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Eugene Domingo and Yuki Matsuzaki star in Leo Abaya’s romantic comedy Instant Mommy, which opens in theatres tomorrow, August 28.

Yuki is learning Tagalog by taking notes on his phone, and consulting dictionaries.

Conju-gay-tion

Yuki: “Pajulit-julit” is like “ulit-ulit”.
Chus: Correct. You add a “j” to make it gay.
Us: You can make words gay by changing the first letter to “j” or “sh”.
Chus: “Pagod” becomes “jogod” and “pangit” becomes “shonget”.
Leo: Then you add “skaya” at the end to make it sound Russian.
Yuki: What does “skaya” mean?
Us: Nothing, it just sounds Russian.
Chus: For example. Pagod na ako. Shogod na ako.
Leo: And you turn “ako” into “akesh” or “aketch”.
Yuki: Shogodskaya na akesh.
Everyone: Very good!

Our podcast with Yuki Matsuzaki is here.

Starring Sqeeky (white) and Pouncer (black-white-orange)
Directed by Squeeky and Pouncer
Cinematography by their serf, Ren

Pouncer after the shoot. Making movies is exhausting.

Saffy’s review: Cats have no thumbs, so I give it two claws up!

Saffy’s human’s favorite Hitchcock movies. Perfect for long weekends and sudden non-working days. (Note: It took us decades to seek out and watch all these movies, and you can view them all in a day, lucky you.)

10. Frenzy. Someone is strangling women to death with neckties in 60s London, and the bad-tempered protagonist is the suspect.

9. Psycho. Dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun don’t go in the shower!!!

8. Rear Window. Wheelchair-bound photojournalist is so busy watching the neighbors through a telescope he doesn’t notice his beautiful girlfriend.

7. Strangers on a Train. Creepy guy offers to kill a tennis player’s horrible wife if the tennis player will kill the creepy guy’s father. Set at the US Open.

6. The 39 Steps. See Holden’s summary in The Catcher in the Rye.

5. Shadow of A Doubt. Charley’s favorite uncle may be the Merry Widow killer.

4. Vertigo. Acrophobic detective falls in love with his client’s wife, fails to save her, then meets someone who looks exactly like her…

3. North by Northwest. Advertising executive is mistaken for a spy, goes on the run and gets picked up by a cool blonde.

2. Notorious. Nazi’s daughter is in love with her American case officer, but he sends her off to spy on her father’s colleagues.

1. The Lady Vanishes. The feisty heroine reports that an old lady has been kidnapped on the train, and everyone but the annoying musicologist insists that there was no old lady.

Leo Abaya, writer and director of our favorite New Breed entry, Instant Mommy.

As for the devotees and supporters, it was one of the few occasions when they could feel like part of a community rather than freaks who care too much about characters who don’t really exist. Half the fun of attending Cinemalaya are the post-screening discussions in which friends pass judgment on the works: “Uma-Apitchapong”, “It’s one act, where are the other two?” and “Sana di na lang ako nag-sssshh doon sa mga katabi kong maingay, mas exciting yung kuwento nila kaysa sa pelikula.”

Read our (long delayed) column, Notes on Cinemalaya 2013: Who’s going to watch this stuff? Everybody. at InterAksyon.com.

From the archive: The Soul-Sucking Reality of Indie Movie Distribution.

The second installment: Indies try to cross over, at InterAksyon.com.

When it’s warm and sunny, we want ramen. When it’s cold and rainy, we want ramen. It’s a basic food group.

Notice all the new Japanese restaurants opening in Metro Manila. Recently we had the excellent kurobuta katsu at Ginza Bairin in Glorietta 2, facing the new hotels. The restaurant was full and we had to wait almost half an hour to get a table, but it was worth it. While you’re enjoying your katsu a waiter comes around offering extra servings of miso soup, shredded cabbage and rice.

Santouka’s ramen with a side of pork cheeks.

On Sunday in the middle of the storm we tried Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, the ramen place at Glorietta 4 (facing SM). Juan had pronounced it the best ramen he’d ever had. They don’t accept reservations; there was a 15-minute wait for a table.

Santouka’s Miso ramen with char siu

We can’t claim to be an expert, but the noodles were delicious, the broth flavorful, the pork cheeks evil. “You were right,” we told Juan. “This is the best ramen we’ve ever had.”

“The ramen at Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen at the Shangri-La East Wing is the best ramen I’ve ever had,” Juan declared. “But this is close.” (Dissenting opinion Walk and Eat prefers Santouka to Ikkoryu.)

Next stop: Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen.

Any mention of ramen brings up Juzo Itami’s Tampopo.

Pinoy addition to the ramen ritual: After separating the chopsticks, rub the two sticks together to remove splinters.

Don’t forget to apologize to the pork and eye the noodles affectionately.

Do the Japanese make the world’s greatest movies about food? Must see Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

We gave a talk on moviegoing at the first InterAksyon Cafe. Listen to it on The Weekly Podcast. Sorry we can’t allow the video to be seen, it’s for your own protection. Note to self: Know your best camera angle. Ours is Siberia.

Marlon’s latest movie, the horror-comedy Ang Huling Henya, opens in theatres on Wednesday, 21 August 2013. A holiday! so get thee to the cinema. (Nearly everyone we know is making a movie! Hmmm) We appear in Ang Huling Henya, looking like this:

No, worse. That picture was taken after an hour in the prosthetics chair, with another hour of fake blood and gore to go. Yes, we turn into a zombie! No acting talent required: we play ourself, then our zombie version. Our speaking lines were easy: we just argued with the blonde villain Ricci Chan on certain points of semantics.

Stick around for the closing credits, because we’re in a Marvel movie-style (Magneto?) stinger that comes on just after the names of the main cast. The only other time we were in a movie, playing ourself (typecasting!) in Joey Reyes’s Bukas Na Lang Kita Mamahalin, we were also the last shot.

Therefore one could say that we end the movies. For Ang Huling Henya we’re going to claim that we are the title role nyahahaa.

* * * * *
We’d watch this.

via 3QD

Image: Eugene Domingo as Bechay. Screencaps from Leo Abaya.

Bechay works as a wardrobe mistress on advertising shoots. On a trip to Boracay, she meets the charming Kaoru, a Japanese businessman. They quickly fall in like and she gets knocked up. Kaoru is married, but he is in the process of divorcing his wife Hana—as soon as she gives her consent, because getting a divorce in Japan is complicated. In the meantime the now-pregnant Bechay and Kaoru make plans and keep in touch with regular video chats. Will Bechay’s dreams of domestic bliss become reality, or does that only happen on television ads?

Image: Yuki Matsuzaki as Kaoru. Yuki is our next guest on the podcast.

Instant Mommy, written and directed by Leo Abaya and starring Eugene Domingo, Yuki Matsuzaki and Luis Alandy, opens in theatres on August 28. While we’re counting down to opening day, send us your own (or your friends’, with their permission or they’ll never speak to you again) online dating/long distance relationship stories.

In the eternal words of schmaltzy slumbooks, “How did you met?” When did you start dating online? How did you “meet”? What were they like? What did you like about them? How far did it get? Did you actually meet, like in person? We want details! The ickier the better (Use a pseudonym).

Postal notebooks by Moleskine: envelope-shaped stitched notebooks, ready to mail (or more likely, keep). If people wrote letters instead of chatting online, they’d have time to think about what they’re doing. More thinking, less trouble.

Post your stories in Comments. Three winners will receive Moleskine postal notebooks from National Bookstore; the first 20 contestants get Instant Mommy posters. Winners will be announced on IM opening day, August 28. See you in Comments!