What's New?

Wow, its been about a month since my last post. So where have I been and why is my blog title and name different? For starters, I haven't been motivated to blog lately which explains the absence. Also, I've been quite busy. For starters, I quit my steady job about 5 months ago. Yup, just left without another job waiting in the wings. Some said it was risky, but I figured it was time to go. About a month later, I then interviewed at a non-profit and got a 6 month gig as a paid volunteer. When I volunteered, I took an oath ... of poverty. hehe. But its all good because its close to what I want to do, career-wise. But because I wasn't getting paid like an AIG executive, I had to moonlight at, well, a not-so-cush job. Still, I wasn't complaining considering the number of people unemployed right now. I'm lucky to have two paying gigs. So that's what I've been up to. Not sure where I'll end up after the non-profit gig winds down, but wherever it is, I hope its a step in the right direction.

Oh, and why the change in the blog title and profile name? I just got tired of my old blog title. The new blog title is Kankanaey for my previous blog title (Miskina ano na isip), which was supposed to be Tagalog for my original blog title, "Random Thoughts". hehe. As for the change in profile name, I wanted to be more anonymous, hence I'm no longer using my real name. Why did I choose Ping-i? Its because I always envied some of my relatives for having Kankanaey names or nicknames, which I never got. I just had my good ol' Western or European name. That's what happens when your dad is a lowlander. hehe. So I asked a cousin to give me a Kankanaey name. He suggested Ping-i. Still not sure whether I'll stick with Ping-i but it'll do for now. hehe.

P.S. My linguist friend Jean tells me that the correct spelling is "Kankanaey", not "Kankan-ey". Thanks, kabsat! ;-) 10/12/09

Technorati tags: career

Inglourious Basterds

I was first introduced to Quentin Tarantino's films when I saw Reservoir Dogs. Although I liked that film, I didn't become a Tarantino fan until I saw Pulp Fiction. In fact, I still can't get over the fact that Pulp Fiction lost to Forrest Gump for best picture that year, but hey, that's not the first time the Academy has done something I didn't agree with. hehe. Anyway, I bring up Tarantino because I recently saw his latest flick, the World War II film, Inglourious Basterds. The film is a sort of "what if" type of movie. In other words, how would World War II have ended if it involved a group of Jews led by an American lieutenant trained to scalp Nazis; a Jewish woman who takes revenge on the Nazis; and a Nazi officer named Col. Hans Landa who is adept at solving mysteries (i.e. hunting Jews and enemies of Germany).

One of the things that stands out in this film is the violence. In his previous films such as Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction, the actual act of violence is not shown. The scene cuts away from the actual act of violence although one does see the result. For example, the viewer doesn't see the actual ear cutting in Reservoir Dogs, but the viewer does see the end result. Of course, all that changed in subsequent Tarantino films like Kill Bill, where the violence was amped up. In Inglourious Basterds, the violence (specifically the scalping) was somewhat disturbing. The scalping also seemed like a gimmick and I thought it was a bit gratuitous. Other than that though, I liked the film. Like a lot of viewers, I also believe that Christoph Waltz (who plays Landa) stole the show. It seemed like Pitt was just a supporting actor. hehe. I can't say that its better than Pulp Fiction though. Also, if you do decide to watch the film but are squeamish about violence, I recommend you turn away during the more gory scenes. hehe

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Belated Thoughts

When I got back from Pinas a few months ago, April to be exact, I thought I would blog about Baguio. Some of you may have noticed that I didn't. That's because I feared a post about Baguio would just be me sour-graping. So my Pinas vacation posts were just about a Baguio bar that didn't have an adequate restroom and also about my surfing excursion to Baler. hehe. But after reading Ivan Henares' blog posts "Is Baguio a Hopeless Case?" and "Baguio Heritage in Camp John Hay Going Gone", I've decided to blog about a few more impressions I had about my latest trip to Pinas. Here they are:

1) One of our neighbors in Baguio just randomly throws their trash at the side of their house, which we could see from our house. Not very sanitary and unsightly. As the saying goes: Love thy neighbor ... unless they're using their yard as a trash heap.

2) Whether you believe the beggars in Baguio are just part of syndicates or are non-Baguio residents or are actually poor, I found one beggar in particular quite disturbing. This beggar I saw had severe burns on his face. If you've seen Mel Gibson's movie The Man Without a Face, you know what I'm talking about. The only difference is that its not just half of the beggar's face that is severely disfigured. Its his entire face.

3) When I arrived in Baguio, I got a cab and my cab driver was wearing a dust mask. That can't be a good sign.

4) People always talk about the brain drain or migration of professionals from Pinas. But Baguio's population is still growing. So does that mean that the population of professionals is decreasing while the population of non-professionals is increasing?

5) On a lighter note, I learned a few Ilocano words:

a) madamdama - later or by-and-by. hehe
b) gayam - the Ilocano equivalent of the Tagalog word "pala." For example, when I was served a coconut drink in a plastic container, I said, "Plastic gayam" . ;-)

6) Oh, and I also realized that Philippine mangoes cannot be beat! :D

Technorati tags: Baguio City

Three Stories

I read two novels and watched a movie recently. I use the term "read" loosely since I sort of skimmed some parts of the novels. hehe. The reason why I skimmed the two novels is because, well, they were both sort of boring. Here's what I realized a month or so ago: the key to finishing boring novels is to read the ending and work backwards to the spot where you started losing interest in the story. I had to use that method while reading Paulo Coehlo's The Devil and Miss Prym and Junot Diaz's The Brief and Wondrous life of Oscar Wao. Coehlo's novel is about a woman named Miss Prym, the small village she lives in and a stranger's offer to give her gold. To get the gold involves murdering someone in her village. The stranger is trying to prove that people are essentially evil. He's trying to prove this ever since his own family was killed by some kidnappers.

I didn't really find the story very interesting. For one thing, Coehlo doesn't seem to be a fan of small villages as he doesn't portray them in a positive light. His protagonist, Miss Prym, exemplifies this attitude with her hatred for her village and desire to leave for the city. The townsfolk of Viscos are portrayed as naive and small-minded folks. That could be one reason why I couldn't sympathize with any of the characters. I've never read a Coehlo book, but I probably should've started with Coehlos' more famous book The Alchemist. ;)

The second novel I read was The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. When I started reading this book, I noticed it had some pretty long footnotes. That can't be good. hehe. Anyway, this novel (with its unconventional writing style) weaves stories of several Dominican characters through several generations in the East Coast of the US and also the Dominican Republic. The characters were Oscar, his sister, mother and a "grandmother" who's more like a great aunt and the sister's friend. Several of the characters had interesting stories. Oscar's story was probably the least interesting. As much as I found some of the stories interesting, I also thought it could've used a little more editing. Overall, the novel wasn't bad. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, btw.

The last story involves a film I saw called Shakespeare in Love. As I've said before, I'm a Gwyneth Paltrow fan even though I've only seen maybe one of her films. hehe. Since some commenters recommended Shakespeare in Love, I decided to watch it. Its essentially a fictional account of a love story between William Shakespeare and some lady named Viola de Lesseps played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Here's some observations:

1) William Shakespeare is called "Will" in the film. I thought that was kind of funny since it seems things would be more formal back in the 1500s. But hey, its supposed to be a comedy, right?

2) Ben Affleck as an English guy is an interesting choice. Kinda like Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. ;-)

The film was ok. Its not as funny though as other romantic comedies (e.g. Steve Martin's Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid). But then again, I think I have an odd taste in movies based on the popular films people watch nowadays. ;-)

Technorati tags: Shakespeare in Love

Yosemite National Park

A friend of mine was going to meet a group over at Yosemite National Park. He asked me to join him and since its been several years since I was last at Yosemite, I tagged along. After the meeting with his group, my friend and I went to check out Glacier Point:The big rock structure up ahead is Half Dome. I had the opportunity to climb this rock many years ago, but I backed out at the last minute at the base. In other words, I chickened out. hehe.

Here's another view of some rock on the edge:I noticed that the rock looked familiar and I remembered that I saw it from an episode of Motion. Here's a clip from that episode, which has background music that makes for a good air drumming session (hehe):The guy in the video, host Greg Aiello, goes on top of the rock that was fenced off and marked as off-limits when I was there. I assume he got special permission from the park. But even if I got permission, I don't think I'd get on that rock considering the valley below is about 3,200 feet from this vantage point:
One last place we visited in Yosemite was Bridal Veil Falls. I didn't have my video camera so I had to use my cellphone to capture the falls:
As we were heading back to the Bay Area, I saw a highway sign that said something like "Save Hetch Hetchy". I wondered if I can imagine there being two grand valleys right next to each other: Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy.

Technorati tags: Yosemite National Park

Strong Musical Opinions

When it comes music, people are very passionate about their views. Here's an example from my own life. A few years ago, I was listening to an "alternative" radio station here in the Bay Area. They play music by artists such as Weezer, Green Day, Franz Ferdinand, and Nine Inch Nails. Anyway, I heard them advertise their station with the slogan "music that matters." I found the slogan to be quite pretentious. After all, the music speaks for itself. Why put a slogan that says how great they are? So I emailed the radio station and told them what I thought about their slogan. I've got a habit of emailing people who annoy me. hehe. Anyway, I got a response from someone named "Sean" who then said that he can think of many pop artists whose music didn't matter. Among them were Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson and 3 Doors Down. He further stated that music by such artists are about as "disposable as razors, lighters and pens." We ended up having a little debate through a few emails and he did agree that their slogan was a bit pretentious. They still use the slogan though. hehe. Btw, I don't get all the music labels like "alternative" or "pop" or "rock." As Duke Ellington once said, "There's two kinds of music. Good music and the other kind."

Here's another example of people having strong musical opinions. I was reading bing's post about twitter and she had a link regarding Freddie Aguilar who had some choice words for Pinoy singers like Arnel Pineda, Gary Valenciano and Charice Pempengco. His beef with them is that he thinks these singers only mimic American singers. He further stated that they should sing their own songs or at the very least, sing Tagalog songs like "Dahil Sa Yo":

E, pinatototohanan lang ang sinabi ni Mariah Carey na tayong mga Filipino ay mga unggoy. Kasi, wala tayong sarili, gaya-gaya lang tayo. Nasa Amerika ka na, binigyan ka na ng pagkakataon na kumanta sa Oprah, bakit kumanta ka pa ng kanta ni Celine Dion? Sinabi ni Mariah na mga unggoy ang Filipino, gaya-gaya lang kayo, e, di napatunayan nga, totoo nga. Kasi, di ba, what monkeys see, monkeys do. Dapat ang kinanta niya, bakit hindi 'Dahil Sa Iyo' o kaya ay kahit ano, basta kantang Filipino? O kaya Visayan, Ilocano...

A few days later, Valenciano replied:

In that case, then I'm one because in my concerts I don't always do Gary Valenciano. I think we stand up there (on stage) to also pay respect to the artists that inspired [us]."

True, Pineda does sound just like his predecessor, Steve Perry, in the band Journey. But doesn't Pineda also have some original Tagalog songs during his stint with his former band Zoo? Or is Aguilar just saying that Pineda should quit Journey and go back to his roots?

Technorati tags: Freddie Aguilar

Drinks and Their Containers

Whenever I'm at a cafe, I notice how the workers always have to dump huge garbage bags filled with paper or plastic cups. Since landfill space is valuable, many have recommended bringing your own mug to the cafe. Here's the one that I use:I got this mug for free during the Sustainability Conference last year at San Luis Obispo.

Speaking of beverage-related things, when I was in the Philippines a few months ago, I avoided hard liquor like the plague. I just drank beer. But hard liquor somehow found me here in the States when a relative visited:I only drank a small amount to limit its effects. With the ups and downs of life lately, I sometimes feel like I could use a couple of shots of this drink every now and then though. ;-)

Technorati tags: mugs

Native Americans

I recently visited Indian Grinding Rock State Park in Pine Volcano, several miles east of Jackson. The park features a reconstructed (Native American) Miwok village ...... as well as a ceremonial house:
The park also had some limestone beds that the tribe used as mortars that were then used to grind acorns, hence the name Grinding Rock:
Here's some interesting trivia: the park spells it "Miwok" while the casino owned by the same tribe in nearby Jackson spell it "Miwuk". Another bit of trivia: nearby Jackson is named after Colonel Alden Jackson, no relation to former US President Andrew Jackson.

Speaking of Native Americans and guys named Jackson, I happened to watch The History Channel's episode on Andrew Jackson, who was president during the 1800s. The interesting part of that show was when they discussed Andrew Jackson's relationship with the Native Americans. They're apparently not fans of each other. Jackson forcibly removed them through the Indian Removal Act. The forced migration west came to be known as the Trail of Tears. Many tribes like the Cree and Cherokee view Jackson as a traitor and consider him a war criminal. Many refuse to use the $20 bill and have even considered banning the $20 bill at their casinos because Jackson is on that bill. If you get the chance, try to catch the episode if they air it again on The History Channel.

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Talking to the Government

For my own enlightenment (hehe), I attended the latest board meeting of a utility company. It started off on a light note. The council presented an award to several contractors for their work on a tunnel. Then they opened the floor to the public. That's when things got interesting. When the first speaker took the stage, I thought Michael Moore was on the mic. hehe. He was a Union representative and he began his speech with a bit of drama by presenting a faux award to the board members. He then proceeded to dig in to the board members. Here's some of his speech:

Raw Video: Debate at EBMUD Water Rate Hike Hearing

More speakers took the stage, including some former contractors whose contracts were terminated by the board. A few pleaded for the board not to rescind their contracts while others dug even more into the Board for things such as rate hikes and the elimination of a payment window. I only planned on staying for an hour, but I ended up staying for an hour and a half. Who knew these meetings would be so exciting? hehe.

Anyway, here's a local news report that covered the part of the meeting where they discussed rate hikes for water. I was caught on camera for this rate hike story, btw. Funny but I already left by the time they talked about this issue so its weird that I'm in the report. I'm at the 0:46 and 1:06 mark of the video, listening intently to the meeting (hehe):

OAKLAND: Locals Protest Announced Hike In Rates By EBMUD [Jana Katsuyama Reports]

Speaking of government meetings involving the public, I know you can't get enough Candy Pangilinan news so here's an update. hehe. She went to Baguio recently and apologized in front of the Baguio City Council regarding her Igorot joke. The council accepted her apology and Pangilinan promised to promote Igorot culture on her shows. Now that that's been settled, the Philippine government and media can now move on to more important matters... like the sex scandal involving two more celebrities I've never heard of. LOL

Technorati tags: Philippine Entertainment Industry

My Dog Has Fleas

I attended a ukulele workshop by Michelle Kiba in Berkeley recently. There were about ten of us at the workshop and we strummed along as she taught us several songs. I specifically liked the song "Island Style". Since I didn't have time to tune my ukulele because I was late, I tried to tune the ukulele in between songs. I also just tried strumming the chords during the song to see if it sounded in tune. It didn't. So I kept fiddling with the ukulele's strings throughout the workshop. I noticed that the guy in front of me slightly turned his head in my direction every once in a while. He probably knew I was trying to tune my ukulele using the "My dog has fleas" tuning technique one too often. hehe. After several songs of an out-of-tune ukulele close to his ear and with about ten minutes left in the workshop, he finally turned around, handed me his electric ukulele tuner and said, "You wanna tune your ukulele real quick?" hehe

Technorati tags: Michelle Kiba