why i will miss michael jackson (hodgepodge of thoughts and recollections)

michael jackson died at the age of 50. man, the idols of my youth are now in the middle of their lives -- given that we only live up to a hundred.

but michael will live longer than that, thanks to his music, and his legacy.

yes, may ganung factor.

*

my aunt had a copy of this album
in cassette tape format.
lagi kong ninanakaw sa kuwarto niya
para patugtugin sa sala.

i am a child of the '80s, meaning i was born in the '70s and had pop culture consciousness awakening by the time the go-gos, madonna, cyndi lauper, duran duran and spandau ballet burst into the scene. some of my kahenerasyon were into punk - punk's not dead!!! some were into new wave and all those glorious synthesizer sounds of depeche mode et al. but i was into pop. unabashedly, unashamedly into pop. panganay ako, wala akong kuya o ate na mag-i-impluwensiya sa musical preferences ko, kaya i had to discover them for myself. and, by default, we all start with what's popular. so pop it is.

yup, pop. top40, top of the pops, top of the charts, billboard 100, casey kasem, america's top 10, rick dees, all those things. a wonderful invention called the walkman came into being in that decade, and i had one, of course. a cute technology called the cassette tape was slowly overcoming the vinyls of my childhood, and it coincided with the popularity of the walkman. imagine carrying your favorite music in a box-like thing where the speakers were so small that they were as small as your ears, even smaller. you can carry your music wherever you went. heaven.

but before i got engrossed into the tape technology, i was also into vinyl. my family, given that our last name translated into "singer" or "a soloist in a choir," was into music. we were all music lovers, and all of us had our set of favorites, and clashes, of course. the usual old generation vs. the new generation of sounds still abound. i was six years old in 1979, and my then single aunts were gaga over guys like leif garret and shaun cassidy and other guys with farah fawcett hairdos (hay farrah, sumalangit nawa, but that's another eulogy). me, dedma! kebs ko sa mga da-doo-ron-ron-ron pakyut songs ng mga puting 'merkanong 'yun.

that age, a suitor of an aunt once gave me a vinyl, a 45rpm, the smallest kind, featuring the opening theme song of voltes v. we became friends for life -- or until the courtship period between him and my aunt was over. at six, i was happy memorizing and singing along to the words of this japanese anime show at the time when i didn't even know what "anime" meant. yes, i didn't know japanese either. but voltes v i know. i can still recite the dialogues. "fatherrrrrr!" sabi ni big bird. crush ko si jamie, yung nasa paa ni voltes v. at di ko pa alam na lesbiyana ako that time. hm. i shoulda known.

four years later, i was in grade five, and this new thing called music video was slowly being played on tv. i never knew what it was; i just saw singers singing but not on the stage, and they were shot as if they were in a film, sometimes emote to the max, na di bagay, and that glam make-up! sometimes they acted, too. sometimes the visuals were nice, sometimes i just watched because i like the song or the singer.

and then i saw "billy jean," the music video. wow. that was something.

"billie jean" was sung by michael jackson. i liked michael already before this song, because he already had many popular songs, even when he was with his brothers in jackson five. i also remember him singing when he was still a kid, and that was cool. but "billie jean" was something else. it was monumental.

i am a child who likes lights. i don't know where that came from, but i just do. so when i saw michael jackson walking around, dancing, prancing, and everything he stepped on or touched lighted up in that video, that got to me. i wanted to know how on earth they did that! before this video, i already liked michael because his songs are very danceable. i betray my last name and always say i should have been surnamed bailar instead of cantor, because sing i do not, but dance i do. a lot. so with the dancing, the infectious pop tunes, and then the lighting tricks, i was totally mj-hooked. because of this video, i partly wanted to become a filmmaker, because i wanted to know how they executed it. the man was a visionary.

my vinyl album of this actually had a
"winner of 8 grammy awards" sticker on it

early that year, the grammy awards came. and the album from where "billie jean" came from just won 8 grammy awards. wow! achievement! he also performed there, i remember. yes, i remember watching the awards in 1983. and i remember asking my mom to buy me an LP vinyl (the big kind) of thriller when we passed by a record stall inside a department store in cubao. and she did. so aside from the 45rpm voltes v single, the thriller album is my second most prized vinyl possession in my life. it played endlessly that summer of '83, as we danced while we celebrated my 10th birthday. i have pictures to prove that, but i don't think i want to share my fashion statement of that year with you all just yet. :P

*

so i am a person who likes to dance, but i have no formal training whatsoever, at least early in my life. but i have this knack of easily following dance routines just by watching the choreography closely. i don't know where that comes from either (must be from a past life? three seers already said i was a gypsy in a past life, an artistically-inclined one), but i still have that up to now. and a pastime of ours in our teen years was watching music videos and imitating their dance routines. how did we do that? a burgeoning interest in video recording that my family had helped this interest - betamax taped tv shows from the air, and later vhs. so through that, i learned the dances. michael jackson, later his younger sister janet jackson, and later her choreographer-turned-star on her own, paula abdul. Thriller was on heavy rotation in our vinyl player, Bad was nagasgas na sa cassete player namin, same with janet's Rhythm Nation 1814 and paula's Forever Your Girl. yes, i can partly do the moonwalk given the right shoes (the trick is the shoes and how they slide), learned the routines of janet's "miss you much" and taught it to my high school friends which we used as a production number in a school program, and took up tapdancing as one of my PE2 subjects in UP because i wanted to replicate the opening sequence of paula's "straight up" video. okay, hindi ko na-achieve yung huli kasi kulang pa kami sa tapdance lessons, but what the hey. i can still kick-ball change with taps, a bit.

but learning michael was something else. mahirap, kaya pag nagawa mo, sobrang sarap! i almost got an asthma attack just by learning "smooth criminal" pero di na-achieve ng byuti ko ang patented niyang anti-gravity lean. that was just magic. so i was contented to watch him from Bad onwards. yes, i can dance "thriller" and "beat it" and that now famous "billie jean" routine (though i hesitate to grab my crotch...) at happy na ako doon. i was still a fan, even up to the Dangerous album... and tour. the music videos of that time were also awesome. the man was really a visionary. he knew the importance of the image with the music.

lavish, yes, but befits a king...of pop, lalo na.
he's not just the king of pop, pero siya rin ay
king of pop culture.

syempre may concert!

*

i like listening to music, but i love listening to live performances of music even more, lalo na concerts. at an early age, my parents introduced me to the joys of watching an artist perform live on stage. siyempre pop pa rin ang leaning. i remember watching a family of singers called the jets at the araneta coliseum. i also remember watching this puerto rican boy group named menudo at the same venue, with this cute new member named ricky martin who was about my age at that time, more or less, at lagi siyang naka-pink polo! pink! pramis. kakulay nung mga pink polo ni danton hehe. i'm just saying.

as i grew older, my taste in music changed, of course, but it was still predominantly pop. so yes, i saw singers i admired live in concert, like my angst goddess alanis morissette, and singers i liked at the time they were likeable, like debbie gibson "lost in your eyes" pare, sankapa!), and mc hammer (yes i was into rap, so sue me). sometimes napipilitan din akong manood ng concerts dahil kelangan kong sumama for one reason or another, like that vanilla ice concert that my high school friends wanted to watch, and that new kids on the block that my sister was gaga over before. sige na nga, charge it to experience na lang... but when my friends wanted to watch "the real milli vanilli" i drew the line. dedma. away na yan, teh.

we also watched local artists, and i couldn't forget the first time i stepped into the very first structure of kuh ledesma's music museum in greenhills (before the first fire). we watched apo hiking society in a sit-down dinner-type concert of sorts. that was great. pero there's a vague memory of another thing i liked in that museum, given that it originally was a museum -- i think i saw a michael jackson sequined glove on display there. or was that an imitation of his glove as part of gary v's costume on display there? i couldn't recall. basta it was a museum and it had such things on display there. correct me if i'm wrong about the glove, though.

so the glove. the gloved one. eto na. HIStory tour. live in manila. Dangerous yun album na pino-promote niya ata nun, tapos eto ngang compilation history album chenes. december 1996 siya dumating dito, if i remember it right, doon sa lupalop ng paranaque noong si joey marquez pa ang mayor. humongous concert area, kung saan naroon ang SM mall of asia ngayon, i think, or thereabouts, at siyempre ga-dangkal lang ang nakita namin ng kapatid ko kay michael, kasi 10k ang tickets sa harap, and in 1996, that's like 20k today. who has 20k to shell for a concert? certainly not us purita kalaw ledesma peeps. so masaya na kaming naki-dance-dance at nakita at nagtititili noong 1996 sa likuran kasama ang daan-daang purita like us. kebs! i just wanted to see michael moonwalk live, in front of my eyes, and i did. i am at peace na after that. well, i think we brought papa's binoculars, so nakita ko rin siya kahit papaano, white skin and all. and the cleft chin.

after that, di ko na sinubaybayan ang dance moves niya, pero i still admired what he did with the music video genre. he was such a pioneer and a visionary that the MTV music awards renamed their yearly video vanguard award -- the highest honor they give to an artist who contributed much in the evolution of the music video -- into the michael jackson video vanguard award. yes, i saw those awards shows kung kelan ito naganap dati. i had the habit of taping music awards shows dati for my video collection. i still have that on vhs.

still after that, the eccentricities kicked in. dedma lang. he is already an icon, at kahit ano pa mang kawirduhan ang naganap sa life niya, i think it's understandable, given the kind of icon he is, and the kind of life he had. and i don't want to remember him that way. mas marami akong memories na better than the latter years, and i'm happier with those.

*

so bakit ko nga ba mami-miss si michael? magaganda kasi ang mga kanta niya. magaling siyang magsayaw. artist siya, e, visionary in his own right. wala yatang tulak kabigin sa mga kantang pinasikat niya. kahit nga yung chummy chummy na "heal the world" e gusto ko rin, kasi totoo ang sinasaad ng kanta. lalo na yung "man in the mirror." basta. the man was talented. humongously. and such humongous talent na nawawala sa earth ay talagang big loss.

wala akong cable so di ko mapapanood ang memorial niya live sa cnn. i don't like watching tv these days during weekdays, kaya mami-miss ko rin ang replays sa local news nito. okay na ko na mapanood ito o makakita ng photos sa internet. okay na ko dun.

ayokong masyadong malungkot these days, kaya ito na lang ang outlet nun.

ito na ang tribute ko kay michael jackson.

gusto ko tuloy magsayaw.

*

okay fine, i'm watching cnn on facebook now. shyet. now i'm sad. :(

goodbye michael.

Manila Times column for 05 July 2009: "Rewriting culture with the King of Pop"

they spelled my name wrong. sa online at least. ewan ko sa diyaryo. titignan ko bukas.

anyway, just to deviate a bit. i had to write about MJ. anyway, ngayon lang. sa susunod, back to regular programming na.

original post here.

THE SCRIBE VIBE
By Ay Linsangan Cantor
Rewriting culture with the King of Pop

I’m sure the people of my generation—and the other generations that Michael Jackson influenced—are all mourning and grieving his death. The King of Pop is dead. But still, long will the king live—through his music, his dance performances and his visual innovations. He got me on all counts.

As a filmmaker, I was awed by how his music seemed to have “mini-films” to promote them whenever they showed it on TV in the 1980s. Some singers just had clips of them singing in a stage lighted with the usual lights, dressed impressively and smiling with charms turned on high in front of the camera. Michael was different. He had those, too, but he also had those innovative mini-films, which was to be called “music videos” later on. The Thriller album produced many of these music videos that now remain as classics of the genre: the ghostly but danceable “Thriller,” the teen angst-filled “Beat It,” and of course, the one that got to me, “Billie Jean.” I was so intrigued by how the things he touched and the areas he stepped/danced on lighted up. The moment I saw that, I began wondering how on Earth they did that lighting thing—and thus, my love for cinematography was born. This is part of the reason why I pursued filmmaking in school. I liked how he pushed the limits and experimented with new ways of presenting the visual image, to the tune of his catchy music.

Like my parents, I was an avowed music lover. Growing up, I listened to whatever they listened to. They had their own set of favorites that also became my favorites, like the Beatles and Abba. Of course I was hooked to the pop music of my generation by default. But our tastes all merged when it came to Michael Jackson. We all liked him, since the day he was with Jackson Five when he was small, up to the time he came out with thought-provoking songs like “Man In The Mirror” and “Heal The World.”

These days, savvy marketing makes an artist known throughout the globe, artists with less than stellar talents but have huge publicity machines. With Michael, talent came first before the marketing, before publicity, before any hoopla. Those days, pure talent made an artist shine, and the universe just automatically picks them up and puts them in a constellation for all of us to see, admire, and hopefully use as inspiration in doing good work like he did. Yes, he did that, despite the negativity that surrounded his later life. But that’s just part of being human, I think. The man rewrote music, in a way, and he definitely redefined pop culture as we know it. So take it from his words: “Heal the world. Make it a better place for you and for me and the entire human race.” We all need that now. Thanks, MJ.

Comments? Suggestions? E-mail libay.scribevibe@gmail.com. She is also at libaycantor.multiply.com.

Manila Times column for 28 June 2009: "The book first or the movie first?"

original post here.

kaya lang bakit ganun? biglang na-mark ng google ang manila times website na malware eklat??? labo. pero sa other computer ko, hindi naman. techies, help nga! labo nito.


heniwey...

THE SCRIBE VIBE By Libay Linsangan Cantor The book first or the movie first?

Now that novels-turned-films are lined up to be shown in the next months, that question about what audiences should patronize first—the book or the film—crops up again in conversations. I’m reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince now in anticipation of the sixth installment of the Harry Potter films. No, I don’t usually read the book version first before I see the film, but with Harry Potter, yes, I do that. But before the knowledge of it being made into films, I’ve always read this series since it first came out. I find JK Rowling’s situations and characters very entertaining. Imagine having a whole world of wizards and witches existing in modern times with unsuspecting people, living like us but in their own dimension, having conflicts and adventures just like the rest of us folks, but with magic and other sorts of revelry. Yes, the pitch got me. I have a friend who doesn’t like reading the book first. He said he’d rather see the movie first, because if he already knew what will happen in the narrative, the film will cease to be exciting, and thus it will just bore him. I find that an unusual argument about the more simplistic and usual “the book is better than the film” argument, and it’s good to know that people have different takes on this issue or topic. As a filmmaker, my take on it is different. Usually, I’d rather read the book first because I want to know how they will condense the story to fit it into a filmic narrative. I am also interested to see how the stories will be audio-visually imagined, and it’s always fun to compare the filmmakers’ visual interpretation of the book story with my own visual interpretation of it, even if it’s just in my head. That exercise always excites me as both a reader of the book and an audience of the film. There are times that the film fares better than the book for me. For instance, I really couldn’t appreciate JRR Tolkien’s way of writing The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, but I read them both anyway in anticipation of the film. For me, director Peter Jackson did a better way of telling Frodo Baggins’ adventure than Tolkien. Don’t hate me, Tolkien fanatics; we just have different tastes, that’s all. Of course, there are times that the book is indeed better than the film. While I love Jodie Foster’s interpretation of Ellie Arroway’s character in Contact, I find Carl Sagan’s book narrative much more engaging than Robert Zemeckis’ film. Yes, in the end, we do have our own ways of liking a book or its film version or both. But knowing that people are still watching movies and still reading books is good enough for me. Comments? Suggestions? E-mail libay.scribevibe@gmail.com. She is also at libaycantor.multiply.com.

Manila Times column for 21 June 2009: "Focusing on children’s literature"

original post here.

yes, i'm attending this one.

THE SCRIBE VIBE By Libay Linsangan Cantor Focusing on children’s literature

A national conference focusing on children’s literature will be held next month, and I urge people who are interested in the topic to attend it. It sounds like a promising event. If you love children’s literature, especially if your work involves children and literature, then this conference is a must to attend. It’s called the Second National Conference on Children’s Literature and its official theme is “Panitikang Pambata sa Edukasyon” (or Children’s Literature in Education). Specifically, it will be held in two days, from July 16 to17, 2009, at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus (inside the Claro M. Recto Hall at the Faculty Center building). An association called the Pilandokan (or, officially, the National Research Society for Children’s Literature) is organizing this conference, with the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. If you haven’t been to a national conference such as this, be ready for the deluge of information and new knowledge that comes with it. Usually, there are speakers who present papers/researches about a certain topic, and there are some workshops taking place, too. Since the focus of this conference is partly about education, there will be a lot of scholarly discussions about certain aspects involving children’s literature. It might sound boring because of the “academic aspect” (the usual impression of non-academicians) but, believe me, it’s not. According to UP professor and children’s literature writer Eugene Evasco, the conference will discuss topics like the Filipino concept of child and childhood, the state of Philippine children’s literature, national identity, book piracy, children in television, children’s media, children and the social problems, literacy program for urban poor children and the deaf, and the formation of childhood identity. Evasco serves as the conference director. I’m particularly interested in children and the media, especially because half of my professional career now involves going back to writing a children’s TV show. I began my scriptwriting career on TV by being part of writers’ pools of children’s edutainment shows about 10 years ago, and it’s interesting and exciting to note the differences of writing for such shows then and now, a decade hence. With the advent of the computer technology and everything going digital, children’s sensibilities have been changing, and children’s literature is, of course, getting affected by leaps and bounds. I’m particularly interested in what the speakers would say about this. I’ll write about my reflections on the conference, too, once it’s over. If you want more information, please e-mail their secretariat at pagongatmatsing@yahoo.com. I’ll see you there, OK? Comments? Suggestions? E-mail libay.scribevibe@gmail.com. She is also at libaycantor.multiply.com.

Manila Times column for 14 June 2009: "It’s raining lit!"

original post here.

basically, it's just about publicizing a lot of people's stuff hehe. notably, yung books na bago nina iwa at vlad. talaga lang nalimas pera ko sa powerbooks last weekend noh hehehe. pero masaya naman. daming good finds, and now i'm speed reading harry potter and the half-blood prince (eep! lapit na ipalabas!). baka di na rin ako pumunta sa book launch kasi nga binili ko na yung mga books (kasi may powercard discount card ako e hehe) pero bahala na...

to new readers and comebacking ones and those who decided to follow this blog, salamatz! :)

THE SCRIBE VIBE By Libay Linsangan Cantor It’s raining lit!

June is already here, signifying not only the start of the school year but the “official” start of the rainy season. But besides rains, we also have a deluge of literary stuff pouring this month, which began last month and continues to the next. It’s exciting to know that there are a lot of new books out in the market penned by local authors. A couple of weeks back, scriptwriter extraordinaire Ricky Lee re-launched his old book entitled Si Tatang at Mga Himala ng Ating Panahon which contains a hodgepodge of his writings, notably some short stories, reportage, essays, and even the script of his famous film Himala. This volume gets an updated look but most of its contents remain essentially the same. This was first published in 1988, so imagine it reaching a new generation of audiences this 2009. On June 15, Mag:Net Katipunan in Quezon City will be the venue of the regularly scheduled Happy Mondays poetry sessions. But that date marks more than the usual literary gathering of friends and literary lovers as it is also the launch date of three new titles from three very diverse authors: Vladimeir Gonzales comes out with his latest book entitled A-Side/B-Side: Ang Mga Piso sa Jukebox ng Buhay Mo which is a collection of essays written in Filipino while Carljoe Javier launches his book entitled And The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth. Both titles are published by Milflores Publishing Inc. Completing the trio is Norman Wilwayco’s launching of his latest novel entitled Gerilyera. This novel was the top winner in the Filipino novel category at the 2008 Carlos Palanca Awards. Congrats Vlad and Iwa! By the fourth week of June, a book compilation of plays will be launched at the opening of the annual Virgin Labfest at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on June 23. The yearly festival of new plays penned by members of the Writers Bloc Inc. will, once again, showcase edgy new material from contemporary playwrights. The anthology, edited by Rody Vera, will feature about four years’ worth of plays from the four years that the Virgin Labfest has been staged. Now that’s a collection worth having. Call the CCP box office for details. These are just some of the new titles I encountered lately. But browsing through the collection in bookstores these days, it’s exciting to see that there are more Filipino-penned titles offered and featured by the stores. Those who want to buy a lot of these titles should visit Powerbooks branches as they are having a month-long sale of Philippine publications. Now you know where my money went last weekend. But buying local titles is always worth it, believe me. So many books, so many plays, so many literary happenings to watch out for and attend. Who says Philippine literature is dead? Long live the word! Comments? Suggestions? E-mail libay.scribevibe@gmail.com. She is also at libaycantor.multiply.com.

Manila Times column for 07 June 2009: "To be read and watched by (almost) all"

original post here.

plugging. for more!

dapat last week of may column ko ito pero nagkaroon nga ng tech glitch sila sa newsroom. so...

THE SCRIBE VIBE
By Libay Linsangan Cantor
To be read and watched by (almost) all

Ideally, writers would really want their books to be read by a lot of people, their screenplays or stage plays to be made into films or plays that will be watched by many. But by “a lot,” does that mean almost everybody in the planet or the country? That might be a hard feat to achieve no matter what type of writing you do.

Creative writers usually include universal themes in their writings, such as falling in love, heartbreak, betrayal, and all those things that have been used over and over in literature, film and TV melodramas. But in essence, writers ideally have a target audience to begin with when they write; it makes crafting the plot easier, and it is also challenging to discover what kind of story development/details will excite a particular audience.

This is the reason why I chose to decline writing for a TV show before called Lovely Day, which I eventually directed when the producers decided to remake it from a plain newsmagazine type to a hybrid of narrative fantasy-newsmagazine. The executive producer (or EP) proposed that since I was already directing the show, I should also try my hand at writing the main narrative script since it might be easier for me to direct what I wrote. I mulled over it and asked who the primary target audience of the show was. Her answer startled me: anyone from age 2 to 92. Wow, that’s a large scope to please in thirty minutes, nationwide! I don’t think a single narrative storyline will captivate that wide an age range at any given time. Nothing is that universal, not even love (or Pacquiao’s boxing matches). I mean, could a 5-year-old fathom love like how a 60-year-old would? I don’t think so. So as much as I wanted to go back to writing children’s or family-oriented TV shows, I declined.

Last month, I was offered to be the scriptwriter of a new show. Since the focus is clearer this time (with the EP clearly labeling it as a “children’s show”), I accepted. This time, the audience is clearer, as it is going to be aimed at preschool viewers, grade school students and everyone in between that age range. Of course it helps if parents and other relatives from other age ranges would watch it, but that’s just an added bonus. The show, called Happy Land, replaces Lovely Day in its Saturday morning time slot of 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at GMA7; it premiered yesterday.

The show is primarily educational in nature but with a mix of fantasy and reality narrative storylines in it. Let’s see just how wide an audience it will reach this time.

Comments? Suggestions? E-mail libay.scribevibe@gmail.com. She is also at libaycantor.multiply.com.

i have a new show but i'm kinda hesitating to promote it...

...that's because i am no rene villanueva. that fact really scares me. to death. (sumalangit nawa si kuya rene. wala siyang katulad. isa siyang alamat.)

yes, after having directorial stints at the now concluded LOVELY DAY show on GMA-7, the show that's replacing it called HAPPY LAND will be aired this saturday. and i am this show's "head writer" or narrative writer. but i'll discuss that later.

read the official PR first.

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HAPPY LAND PREMIERES JUNE 6
9:30-10AM GMA-7

Locally-produced educational children’s shows are so rare these days you can count them on the fingers of one hand. The era of childhood favorites Batibot, 5 and Up or Sineskwela airing on a daily basis has long since passed, replaced by foreign anime and cartoons with entertainment rather than education as their primary goal.

This lack of edifying children’s programs compounds the shortage of public early childhood care and development institutions in the Philippines. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ‘Education for All by 2015’ report states that pre-primary education in the Philippines is available only to 41% of the total population, as most pre-schools are privately owned and concentrated in highly urbanized areas.

This overwhelming need challenged GMA’s award-winning News and Public Affairs Group to produce a definitive pre-school education program with the objective of shaping a whole new generation’s viewpoint.

The result: HAPPY LAND, a children’s program that inspires young viewers to discover happiness despite the bad things in life. In a poverty-stricken tenement, Anna and Buboy -- children of OFW parents -- discover a portal to Happy Land, a fantasy world where knowledge thrives and problems are systematically solved. The show follows the lives and exploits of Anna and Buboy as they meet the different residents of the tenement -- including a Muslim and Visayan families -- and discover a fantasy world through a magical junk shop inside the compound.

Through Anna and Buboy’s story, the show intends to present reality to child viewers -- discussing social issues with no pretense or sugarcoating. Happy Land also seeks to address the issue of OFW-ism by helping its main characters cope with OFW parents, and hopes to impart Filipino values and character education to both children and adult viewers.

Combining animation, digital technology, and live-action photography, Happy Land hopes to bring children to a new level of TV viewing. Aside from the narrative, the show will also teach basic pre-school subjects like Language and the Alphabet, Math, Science, and General Knowledge through independent segments.

Two adorable kids lead Happy Land’s cast of characters. Nine year- old Patricia Gayod plays Anna, Buboy’s loving sister who acts as a mother to Buboy while their Mama works as a domestic helper in Hongkong. Meanwhile, six-year-old Jermaine Ulgasan plays Buboy, a quick-witted kid who’s very dependent on his older sister. True to real life, Jermaine is a son of an OFW parent. His father works as an engineer in Saudi.

Public Affairs host Love Añover plays Ate Belle, the tenement’s friendly repairwoman who can mend everything from broken irons and refrigerators to broken hearts and dreams. Veteran theater and TV actress Joy Viado joins the cast as Tita Auring, Anna and Buboy’s strict but loving aunt. Completing the main cast is an animated creature: Mingming, the tenement’s resident black cat who will lead the children on their journey through Happy Land.

Kid viewers will also get the chance to meet “Bulatelino,” an intelligent, talking earthworm who will teach kids anything and everything about Science. Youngsters also get to learn more about geography as Popoy and Kokoy, Happy Land’s mice duo, bring them to all sorts of places through their segment “Mga Dagang Gala.”

Happy Land is directed by acclaimed film and television director, Bb. Joyce Bernal.

Discover happiness, learn new things, and have fun all at the same time as the newest addition to GMA News and Public Affairs’ roster of award-winning programs airs this June!

Happy Land's pilot episode airs Saturday, June 6, from 9:30 – 10:00AM. A week before this, on May 30 at the same timeslot, catch “The Way To Happy Land,” a primer on the conceptualization and production of Happy Land.

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so yan. di ba it looks promising, exciting and fun? siyempre it has to be that, kasi nga happy land siya e.

but the source of my hesitation is the show's referencing of BATIBOT. when the GMA peeps talked to me and asked if i am willing to be the head writer, i thought i was just going to head some writers nga. kaya lang iba kasi ang sistema ng ganitong klaseng show, na hindi na halos News and Public Affairs ang approach kundi may pagka-entertainment na.

let me tell you about tv first.

there are always 2 divisions at work there: the News and Public Affairs (or Current Affairs sa ABSCBN ito) and the Entertainment Division (sa ABSCBN, dati ang tawag dito ay Production pero ewan na ngayon kung yun pa rin ang tawag). we film majors always end up working at the production/entertainment side kasi nga we are more of narrative-oriented filmmakers, and we are not news-oriented. public affairs division is a halfway road for us between prod/entertainment and news. we also populate that sometimes.

when i was in the writing pool of ABSCBN Foundation's children's shows about a decade ago, the execs handling the shows were not exactly from current affairs or entertainment. they were a totally different batch of people (they're nicer than the usual abs peeps hahahaha!) so iba ang atake sa shows. shows like the one mentioned sa pr above, SINESKWELA. i was part of the pool of HIRAYAMANAWARI (where i trained in writing for children's tv shows) and EPOL/APPLE (where i opted to write because it taught english to viewers, mas trip ko kesa math o science hehe, at wala pa yung philippine lit show kasi nun na PAHINA). as writers, we had a head writer giving us guidelines on what lessons to include, the sequence of the storylines etc. there was also a creative panel making chukchak to each and every draft of each and every script coming out of each and every writer. kaya tag-gutom din ang writers doon dati actually, dahil sa tagal ng panahong ma-approve ang script mo at ang actual date ng pag-ere, hindi regular ang kita ng pera. like in print publications, writers are only paid when the episodes we wrote were actualy filmed and aired na. of course wala nang panibagong bayad kapag nag-replay ang show, but that's another issue. kaya minsan, sa isang buwan, isang script mo lang ang eere, at yun lang ang bayad sa iyo.

pero with HAPPY LAND, it is both nerve-wracking and exciting for me at the same time. there's no creative panel to please with nth drafts of scripts, only the main execs (two to be exact) to please with the weekly storyline. there are no definitive lessons to write in because those are taken cared of by segment producers who have their own lesson segments to write (think SESAME STREET where there are separate segments that feature other character mainstays that teach actual lessons e.g. the spanish word lessons, the math calculations, stuff like that). remember the main storyline where the people in the neighborhood of sesame street are? parang sa batibot, kung nasaan lagi sina ate sienna at kuya bodjie. that's the one i write. it's basically like 2/3 of the show. kinda like LOVELY DAY before, where i direct the narrative storyline there, which is also 2/3 of the show. ngayon, i write that 2/3 every week. it's scary. but in fairness, there show's execs and i sat down before beginning this and brainstormed on how the show will run around certain themes presented per ep, what social issues to tackle and all. and we started from there. pero walang monitoring masyado sa main narrative, although there is another UP prof from family and child dev't dept something sa College of Home Econ na consultant sa segment lessons, but i don't think she could comment heavily on the lessons sa narratives only after she has seen it. iba kasi ang training niya e. but iher comments would be/are helpful nonetheless.

so again, why is this scary? because the burden of the lesson-molding incorporated in the narrative is mostly on my shoulders. the execs just tinker with it here and there, but basically, since they are more public affairs-oriented and not narrative/entertainment-oriented, kaunti lang din ang naibibigay na feedback regarding storylines. but you know, this is actually okay because less pressure for the writer ito, unlike before sa foundation where there was a person in the panel checking the production feasibility of our scripts (what's doable and not according to budget), a person monitoring the show's narrative logic, and the head writer who makes sure each ep ties with the others, kasi nga each writer is given a separate ep to write, and only the head writer sees all eps. kebs naming writers sa sinusulat ng others.

so there, bago umere ang ep mo, katakut-takot na pinagdaanan na. dito sa HAPPY LAND, konti lang ang pinagdadaanan, pero pag may sumablay lang ng kaunti, siyempre hind naman si direk joyce bernal ang titignang may "mali" doon (for so many reasons, of course, you know how it is in showbiz), kundi ang writer. e ako yun. kaya ngyarrrrr.

hindi naman sa takot ako sa "responsibilidad." in fact, i see this as a challenge, like i always do sa lahat ng endeavors na ginagawa ko sa life. naninibago lang siguro ako sa bilis ng mga bagay-bagay ngayon, unlike before na uber-bagal. ngayon, pagkasulat ko ng first draft, minsan di na babalik sa akin for revisions dahil ang exec producer (EP) na lang mismo ang kakalikot (mag-e-edit) dahil ishu-shoot na ito agad-agad. exciting siya kasi unlike film, nakikita mo agad ang results ng sinulat mo. like umeere na agad at may visualizations na agad ang mga ideya lang sa kompyuter ko dati. nabuhay baga. when i first saw the snippets of the first 2 eps, natuwa ako dahil they actually shot/followed what i wrote! (well, at least 70-85% of what i wrote, but that's already big ha!) and that's something worth treasuring. kasi ang maganda dito sa set-up ngayon, unlike eons ago, ay may respeto ang production team sa sinusulat ng writer. maybe it's also joyce's training as a mainstream filmmaker, and sana may tinge of training niya as a film major like me. hindi tulad dati na sasabihin nung creative panel na "sabi ni direk, dapat sulat niyo na rin dito ang chenes, chenes chenes..." na para bang wala nang gagawin si direk kundi i-execute na lang ang sinulat namin para di na siya gaanong nag-iisip. labo.

it also helps that the head honcho in-charge of the show is another film major, si sir tops brugada. like joyce, he knows the scheme of things needed at may respeto sa materyal. bibihira kasi akong makakilala ng mainstream people who listen to us "lowly scriptwriters" but i think the proliferation of film majors in the networks today, especially sa siyete, is changing that landscape. like with sina neil gumban before, na briefly naging head honcho (program manager or PM) ng lovely day, ay film major, ka-batch ni roehl jamon na colleague ko sa upfi. tapos si tops nga, na ka-batch pala ni patrick campos na colleague din sa upfi. and it also helps that there's another cmc alumnus sa grupo, ang EP na si ate shao masula, na broadcomm major naman (super-younger batch nga lang sa amin nina tops) na malaki rin ang tiwala sa writer, dahil siya dati ang writer ng lovely day narratives na dapat din e ako ang susulat noon-noon pa, but that's another story...

so there's my two cent's worth about the show. i guess what i'm just saying is that i'm afraid people would invoke batibot when they see happy land, and will then invoke rene villanueva alongside of it, and then scrutinize na "sinech ba itey na writerlalu ng happy land at feelingera echos na rene-like daw?" well, i wasn't the one who said this show was like reminiscent of batibot anyway, pero siyempre, people will compare and contrast, always.

but i see this as another show, of course, as this is another time, another place, another kind of creativity. what clinched the show for me is the fact i highlighted sa pr above, yung no sugarcoating of real issues sa isang children's show. kumbaga, this is so in line with what i've been learning in my MA classes na writing for children and writing for young adults, na you do not gloss over "serious issues" when dealing with children. that was the deal-maker for me, that's why i took on the challenge. the advocate in me wanted this to happen!

and now, it is.

so sige nga, gagawin ko na ring practical lesson-learning ang scriptwriting for this show as it airs. this might help future scriptwriters and my students also who want to learn more about this aspect of production, be it tv or film, basta narrative storytelling through audiovisual means. parang as it unfolds like a work-in-progress, i'll try to blog about it as a lesson-in-progress type of thingie.

so sige na nga, panoorin niyo na lang! pagkahaba-haba man ng sinabi ko, yun din ang ending hahahahaha! but i would really appreciate the comments regarding the show's story and all. the directing and prod part, labas na ako doon, ha?

o siya sige. sabado na. kitakits sa HAPPY LAND.

at sa mga fellow kapuso, break a leg sa ating lahat! hehe.

this makes a lot of sense

my acquaintance and facebook contact mimi nolledo, daughter of the late great writer wilfrido nolledo, posted this link sa fezbuk at may-i-read ako sa article. at winner siya ha! it makes a lot of sense!

repost ko lang dahil sa wala akong column na ire-repost today dahil nagkaroon daw ng tech problems ang substitute editor kahapon kaya di na-layout ang aking column. epic fail!!!

oh well.

the article on huffington post is here. my comments in brackets.



13 TIPS FOR ACTUALLY GETTING SOME WRITING DONE
by gretchen rubin


One of the challenges of writing is...writing. Here are some tips that I've found most useful for myself, for actually getting words onto the page:

1. Write something every work-day, and preferably, every day; don't wait for inspiration to strike. Staying inside a project keeps you engaged, keeps your mind working, and keeps ideas flowing. Also, perhaps surprisingly, it's often easier to do something almost every day than to do it three times a week. (This may be related to the abstainer/moderator split.)

[i call this "the NVM rule" because i first heard of this from the late national artist for literature nvm gonzales during the 1997 UP writer's workshop in cebu, when we were trapped in bantayan island for 7 superfun days. sabi niya, lagi daw dapat ako magsulat ng kahit ano, lalo na pagkagising sa umaga, walang edit-edit, basta kung ano ang unang sumagi sa utak ko, isulat ko. i used to have a notebook filled with such thoughts which i labeled "the nvm project notebook." i miss nv. he was like a lolo to me.

i was also reminded of this in 1999 in dumaguete naman, when i learned of poet fellow and friend allan popa really forced himself to write one poem per day. one poem! grabe sa dedication ang kuyang yun.]

with co-fellows at the 1999 dumaguete national writers workshop.
here we are in front of silliman university chenelyn. spot me.

2. Remember that if you have even just fifteen minutes, you can get something done. Don't mislead yourself, as I did for several years, with thoughts like, "If I don't have three or four hours clear, there's no point in starting."

[hm oo nga naman. in short, shorten your procrastination period hehe.]

3. Don't binge on writing. Staying up all night, not leaving your house for days, abandoning all other priorities in your life -- these habits lead to burn-out.

[hay nakoooh. kaya di ako naniniwala dun sa lock-in brainstorming sessions popularized by the abscbn/star cinema peeps early 2000s e, when writing soaps. chaka. kaya abandon ship akey. kaloka, one whole weekend pipigain kayo at nasa hotel lang kayo lahat! kaloka.]

4. If you have trouble re-entering a project, stop working in mid-thought -- even mid-sentence -- so it's easy to dive back in later.

[hm eto di ko pa nagagawa pero try ko nga.]

5. Don't get distracted by how much you are or aren't getting done. I put myself in jail.

[hindi naman distracted. sa akin e barometer yun. self-check like "wow shyeet 54 pages na ko yehey!" works for me hehe. that's how i finished my MA thesis!]

6. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that creativity descends on you at random. Creative thinking comes most easily when you're writing regularly and frequently, when you're constantly thinking about your project.

[yes. see nvm rule. that's why when, during the early stages of blogging in the philippines, i helped test the calliope platform ng i.ph dudes sa first blogging summit and got myself a new blog called "anti-rust punditry" or arparp hehe. that project was a short one to just help me write something almost everyday para di kakalawangin ang writing skills baga. at that time kasi, i wasn't doing much writing for some strange reasons... and this is why blogging helps.]

7. Remember that lots of good ideas and great writing come during the revision stage. I've found, for myself, that I need to get a beginning, middle, and an end in place, and then the more creative and complex ideas begin to form. So I try not to be discouraged by first drafts.

[ay korek ka jan ati. eto ang approach ko sa scriptwriting ngayon e, lalo na't i have to churn a script every week for HAPPY LAND, yung show na pumalit sa LOVELY DAY na dati e dinidirek ko. ako ang narrative scriptwriter ng new show. the first draft is the sequence treatment. second draft with revisions is the fullblown script na. it works.]

saturday mornings pa rin

9.30-10am gma7 mga kapuso. abangan!

8. Develop a method of keeping track of thoughts, ideas, articles, or anything that catches your attention. That keeps you from forgetting ideas that might turn out to be important, and also, combing through these materials helps stimulate your creativity. My catch-all document, where I store everything related to happiness that I don't have another place for, is more than five hundred pages long. Some people use inspiration boards; others keep scrapbooks. Whatever works for you.

[ay naku ang dami kong ganyan, minsan sa gimik nga e, susulat lang sa piece of tisyu and i pocket it. no idea is a bad idea, even if it's stored in your files for a decade already. who knows. sabi nga ni jun lana, siya e may baul ng scripts at huhugot lang pag kelangan. bongga ang ati no?]

9. Pay attention to your physical comfort. Do you have a decent desk and chair? Are you cramped? Is the light too dim or too bright? Make a salute--if you feel relief when your hand is shading your eyes, your desk is too brightly lit. Check your body, too: lower your shoulders, make sure your tongue isn't pressed against the top of your mouth, don't sit in a contorted way. Being physically uncomfortable tires you out and makes work seem harder.

my rainbow room where my writing nook and reading nook is.

in short, library ko teh. that's me at the height (or weight hehe,

see fatness) of my MA thesis rewriting

[ay finally! someone articulated this! some people kasi think maarte lang ako pag sinabi kong di ako makasulat kasi di na comfy ang desktop ko, o yung old laptop ko, at mainit sa bahay di ako makasulat ng tama, na kelangan ko minsan tumambay sa coffeeshop para magsulat lang, o dapat yung chair ko sa bahay pag nagsulat e maayos at perfect chuva. haaaay!

pero bago yung tongue thing ha. masubukan nga.]

10. Try to eliminate interruptions -- by other people, email, your phone, or poking around the Internet -- but don't tell yourself that you can only work with complete peace and quiet.

[haha true ito. kaya nga when i'm in fezbuk, that means i'm writing. reliever yun e hahaha! truly!

and this is where i truly appreciate goldstar. she's the one who finally understood what the temperament of a writer is actually like. she makes sure i don't get distracted and when i do, she helps me stay in focus and on track. i heart this woman. :)]

11. Over his writing desk, Franz Kafka had one word: "Wait." My brilliantly creative friend Tad Low, however, keeps a different word on his desk: "Now." Both pieces of advice are good.

[for me, that laminated postcard-like thingie from lunduyan ng sining's WHAT THESE HANDS CAN DO anthology that says "WRITE" does the trick so far. ... and that ribbon with the small card that says "47th palanca memorial awards for literature" with the red ribbon attached saying "winner" hehehe. vain na at mayabang, pero it makes me strive to top it, e. i don't rest on past laurels. i want new ones lagi hehehe.]

12. If you're stuck, try going for a walk and reading a really good book. Virginia Woolf noted to herself: "The way to rock oneself back into writing is this. First gentle exercise in the air. Second the reading of good literature. It is a mistake to think that literature can be produced from the raw."

[and this is why i heart virginia. she make a lotta sense, too.]

13. At least in my experience, the most important tip for getting writing done? Have something to say! This sounds obvious, but it's a lot easier to write when you're trying to tell a story, explain an idea, convey an impression, give a review, or whatever. If you're having trouble writing, forget about the writing and focus on what you want to communicate. For example, I remember flailing desperately as I tried to write my college and law-school application essays. It was horrible -- until in both cases I realized I had something I really wanted to say. Then the writing came easily, and those two essays are among my favorites of things I've ever written.

[well, oo naman ati. i think that goes without saying.]

Manila Times column for 24 May 2009: "Just how factual should fiction be?"

forgot to post this here earlier this week.


original post here.

so parang mini-review ko na rin pala ito ng ANGELS AND DEMONS.

slight.



THE SCRIBE VIBE
By Libay Linsangan Cantor
Just how factual should fiction be?

I never imagined I’d be using the word “factual” and “fiction” in the same sentence; blame Dan Brown and his latest book-to-film oeuvre, Angels and Demons. The Internet is buzzing with “fact checks” about just how factual are the details used in the novel-turned-film’s story. I wonder if the fact-checking is necessary at all, though.

This isn’t the first time Brown’s work was subjected to this type of flurry. Who could forget 2006’s The Da Vinci Code, led by no less than the Roman Catholic Church. And with the church at the helm of such an “investigation,” one could never forget it so easily—but that’s another story.

I saw the film when it opened, and Angels and Demons was entertaining, to say the least, as it was like a virtual tour of the Vatican City. (It was tourist eye candy to the highest level). Don’t ask me about the book version as I am not a fan of Brown’s literary skills. As a friend once said, Brown writes like he wants his books to be made into films (it screams for it, he said), so I just wait for the film version.

Many are questioning the authenticity of details in the film, from the biggest (the accuracy of events in the Catholic Church’s history) to the smallest (the exact locations of certain churches). The story revolved on finding key places in the Vatican where kidnapped bishops will be killed next, using centuries-old documents/writings as clues. Did Brown really need to be that accurate when he was using existing facts to fashion his narrative development? Well, yes, and no.

There is such as thing as “artistic/creative license” and, according to his critics, Brown uses his quite liberally, to the point of making it as an excuse for the seeming lack of research in his material. It’s one thing to fictionalize a story running parallel to actual events, say a star-crossed love story inside an ill-fated cruise liner that crashes in its maiden voyage (hello Titanic, is that you?). But hey, that one actually worked. What about Brown’s?

For purely entertainment purposes, the use of historical information was handled well in most parts of the story. But there is still that danger of audiences taking everything as true. The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan once said, and people still has that tendency of believing everything they read, hear and watch over the media. So yes, I know how Brown’s critics feel, but I am also entertained by these facts he presents, as I enjoyed his artistic licensing of most of them.

In the end, you can’t please everybody. But maybe everybody should think of just how they want to be pleased, and not impose their standards on the rest of us “commoners.” What do you think?

Comments? Suggestions? E-mail libay.scribevibe@gmail.com. She is also at libaycantor.multiply.com.

natapos din si vakler

me at the dumaguete writer's workshop
some ten years ago, as a fiction fellow.

the much-awaited ten--errr, eleven na nga pala--year ordeal was finally put to an end last wednesday afternoon, the sked of my MA thesis oral defense. yes, oral defense as they call it in CAL where i have been taking up my masters degree in english studies major in creative writing at the department of english and comparative literature for eleven years. eleven frakking years, man. kung nanganak ako noong 1998 ay may pinapaaral na akong grade 5 sa elementarya ngayon noh! may ganung factor! hahahahaa. pero tangeeenaaaa natapos din!!!! woot!

sadyang anti-climactic itong defense ko dahil nga sa tagal. nagkaroon pa ng panibagong external conflict at the last stretch of this decade-long dramaturgy of mine during my birthday. poootangeena birthday na birthday ko noong abril, naglalalakad ako para maghabol ng UP officials para sa shortcoming ng isang departamento na di naman ako ang may kagagawan. well, thank goddesses na-achieve naman ang objective, at na-resolve lahat at wala nang loose ends. hay.

happy lang yung defense. my thesis adviser, dr. jing hidalgo, is a longtime teacher and well, colleague na ring matatawag siguro, since 1997 UP national writers' workshop days pa namin in cebu and baguio where i became a fellow. in fact, in baguio, she was the one who encouraged me to take up an MA in CW. i'm glad i took her advice. masaya ang CW life for me heheh. kaya i'm still there now. well, at least part of me does that to this day. yey.

it was a hoot to hear ms. jing do the defending for me sometimes hehe. i so love her. may kinda CL slash CW dichotomy kasing nangyari with the presence of another colleague na naging friend na rin dati, si ruth pison who teaches CL at the english dept. she was my panelista kasi maalam sa gender theories chenelyn. i took my postcolonial literature undegrad back subject under her when i began my MA in 1998 at sobrang aliw ang learning experience doon. happy siya. it was cool to hear the pros and cons of the CL thinking and the CW thinking in one table. super happy learning experience for me. wala, tawanan lang kami ng tawanan in between comments hahaha!

no frills ang defense. no pakain chenes unlike eons ago, kasi nga alam ko, bawal na ito sa kayoopehan. ni magkape nga, ayaw nila, so tipid ako hahaha! ms jing didn't want long elaborate powerpoint presentations so a 2-pager thingie was fine for me, then the rest of the work, sila na gumawa hahaha!

aliw din ang observations ni celeste flores coscolluela, fellow CW major ko na kinontratang maging critique. siya ang nag-provide ng hetero side of comments. well, hetero din naman yung kay ruth pero iba ang atak ng lola mong yon, mas sa teorya-teorya chorva nga at reality of things (mga tanong na "may lalaki bang ganyan?" and stuff. hahaha so ruth! funny.) kaya si cel ang by default na hetero commenter chenes. tapos si vlad gonzales served as the dean's rep at aliw din ang comments niya ha. dami ko napulot kay koya hehe. haylavet. textmates na kami hahaha! chos. dati ko pa namang kakilala si koya vlad, mga panahon pa noong nabuo yung akdang bayan writer's org, short for artista para sa kultura at dalumat ng bayan kung saan kami kasapi. man, sayang talaga yung grupong yon. tsk. oi may bagong libro nga pala si koya vlad published by milflores, buy kayo. buy ako next next week, pahuhupain ko lang ang kaguluhang bookstore dahil magpapasukan na. google niyo na lang yung title, haba e.

aliw din si mam jing sa comments, of course, especially her panalong wrap-up on the "what's next" on my plate chorva. panalo! basta, if you know her, you know na she's a CW-CL goddess by default. kaya nga lagi kapag may nagtatanong sa akin kung sino ang okay kuning titser sa MA doon, lagi kong sinasabing kahit ano'ng ituro ni ms jing, enrollan mo! same comment ko actually yan kay mam betsy enriquez dito naman sa cmc hehehe. basta, alam mong may mga gurong sulit enrollan at kritikal ito lalo na at MA ka at hindi galing sa paryentes mo ang pang-tuition mo kundi sa sarili mong bulsa. poonyemas masakit ang 500 pesos per unit sa MA ha! may 1 or 2 courses nga ako dating nakuhang i wanted a refund, but that's another story na lang for next time.

haaaay... poonyemas puwede na ko mag-kikay ulet! hahaha. hamfanget ko na noh dahil sa thesis na toh!!! okay kaya papagupit na akey, ukay ng new clothes, at back to workout moda olympic level. as in!!! oo vain ako to a certain extent bakit ba! hahaha! and back to my house repairs na din, na inuunti-unti ko dahil mas may kelangang unahin sa buhay minsan, tulad nitong MA.

hm napaisip ako doon sa what's next a. actually, parang alam ko na pero so many colleagues are against it. i want to have a second MA kasi, this time malikhaing pagsulat naman. didibdibin ko ang pagiging bilingual writer literal hehe. wala, gusto ko lang, bakit ba. actually, muntik ko na ngang inabandona itong CW thesis at magshi-shift na sana ko dahil nababagot na nga ako noon sa "philippine literature in english," kung di lang ako tinalakan ng ilang upfi colleagues (even the dean breathing down my neck! dean nic, that was.) at pinandilatan ng mga film dyosas like mam gigi na tapusin mo na yaaaaan hahahaha! salamat sa talak! haylavyoooo all! oo, ganun kami magmahalan sa upfi, karinyo brutal hahaha! chos.

so yan ang life hehe. yes, okay na ko. sobrang okay, pare. SOP. hahaha. chos.

so sa pagtatapos ng post na ito, share ko lang dito yung aking naging super short and sweet na presentation of my thesis project chorvaloo. short and fast lang ito pramis, like hayden kho's "performance." charot!!!

oo bangenge pa ko.

salamat nga pala sa mga friendsheeps ko na bumati sa fezbuk at sa offline life, sa mga actual na dumalo at nanood for moral support or to jot down notes for their own pending MA CW fiction thesis defense hehehe. :)


---------


MA CW Thesis Oral Defense Presentation
27 May 2009

F L Y L E A F
libay linsangan cantor

This thesis, a collection of 17 short stories, is called Flyleaf. I used the flyleaf metaphor of the blank pages of books where sometimes, as readers, we use these blank pages at the front or back of the book to jot down our notes or thoughts or maybe reactions to what we have read in the book – provided of course we own the book and don’t vandalize others’ property. Sometimes, the notes we jot down surprise us, for they could be rather insightful, meaningful, but most of all, we jot down these notes to sometimes make sense of what we just read. This is what I am hoping my collection would do – make sense
of what it is to be a lesbian in contemporary Philippine society as narrated through the stories in this collection.

In my introductory essay, I tried to locate myself as a lesbian writer in Philippine literature in English. This is because, as I have studied in the past, there is an obvious absence of lesbian voices in this field. I found a handful of stories with lesbian content and also know of only a handful of lesbian-identified writers like myself who create lesbian-themed fiction or creative nonfiction in English. But compared to gay-themed writings or gay-identified writers, we lesbians lag so far behind in numbers.

I also tried to deconstruct what that identity means, to be a “lesbian writer,” to understand where my poetics are rooted or grounded, which I believe is primarily influenced and enhanced by tenets of lesbian feminism. And as a writer, I also wanted to locate where my audience is. I know for a fact that there is an audience out there for this kind of material, an audience primarily composed of women like me – women who identify as women and as lesbians, who look for and yearn to read about themselves and their experiences—or our experiences—in Philippine literature.

I tried to analyze why I write the way I write, as my stories sometimes unfold differently from one another. There are stories that are metafictional and there are stories that are traditional. I concluded that this is because perhaps I also need to relate my stories to a “more traditional” type of audience, the audience I also hope to reach with my stories, which are non-lesbians. But as a storyteller exposed to various media such as cinema, I also like to discover and experiment with new ways of telling or retelling a story, much like how I also like to discover and experiment with new ways of showing a story via the audiovisual medium when I shoot as a filmmaker.

So what kind of experiences and stories are here? In the beginning, I tried to map out the life of several contemporary middle-class educated lesbians living in Metro Manila who work in the fields of media and the arts. But upon my consultations with my adviser, it was best to flesh out just one persona from these different stories, for it was noticed that there was a dominant voice emanating from most of the stories. Thus, the order of the stories were rearranged and presented as how you all read them in the manuscript.

The individual stories narrate one persona’s experiences that span almost ten years, set during this decade. The development is in accordance with the main persona’s discovery of her lesbianism. In the beginning, she is presented as a twentysomething heterosexual woman who discovers that her more authentic sexuality is that of a lesbian. We see this persona undergo happy and horrible relationships; we see her being single alone and being single with friends both straight friends and friends belonging to the LGBT community; and towards the end, we see her as a thirtysomething lesbian at the beginning of a more domesticated life with a partner as they try to begin a family, which includes having a child.

In between these experiences, there are, of course, the staple stories of discrimination directed towards lesbian women (particularly feminine-looking lesbians), and we see how this persona struggled with these discriminatory experiences, particularly being verbally taunted or sexually harassed because she is a feminine-looking lesbian, and even being raped because she is a lesbian, period. As I wanted to reflect real-life lesbian narratives in my fiction, I included a balance of happy stories and not-so-happy ones in order to fully characterize how this certain Filipina lesbian lives in this day and age. //


okay lang mag-comment, kahit nega. ako si miss workshop, kaya you can comment away :)