Blog shot

Brian Gorrell’s latest picture in his scorching-hot blog that continues to gain more attention for his sincere blogging. In his late 30s, he still looks radiant and optimistic!

Google.com used to rave a few months ago that Brian’s blog reached more than 2 million readers in less than a month and it continues to expand every day.

Amid life’s tragedies, Brian’s instant popularity gained the attention of almost every blogger around the world reaching more than 10 million visitors recently since it opened last March.

The secret of his sensation is being honest, his love for the Philippines, Boracay and aspiration to change the corrupt culture of Pinoys in the eyes of a stranger.

Kuris friendship

The best way to celebrate our 100^th post is to bring back Niňo, The BEQUEST’s main character symbolizing a boy full of dreams and passion about life.

Kuris dreamers

A feature story about Kuris in the pages of The Courier, WVCST College of Arts and Sciences student publication.

Phenomenon

Confession # 1: 100 stories

This blog reached its 100^th post with this article. I mean, we have been hanging around the cyberspace for almost half a year spilling our precious dreams and passion for animation. Some people and friends reading this little blog knew a lot about our triumphs, our individual stories, our humble flight and our friendship forged by fate itself. We have reached the 100^th imprints of our soul, our secret thoughts and misadventures all package in one blog. For us, reaching at this point is really phenomenal because our friendship remained intact, solid and burning with passion.

Since the first day we posted our first article way back in December last year, we are in the middle of a whirlwind experience to bring our dream and making a statement for animation into reality through the making of The BEQUEST, probably the first of its kind animated short film in Iloilo City. People were hesitant to accept the fact that in this far away city, miles away from the capital Manila, amateur animators trained for a 3-month 2D animation course by Western Visayas College of Science and Technology and funded by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority could make a historical first animated “short” film (we would like to emphasize that we only made a “short” film and not a full-length feature for about 15 minutes). If expectations at first were low about this project then we somehow proved some critics wrong by creating a partly “refine” animation by combining 2D and 3D animation.

Think about a bunch of imaginative kids having fun with each other’s crazy ideas and made a simple animated clip (we were much like that). We expected nothing much out of this endeavor but to express our inner artistic desire, passion and dream that we Ilonggo artists in Iloilo City could make an animated endeavor that we could call our own. It is the very reason that we decided to turn the script into full Ilonggo or Hiligaynon language to preserve its cultural essence. We may be underestimating our capacity by calling it “partly refined” animated project but the truth about it is the fact that we lack financial capability of making it into a full-length animated feature film that would surely cost more than millions of pesos.

Amid the risk and sacrifice, we challenged ourselves to finish it within 60 days with not more than 15 animators and using low-grade facilities (computers, lightboxes, papers, etc.). The challenge was to showcase our project on the 25^th of January at SM Cinema 7 of SM City Iloilo few days before the Dinagyang Festival highlight. There were times that we were about to give up but fate has its own way to keep us steady in our aspiration. Generous sponsors who believed in our cause especially our training school provided us the assistance halfway before we finish the project. The rest is history now; we survived the challenge and made it out of the storm.

But the journey of Nino, the little boy who was told about the historical origin of Dinagyang by the parish priest of San Jose Church in the story has just begun. A few months from now, we will send The BEQUEST as an entry for a huge animation festival in Manila. Again, we’re not expecting so much and winning is far beyond our priority. What really mattered for us is to showcase what we Kuris animators and Ilonggo artists can do to bring our crazy little dream a bit closer to reality. Sometimes, big things come from small packaging. Our story, our journey has just begun…

Confession # 2: “B” Phenomenon

Brian Shane Gorrell shares his phenomenal blog space by featuring The BEQUEST and our group in his sensational, well-read blog all over the world just the other day (August 20, 2008). You may have heard his rise to prominence as a “whistle-blower”, straight-forward, live-to-tell Australian blogger about Philippine society’s morally-rotten, druggists rich kids and elitists. He meant “big change” and “truth” with his flawless, sharp and daring revelations how this nation is doomed to the dogs. His early campaign of creating a blog last March was to retrieve his life savings from a notorious socialite-wannabe and tough scammer who manipulated his trust and feelings for a well-scripted promises made of smokes and mirrors in the name of DJ Montano. In just two weeks, his blog became an instant sensation and later a phenomenon by hitting millions of visitors. Who can resist raw, controversial revelations and expose most national media wouldn’t even dare to spill?... he did it out of his quest for vindication and justice. Time goes by but his campaign to retrieve his hard-earned savings totaling more $70,000 is going nowhere and the guilty scammer won’t pay by running away and hide, his destiny slowly changed into a far more significant purpose. People who curiously read his blog as a daily habit made Brian their instant online “Imbestigador” ala Mike Enriquez who digs dirt of the filthy rich and corrupt entities in the Philippines. Though he may not be a born-writer but his desire to uplift the less fortunate and the oppressed Filipinos through his blogging won the heart of his blog readers. He earned their trust in the crowded realm of cyberspace. He writes truthfully with the blood of his heart. His writings reflect his human vulnerabilities and poetic mumblings that define his hidden strength. He loves the Philippines more than any other average care-free Pinoys who wasted their lives pulling down others into the pit of moral degradation, envy and corruption.

Some witty readers even compared his blogging as “Gossip-girl-meets-Dirt” American TV series that constantly shake the ground of the fraudsters, the abusers and the oppressors. He fought well with his campaign for equality and justice. He also survived countless death threats, libel attempts and nasty comments in his blog. His readership and visitors continues to expand phenomenally every minute. Whatever attention and sympathy that Brian gained since he opened his scourging-hot blog is something he deserves to have for his sincere blogging. We even heard that he’s going to release an international book about his life and horrible experience in the hands of the Gucci Gang, a group of rich brats who proliferate Manila and Boracay island where DJ Montano used to be a member. BBC previously interviewed him and a possible documentary might be made about his life-story in the near future. And starting all over again, penniless and leaving his forfeited property (a beautiful rainforest called Bethel garden in Australia to migrate in Canada) is something he considered the greatest loss in his life. But amid the tragedy, Brian Gorell stands stronger and wiser with his search for the true meaning of love, life and friendship. After all he has his two lovely dogs, Lucy and Pickles who always cheer him up to face another day of harsh reality.

Sensible and brilliant as ever, Brian also talks about the beautiful side of the Philippines by featuring in his blog the good samaritans, the victories and the achievements of many unrecognized Filipinos. Kuris Animators and our project, The BEQUEST was fortunate to be featured in his popular blog. His article provided a link to the trailer of The BEQUEST in youtube.com, a poster of Kuris and a sincere appeal to support Filipino artists. We believe now that he’s got an eye for arts and true talent.

Thank you B, you’re a maverick!

Sincerely,

Kuris Animators

P.S.--- If you want to check Wikipedia’s definition of Brian’s phenomenal rise and his red-hot blog, click the link below to find out what we are talking about...

Brian Gorrell’s blog link:

(http://delfindjmontano.blogspot.com/)

Brian Gorrell’s Wikipedia.com profile/Gucci Gang link:

(http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=gucci+gang&vc=&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fp_ip=ph)

Brian’s article about Kuris and The Bequest in his blog link:

(http://delfindjmontano.blogspot.com/2008_08_20_archive.hatamal)