Get this: a director from Iceland films a story about a Filipina transgendered prostitute. How did that happen? Well, truth is stranger than fiction, and director Olaf de Fleur took many cues from real life in “The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela.” In fact, he created a new genre—a “visionmentary.” The unique way he filmed “Queen Raquela” shows how this subculture unfolds in the Philippines and beyond.

By happenstance, de Fleur ran into a couple of overdressed “ladyboys” on a trip to the Philippines. A ladyboy will sometimes describe herself as “a chick with a dick.” Crude, but hey, it gets the point across. These people have not undergone sex-change surgery—they believe they are female on the inside, male on the outside. They dress as girls, and often work as prostitutes, but dream of marrying straight men and having children like little girls anywhere.

De Fleur was fascinated by this “conundrum—it was like a snake eating its tail.” So he found Raquela Rios, one such transsexual, and allowed her to play “herself” in a story that was loosely based on her own life. This filming method gives “Queen Raquela” an engaging plot with the ring of realism. More »

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This is an archived blog post. Jason Linetsky is no longer a Ningin blogger.

Leah Eva has hop scotched the world from the Philippines to San Francisco and has recently settled down in Chicago where she has claimed the title of only successful Asian comic in Chi Town. I had the pleasure to interview her before her performance in the Shine For Our People event, which raised money for Typhoon Frank victims. More »

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People who know me well know that I am a cold hearted bitch. I rarely cry but I do cry at movies occasionally. Usually the scene involves a hot guy dying. Why? The thought of the world losing such a good looking specimen just gets my tears flowing. I also weep when I read stories of young disprivileged Asians making it big in the States. That’s like reading my own life story… not!

Anyway, I was watching the youtube clip of Charice Pempengco’s recent appearance on the Oprah Show today and I was moved to tears. On the show, Charice showed the viewers where she grew up in the Phillippines. She also did a live number. The producers also showed what happened to this little diva’s singing career ever since she made her first appearance on the show earlier this year. All I can say is, Oprah can move mountains. Even since that appearance, Charice has been invited to perform with singing powerhouse like Andrea Boccelli and Josh Groban. At the end of the show, the ever so annoying Celine Dion (who’s one of Charice’s idols) made a surprise appearance via live satelite and invited Charice to do a duet with her at her concert in Madison Square Garden, New York. The concert took place three days ago and I have the clip here. I bet the producers of the Oprah Show reached out to her other idol, Whitney Houston several times but she was probably too busy smoking crack to return their phone calls.

Not many females can make me cry and Charice was one of the few who could do so. Her story is just so inspirational!

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Jay Legaspi always had a song in his heart; he was just waiting for the right time to sing it. Jay’s experience with music starts in junior high during the 8th grade when he began playing the guitar. Officially he did not start singing seriously until his college years. In fact he only wrote his first song during freshman year at college, and that was during a holiday break. What is interesting he only embarked on a musical career after he graduated. 

He has a voice that is so soothing, I describe it like warm cocoa on a drifty snow day (especially when I heard the song Maggie). His Vocal stylings have a very youthful quality but its combined with unencumbered-poetic-mature-intricate lyrics and it’s his lyrics that always tell you a story. His ballads especially have this deep, zenful, mellow soul. More »

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WarholSoup has a sound that is a true infusion of many genres, like pure-rock, reggae, jazz, and more. They formed their band about three years ago and have been playing professionally ever since. You can find their music and performance schedule on myspace. I suggest you all listen to “Catch me if you can”. Their song “Let me love you” and the snippet of “Food for thought” are very jazzclub sexy. The young foursome is doing their best to help shed light on a recent tragedy that was over looked by the mainstream media by performing at a benefit concert tonight. Beethoven once said “Only the pure of heart can make good soup”; Andy Warhol once said “Painting is an excuse to listen to really good music”. Well the maestro and the art genius really must have had these guys in mind when they said those things. I was really lucky to get some time to ask the guys some questions about their most recent gig in NYC. More »

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