Dalaw

1. SMS the "loved one"

Tinatamad ka bang bumisita sa iyong loved ones sa sementeryo? ..... Are you not up to visiting your loved ones at the cemetery? Text DALAW at i-send sa 2366 ..... Text DALAW and send to 2366 Sila mismo ang dadalaw sa yo ..... They will be the ones to come and visit you Choices are: 1) Nakasilip sa bintana ..... Peering through the window 2) Nakatingin sa yo habang natutulog ka ..... Looking at you while asleep 3) Nakatayo sa iyong paanan ..... Standing by your feet 4) Nakahiga sa tabi mo ...... Beside you in bed Ano pa inaantay mo? text na! ..... What are you waiting for? Text now!

. . .

This original text joke ca. 2011 can only have been thought of by a Filipino. I'm not sure, though, if the text message really came from Globe Telecoms which owns the "2366" gateway number. Otherwise, may the original sender of this brilliant SMS please stand up or shall I call upon the spirits of the universe to, please, make yourself known?

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2. e-Online mo

A couple of years back, a tarpaulin billboard appeared on the side of Legacy Building adjacent to the Quezon Avenue branch of Mercury Drugstore (across McDonald's and Crossings) in Quezon City.

Unboxing Charice and our traditional archetypes (a 3-part post)

[PART I of III]

IN JULY 2009, THERE WAS MUCH ADO in the entertainment scene that stemmed from a statement on TV by OPM legend Freddie Aguilar about Charice, Arnel Pineda and other Filipino talents making a name abroad (although specifically addressing a question about Charice), on being famous by imitating—like monkeys...because we don't hold our own,¹  said he—Western singers and their styles.

The issue lasted for about a month and has since died a natural death. At its peak, however, the issue dragged other Filipino singers into the scene. Needless to say, it drew all sorts of reactions especially online, and created a real-world gap between followers of the performers mentioned and those who agreed with Aguilar.

It also added a degree of stigma already attached to talents like Charice and Arnel and their respective fan bases and pouring fire into existing heated rivalry specifically between Charice’s fans and of other female singers older than she and whom she'd often been compared with.

To some extent, the issue above was aggravated by online activities participated in by fans across sectors as a consequence of technologies we currently have.

Our preoccupation with fast information and viral issues, and of the marketing and appreciation of talents we see and hear about, has in fact taken a much different approach to the traditional, even if the so-called “traditional” modes still exist, for example, through sleek local talent-search TV productions instantly available with just a click on the remote and a lot of free viewing time, but with minimal focus on the search for real talents.

These technologies, along with the current "traditional" ones like TV and radio, have also changed the way we interact with or react to issues whether they be real or perceived, and have become the defining influences in our choices.

A trichotomy | Like in most developing countries, our reality is living in a world of wide and rigid differences in terms of preferences and prorities.

For instance, we have, on one hand, premium-rate entertainment services and its selective, privileged market, and, on the other, shows on free TV that, like in murky public markets, dispense what its producers think the masses deserve. There simply isn't room for options.

Between both is the broad middle class sector, many of whom help expand the trichotomy having advanced from near-destitution to affording things on demand (thanks to remittances by relatives abroad) and have become consistent spenders on middle-class pleasures.

Charice, who comes from the masses, has made dream-like success look easy and fluid because of YouTube and her undeniable talent to sing cover songs — the big, difficult ones at that, from as early as 7 years old if we take into account her publicized starting age at joining contests.

It is interesting that, having come from a family of modest means herself, many of her detractors whom she actually represents and whose ideals she lives up to are themselves the first to put her down.

This circumstance may have to do with not just the perpetual rich-vs-poor rationale against a third world background but also with complex factors that have to do with the entertainment industry in general in which marketing and sales rule, packaging matters.

On the other hand, if popular belief is to be pursued, events related to Charice may have to fall back to status conflict because it seemed to have happened to her when she, having been a clear choice in the last singing contest she joined on television five years ago, was edged out through what many believed were unfair systems not once but twice, probably even more, of what may have been her only ticket out of poverty in her early teens.

An example is the recent admission of singer-songwriter Jim Paredes on his blog about his judging a special segment of the contest Charice was in and to whom he and his fellow judges apparently gave high scores. He disclosed that they were asked by the contest staff to reconsider their tallies which appeared to have given Charice the score advantage over all the other contestants.

I, in fact, came across a YouTube video of a segment some years ago in which a wide-grinned and visibly amused head-bobbing Jim Paredes was clapping behind the judges’ table to Charice's song-and-dance performance of I Wanna Dance With Somebody. He may have been referring to that particular special segment in which Charice won.

And then there is the legendary grand finals of the same contest in which Charice, having been called back as a "wildcard" contestant, lost.

p.2 Unboxing Charice and our traditional archetypes (a 3-part post)

PART 1, p2 | [ Previous p1 ] [ Next p3 ]

The Oprah effect | Perhaps the one significant moment that Charice suddenly became more present in the consciousness of the local cable TV market, i.e. the middle and upper-middle classes — and the general public — was her “Oprah moment” (May 2008) despite her being flown to the US to debut on American television by Ellen DeGeneres for her self-titled show the year before.

Charice, then an awed, over-zealous, US TV greenhorn, appeared fumbling for the right words in English in replying to Ellen in her interview. Her performance, however, merited a standing ovation from the audience and Ellen was still taken over by Charice the next day that she couldn’t help but mention and replay a portion of Charice’s previous-day performance. "It's something to be sitting next to that and you could just smell the star on her," she said back in 2007. "You could just smell it."

For the locals, the Ellen Show appearance came and went despite it being one of the most-watched day-time shows not only in America, in part because it was televised months delayed in the Philippines on cable channels, and partly because Oprah is the more motherly, more affectionate host Filipinos are more aware of and had closely identified with; even local talk show celebrities Sharon Cuneta and Kris Aquino were fans of hers and patterned their earlier show formats after hers.

In between the two American shows was another little-known invitation to perform in London at the Paul O’Grady show. Charice’s passport was stolen just before leaving for London, and poor girl made an appeal on TV about it. She was lucky to have been given a replacement and performed on Paul O’Grady flawlessly albeit nervous and seemingly uneasy conversing in English in interviews with him. His audience let the interview pass but noticed her performances enough to give her another standing ovation.

In her Oprah debut, Charice was more candid. Having just arrived in Chicago straight from the Philippines hours into her number, she sang with the same confidence as in Ellen’s, Paul O’Grady’s, StarKing in Korea in 2007 and all other singing contests she had joined in the Philippines. Her audience gave her an ovation midway through her song and Oprah was stunned. "That was fantastic! Who are you!?," she asked and said, "Thank you so much for flying, all day all night, fifteen hours, and come here in such perfect form...".

Charice would later guest four more times on the show.

Do you see what I see? | Surely there was something in Charice that the seasoned entertainment celebrities in the West saw, their audiences felt the first time they laid their eyes on her but which we, the locals, seem to have missed.

p.3 Unboxing Charice and our traditional archetypes (a 3-part post)

PART 1, p3 | [ p1 ] [ Previous p2 ]

“Glee” | Since confirming speculations about her being cast in the Emmy-awarded Glee series in June this year, and up until the recent airing of its second season premiere in which she appeared, Charice was once again attacked from all fronts by Filipinos even as young as 13 on the Internet.

By this time, Facebook and Twitter had taken over the lives of billions and it was easy to use the cloak of anonymity to vent out ire on someone they did not know personally, had not experienced or seen perform live and hadn't done them direct harm.

For the teens, it may be a case of envy because someone like Charice whom they thought they had the right to verbally bully online looked like one of them. They disliked her because they thought she was cocky, which, really, sometimes Charice may unconsciously, unintentionally come across on stage as being.

Maybe she even looks like their arch-nemesis in school for Charice could put on all expressions on her face when singing and this looked weirdly funny it piqued them. Her movements annoyed them, her songs were old-fashioned. Worse, she sang their parents' cheesy, monumental songs like a grown-up.

At 18, Charice hadn’t grown any taller and developed into a svelte enough young lady since she lost in that singing contest to even come physically close to their preferred local or foreign idols.

A local male DJ and gossip show host known for his sweet but curt jabs at people, in a rare, polite moment on TV just a few days ago, voiced out preference for another Filipina (female) singer to be on Glee in Charice’s stead but did not state why. It sounded like a reflection of an industry that sat out through most of Charice's accomplishments in silent envy, a victim of its self-imposed sanctimony.

Perhaps the DJ's preference might have impressed him as more deserving because she had sex appeal that excited him besides her having certified box-office hits to her name. It didn’t matter how his choice sang, or, to many, how Charice could outsing most every one else with ease. In fact, it didn’t occur to many of Charice’s detractors what Glee’s co-creator was looking out for in the first place.

Their role was to get into the kind of prejudice they knew of that has existed in the consciousness of Filipinos for generations. Meanwhile, most everyone else with little or no access to news about Charice, save for mentions on local gossip shows and magazines, rendered quick judgment on her and they judged superficially they failed to even see the unique nuances of her versions of songs of others.

A well-managed lung power | Thank god for authoritative Hollywood godmothers and godfathers, Charice was taken seriously as a singer.

Good Friday

It's sunny and quiet this afternoon.

"Quiet" is relative. Occasionally, the sound of a tricycle's motor breaks the lazy, afternoon peace. The second hum of a plane above is fading away, a car passes at intervals. The only consistent noise is from the chirping of the birds above me in the yard, about three types of birds busy chattering the day away. I wonder, I've been missing the mockingbirds swooping down our cats. They've been absent, to my knowledge, for some two weeks now. And yes, the cats--Poochoot and Chingkwit are talking to each other just moments ago, wondering why I am where I am, between the Marcos mango and MJB lanzones trees.

I'm hoping by changing my location this afternoon, I am able to savor the peace, be one with birds chirping and, like them, catch some breeze. I'm using Writeroom for this, too. I haven't used this app for some time and today seems to be the best time for it. There's some getting used to writing on Writeroom, like the cursor placement, for instance. Otherwise, it's fine for days like these.

Unlike most people, like my relatives in the compound, we pretty much spend the Holy Week at home. It's actually something I look forward to. In the past years, though, the anticipation was mixed with anxiety especially because we had very little neighbors nearby and theft was prevalent on these types of breaks (the others being All Saints' Day and Christmas breaks).

This time of year, we would usually have Rudy, the extra hand, come around to help clean the garden. Rudy is now employed by the chapel a block away and can only spare time very rarely. If he wasn't around, the garden activity would be shared by my mother and I. This time, there's very little room for even a decent home clean-up because of deadlines that have piled up which I hope to tackle soon.

Vow/Pledge

When I turned off the computer at 1 a.m. today (Good Friday), the last thought I had was to not turn it on and just try to spend all Friday doing the usual stuff. Well, to "try to stay away from the computer", at least. Guess again.

Anyhow, it was an unbearable heat as 3pm approached. I maxed out what's left of the single-digit battery life and put the computer to sleep about an hour ago.

My grandmother always said that it will always be hottest at 3pm of Good Friday and she is almost always correct. ([Folk] Catholic) traditionalists equate this to a mortal's sacrifice which, by comparison, is miniscule to Christ's crucifixion.

For some reason or other, 3pm on Good Friday really is HOT, apparently more so because everywhere — whether in the city or in the provinces — is still. It's somewhat of a magic hour and the heat that envelopes around 3pm becomes mystical in that way.

In about an hour from now, I anticipate the neighborhood to 'come to life' as it were, and everywhere else within my radius will be back to business. Proof of this is the chatter emanating from our adjacent lot neighbor, newly moved-in and excited with what my 'hood has to offer.

Last night, Maundy Thursday, was like another ordinary evening for them. Anyway, I gave them that as I saw no reason to be grouchy on Holy Week and be the unwelcoming neighbor.

Changes

The changes in my neighborhood are not at all gradual.

We'd normally hear the faint, fleeting pabasa (the chanting of the Passion of Christ by devotees) from somewhere on cooler, still evenings like last night's. Last night, the local cheap bar a few blocks away was in operation and their patrons, torch singing their lungs out to the heavens, seem to have vowed to be the counterpart of Christ's scourges.

Another seeming unbeliever was the night guard on duty just by our gate, he with his radio and copious singing confidence who thought the quiet neighborhood he was tasked to watch over was his stage. Perhaps he was encouraged by the racket of my new neighbors. Perhaps he thought everyone else had escaped the city. Whatever it was, it sure was not entertainment. In the spirit of Holy Week, though, I thought of giving him a 'deadline', beyond which I sure would have stormed out of my gate in my jammies like I once  did. Fortunately (for him), he turned the radio down and did shut up at 11pm.

Holy Week channel surfing treat: OnSet

Maundy Thursday and Good Friday early evening provided me with a bit more "self" time to channel surf local television stations.

I remember during the pre-cable days when all local stations were off (as in "offline", in computerese) and almost all stations were static that the only choices were black-and-white re-runs of Moses, El Cid, Cecil B. DeMille's The 10 Commandments or live telecast of church service of the Seven Last Words.

With cable services in the early '90s came 24/7 broadcasts of all sorts of programs.

Thursday and Friday this year, however, gave me a different treat. Since unplugging years of subscription to a local cable provider after a tragic event identified with its mother network (and availing of internet service anyway), we have had to content ourselves with shows on free channels.

The Holy Week (re)treat was by way of an information-rich program on Net25 called OnSet: The World Class Filipino Artist. The one-hour interview program features Filipino world-class artists hosted by Eunice Mariños and is recorded at the CCP's Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino.

I'm not sure whether what I saw were re-runs but I pretty much didn't mind. I caught mezzo-soprano Clarissa Ocampo on Maundy Thursday's segment and Coke Bolipata earlier this evening, Good Friday. In between interviews were live performances ("impromptu," as the host said of one of Ocampo's performance), with piano accompaniment.

The show ends with the guests being asked about the artists' contribution or role to society.

I find OnSet very refreshing in the midst of the predictable telenovelas, repetitive game show formats, shallow gossip programs and party-themed screaming competitions that purport to be variety entertainment shows on both major networks.

In fact, I thought these major networks would be the ones supporting the arts in a big way by coming up with something like Net25's OnSet, even if it meant hard selling the idea to sponsors to make it viable, but no.

Eunice Mariños at least gives its guests time to answer good questions no matter how formatted. In comparison, many hosts of interview shows, especially celebrity hosts, are always self conscious and  draw attention back to themselves instead of giving their their guests the limelight or allowing them to finish their statements.

Mariños could, however, do with a little more mature way of handling her interviews by sounding less like a high school student — sometimes flustered, sometimes excitable — and more like a poised, generous host (a fine example is Boots Anson-Roa). If Mariños does find the chance to enroll at Clarissa Ocampo's voice seminars as she said she would, I believe it would do her a lot of good.

Too bad OnSet ends without the usual closing billboard as I wanted to catch the pianist's name, the show's director, set and lights designers, writer, and other credits.

Otherwise, the early evenings of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday spent watching the two artists on OnSet was kind of spiritual in a self-respecting kind of way. I came back to the computer writing this with renewed Filipino pride.

Alexis Tioseco, criticineaste

Rest in Peace to you and your loved one, you who sowed seeds of thought that helped energize brain inertia numbed by the mindless intentions of the puppeteers and power players, and who helped keep the window open for light to shine upon our very own brown film industry.

Alexis Tioseco
founder and editor in chief, Criticine
film critic, lecturer and blogger
1981-2009

Nika Bohinc
Slovenian
film journalist, content provider, SEA Images

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ABS-CBN news 02-09-09

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