i want to be an actress

Hehe.

When I read Gibbs Cadiz's blog entry about the walking tour and play at PETA sponsored by PinoyCentric.com, I immediately signed up. I have joined several guided tours in the recent months, but it’s been ages since I watched a play. (OK, OK, the word “free” in the title caught my attention too. :-P).

So on a rainy Saturday afternoon last August 25, I found myself standing in the lobby of PETA along with other bloggers out to experience a tour unlike any other. We were introduced to the lovely Cecilia B. Garrucho, PETA President and our tour guide as well. When she told us that the tour needed our “cooperation,” the first thing that came to my mind was: Oh. My. Goodness… they’re gonna make us act! What’m I gonna do? The inner actress and scaredy-cat in me warred in my guts but of course I am not out there to be a wet blanket so my inner actress won over.

The tour began at the PLDT/Smart Exhibition Hall, which from behind the curtains emerged a woman in a shining-shimmering-splendid costume looking for her son Marco. It was funny watching her scream Marco’s name amidst the throng of people (in normal clothes) milling in the lobby. From this point on, I knew that this tour is going to be anything but boring.

We began our first foray into theater production at the Lino Brocka Hall on the second floor. We were taught a very beautiful Kalinga song by Upeng Galang-Fernandez, which we gamely sang. Not bad at all, if I do say so myself.

Our next “workshop” on movement was held at Studio A, with Dudz Teraña and Lotlot Bustamante (“Marco’s” mum) conducting. We were told to choose one action which we have to do bigger, bigger and BIGGER to the point of exaggeration. But that’s the point of stage plays, right? Every action has to be exaggerated to emphasize the character’s emotions or else the audience would be bored to tears.

The best thing about this tour is that we got to PERFORM ON STAGE. Now how’s that for a one hour tour-slash-workshop? I think I wanna be an actress now. ;)

The play Batang Rizal is not your usual play about Rizal’s life. It is a wacky imagery on what would it be like if Pepe (the young Jose Rizal) came to our time. It all started when Pepito, a 6th grade student, accidentally traveled back to his time. Pepito’s encounter with Pepe and his family are both hilarious (imagine Filipinos of that time learning slang Filipino words and English words and trying to say them) and touching. The poignant scenes between Pepe and his mother had me teary-eyed—even I could feel the love Doña Teodora had for her son. Hilarious results also ensued as Pepe came back to the present time with Pepito.

The story, colorful costumes, props and the shadow animation made the play light and enjoyable to watch. Kids and adults alike delighted in the portrayal of Jose Rizal as a child, which shows that even heroes get into scrapes when they're young. It actually made Jose Rizal more human to me than just a mere picture. In addition, Batang Rizal also teaches lessons on patriotism so unlike how they teach it in school. These are delivered in lines and in situations that are so funny at times that you would not know what hit you unless you listen closely. Just wondering: wouldn't it be nice if Jose Rizal did come to our time? :)

Many thanks to Gibbs Cadiz, Karla Maquiling of PinoyCentric.com, and PETA for this truly extraordinary theater experience. Cheers! =)

PETA Tour/Workshop Pics! (thanks Gibbs ü)

at the start of the tour with Cecilia Garrucho

dangdang ay... ay, ano nga ba ulet ang lyrics?

waiting for our turn to strut our stuff

onstage!

basking in our 15 minutes of fame :)

holiday madness ramblings

nope, it's not christmas as the title might imply. yesterday was a holiday (national heroes' day) and it was... mad. because the boss let us off work earlier than usual, i followed my friends heidz and lay to quiapo, where they're shopping for prizes for the linggo ng wika festivities in their school this week.

carriedo, quiapo:
the ride to quiapo from megamall was a bit surreal. after waiting for passengers for the longest time over at shangri-la, the driver finally drove off. i fully expected the senseless traffic jam once we neared legarda, but wonder of wonders! the fx sailed through the flyover to legarda without the hassle of almost-empty jeepneys that clog the narrow street every single day. i got to quiapo in no time at all. there weren't that many people around too, so it was easy to get around. hooray for holidays!

i met up with heidz and lay over at jollibee carriedo where they planned what prizes to give their students--purses, pens, keychains, etc. i just kept quiet most of the time as i was absorbed in finishing my spaghetti, only giving suggestions when they ask for it. anyway after much deliberation, they settled on native candy instead. yeah, baby! =)

of course a day in the old manila area isn't complete without food. so after buying the candy, we went straight to ongpin... somehow.

ongpin, binondo:
now, i consider myself to be pretty good in directions, but somehow my sense of direction gets muddled whenever i'm in the quiapo/binondo area. maybe it's because of the narrow alleyways that look the same and the throng of people that never seems to disappear but then again, quiapo won't be quiapo without the crowded narrow alleyways. so when lay asked me how long it would take us to walk over to ongpin, i said it would take us about 20 minutes if we walk through escolta.

since none of us wanted to lug the heavy bags for that long, we took a taxi instead which brought us around plaza sta. cruz no more than five minutes and--- surprise, surprise! the gate to binondo suddenly loomed right in front of us. even if we walked along plaza sta. cruz instead of along escolta, it would still have taken us less than 20 minutes. heck, less than 10 minutes! it was a very good thing that the taxi driver was very nice about it and even laughed along with us (AT me and my very excellent sense of direction, to be exact). never mind the P32.50 that we paid.

so we walked along ongpin and entered the new eastern garden restaurant, home of the best fresh lumpia since 1950. one can get a small but filling fresh lumpia for only Php28. the lumpia was good, but it would be tastier had it more peanuts and garlic. (at least, according to my ever-dependable tastebuds)

turistas to the core! heidz and me eating the fresh lumpia

of course, one small fresh lumpia won't satisfy our cravings, so we walked a little further up over to tasty dumplings, which was actually on the other end of ongpin, just on the side of binondo church. this wasn't my and heidz's first time to eat here, but it is for lay. we weren't worried that lay might be disappointed if the dumplings aren't as tasty as the name implies, because the dumplings ARE tasty. and yes, she wasn't disappointed.

kuchay dumplings

fried dumplings (the empty plate beside it was the one with the kuchay dumplings)

tsay ma pao

after. ;-)

we were supposed to order a noodle soup but we were already full. ;)

postscript:
i am so glad i followed the girls to quiapo after work, or else i would have bored my brains out if i went home right away. but i did not go with them to sm centerpoint anymore after binondo as i wanted to rest already. good thing i did, because when i got home the lavandera told me the washing machine just quit running. but that's another story. btw, the pics are courtesy of lay. thanks girl! =)

random post

because my brother and cousin sang the spider pig song from the simpsons movie many times than i've cared to hear, i didn't find it funny anymore when i finally watched the movie (though i LOVE the movie). overkill, if you ask me. but on the scene where homer was having an epiphany, another version of the song was playing in the background. a choral version. that one i love. what's more interesting about this version is that although the lyrics are funny, the rendition sounds very serious one would think it's a background song for a suspense movie or something the first time you hear it. (man, does this even make any sense?)

here's a video from youtube that i randomly picked in which that version is used.

8 things about moi

got tagged for this by Toe, so here's mine. can't do it in poetry like her, though. hehehe! =) it's also my first time to do a meme here, so please bear with me.

1. my idea of soundtripping is listening to one or two songs for one day. or one week... or one month... or until i get tired of listening to it/them and i've moved on to another song. but i still like them nevertheless. can't function without music---at work or if i'm cooking, reading or walking, gotta have music.

2. i. love. am. radio. dramas. been listening to them since high school and i'd love to do voice acting. ;) as a kid, i used to record my voice using different voices. i can do the voices of a witch, monster, ordinary woman, and young girl. i can do british accent too. ^^ but if you ever meet me, please don't ask me to do them. i'm shy. hihihi!

3. i love growing my fingernails on my left hand as long as i possibly could (i'm a righty so the ones on my right hand break more easily). it's a loooooooong process and i'm still lightyears away from holding the record of longest nails in the world. every year my target is to be able to grow them for at least one year but the longest length i've achieved is one frigging inch for ten months in 2005, until one of them broke because it got stuck in the door as i was closing it. can you imagine? *evil laugh* but hey, i almost fainted because of that. now my nails are about 5 millimeters long. and yes, i do measure them. and yes, i can still play the piano with long nails. ;)

4. i enjoy solitude. i can eat in a restaurant, wander in a mall or watch a movie all by my lonesome. i also enjoy it when no one's at home and everything is silent except for the birds twittering about and the noise of the occasional car or tricycle passing by.

5. i prefer walking to riding, and if manila isn't that polluted i'd have walked everyday. new york city is almost the same as manila but it's more conducive to pedestrians because of the wide sidewalks. i remember my brother and i crossed the george washington bridge to manhattan (from fort lee) and walked on until times square. and on another occasion, from 42nd street to canal street in chinatown and back. whew!

6. i am very poor at math. would you believe it was when i was in college that i only fully understood some concepts we learned in elementary? (like percentages, fractions, ratio, etc)but somehow i enjoyed statistics in high school. but the others? never mind. it's a miracle i survived school.

7. i like getting lost in unfamiliar places. this only applies when i don't have a specific destination and have no meetings.

8. ahh, cell phones. i never bought one for myself since 2003. from that time up to the present, my cell phones are hand-me-downs--3210 (from my cousin), 8250 (aunt's) and the latest one which i don't know the model of (from my brother). they also have the same problem: old batteries. hehehe. at least my present phone is colored now lolz.

ok, 8 people i'm gonna tag... pearl, islander, yatot, tofubaby, layla, dons, tutubi and verns. =)

add on:


can you guess what's my fave song for the moment? ;)

la musique classique

with my being too busy to post long-delayed entries because of work and other writing engagements these days, i leave to you this playlist of classical music for the moment. we start up with the very fascinating variations of twinkle, twinkle little star by mozart, followed by the music of the other masters. enjoy! =)