Filming the second episode of Kalye K, a three-episode miniseries that aims to celebrate and explore various aspects of Philippine Popular Culture.

Kalye K's first episode showcased the diverse and flavorful dishes representing local cuisine.

For Kalye K's 2nd episode, its producers screened actors, composers, and vocalists in challenges that test their knowledge and appreciation of OPM while sharing their experiences and insights on camera.

Throwback: Happy to take a shot of UP College of Mass Communication’s lantern during the annual UP Lantern Parade. Though I was there after sunset, I was glad to behold this when darkness added to its beauty.  Symbols and art in one. Job well done! Viva, Mass Comm! :)

One of Glenn’s friends asked me this last night and I simply answered, it’s too pretentious for me. I mean, I can be an artist in a different way.

I spent the night thinking about the other reasons why I did not practice film:

Lack of resources

I’m not creative enough, I have a slight difficulty with narratives, characters

Can’t do the 24-hr shooting anymore

It’s quite hard to find people whom I connect creatively with

I’m not good with landscape photography

When I stepped into college, the first plan was to take up Broadcast Communication but since I did not get into the quota, I took up Film and Audio-visual Communication so it would be easy for me to shift after the first year. But eventually, I fell in love with my course when we took our first set of majors: Intro to Film and Basic B&W Photography, wherein we had to process our prints in our laboratory where a number of funny stories happened.

I decided not to shift out. I got more and more hooked with our majors which were taught by a powerhouse faculty of UP’s College of Mass Communication. We received great training with a set of brilliant professors who made us understand the language, grammar and science of filmmaking in different techniques. Producing short films were just usual assignments we had to pass every week. And I survived.

One body of work I am truly proud of was my thesis, The Map of An ADHD Home (I’m sorry I did not think about the title much), which was an experimental-art installation take of our home, inspired by my brother who was diagnosed with the said disorder when he was 3. I had to set up a room as a dining room complete with all projectors, tv sets and kitchen fittings. We shot the scenes in a studio and I even made a number of sand animations. I wanted to make people understand how it works in our house and how ADHD may be hereditary, according to studies. It was a great vision but I got frustrated when I was not able to defend it properly with the panel.** Oftentimes, I chickened out on defenses. I get intimidated right away.

This became a turning point. That moment I recalled that time in Scriptwriting, where I was also not able to defend the character of my story to my professor. My scriptwriting professor had the perfect picture of the character but he never understood why I want my character to be like that. For him, it was unbelievable. I never quite explained that my weird character is based on one of my friends and that I thought the purpose of storytelling is to take the viewer to another world. I just took his criticisms and did not make my point. I had to draw another character, which, this time, bored me but made my professor happy.

When I graduated, I evaluated my strengths and weaknesses. It limited me to video editing, animation and experimental filmmaking. I excelled in directing class but I can’t quite get into film direction at entry level. So what am I gonna do?

I really wanted to be a broadcaster and with a number of mass communication units as my armory, I tried out with the government television channel and I passed. I was lucky enough to be trained under a very talented producer who made me cry a number of times.

With more than a year of working with them, NBN shaped me into who I am now: somebody who can produce a show alone. Because really, it’s television and you cannot tell your viewers that you don’t have resources or your producer is out of town to turn out an episode. It was a great experience that required great dedication for something that cannot compensate you on time and enough. It was a test of survival – on how long you can stretch that paycheck and on how resourceful you can be to produce a great show or even just a maskipaps* episode.

I left NBN with a number of Anak TV Seals for some of the shows I wrote for, a General Manager asking me to stay and an on-camera opportunity.

Yep, an on-camera talent opportunity. They were starting to bring me in front of the camera. It was a dream come-true but I was too young and too chicken for it basically because I know it would be hard for me to sustain the image in front of the camera: more than your brains, your face is also an investment.

Fast forward to today, I am anything but a broadcaster and a filmmaker. But my course is still very relevant to my practice and this is where I am grateful for my alma mater. More than the prestigious banner, UP provided us with a curriculum that will equip us with units that will prepare us for plans A, B and C in our life.

There’s one work I started conceptualizing after I graduated college, though: a series of experimental art installations about different disabilities to raise level of awareness about them. I had lined up cerebral palsy and autism as my two next projects. CP because I had this classmate who had a brother who suffered from this, all the while she didn’t know if her brother recognizes her until he died without even being able to mention her name; and autism because (1) I’m amazed of how talented kids with this are only they are hampered with their limited social skills and (2) I was inspired by Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. I cannot imagine the work he’d done to come up with this novel.

I have a very active mind and at this point, there’s still so much I want to do and try out. To be a bollywood dance teacher, a lawyer*** and a fashion stylist are on my list but at this moment to be a wife and a mother are on top of my priorities.  

Fortunately, Glenn understands and supports me with all of these and I guess, eventually, my inner crazy artist will pursue those art installations and teach my kids old school animation. And it may not be too pretentious at all. :)

  *maskipaps = maski papano

**I guess debating skills should really be honed in high school because you’d need this in college. More so, I must admit that until now, debating is also one thing I really have to work on and probably the reason why I keep on delaying law school and frustrating my dad, with that.

Earlier this day, I received na my NCAE Results. We took up this exam August 29 last year. Ngayon lang lumabas ang results. Masasabi kong I'm waiting for this... Kase seriously, WALA AKONG DIREKSYON. Wala akong kaaydi-idea kung san ako mapapadpad. Syempre Unibersidad ng Pilipinas ang target ko, pero kung wala naman akong course, san ako? Di ba.

Kaya buti lumabas na sya. Nakita ko yung scores sa exam. Yung General Scholastic Aptitude (GSA) eh, mataas taas. 99+ lang naman. Surprisingly, kase pati Mathematical Ability ko eh, 99+... Nice. :D

Pero what's important is the Preferences chuchu para sa trabaho. Eto...

1st Preference:

News Editor

Voice-over Talent

Proofreader

2nd Preference:

School Head

High School Teacher

Lawyer

3rd Preference:

Geneticist

Biologist

Geologist

Oh di ba cute? Here are my insights. Haha.

Bilang associated sa school paper as Associate Editor, syempre happy ako na makita ang News Editor at Proofreader. At dahil maganda-ganda rin naman yung boses ko, at fan ng RX The Morning Rush, syempre, again, happy to see the Voice-over talent.

Haha. Dati kase interested ako sa teaching, kaya medyo natuwa nang makita ang School Head at High School Teacher. Pinag-combine nga ng English Teacher/Coach sa Journalism yung 1st and 2nd Pref. Sabi nya, why not daw mag-School Paper Adviser ako ng school namin. Haha. Kaso ayoko magturo. First, kulang pasensya. Then, hirap iuwi ang trabaho sa bahay. Last, hindi ako fond sa mga mas bata sa akin ng medyo malayo ang agwat. Naisip ko rin yang Lawyer. Pero again, tinamad-tamad ako magbasa ng libro-libro. At feel ko na hindi bagay sakin ang Law... Promise.

Tapos etong science-associated na Geneticist, Biologist at Geologist, eh out of the track na yan. Hindi ko field yan. Siguro kase mataas kase scores ko sa Science kaya ganyan. Inexpect kong lalabas yan. Pero I know na hindi ko trip yan...

So, after seeing this kanina. Medyo napawi yung lungkot ko. Ansaya talaga. Kase atleast ngayon talaga may direction na ako. Alam ko na kung san ako mapapadpad. At napagdesisyunan ko ang Broadcast Communication ng College Of Mass Communication ng UP... At least before enrolling in review centers, may ihaharap na akong trip kong course. :)

Finally. Thank you Lord.

Reposting this letter that says heaps about the current state of some in power positions, especially those that have questionable intentions. And this is why the arts suffer in the country sometimes -- too many wrong people in power who run things. Remember remember the national artist brouhaha. Never forget so as not to repeat.

Go MassComm! Hail Doc Nic!

UP CMC faculty members support Dr. Tiongson's freedom to express his ideas without fear of reprisal In an article published in Inquirer.net (July 5), former National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Executive Director Cecile Guidote-Alvarez claims that Dr. Nicanor Tiongson's opposition in 2009 to the selection of Dolphy as National Artist resulted in the ailing and popular comedian's being bypassed for the prestigious national award. What needs to be publicly clarified is that there is a strict selection process in the National Artist Awards, making it hard for just one individual to affect the outcome. There is also a need to stress that, as a member of the selection committee, Dr. Tiongson is expected to express his opinion without having to think of any backlash resulting from unethical disclosure of his peers. The issue at this point is not Dolphy himself. What needs to be exposed is Alvarez who blatantly violated the trust and confidence given to her by her peers who participated in the selection process in 2009. As co-chair of the selection committee, she is duty-bound to ensure the confidentiality of what was said during the selection process, particularly the individual sentiments as regards those who did not get selected. In this context, the undersigned faculty members of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) strongly denounce the actions of Alvarez's unethical breach of confidentiality in the search process, and support Dr. Tiongson, professor emeritus of the college, and his right to free speech (especially one based on scholarship).

(end)

Here is Prof. Tiongson's letter to the editor:

July 6, 2012

Ms. Letty Jimenez- Magsanoc                                                                                                                                  Editor, The  Philippine Daily Inquirer                                                              Attention :    Ms. Rosario Garcellano

Dear Madam,

I am disturbed by the article of Totel de Jesus published in the PDI (July 5, 2012) which highlighted accusations reportedly  levelled at me by Ms. Cecile Guidote-Alvarez in Mr. Anthony Taberna’s  radio program Dos por Dos but made no attempt whatsoever to get my side on these allegations. It is for this reason that I now feel compelled to write to you to make clarifications on many of the issues raised  in the article.

The accusations hurled against me by Ms. Alvarez as reported  are selective and misleading. For one she makes it appear that one person (in this case, myself) can actually engineer the outcome of  the second stage of the National Artist deliberations, when in reality it is the council of about 20 experts representing different disciplines who choose, through majority and secret vote, the candidates they feel should be shortlisted for the final round of deliberations.  Moreover, the selection of a National Artist is done in three stages by three different bodies and it is simply impossible for any one person to influence all of them into making  the same decision.

As to the negative statements Ms. Alvarez  attributed  to me, I believe that her revelation of these constitutes a grave breach of the confidentiality, which she as co-chair of the 2009  National Artist  Awards Selection Committee should have been the first to uphold and protect.  Her decision to divulge the comments  I made in strictest confidence strikes at the very heart of the selection process, even as it speaks volumes about her character.  A matter for serious concern today is whether the awards will  maintain its integrity after  all the blows it has suffered since 2009.

And  since she has decided to “expose” my statements  and lest I be accused of skirting the issue, I want to clarify those statements, and only those,  without in any way breaching the confidentiality of the rest of the deliberations in the selection process.   In the second meeting composed  of experts from various disciplines, I did express my reservations about Dolphy as national artist because I believed  that the two icons he created for film and television – the screaming gay and the happy-go-lucky  poor man—have , in the majority of his movies, equated gayness with abnormality  and mindless  frivolity, on the one hand, and romanticized  or deodorized poverty,  on the other.   As a participant in the selection process, I thought   it was my right and duty  to express this opinion, just as others in the group had every right to express theirs, all towards helping the peers make an enlightened evaluation of the candidate. (By the way, the opinion I expressed  in no way diminishes  my continuing  admiration  and respect for Dolphy  as a most talented comedian and a very kind human being.)

Meanwhile, I cannot help but wonder about the timing of these exposes by Ms. Alvarez.   My  comments   about Dolphy were made in 2009, why are they being exhumed only and just now? Why is my name  being dragged into the controversy?  Am I being turned into a scapegoat to cover up for the scandalous dagdag-bawas that led to the suspension of the awards in 2009?  Is this all a ploy for some people to regain face and credibility by riding on the emotionally charged and media magnet issue of a National Artist Award for the ailing and hugely popular comedian?  But then again, hasn’t the family of Dolphy made it clear that to them the award is  no longer an issue?   So why can’t we all, gentle people,  just show a little more respect by leaving them in peace as they go through this  very difficult  time of their lives?

(Signed)