stories from the middle earth press room

oh jeez. this is my second time trying to write this entry. my internet connection is still "sketchy" at best. bayantel na talaga ako sa november. pwamis.

with all the brouhaha surrounding ms. MF's article(s) and predicament, eto lang masasabi ko: writing comes with great responsibility.

(ahhh badtrip! ang haba na ng naisulat ko kanina tapos di mag-publish kasi naputol connection ko)

ok, MF had the right to write her observations but what really got my goat (and other people's goat) is that she insulted -- and it was an insult talaga -- other people (regardless kung "heroes" sila o hindi basta the fact remains she insulted a group of pinoys) for her end, which is itaas ang estasyon nya sa buhay. to promote herself. period.

actually, it was quite irresponsible of her. she could have driven her point home (which i don't think she has a point at all since her insults were immaterial to her article that greece and boracay are like this and that) without being offensive.

but she didn't. and now the people are angry.

and publications don't tolerate that. vic agustin was suspended because of his rude behavior towards rey constantino. since agustin and inquirer didn't see eye-to-eye, he left. although he did not write it, it's more of the action that offended other people, still the point is, media outfits don't and shouldn't tolerate egotistic trippings like that.

same thing happened to don imus who also got sacked for his bigotry. 

another point: the reason why other people asked for her resignation or firing was that people (like me) feel she's just a waste of precious column space. her rants and her insecurities don't merit such kind of space.

araw-araw kasi sa dyaryo ang labanan ay espasyo. SPACE. it's limited. lahat kami nagpapakamatay maghanap ng isusulat at magsulat pero hindi lahat nabibigyan ng espasyo. atsaka a publication like Manila Standard Today and People Asia (a publication of the Philippine Star) don't deserve a crass writer like her.

back to the thing that writing comes with great responsibility... kaya nga ang mga taong nabibigyan ng privilege na makapagsulat para sa madla ay may sinusunod na mga panuntunan dahil hindi basta-basta lang ang pagsusulat.

hindi ko na iisa-isahin pa ang basic tenets ng journalism. alam na ng tao yun. kahit na feature pa yung kay MF, dapat hindi ganon ka-iresponsable ang pagkakasulat. she was out of line.

kaya nga ang pagiging manunulat eh pagiging matapang ang sikmura kasi pag nagkamali ka, mahigpit ang kaparusahan...titirahin ka ng madla. it comes with the job. you write for the masses, then the public will nail you to the cross. fair game.

kaya nga if you can't take it, get out. or better yet, be more responsible. if you don't like it, then just blog.

kaya nga pinipilipit ang sikmura ko araw-araw pag nababasa ko yung mga sinusulat ko kasi baka mali ang datos. baka offensive. baka hindi fair, etc. lalo na pag features and special reports.

another point: she may have the right to write her opinion but for me her right ended when she insulted her fellow filipinos outright. yun ang turo ng magulang ko, you have the freedom to exercise your right but it ends when you step on other people's right. wag na tayong magpakateknikal dito.

(kakainis, hindi ko na maayos 'tong sinusulat ko. mas maganda yung kaninang nabura.)

that's why ang pagsusulat sa dyaryo o magazine of general circulation ay di madali. you can't just write fuck you, fuck you fuck you, tae tae tae sa broadsheets on a daily basis kasi it is offensive. same thing goes for MF's articles. reading fuck you fuck you fuck you may not be offensive to others but it is to some because it is bordering (o baka hindi na bordering) on bad taste. same thing goes for MF's articles.

i'm all for freedom of speech but it is not absolute. and the mere fact that the words slander, defamation and libel appear in our laws it is an indication that it is not absolute. (and oh dear lord, isang sem ko inaral yan kay atty. X. shet. mamili ka na lang dun kung si atty. x o si atty. y ba). and to be philosophical about it, freedom is not absolute. gaya ng turo ng magulang ko, your freedom ends when you step on somebody else's rights.

btw, the reason why i'm just using her initials is that people are accusing others that they are just riding on the issue and writing it in their blogs to earn more site hits. although i know i'm not one of those, mas maganda nang di searchable yung site ko sa google.

why can't some people understand that that is the reason why blogs became popular? kasi maraming nagrarant. like me.

I’ve been calling the customer care center everyday ever since and action has been slow. It frustrates me that I cannot use the service that I’ve been paying for, especially that I’m using it for work. I’ve been emailing my work through my Smart 3G cellphone which I use as a modem and I say it is extremely more reliable than my DSL connection.

she is a BITCH who puts down hardworking OFWs just to elevate her stinking "status" -- social climber status *insert bitter laugh here*.

malu fernandez is a social climbing ass and a columnist of manila standard today.

key hair-rising points of her article in People Asia magazine reads as follows (lifted from tingog.com)

"However I forgot that the hub was in Dubai and the majority of the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) were stationed there. The duty-free shop was overrun with Filipino workers selling cell phones and perfume. Meanwhile, I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them..."

"...While I was on the plane (where the seats were so small I had bruises on my legs), my only consolation was the entertainment on the small flat screen in front of me. But it was busted, so I heaved a sigh, popped my sleeping pills and dozed off to the sounds of gum chewing and endless yelling of “HOY! Kumusta ka na? At taga sann ka? Domestic helper ka rin ba?” Translation: “Hey there? Where are you from? Are you a domestic helper as well?” I though I had died and God had sent me to my very own private hell..."

"...On my way back, I had to bravely take the economy flight once more. This time I had already resigned myself to being trapped like a sardine in a sardine can with all these OFWs smelling of AXE and Charlie cologne while Jo Malone evaporated into thin air..."

"...All in all, it’s been a pretty good summer. Jetting from the Aegean Sea to the Pacific may sound a bit pretentious until you wake up in economy class smelling like air freshener..."

hayup, di ba? hayup talaga kasi baboy sya hindi dahil mataba siya (mataba din ako) pero nambaboy siya ng ibang tao. di nya ba alam na ang OFW remittances ang dahilan bakit relatively maayos ang ekonomiya natin? hindi nya ba alam na ang OFWs ang tumutulong sa pagunlad ng real estate natin? sila din ang nagpapasok ng sangkatutak na dolyar para lumakas ang piso?

ang mga "hot money" inflows sa atin lumilikas kapag may mga market "shakes" like nitong nangyayaring US subrpime/credit crunch na nangyayari pero ang OFW remittances anjan pa rin, to keep our economy afloat.

how dare she na manlait ng kapwa nya, lalo na silang nagpapakahirap mabigyan ng magandang kinabukasan ang pamilya!

eh sya, anong kontribusyon nya?

if she's rich as she claims to be, why is she flying economy? malamang sa alamang, junket trip lang yan at hindi siya likas na jetsetter na tulad ng ipinahihiwatig nya. at least kahit dukha ako nakaklipad ako ng business class at oo inaamin ko na may sponsor ako.

see her full article here:

photos courtesy of tingog.com.

it's unethical of me to ask you, friends, to boycott manila standard today kasi i am from another paper. sobra naman yun. atsaka one columnist is not the whole paper -- in theory. dapat ang People Asia ang mas maunang mag-kick out sa kanya. how can this article pass the scrutiny of editors?! maybe the idiotors (as one colleague calls them), este, editors don't have much sense at all.

at di pa sya natahimik ha. eto reply nya sa mga nagreklamo sa paper nya:

"As I type this, I’d like you to know that it’s not about whining, complaining and bitching but just stating the facts. Just recently, I wrote a funny article in my magazine column and my friends thought it was hilarious. It was humorous and quite tongue-in-cheek, or at least I thought so, until the magazine got a few e-mails from people who didn’t get the meaning of my acerbic wit. The bottom line was just that I had offended the reader’s socioeconomic background. If any of these people actually read anything thicker then a magazine they would find it very funny. Most people don’t get the fact that they need bitches like me to shake up their world, otherwise their lives would be boring and mediocre. I obviously write for the a certain target audience and if what I write offends you, just stop reading..."

"...Although it may sound elitist to you the fact is this country is built on the foundation of haves, have-nots and wannabes. One group will never get the culture of the other. Although I could mention that it is easier to understand someone who has a lower socioeconomic background that would entail a whole other page and frankly I don’t want to be someone to bridge the gap between socioeconomic classes. I leave that to the politicians in my family who believe they can actually help. Now I seriously ask you, am I being a diva or are people around me just lacking in common sense? Perhaps it’s a little of both!"

THIS IS NOT an apology. this is just her way of insisting that she's really rich and a socialera that the proletariat cannot understand her.

and to you malu fernandez, pag nakasama kita sa isa sa mga trips at maging roommate kita, imumudmod ko mukha mo sa inidoro. wish ko lang sa ka-beat ko na papuntang new york this october (together with other reporters/columnists from other papers), hindi nya kasama itong hampas-lupang babaeng ito.

buti na lang mga byahe ko wala akong nakakasamang katulad nya.

---

*hampas lupa - she has become one when she insulted her own kind

got word that another company is asking for my comprehensive resume.

i should be elated, right?

now why do i feel guilty? eh hindi pa naman siguradong kukunin ako although i have a strong feeling i'll be accepted (o feeling ko lang yun).

dahil ba nagkaroon na ako ng loyalty? ewan ko pero katangahan yun. pero sa mundong ibabaw na ito, i have to be practical na rin at kelangan ko ng mas mataas na sweldo.

is it better to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in an ocean?

what is more important for me, the flexibility and learning experience or the monetary rewards and "prestige"?

am i a practical person or a sentimental dork?

hard questions.

this is my variation of the poor man's pasta i did earlier.

ingredients:

spanish sardines, hindi spanish-style...go for the real thing
half head of native garlic (mas malasa), chopped
one red onion, chopped
two native tomatoes, chopped
one 250 ml bottle of olive oil (can be extra virgin olive oil, doesn't matter)
sprig of parsley (or depends on your taste)
salt to taste

EXTRA ingredients (can be without but i preferred to have my dish with these:
mc cormick onion powder, garlic powder and italian seasoning

1. instead of using dilis, i used spanish sardines. crush the sardines and separate the oil from the fish.

2. cook the pasta al dente.

3. you need onions, parsley, tomatoes, and garlic. chop all of these.

4. slighlty brown the chopped garlic using the oil from the canned spanish sardines. mix with onions and after a few minutes mix the chopped tomatoes. add parsley.

5. i'm not really good with writing recipes so i don't know the terms but after a few minutes of adding the tomatoes, add the sardines. cook until the "fishy" (lansa) smell has dissipated.

add the olive oil. all of it.

i guess what made my pasta dish successful was the kind of olive oil i used. someone gave me a basketful of goodies, which included a bottle of olive oil with oregano. it was so aromatic. if you can't have that, just use the ordinary olive oil while the oregano bits (mc cormick has oregano bits in a bottle) are optional.

add salt, onion powder, garlic powder to taste. add a dash of the italian seasoning for flair. lasahan mo. depende sa panlasa mo kung paano mo titimplahin. actually experimental lang lahat 'to kaya wala akong kahit anong measurement o any way of determining kung tama na ba ang luto o lasa.

the barest pasta dish you could eat. masarap sya.

sa totoo lang di ko magets kung anong gustong palabasin nila dito...or di ko magets dahil nanghihinayang ako sa mga kotse. they could have made more money by selling these "hot items" and shore up more revenues for the government than selling them as scrap metal for P11- P12 per kilo.

yeah, yeah i know they had to do it so smugglers would be quaking on their knees...pero what is the use of crushing those lovely cars when they can't even run after these smugglers who are running around scott-free or who are just under their noses or sashaying in front of them broad daylight?

sorry, pero naawa talaga ako dun sa mga kotse. palibhasa wala akong kotse and i desperately need one.

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"Monitor 2010 wannabes moonlighting in media -- journalists

By Fe Zamora
Inquirer
Last updated 11:14pm (Mla time) 08/17/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- A group of journalists on Friday called for the "monitoring" of government officials who moonlight as radio/TV anchors/commentators in preparation for the 2010 elections, noting that this practice will have an effect on the "form and shape of Philippine democracy..."

-- lifted from www.inquirer.net

dapat pagbawalan na yang mga politiko na yan. naku, notorious pa man din isa jan sa mga yan pagdating sa paggamit ng media.

this particular politico pa man din lagi pag magpapapresscom noon laging sasabihin sa mga reporter na "dapat front page yan ha!" eh pano gagawing front page yung particular na presscon na yun eh di nga ka-banner-banner story kahit sa business section yun eh, front page pa kaya?!

tapos magdidikta pa sa mga reporter at editor kung paano dapat lalabas ang name nya on print (gusto nya yung nickname nya) eh ang policy sa dyaryo eh dapat yung formal o full name ang ginagamit. kapal.

reminds me of this company head's penchant for attaching the word "tycoon" to his name. laging napapagalitan yung PR pag hindi lumalabas sa mga dyaryo yung "tycoon". hellooooo! di ba nila alam na call ng editors yun? eh pano kung feeling ng editors hindi pa "tycoon" ang turing sa yo?

traffic this morning was bad. buti na lang ortigas lang ako today and i didn't have to suffer edsa and the rest of the flooded thoroughfares of metro manila today. i was supposed to go to greenhills today to meet with some people but decided against it when Other Half and i saw the piling vehicles on top of the ortigas flyover...

instead, i spent the rest of the afternoon writing 5 stories and quickly hopped on the first FX i could hail and went home. it was a good thing i decided to stay put in ortigas because the rest of metro manila was bedlam, from what i've seen on TV.

i'm glad that i'm not a tv reporter.

and quentin tarantino had to brave the floods by riding a pedicab to malacanang. i wonder if this experience would figure in his future film? *guffaw*

--

speaking of terrible weather, the storm in HK did not deter my colleagues from shopping 'til they dropped on our second day.

because it was the middle of the HK shopping festival.

and my companions hiked to tsim sha tsui's golden mile to shop.

storm or no storm, they shopped 'til they were blue in the face. some of them even skipped lunched. sayang daw oras. imagine that.

as for me, i was able to buy a pair of canvas flats from bossini.

lovely. now puro paltos paa ko.

i had a very wet and gloomy hong kong trip that blew away all the plans that i had for the whole weekend.

after checking in at royal plaza hotel in kowloon, my colleagues and i took the KCRC train, then the MTR to Central. we got drenched at Central and took shelter under the walkways that pass through some buildings (err...can't remember the buildings, basta malapit sa HSBC yun). then we proceeded to go to the tram station that would supposedly take us to The Peak.

then someone from bloomberg HK bureau called. he said people were being sent home because the HK weather bureau has raised the storm signal to 8. the highest is 10.

true enough, all establishments were closing already at 3 pm. even the malls. even the coffee shops. everyone was heading home. and we got drenched for nothing.

and of course, since everyone's going home, we had to go back to the subway station. and we battled our way through this:

so we got stranded in our hotel for quite a while. *sigh*

just finished 5 articles 'coz i'm bound for rainy rainy hong kong in a few hours. tah tah.

i hope no more bombs would be thrown my way after i get home from my international jaunt, like the one that happened while i was in taiwan after.

and i'm still stuck with ubuntu.

i've done a terrible thing.

first off, i tried adding an 80-GB harddisk to our desktop that still runs of AMD duron. anyway, that's not the issue. so after some time, i managed to see the new HDD in the system.

then the trouble started when i unsuccessfully reallocated/resized the partition in my C: drive. downloaded some partition resizing software then tried to reinstall windows XP.

for some reason i chose the wrong drive. must have been really sleepy then (it was 4 am, for goodness' sake!) and tried to abort the installation. then everything went black.

went to megamall to have everything fixed, without an OS.

when i got home, i tried installing windows xp but the damn thing wouldn't boot. i grew frustrated so i downloaded ubuntu on my laptop instead and burned the ISO image on a cd then -- voila! istalled the thing in the desktop.

and i'm not liking it.

Other Half is also having a hard time with linux-based OS.

everything is so foreign to me. the only good thing here is (i guess) is that i'll be less susceptible to viruses and the like. for a while lang.

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it's 3 am and i still can't figure out how to make ubuntu allow me to create a folder on my hard drive. that freaking OS doesn't even give users permission to make folders where you can store your files.

I HATE UBUNTU. damn it.