TopThinkers

Via MLQ3. The Top 100 Public Intellectuals.

The site asks us to vote for 5 but I'm having trouble limiting my choices.

Of course, Umberto Eco has to be there. Semiotics is my first exposure to real intellectual-type stuff and his novels are amazing.

Malcolm Gladwell and Jared Diamond, are important too. Their books have influenced a lot of people (who hasn't read "The Tipping Point?") although if I have to choose, Diamond has the edge. Gladwell wins out in the cool department, though, for singing with Stephen Colbert (who was my write-in vote)

Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are up there; the public faces of atheism. Dawkins's "The Selfish Gene" and "The Blind Watchmaker" are must-reads.

Thomas Friedman's "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" helped shape my thinking, so he should be on my list, while Mohammad Yunus (who will be speaking here next year, daw) and Amaryta Sen are there to balance my thoughts on global economics.

Lawrence Lessig of Creative Commons is addressing an issue important to me, while Rem Koolhas is the only one up there talking about design.

Meanwhile, Al Gore needs to be off the list. He is a politician and a popularizer of a cause but it isn't his ideas being discussed. Being a public intellectual means having thoughts that are original enough to influence lesser people's thoughts. If agreeing with experts and promoting their ideas is public intellectualism, half the people with blogs can qualify.

Asshole

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Chain letters

I think the reason for the proliferation of chain emails is the relative ease with which they can be forwarded. It takes literally seconds to type addresses, click "send," and stave off several years' bad luck. It's superstition combined with laziness and a lack of consideration for others that fills our inboxes.

Compare that to 15 or more years ago when chain letter envelopes were left on church pews for the gullible reader to find. Forwarding them was a chore, requiring photocopying (I can only imagine re-typing with carbon paper), envelope stuffing, and finding a church pew or pigeon box to leave them in.

Old school chain mail required a little bit more work, time, and money to follow, which is why it didn't proliferate as much. It was not so much rationality at work as it is laziness and the lack of willingness to spend.

Nowadays it's only too easy to be an idiot.

Stuff to download

Been listening to these artists for the past few weeks. Since their music isn't available locally, I guess we can use other means of acquisition. ;D

Eisley -- Combinations
Named after the Mos Eisley Cantina from "Star Wars," this Texan brood plays music that sounds vaguely oriental while dressed as preppy college kids. Sounds like the bastard children of Keane and Enya.

Joanna Newsom -- Milk-eyed Mender
Imagine a folk singer who plays the harp instead of guitar. Oh, and she sounds like a muppet (or Yeardley Smith, not that there's much difference).

Vampire Weekend -- Vampire Weekend
The best thing since Arcade Fire. Youtube their SNL performance of M79 to get a taste of their awesomeness.

Bad Writing III

An exclamation point is used to show an exclamation, something you blurt out like "Stop!" It is not a substitute for boldface or an underline. Do not use an exclamation point (or three) because you want to call attention to a sentence you wrote.

Copywriters take note.

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Please do not begin your essays with "The dictionary defines ____ as..." unless you're in fourth grade. I swear I've seen opinion columns using one of the laziest intros ever.


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Please stop using titles that begin with "of," like "Of Dandelions and Daffodils." That is so Victorian.

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I've already broken several chain letters and my life is still fine. If it works for me, it'll work for you. Unless you think I'm better than you, in which case I probably am.

Adaptation

The pics for the live-action GI Joe film are circulating online, giving rise to comparisons to “X-Men.” The suits look a lot like the "future soldier" armor you see in Popular Science and are missing the crazy colors of the toys and cartoon. Which makes perfect sense. What kind of elite military unit dresses like a costume party? And while the cartoon rationalization is that they're “specialists” pulled out from their regular units, it still begs several questions: like what unit dresses up in orange bathing suits and fishnets and was Shipwreck was pulled out from a 1940s merchant fleet?

Of course the internet is (or will be) aflame with nerdy indignation. One side will be aghast at the changes (the helicopter pilot should wear a cowboy hat, dammit), insisting even on parachutes opening whenever a jet gets shot down, while the other will welcome changes, countering with “X-men” and “Batman Begins,” which made the costumes more “realistic” while staying true to the basic concept of the material.

But the goal of live action adaptations of 80s cartoons is to cash in on nostalgia so either way is valid as long as it isn't done half-heartedly. A full-on cartoon assault would work if you treat it exactly like a cartoon like what they seem to have done with “Speed Racer.” It'll target the kiddie audience with people my age bringing their kids to see it.

A realistic version on the other hand would work if it did feel realistic, answering the question “what if this were true?” and trying to proceed as logically as possible from that, like Nolan's “Batman Begins,” banking on nostalgia but taking into account the sensibilities of an audience that has since grown up.

The key is in choosing which adaptation to do with which material. “Speed Racer”is perfect because there is no way you can rationalize an amalgam of NASCAR/ F1 (the game), demolition derbies (the destruction), football (the rabid fanbase), and professional wrestling (the characters). So faithful (and psychedelic) it is.

Batman, on the other hand, has always been a “realistic” hero, hence a film grounded on real-world physics hits better with audiences. I'm not so sure about “GI Joe” though. It's too weird and kiddie for a faithful adaptation but a realistic one might become a “Delta Force” with a bigger budget.

Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

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But what looks bad is Frank Miller's adaptation (solo directorial debut?) of Will Eisner's "The Spirit." It seems he's missing the point of the series, hoping instead to turn it into a "Sin City" sequel. The trailers look great but the dialog is straight out of Miller's hyper hardboiled, misogynistic style.

Which is a shame.

Earth Day...

...is really people day. The earth will survive anything (it's a hunk of rock), people are the ones we're trying to protect when we try to "save the environment.

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In a WSJ Op Ed Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore explains why he left the organization

Sadly, Greenpeace has evolved into an organization of extremism and politically motivated agendas.

Not that I think there's anything wrong with having political agendas. Any activist organization, by definition, is political. Just putting this out there, I don't have an opinion on Greenpeace as yet. I need to read up on them some more.

Well this explains a lot...

Richard Quest arrested for drugs

You watch Quest and you can't help thinking there's something not quite right about this guy. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually did segments while amped up on meth, because some of them really look that way.

Found on the Internets

A portrait of GWBush composed of, appropriately enough, pictures of asses.


And speaking of asses, here's Rachel Nichols's fine one in costume as Scarlett from the upcoming GI Joe movie.

Bayanihan

Remember the incident last year involving "Desperate Housewives" and "The Daily Show?" I wrote a letter to circulate which I never got around to sending. Here it is for posterity. (And also because I've nothing new to post)

* * * * *

To Marc Cherry, Jon Stewart, and any other writers and comedians my countrymen may choose to set their sights on in the future:

I would like to apologize for the actions of Filipinos all over the world regarding some jokes you made on your respective shows. Rest assured not all Filipinos are thin-skinned crybabies who make a fuss over throwaway lines and fail to understand satire.

To the staff of “Desperate Housewives.” Some of us understand that writing a weekly show is difficult and that you may not have time to be sensitive to everything. Yes, “Philippines” is a placeholder term for any far-flung country that Susan thinks is backward. It’s just unfortunate that you chose a country that sends a lot of its doctors and nurses to yours. A greater number of us did not ask for your apology but we accept it in the spirit it was offered and we thank you.

To the staff of “The Daily Show.” Those of us who watch understand that what you do is satire and that Samantha Bee was actually complimenting Cory Aquino in that segment. The smarter writers and bloggers have already pointed that out, but you of all people know how stupid people can get and how mainstream media magnifies this further. If you think your news channels are biased, silly, and sensationalist, you should watch “TV Patrol.”

Please understand that we Filipinos have this tradition called bayanihan, which used to mean the entire village helping move a nipa hut to another location. It has since come to mean the community pitching in times of trouble.

The problem with bayanihan is that the focus of the act is the lifting of the house, not the ultimate destination. We’re happy lending our hands (or in this case, signatures) to whatever cause some other countryman deems appropriate and consider it a good thing. Not everyone who lifts those houses care about the occupants personally – they may not even care where they’re moving to – they’re happy as long as they pitch in to help.

You see, the majority of the signatories in those online petitions do not even watch your shows. They did not even click on the YouTube links to judge for themselves, they just sign it out of a sense of bayanihan. The fact that the petition is still circulating even after the apology has been issued says a lot about these forwarders’ critical faculties.

We just go with the flow, carrying the house on our backs.

We may speak English well and are steeped in your culture but not everyone can appreciate the kind of comedy you do. We call our senators and congressmen “honorable” with a straight face. Our current president, who is accused of rigging elections, talks about good governance and honesty while the man she deposed for (and has been convicted of) plunder calls her out all the time for being corrupt.

Both of them do this with straight faces for we, as a people, are irony-impaired.

Well, not all of us. The people who actually watch and enjoy your shows on cable are the ones who aren’t demanding apologies and will continue to remain your fans.

Easy lang...

... sa pagsipsip.

Seriously. She needs emergency powers like we need a hole in the head. Wait... scratch that. Giving her emergency powers is like shooting ourselves in the head.

U2 3D

The last time I watched something in 3D was over 20 years ago when GMA 7 showed the 3D version of "King Kong" (the Jeff Bridges one, probably). In the weeks leading to that they ran ads teaching viewers how to make 3D glasses using cardboard and red and blue cellophane. So we made a couple, stayed up for the show, and fell asleep midway. It was late and I got a headache from watching 3D on a small screen.

Fast forward to yesterday at the SM Digital Cinema. The 3D glasses weren't colored but polarized (according to the fine print) and the screen was huge. We were seated near the screen (mas maganda sa malapit, said the girl at the box office) and we waited for the rest of the crowd to trickle in (about 30 people, total, in a theater with 10x capacity) while they were playing Ronan Keating and Stephen Gately songs pre-show (Bakit? Dahil Irish din sila?). There was only one trailer -- the Miley Cyrus 3D concert -- and I can't help noticing she looks even uglier in 3D.

And the movie starts.

* * * * *

Kicking off with "Vertigo" the band is in top form. As well they should -- the film was a composite of their entire Latin American tour. 3D is difficult to shoot so they had different camera set ups per leg. They caught the Argentinian leg live, with footage from other shows used to show alternate angles, and a shoot on an empty stage for the close ups.

"Beautiful Day" follows, with the lyrics altered to fit South American geography, while "New Year's Day" has The Edge playing keyboards and Bono introducing "the genius of Adam Clayton*" on bass solo. The pace slows down with "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" but picks up again when Mullen walks to a B-stage with a floor tom and crash for "Love and Peace or Else," while singing backup ("release, release, release, release").

The political songs continue with "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (although nothing compares to the Red Rocks version with the white flag) and "Bullet the Blue Sky," where Bono mixes in "Johnny Was" with an admonition for Johnny to "come home" (the tour was shot during the height of W's Iraq War). No mid-song poem but the image of a fighter plane is shown on the screen behind.

[It must be noted that The Edge changes guitar almost every song (he reportedly owns over 200 and brings around 40 on tour). And any gearhead would salivate at his custom-made rack.]

The Edge moves back to the keyboard for "Miss Sarajevo" with Bono singing the Pavarotti part adequately. The sequence ends with a reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on screen followed by "Pride"

Then a familiar chord on an organ follows, broken by The Edge's signature riff. It's "Where the Streets Have No Name" followed by "One." The band then takes their bows, steps off the stage, only to come back for an encore consisting of a funkier version of "The Fly" and "With or Without You."

* * * * *

U2 is still the "greatest band in the world" if only for the fact that after 30 years they're still not a nostalgia act. You don't go to a U2 concert shouting (Homer Simpson style) "no new stuff." Their set list has enough to keep any fan of any era happy.

But more than that they make you proud. True citizens of the world, there's something about their sound and the overall tone of their shows that transcends nationality. They could come to Manila (cross your fingers), say something about dead journalists during "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and have us all shouting "No more!" Then show that Aung San Suu Kyii footage at the end of "Walk On" and pick a girl from the audience to sing "With or Without You" to.

A concert is more than just a band singing their songs live; it's supposed to be a performance and (since David Bowie) a spectacle. U2 delivers, at least on a huge screen in 3D.

==========
*Which had me rolling my eyes. In U2 Bono is the band leader, Edge is the musician, Larry Mullen is the founder and the cute one, while Adam Clayton is the lucky one. His genius is in letting the others shine.

Values in Ads

I love commenting on newspaper letter-writers, they almost always miss the point.

This one comments on commercials and their lack of "values," calling them "slips." Which is stupid to say the least. A TV commercial is there to sell the product, it exists to keep the brand name in our minds. The KFC ad is there to make sure that the next time we're hungry we'd consider going to KFC. It is not there to promote any values except eating at KFC.

The goal is to present a memorable scene, in this case done in the form of a joke. There is irony, absurdity, and comedy involved. It's not high art but still a fine piece of writing for its intended purpose. To slam it for not having "values" just misses the point.

To be fair, his comment on the PSBank ad is right. If something is "guaranteed," then it can't be subject to change. Bad writing on the bank's part.

Bad Writing II

When you say someone is a "certified nutcase," you better have the actual certificate ready. Certified means attested to by an authority, as in the case of Miriam Santiago, who has had nervous breakdowns. Raul Gonzales, sadly, isn't certified, but is just plain loopy (or stupid).

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A "theory" is not a step below "fact." Strictly speaking, a theory is "a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena." They are not levels of a hierarchy, but two different things.

* * * * *

Stating that something is "your opinion" doesn't prevent it from being stupid.

* * * * *

Bald assertion is not equal to refutation. Just because you state something emphatically doesn't mean it's factual or correct.

Bad Writing I

At a french fry place: "Try our 15 DIPferent and countless flavors."

Paano naging countless eh 15 nga? Bobo.

* * * * *

"[In] layman's terms" means non-specialized language. It means taking out the jargon and making it easier to understand. Translating it to Tagalog does not make it "layman's term."

* * * * *

When you place "pun not intended" in parentheses, it calls more attention to the pun. Which leads us to believe it was intended in the first place. Unless your point is to call attention to it by pretending not to.

Which is just tacky.

* * * * *

When you say "it's a fact that..." make sure it really is a fact. Opinions and conjecture are not facts, no matter what you say.

Smoking while praying

Archbishop Angel Lagdameo says this about the proposed PAGCOR entertainment complex:

“The Pagcor and the rich should directly channel the money to the needy instead of giving it through gambling if they really want to help,” Lagdameo said, adding, “If they want, they can just give the money to enable the poor to buy rice which is expensive now.”

He's missing the obvious: the rich don't really want to help, which is why we need PAGCOR. Of course it would be great if the rich really did feel they owed society something and tried to give back but, sadly, that isn't the case for the most part.

And those who do want to help don't need a government agency to tell them how. Ayala and Gokongwei and a host of other rich guys have already set up their own foundations for their charitable contributions. PAGCOR casinos are there for the noveau riche and other assholes who like flaunting their wealth.

An old joke goes:
A man wanted to smoke in church so he asked a priest if he could smoke while praying. The priest said no. Undeterred, the man went to another priest. This time he asked if he could pray while smoking. The second priest gave him his blessing.

They're not gambling while donating, they're donating while gambling.

Well there goes...

... half of local sitcoms' arsenal.

House panel OKs bill criminalizing mimicry.

A bill that seeks to criminalize mimicking or imitating a person's way of speaking particularly his peculiar accent or diction in an insulting and degrading manner has been approved by a committee at the House of Representatives.

To be fair, the rest of the bill makes sense, criminalizing religious discrimination in hiring practices among other things. It's just this "mimicry" thing that makes it all loopy. Does this mean we can't have another Alyssa Alano ("Keys Me") because we can't laugh at her stupid accent anymore? Or that we all need to keep a straight face when Sergio Apostol says "Madam Wetness" on air again?