table reading for "sharp shooters" sitcom script

© Joselito Briones so i wrote a screenplay for a tv pilot that i submitted to a studio - no it wasn't picked up, but i thought i'll develop it anyway.  it's a silly sitcom with stock photographers as main characters.

photo above shows me, charles, and my neighbors tim, sim, shuno and another neighbor (who prefer to be unidentified) doing a table reading at tradesman in brooklyn.

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doctor who is back!

yay!  new doctor who episodes are here, finally.  the first one's called "let's kill hitler" and picks up where it left off, it's a sci-fi soap actually. someone who was called something before now has a different name and character, someone's killer turns out to be someone's lover. someone's best friend turns out to be her mother, someone who died in one episode turns out to be alive after all.  see what i mean?  this episode belongs to alex kingston.

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first beach day this year

the other night i rented "the endless summer" from iTunes, and it made me want to go to the beach. not to learn how to surf, you crazy?  just to go to the beach.  so this weekend i did just that.

woke up mid-morning.  had breakfast at "the flying pan" where for the last three weekends i've ordered the same thing (spanish-style egg white omelette with smoked salmon, wheat toast, fruit bowl, orange juice, long black coffee) and left tip, tho not customary here in hong kong, just so they'd remember me and my order, but they always manage to give me a wrong omelette anyway (once with egg yolks, once plain - without the things that make it "spanish", and once without smoked salmon).  i'll give it one last time next weekend and if they still don't get it right, i'll just make my own omelette breakfast.

i asked rene, benj, and josen to come with me to the beach but they said they'd rather go to a soho bar to drink the afternoon away, so i went by myself. dumped everything in my tote (photo, above): my big-ass towel, pretty floral shorts, sunscreen, sunnies, and most important - a nice book to read (isaac asimov's "the complete robot" compilation).  took the mtr in flipflops, got lost in shaukeiwan, especially after asking locals who pointed me at the wrong direction, then finally got to the minibus (craziest drivers in hong kong) that took me to shek-o beach.  my first time going to this beach - really nice weather, and rather crowded so i just went and stayed in one end.

i had a ticket for "x-men: first class" in the evening so i didn't stay in the beach very late.  movie was great. it wasn't until the movie was over and i was brushing off popcorn from my shirt that i realized i locked myself out from my apartment yet again. (i was in such a hurry from getting home from the beach to going to the moviehouse, while being on the phone with rene and benj who were still drinking in soho and asking me to join them, that i forgot my keys again). so i had to go to emi to borrow her copy again.

when i finally got in i got an email notification from iTunes saying there's a new doctor who episode that i can download. yay! only it turns out it's just a teaser.  new episodes won't be availabe until fall.  sigh.

anyhoo. i love my color today.  next time i'll try a different beach.


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sicky, sick me

my tear ducts got leak!  at first i thought it was just what i was watching. but then who cries watching "doctor who", right?  (i was watching the last christmas special. why does it take so long for the next season???).  i mean it's great and all and i enjoyed it, but something to make me cry?  i don't think so.  a little experiment then.  i played several other shows and movies and found out that even the silliest comedies made me cry too.  my eyes never had a good cleaning as yesterday and today.

how do i get all these time to waste on a silly experiment?  i had to call in sick yesterday. cold and flu symptoms. head, nose, throat, joints - name it, it hurts.  am still not feeling well so i'm staying in today as well.  all i want to do is stay in bed under the blankets.  i won't be surprised if it's also the cause of the easily-induced saline water inundation of my usually very dry eyes.  i sure do hope so.


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And Mandy's out

© Joselito Briones

Heidi Klum finally said bye bye to Mandy last night in "Germany's Next Top Model". Yes, she with the long face is auf-wiedersehened last night. Did you see her do the pret-a-porter in the catwalk? She can definitely work at Hooters. And the paparazzi photos! Disaster. It was also obvious she was the least physically able among them. Couldn't run on the beach, couldn't do the superhero shoot, etc. Fiona on the other hand... first to finish the beach lap, and instead of stepping on the casting agent like Mandy did for the photoshoot, she carried him! I am so loving Fiona now. Too bad all the drama was done by Barbara (she's looking better and better! Her catwalk walk was so off though, like she's avoiding dog shit on the floor she was walking on). Next week maybe. At the end of last night's show, it was cut off just before Heidi talked to Fiona and Anni (she with the bad skin), and I assumed it was to auf-widersehen one of them, even after Mandy has been ousted. Nobody got eliminated last week, see, so they were supposed to do away with two models last night. I'm also taking Hana off of my predicted winners... not only is she the least thin among them, she's also the shortest. She's got really beautiful face, but her teeth are just off. So I guess now it's up to Fiona and Barbara...


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Doppelgangers Anonymous

© Joselito Briones

I chanced upon Germany's version of America's Next Top Model on TV tonight, called what else but "Germany's Next Top Model (by Heidi Klum)". And what do you know? Heidi Klum is a lot more fierce in German! When she's dismissing someone in "Project Runway", in English, it seems so orchestrated, like her expression was designed specifically to project a certain meanness, like a good-looking version of Simon Cowell. In German though, it works really well. It's obvious she's in her element. And she really looks scary!

Anyway, the models. It's no surprise that übermodels from Germany are top-notch. Claudia Schiffer, anyone? This batch alone (now with only 5 left) looks like a Doppelgangers Anonymous gathering. Only, instead of the usual "uglier version of (state name of famous person here)", they actually look great. Face-wise, there are two that stand out. One is a cross-over between Scarlett Johansson (lips, breast, buck teeth with a slight gap and all, but without the fat!!! well ok, the other contestants have negative amount of fat, so this one still looks the most voluptuous among them) and Jacqueline Bisset (her name's Hana, and the downside is that she slumps a little), the other is a much younger, much more refined face version of Catherine Zeta Jones (her name's Fiona, she's got the most classy face among the contestants, she looks great in different styles, she needs to work on stabilizing her head while working the catwalk, and she gets all the drama in the series ). The one who got booted out tonight, Anja, is a younger, taller, thinner Linda Evangelista. Her big mistake was actually getting a hairstyle very much like Linda's. The comparison became much more obvious, and let's face it, there's no other Linda like Linda. Mandy is the typical blond-blue and a crossover between Bridget Fonda and Hilary Duff (no, I don't like her face), her nose is too big her mouth too low, and she is actually from Luxembourg. The two other contestants are Barbara, who's Julianne Moore-ish (okay, not really, but she's the only redhead that I can think of), and is obviously the one who carries herself best, and Anni (I don't know whom she looks like, I just know she's got bad skin).


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to JFK

© Joselito Briones

I was thinking of a sappy song to put here, kinda like the one I did last year on my way to the airport, but I couldn't think of any. There wasn't anything to say about the drive either, except for a brief traffic congestion. I guess the only thing remarkable about this morning is that we had pizza for breakfast, while watching "Legally Blonde" on TV. Here's "Drive" anyway, an oldie from Incubus, about making decisions.


DRIVE

Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear
And I can't help but ask myself how much
I'll let the fear take the wheel and steer.
It's driven me before, and it seems to have a vague,
haunting mass appeal.
But lately I'm beginning to find that I
should be the one behind the wheel.

Whatever tomorrow brings,
I'll be there with open arms and open eyes, Yeah
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there..I'll be there.

So, if I decide to waiver my chance to be one of the hive
Will I choose water over wine and hold my own and drive?
Aah-ah-oo-o-o.

It's driven me before and it seems to be the way
that everyone else gets around.
But lately I'm beginning to find that when
I drive myself my light is found.

Whatever tomorrow brings,
I'll be there with open arms and open eyes, Yeahhh
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there...I'll be there.

Would you choose water over wine....hold the wheel and drive?

Whatever tomorrow brings,
I'll be there with open arms and open eyes, Yeah
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there..I'll be there.


-Incubus




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Footballers and their WAGs

© Joselito Briones

I woke up with so much pain on my left foot. At first I thought it was just because I walked too much yesterday. Then I started thinking. I had the same intense pain yesterday also, but not for long, when someone in Oxford street, always a crowded place, accidenttally walked onto the outer side of my left foot, exactly where it hurts now. I didn't think of it much yesterday as the pain went away after a few minutes, but today it hurts like hell. Lesson learned: in a city where most men's preoccupation is football and some of whose feet are trained to be strong enough as lethal weapon, DO NOT let anyone's foot anywhere near you.

Having said that, I'm on a holiday and I've got things to do, so walk I did. After several attempts, I found a way of limping that didn't cause too much pain, as long as I don't walk too long or too fast.

In the afternoon, as Wil suggested, I went to Carnaby street to see one of his favorite reality tv shows, "WAGs Boutique", being filmed. It's amazing how with one cameraman and an assistant, and plenty of people with enormous ego, a popular tv show can be made. They all looked like they're just playing a game. Maybe they are. That people are actually watching the show is an enormous credit to human fascination over celebrity, even non-celebrities trying to graduate to B-lister status, and their appendages, are actually watched. And no, I didn't know what a WAG was either, until today - Wives And Girlfriends of footies (football players).

Cassie Sumner, one of the wag contestants, is pictured above with what seems to be this week's task (selling something to drag queens?). It's debated whether or not she even belongs to the show, as Michael Essien of Chelsea, denies ever having her as his girlfriend.


© Joselito Briones

Pictured above is Michaela Henderson-Thynne, girlfriend of Stewart Downing of Middlesbrough F.C.. She's a law student, but Wil says she actually comes out as the ditziest among the wags.



© Joselito Briones

It's a good thing I didn't stay long watching, else I'd have missed the magical early evening light in the city, the deep blue of the sky washing over the white trimmings of brick facades, perfectly framing the golden glow of interior lamps. When it got completely dark I went back to National Portrait Gallery and studied portraits of celebrities of the real kind - from royalties to fashion icons - resting assured that no one here will kick my foot.


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Back to Basics

© Joselito Briones

Back to Erlangen, and back to experimenting with digital pics. This one is taken in the Bamberg train station... I was trying to create an old-world, hand-colored character to it.

MTV: In constant rotation nowadays is Christina Aguilera's "Hurt", from the album "Back to Basics", really well made, the make up alone when she's sitting down crying is flawless and a pefect fit to the video, it must've cost a fortune. Also, among the top British MTV's dance videos is the one that Frieder produced, "Dance for Life". And I happened into MTV2's Barrio 19... wow! How could I have missed this show before?


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A Day with the Girls

Promotional photo for "The Gilmore Girls"

I spent the whole day watching reruns of Gilmore Girls.





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Where's Freddie?

Playing repeatedly on TV these days is this really cute world cup ad for Adidas. In it, two Spanish-speaking kids in a neighborhood playground get to pick members of their dreamteam. They of course pick all the biggest names and football superstars. Michael Ballack, David Beckham, Zinédine Zidane, Kaká, Frank Lampard, Arjen Robben, Juan Román Riquelme, Raúl, Alessandro Nesta and Oliver Kahn (the very definition of FIERCE bowed out gracefully when replaced recently as number one goalie for the German team by Jens Lehmann). The first version of the ad was funny enough when the two kids just picked whomever came to their mind. It was a surprise that after a few days, a new version of the ad came out where the players they picked actually appeared in their playground. And then one of the boys picked a football hero from the past (Franz Beckenbauer) which earned chuckle from the other boy, whose jaw dropped when the player also appeared in the playground. With the help of one of his teamplayers, he then picked Michel Platini to be on his side.

The official Adidas website for the ad, titled "Impossible Team", also posted high-res screen shots and behind-the-scene photos of the ad. The only complaint I have about the ad is that Freddie's nowhere to be found.

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And the winner is...

Several days of protests in the streets of Paris, enough embarassment for Chirac and his government, and the scrapping of the labor law that might send top heads rolling. One would say that the French youth has won yet again, and don't they have a history of winning against the government?

The one obvious winner of all this though is hottie Bruno Julliard, leader of the largest student union in France, UNEF. He's telegenic, well-mannered, and like most French youth, he seemed to always know exactly what he's talking about (I say seemed, because the show I was watching with him in it was in French). He's obviously got convincing power too, as the other members of the panel (mostly his senior) seem to stop and listen whenever he spoke. I'd almost say he'd need at least a hair stylist, but I guess his nerdy hairstyle gives him street cred.


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Whatever happened to Barbra Streisand's moustache?

Stephen Fry, of "Wilde" fame, asked this question last night in his tv show "QI". First thing I thought of was, "Ok, what DID happen to Barbra Streisand's moustache?". It didn't occur to me to question, "what moustache?". No, she didn't sport a moustache in "Yentl".

The answer was, btw, that she ate it and then excreted it. And she's not alone. Turns out everybody's done it. A week before a child is born, it eats up a lot of its body hair, including moustache, together with other things (bits of intestines!) and becomes the baby's poo first time outside the womb. Bet you didn't know that. The image on the left is an artist's impression of what she would've looked like had she not done the eating and excreting thing to it.

So, you might ask, why Barbra Streisand? Later on in the show, Stephen Fry also mentioned the myth that gay guys can't whistle. Then he attempted to whistle a tune. Needless to say, no sound came out.


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