How do you break free without breaking apart?

Apparently, they have the answer. Much as I wouldn't want to talk Oscars... Ok, whatever, let me post this fantastic photo instead of one of the most indubitable tandems, real-life at that, of 2008. Vanity Fair released this, and other actor-director tandems, weeks before ceremonies, but I'm posting it now.

Due to insistent public demand, or rather, due to a demand made publicly (hi Andy, hehe), I'm posting also the Woody-Penelope photo. What conjures up your mind?

Grammehhhy.

Saw the delayed telecast of the 81^st Grammys last night. Nothing really mind-blowing like in the previous years. They were good perfs though and we just might expect inter-generational numbers in the years to come. It has become quite a fad these days. This year there was Four Tops’ remaining duo Smokey Robinson and forgot-his-name with Jamie Fox and Ne-Yo, Stevie and the Jonas Bros, and Al Green, Justin and Boyz II Men. And Katy Perry comes out of ginormous banana and strut on stage with bananas on her hips. Was that a new song from U2 in the opening number? That one kicked ass. So did the perfs from Coldplay and Radiohead. I liked most though the perf of the 4 rap gods Jay-Z, Kanye, T.I. and Lil Wayne plus the mom-to-beat M.I.A. Did she give birth immediately after that? T.I. will be serving his 66-day sentence though after the Grammys, for a previous firearm-possession charge. I like that my faves of 2008 won like Adele, Estelle/Kanye’s American Boy and of course Coldplay’s Viva La Vida. Much has been said about this recent outing, or rather, much has been said about it’s being U2-ish. You can’t help it, the tracks are so anthem-ic you can’t help but… get lost… every river that you try to cross…

Anarchic.

Before Dev Patel rose to fame, thanks to the now probably overhyped Slumdog Millionaire, he was in this British TV Series called Skins. And it was Danny Boyle's daughter who suggested to get Dev, because according to Danny, there weren't skinny boys in India who'd fit the character of Jamal (in Slumdog).

Watched the season 1 of Skins on youtube the other year, and it was one of those things that I forgot, and now missed watching especially because youtube streaming isn't allowed in the office. The original trailer for the series is somewhere here (in this blog) but I dunno if it still works. Skins has some major kick-ass trailers. Here's the uncut season 2 trailer with a song from Radiohead's In Rainbows album. It kind of took off from the party-mode of the previous to a more somber and sensual vibe. The season 3 trailer borders on anarchic and features a new cast.

Skins Original Uncut Trailer
Uploaded by cloud6969

The pirated DVD stalls don't have Skins, and it's not like any TV series that you can actually air on primetime here unless you subject it to heavy editing, and British shows are not really the type of shows that local TV would buy the rights to airing. It's the type of show that is potentially dangerous in Philippine setting. Moral pundits would condemn it and label it debauchery. Complete mayhem. But whatever, right?

Which way forward?

The d(D)eck of the Marco Polo here in Davao was filled to the brim not just with prominence but with ideas and opinions of notable guests. I watched the taped-as-live ANC Special called Mindanao: The Way Forward along with my colleagues because Chairman was there.

Like the guests, we had midnight dinner. The production crew should have anticipated that cramming in a pool of prominent legal experts, local government officials, civil society and private sector representatives, the military, the media and noted Mindanao academicians would render a three-and-a-half hour shooting. I enjoyed Tony Velasquez though because he kept on joking. I hope they include his Facebook-Friendster joke.

From this recent update, ANC has decided to cut the special into two parts, which was originally just 90 minutes. The discussions were lively; full of insights both fresh and hackneyed (guess which belongs to which, haha). Though reading from the ANC segment outline, which constantly prods out-of-the-box insights, I guess I found them really kulang, but let’s see how it turns out.

Mindanao: The Way Forward airs tonight on ANC 730 pm and tomorrow, Saturday same time.