From the Home for the Golden Gays website:
All eyes are on Malate, the heart and home of Manila’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) nightlife as it celebrates the 12th White Party Manila on June 29.
This year, the organizers of the organizers of the 12th White Party Manila choose an LGBT institution to donate some of the proceeds of the event.
“It was unanimous among the members of the 12th White Party Manila when we chose Home for the Golden Gays to bring joy to our lolas who are in need of our love and attention,” according to Raffy Aquino, Secretariat for the 12th White Party Manila.
Internet sensation and well-known Youtube celebrity Sebastian Castro graces the event as the face of White Party Manila. The openly gay model-singer is an advocate of gender equality, widely accepted by the Filipino LGBT community for being proud of his sexuality.
Started in 2001, the White Party is the largest annual gathering of LGBTs and avenue for celebrating equality, unity, and acceptance. Chelu Productions, in coordination with the Malate Business Association, spearheads this year’s White Party celebration alongside several organizations promoting LGBT-related advocacies.
Che’lu Productions donates a portion of the proceeds to the Home for the Golden Gays. A booth for the Golden Gays is also present at the White Party for guests to share their blessing to the lolas of the Golden Gays.
The street party starts at 8PM featuring the latest club music from select DJs, with guest performances and special production numbers. General admission is Php 200 (entrance only) and VIP tickets are at Php 1000 with unlimited drinks.
The 12th White Party Manila chooses the Home for the Golden Gays as beneficiary.
This was Nolit Aurillo at the Fete de la Musique main stage. The man won the crowd’s attention with his unassuming air and killer guitar playing.
“I was asked to play a Michael Jackson song. I’m not going to do that,” he told the crowd at the start of his set. “I’m going to play A LOT of Michael Jackson songs!”
And with just his guitar, he went to a medley of A LOT of the King of Pop’s famous songs.
Several times, the crowd was singing along, without prompting: Now THAT is a great musician.
He was asked several times to finish his set early for the next band. While each player was only given a few minutes of stage time, that was still a little rude to the old man who was sharing his passion of music to everyone. And everyone else shared it back at him.
The next band onstage took ages to set up; the setup time was probably half as long as their set. They even had to stop after their first song to adjust their equipment.Wtf.
Kids, this is what a real musician is like. This is what “mind-blowing” is; not some giggly girl who can even bother memorizing song lyrics.
White smoke started coming out from my office desktop’s CPU. I quickly scrambled to unplug the cord and shut down the UPS.
Ash gray dust were left on the front grills of the CPU; I suspect it was accumulated dust from inside that were blown by the fan. None of the paper I stuck next to the CPU seemed to have burnt and there was no smell of burnt electronic stuff.
Still, I decided to set up in another station until the office IT people take a look my desktop.
The office’s IT guy came, took a look at the CPU and casually said, “It’s just dust. It’s alright.”
“Shouldn’t I be worried about that?” I replied, not about to let go of the panic that sprung on me.
IT guy just laughed and walked away. I feel like moving one of the fire extinguishers next to me, just in case.
I met Darlene Malimas early last year when she lent me a copy of Vince Sandoval’s earlier film, Señorita, for Sine Bahaghari. That time, she already told me of the preparations for what eventually will become Aparisyon.
Months later, Darlene invited me to a test screening of the film. Even watching the earlier cut of the film, I knew I was seeing something special.
It was watching something different unfold in a Filipino movie. It was a quiet, intense work that was emotionally riveting. I was fascinated and affected. The small group in that test screening gave some critique, suggestions on a few minor changes that still can be done to improve the film. But really, even then, we all know this film will be making waves.
(And this is the reason my name appears in the credits. I haven’t seen that myself; a friend who also saw the film in Cinemalaya told me.)
After Cinemalaya, Aparisyon garnered praise from local and international critics. I’m so happy every time I hear the movie win another award and yet I’m hardly surprised. After all, great work will always speak for itself.
But the true test for Aparisyon will be how the mainstream audience will appreciate it. It’s different from most commercial movies. There are no impossibly glamorous characters, no rags-to-riches story, no histrionic confrontation scenes.
But I’d like to trust the Filipino audience. They are not the unthinking masses mainstream producers think they are, happy to receive whatever trash was released by the mainstream film industry.
There had been several small movies that were embraced by the mainstream audience before, proving that good independent film-making still has a place in commercial theaters. I really hope Aparisyon will be included among them.
It’s been a while since I uploaded photos.
Since I finally have a camera that takes decent photos, here are some photos from last night’s Malate Food Festival.
Many thanks to Jerick of Secret Society for the wonderful Ilonggo dinner; the KBL (kadyos, baboy, langka) and batchoy were particularly good. Too bad I didn’t remember to take photos of it until after our dinner.
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