The Wheel and Axle

Is that my husband?
(Image courtesy of MHL’s Facebook Page)

Today, on the Philippine Online Chronicles (http://thepoc.net), I talk about the unexpected phenomenon that is GMA 7’s “My Husband’s Lover” and why it is a phenomenon.

No, in my article, I don’t extol the virtues of the beautiful creature that is known as Tom Rodriguez.

However, I will extol his virtues here and say that he is one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet, isn’t he? I mean, just look at him. Ever since I first saw him on “Here Comes The Bride” emerging from the sea and into that beach, I knew he was something special.

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Aswangan, Part 4: The Good, The Bad, and The Unseen

You gotta lick it.

5. Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles (2012). I’ve ranted enough about this, so see my thoughts here and here.

4. Manananggal, SRR (1984).

One of the true classics on this list, this is probably one of the scariest features in Pinoy cinema. Peque Gallaga directed this third segment of the seminal Shake, Rattle, & Roll film, which gave us two of the most famous local horror stories (this piece along with Pridyider). Showing early mastery of the genre, Gallaga would later follow through with many more aswang tales in both individual flicks as well as SRR features. This would set the standard for the aswang genre for generations to come, and its influence in future movies of the same theme would become apparent as time went by.

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Aswangan, Part 3: Don’t Tick Off The Tiktiks!

The release of Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles, along with a review by Jessica Zafra, made me think what my favorite (and not-so-favorite) aswang movies are. Being a horror fanatic, I’ve always enjoyed aswang cinema and had not realized I’d watched so many across the years.

In these lists, I included the manananggal because, although I think them slightly distinct if not altogether different, many consider them under the “aswang” category. Besides, I’m not sure I could come up with enough manananggal movies separate from aswang movies, hee.

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Aswangan, Part 2: Tiktik-TAC, Tik-TAC

*** There Be Spoilers ***

At the heart of it, Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles is, rather than horror, really more of an action movie with some dark humor spread throughout in appropriate places. Its posters show an action hero battling the ferocious creatures of the night, and even its very tagline (“Ang pelikulang may puso… bituka, atay, at iba pang lamang-loob“) betrays the macabre humor waiting in the wings for those who expect straight-out horror. Its trailer also echoes more of an action-adventure movie, the type that is adapted from super-hero comic books.

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Aswangan, Part 1: The As-wunk Phenomenon

*** There Be Spoilers ***

No, not THAT “Tiktik.”

This year, the aswang makes an explosive comeback in media with the recent release of Erik Matti’s Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles. Which, upon realization, can be abbreviated “Tiktik: TAC.” It is an innovative movie that sets a new standard in local filmmaking and focuses on one of the most famous aswang types, the tiktik.

The tiktik, it is said, is an aswang that makes a bird-like sound (hence, its name) – with the sound being loud when the aswang is distant and growing faint as it approaches, confusing potential victims. Others claim the tiktik is not the aswang itself but the aswang’s familiar – a bird that basically heralds the coming of an aswang. Regardless, it usually perches at night upon rooftops, looking for a hole through which its long proboscis-like tongue can slither down to reach the belly of sleeping pregnant women.

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It’s Halloween season again, and all the ghouls and goblins are out and about asking for candies and coins. Although Westernized trick-or-treat Halloween has been a relatively recent local activity, mostly in affluent areas and/or malls, the season has always been a big deal here due to the Filipino counterpart, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day a.k.a. Undas. Hordes of people flock to the cemeteries to commemorate their loved ones, making a fiesta out of the whole thing – complete with food, drinks, and even gambling beside the nitso.

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Betty White in 2010

“Why do people say ‘grow some balls’? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.”

– Betty White

I’ve only really followed Harry Potter through the movies. I haven’t read any of the books except The Half-Blood Prince, which was given to me as a gift by one of my best friends several years back. The film version of The Half-Blood Prince left me gagging because of how it butchered what was a very good book, and that and the the film adaptation of The Prisoner of Azkaban have remained the sore spots in an otherwise amazing movie franchise.

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The remake of Joey Gosiengfiao’s “Temptation Island” was more faithful than I expected. It had a few tweaks here and there, mostly to modernize the references, but it was surprisingly intact. No wonder: the original was such a classic with those quotable quotes that to mess with it would ruin the remake significantly – and writer/director Chris Martinez knows this.

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I guess it’s appropriate that Josh Duhamel, one of the leads of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”, is married to the vocalist of The Black Eyed Peas. The movie turned into one big Boom Boom Pow in its last hour. I’ve never before seen a movie with a one-hour climax, but here you have it.

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