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Brain chair at Dr. Cuanang’s Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo.

We had a delightful conversation about brains with neurologist Dr. Joven Cuanang. The noted art collector and chief medical officer of St. Luke’s answered our questions about migraines, their causes and treatments; anti-depressants and psychiatry after Freud; memory and how to keep it sharp; and the assorted voices in our heads.

Wanna ace an exam? Listen to Doc’s study tips.

Listen to or download the podcast, A Journey Around Your Skull with Dr. Joven Cuanang.

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Saffy: This is my toy brain. I play football with it.

Saffy: Mat, I think your brain fell out.
Mat: Haha, I know that trick. Try it on Drogon.

Drogon: Is it food? Is it delicious? Can I eat it?

Dr. Joven Cuanang at his Cafe Scientifique talk on the brain and art at the Mind Museum.

Do you give a lot of thought to your brain? We do, but then we fractured our skull when we were 8 and had to have electroencephalography, which in the 70s involved sticking 32 needles into the nerve endings on our skull. A formative experience, no? Since then we’ve been wondering what’s in there, how it works, and whether we can cause people’s brains to explode like in Scanners.

On Friday we’re doing a podcast with our favorite neurologist and art lover, St. Luke’s Medical Director Dr. Joven Cuanang. We’re going to ask the expert the questions we’ve been hoarding over the years, like:

Does free will exist?
What causes migraines? What’s the best way to treat them?
You mentioned that the brain needs glucose and sleep. What other food is good for your brain?
Are we our brains? Are we our memories?
What happens when we sleep? Are we correct in assuming that writing gets done during sleep? (Our excuse for sleeping 8 or 9 hours a night.)
In Mike Alcazaren’s Puti, the protagonist loses the ability to perceive color. Can that really happen?
We read somewhere that humans use only a small percentage of their brain power during their lifetimes. How do we maximize the use of our brains?
Can a brain overheat and blow up like an overloaded electrical transformer?
What causes zombies? Can they be saved?
Do you believe in psychic powers? If clairvoyance is possible, where in the brain does it happen? Could Charles Xavier exist outside of comic books?
Our overenthusiastic parents had us take every IQ test in existence. How do you feel about IQ tests? Is it possible that a high IQ only means you’re good at taking tests?
We love Oliver Sacks’s essays about people who mistake their wives for hats or relive the same year over and over again or have phantom limbs. What are some of the strange neurological disorders you have encountered?
What part of the brain governs smiling, and is it bigger in Pinoys?
How can people prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia?

From reader and former student of Dr. Cuanang, Dr. Feelgood:
Did you really work with Dr. Adams, who wrote neurology’s bible, at Harvard?
Any hilarious/horrible stories from your internship and residency?
What current developments in Neuroscience research are you most hopeful about?

Post your questions in Comments and we’ll cover them in our podcast.

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.

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.

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We’d watch this.

via 3QD

Ekstra opens in cinemas on 14 August 2013.
Instant Mommy opens on 28 August 2013.
Sana Dati opens on 25 September 2013.

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No one can ever say that we choose half-measures. When we said we loved Sana Dati, we meant we would go to the mattresses for it (and that includes mixing up Breaking Bad and Godfather references).

We’ve just spent the last 48 hours geeking out on Jerrold Tarog’s anti-romcom. On Saturday we did a podcast with its maker. On Sunday we got up early to go to Alabang Town Center and watch it again. And then we had merienda at Juan’s house and talked our friends’ ears off about the movie. Then Ricky decided to blow off his evening appointment so we could attend the Cinemalaya awards night at CCP. Where we were astonished to find that the jury agreed with us (because this never happens).

In the Directors’ Showcase, the awards for Sound Design, Musical Score and Editing went to Jerrold Tarog (and his pseudonyms Roger TJ Ladro and Pats R. Ranyo) for Sana Dati. The Production Design award went to Ericson Navarro and the Cinematography award to Mackie Galvez for Sana Dati. TJ Trinidad won the Best Supporting Award for his heartbreaking portrayal as the other guy in Sana Dati.

The only movie standing in the way of a Sana Dati sweep was Ekstra. We’re very pleased for our friend Jeffrey Jeturian, who won the Best Screenplay award (with Zig Dulay and Antoinette Jadaone) for his very first attempt at writing. Ekstra also won the Jury Prize and the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) prize. The jury opted not to hand out a Best Actor award. Ruby Ruiz as the harried talent coordinator in Ekstra bagged the Best Supporting Actress prize, and Vilma Santos won Best Actress in her first indie outing. Ate Vi could not attend the CEremony; if she had appeared, our eardrums would’ve liquefied from the cheering. Ekstra opens in theatres on August 14—you have to see it.

Best Director went to Jerrold Tarog and Best Film to Sana Dati. We hope that GMA Network, which saved the production at the last minute by buying the broadcast rights (Thank You!), will give it a theatrical run.

In the New Breed section, Transit by Hannah Espia (which we haven’t seen because we couldn’t get tickets) also managed a near-sweep, bagging the Best Film, Direction, Cinematography, Actress (Irma Adlawan), and Supporting Actress (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) awards, among others.

Best Supporting Actor went to Joey Paras for Babagwa, and Best Actor to Mimi Juareza for Quick Change. If we’re not mistaken, this is the first time a transgender has won a major acting award here. Shouldn’t Mimi be in the Best Actress category though? In any case she was brilliant in Quick Change, and we were moved by her genuine shock and emotion at hearing her name called.

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One of the sources.

Jerrold Tarog wrote his first screenplay Sana Dati in 2006, and over the years he pitched it to a lot of producers. Nothing happened. In the meantime he made six feature films. In 2013 Sana Dati was accepted in the Directors’ Showcase at Cinemalaya, and he still couldn’t find the funds to shoot it. Just as he was about to quit, a producer appeared. Listen to the back story of Sana Dati in our podcast interview, along with tips on how to prevent overacting and questions he never wants to be asked again.

Our interview with Jerrold Tarog in the not-quite weekly podcast. Listen, download, or get it on iTunes.

In the Podcast episode 2.3, we talk to our friend Jeffrey Jeturian. The film (Kubrador, Tuhog, Pila Balde, etc) and TV (Be Careful With My Heart) has just completed his 9th feature film, Ekstra, starring Vilma Santos. In the first of two episodes, we talk about how he got his start in the movies, and his knack for discovering talents in gas stations and panciteria.

Listen to the podcast, download it, or get it on iTunes.

This podcast was supposed to be uploaded weeks ago, but we had some technical problems. While we were doing the podcast, Garage Band stopped recording. So we opened a new file for the second half of the interview. It seemed fine during recording, but in playback, nothing. So we’ll have to do a Part 2.

Then we sent the file that worked to Ren, and it would only play on iTunes. Aaargh. Fortunately Renly was able to fix it. Enjoy, and don’t forget to watch Ekstra at Cinemalaya. (There will be a theatrical run after the festival.)

Renly’s housemates Sqeeky (white) and Pouncer (demonstrating his doughnut consumption prevention technique). Photo by Ren.