I Am Currently Green- minded

My biggest fascination at the moment is Green- Charlie Green that is.

This 11-year old half Filipino half-British kid has the moves, the grooves, the voice, the style and the charm (everything I've always wanted but never had) to be a real superstar. And I can confidently say that with proper guidance, he's very well on his way to the top. I mean just check out the following videos.

He even wowed Simon Cowell when he auditioned for Britain's Got Talent back in 2008.

To put in perspective how much I am in awe with this young crooner, let me just say that I have never seen a kid more cut for singing like Charlie since Billy Gilman. He's just got it.

One thing I really hate right now though (and I would like to reiterate that I really hate it) is the way ABS-CBN (his mother network in the Philippines) is Filipino-izing him. You know, making it sound like he's got all these Filipino qualities and that he's a true Pinoy kid who supposedly showed the world what Filipinos can do, all that kind of crap? I mean, he's been in the Philippines like 4 times his entire lifetime. Even if it is true that he's got a Cebuana for a mum, it is very unlikely that he's got all these Filipino qualities you so proudly boast about. Ughhh... Filipinos can just be so disgusting sometimes. I mean, are we that desperate to find something good about ourselves?

If you guys want to be updated with the latest of what's going on with Charlie, click this link to be directed to his Facebook fan page.

No Time to Waste- You've wasted Enough on this Video

Alessandra de Rossi has got to be one of my most favorite Pinoy actors to of all time. She's unconventionally smart, quick-witted, a tremendously great actress and a very legitimate, down to Earth, forthright person. I adore most of her works, with the exception of her musical undertakings. For those of you who are unaware of her past attempts to establish herself as a singer, try Youtube-ing her video of Sailing- originally sung by Christopher Cross, the same person who gave us Think of Laura and Arthur's Theme. Its actually incredible how she was able to turn this great song, which was previously redone, tremendously well by Nsync, into almost 5 minutes of completely mind-numbing, pain-staking, career-ending piece of crap. Such a waste of resources if you ask me.

But despite this not-so-very-well-thought-of move in her career, I still love her and even decided to follow her on twitter. Today she decided to tweet this video to all her followers. And this is where my problem starts. First of all, don't! Just please don't Alex. Don't ever try to be a singer. You're fine as an actress-slash-host-slash-comedienne and we all love you for doing so well on those roles. Don't go screwing things up for all of us. Please, just don't.

Moving this entry away from Alex and into the actual problem, this video has all the necessary ingredients to become an actual hit: great collaborations by some of the country's top artists like Cynthia Alexander, Noel Cabangon and Bayang Barrios; appearances by some of the most well-known Filipino celebrities including 1999 Ms. Universe first runner up, Miriam Quiambao; and its an attempt to address and inform everyone of a very timely issue that is as global as the Pacific- Climate Change.

Yet, I don't think this one will ever be a hit. Why? Because its just plain crap. First of all, if you're going to throw a couple of singers together to create a collaboration, you have got to make a melodious song. Why? Cause not all singers have the same style. If you let them belt out a fast-paced song, it'll all just end in tragedy. You'll loose the character of the song and its most likely that everyone will end up screaming, like what happened here. Next, if you're going to make a video with lots of artists in it, its way better to just tape them singing their respective parts with the plainest background and just stitch everything together than make them play weatherman against an always changing background. They are singers and are most likely clueless when it comes to acting. And by the way, some of the images used as background there are not even climate change related.

Then we go to the editing. Can the graphics get any worst? And the pacing? Oh! And is it a requirement for Diether Ocampo to loose his shirt? In the first place, what is he doing there? And why is a weatherman playing the guitar? How about that designer girl from PBB Celebrity Edition? I suppose her name is Mitch. And Tim Yap?! Oh gosh! And we haven't even touched Rico Blanco's pronunciation of Earth (euth- I'm not even sure how to properly put it in phonetics). How about that freakishly normal (exaggerating) looking girl at the end of the video? What was that about? I really just don't get the concept of this thing. I know they want to relate the video with the song and the advocacy (pretty obvious) but it just doesn't work for me. A sophomore Communication Arts student from my school could have done a way better work. *Sigh

Another group of people, putting their time, effort and resources on a sane thing but ending up with crap. If you're somehow connected to this group or can get in touch with any of them, please tell them to consider redoing this video. With this great of a cause, I just know you can and have to do better. By the way, here's the freakin' video.

Everyone has the power to reach everyone

This is how powerful the internet is right now and it will only get more powerful and better in the coming years with more technological advancements.

Purchasing everyday products, real estate properties, even finding hooters and jobs has never been easier. Now, given the right tools, you can even be in more than two places at once.

Like Peter Parker once said “with great power comes great responsibilities.” It is my hope that everyone will learn to use this powerful tool for the betterment of all.

Failed Reading and Web

“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of the past centuries.” - Descartes

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with reading. I’d really love to read more because I know that I’m doing a whole lot of good for myself if I do, but I’m a really lazy reader, not to mention stubborn- I only read materials that I like and nothing else. This is my major problem with reading- most materials I am able to put my hands on seem interesting enough to read but fail on keeping me interested enough to actually pursue the entire thing.
Today, I attempted to begin reading The Cardinal’s Hat by Mary Hollingsworth, a book I bought about a month ago and have been collecting dusts since. I was able to finish about 5 whole pages before I decided that the phasing was too slow for me and put it off for another time.
After setting the book on a counter top, I realized that I really want to be a better reader so I looked on the web for possible solutions to my problem.

To my dismay, it seems the web does not (or rather would not) offer instant and credible solutions to all my problems. There weren’t any real sites that offer credible and short (hello lazy reader looking for solution) information on how I can be a more proactive reader. Most of the sites I found just give out tips on how one can improve his reading comprehension without even taking into consideration if the person is actually motivated to read, and do not even mention the credibility of the information they’re offering. This is really a major disappointment for me cause I’ve always had this picture in my head that all the information mankind will ever need can be found on the world wide web, especially information that can cure a problem that is so prevalent amongst today’s youth. And though, today, the web has failed me to find an actual solution, it did give me one consolation for my seeking it for an answer.

The 7 Pleasurable Ways to Improve Your Reading Ability is an article I found that was authored by Steve Kaufmann (founder of thelinguist.com and, naturally, a linguist). Though the article does not actually address my problem directly (and is quite lengthy for me), I believe that reading between the lines of the 7 tips can help me find the answer. Please take the time to read the article and see for yourself what I’m talking about. If you find that the article is not an answer to your problem (which I’m hoping since you’ve been reading this is the same as mine), do not talk trash on this page. Instead, try to find a more effective answer somewhere else. Reading is objective but comprehension is not so much.

Your, You’re, Their, They’re, Its, It’s

How annoying is it to hear a host repeatedly use the phrase “at this point in time” during one program?As annoying as hearing your dad tell you to take “cock syrup” instead of cough syrup.

Now, I’m actually no grammarian or linguist or any kind of expert on anything. But it does bug me when learned people make usual and obvious grammatical errors. It bugs me so much that I end up correcting them right then and there with no respect as to who I am talking (or not talking) with.

I remember this one time at school when I and my friend Ross were talking to one of her professors, an ambassador. He talked in straight English but kept throwing wrong verb usages and tenses everywhere. After their conversation, Ross turned to me and asked me what my problem was. Of course I was like “what?” Then she said that I kept correcting the guy’s grammar under my breath- something I was not able to actually notice till she pointed it out. From that day on, I started noticing that even though I myself have grammatical flaws, it does not stop me from noticing errors on other people’s writing or speaking. And it’s not like I intend to notice it, its really unintentional and something I just do unconsciously.

There was this other instance when my friend, Bern, wrote an article that was published in the school paper. Everyone congratulated him for a great job on the article and they kept saying that they had “nose bleeds” while reading it. Of course I wasn’t one who’s actually interested in reading the school paper, but intrigue got the best of me and since I already paid for it with my miscellaneous fee I decided to grab one and check it out. Now as I was reading through the article, unconsciously, I took out my pen and started circling grammatical errors. And I didn’t even notice what I was doing till I was done with the entire article. After which, I thought to myself “why wasn’t the editor able to see these?”

Now I’m not really saying that I’m a great person or a champion of correct verb usage (which is just creepy) or anything of that sort. In fact I maybe a dumb pussy or a huge mother-fucking ass hole for posting this. But what I would really like is for people to start paying attention to the way they communicate. It’s really not that hard and can improve the quality of one’s mind in more ways than one.

To end this post, I have here 11 Little-Known Grammatical Errors which I’m hoping you would all take the time to read and absorb.

Post 1: Why The Pinoy Spectator?

The word blog is a contraction of the word ‘web log’ which is a site normally established and maintained by an individual. It is a personal space where the creator can post everything and anything that’s going on or has happened in his life including events, ideas, views, beliefs and emotions. Such contents make a blog an opening to one’s most intimate thoughts and sentiments- a window to one’s personality if you may. And this is the reason why creating a blog title is so hard for me- it’s like creating a new or an alternate name for yourself. Or creating a name for the opening where you allow people to see who you are (a very scary thought).

So after hours of sitting here in front of my screen browsing other people’s blogs, tweeting and doing almost every sane, logical and even illogical things you can do on Facebook, I was finally able to come up with a name for this new blog of mine- The Pinoy Spectator.

The Pinoy Spectator is actually the son of The World Spectator- my former Twitter user name before I changed it to the former. I’ve always used The World Spectator to denote myself as an observer of the world, one who does not belong here but a mere observer. But I’ve always find that the name lacks appeal; meaningful yes, but it has no appeal. No angst, no “it factor”, no distinction and very characterless. So I sought to find a better one.

My qualifications for finding a new name and blog title include being in the same chapter as an observer, having distinction, character and appeal and a title that speaks me. Now as I was going through my pursuit for this great title I suddenly stumbled upon a magazine called the American Spectator.

So as you can see The Pinoy Spectator is actually the son of the World Spectator with the American Spectator having been conceived and born in a matter of seconds. The spectator part has already been explained above and so to give justice to this, I will now explain the pinoy part.

Pinoy is a term used mainly by Filipinos to refer to themselves in general. Although the word was coined intentionally to distinguish the experiences of Filipino emigrants to the United States it is now a nationally accepted term (although still considered a slang) that denotes everyone of Filipino descent and heritage and has helped create a national and cultural identity. A proof of this is the usage by companies and (more timely) by politicians of the term to bring a more personal relation to brand promotion.

Now, although it is a fact that I am only half a Filipino by blood, I do consider myself to be fully Pinoy. I grew up in the Philippines and am living as a Filipino. I have full Filipino rights as well as full Filipino characteristics; I am more often late, I am generally lazy and like to procrastinate, I like street foods, I believe that every man deserves to live in a democratic country, free from abuse and corruption and I value most Filipino ideals.

So to wrap things up as well as make this entire thing somehow coherent, I used the term The Pinoy Spectator because I am an individual first, a Pinoy and an observer. So you can expect that my posts are going to be products of my observations and are mostly about Pinoy related stuff or Pinoy influeced.