Tuesday, August 11, 2009

WANTED ACTORS AND ACTRESSES


Some occurrences in theatrical work are operating which hamper the development of one form -- usually theatre. Actors appearing in dramatic pieces suddenly get pirated by the more lucrative forms like tv and advertisements which give higher pay. Is there a way by which we can have an agreement among the media that those who are performing in one should finish their contract first before jumping to the other, and those companies who get them have to reimburse the previous organization to which the actor/actress used to be connected should they need their services immediately?

I think that give-and-take in the artforms have to be emphasized to really prosper and develop in our country.

EMMA S. OROZCO

WILLIE, NEXT KING OF COMEDY


Comedy is important in social life. It makes the people realize how flippant and serious life can be and therefore view it as a journey, not necessarily an end in itself. Very few comedians exist in our country because it is difficult to make people laugh.

However, comedians like Willie Nepomuceno exist tickling the audience with laughter, in order to provide a diversion from their monotonous life or to make them realize something very important without being given a sermon. They are capable of providing another angle of looking at life actually, and could make the students expand their imagination when faced with difficult problems in life, today and in the future. Moreover they show that human frailties like committing errors, being imperfect are traits that are normal to human beings and need not be sources of insecurities.

Willie Nepomuceno is the first and foremost intelligent stand-up comedian in our country appealing to all crowds, young and old, and all sexes without offending their sensibilities. His jokes do not laugh at the disabled and other weak sectors of our society. They are witty, done with finesse and exhibit etiquette, qualities that are educational for the young audience to know and most possibly to imitate later on. His stories make high class personalities human like us, fallible and not god-like that they could overpower and dominate us. He makes us feel that they are just like one of us, human and capable of making mistakes like those of FPJ and Erap.

His performances can be short or fast-paced providing a succession of humorous stories, short jokes (called "bits"), and one-liners. Sometimes he uses props but always has minus-one music for his songs. He has performed at nightclubs, bars, colleges and theaters, as well as celebrations of companies, regaling the audience with his off-beat treatment of any subject and topic. All writer, editor, performer and and director, he has staff that takes care of his technical needs.

In college, the study of drama includes tragedy and comedy distinguishing between the two and showing that both are important forms of literature and entertainment. By being introduced to comedy, the students will realize the deeper value of humour in life. They will learn to practice humour as a good defense in life.

Children would do well to know Willie Nepomuceno in person rather than as a featured tv or radio guest. Though projected as the main and only feature of this event his performance is a whole “menu” by itself rolled into one, speaking, joking, impersonating and singing directly to them.
His performance can educate on:
1. what is comedy;
2. being comical without being offensive;
3. knowing how to laugh at serious matters yet not departing from the fact that they have to be dealt with seriously;
4. knowing that comedy is as important as politics and all other fields of endeavor;
5. knowing the difference between high and low comedy and how they as students should aspire for more uplifting types of entertainment that will showcase humanity as humane yet humorous;
6. knowing what is solo performance and its being a good source of education and entertainment, and
7. Thus, raising their cultural taste as to what is good for their soul (ethics), mind and body.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

HISTORIAN SPEAKS OUT


Word reached me last night that i'm being considered for a commission to write a Philippine history textbook. a meeting with the publishers will soon be scheduled. Offhand i feel honored. But it will also be a worthwhile effort only if it's about the history that our citizenry needs to know.

Instead of what events happened in the past?, it should rather focus on how have most of the people been living, and what factors determined it? what have been their patterns of thinking, behavior and interaction, and what factors determined them? how briefly or how long did those patterns last? what factors accounted for all the quick and the slow changes? what patterns of thinking, behavior and interaction are prevalent in our lives now? and what will they be in the coming decades and centuries?

Otherwise, my book would just be giving our students more trivia, more inconsequential details to memorize throughout a semester only to recall them only once -- during exams. Our sense of history should guide us, enlighten us with experiential lessons in our long paths toward upliftment and fulfillment, invigorate us with a well-deserved sense of pride as tempered by an honest sense of humility. Our collective sense of history should be the pillar of our collective sense of mission as a nation in the service of humanity. This is what Kamalaysayan exists for. This is what its members should be joining, and reamining in, this organization for.

Prof. Ed Aurelio C. "Ding" Reyes
Lead Founder and National Spokesman,
Kamalaysayan (Kaisahan sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan)
(Subic, Zambales 08-01-09)

Friday, July 31, 2009

FROM GENE DE LOYOLA, PAINTER

HANGAD KO LANG NA MAGING MAAYOS ANG PAGTURING SA MGA ARTISTS LALO NA ANG MGA NAGBUHOS NG PANAHON SAKRIPISYO UPANG MALINANG AT MAKABAHAGI SA PAG-ULAD NG SINING NA NAGHAHATID NG KALAYAAN SA KAMANGMANGAN AT SA TULOY-TULOY NA PAG-UNLAD SA PISIKAL AT PANG KAISIPAN SA SINING NG BUHAY.

NAKITA KO NA MAGANDA ANG SITE NYO LALO NA FILIPINO ART GALLERY HOPE NA MAGING MAAYOS AT MAUNLAD PA KAYO PARA SA IKABUBUTI NG KABUOAN AT BAHAGI DIN KAYO, PASENSYA NA RIN SA HINDI PAGKAKAUNAWAAN.

NAILABAS KO LANG ANG AKING SINASALOOB ITO AY BAHAGI NG ATING KALAYAANG MAY RESPOSIBILIDAD BILANG ANG INYONG SITE AY IMAHE NG SINING SANA AY LALO PANG MAPAGANDA

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

WHY CULTURE?


Culture defines a people's noble purpose, gives national identity, strengthens their artistic souls, and builds up their hopes for a country that is democratic, prosperous, just and equal.

The Cultural Program of TF-PRG promotes the best of Philippine arts, literature, and education to cultural and academic institutions across the country and the world. Thus we have this blog for everybody to read, comment on and feed with information and reviews.

This blog shall have articles that are conceptual, critical, and promotional of all Philippine cultural products, administration, policies and programs. Our view is to focus attention that is prompt, sustained and high-spirited on cultural issues between and among amateurs, professionals and administrators of cultural groups, events, academes, and all other institutions, concerning the products of artists, writers, thinkers, students, and educators, as well as to increase the number of opportunities for them to develop their fields.

The blog shall draw attention to developments in Philippine culture, including contemporary and indigenous dances; music; theater, plays, and other forms of literature.

We shall always be interested in new and challenging ideas that will bring Philippine and foreign peoples together in debating and discussing issues related to culture. In particular, this blog will raise public interest in the recognition of exceptional artistic and academic accomplishments and the need for public support, material and spiritual, of such endeavors.

We hope you will join us by feeding information, remarks and reviews of the different cultural events that you find happening in your community, or locality.

-by Wilhelmina S. Orozco, Ph.D.

--Margie Politzer Photo Print, Woman leaving an offering on Mt. Batur, Bali, Indonesia

JOSE INGLES: Finding the Right Mix

by Wilhelmina S. Orozco

With curly hair flowing like Einstein’s, wearing faded blue jeans, and easy gait as he walks, Jose Ingles, Inner Alchemist, Filipino Inventors society member looks every inch like any inventor who cares not whatever happens to the world except perfecting his product. He is the typical science-oriented individual whose focus is on how to extract, blend, mix and come up, voila! with a new or improved product.

Right now Ingles is very busy propagating flowering plants – ylangylang, roses, -- as well as calamansi, from which he can extract essences and market them as medicinal herbal products. Elemi, an essence that contains oils from the wild pili, citrus, rose, sampaguita and lemongrass, and has aromatherapic qualities that relax and provide a really restful feeling is his latest product. “Ipahid mo sa ilong, masarap ang tulog mo pagkatapos,” he said.

Another product of Ingles, who conducts training at the Department of Agriculture Training Institute on homemade probiotics extracts essences alchemy, is Colloidal Elixir made of a combination of two or more elements Silver. In his study, Ingles unearthed a 1940’s revelation of Dr. R. R. Rife MD that bacteria and virus are “vulnerable to suffocation from the catalytic action of Colloidal Silver, “ which then results in its having healing properties.

In another study done in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ingles mentioned that silver “is a powerful, natural antibiotic prophylactic antiseptic, known anciently and at the turn of the century as an invaluable medication.” The compound does not damage the organs of the body but in fact “accelerates healing” he said. Hence, this product has curative qualities on the skin, and treats rushes, hematoma, and when ingested, can also be anti-bacterial and anti-viral. “I am promoting this as it can cheapen the treatment of many illnesses. It is the first formulation of several mineral elements,

Actually, Ingles, a member of the Filipino Society of Inventors has traveled around the world as his father, Minister Jose Ingles during the 80’s was assigned in many places with the longest period in New York City. He finally settled down in the Philippines and got interested in chemistry when as a researcher at a Japanese okra company in Moncada, Tarlac, he discovered a distiller of ilang-ilang flowers next town and helped improved the distillation of the oils which made it more marketable as it brings a very fragrant smell. His theory which was proved to be true that ilang-ilang flowers when picked early morning, when it is most fragrant can produce the best essences.

Each 5 ml is worth P100 while 35ml is P700. With ylang-ylang, it is priced at P1,000 as the process becomes of extraction is more expensive. “It takes 5,000 kilos of rose petals to produce 1 liter, and 100 kilos of ylang-ylang to get 1 liter.

Ingles is one among so many of our inventors whose prime motivation is to increase knowledge, discover original products that can be known by the world with profit as a secondary objective. Unfortunately, the Technology Application and Promotion Institute, the agency tasked to help inventors seems to be eyeing other schemes.

WHY CULTURE?


Culture defines a people's noble purpose, gives national identity, strengthens their artistic souls, and builds up their hopes for a country that is democratic, prosperous, just and equal.

The Cultural Program of TF-PRG promotes the best of Philippine arts, literature, and education to cultural and academic institutions across the country and the world. Thus we have this blog for everybody to read, comment on and feed with information and reviews.

This blog shall have articles that are conceptual, critical, and promotional of all Philippine cultural products, administration, policies and programs. Our view is to focus attention that is prompt, sustained and high-spirited on cultural issues between and among amateurs, professionals and administrators of cultural groups, events, academes, and all other institutions, concerning the products of artists, writers, thinkers, students, and educators, as well as to increase the number of opportunities for them to develop their fields.

The blog shall draw attention to developments in Philippine culture, including contemporary and indigenous dances; music; theater, plays, and other forms of literature.

We shall always be interested in new and challenging ideas that will bring Philippine and foreign peoples together in debating and discussing issues related to culture. In particular, this blog will raise public interest in the recognition of exceptional artistic and academic accomplishments and the need for public support, material and spiritual, of such endeavors.

We hope you will join us by feeding information, remarks and reviews of the different cultural events that you find happening in your community, or locality.

-by Wilhelmina S. Orozco, Ph.D.

--Margie Politzer Photo Print, Woman leaving an offering on Mt. Batur, Bali, Indonesia