Philippine Radio Drama has not been forgotten. At least not quite yet. Growing up, Bakla has always been amazed at the beauty and the power that AM Radio dramas brought with them. They were very influential and many listened to them, even when television was already readily available. Bakla has always wanted to be part of a radio drama. And when he was younger, he went on to record his own radio shows and radio dramas for all the world (read: himself) to listen to. Over the years, he has learned the basics of radio and drama as separate entities. The closest he got to an actual radio drama was watching the cast of a DZRH radio drama record (tape?) at the station.

So now, without further ado, we bring you: Ang Buhay ni Boy. This is an attempt of some bloggers to bring back and make everyone appreciate our existing radio dramas. So grab those headsets, turn those speakers to full blast, and enjoy Ang Buhay ni Boy!

Ang Buhay ni Boy

(podcast can be downloaded, emailed, saved and shared to anyone and everyone you know!)

Also available here: Baratillo.Net and A Bugged Life

Imagine this…

You are young.
You are vulnerable.
You are innocent and naive.

Now picture this…
You live a life of poverty in the slums.  The very people you trust abuse and corrupt you.  They strip you of your innocence.

What will you do?

This October, head to the CCP Tanghalang Huseng Batute to experience first-hand how a teenage girl transforms from innocence to malevolence in Tanghalang Pilipino’s restaging of the award-winning production of Insiang. This masterpiece by the award-winning writer, director, and actor, Mario O’Hara was originally written as a teleplay for Hilda, a televison series directed by world-class director Lino Brocka. In 1976, O’Hara adapted the teleplay (which he later says was created haphazarldy) into a screenplay.  The movie Insiang, starring Hilda Koronel, was the first movie to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival – also winning major awards for director Lino Brocka and Koronel.

Tanghalang Pilipino, the foremost exponent of Philippine theater, mounted the stage version of the film in 2002. TP’s Insiang, employing a “live” theater type of staging, was dubbed as the “theater event of the season.” The production bagged major Aliw awards including Best Stage Actor (Ricky Davao), Best Stage Actress (Malu de Guzman). Best Director (Chris Millado) and Best Non-Musical Production. 

 

This is your chance to imagine, to feel, to watch, and to “live” with Insiang! On October 5 to 7, and 12 to 14, Insiang returns to the stage with the powerful cast and creatives to gie us all another chance at this unique theater experience!  And if you want to be “part” of Insiang’s life — experience it first hand — you can take the option of being seated at the arena.  On each performacne, a limited number of seats will be available to audience members who wish to experience the performance with the action of the shows taking place all around them!  (With it comes free talsiks of bodily fluids! Fun!)

We here at Bakla Ako, May Reklamo? believe that every Filipino of all generations should watch this (play or film, whichever of the two) as this is something that will wake our senses and ignite our sense of self, and shake our morals (so that we won’t impose it on others, hint hint!).

 To get tickets or for other inquiries, head on over to the Insiang official site.

So this is it! All roads led to this entry! As you are reading this entry, we probably are somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight! We recently revealed that we are on a quest to achieving multimedia excellence and this surely puts a feather to our cap (etchos!).

Today, we are launching our series of video blogs for Bakla Ako, May Reklamo? and we’re starting the series with a bang! We have collaborated with one of the country’s most influential video bloggers (vloggers) in these first set of videos! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are honored to have worked with the Hot vlogger Coy of Cokskiblue! Coy is well-known in the blogging community for his artistic and socially-relevant videos. His most viewed video is the controversial Malu Fernandez ode that ANC used in one of their shows without proper attribution.

In these series of video blogs, Coy and Bakla became part of what is deemed to be the country’s first ever quadmedia conference/launch of a stage play. We were there as Tanghalang Pilipino launched the restaging of the award-winning play Insiang (click here for their official website). These video blogs were part of an event which has never happened before, and we daresay that it is indeed an historic event. Among the many once-in-a-lifetime incidents that transpired during the launch was the appearance of the elusive Mario O’hara, whom we heard has never seen his own work, Insiang – not on television, not on the silverscreen and not even through the velvet curtains! Beat that!

Another exciting bit about this launch was when theater and the online world worked hand in hand as bloggers and members of the tri-media became witnesses to the beauty of technology — thanks to the numerous MacBookPros spread out at the CCP Little Theater lobby. Coy and Bakla took advantage of this opportunity and used the free-for-all Macs and the complimentary wifi access to vlog the event, live! The videos we recorded – covering the event and interviewing the cast members — were posted right away on YouTube for all the world to see! Now that’s one heck of a fun event!
We almost forgot to mention that this first set of video blogs is eventful for Bakla as for the first time, he met his long-time theater actor crush and got to talk to him up close (no exchanging of boddily fluids though)! Up close and personal eh?Excited and curious much? Well hold your horses sweeties, you’d have to go to Cokskiblue.blogspot.com before we show you the videos. This is a collaboration remember? So start viewing our videos at Coy’s (videos 1 and 2) then once you’re done, click on the more link below to view the rest of the videos! [watch out for the special appearances of Gibbs Cadiz, Rick of Project Manila, Karla of PinoyCentric and Joel, THE McVie!

Let’s support theater and let’s have fun with vlogging! Remember, whoever you are, wherever you’re from, whatever you do, and whatever you have to say, Bakla Talks to You!

Head on over to Cokskiblue.blogspot.com for the first 2 videos. Then head back here and click more to see the rest of the videos. Gracias!
Read the rest of this entry »

In this site, we have posted entries, photos and podcasts. And in the quest for multimedia excellence (charot!), we are going one step further by doing video blogs!

Sure, Baklang AJ has previously recorded video blogs for his personal site, but this time, it’s gonna be different and our video blogs will tackle issues and events related to this site.

And what better way to start our video blogs than with a bang, right? Bang! We have collaborated with one of the country’s most influential video bloggers and in an event which will surely inspire and awe many.

Watch out for Hot Men, Pretty Women, and a Hot Co-Vlogger on

Friday

September 21, 2007

7PM

can’t see the video?
Click here to View it on YouTube

Our podcasts are back!

We took quite a long break from podcasting here and this episode is long overdue!

In this 7th installment of The Bakla Podcast series, Baklang AJ talks about labels. Labels you say? No, not the signature clothing and accesories kind, but rather the labels that are being used by local gay men to refer to their sexual orientation.

We normally encounter these labels in chatrooms and online social networking sites and some of these are being used loosely to the point of losing their original intended meanings.

Oh and yes, in this episode, we have changed our intro music into something more festive! Hello Fiji!

Episode 7: What’s Your Label?

Bakla watches pretty much anything that’s on TV. Typical TV freak and/or couch potato – if you wanna tag him that.

Since his life is quite sordid and he’s living a very sorry life, he is inclined to watch comedies. Well, he prefers comedy, but just give him a TV set (with or without cable) and he’ll be fine. In the past few weeks, he caught himself watching a relatively new (and still quite unheard-of here in the Philippines) TV show – GRΣΣK.

College, fraternities, friendship and a whole lot of laughter is what GRΣΣK is all about. It has already finished it’s first season (of 10 episodes) and is due to release its second season in 2008.

From Wikipedia:

GRΣΣK (or Greek) is a teen drama television series that runs on the ABC Family network. The show follows the story of Rusty, a college freshman attending the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University, who longs to leave behind his reputation as a high school geek by joining a fraternity, while sister Casey hopes for little interference with her enjoyment of Greek life. Most of the characters belong to either the fictional fraternities Kappa Tau Gamma (ΚΤΓ) and Omega Chi Delta (ΩΧΔ), or the fictional sorority Zeta Beta Zeta (ΖΒΖ).

This show has received fantastic reviews. And these are well-deserved! Watching even just an episode will keep you laughing and wanting for more!

And one thing that’s great about this show is that they have the (we hate to say it, but) token gay character: Calvin, an African-American closeted homosexual lives the “Greek” life at the fictitious Cyprus-Rhodes University.

We present to you a very heartwarming scene from Episode 4: Read the rest of this entry »

It was only in the state of exhaustion that things finally dawned on him. He realized that over time, he has unconsciously built four walls around himself. There was a door but it was bolted. There were windows too, but they automatically closed at the slightest hint of an onlooker. The roof was flat and made of concrete.

A pity, for he has paid lip service to the world that he was ready. And now he asks himself if he really was ready. He does not know the answer. No matter how hard he tries, nothing comes to mind. Again, he was reminded that thinking will do him no good. Because he can’t even think.

The paint outside the walls are pretty. A magnificent facade, indeed. The glass windows are one-way mirrors. The perceivers from the outside world can only see themselves, not the one inside the house.

The doors to the house have been shut for a long time now. They once were open, but a long-forgotten storm has forced it shut. And they never opened again.

Looking outside through the one-way mirrors cum glass windows, he sees droves of onlookers. Admiration, Infatuation, even Love – all these he can see in their eyes. Many of those outside wanted to come in. Begged to come in.

He ignores them.

He looks around the walls he built around himself. He does not see beauty. The interior is empty. The walls are unpainted – exposing the piles of hollow blocks. Although lighting is insufficient, it was never dark inside.

He retreats into one corner of the room, in tears, secretly hoping that that someone will break in through those glass windows and paint the walls with him.

[ Taken from His House]

Guys4Men is perhaps the most subscribed to and most frequented online social networking site for gay men here in the Philippines.  Some of its members agree that there’s more to Guys4Men than just hooking up and getting laid.  For them, guys4men is a site where they meet other gay men who share the same interests as they do, chat with other members, gawk and drool over pictures of half-naked men, sell miniature bahay-kubos, malign and make fun of the fruglies (freaking ugly, that is), or perhaps meet the elusive Mr. Right. (Wait a second, is Mr. Right the same guys as Prince Charming? He seems to be very elusive and every girl and gay guy is going leaps and bounds to meet him.)

To others though, this site is just a mere hookup venue . And we can’t blame them because some members actually prove this theory right. Some members even go to the extent of the unthinkable and go beyond just hooking up.

Upon logging in to our guys4men account today, this warning welcomed us: Read the rest of this entry »