OK, I’m wearing a red shirt today, but I almost always wear some article of black clothing.  Many people have asked me why that’s so.  Believe me, it’s not a fashion statement.  Rather, it means something to me.  I’m not a big believer of semiotics, but I believe there’s something more to me wearing black.  I could write about it, but black is today’s Video of the Week.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Johnny Cash:

MAN IN BLACK
Johnny Cash

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there’s a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he’s a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you’d think He’s talking straight to you and me.

Well, we’re doin’ mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin’ cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought to be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin’ for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believing that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believing that we all were on their side.

Well, there’s things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin’ everywhere you go,
But ’til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You’ll never see me wear a suit of white.

I’d love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything’s OK,
But I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
‘Till things are brighter, I’m the Man In Black.

I’ll spare you the obligatory shafting and penile metaphors tonight.

I finished my articles (more than my weekly quota, I might add) early this week, so for the better part of two days, I had a lot of time to do some random petiks, in between articles I do in advance (I am a good writer… I am a good writer… this mantra has to keep going).  Idleness, however, is the root of banal thoughts.  Digressions, if you will, from the inherent good of the soul.

In short, lyrics translations.

Surprisingly, one of the top searches that my surveillance scripts - I mean, the tools I use to get to know more of my dear readers - includes lyrics translations to songs of whatever.  I do these lyrics translations for fun, but I never realized how much of a contribution I make to original Pilipino music.

I was chatting with my friend Nash (a terrific singer, BTW), who is quite passionate about songs and OPM.  I made this passing comment that we should translate our local songs for the benefit of those who don’t speak our language, just so that they understand the message of our music.  Needless to say Nash, who is more of a cultural Marxist than I am, agreed with my artistic “gospel.”  Besides, if you get some heartwarming comments from the Aegis fans in Chicago, then you must be up to something good.

Anyway, I’m ranting.  I’m just trying to justify idle days where I do nothing because I write fast.  Here are some lyrics translations (transliterations… whatever) from the very best of OPM.

Naniniwala ang inyong lingkod na ang pagsasalin ng awiting PIlipino ay isang paraan ng pagpapalaganap ng kulturang Pilipino… yeah, I’m justifying idle time.  A dozen lyrics translations, baby!

I placed a break tag, so that those of you who don’t want to sing along can move on to the penis entries.

Continue Reading »

   So I’m back here at Manila, with a brand spankin’ new haircut and some gall.  A lot of gall: these are times where I have to put my head on the proverbial chopping block, and take what’s coming to me.  Because that’s just the kind of guy I am… whatever.

   I’d like to play to my King Leonidas-level testosterone and say, “This is MANILA!” while people around me go “A-whoo, a-whoo!”  I’m still pretty much a stranger in a strange land, but I’m far from being a complete stranger.  At the very least, I know a thing or two about the Metropolis these days.  At least two things:

• Bus routes heading into Ortigas Center, and;
• Bus routes heading out of Ortigas Center.

   But then again, I’ll play to my strengths today.  Whatever should happen will happen, but I’m coming at it with all I’ve got.

   Wish me luck.

   I was reading danah’s blog awhile ago, and her latest entry posed a very intriguing question: can social networking sites (SNS) be used as educational tools, in and out of the classroom?  This is the premise in the latest debate of The Economist.  And I agree with danah’s disagreements on the responses of Ewan McIntosh and Michael Bugeja: they’re answering the wrong questions.

   I figured that since I know a thing or two about SNSs and social technologies, although I’m no expert on this matter, I may be able to take a shot at this question.

*     *     * 

   It is important to frame the SNS as an educational tool.  Something like Friendster, for example, does not automatically translate as an educational tool just because you have access to your instructor’s account.  For education and learning to take place in an SNS, people have to use it as a learning mechanism.  However, SNSs have yet to effectively structure themselves to function as “mini-classrooms.”  At best, we could expect exam announcements posted in bulletin boards, or if classes made an exclusive Friendster group in order to facilitate homework.  Not exactly a “mini-classroom,” if you asked me.

   I have to agree with danah: SNS users don’t engage in “networking” per se.  But here is where danah and me depart: based on my own research, an SNS is more of a venue for self-articulation (at least here in the Philippines) than to reinforce actual relationships.  While it is true that users learn a bit of HTML in the process, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a substitute for course-work on basic computer programming.  While it is true that you can get to know more about yourself based on the comments you receive, it doesn’t automatically follow that you’re learning psychology or philosophy in the process.

   In my thesis, I wrote about how Internet technologies - particularly SNSs - are “wellsprings” of research.  This, I think, is where the SNS as an “educational tool” is most properly framed: using the SNS as a sort of “social laboratory” to test existing theories and to formulate new postulates on online social behavior.  As a tool for learning, however, the present structures and features of SNSs do not facilitate that or make it all that practical.  It is important to note that as much as an SNS is a social technology, it is also a personal technology: as much as it serves social expediencies, it also serves personal expediencies like self-reinforcement and boosting one’s own sense of self-worth.

   Research is where SNSs are most properly situated as educational tools: learning from an SNS at this point is geared more towards researchers than towards users themselves.  To refer to my (rather pointless) title, the point is not to learn from Dora the Explorer: the point is to learn why Dora the Explorer is part of my “Friend” list (which she’s not, which also begs the question).