Chris Tiu as Clear Men Future League Host

It was roughly a year ago when a friend (Enteng) posted this entry on his blog. Little did he (we) know that i will get to rub elbows with this certain famous celebrity because of work (Yeah, still, fuck work but these are the "little" [exaggerated] things that make you survive this stressed-induced workaday world that we live [work] in.)

Here are a few honest Tiu-related realizations:

1) At first, i was very hesitant of (well, adamantly disagreeing with) the management's (actually, client's) decision to hire Chris Tiu as the main host (think Sylvester Stallone in The Contender, or Ryan Seacrest in American Idol) of the Clear Men Future League because of his "rehistro" on tv (particularly, GMA shows)--- sim-ply because, in my opinion, he was "trying too hard" or maybe "just too robotic" to be the host of the rather challenging task of carrying a sports reality show.

i was wrong. i was dead wrong. You give the guy the leeway, the freedom (a little bit of it) of attacking the script his own way--- his own style--- and you'll get a host who's effective in connecting with the participants and the (TV) audience, one way and/or the other. And you get an honest host who just tries to do his thing. And it works.
2) Chris Tiu is thisclose to perfection. Successful basketball player (UAAP hero, National Team star leader), good looks, and intelligent/smart? Now, now, don't get me wrong... As Enteng wrote on his blog--- simply, if you are a Filipino that's practically what you want to be, what you want your sons to be and some... Basketball fanaddicts? He is the personification of what we all wantED to be when we were kids, when we were growing up watching the Samboy Lims or Allan Caidics.

(If you want more details you have to email me and ask me about the Production Manager's, Creative Director's and Make-up Artist's reaction when they first met Mr. Tiu.) ... Before i get burned being DTNL and some, please refer to the Enteng's Kidding Aside post because he pretty much has summarized what i am trying to say here.

3) And if you think the buck stops there... This person is actually very un-Atenista like... (i would know even if i am from de Naga, and they are from de Manila)... No Atenista-yabang air at all, which is weird because that is what i expected from the start. Down-to-earth and very, very humble. As the headwriter for the show, that was one less potential to worry about. So yeah, it was very, very easy working with Mr. Tiu.

4) And finally, thanks to a Smart Gilas jersey he gave me (i don't usually ask for freebies and all, but i mustered enough courage to ask for it!) plus this priceless picture below:

So there. As Chris said, hope that our show would rate well. i hope so too. Because honest, humble, good guys deserve nothing less. Karma, please take over now.

Sharon on the Clear Men Future League!

100 Unclear Things

But that would preempt everything, eh? So, there. We wait for things to settle down and wait for the clear picture in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 days...

CS Origins, BTV, Solar Sports, Sci-Fi Get Together (In other words, The Desk/Avid Reunion Ron/Pol Birthday Party)

Dahil sobrang busy (MALINAW naman kung bakit), sobrang trabaho (MALINAW din kung ano 'to), sobrang revisions (As i've told a friend, i don't hate revisions but i justify first what i did, then revise), sobrang iniisip (Sa akin na lang 'to) at madami pa ibang sobra sa buhay kaya heto lang ang sasabihin ko:Pakyu ka Sadik, di ka pumunta! (At pakyu na din kay Gelo kasi di rin pumunta pero bawal murahin ang EP; pahabol pakyu kay Crosby, kaso mabait na yun these days kasi may asawa/anak na kaya bawal din murahin)

The images from the sort-of-kind-of-reunion get together of the Sports Desk/Avid team:

And finally:

SM NEgamall

Yes. 'twas SM's big mistake--- not calling it as i suggest above. Heck, it's the hippest, coolest rip-off ever. At the same time, you'd have little effort selling the name and the product itself. The idea that it did not at all float escapes me really. For the probinsyano's they'd always ask themselves: "Why go to Megamall when you can go to Negamall." Unintentional slang and all, Naguenos and Bicolanos alike will enjoy the ripped-off name. And the pseudo-mega shopping experience, after all, they've got it all for you!
Speaking of ripped-off names, i've talked to an Ayala insider and they are considering of putting a mall right across SM City Naga. The name? Yes, they'd be more creative this time: Tri-Naga. It's located in Triangulo (barangay) via your usual tricyle. And no, you won't get the joke if you are not from Naga, so don't try.
As emphasized by Enteng's post, the saddest part is the fact that most stores/restos are the ones you find only in Naga City. We had a nuisican mayoral candidate years back, i think his name is Herbas and one his campaign promises was to put a roof over the entire "centro" of Naga. On May 2009, it just happened. Courtesy of your SM City Naga.

As dead as Naga centro will become among the early victims (according to stories) is the E-Mall, previously the first (Ok, second there's the LCC Mall) 'shopping' center in the area. Good riddance, there's a reason why it's called the E-Mall: After the E-ntrance you can already see the E-xit. There goes your record-breaking 2-minute malling experience.

(And errr, pardon the pics, they were rushed when i took them. Not that it changes my status of being an ama-teur photographer and all)

+++

Another sad fact is the traffic. No left or right turns? One way street? i can see it in the tricycle (trike) driver's faces: "fuck 'em all, they are soon going to replace us with taxi/cabs." Or maybe not. Because after all, everywhere in Naga is still five minutes away from point A to point B. Case in point: i walked home earlier tonight from SM. Arhtritic joints and all (after a KFC dinner with the family) i actually enjoyed it. Much like walking from school to our house 15 years back.

And finally... i went home because i really wanted to this "malling" experience. Nyaha. Like there's no mall in Metro Manila (And where can you get Star Trek @ 100 pesos in Metro Manila?). But hey, it's not the same when you are at home and with your pamangkin, who by the way scored another one of those Transformers autobots.

The wrath of work, and payday awaits.

Anti-Boni Makeover

Sabi ni Ermana, i-post ko daa ni sa blog ko (kaya uyan na). Basically, the before and after kang sadit na harong ko sa Antipolo.

Medyo mahal man yan, worth 500 pesos and some! (Magulo na ulit these days, so i have to cough up another 500 bucks tapos pamasahe kung isay man ang mabisita sako para maglinig.) Iyo, tama, hamak na hugakon lang akong tawo kaipuhan ko pa ning ibang tao para maglinig ning sakong harong.

Before

AfterBeforeAfter
Before
AfterDagdag sa 500, ipopost ko pa ang picture ni ermana as part kang saiyang incentive para sa tultol na paglinig sa harong ko. (And dae ko yan kamukha, kung naging babae ako sigurado mas magayon ako diyan, ta hamak na mascute man ako saiya ever since aki pa kami)

Unholy Pac!

Haha. This youtube video is too damn funny. i must say, conspiracy theorists are the most creative people in the planet. Heck, i am not even sure if Manny understands 90 per cent of his accusations. That, or the maker of the Nike emblem is the real devil worshipper. Either way, maybe we should all start worshipping the devil as well so we can all be rich?!

The video:

Holy Pac!

Just too damn awed for Manny's victory over British boxer Ricky Hatton. Me and Ian (Clear SP) were doing chest bumps after we heard the news at the Saint Louis University Gym where we were shooting the Semifinals/Finals of the Baguio Leg of the Clear Men Future Leg.

i am not (yet) even whining about the fact that this is the first time since the first Barrera win that i have NOT watched the Pacman live on the tube.

Eight Minutes, 0 Points, 0 Assists and 1 Turnover (Arguable)

And you are quite happy with that. Welcome to the land of point guards. So no, you won’t find your name screaming stats from the boxscore. Heck, it’s only inter-department office basketball after all, so all the recorded stats are the points scored and fouls (kaldagan, according to the Black Mamba team) made and you can’t expect they record the other numbers that really matter (field goals, percentage, rebounds, assists, etc etc)… I always imagine that we can play in a league where such (a la Yahoo/NBA.com) is updated play-by-play. You know, I am a real sucker for numbers.

And numbers I don’t have in our last game for the elimination round. Around 8 minutes (5 or so in the 2nd quarter, and 2+ in the final quarter), zero attempts meaning I scored zilch and no assists at all. There was one arguable turnover, a pass I made to Arnold, White’s rebounding demon, which he did not handle (or that my pass was too high)… That is not actually the bad news because we did win the game and clinched the number two spot and advanced to the semis (yey, pahinga. Assuming I can still play in the next round/s)… So, to sum it up, it was a goddamn good night for our team.

As I was saying earlier, welcome to the land of point guards--- hobbits of the hardwood and most of the time, damn underrated and overlooked (Am I saying, I am one?)… No, not the Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Jay Jay Helterbrand or Jimmy Alapag type of point guards, those kinds virtually dominate the stat categories because they are superstars. Think more like, Chris Quinn, Anthony Carter, Don Dulay or Froilan Baguion. Scrappy play, spotty minutes and simply effective at what they do. Normally, I post my actual (personal) numbers but earlier tonight’s game was different in a lot of ways: I thought I contributed things that more than met the eye (and the score sheet), I acted as pseudo-coach as always and I just do hope they respect me and some of the decisions I made during the course of the ball game.

Not much numbers here, but you can keep a tab on these stats…

1st quarter: Right off tip-off, I fire the first shot at trash talk telling the team to run, run and run because the Black team was a slow and plodding squad (Not sure though if anybody heard it.) We were off to a good start and led after the first canto.

2nd quarter: We were still leading, but Black was starting to come back. Paul Navarro, the other team’s point guard had 3 offensive rebounds and the same number of putbacks. I had the same number of Putang Ina’s as well, telling the team to watch out for the little guy because he was practically putting the Black team within striking distance. We led by 10 points at the turn. Not bad.

3rd quarter: Three straight baskets by Black to put them within four points to start the quarter. We called a timeout and I reminded them that we were not making an effort to stop their fastbreak attempts. We responded and put back some sort of order and pad the lead back up to 8 points. Somewhere here, I was clapping right in front of Ron del Mundo’s face as he passed by the bench (again, not sure if he did see me do that) Also of note, Kristian at the freethrow line and Paolo Mariano was distracting him with the timed “cough” as he shoots the free throw, Kristian misses the first. And Paolo does it again in the second, and Kristian again misses. However, the referee awarded Kristian a third free throw for the errr, distraction. (Efff you ref, that’s part of our defensive gameplan)

4th quarter: Paul was at it again, easily pushing people around like it he was editing in his Avid/Premiere machine. I reminded the referee that the same little guy was probably older than him! (He got the point, and called a foul on Paul on two consecutive plays now seeing the Mr. Navarro’s inadvertent elbows and subliminal shoves. That gave him his 4th personal foul, and clearly his aggression on both ends was a bit affected.) The Black team was making their famous run at end games and cut down the lead to 2 points… We held on, and that’s the most important stat of the evening. Ball game. We win.
So yeah, hobbits of the hardwood will be difficult to appreciate but you know in our own little ways, we’d be making a mark one way AND the other.

Thoughts From the Service Van

Hello, work. How are you doin'? Sitting in this cramped up van of the production team along with the technical crew, i feel very, very tired. As the audioman and cameraman discuss the next shoot for the next few days, i think to myself: do i really fucking want all of these.

One cameraman observes... "kasi di sya masaya sa trabaho niya eh. Dapat nag-lawyer siya, kasi mahilig sya makipagdebate at di sya nageenjoy sa ginagawa niya." Referring to another cameraman. This made me laugh a little bit inside. And a little relaxed, because that's just might be the best take in fucking asking if i really want all these.

So, there. Tomorrow's pullout is around 6:30 a.m.

Wake-up. Work. Whine. Repeat.

RP Under-16 Down Under

As i've said, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. Working for BTV means an endless flow of basketball projects over the next couple of months. More often than not, you are asked to double up and you don't have time to whine. Yeah, yeah just like what James Posey should do if they want to beat the Denver Nuggets in the their first round match-up. Or asking Ime Udoka to forget that he doesn't have a playoff experience and lead the Spurs to an improbable comeback because they are already in a 1-3 hole against the surging Dallas Mavericks. Anyway, the pictures above are some images from the U16 training at the AIS camp in Australia (sent to me by RP Youth Team's PR Manager Val Victa, thank you sir!), the same pictures which i sent to my editor today to add to the already "latagged" segment 1 on BTV's feature on the RP Youth Team.

For Pride and Posterity's Sake Year II

One of the problems of posting this here is the fact that a friend just won a (real) trophy as opposed to these (fantasy) trophies, which really means nothing. And the fact that he'd be showing (off) that new trophy anytime soon. Congratulations, 'teng! (See link on the rightside by now he should be posting the pictures of Jason Williams Kevin Garnett Hidalgo--- not the real name for the sake of two, plus your newborn son)

Before i write "may you have many more to come.", ini muna: Pramis. Mahabol kami. Bold and italicized.

Greatest (Fantasy) Season Ever!

(If you have time please do read everything, this fantasy entry comes in 5 parts, bear with me.)

Sure. It could have been better. But at some point in your (fantasy) life you have to settle for less than perfect. And even then, it can give you enough satisfaction (and a few dough, in this case) to last until the next battles.

The stats and facts (and i promise, more to come in later entries):

All in all, i joined nine (9) leagues this year. Four of them money-leagues (of each below), 2 of them semi-serious leagues (Because of sentimental reasons and because i feel they are 2 of the most competitive ones i joined since time immemorial) and the other three, the funtasy leagues--- against friends/officemates/random people who are either fantasy virgins or managers who just don't have the guts yet to spend a little cash to spice things up.

While, it would be fun to analyze what happened in the funtasy leagues, it won't offer much insight to what really transpired because well, it was all for fun. (A note for Enteng and Jao, who placed 1st and 2nd respectively.)

The other semi-serious leagues? Let's just say i won't talk about those because i pretty much sucked again as in the past seasons in these leagues. That's a lot of mad props to the members of the Solar Forums as the managers in these leagues are from the community--- i can now say the basketball addicts in that forum are in a class of their own, fantasy-wise. Now, the question is would the results have been better if it involved money? Hmmmm. That's difficult to say, but i am pretty sure i would have worked doubly hard (And that's not to discredit them, because i know they'd be pushing the envelope as well)

And the money leagues? Let's just say i outdid myself this season. i joined four of them and finished in the money in three. Not bad, eh? If last year brought (bought) me this one:



This year brought (bought) something a LITTLE bit better:


Damn right. Fantasy basketball--- it's more than just a hobby now, it's business. (But heck, you won't win anything if you remove the "fun" part. Believe me.)