Human naturation?

I saw the funniest thing today as I was on my way to the little girls room to pee. I had to take a picture of it, obviously. Then I started thinking of all the stupid trivial things I would notice people would naturally do.

1. How even when the elevator buttons are lit and the lift is making its way to
wherever floor you are, people just keep pressing the button anyway like it would make the lift get to you faster.

2. Or like how in subways, they have clocks or some form of notification system informing the commuters that IE. STEP BACK, TRAIN WILL ARRIVE SHORTLY. or TRAIN IS ARRIVING IN 30 SECONDS; yet people still stick their heads out and choose to glare at the empty space as though their glare could magically drag the train closer or as though they wouldn't be able to see or hear the train as it comes.

3. Or how icons invent and people welcome it with open arms. Like how Steve Jobs said, "thinnovation" when asked how he went about creating the new Macbook Air. Thinnovation. Apparently any word ending with "ation" makes you look so cool, so smart, so informed.

Need a faster car? Swiftynvention

Want a baby? Insemination.

Losing weight? Slimination.

I myself need to do some sliminating cause apparently, I'm fat. Obesiation? Extreme corpulation? Maximal paunchiation?

Emerging of new works

Icelandic Sound Artist Runar Magnusson makes a stop at the University of the Philippines Wednesday, January 23 at a Production Design Class taught by a friend, Yason Banal. His work is avant-garde and experimental; and watching his 20-minute concert can be quite alienating to a certain point. He starts off playing that sound of a muffled microphone on full blast projected onto the speakers, while simultaneously his visuals include a fast-blinking light bulb so erratic it makes you feel uncomfortable. Uncomfortable because you're in an auditorium with strangers and the natural light kind of makes you feel exposed but you can't really understand why it bothers you.
The sound then transgresses into high pitched beats and beeps and the light bulb picks up speed as it switches on and off frantically and all of a sudden you feel like some one or some thing is coming.
Light bulb switches off.
Sound gives off a vibe that is like a howl, and you start thinking if it's asking for help or if it's crying. At this point, you forget the feeling of being exposed and of being in an auditorium with strangers. I closed my eyes and the sounds transport me into a different place wherein I picture a lot of running and a lot of gasping and as the howling noises dissolve, I hear something close to like the sound of the waves, but electronically.
I open my eyes to a light bulb now swaying in a circle.
Then more noises filter over the other and towards the end he concludes with a muffled noise different from the introductory muffled noise. Then he reveals the final muffled noise came from the bad speakers in the auditorium. That statement stands strong and alone after being introduced to this world of sound art because you gain greater appreciation for the mundane sounds you hear if you pay much closer attention to it.
Although it may be hard to see it, but everything around you is art.
***
New York based DJ Stretch Armstrong also stops by the Philippines to spin at Embassy Wednesday, January 23. He hardly spins hip-hop and mostly indie, electronic, house and trance, which is good because we definitely need to hear something new in the country. With a strong background in a wide range of music, in an interview he claims to love the 80s and 90s era because of its vibrant and rich scene, which he claims, "New York will never see again". He was fun, and his girlfriend was nice enough to entertain me in their room as we watched TV and spoke of the shocking death of Heath Ledger. The couple could not wait to try and see everything Filipino, it was cute.
Thanks to Mesh (left) for videotaping me and to Jon (right) for allowing me to have an exclusive interview with Stretch.***
Yesterday Thursday January 24, was the PRESS and VIP screening for film, "Cloverfield" at Gateway mall.
This is us squished at my car, lol. U.S. Record-breaker Cloverfield could not have come at a perfect time where raw footage is emerging king. Style was alright but the concept was ingenious and an appropriate wake up call to what the audience wants to see and consequently, where media is heading.
It starts off funny I must say, startling, and yes, the monster is revealed.

Erika Tapalla, reporting live

LIGHTSCAMERAACTIONROLLINGFor yesterday's class, we had a mock newscasting session which was fun at the same time surreal. Who knew that the lights in that classroom actually worked and the entire place could be transformed into a mini-studio. Word. The Communications Department should ideally be the most technologically advanced part of the university but instead, our department is so ghetto and so far from the mainland. It used to be a dormitory and through time, stories of ghosts, creaking stairs, and dead bodies have surfaced making most students afraid to pee alone or be stranded after the 730PM class.
Anyway, it was an activity the students did all by themselves. You had to think of your own script/write your own script, think of your own twist, create your own set. Our teacher, Ms. Robles directed us, while the students who weren't on-cam helped off-cam. We got to touch those precious cameras the department won't even lend out to film majors. We got to press the keyboard for transitions. We got to see each other both live and on television screens.
And here I am.
I just realized, the lights were too yellow creating this over-exposed effect. Oh well. I had a grand time reading my own news, and practiced my Filipino. So after one run, we had 1 take and that was it. Of course, my bangs fell in the middle of it all and I wasn't allowed to fix it. Darn. Lesson learned: BRING HAIRSPRAY.
***
Pictures from last Friday's Soled Out! event @ Temple Bar. Congratulations to Christelly for a smooth party.

Like the Nike slogan: Just do it

Tobey Maguire looked so hot as Spidey, not so much because of that tight black suit wrapped around his toned bod, but because he swiftly pranced from building to building, ever so gracefully swinging from the tallest skyscraper to the next as though there was an illusion of having a safety net break your fall or a harness wrapped around your pelvis to catch you. There's something fascinating, or maybe even attractive, seeing someone willingly put themselves in so much physiological danger but survive it. And survive it elegantly at that.

Luckily for the female population who like me, have entertained the idea of spending the rest of her young adult life with someone like Tobey or Spidey for the very reason I have stated, I am pleased to tell you that I have found a solution. I didn't exactly find a Spidey costume or a look alike of Tobey; but I did find members of Parkour Philippines who could jump far and high, and, hear this: they don't need a tight spandex suit tighter than your tights to show you their skills.Adapted from Parkour pioneer David Belle's philosophy or discipline of getting to point A to point B as efficiently as possible using only the strength of the human body, Parkour Philippines have gathered to train their minds and bodies to achieve the same goal. Seeing some of their YouTube videos, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about this art form and actually participate. After an exchange of quite an amount of SMSes, a jamming session was scheduled and posted online for the benefit of other traceurs (Parkour practioners) and first-timers who also wanted to give it a go. I must admit I was scared, only because I woke up late and got lost on the way to the meeting place. Because of such distractions, I had forgotten to feel anything re: Parkour lessons. In fact, I was actually zoning out while warming up and conditioning, just blankly following because it was too early to be touching your toes and jumping around for something I honestly was half-hearted about. In other words, I came as a reporter and not as a student; PLUS, I knew I couldn't do what they do in a day -- firstly because it takes time and training and secondly, they wouldn't let me anyway -- so my mind was fogged with many things.

So there I was, admittedly just rolling with the punches, more excited to see and film them do their thing than doing the "easy stuff" myself. After warming up, we separated and transferred to Luneta Park. I took my own vehicle and as I was looking for the Datu Statue, I see two guys with Parkour shirts on, walking aimlessly in the bright sun, like myself. I thought they must know where that Datu statue was and true enough, they did know but got tired of waiting since they've been waiting for a while and even came from out of town just for this jamming session. Damn.

Finally, we got to that Datu statue and everything was just a blur. Dudes would just walk walls, jump over rails randomly and I felt so out of place and remember thinking, "Wtf is going on???" Imagine a huddled group of guys just suddenly disperse and head towards different directions doing everything but walking, yelling "C'mon Erika!" as they start rolling around in the concrete. LOL. Awwkkkwaaard!

I trailed behind them, by foot of course, and they taught me so many moves that I would forget that I was there primarily to film. Suddenly, I was having so much fun crawling on rails and jumping off of rails because of that rush you get AS you are doing it.
This is me trying it. Believe it or not, but most of it is actually instinctive and after repetition, it becomes beautifully instinctive. Like when you're being chased, and you're forced to jump to the next building, you just do it because you'll get caught and die and while doing it, you don't look good doing it. So I feel with Parkour, you learn to take charge of this instinctive nature and efficiently and beautifully express it whenever you feel like it.

What I loved most about it was that it forced you to just do it. No holding back. No hesitations. The moment doubt creeps into your head, you're done for. Believe you can, picture what you want to do achieve, go for it, and just hope for the best.

Just like life.

So with an aching wrist and a less daunting outlook on the obstacles (both figuratively and literally) here on earth, I leave you with this thought.

Relationships

St. Thomas Aquinas believes the universe is a journey. A journey where the Creator guides every Being and being to its fulfillment according its nature through its self-diffusive Good. Cutting right past the metaphysics, it tells us that every action, decision, judgment we make is, in essence, a portion of "the Good" coming from an Infinite Source of eternal "goodness". In other words, every thing and every being, has a source precisely because every thing and every being originated from an idea. A chair would not be a chair if it weren't for a carpenter who thought about it; who wouldn't have known about the chair if it weren't for someone else, and this exponentially goes on until we reach the "Highest Good," whom St. Thomas has identified as: God. Given so, can an atheist/anyone who doesn't believe in God, still believe in this type of metaphysics? Idk. Maybe I have to start reading in that class instead of getting by via attentive listening in lectures. I'm starting to get worried, its nearly graduation and things are coming down my way like 10-pound hale stones one right after the other. And yesterday, we had a long meeting with our multimedia team, got to know and grew a little more accustomed to each other, and of course, discussed roles and exciting new projects for this year 2008!

Multimedia Editor Joey Alarilla
Multimedia Editorial Assistant Abigail Kwok
ex-Gaming Reporter now turned Community Evangelist Alex Villafania
It was a good meeting and a great chance for everyone to tune in to the same page and think on the same wavelength, which is so crucial for the team to survive. In any case, INQUIRER.net (which is NO LONGER INQ7 OR AFFILIATED WITH GMA7) has so much in store, not only in the multimedia division, but as a whole, for 2008 so it's best to stay linked and be witnesses to this great change in RP journalism and media.

***

It's that time of that year again, when your friends have to fly out and go back to school wherever. Studying in an International School, you kind of grow up with a constant burden in your life: people are provisionally physically detached and that gap of absence causes rifts and provokes thoughtless bonds (and awkward silences when paths do decide to cross again); but because we are strung together by this thick string I've come to discover as the "vital adolescent phase experienced in a close-knit communal arrangement", we are drawn together despite the intensity of changes. Ultimately, the test of genuine friendship consequently derives from a "feeling" the person undergoes while in the company of the rest in a spontaneous situation -- if it's uncomfortable, fun, light, chill, dramatic, brainless etc., I strongly believe it is tantamount to the magnitude of the friendship initially formed in those adolescent days. The true ones stay regardless of time, space, and distance; and I'm glad that despite the erratic crossings, I still have a good sense of which strings to nurture and which to cut.

These are photos from last Friday's get together at Marie's. I'm so happy I was able to take Dennis out at least ONCE during his stay, after totally entertaining me in Shanghai.
I have to go study and research now.

Iiiiiiiiiiit's SHOW TIME!

After 4 days of lengthy hours of hard work put into the dance rehearsals, it all comes down to a 5-minute performance oozing with energy, complete focus, and projection. After the repetitive runs, you're ears and body have grown accustomed to not only syncing itself to the beat, but unifying itself with the other dancers that you tend to naturally breathe and move together as one. Ironically, it takes years to be able to form a group of dancers that blend well together; but in this case, it took only 4 days for everyone to flow; which goes to show that things can be done if all parties are open to it.

Pictures of the DAY OF the birthday-concert taping of the Philippines Mega Star Sharon Cuneta, to be aired this Sunday on local channel ABS-CBN 2.Chester and his piggy faceLovebirds Froilan and CrissieThe teamHighschool confidante KC and ISM Dance Company choreographer, mentor, and motherduck Eleanor "Yek" BarlongayWith Ella and Yek in full-blown thick-ass makeup with false eyelashes, which made me feel like a drag queenAll dressed in our supertight catsuit! We all look alike and look like were from Cirque du Soleil.Thanks to our makeup artist (who also works as an impersonator)!
After warm up comes yet another quick run in our dressroom with Ayen and her Tiger eyesThen we drinkAnd take more photosAnd practice our projection, which 11 yearold Ella and Chester rock atWhile Peter gets a re-touch
Making whacky faces with HipHop King Ace on my right and lead pullerI Heart Yek For LifeI Heart KC For LifeTo Highschool and Beyond!With Tito Doug, THE Douglas Nierras. Thank you so much!

A dancer's bod years later

I'm dancing again and although mentally and physically it takes a toll on you after a long time of no training whatsoever, at the end of 5-7 hours of hyper-stretching and strengthening, even when your anaerobic system is churning on rusty wheels and you start seeing stars and feel like passing out, you feel good. Any dancer could probably relate to this feeling, and the feeling of waking up in the morning with your muscles sore you practically try and roll yourself off of the bed like a plank because sitting up, folding your legs, getting up, is just physically painful. But it feels so good and I'm loving my bruised knees and tight stomach (because inhaling and sucking in your gut hurts).
We're prepping for KC Concepcion's mom's birthday celebration/concert on Thursday and its been exciting. Powerdance is so hardcore. Douglas Nierras is terrifying but an amazing choreographer. I'll try and make time to get more photos but for now, I only have 1 that I took before yesterday's rehearsal. I'll add more later, and try to include videos of us fooling around and freestyling.
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More pictures for today, after strengthening during our 10-minute water break.Yes, we like to fool around.