Last Sunday I shot a dialogue heavy confrontation scene with GILES and Richard C. The location was this cool old building in MAKATI. When we came in we were dutifully informed by the guard that the elevator doesn’t work. Nervous chuckles abound until I told my motley crew that we were shooting on the 5th floor and we had to haul the camera container, the separate lens container box, Ce’s reading lamp and the stupid tripod.

Richard being a veteran of rep gamely announced that it was no prob. He said that they did worse. So we climbed the stairs and started trading jokes.

All good cheer left when we got pass the 4th floor. There was just a symphony of grunts and puffs and the regular scuffling of shoes. It’s been a nasty week of carrying heavy objects while covering immeasurable distances of differing terrains, for me. I just hope that this does not become a life long habit.

When we reached the office Giles started going thru his pockets for the keys to the office.
For a moment I held my breath and the thought that he left it inside the car fluttered to my head.

When he produced the said key I breathed with relief. Inside I set up the equipment while the two started suiting up in their respective barongs!

RICHARD: “ My barong isn’t as tight as you wanted.”

FLIM: “Its ok. Let’s just have some sweat in the underarms. Large amounts of sweat.”

RICHARD: “ Hmmmm I’ll see what I can do.”

What a trooper.

I assembled the cam with the lens and attached the on line microphone.

RICHARD: “ Can I have the script? So I can do a last minute reading.”

FLIM: “ I gave it to you in the restaurant.”

RICHARD: “ OH –OOH! It’s in the car.”

FLIM: “ Oh-uh “

RICHARD: “ I’ll get it.”

FLIM: “ Run fast! “

RICHARD: “ Why? Are you going to shoot me now?”

FLIM: “ No. But I want lots of sweat on them underarms.”

RICHARD: “ GOTACHA! “

And off he went.

The entire shoot lasted for around three hours. It was fun. A drastic change from shooting on location with the sun bearing down on you, pollution by passing cars, the hordes of idiotic bystanders trying to get themselves in the shot while waving their hands around.
We were in an air-conditioned office on a Sunday afternoon with minimal traffic noise outside.

PURE HEAVEN!

RICHARD: “ Do you want me to go over the top with this? “

FLIM: “ Absolutely! I’ll do four takes of that and four takes of you equally subdued!”

RICHARD: “ Ok.”

I ended up doing 20 takes. Then it was off to Gile’s insert shoots. While I was doing them I saw Richard doodling in his sketchboard. I told him that I’d do a take of him drawing. I’ll work it into the film.

We wrapped earlier than I expected. Told the two of them that I’ll need them again after a week. It was for the big production value shot of the office with dozens of employee.

FLIM: “It’s a CECILE B DEMILLE shot. You and Giles in the middle of all this office activity with extras going in and out of frame. People hanging around near the water station chatting and employees kicking the Xerox machine and stuff.”

RICHARD: “ Where you going to the get the extra? “

FLIM: “ The same people who work here. We’ll just shoot during a regular working day and plop the two of you in the middle of all this office activity. Just to give the film some sort of scale.”

I wanted to treat the two actors out. I planned to bring them to this cool MAMI restaurant in CHINATOWN called MAKONG.

My driver and me always have this on going conflict about what is the best MAMI house in the ARCHIPELAGO.

MANG LITS: “ For me its MA MON LUK.”

FLIM: “ That’s commercial Mami and SIOPAO! Nothing compared to MAKONG!”

MANG LITO: “ BASTA! MAMONLUK PARIN AKO! NUMBER1!

FLIM: “ IGNORANT BASTARD! JUST DRIVE THE DAMN CAR!”

Back in the film set.

FLIM: “ Hey do you like MAMI and SIOPAO?”

GILES: “ Hey I’m a MAMI and SIOPAO guy! “

FLIM: “ I’ll treat you guys to this really old and ancient restaurant in Chinatown called MAKONG! Their noodles are handmade! Their MAMI’s are serve on this giant bowl and the Siopaos are as big as tires!That’s the place that gave me the inspiration to do my MARTIAL ARTS FILM called SIOPAO in 1987.”

GILES: “ Cool! “

Richard comes in after dressing down.

FLIM: “ Hey RICHARD you like SIOPAOS and MAMI? “

RICHARD: “ No!”

FLIM: “ What? “

RICHARD: “ I don’t go for them. Im a traditional guy when it comes to food. I just eat burgers and fries and stuff.”

FLIM: “ Oh so you don’t go for noodles.”

RICHARD: “ I love instant noodles.”

FLIM: “ Very consistent! You’re a traditional guy who goes for hamburgers and doesn’t like traditionally made noodles but loves instant noodle. Well so much for the siopao thing. Where are we going to eat then.”

We ended eating in HAP CHAN or is it HAPTYAN who cares what the real name is. It was ok but no substitute for a SIOPAO and MAMI THINGIE!

Every two weeks I have this irresistible urge to ride my motorcycle into the dark depths of CHINATOWN and order a giant hot soup of MAMI and a GIANT SIOPAO on the side.

Must be the beho side of me. But damn it the noodles are so damn good. There was a time when CES’s friends on the urging of one of them took a long exodus to Chinatown to try the MAKONG menu. They went ahead of us by an hour and by the time we arrived they had already finished eating.

Therese complained that the mami was a little bland.

FLIM: “ Did you dump some of the SIOPAO SAUCE INTO THE mami? “

THERESE: “ No.”

FLIM: “ HELL GIRL! THIS SIOPAO SAUCE IS AN ALL PURPOSE SAUCE. You dip your siopao in it and you dump a lot of it into your MAMI to give it an extra kick!”

THERESE: “ Well Cocoy didn’t tell us and he’s supposed to be the MAKONG EXPERT.”

FLIM: “ I don’t know about that but I dump tons of that stuff into my bowl and I drown it with lots of onions till the sauce gets sipped off and then I order another fresh bowl of soup and redump it in.”

THERESE: “ I think Im going to be sick.”

FLIM: “ Ask the waiter.”

WAITER: “ That’s the way the old customers do it.”

FLIM: “ There’s a certain style of eating MAMI. Actually I evolved mine from trial and error. It’s a lilt bit sloppy I must admit but it’s part of the fun! ”

Therese nearly fainted while I sucked those noodles with the slurping sound.

FLIM: “Used to think that people who slurped their noodles as barbaric and uneducated. But when I developed my culinary appreciation I realized what we were missing by being polite and refined on the dinner table. Like for instance nibbling the noodles and then sipping the soup is an unsatisfactory way of eating MAMI. Slurping enables you to sip the soup thru the noodles already dangling in your mouth, which gives your tongue an extra sensation. INCREDIBLE! I mean I had to see the Japanese doing it for me to even wonder. When the Chinese were doing it, Filipinos automatically brand them as ‘ UNCOUTH!” “ BABOY”!, and “ BEHO!” But how come when the JAPS do it …it’s not even considered dirty. Must be because of their rich cultural background backing it up. Yes I know the Chinese have a long historical tradional as well but they don’t have cool samurai swords or NINJA’S or GIANT ROBOTS AND MONSTERS AND STUFF!”

Speaking of JAPANESE and noodles. The Japanese variant is called SOBA.It is served in a variety of ways. HOT and cold which shows the flexibility of the Japanese palate. My favorite is the one that is served cold. First tried it in the YAMAGATA prefecture during the 1ST YAMAGATA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.When it was served. I actually recoiled over the aspect of the noodles that sat on huge blocks of ice.

FLIM: “ WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? “

HOST : “ COLD SOBA.Please try. VERIveriveri good.”

Well I did and it was fantastic! Its traditionally served with a side order of tempura prawns. The soba is on a knitted plate which you then grab clumps of with your chopstick and you dip it on a container with the sweet hot soup and you let it fester there for a moment and the you slurp it all up.

After that if there’s still some sauce/soup remaining on your bowl then you can pour hot water on it and it becomes your after meal tea.

Damn just writing about this is making me hungry. Where’s my helmet??!!!!