Zohans in the Advertising World

 

I wonder if there were any empirical data to validate my hunch.  People in advertising tend to have very long careers in that industry.  Once you’re in it, especially for at least 10 years, it’s hard to get out.  Could it be the constant laughter in the workplace?  The colorful garb?  The gaiety and gayness of it all? 

So I admire and support those who are bold enough to bolt it, and shift careers successfully.   Only a few names come to mind right now.   Writer Tippi Ocampo and art director James Reyes are accomplished fashion designers now.  Juan Sarte was a casting director before becoming a top make-up artist.  Art Director Lydia Velasco and commercial photographer Joey Ibay were in the industry for decades before breaking into the art scene -- their paintings command top dollar.  Multi-awarded creative director Tanke Tankeko now runs a successful restaurant business.

They are our post-Zionist Zohans (sorry, I could not think of a more serious film about career change; what the heck, I enjoyed You Don’t Mess With Zohan!).  Like Zohan, the anti-terrorist Israeli badass who really just wants to cut hair, these admen had other dreams.  They must have listened to an inner voice that told them to do what they loved, beyond the comfortable world of advertising.  It’s the same Steve Jobs life lesson:  Don’t waste it living someone else’s life.  Stay hungry, stay foolish. 

Tankeko, for one, did right it going into the resto business.  Earlier today, I had lunch at Fifteen Twenty-One.   I’m definitely going back with more friends who like the familiar Pinoy food packaged creatively and delectably.  The menu is as interesting as the cuisine (Talong mo Kay Tulfo, Bonggang-Bonggang Binagoongan, Suabeng Suahe, Ka-Musta-Cat, Hip na Hipon) and the resto’s interiors.   Had a Ratatouille moment with the Potchero ni Tankeko  (the tender-est slow-stewed beef) and Bakang Binayabasan (beef sinigang with guava and kamias/cucumber tree fruit like how they’d prepare it in the province).   My fave was the Ka-Musta-Cat – catfish salad with mustard leaves and kamias.   Do check out 1521.  Support another of them few foolish ones.

1521:  Burgos Circle, Forbes Town Center, Fort Bonifacio Global City / +632 552 1909

Smart television

Many, many years ago, before Torrents and complete DVD sets, we would patiently wait for seven nights before the next episode of our fave TV show was on.  What would happen to the Ingalls at the prairie next ?   Would the bad, bad Olsons get the best of them?  Who would be Kermit’s celebrity guest?  How many Germans would die in the next Combat?  It was fun to wait for a week.  We would imagine, wonder about the “susunod na kabanata”.  We’d only spend a few hours in front of the TV, then spend the rest of day on other things that didn’t depend on electricity. 

Fast-forward to the 2000s.  We download and watch everything in one sitting.  We’ve gotten busier but still manage to spend more hours on the computer watching TV episodes back-to-back-to-back.   Lately, I’ve been stricken with the all-at-once-virus.  I can’t get enough of The Good Wife.

I’ve seen eight episodes of its first season in two nights.   I’m a late convert because I thought it was a melodrama about a scorned woman who’s trying to just keep in together.  Friends at the office had been raving about it; so I got a copy of the first season.  Now, I’m hooked, I’m hating this addiction.  I hate how Julianna Margulies is so good at playing a woman who’s forced to go back to lawyering to make a living while her politician-husband is in prison.  I hate how Archie Panjabi – Kalinda the investigator – keeps me guessing about her real motivations.  I hate how comedienne Christine Baranksi can do drama well.  I hate how a legal drama can be so topical, nuanced, not hysterical, not full of complicated twists and turns.  

It’s the best drama on TV right now.  A milestone in the evolution of intelligent television.  It’s made me forget the house on the prairie and delayed gratification.  

When Electronica is superior to the movie.

"I just missed your heart", says Hanna to the deer.  Joe Wright the director missed mine, too.

The first 15 minutes of Hanna are very promising.   The concept, while familiar, is clever. A 16-year-old girl is raised by his father in the Arctic to be an assassin.  Thanks to homeschooling, she can speak English, German, Italian, Spanish, French and Arabic.  A walking, running, tumbling, weightlifting and rifle-carrying Encyclopedia, too.  The only other book she keeps is The Grimms' Fairytales.  One day, she allows herself to be found by the CIA people.  She's ready for the world and ready to avenge her mother's death. 


The film appears like a mish-mash of Bourne Identity, Leon: The Professional, Kill Bill, Run, Lola, Run, La Femme Nikita, even Sixteen Candles.  But hey, nothing in the world of movies is original anymore.  Besides, Saoirse Ronan's (Lovely Bones and Atonement) cold, asexual stare just draws you in.

Then the movie gets too showy and stylish, lacking the subtlety and restraint of the Bourne series.  But the movie score is superb!   The soundtrack by the electronic group Chemical Brothers is a must-buy.   The last time I was blown away by a soundtrack was more than 30 years ago, when Midnight Express came out.  Giorgio Moroder's synthesizer gave birth to electronica.

Here's a fave music video of the Chemical Brothers, done in 2002 by Michel Gondry who's now an accomplished film director himself (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).  Here, Gondry gives justice to their music.

Lacroix's Sleeping Beauty

I just saw the trailer for the new French version of Sleeping Beauty.   The main character falls asleep at 6 and goes into a series of adventures in her dreams for the next 10 years. French director, Catherine Breillart, who did a very strange retelling of the already morbid tale, Bluebeard, is back revamping and eroticizing another familiar fairytale.   I don't think I'll be able to take kids to see it.  


What would make for a very interesting animated version would be the great French fashion designer Lacroix's Sleeping Beauty.  Here are some images from the illustrated book.   A must-have!  I heard John Galliano's version of another tale is in the works.  Keep all these beautiful collectibles coming.

Amélie is 10.

10 years ago this year, the most charming movie ever played to audiences worldwide.  I have yet to meet someone who loathe Amélie.  It should be one of the few movies that was universally loved.  It remains as the highest-grossing French film in the U.S. and in other countries.

Everything about it makes me smile.  Audrey Tatou and her glowing wide eyes.  Paris at its greenest.  The accordion music.  Crème brulee.  Amélie’s comfortable loneliness.  Her neurotic and dysfunctional childhood.  Her pranks.  The unrequited love.  Her desire to be loved.  Clutter in every frame.  The breakneck pace that leaves me full, happy; wish it’d never end.

It’s been 10 years and I have yet to see a movie that conveys the feeling of falling in love as beautifully as Amélie.

R.E.M.

I'm a big fan of R.E.M. but news of the band's break-up didn't really affect me.  The band's demise happened after the follow-up to their 1992 album, "Automatic for the People".  In my book, that's the greatest album of all time (or maybe as great as Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours", Prince's "Purple Rain, and The Beatles' "Rubber Soul").  I would rush to the record store every time an R.E.M. follow-up album is freshly released, and would get disappointed each time.  "Automatic" was enough to seal their place in music history.

Lead singer Michael Stipe is a known lover of film.  He even dabbled in movie-producing.  That's obvious in Stipe's music videos and compositions.  Movie references abound.  The video below is inspired by the dramatic and surreal opening of Fellini's "8 1/2".  "Departure" was written for River Phoenix after he o.d.'d.  "Monty Got A Raw Deal" was about the handsomest Hollywood actor ever, Montgomery Clift. "Man On The Moon was an homage to comedian Andy Kaufman, and inspired the movie of the same name.  Ang dami!  That's why I like love listening to their songs from the 80s and "Automatic".  They're cryptic, rich in subtext, and make for perfect soundtracks to movies -- including "ang soundtrack ng buhay mo".  You celebrate, but mostly, wail, hurt along with Michael.

Anderson and Gloria

CNN reporter Anderson Cooper has a new talk show -- Anderson. From the clip below, it seems like intelligent talk TV, none of Tyra's phoniness. I hope we'll see it on local cable soon.

In this interview with mom Gloria Vanderbilt, one of the most famous rich women from the last century, he asked her to recount the last moments before his brother's suicide. She was right there before he jumped off the balcony. "I think about it all the time...you never get over it", said Gloria.

I was also the last one to see my 5-year-old brother before he accidentally drowned in the deep end of an un-chlorinated pool without anyone seeing. The memory remains fresh 36 years after. It's not an internal rumour, like how one writer describes memory. I always dream about it, and frame-by-frame it's how it similarly plays in my head during my waking hours.

After seeing how boldly Anderson confronted his mom about Carter's death and how he fought back his tears, I've been thinking of asking my mom how she survived my kid brother's death. It appeared to me then that her healing process was quick. But I was young, impressionable enough to think that her grief ended when she tucked away my brother's clothes and toys. I am so curious but not as brave as Anderson.

Hail to the Imp!

The year’s breakout role for both film and TV must belong to Peter Dinklage, the diminutive actor who plays Tyrion Lannister, or the Imp, in HBO’s Game of Thrones.  He's just won an Emmy  and his fans are rejoicing.

He must have the biggest fan base amongst GOT lovers.  If you haven’t seen the series, you must. Importante sa buhay si Peter Dinklage.  If you’re too lazy to follow the complicated plot, just pay attention when the Imp is on.

It must also be the biggest breakout role in many, many years.  Here is a actor who dwarfs (sorry, can’t help it) other actors for his amazing take on the role of a dwarf, who has to survive in a world dominated by brute strength, through his intellect, wit, wealth and acid tongue.  And he always gets by.

Short people have come a long way.  Now there are roles for them that are not one-dimensional and created just for laughs.  Weng Weng should have been around to witness this.

The Chucky Effect

It just never ends – the fascination for beautiful things to adorn my flat. Yesterday was spent in one of my little Disneylands, the home furnishings haven LRI Plaza in Reposo.  I bought this quirky lamp at PNKY. The most congenial shopowner Miss Pinky made it herself, reinventing our grandmother’s charcoal-powered flat iron into a lamp, and shaping the shade like the iron itself. 

The flat iron, which must be at least 40 years old, weighs more than 5 pounds.  Pity our lolas and yayas of old.

I’ve been wanting to collect old little things for my place.  They’d be the perfect counterpoint to its modern look. I saw this old santo in an LRI curio shop that looked like a harlequin but was actually the Virgin Mary.  Also old mirrors, cupboards, side tables that were made in the 30s through the 50s, now sold in Evangelista Street, Makati.  But friends have told me not to. Ricky D. has a mirror consigned to him several years ago.  It’s tucked away in his garage after several people witnessed an old lady jumping out of the mirror.  Another friend bought an old rocking chair, and then experienced spooky things in his sala.

Can inanimate objects retain people’s feelings, thoughts, and energy long after they’re gone?  An object that had been strongly attached to the living, or had been a key prop in his death, could become haunted, paranormal believers say.  The movies have weighed in on this theory with Chucky the doll from hell and Charito Solis’ refrigerator in the first Shake, Rattle and Roll.

I just pray that the yaya who once used my flat iron happily ironed the linens away despite its heavy weight.

Stylist: A Misnomer

It’s easy enough to echo what a national artist for literature recently said about contemporary Pinoy culture – that it’s shallow.  But I won’t go there.  Suffice it to say, the perception is all generational and anecdotal; shallowness, not a national malady.  Though I’ve just witnessed mediocrity in a production meeting back in my agency.  I hope there’s nothing more to the person’s laziness.  A sociological dissertation should not be necessary.

This woman calls herself a wardrobe stylist.  She presents pegs cut out from U.S. fashion magazines.  She uses all the clichés I’ve been hearing since I was an advertising trainee:  hip, young, aspirational, cool, a representation of the brand’s colors.  She stops there.  I could’ve done that myself and gotten the hefty fee she’s charging us.  There’s no attempt to put the costume design in proper perspective.

Anyone who dares to call himself a stylist must understand the essence of styling, and that’s in the storytelling part.   He must flesh out the characters in the film, and give the film a visual life through costumes.  It’s not just about what’s in vogue, what he himself would like to wear, or what’s easily available in Landmark.  It’s not stereotyping – a call center dude would wear this, a class AB working professional would that.  Dude or Inday, define the character with his wardrobe!

Sometimes I think some stylists are not as motivated to do research for contemporary characters.  They’re more attracted to the creation of elaborate costumes from decades past.   But creating modern wear for film is much more challenging.  They need intelligence, restraint and subtlety in sourcing costumes for contemporary clothes that support character development.

In his eulogy to Don Escudero, one of the greatest art directors in Pinoy cinema (Oro, Plata, Mata his best work), director Peque Gallaga recounted, When we sat down on the thorny problem of what Daniel Fernando was going to wear in Scorpio Nights, and we were fully aware that he was going to spend an irritating amount of movie time in his underwear, I opted to go sociological and historical: this was the time of bikini briefs in zebra stripes and leopard spots.  Don again said no. “He is going to wear classic white Jockey briefs.” And those white Jockey briefs ended up defining Daniel’s character totally and completely.
   Yeah, it wouldn’t make sense to garb him in super sexy briefs.  He was a voyeur, hidden, not as yet sexually adventurous, not comfortable about showing off his body in zebra to the woman he covets.

That’s a smart answer to a seemingly simple wardrobe issue.  I wish I’d hear something as informed next time from someone who dares call himself a wardrobe stylist.

The Future of Mad Men

[The following piece appeared in the September 12th Campaigns & Grey 25th Anniversary supplement in the Philippine Star.]

Other than the fact that women in advertising agencies no longer wear pantyhose, the hit TV series Mad Men is one very distant and now unfamiliar flashback. 

In one scene, Roger Sterling, co-founder of the fictional Sterling Cooper agency, could say of a big client: "My name's on the building. They can wait for me."  Sterling would stand no chance surviving in today’s advertising scene.  There’s less indulgence.  It’s less about the marketer, his ego and lifestyle.  Advertising has gotten more serious and challenging.  There’s never been a better time to be in advertising.   

And a worse time, too, if you don’t know what the future looks like. 

The Philippines is already on the cusp of a creative crossover.  I’d give you 2 to 3 years if you insist on being a ‘mad man’ who thinks advertising is all about the following:

1.    Advertising that’s neatly packaged in a 30-second TV spot or a full-page printed material.   Think communication, not advertising. There are more platforms and touch-points to consider in reaching out to your target audience.   Mobile apps, social networking, the smartphone, the iPad will soon become as significant to the marketer as ABS-CBN.  ‘Digital’ is a world in itself that has no boundaries. 

2.    The ‘consumer’ can be captured through mass marketing.  He or she is no longer a simplistic statistic that can be easily persuaded by crafty jingles, selling lines and product demonstrations. He’s breaking free from the chains of captive and disruptive advertising.  He needs to be engaged, not just entertained, and he’d tell you your product sucks in real time, via a blog or a Facebook posting, and would make his extensive network of friends/consumers empathize just as quickly.

3.    The big creative idea can only come from a small group of smartly dressed agency executives.  Ideas can come from anywhere in the digital era.  Use that savvy then to spot the creative opportunities and turn them into stories (not just storyboards) that would engage your very complex and powerful consumer.

4.   Becoming a legend in the league of David Ogilvy or the Saatchi brothers.  If you want to retain the client-agency trust you’ve enjoyed through the years, sober up, be professional and just make each output work.   Beware: There’s always a shop knocking on client’s door that has charges less on account of less overhead and a leaner infrastructure.  He also won’t make client wait. 

5.    Loads of martinis.  Because there’s less money available for martinis and other indulgences.  The sacred agency compensation scheme has been revamped and it continues to dwindle.  On the bright side, digital opportunities are endless, and no one as yet knows how to charge for it.

The world is changing, faster than ever before.  Advertising is no exception.  The old model of the monolithic-one-stop-agency-that-earns-a-lot-through-catchy-commercials has been broken.  Make yourself an integral part of the new (digital) reality.   If you take that to heart, and the shifting paradigms on ‘who’s the consumer’ and ‘creativity is everywhere’, then you’re ok.   You’d also realize that the world of advertising, er, ‘communications’, would still a lot like Mad Men, at least in one aspect:  it’s fun, never boring.

My bucket list and Butch Uy

One movie that had a great idea that went wrong was The Bucket List (2007).  It cast two of the finest Hollywood actors – Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.  It’s pure schmaltz.  It tries so hard to move you to tears.  I still recommend it, though, to students of film and advertising.  A lesson on how not to abuse the “green screen” technology.

It doesn’t take a trained eye to know that Jack and Morgan didn’t get to go to those places they had in their bucket list.   Dios mio, napaka-phony.  For a major studio release, directed by the very successful Rob Reiner, they couldn't get them on the plane?

The bucket list was last night’s dinner conversation.  I’ve never really thought about it.   

Maybe I should, especially today, which marks the 10^th death anniversary of dear friend and Campaigns & Grey Executive Creative Director Butch Uy.   I vividly remember having coffee with him the day after he was diagnosed about the gravity of his condition.  He said, Boboy, I’ll never get to see Europe.  That’s what I really want to do before I die.  

Here’s my list, Butch.  And I’m only including those that you would have been interested in as well.  I’ll take you with me in spirit.

• Watch the Broadway run of Billy Elliott, your favorite movie.
• Go to London and/or Sao Paulo for the Olympic opening.  But London is a must, since you like things dandy.
• Sample the king crabs of Alaska.  A few weeks before you left us, we treated you to a great crab dinner at my place like you requested.  Let’s check out the Alaskan kind.
• Rent a small car like your cute yellow car through Tuscany.   And drink the best wines from the region.  You always wanted to drink but couldn’t because of doctor’s orders.
• Shop for the finest white linen Guayabera shirts in Havana.  You wouldn’t wear anything but white.

I’ll stop here before I get as schmaltzy as Jack and Morgan.

Sir Christian LOL'd.

In designer James Reyes’ show yesterday at the Shangri-la, the show’s producer Inno Sotto led Christian Espiritu to our table which had one empty seat.  He asked if  Christian could seat with us.  Of course, my friends and I were only too happy to oblige because it was our chance to meet one of the icons of Philippine fashion.  I thought he was one aloof old man since I remembered him unsmiling in all of his photos from the 70s and 80s.  He turned out to be very kind and engaging to talk to.

Three minutes into our friendly exchange, I asked him the silliest question:  Sir Christian, I hope you don’t mind my asking.  But would you still have a copy of “Alaga”?  He LOL’d.   I was too embarrassed to press him for an answer.

Alaga was the one and only movie he produced and directed in 1980.  I didn’t get to see it because its theatre run was brief.   The film starred a very young Edu Manzano’s debut (losing vice-presidential candidate, top game show host, ex-husband of Maricel and Vilma, dad to popular host/actor Luis/Lucky).   The film revolves around a young, attractive man who exploits a rich older woman (Charito Solis) on his way to showbiz stardom.  Shades of American Gigolo, one of Richard Gere’s earliest movies.

The film generated a lot of buzz at that time because “it” boy Edu broke into the scene.  And more for Christian’s foray into film.  Many eyebrows were raised:  What does a couturier know about moviemaking?  A few people went to see it.  I’m quite sure the pervading cynicism towards Christian the director had a lot to do with its dismal performance at the tills.

Three decades later, ex-Gucci creative head Tom Ford screened a well-received debut in A Single Man.   Marlon Rivera, part-fashion designer, directed his first, Babae Sa Septic Tank, which wowed critics and audiences.  Times have changed.  A background in the art of fashion is now an advantage, not a liability.  Perhaps moviegoers are hankering for style and high concept.  Some may be excited to see great costume design.  I’m sure Alaga had much of that.  I was told Christian’s lovely Forbes Park home was Charito’s in the movie.   I can only imagine all that now.  Unless the kind Sir Christian would take my silly question seriously and lend me a Betamax copy.

P.S.  Sir Christian writes the most insightful and entertaining fashion reviews on Facebook.  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000255741269&sk=notes

James Reyes channeling Patrick Nagel and Robert Palmer

Patrick Nagel was the most copied illustrator from the 80s (the kitschy Manila shop Blue Magic must have built its fortune on Nagel rip-offs).  He's known for his women, who somewhat all look alike -- square eyes, full red lips, washed-out facial features and all.  His strokes are bold and clean.  The colors are vibrant, reflective of the excess and decadence of the decade, though white is predominantly the canvas.  Overall, there's blatant sexiness, arrogance, self-assuredness.  No wonder, Playboy Magazine featured his graphics a lot.  And his extensive body of work was done way before the birth of Photoshop.  Kinamay niya lahat ito.

Nagel's aesthetic inspired one iconic music video from the 80s: Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistible".  It still looks lovely and fresh 30 years after.

Nagel and Palmer are my best friend James Reyes' inspirations for his Fashion Watch Spring-Summer Show at the Shangri-la Makati on September 8th.  His pegs are enough to keep us all excited.

Bertolucci porn

Thanks for the heads-up, Jessica Z.   The greatest living Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci will be coming to Manila for the Italian Film Festival set at Greenbelt from November 9^th to the 13^th.   A film event that must not be missed.

Bertolucci did some of the most delicious movies from the 70s through the 90s:  The Conformist, 1900, Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky, Stealing Beauty and The Dreamers.  If you’re a true lover of film, you must have at least one Bertolucci in your collection.  I’d pick The Conformist and The Last Emperor as my favorites.

His themes are usually subversive, never bland or familiar.  But when I think Bertolucci, visual poetry comes to mind.  I was lucky enough to see most of his films on the big screen.  The small monitor in your living room or on your desk will never be able to capture the same visual excitement.  That’s why you ought to catch the Italian filmfest. 

It’s production design porn that’s most pleasurable, lustful.   The visual poetry supplants obvious characterization.  It’s like ballet – the performers don’t have to talk for you to get it all right.

Here’s a sampling of Bertolucci's lyricism.  

Martin Escudero: A Star is Born.

Is it uniquely Pinoy for friends to go to a theatre, then relive a great movie experience shortly after?   If it were a comedy, they’d laugh even harder when recalling memorable scenes.  Over callos, manchego and Merlot at Terry’s (plugging: their already inexpensive but good wines go on sale on Saturdays), that was what we did last night after watching Zombadings.

I prematurely proclaim it as the movie of the year, and that covers Hollywood.   The upcoming movies of Polanski, Scorsese, Almodovar, Payne and Brillante Mendoza better top this tale of a boy from Lucban, Quezon who likes taunting baklas, then pisses off a grieving gay who curses him to turn queer when he grows up. 

Here are 11 things in Zombadings worth recounting, also the best in many, many years:

1.    Best casting for a male lead: Martin Escudero.  He’s believable as a very straight bum.  He gets even better from the moment he dons the tight baby tee.

2.    Best dance scene:  Martin Escudero’s.  His hips are swaying uncontrollably.  He lets go and explodes in the gayest choreography reminiscent of Eat, Bulaga’s dance contestants from Barangay Krus na Ligas.

3.    Best Scene Stealer:  Janice de Belen’s sidekick, Nini.  The police line-up and interrogation scenes – pure madness.

4.    2^nd Best Scene Stealer:  Georgia from the panciteria.  “Lalayas na ‘ko.  Tingnan mo nga ako”.  She strikes a pose.

5.  Best Cameo:  the rollerblading Eugene Domingo.

6.    Best Comeback:  John Regala as Remington’s macho yet sympathetic father.

7.    Best Love Scene:  Remington and Jigs on the staircase.

8.    Best Rom-Com moment:  Remington and Jigs up on a tree, eating suman.

9.    Best Writing:  “Charoterang sprikitik, umapir ka vakler! Magpa-feel, magpa-sense, ditey sa baler.”

10. Best pro-Carlos Celdran statement:  “Bakla ka Father!  Bakla!”.

11. Best mirror of society’s changing attitudes towards homosexuality:  Daniel Fernando the bigot rants about gays but the Lucban marching band drowns out his oration.   The hatred just falls on deaf ears.

The Indie Revolution

Yesterday, I decided to buy tickets to the indie film, Zombadings 1: Patayin Sa Shokot Si Remington hours before showtime.  I knew it’d be hard to get in if I did any later.   The ticket lady did confirm my hunch when I asked her if it was a hit.  “Hay naku, Sir, sobra!  Mas malakas pa sa Wedding Tayo, Wedding Hindi.” That film was produced by giant film company Star Cinema.  It’s been relegated to a theatre smaller than Zombadings’.

There.  Finally.  We’re experiencing a cinema revolution in the Philippines.   The unthinkable is happening.  Moviegoers are going for original and intelligent fare, produced on a shoestring budget and not released by major distributors.   This must be a wake-up call to the film industry.

Zombadings’ success also underscores a great advertising crossover.  Its promotion was largely confined to the Web.  It obviously didn’t have the money to do TV advertising, or the support of a large media network that trumpeted its Metro run on mainstream channels like TV, radio and print.  The consumer is online, and spends more time  there than  on any other medium.   If you Facebook, blog or Youtube it, he will come.