Here Be A Decent Update

.:Sorry, Project 52...:.

Well, I really have no desire in me to fill out the lyrics and analysis for my Project 52 entries. Somewhere down the road, it just got to being more trouble than it's worth to write them down. Having said that, though, I figured it's time I started writing in my blog again. There's been so many things going on with me ever since I left the day job, and it's been pretty exciting lately.

Beloved has been back in town for a while already, so there's that, but it's been nothing doing for the most part. I guess I'm at a point with her where there really are no remaining game-changers to be had. It simply is what it is, and while I'm mostly comfortable with that notion, a small part of me still wishes there was even just a little more than meets the eye to all of this.

That being said, where we are is good. And I can't really complain about "good" now, can I?

.:Thursday Night Fun:.

Yeah, no pictures for now. I like the pictures and captions business and all that, but I need to get back into the rhythm of banging out entries quickly before I sprinkle back in funny captions again.

That being said, I will be performing with Mike Unson and new comic Hugh Vincent this Thursday night in Burger Company for Thursday Night Fun. Switch Improv has been there before, and so has Jona Paculan of the Akafellas. Not only do they have great burgers and even awesomer bacon, they also have a pretty substantial collection of board games, to boot! Obviously, they're not trying to beat Ludo at its own game, what with the fine gentlemen from Ludo owning about 400 going on 500 board games last I checked, but hey, Burger Company definitely has its own approach to mixing good food and fun together.

I've gotten back into the thick of my patented comedy mentalist act, and I hope you get to catch it. If you've never seen the Shanghai Shackles before, or if you've never heard about my mind-reading bit, then you're in for a treat, because I will be featuring that and more on Thursday night, then you get treated to an hour of Mike Unson's excellent standup comedy.

Burger Company is located in 72B Scout Reyes Street, corner Mother Ignacia Avenue, right in the heart of Quezon City. Please drop on by and catch us in action this Thursday! It's absolutely free!

P.S. They're doing International Bacon weekend at Burger Company! Order anything with bacon, and get extra bacon on top of it! Mmmmmm. Did I mention yet how life-changing their bacon dippers are?

.:Saturday Night Comedy:.

I also do improv comedy with the newest improv comedy group in town, Switch Improv, and we're hitting Relik in The Fort this Saturday night as well. It would be really nice if we could see you guys there. :)

.:In Defense Of Ramon Bautista:.

Let's make one thing clear: if you consider yourself a feminist, I absolutely welcome any critique you might have about Monra's humor, if you feel it is not to your liking. That is a valid criticism of what he does.

However, sexism was never the issue why he was declared persona non grata from the city of Davao recently. It simply wasn't.

As a comedian, Ramon was asked to go to Davao and host and entertain the people during the Kadayawan festival. He clearly didn't read his audience right when they responded violently against his quip that there's a lot of "hipon" in Davao.

Possibly offensive? Of course. Comedy doesn't prioritize being politically correct. Sexist? How, pray tell?

I don't know about you, but "hipon" is a gender-neutral term. It isn't referring to women exclusively, and goes for men and women. Otherwise, we'd call it she-pon, right? Haha, I kill me. Well, no. That isn't really funny, either. But the point stands: you might say that Monra insulted the Davao people, but you certainly can't say he was insulting only the women. Make your objection clear: you were offended by his insult on all of you, not just on your women. Otherwise, you are pretty much saying only women can be "hipon," when that is clearly not the case, as a lot of people call male gym rats "hipon," too.

And fine, people have every right to not find that joke to their liking. This was a public gathering, after all, and unlike a comedy bar, people weren't expecting to be roasted on their special day. Boo him if you want, that's how free speech works! He was free to insult you, you are free to show your disapproval right back.

It was when the government decided to directly interfere with the affair by slapping Ramon with a persona non grata sanction where I feel things went too far. Hell, I'd even let all the cursing by the former Davao mayor slide, even if that isn't exactly a great example of "proper conduct," either, especially if any equivalent of "p***** ina's" was hurled during her tirade, which is definitely a gendered slur.

But okay. Let's assume on good faith that the Davao city council did want to protect the women of Davao from the insult. Let's assume on good faith that they were not singling out Ramon Bautista just because they can, and the welfare of women was foremost among the priorities of the city council and the local government of Davao. Let's assume all of that right now.

Well, how do you explain the fact that Mayor Duterte is now defending the Davao police chief, who was caught on video beating his wife? Please explain to me how come calling people in general "hipon": is totally not okay, but a video of a police chief beating his wife just has to be "a setup." What? He was so agitated, he had no choice but to beat her up? Sure, sure, sure.

In the end, the petty vindictiveness of the people involved in declaring Ramon Bautista "persona non grata" exposes them to be far from perched on the moral high ground they profess to have. For a bunch of people who claim to want to "defend" women from Bautista's non-gendered insult (I cannot emphasize that enough.), they are clearly not doing that job when it comes to dealing with one of their own.

And you hope Duterte becomes president someday because he "takes action?" I'm not willing to surrender my personal liberties for that, thank you very much.

If you felt compelled to declare Ramon Bautista "persona non grata" because he "insulted" your women with his words, then I think it's more than fair that an even stronger sanction be issued against your police chief who hit a woman right on video. Otherwise, your double standard exposes your actions as less of an act of justice and more an act of hypocrisy.

.:And As A Footnote...:.

Five years in comedy, and I can safely say that it isn't easy to make people laugh. People might think what Vice Ganda does is easy, or that Dolphy worked with lower standards, but that just isn't the case. Eliciting laughter is an art form, whether it be Vice's insult comedy, or Dolphy's slapstick, or TVJ's wordplay, or Rex Navarrete's point of view style, or SPIT's improv, or anything else beyond and in between.

Then you see people like Robin Williams, who took his own life, and a guy I know personally, Kuya Jobert, almost take his, and you wonder how these people could be so sad despite making so many people happy.

I'm not going to say that behind every funny person is a tortured soul. That's too hackneyed and cliche for me to tout. What I'm going to say though is that whatever goes on behind the laughter, there's still a lot of hard work going on to get that laughter going. And whether or not Ramon Bautista's comedic stylings is to your liking, he certainly works hard at what he does.

So maybe it's a good idea to, every now and then, think about the people who draw all sorts of emotions from us aside from love (we obviously think about the people we love often enough, after all.). People who make us cry. People who make us angry. People who make us laugh. Let's not care if they're depressed or they're happy. We wouldn't know for sure now, would we? Let's just give them a moment. It won't hurt us at all.

And now, let's give ourselves a moment. Remind ourselves why we're here and what we're doing on this planet. And once we remember, let's go back to life as usual, hopefully with that small reminder well in hand. It just took a couple of moments. But those moments could make all the difference.

The MMDA And TV 5 Demonstrate Real Public-Private Partnership

.:Sometimes, You See Hope For This Nation...:.

While a lot of things certainly annoy the Hades out of me when it comes to this government, it's good to know that for every stupid Florence Treaty violation, we have some genuinely good efforts coming up from other sectors of the government.

Much has been said about the deficiencies of P Noy's recent SONA, but a glaring albeit non-controversial omission from his speech seems to be the fact that he never made mention of a key idea he brought up in last year's SONA: the public-private partnership. It sounded like a good, albeit expensive idea. Definitely struck me as an infrastructure-centric notion, in all honesty.

Thankfully, my rather myopic point of view was not shared by TV 5 or MMDA, and with their simple but important idea, they have helped at least 6,000 people in one fell swoop even before their project was officially launched: The Metro Manila Traffic Navigator.

Via Philippine Beat

I wish I had a funny caption here, but I guess not every blogpost here has to be a Cracked.com ripoff...

The launch was as simple and as straightforward as can be, to be honest: hey, guys! Meet the people from TV 5, meet the people from the MMDA, ask them about this awesome idea, and give them ideas how they could improve it even more! I mean, really. There's no way anyone can mess that up, and the event certainly didn't.

So how does this newfangled internets thing work, you ask? Quite simple, actually. Observe:

via Philippine Beat

Pictured: Utter simplicity. No, really.

What you are looking at is the default view for the system: it allows you to see the main thoroughfares in Metro Manila as though they were MRT/LRT lines, and each particular landmark of note is divided into northbound and southbound, and each subdivision is color-coded as green (light), yellow-orange (moderate), and red (heavy). Thus, if, for example, Lady Gaga were performing in Araneta Coliseum, you can expect that the Cubao node of the line and its nearby areas, both northbound and southbound, will be predominantly red.

If, on the other hand, 1:43 were performing in Trinoma, then you can expect that the Trinoma node and those nearby would be green all the way. Like anyone would bother going to Trinoma to catch those guys (Unless if your name is Jepoy from GameOps...).

What this does is it puts everything you need to know in one sweet package, and is fully accessible from the internet whether on your computer or on your smartphone. You would know, due to regular updates made during peak hours every two to five minutes, which routes would be best to take, and which ones to avoid altogether, especially if you have the option of choosing between EDSA or C-5. Keeping this in mind, it should be no surprise at all that this handy navigator is worth its weight in gold, no questions asked. It's updated almost real-time, and at worst, at 15-minute intervals, which is still very invaluable information, any which way you look at it.

Of course, this is no excuse for people to use their phones while driving, but this is nifty and would help ease traffic somewhat. Hey, 6,000 smarter navigators in the metro can't be a bad thing. That's for sure.

It can only be hoped that as this navigator catches on and improves further, there'll be less of this:

Maybe I'm wrong, but he doesn't seem to be in a good mood.

In the meantime, thank you, MMDA and TV 5! This navigator really helps, and knowing that this lines up just right with your free iPad App, it's good to know you're really reaching out to people in ways people have overlooked for so long! I'm sure you guys get a lot of criticism time and again, but props where props are due: I'm pretty sure unlike certain unscrupulous MMDA officials, this Navigator is not going to be asking us for bribes anytime soon...

Ad Congress, Day 2 So Far...

.: Day 2 Is On The Upswing:.

I’m writing this as I listen to Sandwich playing “Sugod” in the background. This lunch by the Philippine Star has been a pretty star-studded affair, considering how Sandwich, Pedicab, Drew, and K Brosas are all here at the program right now.

At the same time, this day is of interest to us from Nuffnang because it’s a discussion about advertisement for tech. It was amusing how Multiply and Friendster both talked about the need for them to diversify or else they’d get overrun by the mammoth known as Facebook, and it’s also hilarious to note that “Twitter is trying to be more like MySpace, while MySpace is cleaning itself up to be more like Facebook, while Facebook is trying to be more like Twitter.”

So true, so telltale of the state of affairs for social networking nowadays.

After the luckless lunch we’ve had courtesy of Philstar (Nobody won from Nuffnang. Booo!), the afternoon session was all about corporate social responsibility for the advertising industry. It was a bit hilarious during the panel, though, as suddenly, former Mayor Lito Atienza showed up along with Heherson Alvarez, talking about how the government is doing everything it could to fight global warming.

I wasn’t too convinced, so I had to pop the very inconvenient question. If they were so against leaving a huge carbon footprint, why was the pamphlet they were distributing for everyone to see printed on high-quality, unrecyclable glossy paper and top-of-the-line 4-tone printers? Isn’t this a bit... self-defeating?

.:Day 2, Channel 2...:.

Wow. It looks like channel 2 has pulled out all the stops. Their top stars are all here tonight, and after opening with a funny monologue from Jon Santos as Korina Sanchez, everyone from Echo to JLC to Piolo to Sam to Karylle to Iya Villania to Kim and Gerald took to the stage for a really fun performance.

So sue me. I’m a big Kimerald fan, and my day is complete having met them in person. If Kimerald’s gonna be at the White Rock party, I’m soooo there tonight! Yeah, Ad Congress! Heh.

And, oh. I just saw Jugs of the Itchyworms. He's apparently one of the hosts for a gameshow in Channel 2. Wow. He was clearly amused to see me in Ad Congress. :P

- Gimik 2010? I'm all for it!

On NTC And Ala-isms: Making Mountains Out Of Molehills...

This'll be long. Really long.

.:On The NTC Hoopla:.

Moments like these, I feel terribly ashamed to be a blogger.

Really, I do. While some great bloggers have done so much to put what used to merely be an online diary on the map, some people just seem to have a knack for running around like Chicken Little, screaming at the top of their lungs that "the sky is falling".

Instead of just taking the time out to read things over carefully, they pick some choice words from something, take it out of context for dramatic effect, and use this as an excuse to bring out the pitchforks and engage the groupthink bloggers have started becoming notorious for.

I'd be the first in line to admit that I've picked the wrong side of an argument more than enough times for me to care to count before. I guess that's precisely why I've slowly learned to temper my opinions with a minimum modicum of research before jumping to conclusions and condeming anyone.

In any case, this is what got me in a tizzy lately... NTC's new memorandum circular, which makes an attempt to, quite clearly, deregulate the current crop of value-added services in the telecom industry.

If you read closely enough, the intention is clear: this bill is aimed for value-added services like ringtones, picture messages, and so forth. This bill is mainly for the cellphone industry, since the NTC has jurisdiction over Telecom companies, but currently, is not quite empowered in the realm of the internet. Furthermore, the bill is not meant to burden the content developer, but in reality, is meant to empower the content developer by changing the current profit scheme that favors the content provider more than the developer. The obvious catch is to ensure this happens, the developers must register. Most developers seem to be optimistic about this, so what's the beef?

The beef arises from people who insist that since telecoms now offer net access, the content accessed therein is now subject to this bill. This, on the surface, appears to be a valid assumption. Assuming that this was the true and malicious intent of the bill (Perhaps in retaliation over the Pangandaman and QueSci issues? R-ight.) in question is not.

What we needed was to ask the authors of this memorandum regarding their intent, and I thank LengMeiMedia for doing precisely that. Really, guys. If you have more questions to ask, would this not be the most prudent course? Mr. Cabario specifically stated that if you don't ask compensation for your content, then you are not covered by this proposed bill. The compensation here is stated as "from the public", such as when you pay 10 bucks for a ringtone download. As such, sponsored posts don't even fall under this, since you don't charge your readers for these posts.

The bill is concocted in cooperation with the Securities Exchange Commission. This is a glaring signpost that this is about businesses, and they will, as such, be duly licensed. A personal blog is not a business. However, a valid question that remains to be asked of Mr. Cabario is how this will affect online content, particularly pay-per-view sites.

I don't even see what the worry is, on the part of bloggers. Do you see any stipulation how you can be punished if you don't register? There is nothing in the bill that can punish you adversely. The law, if enacted will prevent developers from developing content for a provider, but since they have no control over your provider since they're not a Philippine entity, then you are obviously not covered by it. They can't fine you or anything, but simply prevent you from being carried by a provider, but since they can't touch the provider in question, then there's nothing they can do to you.

The bill in its current form is in need of revisions, obviously. This is fine. Nobody gets it perfect the first time. If we have concerns, then we are very much free to ask questions from the NTC (Just look for their e-mail. It's on their site, I'm sure.), and I believe they will respond promptly enough. If you want a more personal approach, address the issue when the hearing is rescheduled.

But please, save the histrionics for some other time. The sky is not falling. If Mr. Cabarios's e-mail was any indication, at worst, they simply overlooked the online issue, and all we need do is clarify this, rather than crucify the government just because it seems to be the cool thing to do.

.:In Defense Of Ala Paredes...:.

Lynch mobs aren't cool. Really, they're not. Ask Tracy Borres. I'm sure she'd tell you it's not. It's so easy to ride the wave of an angry virtual lynch mob online, what with the anonymity or in the case of named people, apparent online power they possess, but in the end, we've devolved into an online culture of "shoot first, ask questions later".

Brian Gorell has never been the paragon of journalism. Let's face it: whether you like the guy or not, fact-checking was never one of his main strengths. That's precisely the reason why he posted a very scathing allegation regarding the Philippine Blog Awards, but never bothered to post a retraction when I personally sat down and explained to him via e-mail how the system worked, and even gave him more than enough contacts to verify my clarifications.

I didn't lash out at Brian despite the unfair light the post shed on the organizers of the PBA. I will try my best not to lash out at him this time as well, despite the fact that this is the second time I've seen him mouth off and bring someone down just because he felt like it. That, to me, is two times too many.

Define "hypocrisy". Is "hypocrisy" really about not doing enough for your fellow man? Or is "hypocrisy" about not doing enough for your fellow man while insisting somebody else ought to? Ala Paredes may be a lot of things, but a hypocrite, she is not. If anything, she was telling it like it is. Throwing the first stone is soooo passe. And people getting up on their high horses, trying to insult Ala for speaking her mind is just plain ignorance of what her initial post really was about.

In Nietzsche's critique of religion, he made a good point on the seemingly unreasonable stress on the "goodness" of suffering prevalent in religion, especially in folk Catholicism. Maybe it was because of Job, or because of Christ's sacrifice, but people seem to think that God ought to be a bloodthirsty God, and anyone who is suffering in this life is automatically good.

Newsflash: it's not.

There are rich people who are good. Plenty of them, in fact. Job was one of them, remember? Contrary to what your regular soap opera would tell you, the rich are not all capricious, craven monsters who look down on anyone not in their tax bracket. I know a lot of rich people who are as humble as humble can be.

On the flipside, there are poor people who are not good. Just because they are poor does not excuse them from stealing or killing. A crime is a crime is a crime. I'm sure we all love seeing rich and powerful criminals get their comeuppance (Mayor Sanchez, anyone?), but I don't see why someone gets a pass for being mean or cruel just because they're poor. Maybe I can cut them a bit of slack, and I wouldn't sue a beggar who gives me the finger the way I would sue, say, a senator who threatens to murder me, but in no way can I possibly say that what the beggar did was right. Sorry, but wrong, mean-spirited act is wrong and mean-spirited.

If this is me being the economic class equivalent of a "color-blind racist", then so be it. "Easy for you to say, you were never poor," some people might tell me. I'll admit that I'm not poor, but neither am I particularly rich. Not when I have to support myself. But really, just as I do get annoyed with elitists who have this odd sense of entitlement, I also do get annoyed with mendicants who have this odd sense of entitlement.

I live in Katipunan, so I know exactly what Ala means when she says that some mendicants can be incredibly pushy. I've been kicked, cussed at, and so forth, all because I refuse to give alms. Is this to say I don't give anything to charity? Well, actually, no. I've done multiple charity events over the past few years, as I strongly prefer to help a particular organization than an individual, because I have no idea if the 5 bucks I give to a mendicant would go to food or to rugby or to some syndicate.

Unlike Ala, though, I haven't been socially guilted into any kind of act of generosity I perform. This is not to imply that Ala only ever does charity out of guilt. Clearly, that's not the case. In my case, though, I do consciously make an effort to do my part, and I go through the proper avenues because while it's never enforced, mendicancy is actually illegal. I am full aware of what "white man's burden" means, and I wasn't handed a Messianic complex by my Theology Of Liberation experience or my immersion. If anything, it galvanized my solidarity with people, regardless of socio-economic class, which simply means: either way, you get no special treatment. You are treated with respect until you exhibit rudeness, and by then, you are treated with disdain from thereon.

That's precisely why I am very haughty with people trying to sell me stuff from Danvil Plans. They invade my personal space and proceed to ask me to buy insurance, never mind that my career as a magician who performs dangerous stunts tends to invalidate most insurance policies out there. These people simply won't take "no" for an answer!

That's precisely why I am very disdainful of certain politicians who use their power to attempt to quash the truth of an issue that concerns them. You did something wrong, now effing man up to it.

That's also precisely why I am incensed by the Katipunan taxi boys who will run in front of you to flag down a cab you are already flagging down, and then insist that you give money to them because they did something any able person with at least one hand can do. One of them even shamelessly asked me for money for "flagging down" a cab I was already boarding. As in he ran like the wind to get to me, tap the cab, and pretend he stopped the cab for the benefit of lil' ol' me. Except I was already inside the cab by the time he did that.

Argument ad misericordiam doesn't fly very well with me. Just because someone has more, they are not excused from towing the line. Neither can they be excused for having less. Mitigating factors? Perhaps. Absolving factors? Never.

Ala was perfectly free to express her opinion on the massive sense of entitlement some mendicants have exhibited towards her. To crucify her for her opinions which are founded on a personal experience is just ridiculous. So she went to a club and dressed up. Is this such a terrible thing? Since when did we disdain having a good time? Ala expressed her opinion, and she had a point. Whether or not you would've done the same thing if you were in her shoes is not quite the issue (I somehow doubt everyone who lashed out at her would really give their mask, though.). The issue is a beggar was being pushy, and she was well within her rights to refuse.

Social responsibility is not an excuse for mendicants to be mean-spirited to people who wouldn't give them what they want. There's an old saying that goes "beggars can't be choosers", yet we are witness to a bunch of them who are. I would rather do something charitable because it came from my heart, rather than because I was guilted into it by social responsibility and spurred by some smug sense of entitlement to alms and dole outs.

So to everyone who wants to condemn Ala, or bemoan how her dad "failed" in raising her right, why don't you read her words more closely and understand that not everything is black and white? Not all poor people are angels, the same way that not all rich people are spawns of Hades. Before you get on with the lynch mob spurned by some out-of-touch pundit who doesn't even know what the issue really is about, maybe you should look long and hard at yourself. Why are you angry that someone pointed out the elephant in the room? Is it because you don't have the nerve to tell it like it is?

Because seriously, as my blog has been saying for the past six or so years, though sometimes not everyone may like what you have to say, what matters is that It's True, It's True!

.:The End Of This Tirade...:.

Yeah, I went a helluva lot longer than I hoped to, but I think the point is clear: bloggers are indeed powerful. Some people in traditional media are understandably concerned about the sheer instantaneous strength of new media, and while we aren't really journalists, it's unfortunate, but some of us have been elevated to the status of opinion leaders. I wouldn't call it a privileged position, if only for the fact that it's quite a responsibility, but yes, there are plenty of bloggers now who could, with a single word, launch a thousand ships.

I know this would probably fall on deaf ears, but don't you think it's time we learned that with this great power comes great responsibility? How often do we jump the gun on an issue just because we have a pre-set opinion about someone or something, and even if facts would end up painting a different picture, we'd still split hairs, backpedal, and grasp at straws just so we don't lose face? How often do we judge a person without even sitting down to think if the person actually made a valid point? How often do we fight for free speech, yet insist somebody shut up on their own blog when their exercise of free speech clashes with our opinions? Isn't it sometimes a good idea to ask questions first before we bring out the pitchforks? Why is it that it seems the only forms of exercise certain bloggers have lately is flying off the handle and jumping to conclusions?

These are all rhetorical questions, I hope. Perhaps I've opened up a can of worms for some of us. I know I have for me. I know I have a lot more to learn, but with these past two issues, I realize that jumping the gun is not always the smartest course of action.