Yeah, nothing has really changed in my site (I’m planning to change my theme, though, or something…), but after four hours working on name service redirections, database imports (yup, plural form), and photo uploads, I finally transferred my site to its own and exclusive lair. Dreamhost is the best hosting provider there is!

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First, the Angel controversy. Now, this! Like every show in Philippine TV has turned into soap serials! They’d really do everything for higher ratings.

According to a series of articles from PEP, Joey de Leon indirectly accused Willie Revillame of cheating in his game show, and the “misbehavior” of some of GMA 7’s talents transferring to ABS-CBN 2. The videos above are parts of a response to Joey’s accusations, and on another article, says that Willie is “shallow” (“mababaw”) and “knows nothing” (“walang alam”). These harsh exchanges between hosts would really hook viewers to their respective shows as if tuning in to their weekly showbiz-oriented talk shows.

I just wondered if this would be the scenario we would want to show the kids watching out there. If it’s really not a big deal to be tactless and destructive to other people at the same time.

I mean competition is really good right now, considering that both stations (GMA 7 and ABS-CBN 2) have tons of shows to offer. Everytime there’s a new soap, talk or game show, bars get higher and the audience is provided with better ideas of what’s good and what’s trash. But come on! Ruining other people’s lives is way off-course! Well, if these execs think of these mudslingings as necessary business tactics, then I’d rather watch reruns of “Pangarap Kong Jackpot!” (that’s an exaggeration, of course…) than seeing this in each and every show they put on air. Seriously, it just drives people like me away from watching local shows to higher-quality shows from US networks.

UPDATE

Talk about the Senate investigating on a “petty mistake”! I mean coming from UP, I’ve been exposed to more relevant and annoying issues that our country is facing, and this one is the least of our priorities! I won’t be scared and I won’t do any sort of censorship anymore.

I FUCKING HATE THIS CHEAPNESS! SENATORS! FUCKING GET OUT OF THIS HYPE! DON’T TRY TO GET POPULAR OUT OF THIS!

I mean hitting on Korina wasn’t enough! Is this the Senate we’re expecting to make laws for us? Investigate the most relevant issues to date? How pathetic can our government be if that’s the case!

I say let the Barangay Officials investigate this. THESE SENATORS ARE WASTING OUR TAXES JUST TO HAVE A TOP-RATING ROLE IN THIS BIG-ASS FARCE! If Willie did a big bad job in this, then drop the show! Besides, having higher ratings through dramatic speeches and balding badmouthing isn’t really good for those little children who’re watching this. Hell, those girls in cost-cut dresses (or hankies) shouldn’t be there in the first place!

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The most anticipated gadget of the year has finally arrived Philippine soil (for the nth time) through PiKitchen. Other people may say we’re crazy and impulsive, but the company (or Terence, that is) bought the phone to test one of our brewing projects (hush-hush for now). It’s so f***ing awesome! The display is so crisp (according to Steve Jobs, it has the most gorgeous and hires display ever) it even beats out any big display I’ve seen so far.

Though it promises a “touchy” feel of doing smart phone stuff, for a newbie like me and Terence, it’s still not that “touchy” when it comes to typing URLs, doing copy-paste of long site addresses, and the lack of support for Google Apps (the email address should have the host similar to the POP / SMTP server). Still, it makes us gasp and exclaim as the new member of PiKitchen gadgets shows off its cool, slick UI.

Here again is the proud owner of the new iPhone:

I had a video that I insisted on shooting just to document this first-time experience with the gadget, but I suddenly realized we might just get hammered by some random person who hates the iPhone, for some random reason. Not to mention we had sensitive company info in that video and I failed to edit it correctly. So, I’m not sorry.

I’m no fan of cellphones.

Really.

I mean anyway, this is not your ordinary cellphone. It’s THE iPhone!

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Finally! 1 vs. 100 is here to rule Saturday primetime nights!

…

And then, it occurred to me. Why a weekly gameshow? Can’t they have it every day, or at least three times a week, like the now-defunct “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”?

Anyway, I find the format really exciting and entertaining, but the Philippine version has missed a few things that the American version had. Here’s a clip of the show’s pilot episode:

Ai Ai de las Alas is the very first “The One” for our own franchise of the game, from Endemol. Edu Manzano hosts it, and according to an ABS-CBN site article, it airs after John ‘en Shirley.

What’s Missing?

First off, the logo / program ID is a bit 90’s-ish. Too much use of metal and sparkles! Unlike the American version which uses a lot of shadows and soft lights. This one is worse than the “Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal” ID! I hope ABS-CBN could change this into something like what they did in the “Rounin” opener.

Next is the set. Well, OK, the set could be the best in “Philippine Game Shows” history, but it’s pretty frustrating that they somehow failed with the backlighting for each contestant. They’re too bright! There was also this scene with TJ Trinidad giving off his answer for “Ask the Mob”, and a backlight slot was malfunctioning. Talk about the pilot episode having a malfunctioning set! Not to mention they failed to use those crane-held cameras that’re overused in ASAP ‘07 or Wowowee. Well, maybe because the mob platform itself isn’t worth the camera movement, considering it’s a bit crammed in and less jury-ish (the US version has this high platform that feels like the Coloseum).

Third is the hosting style. I always liked the way Edu hosted “The Weakest Link” and “Pilipinas, Game Ka Na Ba?”, but this time, he feels like struggling with how the show works. Seems like he didn’t do his homework of practicing for this new format. The host should be the most confident guy in front of the camera when it comes to the show’s format, and it’s frustrating to see Edu deliver his mechanics and mob intros in a very slow, Christopher de Leon-ish style.

Fourth is the mob-help. I was expecting for “Trust the Mob” to lock in “The One’s” answer. I dunno if it’s the host’s fault or the producer’s fault, but Edu somehow asked Ai Ai what would her final answer be. It’s also pretty weird that they translated the “Mob Helps” to plain Tagalog, like no English word in it. IMO, they have to be consistent considering that they have already used the term “Mob” in the show. I mean, who doesn’t understand “Trust”, “Ask”, and “Poll” here in the Philippines?

The Good

Even though I rant about technical stuff, I’m still happy to see Philippine TV evolve. I know this is the very first episode, and this should have its first-day faults. But it doesn’t mean I have to keep mum about it.

If they make this a daily game show, though expensive, it might be worth the millions for ABS-CBN, considering that “Deal or No Deal” has already dominated Philippine ratings pre-Marimar. Other than my rantings, I really think that the show is very promising.

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These recent birthdays just remind me that I’m not getting any younger.

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Being the rumor-monger that I am, I suddenly saw an article in PEP which described an incident that happened between Gretchen Malalad (the hot Karate chick from Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition) and PBA’s Mr. Excitement, Bong Alvarez. Bong Alvarez “allegedly” (PEP commenters and Showbiz Central says he is innocent…) hit gege, pulled her hair, and suddenly apologizes for what he’s done. Here’s the most concise video I could find in YouTube:

Innocent Eyes

I remember Bong Alvarez playing as a devil in a Darna movie (I guess the one with Anjanette Abayari in it), and it was actually exciting to see him hit a woman, let alone in real-life, on-cam! That just serves as another proof to support my theory about basketball heartthrobs yesterday. Well, PEP comment-ers and Showbiz Central says he is innocent, and the entire thing is edited, one-sided.

Well I don’t agree that he’s innocent (for hitting Gege, at least… forget the taxi driver. Taxi Drivers, nowadays, really hit bad on drunk people. I should know better!), but I agree that it’s a bit one-sided. I also feel that this media circus is very inappropriate, considering that a media woman tries to get popular through this. Reporters don’t usually give interviews about some random brawl they’ve been into.

Well, in fairness to ABS-CBN, Bong Alvarez never gave his side through the station, so there’s no way they could get balanced. In fairness to Bong, he wouldn’t consider making statements through ABS-CBN because he got a rift with one of their in-house reporters. After all of this, would you expect a balanced / unedited interview from Bong through ABS-CBN?

I don’t think so.

On the other hand, I still can feel the network wars shrieking in YouTube and PEP. GMA 7 claims they are balanced, for they have both sides of the story. I just… feel… bad. No media outfit’s ever balanced here in the Philippines except for one – PDI.

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Every weekend it’s been an unintended virtue for me to browse YouTube, and then suddenly, I found this:

And for a moment, I was laughing hard, and at the same time, tried to remember a similar scenario in a Filipino movie.

And since I have greater than 50% memory recall (which I hope is good, because it seems to be a liability when it comes to forgetting how a certain pair of “people persons” betrayed me), I remembered this very weird movie entitled “Double Dribble”, which topbills acting legend Maricel Soriano and Purefoods Basketball Team Manager, then 5-time PBA MVP, Alvin Patrimonio. As soon as I start telling you the story, you’d be scratching your head and asking, “Why the hell is this movie posted here in the first place?”

I’m Sitting on a Rocking Chair

The story is about two identical twin brothers separated by their parents’ separation. I can’t remember the character names, but the idea was to make the first twin a basketball icon (like Alvin Patrimonio in real-life back then), as he was staying with a disciplined mother, and the other living in a Manila slum area, working as your common blue-collar guy, with a kid under his roof (can’t remember if she, played by Aiza Seguerra, was his daughter). Basketball Twin is a heartthrob and, like your typical and real-life heartthrob, has the habit of breaking every girls’ hearts. One time, in a dream, a Lighted Being (I dunno if this is God, but he doesn’t feel like one, so for this post’s purposes, I’ll be using the safe HE and HIS) told him HE would punish Basketball Twin. Soon enough, the moment he wakes up, he becomes a she (which is played by Maricel Soriano). Freaked with how things turned out, he seeks his long lost brother to play decoy for him/her (I’m getting confused now) and teach Poor Twin good basketball. Poor Twin, for the entire duration of the movie, never had the idea that the girl walking in front of his doorsteps was actually his brother!

Things got topsy-turvy as the story went on and the movie’s climax ended in a championship game, where Poor Twin wins the cup, and Basketball Twin (who is now a lady), rejoices and hugs Poor Twin. Then the story ends with Basketball Twin praying to HIM for enlightenment, to know how she would deal with his/her identity crisis, if he/she would go on living as a woman, hopelessly in love with Poor Twin (yeah, I’m scratching my head too while I’m writing this). Then while confronting HIM, he/she suddenly realized he/she would want to keep his/her femininity, and also his/her secrets of being Poor Twin’s IDENTICAL TWIN BROTHER (You can do it! You can finish this post!). And for some magical reason, HE granted Basketball Twin lifetime womanhood and the blessing to be wed to her (Basketball Twin is officially a woman at this point) identical twin. The light goes out inside the church, and Poor Twin finds her, and they hugged, and kissed as if they’re sucking the phlegm out of their lungs.

And the Moral of the Story is…

None.

Well, I could extract a few lessons from this movie though – that basketball heartthrobs and womanizers have the greatest potential of being gay among all men on Earth, that if God really has something to do with our decisions, it’s just the “formality” of them, and that if God allowed marriage, He would also allow same-sex and same-genes marriage. I know, I know. It’s pretty f***ed up, right? I’m just translating their message, not necessarily agreeing with them.

Controversial as it may seem, the movie seemed to have faded out of my fellow-Pinoy’s memories. I mean, this one might even kick “Oldboy” in the balls! (If you know what I mean)

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Even on Sundays at 3AM, you can get news like this: Manila set to welcome Elliott

The best Idol contender ever, IMO, will come visit the Philippines to promote his album. Well, I’m not a freak fan of his, but we share the same feeling of worshiping Stevie Wonder. I always liked his style. Season 5 of American Idol is indeed the best season ever, knowing that they had Elliott Yamin, Chris Daughtry, and season winner Taylor Hicks to topbill its last few episodes.

I’m marking September 22 now, hoping I could come visit his album promotion in Glorietta, and have a signed album for myself.

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After hanging out in YouTube and browsing just anything the “Related Videos” tab could give me, I finally found this:

I’m actually very excited for September, because lots of shows will be premiering for their new seasons. I even got this Dashboard widget that tells me when will the next episode of whatever program be, and the title of the next episode. For Mac users, check this out.

Here are the episode roundups according to my dashboard widget:

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Last night, we released latest builds of our products, Bandwagon S3 v1.16 and Bandwagon FTP beta 6, and I have to say, this release was the least bumpy than, say, releases since their birth. Of course, we will still be “bugged” by bugs for the next few weeks, but I have to thank our users for being patient, sending in 0-day bugs and issues, and making Bandwagon a lot more stable now than last month.

Terence asked me why I love working with our customers and why I do resort to communicating with them directly. Normally, in the software world, customers directly communicate with call center agents so they could tell companies what’s wrong with their product. I, on the other hand, being used to open collaboration with people in the open source community, prefer talking directly to our customers because, in my opinion, it is the fastest way for me to get over with killing bugs flying around my baby. I know doing this could be strenuous and stressful, especially when I encounter people furious / ranting about their data / storage being messed up. Other than the reason that I’m the only one who could address their calls, it’s also nice to hear people respond to you after everything’s cleared up, giving more hope and assurance about the future of what you’re doing.

Dan Dorato described our team being passionate about fixing things up for Bandwagon. Not only that we’re just doing our job, we want to do it right. We want to get straight to the problem through our customer’s mouths, and personally, I can’t really sleep having the thought of Bandwagon making more problems than solutions.

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