Event: The Morning Rush Book 2 Launch

And here we go.

Last week I was invited by Summit Books to attend the book launch for the second The Morning Rush Top 10 compilation book. You already know what I think about the book, as it’s been out in the market since late last year, so I’ll stick with the event for this post.

Just like last year’s launch for the first book, it was held at the Activity Center of Robinsons Galleria. Unlike last year’s event though, there was no separate venue for the bloggers and press to conduct their interviews. On the plus side, the excitement and energy of the radio DJs fans are palpable as you mingle with them; but, on the other hand, you’d also feel sorry for them as they’re left out of the cordoned area as priority was given to the press and family members attending the event.

Not that I should complain, because I was one of the lucky few allowed inside. But speaking as a fan, getting left out in the cold while supporting your idols is not the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

As for the program prepared for the event… It’s short. Which is nice. It heads straight to the point of the event, which is the autograph-signing. But, again with the but, I wish there were more time for the radio hosts to be more candid with their fans. I understand that that’s just not possible with the time constraints and the venue restrictions–but, speaking again as a fan, that’s what we usually come to events for. To have that small candid moment with our idols.

I guess I am complaining a little. For the fans. But don’t get me wrong. I applaud Summit Books for what they’re doing. These autograph-signing events are still opportunities for fans to spend time with their idols, and to get to know each other.

But I still prefer how the first book launch was handled, with the press and family members separate from the fans, just so the fans can have more of the kikay barkada without having to share the spotlight with people who already have an unfair advantage at meeting said idols.

That said, people still had fun at the event–as evidenced by this:

Before I completely end this, here’s Summit Book’s press release about the event:

Last February 3, 2012, Summit Books brought back the sequel to the best seller The Best of Chico and Delamar’s The Morning Rush Top 10 — this time, bringing the entire barkada along with The Best of Chico, Delamar, and Gino’s The Morning Rush Top 10, Book 2 in Robinsons Galleria Activity Center. Monster RX 93.1′s The Morning Rush radio jocks excitingly talked about their book, answered questions from the media and fans present at the launch, and happily signed copies of their book.

Compiling over 100 Top 10 pee-in-your-pants funny lists, this hilarious book showcases the naughtiest and wittiest responses and jokes coming from–where else?–no other than the show’s avid listeners, the Rushers.

The Morning Rush Top 10 Book 2 will definitely make you LOLA (Laugh Out Loud Alone) with pages filled with the craziest and naughtiest topics and illustrations on a wide range of topics–from the 3 B’s (bitchiness, boys, and bekis), to that (sometimes happy, sometimes bitter) 4-letter word, to something a little more in need of parental guidance, and to just about anything you can think of–they even have superheroes in stor for you! The Best of Chico, Delamar, and Gino’s The Morning Rush Top 10, Book 2 is so addictive that we’re sure you won’t be able to put it down until you finish reading it!

The Best of Chico, Delamar, and Gino’s The Morning Rush Top 10, Book 2 is available in bookstores for only PhP 195.

Book: Is It Just Me?

“Of all the books on the shelf, just look wahat you’ve gone and picked up! Give yoruself a round of applause, even if you’re in public. I dare you. What a lovely moment that would be. I advocate that as much as adults galloping or people wandering into an optician to try on the most unflattering and amusing glasses for no good reason. It’s what I call ‘making your own fun’. Because you have to really, don’t you? Let’s face it, life does have a tendency to throw up difficulties…“

That’s not a lot to go on, I know, when deciding to buy a book. But I didn’t really need to rely on a book synopsis to know that I will enjoy reading Miranda Hart’s sort-of autobiographical book that’s also trying to be a self-help book.

Is It Just Me? is Miss Hart’s recounting of her attempts at navigating life–and, for the most part, failing humorously.

I admit, the only reason I even bought this book was because I was seriously missing my dose of Miranda-flavored laughs. Ever since I saw a clip of her sitcom on YouTube, I was hooked. Her humor might be a little self-depreciating at times, but she wears her freak flag high. She’s proud of who she is and who she has become, so you don’t feel bad for laughing at her mistakes and other mishaps. Because you feel like you’re laughing with her, instead of at her.

And if you enjoy watching her sitcom, you’re bound to enjoy the book as much as you do the television series. It’s basically the same thing, except, instead of watching, you’re reading what’s going on. Oh, and the fact that the sitcom’s fictional, and the events in the book really did happen in real life. Or so our dear author chum writes.

One thing though. Miranda really does write for a specific audience–the British variety. Fortunately for me, I’m pretty up-and-up with British po culture, having grown up with a preference for British music (thanks to Smash Hits and Top of the Pops), and having been exposed to a lot of British telly (in the past, and even until now). Also by preference. I don’t think the rest of the world’s population can say the same thing. I doubt if, my sister for instance, would get most of the things I found funny in the book. And that’s even after the fact that she also enjoys Miranda’s sitcom.

Also, the book has a tendency to be quite tiring. Not in a bad way. It’s just that, as a reader, I got caught up with the author’s excitement. And after reading each chapter, I kept finding myself in need of a lie down.

The good thing is, this being a biography of sorts, there’s not really a lot of room for cliffhanger-type chapter endings. You can put the book down. And in fact, the book might even have been more enjoyable for me had I opted to put it down from time to time.

But that’s just me.

Let’s see what other people have said about Miranda Hart’s Is It Just Me?:
Jason’s Book Reviews (which I must link, because–look at what the blog’s called!)
bookoxygen
The Big Issue

Book: Suplado Tips 2

Calling this a local version of The Bro Code would do Suplado Tips a disservice, but the cover and the actual layout does invite comparison. Thankfully, Suplado Tips 2 quickly dispels any similarities with its comic strip asides, and its Suplado stories. And the fact that its content is completely a different animal from the “rulebook” that The Bro Code is setting itself up to be.

Stanley Chi has found himself a gold mine with his Suplado Tips compilation. A dry sense of humor is very in right now here in the Philippines, thanks partly to comedian Vice Ganda. And with Mr. Chi’s snark free-flowing, you’re sure to find yourself laughing aloud to the tips he has for dealing with daily life, sports fanatics, and even evil bosses.

Suplado Tips is very much like The Best of Chico and Delamar’s The Morning Rush Top 10 compilation, in the context that they are both light readings, that you can take them anywhere, and share them with friends or colleagues. Both are funny to a point, and both have clunkers. But that’s always the case when it comes to compilations, I guess. Especially compilations of punch lines. Sometimes, they work better when delivered in front of a crowd, some of them work better in context of something happening in the now, and some of them–well, just seem funny when you’re really tired to think of anything else.

Still, I think Suplado Tips 2 is another great book for taking to vacations. Or as an ice-breaker for house parties. The only thing is, I don’t know where one can find it. The copy I have was given to me.

For more Suplado Tips, or other Stanley Chi insights, check out his website–and his radio show on digradio.

Book: The Best of The Morning Rush Top 10

“Need a laugh?” That’s what it says at the back of the book. “The Best of Chico and Delamar’s The Morning Rush Top 10 puts together 100 of the naughtiest, craziest, most laugh-out-loud lists from RX 93.1′s most popular radio show.” The blurb forgets to mention that the book also contains a couple of lists that’s sure to break your heart, and a couple of clunkers that seem to have been put in just to reach 100 lists.

Well, clunkers for me. Thing is, when I read it aloud to a couple of friends, they found it completely hilarious. I guess it really depends on who’s the audience. But let’s move on, shall we?

The Best of The Morning Rush Top 10 is perfect for the summer. It’s a light enough read that you can take it anywhere. Pick it up while you’re lounging on the beach, and you can put it down anytime to return to at a later time. You can take it to a party, and it would be a great ice breaker.

Speaking from experience, reading it aloud to an audience (complete with inflections, of course) is more fun than reading it alone. But a silent read doesn’t detract from the very smart, and the very smart-ass, entries of the book. But for some reason, everything is funnier when they’re performed in front of an audience.

The Best of Chico and Delamar’s The Morning Rush Top 10 is already a bestseller. But I do believe, Mr. Host, that life would be so much better with more laughter. And with that belief, I am imploring everyone who is reading this (and who doesn’t know the compilation yet) to go and buy it. It’s worth every peso.

But since it’s important to always have a second opinion, here I am linking you to two:
Provoked Thoughts
Viva La Vida!

Movie: Ang Babae sa Septic Tank

“Ang Babae sa Septic Tank chronicles a day in the life of three ambitious, passionate but misguided filmmakers as they set out to do a quick pre-prod at Starbucks, a courtesy call to their lead actress, Eugene Domingo, and an ocular inspection of their film’s major location, the Payatas dumpsite.  Director Rainier, Producer Bingbong and Production Assistant Jocelyn are well-to-do, well-educated film school graduates who are dead set on making an Oscar worthy film.  They believe they have a winning script, the energy and the drive to make their dreams come true.  Like most filmmakers they know, they have devised a screenplay that will show the real essence of our culture: poverty.  In the course of one day, they brainstorm and exhaust all possible treatment of their project: the story of Mila (Eugene Domingo), a mother from the slums, who out of desperation to survive, has sold her child to a pedophile.  As they discuss the possible executions of the story, the movie-within-a-movie gets reborn in Jocelyn’s imagination several times.  As a gritty no frills neo-realist film, as a glossy musical, as an over-the-top melodrama and as a docu drama using non-actors. For their last task of the day, they visit the dumpsite for the first time.  As filmmakers gunning for authenticity, they get excited with the ”beauty” of the squalor around them.  Soon enough, they are faced with reality as they come face to face with the real effects of their chosen subject.  Babae sa Septic Tank is a comedy about misguided ambitions, the art of making art and the romanticization of poverty.“

Can I just start this by saying that there are a lot of wonderful films in Cinemalaya this year? I don’t know if you can still call the films in Cinemalaya “indie,” because they now also share traits with their mainstream counterparts. And I think this is a good thing.

We write stories so others can read them; we make films so people would watch them–and in this year’s Cinemalaya, we actually have films that people from all walks of life will want to watch. I myself have always gone for entertainment value, watching movies that I know would either entertain me, or whisk me away from my real world problems. Which is why I’ve never been fond of many “indie” films. Why would I want to see the desolation of my country on screen when I can see it right outside the theater?

I haven’t gone off-tangent, mind you, as this is the subject of Ang Babae sa Septic Tank–a group of friends wanting to make a film that would make a statement about poverty. Except this group really knows nothing about poverty, save for what they see in the “indie” films they want to emulate and what they see in the news. These people’s problems revolve around accidentally leaving iPad chargers at home, or obnoxious colleagues who can’t pronounce espresso properly. What do they know about poverty?

And at the end of the day, what these three friends really want to do is be famous for winning awards abroad. They don’t really care about the squalor and the depression of the poor.

Ang Babae sa Septic Tank, from the way I understood the film, is a parody. And at the middle of it all is Eugene Domingo playing a larger-than-life version of herself. While the story actually revolves around Bingbong (JM de Guzma), Rainier (Kean Cipriano) and Joyce (Cai Cortez–a scene stealer, even without dialogue!), the friends who want to make an award-winning “indie” film, the real star of this story is the caricature of Eugene Domingo who wants to do something that will not earn her lots of money–which is, obviously, a parody of many celebrities who feel that they get street cred when they appear in an “indie” film regardless of how bad the material is.

And you know what? I’ve never seen a parody pulled off as successfully as Ang Babae sa Septic Tank was able to. The people who watched the film with us were howling with laughter at the right parts–and keeping quiet at the parts where one is forced to wonder about the state of cinema in the Philippines–especially in the “indie” world where we escaped the trappings of commercialism, only to be trapped by a new set of conventions that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

What makes an “indie” film? I don’t know the answer to that question. What I do know is that there shouldn’t even be an “indie” in the equation. The question filmmakers must ask themselves is “what makes a good film” and take it from there. If they’re having problems answering that question, they should watch Ang Babae sa Septic Tank.

Ang Babae sa Septic Tank is one of the entries to Cinemalaya 2011, which runs from July 16 to July 23. It also has play dates at Greenbelt during the same time frame–and I hope a wider theater release after the festival.

Edited to add: Ang Babae sa Septic Tank is now in theaters–starting August 3.