Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Ely Buendia for senator?

after sleeping away my three-day battle for four 1000-to-1,500-word reviews of a classic movie, new and old books, and theatrical plays, strange musings dawned upon me and necessitated me to finish the most pretentious assignment ever in our marriage and family class (imagine me writing a ludicrously odd breakdown of expenses in my—ehem—future wedding; WTH). and for the heck of passing it—yup, two energy-charged hours at dusk that never got drained until the next day. with much vigor left unexpended, i brooded over an issue of the Philippines Free PressP50 in Manila, but free and plenty indeed from a seminar on Pinoy reading habits the other week.

"The perfect political animal" is the phrase that the author, who's an incredibly great speaker, used to frame the picture. Ely Buendia for Senator? i almost couldn't imagine it. no, i could never imagine it. as i started to immerse into the text, i could feel that the writer merely wanted to set-up some ironies, which somehow proved me right.

but whether Ely is fit for office or not, i didn't care. well, at some point i did because it raised relative issues then. what disturbed me was the way the article was written. i never expected that style from a reputable magazine—a fortress of Philippine journalism for that matter; and i was disappointed because it was my first time to finish a whole thing in that publication. it's as if i was just reading a blog like this—a mare's nest, cluttered. i had awkward moments while reading the interview. more than that, i felt uneasy to find myself abhorring that same article that excited my neurons when i first saw its title on the front page. i was thinking that if the writer had spent more time for that, then it could have been crafted into a close-to-perfect account of political stance. the points were made clear; but those points were downplayed by incorporating them into an informal interview type.

it's reminiscent of a remark from our historical/cultural writing professor, who's also the big man behind our reviews, on a 3000-word draft article i wrote lazily three hours before the deadline: "This is a research material for an article on Quiapo. Kindly fix this." ('yun oh!) but i knew it was still for editing, and was definitely not for nationwide circulation. my scruples wouldn't allow me to pass something like that had it been for publishing anyway.

everyone can write. i believe that. but it's a different story in terms of serious publications. the same goes with social and street blunders like "no parking on BOTH sides," which should have been EITHER SIDE; "fill-UP the form," which must be fill-OUT; "sign up FROM 6am to 5pm," which seems too tiring if you literally sign up for 11 hours, it should have been BETWEEN 6 a.m. AND 5 p.m. (woohoo! i love you, sir!); plus the "NG vs NANG" and "IBA-IBA vs IBA'T IBA" errors.

more people, mostly children, live by these mistakes. it would be a happier world if there's a regulating body that checks and approves signboards to spare people from ignorance and hapless cognitive content. there is a proper way of speaking, and a proper way of writing. it's not enough that we all get each other's point. remember McLuhan, "The Medium is the Message," whose book, when it came back from the typesetter's, had on the cover "The Medium is the Massage." see what i mean?

p.s.
sorry, this really has nothing to do with Ely being a good pick for senator. i just thought it would be a catchy title. just blundering some lousy ideas here. hehe. wooo! three days na lang, E-heads concert na ulit!!! :)