You Gotta Love Zaido...

... They just found an excuse within the show's storyline to feature a scene where Dennis Trillo dances the Robot, Disco, and Breakdancing.

Wow. Just wow.

Lemme Reiterate...

.:TV Appearance Tomorrow!:.

Tomorrow, I'll be making an appearance for an interview regarding psychic phenomena in ANC around 9:30 AM or so. I'll be doing the Acid Test, so this will be a doozy that you better not miss out on!

.:What Business Do They Have Exposing The Art?:.

Last Saturday, GMA-7's program, "Imbestigador", had a segment where they exposed several magic illusions including the Zig-Zag Lady, the Linking Rings, and even a locally devised effect known as "Burikadabra".

For a program that prides itself in bringing to justice the less desirable elements of our society, it boggles the mind why they would make it a point to disrespect the art of magic and expose these effects? Has it ever occurred to them that these people perform and keep a code of secrecy to preserve the integrity of the art? Or are they too concerned in exposing magic for no other reason than to just bring the craft down even further?

Programs like these are not unlikely to find themselves at odds with pirates: people with no regard for intellectual property and profit off of it. Isn't that what they just did here? Did they ever care about the livelihood of magicians whose credibility they undermined with their exposure? Did they even care that they were divulging ideas that they did not themselves own, and almost assuredly did not pay for either?

It's a slap in the face of an art that has made it clear that they deal in deception to begin with. People pay to be deceived. To even compare the art of magic to street hustlers and swindlers is an outright insult to magic as a whole.

What business does Imbestigador, a show meant as a public service, in sticking their noses into someone's decent, honest livelihood? If they want to do a witch-hunt of quacks and frauds whose claims bite off more than they can choose, sure thing, but expose magic wantonly and irregardless of the fact that people pay their bills through it? That's just uncalled for, especially when it even goes as far as to trample over intellectual property rights?

This isn't just a protest over something petty. It's a protest over a very unethical, unscrupulous, and willful exposure of an art whose key to success is secrecy, for no malicious reason, but simply to entertain. It honestly makes no sense why a reputable program like Imbestigador would go against its own principles of fair play and justice and flat-out ignore the welfare of magicians trying to make a living all for the sake of what? For the sake of ratings?

Count me in as someone who wishes to file my indignation against this program.

TV Appearance!

.:A Discussion On Psychic Phenomena...:.

I'll be at ANC tomorrow around 9:30 AM, for the November 1 episode where I and fellow TSC member Nomer will be interviewed about psychich phenomena. =)

Awesome!

This Saturday, I'll be on Lovely Day as well, on GMA 7.

Quick Update...

.:Jon Stewart, The Green Lantern...:.

Picture from Shaft Agents...

.:Bookings Galore!:.

I'm booked to go and do magic every Sunday at Global Fun Carnival in Mall of Asia...

And then, I'm doing mentalism in The Block tomorrow and Tuesday. Real awesome, to say the least... I have a bunch of gigs after a long time...

Pardoned?!?

Sigh... six years down the drain, huh?

Sigh...

:(

In other news, I got Akantor for MHF2 already.

Gah!

.:Feel The Pain!:.

WWE, hire that commentary guy. Nao!

.:Can't Wait For Sembreak!:.

When will this pain end? x_x

Ahahaha...

.:Busy, Busy, Busy.:.

Columbia found me an E-Copy of To Kill A Mockingbird.

They're really cool.

.:El And Charles...:.

... saw them both last night. Heh.

The Weekend Was Quiet, But Whoah!

.:Sigh...:.

I don't wanna talk about last Friday's bombing event anymore. It's sad, and it's really just bewildering why they did it... more economic sabotage, perhaps?

My prayers go out to the affected families...

.:Isn't It Lovely?:.

My mom really likes my Beloved, so I can see...

.:Match Of The Yearu!:.

Somewhere around 0:50, prepare to see something that'd make your jaw drop.

Whoo!

.:MHF2 FTW!:.

Got together with Diane, Mark, and Joey for a bit of Monster Hunter 2, and it went pretty well. I'm glad things are going just fine in that regard.

Even went to Greenhills to have a co-teacher's PSP modded too...

.:Weekly Plan Time!:.

Time for me to start doing the weekly plan, heh.

.:Deliberations!:.

Here we go... looks like I have my work cut out for me, but I'm managing just fine, regardless. :)

.:The Icon Meme...:.

Credit of suggestion goes to Mlina.

: This image is my default image. Found it someplace on Scans Daily. Since I'm Mister Vader, I think it suits me just fine. While Darth Vader is evil, he's positively cuddly. And cute. :P

: Well, more Darth Vader love, of course. It's just perfect.

: Because you have to stop, collaborate and listen. It's Hammertime! I just found this picture, and it just reminded me of the 90's so much... heh.

: Batman loves Robin. What else can I say?

: Great Teacher Onizuka is one of my favorite anime of all time, and I just needed to have a userpic with him in it. He's the inspiration for my teaching career.

: A picture of The Rock, the Brahma Bull. One of my favorite WWE Wrestlers of all time, along with The Undertaker. Everyone knows I've been a fan of wrestling since time immemorial.

: Barry White is god! I'd kill just to have a voice like his when I'm trying to talk to someone on the phone. If you don't know who Barry White is, look him up.

Comment to this post and I will reply back with seven of your icons from your icon gallery. You then have to put a post in your Livejournal explaining the background of these icons and why you love and keep them. And the cycle continues!

... too busy to blog.

Yeah.

I Was An Urban Legend For A Day!

.:Wha?:.

So there was this one time I substituted for Berkeley, and of course, I did a bit of magic for them while I was at it.

A few weeks later, they tell their Social Studies teacher about me. Ms. Rillo promptly asks, "who?" and she feigns complete ignorance about me, as if I didn't exist.

Soon enough, all the other Berkeley teachers were in on the joke. Mr. Javier was asking them who this "Mr. Fabie" was, since he's from the English department and he's never seen this "Mr. Fabie". Mr. Quijano acts surprised about it and asks the students if this "Mr.Fabie" apparates. Ms. Tong was in on the joke, too.

It took a while before Berkeley caught on that they were being taken for a ride, courtesy of Ms. Rillo, but I must admit that it was fun knowing that I was an urban legend of sorts for a few moments in the eyes of the Berkeley kids...

Short but sweet... =P

.:Loli Loves Venom!!!:.

And since I don't know if it's cool to gank her images, I'm just linking here: Loli loves Venom!

Finally Finished Recording, So Paying Something Forward...

Finished recording grades, so time to relax a bit!

Reply to this post, and I will list three things I love about you. Maybe more than three. Then repost to your own journal and spread the love.

Recording Grades...

... and that's why I can't blog. Heh.

Must Share This Before I Go To Bed...

Clair, this is for you!

Hehehe...

.:Coinkidink:.

While I was with my Beloved in Greenhills yesterday, we ran into a couple of my students, and it was really amusing how they gushed over Row...

"You're his... girlfriend?"

"Oh! You're sooo beautiful!"

"You're too big for him!"

The last statement made me do a double take. I'm 6', and my Beloved is a waif 5'2, and barely over 100 pounds (I'm not telling. She might get mad I revealed her weight.). How the heck could she be "too big"? Or did they mean it the other way around?

Well...

.:Surreal:.

Didn't realize my Beloved is close friends with Aiza Seguerra. That being said, I ended up hanging out with Row's friends at Greenhills. We ate at CPK, and conversations were pretty okay...

It was fun, really. I kept a low profile for the most part, and I think that it was all good and I didn't do anything to make them dislike me or something...

That is all I have to say for now.

And, oh. We have internet again. Thank God for that, too.

I hope that means my blogging can go back to being sensible after months of being little more than shout-outs.

I R Dedz

.:I... I... Failed?!?:.

I froze up during an oral exam?

What is this world coming to?!?

Random Emo-Ness...

Ahh, Alcohol and Audacity, how you torment me...javascript:void(0)

TV Thoughts...

.:It's Interesting...:.

Believe it or not, I really feel that Zaido has been doing really well as a series so far. I haven't seen ABS-CBN's "Lastikman", but what I'm seeing from Zaido has been interesting for the most part, and I'm really glad to see nods here and there to the original.

Paolo Ballesteros as Ida is really disorienting. It does make you think, huh?

.:Outside Of That...:.

All this hoopla over the remakes being "rip-offs" have been unfounded, for the most part. Super Twins was rather different from Sailor Moon outside of their costumes. Lupin was critically praised, if only for the depth of Lupin's pathos, and it worked out pretty well. Asian Treasures was an ambitious foray that paid off well, albeit seeing Angel Locsin in ABS-CBN now is a bit sad.

Marimar is okay for the most part. It does make me wonder though about the series, because for all intents and purposes, Marimar's appeal back in the day was its fast pacing. This rendition does not have that feature.

Well, it remains to be seen...

Woes Of News...

.:You Call This News?!?:.

So yeah, Manny Pacquiao won again, but given the lead-up to the fight, do you call this newsworthy?

It's ridiculous how even Manny Pacquiao's dinner menu makes it to the headlines. I don't need to know about this pompous, self-deluded bastich when there are people trying to ferret out what's going on in Burma and are in dire need of airtime, dammit.

.:You Let This Guy Go Out On Bail?:.

Welcome to the justice system. For a measly 80,000 pesos, Atty. Manuel Hernandez gets to walk around before his day in court on bail, despite killing two people in broad daylight over a traffic altercation.

Apparently, they are downgrading his case from murder to a homicide, and quite frankly, I am incensed they are doing this.

The man shot a total of eight bullets into two people, six of them on one person. If this were merely homicide, then he could've stopped after shooting, once, maybe even twice. Shooting someone in cold blood six times betrays that this was no longer a spur of the moment thing. He had four shots after the first two to change his mind, but he didn't.

There is a strong case against him, and for good reason. That man should not be out on bail. He really shouldn't.

Finals Week For Me And My Students...

For me, and for my students.

Expect miniscule posting from me today, if at all...

What's This? Be Mean To Filipinos Week?

.:The Daily Show Poked Fun At Cory Aquino? Gasp!:.

Got this from bluegenesis. Lemme know what you think.

Looks like there's a small rumbling going on right now, as Jon Stewart, one of my absolute favorite "newscasters" ever, may have had a moment in his show where Cory Aquino was referred to as a "slut".

Now, while it's not a joke at the expense of the Philippines, it's a joke at the expense of one of the personalities in this country whom a lot of us look up to even to this very day.

I refuse to pass judgment until I've got sound back in my comp so I can hear what they're saying.

Look! Fanfiction!

.:This Made Me Laugh...:.

Thanks to cmarguel, I am now privy to some of the most ridiculous drivel I have ever heard...

See the government make a fool out of themselves, as they make a heavy-handed call to completely turn around the whole Desperate Housewives brouhaha with an equally sweeping generalization that is just laughable at best...

"What should happen is Desperate Housewives should have a future episode where Teri Hatcher says she wants to have a Filipino doctor because she heard that they're the best. Something that would come close to undoing the damage that was done," Rodis told the ABS-CBN North America Bureau."

Amid this, and the call for "scholarships", it looks like some really shortsighted people are trying to grandstand themselves into the spotlight once more.

Ridiculously enough, some people are even calling for a ban of the show! I don't know about you, but this pandering is really hitting classic levels of idiocy already.

Enough's enough! They already apologized? Now, can we get on with our lives already?!?

Longing For The Weekend...

Gah.

Interesting...

According to this blog entry, it looks like our very own Senator Miriam Santiago has thrown a racial slur against the Chinese as well.

I don't see the Chinese, or Hades, even the Filipino-Chinese community demanding an apology, do I?

There seems to be a double-standard at work here...

It's Never Too Late...

Of Desperate Housewives And Wagging The Dog...

.:Balat-Sibuyas: Lyrically Speaking Scribbles, Part VI:.

“Ethnic jokes may seem uncouth, but we laugh because it’s based on truth.”

- Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist, Avenue Q

A recent episode of “Desperate Housewives” saw actress Teri Hatcher making a throwaway joke to a doctor, worried that he got his diploma “from some med school in the Philippines.” Almost immediately, an uproar from bloggers and in a matter of two days, even media outfits and the government, engulfed the country.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard denigrating remarks in reference to Filipinos, but as if on cue, we still react to these remarks in the exact same way we’ve always reacted to any attempt to put the Filipino down: with indignant disdain.

Recall when Clair Danes called Manila “a ghastly place”. Recall when we discovered a brand of cookies called “Filipinos”. Recall when Jay Leno slammed Filipinos after we pulled our troops out of Iraq. Recall movies like “Jarhead” and dictionaries like Oxford, who referred to Filipinas either as mail-order brides or domestic helpers. Recall “Man On The Moon”, where Andy Kauffman went to the Philippines to be healed, only to find out that the faith healer was a quack.

Any which way you look at it, our only course of action is to throw a hissy fit and sic the PC dogs on our so-called oppressor, never mind the fact that any corner you turn to, Filipinos are just as guilty of racism (Chinese-Filipinos, Koreans, and Indians could tell you as much.), and even on television, with the jokes we love to hurl at other races.

Sad to say, a good chunk of us can’t take it the way we dish it out.

When you make an attempt to define the Filipino or particularly, the Filipina, the way Oxford Dictionary did, or the way a cursory Google search bombards people with the wrong notions about what it means to be a Filipina, then you know there is something that needs to be done about it. There’s a huge gap between a throwaway joke in a throwaway segment of some soon-to-be throwaway television show and a completely malicious depiction of the Philippines as characterized by a Google search for the word “Filipina”.

Furthermore, it’s ridiculous to call for Teri Hatcher’s head in a scripted show, when she was just saying her lines. For all I know, racial jokes are being thrown on that program on a regular basis, and it’s only the Filipinos who are too sensitive to take a joke. It’s a bit sad how being PC is slowly eradicating our sense of humor.

But then, doesn’t making a specific issue a general matter constitute a good deal of humor? When we make jokes about how Indians supposedly stink, or about how supposedly money-grubbing the Chinese are, or how supposedly stingy the Ilocanos are, aren’t these stereotypes in place precisely because there’s a smidgen of truth in them?

It’s easy to decry being looked down upon, but did we ever check to see why we were being looked down upon? Or do we gloss over the fact that we have more than an our fair share of stalls in Recto that sell forged diplomas? Or do we forget the fact that quite a few of our medical institutions here are far from stellar? Or do we just ignore that just last year, the Philippine Nursing bar exams were marred by a leakage, thereby staining our reputation internationally, knowing full well that other countries get nurses from our country, and they discover, to their horror, that there was a leakage that marred the results.

We gave the writers of “Desperate Housewives” every reason to make a joke at our expense. And I am willing to bet you that a lot of people would even let it slide if one of the writers claimed Filipino lineage and only used the joke as a shout-out to Filipinos out there. Rex Navarette makes a lot of Pinoy-centric jokes, but he gets a free pass no matter how offensive or raunchy he might get at times simply because he’s Filipino. It’s the same reason Chris Rock gets to make black jokes, because he’s black. For a bunch of people who decry being treated unequally, the special treatment of “one of their own” is just ridiculous… or is it?

It’s not ridiculous because it’s in the context of humor. A throwaway joke with some measure of truth, the kind of truth that people in other countries are privy to because the whole nursing fiasco made international news, and thereby, extending it even to our doctors and other medical practitioners. Is this joke going to mark a decline in regard for the Filipino medical practitioner? No, it already declined the moment the nursing leakage happened. Jokes about it were made precisely because it happened. Call it tacky humor if you will, but it’s the freedom of speech, and it’s not even hateful speech, the way you hear members of the KKK rattle on and on about white supremacy.

So how was this different from the Malou Fernandez issue? Well, allow me to illustrate:

1. Malou Fernandez wrote her diatribe against OFW’s. Teri Hatcher didn’t.

2. Malou Fernandez was “one of our own”, but unlike Rex Navarette, she certainly didn’t act like it. Rex Navarette’s deprecative humor of Filipinos has always been self-referential, which is why he gets a pass. Malou didn’t for that.

3. Malou Fernandez’s statements were clearly hateful, and idiotically enough, targeted to a Filipino market. “Desperate Housewives” is marketed internationally.

4. And, oh. This just in. ABC apologized for the comment. Malou Fernandez didn't until it was way too late.

I can only imagine how many people would decry our programs if they found out that we throw out stereotypes and racial slurs on a regular basis. Anyone remember Michael V’s “DJ Bumbay”? That’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Y’know, the problem right now is we’re too busy trying to find out what other countries think about us instead of trying to fix ourselves so that other countries would have better things to say about us. Do Italians have to raise their arms up in protest everytime someone refers to the “Italian solution?” Do the French have to declare war on America every time they’re called “cowards?” Heck, just to throw in another developing country in there, does Cuba start an uproar when they’re referred to as a smuggler’s haven? No they don’t, so what makes Filipinos so special that they have to throw a hissy fit every single time a negative reference is made to them? The obvious answer, is none. We already stained our legacy with the likes of the nursing exam leakage. If Japan and Germany can’t shake off the WWII stigma sixty years hence, don’t think the Philippines can shake off the nursing fiasco in a little over a year’s time.

I’m proud to be Filipino, all good qualities and bad considered. Just because I'm not offended does not mean I'm ashamed to be a Filipino (Why am I not surprised to hear *that* stereotype everytime something like this happens.) To get mad at some line of dialogue in a television show without so much as asking where it came from is tantamount to wagging the dog. The line, no matter how insignificant, is referring to an issue that the Filipinos have a long way to address, the way Nazi jokes still haunt Germany to this day. Nazism was Germany’s national shame. At this point, the Philippines is riddled with a myriad sources of national shame, and instead of doing anything about it, we just whine when someone calls us out on it. Feel free to whine, but if that's all you're going to do, you're not helping at all.

So in closing, yeah, some of us took offense, and while I respect that, and your right to ask for a public apology from the producers of “Desperate Housewives”, can we just screw our heads on straight and not get lost in our furor?

First of all, Teri Hatcher didn’t write what she said, and when you’re paid close to a million an episode, the last thing you’d want to do is to question an almost insignificant line in a dialogue.

Second, being politically correct kills off our sense of humor. Offensive? Debatable. Funny? Equally debatable.

Thirdly, it’s ridiculous how we protest when we ourselves are guilty of stereotyping. Saying “all Filipinos should be offended, and anyone who isn't offended is not proud to be Filipino” is just ridiculously painting in broad strokes.
Lastly, it’s our own damned fault, what with the nursing board fiasco. Yes, I know nurses are not the same as doctors, but they’re both medical practitioners, and that was the point of the line in the show.

Who was it who recently said, “explain before you complain?” Tsk, tsk.

Everyone’s a little bit racist sometimes. It doesn’t mean we go around committing hate crimes.

P.S. So we got an apology now, and all is good, for the most part. But can I just say that for Nadal to demand “a more substantial” apology in the form of donations and scholarships is just being too heavy-handed?

People already got what they wanted. No need to milk the cow even further and give people a new stereotypes to brand Filipinos with...

A Song For Ana...

Indulge me...

AWIT KAY ANA
by Eduardo Calasanz

Walang ginagawa ang mga bituin
Kundi pagmasdan ang mga mangingibig.

Isang gabi, kapag ikaw ay umiibig,
Tumingala ka sa mga bituin.
Malasin mo ang kanilang ningning,
Ligaya mo'y sinasalamin.

Mabait ang mga bituin.
Sa mga mgangingibig
Isa lamang ang hiling:
Umibig, umibig, umibig
Nang may magawa ang mga bituin.

Walang ginagawa ang mga bituin
Kundi pagmasdan ang mga mangingibig.

Isang gabi, kung masawi ka sa pag-ibig
Tumingala kang muli sa mga bituin;
Pati liwanag, nagiging dilim
At tamis ng puso'y dahan-dahang umaasim.

Malupit ang mga bituin.
Sa mga bigo sa pag-ibig
Labis ang hinihiling:
Umibig, umibig, umibig pa rin
Nang may magawa ang mga bituin.

Too Sick...

... I was actually falling asleep during Metaphysics class!

It was so embarrassing. I know Mr. Calasanz understands what I'm going through, but I felt so guilty.

And thanks to that, well, I guess you can tell that I missed my double quiz in Epistemology this morning.

When it rains, it really pours.

Well...

.:Whoop De Doo...:.

Back to the grind, and it's a Monday. Had my substitute class for Princeton and I definitely enjoyed their company. Now, if only one of the students would stop getting himself in trouble by bringing playing cards to school... heh.

Columbia was fun to be around with as well. I gave them back their Persuasive essay drafts, and it was a bit off-putting to find out about an event that happened over the weekend involving one of my students.

Ah, well. The day has been long and busy. I'm just glad I can rest easy at this point.