Category: media

political soap operas, back to back

sa blogworld talbog siyempre ang malu-fernandez bruhaha sa erap-guilty verdict and its aftermath, a work in progress being covered closely by all media.

tapos heto pa ang zte-fg scandal, mabuhay si jarius at si joey, what a story. ito na kaya ang waterloo ni abalos, na hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit ubod ng lakas sa powers-that-be for such a long time na, mula pa nuong 1986 nang i-appoint siyang o.i.c. ng mandaluyong ni then minister of local governments now senator nene pimentel (mwahaha), later he became governor of the mmda, tapos chairman ng comelec — important high-profile posts, bakit siya love na love ng ating mga presidente? could he be some kindof edgar j. hoover figure, with secret files/tapes/cds/dvds on the ruling class? o meron siyang gayuma? puwede ring magaling lang talaga siyang mambola, the quintessential fixer?

interestingly enough, hindi natatalbugan ng zte-fg scandal ang erap-guilty drama. nakakalamang lang ng konti these days ang zte-fg dahil sa senatehearings. otherwise pareho silang winner, political soap operas back-to-back, one as controversial and shady as the other.

feeling liberated

i’ve written for all kinds of media — print, television, stage, film — and i find that the happiest kind of writing, i mean, the kind of writing i like best is this, writing for cyberspace, to be read by many or just family and friends, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that i’m free to say anything about anything, and it’s posted out there for cybereternity, what a great way of passing on mind stuff to my kids, and i can write it in any style and length i please, puwedeng no caps, use the same word twice, thrice in the same sentence, the same paragraph, and take as long as i like before bothering with a period, even smile or frown, scream or swear, in english or tagalog, taglish or gayspeak, and no censor, editor, director or producer to mess it up. sarap!

luli arroyo zaps joey dv3 with a one-two punch

19 sept. around 5:30 p.m. was listening to anc’s top story while playing bejeweled 2 hyper action. pia hontiveros and tony velasquez were interviewing representative teddybody locsin on joey de venecia and the mystery man, when i thought i heard tony velasquez say that luli arroyo was calling joey a drug addict, or something like that. naloka ako. ganon?! and teddyboy was saying, we must be careful about calling people drug addicts. in every rich family (or something like that) there is one drug addict. oh what a gem! finally, a rumor confirmed! and pia was saying something to the effect that drugs are like a truth serum, di ba, you lose inhibitions and can’t help telling the truth. oh what a breakthrough! finally, altered states appreciated!

but was it true? what did luli actually say? finally caught her on the world tonight. this is what she actually said: “… i dont know if his old drug use affected his thinking, i dont know … tawa na lang kami.” well. “old” naman pala, but of course she had to dredge it up, anything to destroy the credibility of the guy. worse, the distraught unica hija also insisted it’s not true that her father left the country to avoid the consequences of jdv3’s expose: “again,  that’s grasping at straws, as thin as his hairline.” mwahaha. imbierna talaga siya. witty nga, pero cheap shot, wa class. poor little rich girl.

sacred cow, divaga

ang totoo niyan, Manila Standard Today is one of two broadsheets the newsboy delivers daily. it was Today i used to get, alongwith PDI, mostly for the counterpoints of teddy boy locsin, luis teodoro, and alejandro lichauco. also, i liked maureen dowd’s whitehouse-bashing column ‘free fire’ ba yon, linda black’s on-a-10-scale daily horoscopes , and once in a while jessica zafra’s ‘twisted’.

when Today merged with Manila Standard, naging pro-administration ang editorial slant, so nabago lahat ng kolumnista, and i kept meaning to drop it except that the new astrologer was okay naman, keeps track of planetary movements too. all right din si tony abaya, who loves to hate communists but otherwise talks economic sense. then nag-join pa da sikat bloggers connie veneracion and bong austero, puwede na rin, good to know wazzup in the web. but ‘divalicious’? i didn’t even know it was there. i may have cast an eye on a first paragraph some time or other but gone on at once to something else, cos ni hindi siya nag-register, i suppose because i’m just not into fashionistas, how boring the brand- and name-dropping, would rather read the horoscope anytime — btw, i don’t read just my sunsign, i also read my moonsign and ascendant sign, which together and apart give me a good idea of the temper of the day and the different forces at play.

but back to MST. isa pang star attraction to me has been da infamous vic agustin, whom Inquirer needn’t have fired, not after he had the gumption to guest with rc constantino on ANC and offer rc a bottle of mineral water — thought balloon: sige na, bawian mo ako, please lang — but rc refused to do him the favor, so he twisted the cap off, raised the bottle over his head, and poured the water on himself, sabay gasp for breath. what a scene that was. great television. curiously enough, this same vic agustin is not just pala a columnist but also the chair of MST’s board of editors. and write niya sa ‘cocktales’ nung aug. 31:

“despite our private, aching desires as journalists to explain the malu fernandez affair, the Manila Standard Today adheres to a certain set of protocols that prevent us from publicly discussing personnel issues.”

ano siya? sacred cow? curiouser and curiouser. what about malu antoinette can’t they tell us that would explain why they can’t / won’t accept her resignation? perhaps that she has rich and powerful backers? stockholders? advertisers? politicians? maybe the i.s.a.f.p.? the c.i.a.? mwahaha. if i know, enjoy lang sila sa publicity, never mind the issues.