Sexmoan?

Sharing one of my past works as a filmmaker.

SEXMOAN ADVENTURES

Kamaru Productions

A town in the Philippine province of Pampanga has for long been known as Sexmoan. One day, the municipal government decided to dump its scandalous spelling and replaced it with how residents traditionally call their homeland: Sasmuan.

Three students venture into the town of Sasmuan to interview random people about the name and lifestyle of their modernizing fishing village.

-JASON PAUL LAXAMANA

Save the Environment

There's nothing wrong with slant lines

I just joined a cause! I changed my cause online after reflecting what I really am passionate in fighting the rights for, then, BAM, Gay Right is the way. I mean, why do people treat gay people differently? I'm hyped up for this!

-Marji Manlunas

Flips = Flop in Pop

So Korean pop is in.

And Manila copied them again.

Nothing wrong with copying.

After all, Koreans copy Americans all the time.

But Koreans copy good.

Real good.

They give those they copy a run for their money.

And they don't even speak good English, while we take pride to be Asia's most fluent English speakers!

We don't.

And I am sick of this same old story.

Frustrated.

Ashamed.

Instead of merely COPYING foreigns, we should start COMPETING.

I am not the type to complain without action. Hence, I am experimenting on something.

RIVERSYD is an upcoming independently produced co-ed Filipino pop act group from the Kapampangan region by my Kamaru Productions.

The project aims to give Pinoy Pop Music a whole new twist -- keeping up with the global trends in popular music while channeling the sounds and visuals that make us distinctly Filipinos.

Composed of three boys and two girls, RIVERSYD is all about loving your own culture, empowering the marginal, and embracing change.

The current members are:

ROCK-O of Angeles City, Pampanga

JET of Angeles City, Pampanga

AER of Porac, Pampanga

JO of Angeles City, Pampanga

and RYDE of Capas, Tarlac

Catch their debut music videos late this year, "Shades" and "Para Toot". Below is the sample music for "Shades" (no vocals recorded yet). Notice how we tried to fuse indigenous sounds with modern hiphop and trance. Music composed and arranged by Diwa De Leon.

Will we be able to pull this off? We'll see.

-Jason Paul Laxamana

Cultural Activist

Balangingi

Share ko lang yung ABS-CBN news coverage nung munting pelikulang nipakita ko last meeting... --Jason Laxamana

'Nosebleed' wins in digital film awards
abs-cbnNEWS.com

March 2009

A Kapampangan independent film titled "Balangingi (Nosebleed)" won the [ETC] Best Short Film award from the recently concluded Philippine Digital Music and Short Film Festival held at the World Trade Center in Pasay City last March 12.

"Balangingi" is created by a group of young people calling themselves as Kamaru [Productions]. The bilingual film, which uses English and the native Kapampangan [language], has a mix of intellectual humor and romance.

Jason Paul Laxamana, director and writer of a young group called Kamaru, said the film is about the romantic relationship of two philosophers [living in the countryside].

"Pinaghalong intellectual at love story na may bearing sa kultura," Laxamana said.

The film's three characters Xoo, April and Jane were played by actors Jayvie Dizon, Frency Rodriguez and Raco del Rosario, respectively.

The three indie stars were thrilled by the award and look forward to making more Kapampangan digital films.

"Para sa iba, kung ano ang hilig nila, dapat linangin ang kanilang talento," says Diego Marx Dobles, assistant director of [the film], adding that they would encourage young kabalens to develop their skills in digital film making.

Kamaru is now gearing up for the 1st Sinukwan Kapampangan Film Festival. With a report from Mylene Valencia, ABS-CBN News Pampanga

Impressed

My husband, who is an IT expert and is fashioning himself as a social media guru is impressed -- and dare I say a little envious -- that I am handling a group of very creative and outspoken people. "Ang gagaling naman ng mga estudyante mo," he told me again tonight as he peeked over my shoulder while I was reading through our class blog.

I thought, I know right?

Biocultural Diversity

It is not until recently that cultural organizations around the world, especially UNESCO, realized how important biocultural diversity is in our lives.

Good thing there are organizations like TERRALINGUA (www.terralingua.org). According to their official website: "Terralingua works to sustain the biocultural diversity of life - the world's invaluable heritage of biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity - through an innovative program of research, education, policy-relevant work, and on-the-ground action."

From Terralingua's National Geographic blog: "There are over 7,000 languages spoken on the planet today, 80-85 percent of these being spoken by indigenous peoples. Most of these languages are spoken by very small communities, which are constantly at risk of being "swallowed up" by larger and more powerful societies, their languages replaced by majority languages."

Read more about the issue here: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/06/biocultural-diversity-the-true-web-of-life.html

Watch this video we made to support the cause, with focus on preserving our linguistic diversity.

-Kath Gabaon

-Jason Paul Laxamana

-Faith Recile