. He had illustrators draw his comics nga pala.)

And besides, I've never really seen any of his... oeuvres to judge. Sure, I've seen Brocka's and Bernal's for Film Theory and Practice under Sir G; but not... y'know, SUCH great work at par with the likes of Insiang, Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag and Batch 81.

Reminds me. Is anyone free next weekend? I really should catch up with my gawdamazng works in Philippine Visual Arts and Film: The Vizconde Massacre Story (God Have Mercy On Us!), The Marita Gonzaga Rape-Slay (In God We Trust), and that epic Tirad Pass: The Last Stand of Greogorio del Pilar-- the one where Bonifacio is killed by the Spaniards. Really. Revolutionary.

Ay, wait. I might be busy this weekend pala. Anyway, you guys can go here or here.

Enjoy in my behalf. In the meantime, I will be joining the flame wars over at BenCab's statement on the National Artist Brouhaha.

2010 Hollywood and Beyond

Are they running out of creative juices out there in Hollywood or have they just realized now what us geeks have known all these time?

(Y'know, that Japanese anime pwns Hollywood any time. Oh, and yeah. That us otakus are also shameless cash cows. >_>)

There's been a growing trend of Hollywood-produced anime-to-movie live actions in the recent years, have you guys noticed? There's been Speed Racer last year, Dragonball this year and oh, wait what's that? Akira, Avatar (The Last Airbender), Eva (Neon Genesis Evangelion), Full Metal Panic and ohholyshit, Keanu Reeves as SPIKE fuggin' SPIEGEL in a Cowboy Bebop adaptation?

Wait. Lemme calm myself.

...

Is it just me or does Hollywood seem to have mistakenly equated stoic with easy cool?

Because really, Spike Spiegel is in a league light years far from the likes of Neo, Constantine and - Heaven curse yer Mother Planet - Klaatu.

Guh.

Calm down, otaku. Just because Speed Racer and Dragonball sucked balls blue doesn't mean that everything else that follows will suck just the same.

So. Two sides fighting here. There's disgust, and then there's hope. I wanna go hope - primarily because I'm optimistic that way; but also because sci-fi westerns with a jazzy foundation couldn't be THAT hard to adapt to real-life-flesh-blood-tears right? Serenity/Firefly went along fine and Aeon Flux was par excellence, after all; so it should be easy NOT to mess up Bebop (of all things, gawd), right?

*breathe*

Right.

Anyway, if all else fails, there's always this:



Straight out of an effin' storybook. Tim Burton, I will SO have your babies.

And more importantly, this:

*froths at the mouth*

I wish all Hollywood directors were as visionary as this guy. In his hands, I will gladly commit any anime's spirit. Seriously.

Then again, come to think of it, where would all the fun in bashing subpars go, right?



*More wonderfully wonderful Alice in Wonderland stills here.