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Now since my sensationalist title actually worked, I would like to announce my strong suspicion that the Senate’s involvement in this scandal courtesy of Bong Revilla Jr. has siphoned our attention from the creeping in of the arbitrary constituent assembly (ConAss, for short – it being a charming pun intended) to the general public.  Sadly, I have been aware of this sneaky consortium for more than a year now but have rarely caught it on the local news.  How everyone managed to sit on the fence on ConAss until now remains a mystery even to its long time opponents.  I figure that it must have been all the side-shows that took place over the last two years that have kept people entertained but abysmally uninformed.

Speaking of side-shows, since the Kho-Halili sex scandal broke out I held myself back to comment on the issue because firstly, I would have to illegally obtain a copy of the video from a sidewalk banketa in order to observe its implications to either party.  I, as a student of the social sciences could not liberally incur analysis whether social, criminal, psychological or otherwise without having a full observation of the party’s behaviour and circumstance down to its naked facts.  However, to admit that I have the materials in aid of analysis would be held against me presumably under anti-pornography laws and anti-piracy laws. Incidentally these are the two contentious issues being discussed in lieu of this so-called scandal, apart from Kho Jr.’s small but legendary wang.

What we could discuss without having to comment about small male appendages is that on the street, there is a somewhat peculiar status to the media crimes involving the sex scandal.  Although the Optical Media Board’s (OMB) crusade was to obliterate all forms of illegal media distribution, it has come to a point that piracy has become a huge counter-culture it is virtually impossible to stop even on Edu Manzano’s watch.  Hence, the DVD kiosks remain and raids are not as habitual and effective: from a policy standpoint, crackdowns turn out to be a lousy way to stop piracy per se.  Even when you pull out the roots, you have a full plantation to dispense.  What would be more reasonable than targeting the source is to stop the raids altogether and start investing money on promoting and protecting independent media.  Such is the case in India where people pay to see the movies and prefer it over the DVD.  That’s a different story but the point is since piracy is so popular and the public is more sympathetic to their friendly suki it is futile to spend taxpayer’s money on raids, when our police force ought to be out there fighting more worrisome crimes like rape, corruption and theft. One philosophy professor from Ateneo de Manila supports piracy because it makes media more accessible to people. Media is one way of educating people and piracy has made one kind of education cheap.  In the Philippines, if any harm is done because of piracy, it’s the loss of profit by our local movie industry especially independents and then there’s the proliferation of child pornography.

When it comes to pornography, I have a very specific stand on this issue and that is that any pornography ought not to exploit children and ought not to involve any man or woman who was forced or trafficked.  The latter is harder to distinguish from the numerous role-play sex videos readily available through the internet or the DVD stands.  And so what the OMB does is it confiscates ALL pornographic materials and puts the blame on the piracy culture.  They summon international anti-trafficking statutes to justify their confiscation.  These allegations are partly true.  Although pornography is legal in the country for people ages 18 and above, the proper charge against the confiscation of pirated pornography ought to be piracy alone, if the OMB has no evidence that the materials they’ve accumulated in the raids do not include child pornography.  They are revisited by the same legal gray area that questions the efficiency of piracy crackdowns in the first place.  I once asked a vendor how they managed to survive all the raids and that person told me that the “mayor” was okay with them selling pirated movies but pirated pornography was a complete contraband.

My advice to wankers out there is to stick to the internet because I would rather not have any of you get your grubby paws on any of the real contraband which is child pornography (that means screen starlets aged below 18: remember Barely Legal? Aha!  Then you are guilty as charged!)

Going back to the real topic of this post, the Kho-Halili sex scandal sprung so many questions that easily put limelight-seeking actors-turned-public-servants to the media fray perhaps because of vested interests.  Is it because of the elections that people are begging to be noticed on TV?  None of these fools have even made a lucid comment in aid of legislation.  This whole scandal is fuelled by VANITY so you be true to yourselves you vain shits. Stop talking and make your own movie!

And by the way, this scandal is really about invasion of privacy.  Can the media roll over and stop the frenzy?  Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of this trial’s exercise altogether?

Dear (omit: fellow) graduates,

How do you make a graduation march look cinematic?  That long arduous function that ushers in a new generation through a new threshold of social expectations.  What an irreplacable joy it is to have the discipline and diligence indeed to have come this far! Congratulations to all my friends whose paths I’ve crossed and are now crossing a path still ahead of me.  Bid your farewells to the academe, by all means do so, you truly deserve that goodbye!  I commend your determination and above all your courage.  If anything, the university life is but a riddle to the Life that often eludes our temporal meander in this world.  And let me tell you something about the world: it is teeming with opportunities, strife, crooks, unemployment, interesting colleagues, friends, traitors, money, happiness, struggles, creativity(!), companies, countries, dinner parties, society, love, hate, poverty(!), TAXES, obligations, governance, subordination, family, documentation, promotions, post-graduate, independence, boredom, youth, etcetera etcetera etcetera…  Take it from someone who took on the world before taking on herself.  We all have our answers to own one day with a strong heart and mind, charateristics of heroes and heorines.  And that my friends, is truly cinematic.

My deepest gratitude to all my teachers who showed no tolerance for my indolence and for that, evicted me from across disciplines to teach me a more important lesson.  I may not be your most studious student but I have learned indeed!  Thank you to the tertiary institution for its stubborness and legitimization of my rebellion, and having such a dry sense of humor: it has the last laugh, for now.  Thank you to my parents for worrying (sometimes, needlessly) for my future.  Mothers and fathers wish their children to grow up strong for they have the wisdom of the damage caused by powerlessness.  It may seem like an obvious choice, but we must learn to accept strength instead of weakness.  And tread our own path with fearlessness and zeal!

To those who are left behind, such as myself I have something to say to you: What now?  NOW, that we have the upperhand.  They just don’t know it!  All the choices we’ve made and the mistakes many people have said we’ve made, to them we say: So what!  I know, I know.  But know that there is no reason to feel defeatist when we’re really the ubermench!  This simply means that we are not easily defined by society instead we let society be defined by us.  We are a huge chunk on the neighborhood which gives us the leverage of the minority.  History has taught us that the minorities are the activists and the activists are the agents of change.  As most people proceed through life comfortably and are unaware of the dangers, we have already become masters of our own discomfort and have skillfully laid out our options.  We are the troubleshooters with a unique point of view.

Finally, thank you to the universe!  I have graduated from that social and psychological torture called a “god” and I thank the masters Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beuvoir, Michel Foucault, Sigmund Freud, Ayn Rand, Robert Green Ingersoll, Bertrand Russell, Jean Meslier, Michel Onfray, the Zeitgeist and many other freethinkers I have met in this young life and have inspired my post-christian secularity.  To take care of humanity is a soulful task yet an immense responsibility that we do entirely alone.  No earth, no heavenly consultation, no tradition is the sole basis of our personal, ethical, biological, artistic, intellectual evolution.  Borrowing the thought of this important adage, the Captain of my ship, master of my soul: is The “I“.

March, you graduates.  I offer you a line from the song written by a great man by the name of John Lennon.  The last song he ever recorded moments before he was gunned down is a very apt anthem of  a struggle for existential pinnacle.  And thus, the master spoke:

Walking on thin ice,
I’m paying the price
For throwing the dice in the air.
Why must we learn it the hard way
And play the game of life with your heart?

Cheers and good luck to you all.

Yoko Ono feat. Spiritualized – Walking on thin ice [Download] [Lyrics]

It’s no laughing matter to realize that the so-called mainstream media most Filipinos are exposed to these days can really dumb down a generation. I am deeply concerned about a story I heard about filmmakers speaking to some kids in Malaybalay, Bukidnon who were asked what they aspired to become. Their daunting reply: to become one of the dancers of Wowowee.

I don’t mind gregarious lunch time entertainment but some things are definitely exaggerated. The usual exchange between Willy and his contestants is only humorous when the latter is made fun of. Touching, maybe, but their momentary joy in being part of the festivities hardly compensates for the reality after the show. Moreover, the mechanics of acquiring the coveted cash prize has been a guessing game for the most part. And self-jest. Filipinos are used to it, we can argue, we’re all good sports – that’s always good. But the image you put forth is that when it comes to poverty, nothing lifts the spirits but a game of chance. And that’s why kids would rather be good at dancing for Wowowee someday. Easy money.

But nothing is easy. While Wowowee was playing on, if you go through the other channels, you’ll find that news about corruption in our country is at a plethora. A mind numbing plethora. I bet so many people count more on “Papi” than they do on our nation’s leaders. The reason why we turn to the horse blinds is because we don’t want to see. Numerous Filipino viewers have self-denial in their psyche. It’s too painful to watch your struggling life and its entire infrastructure crumble to the ground.

And why has everyone forgotten about the Wowowee stampede? I can’t imagine why such a display of recklessness had been easily forgot. I’m so angry. Are people simply apathetic or pathetic these days? There’s a fundamental difference, and neither is the other’s consolation prize.

(A somewhat irrelevant reminder:) I hope these Dems will do something about Proposition 8, hmph!

Imagine that just a few months ago, you and your sweetheart were finally married after so many years of restriction to do so.  And then suddenly you hear that the state no longer recognizes you’re married; that it is void. As newlyweds, it’s simply outrageous.  But for us homosexuals, it’s a reminder of the loathsome movement that goes against the freedom of a certain kind of people, otherwise known as discrimination.

The bigoted heterosexual America contends that marriage is an institution designed for heterosexual pairs. That society cannot legitimize, incentivize and recognize love relationships of people who happen to love the same sex.  The implications of the same-sex marriage ban trickles down to the true meaning of how freedom, respect and happiness are upheld for the US.  It’s wrong.  Proposition 8 is bigotry.

Mirah – 100 Knives [Download] [Lyrics]

Just so we’re clear, kids, I am not a US registered voter nor am I a citizen yet. My mom’s Republican husband is voting for McCain (despite initially rooting for the more formidable Ron Paul), naturally with the intention of keeping Obama from winning the presidency. If you are a registered American voter, I advise you to vote for Obama instead and let me tell why you shouldn’t vote McCain.

If you are voting McCain, you will give the presidency the political leverage to continue to spend more money on the expensive and highly unethical war in Iraq.  As Nicholas Kristof of NY Times had put:

An American President who keeps troops in Iraq indefinitely, fulinates about Islamic terrorism, inclines toward military solutions and antagonizes other nations is an excellent recruiting tool. In contrast, an African-American president with a Muslim gradnfather and a penchant for building bridges rather than blowing them up would give Al Qaida recruiters fits.

If you are voting McCain, the likely chance that your ability to afford medical services will not change from the way they are now.  Under McCain’s policy, it will result to Americans still battling with self-interested insurance companies rather than government securing that the insurance is not a question but a right. McCain proposes that the US government should have nothing to do with insurance and is leaving your health care in the hands of those who wish to make money out of you.  Good luck.

If you are voting McCain, you will be backing a leader who is hesitant in sending foreign aid where the world needs it, panders to the interest of private corporations and has a little or no humanitarian world view.

Finally, if you are voting McCain, you will give the government the power to withhold or insufficiently subsidize important government responsibilities apart from health care, and that is education, advanced medical research and improved domestic welfare.

Listen to the Global preference, a cry for reason.   You are not only voting for an American leader but a world power.  Understand the gravity of your choice and how it impacts people across the globe.  Sense the desperation for renewal in American leadership and political narrative.

Vote Obama. Vote Change.

Photo courtesy of http://morofilm.blogspot.com

My friend Jun Macarambon, who co-wrote “A step for my dream” had their film officially selected in this year’s Cinemalaya, inevitably the most prestigious film festival in the Philippines. I haven’t seen the film myself, but the fact that it made it to the festival should keep everyone’s heads up. It was directed by Monalayn Labado, also a Mindanawon. Hopefully, their producer Teng Mangansakan II, also a documentary filmmaker from Mindanao, would allow to screen the said film for this upcoming Mindanao Film Festival for everyone to see. Lately, the influx of critical Mindanao filmmakers shaking the national and international scene have grown since, perhaps, Lav Diaz. Other films to watchout for that are made by a Mindanao filmmaker include Sherad Anthony Sanchez’s film (director of Huling Balyan ng Buhi) “Imburnal”, which was recently shot in some parts of Bankerohan and Dumalag. It is an entry for this year’s Cinema One Originals. Also, an advocacy film was recently made entitled, “Hunghong sa yuta” which has already run on local cinemas. Noticeably, most of our fresh breed of filmmakers have done stories on Mindanao, treating these stories with a fair sense of what Mindanao truly feels like.

In an interview, Mangansakan mentioned a trend in the past of outsiders making stories about us with an unnerving sort of unfamiliarity, even dettachment. I once watched a 1980 Eddie Romero epic (three and half hours long) film entitled, “Aguila” starring Fernando Poe Jr., Christopher de Leon, Eddie Garcia among other star studs, and the film had vague images of Mindanao as the backdrop of where Fernando Poe eventually disappeared to. It portrays Mindanao as somewhat the ideal place to get lost in, a place ridden with rebels. Although, the rather unbalanced portrayal of Mindanao is for the overall cinematic effect or part of how it was written but that’s precisely how it’s just not enough for non-Mindanawons to describe what Mindanao is like. Even National Media makes me cringe at all the news they run about the region. Whereas that is my advocacy, all strifes of artistic forms or self-determining movements in Mindanao have been hampered by the fact that there isn’t ENOUGH support from the locale, or at least not too many are aware that it needs support. I hope you will show yours.

Now, I have a clear bias for the disk jockey software I was used to before, and I really think that it’s still the best way of smoothly transitioning songs with one another.  I am specifically fond of the program OtsDJ from OtsLabs but unfortunately only the trial version is available online and they come with annoying OtsDJ stingers that I can’t remove.  So that alone eliminated the prospect of my using it for the party.  Its full version is obviously minus the stingers but cost about a whopping USD 999.95.  But that price is good for professional Radio Broadcasting companies, without going through the trouble of renewing their license for the use of the product.  Clearly, Ots targets a niche market but if ordinary people could get their grubby paws on this thing, it’d top ordinary party music players.  It has its own audio leveling initiative, that even if you transition songs manually, it gives you a hint of where to start off without the songs sounding weird next to each other.  Radio networks try to cheat this awkward transitioning by putting on stingers in between say for example, it’d be strange to put a JayZ song next to something from…Josh Groban.  So you put something in between that cleverly inserts your station ID “Killerboop FM, your music priority” blah blah.  (Which reminds me, I have yet to write about HOW to make a good music compilation since the same principles apply). With the case of Ots, it crossfades the songs smoothly next to each other with or without anything inbetween.  You can continuously play music and it’ll fix things for you automatically.

Since I wrote off Ots from my list, I had to come up with a FREE alternative.  And I chose from four different softwares, namely: Virtual DJ, iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Rhapsody.

Virtual DJ probably has the nearest features to Ots but again it’s not for free.  I  managed to buy an installer from a shop in Manila and have the full version installed on my laptop.  The great thing about Virtual DJ is that, as the name implies, its really made for a DJ.  Not the kind of DJ I used to be, but DJs who play for clubs and are technically playing club music.  I didn’t want to play an all club music playlist for the party because of the moderately “behaved” crowd, if you don’t mind me saying.  But had I intended to play for a crowd more open to House music, this would be the most excellent software to use.  It features an Auto Sync beatmapping thing that lets you match the tempo of a song automatically.  It also gives you an option to transition the beats by the number of bar counts in between.  Okay, that’s DJ talk already.  Mind you, this is ALSO another niche product which hits a happy nerve among its enthusiasts.  Plus, if you really get in to the mixing thing, you can record your entire mix via the program, leaving out the hassle of recording hardware that can burn a hole in your pocket. The next thing you know, you can burn your own music mix straight from the desktop.

Moving on to the poor man’s media players?  I hope not.  We all know how GREAT the almighty Apple iTunes is, but let’s measure how functional this player can be for parties.  First of all, I love its crossfade effect.  It’s as smooth as the visual transition interface used for the iPod, hard to explain really.  But by the sound of it, its the best among cheap downloadable music players.  I’ve also noted that building a playlist with iTunes is by far the easiest to deal with.  I like the idea that I can organize all my playlists in a viewable area at the left sidebar, and drag and drop music files from anywhere: even from other media players!  And some music software won’t let you do that.  My big problem with iTunes has more to do with its rather bland aesthetics.  If it’s music and functionality you’re looking for, you wouldn’t mind playing it on a software that looks like a spreadsheet.

I hardly want to talk about Windows Media Player since it’s practically a local software but I considered it because of its really familiar interface.  The newest version out there, which I use on Windows Vista is one that eliminates the standard row of functions, only to appear if you press ALT.  What I don’t like about Media Player is its rather juvenile Visualizations that come along with the package, which the newest version of Winamp has already beat.  (Note: I didn’t include Winamp in this review because I think it deserves an entire post, to follow).  Where was I?  Yes, WMP is so uninteresting these days.  What I do like about it is NOT the fact that you can change the surface colors but that you can incorporate it in such a stylish way on the taskbar.  It’s not on the system tray it’s on the left side of the bar when minimized as you can see in this picture:

Never mind the product placement there.  Anyway, it’s posited at that side of taskbar you get what I mean?  You can set it up via the taskbar properties.  It’s a great way for Windows to monopolize features all over again!

Last but not the least is the most elusive Rhapsody.

My friend uses this for their bar and it’s a great software to use if you want to attend to everyone’s request. Why?  Because it’s powered by no less than the internet!

Real Rhapsody has iTunes’ playlist building flexibility whereas you can access the internet for full albums from your favorite artists.  Its dashboard is intuitive that it makes an artist suggestion for you based on the kind genre of the artists that you look up on Rhapsody.  And because you can access songs so easily from the internet, it’s likewise more accessible when it comes to building a playlist from a database larger than the ones you have on file.  Unfortunately, it comes with a catch: you have to pay.  At least for either a monthly subscription of USD 9.95 or a yearly sum worth USD 20.00, and those are the last prices I checked before the oil hike, yikes. The software itself is downloadable for free and is fairly respectable when it comes to archiving your music without getting confused.  It’s just that, you can get away with other music players that uses less memory for local music playing.

Out of all of the poor man’s category, I’d say iTunes wins this one and I’d recommend this for an easygoing mp3 player experience. As for the other players, most features I liked are superficial ones, and among those who’ve I’ve lauded for their systematic depth of function, it’s such a drag having to dole out so much cash so that you can appreciate some music.  You’d rather burn a CD.

You can only relate to this if you’re a Filipino and watched TV most of the day like I did.

A particularly odd segment followed this commemoration: the media coverage of the funeral service dedicated to Rudy Fernandez, a Filipino action star. We’re not close or anything, but since he’s dead I guess it’s okay to say at this point, “Too bad we never get to see a movie starring Rudy Fernandez and Lorna Tolentino”. If Rudy was well enough there was a script waiting for him and his wife. I don’t own the rights to the script but the premise of the story is based on a woman’s unwavering love for her partner despite her own personal desires. This would have been their life story. Anyway, what is my conclusion about Rudy’s death? I roughly quote my friend, “Reality is more unbelievable than fiction. Fiction (film) is there to convince us that they are unbelievable indeed.”

My condolences to the actor’s family.

Anyway, did Noli de Castro turn his back on his ABS-CBN family, finally? By smashing the oligarchs no less! Smash, smash, smash. Why are you talking just now de Castro? Are you disappointed in how they’re handling the Ces Drilon kidnapping? I’m glad you could air your testimonial about being kidnapped by the Abusayyaf yourself. He throws a caveat, “Never let the station handle the negotiation with the group.” When he says this you can just see the traces of disappointment in his voice. He’s making parinig ABS-CBN twice in one day! Wow. I wonder if PGMA promised him a cut in the Meralco hostile takeover…

So much for a free nation. Cheers to the social entrapments we are in and the bright box that tells us all about it.