Reader Advisory
29 October 2011
Arrested at my own home.
Poppish Sound. Dumbass Mainstream?!
Sensationalism Kills?!
Discs to Downloads
15 October 2011
Juvenile Injustice?
Throwback Weekend Programming
Chain Message Blues
Battle Review: FlipTop 2-on-2: Manila vs. Olongapo
Ahon 2, a rap-battle event which held last July 1, came up with a package of heavy rap battles which can be translated into some hundred thousands to even millions of views on YouTube for some time later on. And one of the duo-versus-duo battles featured in the event was the so-called "clash of the regions" from factions Kampo Teroritmo (NCR) and Bloodline (Central Luzon).
Kampo was represented by Apoc and Dhictah while Bloodline, the group from Olongapo, was fronted by Toma Hawk and Nico.
I can’t tell you the entire details about the fight since I only personally saw that on YouTube but you should see it for yourself here. (I hate to do the spoiler’s chore anyway.)
But here’s my take: as far as the three rounds are concerned, I can tell that experience was a big factor in this fight. Even before FlipTop exists, the guys from
Individually speaking, this game was considered as Apoc's big comeback battle. No doubt he was at the spotlight of the league nowadays when he appears to be one of the judges of the battles especially during Grain Assault events and so on. People may think that this guy may be a "choke king" in his early goings of his battle, but I think some emcees are on the same boat as the way he does. Example? Abra from LDP. Check his first two battles with Batas and Nothing Else. And it was only on his third battle with Harlem when he had been improving much steadily. So for the so-called fans of Filipino hip-hop, observe first before you judge.
Dhictah. I honestly don't know if there's something improved. But if you're asking about this battle... man! He even became more solid. Comedic-line wise or even personal hit. Perfect delivery.
Nico, on the other hand, was the one who never went shy and had been up to the challenge, especially if you talk about the difference between the cultures of Central Luzon and the center of the entire Philippines. Though I noticed one thing: he's trying to be more even courageous when he throw bars relating to the battle, like going up against those heavyweight shits even if his homie toma Hawk joined their opponent.
Toma Hawk was a good emcee, though the only problem is he got lost in concentration in some of his lines. He's good in his comedic lines should he not be intimidated by KT.
Round-by-round:
1: Apoc and Dhictah had a solid 8-bar-recital to start it out. It contains the names and trends of the local legends of hip-hop in the country; specifically, way back to the previous decade. See Apoc' Facebook note.
Nico and Toma Hawk on the other hand, was close to them. Very solid start, some of the lines were even good to be remarkable. Technicality wise, it's tied. But impact-speaking, I'll still give it to Heavenly Host.
2: Those Manila-Gapo comparison jokes made it a win in favor of Kampo. Full of comical punch lines. While Bloodline has been slowed down when Toma Hawk lost a little bit. And I think they're the first group who threw personal lines against their opponent during the battle.
3: It was the Kampo Terroritmo peeps whom recited their version of personals, and they even came up with the "bulkier ones." No doubt about the fact that they dominated the finale. Gapo's reppin' crew on the other hand did not go home without a fight. Props to them it was a good game to witness.
(p.s. I read Apoc's comment on a post related to this battle, saying that "the battle was supposed to have a promo OT, but due to technical difficulties FlipTop haven't been able to add it up." Also, photos posted in this blog entry are the snapshots courtesy of its video.)
Author: slickmaster | (c) 2011 september twenty-eight productions
Aspirations and Inspirations
Aspirations and Inspirations : 5 things that made me write.
Author: slick master
10.12.2011
1:12 p.m.
It’s been a while since I wrote a blog about my personal experience since mostly I dig things about anything else happening and my opinion about it. Before anything else, I would just like to share this. I have been writing for more than 2-and-a-half years as an amateur writer-blogger. And this hobby I had somehow turn out to be a major part of my life.
I got a chance to be part of the sports writing contest of the Philippine Basketball Association in 2010, first of my few breaks in the last 3 semesters of my college life.
Another thing, the concept my group had in my school project which was a major advertising event turned out to be good as we won some few copywriting awards. Forget the rank of being the second runner-up, at least we had just proved out to be the best, and I was one of the copywriters of my group then; and it’s been a year and still remembers everything how I brought home one of the trophies we had garnered. Damn good!
On the virtual side, I have been writing some few blog entries and passed it out to some few people thru my social networking accounts. I may not have a feedback thru my blog site itself (like this one you are reading) but things turned out to be good even for a while when few people appreciated my posts.
At a fan page which tackles about the good old school days of Philippine radio, I shared this blog entry of mine which tackles about whatever happened to those good radio stations I personally listened to. Good thing it fitted out, though they revised some errors of it a bit later. I would like to thank them by the way.
And lastly, I posted the blog at an online community site and I have received some good feedbacks on it. It’s about a current issue on art versus religion then.
I personally want to take this hobby as a living though the hardest part is you have to fight on what to deal with; either practically, or doing the thing that you love.
Now, for the five things that made me inspire to write. (that was a long intro, huh?)
Everyday reality. From thanking God that you are alive to talking to your loved one and to even you playmate in basketball to whatever chores you had done to the places where you are into. It’s everything that I have been seen, heard and personally witnessed. Everything that is worth seeing.
News articles. From print to broadcast to electronic media; everything that is somehow, hot and not or whatever that is worth seeking attention to the public. If it’s worth it then I’ll write it.
Experience and opinion. Of course, if I read those ones, if I noticed everything and I personally felt that, it was a big factor for me to influence what I write, like that typhoon Ondoy which I myself was a victim of that disaster. And another thing, it also goes the other blog entries of mine which tackles about my life experiences.
Video clips. Yeah, one of my two mood-and-mind-setters in daily lives; I always have that in my desktop and USB especially if I feel that I want to write something. Whether it’s those viral funny things, local or worldwide hip-hop rap battles, short editorial clips, dance showdown, everything that is worth seeing in my eyes.
And finally… the biggest of them all. (even if I’m not really inclined into it.) MUSIC. Whether I’m feeling I want to talk fast, I listen to hip-hop. If I want to scream out, I dig rock. Going even more upbeat, I go for pop. But most of the time I used to travel back. yeah, nostalgic ones… like those early days of contemporary music from 70s to 90s. But who cares? Music was one of the few mood-setters in every human’s lives. Certainly a big influence.
So that’s how my life rolls as an amateur penman (or even cyber penman.) I do research and set my mood before anything else. Well, that’s all!
05 October 2011
Remembering The Onslaught (Part 2)
While being stuck at the bridge, I talked to a student from UST whom was also stranded on his way to his residence in Antipolo City. He said there are no jeepneys passing by the the highway, causing costing him some time to stay at at the eastbound jeepney stop of SM City Marikina.
Just my opinion: Anti-Planking Law?
Author: n.d. a.k.a. nestor / slick master
10.04.2011
05:03 p.m.
At the heights of useless moves turning into a piece of expressions of one’s self, and now had just suddenly became part of the nation’s current events. How about the so-called planking? A move that had been once popularized by the man named Tom Green in 1993, now a resurrected movement by the youth to the extent that such act had just been also used by some activists in their protest?
Since planking had been trending around the metro, different reactions spread like a wildfire around the social networking sites. Thus, emphasizing to the negative ones whom may find it as stupid. Well, this bill proposed by the Quezon City representative Winston Castelo may favor the so-called “”planking haters.” Yes, the House Bill 5316 or known as the Anti-Planking Act of 2011.
What is its primary aim? To sanction those students and student groups who used planking as part of their demonstrations in street rallies.
By the way, in case you don’t know what the hell is planking, it is an act of a person or a group of people lying faced down in unusual locations such as the floors of a hallway/room, streets, stairs or stairways, platforms, or even the very unusual ones like at the stand of the traffic light, top of the basketball court, railings of a bridge, rooftops, or elsewhere. Their position: keeping their hands along the body and outstretched.
What are those sanctions: according to the section 5 of this said act:
The Department of Education in the case of elementary and high school students and the Commission on Higher Education in the case of college students shall draft a universal Code of Student Conduct to carry out the provisions of this Act. Further, DepEd and CHED, respectively shall issue appropriate rules and regulations to effectively carry out intent and purpose of this Act.
How will it be effective? Section 6 will tell you then.
SEC. 6. This Act shall take effect ninety (90) days after its publication in the Official Gazette and in at least three (3) newspapers of general circulation.Okay, it sounds like a foolish, very silly act, huh? But before you throw that F-word elsewhere or even to this guy who had proposed such bill, let’s know his side why did he done that. According to him, some people whom were mostly parents of the high-school and college students were alarmed by this movement.
Castelo’s statement.
“Parents and teachers have reason to be alarmed if these similar protest actions will have as a scheme and scene otherwise warm and living bodies laid down across street highways as though they were offerings to the gods. The parent in me tells me that this precedent in the case of the this massive transport strike where militant street protesters who are students of various schools have to lie down or serve as ‘planks’ across the road to disrupt what should be normal traffic could just be very dangerous in the future. Life and limb are pretty much at risks here were unbelieving bus drivers or law enforcement authorities might just ram through these warm and living bodies rolled out on highways…I respect the rights of students to express grievances. I learn from them. I recognize the constitutional guarantee to freedom of expression. However, as a parent I can not compromise the safety of rallyist and general public. As a lawmaker we are mandated by our sworn duty to protect everyone’s welfare.”
Now, did that made clear to you? Hopefully, but my take? Honestly, I’m not seeing anything good in this bill. With all due respect to the lawmaker, I know he’s concern for the welfare but I would highly doubt that this one may be executed right away. With the protests regarding that budget cut which for these guys may be an un-motivating factor for them to come to school and educate their minds, it’s not that hard to see why. But it can’t be denied that both parties had faults in this. Since social media dictates the run of the present youngsters, well… that may be a factor why planking became one of the trends nowadays. But sometimes, over-exposure of the thing to the internet is really bad. In other words, jeez! I’d rather see other bills imposing to the society instead. Those ones that the society badly needed.
© 2011 september twenty-eight productions.
25 September 2011
Too Passionate?
Natural sa atin ang maging mapagmahal na tao, lalo na sa kultura nating mga Filipino na sadayng mapagmahal sa kapwa. Pero ika nga ng kasabihan “ang lahat ng sobra ay nakakasama.”
Para ding kanta ng bandang Queen (o kung makabagong musika ka, kay Jovit Baldivino) “Too much love will kill you.” Kaya sa mga nagaganap na insidente ng tinatawag na “crime of passion,” masisisi ba natin an gating kalabisan na pagmamahal sa mga ganyang klase ng pangyayari?
Masasabi kong OO, lalo na sa panahon ngayon na naglilipana na lang ng biglaan ang mga balita sa sirkulasyon.
26 August 2011
Philippine Sports Politics 101.
Author: slick master
08/25/2011
07: 22 pm
Before anything else, I am supposed to finish this piece by last week. Well, thanks to that video of Word Of The Lourd which had an episode that tackled the “politics” in the sports aspect of the Philippines. Now to finish everything, let’s nail the coffin then.
A lot of sporting events were the main highlights of the news recently. You have Smart Gilas Pilipinas a surprising team in the continent once again (well, in terms of performance.) Kobe Bryant dropped by at Manila twice, with once bringing up the superstars of the National Basketball Association (which by the way was still suffering on a lockout as of press time); and a whole lot more in basketball. But, I’m not putting the spotlight on the nation’s favorite sport this time. How about comparison and discrimination in between? What the hell do I mean? Check this.
The Philippine Azkals had caught almost everyone’s attention when they scored an upset in last time’s Suzuki Cup. Since then, the spotlight was on them. Maybe because most of the players were heartthrob-looking, good talent, etc. I can’t really point a reason. And even when they failed to score a slot on FIFA World Cup 2012, they still remained part of the sports headlines. Their games were then covered by an exclusive national TV network, a big jump from the international ones considerably that most people don’t have a cable and free TV was very accessible to the audience.
While on the other hand, The Philippine Dragon Boat Team had been dominating despite not being recognized by a lot of people. Maybe because the sport itself doesn’t even sounds familiar to the public. But, hey! They didn’t only score medals by winning games, but because of the world records they had set. In fact in the recent World Championship games in Tampa Bay, Florida USA, they scored medals – 5 of them were the highest prize called “gold.” What more can you lose aside from it? Sad to say but the answer is lack of support from the government.
Weeks ago, a post from the social networking site Facebook had been spreading out like a wildfire on pages and user profiles. It goes like this:
PH Azkals: 0 golds, 0 trophies, 5 TV Ads, 20% Pinoy
PH Dragon boat team (2011): 5 golds, 0 commercials, 90% Pinoy
PH Azkals: with sponsors
PH Dragon boat team: inutang at KKB (kanya-kanyang baon) pamasahe
PH Azkals: complete outfit
PH Dragon boat team: nanghihiram pa ng sagwan sa kalaban,
--Sasagwan ka ba sa KARANGALAN o sisipa sa KAPOGIAN?
Ok, last statement for dragon boat team seems to be a big bluff already. But whether there’s a big joke in there, there are facts that backed the hell up and it’s all displayed in that post. And even the “Palakasan” episode of WOTL can tell you that Azkals had infinite commercials indeed, thanks to the Younghusband brothers. Well, speaking of Younghusband, Phil had even a great catch – Angel Locsin. But these brothers as far as I remember were half-Pinoys and had been playing with soccer with Filipinos for a long while. And since looks are mostly recognized by everyone in the society, (don’t be hypocrite) these two were part of those magazine pages intended for modeling poses at some time.
But let’s face it, Azkals had suffered the fate of the present dragon boat team. It’s just the fact that the Philippine Sports Commission only recognizes sports that are: first, competing in the Olympics; and second, are widely played by at least numerous countries in the world. Well, dragon boat is there, (in fact it is played by at least 70 countries worldwide) but the hardest part is that politics discriminates it all. Unfair treatment as it seems, huh?
The Dragon Boat squad had been dominating despite being “under the radar” and those unworthy remarks by the officials of PSC. And as far I recalled while reading the veteran sports analyst Ronnie Nathanielsz’ tweets in Twitter by last week, he found PSC Chariman Richie Garcia’s word “pathetic.” Garcia stated that “they rather go back to their roots and eat tahong if they will not join the national Canoe-Kayak team.”
Okay, my take. Somehow, I will agree on Nathanielsz’ remark. First and foremost, how could you say such? Maybe this guy didn’t know that tahong was the food where these guys from the PDBT had gained strength. I can hardly recall a PSC official statement, saying that they cannot sponsor the squad and instead leave it to the private parties. Something which Lucio Tan’s Asian Brewery came to the rescue. By the way, try to spot that Cobra Energy Drink’s brand on their apparel.
Media-hype wise, no doubt that the Azkals had got the attention that they wanted (and in fact they even got more.) But from the old days to the present ones (and good thing that fromer basketball player Benjie Paras came to show business when he did retired) I can only put up this saying. SPORTS AND SHOWBIZ SHOULD NEVER BE MIXED IN PRIORITES. I mean, it’s not bad to be an athlete and a celebrity at the same time. It is already a given status since you’re been mostly seen and heard. But once gossips and blind items come in to your circulations, it will be hard for you to sustain the fame that you had gotten, unless you’re like Manny Pacquiao.
If you’re a hell sports fan, don’t bash your colleague. This is the hardest part. I think in basketball, this thing do exists. The one they called “crab mentality.” When a fan of their opponent cheered on his favorite team, he will bash him out until the objective judgments turned subjective. And I noticed that for a lot of times not just in forums, but also in social media sites.
But colonial mentality was also the main factor why Azkals had been favoring the most over the dragon boat crew. Try reading that wildfire post once again and you’ll see the difference.
And for every aspect of life, politics do exists. That dirty game was part of your colorful, roller coaster ride. But just don’t let it roll into you or else you’ll be in grave danger.
© 2011 september twenty-eight productions
09 August 2011
Citizen journalism: the next “in” thing?
Citizen journalism: the next “in” thing?
Author: n.d. a.k.a. nestor / slick master
08/09/2011, 09:11 a.m.
As writing this topic, I remembered one of my classmate’s thesis regarding a television network’s flagship newscast’s segment which caters about citizens that can deliver news in their own respective communities.
If you noticed the media here in the country, there is a single network newscast (or actually, few) that has an interactive portion to its audience, either thru the modern means of communication and that includes, text messaging, electronic mail an even via social networking sites.
Since Philippines was mostly recognized as the texting capital and social networking capital of the world, news all over media organizations had used the said mediums to take advantage for the network’s massive purposes such as ratings, etc. and I think there’s nothing wrong in the part of those companies. I mean, as news evolves under tabloidization before, interactivity had took place to catch up with the people whom used internet for a lot of public-related tasks even if it’s slowly killing TV as video replays can be made available via YouTube.
In ABS-CBN, Bayan Mo Ipatrol mo was the program that triggered the trend of citizen journalism in this country. It was launched as the network’s news and current affairs’ election campaign Boto Mo Ipatrol Mo in 2007 and was even uitilized in 2010 where netizens can send photos, or videos that contain the news on their community during the election’s campaign and the event itself then. From there, it was evolved to its current title showcasing the people’s part of contributing in the news organization. It was aired then on the network’s flagship newscast TV Patrol every weeknight at 6:30 p.m.
From there, some few companies followed then. GMA 7 launched You Scoop and used to featured on 24 Oras at the same time, while TV5 developed a segment thru social networking which as called Aksyon Journalismo where people can give takes on issues and that is more modernized than the usual text lines aired at either morning programs of the different networks. ABS-CBN’s Bandila joined the trend then and both with Aksyon Journalismo, they were aired by late nights.
Now if you asked me about this, I think it’s a part of the evolving world through technology. I mean, gone are the trend of straight news programs, turning English into tagalized ones, with more different segments, and shorter ones airing. Since the masses were mostly the large part of the present audience share in the metropolitan, I think the media is turning things around to at least help them get educated and be aware on the latest happenings all over the country and even all over the world. News nowadays comes in package, which gives anchors some bits of commentary in their part. Though that somehow can be the downside of watching it if you’re a strictly-news watcher. (But everything that they’ll give though must be in balance. Otherwise they have to express that thru editorial programming whether thru print or broadcast or even at the wired.)
The only constant thing in this world is thru change. So expect the trend to last long but eventually grind out or even blossomed further.
© 2011 september twenty-eight productions.
Zubiri’s resignation. Many sides.
Author: n.d. a.k.a. nestor / slick master
08/09/2011, 08:43 a.m.
Last week, the Philippines had been witness to a sudden resignation of one of its senators in Juan Miguel Zubiri as he filed and prepared a speech regarding his withdrawal from his elected seat.
If you can recall way back 2007, He and Atty. Koko Pimentel were on a tight race in the last post of the senatorial elections in 2007. Zubiri was part of Team Unity by then-Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Pimentel was on the other side, and attempts to follow his father whom was former Senator Nene. And the result went very complicated when polls were totaled and Pimentel was supposedly on his seat but ended up to Zubiri instead. Pimentel cried that there was a cheating anomaly involved since some independent poll watchers said that Pimentel had actually won the game between them in terms of votes which was in fact Koko was the top second senatorial winner at one province around Davao region.
4 years after being seated, Zubiri filed his resignation due to many allegations that thrown against him to the extent that his family was been hurt the most in his behalf. However, for the last time on his legislative post, he told everyone in his speech that in the eyes of God and to his fellows, HE DID NOT CHEATED.
That apparently draws different sides of views, such as Zubiri was found allegedly guilt of the cheating on the negative side. Koko’s father Aquilino Pimentel have told the media that he should resigned 4 years ago then. But for his son however, he didn’t saw anything wrong and in fact he praised ex-senator Migz for his standing that there is something else that should value the most over power – and that were his family, and his integrity. Zubiri’s resignation turned out to be historical as that was the first time in Senate that an upper house legislator had voluntarily drawn out from his throne, considering him as the last highly-elected position from the 2004 elections.
Now, whether he cheats in the polls or not? We can’t tell yet unless we’re poll watchers in either Pimentel or Zubiri’s party. I’ll let them be the judge since let’s face it. Not everything that matters the nation’s senatorial interest can be shown on the press. Though there are some newsmakers that can make and speak a word about it.
© 2011 september twenty-eight productions