Who has seen Rent?

The recent local theatrical production that is. Unfortunately, I haven’t. I was vaguely aware late last year that there will be a staging of Rent at the RCBC Plaza this year, but by the time I was seriously thinking of seeing it, all the tickets were practically sold out! Today is the last day of the production.

It’s not really a complete loss for me since I managed to catch the limited screening of the film adaptation (featuring most of the original Broadway production cast) back in 2006. But seeing the original play version would’ve been nice since there are differences between the stage and the film versions.

For me, Rent was my #1 best movie of 2006. It’s quite refreshing to hear a story that has themes on homosexuality and HIV/AIDS that were not added to the story for sensational value. In fact, that there are homosexual characters in the plot was dealt as if it was a matter-of-fact. Remember that the play premiered back in 1994 so this was quite significant. It also dismisses the notion that AIDS is a gay disease since two of the homosexual characters in Rent suffer from HIV.

So have you seen Rent, either on stage or on screen? What do you think of it?

I’ll leave you now with these two short but beautiful songs from the movie, “Will I” and “Life Support.” Both songs occur during sessions of an AIDS support group in which some of the characters attend. These two songs are pretty low-key compared to the musical-level productions of the other songs (complete with dancing), but they are among the most poignant.

P.S. Trivia: the first guy singing in “Will I” (the second video above) is Aaron Lohr. He played Dean Portman in the second and third films of The Mighty Ducks series. You might remember him as the very hunky half of the Bash Brothers and he did a mouth-watering strip dance in D3. Who would’ve thought that he could sing very well?

Discreet Manila is apparently Epitome’s unofficial website

I was browsing the G4M Tagalog forums at PlanetRomeo and was pleasantly surprised to find messages like the one below with my blog mentioned:

Among the four major bathhouses in Metro Manila, Epitome is the only one without its own website. Their online presence is restricted to promotion messages on gay social networking forums. Now, the managers think that my Epitome blog posts are good enough to serve as unofficial webpages. Hehe. (Note: taurus top, one of the Epitome people occasionally comments on this blog.)

So, to those people who stumbled onto my blog from PlanetRomeo, welcome! Hope you stick around!

Who doesn't love gay kisses?

I love kissing. I actually don’t mind too much if I don’t have sex with a guy I like as long as I can kiss him for minutes at a time. I also love seeing two sexy guys kiss each other, especially if they do it so passionately. I can also just get off by simply watching YouTube videos of gay guys kissing and not have to rely on hardcore porn. Hehe.

I guess guys who are into sensually kissing other guys is one reliable indicator that those guys aren’t straight. Sure, I can believe that straight men can have sexual encounters with other men and just blame it on lust, but if he can kiss another guy with very little sexual overtones (like just after the deed) and really enjoy it (none of that John Mayer–Perez Hilton stuff) then I cannot believe that he is still straight. Can you?

Parisukat: a new film by Jonison Fontanos

I’ve been receiving these PR emails from the marketing operations of Parisukat, a new film by Jonison Fontanos. Since the screening supposedly will start today, February 17, at the usual gay indie cinemas, I thought I’d give my book-cover impression of the film.

But first, here’s the PR synopsis...

A “whodunnit” crime of passion involving 6 male characters: a young man, a gay lover, a hustler, a discreet bisexual, a houseboy, and a transvestite. No one knows that their lives are interconnected by a past murder case until fate brought them together in an old Spanish boarding house to unfold the mysterious crime in full circle.

...the characters...

• Marcus: 18 y.o., the runaway young man who got himself enmeshed in an unresolved murder case.
• Xander: 25-30 y.o., the transvestite boarder whose ex-lover turns out to be Marcus friend.
• Jaime: 30 y.o., the lonely bisexual landlord of an old Spanish boarding house.
• Hubert: 20 y.o., Xander’s ex-lover and Marcus’ friend who hustles for gay sex to earn his keep.
• German: 25-30 y.o., the victim whose mysterious death will keep us guessing as to who is the real perpetrator of the crime.
• Toto: 18-25 y.o., the houseboy who seems blind to the events that unfold inside the boarding house

...and trailer.

Although Parisukat is supposed to be showing today as a gay Valentine’s offering by Ignatius Films, I don’t see any movie schedules online mentioning this film. Anyway, the film stars Toffee Calma and Chris Cañizares among other bit players and you can check out the Facebook page or the actual PR pieces (including a sensational piece about how Toffee Calma was supposedly almost killed while shooting a violent scene).

I’m actually hesitant to see this movie. I absolutely hated Jonison Fontanos’ first film Hugot so you can see why I’m not excited by this film. On the other hand, this film seems to have a better story and likely much, much more coherent than the train wreck that Hugot was. So maybe, I just might go and see this film but only if there were few other good movies screening (like Invictus).

Update: The screening today was cancelled at all cinemas due to “unavoidable circumstances.” I wonder if the MTRCB was the cause.

On Valentine’s

So, what are your plans for today, Valentine’s Day? Me, I’ll just stay at home since I have no one to spend it with. And it has been that way for years now. Being single has its ups and downs. On one hand, when you’re single, you are free to go out and socialize, go wherever without having to ask anyone’s permission, and to go to bathhouses, clubs and bars without feeling guilty. On the other hand, having someone there to shower your affection on, someone to talk to about your problems—or to console when he has problems—and someone to spend the night with are also wonderful. Such thoughts of being single or committed naturally arise whenever this day of hearts comes.

However, it’s a good thing that I’m not quite sentimental with dates on a calendar. I don’t get depressed when my birthday is coming up (because I’m getting older), or excited to receive presents come Christmas Day, or lonely when I’m not with someone on Valentine’s. I don’t even feel the need to celebrate the tongue-in-cheek holiday today called Single’s Awareness Day (or SAD) to justify my singlehood.

Anyway, I’ve always thought about how Valentine’s Day is celebrated by discreet (and maybe even paranoid) gay couples. I imagine that such couples would avoid having dates on Valentine’s for the simple reason that they don’t want other people to think that they are an item (not to mention the hassle of reserving seats in a restaurant, or getting movie tickets, or booking a motel , or the traffic). Let’s face it, if you see two guys having dinner at a fancy restaurant on Valentine’s Day, you’d automatically think that these two are a couple or are dating. This is not two people in a business meeting, or two best friends doing bromantic dinner. This is a couple on a date!

Some straight men celebrate Valentine’s with their significant second other on either February 13 or 15 (and motels reportedly have better business on those two dates than on Valentine’s itself). I think that closeted gay couples would also avoid those two dates for the same reason.

I guess the point I’m saying is that Valentine’s Day is really not a holiday for discreet PLU couples. Unless, you celebrate it at home, which is quite corny. Until such time that gay relationships are accepted in mainstream society, I guess there will be no equivalent to Valentine’s, the way it is traditionally celebrated, for most PLU couples. Well, gay guys in a relationship do not actually need to celebrate Valentine’s but if they want to celebrate it like straight people do, then they just have to be creative.