Melissa Roxas Speaks X Revisiting Orapronobis/Fight For Us

July 2, 2009
Filed Under Video | Leave a Comment

Melissa Roxas speaks at Press Conference from Anakbayan Seattle on Vimeo.

Watching Melissa Roxas tearfully recall her abduction and torture at the hands of the Philippine military last week in this press conference (watch the entire video feed archived posted above), I felt at once inspired and angered. More than I already have been at the over 1,000 extra-judicial killings and countless abductions that have happened under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s US-supported regime. The indignation grows once you realize that this pattern of repression is something that has been going on in the Philippines for generations, and not just during the Martial Law era. Read more

RECAP: June 2009

July 1, 2009
Filed Under Film Reviews | 2 Comments

Cinema took a back seat this past month as I spent most of June either in the lab finishing up the upcoming Blue Scholars OOF! EP or galavanting in NYC and SF. Shamefully only made it to two SIFF screenings and missed out on a grip of new films. On the other hand, I got to present my workshop, The Resistance of Philippine Cinema, in Seattle and SF with more dates being scheduled. Here’s a recap of films reviewed last month, in case you missed it: Read more

VIDEO: Deep Foundation f/ Jay Legaspi “Sleep” (dir. Choz Belen)

June 28, 2009
Filed Under Music Videos | 1 Comment

Intense! NYC’s Deep Foundation goes in with this one. Directed by Choz Belen. Fil-Am hip-hop FTW.

Persepolis (Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi, 2007)

June 27, 2009
Filed Under Iranian Cinema | 3 Comments

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Persepolis (2007) | dir. Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi | 93 min | France

The most educational and entertaining film/video about Iranian society I’ve ever seen is a cartoon. No, I’m not trying to trivialize the film or its subject matter in the least. I’m merely reflecting on the irony. That despite all the “realism” about Iran that we Western audiences have been exposed to, whether it be mainstream news outlets or, to a lesser extent, films by Iranian directors (most notably Abbas Kiarostami, whose work I love and admire), an art form traditionally looked upon as fantasy, or more condescendingly, “for children” is the medium through which illustrator/writer/director Marjane Satrapi does what no other Iranian artist has done or is currently doing. Read more

Guest Review: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (Michael Bay, 2009)

June 26, 2009
Filed Under Film Reviews | 4 Comments

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Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) | dir. Michael Bay | 150 min | USA
Guest contribution by Wes Goodlife (WesGoodlife.com)

Tuesday is usually never a good day to do anything, but at 11pm I found myself with the wife surrounded by young people (I’m getting so old) at the Southcenter Mall waiting to get the IMAX experience for what I’m hoping will be this summer’s blockbuster, Transformers 2: Revenge of The Fallen. Read more

RIP MJ (1958-2009)

June 25, 2009
Filed Under Obituaries | 2 Comments

Speechless.

“The Resistance of Philippine Cinema” coming to Daly City

June 15, 2009
Filed Under Upcoming | 4 Comments

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Bay Areanos stand up! I’ll be in the area next week (Daly City to be exact) presenting my workshop The Resistance of Philippine Cinema, hosted by the Kalayaan School For Equity. Peep game: Read more

The Girlfriend Experience (Steven Soderbergh, 2009) & Vivre Sa Vie (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962)

June 13, 2009
Filed Under Film Reviews | 6 Comments

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I’d never known who Sasha Grey was until she starred in Rik Cordero’s music video for The Roots‘ “Birthday Girl.” The adult film actress (read: pornstar), neither speaking nor fucking, had a cinematic quality about her. You can see it one sequence alone in her varied reverse-shot reactions to the losers who walk in to the room one at a time. Read more

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