EDSA Tres People Power Revolution – doing it for ourselves

“The world embraced EDSA I in 1986. The world tolerated EDSA II in 2001. The world will not forgive an EDSA III, but it will instead condemn the Philippines as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable,” she said.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090223-190457/Arroyo-World-wont-accept-another-EDSA

i did not know that filipinos did EDSA and EDSA DOS for the world. from what i remember filipinos did it for themselves, as a final reaction to a desire to set the country free from what is wrong.

and that will be the same spirit that EDSA TRES will be luanched of filipinos fo through it again. that should be made clear to arroyo. if she wants to avoid another EDSA – do not do wrong. or in her case, stop doing wrong.

Gen. Danny Lim, coup leader against arroyo for senator

this blog is about the presidentiables, but we think there are certain senatoriables worth mentioning here. one is general danny lim. we wonder if we have the next senator trillanes in the making.

 

‘Danny Lim’ ad 1st salvo for Senate run

 

By Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:26:00 02/24/2009
MANILA, Philippines—It isn’t a call to arms, but a signal to the people that they want a “moral leader” in the halls of power, installed not by extralegal means but through the 2010 elections.

That was how a reformist bloc composed of civilian professionals and active and retired military officers Monday explained the full-page advertisement that appeared in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday declaring they were united “under the leadership” of detained Army Brig. Gen. Danilo “Danny” Lim.

“We are telling the people that they should consider Danny Lim as an emerging new leader, which will not be attained through extralegal means,” Ernesto Macahiya, president of one of the groups, the Guardians Nationalist of the Philippines (Ganap), said on the phone.

“We intend to nominate him for senator either with the opposition or to run as an independent,” said Macahiya, who described himself as a “retired banker.”

Lim, detained since 2006 for alleged involvement in plots to unseat President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is “entertaining that suggestion,” according to his lawyer, Vicente Verdadero.

In a statement sent through Verdadero, Lim said: “Not one to shirk away from challenges and responsibilities, I accept the mantle of leadership bestowed upon me.”

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090224-190680/Danny-Lim-ad-1st-salvo-for-Senate-run

St. Luke’s Medical Center – the hospital you go to if you want to remain sick or get sick in a snap!

that seems to be the case. st. luke’s medical center is the hospital for the rich and famous and most specially if you are in government or if the government is looking for you. st. luke’s specialization is the sure thing hospital for government officials who may or may not be sick but wants to be declared sick which then gives them an official reason to decline attending hearings on congress. the doctors in st. luke’s appear to be more than willing to stand up for their patients. it’s like shield that no one can break.

that has happened to jocjoc bolante and first gentleman mike arroyo.

we remember jocjoc bolante – we saw tv news footage of bolante being wheeled into st. lukes on a stretcher with matching facial expressions of pain only to find out later it was just  a bum stomach. the doctors of st. luke’s were more than happy to take him as a patient and give him their specialization.

it is once again being used now. the doctors of st. luke’s says FG should not attend the hearings in the senate because of his weak heart. apparently, his weak heart can take trips to europe, the US and a round of golf but not the hearings in the senate. we really like to know to names of FGs doctors. they seem to be very good.

it looks like st. luke’s medical center is the hospital to go to when you need to be sick quickly and be sick again on call if you need a good excuse not to attend a senate or congressional hearing. it’s the hospital to go to if you want to remain sick in a snap!

miracle at the hudson us airways flight 1549 crew and passengers reunion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we are over and beyond our self with captain sully sullenberger, the hero that “doing the right thing” made of US Airways flight 1549. cbs will be showing their 60 Minutes interview of the captain and his crew and this is a must watch show.

we love the captain as the miracle happened because he and his crew showed absolute competence, where each one of them did the right thing. you see this definition all over the interview. view the excerpts of that show here :  http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/

also read what filipinos can learn from the captain here: https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/category/chesley-sullenberger/

memo to villar ad people : mga kids, attention to details lang please. strike 2 na kayo!

ok, ok so we are belaboring the point here in 2010 Presidentiables – we are once again talking about the villar “itik” tv spot.

we are doing this as we are of the point of view that it is important for ad people to remember that when it comes to political ads, they need to be perfect. this is a political ad, errors are more magnified than for consumer brands. political opponents of the candidate you are advertising can make a big deal of your errors. the electorate themselves can make a big deal of your errors. more importantly, there is no round 2 for political ads because there is only one election date. a mistake made now is a mistake made forever.

so, it’s a good thing that villar’s ad people revised the ending of the itik tv spot, but it’s not a good thing that when they revised it, they did not do a 100% fix on it. tsk, tsk.

here’s why:

• they did not re-shoot the ad, they did CG work (computer graphics) in getting the dirt on villar’s shirt. the ideal would have been to re-shoot the ending. CG could have fine but they should have made sure it delivered.
• the shape of the dirt on the shirt at end the tv spot is inconsistent with the one at the middle of the tv spot. in the shot at the middle of the ad, it was more like a trail of mud caused by 3 fingers, not like the blob that appears at the end shot.
• the color is also inconsistent. the shot at the middle of the ad was light, the color at the end was dark. they over-applied at the end of the ad. in other words, the actual dirt that villar wiped on his shirt was not as much as they had placed on CG at the end of the ad.
• placement is off – in the middle of the ad, it was more on the right side of the shirt which is consistent with villar wiping his right hand on his shirt which will naturally land more on the right side of the shirt. the dirt at the end was placed more on the center of the shirt.
• the dirt at the end “jumped” or “moved” as the scene played out. this meant the CG artist became lazy and did not painstakingly make sure it is consistent from frame to frame.

the above are easier to see on tv. it also points out that reshooting the scenes (they need to re-shoot the middle wiping on shirt and end shot but this time use the same shirt in both scenes) would have been the smarter thing to do. the problems, above, are the things you can expect to happen when you do a CG work of this sort, specially if you don’t hire a good CG artist.

mga kids, ayan na naman – palpak sa attention to details! strike 2 na kayo mga kids!

manny villar’s “itik” ad changed to show villar indeed has a dirty hand and a dirty shirt! 2010 Presidentiables claim victory for continuity?

a few days ago, a friend of 2010 Presidentiables sent us text messages that asked me if i have seen the manny villar ad on tv. i said no, i have not. we were told the ending has been changed to show villar’s shirt at the end is now dirty, unlike the ad posted here in 2010 presidentiables.

we posted a youtube link here of the itik ad on january 26, 2009 with the comment that the ad had a continuity error – the ad made a big deal of villar at the middle of the ad holding an itik, then wiping his dirty hand on his shirt only to show the same shirt at the end of the ad miraculously clean. the director of the ad and editor committed a grave continuity error, something very basic in film production/editing and a mortal sin.

go to the 2010 presidentiables post (title: “manny villar’s “itik” tv spot: dirty hand or clean hand?” click here:  https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/manny-villars-itik-tv-spot/) to read the post and view the ad. the ad we refer to in that post has now been removed. click the youtube play button and you will get an error message: “This video has been removed by the user”. we suppose villar’s staff had removed the ad from youtube.

today, we saw the villar ad on tv and yes, this is a different ad from what we had posted here last january 26. this new ad now show villar’s shirt at the end of the ad now dirty!

look closely at the end-shot and you will see that the dirt on the shirt was applied optically, in other words the dirt on the shirt is computer graphics. that means they indeed shot that end-shot with villar wearing a clean shirt and instead of re-shooting the scene (costly and a pain in the you know what), they had a computer graphics artist apply dirt on the shirt. you can tell the dirt is computer graphics as the dirt “jumped” and changed shape at the middle of the shot when villar moved. not a very good computer graphics rendition of the dirt. 

we did searches on youtube to look for the two versions of the tv spot. and here is what we got:

we think this version is the same “itik” ad without the dirty shirt at the end that we posted here. the leader in the ad shows a title and a date : “ITIK 30s 01.14.09”. that must be the date they finished production of the ad and we remember the same date. this was posted in youtube by roicee on january 25, 2009. this is not exactly the same link we posted here in 2010 presidentiables but we are certain it is the same ad.

view the ad and look at the clean shirt at the end of the ad:

this is the “new” version and the one we now see on tv with a revised shirt shot at the end showing it is now dirty. this version was posted at youtube on february 4, 2009. we think this was posted by someone from villar’s staff as this is a clean copy and includes the leader in the ad.

we also now know who committed the continuity error – henry frejas who directed the ad and claude garde, editor of the ad.

it’s good to know that the ad people working for villar are good professionals for correcting the continuity error. next time, please lang  mga kids – attention to details! and please lang mga kids – next time, do a comprehensive and exhaustive pre-production meeting.

should we hold nationally elected senators responsible for lack of progress in his/her hometown?

2010 presidentiables like to thank those participating  in a very good discussion on the above topic in one of the posts here. (read exchange of comments here :  https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/mar-roxas-senator-putang-ina-video-gallery/#comment-108). 

the presidentiables are getting into the limelight and this discussion touches on many important points, to name a few:

• what makes a good president?
• looking at presidentiables’ past and current achievements on their present position as basis for electing them president
• can we blame a nationally elected senator for the disrepair and lack of progress of his hometown?
• shouldn’t we blame the local officials like the mayor and the governor?
• how should we judge presidentiables?
• whose responsibility is a town or a province’s progress?
• what are the responsibilities of nationally elected officials like senators?

please visit the post (click here: https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/mar-roxas-senator-putang-ina-video-gallery/#comment-108) and read the exchange and let us hear your views. please post them in the comment section of that post (and not here) so that we can easily track the discussion.

let us hear your views!

the grave harm “winnability” does to philippine elections

this is next in 2010 presidentiables.