Aeta Documentary: My Most Favorite TV Show This Week

A provocative and interesting documentary on the Aeta is my most favorite TV show this week.  I used to be a fan of these news documentaries but I have not been that religious in following them lately.  I guess none of them have really approached the interesting cases once shown in The Probe Team or Pep Talk.

Here are my ten favorite TV shows for the week ending June 26, 2015 -

#1 GMA - Front Row - #KapagSilayMaputiNa

#2 CI - Your Worst Nightmare - The Killer Beside Me - husband killing wife

#3 CI - Ghostly Encounters - Tempting Ghosts - kids in cemetery

#4 CI - Ghostly Encounters - Ghosts of the Aged - mean Ohma ghost

#5 Universal Channel - Cold Case - girl killed by professor in Ophelia pose in art history

#6 Universal Channel - Cold Case - child killed - Nicole mother

#7 CI - Celebrity Ghost Stories - Lorenzo Lamas - light in the bathroom turns on

#8 WB Channel - About Schmidt

#9 CI - Duke Case - mother and kid jumped from a cliff

#10 Fox Crime - Law and Order - Sri Lanka assassination

An Episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: My Most Favorite TV Show This Week

On any other given week, my top five favorite TV show this week could have easily been my favorite!  It's that strong this week!  I love all the top 5 shows this week!  They were all that riveting!

Anyway, my most favorite TV show this week is an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents which is about this kid whose Dad does not defend him in jail and ends up as a career criminal.

Here are my ten favorite TV shows for the week ending June 19, 2015 -

#1 Fox Crime - Alfred Hitchcock Presents - kid saw powerful guy beat up skinny guy and David backs down

#2 CI - Your Worst Nightmare - young man kills Mom and Dad and cuffs girlfriend and sleep

#3 Fox Movies - Hunger Games: Catching Fire

#4 HBO - Veep - it's a tie!

#5 Fox Crime - Wayward Pines - doctor explains the park

#6 Fox Crime - Law and Order - toddler's Dad shot in park

#7 Universal - Chicago P.D. - cop caught on tape

#8 CI - Medical Detectives - 2 druggies kill 4 young people

#9 Fox Crime - Threat Matrix - Chicago destroyed

#10 CI - My Ghost Story on Camera - normal people ghost

Men's French Open Final: My Most Favorite TV Show This Week

The men's French Open final between Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka is my most favorite TV show this week.  I rarely follow the men's final but this one was interesting to me since Stan is one of my favorite players.  He really played magnificently that day.  He was fearless and was a better player than Novak that day.

Here are my ten favorite shows for the week ending June 12, 2015 -

#1 Fox Sports - Djokovic vs. Wawrinka

#2 Fox Crime - Law and Order - 3 black kids shot by el diablo

#3 Fox Movies Premium - Zombeavers

#4 Star World - Glee (Whip It and Rock Lobster)

#5 Star Movies - Snowpiercer

#6 Fox Crime - Locked Up Abroad - vacation in Lima

#7 Fox Crime - Locked Up Abroad - Vivienne in Bogota

#8 Fox Action Movies - The Sorcerer's Apprentice 

#9 Fox Sports - Djokovic vs. Murray

#10 Fox Crime - Psych - dead woman in plastic 

Plays to Watch This July 2015: The Normal Heart and 33 Variations

I am so proud of our local theater actors as they have been brave enough to mount really good material for plays this year. I saw in an interview that Helen Mirren is still thinking of doing Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, but PETA already staged it earlier this year with Cherie Gil essaying the role that Helen Mirren wants.

I just learned that two really good plays are going to be staged here as well, this one, The Normal Heart, which was written in the 80s when AIDS was slowly decimating America's gay population and 33 Variations, the vehicle Jane Fonda to return to Broadway. Both plays are Tony awardees as well and were nominated for Best Play the year they were staged. Also, most of the roles in these two plays have been played by Hollywood A-listers so the material should be very good.

I am more interested though in 33 Variations since I want to see how they would stage Beethoven during his time and whoever plays Jane Fonda, in the present, knowing that the group staging it is known for minimalist stage props.

The last great material I saw about AIDS was HBO's Angels in America - which was very moving and I thought, no other material could possibly top this. Let's see where The Normal Heart is coming from.

Celebrating Gay Pride in LA

I'm just posting a picture I saw of some really hot p**n stars celebrating gay pride in the City of Angels!

Lucky them!

Movie Review: Saint Laurent Too Long

There's so much male nudity in the movie Saint Laurent, one could effectively fill one's lifetime quota of male genitalia seen in a non-pornographic movie.  This is a French movie after all, so total nudity is par for course.

I admit when I saw that scene where Gaspard Ulliel came out of that closet, I was like, oohhh la la, now THAT is hung like a horse!  The real YSL though was not as muscular as the actor, but anyway, Gaspard's hot and he does resemble YSL after some clever hair and make-up.

The movie though, was too long for me, the film editor could've helped the director take out some scenes or shortened others to make it more compact.  

Another complication is the movie's nonlinear chronology of events which does not allow any emotional build up to happen and anyone new to Yves' life can possibly just mistake him for a drug addict junkie who led a hedonistic life of aimless orgies and debauchery.

Actually, Yves is one of the few designers whose own name carries the brand, who really cashed in on their talent, with him getting a cool 350 million euros during an IPO on his brand.  Not bad after a lifetime's contribution to fashion.  I don't think Chanel or Dior or even Louis Vuitton were that lucky.

Movie Review: Les Garcons et Guillaume, A Table

Guillaume Gallienne's performance in the movie Les Garcons et Guillaume, A Table is probably one of the best double role performances I have seen in years.  He plays both the son and the mother in this movie - and I admit it took me a while to realize that he was also the mother!

He plunges into both roles with such bravado, when you learn of the twist in the end, it throws you off kilter!  The movie is about searching for his own identity and a part of it is his sexual awakening which brings me to this conversation I had with a young male friend a few weeks ago and I was a bit baffled because I always thought that by 18 years old, one would already know for sure if he likes girls or he likes boys, but this friend of mine would like to play the bisexual card - and he's already way into his 20s!

Anyway, I suggested to him, like what was suggested in the movie, that to finally discover who you want, to just find out by sleeping with them.  It is not unusual for gay men to adore women - we love watching the Miss Universe competition after all - but we don't have sex with women!  I just told him, why don't you try sleeping with a woman and maybe if you enjoy it, then, you might not be gay after all!  And vice-versa!

Oh well, just like in the movie, the people around him see him as a gay person, because of his being effeminate and little things here and there which are mostly associated with gay people.  

There's some psychological mumbo-jumbo towards the end which I don't really subscribe to but which tries to tie in the loose ends for Guillaume's character.  I really also hope my friend finds his true self soon.  I even want to say to him a line in the movie, "Why do you hate yourself so much?"

Like Guillaume's character in the movie, my friend's epiphany should happen soon enough.  In the movie, Guillaume's character finds it in his mother, who had been the key to his 'imprisonment' for a long time.

Charlie Anson Plays Schoolboy Crush

Charlie Anson played the schoolboy crush of the lead character in the gay comedy Les Garcons et Guillaume, A Table.  He looked hot just wearing his Speedos!

French Open Tennis Dominates My TV Ratings This Week

Lucie Safarova is definitely my star for this year's French Open.  Her matches are my first and second most favorite TV show this week.  Unsurprisingly, nine out of the ten TV shows are all tennis matches.  This usually happens when a slam happens.

Here are my ten favorite TV shows this week -

#1 Fox Sports  - Safarova vs. Sharapova

#2 Fox Sports - Safarova vs. Ivanovic

#3 Fox Sports  - Serena vs. Timea

#4 Fox Sports 2 - Kvitova vs. Bacsinszky

#5 Fox Sports 2 - Muguruza vs. Pennetta

#6 Fox Sports 2 - Bacsinszky vs. Van Uytvanck

#7 Fox Sports 2 - Tsonga vs. Nishikori

#8 Fox Sports - Errani vs. Serena

#9 Fox Crime - Locked Up Abroad - bringing heroin to Mauritius in shoes worn by lady

#10 Fox Sports - Wawrinka vs. Federer

Hoping That Kung Paano Ako Naging Leading Lady Gets A Rerun

Well, I'm just quietly hoping that PETA's Kung Paano Ako Naging Leading Lady gets a rerun! I was invited by a friend who works in ABS-CBN to watch it during it's first weekend but I think it was Mother's Day so it was a no-brainer.  

Then tragedy struck with one of our best friends dying in that Valenzuela fire.  She loved the theater and she would've watched this musical with us.  It's just that her passing was so sudden that watching the musical would rekindle too many memories of our play-watching, baka mag-iyakan lang kami sa loob ng PETA theater.  We even watched the Cherie Gil play earlier this year!

Finally, enrollment time din, so ayun, nasimot lahat ng budget.  I guess most of those who watched the play do not have kids or mga single pa!  Hayy, the sacrifices a parent has to make just so mapa-aral ang mga bata, charot!

Anyway, I am hoping that PETA would restage this musical, kasi based naman sa sales nila now, mukhang sold out naman sila - and I'm sure, marami, like me missed it for one reason or another.

Mabuhay ang Pinoy musical!

So Excited to See the Biopic of Legendary Designer Yves Saint Laurent

It's great news that another movie about a gay genius is going to be screened in Manila.  Earlier this year, we were lucky to see the riveting yet tragic story of the gay mathematical genius, Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.  Now, the legendary life of fashion designer non pareil, Yves Saint Laurent, will be screened in a movie version of his life at this year's French Film Festival.

Mabuti na yung may mga gay role models na makita ang mga batang bakla para malaman nila na there is nothing wrong with being true to yourself and that you can be a productive citizen of the world irrespective of your sexual preference - something that the Catholic church and its bishops can't seem to understand.

Anyway, I read about the life of Yves Saint Laurent a few years ago and I was moved by the fragility of this person's genius and how he was able to cause tremors and earthquakes in the world of fashion! For his path and that of Christian Dior to cross is already a legend of a story by itself.

Any fashionista worth his or her salt would know what Saint Laurent has given to the world! There is a world of difference between what this guy has achieved and that of Tom Ford and all those so-called stylist-turned-designers. Even Karl Lagerfeld himself has acknowledged how towering the achievements are of YSL compared to him. Mahiya naman siya noh, wala sya sa katiting. All chutzpah but no substance - and he knows it.

You may be surprised that many of the ideas and clothes you are wearing today were YSL's original ideas - and it caused quite a stir when these ideas were introduced into the marketplace.

Two movie versions of his life came out at the same time in France. I'm glad one of them is going to be screened here. I have seen the trailer of the movie and everything is lush and fashionable and eye candy really, all over the place!

The Gay Movie to Watch in French Film Festival

To all my gay friends here, especially those who are still in their 20s, the French Film Festival will be screening some films in Greenbelt from June 3 to June 9. This is the movie you should watch!

This movie won several Cesar awards (French counterpart ng Oscars) a few years ago including Best Picture and Best Actor. I haven't actually seen it, but from the trailer pa lang, OMG, matatawa ka na, because everything about your sexual awakening is dealt with in this movie!

Cute high school crush, kunsintidor na nanay, first sexual experience, girl kuno na girlfriend - the dialogue is so witty, trailer pa lang tawa na ako ng tawa!

I guess you'll discover here that all gay men, whether they're in fabulous France or here in our chaotic country, have a common thread of experiences when they slowly want to tell their families their true nature!