Cinemalaya 2020

I had mixed feelings about this year’s Cinemalaya. It was an introvert’s dream. Everything online for a really affordable price and you can enjoy at the comforts of your own sofa. No need to form a group chat, meet with friends, pick what to watch, struggle to get tickets and gather at CCP. At the end of the day, who am I kidding? Do I really want that?

We usually just watch one main competition shorts and two full length film but with Vimeo, the roster is just overwhelming. Once you sign in there are 60 films available, old and new, main competition and exhibition. They also had quarantine experiments that I wasn’t able to see because there’s just not enough time for all these in 6 days. Yes, that’s the duration of the rental. In the end I saw three full length and a LOT of shorts. It was a lot to take in so here’s a list of what I remember.

Watch Me Kill – Very good cinematography, DP and color grading but I can’t even remember the ending. Maybe plot line didn’t quite hit the mark for me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jesusa – Highly recommended. Good story. Great character development from start to finish. It’s inconceivable to for that persona to even exist. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Circa – Star studded! This is definitely an homage to Philippine Cinema. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ang Gasgas na Plaka ni Lolo Bert – So cute =) I was able to predict the ending but it was still sweet to see it coming. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Excuse Me Miss Miss Miss -Oh, the struggle to hack the unfair system of this fucked up society. — That was beautifully illustrated in this piece. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Living Things – A fresh take on how we choose to live. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fatigued – Tried to play along but didn’t get it at all. ⭐️

Pabasa Kan Pasyon – Bad son selling religion. Great DP too, Mayon volcano was so majestic. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Slums – Media tries to falsely exaggerate the condition of minority but I think Filipinos are generally happy people which isn’t that common in other nationality. You can’t beat that spirit. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tokwifi – Love doesn’t need to be in the same language. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tahanan – Heartbreaking father who went out of prison, unwanted by his family, metaphorically enters another prison as he go into a home facility. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jepoy – Sad animation with an open ending but I don’t want to imagine! I just really wanna know what happened there. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

How I Jumpstarted This Pandemic in Three Steps

1. Watch CONTAGION early on. I also saw a couple of zombie movies like Train to Busan, 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. This helped me be aware that this really is a big thing and it is going to affect our future big time like there will be a pre-COVID19 and post-COVID19 circa. It was also important to have a little fear on what can possibly happen like looting when have less and less resources and nothing to eat or who will get the vaccine first? How will it be distributed? With these, it is easier to accept that we will be like this for a long time until somebody finds a cure.
2. Read A Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. As this is about a family in hiding for two years during the Nazi occupation, this served as sort of fake assurance that it’s okay to stay home, that there’s a lot of creativity we can cultivate with this isolation, that we need to exercise to keep our muscles from degenerating? , that it’s okay if we can’t have all the food we’re craving for. I know this might come off as me, blinded by wealth gap and worse situation for the less fortunate but in the end we just need to do what we have to do to keep our sanity.
3. Play Animal Crossing for 600 hours. This got me a long way on the first three months. It really kept me in a bubble of make believe. It might not be deemed productive but at least it delayed the negative effects of quarantine. When I got tired of the game, I was more prepared for the new normal and whatever’s coming ahead.

Cinemalaya 2019

I’ve been watching Cinemalaya films for quite a few years now but this year I braved the heavy rains and drove to CCP. We saw Tabon by Xian Lim, Shorts A and Belle Douleur (A Beautiful Pain) by Atty. Joij V. Alonso. To be fair I wasn’t expecting anything because I just paid for the tickets not knowing what we’re going to watch. I just made sure one of them is one of the three cougar film entries.

Tabon was less than Ok, well I didn’t expect much from this one. The plot twist was okay but the progression of the story was a little bit predictable. Why is the title even Tabon? Was this somehow because of the cave? ⭐️⭐️

Gatilyo was a good take on PTSD. ⭐️⭐️

Heist School was remarkable! Go USTe!! Few minutes of this gave me the satisfaction and different emotions I can get from a full length film. It was so funny, all the comic relief, conflict and resolution was very well established and the high school set plot can be paralleled to a real life adult heist. Maybe it’s just me having this analogy in my head that Mik Mik = coke that reminds us that drugs fucks up everything and no one gets left behind but the best part is the ending. I really loved every bit if of the main story but these guys weren’t done, they still had to give us that fantastic ending we never could have guessed. Bravo. Bravo. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sa Gabing Ang Tanging Liwanag ay Paniniwala was just confusing. I thought there was something deep that I didn’t get but when I was discussing it with friends, it has been unanimous there was really nothing. All I remember was the running scene that will give you vertigo and the disproportionate cgi fire on the tree. ⭐️

Disconnection notice was so cool. It was a very good portrayal of a relationship between two siblings from the province sharing a dorm in Manila. Cinematography was really cool and the whole film was shot in black and white. Use of local dialect with subs is always a good idea. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘Wag Mo ‘Kong Kausapin has maximized it’s medium for the story that it’s trying to tell. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Belle Douleur was well done. From script, synopsis, musical score, cinematography to casting, I wouldn’t have it any different. Everything was in place. All sex scenes made sense and were so beautifully done with such class. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Malamaya was lacking a tiny bit of something I can’t figure out yet. The director of photography and set design was so good but the script and character development didn’t cut it. I wish there was more explanation on where the protagonist was coming from. ⭐️⭐️

John Denver Trending needless to say was great. It’s so real and raw and sad. Won all the awards. Just google it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Weekend Binge E2

I really don’t know how I started watching Queen of the South. My first thoughts were, ohhh female narcos. They can’t get enough of women empowerment, they decided to create a female narcos series. with Mexico-Texas border shenanigans because Trump is in. First season was cool. Oh yes there’s two! Survival story and rising up the ladder of the cartel industry. Season two was cheesy and really confusing. Lots of new characters and broader plot line that’s so trying hard to be unique. I didn’t like the ending too but that’s just for me, I don’t know if my mom did.. lol i’ll ask. Overall, it was totally “Meh”. I would rather get that book I saw on Fullybooked about Escobar’s girlfriend narrating his story.

I like reading non-fiction recently, from Elon Musk to Anthony Bourdain. They are like real life superheroes and it seems like there’s tiny bit of hope that you can actually be like them irl.

Back to Netflix, Esports was explained! Like it is something so peculiar that needs explaining (like K-pop :P). Well, esports world isn’t really that new to me. Only thing I learned was the term Nerf actually came from nerf guns plus the history behind. Explained is really good at explaining! especially in the bitcoin episode. I love the musical score, statistics and data visualization. I’m not sure I can explain things like these in a way a nine year old would understand. I love you VOX! Always.

I’ve read from somewhere that Dear White People was really good like 100% fresh. I tried watching the pilot but it just really didn’t get me. Was so lame, got bored. Also from this list, Master of None was top 1. I loved it but I think It wasn’t really the best of the best Netflix has to offer.

What up! How I Met Your Mother became available this week! Was excited because there’s something new to audio-book. I mean something to watch on the background while working on something else. It is so LEGEN wait for it .. DARY that it demands my full attention. I think I saw this somewhere around 2011? I don’t remember but I was in my early 20s =)). I realized it wasn’t an ordinary sitcom. F.R.I.E.N.D.S. was much more comic and spontaneous or just funny that does not have plenty of life lessons. HIMYM has so much feels, it still make me laugh and cry and remember all the values that shaped my 20s. I remember why I don’t like LDR, why I started to watch Star Wars (shut up and don’t judge me) and why I don’t want to bring someone I don’t see myself spending the rest of my life with to weddings. There were ideologies that was picked up involuntarily like that thing that Barney said “When I’m sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead”. I used to do that a lot… but I guess I have become so awesome and being always awesome is tiring. Yeah it is nice to watch this again on a more mature perspective. I’m still on season 2 so… let’s see.

Lastly for today’s episode or hmm what do you call a part of a series of blogs? Idk yet but I extended my HOOQ subscription for 7 days because there was a new indie film. 12 starring Alessandra de Rossi and some rando. It was like the third installment of Before Series -Before Midnight. Two character movie shot on one house but says a lot about reality that punches you on the face kind of hard. I cried.

Weekend Binge E1

I started season 5 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Jake Peralta with beard is hot hot hot hot hot! I can’t binge because it is not on Netflix so I still have to download and cast and it is taking so much time. I don’t understand why it got cancelled, the cases are getting more interesting like an actual serious NYPD format series but anyway, it’s back.

Globe gave me free 1 month of HOOQ and I saw Justice League. The app is bad and buffering sucks. Justice League was good. I mean if you’re used to watching DC animated movies, it is “acceptable” just don’t compare it to Marvel. Period.

I saw Batman Ninja the other week and it’s awesome! Plot so thick, art so good packed with everything Japanese.

I got Disney Life 6 months for free! thanks to Globe again. Text Free Disneylife to 8080. You’re welcome. I LOVE it!!! I love having all those classics on stream. I am very young =) I only remember those happy meal toys but I barely remember the plot of those films. It is nice seeing these movies again on a different perspective, understanding the psychology and cultural references. First thing I saw was The Hunchback of Notre Dame and damn! what a frienzone story. How can a kiddie movie speak so much about religion, bullying and feminism? I also like the Disney shorts that we seldom see in the movie house and of course Marvel and Star Wars. I still haven’t seen any of the “behind the magic” but I will check out for sure.

Before going back to being a corporate slave, I also watched LEGO in The Toys that Made Us. I’ve seen a couple of Lego company story from bottom up but this one has more to say on the 90’s ups and downs to 2014, always inspiring.

Lastly, I’m so happy that VOX is on Netflix and I’ve been waiting for an earworm episode and YASSSS K-POP. It is such an eye-opener and just plain gross. So… K-POP is not a genre, it’s a manufactured can’t-even-call-it-art straight from the factory, for export and supported by the government. The artists are controlled like a robot and the song writers are Swedish? Who are you kidding?

 

Beyond the Box Philippines Refuse to Replace a Defective Product I Bought Within 7 Days

I recently purchased an iPhone X from Beyond the Box Uptown mall last Monday May 7. I also purchased a casing which is reflected in the receipt. I am confident that I have received a reliable unit, I have seen the staff unseal the unit for me.

By May 11, while having lunch there was a green light that appeared on the left side. It was never dropped nor spilled with any liquid on. I looked it up on google and it appeared to be a common problem on Iphone X hence they call it green line of death. https://techcrunch.com/…/mysterious-green-line-of-death-ap…/ .

Beyond the Box Uptown advised me that all returns shall be made to the service center because they will have a technician look at, create a report and advise if the unit should be replaced. I went to Beyond the Box Service Center in VMall last Saturday May 12 and after waiting, they told me that they will not replace the product even if it was returned within 7 days. The product should be left with them as they escalate the problem to apple care and I had to wait until Monday May 18 for results.

Today I received a message saying that there was a clear sign of liquid damage and not covered, eligible for exchange price. This means that I have to pay for more than half the price which is around 40k PHP so they can replace the product. Also on the report there was “Display easily removed and found out no security adhesive.
As per checking found out unusual markings on internal display but LCI is not activated.”

This is unacceptable.

Claim 1: It’s been 5 days, I have enough eye witness and I can solicit a narrative from them that they’re able to see me at any given time during that 5 days. In addition, I have no prior know-how OR capability to open the unit.

Claim 2: I have not submerged the unit in water. LCI (Liquid Contact Indicator) is not activated just proves it. Having this and “clear sign of water damage” on the same report is unreasonable.

Claim 3: Extorting 40k from me. This is unacceptable. I CAN-NOT cough out an additional 40k after paying 65k a week ago. This is a carefully planned decision and I’m coming from an iPhone 6.

 

Update: —

I called Apple Support last Monday May 14, they promised to get in touch with the distributor and call me same time the next day. May 15, 2 hours after the agreed time, there was no call from Apple so I called their hotline again and talked to a new engineer. She put me on hold while she talk to the manager of Beyond the Box Service Center VMall then she got back at me and told me the good news that the distributor is now willing to replace the defective device and luckily there’s a stock so I can pick it up immediately.

The Return of the Young Prince

It’s been a while since I’ve written something about the books I’ve read and this year i’ve read plenty. I’m trying to finish The Return of the Young Prince tonight because the first time i tried to read it, I decided I need to purchase a soft teal erasable highlighter first because there’s just so much to take note of. That was to no avail so I bought an original Stabilo Boss pastel teal highlighter instead. The subjects are far to heavy for this to be classified as a children’s book. As I remember it was where the sales woman from Fully Booked picked it up from. (Thank you Ana! I already got my Fully Booked discount card) Going back, this isn’t a book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry making it a remake sequel of some sort and it looks like the little prince have moved on in his life abandoning his flower and suffered a terrible divorce and betrayal by a friend , trying to find love again and suffering some midlife and existential crisis in a shape of a teen. Also, this book is not for the agnostic, its God is not universal, well there was one mention of Buddha. This book is filled with big words that are so hard to digest all at once. I guess I bought a highlighter just so I can look back to those inspiring words in a snap unlike The Little Prince that I read once a year. (Oh please someone get me the pop up book for my birthday) I feel so bittersweet about this book, nevertheless it teaches a lot about love, kindness, forgiveness and happiness.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

I did not follow the buzz on this book because I said to myself, It’s a script not a book! JKR did not write all of it which was not that true and maybe I held on too much on what she said before that lightning can’t strike at the same tree twice so she won’t probably write another book. I also think they are just milking the franchise therefore I did not pre-order.

On the day of the release, of course I was surprised and sad that I don’t have a copy. I tried my luck on the second day on a not so famous mall and I was really hopeless that I’d get one so I marched heavily towards the customer service counter and amazingly it’s available at 1414 php with free 500 php gc! Boo you Fully Booked! You might get sued.

Unwrapping this hardbound book felt so nostalgic and magical. It was like saying hi to long lost friends you haven’t seen for a while. Flipping through the pages stirred a lot of emotions and among them are nostalgia and disgust. Quite a paradox but yeah, I think I was just reading it for the sake of getting it over with. There are more “wtf” moments than actual awe. The time travel deus ex machina was just sooo cliche in all forms of media and what excempts HP from using it. Meh.

I also thought that this is more of a parenting book to appeal to the former HP fans that are now adults. Well I’m sorry I’m not a parent yet. Being an orphan parent must really be hard.. aww man. Oh well this is a month late for a decent review. Tchau.

02.20.16// Goodvybes Music Festival Philippines

I wasn’t sure I was going to watch this at all because I think it’s better to catch Passion Pit’s solo concert for 4k like the one that was cancelled but I went out with a friend and I knew that they were playing full concert sets, and full sets for 4 bands? thats SULIT. Two days before the festival, I went to Robinsons Galleria and got my tix.

So I got there around 6:30 and they didn’t allow me to bring the pack of cigarettes in my bag, meh I took it out of the carton and scattered it in my hand bag. I roamed around to claim the VIP freebies, saw the shops. I liked that iPhone 6 wood cover but wifi was weak and I wasn’t able to purchase it through Paymaya. My friends came, we ate cold packed fried chicken from Max’s with warm iced tea, just in time for us to hear Stars’ first song! Hold on when you get love. We ran to the ramp and enjoyed their set but nobody knew their songssss and I was the only one singing to From the Night and Dead Hearts. I kinda don’t like them live, they are like typical American folk artists that perform like Ecosmith but maybe subconsciously I like that kind of music. Anyway, here are some vids for those who love Stars.


We went down the ramp for Oh Wonder. I think I only have like two Oh Wonder songs in my playlist so this is basically almost the first time I heard them and it was magic! This is the band with the most crystal clear voices ever and I enjoyed their whole set as if listening to their whole album via mp3. Best part of their set was when the girl said “How the fuck did you know our songs?”

They were announcing the bands on the other tent but of course Chvrches is next and we just had to move forward to get a better spot. Aww she was so pretty ❤ and goddamn energetic and yeah we were that near I can see the markings of her nipples beneath her large shirt or some kind of dress. It was all worth it but I was already starting to feel back pains. Hey I think it was already 11:30 and we were standing and dancing for around five hours already. There were songs from the new album I didn’ notice and of course, as expected, Mother We Share was epic!

And it’s time for Passion Pit!! There were long waits in between sets and we were just chatting in the middle of chaos, too bad I felt like fainting so I went out the crowd, bought 100 peso glass of coke from the ramp, sit down a while and miraculously came back to where my friends were, brought them coke while the people were really staring sharply at me. Thick face and sense of direction is the key! Also, I think it was Pyrolympics season at MOA so there were really nice fireworks to fool ourselves that we weren’t tired yet. At this point my whole body was already aching (signs of aging) and I was praying that they start soon because I can’t take it anymore >.< Now that it’s time to talk about Passion Pit, I’m running out of words. I guess that’s the best way to describe it, I’m speechless. Take a Walk made me cry ='(

After A week, I was still Goodvybes hungover so I made this playlist. Enjoy!

YAP proposal #62: Mechanical pest removal (Josine Macaspac, Philippines)

The GFAiR Blog

In the Philippines, losses from post-harvest and storage due to pests for corn can reach as high as 50%, resulting in massive reduction in total yield and profits especially in rural areas where storage facilities do not have adequate protection against these pests. At present, industry standards for controlling post-harvest and storage pests utilize a two-prong method via cooling with dry ice (to prevent condensation within the stored produce) to reduce pest activity and fumigation to kill the pests.

However, this method is expensive and therefore, unfeasible for many rural farmers who have neither the financial resources nor access to the needed materials. There lies one of the biggest problems in the Philippine agricultural post-harvest and storage system, and one that I hope I can present a good solution for.

My name is Josine A. Macaspac, a 27-year old Agriculture graduate from the University of the Philippines, Los Baños who…

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