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Yesterday we went to a lunch hosted by Century Canning/555 Tuna to introduce its new endorser, Robin Padilla, and to honor five working men and women who embody the ideals of their “Katawang Palaban” media campaign. More on this in our Philstar column on Sunday.

We didn’t forget the questions you posted for Robin Padilla. As expected, there was a full house and it was nearly impossible to get an interview with the actor. However, we were able to join a 10-minute press chat with the actor, during which many of your questions were covered by the lifestyle writers in attendance. So we didn’t get to ask your questions exactly, but we extrapolated the answers to some of them.

johnbristol6 asked: How do you reconcile your religious beliefs and your relationship with BB Gandanghari?

Religion was not discussed, but it was mentioned that Robin Padilla’s obviously effective skin care regimen includes regular facials at BB Gandanghari’s salon.

allancarreon asked: What was your biggest regret from your Bad Boy years?

He said that in those years he was driven by anger, and that to this day he’s still asking for forgiveness from the people he had wronged. “Buti lang nakulong ako,” he mused. He added that he still has a temper so it would be a terrible idea for him to go into politics. Robin said he doesn’t want to be the guy on the news beating up colleagues in Congress.

wangbumaximus asked: Igan, anu-ano po ang mga dietary regimen ninyo po’t mga exercises ang madalas ninyong ginagawa po?

Robin said he is seriously into martial arts. He added that he should get dental surgery but it would not be a good idea since he does a lot of sparring. When asked if he has had cosmetic surgery or used Botox, he said no and proceeded to smoosh and squeeze his nose, cheeks and forehead.

Rhick asked: Bakit hindi pinasalita si Marian Rivera sa advertisement ninyo kasama si Jericho Rosales?

This question didn’t come up, but Robin did express great admiration for Marian Rivera’s beauty, prompting some reporters to ask hypothetical questions (viz. If you had met Marian before you met Mariel Rodriguez…) he cannily declined to answer.

Someone brought up an incident in which Mariel asked Robin’s ex Ruffa Gutierrez a question to which Ruffa’s answer was “Ang asawa mo” or something. (Sorry, we are ignorant.) Robin said he hasn’t dared ask Mariel about it, adding, “Napaka-awkward pala ang pinag-uusapan ka ng dalawang babae na parang wala ka roon.”

ros_al asked: How’s Mariel as a wife, di ka ba naiingayan sa kanya?

The answer is in this clip. Robin is talking to reporter Rommel.

Thank you for sending in your questions; we will forward them to the Century/555 people.

Prime location for life in our solar system: Jupiter’s moon Europa. Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/University of Colorado

Read Life: Is it inevitable or just a fluke? by Nick Lane in New Scientist. Registration required.

So you won’t be hanging out with Vulcans and Romulans very soon. There may be simple life forms on other planets, but complex life, intelligent life, is not inevitable.

On the bright side, we probably don’t have competition out there. They’re not coming to wipe us out (Not that we can’t do that ourselves).

So we’re alone in the universe. More room for us! Let’s colonize some worlds!

From The Royal Tenenbaums: Gwyneth Paltrow in Lacoste.

Jason Diamond tells A Tale of Two Tennis Shirts in The Awl.

…what the two companies lack in comparable aesthetics, they make up for in their very similar histories: Wimbledon champions founded both brands—René Lacoste started his company in the late 1920s, while Perry’s shirts made their first appearance in 1952—and both companies became famous for manufacturing very similar looking tennis shirts. These shirts are casually referred to today as “polo shirts” (which is technically wrong: the term polo shirt originally referred only to the long-sleeved button-up shirts worn by polo players). Even though the shirts look and feel similar and cost about the same (Lacoste shading a little less expensive), somewhere down the line the laurel wreath of Perry’s logo became a favorite of mods, skinheads, rude boys, football hooligans and Brit Poppers, while Lacoste became the sport shirt of choice for the rich and privileged and anyone looking to be seen as such. But why did it turn out that way?

Amy Winehouse for Fred Perry

By the way neither the French nor the English have won a grand slam in ages.

Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos, written and directed by Mario O’Hara

In 2011 Cinema One Originals paid tribute to Mario O’Hara. This is the citation we wrote for the event.

Mario O’Hara should be one of the best-known filmmakers of our time. His name should be mentioned alongside Brocka’s and Bernal’s. The fact that it is not is an injustice partly of his own making. For Mario O’Hara hides from the spotlight as if it would burn him.

His movies travel to film festivals; he does not. They win accolades and prizes; he does not receive them personally. Film critics and students seek to interview him; he shyly but firmly declines. It is almost as if he were trying to erase himself from the frame.

Fortunately his work speaks for him, loudly and clearly. As an actor he is unforgettable: witness his performances in Tubog Sa Ginto, Stardoom, Tinimbang Ka Nguni’t Kulang, and Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko Ng Liwanag. His filmography as a writer includes some of the most important films from Philippine Cinema’s Golden Age: Tinimbang Ka Nguni’t Kulang, Condemned, Insiang. His achievements as writer and director are indelible: Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos, Ang Babae Sa Breakwater, Ang Paglilitis Ni Andres Bonifacio.

In 1976 the film Insiang directed by Lino Brocka from a story and screenplay by Mario O’Hara, became the first Filipino film to screen at Cannes. In 2003, after an absence of two decades, Filipino film returned to the Cannes film festival. The movie was Ang Babae Sa Breakwater, written and directed by Mario O’Hara. This low-budget independent film was one of the pioneers leading the charge of Philippine cinema on the international festival circuit. Today Philippine movies are a fixture at Cannes, Venice, and other festivals. This would not have been possible without the groundbreaking work of this quiet, self-effacing man.

Of course Mario O’Hara would never admit that, so we will say it.

Image from Video 48

The other day we drove past Makati Med and there were TV crews parked across the street waiting for updates on Dolphy’s medical condition. Of course they were just doing their jobs, but it’s ghoulish.

Dolphy has been a fixture in my consciousness since childhood, when I saw Silveria (the talking horse), Tarzan vs. Tansan and Barilan Sa Baboy Kural on TV (Sine Siete) while pretending to be having my afternoon siesta. I’m pretty sure the yaya (a sporadic presence due to my family’s rapidly shifting liquidity) knew I was awake, but she didn’t rat on me because she was watching the movies too. We saw Kalabog en Bosyo, Jack en Jill, and D’Beatniks (They were “beatniks” because they refused to bathe. In the denouement they all took a bath). I regret that I never saw his Batman spoof, James Batman.

Around this time the original John en Marsha TV series was on, with Nida Blanca, Dely Atay-Atayan and Matutina. Dolphy also produced and starred in movies that spoofed Cyrano de Bergerac, Romeo and Juliet, and The Omen (Omeng Satanasia).

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

There’s this particular Dolphy project I remember, in which the villain played an evil physician named Doctor Kagaw who hypnotized patients into committing crimes. It’s not mentioned in his IMDB page—it was probably an episode in a movie omnibus. Years later, when I saw The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, it occurred to me that Dolphy was spoofing the German Expressionist classic.

If anyone out there has a copy of The Cabinet of Dr. Kagaw, please let me know.

* * * * *

Message from Boboy: The Caligari spoof was from Kalabog en Bosyo (1959). I loved that movie! Eddie Arenas played Dr. Kagaw. His immortal line: “Revenge!”

The only reason to see idiotic Lockout: Guy Pearce. With deadpan humor. And muscles. Counterpoint to his TED talk as Peter Weyland. And Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Reminder: We’ve had dibs on Guy Pearce since L.A. Confidential. But you may take Russell Crowe. Please.

Luc Besson: All right bitches, what have you got for me?

Writer 1: Mon capitaine, we have a maximum security prison full of the most vicious criminals known to man, total scum of the earth. And a wisecracking, how do you say, insouciant hero who must break into the prison to retrieve a valuable object.

Luc: Hmmm. What would this valuable object be doing in a supermax prison? Where would it be hidden, up someone’s ass?

Writers: Ha! Ha! Ha!

Luc: I am serieux.

Writer 2: Perhaps it is priceless information he is retrieving. Such as a government top secret.

Writer 1: Or an important personage…

Luc: What would the important personage be doing in a supermax prison?

Writer 2: Humanitarian mission. Investigating prison abuses.

Writer 3: And during le mission there is ze prison break and she is held hostage.

Luc: Is she hot?

Writer 1: Of course.

Writer 2: Not only that, but she is is someone’s daughter…

Writer 3: Yes, of the President of the United States!

Luc: No. No. Non. I have seen this. This is Escape from New York by Jean Charpentier. Starring the Kurt Russell as the Snake Plissen with the eyepatch.

Writer 1: Well, yes, it is a hommage!

Writer 3: But bigger!

Writer 2: Yes, bigger and better!

Luc: How?

Writer 2: It’s…uhh…

Writer 3: Umm…ah…

Writer 1: THE PRISON IS IN SPACE!

Dead silence.

Luc: Sacre bleu, we have a movie! The geniuses behind Transporter and Taken have done it again.

Writers 1,2,3: Like never before!

Luc: We’re going to make…Transporter Taken In Space!