ENTERtheyMEANT

I was in the fourth year of high school when Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code rose to fame like Britney Spears in our country. I don’t find it different with other films but the attention given to it was huge. It was like at any moment, the Philippines will be destroyed! A phenomenon was created without us knowing how.

My friends and I became interested in watching the film when the MTRCB gave it a rating of R-18. Questions such as Is the film that gore? What makes it R-18? Are there censored scenes? happened to be the talk of our group. Some of us have read the book; some have even watched documentaries about it. Me? I don’t give a damn. I don’t want to treat Dan Brown like a sort of a celebrity.

The weeks having The Da Vinci Code in cinema houses were a complete annoyance to me. My friends talk about it. My parents talk about it. My teachers talk about it. My schoolmates talk about it. Everyone has a say about it. They were like, Oh my God! and I was like, Shut up!

The Da Vinci Code is a novel written by Dan Brown to entertain its readers. The only problem is that he uses the names Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene for his lead characters. For me, it’s like having Adam Brody and Kristen Stewart changed their names for their romantic movie, The Land of Women. However, the Church talked about it; making the film more controversial.

Our faith were moved - it happened already - but not because of Satan or Dan Brown. The Da Vinci Code is only a book that was translated into a motion picture. Nevertheless, it changes a lot in our society: people questioning the Church, my friends telling me it was a BIG lost for me not to see it, my parents telling me I should be more religious and many more.

This only left me a question in my mind: are we altered by the Media? There is no point in our lives wherein we don’t converse about, refer or plan for the use of media in our everyday movements. Media becomes a ubiquitous Excalibur for us. Like the air, we can’t avoid its influence. It becomes part of our existence.

Panic! on the Cafe: Lumiere Style

If I would delineate film, I would say it is a language; and if it is a language, I would say it must be the international lingo.

December 28, 1895 was the birth date of the first motion picture in Modern History. The famous Lumiere (Lumière, in French) Brothers exhibited a selection of their films to a paying crowd at a Parisian café this date. August (Auguste) and Louis Lumiere gave dawn to one of the popular forms of media as known today.

“Leaving the Factory” was the first film I’ve watched. Watching the film lightens my mood. I can see the lack of pretension. It also made me realized that workers of the previous times don’t wear frayed clothes at work. Aside from the said fact, I also noticed that time was valued highly. Workers leave the factory without chatting with their co-workers. They have their own “business.” Some are walking while some are running. Fashion during that time was accentuated.

The second video I’ve seen was originally entitled, L'Arrivée d'un Train à la Ciotat (Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat). In this film, the directors are successful in showing us how the early Parisians were. The discipline while waiting and going down the train was emphasized (according to my observation). A positive aspect was the use of background music. Imagine yourself watching moving pictures only. Boring, isn’t it?

While doing some research regarding this matter, I came across an issue saying that the first-night audience fled the café in terror of being run over by the so-called approaching train. It might be funny if they used the actual sound of the scene. (I can visualize people running in all directions while screaming in fear!) However, this only proved that their film was indeed effective to the viewers.

If these films are to be shown these days, I presumed only a few will have the initiative to stop for a while and appreciate the beauty of these films. Honestly, movies with mature content will be entertained more. Viewers nowadays tend to ignore the story line or the lessons you can learn in a motion picture. Special effects, actors and actresses, and promotions affect the sales of the movie.

I believe in time, people will start to look for older films once more. It's not because they are forced or anything. I believe it is because "films are made for the viewers. not for the critics." (A video of the first Lumiere Film's was attached at the beginning of this entry.)

The War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds
by Mercury Theater (103038)

Halloween. October 30, 1938.
Trenton, New Jersey.

I was sitting alone in my room, drinking the finest coffee my parents bought in Brazil. As accustomed, I was waiting for the Mercury Theatre on the Air, a favorite radio program of mine. Good thing, listening to a radio program won’t hurt my feet anymore.

That day, everything seemed normal. The sun was shining brightly. My mom and dad were out for business trip again. Cecilia, my cousin, was playing with her dog like yesteryear. Out of the blue, my neighbors started screaming! What the hell is happening? I turned the radio on and listened to the announcer saying, “Now, nearer home, comes a special bulletin from Trenton, New Jersey. It is reported that at 8:50 P. M. a huge, flaming object, believed to be a meteorite…”

The door opened. “Sir, you need to come down as soon as possible. We are leaving this town immediately,” Cecilia said in trepidation. Can you at least tell me what’s happening? I asked her but too late, she can’t hear me. She was grasping my hand so tight, dragging me downstairs. Cecilia! “Aren’t you listening? A strange explosion was sighted in Mars and a Martian rocket capsule landed near here.” So? I don’t expect a visit from any Martians or the like. I am staying here. Take your hand off my hand! Continuous screaming haunted my ears. Cecilia was not listening to me. How goad she was.

We reached the first street; I did see everyone running. It was my first time to encounter such experience and all my thoughts were on my manor, my pets and my radio. Ouch! Would you walk carefully? These shoes cost me a thousand bucks! “My apology. Lance?” How come this stranger knows my name? I looked at his face, studying every details of it. Antonio? “My friend.” Antonio would you care tell me what’s going on? Cecilia is crazy and… “Martians! Martians… they’re here to take us…” Take us where? In Mars? Haha.  Is this some kind of a joke? Then I should be laughing right now. I sardonically said to him.

No one cared to talk to me normally. After Cecilia, Antonio followed. God! What’s happening?

Cecilia and I stopped by a restaurant to listen to what the radio was saying.

Mr. Wilmuth: Well, as I was sayin', I was listenin' to the radio kinda halfways…

Speaker: Yes, Mr. Wilmuth, and then you saw something?

Mr. Wilmuth: Not first off. I heard something.

Speaker: And what did you hear?

Mr. Wilmuth: A hissing sound. Like this: (HISSES). Kinda like a Fourth of July rocket.

Everyone began to panic again. Cecilia was now running; still dragging me somewhere she only knows. Until now, I don’t know what’s happening. All I know is that I was missing the MTA. Today is Halloween and I had a lot of plans for this day. I even bought a Halloween costume for the Trick and Treat later this evening. However, Cecilia was ruining my day!

“Sir, are you still in one piece?” Cecilia said. Is that supposed to insult me? Oh, yeah. One piece if that’s what you call it. Can you now tell me what’s happening?  “It’s not safe to talk about it here.  Let’s discuss this later.” I want an answer right now!

After I-don’t-know-how-many minutes passed, we found a place to hide and there I fell asleep.

Speaker: Ladies and gent… Am I on? Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, here I am, back of a stone wall that adjoins Mr. Wilmuth's garden. From here I get a sweep of the whole scene. I'll give you every detail as long as I can talk and as long as I can see.

More state police have arrived They're drawing up a cordon in front of the pit, about thirty of them. No need to push the crowd back now. They're willing to keep their distance. 

The captain is conferring with someone. We can't quite see who. Oh yes, I believe it's Professor Pierson. Yes, it is. Now they've parted and the Professor moves around one side, studying the object, while the captain and two policemen advance with something in their hands.

I can see it now. It's a white handkerchief tied to a pole… a flag of truce. If those creatures know what that means… what ANYTHING means…

Wait a minute! Some thing's happening…

Again, people started screaming like freaks! What can I do? Of course, I also did run. But… Something hit my head. I don’t know what is it but when I woke up, I heard Cecilia saying, “Happy Halloween. We should have listened to the program from the start. It was a good run anyway."

Starting now, we couldn't soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by tomorrow night… so we did the best next thing. We annihilated the world before your very ears, and utterly destroyed the C. B. S. You will be relieved, I hope, to learn that we didn't mean it, and that both institutions are still open for business.

So goodbye everybody, and remember please, for the next day or so, the terrible lesson you learned tonight. That grinning, glowing, globular invader of your living room is an inhabitant of the pumpkin patch, and if your doorbell rings and nobody's there, that was no Martian… it's Halloween.

Tonight the Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations coast-to-coast have brought you "The War of the Worlds," by H. G. Wells, the seventeenth in its weekly series of dramatic broadcasts featuring Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air.

Next week we present a dramatization of three famous short stories.

This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.

(Note:  The characters of the story are fictional and any incident of similarity is not intentional.)

Further Reading:
The War of the Worlds (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopdia)
Orsen Welles (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia) 

Dance, Danse and Tanz

I did love dancing. I do love dancing. I started dancing since I was in Grade School. I began from folk dance and ended with ballroom. Though I am not a hip hop dancer, I feel like trying one because of these videos. I even want continue to dancing again. (The videos serve as an inspiration for me and I hope they’ll do the same thing for you.)

The first clip is entitled “Dance to Inspire, Inspire to Dance” by Eddie Uehara. The clip was posted by y0hallabak in YouTube. The quotations are inspiring and the dance is like shouting “Dance like there’s no tomorrow!” The song used is Apologize by One Republic.

On the other hand, the video below is from Eddie Uehara again. This time it is entitled “Dance Phenomenon”. I don’t personally know him but I can say he is an amazing person! He uses his talent not only to express, but also to influence. Right now, videos that have useful contents are decreasing. Commercials and music videos are becoming annoyance to the viewers because of its lack of interpretation. Anyway, here’s the clip:

For example, when you watch a music video, you are expecting the video to be a visual interpretation of a certain song. Music videos with the singers singing their song with a band or just with their guitars are like watching the singer singing the song live. Music videos should tell a story; not a performance that the singer can do during his/her concert. I believe some MVS from Koreans, Japanese and Chinese are good example for this.

Let me ask you, have you ever considered yourself a dancer? Like what others believe in, every one of us is a dancer. It is our choice to improve our talent/skill with this matter or simply throw the opportunity. But think of this, we are lucky that we are able to move our feet. Some people have difficulty with this, hence they don’t dance. However, dancing is not about the movement of our feet. It’s about our passion for it. Dancing is dreaming with your feet.

I may not be able to clear my point in here, but let me tell you something - to touch, to move, to inspire. This is the true gift of dancing. So what are you waiting for? Start dancing now.

Advertising Catch-22

I noticed these past few days that television commercials (TVC) shown in Philippine TV stations are becoming more and more meaningless. The first ad I spotted was this Lucky Me Pancit Canton video way back in 2006. Here’s a copy of the said TVC:

I admit I do love eating Pancit Canton, but I would never, I believe even you, be this desperate to do such thing. Let us say this is just a commercial, for fun, yet there are many creative ways to tell the audience that this product is delicious or whatever. (When I constructed a good suggestion, I’ll post it here.)

On the other hand, there are a lot of TVCs who deserve to receive a recognition. For instance, there is this Thai video I have seen from the internet. Since I do not understand the language, I asked a Thai friend to help me translate it and I discovered it has a remarkable message. Watch the video and read the translated plot of the TVC below.

IAmPunisher left a comment about the video and (s)he said:

I was moved, and I would like to interpret the story in my broken English.

That Thai lady begged the doctor to help her giving birth to the baby on time. The doctor asked, “Why?” “I’m running out of time”, said the lady. After the baby was born, the lady rushed to a guy’s ward with the baby.

The guy is the father of the baby, and he’s dying of brain cancer. The lady wanted him to touch his own son before passing away.

The clip you have watched is a Thai Life Insurance company’s TVC. What struck me the most is its effectiveness to show us what Thais value. (If you’ve seen the TVC , you now why I will not state it here.) There are a lot more TVCs out there that carries worth watching, worth deciphering messages. I hope they’ll serve as an example for Filipino ad makers and they will produce TVCs that are not only after  the money, but after the quality as well.