Monday, September 30, 2002

The new design of the site is up....but the front page only for the meantime. With clickable links only for this diary and for contact email. It's tough coming up with a workable design on my limited knowledge of web page design. The Flim here wants all sorta stuff that requires knowledge in stuff like Javascript and Flash and all that, things I have ZERO knowledge about.

It took some time to come up with this, and even then I'm not 100% happy with it. I'll be going back to Manila tomorrow so I won't be able to design and upload the rest of the site until this coming weekend.

I know a couple of you who are reading this probably want to help out, but thanks, I may not know much about designing web sites, in fact, I have very rudimentary understanding of HTML, but in keeping with the spirit of Wasted, a spirit that the Flim shares in his film work, I'm perfectly happy working on this site with my own hands. I know the site could look better with someone like the Tadeo zapping this site with his expertise, but I would feel a lot more fulfilled creatively if I made this on my own. Check it out! :)

WASTED THE MOVIE

Friday, September 27, 2002

The following are excerpts from the TRICIA interview I shot for the behind the scenes documentary.This was during a lull in the filming of the GAY MASSACRE SCENE.Alanguilan was hovering in the back trying to get a glimpse of TRICIA"S chest

TRICIA: ”I don’t have erections anymore.”

FLIM: “ Uhm…that must be hell! How do you get off?”

TRICIA: “ It’s better nga eh. My boyfriend doesn’t get freaked when we make love.”

FLIM: “ I see…. “

TRICIA: “ Di ba? We’re making love. I get turn on and then my penis gets erect. He gets turned off. “

FLIM:“ Well I wouldn’t want that too if it were me. In the heat of passion,suddenly something grows hard and it isn’t mine YIKES!!!! “

TIRCIA: “ That’s how he feels too . But now its better because I don’t get erect and he’s happy.”

FLIM: “ Thats good. I .. Gerry? .......Gerry?…........TRICIA, do you have smelling salts? “

I HATE sushi. Is there a chicken sushi?


"After walking for some time, the Flim's flabby body gave out and he BEGGED me to stop walking so fast and that we find a place to sit down because he felt so weak from walking, apparently a horribly exhausting and strenous exercise for him. Oookay. I'm not beyond helping someone who is in obvious pain."

It’s amazing how ALIGE’s brain turns to muck after pigging out! Must have had a neuron breakdown when his body couldn’t keep up with the amount of food his stomach was attempting to digest and with the speed in which it came! The result is that he cannot recall events in the way they actually transpired! The ” WALKABOUT” we had that he so graciously wrote down is totally off the mark. I was tired because I work out at 5 in the morning not out of vanity but out of necessity. We cannot afford a STEADICAM HARNESS OR A DOLLY TRACK so I have to manually simulate it by just using my legs!! And that means plenty of leg presses and LOTS OF TAICHI!

After that I have to edit and review the dallies from 9 up to 3 in the afternoon! I don’t just lie around in bed, the entire day. Watching my big stomach go up and down and marvel at the wonders of Mother Nature! I don’t get to do a lot of walking around because as much as I love walking I DON’T HAVE THE BLOODY TIME BECAUSE SOME TIT CAN’T REMEMBER HIS LINES AND NEEDS TO BE SHOT 94 TIMES TO JUST SAY.”Uhh Jenny I miss you…”I have to wade thru all those takes! EACH MORE HORRIFYING THAN THE NEXT!


I’m seriously thinking of replacing ALANGUILAN with a computer graphic model.AT least it won’t eat me out of house and home.

We had our reading with Budget at ITALIANIS. Quite frankly I’m sick to death of ITALIANIS. We always go there for meetings and readings. But it seems that ALIGEIs a partial owner and would eat nowhere else. As much as I want to eat Japanese I had to humor the damn actor. He throws tantrums and fits and stomps his foot whenever I mention SUSHI. Gave up trying to explain to him that there are other food groups available aside from the customary chicken.

His FOAMING IN THE MOUTH trick did it for me and I argued no further. ITALIAN it is! The things I have to do just to FINISH THE DAMN THING!


Thursday, September 26, 2002


Lights! Camera! Pasta!

If you scroll down, you'll see Noel F. Lim aka FLIM, me, and Gerry at Italianni's, Greenbelt 2. We met there to practice my scene with Gerry for WASTED THE MOVIE. I arrived around 6:30pm. For some reason, Noel was wearing his motorcycle goggles, which is weird because he sold his bike years ago. I guess he misses it.

We started our "reading" / workshop after dinner. I thought we'd go elsewhere to practice our lines and try-out the blocking of the scene. But we didn't. And I'm just glad the place was full of people and noisy, else they would've heard me bumbling around and Gerry cursing about love lost.

We did two readings, enough to figure out which lines needed to be edited and got directions from Noel on how to say this line and that line. Noel also started to sketch some ideas on how to shoot the scene. He said he wants to shoot the scene in one continous shot! No cuts! Which means it's going to be a very long day.

The rest of the time we talked about comic books, movies, and the eternal search for Jenny. I told them they'll probably just bump into "Jenny" one of these days and she'll be perfect for the part.

No sched yet on when we're going to do the shoot, but I'm sure it's going to be fun.

AND... CUT!




That's me and the Flim fighting over the script. Apparently, all coherent and intelligent thought left his brain and he resorted to childishly pulling at my shirt to make his point.



After things had calmed down, we asked a pretty waitress to take our picture with Budjette's high tech Nokia. The big guy is Budjette, the horrific looking grotesque thing on the left is the Flim and on the right is poor me about to take another whacking as soon as the shoot was over. Oh and that's the script which the Flim wrecked by doodling all over it with these silly drawings he keeps calling "storyboards".

Man, Budjette's phone is awesome. He took these pictures with it and he emailed it directly to me from that same phone. Amazing!

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

I'm supposed to be going to the FLIM's house for something, but I don't have the energy to deal with seeing his horrific visage this morning so I'll be holding it off. Blog muna ako. Last night we met with Budjette Tan for a reading of his scenes in the movie. The Flim and I went to Makati and he taught me a faster way of getting there from Paco. Cool! It was a pretty quick trip and I was amazed. You learn something new everyday.

We spent some time looking for realistic toy grenades in Glorietta but we couldn't find any hobby shops there. Went to Filbars to see if there were any new comics stuff. I did see a TPB of P. Craig Russel's Ring of the Nibelung and I was sorely tempted to buy it. After walking for some time, the Flim's flabby body gave out and he BEGGED me to stop walking so fast and that we find a place to sit down because he felt so weak from walking, apparently a horribly exhausting and strenous exercise for him. Oookay. I'm not beyond helping someone who is in obvious pain.

So we went into Italianni's at 6pm and asked Budjette Tan to meet us there. I had chicken. The Flim noted that Chickens must hate me by now because I have eaten SO MANY of them. It's true. I have eaten so many chickens in my lifetime that I could be responsible for their extinction sometime soon. Budjette arrived, we ate and we had a reading right there.

Budjette would be playing Eric's best friend ED. In the comic book Ed is a true rocker. A party animal, an all around crazy guy but very loyal to his friend. Because we got Budjette to play the character, we decided to change the character of ED into a Foggy Nelson type of character. Well meaning, bumbling, somewhat naive and innocent, but very loyal to his friend. I had re-written and translated the script to fit Budjette's real life character and of course, he NAILED it. He did great!

Budje was carrying his newly acquired cell which he got as a result of his ad with Donita Rose. For those of you who don't know, Budjette is the face of the guy snuggling with Donita Rose on the Globe tv and print ads. He took a picture of me and the Flim fighting over the script. I wasn't sure if we wanted to share it because it would prove for all time that we hate each other and want to kill each other and I want to dismember and maim him and stuff but what the heck. We'll be posting those pics here soon.

OK, I'm ready to face the FLIM's unbearably grotesque and horrific visage again. Be there in a while man.


The 2nd pic was taken at the Flim's home. There was a nice shaft of sunlight hitting the inside of the garage and because we're CHEAP and we don't even have a LIGHTBULB or any sort of lighting whatsoever, the Flim had me pose in front of the quickly fading light and try to catch up with it as it moves. My back fucking hurts to this day man.

Heheheheh, YEAH RIGHT! You just couldn't admit the fact that it was a documentary shot of you on the commode, contemplating the mysteries of the ancient pyramid.

Jeez, where the fuck you get these descriptions? Joseph Estrada my ass! Ok, the first pic was actually taken at some hospital (when the Flim's better half was confined). Noel wanted to shoot in the corridor with me walking, looking menacing, and carrying a gun. In a hospital. With patients. And nurses. And security guards. Without a permit. JEEZUS!! The doctors walked in the Flim's better half's room and the head doctor nearly had a heart attack when he saw the armaments and grenades and stuff in the room. The Flim had to reassure the doctor we were there to shoot something.

So there I was walking the corridors, trying to look mean, or whatever. I was glad when it was over.

The 2nd pic was taken at the Flim's home. There was a nice shaft of sunlight hitting the inside of the garage and because we're CHEAP and we don't even have a LIGHTBULB or any sort of lighting whatsoever, the Flim had me pose in front of the quickly fading light and try to catch up with it as it moves. My back fucking hurts to this day man.


Tuesday, September 24, 2002



Here it is! A photo from the test footage I took of Gerry in his maiden outing as Actor. Notice the uncanny resemblance to Joseph Estrada and Whilce Portacio. Notice the intense concentration due primaly to the fact that he fears one of the security guards would put a nasty end to his celluiod carrer.



Here's a shot of Joseph Estrada AKA Whilce Portacio in a crapping frenzy after three days of constipation. Had a hard time lighting this because he wouldn't uncross his legs. Damn bathroom was so small, had to put my foot in between his legs to mount the cam.


I'm busy with wedding stuff this week. Noel is once again snorting and spewing fire for leaving him high and dry but well, what can I do? I'm nevertheless here in his....CAVE hanging around planning stuff to do. Maybe meet Budjette later today for practice and waiting for the rain to stop so we can go out and look for grenades or go out and meet with our weapons consultant in Makati.

Some people are still surprised when they find out that I'm playing ERIC in the movie. I'm asked, hey who's playing Eric? Jericho Rosales? Carlos Agassi? I say, "Well, it's uh....ME. And I'm greeted with either "...uh" or stunned silence. My thoughts exactly. My parents, who have never read the book, have seen me in some of the footages and are wondering what all this is all about. Am I getting any money out of it? Will it be shown at SM? Well, unlikely on both accounts. I didn't want to do it at the start, but I'm committed and we've been shooting since December 2001 so I better go and finish it.

Why is it taking so long? Well, I take the blame for it. I'm not available all the time because of numerous commitments I have to take care of like my inking work, the wedding in December, UAP architecture stuff in San Pablo, etc. Noel estimates that Episode 3 will open earlier than us and that is likely.

But inspite of all these delays and foiled plans and whatever, this movie will get made, by hook or by God damned crook!

Sunday, September 22, 2002

" In the middle of that, Noel had to go change tapes, but if you ask me, what he actually does is he goes into his secret little cubby hole to consult his "Directing for Dummies" book, or "Idiot's Guide to Directing". He'd deny it of course."

I can always trust you to screw up even a simple fact. The book is called " HOW TO DIRECT DUMMIES & IDIOTS! "
So take your pick.

Saturday I woke up at around 6. I didn't want to get up so I just plugged in some Cat Stevens music. Man, I love Cat Stevens' music. We were supposed to shoot some scenes with Budjette Tan today, but the venue, which was very important, was unavailable. Plus, Budjette had to take care of some personal stuff so we decided to shoot something else entirely. The gay harassment scene. Readers of Wasted would be familiar with this scene. It consists of Eric, being pissed off at the world, passing by in front of a beauty parlor with three overtly gay beauticians by the door. They make fun of Eric, harass and annoy and touch him mischievously. Eric goes off but returns and shoots them all.

Now why did I write this scene? Wasn't I concerned that I would be branded a "homophobic", whatever that word means, that gays all over the Philippines would hate me for doing it?

In an interview where I was asked about this particular scene I had replied:

What is homophobia anyway? It's the fear of gay people isn't it? Who is scared of gay people anyway? Homophobia is a term bandied about carelessly, using it to attack people with definitions seemingly very far from what the word original means. I don't fear them. I'm pissed off crazy by some of them. Gays are people, just like everyone else. And just like everyone else, just like cops, priests, straight people, rock stars, actors, etc., each group has it's share of good people, stupid people, smart people, whackos and perverts. I hate gays who are perverts, gays who sexually harass. They sicken me. They make my skin crawl. I hope they fucking burn in hell.




Ok, so I was a little hot under the collar when I wrote that. But that's the gist of it essentially. I think gays are just like all of us. They're here in the world, they exist, the live, they love, they hate, they bleed just like everyone else. I have nothing against them. But I have something against sexual harassers, whether they be gay, old people, priests, kids, whatever.

In this book, I kill everybody. Even innocent people. Eric is crazy, and he kills anyone who gets in his way. I don't condone what he does. That is perhaps why Eric suffers the fate that meets him in the end. He has to pay for what he did.

Back to the shoot....I arrived at Noel's a little past 8:30. We went down to the beauty parlor a floor down from his apartment but one of the gays was uncooperative. We met some of Noel's neighbors instead and they were perfect for the part. A couple of them even made me do a double take because they looked gorgeous. Looking at them fleetingly, you'd swear they were real women.

During the shoot we got to know them pretty well and they're really OK. I didn't feel a bad vibe out of them at all, as I did the first time I saw the uncooperative person we had met below. The shoot went great and they did their part wonderfully. I was laughing in hysterics when I saw the footage because it was so perfect. I couldn't have written anything like that in my life.

In the middle of that, Noel had to go change tapes, but if you ask me, what he actually does is he goes into his secret little cubby hole to consult his "Directing for Dummies" book, or "Idiot's Guide to Directing". He'd deny it of course.

Saturday, September 21, 2002

What a tiring day! Yesterday I finalized things with PINK( the gay hair dresser from downstairs ) and clarified the shoot for this morning. He said, “ Oh yes I’m free to shoot Saturday morning just make it 8:30 I need my beauty sleep.” Told him that this was definite already and I hoped he doesn’t flake out like the last time. I’M A SUCKER FOR GIVING PEOPLE SECOND CHANCES! He wiggled his back and said that he won’t, that he was ready.

So I fell asleep blocking the shots and counting bad takes!

Woke up at 6 and started doing extensive leg exercises so I can do long dolly shots without the dolly. Just using my legs and hip.

Shower at 7:25
Equipment checked the night before but did last minute inspection just in case.

8:30, Gerry arrives, huffing and puffing

8; 35 We go in to the parlor. Pink is there looking glum. I plop the camera in front of him. He immediately bolts to the door and disappears into the corner. I look at Gerry, Gerry looks at me and then I look at the other gay hairdresser. The one with Platinum HAIR tells me to wait for PINK.

Looked at Gerry and sent him a telepathic info-bit, "ITS HAPPENING! ITS SHIT TIME AGAIN!”

Gerry just looks at me.

I tell him,” Let’s start shooting your scenes first so when PINK comes in, we could proceed with his.

Gerry nods and we do his scenes.

9:40. We finish his scenes and we go back to the parlor. Of course PINK still isn’t there. I talk to BLONDE.

FLIM: “ WHERE IS SHE, HE OR WHATEVER THAT THING IS? “

BLONDE: “ You mean you haven’t even shot him yet? “

FLIM: “ NO! WHAT’S HIS.. HER ..IT’S PROBLEM? IT SAID “ YES “ TO ACTING FOR TODAY,YESTERDAY! NOW I BRING THE CAMERA DOWN HERE AND IT STORMS OUT? “

BLONDE: “ She’s really like that? Moody.”

FLIM: “ SHE’S NOT MOODY! IT’S AN IT!!!!! AND THAT IT, IS THE NUTTIEST FRUITCAKE I HAVE EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE OF BREATHING THE SAME OXYGEN WITH!"

BLONDE: “ I agree.” Twirls his finger beside his head.

Gerry and I stormed out of that ratty old parlor and stood in the corner.

I’M BEGINNING TO HATE SATURDAYS WITH GERRY ON THAT CORNER!

“ See I told you its SHITTY TIME AGAIN! “

Gerry: “ What are we going to do? “

“ YOU’RE LUCKY ENOUGH THAT WE LIVE IN FAGTOWN! We have dozens of fags here so lets knock on every door until we find our actresses or till they all band together and get biblical on our asses!!"

Gerry swallows hard and agrees.

First door, the entertainers from JAPAN. I knocked vigorously and this knock out comes answering the door. His name is TRICIA.

“ Hi Tricia. You see me constantly walking around the streets with this camera. And I think I know your friend. He’s the big one and he offered to help me once when I had the leg cramps weeks ago. Anyway how would you like to appear in our movie?”

Tricia wipes his eyes and asks, “ What is it all about? “

He’s a BABE! Wearing only a thin shirt which does not do a nice job of hiding his
Recently acquired female attributes!

I nudged Gerry in the ribs. He was staring. HORNY BASTARD!

“ Well you guys play a bunch of kind hearted gay people who try to cheer up this idiot who is still smarting from his break up. You guys..Gays tease him and pull his bag and pinch him to death.”

Tricia thinks for a moment. And begins sizing Gerry up. Gerry backs away a little.

“ It’s gonna be fun! “ I intoned.

“ Can I ask my friend to do it with me. I can’t do it alone.” He asked.

“ Sure! The more the merrier.”

Tricia closes the door. I look at Gerry. Gerry looks at me. I look at the cam. Gerry looks at me. I look back at Gerry and then look back at the door. And then the window.

Door opens again. Tricia comes out and Gerry’s eyes drop a few inches from Tricia’s neck.

“ E.J doesn’t want to do it because he has sore eyes.”

“ Oh not to worry. I can digitally erase the red in his eyes frame by frame. I have a special program for correcting retinal color disorder! “

“ Really? Ok. I’ll tell him”

Screen door slams again.

Gerry looks at me. “ Can you really do that? “

“ I’m a low budget filmmaker not a miracle worker!”

Gerry is silent. “ Did you see his tits? “

“ I couldn’t even steal a glance, your eyeballs was gobbling up the view! “

Then Tricia comes out with EJ in tow.

“ Where’s the big guy? The one who tried to help me before? “

Tricia brushes his long brown hair.” He’s too shy eh.”

Ok two would do.

“ Now here’s the scene. You two chat about whatever you guys usually chat about. Now there’s a script but this guy (I point to Gerry) wrote it and he doesn’t know much about gays except the things he reads in the comic books. So I want you to improvise and ad lib using your unique and very colorful lingo.”

Tricia appears flattered and tells us that he and EJ would do their best.

So I pushed the start button and cried," ACTION!"

And what do you know? The gays were fantastic!Good performances! But I tell Gerry that I don’t like the background. It doesn’t look gritty enough to match the previous takes that I shot of him walking in the streets.

WHAT THE FUCK! LETS REDO THE SHOOTS THAT WE DID!

Gerry bites hard

ANAL INTRUDER TIME!!!
I did the reshoots and the gays were amazing. They kept surprising us, take after take! After forty minutes we have a rollout. Have to put a new stock into the cam. We made small talk about what they do. Must remember to write it down later. Great stories!
Anyway as I was preparing the new stock. The big guy, the 3rd member of their gay triumvirate comes out.

Gerry’s jaw drops.

“ He’s so pretty!” He whispers.

I smile back at Gerry, “ Ain’t she a peach! And she’s awfully strong to! “

Bunch of Filipino Mormons come walking by. They rent the unit a few houses away from the Gay dancers. What an eclectic einvorment we have here.

I greet them good morning and they snubbed us.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH FILIPINO MORMONS?THEY CAN'T EVEN GREET SOMEONE WHO GREETS THEM GOOD MORNING, GOOD MORNING? How come the foreign Mormons are nicer and are really pleasant? When Filipinos come in they take the concept and run with it in the opposite direction!”

10:20: We’re almost done with the gay harassment scene. Loved Tricia’s one-liners! Suddenly it starts to rain. The cam can’t get wet. Despite its awesome price tag its not really that sturdy. Instruction manual forbids it to get wet.I looked at the dark skies. Thinking of canceling the shoot. But everything is already there. Great cast and a everybody’s momentum is going higher still.So I rush and grabbed an umbrella from one of the doors and held it high with my left hand while focusing the knobs and the aperture control with my right and pushing the tripod to pan left with my left knee.

“ Someone should take a picture of you while you’re shooting! “ Gerry grins at me.

I agree, " A PORTRAIT OF AN IDIOT SHOOTING ANOTHER IDIOT! "

Packed up at a quarter to 11. American Mormons come walking by. They say “ Good morning. What are you shooting ?"

I look at Gerry, “ See what I mean? FILIPINO MORMONS! IDIOTS! “

Gerry and I thanked the twogay actors we recruited and promised them lunch. Went to a local chicken house and ordered three meals. On the way back to the gay triumvirate’s house, a highway patrolman accosted me.

“ How’s your bike? I haven’t seen you riding in months? “ Patrol cop slaps me on the back. Turns out that I knew the guy way back when I was riding a lot.

“ Yeah well we ‘ve been shooting this film and… “ Stared at his glistening side arm and his shiny black booths.

“ How would you like to act in our movie? You’re gona be this cool police officer who accidentally shoots down this idiots friend.”

He thinks for a moment, “ Ok. Here’s my cell phone number.Call me when you need me.”

While knocking on the door of Tricia, I tell Gerry, “ See good actors are where you can find them! They drop out of the sky like Manna from heaven.”

Gerry shakes his head, “ Somebody should do a movie about us! “

“ Never happen. More interesting things going on in the world aside from two lunatics making a cheap flick! “

A fat bad looking person opens the door and squeals when he sees’s our face.

“ SHOULDN’T WE BE DOING THAT INSTEAD? WHERE’S TRICIA? “

Tricia comes out and thanks us for the food.

“ IS that another gay?” I was referring to the fat one.

“ Oh no! That’s the sister of EJ.”

“ She should be insecure hanging out with you guys.”

Gerry and I sat down at the table and officially relaxed at 11:25. I pondered the immense amount of footage that I still had to catalogue and properly archive. Just thinking about it makes me sleepy. I looked at Gerry and he has a 1,000-mile stare. Doesn’t take a mind reader to figure out what he’s mulling about.” The transparent white t-shirt of a Gay GALATEA!



Friday, September 20, 2002

Harri, my friend from Australia sent me some questions about the movie via the message board:

Harri: "I read your Wasted Movie diary page... just wondering.... how many people in the film crew.... Is Noel holding the camera also or does he solely does the directing role?

It's just the two of us at this point, Noel and myself. We used to have another guy help us out, but he has since moved on to other things. It makes for some pretty hilarious situations, specially when its raining and no one's there to hold an umbrella.

Harri: "How do you keep track of Accounting etc. when you have to pay people on the street? I'm sure there are lots of people to pay... who is 'bankrolling' the movie? Are you Gerry?

Noel is paying for much of it at this point, with me chipping in once in a while. No sort of accounting is made. We don't have the brains for it unfortuntely, specialy Noel. har. har.

Thursday, September 19, 2002

Not feeling well today as Noel articulates oh so well in his diary. I dunno. I felt sleepy all day yesterday for some reason, but I couldn't sleep. I went to Noel's place last night to get screen captures for the WASTED MOVIE SITE. We had shot a lot of footage already, but only a few have been encoded into Noel's computer from which we could take screenshots. But I think we have enough to give people a feel for the look of the movie (and how fucking cheap it is. har har).

Got home really late and dropped straight to be bed and felt horrible the day after. Feel OK enough to go out and do this blogger thing and go to Noel's later to plan what we are going to do tomorrow. Wala kang takas Budje.

OF COURSE. NAHHH ITS BECAUSE YOUR CHEAP!

Bastard.

Noel Lim is taking a lot of takes which really takes a lot out of me. I'm starting to understand why he chose ME for this role, aside from the fact that he can get me for fucking FREE since this is my story and I have some vested interest in it too. I think Noel is doing a movie with an "anti-movie hero hero". Meaning, he's going against the standard belief that movie heroes ought to be tall, good looking and attractive, having voices that is deep, beautiful and well articulated. Good, because I'm NONE of those. He's going against every possible cliche there is about action movies, trying to come up with something new and fresh.

OF COURSE. NAHHH ITS BECAUSE YOUR CHEAP!

Wednesday, September 18, 2002


Heading back up to Manila today for more Wasted movie stuff. I wish I could spend more time in Manila, but I have lots of stuff I have to take care of here in San Pablo. I also needed to write the script for Saturday, a huge talkies scene involving myself and Budjette Tan. As I finished writing this scene I thought, my GOD, there's a lot to memorize here. Jeez! Noel just emailed me to say that we might need to shorten the script a little bit, which I definitely agree. I guess we might need to do some rehearsals to see what we can remove.

Writing the script comprises mainly of just translating the english dialogue in the comic book into tagalog. And the comic book was pretty wordy to begin with, specially this part. Maybe this was one of those times I could have benefited well with an editor the first time I was writing it.

Monday, September 16, 2002

"The guy can say when caught that he really didn’t like what he was doing but he had to feed the family. Actor shakes his head indignantly and says that the guy shouldn’t have any lines. Hmmm maybe actor is becoming a PRIMA DONNA and does not want to risk being upstaged by anyone."

Prima Donna my ASS! I don't care what this guy's sob story is. He slashed my bag, so he dies. End of story. We don't NEED to hear what this poor wretched victim of society has to say in defence of himself because its irrelevant. THIS IS ERIC'S STORY, not some idiot slasher's.

And we paid the guy 200 pesos not 20, dammit.


DAY 3
ROTTEN DAY LAST SATURDAY

Was supposed to shoot the gay massacre scene. The actoresses weren’t able to make it because of some last minute personal problem. So I went down to the beauty parlor shop that’s located a few feet away from the unit and recruited the two resident hairdressers. One had neon pink hair and the other was a platinum blonde. (This film should be shot in TECHNISCOPE). They said the usual reply, which should win a BANAL AWARD. “
I hope to be discovered so I can be the first serious gay actor! “ Had to force a fake smile and accompany that with the cursory nod of the head. (Remind myself to kick me in the butt LATER!!!) . So everything ok right? ‘ WONG!!!!! (Anuld accent!!!) They tell me that they have a window of availability for 40 minutes, tops!!!! Before the 1st customer comes in. So I rushed to grab the tripod and the cam and then contact my actor.

Actor comes in, looking gruff and puffed!! Fresh from internalizing inside the jeep or just plain overweight, who knows. What counts is that he looks perfect for the scene. So we rush down and plant ourselves inside the beauty parlor. The hairdressers were sitting there and there seems to be a minor squabble or whatever they do. Then after waiting for about twenty minutes the PLATINUM BLONDE comes over and tells us to shoot later in the afternoon like one.


They can’t shoot because they have something. I ask him, “ Is this a gay thing? “


He nods and says something like that. Turns out someone stole someone’s boyfriend or something and he or she just can’t have that kind of thing in a place where they were working together.


Told him that much as I find this intriguing, I have a film to shoot and we are way off sched. So I told him that I can’t wait for them and rush out with the actor and we just stood outside the streets for a moment.


The temptation to call off the shoot was very high. The actor was panting and breathing heavily. Maybe it was that sound that catapulted my brain for maximum overdrive, who really knows. I then told him that we’d just shoot the telephone-bashing scene.
Forget about the idiot who was good at playing dead or dying victims! If we wait around for him. EPISODE 3 would be rushing past us. Just shoot the phone booth scene and I’ll find a snatcher!

I grabbed the first guy I bumped into. THE SON IN LAW OF THE CONDO’S GUARD. He was busy cooking in the garage. I asked him if he could act as a snatcher. All he has to do is to slash the bag of the actor and get his face rammed into the phone booth. He smiles and guffaws a lot and says “ Sure! “


Small problem. We need a slashing implement and since this wasn’t scheduled to go we had to improvise one on the spot.


Went back to the house and Actor started fashioning a make shift knife which looks very accurate for a third world criminal While creating the prop he tells me that the guy looks too innocent and sweet. I told him that it would make the scene more poignant. The guy can say when caught that he really didn’t like what he was doing but he had to feed the family. Actor shakes his head indignantly and says that the guy shouldn’t have any lines. Hmmm maybe actor is becoming a PRIMA DONNA and does not want to risk being upstaged by anyone. Before we can argue it any further the nice looking guy backs out again and tells us that he really can’t act.


My energy level was a bit low at the time and I didn’t want to convince him to do so. Actually if I felt like it I could have swayed him into doing it but… SO we stood there again in our favorite spot and then looked at the prop that the actor just finished. DAMN! Im not going to let my shot be ruined by a bunch of gay flakes and a non descript cook. So I then shouted amongst the pedicab drivers hanging out in the corner, "WHO WOULD BE WILLING TO ACT IN MY FILM ? " . Gerry whisphered that we should pay him , 20 pesos! "AND WOULD BE PAID 20 PESOS! " Surprisingly one came running forward. He said he would act. And the guy looked the part. Has a passing resemblance to a hybrid of JOE PESCI AND A GREMLIN. Nice eyebrows and a slimey smile.


Great!!! So we haul the equipment to the telephone booth and started directing the PEDICAB DRIVER. Everything was looking good except for one more drawback. The guy can’t act evil. Despite his appearance he was a really nice guy. And every time I blocked the scene, the guy just breaks out smiling.


Given the time, I could have worked on him more and made him convincing because I believed that anyone can act! ANYONE! But there was no time for a workshop the location was suddenly crammed by a lot of bystanders. The words, ‘ SHOOTING! MAY SHOOTING! “Spread like wildfire. Never mind the fact that there were only two guys and a third guy holding a big camera ,everyone still rushed in to watch. The jeepneys stopped and there was traffic clog that you wouldn’t believe.


IT would just be a matter of time before the cops come rushing in, demanding lunch money. I have to shoot this fast. I told the guy if he has sunglasses, to wear them. Actor tells me that it doesn’t seem practical having him wear sun glasses like that. I said,“ Heard and noted! Where are the sunglasses? “ The problem with the Pedicab driver was when he smiled his eyes would take on this gentle and playful look that just doesn’t go well with the scene.
SO JUST OBSTRUCT THE DAMN THING!
The pedicab driver then whips out these pair of predator like visors.


That’s cool. Even Gerry says it looks great. RIGHT LETS SHOOT!


The shots were difficult to frame because of the amount of people in the background. Being a very low low budget flick we have no crowd control but I thought for a second why hide the fact there were people watching. I mean when there’s a fight out in the streets, people flock to watch right? So I told the crowd to look at Gerry and the Pedicab driver and not look at the camera. DON’T LOOK AT THE CAMERA!
And what do you know. They didn’t! Well…most of them anyway. Did 20 takes of the confrontation scene. Gerry looked totally..Pardon the pun, WASTED! Every time I would ask for another take he gives me this look like I have an anal intruder and wanted another run. But it would disappear as quickly and he’d do the scene.


THEN THERE WAS BASH THE SNATCHER’S FACE INTO THE BOOTH SCENE.


After numerous takes it still didn’t look right. The pedicab driver’s head didn’t look like it was making contact with the booth. So I told him to give his head an extra snap back at a certain cue. He tried his best and after seven takes I had to stop. He looked like his brain got addled a little. I called for a break and studied the booth. My shooting style for this movie was to make it as natural as possible. No fast dolly shots and trendy MTVISH hand held camera stuff. And not the other techniques that I call THE FLIMFLAMS TRIMMINGS! But the murder scene just didn’t look violent enough. Add the fact that we didn’t have any fake blood lying around. As I stated earlier this was a last minute insert shoot. So I said well… go back to the trademark tricks that you used before. If it worked then, maybe it would work now. So I removed my lens attachment and locked the cam on the tripod. I told Gerry to bash the guy’s head in as hard as he can without making contact. I told him to face the cam while doing it.


I did take after take after take. Couldn’t remember how much. The pedicel driver was a real trooper. Showed them the shots on the monitor. Gerry said that he looked like he was playing ping pong.” Exactly. Told the cabdriver that he was finished for the day. Gerry slipped him two hundred bucks. Seems that he enjoyed playing ping-pong with the guy’s head. Told the cab driver to make him available for the next few days for pick up shots and he agreed!


Made a mental note to drench the phone with dried blood and some brain bits and stuff for the insert shot. This is going to be a STEALTH SHOT.


We stood inside the video rental shop which we acquisitioned to be our make shift command center. Thanks to the nice guard and very supportive cashier. Gerry says something like it’s good we didn’t post poned the shoot just because the two batches of gay actors and the non-descript cook backed out in the last moment. That we had to keep on shooting no matter what. BUT OF COURSE! That’s the reason we did this independent style! There are many drawbacks like no one does crowd control or a battery of production assistants to aide you or as many explosive squibs as you would like. But independence grants you, freedom to shape the film the way you like it to be. The freedom to cast whomever you want and most importantly the right to have FINAL CUT!


I told him to watch the footages. But he tells me that he needs to help someone do some stuff. Shorthand for I NEED TO GET SOME R & R Far be it for me to stand between a man and his R! . The guy earned it. I’ll give him the rest of the week off. That’s the least I can do. If he only knows what’s in store for him the next couple of shooting days.



Hey man, I was starting to think you'd NEVER make it. Jeez. You can cut and paste your posts from your other blog to here, if you like. And from now on, I'll be posting all Wasted movie related stuff here, instead of my personal journal. What I'm working on now? I'm trying to finish writing the rest of the script so we can start shooting those. Sorry its late man, I'm lazy. So there.

HEY IT ACTUALLY WORKS! THE DUAL LOGGING THING I MEAN!!!!!

Sunday, September 15, 2002


Hey there. This here is our diary of the making of the Wasted movie. You will be hearing from me, Gerry Alanguilan, as well as the director, Noel F. Lim, as we talk about the making of this movie. I promise it will be quite an interesting read.

I've put up an official site for the movie which you can find here: http://wastedthemovie.com. Nothing there yet, sorry! But we will soon be filling that with screenshots from the film as well as profiles of the actors and actresses who appear in it. Any suggestions on what you guys want to see in this site? Feel free to write me: timawa@laguna.net

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