Columnist, The Flip Side
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Tell me about your column and your latest projects.
"The Flip Side" offers a female insight to mass entertainment and pop culture of the past and present. I’m Filipino, which is to what the “Flip” refers. I don’t find the term derogatory, though some still do. While my geek roots started in film, you can see from my past columns that I believe one can geek out about anything.
My background is in studio development and business/legal affairs, and I’ve been working in the entertainment industry since I graduated from college. The feature film project I'm currently focusing on as a producer is called STEALING FACES, based on the novel by Michael Prescott. Claire-Dee Lim, who wrote FIREHOUSE DOG, did a wonderful screenplay adaptation, and now we're in the hellish packaging/financing phase of the project. I'm also working on a web series presentation for a premium internet channel which must remain unnamed for now.
Who or what are the biggest influences on your work?
For film: Billy Wilder, Lindsay Doran, Peter Weir.
For writing: Anne LaMott, William Goldman, Lillian Hellman.
If you could pick one person to collaborate with dead or alive who would you pick?
Billy Wilder, even though I'm sure I would hold him back. Who else can make DOUBLE INDEMNITY and SOME LIKE IT HOT in the same lifetime?
What album had the most influence on your adolescence?
"Rio" by Duran Duran. "Black Celebration" by Depeche Mode is a close second.
What were your favorite toys or games from your childhood?
Atari was a big thing. My favorite game was Video Pinball and we also had a ridiculously primitive edition of Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy was just a pixilated blob. As far as board games, my favorite was Payday, which is a scaled-down version of Monopoly. I thought Tinker Toys were cool, though I could never build the elaborate contraptions seen in the commercials. The requisite Barbie dolls.
What is your pop culture guilty pleasure? (What movie, tv show, band, etc. do you love that you know is awful, but you love it anyway?)
TUFF TURF (1984), starring James Spader and Robert Downey Jr. James Spader is the new kid in town who manages to cross some gang members the night before his first day of school. Then he starts carrying a torch for the leader's girlfriend. Revenge plots ensue. Don't knock it until you've seen it. Then you can knock it all you want.
If you could own one piece of artwork by any artist, who would you choose and why?
"The Singing Butler" by Jack Vettriano. For me, it wonderfully captures the connection between a man and a woman through their body language. They're the calm in the center of the storm, and it's irrelevant that you can't see their faces; the feelings evoked are universal. Art critics dismiss Vettriano as being pedestrian, but I love his work. God forbid an artist should be commercially successful while they're alive.
What are your favorite television shows that you feel ended too soon?
My So-Called Life, Sports Night, Arrested Development and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Who is your favorite super hero?
Isis, because she has multiple powers and is always well-accessorized.
If you were to have dinner with 5 people living or dead, who are they and what would you serve?
Lucille Ball, Winston Churchill, Bob Fosse, Peter O'Toole and Leni Riefenstahl.
Does it matter what I would serve? All I know is that there would be lots of liquor.
What fictional character do you identify most with?
Jane Craig in "Broadcast News." She's a detail-oriented workaholic, though I try to be more selectively type-A as I get older. I also don't take out 2 minutes a day to cry. Maybe I should try that sometime.
What 5 movies could you watch again and again?
Only 5? Boo.
L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, THE GREAT ESCAPE, LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy (yes, that's a cheat), ALL ABOUT EVE, ALIENS
What book or author do you regularly recommend?
THE MISTS OF AVALON by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I first read it when I was 16 and always go back to it.
What are your favorite web sites?
I'll keep it to 3:
Huffington Post, Fmylife.com, Gofugyourself.com
What are you most looking forward to geeking out over in the coming year?
AVATAR!
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