Ring! Ring!

part seven

The last part for my home turf. For me, this is the best work hub for now at QC. It's not only the first technohub set up in QC, but also, still the best place to work despite some difficulties in this place. Eastwood!

How to get here, from our house, walk first from our house to E.Rod then ride a cubao yale jeep, 11 pesos then sa yale, look for the jeep that is going to Rosario, or light homes, then that's it.. 10 pesos more and you are now at Eastwood. You can get there less than an hour if there is no traffic.. But for these days, I don't think so. That will be explained later.

IBM - located at the middle at the right side, aligned with Citi tower. I think this is the first IBM site in the country and grown what is now. Ah, they have two offices, one at the middle then at the 1600 building. Same building with Dell. Well, if you checked my previous posts, you know how they works. 

SITEL -  Located at the cybermall in Eastwood, I forgot which they sits, but I remembered they are kinda high in that building. Very tight office they have. I mean they don't have a large space compared to the other centers. As I mentioned in my previous posts, they have a good medical insurance. However, yes, I remembered applied for this center, after waiting for almost 2 hours of my final interview, it did not happen and yes, great thing it did not happen. hehe

Concentrix - Yes, on how they became big, started in this first site they have. It houses of course, Dish network and I don't think they have or I heard more accounts they have in this site. They give big, I mean way bigger that we received before in ePLDT for dish but, yes, I don't think that will compensate the stress you'll get in a Dish Network account. Never. hahaha

I'll stop at this one for now, but for the next one, it will be a lot. I'll list down a lot. =)

jdorama: Tokyo Scarlet

Hmmmm siyempre di naman lahat napapanood ko eh maganda. There were some, let's say just watchable. hahaha Story was simple, Tokyo Metro Police was kinda hurt about a comment that their office has no female top official and they need a good PR for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. 

They created a new team, NS department, pagkakatanda ko New Service ata ibig sabihin nun, headed by a veteran detective Izumi and assembled her team leading by An (their somewhat called muse pero ok na detective din) with others. So, ayun na, solving crimes kahit natatapakan nila ang first division and there, in the end capturing the real criminal. 

9 episodes of somewhat fun and action episodes. Wala naman sobrang galing dito except siguro yun last episode saka yun episode  na about sa fast food employee na napatay. Yun lang natripan ko and others just ok or not good enough. Pero it's not all bad because the cast made their presence felt kahit yun chief na nagbuo ng team, ok yun role niya even his episode. Two characters stand out, one was Munesuke (played by Namase Katsuhisa, damn great supporting actor, mapa principal sa gokusen hanggang ngayon sa Doctor's affairs, galing! Veteran actor great!) at siyempre, may one of the new, ehem crushes An (played by Mizukawa Asami). I think first time niya magplay ng detective in a jdorama. I don't know. hehe Kahit di naman sobrang stand out yun acting niya, eh ok naman siya as lead and maganda talaga siya. Yun lang. hahaha Nag back track kasi ako ng mga series na naglead siya, at nakataon isa to at marami pang iba. 

Well, sana naimprove nila yun mga cases dito, kung sana simple cases pero dapat matindi yun mga criminal pero parang hindi naman. Lalo na yun episode na manga writer na gusto lumipat ng city, weird story and bad ending. Geez. Kung fun story pala, sana medyo todo comedy na lang, not half comedy/fun then less action.  One example na todo comedy, Kid's police! Bad trip, first episode pa lang nakita ko at nahanap, nakakatawa na! Kahit well, deadly yun mga criminal. 

Sana ganun na lang ang route pero well, they did not do it. Tama lang na 6.8% ang rating niya, not suprising, pero nakakagulat eh after episode 9, aba tapos na! hehe Abrupt ending. Siguro low ratings and tight budget, tinigil na agad.

Anyway, still I'm gushed over Asami! Dating niya parang Red Scarlet, I don't know, just a beauty to watch. Ah bakit pala tokyo scarlet, hmmm nasa first episode. Nothing important kung bakit ganun ang title. 

Not good. Almost a waste of time. Pero if fan ni Asami, not bad. =)

Not Showing: Jodorowsky's Dune

The greatest movie that was never made. That tagline caught my curiousity to check out this wonderful movie documentary. Actually I didn't expect that this documentary gave me more yearning to look forward watching Alejandro Jodorowsky's films soon.

First of all, who the hell is Alejandro Jodorowsky? A peruvian director who made theater plays mostly in Mexico which lead him making films. His first film was fando y lis which he was end up banned in Mexico. The reason? He disregarded the director's union and made people mad by watching the film. But that doesn't stop making films. He made a cult classic El Topo, a spaghetti mystical western story. Due to the success of that film, he got a million dollars to do his next feature Holy Mountain which about a thief took a journey to holistic transformation. He became sucessful again and this where his story of Dune comes in..

Dune was regarded as one of the best sci fi books made which until now I haven't read or even look at that book. But at that tine in 1970's, it was the best seller. Jodorowsky has also no idea what the book is as it was only suggested by a friend. First I love how Jodorowsky detailed the process of how he imagined or created the feel of the film. Despite the book itself was hard to swallow, he just made a way to make it understandable with his touch of madness. I loved how he recruited what he called spiritual warriors.. His artist was Giraud, one of the best French comic book artist. That dude is one of a hell artist as he can draw everything in detail. VFX supervisor Dan O'Bannon who kinda surprised he was picked despite only the second choice. Alejandro doesn't feel Doug Trumbull, the SFX dude of my fave film 2001 because he was described very technical and full of himself. Jodorowsky was also able to assemble a very intersting cast. Despite no known actress but his set of actors are damn legendary, from David Carradine, Jodorowsky's son as usual, Mick Jagger, Orson Welles and even Salvador Dali. I love the footage of Dali, indeed enigmatic. Don't forget Pink Floyd and another rock band for its musical score and OST. How about the other illustrators/artist included in this movie project. It shows how ambitious this one was.

Another thing I love was the inputs of the men and women behind this project. From critics, even the producers of the film and people who joined the project seemed very influenced how Alejandro motivated them to be artist than a worker who has a deadline. Lastly, with all these factors going thru the course of the film, I was convinced that this might have been the best scifi or even of the best films ever made. The year was 1973 and on how this was made, it was indeed ahead of its time. Despite with some violent and gore effect, the concept is somewhat scifi and religion in one film. Star Wars or even blade runner was not made yet. 2001 was made but it was not box office hit until it was released in home video.

3 factors that made me sad after watching the documentary. It's not really the films fault. First the behavior of the big movie studios today of making films is still the same. More emphasis on profit than art. The film as the producer calculated can be done if the studios provided just added 5 million dollars for the budget but still they declined due to the nature of the film and risks involve. Geez they were damn wrong. They didn't even gave a second look to this film. Second, the film was indeed made by David Lynch but it was terrible that even Lynch doesn't want to talk about it or even claimed its a mistake he made. This was connected to the first one as the producers thought they'll earn but without the right people or mindset, it was an epic fail. Lastly, I won't blame if less will watch this because of less people or only movie fanatics knows Jodorowsky. As much this is well done and promoted, Jodorowsky's films made really not for the general public. It's bizarre and mystical as I saw some scenes in his films.

Amidst of failure well, all the people worked in this doomed project moved on and better yet achieved success. Somewhat used the ideas in this film to other ones. Great example was alien, the design of Alien came from a design of one of the castle in this film. They also won Oscars in other projects. The manuscript or even design of Dune was kinda used in most films until today, as you see in montage at the end. I suggest that since Nicolas Winding Refn was the one saw and heard what this project should been, he's the one could do it.

Jodorowsky already moved on and now legendary. But you can see in this film his undying passion to still create his project. Even he admits he might not see the light or have this project done in his lifetime, he still encourages anyone to create this..

Magnificent film. 

I wonder what would happen if this film was made indeed before Star Wars and other films? Will this alter what we view in a sci fi film? or How films should be made?  

Almost gone: Newspaper

Dati pag gising ko sa umaga, noong nasa project 7 pa kami. Looking forward na may Phil Star na nakalagay sa sala. Ako ang unang bumabasa, una ko tinitignan, sports and chismax este entertainment section. 
Now, well, I don't need that waiting anymore. I only buy a newspaper, Manila Bulletin at Sunday for job hunting. hehe Pero siyempre di naman ako lagi nag job hunting di ba? hahahaha

Sad to say, with the great benefits that internet brought for the human race eh ito yun tinamaan ng matindi. How harsh or hard? Newsweek, even New York times are now looking for a white knight. Newsweek even stop doing yun hard copy ng mag nila. Geez.. Eh dati mayaman ka pag may Newsweek or Time magazine sa bahay mo. hehe Now, with a click, it's there. At di lang it's there.. Naguupdate agad unlike before na hintayin mo yun news ng 6pm or next day na lang. 

Even now, di mo kailangan may hawak kang dyaryo, nasa smartphone mo na lang. Or kung mayaman Tablet. hehe Or kung hindi afford, may computer shop, tambay lang, pasurf surf lang ayos na. 
Tapos idagdag mo pa kaming bloggers.. Semi Journalist, or Journalist without a degree.. hehe Eh lalo na kawawa yun newspaper industry. Even tabloids, eh natamaan din. May mga tabloids pa din, ang babastos naman. hahaha

Of all things going gone, eto yun masasabi ko wala ako masisisi kung bakit unti unti silang nawawala. Maybe in 10 years time, wala na maglalako ng mga dyaryo sa tin or kahit sa kalsada o bangketa. You can't blame them that despite yun ibang publications eh may online subscription eh marami naman sila competition online. Free pa! After watching page one, yun doc about new york times, I'm sad na marami sa kanila mga award winning writers, Pulitzer's lang naman yun iba. hehe In the history palaging front sila lalo na sa mga shocking stories or news, eh biglang babagsak kasi ayaw na ng tao bumili ng papel, gusto online or much in TV. Worse others, the save the trees mantra. Geez.. 

Then a lot of publications around the world, lalo na pag newspaper ang genre mo nagsasara, mostly old ones. It's sad, kahit sobrang detailed o minsan may mga info na sila lang nagprovide eh wala na nagbabasa. Tinatalo sila ng magazines, especially ones about love or sex. hehe Or yun TV shows, news channels or yun nga websites giving news for free.. So advers going to those mediums now than newspaper who is more visible and a wider chain of readers. 

Well, ngayon yun mga dyaryo nakikita ko lagi sa BK kasi may libre nakabitin dun. hehe Banks which nobody reads it, usually minsan wala ako kaagaw. hehe Even schools I rarely seen a student reading a broadsheet unless newspaper ng university or mags na lang. hehe

See, as much I want to give anymore ways na parang lumago sila.. Unfortunately, wala na ko masuggest. Others has now an app, or may website na din pero limited news lang. If you want to have like yun whole news sa iyong gadget, tama naman yun. Bayaran mo. Quality writing naman yun. Matuto ka pa. 

One thing pala, they can still keep their market by doing more ads. Not only yun ads sa sine before manood ng trailer or the film itself. hehe Sana more on TV, Radio or even online di ba. Invest in online adver, it's worth a try di ba.. 

Prices should like not sobrang baba pero yun kaya bilin ng user, kung mas mura sa usual newspaper mas maganda kasi wala naman delivery cost or even paper and printing cost di ba? So why go lower than the usual newspaper. 

I'm still grateful na nagbabasa pa din ako ng newspaper kung may chance kasi dito ko nakuha yun curiosity ko in other aspects in life. Sa chismax kahit papano may topic na dito mo din makikita. Commentaries from the writers talaga, ok. Kaya siguro din nagbloblog din ako coz maybe I want to be one. hehe But nah, ok na ko dito. hahaha

Job hunting of course na dito mo din makikita than in jobstreet or in job fairs. At higit sa lahat, well not sports. hehe Inside info ah este, great business news from different industries. Kayo naman. hahaha Mga info for business na magagamit mo kung hindi ngayon, a better time.

If I get rich in the future, maybe I should subscribe sa newspaper in the old fashion way. hehe
After you wake up, go downstairs, sit to a lazy boy chair, flipping the pages and reading the news of the day coupled that with a sip of juice. I'm not into coffee. hehe

It's that simple.

Almost gone: Radio

It was gone noong dumating na mga novelty radio stations. Yun mga stasyon na walang ginawa kung mangokray, mangtsimax at ang matindi sa lahat magbigay lang mga payong pagibig na minsan kulang na lang eh magmarunong eh DJ. Geez.. Sama mo pa ang sakit sa tenga na mga kanta! hehehe

Well, that's Radio for you these days. May mga pang high end pa din na radio, the usual English speaking DJ's but well, they are just numbered. Sad to hear that, unlike in my days before, eh may DMZ, Nu 107! RT then Campus Radio na naging tugs tugan na! Ewww.. hahaha Easy Rock is still here. Thank God! 

Kahit ang lahat ng mga cellphone ngayon eh may radio, I don't tune in. One eh bawal makinig sa work ng radio, lalo na sa BPO. Confiscate ang cellphone. Two, kung anong uso, yun na.. Ayun, yun mga maiingay at weird, or badet na pangalan na mga DJ eh sobrang sumisikat na.. I don't know where they get that energy. hehe Yeah, it's just well di ko trip. Marami naman ganun sa work ko. hehehe or some friends are like that na.. Why listen to it? At ang huli, eh yun mga fave ko type ng radio stations, unfortunately, they are gone. May magic at hit ata yun or monster but as much I want to listen to them.. Well, nah I still miss those cool radio stations. Cool DJ, cool topics and damn great music!!

Great thing, and ironically, isa sa mga naging trainer ko, actually my first trainer sa BPO eh dating DJ, at dating Ang TV star pa! hahaha Damn, dun ko sa kanya ata nakuha yun rhythm ng voice ko. Quite bass yet kinda midwestern. Siya eh kano talaga style. Pero dito naman siya nakatira. 

Damn how cool was that, learning english and the same time, dun ko sa kanya nakuha yun JD box set copy! Damn I miss that dude. I heard he's now a band manager.. That was years ago. Meaning those kind of DJ's na sobrang kano magsalita pero pinoy pa din ang dating.. These days, jologs na pero pag nagenglish yun mga DJ's fairness magaling eh. That's market wants these days. Hay..

Despite the dawn ng net, Radio did not really go down. Kasi mas lumawak yun audience, even around the globe pero sa advertising prospect, di naman siya priority kasi yun.. Di naman lahat may trip makinig. As we, according sa research eh more visual than hearing. Of course maraming nakikinig pero mas marami maattract pag may nakikita, which goes to TV or print Media. Kaya well, di ganun kalakas impact ng Radio. 

Of course, di naman mamamatay ang Radio especially if the end nears. hehe Kasi radio frequency is let's say kahit mabulok ang lahat eh may radio frequency na mas madali makuha. I mean, if apocalyptic days are come and gone, unang may signal is radio. Kidding, I mean di naman mawawala ang radio, it's part of our lives. Im still listening to it, I love listening to public service programs, kasi maririnig mo yun galit na nagrereklamo at yun galit ni host. hehe Or yeah may FM na news station which quite new. AM yeah, minsan I can't believe radio drama still running.. Kudos to those people who do it. And classical music.. Especially on Sundays. 

It won't be gone, it will be there forever. It's a matter of us appreciating it..

Listening to it perhaps. 

Yeah, video killed the radio star.. 

Almost gone: Walkman/Music Players

Great thing that Apple still releases yun ipod touch, kasi with great sounds that you can bring around then with a lot of songs you can store, you can also enjoy yun apps at other tasks even watching movies. Without yun phone feature which for me, ok lang.. Pero with the dawn of tablets, at smartphones na pwede din to do the same things with great sounds eh.. Parang nawawala na mga ito. 

I used to have walkman nung grade skul at HS.. Tapos yun CD player nung college na dinadala ko pa sa skul, nakapasok sa bag yun cd player at may sounds ka na! 

These days, you don't need that big things. You need is small players or better kasama na sa phone mo. Like me, gamit na gamit yun X2 ko na wala naman sim, pero pang sounds ko. No radio player or component needed kasi ang lakas naman nito. hehe 

Kakalungkot lang that they've been phased out. Well, it's better than fast forward or rewind in a sluggish and destructive way kasi nasisira yun tape/cd pag ganun. Unlike these days, pindot lang, ayun na! hehe Although quality wise, mas maganda pa din yun walkman or casette player kasi iba kbps nun or quality. I doesn't mean di kaya ng players today, it's just you need to convert pa to higher kbps or well flac format na.

Eh paano ako yun 30gb worth of songs? I convert ko pa lahat? katamad! hehehe Pero yun lang advantage nun, kasi pagdating sa storage, mas maganda naman yun mga players ngayon, copy then lagay sa lahat ng players! hehe Memory card na lang. 

Although siyempre di lahat ng players ngayon magaganda, siyempre pipili ka ng matino players, pero yun single magandang player talaga eh Apple Ipod touch. I'm not sure sa 5th gen, pero sa dating, panalo, sa sounds, sana mas maganda pa sa 4th gen which is sulit na sa kin. hehe

I hope manufactures will continue making these new digital players at maganda sounds. Samsung gumawa na sila kaso di nila minarket. hehe Ah Sony as well pero mostly naka sama sa phones.. So I hope they understand that there is a market for audiophiles like me or Ted.. Who just want out flat music only or some functions, basta maganda quality. Zune is a great example but even it's not sales great, I love the richness ng sounds niya.. 

Yun nga lang, phase out din. hehe

Besides, listening to music never phases out..

Almost Gone: Post Office

Pumupunta lang ko dito pagkukuha ng Cedula, kasi pwede sa min. At yun postal ID kung pwede in the future. But for packages and snail mail? Di na.. 

Sad to say, wala na ko nakikitang mamang Kartero naglalakad sa araw para magdala ng sulat. Nakakita ako once pero di na yun kagaya dati. Lalo na nung bata ako, may nagiikot lagi sa min.

Due to the advent of mobile phones, smartphones, SMS, internet lalo ang email..  How about remittances? Eh PT&T tapos LBC eh dati may nagdedeliver sa bahay. Ngayon, punta ka na lang sa center tapos kunin mo pera or simply funds transfer na lang sa internet. Text mo ng SMS imbes na telegram, morse code or well kung nagpager ka pa. hehe Courier services like FedEx, UPS, DHL and kahit LBC eh natabunan na talaga yun post offices, not only here but around the world na siguro. 

Last time ako pumunta sa Post office to get something eh kasama ko pa si Ron Marc at para pa sa piyesa ng Magic. hehe But anyway, yeah.. Naaawa lang ako sa situation ng Post Offices, even in the US, they were a lot of cut backs done just to reduce the expenses of the post offices. 

I watched an episode sa news tv, may ibang lugar pa pala sa bansa ang gumagamit pa talaga ng post office. Yun napanood ko, imbes na sms, eh nag telegrama pa. hehe Very  old school. 

Hmmmm I did send snail mail pero di na sa Post office, kasi naman kung di lang sa mabagal eh masama pa mawala yun mga padala mo. Or worse, tinago pa o ninakaw pa! Ayos di ba. Pero mukhang maayos naman sila ngayon, after some cutbacks eh kaunti lang ang tao sa post office pero umaandar pa din. Its sad na dati sobra ang pila sa post office kasi lahat magpapadala ng sulat. Tapos yun feeling na fulfilled mareceive yun sulat mo after a long walk or how many ships o dinaanan na islands just to send the letter. 

Well, those days were gone. For now, as technology grows faster and other means of transporting are getting faster din, eh one day, di na post office ang dating yan. Place for your PO Boxes perhaps. May gumagamit pa ba ng PO Box sa tin? hehe For business yun malamang. Kahit sa abroad, may PO Box pa. Sa atin lalo na personally parang wala kumukuha nun. Siguro di lang alam ng tao may ganun. Hehe

Or may cellphone naman, ok na yun. 

I hope di mawala ang Post office, kasi what if every technology falls tapos back to manual tayo!

Edi kailangan ng post office for your communication needs. =)  Not only the government should take the action na maitain yun post offices. Dapat tayo din, kahit bisitahin siguro ang post office ok lang o kahit paminsan minsan padala ka kahit isang sulat lang para maramdaman nila na may silbi pa ang opisina nila. 

Kasi sayang naman kung di natin gagamitin ang isang paraan ng komunikasyon na kinagisnan natin. Sabagay, kahit sobrang advance na lahat ng means of delivery than post office eh well, wag na natin hintayin na kumonti o mawala na sa bayan ang post office .Kaya yun, sana lang tuloy tuloy pa din ang kanilang operations even it these fast paced times where our planet becomes a smaller place.

Post offices are a must,kasi dahil sa kanila.. May huling paraan pa para mapadala ang mensahe mo sa iyong minamahal.. Kahit san ka man o kahit anong oras pa..