I’m two years into the production of SEXMEN. Constant revisions on the animation and the sound and the script continues on a daily basis. I always thought that if I was producing it on my own that it would be less complicated than dealing with a separate producer. But no one is harder taskmaster than one’s self as I am slowly finding out.

But the real battle is in the script.

From the onset I didn’t want a straight adaptation. I have never been a fan of translating a story from one media to the next unscanthed.

That’s why I wasn’t so keen on SIN CITY and 300. It’s like if you own the comicbook and then you see the movie then you’re supposed to say “ Wow! Its like the comicbook!”
But when I saw them .. its like “ ok so now I have the comicbook and I saw the movie and I didn’t see anything new except that the images can move and talk but story wise there’s nothing new. Its the same.

That’s why I love Akira, Spiderman 1 &2,Batman begins & Dark Knight and Superman( Christopher Reeves version) Godfather1 &2.

They’re core essence is the same but there’s something different. There’s something extra. There’s something more. They were not lifted page per page, frame by frame, composition by composition from the source material.

The directors and the writers gave us something more. They were not lazy or unimaginative enough to walk around clutching the comicbook and tearing the pages off
And giving it to the art department and the cinematographers to copy and paste into the frame.

I want the readers who read or own the comicbook and watches the movie and say
‘“ FUCK! That’s something new.” And they won’t come out thinking
“ Now what am I going to do with the comicbook since the movie is a direct copy”
or ” Why did I even see it , its exactky like the comic book.”

Adaptations are a strange creature. Veer too far from the source material and you
Alienate the people who love or follow it. You stick too close to it and …
..well…why make it in the first place?


I want the movie to be a companion piece of the comicbook and not something which
Renders the former obsolute.

STREAMLINING

That’s the wave of the future. Everyone wants slick and smooth designs. Everything flowing into one uninterrupted movement. That’s what we pay for.
That’s why the ipod and the mac is the choice of people who are into the visual and artistic fields,

Sleek, Slick

Even in life we want everything to go smooth sailing all the way. We want easy …we want it laid back and cool. If you sail you want a stronmg breeze and gentle waters.
You don’t like choopy waves that make you sea sick right? Or string turbulences that would make you air sick and jetisson your cheap microwaved chicken on that big breasted stewardess you have been flirting with .


You want it smooth and sleek.

You hate anything that will disturb the harmony of the design and the flow.

But you know…sleek and smooth does not amount to the natural order of things.

Things are not all sleek. Nature is not all smooth.

Specially in the area of creativity. When you create it does not bring harmony. Its chaors and from chaos comes great things.

I read somewhere that Gene Simmons of the band KISS said that he fired the two original members of the band because they were too difficult to work with. They had creative problems and were substance abusers. He then replaced them with musicians who were professionals and very amiable. The result is albums that were technically
Good but had no attitude.

Nothing.

Then after ten years he invites the two original members for an mtv acoustical set and although they were not technically proficient as the new members the band when they played had a “ rock and roll swagger.” A mean attitude that came out. Which is basically what rock and roll is supposed to be.

So what does that tell you?

George Lucas fired Gary Kurtz when he had difficulty in managing him while doing
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. This is the same Gary Kurtz who was his partner in making STAR WARS “ the new hope.

What did Lucas do? He got someone who is a yes man to produce RETURN OF THE JEDI and another yes man to produce the FIRST TRILOGY. And we all now what kind of films they turned out to be.

When we jettison things that make our lives complicated are we making it for the better or just making it easier? And is easier really the best way to go thru life? When you look at all the things that were created and lasted they were not created while everyone is having a good time. It was created during moments of great upheaveal and great conflict.
Imagine Michaelangelo painting the Sistine chapel while a rave party is going on
Instead of Pope Juilius screaming at him from below to finish the work and I doubt it would be the masterpiece it is today.


Years ago a German producer was going to produce a film for a director.A festival programmer then recommended me as another filmmaker he should produce a film for
Me as well.

The German producer scoffed and said ,” YA hes really talented but its going to be hell working with him.” Of course he knows this by experience because I was once his student. But I also came up with a film that he really loved and well won the international asean film festival.

Sleek and smooth?

Or Fire, destruction and orgasmic oblivion?

I would end this piece with a quotation from one of my favorite writer.directors
Orson Welles from the movie, THE THIRD MAN

"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."-

Moved to the new place.Lots of trees and lots of space.I miss the urban squalor of paco and the sea of sweaty and smelling humanity that threatens to engulf me when I step out of the door.

Here there are only trees and more trees.Lots of grass too.

In the afternoons there's a strong breeze that goes thru the living room.

I seldom leave the editing room.Lots of work to do.In the editing room there are no windows. And it is totally dark.Dark and cool.I like it that way.I designed it that way.

I am cut off from the rest of civilization.The only time I leave is when I get new hardware.

The 2oo gig crashed and took a ot of footages with it.Valuable footages. i do not scream! I dont fume! I just drew a deep breath and told myself that I will deal it later.

Screaming and foaming on the mouth wont change the fact that hard drive was defective.

I just bought it a year and a half ago.Maybe hard drives with vast storing capabilities dont last long.

Made multiple trips to the computer shop. I have to get it fix. I need more digital storage space for the stuffs I got to do.

Moved to the new place.Lots of trees and lots of space.I miss the urban squalor of paco and the sea of sweaty and smelling humanity that threatens to engulf me when I step out of the door.

Here there are only trees and more trees.Lots of grass too.

In the afternoons there's a strong breeze that goes thru the living room.

I seldom leave the editing room.Lots of work to do.In the editing room there are no windows. And it is totally dark.Dark and cool.I like it that way.I designed it that way.

I am cut off from the rest of civilization.The only time I leave is when I get new hardware.

The 2oo gig crashed and took a ot of footages with it.Valuable footages. i do not scream! I dont fume! I just drew a deep breath and told myself that I will deal it later.

Screaming and foaming on the mouth wont change the fact that hard drive was defective.

I just bought it a year and a half ago.Maybe hard drives with vast storing capabilities dont last long.

Made multiple trips to the computer shop. I have to get it fix. I need more digital storage space for the stuffs I got to do.

lets test this!!!FUCKIN SHIT