Of Card Sharks, Betrayal and Feisty Women: Director Phil Giordano for VIVAMAX's "PUSOY"

I've had the pleasure of meeting Writer-Director Phil Giordano during the screening of Brillante Mendoza's masterpiece "Palitan" during the first week of December 2021. He's originally from Staten Island in New York, got his masters from NYU Tisch School of the Arts Asia. He's pretty accomplished and has received a Grand Jury Prize at the New York Screenplay Contest for his short entitled "Supot". 

 

He's no stranger to how we do films in the Philippines as I'm under the impression he's been working with Brillante Mendoza's production for a number of years. His handy work "Supot" that got around 10 accolades in Busan International Film Festival and several other award giving bodies - and have been shown in different countries as well. He's done several commercials and campaigns with well known brands like KFC, Porsche, Johnson & Johnson, Universal Music and others. Recently, they released a new movie which he made for the VIVAMAX platform called "PUSOY". This was something he already had written but made it extra spicy since it's likely to follow the theme of movies seen on the app. 

As the title suggests, this is about a group of card hustlers lead by Baron Geisler's character Rodolfo. Their lives got complicated when they got caught in one of their cheating sprees and murdered a son of a politician played by Greg Hawkins (of Kuya Escort fame). Rodolfo got in a rut and had to seek help of a General which then forced him to go even deeper into debt... and the dark world of wagers, dirty money, women and vices.  The film stars Janelle Tee who plays the role of Xandra. She's Rodolfo’s mistress with the same set of skills, providing the venue for love, trust and betrayal in different acts. Also in PUSOY are Vince Rillon, Angeli Khang, Felix Roco, Jela Cuenca, Julio Diaz, Raqel Monteza, Kiko Matos and Jacq Yu. This is pretty much an ensemble of new and experienced actors which we asked Director Phil Giordano about, let's listen in:

 

It's remarkable to see that we have the talented Director Phil Giordano making strides in the movie industry in the Philippines. I like his capacity to adapt, to make his films follow his style, which I deem stem from his hunger to create things and write at an early age. After seeing films done in the US, he knew he could do an even better job and got inspired with the great film makers. He's also planning to have a shorter version of this out for international film festivals, so this is just the start. Exciting times no?!

PUSOY by the way can be seen worldwide on VIVAMAX (this is produced by Brillante Mendoza), you can visit VIVAmax.net for more information about the movie and other titles in their library. Get in tourch with Phil on his social channels FB: https://www.facebook.com/PhilipJGiordano/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/philip_giordano.director if you want to see more of his work.

Watch the Pacquiao-Ugas FIght with GLOBE

The Philippines will be on an unofficial holiday once again as streets and communities will become supposed ghost towns as everyone will be glued on their TV sets and cellphones because Manny Pacquiao will have a fight with Yordenis Ugas this coming Sunday, August 22 at 11:30am Manila Time.

Pacquiao was initially scheduled to fight Errol Spence Jr. but during sparring training, he had an eye injury. They will be fighting for the WBA Super Welterweight title which Pacquiao previously held and was awarded to Ugas because of Pacquiao's inactivity. This will be held in Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena which is a Saturday night in the US. 

In the Philippines, you can watch it by availing Globe's GoExperience299 promo that comes with one UPSTREAM ticket. You can use this for the Pacquiao vs Ugas fight together with 3GB of data allocation which you can use for 3 days plus a Php 100 FoodPanda voucher. This is definitely better than the regular price because of the free stuff included in the package. If you want to wath the match with Globe, just follow these steps:

1. Just go to the website https://www.gmovies.ph/content/livestream/manny-pacquiao-vs-ugas/6101fe7d6dc258464972c322

2. Start by creating a GMovies account, but if you have one just log in.

3. Search for the Pacquiao vs Ugas match on the shows indicated on the platform and choose Php 400 (look for the red button).

4. Put in your voucher code then click APPLY then choose Checkout.

5. Then on Sunday as scheduled, just login and click on the My Shows section. Click on Pacquiao vs Ugas, then click on "Stream Now".

 

Remember, this promo will end tonight at 11:59PM. You can get a LOT from this offer, it's possible with GLOBE!

Electropop Artist LESHA Drops Album "SUN MOON RISING!" on August 6th

The universe is conspiring and she's out with a new album, she's Lesha and taking the Philippines and the world by storm. She's an electropop artist and producer who's worked hard for her dreams, and now, it's a reality!

This August 6, her album "SUN MOON RISING" will be out with the first track with the same title dropping on this date. This is a huge difference from the time when she was just experimenting with her music via apps and vocals which she uploaded on Soundcloud. Slowly, she started doing remixes of popular songs and did several covers on YouTube. This opened up a lot of opportunities later on which got her to meet international producers of whome are now good friends, and is involved with her album Sun Moon Rising!

Lesha says "I'm self taught in music production, I also shoot and edit my own music videos. Those scenes you see on my channel are mostly shot in my own home and I got help from my family. I took Marketing Management in college and learned social media management because I needed to learn the ropes. I didn't want to be taken advantage. I am just so proud of this album that got me to work with producers and artists from UK, US, South Korea, Spain, Bahrain and Italy. I worked on this really hard and I'm very proud of what we have accomplished!"

Lesha's album SUN MOON RISING is under Star Music and will be released this coming August 6 on Spotify and other streaming platforms. You can also check out Lesha's YouTube channel (search Lesha) and her website leshaofficial.com for more information about her music.