Guni Guni x Bona x Aracama

It's such a shame that I had to lose my camera, because I had a pretty busy week. I was at the Guni Guni premiere at SM Megamall to support Lovi Poe, I watched Bona at the PETA theater for the preview night, and I had a really productive meeting with the Supreme team for a special issue we're preparing soon.

And I had no record of anything, which might as well make the events non-existent.

Either way, I had a great week because of the holidays - August 20 for Eid-ul-Fitr and 21 for Ninoy Aquino Day. I actually didn't have anything planned and I thought of just staying at home and catching up on my reading (I'm a few books behind my list, currently I have The Perks of Being a Wallflower).

However, my mom invited me to the premiere of Guni Guni on Tuesday, and I've never been to a premiere so I said yes. She was invited by Lovi's mom, who is a close friend of hers back in her modeling days.

My brother, mom, and Lovi's mom. I was seated on the left side of my brother, so I wasn't seen

The premiere was fun. We even got to walk the red carpet even if we weren't celebrities. The fans at the side must have wondered who we were, perhaps they thought we were fans who managed to escape security. I even saw a classmate of mine in college, who is now a promo specialist for Regal Films, and did the promotional teaser for the movie. As for the movie, I really liked how Lovi grew as an actress. I've known her for several years and she has really matured, but until now, my favorite role is Serafina in the remake of Joey Gosiengfiao's Temptation Island.

On a side bar, I just found out that Lovi wanted to pursue singing as a career when she sang at my grade school graduation party in 2001. She mentioned it on an episode of Tunay Na Buhay.

The afterparty was held in Metrowalk at this joint called Cafe 80's music bar. I live in a semi-liberal household where drinking's accepted, so I had a great buzz that night. I had three margaritas while my mother had a glass of Stoli and my brother had two bottles of beer.

I'm not really a fanboy, but I brought my copy of Rogue's July 2011 issue featuring Lovi for her to sign. Her mother really hates the revealing layout, but she was polite enough to have her daughter sign it for me. It was a great night, methinks.

I think the highlight of my night was meeting Benjamin Alves, an up-and-coming actor who starred opposite Lovi in the film. He's Piolo Pascual's nephew and besides his obvious good looks, he's a really intelligent guy. We spent about ten minutes just talking about books and his thesis, a novella. He's a really friendly man, none of that self-entitled bullshit other celebrities have. I just hope that he'll stay like that throughout his career. And that I meet him again.

The real world caught up and I eventually got sucked in to work, which was really a drag, but Nikko scored tickets to Bona, a stage adaptation of Lino Brocka's cult classic. We went to PETA on the preview night, and it was packed! We were seated in the nosebleed section even if Nikko had press tickets for his piece for When In Manila. Nikko and his friend Reen (who I finally met after all these years) said that it was a far cry from the Brocka classic, but I thought it was brilliant. Eugene Domingo, who played the titular role, was convincing and had a charisma that extended beyond film. In short, she can really act. I loved it so much that I wanted to watch it again.

Photo from Our Awesome Planet

On Saturday, I met up with the Supreme team to discuss things for a special issue we're coming up with in a few weeks. We met at Aracama, one of Tim's new restaurants, a Filipino joint in The Fort with food by Chef Fernando Aracama. The meeting was productive, and I finally got to meet Pepe, the editor-at-large who has taken the reins from Cai, the assistant editor who moved to YStyle. I really miss Cai because she's fun to talk to and hang out with, but I also like Pepe because he's supportive and encourages me with my pitches.

Photos from Our Awesome Planet

Of course, the best part of the meeting - at least for me - was the food. They had the best desserts, a lovely Chocnut ice cream, and the dulce gatas and buenelos, a set of pastry balls accompanied by sinfully creamy dulce de leche. I'll definitely come back for these two.

I also got to meet the writers I haven't met yet, such as Nicola Sebastian, Cate de Leon, and DLS Pineda. Shinji and Don were also there, the latter of which wrote the controversial OPM is dead piece.

What did I learn from all these experiences? Do not lose your camera.