REALITY DISTORTION

Kolsek/Forestry Po! A #BuhayElbi film by Mac Andre Arboleda & Geraldine Loares

Screened at the 2019 Pelikultura CALABARZON Film Festival

bit.ly/34dE7Dt Mac Andre Arboleda

bit.ly/34dE7Dt, 2019, is a two-piece new media work that asserts a Chinese registrar’s role in domain squatting as inseparable from the ongoing developments in China’s geopolitical and techno-imperialist encroachment in the Philippines and all over the globe.

.COM is a screenshot of my previously owned website, asshulz.com, after my expired domain name was immediately taken by Beijing-based registrar XinNet Technology Corporation, superimposed with colors of the National Flag of the People’s Republic of China. At the time (around mid-2017), going to the URL would appear to redirect to Weibo.com, one of China’s biggest social media platforms.

NO PARKING SPACE (www.noparkingspace.neocities.org) is a website that lists publicly available information on domain names owned by XinNet Technology Corporation. I’ve added links to news articles and forum complaints on XinNet, and made use of a YouTube lyric video of Kunin Mo Na Ang Lahat Sa Akin by Filipino singer and actress Angeline Quinto embedded in the landing page.

XinNet is notorious for cybersquatting (also known as “domain parking”), defined by the Republic Act No. 10175 of the Philippines as “the acquisition of a domain name over the internet in bad faith to profit, mislead, destroy reputation, and deprive others from registering the same…”, a crime that could result in imprisonment or a heavy fine. Named "worst registrar" by anti-spam and internet security project Knujon in 2019, XinNet was linked to thousands of websites involved in illicit activity such as spam, cloning sites for ad revenue, pornography, and the selling of fake or unregulated prescription drugs and counterfeit items. Today, XinNet currently owns nearly 5,000,000 domains while China ranks as the world's worst abuser of internet freedom for the fourth consecutive year. ***

Kapok Tamod Engkanto (2020) Written & directed by Mac Andre Arboleda Starring Tim Cabato, Patricia Ysabel, Kordapia Kanasia and Susan Tolentino  Produced by UP Film Circle

A boy facing expulsion from university tries to uncover the myth of the Sperm Bridge to make ends meet.

My latest project: I used software to determine the average face of a Marcos Apologist. 

a few memorable things happened at work today. my crush, this taiwanese girl who’s totally 100000% my type; short hair, pale, super kawaii, dresses like a fashionable pokemon trainer; asked me if i thought she was beautiful.

i said “yes” out of politeness. she was kidding OBVIOUSLY and then proceeded to tell me that cereal was her favorite food. and that she hates spicy food the most. (same same same)

maybe 4 hours later i was talking to her older brother when out of nowhere he asked, “magnanakaw ka ba?” i said “uhhh...no?!?!” i’d assumed that one of my coworkers had taught him tagalog just to make fun of me. but then he said, “...ninakaw mo kasi puso ko.”

i was flustered. i stared at him for like 5 seconds and then he smiled and said, “i’m just joking!” 

ADULT COLORING BOOK by Asshulz + Friends

Available at this year’s Summer Komikon (Indie Tiangge) on April 16 @ Bayanihan Center, Pasig City! ✨