ponder Construction

TED on starting a movement

2010-04-02T08:20:00.000+08:00

Derek Sivers: How to start a movement

"leadership is overglorified, it's really the first follower that transforms the lone nut into a leader"

hits, misses, scores

2010-03-31T07:25:00.000+08:00

had a hard time sleeping last night

because of a weird thought:

what if some gun-toting guy just busts our door open,

oh no, what do i do?!

you see, just about anyone can open our door

unless jio my roommate or i double lock it.

i wasn't afraid of the thought

i just wanted to play it in my mind

and come to terms with the possibility

and thought of possible reactions

and of course, answers to the question

what do i do?

then this morning, facebook friends shared an RIP note

for the designer brian leyva.

i don't know him, my friends do.

apparently, he suffered from a gunshot wound

from a guy who wanted his cellphone,

right in his own neighborhood.

papa will freak out as soon as he reads this.

i will probably get a call.

but that's reality. you never can tell what will hit you.

sometimes.

for now, i'm hungry.

slow applause to GMA

2010-03-17T18:16:00.000+08:00

still running even after NINE years as President +

could-have-been-prevented rotating brownouts +

dubious Smartmatic deal +

dubious party-list nominees +

loyalist AFP Chief +

Supreme Court ruling TODAY

and that's just the last THREE months.

and you tell me ALL WE NEED is COMPETENCE? good luck.

shameless plug

2010-03-07T13:31:00.002+08:00

the past few weeks have been about shamelessly promoting your cause
and brand and guy and all the crazy things that go with them.

just this morning, we just finished shooting a video
that hopefully will go viral for a senatoriable.

interesting times.
but won't end this without a shameless plug of myself.
just received this message from a girl named Sharmaine:

Hello po Kuya Karl! I'm one of the participants of the Leadership Training in Baguio last 2006.. hehe.. Anyway, it's my pleasure to see you again after 3 years.. I know you're doing great Kuya Karl! Keep on inspiring others.. Take care po.. God Bless! KEEP REMINDING! :D

that was 3+ years ago and it was a fun training
and 3+ years down, i'm still reminded of it.

gotta love my life. me shameless

lisnin to thesixtyone
sortof readin how to rig an election by some republican operative
feelin kinda productive

his open letter to the next president

2010-01-14T10:53:00.000+08:00

i've been meaning to write some of my thoughts but every time i had the time, i would space out. i just read today the editor's letter of this month's rogue and i couldn't help but share it (italics his).

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE NEXT PRESIDENT

Dear Mr. President,

You don't know me and I don't know you, but come the second half of 2010, we're going to have to live with each other for the next six years, so we may as well get acquainted right now.

As a magazine editor, I am privileged to have this space to write in and an audience that will listen to anything I say in it, so although I am quite certain it will not reach every Filipino in the country and around the world, it will be read by a good number of them who matter. What I am about to implore you, as the most powerful man in the country, may affect our fellow citizens - the people who voted you in and who you are obliged to serve - in a positive way (or it may not). One thing's for sure, though - it's better than not saying anything at all. And it certainly won't hurt to say it. So, here goes:

CAN YOU PLEASE HELP US?

Our country, the one we were born and raised in, the one we love so deeply, the one that's given us such wonderful memories of family, friends and fun times, regardless of how rich or poor we are, is one of the most corrupt in the world - and because of it, our people are literally dying. They don't need to . It's not as if we don't have the resources to give our people a decent standard of living; on the contrary, we own 7,100 islands rich enough to make our nation one of the most prosperous in Asia. And as evidenced by heroes like Manny Pacquiao, Efren Penaflorida, Brillante Mendoza, Arnel Pineda, Ninoy Aquino and the hundreds of children who kept on smiling while Ondoy ravaged their homes, we certainly have the strength, talent, skill, and, most of all, the spirit to not only survive but to succeed, on anyone's terms and based on any standard.

No I didn't forget intelligence. History has also proven, without a doubt, that we have the brains. Some of our past presidents have been fiercely intelligent and have given so much to the development of our economy. They have been too savvy, in fact, that their deftness has overshadowed their capacity to love, and all their great contributions to society have been nullified by their own crimes against it. In the process of enriching themselves and a handful of people, they took away our innocence by allowing a culture of corruption to breed and infect our society, and now it has taken the form of a seemingly incurable disease, a malignant cancer that is eating away at our bones, our blood and our brains.

I know cancer well. Both my parents suffered badly from it. It is the one thing that's made me question my faith in God. My Mom died a slow and painful death from it, and my Dad, who ultimately died from liver failure, was given a few months to live and was already talking to priests and saying goodbye to his children - until we decided to inject stem cells into his body. New cells, healthy cells, clean cells, innocent cells, uncorrupted cells - and guess what? It worked. Those few good cells were able to defeat an army of bad ones. And he didn't even have to go through chemotherapy. He didn't have to inject poison into his system and hope that it would be so venomous that it would implode and take some cancer cells with it. He did not have to fight evil with more evil. It was simply Good versus Evil - and Good prevailed.

Do you see what I'm getting at, Mr. President? Despite all evidence to the contrary, the situation is not entirely hopeless. And remember: There is no such thing as heart cancer - but if we allow the cancer to grow everywhere else, then the heart will eventually be outnumbered and give up. We cannot allow this to happen. So when you make decisions in your office, I must ask you to please always look at what's in your heart, because that's where your soul is. And once you lose your soul, it's good night, nurse.

Everybody has the ability to discern right from wrong, that's the easy part. The hard part is that we just can't seem to act accordingly - and I completely understand this most basic of human flaws. I myself would be the first to admit that I can resist just about anything except temptation, which is why I would never even think of running for public office. I like yachts too much. But if you've gone this far, then you are presumably smarter than I am, and it's ultimately up to you to decide how you want to use that intelligence. It boils down to a simple question of what is important to you. What your priorities are in life. What true and lasting happiness means to you.

I read an article recently about a Ponzi schemer who stole $380 million from hedge funds and was caught. In his poignant confession he concluded, "Many people are caught up in the notion that success in life is measured in professional and financial achievements and material acquisitions, and it's hard to step back from that and see the fallacy. You have to try and measure your life by the moments in your day." At the end of your term you will have a chance, as all presidents do, to leave a legacy that is unique in the history of our nation. A legacy that you alone will own as the only president who was able to successfully conquer corruption, which is, without a doubt, the most serious problem the country is facing at the moment, and the one that requires immediate and focused attention. A legacy that will claim you as the one man who has changed our national reality like no other man has, by altering the lives of millions of Filipinos in a real and quantifiable way. When that legacy is secure, and you're sitting in your den thinking about it, and a smile takes over your face - wouldn't that be a great moment in your day? It would be for our country and our people. Maybe even the greatest moment in all our lives. Shit, even I might take that over a yacht.

But I am a realist, Mr. President, and I am not naive enough to think this letter will surely make an impact on your policy-making, or that one man can wipe out corruption in one fell swoop. But I've got the space anyway, and certainly one man can do something, particularly if that man is the president. He can do a lot, actually, because in this country, everything starts and ends in the Palace. Once your office is corrupted, then all the others become vulnerable. So your first task would be to try and lead by example. This shouldn't be too difficult as long as everybody else gets to do what they want, which is why you're going to have to keep your eyes wide open and get used to saying two words: "no" and "sorry." It will be a daunting task, no doubt but it will not be impossible. And just like sex and murder, it gets easier the more you do it.

I don't expect you to be the Pope. You might have to bend the rules a little bit to reach the end-goal, I understand. Especially since it's possible that you owe some favors to some gentlemen who have contributed to your campaign and without whom you wouldn't be where you are in the first place. Fine, I'll cut you some slack there, but just a little, because this is where we'll find out what you're really made of. You will have to get your hands a little dirty, I know, but if that's what it takes to clean up the whole yard, then start digging. After all, even God writes straight with crooked lines.

One more thing before I go: Assuming the elections were clean, you already have the mandate and support of the people - but that's enough. It is imperative that you have the military on your side, because they have the guns. So make those boys happy. I think they deserve it. They want nothing more than to serve a good leader who cares for his country. You're making a dangerous bet if you don't take this to heart. Why do you think the most honest president this country has ever had suffered the most coup attempts?

So good luck, Mr. President, whoever you are. You're going to have to sacrifice a lot to accomplish all these things, but I guarantee you it will be worth it. Keep yourself protected at all times and try and stay alive - your country needs you too much. Martyrdom is nice, it gets the juices going, but where is Ninoy Aquino when we need him the most?

He wasn't all talk, that man, and I have proof. For the article I wrote in Rogue's December 2009 - January 2010 issue on his friend Jose Antonio Gonzalez, I was privy to some fascinating letters Ninoy wrote to Gonzalez while he was in solitary confinement during Martial Law, and in those letters he outlined in great detail how the machinery of corruption worked in the current government and how he intended to eliminate it if he was president. I'm sure I could probably share those documents with you, as I'm sure any president would learn a lot from them. In fact, I suggest you get your hands on as many writings from Ninoy as you can. Unfortunately, I don't have much else to offer on that front aside from these letters, which aren't even mine.

But perhaps you know his family?

Jose Mari Ugarte
Editor-in-Chief
Rogue

another Jefferson declaration

2010-01-05T00:10:00.000+08:00

because i, for the life of me, cannot seem to go back to sleep
i ended up reading from a book an excerpt of thomas jefferson's last letter ever
and it made me want to read the whole thing. so here goes:

Monticello, June 24, 1826

Respected Sir, -- The kind invitation I receive from you, on the part of the citizens of the city of Washington, to be present with them at their celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of American Independence, as one of the surviving signers of an instrument pregnant with our own, and the fate of the world, is most flattering to myself, and heightened by the honorable accompaniment proposed for the comfort of such a journey. It adds sensibly to the sufferings of sickness, to be deprived by it of a personal participation in the rejoicings of that day. But acquiescence is a duty, under circumstances not placed among those we are permitted to control. I should, indeed, with peculiar delight, have met and exchanged there congratulations personally with the small band, the remnant of that host of worthies, who joined with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword; and to have enjoyed with them the consolatory fact, that our fellow citizens, after half a century of experience and prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made. May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.

I will ask permission here to express the pleasure with which I should have met my ancient neighbors of the city of Washington and its vicinities, with whom I passed so many years of a pleasing social intercourse; an intercourse which so much relieved the anxieties of the public cares, and left impressions so deeply engraved in my affections, as never to be forgotten. With my regret that ill health forbids me the gratification of an acceptance, be pleased to receive for yourself, and those for whom you write, the assurance of my highest respect and friendly attachments.

Th. Jefferson [from here, where frank sinatra has a "response"]

p.s. jefferson and john adams died on the same day, july 4 1826
exactly 50 years after the supposed date of the declaration of independence.
everyone, including john quincy adams who was the president at that time
thought it was Divine favor. i think it's pretty cool.

to a more perfect republic!

last month

2009-11-30T21:52:00.000+08:00

we're still just about to say goodbye to 2009
and time the magazine already calls it

the decade from hell.
can't blame time though

although sometimes i wish i could.

2009 was just full of sad stuff

ka rene was murdered
swine flu was everywhere
ondoy was too much
pepeng overstayed

and it was the dalai lama himself
who said learn to forgive
but also never forget.

but it's just so hard to remember. we tried
having holidays but still we fail to remember

at least most of the time.
and so i raise the question i first asked four years ago:

how do i make
myself realize without making
myself realize that i'm making
myself realize

for now, aside from http://TED.com
there's http://bigthink.com

attend the tale

2009-11-15T17:38:00.000+08:00

the actors in sweeney todd
break the fourth wall several times.

and for good reason.

watch it watch it!

http://repertory.ph/

three maybe four

2009-10-20T20:33:00.000+08:00

he sees a bar of soap.
new. clean. harmless.
he is three. maybe four.
and he is curious.

and he takes a bite.
bad. bitter. bread.
his lola said:

bread.
he does not think.
he quickly grabs
the bread. then

bad bitter gone. only
good sweet pan
de sal

the kind lola loves
but
a bar of soap.
new. clean. harmless.
one part gone.
why not two?

and he takes a bite.
then bread. then smile.
lola smiles.

i smile too.

emo with style

2009-10-19T08:02:00.000+08:00

one of the things that make me all giddy and proud
of this craft they call theater performance
is seeing growth.

seeing others grow.
seeing yourself grow.
seeing characters grow.
seeing stories grow.

and glow.
spring awakening had their final performance last night
and i was not alone in saying
how the cast grew.

'bitch of living' and 'totally fucked' rocked
but even the space and silence in between felt good
even if my neck was hurting for i was too close.

even the learning circle is growing too.
it will be our first anniversary next month
and for our pre-anniv lc i shared what i know of improv.

and it was fun and fun but full of good reminders.
learning circle growing too.

and just like that

2009-09-28T21:06:00.000+08:00

it sometimes takes years to change ones life

for better or for worse.

but sometimes, change happens

in a moment

when a wall falls on a loved one,

when a floating guitar was this close,

when a friend is knee-deep in mud.

i know i wished you some pain.

forgive me but it wasn't this type.

many many things will be said

about the storm, the response, the future.

may they go beyond words.

i wish you some pain

2009-09-24T20:49:00.000+08:00

there's a scene right in the middle of spring awakening
where she asks him to beat her

and beat her hard.
and some members of the audience earlier
and some members of the audience last night
giggle.

not as hard. but they giggle.
and i find that hard to understand.

but it's okay, this is not about that.
this is about wishing for some pain.
and how i am so sure that i can totally relate to that.

i wished for some pain, once.
i once leapt knowing i would fall flat on my face.
i once disobeyed. no, twice or thrice. no, more.
and i did get what i wished for.
even if i knew i had to be careful what i wish for.

and it hurt. so why-did-i-wish-for-this-again bad. like
"that moment you know when you're fucked,
not an inch more room to self-destruct"

and it hurt some more.
but sometime between then and now
it felt good.

not just to know. but also to feel. and it's so hard to explain
so i suggest you watch the show (link here).

for the mean time, i giggle.

'Totally like whatever, you know?'

2009-09-01T20:30:00.000+08:00

damn, you have to watch him perform it

then read the text over and over so you can translate it

to filipino, to bisaya, to whatever

so we can spread it. ang ganda!

Totally like whatever, you know?
By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

good enough

2009-08-27T09:50:00.000+08:00

ma says that pa suggests i rest in cebu for a while, or in her own words:

kaon tulog usa.

she always opens with that ("pa says...")

when she knows i'd say no. and i did.

i miss family.

but i am super sure these are the best years to be by myself for some time.

sir rudy agrees. sir eddieboy agrees.

my mom and dad, deep in their hearts, agree.

i think.

and if you're wondering why this exercise of justifying

my current state of affairs,

one probable reason is that this isn't the 21yo karl

that karl imagined 5 years ago while entering college.

there was no way then that i'd think of, say,

putting up a business or two at 21

or do marketing in kyrgyztan

or travel with just a backpack

or work for an underrated vacation island

all good possibilities

and no pressure so far. weird how

when you have no deadlines to miss, you end up missing deadlines.

there i said it. i miss deadlines.

my world is normal again.

the right people

2009-08-21T13:32:00.002+08:00

commuting from greenhills to greenbelt
forces you to pass by some of the more convenient temples of consumerism
(that just sounds so forced but anyway)
such as sm makati

where you can, apparently, buy a book and take another one for free.
all for 99 pesos. such as this one

just days after watching hbo's recount, twice
(a movie that made me teary-eyed, don't laugh).
i'm still halfway to the second chapter andboth david and 'the president' seem so nice already.

which is what i love so much about biographies.
like when i read how bin laden loves to play volleyball
wearing the same clothes he wears to announce jihad.

as for the other book,
more like a diary of an old man. i picked it up
because of the cover and the blurb. we'll see.

thankful i have time for books.
and flight of the conchords.
and thesixtyone

Bangkok generous

2009-08-18T12:38:00.000+08:00

can't believe it's been 30 days
and as per Thai law, i have to be back in Manila in a few hours.

i have yet to pack.
or to think about the many things that just happened.

but my mind somehow forces me to think about
what to do next.

which is not good.
so i write knowing that that helps.

it's just been fun and games for me here.
and i have not spent a single cent out of my own pocket. ever.
not even for those goodies you're expected to bring
(which isn't my thing, not a fan of tourist-y photos too)

what started out as a part-vacation part-quest for a career
turned out to be a full vacation with cute little cousins,
my grandma, her two sons and some hsbc yea friends.

met some folks via couchsurfing too.
learned how to swim again.
caught up on my reading.
got to wander around by myself too. which is good.

tito insists i come back. sure.
but here i go thinking about "what next" again.

guess it really is the question
and i can't believe i have no deadline.

TED on biomimicry

2009-08-14T20:55:00.000+08:00

Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in action

i like how she uses "reminding" a lot. keepReminding!

death defiling

2009-08-04T19:48:00.000+08:00

i asked myself recently:
why do i have a strange feeling we're all going to die?

and it really is a strange feeling 'cause
duh, karl
we all will die. but i insisted on asking anyway

and maybe one reason why
i'm feeling the strange feeling
is 'cause it's too easy to forget that we all will.

anyway,
(wait, notice how i easily dismissed that reminder)
someone dear recently died
and so the subject of death is so real yet again

and at first i thought:
funny how death shuts you up completely and yet
can most forcefully amplify your voice
too. and that after one moment,
what was once were a series of vigils
is now a world paying tribute and a nation mourning and yearning
for days gone by.

and then it occurred to me: that can't be right.
it wasn't your death that handed you a megaphone one last time at your deathbed.
it was your life.

tito ninoy is waiting.

TED on a gentler philosophy of success

2009-07-30T04:30:00.000+08:00

Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success

"Any vision of success has to admit what it is losing out on. We can't have it all."

"I'm a firm believer of justice but I just think that it's impossible."

a few good men

2009-07-21T12:15:00.000+08:00

what started out as lunch with a wonderful teacher

turned out to be a series of wonderful conversations

with some of the most interesting people i know.

in school and a few hours before my flight,

i met Mr Eduardo Calasanz

who reminded me to laugh at the big picture

and how He works in most interesting ways

i met Fr Adolfo Dacanay

who shared basketball insider information

and proof that our team has its principles intact

i met Dr Jerry Respeto

who opened my mind to the idea of taking

a masters in anything while away, and theater insider information too

i met Sedfrey Santiago, Esq.

who dislikes "Atty" and reminded me of

some obligations of an entrepreneur

some were brief, some lengthy

and i wish to have spoken with Sir Bobby Guevara

and Sir Leland dela Cruz and Sir Mark Lawrence Cruz

and Dean Rudy Ang and Sir Neric Acosta

but i didn't expect a string of conversations,

was looking forward to only one.

pabaon means so many things to so many Ateneans.

this string is one of the many i'll bitbit

for freedom

2009-07-09T11:51:00.000+08:00

for freedom is never baduy.

a friend now based in hong kong
asked me last night
what the chances are of martial law again.

i said after many disclaimers, 10% or less.
he needed a number, i gave a number

but the truth is i really don't know.
what i do know is that

i like waking up at any time of my choosing
i like going home at any time i may want
i like choosing from so many the movies i want to see
or the plays or the songs or the books or the clothes

or the food.
i like not having to worry about all that i want to write
i like not having to mind anyone's security detail
i like not having to care where to pass by at night
i like not having to demand for my rights

i don't know which of these i will lose
if that little girl does lose all her sanity
but i believe freedom's a basic need

and if i'd have to be public enemy just to prove that,
then it's worth a try.

a little paranoia won't hurt.

a note to Share

2009-07-06T09:48:00.000+08:00

Dear Share,

It annoys me every time I don't see you in a good crazy interesting page.

But now that I think about it, two or three years ago, it would have been so much harder to find you. If you ever existed at all.

You are almost everywhere now.

Even at the bottom of this very page, I think.

That is all. Just wanted to share.

Regards.

young entrepreneurs

2009-06-27T19:44:00.000+08:00

first things first.

it was my first time outside the country.
it was my first time to represent the country.
many other firsts

and boy was it a good time.
and i will work hard never to forget the following:

to always understand why the box is there when thinking out of the box
to live off your parents as long as you can
to remember how all problems seem like nails when all you have is a hammer
to get married the latest that you can

to keep in touch.
these guys are great and they will be much much greater

when it rains

2009-06-10T12:08:00.000+08:00

it pours.

not a single raindrop yet today which is good since today,
TindigNation begins and you should read Inquirer's fascinating editorial on it (link here)

i never thought my last free days would be this eventful
and so much stuff is happening left and right

not complaining.
Hong Kong in 10 days, fingers crossed for that.
final mass for Ka Rene on Friday at the Gesu, prayers for a hero.
TindigNation in a few minutes, songs for a nation that deserves more.

much much more.

cooking something with louie and gabe,
this should be fun. wala lang.

Rest in Peace, Ka Rene

2009-06-06T02:36:00.000+08:00

i was just speaking with Ka Rene a few days ago during the red carpet screening of Lupang Hinarang. he was ambushed on his way home in sumilao, bukidnon, a few hours ago.

prayers please.

got the sms from ate dudj of osci,
got this post from omi:

At 5:39AM today, I received a devastating text message from Ate Jane of KAISAHAN:

Ka Rene Penas, farmer leader and paralegal from Sumilao, was ambushed at around 11pm last night, 5June. He was on his way home when he was shot. We are condemning this brutal death of a leader who lived a life fighting for agrarian reform and social justice: for their land in Sumilao, for other land cases, and for CARPER. Pls pray for his loved ones and for justice to be served.

Grabe! Sumosobra na sila! P*t*ng*na naman! Paano na ang asawa't mga anak ni Ka Rene? Kung akala nila manghihina ang loob ng mga magsasakang humahanap ng katarungan dahil sa pagkamatay ng isa sa kanilang mga pinuno, nagkakamali sila! Lalo lang nilang ginalit ang mga magsasakang matagal nang nagtitiis sa hirap!

Ka Rene, kung nasaan ka man, nawa ay maging masaya ka. Itutuloy po namin ang laban na inyong sinimulan noong ikaw ay nabubuhay pa.

Nawa ang kapayapaan ng Panginoon ay sumaiyo.

According to Ate Jane, the body of Ka Rene is still in the very spot where he was shot down last night in Sumilao, Bukidnon. The SOCO (Scene of the Crime Operative) has yet to remove his body.

going back HOME

2009-06-06T01:52:00.000+08:00

i know there are a lot of things to talk about

carper just got passed (woohoo)
and so the real work of agrarian reform continues.
this whole con-ass thing
or that whole h1n1 scare
and of course the weather the past few days.

who has not talked about that?
just a lot. a lot of things to do too.

heck, i have a presentation to finish
which i need to give in a few hours

but but BUT!!! you must set aside time for HOME
a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

catch the trailer first

then watch the whole film 'cause the guys behind it
did it for free so the world can watch it for free
and hope to God, we wake up to what's happening with our HOME

i have said it before, i say it again
the trailer and the film and the footage and the work
is just STUNNING! ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!

your family, your friends, you should watch this.
seriously seriously now.

TED on marshmallows

2009-05-31T16:18:00.000+08:00

Joachim de Posada says, Don't eat the marshmallow yet

edit, revive, unfeature

2009-05-29T11:07:00.000+08:00

you know how that twitter character count
changes in color as you approach the character limit?

details like that that make me
wonder
sit back and forget the big stuff.

for a while.
just to inhale a little bit deeper.

especially when the tears come a-rushing.
more people should watch Lupang Hinarang
www.LupangHinarang.com

seal is singing 'a change is gonna come'
and i say brother help me please
before somebody comes up knocking me

there were times i thought i wouldn't last long
now i think i am able
to carry along.

to carry along

four words, one question

2009-05-25T19:40:00.000+08:00

i was in the middle of trying to sleep
when i couldn't fight the urge to just start this.

let's talk explanations and theories later.
for now i'd like to invite you to an experiment.

within the next 24 hours, i will personally ask

my cousin in cebu, jr satinitigan
my highschool classmate, margaret lasaleta
my kabarkada, mandy anderson
my college classmate, tim huelva
my orgmate, marvin ong

this: nagparehistro ka na ba?
by personally, i mean either via text, phone call, instant message, face-to-face.
note: an email, a tweet, or a blog post would not count.

out of the blue i'll just throw the question and take it from there.
whether i get a yes or a no or a rant, fine with me.

the goal is to ask. and spread four words, one question.

game game GAME?
maybe you can share who you threw the question to, too. game?
you don't have to leave names,
just share how many people you asked the question to.
just ONE will do. for now. hehe

game game GAME?

growth mindset

2009-05-24T11:00:00.000+08:00

i got to hand it to bea.
she's deputy director for this laboratory school in pampanga
and boy does she live out true magis.

she asked sir ariel of filipino dep, sir jc of adsa and me
to give a little training to her teachers in
mabalacat, pampanga

and we had so much fun.
but i got too tired last night.

you see, friday lunchtime
i ran down twenty flights of stairs in 6750 makati
just to make it in time for
bea's 2pm call time

only to find out her car's under the coding scheme and can't leave 'til 7.
so all 4 of us watched star trek, third time for me.
and i still liked it
and we went to pampanga after.

we were told there might be no electricity
we were told the school is not pretty, not big
we were told there would be around 7 participants
with a senior citizen to boot.

thankfully there was electricity all day
and though the school was under construction, it was okay.
but we only had 3 participants.

sir ariel's mantra of growth mindset
helped us pull it off despite setbacks. and it was so much fun.

again bea, you once again chose something outside your comfort zone
and looks like you're going to be learning a good lot from this.

TED on 'Predictably Irrational'

2009-05-19T21:40:00.000+08:00

Dan Ariely asks, Are we in control of our own decisions?

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely, the author of Predictably Irrational, uses classic visual illusions and his own counterintuitive (and sometimes shocking) research findings to show how we're not as rational as we think when we make decisions.

whoa whoa whoa everyone should watch this.

TED on Naturally 7 beatboxing

2009-05-19T21:17:00.000+08:00

Naturally 7 beatboxes a whole band

One-of-a-kind R&B group Naturally 7 beatboxes an orchestra's worth of instruments to groove through their smooth single, "Fly Baby."

3:27 bit is just whoa.

Where are the best of us? n things I want from Pangulo 15

2009-05-15T14:13:00.000+08:00

At least thirteen Filipinos are considering to be the next president of the Philippines. A lot? Maybe, but at least you will never run out of things to talk about with your noisy seatmate on your delayed flight. Enough? I don't think so.

Like me, you probably have defended one or two already: "Yes he can't act slash drive a pedicab but those tears were not part of the script, swear!" or "At least he painted the town pink!" or "But he looks like Bamboo!"

And you may also have vowed never ever, saying things like: "Of course she can act, one minute she was crying over those envelopes, the next minute she can't live without him!" or "Once a plunderer, always a plunderer!" or "At least Eddie Gil wasn't serious."

In short, opinions abound. But really now, what are we actually looking for from our candidates?
Yes, the Constitution lists a couple but surely we demand more from them (I am hoping this is a safe assumption to make).

Yes, it's on a case-to-case basis when we decide if someone's good enough or someone's plain bad (Think about FPJ, why was it so easy to not vote for the guy. Or why was it so easy to vote for the guy).

Point is: maybe we can share our personal non-negotiables (I can't think of a better term), a set of criteria that if this wannabe fails to match then, cue ugly buzzer sound, No!

Of course there's the usual charisma, winnability (whatever that means), attitude, pleasing personality.
But maybe it's time we share specifics, say his or her ACTUAL stand on CARPER or whether he or she flip-flopped on that plunderer or what he or she plans to do with the person he or she is replacing. That way, you can hold him or her accountable after trusting him or her with your vote.

Then maybe we can tally it up and argue about it (over coffee or beer or both or not) and come up with a priority list.

Then if this network is really serious about citizen journalism then maybe we can share our criteria with them. Or not.

Either way, I really would just like to know what you want! Care to share?

The bullshit answer to my question of a title would be: we are the best of us. But even if that is really true still, we all can't be president at the same time. There is a good reason so much responsibility rests on one person. (I think it was a US Supreme Court Justice who said that unlike Congress or the Supreme Court, the President never adjourns because he is super accountable, or something to that effect.) I asked my question of a title anyway because maybe we can help find those candidates. Or not.

Either way, I really would just like to know what you want! Care to share?

(Please don't tell me acai berry pills. Anything else I would not mind.)

because 'torture can save it'

2009-05-12T21:18:00.001+08:00

this is exactly why i once wanted to produce
a pinoy daily show

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Wanda Sykes' Jokes

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

so un-original a concept,
like bringing saturday night live here.
but i'd be having so much fun making it.

now if only...
yes if only.

this right here would not be so bad either.

for lovers only

2009-05-10T22:08:00.000+08:00

i think it was pineds who introduced me
to neo-soul after sharing how he loved
john legend's first album.

the other day
rogue introduced me to last.fm
and last.fm introduced me to maxwell

who, with erykah baduh and d'angelo,
"shaped the neo-soul movement"
according to the youtube page of a bad copy of a good song below.

i was never a one-genre person
and some of my friends find that weird
but neo-soul
will be on the top of my genre list

and maxwell's song reminded me why

This ain't for the ones
That just love for fun
That just love and run
that just hold the gun
This is for
Those that bleed
That want but have no need
This ain't for the war
this is only

For Lovers only

i miss fighting for someone, for something.
i really do.

i was this close to typing rush limbo on the title bar
because it sorta captures the past few days,
and maybe the days to come.

like everything and nothing at the same time.
like a strange page on a bob ong story.

i might youth vote cebu later.
but i don't know. so many things are happening at the same time
and here i am uncertain.

though i will never really ever hate uncertainty. that too
is for lovers only.

Rizal is funny

2009-05-04T03:43:00.000+08:00

and so is Ambeth Ocampo.
every time i read his work i wish i had better random numbers.

i'm halfway through this book
and i felt you needed to know that it exists, if you still haven't.

because the author is right,
there is more to our national hero than we already know.

and this book does not just contain the third novel
but it also talks about many other interesting things.
like how Makamisa is a better work of satire than Noli

imagine that.
(and i know this isn't exactly something to be proud of
but it feels good that Rizal himself had a hard time writing in Tagalog,
proves that every Pinoy has work to do)

i'm making progress on my reading list.
below is an excerpt of the novel (not the book) i got after googling (link here):

Tunay nga't hindi biru-biro lamang ang galit ni P. Agaton.

Nang makamisa at matapos mangalbot ang lahat na isinoot, nakyat sa kombentong dali-dali umupo at mag-aalmusal, at nang mapaso ng tsokolate ay inhagis sa kosinero ang tasa.

Si aleng Anday, na bagong kagagaling sa misa, at suot ang magagaling na hiyas ay sinagupa ng mura at sampal na kaunti nang nagkahulog-hulog. Kaya nga dali-daling nanaog at umuwi sa bahay. Walang makaalam sa buong kombento ng dahilang sukat ikagalit ng kura. Malamig pa ang ulo noong bago magmisa, umimis pa sa sabing marami ang naipagbiling kandila, at kaya nga binigyan pa ng isang salapi ang sakristang mayor. Ano ang namalas habang nagmimisa na hindi niya minagaling? Puno ang simbahan ng tao; ang lalong magagandang dalaga'y nangagluhod na malapit sa altar at si Marcela'y bagaman malayo ay tanaw din ng tanaw sa malayo, katabi ni aleng Anday sa luhuran. Ang sakristyan mayor ay walng sukat masabi.

because swine flu

2009-05-01T03:42:00.000+08:00

is such a topic.
even SPIT came up with an impromptu poem about it earlier

from HuffPost (link here)
must sleep or i'll miss learningcircle and lasertag.
but must share TEDx (link here) with you first.

istyupid #8

2009-04-22T03:40:00.000+08:00

Senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid on Tuesday confirmed his plan to make a political comeback as governor in his home province of Pampanga, revealing as well his plan to recruit Lubao Mayor Dennis Pineda as running mate in the 2010 elections. -Inquirer.net (link here)

now i wonder why i even bothered to read the article. oh well.

the Obameter

2009-04-21T03:40:00.000+08:00

Politifact (link here) just won a Pulitzer
and i was reminded of how useful their

truth-o-meters were during the campaign.
and i admit to not checking them since
november

so when i visited their site again,
i saw this:

the Obameter! nifty (link here)

imagine if we could put up a Gloriameter
though it's too late for that.

we should have one for the next president
or prime minister.

no, president!

istyupid #7

2009-04-19T03:39:00.000+08:00

short-term memory loss? have we forgotten already?

Mr Joseph Convicted Plunderer Estrada,
apologize first then maybe you'll be worth listening to.

Estrada speaks to graduates vs corruption
By Erika Sauler
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:54:00 04/19/2009

MANILA, Philippines – And they said irony was dead.

Although he was ousted in a popular uprising in 2001, convicted of plunder in 2007 and granted executive clemency a month later, former President Joseph Estrada told a class of graduating students to “conquer widespread corruption and cheating in society.”

Estrada was the guest speaker during the 41st commencement exercises of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) on Friday.

In his speech, he joked that in his six years in elementary level, four years in high school and three years in college “lagi akong nakikinig sa professors, ngayon sila naman ang makikinig sa akin [I listened to my professors, now the professors listen to me].”

Perfect speaker

PLM president and United Opposition spokesman Adel Tamano said Estrada, although a college dropout, was the “perfect” graduation speaker because he was an example of a leader.

Estrada, who had hinted he might once again run for president, recently came up with a tentative list of senatorial candidates that included Tamano.

In his speech, the former president hit the Arroyo administration, saying corruption scandals had taken a toll on the country’s economy along with the global financial crisis.

Estrada, who turns 72 today, was ousted from Malacañang in 2001 by EDSA II, paving the way for then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to assume the presidency.

Ms Arroyo pardoned Estrada a month after the Sandiganbayan convicted him of plunder in 2007.

Series of scandals

“Funds for the poor go to the pockets of corrupt government officials under this administration,” Estrada said, referring to the $329-million National Broadband Network scandal, the $2-million extortion case of former Justice Secretary Hernani Perez and the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.

“Naghihirap na nga ang mga magsasaka, ninanakawan pa [The farmers are already poor, yet this administration continues to steal from them],” he added.

“In the present crisis, government is not the solution to the problem because the government is the problem,” he said, quoting his “idol” former US President Ronald Reagan.

Estrada also asked the graduates to continue learning and to study why the country remained poor despite alleged programs for poverty alleviation.

“Bakit hindi umuunlad ang bansa kahit matatalino ang mga Filipino? (Why is the country not moving forward when Filipinos are smart?),” he said.

English this way

Estrada noted: “Panay nga ang Ingles eh. Wala naman kasi sa Inglesan yan [They speak English fluently. But progress does not depend on your ability to speak English well].”

While he criticized the Arroyo administration for neglecting the education sector, he extolled his own donations for scholarship programs. He said the Erap Para sa Mahirap Foundation had so far produced 12,000 graduates.

He said he had set up measures to make education affordable for the youth because an “uneducated people results in a weak society.”

Final message

Estrada lamented that Filipinos were forced to work as domestic helpers abroad due to lack of employment opportunities at home. He said this made foreigners think that Filipinos could only perform menial jobs, citing Chip Tsao, the Hong Kong columnist who labeled the Philippines as “a nation of servants.”

“Kailan tayo makakaahon sa kahirapan? Kailan maitatawid ang mahihirap sa kalbaryo ng gutom? Kailan maibabangon ang ating dignidad sa mata ng ibang bansa? [When do we rise up from poverty? When do we liberate our people from hunger? When do we reclaim our dignity in the eyes of the world]?” he said.

Estrada gave this final message to the graduates: “We must rebuild this country today or we may not have a country to be proud of tomorrow.”

like rising from the dead

2009-04-12T03:38:00.000+08:00

it's a struggle really.
at times, a huge one. but always
so interesting

like a friend request from someone you haven't seen for a decade
like a childhood dream moments after you realize it is realizable

all this time.
like a song that pops out of nowhere telling you exactly the opposite of what you want to hear
like a text from some past i'd rather not remember
like an event that will happen every year even without you

especially now, without you.
like a place you never really liked but a flash of its name on a screen then you're back there

you still don't like it there
you still don't want to remember. you don't have to
you don't understand any of it. you really don't want to remember

but it's done.
you've remembered

and you may hate how
the request, the dream,
the song, the text,
the event, the place

could all come rushing back all at the same time
but you know for sure
there's no point hating forever.

sooner or later, you love
the sooner the better

and you remember all over again.

Say the words
And I'll lift into the air
Carry me on
And I'll stay forever
I'm ready Father
Take my hand
I'm ready Father
To fly, to fly
Fly
-Jason Robert Brown, Flying Home
official site here

homecoming

2009-04-10T03:37:00.000+08:00

i was in the middle of an american pie marathon

when ma told me to watch

this JesCom special on pilgrimages,

particularly this one with Bishop Tagle

across four countries

and after everything, i had this strange longing to read

Henri Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son

again but i left my copy in manila and so

i googled.

found this blog with an excerpt (link here) pasted below.

"As the Beloved of my heavenly Father...

Having 'received without charge', I can 'give without charge'.
I can confront, console, admonish, and encourage
without fear of rejection or need for affirmation.

As the Beloved, I can suffer persecution
without desire for revenge
and receive praise without using it as proof of my goodness.

As the Beloved, I can be tortured and killed without ever having to doubt
that the love given to me is stronger than death.

As the Beloved,
I am free to live and give life,
free also to die while giving life."
-Henri Nouwen

i honestly don't miss those holy week moments

where i would get so overwhelmed by the wrong notion

that Jesus died again. and again the year after.

and that by sunday, two days after, all is well again.

but i'm grateful that we're given the moment

to be reminded that He actually did.

and that He loved us first.

i miss the book.

nudging our weight

2009-04-08T03:37:00.000+08:00

you know it's a good book when it moves you to actually do something.

today, shanon and i made a pact:
reach a body fat percentage of 12
and whoever lost less fat whenever one challenges the other
had to pay the other a thousand bucks

our official body fat calculator is here
our official inspiration is here
our inspiration's online commitment store is here

i read about them in a book which has a blog here

there is a new yorker article about it here

the book is seriously worth your time
i know the subtitle sounds really cheesy and mlah
but the book is filled with moments.
and i'm only in part two of five.

graduation speaker, check

2009-04-01T03:34:00.001+08:00

even Mr Calasanz found it funny
but they went on with it anyway.

so there i was straight from the airport
being asked to "inspire" high school, grade school,
and (the best part)
prep graduates from my alma mater
marie ernestine school, where i studied 'til grade six.

i said yes, primarily for my mom.
i knew she'd love the whole bit.
she did seem to. even the colorful musical after.

anyway back at the airport in manila
and since i was six hours early for my flight,
i did manage to bump on sleepy people as hoped
but not on a stranger.

i bumped on Mr Acosta
and we had a lovely chat. apparently,
he was supposed to be one of the judges for that
eco-business award category for the hsbc contest.
small world

easy to realize that when you're in an airport.
strange encounters are funny.

strange requests too.
such as that graduation speech.
school founder Dr Fajatin wants a copy
but the one i gave was very different from what i prepared.

you see, i forgot the whole prep-six-year-olds thing and
decided minutes before my bit that i change stuff.
i changed a lot. the toddlers were uneasy.
and the spotlight didn't help.

good thing the theater wasn't so unfamiliar.
even Kuya Virgilio, the school aid ever since first grade was there.

much love, actually.

pushed, nudged

2009-03-30T03:33:00.000+08:00

link to today's Inquirer editorial. oh so true

got two books from fully booked (alan greenspan and thomas friedman books are on sale, 40% off, apparently they overstocked)

these should be interesting. convinced my tito to get his own copy of first, break all the rules too.

istyupid #6

2009-03-25T03:33:00.000+08:00

Mikey [Arroyo] said that there was no reason to declare the Con-ass [as a means for Charter Change] “dead” until he and the rest of the 180 congressmen who had signed the Con-ass resolution had taken their names off the list of endorsers.

-Inquirer.net (link here)

this guy acts like he owns the country.
darling, i own it too.

and so do the other eighty billion plus plus

fanboy moment

2009-03-24T03:32:00.000+08:00

that's what steph called it.

you see, i shared to her how
more than meeting mr blair

i really wanted to go and tell mr carandang
that he is doing a good job. past political exposes and all

i ended up telling him he did
as we talked about the event he moderated.

you see, it was largely thanks to
an article about him (link here)
that i am hooked on

rogue the magazine

which is now online. woohoo

rogue.ph

yet another fanboy moment
woopdidoo

TED on Adam Savage's obsessions

2009-03-23T03:30:00.000+08:00

Adam Savage: My quest for the dodo bird, and other obsessions

wait for it. wait for it.
the ending. wait for it.

another good find from x. thanks x.
enjoy exams.

an Amateur and a Dilettante

2009-03-22T09:30:00.001+08:00

i got my roommate to borrow two books from the library for me.
thanks shanon.

interestingly enough, both seem to share tips
that can help me with my next assignment, my job.

one is christopher locke's gonzo marketing.
while i'm not too sold on his gonzo model,
the book has moments.
some funny ones, some whoa-cool-i-want-to-look-at-it-like-that ones.

here's a favorite (rarely will i encode four paragraphs from a book but i thought paraphrasing it would be too polite):

The concept of gonzo marketing would never have come together at all if I'd had to rigorously research every damn thread we're about to touch on. Will some of these lead us into curious intellectual culs-de-sac? Yeah, probably. Are you likely to encounter grievous gaffes and disquieting half truths? Sure, but what else is new? By screwing up royally here, I hope to provide a new kind of model demonstrating to business that it not only can, but must move beyond its unhealthy fear of error and imprecision. Today, it is certainty that is not an option. Failure is almost guaranteed.

In addition to being a sort of indie-Indy, I also think of myself as An Amateur and a Dilettante. The caps are there to echo the title of the movie, An Officer and a Gentleman--though as you're already finding out, I'm neither. At its heart, gonzo is animated by an attitude of deeply principled anti-professionalism in the best sense. And there is a best sense. Historian and former Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin once wrote: "Democracy is government by amateurs.... The survival of our society depends on the vitality of the amateur spirit... The representative of the people ... must be wary of becoming a professional politician."

Here, amateur clearly doesn't mean incompetent or unskilled. It doesn't mean unprofessional. But professional-ism is something altogether else. Over time, any functional specialization tends to forget its relationship with the larger social context it was created to work within and serve. Instead, it concentrates on developing an inner sanctum of specialists who talk among themselves in a private language inaccessible to outsiders. Almost without exception, such professionals despise amateurs. Or worse, accord them a patronizing form of faux eye-rolling patience.

Related to "amateur" is the even more pejorative term "dilettante"--someone who practices a craft or studies a field of knowledge in which he or she is not a "recognized professional." But the etymological roots of these words tell a different story. Amateurs do what they do for love (from the Latin amare), while dilettantes are not mere casual dabblers, but instead are inspired by delight (from the Italian dilettare by way of the Latin delectare). But delight and passion for the work are precisely the qualities professionals tend to lose first. The opposite of professionalism is what Zen master Shunryu Suzuki called "beginner's mind"--an ability to look at the world with fresh eyes and an open spirit.

easier said than done.
my reminder posted june 12 2006 (link here)

will be severely needed.

a speller on the bee

2009-03-19T10:08:00.000+08:00

jaja texted past midnight
that atlantis needed guest spellers
for their 2pm technical dress rehearsal.

i said game!
and along with jill and reb,
we were spellers for a really interesting spelling bee.

it was so much fun!
blueREP did this before and so i knew i would love the material
but seeing a new cast do it this time was cool.

i will watch again. you should too!

just to brag

2009-03-17T23:01:00.000+08:00

true to his blog being on
preview magazine's style bible website,

rajo laurel
pointed out our wearing of
the barong tagalog! tihee

full blogpost here, excerpt below:

The gold goes to the group called BELEAVERS! The business idea was creating semi-disposable plates from fallen coconut leaves! I loved the energy of their presentation and the banter between the two presenters were really in-sync. I also like the BARONG Tagalog outfits,as the rest of the groups were in suits. These young men stood out for me because they wore the national shirt! Plus they really had a SOLID business idea! For this, they win a whopping 300,000.00 pesos!!!! Plus the honor to represent the country in the international Young Entrepreneur Awards to be held in Hong Kong! Congratulations guys! I know that you will do very very well in the international finals!

TED on good design

2009-03-15T17:02:00.000+08:00

Don Norman: The three ways that good design makes you happy

Sesame Street explains the Madoff Scandal

2009-03-15T15:34:00.000+08:00

from a huffpost article (link here)

our common wealth

2009-03-15T10:13:00.000+08:00

i thought i'd mark the moment
with a book

and i found this

no idea if it's any good
but it has a lot of stuff
that translates into numbers
all that we see and feel today,
thanks to so much change.

buying this and eating alone after
was good me-time

before yesterday's string of events.

finished a strains engagement with
new vision and mission drafts as output.
met up with older student council people
and talked and talked and drank and talked for 6 hours.
learned something new with
the learning circle boys over more food and more
better-tasting beer.

must finish that installation.

Blair & Lowney

2009-03-10T23:25:00.001+08:00

my last week
as an undergraduate student
is so cooool.

monday will feature
Tony Blair
who will speak during the ateneo-mvp sesquicentennial leadership forum

friday will feature
Chris Lowney
who will speak during the graduation rites

and there's John Legend
on the thursday but
i'm not as excited about that anymore.

woopdidoo.

istyupid #5

2009-03-09T23:23:00.000+08:00

our ombudsman thinks clenching our fists while singing Bayan Ko is offensive.
her being our ombudsman is a thousand times more offensive.

Ombudsman irked by Villa-Ignacio’s clenched fist at flag ceremony

03/09/2009 | 10:00 PM

Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez lost her cool again Monday after seeing Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio making a clenched fist during the morning’s flag raising ceremony.

An informant said Gutierrez summoned her lead prosecutor into a room and gave him a full dressing down.

Reached by phone, Villa-Ignacio confirmed the incident.

“Pinagalitan ako kasi bakit daw nagtaas ako ng clenched fist during the singing of ‘Bayan Ko’. I don’t know why she got angry, to me it was simply a patriotic gesture. It was such a meaningful song," the special prosecutor said.

Aside from the clenched fist, Villa-Ignacio said he was also accosted for showing up Monday when he made no appearance on other days.

“I explained to her that I try to attend when I can. On those days when I could not make it, I was on leave mostly for medical reasons and at other times, I have important official appointments to attend to. It seems strange that I get scolded for attending the flag ceremony and when I don’t show up, I also get reprimanded. It’s getting confusing," he said.

Villa-Ignacio has accused Gutierrez of harassing him for his criticism of her policies in the handling of the more controversial cases before the Office of the Ombudsman.

He questioned the Ombudsman for endorsing administrative complaints against him despite alleged lack of basis, including an estafa charge for donation money that went to the Gawad Kalinga Foundation.

He has also blamed Gutierrez for the plummeting credibility of her office and the sharp decline of the agency’s conviction rate against erring government officials.

Gutierrez went on attack against her critics last week after an impeachment complaint was filed against her before the House of Representatives alleging that she coddled respondents in big cases when those involved are close to the Arroyo administration.

She chided former Social Welfare Secretary Corazon ‘Dinky’ Soliman, saying the latter should concentrate on the colored highlights in her hair rather than painting political colors on the rulings of the Ombudsman.

She also questioned the motive of former Senate President Jovito Salonga for leading the impeachment initiative and joked about his advanced age. - GMANews.TV

jitters creepers

2009-03-08T14:48:00.000+08:00

sometimes you wonder why you were worried in the first place.
you realize you were just concerned.

and a little concern every now and then never hurts.
that is why we get opening day jitters
or why we have i-really-want-this-job kind of job interview jitters
or why we look forward to hope-the-tailor-got-it-right jitters

but jitters can go over the top too.
the bart guingona himself shared his "secret" and he calls it

the status transaction
or how we be mindful of a switch in status
every time we go on stage.

he says we have to look at it as if your audience,
no matter how worthy of admiration they are,
can definitely learn something from you.

i say it's a good way of addressing status anxiety,
if you have any.

he said it during technical rehearsals for hsbc eco-business award presentations
and my fingers are crossed for the final presentations this thursday.

a little concern goes a long way.

letting go of the Rizal library

2009-03-06T09:05:00.001+08:00

i am not fully cleared just yet
but as i returned the last book
i borrowed from the library
before having my clearance signed
i realized

nooooo. sigh.
no more hassle-free borrowing of books from the library
no more paying of five pesos for every day overdue
no more sneaking out of class to check ebsco or euromonitor
no more building (or the old building i've been entering since 2004)

i pray the new Rizal library
would really be a "cathedral of learning"
but for now i say bye-bye.

off to another job interview
and just so i don't forget the current climate,
the huffingtonpost reminds me
of today's "blue-chip blues"

and how "longtime safe investments are now akin to penny stocks" (link here).

just the kind of news you want to read before an interview.

Janina San Miguel on the Sumilao Farmers

2009-03-03T19:19:00.000+08:00

this issue needs all the buzz it can get.

Time	Activities
8:30 AM	Set up time
9:30 AM	Commencement Mass
10:30 AM	Hunger act, Resource mobilization, Runner for CARPER
5:30 PM	Noise barrage/ Candle-lighting ceremony outside Gate 2.5
6:30 PM	Non Fasters’ dinner
7:30 PM onwards	Evening Socials and Vigil
March 5
9:00 AM	Preparation for Mass
10:30 AM	Culminating Mass
11:30 AM	Salu-salo
12:30 PM	Processing

Learn more about CARPER through: http://thefinalstand.multiply.com/ or http://carpernow.multiply.com/.

THE FINAL STAND (by R.Lance Chua, II AB MEC):
Stuff you can do on March 4-5 [wednesday and thursday]

1. Sign the petition at Zen Garden
2. Run for the cause! *check more info at thefinalstand.multiply.com
3. Be a fasting/hunger act participant!
4. Solidarity night on March 4
5. Mag-ingay ka! Noise Barrage!
6. DONATE: money, used clothes and medicine!

islands banca!

2009-03-02T11:35:00.000+08:00

Link got this from ria (thanks ria)

i think it's about time someone triumphantly declared

CEBU HAS ISLAND HOPPING!

pretty nifty packages at that,

just check out islandsbanca.com

must plan summer soon.

4am and smiling

2009-02-28T23:03:00.000+08:00

earlier today i was late for some presentation skills workshop for that hsbc competition, with my head hurting, what with all the stuff i was doing hours before--

saying no to a towel-after-a-shower request being one of them.
earlier today too was my witnessing, for the last time, of an induction ceremony for the next set of officers of the org i truly love.

sentimental, yes (heck the ride home with gabe was full of sentimental takes of my future)
but sweet and swell nonetheless.

the world is a better place
with student trainers in it.

the workshop earlier that i was late for proves that.
the ceremony we were singing for proves that.
the not-so-innocent post-ceremony drunken sharing proves that.

one of those days that
i can look back to and say:
karl can smile and he can smile well.

just in case he forgets how to. which i doubt.
smiles. woohoo

heres to hoping judges like lance gokongwei and rajo laurel
will be nice to us (full list of whoa-y hsbc contest judges here)

'the musical is back'

2009-02-25T22:50:00.000+08:00

sure there were ASAP/SOP moments here and there
but i thought the sequence was full of energy
and worth a good number of smiles.

and fingers crossed for the musical.

'Reagan resurrected', only better

2009-02-25T12:50:00.000+08:00

my last oral exam was given by
the Bobby Guevara
and towards the end, he asked me about how we make the oppressed, those who are suffering, have a sense of God's love. and like in the midterms, i said that any answer would just sound patronizing.

times like that i wish i had Obama's talent, which he shares once again in his first speech to congress (transcript here, comments here). dang. some parts i liked the most i copy below.

on education reform
It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work. But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It's not just quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country - and this country needs and values the talents of every American. That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

on torture
To overcome extremism, we must also be vigilant in upholding the values our troops defend - because there is no force in the world more powerful than the example of America. That is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists - because living our values doesn't make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger. And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture.

on what inspires him
I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn't tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ''I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn't feel right getting the money myself."

I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community - how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. "The tragedy was terrible," said one of the men who helped them rebuild. "But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity."

And I think about Ty'Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina - a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters."

TED on Benjamin Button

2009-02-24T22:00:00.000+08:00

Ed Ulbrich: How Benjamin Button got his face

like x: amazing. thanks for sharing, x.

in a haystack

2009-02-24T12:20:00.000+08:00

was reading the jan/feb 2009 issue of the Atlantic
in the library and found a poem by Andrea Cohen

In a Haystack

A needle must feel
deeply needled, ill-
suited to its skin,
to leave its arrow-
straight ways,
to stray
into a haystack,
to mean to lose
or find itself
in that soft
tangle, to fill
its one good eye
with the gold
filament of pasture,
to imagine
itself pillow
to the weary,
supper to bell-
necklaced goats.
A needle like that?
It would be
criminal even
to report
it missing.

and don't forget YOUR final stand (link here)

finally, YOUR Final Stand

2009-02-23T20:58:00.000+08:00

WE'LL TAKE WHATEVER YOU CAN GIVE!

But we highly suggest that you...

1. Blog and spread the word

The Internet has made entirely new forms of social interaction, activities and organizing possible because of its widespread usability and access. And according to World Internet Stats, as of June 30, 2008, 1.463 billion people use the Internet!

So link THE FINAL STAND (click me!) to your Facebook profiles and Y!M statuses, share this site on Plurk, blog about the issue and the movement on your LiveJournal--the possibilities are endless!

Become a fan! The Final Stand is on Facebook!

Other sites you can look at to educate yourselves about the issue:

http://carpernow.multiply.com

YOU CAN POST YOUR OWN THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS TOO!

Just send in your blog entries together with:

- your name, year&course

- your photo

- a paragraph profile about you (hobbies? philosophy in life? dream? beliefs? favorite song or food? basta short background :P)

to: thefinalstand09@yahoo.com

2. Donate cash, clothes, medicines, food, etc for the farmers.

Lahat ng volunteers sari-sariling resources ang binibigay! That’s why we need all the help we can get! We will be needing your time and effort for the success of this great cause!

For inquiries, contact:

Cheenee Otarra at cheeneex@gmail.com

Rob Roque at robroque07@yahoo.com

Kurt Cendana at kurtcendana@gmail.com

You can also forward your inquiries to thefinalstand.multiply.com :)

We need YOU! :)

3. Sign the petition for the passage of CARPER

Petition booths will be set up in Zen and Gate 2.5 on March 4-5

PASS CARPER NOW!!

4. Join the solidarity night on March 4

Strength in numbers! Our situation calls for us to be in communion where we can share all that we are and, indeed, become all that we are meant to be. Human Solidarity is something that we labor to build by fighting injustice!

Join us and get educated on the urgency of CARPER!

Because YOU WILL get AFFECTED.

5. Light a candle on March 4, at 6:00PM; outside Gate 2.5

If you pass by the gate everyday on the way home, or if you can’t join us on Solidarity Night, let your voices be heard by lighting a candle and offering a prayer.

Never underestimate the power of prayer! It is through prayers that we speak our hope; that we open windows for God’s transforming grace in the world!

Light a candle. Say a prayer.

6. Be one of the fasting/hunger act participants

Think you can handle 24 hours without a single meal? Join us and be a hunger-actor! KAYANG-KAYA MO YAN!

7. Run for a Cause on March 4

Can’t commit to the 24-hour hunger act? RUN for the CARPER cause instead! Get that much-needed exercise while doing it for a good cause!

Help us get the word around…LITERALLY!

* * *

No effort is too small!

It is exactly the smallness of these gestures that make them speak more powerfully.

For our farmers, theirs is the story which tells of the moment when there’s no more story to tell—when the future disappeared for them.

Let us remember the clash of power of brute force and the power of the weak and vulnerable—the clash of the power of Pilate and the power of Christ. Let this FINAL STAND be an initiative of trust that, in Christ,justice and solidarity will prevail in ways we cannot guess or anticipate.

Let this movement be a sign of hope; a hope that this anguish can also be faced with clarity…that this may bear fruit.

FOR THE SENIORS:

Let this be YOUR FINAL STAND as Ateneans! Itodo mo na!

FOR THE UNDERGRADS:

Make this YOUR FINAL STAND for the school year.

FOR THE FACULTY and the ADMINISTRATION:

Let this be YOUR venue to act as true LEADERS and MENTORS to your students. A true embodiment of learning that is not just confined within lecture halls and classrooms.

FOR THE STAFF:

Let this be YOUR venue to show that SERVICE goes beyond your actual job descriptions. Make YOUR FINAL STAND through this EYE-AWAKENING SERVICE.

FOR THE ALUMNI:

Rekindle the real Atenean inside by championing not just the sport but the values of cura personalis and being persons-for-and-with-others. Make this YOUR STAND.

It's time we show our unity as ONE COMMUNITY.

Let us be men-and-women-for-others.

SIGN-UPS WILL BE HAPPENING SOON!

Watch out for it!

From The Final Stand site :-)

breakfast at two

2009-02-22T09:54:00.000+08:00

woke up past noontime
with quite a task before me:

figuring out
what to do with the rest of my life.

you put it like that
and you're bound not to have any good answers.
so i ended up reminiscing instead.

bad move.
anyway, it seemed a good idea to end
stages of love
by doing four shows in one day. yesterday.

i didn't know i had to do it with
just an hour's worth of sleep though
and a training-lecture in between.

i must say
it was one of my most favorite lectures ever
of the many that i've done as a strainer.
but it was in marikina.

so in that small hour
between my 230pm and my 5pm show,
isa and leo had to figure out
how to bring me to marikina and back

just in time
for our final performance in school.
well worth the risk.
loved every single minute of it.

and of stages of love too.
the official run has officially ended. wow.

the task before me suddenly seems
more pressing.

academic earth

2009-02-20T09:48:00.000+08:00

i'm a huge fan of TED.
and if you haven't yet, you should check it out.

but i was reading articles on slate when i bumped on
an article on Academic Earth.

wow.
thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars.
and so i registered.

'cause there's a thomas friedman lecture called the world is flat 3.0
there's a guy kawasaki lecture called silicon valley 4.0
there's a barry nalebuff lecture called why not?,
based i'm assuming on his wonderful book of the same name

the videos are rather lengthy though,
they are class lectures after all.

but it sure beats staring at facebook status updates.
lifelong learning here we come!

TED on the real crisis

2009-02-19T18:25:00.000+08:00

if you have just time for one TED talk
out of the three i recently posted,

you have to watch this! please.

Barry Schwartz: The real crisis? We stopped being wise

watching all three and more won't hurt.
watching this over and over won't hurt either.

TED on Homo evolutis

2009-02-19T18:22:00.000+08:00

Juan Enriquez: Beyond the crisis, mindboggling science and the arrival of Homo evolutis

this is an update to his talk four years ago
after sharing as the future catches you

turns out his point years ago still holds true.

TED on Siftables the toy

2009-02-19T18:19:00.000+08:00

this is super cool!
again, oh the possibilities.

David Merrill: Siftables, the toy blocks that think

oh the possibilities.

the mountain's other side

2009-02-19T10:48:00.000+08:00

below is a personal reflection
of an immersion experience for liberation theology class

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was not difficult to turn around and, after three days in Calisitan, Nueva Ecija with the Igorots, just say goodbye. But what I find more disconcerting is the reality that life goes on for all six of my brothers and sister. I did not go and look forward to changing anyone’s life in the community but it was sad to hear Nanay Merlyn say: Wala na naman silang kalaro.

All six of my brothers and sisters would have been left with no one but themselves to play with, yet again. Their closest neighbors are an hour’s hike away. Three of them would have to walk perilously to school and back home yet again. Their school is an hour and a half’s hike away. Yes there are six of them in the family but they hardly talk, even to each other, and their parents think it is because of the seclusion and the resulting zero possibility to engage with others. Yes they go to school but because the hike home is long and dangerous, they hardly have time to mingle with their schoolmates. In short, they simply are not used to talking to anyone about anything. I wonder how these kids can tell their story, something I think they need to do.

The school tries. The only girl among the siblings shares the Christmas song she memorized in school, after thirty minutes of playful pleading. But because the school has only one teacher, the little girl shares the class with her elder brother and, in a few months, with her younger brother.

The parents work hard too. Tatay Danny proudly shares the land they own and how everyone in the family helps in the farming. Meanwhile, Nanay Merlyn shares her skills in weaving baskets and other saleable goods. But both of them have health conditions that hang on a delicate balance. Pretty soon, the episode wherein Nanay Merlyn had to be rushed to a hospital hours away in Nueva Ecija might just happen again to either one of them. They do not have enough money for the medicines that can prevent this episode from reoccurring.

It is easy to dismiss their story as something we already have heard before. But what struck me most was the attitude, the resilience that I saw in them. When contemplating about the life in the mountains as compared to life in the city, Tatay Danny had this to say: Ibang istilo lang ang pamumuhay dito. That summed it up for me.

As a story that is very similar to that of many other Filipino families I have encountered, say of a Sumilao farmer or a single parent in the Payatas dumpsite, it was easy to find the life of Tatay Danny and his family as one of misery and despair. But their attitude demands that I rethink this. Theirs is but a different style of living, one not any less than the style and convenience I am used to in the city. It is a different style with its own disadvantages as seen in the little access to basic needs. But it is a style with its own advantages too. That side of their life that is so much part of how Tatay Danny summed it up for me.

The community program ended at around midnight. I was hoping it would last until early in the morning so we would have daylight at least to help us go home. But no! With their month-old baby around Tatay Danny’s arms, Nanay Merlyn and my five little brothers and sister before me, we walked home with only the full moon and the one small flashlight of my immersion partner to light the way. It took us longer than usual, about two hours. It was a slow hike, one that allowed me to see the stars like I have never seen them before and to wonder about the immensity of nature surrounding us. Clearly an experience only this style of living could provide. This style has its own problems and so life goes on for all six of my brothers and sisters. But it is a style no less ennobling, a side of being secluded I never expected to see.

finally

2009-02-17T15:09:00.000+08:00

we made it to the finals!

and i think all of the top 5 teams are from ateneo.

woohoo

failed to take a bath today

thanks to my oversleeping

in between finishing that lengthy theology paper

and also for staying glued to the results announcement page.

but after writing that immersion report,

i realized that aside from two more oral exams,

a handful of reflection papers

and this long overdue art installation

undergraduate life (at least for this particular degree)

would be over. hermshmermlerm

dejermlermshplerm snormiloodadoo

and then what?

smile.

good thing rogue's new issue is here.

at long last.

an entrepreneur's touch

2009-02-16T21:11:00.000+08:00

a business of my own
was always what i had in mind ever since high school.

so it was interesting to be in a room full of like-minded individuals
earlier today for that hsbc competition.

we will find out in a few hours if we make it to the finals
and i honestly am really anxious about it.

which is okay 'cause it's helping me stay up
for this theology paper.
this song from spring awakening
is helping me stay up too.

ever since marvin shared the soundtrack the other day,
i've been awestruck with its beauty
and that my roommates find it beautiful too
is good.

Where I go, when I go there,
No more memory anymore-
Only men on distant ships,
The women with them, swimming with them, to shore...
-Touch Me

TED on decoding with genomics

2009-02-15T13:06:00.000+08:00

Juan Enriquez: Decoding the future with genomics

his choice of slide colors can be bad
but the guy who wrote
as the future catches you,
an amazing amazing book

shares his take on the future
most compellingly.

on genomics: it's free, no one is reading.

thanks for the info, x.

love happens when you don't look for it

2009-02-14T11:20:00.000+08:00

i know someone who stopped looking.
i'm just not so sure if he's all the better for it.

his defense went well.
he has a show in four hours,
a recollection in twenty.

he is well-loved
and i'm sure he's all the better for it.

oh shpadoinkle

2009-02-12T04:11:00.000+08:00

we all know how crazy politics can get
but i was wondering:

maybe if we had bob cesca's attitude
(at least in this essay of his, link here)
then more of us would be more engaged.
i think.

an excerpt with more links:

the Republicans appear to be reflexively coughing up the most intellectually violent chunks of hooey on record.
They're screaming about fear-mongering, even though we had eight years of this.
They're screaming about fiscal responsibility, even though we had eight years of this.
They're screaming about free speech, even though we had eight years of this and this and this.

They're honest to God screaming about fascism, even though we had eight years of this and this and this.

and to "have so much fun to watch" all these
makes for a better disposition
than just backing off
or taking no part
or shutting up
or pure apathy.

to be totally apathetic
something so increasingly hard
yet so disturbingly easy to do.

making melodies

2009-02-10T14:52:00.000+08:00

you know you're making progress

when the normal hi
is now a high-pitched hi.

either you made an impression
or shared a confession,

point is
you are making progress.

and just when i thought
sharing the story was such a bad idea,
the story came to life.

back to doing the show tomorrow.
can't can't wait.

makati job interview before that
and a resolution to a double-booking after

about Doubt

2009-02-08T17:40:00.000+08:00

i was pretty sure
i won't get to drag the learning circle guys i normally watch movies with
to this one

so i watched it by myself.
i say, you better catch it onstage, as a play.
atlantis, the guys behind avenue q, did it years ago.

though you don't want to miss meryl streep, philip seymour hoffman
and that lady who played mrs miller. the way they came up with nuances
for their characters. worth the wait.

but i guess that's what dvds are for.

for some strange reason, i miss rehearsing for stages of love.
and i was pretty sentimental
giving that discernment speech to strainers who are thinking about
stepping up for the org.

ho hum.

iron fail

2009-02-06T21:21:00.000+08:00

because yesterday
was a really really fun day

BWAHAHAHAHA. love it.

'Gates releases more bugs into the world'

2009-02-05T21:49:00.000+08:00

excerpt below from an afp article (link here)

one more goal in life:
attend a TED conf!
fingers crossed.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Microsoft founder turned disease-battling philanthropist Bill Gates loosed mosquitoes at an elite Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Conference to make a point about the deadly sting of malaria.

"Malaria is spread by mosquitoes," Gates said while opening a jar onstage at a gathering known to attract technology kings, politicians, and Hollywood stars.

"I brought some. Here I'll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected."

Gates waited a minute or so before assuring the audience the liberated insects were malaria-free.

TED curator Chris Anderson fired back at the legendary computer software maker, joking that the headline for the video of his talk to be posted online at Ted.com would be "Gates releases more bugs into the world."

stranger in the crowd

2009-02-05T08:37:00.000+08:00

saw steve's shared post of this superbowl coke ad

smile.

stranger in the crowd.
the song's elvis presley's (full lyrics here)
but this version is cee-lo's,
according to a youtube comment

I was watching all the people
Passing by me, going places
Just the loneliest guy in the town
Looking for a friendly smile
But all that I could see were faces

And then, just like the taste of milk and honey
I found the stranger I'd been looking for
The way my cup of love was overflowing
I knew the stranger in the crowd
And I would be strangers no more

there are many stages

2009-02-04T17:42:00.000+08:00

only had three hours of sleep today
(years ago, doing an all-nighter was too easy;
these days i just can't seem to do it anymore)
thanks to papers

and bad old procrastination.
sleeplessness could not stop
anyone from enjoying

opening night though!
woohoo

i know i won't forget
but i repeat it to myself:

this cast may have so many quirks
both cute and not so cute
but it is a bomb working with them.

good good way to end the school year.
i wonder if you're watching

wants to pee

2009-02-02T16:54:00.000+08:00

if only the waiting part
didn't feel like
you're about to wet your pants

if only the wetting part
didn't smell like
some nasty, stinky plant

if only if only
the comfort room's
this close

then no terror
my junior
won't be as morose

anyway
you really should watch the trailers of
the next x men and transformers movies

watching my weight

2009-02-01T15:53:00.001+08:00

literally. my belly says hello.
been called a dad for it already. twice.

and that tangigue and that czech beer last night aren't helping.
nor the blueberry pancakes the night before.

and to think there are better things
to watch out for.

like the future.

i think you should read it.
it's riddled with seemingly useless trivia
like how they hire three people for each executive post in zimbabwe because they know two of them will die with aids
or how the japanese have invented cars the size of a grain of rice that actually work for real
or how you can patent whole animals now as your own invention or whatever.

but it's all to paint the big picture that is the future and how
"genomics and other forces are changing your life, work, health and wealth"

really really cool.
other things to watch out for?

why of course.
when are you watching?

remindables

2009-01-31T10:02:00.002+08:00

we really do need a lot of reminding.

i shared how my presentation was a presentation

i already presented to others before,

this time it was for ajma’s leadership summit

(my third talk for them, my second for this particular annual event)

and the presentation was littered with “daw”s, literally.

stuff shared to me that I now share with them.

now I’m waiting for four people

who I have worked with in that task of reminding—

ging lizzie luis mica of the social concern committee, circa 2007

and as I wait for them

i came across two opinion articles

from the inquirer that proves how much reminding

we need (today’s editoral, link here; ms monsod’s article, link here)

we need a lot of reminding.

one that does not numb us all the more

but one that makes us jump off our seats.

pity my presentation didn’t quite make that cut.

will save that reminder for my self.

stop and stare

2009-01-29T08:52:00.000+08:00

i think the song's title says it all.
got it from aaron. pretty cool

Oren Lavie's Her Morning Elegance

And She fights for her life
As she puts on her coat
And she fights for her life on the train
She looks at the rain
As it pours
And she fights for her life
As she goes in a store
With a thought she has caught
By a thread
She pays for the bread
And She goes
Nobody knows

(lyrics here)

compulsory voting

2009-01-28T14:57:00.001+08:00

while looking for things i can share
for tomorrow's alternative class program session,

i read in wikipedia that
they have compulsory voting
in australia, belgium and brazil.

how interesting.

in australia, if you fail to vote without a good enough excuse,
you pay up to $70. if you fail to pay,
you end up in court.

do we need it here?
i really don't think so.
i think not voting is a vote too.

but not registering, i think that's slightly different.
so why register?

because you never know who will be running for office
until around two months before elections.
registration period ends five months before that.

you will never know that you have no one to vote for
until after you realize you can no longer register.

back in 2007, we were arguing (really really arguing) in sanggu
as to whether we should place a cash incentive
for voter registration.

i fought for a particular kind.
one that rewards a random block for having many registered voters.
like some raffle.
i thought of it not as some reward for having the most registrants
but as some form of promotions,
just a gimmick to make people talk about this duty to register.

we ended up with jeeps
room-to-room appeals
and a handful of jeepney passengers.

i wonder what we will have next

TED on inventing

2009-01-27T10:12:00.000+08:00

Woody Norris: Inventing the next amazing thing

"Almost nothing has been invented yet."

neat.

romanticizing romance

2009-01-26T13:28:00.000+08:00

eight hours
and the eight hours after

you have eight left
to call it a day,
though it hardly deserves
to be called one.

night really.
and like some wii game
where you can paint the sun
with a stroke of the brush,

you don't.
you didn't need it.
you paint a circle
by the ribbon on a tree
so the cherry flowers
may bloom

light sober

2009-01-24T20:13:00.000+08:00

that it's not that hard to let go
that it's not that heavy to take it all in
that a little vice could help you
paint a little virtue

and that sometime somewhere
a little taste of your own pill
isn't so bitter, isn't so sweet
and so you take it all in.

pastiche

2009-01-23T16:17:00.000+08:00

you know that scene in alfie
right after jude law hands susan sarandon
his business card

and that scene in avenue q
where princeton screams:
it's a sign!

try putting that together
and add a small amount of
maestro, that opening score
by hans zimmer from the holiday

and that's how this weekend starts.
an actual weekend.
i think.

life and art and life,
funny how they tease each other

God is home

2009-01-22T20:05:00.001+08:00

God is home
it is we who take a walk.

classes on liberal theology under mr bobby guev
are for keeps. or better yet, they are for sharing.

one example is this prodigal son lecture
we're currently in the middle of.
where those lines are to be found.

and as my seatmate would put it:
ang ganda pala ng bible!

and while we're at it
i'm currently in the middle of:

the battle for God
the God delusion

the first one is karen armstrong's
beautiful (so far) retelling of the history of religions
and why fundamentalism is so popular today.

the second one is richard dawkins'
engaging (so far) discussion of atheism, "consciousness-raising"
the library is home.

was in the middle of a sticky situation
that would have led to a stickier situation
and as i was trying to stop what-ifs-ing

springwise sent me these:

heard of this before but apparently it's an actual marketing campaign (link here)

read of this before but apparently it has three other uses too (raincoat, bag, pillow, link here)

God has a fine fine way of saying things.

because

2009-01-21T21:19:00.000+08:00

but getting there.

org love

2009-01-18T10:25:00.000+08:00

a lot of org love going around lately.
both of the giddy and tough kind,
which is so cool.

goes to show how cool the people are
behind these shows

stages of love
feb4-14 (link here)

bare the musical
feb20 onwards (link here)

i heard enta's unang baboy sa langit is cool too!
opens this monday already.

because i'm voting for

2009-01-17T20:56:00.000+08:00

given my history,
the least i wanted to do was share my two cents on
what i thought was the least political org i know.

but because other points deserve some scrutiny too,
i'm sharing what i think is private information:

who i'm voting for to be blueREP's next top leader.
for whatever it's worth.

many in the org are correct in emphasizing platforms
(even if we're in the middle of two awesome productions,
candidates have come up with pretty interesting ones: links here and here).

if i follow their advice, then i'm rooting for jio.
blueREP has been enjoying the safety of its comfort zone.
we have reached a point where the only difference between this year and last
is how daring/different/nice the borrowed material is.

nothing too wrong with that. but i really believe open-to-all planning sessions
and an actual beefed-up blueREP academy
and an actual well-financed blueREP lab
can drive the org's talent, resources, childlike wonder and vibe
to better use.

little changes here and there are what we have been doing for years
and so we're stuck. maybe it's time to move on and not get stuck
with little changes here and there.

but platforms are just strings of words.
we all know they need good leaders to make them work.
here is, i believe, the hard part:
i am absolutely certain both of them candidates are good, if not so goood.

but my very limited experience working with either
makes me root for jio again. for several reasons but i will share here only one.

upon deciding he wanted to be finance officer,
jio shared his plans as i was once finance officer too.
my initial reaction was of the yeah-right-sure-like-you-will-actually-spend-time-for-that variety.
two months later, his plan was right before me.
it wasn't as huge as his plans now (it was some tool that made it easy for officers
to compute blueREP finances, i think) but it actually worked.

and so i'm pretty confy that that platform
would actually bear fruit. but we'll see.

for now, there still are candidates to study
tensions to ease
two productions to catch (links here and here)

the theater is a wonderland

2009-01-15T10:28:00.000+08:00

to say that i'm having a ball
just rehearsing for stages of love
is an understatement.

my castmates are hilarious
and the material makes you feel good
plus it helps to have something different
to look forward to each day.

i know i miss my cues
and i never get the choreography right
and some lines, well, i just can't seem
to say them without dropping
(i remember being in a musical where in our many runs,
i never got to actually sing my lyrics correctly)

but working on it
almost every night is a blessing.

i've been very sentimental lately.
is this because i'm sort of sure that i'm ushering in a new chapter of my life?
baduy.
but wait, there's still that paper to finish.

and speaking of paper (lame segue),
here's a pretty interesting new republic opinion article
on the washington journal's "punctuation fetish" (link here)

boo to "square quotes" and the republicans who love them.

TED on understanding comics

2009-01-14T13:19:00.000+08:00

Scott McCloud: Understanding comics

oooh.
"blends the presentation-format into a cartoon-like experience"

our newbies

2009-01-14T09:57:00.000+08:00

one sign i'm older:
i get all giddy
seeing my orgs' newbies
step up and do their thing.

i don't know the feeling yet
of having kids and seeing them grow up
or sending them to their first day of school
but i have a good good feeling
it's a sort of
similar feeling

and i like it.

won't be sad if i won't get to see them
in the same org in the future
but it's their call.

all i know is that right now,
it's a strange strange feeling
but it's good.

P.S. billy is a big annoying sidemate.
but he likes the girl in neon yellow and pink earphones
who answered a survey at 3pm here in the org room.

P.S.S. he made me type that so to the cads girl who came in:
text him.

1984

2009-01-13T11:19:00.000+08:00

must read this book

Editorial
Desperate hope

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:38:00 (link here)
01/13/2009

1984 is once again upon us. We refer to the novel by that title by George Orwell, a prophetic, nightmarish vision of a “negative utopia.” In Orwell’s generation, and even up to now, no other novel has stimulated so much loathing for tyranny and so much desire for freedom.

In “1984” the slogans of the Party are the following:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

Under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration, the following might be the slogans of the times:

FALSEHOOD IS TRUTH

CORRUPTION IS SAINTLINESS

BLACK IS WHITE, AND EVIL IS GOOD

At no time in the history of the current administration has the truth of these supposed “slogans” been more strongly demonstrated than the present. Consider the following:

An upright, incorruptible, right-thinking Chief Justice is proposed to be impeached, whereas a President who has been charged with corruption, violation of many provisions of the Constitution, and other serious crimes, has always gotten away scot-free every time articles of impeachment are filed against her.

Whistleblowers like Acsa Ramirez, Rodolfo Lozada and Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino are either wrongfully prosecuted, kidnapped and muzzled, or criticized, while Benjamin Abalos and Virgilio Garcillano are allowed to resign without first being made to answer the charges against them.

A reformist provincial governor like Ed Panlilio is constantly being subjected to all forms of political harassment, while congressmen and local government officials who have been wasting the people’s money are given even more money in brown paper bags to support a president whose legitimacy is constantly being questioned.

Generals who are accused of killing unarmed militants are praised in a joint session of Congress while other generals and officers who dare to criticize high officials for their questionable acts are arrested and detained.

The people are fed half-truths by government spokespersons. The President will not answer “political questions” from reporters, for fear, possibly, of giving away her real plans for 2010. The truth, which is the oxygen of democracy, is kept hidden from the people. Sometimes it is exposed only at a critical time, as what happened when the treasonous Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain became known only on the eve of its signing.

We could go on and on, but the idea is this: In this administration,

FALSEHOOD IS TRUTH

CORRUPTION IS SAINTLINESS

BLACK IS WHITE, AND EVIL IS GOOD.

Social critic Erich Fromm, commenting on “1984,” said: “Orwell, like the authors of the other negative utopias [Yevgeni Zamyatin, ‘We,’ Aldous Huxley, ‘Brave New World’] is not a prophet of disaster. He wants to warn and to awaken us. He still hopes—but in contrast to the other writers of the utopias in the earlier phases of Western society, his hope is a desperate one. The hope can be realized only by recognizing, so ‘1984’ teaches us, the danger with which all men are confronted today, the danger of a society of automatons who will have lost every trace of individuality, of love, of critical thought, and yet who will not be aware of it because of ‘doublethink.’”

We hope we Filipinos have not been reduced to automatons who have lost their individuality and their critical thought, and who have lost the capacity to rage against falsehood, dishonesty and corruption. Perhaps they are not protesting too much because the great majority of them are more immediately concerned with earning a living, putting food on the table and providing for the other basic needs of their families. Perhaps it is because they are so caught up in the daily rat race that they do not have time to engage in political action. Perhaps they are just waiting for the tipping point.

Many commentators have said that Filipinos seem to have lost their capacity to express their moral outrage at what is happening around them. Let us hope that this is not true, and that in time [we] will become engaged citizens of [our] country who value truth, integrity, honesty and freedom.