A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Edward McGinty, the director of the short film “Morning Fall.” Synopsis: (running time is approx. 9 minutes) a motorcycle rider wakes up on the side of the road, injured and confused. Where will he end up when he can’t find his way home?

Anyway, Edward shared with me the good news that the film is one of five finalists in the Delta Fly-In Movies competition and it needs as many five star ratings as it can muster to win. All of the finalist filmmakers will be flown to the 2008 Sundance Film Festival for a special celebration where the winning film will be revealed. COOL!

You may vote for the film on this page (mouse over the five stars by marking them red then hit ’submit’). Please note that voting ends next Tuesday, January 15.

I know some of you have yet to see the film, so with Edward’s permission, here it is again.

• Here my review of the film.

I was browsing the previous posts in our private forum at Motorcycle Bloggers International when I encountered a post by Steve Williams of Scooter in the Sticks (a well-known and award-winning Vespa blog) about a short film called “Morning Fall.” I, personally, am not a fan of short films unless they came before a full-length Pixar animations. But the film below struck a nerve in me. It’s about a rider who crashed hitting a deer and was left unconscious for a while. When he woke up, it wasn’t clear to him what has transpired until he saw the pieces of the puzzle.

It was specially poignant to me since in my recent long ride to Quezon Province, it was my first time to see a canine roadkill while scootering. Further in the course of the trip, as I was coming from a bend, I was surprised to see a stray dog about to cross the mountain road. But upon seeing my scoot, it had second thoughts midway and decided to turn back. I almost run it over but thank God, I didn’t! And finally, during a stop in a sari-sari store, the locals decided to chat with me just when my riding buddies were already out of earshot and gearing up for the rest of the journey. They asked me where we’re from and where we’ve been to. Then they wished us a well-meant safe trip, but it wasn’t comforting for me at all. Why? They told me that just three days ago, an out-of-town rider hit a dog just down that road. The dog and the backrider died on the spot. These all happened within a day. Needless to say, these has gotten me so paranoid the rest of the ride that I was overly-anticipating a dog would suddenly run from the side of the road. The ride day ended without any further dog-related encounter.

Binggoy, Boo, me, Bimbo & Tonton at Lamon Bay Pier (pic courtesy of Boo)

Back to the film. The short is very well-made in a level that could affect even non-riders. It’s directed by Edward McGinty and it has actually won the “Best Live Action Short Film” in the 2007 Malibu Film Festival. Though I don’t agree that a fallen rider would first look for a cigarette to light up before looking for his bike; I do understand that the cigarette scene is essential to add to the “frustration” of the character. As the movie was about to end, I blurted out an “OH SHIT!” with what I saw. All these story build-up for ONE GREAT ENDING! Disturbing… yes, but great nonetheless.

I have to add here that this isn’t a feel-good and entertaining film. It’s actually a downer and downright depressing. So if you’re in a ‘happy-happy, joy-joy’ state right now, better forgo watching at this time.

>> WATCH THE MOVIE NOW.

As a rider, there was an episode that I have long been wanting to catch which was part of a series shown in the Discovery Channel. The series is called “Greatest Ever” which ranks the Top 10 machines through thorough research and interviews from experts. They had episodes which featured Sports Cars, Tanks, Fighter Planes, Helicopters, Weapons and Construction Machines. I’d never seen any of those. But the episode on Motorbikes is what I wanted to catch. I’ve only seen the segment on YouTube and was curious what the panel said about rest of the bikes in the Top 10.The other day, I finally found the complete set of links to the other nine segments from that show and I want to share them with all MCP readers. The bike declared the Greatest Ever was a surprise. I thought it will be won by the Ducati but as it turned out, it wasn’t just about speed. The no. 1 barely does 40 kph, but it still was voted by the experts. Interesting, isn’t it?

Here’s no. 10 and the bike’s specs/stats as provided here.

Harley Davidson Knucklehead
Year: 1936
Power: 36 HP
Engine capacity: 1,340 ccm
Weight: no info
Top speed: 145 km/h
Rank: 10th

So are you really up to spending the next hour or so watching the remaining clips? If so, let’s proceed with the countdown from no. 9 to numero uno!

PROCEED TO COUNTDOWN!

Great work guys!

A group of intrepid riders from the Ateneo and some misfits from the towns along SLEX braved the rains last Sunday to visit the Carmelite convent in Lipa City and offer a token financial contribution to the sisters. They then proceeded to Tagaytay via Midlands/Highlands to visit the Little Angels Orphanage and give a little joy and support to the kids in terms of food, clothing, diapers and some money. Overall it was truly a blessed day, with the intermittent rains and ever-present fog welcoming them in Tagaytay making it an even more beautiful and enriching experience.

Video here.
View the thread and some pictures here.