And..........Action!

Yep. That's what I heard as crews began taping a commercial at our pool the other week.

The administration here at the Columns closed our pool from 5pm until midnight for the cast and crew to make a commercial advertising another property also being developed by the people who run the Columns.

I didn't sit around and gawk the whole time. But I did look out in time to hear "action!" and watch as a man sitting in the pool is approached by a scantily-clad woman who playfully kicks water at him, sits down beside him, and begins cuddling, followed by "cut".

That was it.

And look at all this light equipment!

I tried to shoot as the actors were acting, but because it was so dark, all I got was a long blur for the woman. So here's her co-star enjoying the cool of the waters, waiting for everything to happen.

Did you notice he's a foreigner?

No?

Well, look a little closer.

There.

Now, what do you suppose they are trying to say here?

He's certainly not the stereotype white guy in a white/Filipina couple here. Most are older than him, overweight, losing their hair in the wrong places and growing it in the...er, unusual ones, slovenly, and a general mess. Accompanying them are tiny Filipinas half their age (if that) who they've plucked from the depths of poverty.

I don't think they'd sell the next development if they used a reality-based representation of the white guy/Filipina couple in the ad, as it tends to creep-out most Filipinos from what I hear.

Bright Lights on the Christmas Tree

I know what you're thinking.

Christmas Tree??? (Am I close?)

Well, I am reminded of Christmas each day. The trees in the median of Ayala Avenue in front of the Fire Department below our window do still have their strings of white holiday stars on them! (Not that I'm at all hinting that they should be removed. No rush. Christmas was only eighteen weeks ago.)

Anyway, I often say he/she "isn't the brightest light on the Christmas tree" to refer to someone who isn't "the sharpest tool in the shed" or the most intelligent because of some act(s)/history of complete stupidity.

This is about the brighter lights on the tree, or the sharper tools in the shed, the more intelligent.

The Fulbright scholars.

Edson and I attended the 60th Anniversary of the Fulbright program in the Philippines last week. Fulbright recipients from as far back as the late 50s were in attendance, as were officials from the US Embassy and Washington, D.C.

An exhibit at the event showcased the works of many of the writers, artists, illustrators, designers, sculptors, historians, and scientists who have been part of the program.

Some of the speakers included those you see below: Dr. Isagani Cruz, President of the Philippine Fulbright Scholars Association, Franklin Ebdalin, Undersecretary for Administration, Department of Foreign Affairs, (all the way from Washington, D.C.) Thomas Farrell, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Affairs with the US State Department, and Lee McClenny, Public Affairs Officer with the American Embassy in Manila.

The day went much as you'd guess: speeches, break for lunch, more speeches followed by a Q&A session for the speakers. Rarely were the speakers asked a question. Instead, the "questioners" would ramble on about some experience they had trying to survive the cold winters in whatever location in the US they studied; all trying to one-up the former. You know, you'd hear: in '85 for two months it was 17-below...or less! followed by the next commenter's oh yeah, well in '96 I survived much worse right through Spring! If it wasn't past winters in the US they complained about it was that they had to travel all the way from Mindanao to Manila; and why couldn't everyone travel from Manila to Mindanao instead. (Do note the Fulbright / Philippine-American Education Foundation office is eight blocks from the event venue, plus the presence of a US Embassy official, and a State Department official, and that Mindanao is not safe for Americans, with all the kidnappings, etc. down there.)

This went on for hours.

Cocktails followed a few hours after the program ended. There were hors' dourves, drinks, and games.

Games?

Games at a cocktail party?

Games for Fulbright scholars?

And what kind of games do the best and brightest minds of a nation play?

Well, since you asked:

Everyone was handed a scrap of paper with a line of a song written upon it. Three other people in the room held papers with the other lines to each song. So each had to run about the room singing their line until all four lines were found. Once the group had been assembled they were to sing their verse on stage.

I was ready to hear a huge groan from a hundred or more in attendance.

In an instant this game turned the scholarly minds of the finest academics and most talented artists into those of eight-year-old children as they giddily ran about in search of those who held the paper scraps containing the song lines to match to theirs.

That's what these people are doing:

Yep, those are Fulbright scholars. They're scholars, not choreographers!

Where's Edson?, you ask? Isn't he a Fulbright scholar? Why didn't you picture him singing?

Well, as luck would have it there were more people in attendance than party organizers had prepared song lines for; so Edson didn't get to participate.

What about me?

I was the official photographer for the event. I wasn't there to participate in games.

Oh, and yes, the spell of the game did wear off as soon as it ended and all went back to being their previous scholarly selves.



More on the Fulbright Program here.

Car Show

OK, this post is really, really late.

Kinda.

I was reminded to make this post while going through pictures I shot at the Manila Car Show because today (April 23rd) is my sister's birthday and she likes cars. So does my brother, who just had his birthday a few weeks ago, but the car show took place after his birthday. He reads this blog anyway, so he'll enjoy it all the same.

So, happy birthday Shari Krems! (Now you can Google yourself and this post will be included in the results. I know. You're thrilled.)

Anyway, at the beginning of April my friend Allan (you remember, the bodybuilder?) texted me asking if I wanted to go to the Car Show in Manila on the fifth.

Sure, I replied. (Pretty wordy of me, huh?)

So on the afternoon of Saturday, April 5th I found myself with Allan at the World Trade Center (It's a convention center in Manila) checking out what an auto show is like in the Philippines. Edson stayed at home to get some work done on his dissertation.

I've been to my fair share of auto shows in the states. Sometimes just to wander around. Sometimes to acquaint myself with the new offerings in the event I would have to buy a car to replace mine. Sometimes to help a friend get a hands-on look at different car choices without having to drive all over to see them.

It is said first impressions are everything. My first impression was that the World Trade Center was awfully small for a convention center in a city of over twelve million people...the country's capital city at that! What greeted me upon entering the center was the enormous exhibit of Chery, the Chinese car manufacturer.

And their cars, like this very, very narrow and tall minivan with little structural support and a gas tank located below the driver's seat. Yikes!

Subaru had women in black outfits with high-cut skirts to grab everyone's attention.

Another company had this girl in an unfortunate-looking silver outfit, also with the skirt cut very high.

She was attempting to get people to notice her so she could sell them that forklift behind her. It didn't seem to be working. No matter how high the cut of the skirt is, you're either looking for a forklift or you aren't. Skirts really don't matter a whole lot in that industry. Kudos to her and the agency who put her there if she was what sold a forklift that weekend!

At the Ford exhibit they displayed lots of SUVs and the Focus. One Focus, as a rally car, was popular so people could have their picture taken as a rally car driver alongside. Allan, sporting his new look (a.k.a. shaved head) is the model here.

GM had a Chevy display that looked as if it had seen every auto show in Manila since the Marcos era. (If anyone from GM is reading this, YOU NEED A NEW DISPLAY!!!) I decided not to photograph it as I only took my compact camera and the lighting back in that corner of the hall was so dim it couldn't take a good picture, not that that would have been possible under any light.

Chrysler showed off their Jeeps and the ever-popular 300 series, likely popular here due to its bold styling and presence in Bree's driveway on Desperate Housewives, which is as popular here as in the states.

There were also a handful of manufacturers from Korea and China I'd never heard of before showing products I'd never seen, even here.

Mercedes, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda had pretty ho-hum exhibits consisting of little more than the cars themselves. Honda had a continuously-running video countdown of every innovation the company has ever made, played at a volume loud enough for you to hear it wherever you were on that side of the center.

Nearby was a single guy overseeing a trio of motorcycles situated around a giant sign advertising what I presume to be the Filipino equivalent of Discovery Channel'sAmerican Chopper.

What was most interesting at the show wasn't what was in the main room, though. It was what was in the temporary annex outside. (The annex, I must note, is about half the size of the main building. Although its tent-like construction makes it look quite temporary, I can only assume by its appearance that it has been, and will continue to be, around for quite some time.)

Real cars. Boy, was I surprised to see these here!

Cars made out of lots of things like metal, instead of "composite materials".

Cars from when you could feel and hear the horsepower (and there was lots of it!).

Cars from a time before seat belts (you know, like school bus or a jeepney).

Cars you wouldn't dare drive around in today's traffic-snarled streets of inconsiderate idiots.

Pay Attention!

In last week's post I wrote about how irritable it is to deal with some of those whom Edson and I text message with here. I questioned why it is that one can only insert a single item of information in each text for the other person to understand what information is being conveyed, thus wasting messages and money when several items of information must be relayed.

Last night during conversation over dinner we discovered what is the real problem.

Our conversation was about another conversation he was having earlier that day with someone from the College of Architecture at University of the Philippines. Apparently a couple of the people there felt he had been shunning them the past eleven months because he hadn't come to their office to visit. He had told them both last April/May he would be working in Makati, so he wouldn't be able to teach the twelve credit hours worth of courses they handed him last June three days before classes were to begin (remember: even after he had previously said to them he couldn't teach at all!). And three day notice...yeah, they really think ahead there!

Edson does do research work at U.P. And he also does teach one class a week. But he doesn't spend a lot of time on campus meandering about. The people who felt shunned also don't spend a lot of time on campus, so the likelihood these infrequent campus-goers would ever run into each other there is rather small. It is small enough that in eleven months their paths never once crossed.

Had they paid attention when Edson told them he was going to be working elsewhere, maybe they would have realized he was not shunning them!

So, that's it.

It all comes down to what our parents and teachers have been telling us (if not yelling at us) all these years:

PAY ATTENTION!

But I still don't know if not paying attention to the information contained within a text message is something uniquely Filipino or just related to the act of receiving text messages wherever the receiver may be.

When I was in the U.S. I never once sent a text message. I didn't even know how. Nobody ever did it. That seems to have changed from what we see when we watch Gossip Girl. The characters on that show are constantly texting. I text so much now I hardly know what to do if someone wants to actually speak to me on the phone! Of course, here in Manila, all I can hear is the traffic around me, so the idea of actually using the phone as a phone is pretty ridiculous.

Text me.

You know you love me,

XOXO

"Gossip Jay"

Texting Hell

The Philippines is the text-message capital of the world.

I should probably capitalize and italicize that:

The Philippines is the Text-Message Capital of the World.

That looks better.

Filipinos spend more time texting than almost anything else. The proficiency with which they send messages is astounding. Their thumbs race about almost a blur as they compose messages while having a conversation and eating all at the same time...and they do it all while walking, too!

I am amazed.

I know people who have this skill, but can't type on a computer keyboard without searching around for each letter. Even Edson's father colorfully refers to his typing skills as being of Biblical Speed: Seek and Ye Shall Find.

I am also perplexed. I'll get to that later.

As in email, there are three types of text messages: original, forwards, and spam.

I get forwarded messages like this all the time:

Well, there's more to the message than that; but that's all that fit on the first screen!

Anyway, these forwarded messages usually consist of either jokes or inspirational messages. The one above was an inspirational message, by the way. Mostly I receive these so-called inspirational messages. They are usually either depressing or sweetly trite. Once in a great while, like all forwarded messages, they are really cute and I feel like keeping them or I at least smile or tell Edson about it. I don't really feel like forwarding them though.

I don't receive much spam. On those rare occasions I do, it is always from my provider, Globe.

It is the original text messages that have me stumped. I know I said perplexed, but I now feel more stumped. Actually a bit of both, they are fairly synonymous after all.

Anyway...

I'll text someone to confirm with them the date, time, and place of a photo shoot. For instance, I'll text: Let's meet at the Coffee Bean at Greenbelt 3, Saturday at 1pm. I put all that in one text.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Moments later I receive this response: Wer at?

Frustrated, I reply: Coffee Bean in Greenbelt 3.

Response: Wut tym?

Banging my head into a concrete wall, I reply: 1pm.

And it goes on and on, much like classic Abbott and Costello or Jack Benny and Mel Blanc's Si, Sy, Sue routine.

See, what I don't get is all the attention that must be paid to reading those two and three-screens worth of "inspirational" forwarded messages is completely lost in something simple like a short text detailing time, date, and place.

So now I have to use one text message each to convey those three things. That's a separate charge for each of those texts I send as well as those the person I am communicating with sends. In the end what should just be two texts:

1. Hi, what's going on with the shoot?
2. We'll meet at Coffee Bean, Greenbelt 3, Saturday at 1pm.
3. OK, thanks. See you then! (OK, maybe three, for politeness' sake)

...often ends up being six or seven between the two of us.

At what works out to be one peso per text message, the amount of waste is amazing. Now sure, one peso isn't very much (about U.S. two and a half cents at the time of this writing), but my point is that the Philippines is a poor country. If everybody read and comprehended the messages they received, they could save a little money that way.

Now it isn't just me that feels this way. Edson also gets just as exasperated as I do about this. And this comes from all levels as well: people earning or having earned masters degrees, professional people, call center agents, college drop outs, rich and poor.

So, what is it?

Is it the ability to comprehend what one reads?

Is this unique to text messaging? I wonder: is this the same in other places as well?

Is it shrinking attention spans?

Is it just laziness?

Is it global warming?

Can it be blamed on Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, George Bush, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, or the Dalai Lama (China would say him)?

All I know is this: There'd be a lot less texting going on if people could pay attention to what is sent to them the first time, and therefore a lot less money going to providers such as Globe and Smart.

Because People Asked

First of all, a "shout-out" to my brother David. It's his birthday today.

(I can't believe I just posted a "shout-out"...well, neither can he!)

I'm looking out at all the smog covering the city. It really has an uneasy purplish-gray knife-and-fork consistency today.

So do some Manilans.

That's what I'm writing about today...some Manilans...because people asked me. I've received many mails, texts, and one-on-one requests to offer my musings on the current controversy that is rocking Manila. It is a controversy begun here on Blogger by an Australian, Brian Gorrell, who was swindled US$70,000 by his Filipino boyfriend, "DJ" Montano (Delfin Justiniano Ocampo Montano II to be precise).

You'll find his blog here.

Here is a quick rundown as found on Wikipedia:

Gorrell (a landscape designer) published his blog on March 4, 2008, using Blogger.com. He claimed that he had been sending money to his former boyfriend as a "silent investment" for a restaurant called Bonza in Makati City. He soon realized that the money was used to pay the ex's own debt. Gorrell then narrated that he confronted the former flame about the money at a hotel room in Makati, which resulted in a public altercation. He said he was charged with assault through the help of the ex's friends, but was later dismissed. The blogger then posted entries involving the "Gucci Gang"—consisting of prominent young Manila socialites who are close to Gorrell's former boyfriend including scions of political families and media personalities—accusing them of infidelity, cocaine abuse, cover-up, and crassness.

He stated that the blog was put up when he was told by Philippine lawyers that the soonest Gorrell could recover the money, totaling to US$70,000, is three years. The blogger also wrote that it also aimed to shame his former lover (as well as the Gucci Gang) into paying him back, and would erase the blog from the Internet once the debt is paid. Gorrell said he plans to use the money as treatment for his HIV. As of March 14, 2008, the blog has received 270,000 visits, amounting to 36,600 visits a day and each lasting an average of 52 minutes. Gorrell wrote that he has received over 3,000 e-mails since the blog opened, apart from hundreds of comments.

Legal action

Gorrell claimed that the Gucci Gang chose to attack him instead of paying the debt. On March 11, 2008, the blogger stated in his site that officials from the Philippine consulate in Sydney and Australian Federal Police took away his computer and questioned him. He wrote that he challenged the officials to check the blog's contents for accuracy. The former boyfriend and his family are exploring possible legal actions against Gorrell. He has also contacted the entertainment section staff of Philippine Daily Inquirer, which first published an article about the blog, saying "no comment" and that he would only issue an official statement if Gorrell filed a case "in the proper forum". Gorrell said in an interview that he was not inclined to do so as of the moment, stating that he has consulted three lawyers in Manila and all of them declined to take the case, citing conflict of interest. He also stated that he does not consider taking the case to the Philippines, saying that "the thought of spending years within the Philippine court system is not even an option for (him)".

Meanwhile, a lawyer of socialite and lifestyle columnist Celine Lopez (who was also mentioned in the blog) sent a letter to Gorrell, which states that "(she) is no longer in communication with (Mr. Former Boyfriend) and in as much as she wants to help (him) with (his) problem with the latter, (she) does not have the capacity to assist (him) as she was not privy to the transaction which only (him) and (his ex) can properly resolve". The letter also pointed out that Lopez and her friend Marco Antonio have been persistent in asking the former boyfriend to pay back the debt, but the latter would only provide "vague answers and a series of denials".

Gorell's blog shut-down and reopening

Gorrell closed his blog on March 12, 2008, after several readers commented on the site telling him to stop the "verbal violence" especially those who were not involved. The blogger, however, kept his first post published. He added that the blog "became bigger than (him)". Gorrell also greeted the Gucci Gang to have fun at their "anti-Brian blog" party that same night. However, the blog re-opened a day later with a series of new posts, although the "Comments" section remained disabled. He insisted that he has not been paid. On March 17, 2008, Gorrell published in his blog a receipt from Western Union money transfer as proof that he was sending money to the former boyfriend. He added that it was one of ten such documents in his possession.

Gossip and discussion topic

The blog and the people mentioned in it have become a major topic of gossip in Manila, and has also gotten people in local showbiz industry hooked. The local entertainment media first got hold of the blog on March 11, 2008, when Philippine Daily Inquirer published an article about it. The newspaper wrote that the blog (unnamed at that time, but provided keywords for googling) "made Gossip Girl looked like a Disney musical". Meanwhile, critics claimed that the series of events could be a gimmick to promote one of the Gucci Gang's nightclubs, which said to have held an "anti-Brian blog" party. Witnesses at the party commented on Brian's blog, saying that the club was a "drug den" with one of its high-profile owners as a "drug dealer". Gorrell's blog was also discussed in Media in Focus, a program in ABS-CBN News Channel on March 27, 2008. It was the first time the issue was brought up to mainstream television.

Legal and social issues

The blog raised questions about the extent of Philippine and Australian libel laws, with jurisdiction being the key issue. In the Philippines, a person may be accused of libel in any place reached by the publication where the alleged libel appeared. However, such law suffers from loopholes if the publication in question appears wherever Internet access is available. Laws of both countries differ on what statement can be defined as libelous. While Australian libel laws give greater weight to the veracity of the statements, its counterpart in the Philippines defines anything written with "malice afterthought" as libelous. This means that a simple mention of a name in a "malicious" article, no matter how true it is, can be cited for libel in the Philippines. The blog has also brought out issues of race, gender, and media responsibility particularly on how modern platforms and technological innovations have changed the landscape of journalism. Other vital issues such as freedom of the press and right to privacy were also discussed in the blog's comments section. Meanwhile, Bong Austero of Manila Standard Today stated that the issue has raised the need for "a more realistic appraisal of the authentic social value that these so-called 'socialites' provide", that there is "something not right in a setup where wealth and excessive lifestyles are flaunted and regularly splashed across the pages of newspapers as if they are the most natural things in the world while the majority (of Filipinos) live below the poverty line".

Randy Dellosa, resident psychologist of the Pinoy Big Brother series, weighed in on the Philippine entertainment industry's fascination with Gorrell's blog. According to Dellosa, the local show biz people are experiencing "scandal fatigue" within their own industry and that they "secretly aspire to become part of high society".

Criticisms on freedom of speech in blogging

Self-proclaimed "eventologist" Tim Yap, who has been mentioned in the blog, indirectly responded to the gossip on his weekly Philippine Star column, saying: "Freedom of speech is one thing, abuse of speech is another." Meanwhile, lifestyle columnist Malu Fernandez, herself a victim of a blog attack in 2007, questioned the extent of freedom of speech applied in blogging, stating the blog about the Gucci Gang as an example. She wrote that journalists like her do not hide behind an anonymous name, while lambasting those who "place vicious comments and slanderous statements in blogs yet sign their names as 'anonymous'", calling the act as "plain cowardice". Austero wrote in his column at Manila Standard Today that "the latest scandal validates the emerging power of blogging as medium of our times and consequently and necessarily opens, once again, discussion on the ethics of blogging". He also added that the Filipinos' "collective tolerance for dirt and sleaze has breached new levels".

Now, if all of that seems a bit like watching the second season of Gossip Girl before it has even happened, you're right.

As the Wikipedia entry notes, the so-called "high society" of Manila is furiously fighting anything that tarnishes their reputations, as if 95% of Manila gave a damn. These are people who have everything in a nation where the vast, vast, vast majority have nothing; and still they fear for something as flimsy as their reputation. They have exceeded "American" in their litigious response to anything said that paints them in unflattering terms.

DJ and the so-called "Gucci Gang" are selfish, spoiled, simple-minded, narcissistic, hollow shelled creatures.

Brian, while obviously the victim here, isn't much better himself.

As a story, it reads well and has great character development; though we can't quite feel for him as we should. Mark Twain said that in a story the reader should

feel a deep interest in the personages of (the author's) tale and in their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones. But the reader of the (DJ + Brian) tale dislikes the good people in it, is indifferent to the others, and wishes they would all get drowned together.

Twain was referring to Fenimore Cooper's The Deerslayer, but it could just as easily be this story, albeit reality, not fiction. Everyone drowning together would be a beautifully operatic tragic way to end it all.

The local media and "high society" members are seeing their reputations tarnished, many beyond repair in this scandal. The "it" club they frequent is well-known to be the place to go for drugs. Even in the US I already knew of the reputation one of the club owners has for being a dealer. It is all over the internet. But because of his wealth, nothing will ever become of it. At worst he'll pay off some officials to stay clean. Everyone in authority in the Philippines from the president down to the cop on the street can be bought.

Now, none of the people involved in Mr. Gorrell's blog do anything for anybody. They have no value to society at all, really. They, like the Paris Hiltons and Britney Spears of the world, are nothing more than fodder for tabloids, attention starved transparent cocoons filled with the purplish-gray smog I'm looking at out my window. They are those who really have no other talent than flaunting their parent's wealth. Their parents (who may have actually had to work for that money) are ultimately to blame for how their children came to be.

Some say these spoiled kids (whether it is here, the US, or elsewhere) are just victims of the media. Of course, since the media in any given country is controlled by parents, not kids, it is ultimately parental fault. Parents either allow their kids to be polluted with garbage like MTV's My Super Sweet 16 or worse, produce and air it. The current generation of twenty-somethings have grown up on this. Time magazine, in their Style & Design supplement, features the millennials, and how this generation "doesn't feel that it needs to 'earn' luxury. Yachts, vacation homes and tech gadgets are all on its proverbial 'to do' list."

Most Filipinos are looking down their noses at DJ, the Gucci Gang, and Manila's socialites. There is overwhelming support for Brian. I found this on Pay Up DJ:

But I do hope Mr. Gorrell gets his $70 grand back. He has effectively had his ex fired from his job at The Star and, at this point, DJ would have to change his name before anybody ever trusts him again. Though I'm sure he still has his friends who enjoy laughing with him and how he got all that money out of his Australian boyfriend.

But again, my take on it all would be something of a big yawn...if I weren't so afraid I'd choke inhaling the smog. In a quick sound byte: Filipinos love their drama!

Another Memo from the Columns

On 29 March 2008 the Philippines will join countries around the world as we literally "turn the lights out" for Earth Hour - an event that will fuel awareness on climate change and prove that when the people of the world work together, they can make a difference in the fight against global warming....We encourage everyone to voluntarily join by turning off their lights in your respective units for one (1) hour - from 8pm to 9pm on Saturday, 29 March 2008 to signal support for curbing global warming.

Hmmm...even before seeing televised footage of the massive chunk of ice (over six times the size of the island of Manhattan!) break off the polar ice cap a few days ago, I was plenty aware of global warming, as are locals here complaining it didn't used to get this hot, or at least not so soon, didn't last as long, etc.

Of course, what the memo does not say is what I find interesting.

We can turn our lights out for an hour, but during that time we may be in bed watching DVDs, the air conditioning running, the washing machine doing the laundry, cell phone charging...

...but we would be showing our support!