Malaysia

So I'm back after a while... Sorry I haven't been posting. Anyway, I took a promo flight to Malaysia last weekend. Left on a Friday and came back Monday morning. (EARLY Monday morning)

Misha had to go there for work so my friend Ben and I accompanied her for a short but fun vacation.

So if you look at the photo above, those are the Petronas towers and they look amazing!!! Especially at night!!! 

Arriving in Malaysia, there were several thoughts entering my head. 1 was that their "Low Cost Terminal" looked really modern and I felt bad for ours :( 2 is that their roads are fantastic! I felt even worse. In terms of progress, ang layo na talaga nila... Sigh.

But I don't want to ponder on my sad thoughts. 

I had a fun trip! I have other pics but I have to get them from Ben and Misha.

The Malaysians LOOOOVE their MILO. The Milo brand there is HUGE!!! It's just like here in the Philippines but they drink more Milo there. It's like water for them. Below is a glass of Milo in a Malaysian restaurant. Misha had to order one. 

For food... They looove spicy food! But I can't handle the spiciness of the Malaysians. I had to settle for chicken rice. (Good thing I love chicken rice!) For me, their food is just ok. It's because I'm really not into the "gata" included in meats... Curry? Not a fan... sorry! If gata in dessert, GAME! 

I had a blast in MY! It's a beautiful country! I met a couple of Filipinos who have been staying there for a while now. Wish they could come visit here so that they can tell their friends that our country is beautiful too...

To end this post, I just want to point out that we have the capability to improve our country... We need to get people visiting our beautiful country! Tourism. Tourism. Tourism. My Tito Noy talked to us and he's really pushing for the Puerto Princessa underground river to be part of the new natural wonders of the world! You just have to text PPUR to 2861. Tourism will definitely increase if we make it in the top 7! Top 14 is also good but why not we aim for top 7???

http://www.new7wonders.com/archives/wonder/puerto-princesa-underground-river

Busong (2011)

Busong (Auraeus Solito, 2011)

English Title: Palawan Fate

Busong (Palawan Fate) is the summation of Auraeus Solito’s artistic life, so far. Its devotion to folklore and its insistence on it being told through the usage of practical effects as opposed to sleeker and more popular digital effects is owed to the dazzling stop animation that was the source of absolute wonder in Ang Maikling Buhay ng Apoy, Act 2 Scene 2, Suring at ang Kuk-ok (The Brief Lifespan of Fire, Act 2 Scene 2, Suring and the Kuk-ok, 1995). Its reliance on romanticizing the struggle of the marginalized and the underrepresented is owed to the famous love story of the young gay boy and a police officer in Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, 2005) and the struggles of various genius high school students in Pisay (Philippine Science, 2007). Its homoerotic gaze is owed to his sincere re-telling of his own homosexual coming-of-age in Boy (2009).

The film’s most direct precedent however is Basal Banar (Sacred Ritual of Truth, 2002), a documentary that compiled very real stories of land-grabbing and other oppression in by the outsiders towards the native people of Palawan. Much like Basal Banar, Busong is a collection of stories that focus on the issues concerning Palawan. While it is the sense of community, of a common struggle, that connects the stories of Basal Banar together, in Busong, fate is the thread that ties the tales. Busong retells the stories of Solito’s childhood and the stories he documented while making Basal Banar as one narrative, made endlessly elaborate and poignantly poetic.

Busong tells the story Punay (Alessandra de Rossi) who is suffering from a mysterious illness that rendered her helpless and perpetually wounded. Angkarang (Rodrigo Santikan), Punay’s brother, carries her on an ornate hammock, searching the land for a cure to his sister’s suffering. Their search would lead them to meet several strangers --- the widow (Bonivie Budao), of a logger, a fisherman (Dax Alejandro), and the descendant (Clifford Banagale) of Palawan’s healers.

Spells are spoken to pacify wildlife. Butterflies fly from healed wounds. At the same place and time these magical events happen, foreign capitalists bully the island’s impoverished natives. Traditions are slowly being forgotten, salvaged primarily by sung stories recorded on tape and played in the radio. The film is not grounded on logic. It is more than anachronistic. The film exists in some abstract plane, where past, present, and future converge, tradition and technology are not at odds with each other, and myth and reality intertwine.

From the dreamy episodes set in the beaches and forests of the island to the erstwhile but gorgeous underwater sequences, Busong is undoubtedly visually sumptuous. However, like postcards sold in the gift shop of a luxurious tourist’s resort, the images that cinematographer Louie Quirino conjures are framed and lighted predictably to enunciate the natural allure of the island. Shot and projected in high definition video, Busong runs the risk of being too beautiful, too defined, and too welcoming. A film that grieves for a dying tradition and cautions of the masked repercussions of forced modernization is deserving of a tinge of grit, a hint of ugliness, and a possible serving of anger.

There is no denying that the film is a product of Solito’s love for his cinematically-neglected homeland, which he visualizes to near-perfection. During those moments and sequences where the film becomes incomprehensible story-wise, it is that love which is communicated with absolute ease. Each frame bursts with that unabashed adulation for his cultural heritage. Busong is essentially Solito’s ode to himself, his past and the many pasts of his people that contributed to who he is as an artist.

(Cross-published in Twitch.)