Toy Drive Updates part IV

Tammy David sent a bunch of Happy Meal Toys for the drive. How cool is that? Thanks Tammy!

Tomorrow the toys will be picked up just in time for the Christmas party at Aroma dump.

Toy Drive Updates part III

Today a huge box of toys arrived from Hong Kong. It was so large Lyn Lyn could fit into it.

A huge thank you to Miss Jenny Shum who organized everything in HK and sent the box to me!

We're donating the toys to a non-profit organization based in Aroma Dump site. One day we were shooting there and I met Ben Compton who works with Kuya Manuel and Ate Victoria--they are setting up a day care center. These toys are going to make it just in time for the party on the 24th. Yay!

Happy holidays!

out takes and deleted scenes

The dust has settled, the mud has been washed off our boots, and the numbers have been crunched. I spent the weekend eating, sleeping, and playing with the poodles. Since I am now a woman of leisure (well, relatively), I had time to go through the photos from my crappy little digital camera. There are lots I didn't post, so here they are in random order.

Children everywhere.

Entrance to Temporary Housing. Note the mule on left side.


The boys vying for Che's attention.

Mateo planning out the shot in Building 28.

It's time to put on makeup, it's time to light the lights...


Busy Juan.

Che doubles as a makeup artist for Yancy.


Lao in his red jersey dress.


Number 21.


The Senoras of Building 28.


The gang takes a break by the water.


The "gypsy" hooked up and pimped out.


Mud, glorious mud. I pretended it was the kind used for spa treatments.


Here's Noi. He is mysterious and silent.


Discussions, discussions. Probably in French.

Francois doing his thing.

Mateo said, "Take a picture of me with the dolly. For my mother."

The smoke gets in your eyes, your nose, your hair, your clothes. Even my sunglasses smelled of smoke.


Fe from the Co-op and her youngest, Bim.

Alvin Salamat, the classiest gay on the block! He's an amazing person.

If you're fond of sunsets and salty air...

Nice shirt, Juan!

The lovely Irma Adlawan and Mateo on the way to Smokey.


This is me getting loopy. Fucking eye bags.


Set Crush Leeroy, our very own Dumpster Mod.

The shitty dock, my favorite spot in all of Tondo.

it's a wrap

Last night we had a small wrap party at Penguin in Malate. Fun times! Everyone was there: cast, crew, and various friends. It was very laid back, with peanuts, cold beers, and good music. It also doubled as a mini despedida for Julia, who flew to Florida this morning. The Frenchies are gone, too.

It's been strangely quiet. It's a gloomy day and so far I've spent it in bed--reading, sleeping, and eating Cheetos. Oh, bliss.

I still can't quite believe we pulled it off. Of course, we had a group of amazingly talented people working on this film. Everyone was exactly the right person for the job. Also we had the support and good wishes of family and friends all over the world.

Mateo and I were sitting in the car yesterday, driving through Manila holiday traffic and talking about how this whole experience. It's is kind of a minor miracle. "I felt like I was in the middle of a battle and there were bullets all around, but we were somehow protected from them," he said.

I'm sure the adventure is far from over.

Last Night of Shooting

Random order. Too frazzled with receipts and accounting plus hardly slept. I'm a walking disaster today.
Dawn and I were wondering what kind of creature this is.
Marc and Che on the steps.

Mr. Dagenais waits for the cable.

Leeroy transformed the room into a restaurant.

Writing pages of script.

I love the floating jelly fish lamps!

Close up of jelly fish lamp.

Marc trims his facial hair. So attractive.

Chicken tikka and couscous! Yay.

The Last Supper.
The unit in Quiapo watching play back.

Quipo candle ladies.

Here we are in Quiapo.


El Hogar.

Gorgeous building across. Old HSBC building I think.

Good work Art Dept!

Wrap party tonight.

C'est Fini

It's a quarter to six and I am surprisingly awake. I know I'll be a super crabby bitch tomorrow but I'll try to get some sleep. After all, we're wrapped. Ten days of shooting in the can. I'm dead tired but happy. We've shot an amazing film and I'm very proud of it.

Pictures from the last day to be posted at a decent hour.

Shiny Happy People

Random shots of cast and crew on our last day in Smokey Mountain...

We flew kites over the co-op.

Julia is like Princess Diana in Smokey Mountain.


Art Dept. outdid themselves with the kites...

While Francois climbs old Smokey Mountain.



Leeroy has a blast flying the kites... And so does Noi (below).

Julia and her favorite kite.


Juan's eye view in the dump site.


Dawn and Leeroy compare tan lines.

Kirara and Caio trampoline on the bed springs. Boing Boing Boing.

Dawn folds up her sleeves and tries to even out her tan.

Mateo annoys Kirara on the set.

Look I'm in the mud!

Caio gets a little loving from Marc.