Lia gave a nice talk at Quark’s class today, on editing. She’d prepared a lot of notes, but didn’t refer to them too often; maybe she just made them to ease her nervousness. But they’re good notes; I was reading them after her talk and there are things in there that I’d forgotten about, or didn’t think of. Sometimes you think you know things, but then there are always little things that make you go, “Ah. Interesting…” and then more possibilities emerge. I’m lucky to have friends like that. Take Gabby, for example. He just had a screening of In the Mood for Love tonight at Brash, a fundraising thing for Something I Forgot. He’s a go-getter, this Mr. Narciso. Active in a lot of things, not just his job. I remember that in our carpool in high school, he was the only other person who had more than a superficial interest and appreciation for stories and their telling. So I’d tell him story ideas and he’d tell me his and we’d share opinions, impressions, reactions. It helped to pass the time on ungodly trips home stuck in Edsa traffic, pre-C5. And in these conversations, I’d get ideas. For what we’re talking about, sometimes for something else, but the thing I’m getting to is that it’s nice to have other people who you can bounce ideas off of, or who can show you things you don’t know.

So anyway, 13 people showed up for the screening, which is good since an average Brash screening has about the same number, and this was all Gabby’s doing. And they liked the movie, and asked questions, and even went through some of the features, and two of them might even buy the DVD. And any money I can send Wong Kar Wai’s way, I’d be glad to assist.

Oh, and I have to mention this. Joey and I were outside talking, and he was taking a few pictures with his digital camera so the flash was going off every now and then. Later, after the screening and after Joey'd left, Gabby tells me that the flashes occurred right at the scene where Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung were caught in the rain, making for an unexpected, romantic, and possibly eerie "effect." Ahh, serendipity...

Saw Harvey, Carlo, and Ernan last Friday night, to talk about a possible project. The actual talking about the project was quick, we mostly had dinner, and caught up with each other. I was glad to finally meet She, and Harvey lent me some more Blade of the Immortal books, which I’m reading now and enjoying. Carlo’s project sounds interesting and insane at the same time: I haven’t quite got my head wrapped around it yet, but maybe things’ll be clearer when we get to talk about it at length. I just know it’s a relationship/romance between two monkeys that evolve through I think four different phases. You can’t say it’s been done before, that’s for sure. I’m interested in what possibilities he sees in it to make it a full-fledged project…

I also saw Justin of Ciudad wearing shorts in a mall last Sunday. In Rustans. I greet him now as he’s enjoying his action-filled job at Accenture. He was on his way to buy a book: the hardcover Illustrated A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I remembered that I had it and recounted to him how I’d begun the book twice but still hadn’t finished it. Started the first time when I’d gotten it in high school, got derailed by a hell week, and then forgot about it. Unearthed it from being buried under other unread books in college, took another go at it, almost finised it this time (even took notes which are still in one of my notebooks), and then got derailed by another hell week. I hope I get to read that book before I die. (It’s a great book, by the way)

Neva’s been updating her blog, and even changed her template, so go take a look when you’ve got the time.