More Run, More Fun!

with cousins
Haribon Run Nov. 21, 2010
Finished 5k in 42 min

result from runningmate.ph

NAME:	KATRINA ROSS TAN
EVENT:	5KM
BIB:	1219
PACE:	00:41:49
TIME	08:21 min/km

NAME:

KATRINA ROSS TAN

EVENT:

5KM

BIB:

1219

PACE:

00:41:49

TIME

08:21 min/km

PhilRice Fun Run, Nov. 28, 2010
Finished the race in 41 min
with former-blocmate-now-soon-to-be-rich agriculturist Poli

with friend and fellow Pahinungod volunteer,
Jose Limbay Lahi Espaldon

Result of Race from Philrice:
Rank: 72 out of 153 (woohoo!)
5km Female Open
Bib No: 686
42:34.7
(less one minute because I was at the end of the starting line.
A minute already passed before I crossed the starting line. competitive!).

Saan nagtatago si Pasko?

Ako na ata ang Christmas Grinch reincarnated. Hindi ako nae-excite sa mga Christmas Party (gastos) o kahit sa Pasko mismo. Hanggang ngayon ay hindi ko maramdaman ang tinatawag na 'spirit of Christmas' kung anu man ang ibig sabihin nun. Dahil kaya wala akong pambili nito para maibahagi? Siguro.

Wala akong gana mamili. Wala akong gana kumilos. Kaya di ko matapos tapos ang thesis ko. Kaya di ko matapos tapos ang mga ibang bagay. Dahil ba sa lamig ng hangin ng Disyembre? Siguro.

Sabi ko sa isang kaibigan, nakakalungkot ang lamig ng hangin. Emo daw ako. Siguro. Conducive ang kalungkutan sa lamig, kaya siguro naha-heigthen nito kahit mumunting emosyon. Kaya siguro mataas din ang rate ng suicide sa ganitong panahon, sunod sa buwan ng Pebrero kung kailan mas malamig.

May kung anung kalungkutan ang nangingibabaw sa aking isip, at lalo itong nararamdaman ng katawan dahil sa lamig ng hangin. Kahit may jacket ay tumatagos ang hangin na para bang gustong gawing yelo ang buong katawan, kasama na ang kaloob-looban.

Moi in 208th place

I placed 208th out of 328 runners in Biodiversity Run held in Mt.Makiling, Los Banos last Sept. 4. I finished the 5km (difficult) trail run in 53 minutes. The trail was difficult because it rained the night before the race. Rocks up the mountain were slippery, so I had to trek for almost 2km then run 3km. This was the first time I joined a fun run. It was indeed so fuuuunnnn. :D

We got a free baller and free Pocari Sweat at the end of the race. 

I loved the singlet and the race bib. From Left: Pam, Moi, and Cayo. 

Next fun run: Makiling Challenge, Sept. 12; 5.30am. I'm running with cousins and we registered for 5km. Good luck na lang sa akin na hindi nakapag-train. Oh, well, I'm doing it for the FUN, and slightly for the RUN. :D

Goodbye Friends

A friend observed that I have been sending off people these past few months. The good thing about it is the parties; the not-so-good part about it is knowing that it will take time before we see each other again. 

Change is the buzzword at the moment, not only the change that the newly-elected president wants to achieve but also change in one's direction in life. In April, we had a send off party for friends and colleagues who resigned from teaching in the university. They went on to have new careers--one went to law school, one decided to be a magazine mogul, another focused on graduate studies. One friend, however, stayed in the teaching profession in a private university. 

It must have been a difficult decision to make, especially that they have been used to their LB way of life for many years. It takes a lot of courage to face the unknown, the uncertainties. But it must have been exciting as well--new job, new environment, new habits, new friends. What I find fascinating is how they knew that it's time to change their life, that it's time to leave what they have been used to. Is it like love that you just know? (forgive me for the comparison)

Last May and June I attended despedida parties of high school friends who left the country to work abroad. With their leaving, the country lost yet again professionals because of lack of jobs that compensate well. In June also, I sent off En who went back to Iloilo, and a few weeks after my sister left the country for Singapore to conduct her OJT. 

It seems like everybody around me are undergoing big changes in their lives, moving on to new directions. It's sad to see close friends and family go, but, as in failed relationships, one must know how to let go of people for them to find where they would excel and grow and be happier. 

  

More on Piracy

Two papers on piracy were presented at the 6th Annual Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam last July 1-4. The first one tackled piracy as cinephilia and the other one as an alternative distribution for films.

Piracy as cinephilia, or love of films, makes the ownership of classic films--be it local or foreign--possible for those who can't afford the original copies of these films. The author (a foreigner) of this paper focused on Quiapo, and she analyzed blogs, forums, and websites pertaining to buying DVDs. The comments range from giving tips on how to spot a good pirated copy, maps on where to buy good DVDs, and what to wear and what to bring when going to Quiapo.

One finding that I find interesting is that through piracy, archiving of film classics has become possible. She mentioned a plan for archiving films initiated by the Philippine government before, but it didn't push through because there was no funding. This agency was supposed to be put up in Los Baños, Laguna. 

Until now, there is no concrete government action to archive our old films. Copies of some Filipino films before are found in foreign countries, and we have to buy these from them. Some of these classic Filipino films, however, are in Quiapo. One just has to know where to look for them. In this case, an individual can archive our films better than the government.

The second paper talked about piracy as an alternative distribution circuit for films. Two Filipino attendees shared that there are independent filmmakers who considered and actually contacted "master pirates" to pirate their films and sell them in Quiapo. Another foreign attendee said that one filmmaker will have legal copies of films packaged as pirated and then sell it as a pirated copy. These stories sound ironic (and funny), but it only shows how piracy has become the norm for most cinephiles to own a copy of timeless and beautiful films.

Of course, the ethical question on piracy is still hanging over our heads, but when you see a Kurosawa set of films or Lino Brocka's classics sold at P30 or P40, who has time to philosophize on that?

Pirates beware

Yesterday, I posted my Quiapo lakwatcha last June 12. Today, I read from an online newspaper that government agencies have destroyed P10M-worth of pirated products, including DVDs.

The crackdown for pirates continues, as evinced by statements of government officials. They say that the government loses five percent of its tax collection to pirates who do not pay tariffs and taxes. Plus, they suddenly found another rhetoric to the piracy problem: our [government officials] role is to defend our space where ideas, solutions, new business and opportunity can grow and flourish to everyone’s greater benefit. Yet this space is constantly encroached upon by those who would take and not give....


Obviously, they are oversimplifying the issue. The government wants to talk about defending a mythical space, but in the first place, are they helping to create these spaces? Are they nurturing local businesses and creative thinkers? Defending it implies that it already exists; maybe it does, but only a few have access to it. The government wants to talk about space for flourishing business opportunities, but the taxes will suck the businesses dry even before they start making money. And where do our taxes go? Ask Noriel Jarito, an independent filmmaker, who made a film with that title.

Another point: when a certain government official said that the "space is constantly encroached upon by those who would take and not give...," I honestly think that this statement is applicable to both the pirates and more so to the corrupt government officials. Since we are in the mood of oversimplifying things, we can say that the government pursues these pirates because the billions of pesos lost by the government due to these illegal activities is really a lost by government officials--okay, maybe not all of it.

Last point: the issue of piracy is an issue of copyright or intellectual property rights that favor mostly Western companies and products, or those local companies whose structure and operations follow the Western way of doing business. If you read on GATTS, WTO and TRIPs, you will realize that the concepts of copyright and IPR are working against our local scientists and artists because it is still an arena where the Western power dominates and dictates the rules of the game. And if you want to question this order of things, to show distrust to the government and question their inefficiencies and distorted logic, you may want to start with the stalls in Quiapo.

Surreal Saturdate*

There should have been nothing special with the free ride in LRT and MRT two Saturdays ago except that it was in celebration of our Independence Day, but to free ride with someone who I haven’t seen for almost a year and whom I have been waiting to see for almost a year, it was surreally special.

The plan was to go to Quiapo for some DVD hunting. The easiest route from where we were was to ride a jeepney bound to Quiapo, but no, we rode the MRT from end to end—SM North to Edsa Taft—then transferred to the LRT line and got off at Carriedo station. Good thing that it was still early morning and that it was a Saturday, which means that there were relatively fewer passengers because there was no work (We all know how the trains transform into cans of sardines during weekdays at almost any time of the day, but most especially during rush hours.).

From Carriedo station, it was a walkathon to the mecca of DVD that is Hidalgo Street. But we had a stopover at a fast food chain to eat breakfast (and for En--the one I’ve been waiting for--to trim his beard. I know. It’s weird) and a detour at Meyer’s to check for DSLR camera prices. After we realized that it was too early a morning to spend thousands of money for a DSLR cam, we headed to the underpass to go to Hidalgo. As always, vendors lined up in the underpass with their wares. The little toys bouncing with colorful lights caught En’s attention. He wanted to buy one for his favorite nephew, Seraf, but he seemed to be saving his first purchase for DVDs.

Finally, we emerged from the underpass—unharmed and ‘un-snatched’— and we were greeted by the sight of vendors selling DVDs and just about everything you need. I love Quiapo!

We headed straight to our suki. When we arrived, we excitedly scanned the DVDs one by one. En, after a year without Quiapo, was like a child—wide-eyed and with a grin that stretched from ear to ear. Every time we found a treasure film, we would exclaim its title as if we were Archimedes who ran around naked shouting, Eureka!  (“Woooowww. Stagecoach!” “The Men Who Stare At Goats! Up in the Air!” Said En, who’s a George Clooney fanatic.).

After almost 30 minutes, the damage had been in thousands. Best DVD buy: 2010 Oscars Best Picture Nominees. Next time I go to my heaven on earth (which would be in a few weeks time), I would buy the Miyazaki anime collection with 16 DVDs at P60 each (you do the math).

We left Quiapo with our bags heavier with all that loot! Our Quiapo escapade did not end there though. We searched Raon for the cable converter I need and found one at a good price with a three-month warranty. Didn’t I say I love Quiapo? Before that though, we passed by the underpass again to get to Raon, and En couldn’t resist the bouncing, colorful toy and bought one. He also bought a rubber ducky (For Seraf. Or for him?).

For lunch, we binged on Chinese food at Wai-ying (we call it Wong Kar Wai-Ying because it resembles the set in some of the Chinese director’s films) in Benavidez Street near Recto. We haven’t eaten in that restaurant for a year, so we ate as if we haven’t eaten for a year! Ok, I’m exaggerating. Maybe three days. Good Chinese food as always, especially the Roasted Peking duck and Hakaw, shrimp dumpling. We had two orders of that and good thing I did not have an allergy attack. We swore that when we get back, we will order the P1, 100-worth whole Peking duck for a feast. Nobody knows when it will be, but it will be.

It was almost 2pm when we finished, and En had a 6pm flight going back to Iloilo (L). He still had to go to UP Diliman to get some of his things then head straight to the airport. The plan: from Recto, ride the LRT line 2 to Katipunan, ride a taxi to campus (to save time but not money), get things in five minutes, ride a taxi to MRT (but we rode a jeepney instead because he wanted to sit in front of the jeepney, beside the driver), free-ride in MRT from Quezon Ave. to Edsa-Taft (we said our goodbyes here), he, ride a taxi to airport and me, ride the MRT back to Cubao for Lakwatcha meeting and lakwatcha.

It was indeed a surreally special Saturday, and I hope I don’t have to wait for another year to experience it again.

*I first heard of the term ‘Saturdate’ from my friend, Thea Alberto.

*Photo of hakaw, shrimp dumpling, from http://forum.philboxing.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=129344&p=3329402