the latebloomer

i made a mistake. in one of my earlier posts, i commented on the PDI article about Jim Paredes "finally giving up on RP". i put in my thoughts without questioning the veracity of the article, as required by my journalistic background.

well, Jim Paredes has denied saying that he has given up on the country. how could he do that when he has proven his stance as a concerned artist many times over. he may not be militant or exactly progressive but at least his mind is not bend the other way around like so many artists are in a way.

later on my sister shared a piece of information she got after reading the blog of Iya Paredes (dunno if i got her name spelled correctly), the former MYX veejay whose also residing in Australia now. my sister said that Iya mentioned in her blog one of the reasons they migrated to Australia and it’s because her mother is terminally ill with cancer and might not live long. and Jim shared this tragic news when he and the other Apo members guested in Sharon Cuneta’s show.

i then realized that sometimes you have to set aside your grander goals in life just for a while in order to be with your immediate loved ones during times of hardship. my mother died of colon cancer when i was in my second year in college and i could understand how the Paredes family feels now with the fate that has befallen to their ‘ilaw ng tahanan’. but i could never imagine how painful it really is for Jim, to have his wife and life partner dying, like i saw in my tatay’s face even years after nanay had died.

i could only pray that greater strength would be given by God to any family facing a difficult time, to my family and to our relatives and families of our friends.

i am a die-hard reality show fan. ever since i got hooked on survivor, i follow almost every major reality show on TV, local or foreign. though hindi naman exactly lahat.

last week, rockstar supernova reached its finale and true to my hunch a guy contender got the job as lead vocalist of a band consisting of gilbey clarke, tommy lee and jason newstead. lukas rossi, dubbed as the "kid punk" from Toronto, Canada (the same city where JD Fortune, the Rockstar INXS winner, hails from) reigned over his closest rivals Dilana (South African-born US singer), Toby Rand (from Australia) and Magni (from Iceland).

i was disappointed for the first few seconds after Tommy Lee called Lukas to join the band, because i was rooting for Dilana. for me, she’s the greatest singer among the 15 contenders and has the most memorable and heart-rending performances. i voted for her twenty times through text in the hopes that a woman might take the rockstar title this time. but it was no avail, lukas reportedly got the highest number of votes and this alone swung Supernova to his favor.

but when lukas finally performed with Supernova, it became clear to me why the fans chose him over Dilana. though it was obvious lukas is not the strongest vocally, he blends well with the band and has enough star value to be at par with his more famous and experienced bandmates but not much to outshine them. i think Dilana’s already a true rockstar herself that she would be better off strumming her own band, and releasing her own songs.

by the way, Dilana’s composition in the contest, "SuperSoul" got me really into her even more. i wish i can have her cd real soon. though i like the other songs by Supernova which were played during the contest, such as "It’s All Love" sung by Magni but interpreted greatly just the same by Lukas.

when rockstar supernova ended, two reality shows began its run a few days later. Survivor Cook Islands premiered last Friday and unlike the past twelve seasons, the cast for Season 13 is more multi-racial precisely because the format this time is to divide 20 castaways into five groups based on tribe. "rarotonga" consists of white Americans, "puka puka" of Asian Americans, "manihiki" of African Americans, and "aitutaki" of Latinos.

now the interesting part here is that Pinoys are taking part in the contest and of course are members of puka puka tribe. jenny, 36, is a Chicago-born real estate agent who’s a former tv reporter for "Philippine News Reports", said to be the only Filipino-American news program in Chicago. brad, 29, is an L.A. based fashion director who can very well come in Manila and be a top-ranked commercial and ramp model. of the two, jenny is the most outspoken about her Filipino roots. brad looks like his being Filipino is not an issue or something to brag about, but i might be wrong.

the first episode was a thrill. puka puka won the first challenge, which was both for immunity and reward. jenny looks promising in the challenge and i got a hunch she’s gonna be a smarter player than brad and would go far in the contest.

i found this whole new format misleading at first. i thought there should have been more representation of minorities during the previous seasons, without resorting to an obvious format of social experimentation through the race card. but eventually i have to agree with host Jeff Probst that its still gonna be the same contest. in the end, people will root for whom they like regardless if they share the same race or not.

already i have my favorites: jenny, becky, sundra, parvati, ozzy and billy. of course this will change as more episodes are shown.

then there’s the Amazing Race which premiered just this morning. it returned to the old format of 12 teams, and fortunately, the 10th season cast is also multi-racial -including a Muslim team, an Indian-American team and a Korean team. It even has a dating pair whose one member has a bionic leg. though the cast still has the usual characters: the hunky team, the cheerleader and beauty queen teams, the gay couple, the couch potato parents, the blue-collar worker team, and the dating bickering couple. but the cast looks more promising than season 9 when you have only a couple of teams dominating the entire race (remember the hippies and the horny jocks?).

unsurprisingly and sadly, two of the minority teams are already out by the first leg. in an unprecedented twist, the first leg included an overnight hold, sort of a minor "pitstop" where the last team to arrive would immediately be eliminated. the first leg was in china, and the 12 teams have to race all the way from Seattle to hurdle the first set of clues and arrive at the Forbidden City where they had to pull one of three departure times. the last three to arrive at the spot interestingly were the minority teams, with the Muslim team unable to wrest the last departure time from the Korean team.

Bilal and Sa’eed were almost teary-eyed when host Phil Keoghan brought them the twist early in the game. They looked cheated but kept their composure and accepted their fate.

With the Muslim Americans eliminated, pressure was on for the Korean team and the Indian-American team who were the tailenders going into the heart of Beijing the following day. Erwin and Godwin were able to get in the middle of the pack by their sheer athleticism, greater hustling and improved navigation. Unfortunately for Vipul and Arti (who’s the most beautiful among the women, including the beauty queen team, their poor navigation worsened as they treat the streets of Beijing and by the time they’re about to climb one part of the Great Wall of China before the first pitstop, the other ten teams have already reached Phil and are on their way to the hotel preparing for the second leg.

for me this was unsurprising because somehow you get the funny feeling that the producers of the show would not have wanted minority teams (especially a Muslim team) to advance well into the show, since market demographics may still point to white Americans as the ones frequently watching the show. again i may be wrong, but its just really sad. it would have been more interesting to have less "white" people in the show especially the bickering ones since as a viewer im already tired of watching brashy Americans snapping at each other like mortal enemies. believe me, every season of the AR has at least a couple of bickering teams.

the only thing i look forward to with these two shows is to have the first Asian American winner of Survivor (hopefully Jenny) and an all-woman team in the final three in Amazing Race.

after all, life is bland without diversity.

for the past ten weeks, ive been hooked to this show "Rockstar: SUPERNOVA" the same way ive followed last year’s "Rockstar: INXS".

some say its the American Idol rock version coz it got the same elements as the Fremantle-produced show - people getting to vote for their favorites, the drama behind the contestants and their performances. the only difference is the band sitting on one corner while choosing which among the contenders would be their future frontman/woman.

which brings me to what id like to happen with Rockstar Supernova, i want a woman to win. but i think im gonna be disappointed. seems JD Fortune would be followed (and be up to competition) from another guy. not sure yet who…

…Toby Rand’s an Australian surfer who as Gilbey Clarke says "brings fun back to rock", has a smooth voice and good personality, and good looks to boot…

…Magni’s from Iceland, one of ten most recognized rock singer in the volcanic island, and is my favorite among all the guy contenders. Has a great voice, a great personality and is proud of his family…

…Lukas Rossi from Toronto (deja vu?) looks like a punk rock vocalist, also has a great voice, brings a sort of star quality to the stage and has a personality/temperament that’s almost a mix of JD and Marty Casey.

but if i were to pick one for Supernova, i really would like it to be Dilana Robichaux. before two weeks ago, she’s the most consistent performer and has the most memorable performances. great voice, great spirit on stage, and a nice personality that shone through after her ego-blast and meltdown almost a week before the finale.

coming into tomorrow’s final performance (where audiences will vote for the last time), Dilana’s an underdog. she gotta need all the votes she can get to bypass one of the three guys in her competition.

i really want her to at least be in the final three on wednesday, but sadly, i think a guy will take it all. of course, hope im wrong.

“Living paycheck to paycheck”, “I can’t afford to do anything”.

These were the phrases i remembered after watching last night’s Oprah episode. It was about low-wage earners in the US, supposedly the “home of the free” including the economically-free or empowered, and the difficulties they face daily, but find way to be brave in the face of seemingly huge odds.

Imagine having four kids with only one parent working and earning only $8 an hour or $64 for a day’s work. I learned that the minimum wage in the US is $5.50 an hour or about P286 ($1=P52). This is nearly P60,000 a month, quite big for a Filipino migrant worker who can only scrape about P8,000 a month working here as a nurse, or a teacher.

But in the US, this is already way below living standards as the episode in Oprah showed. “$5.50 can’t even buy you a loaf of bread or a can of milk,” Oprah exclaimed. Interestingly, about 30 million Americans are earning below the minimum wage, and they include hospital lab assistants, hospital emergency personnel (those who manned 911 vans and attend to dying patients), clerks, dishwashers and other kitchen staff in diners, landscape diggers, etc.

It was very informative for me but I wasn’t really surprised. After all, capitalism and its rush towards endless profit increases requires keeping down on costs, including wages.

First of all, kudos for Oprah for showing that hidden side of America and highlighting the facts that low-wage earners should not be treated as lazy, unambitious people and that people living on the edge and scrimping on a measly wage NEED NOT BE LIVING THAT WAY.

Same point here in the country where the minimum wage is also not enough to cover daily expenses for a family of six, almost to the point of being RIDICULOUS.

Beyond arguments by the government and business groups that raising the minimum wage would only worsen inflation and lead to firms closing down, Filipino workers need not live that way, need not to be treated that way. Isn’t it that a country’s greatest resource are its workers? So why the measly wage, the contractual/casual labor schemes, the union busting, the killing of union leaders, the retrenchment and all these things that make life hell for Filipino laborers, employees and even professionals?

And then the dwarf has the gall to grin from ear to ear whenever dollars come in from the millions of Filipinos currently working, yet whose ears are closed to pleas by the supposedly “new heroes” for more government protection from abusive agencies, abusive employers and abusive Filipino embassy and labor officials.

The point is, it is plain clear that raising the minimum wage would be detrimental to the government’s interest of continually borrowing more from foreign creditors. And of course to large corporations themselves since a large part of their profits come from the wages of their workers, which they keep as measly as possible to lower costs.

Going back to the Oprah episode, it was an interesting thing to see and compare the fact that low-wage American earners scrimping on basic expenses at least have a house no matter how small and shelter centers to run to whenever yours and your family’s back are already on the wall, offering free food, and even free clothes and household items from donations.

Here, the typical Filipino low-wage earner live in makeshift houses along railroad tracks, even above dark, foul-smelling creeks, while for the slightly better-off, that would be tiny, badly-ventilated rooms in dormitories or boarding houses. And there’s no shelter center to run to, no social support from anywhere since the government does not really provide free basic services (where do our taxes go?) at all. I guess the difference is unlike Americans, Filipinos have their own social support network from neighbors, friends or relatives. Someway, somehow, a neighbor can help out in lending some clothes or offering their leftover food and rice for you and your family in a bad day. Someway, somehow, Filipinos find a way to live. Most of them pray, most of them haggle with all sorts of livelihood, just to stay alive at the end of the day and be able to wake up the following day.

This while a few of us lucky creatures worry about not being able to go to Starbucks today or buying the pair of jeans or shirt in a trendy shop that we’ve had our eyes on for a week. I guess after seeing the episode in Oprah, it reinforces in me the sense of respect for everyone, especially those marginalized, because i myself almost live now on paycheck to paycheck. This sense of respect for fellow Filipinos who work so hard for their family despite the lack in opportunities and problems with the system only grows as I continue taking part in the struggle for people empowerment. To them, I can only raise my hat off.