Thursday, February 23, 2006

Heaven is a call center.

Dear God,

When I prayed that I wanted to finish my documentary for BC 133 and my thesis (BC 200) within the same timeframe, I DIDN'T say and certainly also DIDN'T MEAN that I wanted to have ALL the interviews for both subjects at EXACTLY the same time. Of course, I may have worded my prayer wrong, but I DID say that all I wanted was just to finish everything at the same time ... and not DO everything and the finishing at the same time.

So now I implore You, please, PLEASE help me move my GMA-Encantadia staff interview to Monday or Tuesday next week, because having it this Friday would require me to become three persons, and sadly I am unable to retain my one-ness unlike You once I have been split into three.

Thank You and Amen.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Welcome to the family Maia!!!

My oldest cousin in my dad's side, Ate Grace Arguelles (nee Pascual) gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Wednesday, February 8th, 12:30 am. According to her, her labor was relatively painless and completely epidural-free thanks to the Lamaze exercises she and her husband Kuya Michael did, although it was terribly drawn out because the baby wouldn't come out.

Congratulations guys! Welcome to the world Maia! =^~^= {cuddles her baby niece}

This is a shot of Tita Linda (Grace's mum, Maia's lola or grandma, and my dad's older sister) kissing Maia. So, SOOOOO cute.^~^

(Picture hidden for protection purposes v^V~v)

For more pictures, please visit my virtual family album right now. Thankies and enjoy! v^_^v

HELP WANTED FOR THE STUDY

Good day!

Against all possible odds (notably not having the actual proposal sheet to be used for the pitch), the winning pitch was, ironically, the one about Japanese music and how it has slowly but surely affected Filipino society.

For this reason we are now looking for THREE (3) friends who are close, who like Japanese pop and rock music, and who are DEFINITELY going to the upcoming Core of Soul contest.

Here is a copy of our modified proposal, it describes everything you need to know about our study. (If you have any input on this we would appreciate it, as most of this actually came from our professor.)

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Name: Ma. Jocelyn C. Bordador, Christian Eric P. Martinez
Title (tentative): Magandang Hapon: Ang Pagpasok ng Popular na Musikang Hapon sa Pilipinas (The Entry of Japanese Popular Music into the Philippine Mainstream)
Date of Presentation and Airing (for class purposes ONLY): 27 February 2006
Synopsis: In World War II, Japan used tora-toras (army aircraft), tanks, guns and much force to take over the Philippines. However, that did not last. But in the 1990s Japan began to use not force, but the sheer power of color, cuteness and a certain avant-garde mode in the form of Sanrio mascots, animation (anime), comics (manga), robots and machines as well as building them (mecha), video and PC games, costume play (cosplay), fashion, and – most importantly for this documentary - music. And now on its 50th year, the Philippines’ relationship with Japan is stronger than ever.
Treatment: The shooting will be done in real-time, with segments of all the case studies pre-edited to give way to the Core of Soul concert which will transpire last in both real-time and the time within the documentary. The focus will be on three Filipinos who are friends not just because of their participation in the Core of Soul fandom, but also because of other shared interests in various aspects of Japanese pop culture. Each meeting time at the favorite tambayan or hangout of these three will serve as the transition point between the story of one fan-friend and another, then slowly this will build up to their literal as well as figurative entry into the “Core of Soul” concert, which we are planning to use as a symbol of Japanese music reaching out to and touching the Filipinos for our artistic, practical and story-related purpose. Humanization of the effects of being Japanese music fans will also be of extreme importance, chief among them being the management of time and financial resources as well as the conflict of a “foreign” culture integrating itself slowly into Filipino society (acceptance into the mainstream being the most feasible to study).
For the technical aspect, montage scenes may be used but may not be necessary depending on the content involved. However, juxtapositions of shots between the people and the concert will definitely be used. The slice-of-life or a-day-in-the-life-of-(name of case study here) is being considered for use. Other elements that the team wishes to consider will be data-gathering of (understandably limited) statistical information and a brief glimpse into the recent events in Filipino-Japanese relations especially in the light of popular culture.
Case Studies: We are currently looking for THREE (3) people, gender and age notwithstanding, who are willing to be subject to being the subject of our camera(s) for at least an entire day to become our case studies. We are in need of people whose lives we can immerse into, subject to their consent of course, because it would make the story of the documentary seamless and easy to understand for the viewers (technically just our class, but we shoot with the mass Filipino audience in mind). Our criteria for choosing them would be their willingness to work with us for days on end, their addiction to Japanese music (especially Japanese pop and Japanese rock, or J-POP and J-ROCK), their interest in the group Core of Soul, and – just as important as their availability – their unwavering decision to go to the Core of Soul concert and watch it in its entirety.

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If you are interested to join and you have two willing friends to tag along, please do contact me ASAP. If you have any input do contact me as well on them, my classmate (my partner for this class) and I would appreciate them. Thank you very much.



Sincerely,

Ma. Jocelyn Bordador
Y!M / Y!Mail: haruka173
MSN-M / MSN Hotmail: sailor_misato
Contact Numbers: 896-7477; 0917-816-3296