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.
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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.
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Pictures from last Friday's Soled Out! event @ Temple Bar. Congratulations to Christelly for a smooth party.

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.

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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.