(FROM A WEEKEND NOTE, THE EDITOR'S LETTER IN STYLE WEEKEND, THE LIFESTYLE WEEKLY PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY IN MANILA BULLETIN, 8 AUGUST 2008)
Strung on a stick and dipped in hard sugar candy coating, the crab apples are a treat even before you have a taste of them, arranged like flowers on a basket at the back of a bicycle. Along Wangfujing, the shopping street in the middle of Beijing, these vendors on bikes look as ancient as the Great Wall of China, where it reveals itself at the Juyon Pass some 50 kilometers from the capital, and the skewers of miniature apples, also known as tang hu lu, that they peddle around town seem as Chinese as Tiananmen Square, except that, at least according to Wikipedia, the candied apple, otherwise known in America as caramel or toffee apple, owes its existence to New Jersey candy-maker William W. Kolb, who has been given historical credit for inventing it in 1908.
BLURB
Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters? —Confucius (551-479 BC)
But in northern China, the pleasures of the tang hu lu are not limited to apples, which are just as famous as strawberries, blueberries, grapes, pineapples, and kiwifruit as street delicacies wrapped in a delightful sugar glaze, and not even quite as traditional as the Chinese hawthorne. Still, when I eat candied apples on a bamboo skewer, I always imagine myself walking down the banks of Houhai Lake, a leafy lakeside neighborhood that traces its origins to the Yuan Dynasty, sometime in the 14th century, when Houhai, along with two other lakes connected to it, was dug out to allow “barges to bring in goods from all around China and beyond to the emperor in his nearby Forbidden City.”
I heard that Houhai, which was a quiet park district abuzz only with the occasional tourist and some residents walking their dogs the last time I was in Beijing, has acquired some kind of a split-personality: a laidback lakeside promenade by day and a party-hearty zone by night, lined with bars and clubs and throbbing with teenagers no longer chained to Chinese traditions, as though influenced by the controversial novelist Wei Hu, whose Shanghai Baby was, at least in the ’90s and at least in the realm of the sexes, the literary equivalent of the War of Liberation. It is just as well now that Beijing has embraced the virtues as well as the vices of the modern world. Even within the ancient walls of the Forbidden City, once off-limits to the common folk, unless you were a concubine, a eunuch, or a servant, there is now room for such practicalities as hot pants and tubes, especially in the summer when throngs of tourists invade this portal to more rigid times.
Today, 08/08/08, an auspicious date in the Chinese calendar, temperatures in Beijing range between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius. It’s a terrible time to squeeze yourself into the crowded bleachers and, with adrenaline rushing and sweat pouring, cheer your country on, one voice in a world of nations all screaming for “One World, One Dream.” We have some 15 athletes going for gold there and, with hope, aside from the politicians and aside from Manny Pacquiao and his entourage of many, there will be more of us to raise the Philippine flag as well as the spirit of our representatives on the field, in the court, in the arena, in the ring, and elsewhere, where Olympic glory is at stake. I am no sports fan, but I envy those who now have the opportunity to be one with the world and to see Beijing as it has never been seen before.
In the meantime, when tourist arrivals drop a bit after all this Olympic frenzy and cold, bitter winter sets in toward the end of the year, I dream of visiting Beijing another time. With an apple skewer in hand and preferably snowflakes on my lashes, I dream to experience the Forbidden City yet again, crossing from the south through the Meridian Gate all the way to the north through the Gate of Divine Might. Without the crowds, at the top of the Yellow Crane Tower, I might catch a glimpse of a crane flying over the Yangtze. In the chill of winter, in the inner courts of the Forbidden City, and elsewhere in the old city of Beijing, visitors do not fill every gap in space and time with a Babel of awe. Instead of rushing headlong into a future where everything is the same here, there, everywhere, time stands still, caught in the arches and ridges and turrets of the towers and in the cracks on the weatherworn pavements.
And look! There ’s the Empress Dowager Cixi emerging from the Hall of Happiness and Longevity at the Summer Palace, undisturbed by the flash of cameras, where no tourist crowds around her for a shot at immortality. Now that’s Beijing before the future turned around to fetch her.
A
post me at aapatawaran@yahoo.com.
Monday, August 4, 2008
WHAT'S ON YOUR LIST?
(FROM A WEEKEND NOTE, THE EDITOR'S LETTER IN STYLE WEEKEND, THE LIFESTYLE WEEKLY PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY IN MANILA BULLETIN, 1 AUGUST 2008)
If you were to die tomorrow, what would you do today? Would it be a hectic day, crazy with a million things to tick off your life’s list, or would it be a day of leisure, a day to watch the sunrise and the sunset, the cloud formations in the sky, and the many other beautiful things you hardly even notice if you feel you have the rest of your life ahead of you? Better yet, why not spend it watching as many movies as you can, if only so you could live, if vicariously, so many lives in 24 hours, granting that your own is about go blank?
BLURB
Eh, anong gagawin ko, aatungal (What will I do, shriek)? —Mylene Dizon as Joyce, 100, Chris Martinez, 2008
If art, as defined by my online dictionary, is a piece of work, whose main purpose, apart from capturing beauty, is to provoke thoughts, Chris Martinez’s film, 100, recently shown at the 2008 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, is truly an art form.
Over lunch late last week, before a private viewing of his directorial debut at the CCP Dream Theater, Chris shared with us what inspired him to do 100. There are a million other inspirations, of course, including the common fascination with lists, but the plotline showed itself to him during a vigil held over the corpse of a beloved UP Theater Arts professor, where special performances, including a drag show, were made in honor of the departed’s deep commitment to the arts.
Listening to Chris was in no way different from looking at pictures, although we had barely enough time to warm up over lunch to enable us to talk more openly with each other. Working on such a visual medium, filmmakers like him do have to communicate in images rather than in words. It is through words, however, that Chris made his way to filmmaking, first as a copywriter for advertising; as a playwright with such Palanca Award-winning works as Last Order sa Penguin and Welcome to IntelStar; and then, as though to get him closer and closer to his new title now as filmmaker, as a screenwriter whose achievements, at such a young age, include Sukob starring Kris Aquino and Claudine Barretto and Caregiver starring Sharon Cuneta, to name a few.
100, to be more precise, is not exactly Chris’ first film. Before it, he had done a short, Bakas, which won him the CCP Award for Alternative Filmmaking. On the theater stage, he is no stranger, having directed the stage adaptation of the '70s cult classic Temptation Island. As for his bread-and-butter, Chris directs commercials.
Given Chris’ achievements, 100 seems inevitable an outcome at this point. Even the very execution of the film’s storyline, that of a terminally ill woman making a list of things to do before dying, is a surprise to me, who, predisposed to artistic exaggerations and creative licenses, expected something more dramatic, more fantastical on that list than cleaning out the closet. But there’s the thought: If you were to die 100 days from now, you cannot simply fly off to Paris and bungee-jump from the top of the Eiffel Tower. There are so many mundane tasks to do in preparation for that end-all, be-all moment and, yes, that includes, as the film made me realize, bank transactions, transfer of ownership, and finding a new human for your pet, if any.
Indeed, the beauty of this work is in its restraint. Originally, as Chris confessed to me, the intention was just to create a list, random and unconnected, but in the interest of the audience, a story was woven in to tie everything together. But the story, too, is a study in restraint, just as the spaces in every scene is devoid of anything unnecessary and extraneous, just as the delivery of the lines as well as the facial expressions, even among otherwise flamboyant actors like Eugene Domingo and Tessie Tomas, save for a very few highlights, in which they seemed to be on the verge, but only on the verge of letting go an outburst of emotions, is perfectly under control, as in life, where not everything is in cinematic proportions.
Kudos to Mylene Dizon for keeping us drawn to the screen for one hour and 56 minutes, without having to scream or shed buckets of tears or cry out to God, “Why me? Why me?” Indeed, as Chris himself would admit, 100 was made for her to play the lead. The writer/director, without a doubt, made the right choice and Mylene’s Cinemalaya Best Actress 2008 Award is not necessary to prove it.
Kudos, too, to the rest of the cast and the crew! All they wanted, according to Chris, is to make a good film and here it is, with such distinctions as Chris’ Best Director and Best Screenplay trophies, Mylene’s Best Actress, Eugene’s Best Supporting Actress, and the Audience Choice Award to make it worth all the sacrifices.
A
post me at aapatawaran@yahoo.com.
If you were to die tomorrow, what would you do today? Would it be a hectic day, crazy with a million things to tick off your life’s list, or would it be a day of leisure, a day to watch the sunrise and the sunset, the cloud formations in the sky, and the many other beautiful things you hardly even notice if you feel you have the rest of your life ahead of you? Better yet, why not spend it watching as many movies as you can, if only so you could live, if vicariously, so many lives in 24 hours, granting that your own is about go blank?
BLURB
Eh, anong gagawin ko, aatungal (What will I do, shriek)? —Mylene Dizon as Joyce, 100, Chris Martinez, 2008
If art, as defined by my online dictionary, is a piece of work, whose main purpose, apart from capturing beauty, is to provoke thoughts, Chris Martinez’s film, 100, recently shown at the 2008 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, is truly an art form.
Over lunch late last week, before a private viewing of his directorial debut at the CCP Dream Theater, Chris shared with us what inspired him to do 100. There are a million other inspirations, of course, including the common fascination with lists, but the plotline showed itself to him during a vigil held over the corpse of a beloved UP Theater Arts professor, where special performances, including a drag show, were made in honor of the departed’s deep commitment to the arts.
Listening to Chris was in no way different from looking at pictures, although we had barely enough time to warm up over lunch to enable us to talk more openly with each other. Working on such a visual medium, filmmakers like him do have to communicate in images rather than in words. It is through words, however, that Chris made his way to filmmaking, first as a copywriter for advertising; as a playwright with such Palanca Award-winning works as Last Order sa Penguin and Welcome to IntelStar; and then, as though to get him closer and closer to his new title now as filmmaker, as a screenwriter whose achievements, at such a young age, include Sukob starring Kris Aquino and Claudine Barretto and Caregiver starring Sharon Cuneta, to name a few.
100, to be more precise, is not exactly Chris’ first film. Before it, he had done a short, Bakas, which won him the CCP Award for Alternative Filmmaking. On the theater stage, he is no stranger, having directed the stage adaptation of the '70s cult classic Temptation Island. As for his bread-and-butter, Chris directs commercials.
Given Chris’ achievements, 100 seems inevitable an outcome at this point. Even the very execution of the film’s storyline, that of a terminally ill woman making a list of things to do before dying, is a surprise to me, who, predisposed to artistic exaggerations and creative licenses, expected something more dramatic, more fantastical on that list than cleaning out the closet. But there’s the thought: If you were to die 100 days from now, you cannot simply fly off to Paris and bungee-jump from the top of the Eiffel Tower. There are so many mundane tasks to do in preparation for that end-all, be-all moment and, yes, that includes, as the film made me realize, bank transactions, transfer of ownership, and finding a new human for your pet, if any.
Indeed, the beauty of this work is in its restraint. Originally, as Chris confessed to me, the intention was just to create a list, random and unconnected, but in the interest of the audience, a story was woven in to tie everything together. But the story, too, is a study in restraint, just as the spaces in every scene is devoid of anything unnecessary and extraneous, just as the delivery of the lines as well as the facial expressions, even among otherwise flamboyant actors like Eugene Domingo and Tessie Tomas, save for a very few highlights, in which they seemed to be on the verge, but only on the verge of letting go an outburst of emotions, is perfectly under control, as in life, where not everything is in cinematic proportions.
Kudos to Mylene Dizon for keeping us drawn to the screen for one hour and 56 minutes, without having to scream or shed buckets of tears or cry out to God, “Why me? Why me?” Indeed, as Chris himself would admit, 100 was made for her to play the lead. The writer/director, without a doubt, made the right choice and Mylene’s Cinemalaya Best Actress 2008 Award is not necessary to prove it.
Kudos, too, to the rest of the cast and the crew! All they wanted, according to Chris, is to make a good film and here it is, with such distinctions as Chris’ Best Director and Best Screenplay trophies, Mylene’s Best Actress, Eugene’s Best Supporting Actress, and the Audience Choice Award to make it worth all the sacrifices.
A
post me at aapatawaran@yahoo.com.
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