Bamboo rocks Bacolod Friday night

Okay. Nobody paid me to do this. But I'm seriously recommending you to check out this event.

This Friday night. Bamboo rocks Bacolod.

Yes, you know who he is/they are. A band worth listening to (for the songs aren't just rock hymns, they're strong social commentaries as well, in case you didn't notice) and a band worth most of our time and P300 (for VIPs) and P100 (for regular seats, I guess).

One of the few really good Pinoy bands. But if you like Cueshe, don't come, we'll murder you there.

Again, that's Friday night (2000H, August 31) At the UNO-R Amphitheater. It's a UNO-R Student Gov't and Smart Buddy event. Sponsored by Killerbee, Sueño, etc.

Thanks to Andoni (of Bangon Kabataan and USLS PolSci) for getting me the tickets.

So we'll see each other there. ;-)

bamboo revives 'tatsulok'

I don't know if most of us or our generation understand the word "LEFT" or "PROGRESSIVE" or related political ideologies...

But the upcoming album from the current No. 1 Pinoy band-BAMBOO- presents in its new songs lineup a classic hymn for the progressive-minded / leftist. - "Tatsulok" (originally by Buklod, who also wrote the classic "Kanlungan").

TATSULOK - is Tagalog for "triangle", symbolizes the Filipino class structure. The bottom of the pyramid represent the "masa"- the large chunk of the population which is overimposed by actions of the class on top of the pyramid (tuktok ng tatsulok) which of course represents the "elite" or the "rich few" who manipulate and exploit the poor.

Pardon my progressive tendencies, but what can I do? That class structure sucks and I think we can do something about it.
But sorry, I can't be extremely left-wing, I am not militant. I am at the LEFT OF THE CENTER.

So let me post the YouTube video (and lyrics, yehey!) of this great, moving song. Hope we find the message in it, and if we sing it, we mean every word! PADAYON! :-)



TATSULOK

Totoy bilisan mo, bilisan mo ang takbo
Ilagan ang mga bombang nakatutok sa ulo mo
Totoy tumalon ka, dumapa kung kailangan
At baka tamaan pa ng mga balang ligaw

Totoy makinig ka, wag kang magpa-gabi
Baka mapagkamalan ka’t humandusay dyan sa tabi
Totoy alam mo ba kung ano ang puno’t dulo
Ng di matapos-tapos na kaguluhang ito

[Refrain]
Hindi pula’t dilaw tunay na magkalaban
Ang kulay at tatak ay di syang dahilan
Hangga’t marami ang lugmok sa kahirapan
At ang hustisya ay para lang sa mayaman

[Chorus]
Habang may tatsulok at sila ang nasa tuktok
Di matatapos itong gulo

Lumilipas ang hininga ng kay raming mga tao
At ang dating munting bukid, ngayo’y sementeryo
Totoy kumilos ka, baliktarin ang tatsulok
Tulad ng dukha, nailagay mo sa tuktok

[repeat Refrain and Chorus]
[repeat Refrain and Chorus]
[repeat Chorus]

Di matatapos itong gulo

CREDITS: Bamboo's official website: http://www.bamboo.com.ph/discography_tatsulok.html
Youtube user http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=fogdisc for posting the video

questions about war

Yesterday, the president declared an "all-out-war" against Philippine communist insurgents.

"They want war, so we will give it to them," Arroyo's crony/national security adviser Norberto Gonzales declared with confidence.

What war, I ask? Will the released 1B anti-communist fund buy guns, weapons, bombs and tanks to counter the "enemy"? Will all communist-believing citizens be "terminated"? If my politics is Left, am I counted in as "enemy of the State"? (I didn't know that despite our modern democracy, we can still be persecuted by our beliefs) Would an all-out war mean soldiers carrying armory around the country? Would it see more AFP detachments? Would it see more propaganda against the Reds? Would it see more of Gloria Arroyo's steadfast and strong survivalist strategies?

Dear President GMA, do you even know what an "all-out war" even means?

Shouldn't we now raise this flag?

And now the shampoo commercials...

This happen to you? You are riding an almost jam-packed jeepney and rubbing elbows with complete strangers. Still, you try to enjoy the rare gush of city air hitting your solemn face, until… long strands of hair lash your cheeks like cat-o’-nine-tails! And you angrily ask: What creature does this scourge come from?

As you identify the culprit, the jeepney’s hi-bass sound system coincidentally sings “Straight… at natural, at ‘di mahal… Mukhang sosyal…” No wonder that girl next to you unnecessarily flaunts her hair, at the expense of you being tortured. You might like the smell of it, but can’t she just tie it in a public jeepney, for crissakes? You are just plain unfortunate. The monster that owns the whips called “long, straight, beautiful hair” is right next to you.

How unlucky can you get? But all of us are unlucky and unconscious victims of this commercial folly. Need I say more?

Try watching primetime TV, that is, from 6:00 to 7:00 in the evening, and count all the shampoo (and conditioner) advertisements shown. I did this experiment, and I got 20! That means, there is an average of one shampoo advertisement for every three minutes! Well that really doesn’t come as a surprise; everybody knows that. There are even three 15-second commercials of the same shampoo that are being shown one after the other. (That ridiculous series with a ridiculous catch-phrase: “Girls get it” – No wonder I don’t).

Okay, let me set things straight. I am in no way against long hair. (Ano’ng paki ko sa long hair nyo; inggit lang ako dahil ako’y kalbo?) What is sad about these advertisements coming on air like clockwork is the large but wrong influence that they have on the TV-watching population. A 2003 study by McCann-Erickson confirmed that media has become a “surrogate partner” to the youth, which spends 8-14 hours a week watching TV. Majority, if not all, of this crowd, are not aware that these commercials shown to them are oftentimes being absurd and one-dimensional.

Take the shampoo commercials. They all claim that their product can take care of your “black and shiny” hair and keep it “long, straight and beautiful.” Some even come with very bad Taglish slogans like “Buhaghag-free” or “parang cinellophane” or “buhok na straight at may body”. And why always say “99.9% dandruff-free” when no one can count dandruff flakes? Why say it’s “natural” when all the hair in the ads are obviously digitally-manipulated?

The effect of these commercials are worrying. The audience that are frequently bombarded with images of absurdity and wrong concepts of beauty eventually accept the “ideologies” that they get from the commercials. These ads dangerously manipulate the minds of TV viewers into thinking that their products should be bought. Shampoo commercials, for instance, teach that women (and even men) must have a certain type of hair and look a certain way to be beautiful.

And if these commercials continue to sing foolish songs like “Balik freshness, balik bounce” and employ pretty faces and dancing girls just to endorse the products, then the youth will regrettably learn “short-circuit decision-making”. The product with the most enjoyable dance steps or the prettiest endorser will have to be bought.

But something can be done even if these irresponsible profiteers go on with spending billions on advertising their products. You read that right, they spend billions. Advertising research agency AC Nielsen reports that in Philippine media, 10 billion pesos a year is shelled out for hair care ad expenditures (that’s where all the shampoo music videos come from); 6 billion for skin care (whitening the Ati, for example); and 3 billion for oral care (aah… the maker of the Toothpaste Commercial Smile).

Then again, something can be done. We can all be more conscious and concerned with our choices. By practicing responsible consumerism, we can stop these advertisements from polluting our mind with short messages of what’s cool, what’s in, what’s beautiful. We should beware of those commercials that fool the consumers.

And then we can enjoy riding a jeepney without being whipped in the face.

(To be published in the Wesneco Torch March 2006 Magazine)

Open Letter to the Telecom Companies

Dear Smart, Globe, and Sun (in no preferred order),

I own three SIM cards – one from each of you. Since I cannot afford two more cellphones, I have to switch into three numbers using one phone. This is obviously inconvenient, especially to a professional and renowned puzzle-maker (boggler) like, ehem, me.

I am writing this very formal letter addressed to your most gracious telecom companies because I am a religious user of all your services ti gapati ko nga kinanglan niyo ko pamati-an. For a long time now, you have made me and millions of other cellphone users avail of your respective unlimited texting (even calling) promos. Nalipay guid kami nga minilyon nga texters. Tanx!;-)

But I am wondering – these unlimited/nonstop promos of yours have become very popular and successful – why aren’t you picking up from there and making these unlimited services, regular? If you have allowed us to send 300 messages with 30 pesos, why not allow us the same thing even if we use regular load (kag indi na kami magpalanog-a sa pa-register)?

Puwede man lang gali nga maka-usar kami sang serbisyo niyo sa barato nga presyo. Ti puede man siguro nga himuon niuo ni standard mode of service, indi bala? Say, a subscriber loads P50 and then text for 5 days, without limit, without registration. Or if that’s not good for your glorious profiteering, then charge 5 cents for every SMS. (And cheaper call rates, too!) I sometimes grow tired of waiting for that clock to strike 11 and for that message that confirms my invincible power to text 1,000 SMS a day. Please, paminsara niyo guid maayo ang brilliant suggestion ko.

And if you’re asking why should I use three SIMs, you just have to review your ever-so-creative marketing genius because you know very well the answer. I shall remind you that your unlimited promos apply only to users of the same network. Smart-to-Smart, Globe-to-Globe, Sun-to-Sun. Sometimes it makes me predict that this “network choice” will lead to a Great Divide among us Filipinos, and a civil war. Dali lang, bawi-on ko ang civil war. Hehe.

I therefore request your honorable company executives to serve as examples for national reconciliation. I am requesting you to join forces and launch a “United Unlimited Service” – one that is affordable, reliable, and not network-exclusive. Consider also my suggested name for this phenomenal unity among networks – “U2” (for the two U’s – united and unlimited), which is the namesake of one of the best rock bands in the world, a personal favorite of mine.

From there will come a day when all your services are inexpensive, and Filipinos are not caught in between a commercial cold-war between cellphone networks – a day when we can text to Smart or Sun or Globe (or TM or TNT or AMP) biskan san-o, biskan di-in.

I assure you that the moment you respond positively to the abovementioned requests (which I strongly believe is shared by all cellphone users in the same national dilemma), you shall be highly appreciated. It will be an unparalleled convenience to the Filipino people, which you serve. (Service is your business, right?)

Your immortal subscriber,

Bentot

0920xxxxxx1
0922xxxxxx4
0927xxxxxx3

(This essay was published in page 24 of the Wesneco Torch February 2006 Magazine)

the toothpaste commercial smile

I don’t know if it’s my usual scepticism or if it’s the commercial that truly sucks. What I’m talking about is this TV advertisement for a popular toothpaste brand. Yes, that one with a guy loading a bus, with an all-American smile. See? You know the loser.

Wait a sec, let me clear one thing first. Numero uno, I think the song played in that particular commercial is cool. But hey, isn’t it irritating to hear it from a 30-seconder showing a “cute” or pa-cute guy grinning nonstop? Oh come on, what’s the point?

The advertisement is with no doubt an exaggeration. I understand that’s the part of the trick: the purpose of every toothpaste commercial is to make the consumers buy the toothpaste. So they use this basic formula: they have to show you a cute guy and girl in the mall, at the beach, on the bus – doesn’t really matter where (but the more public the place is, the better). They keep staring at each other with their love-stricken smiles showing off their extra-white teeth. And by the way, these two cuties don’t know each other yet – and they just “accidentally” bumped, or the caught the falling girl or the other way around. In short, they just met.

This ‘school’ of exaggerated toothpaste commercials insults me. They commercialize a certain breed of hypocrisy that is paired with superficiality. They teach you to smile to a complete stranger, in the most uncommon of circumstances. They tell you to “just smile”.

Smiling is a physiological and psychological phenomenon. According to research (you read that right, there actually are researches on smiling), a smile is drawn when facial muscles are moved, especially the zygmomaticus muscle near the mouth and the orbicularis oculi muscle near the eyes. This is said to be physiologically genuine, named the “Duchenne” smile after researcher Guillaume Duchenne, because this smile is only produced as an involuntary response to true emotion.

A Duchenne smile in a toothpaste commercial? I don’t think so.

There is also what researchers call the “Pan American” smile, which is said to be voluntary. It is named as such because it shows politeness, for example, by a flight attendant of an airline of the same name. Research says this is an insincere smile because only the zygmomaticus major is moved when you sport it, and that it is done because it has to be.

A polite smile, yes. In a toothpaste commercial? Not what I’m talking about.

I looked and looked for any comprehensive identification of the type of smile I see in toothpaste commercials and I find nothing. Perhaps this smile is still unnamed. So please let me call it the “Toothpaste Commercial Smile”. What makes it unique? You just have to open your mouth and bare your clean, white teeth to everybody in the hopes of someone noticing and getting it on with you tonight. Being true to emotion and being polite are totally unnecessary.

Smiling, whether genuine or for politeness’ sake or for a toothpaste commercial, is supposedly beneficial. Remember that aphorism that a smile requires less facial muscles to move than a frown? How about your guidance counselor telling you how a smile can pre-introduce your positive personality? Have you by any chance heard a study conducted in Sweden concluding that a smile is contagious? That a smile is answered with a smile? That when you put a happy face, you also put up an air of happiness around you?

But I am a sceptic. I suspect that a smile might be from a toothpaste commercial, from being hypocritical and superficial. And especially when it’s from someone I don’t know and who just happens to sit beside me on a bus.

These TV advertisements showing us that we can actually smile “whenever, wherever” are annoying. But what’s frustrating is the cumulative effect this hypocrisy and superficiality has on us. They eventually influence us into showing off a “killer confidence smile” to practically everybody in the public.

If it’s true that smiling makes you feel happier, then do it, for crying out loud. Make other people smile back, even if you don’t know them. But don’t overdo it. And don’t do it at all, if you aren’t happy or glad or amused or pleased. Or else, you’ll end up in a toothpaste commercial.

Hey wait; now that’s one good reason to smile.

(This essay was published in the Wesneco Torch November 2005 Magazine)

I bought nothing today!

November 25, 2005 is BUY NOTHING DAY.

I did. That's anticorporate. I know.

The rationale? Take this from BND:

"For 24 hours, millions of people around the world do not participate in a doomsday economy, the marketing mindgames, and the frantic consumer-binge that's become our culture. We pause. We make a small choice not to shop. We shrink our footstep and gain some calm. Together we say: Enough is enough. And we help build this movement to rethink our unsustainable course."

And for me, I succeeded. I did not buy anything - from fastfood to cellphone load and cigarettes. I may be new to this "mental environmentalism" and "buy nothing" movements, but hey, I did it. I didn't kiss the asses of at least two money-making monkeys in the Philippines - McDonald's and Marlboro (two brands I use before joining the movement) and Smart.

McDonald's and Marlboro are perhaps the most famous brands that are dissed today, but to little of non-Filipinos' (and even Filipinos') knowledge, in the Philippines one industry that needs to be fought is the telecommunications power. Virtually there are two major remote-control-grabbers here: Globe and Smart.

Every hour in Philippine TV there are about 2-3 commercials from both telecom companies. Not counting the not-to-be-mislooked companies like Sun and Bayantel. These companies battle each other with marketing tactics that are pretty much mass brainwash for me. They generally fool the Filipino TV-watching population into a largely corrupting business.

And so every day Smart and Globe (and Sun) take over Filipino mental environment. They pollute it. There is even a popular belief that Smart steals cellphone load by sending privacy-penetrating ads through SMS. Imagine the 8 million people losing P1 in just a day. This P1 will go to the telecom company, and they earn 8 million in a jiffy. Sinister, eh?

We have to stop these telecom companies' corruption and make them pay for what they have stolen! We have to stop them from emptying our pockets!

I did not buy any cellphone load today; even there was a big deal of pressure for me to reply to the messages I received. I simply disconnected myself for 24 hours.

But it doesn't mean that I stop using Smart. In fact, my plan is, very early tomorrow morning, I am going to re-load my account and register to Smart's bandwagon "Unlimited Text" promo. I will spend P30 for 3 days of unlimited texting (damn! That doesn't include texting my Sun and Globe friends! That's another story)...

Hell I will! I estimate I can send more than 3,000 messages in 3 days! I will totally exploit Smart's "generous promo" to the point of exhaustion. I will suck them dry.

That might spoil the company for now. But wait a little bit, and they will eventually withdraw from this advertising tactic. Pesky mosquitoes we are to them, but we already have drained their blood to the moment of death. And that, my friends, is victory over the money-making monkeys of Philippine telecom industry.