The Devil Wears Rajo

Nanghihinayang ako at nauna ang Hollywood sa paggawa ng pelikulang The Devil Wears Prada.

Kung hindi sana iyon naisalin sa puting tabing, masayang isipin na ang papel ni Miranda Priestley ay napunta kay Vilma Santos. Oo, si Vilma Santos. Siyempre, babaguhin natin (o ng Star Cinema) ang pangalan ng bida sa ating bersyon, at iaangkop natin sa ating kultura ang kuwento.

Naisip kong ang mga pakikipagsapalaran ng bidang si Andie ay maaari nating ihalintulad sa working girls ng Makati. Gusto kong ibigay ang papel na ito kay Angel Locsin. Pagkatapos, si Luis Manzano ang gaganap na nobyo niya. Disin sana'y ito ang unang pagkakataon na magkasama ang mag-ina sa isang pelikula, kahit pa wala silang eksena na magkasama sila.

Isipin n'yo na lang: Uutus-utusan ni Vilma si Angel, pahihirapan na para bang sinusubok ang pasensya ng isang mamanugangin. Pagkatapos, magdadayalog si Angel kay Luis pag-uwi ng bahay: "Hindi siya natutuwa nang masaya ang mga tao sa paligid niya. Gusto niya miserable ang lahat ng tao." Kulang na lang itanong niya, Bakit ganun ang nanay mo?!

Sakto ang tambalang Vilma-Angel sa parehang Meryl Streep-Anne Hathaway. Kung anong tayog ni Meryl ay siya namang taas din ni Vilma. Si Angel, tulad ni Anne, ay nagsisimula pa lang sa pag-arte. Wala silang sinabi sa mga reyna ng pelikula.

Pero ang mas magpapasabik sa mga tao ay ang makita si Vilma na hindi sumisigaw o humihiyaw. Isang bagong hamon sa Star for All Seasons ang hindi magtaas ng boses sa kabuuan ng pelikula. Huwag po ninyong ipagkakamali na ako ay isang Noranian (kahit pa humahanga din naman ako kay Nora), lalo pa at mas gusto ko siya kaysa Superstar. Naiisip ba ninyo kung paano sasabihin ni Vilma ang linyang ito: "Ang sabi ko sa sarili ko, Sige, kunin mo 'yung matabang babae na matalino naman. Pero ang nangyari, mas na-disappoint pa ako sa 'yo kesa sa mga nauna sa iyo." Hindi ba masarap isipin na dalawang oras na hindi lilitaw ang mga litid ni Vilma sa malaking tabing?

Sayang talaga at nauna na ang Hollywood.

'Yun lang.

Let the American Salvage Spin

Finalists for the National Book Award were announced Wednesday.  

Fiction nominees are:

American Salvage -  story collection by Bonnie Jo Campbell

Let the Great World Spin -  Colum McCann

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders -  stories by Daniyal Mueenuddin

Lark & Termite -  Jayne Anne Phillips

Far North -  Marcel Theroux (son of Paul Theroux)

The finalists in young people's literature are:

Claudette Colvin -  by Phillip Hoose

Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith -  Deborah Seligman

Stitches -  David Small

Lips Touch - Laini Taylor

Jumped -  Rita Williams-Garcia

Poetry nominees are:

Versed -  Rae Armanytrout

Open Interval -  Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon

Or to Begin Again -  Ann Lauterbach

Speak Low -  Carl Phillips 

Keith Waldrop -  Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy

The winner in each category will be known November 18 in New York and will get $10,000.

Gore Vidal and Dave Eggers are honorary awardees.  

A Passport on One Leg

Herta Mueller, 56, was tapped Thursday to receive this year's Nobel Prize in Literature.

Many observers believe her selection is in accordance with the commemoration of the 20th anniversay of the fall of communism, although Peter Englund denies this. Englund is the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy.

The prizes have been given to European writers in the last three years. 

Last year Horace Engdahl said Europe remains the literary center of the world and that American writers are not at par with them.

This year Englund has said he thinks the Academy finds it easier to pick European authors because the Academy is comprised of Europeans, and therefore share the same sensibilities. Mueller was born in Romania, and she and her husband emigrated to Germany in 1987. 

Mueller is the 10th German to receive the prize, the latest being Gunter Grass in 1999. Her body of work is mostly in German, but there have been translations in English, Spanish, and French.

Mueller began in 1982 with "Niederungen" (Nadirs), a short-story collection. Her most recent novel, "Atemschaukel" (Swinging Breath) is in contention for the German Book Prize tomorrow. It would be interesting to see how it fares.

Mueller is also the 12th woman to cop the Nobel in this category, the latest being Doris Lessing in 2007 .  This year marks the first time four women have taken the Nobel in the same year, with two of them from the United States and another one from Israel.

The Nobel Prize in Literature includes 10 million kronor (equivalent to $1.4 million), and will be awarded December 10 in Stockholm.

Mantel's Mantel

Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" has won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction on Tuesday.

Mantel, 57, has written film criticism, a memoir, novels, and short stories. Her novel "Beyond Black" (2005), was a finalist in the races for the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

The prize comes with 50,000 pounds (or $80,000). Last year's recipient was "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga.

The Collected Fiction of NBA

Organizers of the National Book Awards want to know the best fiction in their 60 years.

On Monday the finalists were announced:

Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" 

Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow"

"The Stories of John Cheever"

"Collected Stories" by William Faulkner

"The Complete Stories" by Flannery O'Connor

"The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty"

The American public may vote online up to October 21. 

Wowza! That's Legen-

Wasn't he awesome?

Yesterday's Emmy ceremonies were amazing, and the tone was set wonderfully by Neil Patrick Harris singing "Put Down the Remote," composed by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman (Hairspray).

One of my favorite moments was when a team of three accountants walked to the stage to explain how the votes were tallied- only to be interrupted by Harris showing up as Dr. Horrible. 

Another one was a clip of Family Guy with re-recorded dialogue involving Brian the talking dog voting for How I Met Your Mother for best comedy series. Stewie the baby beats him up, only to say in the end, "Hey, suit up."

Just like the Oscars this year, the montages focused on genre highlights in the past year (e.g., the year in comedy, the year in drama, etc.), and the In Memoriam segment was set to a live musical performance. Sarah McLachlan sang- fittingly- "I Will Remember You."

The one segment I always tune in for is the presentation of the nominees for outstanding writing for variety, music, or comedy series. This year's standout was that of Conan O'Brien's, with him ignoring on Facebook friend requests from his writers.

In the drama category, the winners were:

series: Mad Men, AMC

lead actor: Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), AMC

lead actress: Glenn Close (Damages), FX

supporting actor: Michael Emerson (Lost), ABC

supporting actress: Cherry Jones (24), Fox

For comedy, the trophies went to:

series: 30 Rock, NBC.

lead actor: Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), NBC

lead actress: Toni Collette (United States of Tara), Showtime

supporting actor: Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), CBS

supporting actress: Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies), ABC

miniseries: Little Dorrit, PBS

made-for-TV movie: Grey Gardens, HBO


variety, music, or comedy series: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Comedy Central.

reality-competition program: The Amazing Race, CBS

How I Handicap the Emmys

In the drama categories, here's who should win:

best series- Mad Men (AMC)

directing- Battlestar Galactica (Syfy)

writing- Mad Men (AMC)

lead actor- Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), but Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment) has a good chance, and Hugh Laurie (House) is overdue.

lead actress- Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), but Glenn Close (Damages) is going to take it.

supporting actor- John Slattery (Mad Men), but Michael Emerson (Lost) should have won it two years ago.

supporting actress- Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy)


In the comedy categories, here's who will win:

best series- 30 Rock (NBC), but I'd like to see Entourage (HBO) take it this time.

directing- 30 Rock (NBC)

writing- 30 Rock (NBC) is the prohibitive favorite.

lead actor- Steve Carell (The Office), but I'd like Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) get the trophy.

lead actress- Tina Fey (30 Rock), but I'd like to see Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) this time.

supporting actor- Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), but it should be Rainn Wilson (The Office). Or Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother).

supporting actress- Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live). Vanessa Williams should have won last year, but how about Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds) this year?

The Quickening Race

Finalists in the Man Booker Prize were announced Tuesday. 

They are:

A.S. Byatt- for "The Children's Book"

J.M. Coetzee- for "Summertime"

Adam Foulds- for "The Quickening Maze"

Hilary Mantel- for "Wolf Hall"

Simon Mawer- for "The Glass Room"

Sarah Waters- for "The Little Stranger"

Byatt received the award for "Possession" in 1990. Coetzee has won the award twice previously, for "Life & Times of Michael K" (1983) and "Disgrace" (1999). If he wins again this year, he will be the first to win the Booker thrice. Reportedly, though, the favorite is Mantel. All the finalists are British, aside from Coetzee.

The chair of the judging panel this year is journalist James Naughtie. The winner will be known on October 6.

The prize comes with 50,000 pounds ($82,000). To be considered for the award, the writer must be from Britain, Ireland, or the Commonwealth of former British colonies. The awards started in 1969.

Alexis Tioseco- Gone Too Soon

May you be our light when all other lights go out.

A Separate Peace

Aren't you glad we have men in unform?

They go to battle so we can fight our own little private wars in peace.

Is There Gonna Be Cake?

Organizers of the Thurber Prize for American Humor announced Wednesday the finalists for the prize. 

They are:

Sloane Crosley- for "I Was Told There'd Be Cake"

Ian Frazier- for "Lamentations of the Father"

Don Lee- for "Wrack and Ruin"

Laurie Notaro- for "The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death"

The prize will be awarded in October and it  comes with $5,000. Frazier won in the year the prize was founded (for "Coyote vs. Acme," 1997).

There Will Be Frogs

Magnolia (1999) is a movie about TV people dying of cancer and kid champions in quiz shows, but it is also a movie about adults broken by troubled marriages and adults reeling from childhood memories.

It begins by talking about coincidences: First, a man in Greenberry Hill is murdered by three men named Green, Berry and Hill. Then, a blackjack dealer in a scuba diving suit is found dead hanging on a tree. A few days before his death, he gets into a fistfight with a pilot playing in the casino he is working for. This coincidence pushes the pilot into committing suicide. How he gets involved in the dealer's death, you have to see. 

Another coincidence concerns a teenager trying to take his own life by jumping off their apartment building. He would have lived, but how his parents become responsible for his death- and how he has become their accomplice- has to be seen to be believed.

In the next three hours, we will meet the lonely and the desperate across Paul Thomas Anderson's universe. 

Stanley (Jeremy Blackman) is a smart kid, one of the contestants in the quiz show "What Do Kids Know?" In one episode, he badly needs to go the bathroom, but he is not allowed to. This screws up his game.

Donnie (William H. Macy) was a big winner on the show in the 1960s. Now he is being fired from the department store he is working in. 

The host, Jimmy (Philip Baker Hall), has found out he has cancer. He tries to talk to his daughter Claudia (Melora Walters) about it, but she flies into a rage. In one of her cocaine-sniffing days, she gets a visit from police officer Jim (John C. Reilly).

The show's producer, Earl (Jason Robards), is dying of cancer. Because of his terminal illness, his wife Linda (Julianne Moore) is having a hard time putting herself together. He asks his nurse Phil (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to try to get in touch with his long-lost son TJ (Tom Cruise).

Here in Magnolia we have outcasts and infidels, and we are treated to their awakenings.

Stanley is driven too hard by his father, and in Donnie we see a probable future that awaits him. Donnie wants to get braces he does not really need, and he also wants to get the bartender with braces. He has so much love to give, but there is nobody to receive it- just like Jim. Until Jim meets Claudia, anyway.

Claudia may or may not have been a victim of her father's abuse, and the father himself attempts a last shot at redemption. Earl confesses his sins to Phil, and Linda unravels at seeing him on his deathbed. 

The bravest performance here is that of Tom Cruise. His megastardom is more than toyed with: it is thrown out the window. The first time TJ meets Phil, Hoffman holds the door open but Cruise is kept out of our view. Anderson stills his shot, so for minutes we are looking at the character actor and not the superstar.

Cruise has made a career out of playing the same character: the cocky hotshot who gets his comeuppance and emerges a better man (Days of Thunder, Rain Man, Jerry Maguire, The Last Samurai, Minority Report, etc.). This is still a variation of that same character, with a twist: We are forced to re-evaluate his character as we gradually learn what made him the cocky hotshot that he is. Is it a defense mechanism, a smokescreen? 

Cruise plays a wounded kid, and is one of the children in the movie failed by their parents. These children pay for the sins of their fathers, and what sins they are. These people may have thought they have left their transgressions behind, but the specter of the past will still haunt them.

In the end, we are treated to a sing-along and a most improbable rain, but Anderson moves his camera and his music so quick and so well that we are swept along. Improbable, but these things happen.

Like magic, perhaps?

And the narrator happens to be Ricky Jay.

The One with the List-making

Here are three books I've been reading lately:

I've been going over the Greatest Films of All Time list from Blockbuster (the video rental store). In its second edition, released in 1991, it enumerates more than 800 titles Blockbuster considers most important. It indicates Oscar honorees, and covers movies produced up to 1989.

Another is Scorsese by Ebert (University of Chicago Press, 2008), in which the reviewer reconsiders movies by the director such as New York, New York, The King of Comedy, and Kundun. The book covers movies dating back to I Call First up to The Departed and Shine a Light. He lists five of Scorsese's movies which he considers his best, and re-reviews them. I absolutely agree with the inclusion of The Age of Innocence.

Scorsese himself writes the foreword, and in his introduction, Ebert notes his affinities with Scorsese. There is a lengthy interview as well conducted in Wexner Center, and we get a feel of the rhythms of a Scorsese talk. 

Another is The Reel List (Delta, 1995) by Lynne Arany, Tom Dyja, and Gary Goldsmith. It identifies some of the more popular subjects explored by the movies, including animals, sports, and holidays, and professionals such as teachers, butlers, and taxi drivers. It has literary adaptations and ways to kill your spouse (Double Indemnity, for one).  

Andrew Sarris writes an illuminating foreword in which he enlightens us on the rationale for lists. (Interestingly, the section on auteurs includes cinematographers and composers, and Sarris thinks the book is more Kaelian than Sarrisian.) He recounts an encounter with Pauline Kael in which she asks, "Why are you such a list queen?" He did not have a riposte at the time, but now notes that Kael was the only major reviewer he knew who did not draw up end-of-year lists of bests.

Essentially, Sarris contends that list-making is an endeavor engendered by differences in gender. List-making simply comes naturally to guys.

This, on the same year as the Friends episode "The One with the List." That's episode eight of the second season, aired November 16, 1995. Ross's dilemma here is who to choose between Rachel and Julie. Joey and Chandler try to help him out by making a list of what each girl is good for, and not. Rachel finds out about the list, so she becomes angry with Ross. 

Ross defends himself by saying that while there are many con's against Rachel, the one against Julie is "She is not Rachel." Rachel ends the episode by saying, "See, if that were me, there wouldn't be a list." 

Of course, the writers are on Rachel's side, but if Ross's crime was so unpardonable, they would not have permitted Ross to do that. They would not have allowed him do something so unforgivable that he would not be worth Rachel's time anymore.

It's just a matter of gender differences. 

So there. A list of books I've been reading lately.

You Can Read This Book

Pamela Wallace is one of the Academy Award-winning screenwriters of Witness (1985).

In her book "You Can Write a Movie," Wallace captures the power of the basic idea, especially by pointing to the ratio between cost and profit in making a movie.

She gives us the conventions and expectations that override genres, with the love story getting special mention. She explains why the logline is necessary, and the strengths and flaws in a premise.

She demonstrates how theme determines the success of a movie, pitting Good Will Hunting against Rounders (Matt Damon movies both).  

How to write a screenplay? Wallace shows how to format a screenplay, and samples her CBS movie Borrowed Hearts. She submits that a writer's age and sex will help- or hinder- the writing. She suggests questions to ask in writing a treatment, showing what one should look like. 

"You Can Write a Movie" will guide you in conceiving and personalizing your characters. It asks, Why is a defining moment necessary? What does it provide a character? It takes on villains and supporting characters, as well as relationships and triangles.

Wallace takes up types of conflict, and how to create internal conflict. Here she is on how to play out the struggle between characters:

"The goals of the protagonist and antagonist must be seen to be diametrically opposed. Conflict must be expressed in the strongest possible visual and emotional terms. It isn't enough for your hero to say to the villain, "I'll do my best to see to it that you're defeated." Instead, he must vow to stop him, no matter what the cost."  

Wallace explores the elements of scene design, exposition and speeches, and subtext. She also quotes other professionals, like Joseph Campbell, Robert McKee, and Ron Bass. 

She reflects on how to adapt a book, from securing the rights to fashioning it to cinematic form. She cites her own difficulties in having adapted books, supplying tricks such as axing a character, modifying an arc or subplot, and changing professions to magnify a role.

On top of this, Wallace gives tips on how to pitch a story, and shows a sample for it. She also shows an unproduced work of her own to underline the importance of a coverage (or a written critique of a screenplay). She answers questions on how to get an agent, and how those agents work and what they look for. 

Curiously, "You Can Write a Movie" lacks gravitas, even though it is written by an Oscar winner. That can be attributed to its easy language, but it does prove to be helpful to anyone interested in the craft and the business.

Fighting Fair- or Not

Will Turner: "You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I'd kill you."

Jack Sparrow: "That's not much incentive for me to fight fair, then, is it?"

-Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Alien Nation

We're seeing Star Trek soon. I have not seen any Trek series or movie, except one from my childhood. All I remember is that there is some time travel involved, and a whale figures in the story. I saw it on local TV light years ago.

The reviews say you do not have to have been a fan to get it. Hindi ka naman daw ma-e-alienate.

The Greatest Thing

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn... is just to love, and be loved in return."

- Christian to Satine in Moulin Rouge (2001)

Not Returning Your Call

The talent agent Sam Cohn died at 79 Wednesday in New York  after having had sickness.

His clients at International Creative Management (which he co-founded io included Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, Vanessa Redgrave, Lily Tomlin, Sigourney Weaver, Kathleen Turner, Jackie Gleason, and Woody Allen . Other clients included Robert Altman, Mike Nichols, Bob Fosse, Nora Ephron, E.L. Doctorow, and Arthur Miller.

Cohn retired this year and was known not to return phone calls. He graduated from Princeton and Yale.

Cannonball Blazes

Dom DeLuise passed away in his sleep on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 75.

He co-starred with Burt Reynolds in such movies as The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and the Cannonball Run movies. He also worked with Mel Brooks in many projects, including Blazing Saddles.

He hosted "Candid Camera," appeared on "The Carol Burnett Show," and authored cookbooks.

Going Upstairs

The writer Marilyn French died at 79 of heart failure. She died Saturday in Manhattan.

Her first novel, The Women's Room (1977), turned her into a controversial leader of the feminist movement.  

She was an academic and she wrote essays and literary criticism. She studied philosophy and English literature.