Chapter 173 - The Academy Announces

January 14, 2013 – Monday, 4 am – Okuba, Nabla Province

"Are you really leaving at this hour?" Kilat asks Tayaw as the family step out of the house to the front yard.

"Yeah. I've already held up the filming for a week now. The actors are waiting at the film studio." Tayaw says.

"He's right. He's been here for more than a week now. You know Tayaw, it's rare for him to stay here this long." Liboo scoffs, defending Tayaw and also busting his balls at the same time.

"Don't be like that, Dad. After I'm done with the two films left, I'll need to rest." Tayaw said.

"Ooh… Honey, you know Tayaw can't sit on his ass for long." Liboo teases Tayaw again.

"Whatever dad. I'm going now." Tayaw shakes his head as he is indeed thinking of not taking a break for long. 

Tayaw spent his Christmas and New Years days in New York, standing by in Gonzalo's villa in East Hampton during Gonzalo's wake and funeral. As he does not want any other film professional to touch his film, Tayaw himself manned the screening of the film for Sylvio's friends and their children.

The wake and the funeral were not as somber as Tayaw thought. It was rather celebratory and there was even a stage set-up in the lawn for people to recall their first-hand stories about Gonzalo to whoever wants to listen. The number of people who shared their anecdotes alone gave no opportunity for the Gonzalo's wake to become boring and sad. The only quieter part of the villa is its huge study where Sylvio allocated for the non-stop screening of Tayaw's film.

Tayaw having not spent Christmas and New Year with his family, had to compensate for it by staying in Okuba, spending fun time with his parents and brothers. 

"Heh. You know I'm just playing around. You're a grown up now so, you do you. I'm rather thankful that you're still spending time with us despite your busy schedule." Liboo says, finally bidding Tayaw goodbye.

"I just can't believe that you're already your own man. I thought we had a few more years to baby you." Kilat says.

"Uh.. mom. You say that to me every year." Tayaw shakes his head.

"HEY! Are we leaving or not?!" Payew suddenly calls out to Tayaw, sticking his head out from the window of his shiny green Jeep. Payew also spent a long weekend in Okuba. 

"You're going! You're going!" Kilat yells at Payew.

"Sorry!" Payew retreats his head inside his vehicle immediately.

"I'll call." Tayaw says and with that, he hops to his pick-up truck.

Payew and Tayaw start their engines and Tayaw leads the drive. Payew being a less experienced driver compared to Tayaw, it is safer for him to tail Tayaw in a dark early morning drive.   

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

8 AM – West Ouigab 

*Ding* *Dong* *Deng*

"Hey! Welcome! Welcome!" Chala welcomes Jouny, Ongki, Uranto, Iliene, and Nielg to his home.

"Shit. Nice place, man." Nielg says, looking around immediately in Chala's living room from the doorway.

"It's wide. Like you own half the floor." Uranto says.

"I know right? Thankfully, Chala offered his home. Our home is messy so we can't hang around there." Jouny says. 

"Anyways. Drinks on the fridge in the kitchen. Take-out food on the dining table." Chala shortly introduces his place and the food he is serving.

"Euh, I can't eat anything right now. I need a beer." Iliene says as she walks to Chala's kitchen immediately.

"Grab me one." Uranto says.

"I'll help. We need 10! 10 cans!" Nielg follows Iliene for assistance. 

"Beer at this hour. Good lord. Anyways. Take a seat everyone." Chala leads the three others to the couch which is facing his huge 55-inch LED TV.

"Did we miss it?" Ongki says looking at the on-going broadcast of 'Jenny Goldman Show'.

"Nah. This show reserved a segment for the live announcement." Chala says.

"Cool. Where's Tayaw by the way?" Jouny asks, expecting Tayaw to be around.

"Ah… he's busy. He said he's preparing because the filming's resuming tomorrow." Chala says.

"Ah. That's right." Jouny says. 

"What are you guys talking about?" Nielg and Iliene joins them, each carrying a tray with cans of beer.

"Nothing. I just thought Tayaw would be here too." Jouny says.

"Ah. I get the reason why he didn't see the announcement of Golden Globes. But this is Academy Awards man, I thought he'd at least be excited..... Heh. Nice TV man. It's almost as tall as Iliene." Nielg says.

"Hehe." Chala only chuckles at Nielg's comment.

Chala invited Tayaw two days ago to see the announcement of the Academy Award nominees together with the group, but what he got instead is ranting.

"Speaking of Tayaw. Jouny, how's that learning from Tayaw going?" Iliene asks.

"Going great. But I can't keep up at all. Y'all know how he works." Jouny says.

"Eugh. I remember, alright." Uranto chuckles.

"Yeah. Compared to my show, Tayaw's process was like military training." Nielg says.

"True that." Iliene says and opens a can of beer.

"I actually expected to miss out a lot but he's actually teaching me a lot." Jouny says, remembering being moved by Tayaw's gesture.

"Oh. Tayaw also drew a thick f*ckin comic book for Jouny. He made a comic book for September Ninth." Ongki adds.

This makes the three actors look at Ongki and Jouny.

"Wait. That thing he references back then?" Uranto says.

"Yeah. Only, he refined it. Wrote a LOT of footnotes and side notes on each image. I can't even imagine the effort." Jouny shakes her head.

"Wow…" Nielg shakes his head too.

"Damn. He really made you an apprentice huh?" Iliene chuckles.

"Yeah. It's rather… burdensome." Jouny says. 

"By the way. Jouny's busy learning, Nielg and Iliene's shows are doing well. I'm sorry to ask you this man, but you haven't appeared in anything, Uranto." Chala asks.

Uranto can only open a can of beer as a response.

"He's too picky." Nielg answers for him, which receives a raised brow from everyone except Uranto.

"That's true. But come on. I mean, the offers I got. I can't. The shows and movies just want me to be Steven, again. Only with different names." Uranto shrugs.

"Come on man. I'm a best friend again in my show. Iliene here is a leading lady in her upcoming movie, which is cool, but the same role. You'll be Steven again, but at least you're still a leading man, right?" Nielg asks.

"Hmm. True. Maybe I'll finally take the best script I received… After I'm done with a cameo appearance, that is." Uranto says, casually revealing an interesting information for the people present. 

"What cameo?" Nielg asks, surprised as he is the one closest to Uranto, yet he had no idea. Chala, Ongki, and Iliene are also curious. 

"Tayaw's film. Hehe." Uranto smiles smugly.

"Daaamn…" Iliene is dumbfounded.

"So that's why you weren't in Clambu. You were here all along." Nielg nods in realization.

"Hehe." Jouny also chuckles.

"Wait, you knew about this?" Nielg asks Jouny.

"Yeah. I've seen the script. He's gonna be on screen for only 5 minutes or so, but he is rather charismatic in those 5 minutes." Jouny says.

"Yeah. It's quite tough though. The lines are in English." Uranto says. 

"Fellas. Here it is." Chala interrupts the chat, pointing at the TV.

The daytime talk show broadcast had changed into what looks like a broadcast of a press conference.

"Turn it up." Jouny says, and Chala raises the volume.

"Will we be nominated?" Iliene waits in anticipation.

"You three except me got nominated in the Golden Globes. Worst case is just one of you will be nominated for an Academy." Nielg says, half-assuring Iliene. 

[[[*Music* "Hello everybody. Good morning, and welcome to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I'm Thomas Slater president of the Academy. This morning we will share the news we've all been waiting for! I'm very happy to be joined by one of last year's best actress nominees, Ms. Charice Lander." Thomas begins introduces.

"Thank you, Tom. Let's get right to it. The 2012 nominees for Best Performance by an actress in a supporting role are Jessica Nobbs in 'Groom of The Year'. Merriam Brown in 'The Blue Rose'…" Charice starts enumerating immediately.]]]

"This is your part, Iliene." Jouny says. "Okay." Iliene nods, focusing even more closely on the TV.

[[["… Jessica Harver in 'Dear Dearest'. Melissa Tomlinson in 'Without Fear'. Iliene Partros in 'September Ninth'…]]]

"That's you!" Nielg exclaims.

"That's me!!!" Iliene almost jumps out of the couch.

"Yes!" Jouny starts clapping, which is followed by the rest for Iliene. They do not care about who else is nominated for the same award. 

[[["Congratulations to the nominees of Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Moving on, for the Best Performance by an actor in a Supporting Role. The nominees are…" Charice continues.]]]

Meanwhile, Nielg focuses immediately hoping to get a nomination on a more prestigious award than the Golden Globes. 

[[["… Kenneth Brandon in 'My Week With Mary'. John Withers in 'Stitches'. Nick McCarthy in 'Hard Ice'. Christoph Meyer in 'Fallen Memory'. And finally, Matt Von Shaft in 'Stitches'. Congratulations to the nominees of Best Actor in a Supporting Role." Charice concludes the part.]]]

"Ahhh… A shame." Nielg sighs.

He does not have that much hope anyway, so he is not that disappointed.

"It's alright. They don't recognize your skills yet." Chala says.

"True. And Nielg has the shortest screen time in the film anyways, among the main actors." Jouny says. The two's comments consoles Nielg. 

[[["Congratulations to the nominees of the Best Actress in a Leading Role. Here are the nominees for the Best Performance by an actor in a leading role... Damian Buchanan in 'Hard Ice'. George Corver in 'Fallen Memory'. Ellis Duncan in 'Mermaids and Sirens'. Jackson Rice in 'My Week with Mary'. Finally, Uranto Virenza in 'September Ninth'… Congratulations."]]]

"Yesss!" Uranto pumps his fist to the air.

"F*ck yeah! But that's expected." Nielg nods.

"Congrats man." Ongki says.

"Ooh. An international celebrity…" Chala teases.

"Thanks guys." Uranto holds the side of his neck out of embarrassment. 

[[["Next up is the Best Achievement in Directing. Here are the nominees. Asher Green, 'Hard Ice'. Cory McFadden 'Fallen Memory'… Isaac Yawat 'September Ninth'."]]]

"Meh. No way he's not winning." Chala shrugs.

"Hehe." The rest chuckles at the comment; they agree as well. 

[[[Congratulations. For Best Original Screenplay, the nominees are:…]]]

Ongki holds Jouny hand.

[[["Polly Marsh, 'Mermaids and Sirens'. Asher Green, 'Hard Ice'. Harleen Novak 'Fallen Memory'. Joel Lu 'MVP For Hire'. Jouny Yalen 'September Ninth'.]]]

"Phew…" Jouny smiles, sighing in relief giving Ongki a hug.

"Congrats." Jouny receives hugs from the rest of the folks. 

"Congrats to you too guys. The world is finally recognizing your acting. A shame. Had the industry know how to appreciate it last May, you guys would have been nominated in Sorrento as well." Jouny says.

"Thanks. There's still next time though. Maybe when you direct your first film, you cast us. Then we'll really show them." Nielg says, his sentiment shared by both Uranto and Iliene. 

[[["Those were the nominees for the best animated feature, congratulations." Charice concludes her part.

"Finally, I'm pleased to announce that the films selected as Best Picture nominees for 2011 are: …" Thomas takes over.]]]

"Here we go guys." Chala says, increasing the anticipation.

[[["'Hard Ice', artist: Asher Green, producer: Samuel Black. 'Fallen Memory', artist: Cory McFadden, producer: Vagner Studios. 'Stitches', artist: Steff Rogers, producer: Tisney. 'My Week with Mary', artist: Zac Jenkins, producer: Spire Pictures. Finally, 'September Ninth', artist: Isaac Yawat, producer: Isaac Yawat. Congratulations to the nominees for Best Picture… Congratulations again to all the nominees of this year's Academy. Please join us on February 3 on ABC when we celebrate the magic of movies. Thank you." Thomas concludes the announcement.]]]

"That's to be expected. We won Sorrento." Jouny shrugs.

"Yeah. So. Who's gonna tell Tayaw the news?" Uranto asks.

"I will." Chala volunteers.