THE MAN IN THE SAND CASTLE

There was this thing I saw on the most reliable news source of the interwebs, Facebook, about a certain local filmmaker who threatened a few people that gave their movie a negative review. It made me want to post a blog about opinions and criticism. Which then made me realize how nearly all of the personal blogs now are reviews of stuff. Which then made me realize I haven't written a movie review for a long, long time. Which then made me go back to the first one about opinions and criticism.

So I logged in and found out that I had a recent unfinished unposted entry, with three paragraphs worth of introductory rant about the Manny Pacquiao v. LGBT community issue saved as draft and ended in the middle of a sentence. I Ctrl+A'd it and hit Backspace instead of Delete because I'm a rebel. Also because it connects to what this new entry will contain (if I finish it).

Anyway, I'll never understand people who can't respect other people's opinion of their work, like it's the most perfectest thing in the universe and anyone who says otherwise is automatically an idiot. As a writer, I've always been open to criticism (of the constructive kind, of course). I don't really listen to them that much since I'll not let go of work for external scrutiny unless I'm satisfied that no more changes are needed but I file them under "for consideration" on any succeeding endeavors. I get that some tend to value their output more than it deserves (I do that as well). That does not mean, however, that they can just threaten, ridicule and harass their critics and it definitely does not excuse anyone from being a complete asshole. Nothing does, really. Only time it's okay to be an asshole is if, in fact, you are literally a hole of ass.

And this isn't about someone being called fat and crying foul on social media even though they really are severely overweight. This involves a product released for public consumption. If your product is of subpar quality, society will say so. It doesn't matter how hard you worked on it, how much time or money you spent on it, and how much praise you got from the people you paid to help you with it. Your efforts are meaningless if the end result sucks and no amount of delusionary persuasion will turn it into gold. If it's crap, it's crap. From an asshole. I love how disgustingly that links together.

So go ahead, make your films, write your stories, and peddle your goods for all the world to consume as long as you're sure you can take the heat. Else, crawl back under your rock and fellate yourself for eternity.


P.S. Goes both ways of course. Complaints, reactions and suggestions need not be offensive.
P.P.S. Been dreaming of my soon-to-be-born son a lot recently. I hope he dreams of me too. Cant wait for both our dreams to come true.

baroque concerto grosso

today's topic, kids, is music. but first a little music background (not background music). i basically like rock and, to cut the inevitable long story short, i used to buy casette tapes and cds. but then the internet happened and mp3s became the universal format for auditory stimulation. however, unlike most downloaders, i give a shit about musicians losing money to piracy. buying overpriced albums at this day and age of physical player extinction is impractical. and the only other option for me to pay those guys back is to go to their concerts.

im a casual fan. i do not idolize any of them. i do not define my life by their lyrics. i just love their music and want to see them perform live and actually pay for it which is worth every peso because no amount of speakers or hertz of quality can match the real deal. there, it's not just listening anymore. it's an entire experience. you the vocalist actually sing the lyrics and the other members actual play their instruments all while surrounded with (hopefully) other true fans. so i find it stupid to see people brand themselves as big fans of some bands and not go to their concerts.

Or, inversely, i find it even stupider that there are people who worship musicians and claim to be diehard fans just because of one song, as dictated by being in. a coworker of mine just now said that psy is her idol, because of gangnam style. my wife showed me someone's tweet about a girl saying she is the number one fan of maroon 5 despite the fact that the only song of theirs she knows is payphone. these people are not fans. they're trend slaves. if for some reason, justin bieber released a song of nothing but farts and the media eats it up, these people would be preaching it's the best thing that penetrated their ears. this "phenomenon" is also because of the internet. it is now easier to start a fad and follow them, regardless of everything else.

i watched the first maroon 5 concert in moa back when payphone and moves like jagger weren't hits. they just played their classic songs. im sure there were people there who just went because they thought adam levine was hot and could care less about what he sang. but there wasn't this thing that there is now. on the night of the 2nd concert which was in araneta, i was watching the news and this guy was interviewed. he said he'd been a fan of maroon 5 for many years. and then the clincher: he said he was excited because it was his first time to see them live. so i was like, no, dude, you just drank the kool-aid.

p.s. also, may the idea of walking around wearing headsets is cool die.

this is where your taxes go

sometime ago, they decided to strictly enforce the speed limit. fast and furious drivers traversing the south luzon expressway suddenly received a piece of police literature. it's a good law. it lessens accidents. but what about those bozos going way below the speed limit? do they flag them down and ticket them as well? i bet no or else i wouldn't find myself driving in a very long queue behind a hearse-velocity truck on a highway which i paid the toll for. why do they let these slugs go by? don't say they don't cause accidents because im pretty sure that a lot of those accidents were due to drivers overtaking these motherfuckers. cop dudes, dont single out the speedsters. implement the law completely. go after motorists who go over and below the speed limit. get these slowpokes out of my way and stick tickets up their shitholes. i mean, chasing them shouldn't be that hard, right?

one of the things i hate seeing on the news is the shenanigans against piracy. they confiscate piles of 8 in 1s, apprehend the vendors and give a job-well-done interview. that's it? that's the only thing in their job description, mission and vision? take the fakes and smile for the camera? what about the legal ones in the video stores? why are they overpriced crap compared to the pirated copies? how about the theaters? why are they still showing the same old pinoy ideas-stolen-from-hollywood movie crap in the cinemas? where can the rare films destroyed in dvd form be seen? why rate a film r and release it if there are going to be cuts? and why are the cuts done by a 5-year-old using windows moviemaker? your job does not stop at hunting down the dvd cloners. make those films available legally and ensure quality viewing in cinemas. (also, instead of showing a stupid comedy skit about illegal recording along with the trailers, they should threaten the morons and the assholes that they'd be kicked out with no refund for talking, texting, answering calls, commenting loudly, reacting unnecessarily, bringing children and ruining other folks' experience during the movie.)

now the issue regarding plagiarism, i don't want to even begin. ive already wasted two long paragraphs worth of your time and i'd rather start concluding this post than make it any more longer due to a topic i so strongly oppose. i'll just say: plagiarism is wrong, whether there's a law against it or not, and anyone who does not understand that simple fact should not be in public office.

why are there road constructions (ongoing or abandoned) everywhere? why do streets quickly turn into lakes after a little rain? why do we get our butts kicked in the olympics? why is it that no matter how hard you work, you'll never be richer than the already rich? because this country is being run by a bunch of buffoons doing half-assed jobs for double/triple the pay stolen from our pockets.