About a Pinoy (Part 1)

Throughout this year, I'm posting older material--like non-Blogspot posts, unpublished writing I've kept buried in my computer and transcripts of interviews from A Fistful of Soundtracks' terrestrial radio years.

Below is Part 1 of a bio I wrote about myself back in June for my user profile at a Wetpaint.com wiki community that the Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology editors launched as a place for the book's contributors to see each other's scripts and character sketches.

On the profile page, the user had to finish sentences like "I joined this wiki because..." and "My superpower is..." The ability to assume many different accents is indeed a superpower (it trumps the lamest powers on Heroes, like the ability to melt toasters). A convincing British accent can get you some tail.

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Hello, my name is Jimmy Aquino.

MORE ABOUT ME...

I joined this wiki because: I got kicked out of the Hannah Montana wiki for scalping tickets.

The best word to describe me is: lazian

Interests: scriptwriting

Favorite movies: GoodFellas, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Election (1999), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The President's Last Bang, Dog Day Afternoon, Do the Right Thing, Three Kings, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek II, Midnight Run, Cheung fo (The Mission), Anatomy of a Murder, Chan Is Missing, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, The Incredibles, Blazing Saddles, Raising Arizona, Repo Man

Favorite TV shows: The Wire, The Larry Sanders Show, 30 Rock, The Venture Bros., The Soup, Flight of the Conchords, Human Giant, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Keen Eddie, Freaks and Geeks, The Shield, Veronica Mars, Lost, Battlestar Galactica

My hero(es): anyone who supports Asian American comics

My superpower is: the ability to assume many different accents. I can sound like a British actor doing a lousy American accent. They're all over prime-time now. They think they can nail our American accents like Damian Lewis and Hugh Laurie can, but the truth is they're bloody awful. Actually it's not hard to imitate these outsourced actors. Instead of "been," say "bean" and instead of "Los Angeles," say "Los Ange-leez."

If I could live anywhere, it would be: New York City. This reluctant Californian is sick and tired of Cali and wants to move to NYC, where grabbing some Slyders or an egg cream isn't so difficult.

My dream job(s): Writing graphic novels. The creator-owned material of writers like Brian K. Vaughan, Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka and Gene Yang brought me back to reading comics after I lost interest in them a few years before. Those guys are incredible writers. Then I told myself, "I wanna do what they're doing. I don't care how little it pays."

What else you should know about me:

-I started out in journalism.

-I chose "SamplerCreator" as my account name because on other sites, every time I try to use my own name as my account name, it's already taken. "Jim Aquino" is the Filipino equivalent of "John Smith."

-I like chicks who hate Sex and the City as much as I do.

-My favorite Chinese food is pizza.

-I ghost-wrote most of the rhymes on Nick Cannon's rap album.

-I orchestrated the merger between UNICEF and Smith & Wesson.

-I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.

-Other true or fake facts about me can be found at jim.aquino.com or afistfulofsoundtracks.blogspot.com.

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To be continued in Part 2.

Name that tune: Richard Harris' 100 film and TV theme tunes challenge

British composer and piano teacher Richard Harris will give a prize to the first person who can name all 100 film and TV themes that he plays in less than 10 minutes during a video he posted on YouTube. It looks like no one has been able to identify them all so far.



I was only able to identify 74 73 75 82 83 of the 100 themes. It's that difficult. Three of the tunes I couldn't identify are most likely from chick flicks that not even Jack Bauer could force me to watch if he shot me in the leg.

MARCH 10, 2009 UPDATE: Richard e-mailed me to say I'm at second place with 73 75 right. He wrote, "You're a genius!"

MARCH 11, 2009 UPDATE: I listened to Richard's medley several more times and correctly guessed a few more themes, so as of this writing, I'm now in the lead with 82 right. Richard wrote, "I'm very impressed that you got a couple of favourites that I deliberately threw in to make it a tiny bit harder - [COMPOSER'S NAME DELETED]'s superb score for [MOVIE TITLE DELETED], for instance... no-one else has come close to getting that!"

MARCH 14, 2009 UPDATE: Now 83. Still in the lead.

[Via Pop Candy]

Composer name pronunciation key

"Joy, we're back in Brooklyn, alright? Alright? In Brooklyn, it's Joy, not Joie, okay? It's not Jackée, alright? It's Jackie. It's not Sade, alright? It's Say-dee, alright? Whatchu gonna call me next? Whatchu gonna call me? Spi-kay?"

--Spike Lee (Tommy Davidson), reminding his sister Joie (T'Keyah Crystal Keymah) to stick to Brooklynese pronunciations of names, In Living Color

The most challenging part of playing film and TV score music on Internet radio is having to pronounce the composers' often baffling-looking names. Over the years, I've Googled the correct ways to read their names and compiled them to create a pronunciation key for myself. Here's an excerpt from it:

Bruno Coulais (Coraline composer): [coo-lay]
Christopher Tyng (Futurama and Rescue Me composer): [ting]
Craig Safan (Cheers and The Last Starfighter composer): [saw-fawn or sawf-on]
Elmer Bernstein: [burn-steen]
Ennio Morricone: [en-yo more-a-cone-ay]
Gustavo Santaolalla: [santa-o-larya]
Jan Hammer: [yahn hah-mer](*)
Leonard Bernstein: [burn–stine]
Maurice Jarre: [jar]
Michael Giacchino: [jah-kee-no]
Mikis Theodorakis (Zorba the Greek and Serpico composer): [thay-uh-doe-rahk-is](**)
Miklos Rozsa: [mee-kloash ro-zha ("zh" as in "leisure")](***)
Ramin Djawadi (Iron Man composer): [rah-meen juh-vaw-dee]
Randy Edelman: [eddle-man]
Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run and The International director): [tick-ver]
Trevor Rabin: [rah-bean]
Wojciech Kilar: [voy-check kee-lar]
Zbigniew Preisner (Three Colors trilogy composer): [zbig-new prize-ner]

And now, here are some actors, singers, filmmakers or music supervisors whose equally challenging name pronunciations I've had to research or double-check before saying them on AFOS:

Alexandra Patsavas: [pot-saw-vuss](****)
Amitabh Bachchan: (uh-mi-taabh buh-chun)
Bobby Cannavale: [canna-vah-lay]
Chris Douridas: [door-ree-duss](*****)
Djimon Hounsou: [jie-mon hahn-soo]
Franka Potente: [frahn-kuh poh-ten-tay]
Krzysztof Kieslowski: [kzhish-tof kee-es-lof-ski]
Nina Persson (Cardigans frontwoman): [peer-son]
Seu Jorge: [say-oo zhor-zee]
Sidney Poitier: [pwah-tee-yay]
Zhang Yimou: [jahng ee-mow (rhymes with "cow")]

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(*) Source: New England Jazz Radio Cooperative

(**) Source: "Once Banned, Now a Hero of Greek Music" by Ralph Blumenthal, New York Times, October 23, 2000

(***) Source: SoundtrackNet

(****) Source: "Music of 'The O.C.'" by Cheryl Corley, All Things Considered, April 24, 2004

(*****) Source: "The Man Behind the Music of the Movies" by Michele Norris, All Things Considered, May 27, 2003

Movie questionnaire

(Source: PopeyePete from The Deuce)


1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times.
Star Trek II.

2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in the theater.
Batman (1989).

3. Name an actor/actress that would make you more inclined to see a movie.
Marisa Tomei, naked edition.

4. Name an actor/actress that would make you less likely to see a movie.
Actor: Steven Seagal. Actress: Zac Efron.

5. Name a movie that you can quote from.
Midnight Run. Hey Tony, Tony. Hopalong Cassidiche. Got your camera? Take a picture.

6. Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs.
None.

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with.
Johnnie To's The Mission. That theme music is infectious!



8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see.
If you're not averse to subtitles, I recommend The President's Last Bang, a hilarious 2005 South Korean comedy about the 1979 assassination of Korean dictator Park Chung-hee. If you are averse to subtitles, I recommend the original Taking of Pelham One Two Three, one of the most underrated action flicks ever. It was Die Hard before there was even a Die Hard.

9. Name a movie that you own.
Chan Is Missing.

10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops.
Donnie Wahlberg in The Sixth Sense and the Boomtown TV series.

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what?
The Goonies.

12. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't yet gotten around to it.
Slumdog Millionaire.

13. Ever walked out of a movie?
No.

14. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater.
None, although Malcolm X nearly made me tear up.

15. Popcorn?
Yes, it is.

16. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)?
I never go out to the theater anymore, unless it's an event movie like The Dark Knight.

17. What's the last movie you saw in the theater?
The Dark Knight: The IMAX Experience.

18. What's your favorite/preferred genre of movie?
Comedy.

19. What's the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
Star Trek II.

20. What movie do you wish you had never seen?
Dancer in the Dark.

21. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

22. What is the scariest movie you've seen?
Audition.

23. What is the funniest movie you've seen?
When I was a kid: Airplane! As an adult: Revenge of the Sith.

AFOS: "The Inmates Are Taking Over the Asylum" playlist

Airing this week on the Fistful of Soundtracks channel is the 2008 Fistful of Soundtracks: The Series episode "The Inmates Are Taking Over the Asylum" (WEB96), in which I compiled my favorite selections from scores to films that were distributed by United Artists, which turns 90 years old this May.


1. Elmer Bernstein, "The Street (Main Title)" (from Sweet Smell of Success), Crime Jazz: Music in the First Degree, Rhino
2. Adolph Deutsch, "Main Title - Theme from The Apartment," The Apartment, United Artists
3. Elmer Bernstein, "Main Title and Calvera," The Magnificent Seven, Rykodisc
4. Elmer Bernstein, "Main Title," The Great Escape: The Deluxe Edition, Varèse Sarabande
5. The London Studio Symphony Orchestra, "Theme from The Fugitive," The Fugitive, Silva Screen
6. John Barry, "Opening Titles," From Russia with Love, EMI
7. Henry Mancini, "The Pink Panther Theme," The Pink Panther, RCA
8. Ennio Morricone, "L'Estasi Dell'Oro," Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo, GDM
9. Quincy Jones, "Shag Bag, Hounds & Harvey" (from In the Heat of the Night), In the Heat of the Night/They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!, Rykodisc
10. Henry Mancini featuring the Party Poops, "The Party (vocal)," The Party, RCA
11. John Barry, "Midnight Cowboy," Midnight Cowboy, EMI-Manhattan
12. Al Kooper, "Love Theme," The Landlord, United Artists
13. Bobby Womack & Peace, "Across 110th Street," Across 110th Street, Rykodisc
14. Jack Sheldon, "The Long Goodbye," Fitzwilly/The Long Goodbye, Varèse Sarabande
15. David Shire, "End Title," The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Retrograde
16. Bill Conti, "The Final Bell," Rocky, EMI-Manhattan
17. The Gap Band, "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka," I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Arista
18. Mellow, "Seek You," CQ, Emperor Norton

Repeats of A Fistful of Soundtracks: The Series air Monday night at midnight, Tuesday and Thursday at 4am, 10am, 3pm, 7pm and 11pm, Wednesday night at midnight, and Saturday and Sunday at 7am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm.

Daft Punk to score Tron 2.0 and give that creepy Tron Guy something to pop-lock to

Daft Punk (a.k.a. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo) is switching from robot helmets to Tron helmets. Disney has enlisted the electronica duo to compose the score for the sequel to the other Jeff Bridges movie that flopped during its initial release but turned into a cult phenomenon. I'm not a fan of the original film, but Daft Punk is perfect for this franchise. The score is going to be kickass.

[Via Upcoming Film Scores]

WonderCon 2009 wrap-up

Out of all the comic book cons I've been to, I prefer San Francisco's WonderCon because it's more laid-back than the other cons and Moscone Center South isn't so packed. And yes, there are TV show and movie panels like the Chuck panel with cast members Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski (above), Adam Baldwin and Joshua Gomez and series co-creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, but there aren't so many TV and movie panels that they cause the programming schedule to be overcrowded, so that gives me more time to talk shop with people and check out their comics. Plus, WonderCon is right across the street from Jollibee and Red Ribbon. Automatic win.

At WonderCon, I ran into an ex-co-worker, an on-and-off Fistful of Soundtracks listener (more on him in the graf after the next one) and Film Score Monthly soundtrack label founder/honcho Lukas Kendall, whom I never met face-to-face before. Lukas used to record a few phoners with me in the earlier years of the college radio version of A Fistful of Soundtracks.

Also, I got to meet some bloggers whose blogs I regularly read, I talked shop with IDW letterer Chris Mowry, I took some career advice from Keith Knight and Stephen Notley (he raised a good point about why Topher Grace would have been a better Spider-Man than Tobey Maguire, whom Stephen finds to be too humorless to play a wisecracking New Yorker like Spidey), and Chris, Keith, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Darick Robertson, Erik Larsen, Keith R.A. DeCandido and Michael Aushenker signed comics or promo materials for me.


The AFOS listener I met was graphic designer Joe Sikoryak, who's responsible for the look of Film Score Monthly and its spiffy CD packaging and booklets. FSM's Superman: The Music box set (above) is one of Joe's coolest achievements. I went to see Joe at a panel he was moderating (it was for Super Capers, an indie superhero flick in which Adam West pokes fun at his Batman persona) because before the panel started, I needed him to answer a question that had been nagging me ever since I ran into him on the previous day: Was Joe the cartoonist behind The Daily Show's brilliant "Decider" segments, which reimagined Bush as a caped superhero? (Joe told me his brother R. Sikoryak was the one who produced "The Decider.") It was surreal to be talking to Joe for several minutes while both Adam West--a.k.a. '60s Batman, a.k.a. Lookwell(*), a.k.a. the Gray Ghost--and Sam Lloyd, one of my favorite supporting players on Scrubs, are sitting a few inches from you.

(*) Lookwell, a great unsold 1991 sitcom pilot written by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel, features my all-time favorite West performance. West's title character is a pretentious, washed-up star of a '70s detective show who attempts to become an actual P.I.


Here I am at WonderCon's G4 booth with Attack of the Show's Blair Butler, who reviews comics and graphic novels during AOTS' Fresh Ink segment. She's guested in the past on Joe Gonzalez and Jimmy Aquino's Comic News Insider podcast (where I recently plugged Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology), so I told her both my first and last names to see what her reaction would be. Blair was initially confused because I look nothing like the CNI co-host. I explained to her that I'm Jimmy Aquino the scriptwriter and there are now two Jimmy Aquinos in the comics world.

Blair lit up when I asked her to autograph her own rave review of All-Star Superman in an issue of Geek Monthly magazine. I'm not really a fan of the Superman character or the superhero genre, but like Blair, I've enjoyed Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's clever Supes revamp, which ran from 2005 to 2008 and was the recent focus of an A.V. Club "Gateways to Geekery" post. As Blair wrote in her review, All-Star Supes is "a master class on how to mesh great plotting and great pencils."

Then I said to Blair, "The Eskimo kiss you did with Olivia [Munn] made my week."



Blair said that when Olivia goes off-script or takes shtick like the Eskimo kiss or an impromptu shaving of part of Kevin Pereira's hair into unexpected directions, you can't stop her from whatever she's doing and you have no choice but to roll with it. The Eskimo kiss went way longer than Blair expected, which of course, resulted in great live TV.

Also, Blair and I wondered what is the deal with Olivia's irrational fear of balloon popping noises ("Maybe they sound like gunshots to some people").


Nice. Miramax had a booth for Adventureland, an upcoming comedy about amusement park workers from Superbad director Greg Mottola.

I wasn't at the Adventureland booth when Freaks and Geeks alum Martin Starr, who has a role in the film, showed up to sign Adventureland posters and tees. I would have liked to have seen how Starr interacts with fans of his old show. The former Bill Haverchuck needs to do more TV or movies. He was terrific on Freaks and Geeks.


Next time, instead of the Star Wars droids, I'd like to see the Daleks roam around the Moscone hallways, so that I'd have some fun watching the giant salt-shakers with toilet plungers harass any of the British WonderCon visitors who used to hide behind the couch during a Daleks episode of Doctor Who. (I mean, c'mon, England. Giant salt-shakers made you shit your trousers when you were kids? Really?)


Here's an Asian American Catwoman. I always get a kick out of seeing Asian American cosplayers suit up as non-Asian DC or Marvel characters.

Unfortunately, the rest of the photos I took--like a snapshot of a female Robin (the Boy Wonder, not the Witch Hunter) cosplayer--are even blurrier than the ones I've posted. There are a bunch of pretty dope Flickr photo galleries that feature WonderCon snapshots that are better than the ones I snapped.

Here's a word of advice to anyone who attends WonderCon and is actually reading this: Skip the expensive, underwhelming convention food (you're going to have to in this recession) and eat outside. Take your money to Jollibee or any one of the local cheap eateries (or better yet, non-fast food joints). Chickenjoy trumps overpriced Costco-quality pizza any day of the week.