Archive for category everything else
Emil Guillermo: Confessions of a bad relative
Posted by Amok in blog, everything else on August 2nd, 2010
Recently two deaths occurred, one natural, the other not. I was related to both of them, though as you can see, the guilt is only now setting in.
My Cousin
For her privacy and to protect the innocent, let’s call her Paula.
She was a real gem.
Paula was just a few years younger than me, born in 1958. She was smart. She was beautiful. She was a great dancer, and an even better singer. She sang, well, like an angel.
We grew up in San Francisco. We even went to Lowell High School at the same time.
And until I heard the news this week, I couldn’t remember the last time I saw Paula, or even what she looked like.
It was all a blank until I went to the wake and saw her portrait. Unmistakably a cousin, in her eyes and face I saw the whole family.
At the wake, I saw another relative, an aunt. When she recognized me, I dipped my head to air-kiss her hello. Then she pulled back and said, “Say hi to your mom.”
A nice sentiment, sure. But my mother died more than 10 years ago.
By her statement, my aunt in her 80s was going before my eyes. But her forgetfulness was a forgivable, natural thing. The rest of us willfully forget. Life gets in the way, we move away, our lives in different places and connections naturally wane.
That’s the way it was with Paula and I. We might see each other at funerals.
And now she staged her own.
She had lost a job in January. Her mother died a year ago. She had a bout of depression, and decided her meds weren’t worth it. Nor was anything else.
Did she have options? The family? What if it was like the way it was, and our families lived within blocks apart in San Francisco. And we all saw each other, and knew that it was a family full of love that could provide support. Could that have helped?
My other cousins at the wake had the same feeling. Were where we when one of us needed us?
Busy, leading our own complicated lives for sure. But maybe it could have been different if we had more family gatherings other than our funerals.
Manang Juaning
The other funeral last week was for my Manang Juaning, 85, an Alzheimer’s sufferer. Her son, Ben Medina and other family members were at the nursing home for her last breath.
Her life is like the history of Philippine immigration.
Her father, Lolo Telesforo was the cousin of my father. That’s why he stayed with my family in our extra room all those years. He first petitioned for his grand-daughter Esther, who moved in with us and was like a big sister. Then came Ben, her brother. And he moved in too.
They needed their own place when the other five siblings (beautiful sisters all) arrived, along with the leader Manang Juaning. From that base came 15 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great grandchildren.
The wake was a flood of generations—five in all, from Juanita to great-great grandchildren Robert Dorr Jr. and Jayden Dorr.
Not only did I not keep up with relatives I actually lived with, I had practically skipped 3 generations of young relatives. Many of them were already in their late 20s.
“We haven’t seen you in a while, uncle,” one said to me. They knew of me as the “Uncle on TV,” or more aptly, Uncle in absentia. But I knew relatively little of them except we had blood and history in common.
You can prevent from becoming the “modern” Filipino family.
Stay close. Don’t just text or e-mail. See and talk to each other, often. Use the word love as noun or verb, frequently.
And don’t make funerals the family reunion.
Emil Guillermo’s quick take on “24″ finale: An OK close for the 8th day’s “End-of-the-World/POTUS Corruptus” scenario, but a 9th day lurks in the future and maybe something newer than real-time SIM card recovery disembowelments?
Posted by Amok in blog, everything else, news on May 25th, 2010
“24″ is my guilty pleasure.
But I sure wish it had ended for good last night.
In real life, I’m a softie for human rights, civil rights and all rights of the oppressed. But on “24″ I can satisfy my unrealize desire to kill, maim, torture, and this season, disembowel, all for the greater good. Jack Bauer is better than a video game. You don’t have to figure out how to use the darn remote controls to make him move. And when push comes to annhilate, Jack is more moral than we all thought. Last night, Jack couldn’t off Logan or Pillar when he had the chance. (Jack bit off Pillar’s ear, but he lived). Deep down, the good guys know what’s right.
Unlike “Lost,” where nothing in the previous 6 seasons seemed to have anything to do with the powerful last 10 minutes, at least there was a kind of unity to ”24.” As in the previous seasons, the last episode fulfills the mission of the day. Among the highlights: Chloe shot Jack. Chloe avoided a full cavity search. Taylor gave in to her guilt over the cover-up. The corrupt peace accord was averted. Great. It was as it has always been for me, a tense, “stand-up-while-watching” TV experience.
But I really wanted it to “end” end.
And then I noticed, as the clock ticked like the last seconds in a game, the story arc wouldn’t give us much more than it had to. Jack is still alive, on the loose, and with a final wink, is off, a step ahead of the feds, the Russians, and millions of fans soon to be in hot pursuit.
So a faux finale. They had a chance to bring it all together as when Jack told Chloe how, when it all began, she came into CTU, and he never knew it would be her to have his back. But she did.
I swear I tried to pump out a tear just to play along. But after 8 seasons, I was dry.
Instead, I winked back.
Addendum: On his blog, Chuck Ross, asked if finale was a missed opportunity. Of course, I believe it was. The storytellers were victims of their “real time conceit,” and were trapped inside a box of their own making. The subsequent movie should be liberating, unless they rename the project ”120.”
”24″ made sense 8 years ago, when real-time was a buzz word. But why insist on the format now? Time for the next thing, or the next old thing.
SIM card disembowlements–in 3-D?
Going after Goldman: Finally, the real culprits could pay for the housing crisis
Posted by Amok in blog, everything else, news on April 16th, 2010
So Goldman created an investment it knew would fail and sold it to investors? Sounds like “The Producers.”
Here’s what Goldman can do as a goodwill gesture:
What if everyone currently underwater in a mortgage were given a short position of 1,000 shares of Goldman stock, right now?
That could help a lot of people–especially if Goldman takes a nice drop down. Thank you, GS.
Or they could give 1,000 shares of GS stock to screwed over mortgage holders once the stock bottomed. That way, we can all rise from the dead at the same time.
Goldman says it’s innocent. But that’s standard comeback fare in the face of a fraud charge. Here’s my bet: As Enron was to California’s energy crisis, Goldman was to California’s subprime mess.
Goldman’s only defense is based on greed: Hey if the housing market didn’t collapse we’d all be winners!
Yeah, sure. But then again it was the complicated credit swaps it concocted that created the circumstances for the housing bubble to burst.
No-hitter by Sanchez “unlikely”? Not when you’re given a chance to shine
Posted by Amok in blog, diversity, everything else, news on July 11th, 2009
Here’s a lesson we can all take away from the magnificent no-hitter thrown last night by the Giant’s Jonathan Sanchez.
The baseball was great last night. Near perfect. But the non-baseball lesson was even better.
Give people with talent a real opportunity, don’t give up on them, and eventually they will rise to their talent level.
In social terms, some people would call that a form of “affirmative action. “ It’s just about giving people who would ordinarily be ignored a chance to fulfill their maximum potential.
Before last night, the Giants almost gave up on Sanchez. Fans were calling for his head. The club needed a hitter and had a surplus of young arms. But apparently no GM was willing to trade for Sanchez or give him a chance.
The lefty was unceremoniously sent to baseball’s woodshed and demoted to the bullpen.
By every statistical standard, the Giants should have dumped Sanchez, a massive underachiever. If there was a less anal, bean-crunching GM in the league, Sanchez surely would have been dealt off before Friday night.
But circumstances like Randy Johnson going to the disabled list, left Sanchez as the Giants’ only option for a Friday start. They had to believe.
It was the opportunity a real gamer relishes. Sanchez, who has shown real glimpses of greatness inthe past, perhaps every third inning he pitched, was set up to prove himself.
It was the opportunity everyone with a strong belief in their talent relishes.
All you need is the chance. Or someone to give you one. After the game, Sanchez mentioned how he put some extra time in with Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti. Rags certainly didn’t give up on Sanchez.
Last night, Sanchez emerged as a different pitcher. The hook and sink on all his pitches seemed to be guided to their spots perfectly. And the Padre hitters seemed totally mystified.
The game had its dramatic moments and disappointments. The Uribe error, the Rowand catch. All that and the Giants were hitting! The baseball part was great last night.
But the non-baseball parts were even better. Sanchez’ father was in the stands watching for the first time. And for the first time, it all came together for Sanchez.
When people with promise are given a chance to shine, they can and will.
The Giants extended Sanchez another chance, and he affirmed their belief and his own talent by throwing a gem, the first no-hitter in the majors this year.
It was nine innings for all of the Jonathan Sanchez’s in life, the ones often described as “unlikely.”
Imagine the amount of potential unfulfilled because people have been deemed “unlikely” all their lives.
You are only “unlikely” if you’re never given an opportunity.
But with a chance, you can surprise and amaze.
Surprising. Amazing.
That’s exactly what the Giants’ Jonathan Sanchez was at AT&T Park.
The Media and Michael Jackson: Welcome to the Jackson School of Law, Public Health and Race
Posted by Amok in blog, diversity, everything else, journalism, news, politics, race, sports on July 9th, 2009
I had to stop watching. The orgy over Michael Jackson was deserved to a point, and then with 24-hour cable channels pumping out to a “Thriller” beat, it just got embarrassing with the media practically pandering to the mass audience the story is attracting.
Leave it to the Wall Street Journal to put things in perspective. Wednesday’s front page featured above the fold horizontal photos of Uighurs and Hans! (The Uighars? Did they sing a cover of “I Want You Back”? ) Where was Jackson in the new hip Journal? MJ was in a small box, a photo of his coffin and a caption on the left under the masthead.
A triumph of journalistic restraint!
The story now unfolds like any other emotion-filled mega-story before it , i.e., the O.J. trial. that’s when the news became our de facto public school of law. O.J was our criminal law class. MJ is our our family law and probate class.
As we learn of the details of Jackson’s life, you’ll be asking yourself if you have a will or an estate plan. You can count on that. You wouldn’t want to end up in the mess the courts are about to untangle.
So the news will become part law school, part business school case study , and potentially a seminar in the Jackson school of public health; that is, if we ever during the course of the next few months discover what killed Jackson, what tormented him, and what he was running away to or from.
We have lots to look forward to!
Notice I have avoided taking the contrary approach like one blogger on Alternet which called Jackson an icon of mediocrity who wasn’t a good dancer, singer, musician. Like what’s the fuss? That’s an elitist approach, to which I’ll confess to using it in the past. But save that tack for denigrating mass love shown for Donny Osmond. Or at the passing of one of the Monkees.
Jackson was far too complex and gifted. And troubled.
His most complicated role that’s worth examining may well be the psychological toll race had on his psyche.
Jackson wanted to transcend race as if he were music and the dance, the universal forms that made him the King of Pop.
He couldn’t do that as a person, no matter how he tried. Jackson didn’t survive his fight against race and identity, no matter how he tried to transform himself.
But his music triumphed and that shall live forever.
State of play: My analog weekend with Russell Crowe, Asparagus and the Tubes
Posted by Amok in blog, everything else, journalism, movies, news, race on April 27th, 2009
Russell Crowe in his new movie “State of Play” is as pitch perfect as it gets in his depiction of the good old-fashioned journalist.
It was both nostalgic and sentimental for this old reporter. Like an old cowboy looking at a Western.
As Cal McAffrey, ink-stained wretch, Crowe uses the back seat of his aging Saab as a combination trash-can/file cabinet. He drives while listening to loud Irish music, so he has a touch of the ethnic journalist in him. He likes his car so much, his apartment décor resembles his car. Outward appearances be damned, McCaffrey considers fashion an affront to the truth, which of course, is all he cares about, no matter how painful it is.
The movie centers around a basic dilemma for journalists: Who’s a friend? Who’s a source? Who can you sleep with?
And the truth is found the old fashioned way. No guns.(Only the bad guys have those). No superhuman powers. McAffrey Crowe just asks questions; of editors, sources, colleagues, himself. In the end, what’s left are just the facts. No opinion. No blogs. Read the rest of this entry »
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