How Did You Know? II

I write this rather belatedly to assure my wife what I meant by soulmate in my very first posting in this blogsite.



Though my beautiful and ever understanding spouse swears she has searched the net for the meaning of the word and all she kept finding was the romantic meaning of “soulmate,” let me assure her and you guys that by soulmate, I simply meant that invisible thread which Hindus of ancient times believed to connect individuals. You know, like two souls were created from the same material.

From the first time I heard it, I have always felt the word meant more like brothers and sisters or twins, having developed from the same egg or womb. In this romance-obsessed age of loveteams & telenovelas, I can’t blame people assigning more marketable meanings to it. I read somewhere that, as much as it can encompass space (like you live in Manila & the other in Bostwana), soulmate bonds may encompass time & gender. That means your mate could be from another era (like you have always felt this special connection to Cleopatra?) or somebody of the same sex (caveat: this doesn’t explain same-sex attraction; that’s another story.)

So there. Besides, I expounded on the topic based on how my “soulmate” felt towards me. And I was pretty sure she didn’t mean it romantically too because at the same time she was telling me that’s how it felt, she was also bragging about his fiance and future husband (congratulations to them if it pushed through.)

So the next time you find your mate, exert effort to stay connected—unlike what I did. Oh well, you guys haven’t written any lead yet how I could find her. So much for yanking at that invisible thread.

INDIEMAND

Independent digital films are very much celebrated these days for having been produced at very low costs.

After watching a few indie short films last night, I have come to the conclusion that to stay within budget, the first that their producers have to rid themselves off is the camera tripod.

After watching 16 shorts in one sitting, I found myself sitting some more outside the cinema waiting to regain my balance as I got really dizzy watching too many hand-held shots.

But it’s a dizzying kind of joy living in this age when one actually bears witness to how this new way of filmmaking is stealing the thunder from mainstream cinema. I’ll be beaming with pride telling my children someday how their dad actually made it to the days when Mother Lily & friends used to oligopolize the business and then later, witnessed how indie filmmakers soon gave them a run for their money. More joy still that many of my friends are actors, writers and producers of indie films. Oh, and I got to act in one of them too! (Wait for the day when MTRCB lets the ax fall this time entirely because of bad acting.)

I must admit that some of the shorts I saw that night were not many of the finest this cinema movement can offer. Oops… hold your horses! Before you ban me from future screenings, let me reaffirm that I am an advocate of the indie phenomenon. But I must acknowledge that the relative ease of shooting in digital video has open the floodgates for those who are still on denial that they’re just not meant for this kind of art. But if practice makes perfect, I must at least say that the less finer shorts that night were “praktis lang po.” Since much of the support group (emotionally & financially) of indie-makers are naturally their close friends and relatives, I blame these groups when they don’t honestly give constructive feedbacks to people in the production. Please don’t patronize them; if it sucks, give it to them as it is and then support them to do more but better films next time.

I am sincerely calling on more and more people to get into indie film-making as did many who excelled in photography when consumerism & technology permitted more snap-shooters who eventually became masters in the craft. And to people like my friend who said she avoids indie films because she too gets dizzy from the hand-held shots, just try to bear with it some more (you’re the same girl who enjoys roller-coasters, ahah!)

Yeah, there are really some lousy shots (add to that: plots, scripts, acting, etc.) which the cinematographer &/or director would simply pass-off as a matter of taste and self-expression but it is in supporting all these indies, be them good or bad, can the ultimately best come out of the rest. Let’s watch as many of them as we can, better still if we can dabble at least once in the actual production. Hey, we are actually democratizing cinema here, don’t let it just pass you by 24 frames per second.

How Did You Know?

I found my soulmate--no, she found me. But then I was too lazy, I must have turned her off (or turned her away?)

By writing this, I'm hoping she'd found out how regretful I am. If you know where she is, can you tell her how I'm dying to be in touch with her again?

There was this girl (can we call her Chiqui?) Chiqui wrote me the sweetest letters. She said she is sure as hell she has found her soulmate--me. Nobody has ever told me that. It was the sweetest thing. I have been writing in my mind my similarly sweetest reply. `Been writing it for weeks, for months... until it's been five years. Now, I still haven't sent her any reply. And she hasn't written me anything anymore since then. She must be thinking how some lazy snob I must be.

As I write this, I'm listening to her song.

Five years ago, I didn't know how a big shot singer she was. Good thing I didn't or I would have freaked-out reading the letters she sent.

I miss her. `Hope she's doing progress with her ambition to become a writer.