Archive for January, 2009

Showbiz WOOT Moment: Bebe Gandanghari

Showbiz WOOT Moment: Bebe Gandanghari

Let’s digress from all of this politics and brouhaha about blogging and talk about showbiz.  After all, I am a showbiz blogger.

(Is that lightning I see and thunder I hear?  Oh fishsticks.)

PEP.ph, which is a fine, fine source of objective information about the entertainment industry, has news that Rustom Padilla – who starred in such films as “Gagay: Prinsesa ng Brownout,” “Mistah: Mga Mandirigma,” “Marami Ka Pang Kakaining Bigas,” and “Yamashita: The Tiger’s Treasure,” former hubby of Carmina Villaroel – is now Binibining “Bibi” Gandanghari.

Woman, model, character, human being, actress, gay… but note: anything BUT Rustom Padilla.  Forget whatever idea you have of Rustom right now – yes, down to that “Wheel of Fortune” schtick – and say hello to Bebe Gandanghari.

Yes, Bebe Gandanghari.  Not Rustom Padilla.

For all intents and purposes of translation: “Lady Beautiful King.”  Sounds anime.

Here’s what the former (?) Rustom Padilla – now Bebe Gandanghari – had to say in that fine example of entertainment broadcast journalism, “Startalk:”

I’d really appreciate if you call me Bebe.  Rustom’s not here.  Bebe’s here, she’s alive and kicking!  Bebe’s a character that people are gonna watch and I’m gonna portray… so, Bebe’s here to stay.

“Bebe…” that’s pronounced “Bi-Bi.”

OK, we all know that Rustom Padilla is gay, is out of the closet, and is happy with where and who he is.  No question there.  The problem is that there’s a bit of confusion – at least to me – whether it is proper to treat Rustom – or Bebe – as a woman or as a man.  I know that Rustom – or Bebe – should be treated as a lovable and capable human being, but it makes things all the more confusing, at least for me.

I don’t know whether this qualifies for “facepalm” or “headscratch;” I have nothing against gay people, but I’m not sure whether Bebe Gandanghari is:

  • Gay.
  • An actual woman.
  • Actually Rustom.
  • A character played by Rustom.
  • Not Rustom, that Rustom is in fact “dead,” and that Bebe Gandanghari is a “transformation” of the former Rustom Padilla.
  • The aliens have invaded, dismembered and discombobulated the guy who starred opposite Alice Dixon in “The Jessica Alfaro Story,” sent him to some alien genetic engineering laboratory, and sent us the secret to universal peace: Bebe Gandanghari.

This is getting quite confusing, really.

January 18, 2009 15 comments Read More
The Hoopla Between Journalism and Blogging

The Hoopla Between Journalism and Blogging

Give a monkey a brain, and he’ll swear he is at the center of the universe.

- Fishbone

Here are some background materials you can read before you read my side of the story:

OK: the unfortunate thing here is that I come from both traditional media and new media.  While I do not hold the monopoly of knowledge about this topic… oh well, here goes nothing: I think that any distinction between “mainstream media” and “blogging” that puts one above the other – or more impactful or more insightful than the other – is complete bollocks.

I think that rather than emphasize the differences between traditional media and blogging – or at the very least force them to exist with bloody borders – we should focus on the relationship between them.  Whenever I write an opinion or commentary piece in The Marocharim Experiment or Filipino Voices, I rely on traditional media to get my facts straight.  That will involve reading a lot of newspapers.  To say that I can write commentary without using the coverage of a newspaper (whether in the virtual form or an actual paper) is not only arrogant, but it’s misguided.

January 17, 2009 2 comments Read More
Salt Shaker

Salt Shaker

With all the stuff that has been happening in the Filipino blogosphere, I’ve had some time to ruminate – in a cow-like fashion, and yes, I have four stomachs – about what this all means.  Implications, perhaps.  Explications, maybe.  Or that maybe I could f**k things up while my mind is not under the influence of alcohol.

At the risk of sounding that I’m actually under the influence of alcohol..

My clarion call is nothing so complicated or nationalistic: blogging is fun, and should stay that way.  I’m not saying that we should forget issues and just blog about how our days went, but when you take the fun out of blogging, it becomes such a chore.  Then again, defending “fun” just won’t cut it for the birth pangs experienced by the Philippine blogosphere, which to some degree, threatens what amount of cred we all hold as bloggers.

Where I stand is so painfully obvious, so painfully tragic, so painfully moronic that I may end up insulting a collective intelligence because of it.

January 16, 2009 1 comment Read More
Peace on Earth, and Goodwill Through Lyrics Translations

Peace on Earth, and Goodwill Through Lyrics Translations

OK, lots of things wrong with the blogosphere today that I think I’ll discuss them when everything simmers down.  Or to be more precise, until I simmer down.  See, all this excitement and fury and passion (and the possibility of a challenge… more on that soon) is starting to cloud my good judgment.  And when that happens…

I TRANSLATE LYRICS. You see, I was angry this morning, got pissed this afternoon, and then now I’m happy.  Oh man, I should lay off the V-Cut and Coke breakfasts.  Methinks it’s the MSG.  I.e.: lakas ng trip ko ngayon.

Anyway, in the name of peace in the Filipino blogosphere – because blogging is supposed to be fun – I have translated a dozen annoying songs into more annoying versions of them.  And if you thought the previous lyrics translations were annoying enough as they were…

Yes, folks, Taglish lyrics translations.  Nothing new, but I’m laughing my arse off.

Enjoy, Marochaholics.  All these – and this entry even, hopefully sooner or later – shall pass.

January 15, 2009 2 comments Read More
Cred

Cred

No complex entries, no long sentences, no deep thoughts.

It’s not because I wear black shirts, it’s not because I listen to heavy metal.  Cred is more than that.  Cred is all I have.  Cred is not just about music; it’s not just about writing.  Cred is about living. Cred is about living that life without stepping on anybody.  Cred is about facing the music.  Cred is about tuning up the band to play the beat you believe in.  Cred is to give the same passion, the same fury, the same energy, whether you play in a small town bar or a big stadium.  Cred is the best resistance against a world that saps you of it.

One more thing about cred: you earn it.  You live it.  You become it.  You don’t listen to a track of hardcore or metal and call yourself a follower of the epistles and gospels of rock and roll.  You don’t carry a guitar and call yourself a rock god.  The fight should be in you.  The war within should move you.  When the walls break, you stick around.  When the fans leave, you stick around.  When the smoke clears, when the pyro burns itself out, when the lights dim and you play to nothing more than concrete floors and plastic chairs, you stay.  You rock.

Honor. Either you have it, or you don’t.

Integrity. Either you have it, or you don’t.

Cred. Life.  Rock, and roll.  Enough said.

January 15, 2009 2 comments Read More
Final Cut: The Pangandaman-Dela Paz Feud

Final Cut: The Pangandaman-Dela Paz Feud

I very rarely – if I ever – write a “final cut;” I refuse to be the guy who has a final word on anything.  Granted that a lot of bloggers already had something to say about the Valley Golf incident between Delfin dela Paz, DAR Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, and Masiu Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr.; yet my passing thoughts here are not meant to be the be-all-end-all of this feud.  That’s the job of the courts, considering that the case/s has/have already been filed.

Yes, it’s the proper forum.  Well, don’t that beat all.

Yet over the past few days that I didn’t write about the Valley Golf brawl, I did have some time to chew on the dozens of blogs – and versions of the incident – that have come up since December 26 of last year when the incident happened:

  • On the one hand, there’s a claim (the Bambee dela Paz version) that it was the Pangandamans who instigated the incident.
  • On the other hand, there’s a claim (the Pangandaman supporter/sympathizer version) that it was Delfin dela Paz who started the brawl.

Like I said before, it’s difficult to be a fence-sitter on this issue.  Again: the Pangandaman-dela Paz feud is an “expanded version” of everyday abuses many of us encounter from Government officials.  The question as of late is whether or not some members of the blogging community are judgmental, or have prejudged the incident, on the basis of Pangandaman being a Government official.

I won’t wash my hands of the issue: I did, in fact, became rather judgmental and critical of the Pangandaman side on the basis of two things:

  • Pangandaman and his bodyguards had no right to beat anyone up.
  • There is an injustice in the caprices of our Government officials; the fact that the brawl happened in a golf course is just one of the many levels of injustices that are to be explored in this incident.

OK, for that, sorry.

The new “problem,” so to speak, is whether or not the blogosphere was right to take on this issue as a sort of “advocacy.”  Now that the details are getting a bit clear, some bloggers and commenters may be right to claim that a lot of Pangandaman critics in the blogosphere are backpedaling on the issue a bit.

Maybe it was a bit pre-judgmental, maybe the verdict was a bit prejudiced, advanced and tried in the court of public opinion; in this case, the Philippine blogosphere.

Then again, was it?  Hmmm…

January 12, 2009 2 comments Read More