The Unfortunate Divide

The Temporary Restraining Order issued by the Supreme Court against the singing of MOA on Ancestral Domain could possibly be the one thing that ignited the current tensions in Central Mindanao. So much have been written about this and i would not want to saturate the diverse perspectives and intellectual calisthenics among the stakeholders. My concern really for now is the effect of all this on the ground. People are actually dying on the ground. The fighting between the government and some MILF factions have escalated to a point that some people fear this would practically take us back to square one. With the growing animosity between Moro and Christian settlers in the affected communities, the unfortunate divide will likely happen.

We can still prevent this though, PEACE is still the answer! There is no such thing as a bad peace and a good war.

Give Peace a Chance…

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Find time to watch the short film below. The title of this film is OFFSIDE, a film by Erez Tadmor & Guy Nattiv regarding the Israeli Palestinian conflict. This short film was shot in Israel, during September 2005, at the security zone that separates between Israel and the Palestine Authority. I do hope that we could learn a valuable lesson from this film. In war, no one wins…

The Camerawalls

“Sila ba ang kumanta ng Girlfriend in a Coma?” My wife asked me as she heard the song Clinically Dead for 16 hours being played on the radio. I quipped and figured that she might have mistaken the Camerawalls, a new pinoy indie-pop sensation, for The Smiths, because of the noticeable Smithsonian* musical style of the song or perhaps because both songs speaks of medical phenomenon.

Camerawalls Music

“They are the Camerawalls baby and di sila ang kumanta ng Girlfriend in a Coma kundi The Smiths. Yun bang kumanta rin ng How soon is now, soundtrack ng TV series Charmed. Cool yon diba?”

Musically, the Camerawalls openly cited the Smiths, along with The Beatles, The Cure, XTC, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Desert Wolves, The Pale Fountains, The Jam and several other new wave acts as their musical influences.

“Nandoon pa rin ‘yong British pop influence but we inject Filipino sensibilities sa mga songs,” explained Clem Castro, a former member of the citrus pop band Orange and Lemons who upon being booted out from ONL wasted no time to continue his passion for music by forming the Camerawalls. Initially known as the Cinemawalls, an anagram of their first names, the group is composed of two former ONL members—vocalist Clementine Castro and bassist Law Santiago— and drummer Ian Sarabia, the heir to Sarabia Optical Empire.

Aside from their musical styles, Clem Castro has also been dubbed as Morrissey (The Smiths’ famous vocalist) of the Philippines. I beg to disagree though, as watching him performed during the Citrus days with his guitar antics closely resembling that of Johnny Marr (The Smiths’ lead guitarist), I must say he is more than just a Morrissey. He is more like a musical genius genetically engineered from a combination of Marr and Morrissey with some Lennon DNA toppings. Adding to this gift is the fact that his rich musical Rondalla* (I think read once that his father thought him how to play Octavina and Banduria) background have further enhances his creativity in fusing pinoy musical sensibilities to create pop-outings that transcends musical boundaries.

She may have read my thoughts (I am beginning to think that my wife has a gift of clairvoyance. Alarm! Alarm! ) as I too share my wife’s reaction on the possible quirky similarities of both songs. Yes, as you may have figured, both speak of the medical wonders (please refer to the lyrics below and just google girlfriend in a coma lyrics). But while the Smiths’ girlfriend in a coma speaks of tragic ending and last goodbyes, Clinically Dead echoes a breath of new and potentially better kind of life. As Morrissey whispers his last goodbyes, Clem bids the three short moons* with a message that they wont realize what they have till they lose them.

* I made this all up. Smiths fans are not called Smithsonians. There is however one Uncle Sam funded prestigious educational research institute known as Smithsonian Institution.

*i was also part our our rondalla (Angklung Rondalla) during high school. Banduria din gamit ko. This was during eraserheads’ U-POP days and i remember that our Music instructor taught us to play Tindahan ni Aling Nena and we performed it kahit na it was yet to be released as a single. We also played Meatloaf’s I would do anything for love. Yeah!

*short moons? if this doesnt refer to other guys, baka Clem was watching Three Musketeers sabay napaisip na baka siya was the Puzz in Boots and other three were the elegantly styled Three Musketeers.

pahabol:

i was going to do a lengthly blog dissecting every lines of the song Clinically Dead for 16 hours but i decided to stop as soon as i noticed pati si Shakespeare and Hamlet were already implicated sa article. Tsk…

eto sana title nang blog entry:

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Clinically Dead for 16 Hours: Operation Camerawalls

My attempt to perform surgical procedures on someone who is or has been clinically dead for 16 hours

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Below are the Camerawalls’ mypace entry about the band:

Manila produces miracles of design too far-out from what normally is heard or seen by the majority. The Camerawalls is keen to create ripples of combined nostalgia and pop outings.

Formed sometime in September 2007 by Clementine, formerly of the indie- pop/rock sensation Orange & Lemons, he chose to collaborate with old friends and drummer Ian Sarabia, and former bassist from years ago Law Santiago. Armed with his acoustic guitar Clementine returns to his indie roots with a new 3-piece line up – The Camerawalls.

After nine months of sowing the seeds and taking baby steps they have released a collection of pop songs for a full-length independent album. July 3, 2008 marked the release of “Pocket Guide To The Otherworld”, their debut album under Clementine’s new indie label – Lilystars Records.

Pocket Guide To The Otherworld – The Camerawalls

Track List:

1. Markers Of Beautiful Memories
2. Clinically Dead For 16 Hours
3. Lord Of The Flies
4. I Love You, Natalie
5. Changing Horses Midstream
6. Ignore My Weakness, Don’t Ignore Me
7. Canto De Maria Clara
8. The Emperor, The Concubine & The Commoner
9. Solitary North Star
10. Lizards Hiding Under Rocks

Pocket Guide to the Otherworld is a celebration of life changing events. A collection of songs the band wrote from September 2007 to March 2008, which includes topics inspired by their muses, epic tales, reincarnations, a dead poets’ reincarnation through a song, changes in careers and friends. It’s like a small book of words that are 100% real coming from life experiences and some otherworldly events. Very personal and optimistic bordering on tragic… the tunes in this album will allow you to journey through time.

Album Available at the Following:

Retail Outlets:
Music One (Glorietta, Greenbelt, Alabang, Quezon Ave.)
Fully Booked (Bonifacio High Street, Greenhills)
Vivian Sarabia Optical (SM North Edsa, Mall of Asia, SM San Lazaro, SM Megamall)

Clinically Dead for 16 Hours

This song have been bending my mindset. If you like The Beatles, The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, and other british indie-pop sensations, then you will be with all hearts and flowers for The Camerawalls.

Clinically Dead for 16 Hours

My heart is a terrible failing
I am just beginning to fathom
Love’s difficult concept
Swift beats are bending my mindset

It’s wasting my time
It’s wasting so much precious time
Touring white castles with other survivors
And then without warning I was…

Clinically dead for sixteen hours
Show me all the things my heart desires
Let this be the longest happy dream of my life
Clinically dead for sixteen hours
Crossing all the roads where lines began
Break my hourglass and let the sands move in time

Three short moons I survived that fatal day
But reaching breaking point,
I sleep and face the knife of fate
And my heart breathe air for the first time
Yes, my heart breathe air for the first time

A stitch in time and skin
Has changed my life and the lives of my kin
A stitch in time and skin
Has changed my life and the lives of my kin

I’m keeping my time
I’m keeping my precious little time
Touched by the Hand that’s been rocking my cradle
I’ll always remember

I was clinically dead for sixteen hours
Show me all the things my heart desires
Let this be the longest happy dream of my life
Clinically dead for sixteen hours
Crossing all the roads where lines began
Break my hourglass and let the sands move in time

No tunnel, no light
No dead love ones
Maybe I need to teach someone
That we won’t realize what we have till we lose them…

The Joker

Why so serious?

But the joke was on him..

Strategize, Produce, Engage!

Below is the abstract of a visual media paper that i will be presenting in the upcoming ASIAN CONGRESS FOR MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE to be conducted on August 21-23, 2008 at Ateneo de Davao University, Davao City Philippines.

Best of luck to me!

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Abstract

Strategize, Produce, Engage: Using Visual Media as a Tool for Social Change and Rights Awareness

Ajim Inni & Iben Trino-Molenkamp

This presentation provides a brief overview of how video or other forms of visual media is used in activist efforts to attain social change and raise human rights awareness. It explores the benefits and limitations of visual media and how to harness its power for maximum impact in the realm of grass-roots activism. Through analyzing various case studies of visually documented rights violations across the globe, the presenters explore particular outcomes by looking at the presence and absence of visual media advocacy strategies. Zooming in on thoughtful, systemic visual approaches to existing rights issues and alternative distributing models, this presentation seeks to raise awareness on creative visual practices that engage the local and the global.

Iben Trino-Molenkamp is a historian and founder of the Organization for Visual Progression (OVP). OVP trains local grassroots and regional organizations across South and Southeast Asia in using visual media to expose human rights abuses. He currently works with various Indigenous communities in Mindanao and Luzon and grassroots organizations in Sri Lanka. Based in New York, he also works as a film editor and has worked at human rights organization WITNESS, as well as the Dutch National Press and the Spaarnestad Photographic Institute. He has an MA in Southeast Asian contemporary history from Leiden University and attended Rutgers University as a postgraduate fellow in World History.

Ajim Inni Jr. is an NGO worker and is currently program director of the Philippine Bat Conservation, Inc. (PBCI), a biodiversity conservation organization based in Davao City. He is also part of the Organization for Visual Progression (OVP). He worked as an advocacy officer for Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao (AFRIM), a socio-economic research and advocacy organization. His interest in visual media was sparked by various media advocacy trainings he attended, among which were organized by Mindanews, the British Council and BBC’s Jake Lynch, and OVP. He has a BSc in Biology from the University of the Philippines in Mindanao. He is a Sama native, a Muslim indigenous tribe located in Tawi-Tawi.

deactivated

blogging: this is one measurable impact of me resigning from work.

I am, i still claim to be a part of it as my resignation was not yet approved, working with the Philippine Bat Conservation Inc. (PBCI), a non-government biodiversity conservation organization based in Davao City, Philippines. I would probably post more blogs about PBCI as i still believe in the organization’s campaign and advocacy. PBCI started with an effort to conserve and protect the world’s largest colony of fruitbats (estimated to be around 1.8 to 2.5 million bat population) in Monfort Bat Cave, in the Island Garden City of Samal, and my interests and fascination for these often misunderstood nocturnal creatures grew more and more everytime i helped out in terms of providing some basic orientations and bat education to Monfort Cave visitors.

By the way, i decided to resign because i feel that i contributed less to the goals and objectives of the organization. Also, i think i could do more in terms of exploring other realms like visual media( when i grow up, i want be like Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali!hahaha!), random outdoor visits (Malaysian call it Jalan-jalan and here in the Philippines, we call it lagalag!), cook ( my wife is the best chef on earth!), sleep ( this could be the longest happy dream of my life!), volunteer work ( all expense paid adventures), and other things ( i love to use this phrase to mean more significant things).

Now, i am officially deactivated from the structure, the system. Anyone wants to celebrate with me? tara na!

Now I am officially open to the possibility of being among those who will try to express their unsolicited thoughts to anyone who likes to waste their resources by reading some blogs.

for children below 18, i would advised you to read books, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Time magazine, and Filipiñana sections in your school libraries.

“Go ahead kids, maximize the overpriced miscellaneous fees na kaakibat ng quality education sa Pilipinas! Magbasa tayo!”

for children above 18 who refused to become adults, keep playing! keep playing! you have a lifetime at your disposal!

for those who are reading this and have their own blogsites, keep blogging! and add me up if you have some kind of a secret bloggers society. I could lend a hand in case you have plans for world domination.

to me, think! think! ( why did is 11 the title of my blog? )