What's your racket?

Nothing much happened last week, except for the change in weather, an e-mail from Paris, and a rather unremarkable war movie.

I’d like to thank God for one week of Tagaytay weather in Metro Manila.

When I was a kid, I loved it when classes were suspended, although I did have some guilt about the people who lost their homes and more.

Now that I’m older, I still think about these people when it rains like this, but I’m just so glad if I can save a bit on freaking Meralco.

I used to make fun of Pinoys who would take their Ralph Lauren parkas out at the slightest drizzle, but last week even I needed to wear a light jacket everywhere.

I am so a jacket girl. I wish we had fall and spring weather in Manila, with no winter. (I hate winter.) It’s so nice to get dressed when it’s cold. I love hats, coats and scarves. We’d all be so fashionable. Not. Are Baguio and Tagaytay people fashionable? Not.

I can’t remember the last time it felt like Christmas in August.

P.S. The downside to the sudden weather change is everyone I know has a cold, cough or phlegmatic gigolo in their throat.

Marc Le Bihan

Last year, I wrote about French designer Marc Le Bihan, whom I really love and how excited I was to have met his showroom model, Jedd Tan, a Filipina who also works as an actress in Paris.

Jedd recently e-mailed me photos from Marc’s studio, including one of him holding up my column.

I really hope the guy doesn’t read English. It was such a gushy article, not meant for his eyes.

If I were a single girl, I would love to pack up and work for him in Paris. I’d work for free! But then I’m no longer single, I have kids and I don’t speak French.

We All Racket

Because most of my friends are artists, a lot of us don’t hold 9 to 5 jobs. Many of us rely on rackets. This has nothing to do with sports. Racket in Pinoy slang refers to a project or sideline that brings extra cash.

When my friends and I get together, we talk about our projects, who got what racket, how they bagged the project and how much they’re getting.

We’re happy when a friend’s billboard is up or TV commercial is running. We’re annoyed when a racket goes to someone we don’t like.

Because of the bad Philippine economy, racketing has become a way of life for many of us. Some examples of racketing include:

• Teachers and secretaries who sell tapa and all sorts of food from their desk drawers;

• Award-winning actors who endorse canned tuna, corned beef, powdered milk or medicine on TV;

• Popular actresses who endorse hideous handbags they would never use in real life;

• Housewives who sell detergent and dishwashing liquid from their homes;

• Homes that sell all sorts of wonderful homemade desserts and goodies;

• Chefs and designers who teach part time in schools to supplement their income;

• Socialites who don’t seem to need extra money earn extra money by becoming product endorsers.

• Fashion designers who study abroad and end up accepting designing jobs from local labels they would never be caught dead wearing;

All for the love (or need) of money.

The Great Racket

Rackets are especially sweet when one is paid in dollars.

When my husband and I watched The Great Raid, we wondered how much Cesar Montano got for his role.

Yes, we saw it. I had read so much about how Cesar trained in a military camp to prepare for his role, along with co-stars Benjamin Bratt (Traffic), Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare In Love) and James Franco (Spiderman).

I’d read how Benjamin and Cesar would play tennis together while their wives, Sunshine Cruz and Talisa Soto, bonded. Ngek.

Although he doesn’t come out till later into the story, you could say that Cesar Montano had a big supporting role.

Cesar’s acting was OK, because the directing was OK, unlike in Tagalog movies where everybody is a ham, screaming (or eating) all the time.

I recognized other Pinoys like Alvin Anson of Eezy Dancing, Paolo Montalban who played an American soldier, Ryan Eigenmann, Rex Cortez and Joel Trinidad. I failed to spot Bembol Roco.

I wanted to kill that Natalie Jackson Mendoza, a Fil-Am actress who had a put-on Kapampangan accent, trading her Fs into Ps. I was so relieved when she died.

The movie was just OK, a bit boring in many parts. Even my husband who loves war movies said, had he seen it on DVD, he would have forwarded it down to 45 minutes.

But you can say what you want or endorse a can of corned tuna. The bottom line is, Cesar did a Hollywood movie with famous people, got paid in dollars, and will get some more of that because he got a three-picture deal with Miramax.