Firecracker names and what they say...

The year 2016 is about to end and I'm thinking about something to blog about. It's been a long time since I have blogged about something (or nothing) and I don't how to start the ball rolling again.

Anyway, I have noticed that yearly the amount of firecrackers are decreasing. I remember about two decades ago when my friends and I would start the new year revelry early by firing off firecrackers as early as September but compared to now, it's only a few hours before new year's eve when the intermittent explosion could be heard. Of course, I'm talking about our neighborhood and the case may be the opposite with others. 

But on the other hand, the size and the power of today's firecrackers has evolved to the weapon's grade level, which according to some police officers, is comparable to improvised explosive devices (IED) used by terrorists. Legally,  firecrackers should not exceed the 0.2 grams gunpowder limit allowed by RA 7183 and firecrackers that exceed this limit is illegal and should be confiscated by the Police but judging from the size and power of the new generation of firecrackers, it's obvious that they contain more than the 1.3 tablespoon limit. 

Anyway, the branding of these super-firecrackers is something to think about. It's sick, funny kind of sick, really, because most of these brands are named after the hottest issues of the day from supertayhpoons, sports, to local and international politics. When Bin Laden was the most wanted man by the US, a firecracker was named after him, then there's Manny Pacquiao to pay tribute to the pambansang kamao; Yolanda after the supertyphoon, Napoles and now Goodbye Delima. There was even a "Crying Bading" which smacks of homophobia.


What do these brand say? (to justify the title of the post). Nothing. I guess the manufacturers of these firecrackers think that the best way to end the year is to blast these issues into smithereens, with the exception of Manny Pacquiao, of course. Or they think they are just being funny.

When I was teenager, I used to love firecrackers and the noise of new years eve. Heck, we used to fire my father's 5 inch GI pipe "kalburo" (smelled like rotten eggs) powered canon which used to knock out our neighbor's fluorescent lamp because of the vibrations it created. It also used to knock off the roosting chickens in our talisay trees. My friends and I loved that cannon and we used to fantasize that we were firing a 150 mm howitzer by putting cans and coconut on its nuzzles as projectiles, unfortunately it got rusted and I had it sold to the junk shop.

But now I'm older, I guess my eardrums got sensitive because of age hehehehe. God, how I wish that we celebrate the changing of the year in total silence, in reflection.

MMFF movies and no Enteng Kabisote, Shake rattle and Roll, and Mano Po! My Gawd!

I am not really fond of Filipino Movies except maybe the bits and pieces of ST movies of the late eighties and early nineties, which due to the testosterone over production, made it irresistible for me and my friends to watch cut and spliced scenes from various ST movies on beta and VHS tapes.  

I guess one reason I never fell in love with our movies is Hollywood, the cinematography. Movies are primarily visual and this is where Hollyood movies are good at. They could produce blockbuster movies about nothing yet sell the movie based on the power of its eye popping special effects and catchy soundtracks.

Growing up watching movies filled with crawling ants and amoebas floating around the screen, which I thought then was OK, instilled in me the idea that Filipino movies were bad, especially when compared to American films.

But despite this, I missed old movies because of the nostalgia I feel whenever I see these old movies being replayed on TV. time travel. But its telling that the Philippine movie industry has no plan to restore or digitally enhance these old movies. 

Anyway, I heard on the news that some mainstream, money making, blockbuster and microcephallus causing movies were off the MMFF's list and instead the festival focused on the artsy, alternative and indie movies. This is an injustice especially to the Filipinos who love these movies, this according to an actor who produced one of the movies. Baahhh, I say. 

But this step taken by the MMFF is telling. I could only theorized that even the most objective member of the festival organizers realized that movies with sequels running into the decades is an indication of  artistic atrophy. How many sequels does it take for a movie to exhaust its logical continuity? How many sequels before it turned into the surreal-mind numbing zone of inanity and insanity? How much lime is there in a piece of lemon?

The formula is simple, if it made money this year, it would in the next and the businessman in these producers have one primary goal, the box office at the expense of artistry and creativity.

I guess the MMFF got tired of this. Anyway these are the MMFF entries:

• Sitsiritsit
• Birds
• EJK
• Manila Scream
• Mga Bitoon sa Siyudad
• Mitatang
• Mono
• Passage of Life

Nope, I have no plans of watching any one of these. No PBB yet.

Ever the SM and why I even bother with this post...

I feel a sense of loss when this facade was changed to the
blue and grey color of SM malls. I don't why this place did
not make money but the moment the place opted to allow
trinkets sellers and pirated stuff vendors inside the mall
it became the air conditioned tiangge which sells stuffs you
are not supposed to find in malls.

I have been reading a lot of rants and grunts about the traffic in Ortigas Extension nearing junction Cainta. The object of the hatred is the newly opened SM east Ortigas. The place used to be Ever Gotesco Ortigas but it did not make money so SM bought the place and renovated it to the SM east Ortigas Mall.

Now, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's wrong here. In fact, my dog could very well figure out the culpas here (I'm not talking about the whote stuff found inside the foreskin of the male genitalia here, I'm referring to the faults).

Go figure!

Ortigas Avenue has been widened to eight lanes (I think) four on each side. The widening was done to ease the traffic jams and to accommodate the growing number of vehicles in Rizal. Since most of the remaining acreage in the province has been converted into residential subdivision and industrialized zones add the growing numbers of squatters (or to be PC, informal settlers) that migrate to the province due to its growing industry and proximity to Metro Manila and what you have is what you got. 

I like the old Ever Gotesco facade.

But the road widening stopped at the Cainta, Junction. The eight lane road is connected to a two lane that then branch out into the  ortigas extension and the Bonifacio Avenue leading to downtown Cainta, the bottle neck. And the rest is a classic case of cause and effect.

Anyway, when Ever Gotesco closed shop, the traffic eased up a little bit. Aside from the vehicles going in and out of the mall, there was also a significant decrease in pedestrian traffic. But now that SM East Ortigas is now operating, the bottkeneck plus the private vehicles going in and out of the mall, plus the pedestrian traffic, add the jeepney terminals that automatically pops up in malls, what we have is what we got.

Anyway, I propose a very simple solution, let's stop going to SM malls because in the end our patronage keeps this traffic generators in business. I mean, to think that we promote Henry Sy as a business guru and yet his business is doing this to us, the amount of pollution, lost time, stress, materialism etc. is it all worth it? Shetland.