Being a Muslim Filipino, Adel admits to an “ironic discrimination” that he experiences despite the fact that he looks “normal,” but it was during his yearlong stay in Harvard Law School, between 2004 and 2005, that he felt comfortable in his own skin.

There he met Muslims who were blond and blue-eyed and wore mini skirts, a stark contrast to their Arabic, hijab-wearing counterparts. Adel would come home to the Philippines enriched by the multicultural experience, a lesson he intoned in the commencement exercise that he would deliver to the 2005 graduating class.

Insightful yet entertaining—this is how viewers describe Howie’s work. Topics range from the eye-opening, exposing the harsh realities that some of us Filipinos are unaware of or just choose to ignore. From poverty and the deteriorating level of education to socio-political issues, his compelling stories drive you to listen, to reflect, and to act.

He also tackles stories that inspire and uplift the spirit, which make one discover the beauty of the Philippines and its people, encouraging us to be prouder of our country and heritage.

At six, Nikki already knew that she was going to be a writer. “I started writing Nancy Drew-type stories, then I moved on to the Sweet Dreams type. I used to get in trouble a lot in school because my notebooks were full of stories but had no notes,” she relates.

“Pretty much from the start, I was really into this whole speculative fiction bent. One of the first novels I read was Stephen King’s Cujo and later The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien,” Nikki remembers.

I didn’t have any clue what Lucky Miles meant until I saw it at the end of movie. It is the title of a new Australian movie to be shown this month at the Sydney Film Festival. Surprisingly, a Filipino, Kenneth Moraleda, plays a major role—that of Arun, a Cambodian refugee—in this black comedy involving human trafficking, human nature, tragedies, and compassion.

This movie is not one for the malls. To appreciate it is to acknowledge the different emotional states people could be subjected to by the ever-changing political climate. Tolerance and compassion shall win over self-defeatism, fatalism, and pragmatic attitudes.

Second of two parts

In this follow-up to last week’s Innerview with production designer and artist Leo Abaya, we discuss with him the intricacies of designing for Muro-Ami and Kubrador, how to survive in the cutthroat movie industry, and why the film is a powerful medium that can convey, in a few seconds, what an entire [...]

Conversations with Leo Abaya, visual artist, commercial director, and award-winning production designer for Jose Rizal, Kubrador, and Muro-Ami, are like a front-seat movie experience. His storytelling is peppered with details and humorous quotes that you can imagine vividly how a particular scene looks and feels like.

Admittedly obsessive about details, Leo describes how it was like watching Jose Rizal for the first time on DVD and seeing some lapses: “Ayan na, ayan na! And then two seconds, it’s over,” he says, and you can identify with the anxiety of reliving something that you’d rather file away at the back of your head.

We caught up with him just before he flew off to Beijing to shoot the GMA television series Asian Treasures, and we chatted about his beginnings as an artist, director of commercials, and production designer.

Fourteen-year-old Sam Concepcion first captured the public’s heart as the rapping kid in a sinigang sa miso commercial (with his dad) and then in 2006 as the runaway winner in ABS-CBN’s Little Big Star.

Since then, the up-and-coming star has shone even brighter, appearing in various TV programs and endorsements. He has also won a string of awards and citations, including Pinoy Wannabe in the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards and K-zone Awards’ Best Male Singer of the Year.

A certified crush ng bayan, he was named the Favorite Teen Star in Candy magazine’s CandyRap awards, garnering a whopping 93 percent of readers’ votes.