DEAR POBLACION GIRL: AN OPEN LETTER

 01 January 2022

Dear Poblacion Girl:

We would have wanted a happier new year but hours before 2021 ended, the government announced that we are back to Level 3 alert because of the dangerous spike of the number of COVID19 cases in the country in a single day.

It is apparent now. The Omicron variant has come to town like a going-away present of the passing year.  Just when we thought that we were slowly (and hopefully surely) easing back to a kind of comfortable normal, here comes another possible surge.  And it is not going to be just another surge, Girl ... this is the most volatile and dangerous because the variant now plaguing the world boasts of the greatest transmissibility.

You know what? I feel bad for you.  Really.  Why? Because you have become the face of Omicron.  What was merely an imaginary micro ball of protein spikes has found a face, a name.  And it is all because you wanted to party and skip your quarantine. Because you had connections.

I feel bad because you are being blamed for the resurgence of cases --- as well as being branded as the Mothership of Omicron.  You have practically been crowned Miss Omicron Philippines 2021  --- which is funny but unfair.  It is impossible that these massive infections could have come from you and you alone.  I mean, if you can pay off your quaantine requirements because you have connections I can imagine that others are doing it as well.

After gallavanting in the U.S. for a vacation, it would not have really been living hell to be locked up in a comfortable hotel room making sure that you did not bring home the virus together with your other imported goodies, right?  But you know what, Girl? I understand.

If you were right there in the heart of rocking Makati, it must have sheer torture to know that your squad was just a few blocks away gulping down their Jack Daniels and Absoluts singing Jingle Bells. It must have been intolerable to think that they are having fun together while you were confined in so many square meters of industrial carpeted room service operated prison.

If only you realized the possible consequences of your actions and stopped thinking of some temporary pleasure just because you had connections, then maybe all these would not have happened.  According to accounts, you have succeeded in infecting a substantial number of your friends ( you can have a recount after all have recovered to see how many of them would still want having you around) as well as the staff of the bar where you decided to boogie.

You can also start using your College of Business mathematics to estimate the exponential number of infections generated by your simple act of misbehavior.

These friends went to their Christmas Eve and Christmas Day family reunions, presumably asymptomatic thereby opening the possibility of infection of all their family members as well as friends.  For about four days these people have gone around not knowing that they may be spreading the virus --- endangering those with co-morbidities or senior members. And, yes, Girl ... even the children because Omicron is vicious with unvaccinated kids.

I am trying to understand what you did because you thought it was just another kakiyan to party with your friends. I am trying to find any validation of the sheer irresponsibility of your act, its somewhat vulgar implications because you told your peers that you got out of quarantine because you had connections. Proud ka pa, Girl?

Now look at what you are being blamed for --- even though it is unfair to point the finger only at you. Marami kayong ganyan pero ikaw ang umangkin ng korona at sash to represent that entire barangay of people who can get away with what they want including the violation of very important protocols just because you had connections.

In fairness to the Department of Health and the Department of Tourism, great effort has been placed to contain the Omicron from entering our shores.  But it is the connected people like you, Girl ... and these more guilty individuals and institutions who enable people like you who should be answerable to the laws of the land.

Because of the possibility of a surge, everything falls two steps back again.

Plans for hybrid classes may be postponed ... again because of the highest transmissibility of the variant. Restaurants, recreation venues and cinemas are cut back to 30% occupancy and the NCR --- which has already been a safe bubble because of the high degree of vaccination --- has deteriorated into another potential danger zone.

Just when the economy is slowly picking up ... this had to happen all over again.

All because you just had to party that night. Just because you had connections. All because there are others like you who do not take the protocols seriously ... and only think of yourselves and the momentary pleasures that provoke reckless decisions.  All because there are other persons, businesses and institutions that allow such recklessness, corruption and irresponsibility to take place with a corresponding amount of money or delicious favors.

Regardless of how hard the government tries --- or how much work our health workers yield, it is people like you who just ... uh, screw up everything because you don't give a f--k.

I feel bad for you because this stigma will stick to your name for the rest of your life. You will always be the face of a virus.

I feel bad for your parents because they too must carry the burden of being accountable for some decisions you made which they were not aware nor could be held responsible.

I feel bad for your friends (some of who are the children of my students in the University long ago) because they will carry the guilt of exposing their friends and family members to the virus just because they happen to be your friends.

I feel bad because I wish you had ... in your heart of hearts ... embodied the values that the University wanted to impart to all its students and graduates:  the importance of social responsibility and thinking beyond one's impulsive needs to care for the welfare of others.

I feel bad for you, Girl. But you --- together with your enablers --- must face the consequences of the law of this land.

Happy New Year.

JoeyR

THE YEAR THAT CAME TO PASS

 In two hours it will be 2022.

I feel that two years of my life have been stolen.  Two years in various degrees of quarantine and lockdown so much so that it has practically become a way of life.  Humans adapt to circumstances and events, givens and variables --- and before you know, you have changed not only in the way you dress, the way you interact with people but more so the way you think and live your life.

I hoped that 2021 will be better than 2020.  Nope, it was worse.  Just when you thought it was going to get better, you find yourself like a hamster running around in a wheel. Just when your paranoia is slowly diminishing, somebody drops a bomb that makes you feel more afraid than ever. And what is worse is that you are getting used to it.

So what has the two years done to me?  Let me count the ways.  Let me jot down all these ideas and realizations as we bid goodbye to 2021 with hopes that 2022 will be kinder ... and more productive.

(1) I have been in so many zoom meetings that I now think of people as talking heads in boxes.  I have just come to realize that for most of the days, I talk to people while seated behind my computer dressed decently only from waist up. Now you think of human interaction as a gallery view or speaker view and you really miss out sitting around a table with real human beings seated across you.

(2) Online stores have replaced the joys of retail therapy. Nowadays Add to Cart is the new panacea. There were days in the distant Old Normal when you decide to stay home to avoid spending  money on unnecessary goods that you will later regret after unpacking from the shopping bag.  Now even sitting behind a computer is dangerous: I surmise that Lazada, Shoppee, Skein, Zalora and NewChic has claimed a substantial part of my Work From Home earnings.  To think online purchases used to be limited to Amazon.Com buys ... but has now become the way to shop.

(3) Online Banking and GCash have spared me the excuse to go out and get cash. Well, this is both good ... and bad.  Online banking spares you of the traffic, the face mask, the (relic called) face shield and all the other anti-virus armor you carry to conduct the simplest business.  But then access to online banking and GCash can also be an unrelenting part of the temptation to go online shopping and enjoy the hidden treasures of Facebook Market. The fact that you only need a passcode to pay up for things you want to buy makes the temptation to purchase almost addictive.

(4) How could we have lived without Grab, Lala and Mr Speedy? Yes, it is cheaper to spend two hundred pesos than to brave Manila traffic and waste money on gasoline.  I would rather depend on the kindness and efficiency of Kuya Biker to deliver goods from me and to me but then again dealing with these men can be an entire blog all by itself.  Pagpasensiyahan mo na when Kuya calls you up and asks for directions on how to get to your house.  That can be quite a problem when you live in Alabang and Kuya is coming all the way from Santa Maria, Bulacan carrying a pot of hybrid gumamela to satisfy your plantito self which leads me to ...

(5) House arrest can make you discover things about yourself which you never imagined before March 2020.   I remember asking God in January 2020 to give me just one to two weeks of respite --- the kind that will not require you to get out of the house while you thaw from brain freeze and seek the comfortable silence in solitude. God answers prayers indeed but he can go a bit too much.  I asked for fourteen days ... not two years.  And being locked up in my house, I discovered the joys of caladiums, monsteras, mayanas, elephant ears, hibiscus and succulents. I would also spend endless hours taking online short courses in Domestika that involve drawing and design --- which I gave up years ago when I opted to pound keyboards rather than draw with pastels and aquarelles. I mean ... would I have done these if I were still living that frenetic pre-March 2020 life?

(6) I realize that there will be an entire batch of graduating students who I have never seen in person.  Let it be said once and for all that online classes are a bitch. Students take time to get into it --- some downright hate it --- and teachers are not exactly doing cartwheels preparing modules or spending hours talking to a monitor while making sure that the kids have not gone comatose on the other side.  But it is sad, really ... oh, so sad ... because I believe that 40% of the joy of teaching and learning involves the interaction of humans sharing ideas in a common real time experience and not a virtual reality.  And, yes, there is this batch of COMARTS majors who will step into the real world after their virtual graduation ... who I have spent terms teaching and interacting but who have never seen me in the flesh.  That I believe is so sad if not tragic.

(7) You may be locked up at home but you have broadened your world.  One thing that this pandemic brought me is a wider range of vision and perception of human existence.  Damn irony there.  The more you are confined, the more chances you have to savour a much bigger and diverse world.  Yes, I succumbed to the magic of hallyu, suddenly consuming everything Korean and learning to appreciate not only their culture but how they are now conquering the world.  I have started reading fiction from contemporary Asian writers --- mostly Japanese and Korean ---which I would never have devoured with as much gusto before.  And yes all these streaming platforms have literally opened the floodgates for movies and video pieces that would have fallen off my radar if I were too busy.  So you thank Netflix, Viu, HBOMax, AppleTV, Amazon Prime, Gaia, DiscoveryPlus , Upstream, KTX and Vivamax because the menus offered on your table are not enough to consume for a lifetime.

So did I actually lose two years of my life because of the pandemic?  Yes and no.

Yes, I have lost two years of my old life but then no.  No, because by accepting that the Old Normal is no more and that the New Normal is NORMAL I was able to go beyond making do ... and reinventing myself for making the most.

2022 is promising ... or could have been more promising if not for Omicron and Poblacion Girl who represented everything wrong about the people and not the virus.  I had hoped that by the opening of the new year things would have eased out and we could have gone closer to what we knew as life before.  Apparently not.  But whatever.  2021 is done and 2022 will, should and must be better. 

It is all a matter of the way you look at it.

Happy New Year.

MMFF 2021: THREE TO WATCH

 I have seen all the eight entries of this year's MetroManila Filmfest as (again) I sat as one of the jurors together with National Artist Virgilio Almario, editor and post-production head Manet Dayrit, musical director Nonong Buencamino, the iconic Ricky Lee, actress Cherry Pie Picache, Rachel Arenas, MMFF Spokesperson,  Noel Ferrer and Senator Christopher Go (represented by CHED Chairman Popoy De Vera.)

For two Fridays the jurors sat through four films per session.  However I cannot publish this until after the Awards Night on the 27th of December since the group mentioned above has not yet sat around a table to deliberate on the winners.  At this point (as I write this), I am not allowed to discuss whatever choices I have picked but while the films are fresh in my mind, let me jot this down.

There are three must-watch films.  They are not your usual pang-Festival films which mean a lot of kilig-kilig, tawa-tawa and frou-frou. That statement was not meant to be demeaning: admittedly the MMFF is a commercial fiesta --- and the most successful films (box office wise) are not the ones most likely to excite the members of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino or your favorite mataray film critic armed with a thesaurus.

There are disappointments in the offerings this year --- but then again, a jury of so many people do not and cannot dictate what the people should or would want.  There are films as there are movies --- and they do not cancel each other.  Some people want to be intellectually stimulated while others want pure entertainment.  They both pay for the same price of the movie ticket --- so they both have the same rights to demand what they want from their two hour escape from reality.

What I have to offer is my opinion --- because I feel that these works deserve a much larger audience than what the other more commercial ones can possibly generate. Sayang if these films do not get the affirmation from the Christmas crowd simply because they have chosen to make statements rather than service popular taste.

A Hard Day (directed by Law Fajardo) is a well-crafted film that packs suspense, boasts of excellent cinematography, editing, sound, music and design added to the exceptional performance of its lead actor, Dingdong Dantes.

The movie is tight, the narrative is clear cut and the performances delivered by the supports enhance rather than diminish the quality of the output.  It did not bastardize nor compromise the original 2014 South Korean film that it remade directed by Kim Seong-Hun and starring Lee Sun Gyun.

If there is anything to be held against this movie, then it is its very asset. It is, after all, a remake of another movie --- and just how much of the Filipino version can be attributed as original and not merely templated.  But that sort of argument is moot and academic: it is a remake, right? And this an excellently crafted one that deserves credit.

Kun Maupay It Panahon ( Whether the Weather is Fine, directed by Carlo Francisco Manatad) is a feat of a first feature film by an editor-turned-director.

Warning: this is not your Pamasko movie.  The entire narrative is based on the personal experience of the director when he returned to his hometown in Tacloban right after the devastation brought by the super typhoon Yolanda.

In what looked like a dystopian universe, the Tacloban recreated here is a marvel of design by Whammy Alcazaren brought to even more chilling levels by the camera work of Singaporean cinematographer Teck Siang Lim.  The movie is a painful slow burn, tracing the remnants of the lives of a young man, Miguel (Daniel Padilla) and his mother Norma (Charo Santos-Concio) as well as his girlfriend Andrea (Rans Rifol).  

The entire film is in Waray, the language of Tacloban --- and moves to the level of surrealism as the survival instincts of the victims reshape their very nature and humanity.  The ladies in the film deliver heartbreaking performances but it is Daniel Padilla who you wish will be given far better, meatier, challenging and edgy roles that would test his mettle as an actor.  Padilla is so good and could even be better if studios make him graduate from matinee idol to real artist in the challenges they give him in projects.  

The popular audience may not see this as the kind of film they want to experience in the Jingle Bells season but it still demands attention and consideration for its sheer scope, ambition and statement.

Jun Robles Lana has a way of surprising his audiences with his film outputs.

Whereas his campy/dramatic Die Beautiful married both commercial and critical success, his evolution as a filmmaker brought him to Khalel 15 and now one of his best works, Big Night.

Again, this is not your Pamasko movie to go hand in hand with your hamon de bola or even Eddam cheese. What Lana offers is a cinematic picaresque tracing the overnight adventures of a small time beautician named Dharna (with an H) wonderfully --- nay, exceptionally portrayed by Christian Bables.  This movie, despite its seeming simplicity, is loaded with such statements that you end up thinking about the film after the screening and wanting to discuss its aspects with people who have shared your experience.

The journey of Dharna is a glimpse into the microcosm of Philippine society in the here and now, present progressive, woven together by the absurdity of Pinoy politics and governance. What is impressive about Lana's work is that it never went in your face nor made the apparent obvious because the material made you think then reflect on the mess that we live in.

Over and above the excellent cinematography, music, sound and editing, it is the performances of the chorus of a supporting cast that makes this film one of the best of the year.  Eugene Domingo, Janice de Belen, John Arcilla and Nico Antonio bring together a beautiful symphony of naturalistic renditions of their role further emphasizing the social statements given by the film.

So is it worth the risk of going to a cinema to watch a film? 

These are three very good reasons to do so.  If only to affirm the bravery and effort of the filmmakers who put these three films together, then please do so.

Somehow A Hard Day, Kun Maupay and Big Night justify why there are still very valid reasons why the MetroManila Film Festival should keep on going.

THE SECOND PANDEMIC CHRISTMAS

 Honestly I miss suffering from a major LSS of Joe Mari Chan's Christmas melodies.

In less than a week it will be Christmas.  We Filipinos take this really seriously for as early as September we are all excited to don our gay apparels and go fa-la-la-la.  But not this year.  Even lesser than last.  Understandably so.  We are about to enter the second year of the pandemic --- and keeping us apart has been a standard for making sure we all get to outlive the threat of the virus.

And ever since we have been pulled down to Alert Level 2, malls have come back to life (with whatever shops that have not shut down their businesses).  Restaurants are jampacked as if people have been let loose and are craving for anything but home cooked meals ... or those delivered by Grab or Lala Moves.  Kids are scampering all over activity areas and open spaces --- signifying to an attempt to impersonate the Old Normal except that we are still wearing masks and still threatened by the dreaded Omicron.

So why is it that I still do not have the jittery, happy feeling that Christmas is just around the corner as the world celebrates love and sharing? 

Some say that age has got something to do with the attitude you have about the Yuletide season. As you grow older, the thrill diminishes ... because instead of anticipating the gifts you are about to receive, you worry about the gifts you have to give.  It is harder to put to your mind that, hey ... you do not have to do so but you are pressured by tradition and expectations.  Worse, you hate that Filipino brazenness ( hopefully not impropriety) when somebody not necessarily that close to you asks, "Huy, ha? Yung Pamasko ko, ha?"

Well, I am still trying to feel that it's Christmas.  Why am I not hearing Joe Mari Chan's songs?  Or even Kumukutikutitap?

As early as mid-November, I had my house all dolled up for the holidays.  

I have checked my Christmas list and made plans for a post-Christmas dinner with my closest friends here at home ... and yet, despite all this, it still does not feel like it's that time of the year. I look at the street where I live and there is a dearth of Christmas lights ... as if everybody is thinking more of Meralco than Santa Claus.

Yes, it must be the pandemic.  

Or this surreal atmosphere brought by toxic Philippine politics. 

And then came the winds of Odette with all the devastation left in the islands of Central Visayas --- practically levelling down the haven that was Siargao.

And this is less than a week before Christmas as I feel so saddened by the devastation nature has left on our people making one question if merriment has become inappropriate at a time such as this. I heard about the damage done to Bohol and I wonder how the affected families will spend the next two weeks meant for celebration ... quiet or otherwise.

But then again, how do you put these things in a much larger context?  Yes, somebody will mutter that oh-so-overused phrase Christmas is in the Heart  ... and you try to understand what that means considering what surrounds you.

Well, the least we can do is be grateful that we are still here ... and that we are surviving. 

That we are resilient.  But again, as somebody posted in social media, "It is already exhausting to be resilient."  We must carry on ... learn from all this to justify why we are still alive in the here and now.

We must really mean it when we say Merry Christmas.  We must still find happiness regardless of whatever state we are in because we need the strength and determination to move on.  That can only come when we still have aspirations for a better whatever.

Yes, I am wrong.  Christmas has got nothing to do with annual obligations.  

This season is all about the humanity in our beings as we find an opportunity to express our love and gratitude regardless of the god we  give our prayers.

It is about moving on, determined that the new year that lies ahead will be better and more fulfilling than the one we have just lived through.

MMFF 2021: WILL WE BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO GO BACK TO THE THEATERS TO SEE OUR MOVIES?

 The MetroManila Filmfest (MMFF) has always been the crowning glory in terms of box office returns for Filipino movies.  By law, during the span of the Christmas week ... all the way to the New Year, only local movies are allowed screenings in the movie houses covering the domain of Metro Manila.

But the nearly two years of the pandemic has changed all that.  Yes, we will still have the MMFF mounted this year despite the fact that the poor attendance of moviegoing in cinemas has proven the exercise to be highly unprofitable.  In a mall of so many screening outlets, an average of only one hundred people bought tickets and watched movies throughout an entire day.  And that is not even enough to cover for the cost of turning on the air conditioning.  

Moreover, after twenty months of closure equipment of the moviehouses are now conking out because of a stretch of unuse.  Those who are brave enough to march to cinemas to buy tickets end up screaming in both anger and frustration as images hang or machines completely conk out in the middle of watching movies.

The truth is that the pandemic has changed so many aspects in what we perceived as our daily lives pre-COVID19.  Because of the cost of  tickets plus the additional expenditures of food, transportation, blah, blah, blah each time you go out of the house to catch a movie, people have found a different comfort zone in streaming platforms ... or even YouTube.  The pandemic has also pushed us into that: why bother going out of the house to catch a flick when you can easily stay in your bedroom with your most comfortable house pambahay and not worry about the traffic?

Yes, it will require a lot of convincing for people to see a movie back in the cinema houses.  It only took such a relatively short span of time for the mindset of people to change. Now going out of the house to do anything is a major production number (complete with protocols and precautions) so that more often than not --- it does not feel like it is worth the trouble or the effort.

But in the same way we choose comfort, we also have surrendered the real experience of watching a movie.

What a difference it made to see Chloe Zhao's Nomadland on the big screen as compared to your computer monitor regardless of size and technological wizardry.  Can you possibly fully appreciate any of the Marvel or DC summer epics or Steven Spielberg's reinterpretation of West Side Story in any smaller screen than that of a movie house complete with Dolby sound and all its embellishments?  

Can comfort really replace the experience of watching a film in a totally blacked out movie house knowing that there are other people forming a community and sharing ... yes, a communal experience of embracing a narrative of sound and sight?

I think not.  But nowadays, the bottom line is It better be worth it. 

It is not only the cost of the ticket at stake here ... but the dangers of health that one can be so paranoid about in a world that has not yet purged itself of the killer virus.

Now can the MMFF lure back the Filipino audiences to the movie houses?

This is quite a tall order --- but, as somebody in the organizing committee said, "If we don't go back to the cinemas now ... then when?"  There is a need to create a demand for people to return to the real cinematic experience rather than just be blase with the comfort of streaming platforms.  Now it is a matter of asking if the movies of the festival are good enough, strong enough to convince the audiences to accept the fact that this Christmas, we will try to bring back as much of the old normal possible ... or as we remember it.

So now we ask, "O, ano? Manonood ka ba?"

THE HALLYU INVASION AND THAT SINGLE NOMINATION

 Well, congratulations to our boys (again).

After literally sweeping the American Music Awards and the MTV Europe Awards this year, our Bulletproof Boy Scouts aka Bangtan Songyeodan universally known as BTS, was given their second nomination for Best Performance by a Duo or Group by the Grammys. Period.

This was the same category they were nominated for last year (for their first all-English song Dynamite)  which they lost to Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande (Rain on Me). 

OK. One nomination for their rendition of their second all English song Butter, perhaps (together with Olivia Rodrigo's Good for You) the biggest summer song of 2021. 

One nomination.  

No Song of the Year. No Record of the Year. Not even Music Video of the Year for My Universe, the collaboration they did with Cold Play.  Just one nomination.

And that says a lot.

Well, yes: the hoity-poity would always cite that, uh, the American Music Awards is fan-based, fan-voted and a popularity contest.  Of course BTS would win considering the sheer size of a planet-wide fandom called ARMY.  Of course those votes would pour in ... just like YouTube feels nervous that there is some hocus-pocus taking place because of the unbelievable number of views their MVs receive just seconds before the launch, hitting millions on  the first day of uploading.  Something as good as that cannot be legit because it is simply not done or believed to be impossible. 

So the same goes for the Grammys --- or any serious award-giving body that is not fan-based or sales-biased.  

Yeah, right, you can have the biggest hit ... but we are talking about music as art here and not founded on consumerism.  Be that as it may, the impact of music is still and will always be the manner by which it affects the audience to indulge or even overdose on the consumption of the material.  That is why you LSS on melodies --- because a particular piece hits closest to you in the here and now and becomes part of that moment in your life when you look back and remember your life's timeline.

Or maybe it is because we have not yet reached that phase when anything from Asian popular artists can be considered serious.

But, no! Didn't Bong Joon Ho and Parasite run off with the Oscars in 2019?  Didn't Squid Game redefine the choice of the most viewed Netflix series in 2021?  Didn't Chloe Zhao receive the Oscars for Best Director last year?

Maybe let's push it further: yes, Lee Isaac Chung is a Korean American but Youn Yuh-jung took home the Best Supporting Actress, right?  

Or just consider all the Asian actors, not only Koreans, who are leaving their thumbprints in big Hollywood movies.  I am not talking about Steven Yeun or Sandra Oh ... but about Canadian Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Kumail Nanijani, Gemma Chan and Don Lee (The Eternals) or soon Park Seo Joon (The Marvels) --- and, yes, Nico Santo, Jojo Briones and Lea Salonga who have been working on American mainstream television and not only the stage.

It is encouraging that cinema and television ... as well as streaming platforms have embraced Asians not just for the sake of inclusive accommodation but as a recognition that --- hey, we are now important in the world order not only in terms of our economic clout but our wealth of talent and depth/scope of cultural histories.  

The definition of Asian has gone beyond Chinese and Japanese --- but the diversity of the cultures within the region as well. Hollywood has stopped portraying Asians as buck-toothed yellow-faced characters who are best fit for roles of servants or operating laundromats.  They can now be superheroes --- both in front and behind the camera.

Then there is the Grammys that gave a powerhouse group of seven Korean boys one nomination and did not even take a peek at the significance of Blackpink or the entire KPop phenomenon within their precious consideration.  

Perhaps it is because in the eyes of that discriminating few, Asian popular music is novelty --- like PSY's Gangnam Style --- and never to be taken seriously much less deserving of such holy recognition.

Whatever.  But when recognition is given by those who are out of the loop, out of touch, out of sync or ... (hopefully not) protecting the sanctity of musical territoriality, then should we even take this seriously?  I mean ... who cares?  So with that single nomination, I wish our boys the best of luck --- but I have stopped expecting.

Like so many others, I am more excited about their music than their trophies. 

After all, the thrill is all about the happiness in the moments when music sweeps you off your feet ... and not the so-called prestige in the judgment of an authorized few.

BTS AND ARMY: WHEN THE GLASS CEILING IS BROKEN

 So here I am again, writing about them.  I couldn't help it: today is a great day for Asian musical artists. The glass ceiling was broken. 

BTS won all the trophies they were cited for in the American Music Awards. This time around, they went beyond the Favorite Duo or Group category (which they won for three years in a row) but bagged not only the Favorite Pop Song ( for "Butter" ) and the grand prize, Artist of the Year.

What made the victory all the more delicious was the roster of talents they were listed vying for the biggest honors: Taylor Swift, Arianna Grande, the Weekend, Drake and the latest pop darling, Olivia Rodrigo. 

Yes, the win is measured by the number of fan votes and not by a select group of judges whose assessments are based not on how much influence a song has in terms of mass popularity --- but some criteria that floats up there in the air. The AMAs is about fandom and the impact the music of an artist leaves to his audience.

But one thing has been proven today: the fandom of these seven boys from South Korea is ... uh, humongous and historic.  The sheer number and power of their ARMY is unparalleled.

Here you have a group of "non-Westerners" who Chris Martin described as having a relationship founded on "brotherhood" claiming the throne of literally being the World's Biggest Band today. 

There is reason to celebrate --- not only their achievement as the first Asian musical act to warrant such popularity --- but the fact that they brought a new sense of universality to popular music. They brought the world of fans together ... regardless of geography, culture and language or "because we come from different sides."

You have people all over the world singing to their songs even though they do not speak or understand the Korean language.  

You have people in awe of their musicality and professionalism but more so their dedication to their work and how they practically kill themselves to deliver an inspired and inspiring performance. 

Call it part of the training of idols in their country --- but regardless of how you brand their showmanship, the trophies they brought home tonight prove the greatness of their journey. No one ever imagined any Asian to be on that stage giving an acceptance speech.  But it happened.  And the door has been opened --- and it can and will happen again.

These were the boys who were passing out flyers in the streets to get people to watch their concerts.  

These are now the forces in music whose contribution goes beyond hit songs, tireless web interactions with their fans or creating reality shows to create an virtual relationship with their fans. 

These are also the quiet philanthropists who do not make a big deal out of their acts of charity but would prefer to do it silently, with anonymity ... and irrefutable sincerity.

These are the Bangtans who have spent more than eight years living and training together and whose growth from gangly boys to giants in their field provide a narrative of beautiful and deserved success. You don't have to be part of their ARMY to realize how they shed a beam of hopeful light, color and happiness to a world that has been diminished to shades of gray.

I write this to end my day because I am happy.

I am happy because there is a beautiful story about seven boys who were put together, worked hard, went through hell, lived through so much undeserved hate then worked again --- very hard to be good at what they were doing. Not only by sheer talent but unwavering persistence, they brought together people of all ages and colors and faiths with their music. They bring us joy just by being who they are.

When Park Jimin posted his video  bowing to his fans thanking them for their success tonight, you know exactly why these boys are there.  

Because they are doing what they are meant to do --- and they are doing it to make millions of people (like me) very happy. Because they are loved.

I purple you.

 

INTERNET MANNERS OR WHY YOU DON'T SEND WORK EMAILS PAST 5:00 PM

Yes, our lives have drastically changed for nearly twenty months since we went on a lockdown.  

Aside from the fact that we all look like extraterrestial creatures walking the streets or traipsing down the corridors of malls withour face shields and masks, the way we spend our waking hours has also been completely revised.  The quarantine has yielded one of the biggest adaptations to urgently address the need for self-isolation. 

It is called "Work From Home" (WFH).

Not that this mode of work has not been proposed before --- out of convenience.  But, as the quarantine demanded it, now WFH has become a need, a solution to keep our jobs without farther endangering our lives.

And again, there are advantages and disadvantages to this.  

It certainly saves a lot of money not only because you don't need to pay for transportation requirements ... or food outside your kitchen and dining table ... or even clothes to make yourself  look presentable.  You are now pegged at home, eating straight from your instant ramen cup and only dressed from waist up or as far as your camera can cover you in a zoom session.

But WFH has also brought about a helluva lot of disadvantages and setbacks. 

For one thing, the division between work and life has been completely blurred.  

Work and Life have merged. Whereas before, getting into your home meant leaving all the pressures, hassles and exhaustion from the office or whatever work space at the doorstep,. now your sanctuary has become your daily battleground as well.  Whether it is a specific room or a corner in your living space, your home has been invaded by the vibes of what used to be your professional domain.  

The demarcation between your professional and personal lives has been erased.

Whereas the me at home was meant to enjoy, chill and relax ... now that me has been surrendered to the demands of a virtual office that has crept into what was your exclusive corner on earth. Now when you open your camera for a zoom meeting, everybody in that session can see a space that was once kept private  and somewhat sacred. 

Oh, yes: that is a simpler way of putting it.  WFH means surrendering a substantial amount of your privacy.

Which is why in an attempt to retain one's sanity as well as much remaining privacy, there should be certain guidelines --- a kind of Digital Age Miss Manners to tell us what is acceptable from what is not.  Actually, it only requires a bit of common sense and a lot of regard for decency to realize what is puede pasar from what is literally crossing the line.

In these most desperate times, we all need work. But we also demand our self-respect as well as care for our mental health.

So let me jot down some points just to define my level of tolerance as far WFH is concerned. These are just some random ramblings from more than a year and half of spending hours on end in front of a computer and pretending that you are creating human interaction necessary for your profession.

But still this all boils down to one important point ---  the basic premise is simple: WORK FROM HOME DOES NOT MEAN 24/7.

(1) Please understand that just because I am working from home means that I am not doing anything.  Just because I am seated in front of my computer wearing shorts and slippers does not mean that I am just lounging around comfortably and pretending to work. DUH! I am just a bit more comfortable, that's all ,,, but I am still under pressure of delivering what is expected from me. I am still doing the same work in house clothes.

(2) Just because I am not registering my working hours on a bundy clock does not mean I am being lethargic.  Do not assume that between zoom meetings I am in bed watching Netflix: as a matter of fact, since WFH modality has been implemented to survive the pandemic (and it looks like it will stay as an option even after the Age of COVID19), my work has increased tremendously.  Why?  Because people always assume that I am procrastinating or lolling around while eating a bag of Doritos in between log-ins.

(3) Zoom meetings cease to be fun after you have three or more of them in a single day.  It was amusing at first ... but now they have become exasperating.  The punishment Mother Nature gave all of us is that she kept all of us apart for playing around with those bats or pangolins. Diminished to talking to heads in boxes, the sessions are exhausting because you are not sure about your degree of engagement --- or why someone turned off his or her camera, unsure of whether or not there is another functioning human being on the other side. So take it easy on the zooms, OK,  I max out at three meetings in a single day. Anything beyond that makes me crabby. Making me go into zooms aside from socializing in e-numans or zoom chikahans make me irritable and feel exploited.

(4) And since we are in the subject of zooms, please have the decency to fix your surroundings if you do not have a background image filter.  Make yourself resemble a decent human being who believes that cleanliness is next to godliness not only in choice of environment but also grooming. The sight of unmade beds or underwear thrown around like daffodils in a war zone can be rather disturbing or even upsetting. What also follows is a sense of propriety in the way you dress whether for an online class, a business or production meeting. Being comfortable does not mean looking like a sloth that assumed human form. 

I am particularly upset, for instance, when I hold online classes and find one of the students still wearing his bed clothes and wrapped in a blanket, hugging a pillow and yawning so that the entire class can see the state of his tonsils.

(5) Mute your mics when you are not talking and turn them on when you need to say something or called to participate in the discussion. Be aware that the incidental sounds in your background can be disturbing/amusing as it would provide information about what kind of life you lead. Hearing your mother's rather loud voice giving instructions or berating your siblings --- or even that cute but particularly irritating pet dog of yours yelping his lungs out have got nothing to do with the agenda of the sessions.

(6) Be aware of what people can see when your camera is on.  This requires no elaboration as there have been great and small tragedies of sorts because people are careless or even clueless in leaving their cameras on while revealing things which should not be generally shared to a viewing public.  Not unless there is an inner exhibitionist in you, be most cautious about allowing the world to see what should only be shared with intimate friends and family. 

Another word of warning: when using a laptop, never ever bring the broadcast in the bathroom regardless of degree of urgency. If ever you need to do so, make sure that your camera is off as there is this most famous anecdote about an important meeting of national scale taking place and one the participants actually broadcasted to an entire august body how he answers the call of nature, complete with sound effects and stunning visuals.  Believe me, it did not leave a good impression. Just a lot of toilet humor.

(7) Regardless of urgency or need, it is but humane not to schedule zoom meetings past 5:00 PM.  Yes, you are all just at home wearing your pambahays but there must be a cut-off time when work ends.  Just because there is no scaled overtime pay in WFH does not mean you have to be zooming until the dead of night, right?  OK, let's take into consideration meetings with participants in different time zones, Fine. You must agree at a common time regardless of location on the planet when the zoom does not inconvenience anyone or demands bottles of Cobra or Red Bull to keep participants up and awake.

(8) Here is another clincher. Believe in the importance of weekends even if it is WFH.  I, for one, have made it clear that I will not accept nor participate in zoom meetings that will go beyond 5:00 - 6:00 PM on Fridays. Why?  Because I have a life aside from my work. I demand to have my me time and weekends are precious considering how stressful it is to work in a near-claustrophobic atmosphere of WFH. 

There goes that argument, "What if it is important? What if it is an emergency?" OK, fine. I will concede to that (as various productions of movies and televisions do have last minute emergencies that require immediate attention).  But do not make me go to a meeting only to find out that we could have discussed this over an email or worse, it could have waited until Monday morning.  

If there are people in your work who do not have lives worth living without the anesthesia of work and schedules, then let that be their problem and not yours.

Now this opens another can of worms which include emails. 

(8) Do not email me about work past 5:00 PM and expect me to respond immediately.  If you needed an urgent response, then learn the proper channel for doing it but always respect my working vis a vis my personal time.

Am I being maaete/mayabang/maangas? No, I am being professional. If there is an urgent matter that needs immediate addressing, then you would not have emailed me. You would have called and maybe ... just maybe I could have answered.

What is the big deal about this?  Because the moment I allow you to do this to me, the moment I start responding to your post 5:00PM emails, I just know for a fact that you are going to it again and again and again because I permitted you to gain total access of all my time for work-related communication.

One thing I love about Google Emails is that there is a feature called SCHEDULED SEND. When I send messages over the weekend, I make sure they are emailed to the recepients first thing Monday morning. Or when I have to send a message after 5:00 PM, I make it a point that the addressee receives it the following day ... at 8:00 in the morning.  That is called respecting your co-worker.

Rest assured, I am going to answer your email at the most appropriate time and not twenty seconds after I received your message because you want me to do so if you send it past my cut-off hour.

Oh, and this leads to another important issue that really pisses me off.

(9) You do not send important messages regarding work through Facebook DMs or PMs.   If you do not have access to my email, you can message me through Facebook and ask for my email, then provide me the reason why you need my email ... then send me the complete message there. But do not think that important communication is done through social media chat. Oh, and another thing ...

(10) You do not invite people to important events via Facebook DMs or PMs.  You send an email with an attached letter of invitation.  That is simple etiquette.  You don't send a message like, "Hey, Dude, I'm inviting you to ..." not unless you are asking me out to a walwalan 'til Kingdom Come and not a formal get together or forum. The proper (and decent electronic way) is to send an email with an attachment in MSWord or PDF format (hayan na!) complete with logo of organization (if any) with an adequate explanation of the event and the nature of invitation.

(11) If you can explain everything via emails, then do not host a zoom. If you need human company, Skype your friends. Use your video chat platforms but please do not host a meeting and take so much of somebody else's precious time when it can be addressed with correspondence.  Another important reminder: do not demand for zooms during lunch breaks (and you are not providing the lunch).  Even if people are at home, devouring food and dealing with a meeting are best done on a face to face situation rather than a virtual potluck party,

Simplify your life in these most complicated times by respecting the right of people to eat properly at their own pace and demands of body clock.

And finally ...

(12) Have a cut-off when you will be online working.  No, have a cut-off when you will log off from the virtual world and go back to the pleasures of real life. I realized that one of my greatest mistakes this past year and a half is that I spend seventy per cent of my waking hours in front of the computer.  I have given up so much of what was my life before in a desperate attempt to anesthetisize myself from the pangs of depression brought about by isolation. And I realized that this is not the solution.

WFH does not mean keeping a living at the cost of losing your life.

The importance of still having yourself despite surrendering your territory to the demands of your profession will always be the priority.  We do our work not only for purposes of survival but to be fulfilled and be happy.

Drowning yourself with work and pretending to have a life is like treading on quicksand. So stand up for your right to have a life despite these extraordinary times.

GOODBYE, RAYMUND

 

Dear Raymund,

I have known you for about two thirds of my life and I guess a greater share of yours.

I knew you as a kid, literally.  

You were this over enthusiastic, machine gun mouthed student of mine in the ComArts classes in De la Salle University.  

Even then you were ... not like the rest.  

You were restless.  You were unstoppable.  You were endlessly excited because for you every possibility is an opportunity to learn.  And you never held back in your drive to get ahead and do exactly what you wanted ... the way you wanted it.

I remember that I tagged you along the opening night of a play I translated into Pilipino. 

It was Carlo Goldoni's Mirandolina, directed by Tony Espejo.  You wanted to witness the premiere of a play and so I dragged you along. I remember how wide-eyed you were,  this kid gaping at the costumes of Badong Bernal and how you joined us in the post-premiere dinner, carrying on a conversation with theater artists that not a regular eighteen or nineteen year old could hold. You were glib and sure of yourself in your endless questions.  I was amused.

You were always a notch above the rest of your peers --- something that happens not very often when a teacher  spots someone in the class who will be somebody by sheer promise and presence. You can sense that he will be one of those who will achieve prominence far exceeding the accomplishments of his teachers.  

That was why I was not surprised when you blossomed into this ... celebrity photographer whose name became as famous as the images you created. 

You became a brand.

In the 80s and the 90s, you rose to that stature not only because of the beautiful pictures you took but because you were always a joy to work with, always a joy to behold.  

The room  used to light up whenever you were around.  You had a way of announcing your presence to make it known that this space would be your territory.

 You made hard work look like fun. You made people more than just comfortable but opened them up, played them on the palm of your hand until your eye captured the very image you wanted to immortalize  into all of time and audiences to see.

You were gifted not only with the talent for manipulation of the split second of light in images: you were blessed with the ability to connect with people ... and to truly know and appreciate them, affirm their worth and make them feel like they were part of your life of learning.

There were numerous times I  worked with you for various projects.

I remember the Star Cinema pictorials we did for the promotion materials needed way back when I was still working for that company.  

I precisely remember that time in your studio when we were doing the poster and promo pics for Kasal Kasali Kasalo,   It was more of a get together of friends since you were also comfortable and personally close to the Agoncillos, You were and will always be loved by so many entertainment luminaries.  

And remember  that time you had me take off my shirt during my balingkinitan and borta phase --- telling me that I should have a memory of the moment when I got myself that fit and I had the privilege of a pronounced chest and waistline at the age mid-50s.  I remember that. You said that in later years I can always refer to those photos to see how once upon a time I looked that good.  I remember that, Raymund,

Or when we sat together in the same panel with Mr. C. and Annabelle Rama for that talent search show in the relaunched TV5.  

Oh, those were such crazy days as we spent so much time in the studio as well as that trip to Cebu when we had to meet the kids auditioning and scheduled for screening.  It was a laugh-a-minute. 

Being with you was never work, Raymund.  It was always about the fun. The fun in being together because of work.

We both agreed on that: work ceases to be just work when you have fun doing what you always wanted to do.  And that was the way you lived your life.  You always had a sense of humor. And a love for life and people.

It is only now that I realized that our most treasured moments were the times we saw each other in Boracay for stretches of holidays for Easter and Christmas.

If I did not go with friends, I would spend an entire week alone in what used to be my Happy Place. We would find each other in Station 2 where you and your entire family were billeted for the holidays together.

I will never forget how you would invite me for those late afternoon beer and fish cracker soirees when we talked about almost everything and everybody, trying to out-"bitch" each other while swapping stories about common friends and incidental characters in our jobs and personal lives. Or  remember the dinners by the beach with your beautiful family: your brother JR and mother who was such a kind and gentle lady, embraced by the scent of delicate perfume all the time, so sweet and accomodating, treating me like I were family. Or your nephews and nieces who you showed such care and fondness.

Then later in the evening we would all proceed to the usual digs where gulps of Jose Cuervo or glasses of Mojitos remind us to forget whatever it was we left in the city.  You would be laughing hysterically watching me, nearing senior age then --- fuelled by tequila and having the guts to dance with people half my age,  The laughter, Isaac, the laughter.

Those were the days, Raymund.  And the nights.  How could I recollect those sounds and images without the timber of your voice or that trademark giggle that was more of a holler? How can I forget how you would throw your head back and howl what was your version of guffaw?

Just now I remember our conversations while we were trapped during the pandemic.

It took some time for me to agree to be interviewed in your livestream project as I jokingly branded you as The Pandemic Tito Boy.  We spent more than an hour talking about how we were coping during the first forty days of the lockdown.

Then we had all those video calls and endless conversations in Facebook Messenger discussing everything from the fate of show business as a consequence of this hideous virus ---- to the generational differences between the new photographers and those of your time and age.   Suddenly we were discussing how it was with my generation, then yours ... and then how it is now.

That was when we realized we were talking like old men. 

When you made it known that you were going to be confined in a hospital in San Francisco because you tested positive with the virus, I was stunned.  

All I gathered was that you were in the United States for some r and r with Jayson.  

I did not even know that you and your long time partner had plans of finally tying the knot ... something I had already expected to happen sooner or later.  There were only those photos of you in Las Vegas popping out of my timeline.  I thought you were having your usual dosage of vacation fun.

I did not know how bad it was for you in those final days at a time when the raging pandemic created so many restrictions to isolate patients from their support systems. When I finally talked to Jayson over the phone that was the only time I realized how bad it was for you.  

I do not even want to think of what you went through, Raymund ... because someone as beautiful as you did not deserve that.

Nobody deserves what you went through ... and now in my moment of grief, I ask whoever, whatever, wherever why is it that someone like you should go through that whereas I can give the universe an entire checklist of creatures who should pay up for all the wrongdoings they have done to people, to the country, to life. I guess I will never get an answer to that question.

We realized you were still in the hospital for over a month --- but we thought you were getting stronger. I thought you were getting better.  I thought you were going home with Jayson.

Last night you broke everyone's heart, Raymund.

We wanted you so badly to rise from that hospital bed and march out of that sick enclosure to join us back in the real world where you do not only belong ... but where you are so badly needed.  

Last night we did not want to believe.  

I did not want to believe all the whispered and tearful news spreading in social media until I heard it from Jayson or anyone from  your family to tell us that you have left.  

And even after it was finally confirmed, I still did not want to believe.   

This was not the way we scripted these events.  You were supposed to be happy: you were supposed to be having some of the most memorable days in your life with the vows of your lifelong partner.  

The story could not end this way. But it did.  This is not the narrative we wanted.

I joined the crowd out there, stunned into silence not only because of grief but  in pure shock.

We cannot imagine how we can resume life the way we knew it without you among us.

I know you are up there smiling at us ... now realizing how many you left behind love you fiercely.  I guess it is but time that we let you go and give you that much deserved standing ovation not only for a life well-lived but for showing us the humanity in being.

Raymund, I was proud of you as my student.  But I am prouder of you as a friend and example of how life should be led with enthusiasm, kindness and love.

I join so many others to say goodbye and say that you have only left us physically but will always remain where it matters the most --- in our hearts.

In case I never had the chance to tell you when you were still physically around, in this letter I will say what I should have said before: I love you, my friend.  You are a blessing to all whose lives you have touched.

Love,

JoeyR

THE BOYS FROM SEOUL: Or Why BTS is now The Biggest Band in the World

 It goes something like this.

137 million views in YouTube thirty-two hours after its premiere.  

If that is not crazy, then we no longer have a definition of sane.  But then again what is surprising is that we are not surprised.  If there was anyone to beat the record of BTS for YouTube views for a single day, then it is bound to be ... uh, BTS.

So in a single swoop, the Boys from Seoul knocked off their own record for last year's Dynamite with their much anticipated latest release Butter.  Yes, it was wild enough that when they came out with their first all-English song last August that the music world danced to their upgraded disco beat.  There is nothing short of unbelievable when you achieve even greater popularity and reach to a larger worldwide audience when everybody is locked up in their homes, imprisoned by the restrictions of the pandemic.

People are asking, "How could they have soared higher whereas other artists are literally scrounging for every available possibility to reach out to an audience and have their music heard?"  In that crowded world of pop music, it is anything but easy to find your own minute space and warrant attention from a distracted crowd. 

The answer to that is simple as it is complicated.  

These seven young men have been together for a decade and have become an organic unit that functions with as much precision as their choreography.  When Jeon Jung Kook dances and sings without missing a beat or expelling a distracting breath to miss out the rhythm of a song, then you know this is not an accident ... or a freaky coincidence: it is a product of years of hard work, training, dedication and focus.  And, yes --- something that Koreans and some of our Asian brothers are so proud of and which we are sadly lacking : discipline.

These boys are not one-note singers nor one-step dancers.  

If you watch their YouTube videos showing them in various phases of rehearsal, then you realize that their was not an easy journey to get to the top.  These boys literally fall on the floor, short of breath, withstanding pain in between numbers of their concerts. Members attest that Kim Seok Jin is more than his self-proclaimed monicker of Worldwide Handsome: he rehearses until the wee hours of the morning to make sure that he is up to par with the moves of his team members.

As the cliche goes, it is an even harder adventure to stay on top ... and boy, these guys and their management know exactly how to do it, how to go about it ... and better yet, how to raise the ante.  If ever this group of Korean boys assembled barely a decade ago got from way out there to high up beyond anyone's imagination, then it is because they worked hard for it. And deserve it.

BTS never fails to surprise.  

In the arena of popular culture where you think everything possible has already been done and redone, BTS changes the game plan.  

The boys and their management realized that what are accessible to them can be turned into channels to connect with the fans --- that ever loving, ever loyal Army that practically covers perhaps a fourth of the world's music loving population --- and create a virtual relationship into something real.

BTS has turned social media and the entire tapestry of the internet to their advantage.  

Whereas others can be destroyed by the cynicism and, yes, even evil that lurks in between the various apps and platforms, BTS made the worldwide web the vital and effective conduit to their fans.  After months of immersing myself not only in the music of BTS (as I found out that I am not the only senior citizen who holds such immovable loyalty for this fandom) but in the subculture of videos and still images they regularly provide their Army, I have come to realize that admiration has become such a shallow term.  That is not the kind of relationship you have with the group: you end up knowing them personally with the glimpses of themselves that they yield in their social media releases.

You are in awe of Park Jimin's dancing and singing skills --- but you are also made aware of his personal journey to get become the performer that he is today. When you see the video of the young man crying backstage because he made a mistake by missing a note of a song they are singing, you realize that --- hey, this is not just a kid who wants to reap the privileges of celebrity.  This is an artist driven by passion --- and you cannot look down on their brand  popular music as "so-so". This is not about manufactured showmanship that many tend to accuse the entire domain of KPop.  This is about focused dedication to one's chosen art. And the fans know about it because they are made aware of it.

That is it.  Because of social media and the internet, the relationship of BTS and their millions of fans may be virtual but personal.  Because of their consistent presence in the internet, they reach out to anybody willing to find out --- and reveal who they are as individuals as they are as a group.

We know of Min Yu Ki aka Suga and his overwhelming talent as a composer and music producer.  We know that Kim Nam Jun known as popularly as RM --- is the leader of the group not only by name but also serves as their spokesman (being most versatile in the English language) and hyung.

We are completely aware of Jeong Ho Seok or J-Hope's awesome dancing powers and sparkling personality --- or Jungkook's tattoos --- or that Jin is a terrific cook and has an entire show which shows him eating and savoring all the delicious food that gives him pleasure.  Things like that matter to fans --- especially now that they are all in various forms of quarantine confinement --- because they feel they have an intimate relationship with their idols.  This matters a lot because the connection becomes both solid and fluid. It is a fandom dedicated not only to the music of the Boys from Seoul but to who and what they represent in the here and now.

And what do they represent? Positivity. Focus. Inclusivity.

They openly talk to their fans --- mainly the kids --- about loving themselves, about the value of self-acceptance and embracing one's weaknesses as much as strengths.  They take active roles in making statements about controversial issues like racial prejudice, xenophobia and even poverty and hunger.  They are not mere dancing dolls but representations of the youth who use their music and popularity to matter in the world and push their followers to work for positive change.

It is no wonder why in a matter of twenty-four hours that their new single, Butter, accrued more than one hundred million views.  Fans and enthusiasts actually waited for that exact moment when the single was premiered --- followed by a tidal wave of reaction videos from all over the world.

And what should prove most exacting is that Butter is actually a tribute to their fans and an announcement that as a powerhouse, BTS  is here with its army.  The song is about the charm and magic of BTS that is "smooth like butter" with their ability to "melt your heart in two" because of their "superstar glow."  Taehyung even sang it inside the elevator in the MV : "...don't need no Usher ... to remind me you got it bad." As if it were not enough, RM raps, "Got ARMY right behind us when we say so ..." while the rest of the boys bodily spell A-R-M-Y to tell their fans, :"We got you ... you got us."

In a world fatigued by a pandemic,  discolored by politics and seemingly ruled by distorted reason and hate, seven boys from Korea come out singing and dancing and telling us, "We are going to be all right."  We believe them and love them for that.

So do we still wonder why they are what Variety Magazine branded as the Biggest Band in the World now ... even without the blessings of the Grammys?

Indeed at this point, only God know what they will do next --- or just how high they will get higher.  There is difficulty jumping into that entire mindset of comparing them to the Beatles because times were so much simpler in the early 1960s as it has become sixty years later.  BTS exploded into the cultural landscape --- over and beyond Asia --- but the world proving that talent, music and art knows no language, no cultural differences, no discrimination.  They happened at the right time and exactly the right place in human history.

And we are loving them for it. So ... " Get it! Let it roll!"

THE THINGS YOU LEAVE BEHIND: Why "Move to Heaven" is Television at its Best

 If there is one good thing that the more than a year of quarantine has done to me is my sudden immersion into Korean Dramas.

I never understood the fascination of audiences for subtitled television series because I never had the time to comprehend the possibilities.  Some of my friends and even more of my students have already partaken of the feast of Hallyu but I was too preoccupied dealing with my clutter and deadlines.  Then, all of a sudden, there came this virus that forced me to stay at home (as a matter of life or the risk of death) and I had all those spare hours to make a religion out of viewing Netflix.  

Crash Landing on You came at the perfect time: right when quarantine was declared with various permutations and imaginings of the ECQs, Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin started stealing the hearts of the Filipinos. OK, so let's give it a try.  And before I knew it, I was hooked.  Then a friend of mine recommended an older series called Pinnochio (2014) starring Lee Jong-Suk and Park Shin-hye --- and what hit me about this show is that it was not about your usual falling in love with the right person at the wrong time sort of shtick.  This was about honesty, integrity and the power of broadcast journalism.  OK, I got more hooked.

I realized that KDrama is not just about frou-frou and if they indulged in meringue entertainment, they made sure it was good.   They were not going to give you run-of-the-mill done-this-seen-that sort of stories just because it is kind of show that has an assurance of selling.  They have the courage to innovate, the guts to pry into delicate themes that others (that means us) find too high for the masses or not entertaining enough of the suffering madlang people to forget about their problems while being anesthesized by tv.

KDrama works not only because of variety but because it takes risks in dealing with themes and genres that would challenge their audiences not only to be entertained but to think.  Whether it is historical dramas reinterpreted in both comedy (Mister Queen, 2020 / Love in the Moonlight, 2016 or Hwarang, 2016) or mixed with fantasy (Tale of Nine Tailed, 2020 or Mr. Sunshine, 2018) or dramas dedicated to social issues (Life, 2018 or Itaewon Class, 2020), the novice who is just immersing himself in Korean popular culture realizes its respect for intelligence and dedication to imagination and innovation.

In the year that came to pass I have had my share of favorites: yes, I was swept away by Park Bo Gum and Song Hye-Ko in Encounter (2018) but my favorites have been set on Sky Castle (2018) because of its uniqueness in showing the rigid parental control Korean families had over their children's education or the delicate yet beautifully imaginative It's Okay Not to be Okay (2020) with Kim Soo-Hyun and Seo Yea-ji dealing with mental illness with its Tim Burtonesque imagery.  Yes, there is the recent Vincenzo (2021) with Song Joong-Ki with its larger than life production, black humor, uncanny treatment of violence and lessons in the art of the creative torture of villains.  Or maybe you can never get enough of Park Seo Joon and Park Min-Young in What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? (2018) because of its crisp treatment of the tropes of romantic comedy.

But recently, my quota of favorites went to far excess.

After finishing Navillera (2021) starring Song Kang and Park in-Hwan, I thought I had seen the best of what the genre had to offer.  That heartbreaking story about a seventy year old retired postman wanting to be ballerino in order to fulfill a lifelong dream to appear on stage dancing Swan Lake was almost ridiculous as a premise.  Instead, it turned out to be one of the most heartwarming stories to keep you not only sane but appreciative of life and the passage of time in a period of world calumny.

KDramas offer not escape but affirmation in their delicate yet life-affirming themes: Navillera, which talks about acceptance, forgiveness --- and how love literally conquers all including the frailty of the mind.  During the final scene of the closing of the series, I found myself crying my head off not only because of what the series wanted to say and successfully conveyed ... but because it went beyond the narrative. It was an introspection of mortality and the realities of existence.  I do not want to sound all that philosophical: to put it bluntly, it is an in-your-face-realization that time slowly takes away your control of life.

I was still having a hangover with Navillera --- and Vincenzo when I decided to see the pilot episode of something which I thought was promising. I saw the trailer: it was about trauma cleaners --- those who cleaned up and collected the possessions left by those who died alone or who do not have immediate families to look after them.  Not exactly the happiest premise but let's give it a try. After all, it was just going to run for ten episodes.

I was never prepared for this.

It took me time to blog about it because I wanted the feeling to filter so that I may have a better understanding of what I went through.

What started out as a glimpse of the pilot of Move to Heaven  before I hit the sack because of an early appointment the next morning turned out to be start of a compulsion. No, it was a short-term addiction that leaves you in a state of cold turkey after consuming the entire series. (I had confessions from others who saw it all in one sitting --- so that means about ten hours in a single day gulping down each episode. And I do not blame them.)  I was not prepared to see one of the most beautiful television shows that does not only deal with such sensitive and unspoken subjects but treated with such care, sincerity, beauty and intelligence.

Yes,  Move to Heaven is about a twenty year old boy Geu-Ru (played magnificently by Tang Joon-Sang, the baby solider in Captain Ri's squad in CLOY)  who is suffering from Aspergers and left all alone after his father dies.  Now he is left under the care of his uncle, Sang-Gu (again excellently portrayed by Lee Jee-Hon who you will not recognize as the same actor in the title role of Taxi Driver).  Never has two opposite personalities been forced to be together: a mentally challenged kid --- and his thug uncle, fresh out of incarceration and an underground MMA player. Added to this is a nosy busybody next door neighbor,  Yoon Na-Mu (played by Hong Seung-Hee --- who I did not even recognize as the granddaughter in Navillera).

So after watching so many KDramas, what makes Move to Heaven all too special: the reasons are simple yet hard to explain unless one sees the entire piece --- episode per episode.  This is one of the most beautifully written, directed, acted and photographed television shows I have ever seen.

It was beautifully written because the shows are episodic --- as the Move to Heaven Cleaning Team deals with each and every client, stashing away the things that were left behind as Geu-Ru reads the thoughts of the dead before giving these remnants of existence in a yellow box to the next of kin.  The choice of stories is ...how shall I put it? Heartbreaking? Ingenius? It was never pretentious because they were so real so that the events may not have happened in Seoul but right in the background of your personal memories.

The stories never went over the top because of the direction of Kim Sung-Ho from the materials written by Yoon Jin-Ryeon: the subtlety, the nuances, the choice of camera angle, the care in details.  I have told this to my students: every episode is a master class in television direction.

Moreover, the themes tackled by the ten-part series are not only heartbreaking. They are heart-crushing.  I cried at the end of Navillera but I was crying at the end of every episode of Move to Heaven. It was that bad... in a great, cathartic,  soul-purging way.  When you find yourself bawling your eyes off at the end of Episode 4, you realize that you are actually recollecting fragments of your own personal memories and translating them into the experience of the narrative that you just witnessed.

A friend of mine warned me: "Beware of Episode 5." So I was forewarned. Yet when I finally finished that episode about the ER Doctor and the cellist, I found myself in a literal state of hagulgol at 1AM.  Why? Because it was about a delicate subject treated with such sensitivity and reverence that you realize that yes --- despite the dreariness, the ugliness, the vulgarity of the world we live in --- there is a quiet corner out there where love exists and sometimes in thrives upon the death of someone tacitly leaving marks of great emotions.

I do not want to ruin the experience by giving spoilers --- but a show that tackles the pain of abandoned and forgotten parents, the agony of unloved children --- the way we tend to judge others because of our own perception not really knowing what goes on in the mind of those we so easily condemn --- or how in the deepest of hearts there is such purity in the soul of a boy suffering from Aspergers --- or that a thug is a sensitive soul dealing with pain ... Move to Heaven has found its perfect place in a world so confused and seemingly hopeless.

I have had my fair share of KDramas and I love and study them.

If you should want to give yourself the chance to see just one KDrama, try Move to Heaven. In the here and now, this show represents what television should be ... and what it can yet become for us.  It's the best there is on Netflix now.