Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Fake Filipino DVDs in Phoenix too, not just Philippines

Back home in Las Vegas. My temporary home for now, as I will be moving back to the Philippines in about two weeks. Home is where the heart is, and my heart is with the Philippines, for now. My weekend in Phoenix was a refreshing time for me. I got to visit one of my best friends whom I've known for a little over ten years since my days in Hawaii. It's always great to keep in touch with friends, no matter the distance.

Yesterday, in Phoenix, my friend and I decided to do some culture tripping, Filipino culture there is. We started driving around Saturday night in Glendale looking for a Filipino store so that we could rent a few Filipino movies. Since we were both new to the area, we couldn't find any. It was mostly Mexican supermarkets. So we called information, and we get a Filipino on the other line, working for a call center. She helped us find the location of Philippine Island Store and Manila Oriental Market. The next day, we drove around looking for these stores, but they did not have any movies. Wow, this was becoming an adventure, just to find a Filipino movie; we almost gave up.

We asked one more Filipino restaurant and they recommended another store; we finally found that place, and fortunately they had some DVDs. Lucky us. We rented three movies: Lagot ka sa Kuya ko, Pinoy Blonde, and some movie with Bea Alonzo, John Lloyd Cruz, and Sam Milby; I forgot the title; funny, I remember the stars in it. Thanks to the time I spent in the Manila last year.

To make a long story short, with got 100 percent bonafide Pinoy product. Only Filipinos. Yep, we got pirated DVDs with poor quality. The DVDs played only the first 10 minutes, and when we tried them on my laptop, they played only half way through. OK, OK, it's not just a Filipino thing, but this incident reminds me so much of those DVDs they sell in the Philippines for 100 pesos. The pirated ones. We paid $3.50 for each, so I figured they would at least be quality, the real ones. But no, they were skipping and scratched.

Is this a sign? A reminder that I truly need to go back to the Philippines? I don't think so, but this Filipino thing, whatever it is, just follows me where I go.

Instead, we went to the theater and catch Jet Li's epic movie, Fearless. Great film. In this movie, he learns, succeeds, and falls. But just like the Phoenix, he rises again to claim his destiny. Oh yeah, and the fighting scenes are awesome. One day, I will have those skills. Maybe in a million years.

So renting DVDs for almost 200 pesos each doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna get the real deal. In fact, those 100 peso DVDs with 5 movies in them in the Philippines are actually better. Oh well, things happen for a reason, right?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, for $3.50 rental you should expect to get a quality DVD.

The Pinoy Blonde movie sounds intriguing, from the title. I'm curious as to what it's about.

Anonymous said...

i haven't seen pinoy blonde but from what i know of it, it's a comeback movie by the tandem of peque gallaga and lore reyes... at $3.5, they're very expensive, right now, anybody can have as many as 9 movies in one dvd at 100 pesos... and still expect a very good copy...

Anonymous said...

$3.50 to rent a movie?! I only pay 2 bucks at Tommy's and they are the real deal. I watched that movie with bea and sam milby in it. Forgot what it was about,but the title was close to you:)

Anonymous said...

I havent seen Pinoy movies and it seems like eternity now. It is hard to find them even on the net

Anonymous said...

.... they are already in the US and all they need gto do is make the copies a bit better... ow well.. he he if it is from the philippines it must be a copy.... a bad copy for that matter.... just kidding my fellow pinoys!!!

Anonymous said...

really? hmmm i should check it

garytarugo said...

wow, i never thought that finding a Filipino movie in the States would be difficult considering the number of Filipinos already there.

Blog Intro said...

This blog has been Introduced. Rate and review it on BlogIntro.com!