Time to bring out the bayong

If China can ban plastic bags, why can't other countries like the Philippines? The only thing needed really is political will.

There's hope I guess.

* * * * * *

China bans free plastic bags

(CNN) -- China is banning free plastic bags common at shops and supermarkets and ordering customers to be charged for any they use, the government said Wednesday.

The rules, which take effect June 1, come as the country tries to tackle a significant source of litter, a statement on the government's Web site said.

The bags also are banned from all public transportation, including buses, trains and planes and from airports and scenic locations, the government said.

Companies caught breaking the new rules face fines and possible forfeiture of goods, the government said.

Shops have been instructed to mark the price of the plastic bags clearly and not fold them into the cost of other items.

Environmental organizations, including Greenpeace, praised China's move, and Christopher Flavin, president of Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organization in Washington, said "China is ahead of the U.S. with this policy," AP reported.

The Chinese use up to 3 billion plastic shopping bags a day.

Often, the flimsy bags are used once and discarded, adding to waste in a country grappling with air and water pollution as a result of rapid economic transformation, officials said.

"Our country consumes a large amount of plastic bags. While convenient for consumers, the bags also lead to a severe waste of resources and environmental pollution because of their excessive use and low rate of recycling," the statement at the Web site Gov.cn said. "The ultra-thin bags are the main source of 'white' pollution as they can easily get broken and end up as litter."

The government statement added, "We should encourage people to return to carrying cloth bags, using baskets for their vegetables."

More durable plastic bags still will be allowed for sale by markets and shops, The Associated Press reported.

When the ban goes into effect, China will join countries such as Uganda and South Africa, the statement said.

Bangladesh banned plastic bags four years ago when officials realized they blocked drains and led to flooding. Since then, customers have taken to using bags made of jute or cloth for shopping.

Last year, San Francisco, California, became the first U.S. city to outlaw plastic checkout bags at supermarkets.

I have a bad feeling about this...

That Britney Spears is going to end up dead if nobody intervenes, like, now. A few hours after being hospitalized because of a (mental?) breakdown, she was back driving in LA. Yup, truly essential bit of information right there.

That George W. Bush is going to cook up something huge in the few remaining weeks of his presidency, to secure a legacy (?) and probably to send a message that it is essential that Americans keep the Republicans in the White House come election time.

The world awaits with bated breath!

Dylan has a message

Benazir

1953-2007

These are a few of my favorite things

My personal favorites from 2007.



PEOPLE

1. The Sumilao farmers
2. The monks of Burma
3. You, you know who you are
4. Quentin Tarantino
5. Al Gore
6. Benazir Bhutto
7. Fr. Ed Panlilio
8. Amy Winehouse
9. Melinda Doolittle
10. KC Concepcion




DEAD PEOPLE

1. Luciano Pavarotti
2. Ingmar Bergman / Michelangelo Antonioni
3. Rene Villanueva


TOP ISSUES

1. Global warming
2. Suppression of freedom
3. Crooks not being brought to justice (or just being freed)


BROUHAHA

1. Trillanes' coup-lelat
2. Shitbomb in Glorietta
3. The Ruffa-Yilmaz marital violence issue - the media attention probably gave Kris Aquino sleepless nights; also, ensured Ruffa's continuous showbiz career


EVENTS

1. Namfrel Operation Quick Count 2007
2. Cinemalaya Film Festival 2007
3. Cinemanila International Film Festival 2007


YouTube TIME SUCKERS

1. Indian Thriller



2. Japanese prank shows



3. Prison Thriller



WEBSITES

1. Multiply
2. Google
3. CNN


BLOGS (aside from mine)

1. Jessica Zafra's Jessica Rules The Universe
2. vintage vinyl audio blogs, like this and this and this and this
3. Sari-Saring Sineng Pinoy


MOVIES (2007)

There are still a lot of movies I've got to see and a ton of DVDs yet to be played. I'll come out with a list in a couple of months but here are my top 5 so far.

1. Pisay (Auraeus Solito)



2. Grindhouse: Planet Terror and Death Proof (Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino)



3. Ratatouille (Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava)



4. Zodiac (David Fincher)



5. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)



MOVIES (Catalogue)

1. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman)
2. Volver (Pedro Almodovar)
3. Riles (Ditsi Carolino)
4. Fellini's Roma (Federico Fellini)
5. Pink Flamingos (John Waters)


TV SHOWS

1. Saturday Night Live (syndicated)
2. Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2 - hi hi hi (Go Gaby! Go Ruben!)
3. 30 Rock


SONGS (2007)

1. Amy Winehouse - REHAB



2. Rihanna feat. Jay-Z - UMBRELLA



3. Akon feat. Snoop Dogg - I WANNA LOVE YOU



SONGS (Catalogue)

1. Nais Ko - Basil Valdez
2. Una Kaya / Kahimanawari - Pinikpikan
3. S'werte S'werte Lang - Joel Navarro
4. Let's Do The Latin Hustle - Eddie Drennon & BBS Unlimited
5. Corazon de Melon - Rosemary Clooney & Perez Prado


BANDS

1. Pinikpikan
2. Lakbay Lahi / Unitiima
3. Kadangyan


FRONT PERSONS

1. Carol Bello, Pinikpikan
2. Bhava Mitra, Kadangyan
3. Wawi Navarroza, The Late Isabel


GIGS

1. The 3rd Backdoor Ventures Arts & Music Fest (SM Megatrade Hall, August 24-26)
2. Fete de la musique (Malate, June 23)
3. Pinikpikan in SaGuijo (September 1)


HYPES I DIDN'T GET INTO

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - I still haven't read a single Harry Potter book!
2. Crocs - the ugliest shoes in the world, ever
3. Emo - perennial


MALLS

1. SM Megamall pa rin talaga
2. TriNoMa
3. SM Mall of Asia - Do we really need a mall this big? Apparently, yes.


ALTERNATIVE SHOPPINGAN

1. Quiapo and Binondo - perennial
2. A couple of stores in (location withheld) - nye-he-he
3. The Sikh temple in UN Avenue - for Bollywood CDs and DVDs (and also Indian classical music)
4. mag:net Cafe / other rock joints / some booths during university fairs - Pinoy indie music CDs


PURCHASES

1. Extremely rare, near-mint Eraserheads 45rpm vinyl - for freaking 10 pesos!?!
2. Recycled bag from a booth at the UP Fair
3. The garlic buttered potatoes I shared with you, you know who you are
4. Vintage Califone 1010AV record player
5. Vinyl copy of Rosemary Clooney & Perez Prado's "A Touch of Tabasco"


COOL PINOY SHIRTS

1. The T-Shirt Project's Ang Bagong Barong series
2. Happy Days' artista shirts (Bella Flores, Ike Lozada, Rene Requiestas, etc.)
3. The T-Shirt Project's Malisya series


FOOD TRIP

1. Still my favorite Indian grocery stores (Assad, Uncle Ed's, etc.) in UN Avenue for samosas and gulab jamun; Kashmir (now at Rustan's Makati supermarket!) for samosas and dal
2. Asian Delights at Robinsons Galleria supermarket
3. 'Yung maliit na restoran sa palengke ng San Juan na nagbebenta ng sobrang mamantikang adobo. Oh my god.
4. Ubiquitous deep-fried calamares stands - worthy successor to kwek-kwek
5. Baliwag chicken combo meals


FANTASIES

1. Doing graduate studies in an Ivy League school
2. Seeing the peak of Mt. Everest outside plane window
3. Playing the djembe for a Pinoy band
4. Photo op with Quentin Tarantino
5. secret!


EXPERIENCES

1. Unearthing dusty gems at my favorite secret store (which will remain nameless for now)
2. Climax of any Pinikpikan show
3. Those rare times with you, you know who you are


WISHES FOR 2008

1. To finally be able to go back to school
2. More opportunities for travel
3. Hmmm...yes, 'yun.

Howwwwdy-ho!

Appreciation: Van McCoy's "The Hustle"

It's big revelation time. I listen to all kinds of music, most of them good (at least in my world), some are bad. I don't particularly care about genres; if it's good, then it's good, whether it's by Beethoven or The Clash or a one-hit wonder from the 80s. However, my favorite piece of music of all-time will probably not make it to anyone's Top 10 desert island records, or to many hipsters' MP3 player.

I'm talking about Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony's immortal "The Hustle." Yep. There, I said it. I could probably listen to this song a million times and not hate it. When people hear The Hustle, they immediately think of the dance steps, or Dance Fever, or polyester pants and shirts. Well, I think of all those things too, but there's something very melancholic about the song that I truly love and which has put a lump in my throat many times. I also love the symmetry of the composition, much like how I feel when I listen to the 9-minute version of Underworld's "Born Slippy." If you listen carefully to it, The Hustle is a very uplifting single. It has a discernible climax that, unlike that of VST & Company's "Rock Baby Rock," is actually repeated several times throughout the song.

The song also connects me to my childhood, the earliest years of which I spent living in Pasay in an apartment along EDSA near the old BLTB bus station. I used to hear this song on the radio back then. It's melody brings back the smell of fumes long before talks of the ozone and global warming, and dusty sheets and floors and sofas covered in orange upholstery.

When I listen to it, I could also imagine a tragi-comic Pinoy movie set in the late 70s peopled with corrupt cops, desperate lovers and sexy dancers in a cabaret, like characters from a Bernal movie. If ever I make my own movie, I'll use The Hustle in its entirety as the music for the big finale, the big shebang.

And the late Van McCoy is one of the unheralded geniuses of pop music.

Putin is TIME's Person of The Year

Don't ask.

Asian idols

Anyone among the Idols from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia could have easily won in last weekend's first Asian Idol competition held in Jakarta, had the contest been judged based on merit. But since this is Idol, the winner was determined by text votes. Singapore Idol Hady Mirza shockingly won the title.

Everybody expected Indonesian Idol Mike Mohede to win. I thought so too. I was an observer in Indonesia for the Carter Center when the first Indonesian Idol happened, and the show was beyond popular; it was a force of nature. Everybody from Papua to Kalimantan was aware of it and watched it religiously, time differences and choppy satellite feeds be damned. And Mohede was a good singer and performer. In the show, he sang Mengejar Matahari (one of my favorite Indonesian pop songs) and I Believe I Can Fly, which I'm sure prompted 200 million Indonesians to reach for their ponsel. No less than President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono even watched the show live (he even sang karaoke to welcome the Idols to the palace, yikes.)

I really liked Malaysian Idol Jaclyn Victor. She looks very classy, like Motown-era Diana Ross, but with a better voice. She's supposedly a huge star now in Malaysia, and I can see why. But maybe she should stop joining international singing competitions, because a few months back she was beaten by Vina Morales at the Ikon Asean (Kjwan won for the group category).

Which brings us to Mau Marcelo, the Philippine Idol. She has the strongest voice among the contestants, and in a perfect world would have easily won the title. One of the judges though was right when he said that Mau didn't give her all. Her performance of Ako Ang Nasawi, Ako Ang Nagwagi came off as very studied and modulated, although she made up for it with her second song, Reach.

(Sidebar: The Philippine Idol franchise has been transferred to GMA-7, most probably because ABC-5 was not able to turn it into a huge hit. I thought ABC-5 did a competent-enough job with the show, and I fear GMA-7 will tweak it and make it baduy. GMA reportedly will change the title to Pinoy Idol -- maybe because they admire April Boy Regino too much -- and worse, they reportedly will not acknowledge the first show and its contestants and will not recognize Mau Marcelo as the first Philippine Idol. How fucking dare you, GMA-7.)

Singapore Idol Hady Mirza played his cards right by singing a song in Bahasa Malayu. Voting rules stated that texters should vote for two contestants, not just one, otherwise the vote would have been invalid. I think Mirza won by sheer luck: both the Malaysians and the Indonesians probably picked him as their second choice. Ok, to be honest, I also picked him as my second choice, because I figured he will never win because he had the lousiest voice and because of the fact that there are probably less Singaporeans than those who voted for Trillanes in the last election. I was dead wrong.

Did I actually just write a longish blog entry on Idol? Apparently this is a matter of great import. Here, enjoy my favorite performances:


Jaclyn Victor (Malaysian Idol) - For Once In My Life




Mike Mohede (Indonesian Idol) - Mengejar Matahari




Mike Mohede (Indonesian Idol) - I Believe I Can Fly




Mau Marcelo (Philippine Idol) - Ako Ang Nasawi, Ako Ang Nagwagi and Reach




Abhijeet Sawant (Indian Idol) - Junoon

Appreciation: A-Ha's "Take On Me" video

Many kids had Cinderella. Some had Hansel and Gretel. Others had The Ugly Duckling, Snow White, or Peter Pan. My parents never read fairy tales to me as a kid, but TV gave me something more potent: a music video.

A woman one day was having coffee at a diner. She was leafing through a comic book, about a biker who has just won a race. Suddenly, the biker winked at her, and reached out to her out of the page. She took his hand and was sucked into his world of white spaces and black lines. He showed her around. They fell in love. Then out of nowhere, the rival gang whom the guy just beat appeared to exact their revenge. Armed with monkey wrenches, they chased the couple until they came to a dead end. To save the girl, the guy made an opening through a blank wall and forced the girl to go in. The girl appeared at the diner's kitchen, beside a waste basket where the waitress had thrown the comic book after crumpling it out of anger because she thought the girl left without paying. The girl stood up, picked up the comic book and dashed for the door. Upon reaching home, she immediately leafed through the comic book to see what happened next. A monkey wrench went down. The guy was dead. The girl wept, and she looked up. The biker came back to life and struggled to get out of the comic book panels. The guy appeared in her room, looking exhausted after his ordeal. She was shocked. Their eyes locked. They went back to his world, and finally they kissed.

For many people this was silly, but for a 9-year old, it was something he hasn't seen before, an engaging wordless story soundtracked by a soaring anthem that has since etched itself in many people's mental time capsules. Along with Sesame Street and The Neverending Story (among a few others), watching A-Ha's groundbreaking "Take On Me" video over and over again was one of the defining moments of my childhood. It was fantasy. It was comics. It was pop music.

It was heaven.