Related to Colonial Mentality

So Filipino singer Charice was chosen to sing the theme song for Final Fantasy XIII-2. There’s no problem with this, except maybe some fans’ reaction to it, the worst one being:

“Nagtitipid siguro ang Square Enix kaya instead of ‘yung Japanese singer, si Charice na lang kinuha nila.”

Hindi ba nila alam kung gaano ka-big time si Charice? She has concerts with Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli! Nagpeperform siya sa Madison Square Garden! Nag-guest siya sa Glee! Halos ninang na niya si Oprah. Akala ba nila ‘eh mura ang talent fee ni Charice tulad nung mga kumakanta sa barangay?

It’s a case of colonial mentality, I guess. Anything local is cheap. Charice is Filipino, therefore her talent fee must be cheap. Therefore, companies only hire her when they’re looking for a cheaper alternative. Hay, mga tao talaga.

Life Update

It’s finally Valentine’s Day! I did say that February was my favourite month, but I turned out not to update my blogs too often. Talk about laziness. So, here goes a life update.

Out and About Virac, Catanduanes

Because Cebu Pacific had a promo with ridiculously cheap prices for roundtrip tickets to Virac (P200/person), my parents and I went to a place I didn’t even know existed. It turned out to be pretty great, though I don’t consider it the kind of place I’d go to over and over, which isn’t to say I’d turn down another trip there. Kaladkarin naman ako ‘eh.

We went last February 6 and stayed for 3 nights at Twin Rock Beach Resort in Igang, which is 20 minutes away from Virac airport & town, because we thought we’d need all 3 days to tour around the area, but it turned out that we just needed one day for the tour. We spent the rest of the time in the resort, which was fine because it had its own beach, swimming pool and restaurant.

 

Sights in Twin Rock Beach Resort (Click on image to enlarge.)

I wanted to go to Nahulugan Falls, but it was a 3-4 hour drive from Virac, so we went instead to Maribina Falls, which was smaller, but I liked anyway. But I think it helped that there weren’t too many people there when we went, so there was a point when I had the falls all to myself. It was that way when we went to Balite and Puraran Beach, too. I guess we should always go to strange places on off-peak dates.

 

Out and About South Catanduanes (Click on image to enlarge.)

127 Hours

So I went into the cinema thinking I’d just be swooning over James Franco, but then I turned out to be real grossed out. 20 minutes into the movie and I was already thinking, “Why in the world did I decide to watch this?!”

You see, 127 Hours is about a mountain climber Aron, who gets stuck in a crevice in a mostly-deserted canyon for (duh) 127 hours. He gets stuck, because his hand and part of his forearm was pressed into the wall by a rock, which he couldn’t move. He survives to tell the story, but he has to cut off his arm first. Yes, he cut off his own arm. And he did it with a small cheap knife, too. And the details were excruciating. I had to watch the cinema’s ceiling for a while so I wouldn’t be too grossed out, but I already felt weak at the knees seeing all the blood.

Grossness aside, it was actually a really good movie. James Franco was amazing (as always), and despite being about a guy basically talking to himself for 3/4 of the movie, it wasn’t boring at all. So if you’re not too queasy, I’d recommend you watch it. If you are queasy, maybe you can wait for the DVD and just fast forward through all the bloody stuff, that way you don’t hear the sound of his bones breaking.Waaah.

No More Sugar

One of my favoritest bands in the world, Sugarfree is breaking up.

So my friends and I made plans to catch one of their last gigs. Last Saturday, we went to Pap’s Place in Better Living Subdivision in Paranaque and sat through 5 unknown bands (in fairness, one of them, September Issue, I thought was really good) so we could see Sugarfree.

It was lots of fun. Most of the songs they played were my most favourite of theirs — Mariposa, ‘Wag Ka Nang Umiyak, Makita Kang Muli, Hay Buhay, Telepono, Tulog Na and Burnout. Also, in a strange turn of events, their original drummer Mitch played with them for some songs, and their usual quiet bassist Jal sang Taguan. The only disappointment of the night was that they played Hari ng Sablay as their encore song. Because it was requested by a fan. Who in the world was that fan!? I know Hari ng Sablay is one of their more famous songs that made them mainstream, but honestly it’s one of their songs that I least like. But I guess it was funny because just before playing it, the vocalist Ebe said, “Sigurado kayo? Para sa ibang tao ito na ang last time nilang mapapanood ang Sugarfree tapos Hari ng Sablay ang gusto n’yong last song namin?”

Too true. I was thinking the exact same thing. See? I love this band! They understand me!

BTW, it was the first time in a long time that I went out again at night. Most of my social stuff take place during the daytime (and in a mall, and involves either eating lots and lots or seeing a movie), so it was a nice change of scenery. Also, I was so reminded that I was in the South because I saw a high school classmate in the crowd.

Lots and Lots of Sugar

I don’t have work so I don’t have anywhere to go today. So I made pulburon (something like a cookie that’s made with just flour, butter, sugar and milk) at home. And because it’s Valentine’s day, I covered them in red Japanese paper instead of the usual assorted colors I use.

They’re very delicious, of course. This is only one of the containers we put them in, but we made enough to fit 4 containers. Maybe I’ll give you some if I see you within the week.

All in all I’d say it was a great week. I got to travel with my family, hang out with my friends, see a movie, watch my favorite band perform, and cap it all of with yummy pulburon. Actually, now that I’ve enumerated all these, I think it was actually a perfect week.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Ang Huling El Bimbo

I wonder if when other radio stations close, they also get this kind of farewell. That (at least) hundreds will be outside their studio, singing along and swaying to their last song. What would even be the last song that they play? If they played a song by Usher, wouldn’t there be another radio station that also usually plays songs by Usher that can claim his songs as their farewell song?

Ang Huling El Bimbo by the Eraserheads.

Can you think of a song more fitting? Sure, the Eraserheads were famous enough back then for their songs to be played in all the radio stations. But let me tell you something, by the time a station other than NU107 started playing Overdrive, we who listed to the home of NURock have already memorized it. We’d already bought the cassette of Cutterpillow while the album cover was still brown and grainy, instead of the cleaner blue that eventually covered the walls of Radio City (this was a record store, it’s also gone now).

It was NU107 that gave life to the OPM bands. And I daresay, that all the people who became musicians because of the Eraserheads, probably wouldn’t even have known about them too well if it wasn’t for NU107.

Is it strange that something like a radio station, something that you don’t even really think about (unless you’re a big music geek, which not most people are) can evoke this much sadness? I don’t think so. But that’s because NU107 wasn’t really just a radio station to me.

I was just a listener, to be sure. I never even called them up to place a song request. But still I felt like it was a part of my identity somehow. If only because it didn’t play the same songs that everyone else was playing.

Back in high school, I would hang out a lot at the school publication office because I worked at the school paper. In the office was a radio, which was one of the few perks that we, the newspaper staff, enjoyed. We could tune into any radio station we wanted, and everyone knew, just knew, that when it was tuned into 107.5, that meant that I was in the office, and that I had tuned it there. Of course, when more people entered the office, they’d insist on tuning into somewhere else, a station “less noisy” as they put it, and I wouldn’t argue with them, but that’s not really my point. The point is that NU107 was connected to me. It was my radio station, and if you walked in and saw the radio tuned into any other station, you couldn’t tell who put it there.

If, just what if, another radio station, whichever other one (except for maybe DZFE98.7 , which plays classical music, or RJ100.3, which plays oldies (70′s music or older)) also closed down, would anyone be as sad as we fans of NU had been when we found out that NU was closing? Maybe they’d also have a street party of sorts outside that station’s studio, but would they really feel the same? Would they really feel as lost as we do? Because when I first found out that NU107 was closing, the first thing I thought of was, “But where will I listen to rock songs anymore?!” But if it was another station, well… Nearly every other station has a clone station, which plays basically the same music.

I’m recently obsessed with Firefly, that Joss Whedon show that didn’t quite get as famous as Buffy and was cancelled after only one season but became a cult classic anyway, and well, I just can’t help but think about how it’s those great ones that leave us so quickly. Firefly, NU107, Cotton Candy McFlurry. And, why can’t I ever like the ones that stick around for a long time? Ketchup. Pop songs with lyrics like “Baby, I love you”. Law & Order. I must have a knack for finding things that can break your heart.

Lyrics, Please!

Forgive me, I seem to be in music mode.

This weekend I was able to watch some local music videos in MYX (a local music channel) on the TV at the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at in Naga City. The reason this is a big deal (or maybe it’s not, but it’s a different thing that happens to me) is because our cable operator at home doesn’t carry the channel MYX (or Animax, or Hero channel, or Cinema One. I know, I hate it too sometimes. But it’s not so bad, we get a lot of other channels that not many cable operators have). Hence, I am only able to watch this channel when it’s shown on Studio 23 (and that’s rare), or when I’m out of town staying at a place that has a different cable operator.

Boring details aside, the program I watched in particular was the OPM Top 10 (or was it Top 20?) which featured songs from artists that I know and love, but while watching it, I wondered why I never loved them as much as I love Rico Blanco. (Bazinga! This is a Rico Blanco fangirl entry! Don’t tell me you didn’t see that coming?! ) Anyway, MYX has this feature where they put the lyrics of the songs as subtitles on the video, so you can sing along and it was while I was reading those lyrics that I figured out the reason. I love Rico Blanco’s songs as much as I do, and not as much as other artists’ songs, because Rico Blanco writes impeccable lyrics.

OK, I know, that when you get right down to it, lyrics alone do not make a song great. The best lyrics in the world, accompanied with the worst melody ever will not be a song you like to hear, and vice-versa (e.g. Crash Into Me by The Dave Matthews Band is a brilliant song, with a melody that puts you in a romantic mood, so it’s a great love song, but once, I saw it used in a wedding video, and I just thought that ew, it’s too weird to see a couple inside a church while what you can hear in the background is the line “hike up your skirt a little more”.) but still, I think lyrics are one of the reasons why a song transforms from something you don’t mind hearing while you’re passing time during your morning commute, into something that you want to hear during the special moments of your life. Or, at least that’s how it is for me.

So, apologies to Sandwich fans, I know they have some great songs but one of their recent ones, Lakad, has just some of the most unimaginative lines like:

‘Pag lumakad ka sa init, magdala ng sumbrero, para ‘di mainitan ang iyong bumbunan.

I mean, can’t they maybe think of something more poetic? Something like, “Your face lights up the sky on the highway.” (Balisong, Rivermaya)

I’m not saying you should be poetic all the time. Sometimes, words with literal meaning are good for songs, too. But that really depends on the type of song. Some have lyrics that sound mundane, but because it hits the right spot, it turns out great. Like the old Eraserheads songs, or this one from Parokya ni Edgar’s Pakiusap Lang:

Ngayon lang ako nasaktan nang ganito, kaya pakiusap lang, lasingin n’yo ako!

It goes both ways. Too much poetry makes something hard to understand and will eventually lose its meaning, so you may as well say what you mean. But on the other hand, just saying what you mean can get boring (as is the case with some Parokya ni Edgar songs, I’m sad to say, especially their joke songs, like Picha Pie, which was of course, funny when you first hear it, but after hearing it for several times, becomes boring, as with all jokes. And with lyrics like “As long as I eat picha pie I know I’ll be alive”, it’s just not something that will have a special meaning to you, and that you’ll want to hear even when you get older). I’m one of those people who don’t like poetry too much because it’s hard to understand, but I think that’s where the brilliance of Rico Blanco’s (and the old Rivermaya’s) lyrics lie, because it finds a middle ground to it all. The words give nice imagery but are still easy to understand, like:

Is it too late to stop this pain that I’ve created from eclipsin’ the million precious things we shared? – Start Again (Rico Blanco, Your Universe)

If only you were smiling, if I was your reason, tomorrow, I could die. – Hate (Rivermaya, Rivermaya)

Pangarap kong makita ang liwanag ng umagang naglalaro sa iyong mga mata. – Himala (Rivermaya, Trip)

He’s waiting for the drink in her hand to turn into a kiss. – Neon Lights (Rico Blanco, Your Universe)

And my absolute favorite piece of OPM lyrics ever:

You can thank your stars all you want, but… I’ll always be the lucky one. – Your Universe (Rico Blanco, Your Universe)

—

Just so hindi n’yo masabing uber biased ako (although uber biased naman talaga ako), I’ll leave you with a quote from a foreign artist (haha!), which I think is another example of what I said earlier, of how there are lyrics that sound poetic but are still easy to understand:

And the piano’s this melancholy soundtrack to her smile. – Sometime Around Midnight (The Airborne Toxic Event, The Airborne Toxic Event)