Sunday, December 16, 2007

dunit. didwhat.

the subject of a recent lighthearted familial squabble was that esoterically-mushy Rupert Holmes song "Terminal"---which, for no reason at all, started after I announced the fresh news of Dan Fogelberg's death (something that Yahoo! inexplicably never fails to deliver--celebrity obituaries like drive-thru to-go's for the biz news famished).

with a split-second plunge on the keyboard, came the flurry of strings on search engines. Terminal. Rupert Holmes. Interpretation. the debate on whether that love stricken womanizing sucker ever laid a hands on the poor girl whose fluky physiological vernacular might have derived a rather prurient connotation.

if anybody, anyone. please spare us the mystery.

Labels: buhay-kultura

latest musing of Etchie at 21:09 0 comments

Thursday, October 04, 2007

disparate home fries

okay.

so i'm not jumping into the racist slur brouhaha of Desperate Housewives, though I'd just like to point out the flurry of mixed reactions that came from Filipinos both in the native land and overseas.

first of all, i don't watch the show. for no particular reason, i just don't. well, i did adore teri hatcher when she was doing those string-strapped calisthenics backriding with dean cain. but aside from that, nothing can pull me to primetime boobtube except for Heroes and, maybe, According to Jim.

secondly, i'm not a modern day patriot who would dive headfirst into a cesspool of something worse than a hurled excrement. but I did march into Roxas Boulevard during the Independence Centennial, and somehow believed that we, Filipinos, are feigned nationalists--probably because our unity comes when needed, not because we are united to begin with.

anyway, the issue with the dialogue uttered at Desperate Houseives was, in my belief, a discriminating remark/comment against the Philippines, or collectively, the Filipino people. there was no question of its racist implications, though a lot of people, some Filipinos thought that it was a common blunder that should be taken lightly. it is not. it is tantamount to labelling Blacks as niggers as well as a modern day Kristallnacht for the Jews.

it is not a question of the capacity of Filipino medical professionals, but a question of the Filipinos in general: who are we as people that we are relegated as a supposed punchline to a tv show? we do commit mistakes, grave or not, but we don't deny that. i think that particular line maligned the country more than anything else. the petition that came with it was necessary, but the call to boycott was excessive. overkill, ika nga.

sometimes, i don't know how people react. the issue with Malu Fernandez was total condemnation. probably because Fernandez turned out to be a Filipino herself and the article crossed our boundaries of tolerance. now i ask why should we take this new incident as merely a fleeting instance? why shouldn't this snap our patriotic sanities and react the other way around? maybe some of us think that knowing the facts makes it okay for a person to throw derogatory statements against somebody.

now, so what do we do? nothing, i guess. ABC Network apologized anyway. but that's a good start. i believe that it is imperative for writers (not just tv shows, but every writer) should not create discriminating remarks or comments or dialogues even on the pretext of humor. there is still the moral and an ethical factor that exist on creative liberties.

we learned lessons in the end, but we will not see the finality of this. the complaints will be continuous. the only thing that we managed to reap out of this was the pitiful reality that we are not as united as we initially thought we are.

but then...

maybe, i would still be proud to wave my country's flag at them...

Labels: buhay-kultura, c'est la vie, pulitikol

latest musing of Etchie at 20:09 0 comments

Saturday, May 19, 2007

flickpicker

this will be in conjunction with the previous post i wrote (you could click on the link, or scroll down as well---and save you an ounce of effort in doing so, doesn't matter). aside from books, one of my recurring fetishes is cinema (the others, you need to figure out for yourself)---and not merely your usual Hollywood popcorns, but an eclectic selection of foreign, independent, classic and the unheard-ofs. unlike books, my penchance for DVDs and videos are current: it began with the advent of video discs. i was not lured by the bulky oversized packagings of VHS tapes (one thing also is its inexplicably off-the-ceiling pricetags, that during those days i'd rather spend on a hardback), and while i initially relied on those peddled at Quiapo (my advocacy to pirated dvds was shortlived but admittedly, they carry any title you could possibly think of), my filmic proclivities somehow got me acquainted to Amazon and the multitude of dvd merchants spread all over the wired world.

anyway, my recent dvd haul were Asian flicks that served as an impeccable source to the coursework i had to write; and a bunch of tv series/miniseries that did not actually had an impact when they were first shown:

Profit Adrian Pasdar (of the Heroes fame topbilled)
Jiang Hu Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung reunited after Kar-Wai's As Tears Go By
Tae Guk Gi Private Ryan wannabe? you decide.
JSA Park Chan-Wook's pre-Oldboy violence spree
Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection got it used.
Edge of Darkness Brit tv is undeniably impressive by being atmospheric.

Labels: buhay-kultura

latest musing of Etchie at 16:28 0 comments

Friday, May 04, 2007

paris in hell-ton

sometimes the american justice system impresses me.

and the news the came buzzing out off the wires is a clear evidence that the system does not discriminate.

at least, that was how i interpeted it.

yep. paris hilton was sentenced to 45 days behind bars just for merely trying to get above the law. (the accompanying news article from yahoo would feed you the whole story, i'm merely reacting). ineptitude is forgivable, but neglect is something else. it is the irresponsibility to know where you're at, and the fact that she was clearly aware of what she was doing- - -and doing it again- - -is perhaps the concrete reason why she deserves getting locked up.

that small thing alone (that socialites are, indeed, should be in the same boat as normal people) is a caveat that is certainly lacking in the Philippine judicial system (money is the perfect tunnel to escape prosecution, they say). the analogy is inappropriate, but I had my point (was just waylaided, anyway).

somehow I could not fathom the constant idea why people adore Paris Hilton. she is not a success story to begin with (born to rich parents is tantamount to success? puh-leeaze!). to her, being successful is seeing her sorry ass on covers of magazines, hounded by the paparazzi and getting creamed by Rick Salomon. she is not a role model for the young (the way Lindsay Lohan wasted her adolescence on booze shares the similar derision i have to both of them)- - -having her own sex tape to harvest certain notoriety is undoubtedly lightyears away within the circumference of being a role model- - -as opposed to what she claims she is. the only thing that harbors Paris Hilton is the adamantly superior ego who thinks that being and becoming Paris Hilton is a big accomplishment (well, in some way, being Paris Hilton as the heir to a million-dollar company is certainly a huge reality to accentuate).

at some point in the article, i began to pity her. not because she's going to prison. celebrities and prisons are on the same highway named route to popularity. it is that tricky chicane that you have to be extremely cautious to force a turn or you'd be turtling down towards a could-be avoidable obstacle. Paris Hilton was probably mismanaged by the people around her, that in an early part of her life, she commenced on a merciless downward spiral.

but. that was the package she has/had to accept. the law does not discriminate as I had mentioned earlier. no one is above or is the law.

only judge dredd is.

Labels: buhay-kultura, smoking gun

latest musing of Etchie at 23:37 0 comments