I feel happy and relevant

My journalist professor used to say that lifestyle writers can't be that pertinent--they report on the latest hotels, fashion items, and beauty products that are seemingly lame and do not have relevance to society, at least to the masses--unlike the daily hard news reportage on economy, tourism, and crimes. 

But now, I feel so "part of something". I feel "useful" after the news report on the death of three Filipino solons, who underwent stem cell therapy abroad, has gone viral. Apparently, I can relate with what's going on. And I somehow know the ins and outs of stem cell therapy after I feature a story on it published in our Lifestyle section. Haha! I feel so damn happy. That is why of all the coverages I attend, Well-being (and Travel hehe) are my favorites. 

Revive the Old, Glory Days of Manila!!!

On the 442nd Manila Day, all I ever wish is to see it prosper (again) and revive all the vintage streets, buildings, and infrastructures, which are now only visible in books and online travel blogs.

Please, new Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, revive, for instance, Escolta and the Metropolitan Theater! Who doesn't want to walk on cobbled pavements and to Instagram photos of Neo-Classical, Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings?

If only we can revive Escolta's Tranvia, Manila's first cable car station. If we can only see concerts in the chic-ly designed Metropolitan Theater. If we can hear the footsteps of calesa thumping on cobbled streets. If only...

Escolta's tranvia

People dressed to the nines walking on cobbled pavements unworried of snatchers and rapists.

What about the abandoned Metropolitan Theater? The busy Manila has forgotten how people used to religiously watch concerts, plays, dances, then.

*photo credits in order: www.yapakngesparto.wordpress.com, philippine-history.org, wikipilipinas

here's to sheer poetry and genius of Philippine tabloids...

Manila’s Gory, Sexy Tabloids Outsell Traditional Broadsheets

By FLOYD WHALEY

Published: June 26, 2012

published in New York Times

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MANILA — The former president of the Philippines had been arrested on corruption charges. The chief justice of the Supreme Court had been impeached. Transportation workers were threatening to gridlock the city with a strike.

But People’s Tonight had the scoop: A child had been stabbed while its mother slept nearby.

“She screamed as she saw her child’s cradle dripping with blood,” the newspaper’s front-page story said. “With trembling hands, the mother pulled out the blade and scooped her mangled kid in her arms.”

Welcome to the world of Manila’s tabloid newspapers.

With names like Bulgar — the Filipino word for “vulgar” — and Police Files Tonite, more than 40 Manila newspapers publish in both the format and spirit of classic tabloid journalism. They offer readers a dizzying assortment of sex, violence, gore, celebrity scandal, strange news, spirited opinion and personal advice.

A quick scan through the Manila tabloids shows a victim of a motorcycle accident, whose head has been severed, lying in a pool of blood on the pavement with no attempt by the publication to mask the gore. Photos of scantily clad men and women, and some photos of completely nude women, sit alongside columns by priests, senior government officials and mayors.

Hard-hitting columnists link government officials and police officers by name to extortion and bribery, a practice not without risk in a country with one of the world’s highest rates of murdered journalists. One publication regularly features a cartoon cockroach that can be spotted throughout the pages making clever commentary on stories and photos.

A running feature of many of the newspapers is crime suspects with their heads hanging low being paraded before the news media by scowling police officers. Some feature photos of Mayor Alfredo Lim of Manila — a darling of the tabs — questioning the suspects.

While Manila’s traditional broadsheet newspapers cover the most important issues of the day in English for a relatively small readership of influential Filipinos and foreigners, the tabloids provide the news for the rest of the reading public, mostly in Filipino.

“If you combine the circulation of the tabloids, they have a much larger readership than the broadsheets,” said Marites Vitug, a respected Manila journalist and president of the Journalism for Nation Building Foundation.

Circulation figures are not verified for Manila newspapers, either mainstream broadsheets or tabloids, but the broadsheet Manila Bulletin says on its Web site that it prints 300,000 copies per day. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports a daily circulation of 260,000.

The actual circulation of the tabloids is anybody’s guess. Some publishers claim figures exceeding 350,000 per day. Others joke that their circulation varies from 30,000 to 500,000 depending on whether they are talking to an advertiser or a tax auditor. What everyone seems to agree on is that the tabloids, over all, outsell the broadsheets and that they make money.

“Because they run on smaller production and editorial budgets, tabloids are sometimes more profitable ventures than broadsheets,” said the German research group Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, in the Philippines chapter of its report Asian Media Barometer 2011.

One indicator of their profitability is the fact that the major mainstream newspapers in Manila — The Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Manila Bulletin and The Philippine Star — all print tabloid versions of their broadsheet editions. Like other major tabloids here, they profit less from advertising than from low overhead and high-volume street sales.

The dozens of smaller, shadier tabloids that operate in Manila find other ways to make a profit. Some are run as completely underground operations. They do not have advertising, a business license, a taxpayer identification number or office contact information published in their pages. Much of their content is soft-core pornography lifted from the Internet and political attack articles sold to the highest bidder.

“During election time, these small papers are very profitable,” said Raimund Agapito, publisher of the popular celebrity tabloid newspaper Pinoy Parazzi. “They will malign any candidate. They will print anything for a price.”

The shadier operators do not help the beleaguered reputation of the Manila tabloid press. Media analysts acknowledge that the publications are popular, but they stop short of giving them credit for being influential or socially relevant.

“The tabloids fill all sorts of needs, the thrill of reading about crime and so forth,” said Melinda Quintos de Jesus, executive director of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, based in Manila. “The only social value I see is that they keep up the reading habit in a sector that cannot afford to buy the daily newspaper,” she added, referring to more mainstream publications.

Ms. Vitug agrees, noting that the Manila tabloids do not break major news stories like their counterparts in Britain or the United States.

“The tabloids don’t shape the news agenda. They are seen as entertainment,” she said. “They are read by the masses, but the masses don’t lead revolutions or bring the country into the future. That sounds condescending, but that is how they are perceived” by the elite.

In a commercial building along a nondescript road in Manila, Mr. Agapito, the publisher of Pinoy Parazzi, sat in the back of a storefront office with a few scattered desks and a block of cement at the front door to block floodwaters. He disagrees with the assertion that publications like his offer little or no social value.

“Broadsheets have many different parties and corporate interests involved in their publications,” Mr. Agapito said. “I am an independent operator. I am not indebted to anyone. I can write anything I want as long as it serves the interests of my readers.”

“We serve the same function as the broadsheets,” he added. “We provide information. We are just more interesting.”

Mr. Agapito, a former linguistics professor, said he had started Pinoy Parazzi in 2007 in order to bring to the Philippines the paparazzi culture of candid photos of celebrities.

“Before we got started, no one would dare to publish a picture of a celebrity who wasn’t smiling or posing,” he said. “We publish photos of celebrities eating on the sidewalk and kissing in public.”

Mr. Agapito said he had been sued repeatedly, but never successfully, on allegations of invasion of privacy. His publication has broken several major celebrity news stories. Paying as much as 50,000 pesos, or more than $1,100, for a photograph, he has published images of celebrities who were not yet known to be couples trying to check into hotels secretly and others engaged in mild sexual activity in public.

“We buy only the most scandalous and controversial photos,” he said.

He was quick to point out that his pages host a mix of 70 percent celebrity coverage and 30 percent straight news.

“My primary purpose is to educate and help people decide what best serves their interests,” said Mr. Agapito. “How I am going to educate them if they don’t want to read the paper? We have to use the showbiz news to bring them the politics, the other news.”

Mr. Agapito added that he takes his news section seriously and that he does not publish gory photos. “I would rather ridicule and exploit celebrities who are earning big money than focus on victims of crimes and accidents,” he said.

At the press room in the headquarters of the Manila Police Department, in a gritty part of old Manila, it is all about crime and accidents. Bening Batigas, a columnist for the Pilipino Star Ngayon tabloid, shuffled quietly through the room amid the wheezing of dusty air-conditioners and the staccato rattling of AM radio news reports. In a corner was a small Catholic shrine.

“I write about crime and scalawags,” said Mr. Batigas with a smile, adding that he had exposed police brutality and gambling rings run by low-level officers.

As president of the police press club, Mr. Batigas acts as a liaison between the police and the news media. He noted that the press room had previously been located inside the main police headquarters, but had then been moved to a separate building in the parking lot. It is now attached to another office that police officials do not want located inside the main building: the bomb squad.

Mr. Batigas said that he and other reporters did not mind being relegated to a building in the parking lot. “This way we can see them coming and going,” he said.

As he spoke, a beeping could be heard coming from his pants pocket. He pulled out his cellphone, listened for a few seconds and said: “Multiple vehicle collision on España” and started walking briskly toward the door.

Other phones in the press room could be heard ringing as tabloid photographers, reporters, radio and television journalists poured out the door.

Racing to the scene of the accident on the busy Manila thoroughfare of España Boulevard, Mr. Batigas said that reporters working the night police beat — many of them affiliated with tabloids — banded together.

“At night, we work together,” he said as he sped through the streets of Manila in a minivan marked with the logo of his newspaper. “We don’t intrigue or try to scoop each other — most of the time.”

At the scene, a truck and a jeepney — a local form of public transportation often made from old jeeps — had collided. Traffic was blocked, but there were no injuries. “The truck tried to beat the light,” said Mr. Batigas.

Back at the police press room, Kevin dela Cruz, a 21-year-old photographer for Abante, one of the largest tabloids in the Philippines, was not worried that the accident had not produced a usable photo. He said it would not be long before they were alerted to another accident or a crime.

“There are plenty of incidents,” he said. “Regular Filipino people are very interested in crime. Rich people don’t understand the experience of crime because it mostly happens to poor people. That’s why we cover it.”

***

Oh well,  sexed-up stories sell, but can the daily broadsheets, one day, bite into this bait, and sensationalized their headlines? Of course they can, but they won't. The seemingly intellectual take on news is what sets tabloids and broadsheets apart. 

However, recently, the major dailies have succumbed to the call of soft news, when a major publication printed Kris Aquino-James Yap and Heart Evangelista- Chiz Escudero love  stories.   But of course, they were written in English. Ah, the great partition in Philippine society (masa at mayaman) is ever so obvious today, and it roots one one's capacity to speak and understand Uncle Sam's language.

Thank you!

I would like to thank all the interesting and boring persons I get to meet *every day. Cheers to those dreamers and shakers who inspired me to be better, and thanks to those lifeless people I encountered for setting the example of what not to do.

(*Every day, by the way, is two words when you mean, each day. Apparently, a lot of people are confused with how to spell it.)

Thank you, Jas, a friend/colleague from Business World who inspired me to write--no matter how short or gibberish a topic may be--every day. Her blog sparked my interest of reviving this dying online notebook and my eternal love for writing on my journal. She too has her journal with her.  From this day forward, I vow to write, draw, doodle on every blank piece of paper. So don't throw that receipt or napkin, I might need them!

To sir Lito Cinco, an established Lifestyle and Sports writer, teacher, and PR practitioner, thanks sir! I look forward to sharing the same media coverage with you again. Sir Lito has been writing and contributing on daily newspapers and online publications, and these are what he taught me:

• Always sit on the front row during press conference so you'll get the best view
• Do not be afraid to ask, but of course, fire interesting and intelligent questions
• Always be on time
• Always think out of the box, think of a unique angle on stories (He once covered a bullfighting festival. And since this sport caters to the alpha males, his story focused on how it is to be a cowgirl instead. His interviewees were all chicks.)
• Do not forget to bring notepads and books, just in case the coverage gets boring

...

And to you, dear 'un-passionate'  being, thank you for unconsciously teaching me how not to be unproductive.

Thank you very much.

38 foreign words we could use in english (from mentalfloss)

Sometimes we must turn to other languages to find le mot juste. Here are a whole bunch of foreign words with no direct English equivalent.

1. Kummerspeck (German)
Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.

2. Shemomedjamo (Georgian)
You know when you’re really full, but your meal is just so delicious, you can’t stop eating it? The Georgians feel your pain. This word means, “I accidentally ate the whole thing."

3. Tartle (Scots)
The nearly onomatopoeic word for that panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can't quite remember.

4. Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego)
This word captures that special look shared between two people, when both are wishing that the other would do something that they both want, but neither want to do.

5. Backpfeifengesicht (German)
A face badly in need of a fist.

6. Iktsuarpok (Inuit)
You know that feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet? This is the word for it.

7. Pelinti (Buli, Ghana)
Your friend bites into a piece of piping hot pizza, then opens his mouth and sort of tilts his head around while making an “aaaarrrahh” noise. The Ghanaians have a word for that. More specifically, it means “to move hot food around in your mouth.”

8. Greng-jai (Thai)
That feeling you get when you don't want someone to do something for you because it would be a pain for them.

9. Mencolek (Indonesian) 
You know that old trick where you tap someone lightly on the opposite shoulder from behind to fool them? The Indonesians have a word for it.

10. Faamiti (Samoan) 
To make a squeaking sound by sucking air past the lips in order to gain the attention of a dog or child.

11. Gigil (Filipino)
The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is irresistibly cute.

12. Yuputka (Ulwa)
A word made for walking in the woods at night, it’s the phantom sensation of something crawling on your skin.

13. Zhaghzhagh (Persian) 
The chattering of teeth from the cold or from rage.

14. Vybafnout (Czech) 
A word tailor-made for annoying older brothers—it means to jump out and say boo.

15. Fremdschämen (German); Myötähäpeä (Finnish)
The kindler, gentler cousins of Schadenfreude, both these words mean something akin to "vicarious embarrassment.”

16. Lagom (Swedish)
Maybe Goldilocks was Swedish? This slippery little word is hard to define, but means something like, “Not too much, and not too little, but juuuuust right.”

17. Pålegg (Norweigian)
Sandwich Artists unite! The Norwegians have a non-specific descriptor for anything – ham, cheese, jam, Nutella, mustard, herring, pickles, Doritos, you name it – you might consider putting into a sandwich.

18. Layogenic (Tagalog)
Remember in Clueless when Cher describes someone as “a full-on Monet…from far away, it’s OK, but up close it’s a big old mess”? That’s exactly what this word means.

19. Bakku-shan (Japanese)
Or there's this Japanese slang term, which describes the experience of seeing a woman who appears pretty from behind but not from the front.

20. Seigneur-terraces (French)
Coffee shop dwellers who sit at tables a long time but spend little money.

21. Ya’arburnee (Arabic)
This word is the hopeful declaration that you will die before someone you love deeply, because you cannot stand to live without them. Literally, may you bury me.

22. Pana Po’o (Hawaiian) 
“Hmm, now where did I leave those keys?” he said, pana po’oing. It means to scratch your head in order to help you remember something you’ve forgotten.

23. Slampadato (Italian)
Addicted to the UV glow of tanning salons? This word describes you.

24. Zeg (Georgian)
It means “the day after tomorrow.” OK, we do have "overmorrow" in English, but when was the last time someone used that?

25. Cafune (Brazilian Portuguese)
Leave it to the Brazilians to come up with a word for “tenderly running your fingers through your lover’s hair.”

26. Koi No Yokan (Japanese)
The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall in love.

27. Kaelling (Danish)
You know that woman who stands on her doorstep (or in line at the supermarket, or at the park, or in a restaurant) cursing at her children? The Danes know her, too.

28. Boketto (Japanese) 
It’s nice to know that the Japanese think enough of the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking to give it a name.

29. L’esprit de l’escalier (French)
Literally, stairwell wit—a too-late retort thought of only after departure.

30. Cotisuelto (Caribbean Spanish) 
A word that would aptly describe the prevailing fashion trend among American men under 40, it means one who wears the shirt tail outside of his trousers.

31. Packesel (German)
The packesel is the person who’s stuck carrying everyone else’s bags on a trip. Literally, a burro.

32. Hygge (Danish)
Denmark’s mantra, hygge is the pleasant, genial, and intimate feeling associated with sitting around a fire in the winter with close friends.

33. Cavoli Riscaldati (Italian)
The result of attempting to revive an unworkable relationship. Translates to "reheated cabbage."

34. Bilita Mpash (Bantu)
An amazing dream. Not just a "good" dream; the opposite of a nightmare.

35. Litost (Czech)
Milan Kundera described the emotion as “a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.”

36. Luftmensch (Yiddish)
There are several Yiddish words to describe social misfits. This one is for an impractical dreamer with no business sense.

37 & 38. Schlemiel and schlimazel (Yiddish)
Someone prone to bad luck. Yiddish distinguishes between the schlemiel and schlimazel, whose fates would probably be grouped under those of the klutz in other languages. The schlemiel is the traditional maladroit, who spills his coffee; the schlimazel is the one on whom it's spilled.

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/50698/38-wonderful-foreign-words-we-could-use-english#ixzz2Wd0vR5vZ 
--brought to you by mental_floss! 

Last night...

... I met a cute guy and I was dressed down, soaking wet…

My usual get-up these days have always been on the safe side, on comfy clothes like black jeans, white top, and flat shoes, owing to the nature of my work where I should always be on-the-go and ready to cover unexpected events. Plus, the rigor of public commuting brings me to dressing down regardless of how formal the occasion is.

Hence, I was just my usual self last night; I was wearing a peach button down, black jeans, and jelly shoes. My god, jelly shoes on a formal night. What was I thinking? I have an excuse though, it was raining hard last night—and because it was pouring, I ended up soaking. Half of my pants were wet, my hair was dripping, and so is the back of my blouse.  Then there he was… the PR guy I was just texting earlier that I was going to be late because I was stuck in Friday-payday traffic and it was raining hard.

That nameless, faceless stranger contact person of the event, whom I thought was an old man (well, his name suggests it) turned out to be a heartthrob. And to my dismay, half of my clothes were still damp, my hair unruly, and my face shiny.

What a lovely night. At least, I got that feeling again, the feeling of getting kilig. I missed it.  

If only i looked this gorgeous with wet hair and clothes. Haha! (photo from Google images) 

talented > good

Good writers know the technicalities--spelling of words, grammar, story structure-- of their craft but the talented wordsmiths, aside from being good, can provoke strong emotions, create vivid images, and  commit lessons sans being preachy. And author Khaled Husseini belongs to the gifted group.

His novels (that I've read), the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns never fail to put their readers to a whirlwind experience every time a page is flipped.

I've just recently finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns (in almost one seating, the novel is 'unputdownable') hence this post and rave on how talented of a writer Husseini is.

A barrow from the Goodreads' story plot line:

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years, from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding, that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives, the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness, are inextricable from the history playing out around them.Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love, a stunning accomplishment.

My Goodreads' Review:

Hosseini has yet again proven his cunning talent of storytelling. A Thousand Splendid Suns is gripping, poignant, exquisite. Hosseini is a talented writer who never fails to take his readers to the story's setting and feel for the characters' emotions-- grief, love, burden, happiness, sorrow-- and experiences as if it were their own. A barrow from Chicago Sun Time's review, "we are convinced that the characters and their dilemmas are original." This is a must-read. This second novel is as good if not better than the Kite Runner. Now, who isn't excited for his recently published third novel?

His third novel by the way, And the Mountains Echoed has also been receiving great reviews.

The clash between being a good versus a talented writer does not only challenges the novelists but I think, it also applies to any word weavers, journalists, bloggers, PR writers-- to come up with a narration (nonfiction/fiction) that can withstand the test of time, reap the heart, and arouse various feelings.