Archive for January, 2010

Confessions in Exhaustion

Confessions in Exhaustion

“That’s all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more.”  – Popeye the Sailor

I’m drinking deep of the well of inspiration and I find myself parched; these are the moments that I don’t feel like writing, and I can’t write anything of value.  True, I have a share in things that may compel you to buy stuff, but there’s nothing like being bone-tired and bored, and realizing that you’re a bit rusty, tired, and you may need to take up other hobbies.

Like brushing up on photography, or playing computer games.  No, things have to be written.  I think I’ve developed an unhealthy fixation for writing stuff that I need to lay off the blogging and the note-taking and the demands of being creative before I go insane.  I can’t help it, though.  I think I have the rest of my life cut out for me.  That’s a good thing, but it’s becoming a bit frustrating.  You know what I mean?

“Why are you not writing about politics anymore, dude?” a friend of mine asked.  To be honest, I don’t know why: I can probably give you a dozen reasons, and it all boils down to exhaustion.  Losing faith; the institutions and systems and personalities who are supposed to run this country have failed us in so many different instances that you don’t know where to start, where to begin, and every proposal out there triggers the inner cynic in you to ask, “What’s the point?”

January 31, 2010 6 comments Read More
Vetallano Acosta

Vetallano Acosta

Vetallano Acosta.
(cue Spanish guitar strum)
Aged in oak barrels, for the finest in Spanish brandy.
(cue flamenco dancers)
Smooth, sophisticated, every sip comes alive.
(archetypal instrumental with guitars, castanets and clapping)
Vetallano Acosta, VSOP: Very Special, Only Pilipino.

All we know of Vetallano Acosta is that he is a Presidential candidate for the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan.  He is backed up by Jay Sonza of “Mel & Jay” fame; fallen from journalistic grace, as it seems, for endorsing some brand of rubbing alcohol many years back, and tried his hand at running for the Senate.  The small legion of Senatoriables for the KBL include, among their ranks, the one and only Imelda Papin.  Yet we know zero of a man who’s running for the Presidency.

Yet he is the man Noynoy Aquino wants disqualified; for reasons other than what Sixto Brillante and Juanito Arcilla have, I could only speculate on the power of sheer surprise.  Could he be more badass than Nick Perlas?  Does he have the power of a thousand Megatron clones that he can destroy Dick Gordon?  Does he have a fuller head of hair than JC Delos Reyes?  Is he the one kontrabida that Erap Estrada can’t beat in a bare-knuckle fight?  Is he more blessed than Eddie Villanueva?  Can he change the world faster and better than Jamby Madrigal?  Does he know of more possibilities than Gibo Teodoro?

Pardon the code-switch: baka siya na nga, at hindi si Villar, ang nakaligo sa dagat ng basura, at nakapag-Pasko pa sa gitna ng kalsada. We know next to nothing about the guy.

January 31, 2010 1 comment Read More
Housekeeping

Housekeeping

Yes, my friends: I, Marocharim, am asking for your permission, dear reader, to write in The Marocharim Experiment.

It sounds ridiculous because it is: I pay for the dues of this blog, I maintain it, and I write for it.  Still, because free speech is stifled so much in the Internet these days, I am asking for your permission – which you have implicitly given me – to write.  In my view, if this blog applies comment moderation, I might as well ask for your permission to publish this entry, and since I’m in control of this blog anyway, I might as well publish this as soon as I’m done instead of waiting for the webmaster (in this case, me) to approve this blog entry anyway.

My entry, as usual, will be full of immature and (mostly) scatological references for me to drive my point, but again, I am asking for your permission to write and to read.  In the interest of the fair and responsible practice of free speech, please click that “Read More” link if you want to hear me out.

(Chances are you probably won’t, because I’m not even that important anyway.)

January 30, 2010 1 comment Read More
49th Silliman University National Writers’ Workshop: Call for Submissions

49th Silliman University National Writers’ Workshop: Call for Submissions

I found this at the Silliman University website:

Call for Submission of Manuscripts to the
49th Silliman University National Writers Workshop

The Silliman University National Writers Workshop is now accepting applications for the 49th National Writers Workshop to be held May 3-21, 2010 in Dumaguete City.

This Writers Workshop is offering fifteen fellowships to promising young writers who would like a chance to hone their craft and refine their style. Fellows will be provided housing, a modest stipend, and a subsidy to partially defray costs of their transportation.

To be considered, applicants should submit manuscripts in English on or before March 19, 2010 (seven to ten poems; or three to five short stories; or three to five creative non-fiction essays). Manuscripts should be submitted in hard copy and on CD, preferably in MS Word, together with a resume, a recommendation letter from a literature professor or a writer of national standing, a notarized certification that the works are original, and two 2X2 ID pictures.

Send all applications or requests for information to Department of English and Literature, attention Dr. Evelyn F. Mascuñana, Chair, Silliman University, 6200 Dumaguete City.

Woot!

January 28, 2010 5 comments Read More
Face the Music

Face the Music

The presentation of evidence and the sharing of testimony in an investigation or trial are not mere exercises in establishing guilt or proving innocence, but the realization of justice.  There is no hiding from – and there is no escaping – justice.  The laws of the land, and the institutions that enforce and secure justice for all, exist without partiality to the accused and the accuser.  Without regard to power, without partiality to wealth: “justice for all.”

Manny Villar has made it painfully clear (in more ways than one) that he has no intention of facing his accusers in the Senate.  At the very root of this, Villar says, is politics: that ever since his survey numbers shot up, the C5 controversy is used against him to pull him down.  For all intents and purposes, Villar is not being asked to face the chamber to shoot himself in the foot, but to establish and administer the very notion of justice and the system that ensures it: to prosecute the guilty, to uphold the rights of the innocent, and to keep society in harmony.

By boycotting the Senate hearings, Sen. Villar obstructs a lofty goal that is within the reach of citizens if they strive for it enough: justice.  If anything, it is a most brazen, deliberate obstruction of justice, and an abandonment of the processes and institutions that make up a fair and just society.  More importantly, it is the denial of the truth.  It is injustice.

January 26, 2010 2 comments Read More
Karaoke Hits Translated 1

Karaoke Hits Translated 1

Let’s deal with a few karaoke staples, just because I feel like it.

January 25, 2010 1 comment Read More