Defining the National Artist

One of the big stories here in the Philippines is the selection of National Artists for the year.

A committee has been formed to do the task of nominating, evaluating, short-listing and eventually awarding the National Artist who will receive gets cash awards, a P1M annual funding for their projects. plus special treatments given to living heroes and leaders, such as a place of honor during national events and a state funeral and burial at the Heroes’ Cemetery.

Given that the people’s taxes pay for these expenses, plus the fact that the chosen artists represent the entire country, it is only natural that reactions arise from suspicious appointments and anomalies on the process.

Apparently, the original list for this year was altered by Malacanang, removing 1 name and adding 4 more (the president not only proclaims the awardees, but he or she has the power to veto or add names to the list).

While there are protesters who question the process done to come up with the final line-up, I think this issue boils down to the 4 additional individuals. I won’t give out names, nor question their artistic abilities, but I will give a description of a person who fits the bill, “National Artist of the Philippines”.

The Wikipedia entry explains it best:

a title given to a Filipino who has been given the highest recognition for having made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts, namely, Music, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts, Literature, Film, Broadcast Arts, Fashion Design and Architecture, and Allied Arts.

Criteria:

1. Living artists who have been Filipino citizens for the last ten years prior to nomination as well as those who have died after the establishment of the award in 1972 but were Filipino citizens at the time of their death;
2. Artists who have helped build a Filipino sense of nationhood through the content and form of their works;
3. Artists who have distinguished themselves by pioneering in a mode of creative expression or style, making an impact on succeeding generations of artists;
4. Artists who have created a significant body of works and/or have consistently displayed excellence in the practice of their art form, enriching artistic expression or style; and
5. Artists who enjoy broad acceptance through prestigious national and/or international recognition, awards in prestigious national and/or international events, critical acclaim and/or reviews of their works, and/or respect and esteem from peers within an artistic discipline.

Two of the 4 names caused an uproar among fellow artists, including living National Artists:

THEATER: Although this person has created a renowned theater group called PETA, or the Philippine Educational Theater Association, she also happens to be the executive director of the committee handling the award.

VISUAL ARTS AND FILM: He was a past nominee who was rejected twice, and has made a name as creator of comic characters and as director of massacre films (true stories of gory crimes that have happened in the past).

So, do they deserve being called National Artists, eventually having equal status with the likes of Lino Brocka (the first Filipino film maker who exhibited his work at Cannes, whose movies garnered international recognition and was the director of what is said to be the greatest Filipino film ever made) and Rolando Tinio (who introduced experimental theater to students and modernized the Filipino traditional style of writing)?

Well, one may deserve the title, but conflict of interest overshadows her contribution to the theater world.

And the other, I guess he has to wait until it is proven that massacre movies are innovative, excellent, highly respected, critically acclaimed, nationalistic works and character/storyline creations (not to be confused with illustrations) for comics really do fall under visual arts.

Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite, an iconic CBS News journalist who defined the role of anchorman for a generation of television viewers, died Friday at the age of 92.

His career peak was before my time, but here I am, remembering the man whose voice I often heard when significant events in modern history are featured on TV.

 

Who could forget that very moment he announced President John F. Kennedy’s death?

Or his 27-hour air time to share with the viewers Apollo 11’s 30-hour mission to the moon?

The “8th astronaut”, the “most trusted man in America”, the greatest journalist in the world is gone.

 

 

RIP, Mr. Cronkite. Thank you.

Life’s Lessons

From the Riverdale Gang…

If this is for real, it only goes to show that:

1. Love can either be blind or practical.

2. Good girls don’t end up with the dream boat..

3. You may be the title character in your own world, but it doesn’t you’re an intelligent person.

4. “One of the guys” is just that – one of the guys.

Race to a Million for Malaria

A few days ago, Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) challenged CNN (@cnnbrk)to a race to garner 1M followers at Twitter. Why? Well, it started as a test on the powers of the media network as the most influential company online (If he wins, Kutcher says he will "ding-dong ditch" CNN founder Ted Turner’s house.) But as days passed, it has become much more than just a challenge of egos.

It became a huge phenomenon that companies such as EA Games pledged 10 games to lucky @aplusk followers and a special character on SIMS 3 for the 1,000,000th follower.

Kutcher, on his part, pledged 10K moquito nets to the “Malaria No More” group.

It was quite entertaining to see these tweets:

So who won? Kutcher, because he is, after all, the king of Twitter.

CNN has conceded (it reached it’s millionth mark an hour after Kutcher):

 

 

Congratulations to @aplusk and to Malaria No More.

 

 

Jeff Staple

Graphic designer, Founder and Creative Director of Staple Design and Reed Space. He creates street-wear ensembles most of the time so he’s not really someone I know well.

But I stumbled upon his Twitter, and read in one of his posts the name “Jollibee“… and this got me thinking, another Filipino who has not been under my radar? Jollibee, man. That says a lot.

To view Jeff Staple’s websites, click on the link below.

Kokua Music Festival

In 2007, the Kokua Music Festival featured performances by various artists namely, Eddie Vedder, Jack Johnson, Boom Gaspar and Zach Gill (from ALO). On the 3rd and last day, the audience witnessed magic happen when all of them went on stage to cap off the event in Honolulu, Hawaii, with their rendition of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released“.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any YouTube video of this moment, but, lucky you, some good soul posted the MP3 over at his website.

Local Music News: February 12, 2009

PROTECTING THE MUSIC

Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist-Composer Gary Granada has been battling a major network’s supposed “basic structure” use of a jingle he submitted to them (as a comprehensive study). The network eventually disapproved the said comp and called in another composer to work on the project. When the TVC aired, Granada was surprised to find distinct similarities between the final music and the one he sent.

Naturally, Granada called the attention of the network, but probably due to their “inability” to address the concerns raised, he took the route that drew attention to his issues – he used the internet. Via e-mail, he explained in detail (even attaching audio files of the ad and his work for comparison) how a major media giant “took advantage of his composition”.

I’m not really an expert when it comes to music rights, but since I’ve worked on royalties for some of the ad jingles in the past, these are the things I know:

1. A comprehensive study is still owned by the creators, and contracts between clients and suppliers/freelancers normally stipulate that intellectual properties or material ownership by the payees only cover the final materials produced.

2. If the artist was paid for the song he/she made for a specific project, “rights to use the work produced” is different from “complete ownership”. The latter requires the creator to waive his rights/royalty/name over the song.

Maybe this was where Granada was coming from.

The publicity that surrounded this situation finally resulted to reactions from those who matter: The Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and the network. At least, his argument is finally being noticed.

The question is: Were the official statements enough?

FILSCAP released a letter saying that it fully supports Granada, one of its members, and his fight for his rights. I’m just wondering, though, how it is supporting the 2^nd composer tapped by the network… since she is also a member of the said organization.

The network retaliated and replied to the FILSCAP letter saying that the case should be between Granada and the 2^nd composer, and the organization should look into that instead. I’m not privy into the legalities that cover this case, but isn’t it logical to question the company who did the hiring/tapping?

I may be wrong, you know, so all I can do, really, is to just ask questions.

LIVE SHOWS

1. Sheena Easton is having a show tonight in Manila. I felt my hair being teased, my shirt being cut to midrib and it’s neckline falling down past one of my shoulders.

2. The Annual Philippine International Jazz Festival will be launched tomorrow, and will end in a big show on March 4. Local artists (line up includes Bembol Rockers, Nyko Maca and Sinosikat?) will join forces with international acts like Hiromi’s Sonicbloom, Spyro Gyra and Chieko Fukuda for this much-awaited-by-true-jazz-music-fans showcase of great talents.

Help restore my faith on what’s good

Don’t forget, Earth Hour is on March 28th, 2009 at 8:30pm.

Over at the Twittersphere

I must admit, I am now addicted to Twitter. No, I don’t post on the said

micro-blogging site every minute, but would now normally check out the site for accounts that will help update me on some topics.

Take the case of the Grammys, since I’ve already started my countdown to the awards show, I decided to check if there is a Grammy Awards Twitter. I found this:

Now I know what I should look forward to on the 8th.

Recently, I’ve managed to follow some people I admire (musicians, authors, etc).  Here are a few (had to find out, though if the real person does the Tweets):

Of course there’s John Mayer

David Ryan Harris
So there was a small Tweet exchange between JM and DRH.

Dave Matthews

Last night, some little devil in me told me to find out if there are fictional Twitters, and — by golly! — I found really interesting ones!

Roger Sterling, who is part of a Role Playing Activity with other characters of Mad Men.

She-Ra: Princess of Power, whose opinions nowadays are far more “open” as compared to the cartoon series I watched when I was a kid.

Indiana Jones, posting about his website, his most recent “documentary” — it’s actually the movie “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” — his father, his fear of snakes, his crush on Lara Croft
and his bag.

Kermit the Frog, who only had a few posts (maybe he’s having a hard time typing using his frog legs – hehe, HEY IT WAS FUNNY).

and MacGyver, who would disappear for months because Phoenix Foundation puts him on “assignment”.

(I don’t follow the Tweets of the fake characters as I don’t want to clog up my TwitterFox, but visiting their sites would be a great de-stressing technique once in a while.)

Anyway, there are still a lot of interesting profiles at Twitter, and I’m sure, if you have an account, you’ll be able to find Tweets that would satisfy your need for additional entertainment.

Great things start from small beginnings

The best ever Milo Chocolate Drink TV advertisement in my opinion.

This. Is. Wicked.