Archive for November 9th, 2008

Reflections on Four Years of The Marocharim Experiment

Reflections on Four Years of The Marocharim Experiment

I know that blog anniversaries are a dime-a-dozen, and that maybe talking about your blog’s anniversary tends to be on the blowhard side of the equation.  Yes, for all intents and purposes, no one cares if you’re celebrating (or “celebrating”) your blog’s anniversary.

But if you’ve been around for four years or so, you’ll probably either indulge in self-promotion, or indulge in self-reflection.

November 9, 2008… it’s been four years, isn’t it?

I was with a group of Plurkers the other night at Eastwood enjoying some ice cream and fruit-flavored… “Julius,” when a girl in the group (I think her name’s Tiffany… I’m not good with names, bleh) asked me what I blog about.  If you’re a regular reader, you’ll understand that it’s kind of hard to explain, but after a long litany of stuff, I ended up saying “Hey, I also translate Backstreet Boys into Filipino.”

Tiffany gave me a look of disbelief and asked, “Why?”

What an excellent question!

November 9, 2008 4 comments Read More
Standing Room Only

Standing Room Only

Principles and advocacies are like train rides on crowded coaches.

Some opt not to ride the crowded train at all because it’s not comfortable, so they wait for the next train.  Some opt to pack themselves inside the train and wedge themselves into the train, just so that they can sit down and be comfortable with the ride, hovering like vultures to see if someone will give up a seat.

Then there are people who realize that there’s nothing to do but to stand inside that train.

There’s nothing to do but to stand inside that train no matter how much it moves, no matter how many people sit down, no matter where you’re going, or no matter how much money there is in your pocket.  For you to get somewhere, you have to stand for it.  No matter what, principles and advocacies are standing room only.

I reiterate: principles and advocacies are standing room only.

November 9, 2008 1 comment Read More
Bomba La Isadora: Translating “Iisa Pa Lamang” Quotes

Bomba La Isadora: Translating “Iisa Pa Lamang” Quotes

You kind of figure that four years of The Marocharim Experiment (yes, TMX was first written November 9, 2004) should be celebrated in the grand manner: like some thoughtful, inspirational post.

Like talking about responsibility, how much times have changed, like how important it is for us to stand up for what we believe in no matter what the cost, no matter what that is.  That we should stand up for what’s right because we write about it.  That we’re more important than what we know and what we believe, but we should keep our feet planted firmly on the ground, knowing that all of this is temporary.

There endeth your one-paragraph summary of what blogging means to me.  Anyway…

One of my favorite moments in “Iisa Pa Lamang” (shit, I’ll actually write about this) was when Isadora caught – yes, caught – the grenade aimed at Sophia by Marco the Psycho.  Like a lot of people, the reason why I so heart IPL are one-liners; where else would you have dialogue like that?

There’s this hypothesis that translation is an epic fail because when you come to think of it, Filipino is more dramatic than English.  In the tradition of TMX, let’s put that hypothesis to the test.

I’ve taken the liberty of translating IPL lines not for the sake of science, but just because after four years of hypothesizing, testing, and concluding… I just want to annoy you.

November 9, 2008 3 comments Read More