Our July 24 to 30 Issue

Special Feature: The movies and schedules for Cinemalaya Goes UP

Essays: A declaration of support for President Noynoy Aquino, on office bullies, Huggybear’s LSS

Videos: All the movies of Cinemalaya 2011

Artists of the Week: Ang Tunay Na Amo, Kindred Garden (with a link to the Rico Yan episode of Flames), Katrina and the Waves

Cinemalaya Goes UP!

I’m happy  to see the Nicanor Abelardo, Huseng Batute and Manuel Conde theaters jampacked when we went to the CCP for Cinemalaya last Friday. I took these pictures, click-click! Film lovers, students, urban professionals, they’re all there – incandescent testament that the Philippine movie industry is alive and kicking! Cinemalaya is set to invade the University of the Philippines, got the sked right here!

U.P. Film Center

Tickets: 80 Pesos

Reserve: 0927-299-0318

July 26, 5 PM

Ang Sayaw Ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa

July 26, 8 PM

Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank

July 27, 5 PM

Amok

July 27, 8 PM

Bahay Bata

July 28, 5 PM

Cuchera

July 28, 8 PM

I-Libings

July 29, 5 PM

Niño

July 29, 8 PM

Ligo Na U, Lapit Na Me

August 2, 5 PM

Teoriya

August 2, 8 PM

Bisperas

August 3, 5 PM

Isda

August 3, 8 PM

Busong

August 4, 5 PM

Shorts A

Un Diutay Mundo

Samarito

Walang Katapusang Kwarto

Every Other Time

Niño Bonito

August 4, 8 PM

Patikul

August 5, 5 PM

Shorts B

Hanapbuhay

Oliver’s Apartment

Immanuel

Debut

Hazard

August 5, 7 PM

Best Picture for the New Breed Category

August 5, 9 PM

Best Picture for Director’s Showcase

100% Panatag

President Benigno Aquino III will show his vision, achievements and concrete roadmap in his State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 24. Crab people have already prepared their attacks, eagerly awaiting every word and deed they would deliberately interpret maliciously and magnify relentlessly.

I don’t understand why people like that exist. Their species don’t know a good man when they see one, so they treat everyone like what they really think of themselves.

I’m grateful I’m not like them because of an insight I learned from William James, which I shared in one of my article previously published magazine article Student’s Digest: A Guide For College Graduates.

I’m proud to put on record that I have full trust in President Aquino, like I wrote in Nitpicker Nation, all the way to Noynoy Aquino Challenges Gloria Arroyo, and the latest, Why Noynoy Will Win In The End.

The Adventures of Maverick

The idea power-tripping co-workers, I’m sure, is especially resonant with a guy we’ll call Maverick. He’s working in a call center, and he was very happy with the people there – until he got transferred to his present team.

The supervisor, L, declared proudly that he’s the biggest jerk in the company, that he’s famous for his mood swings, and that a lot of agents under him have already resigned.

Maverick would take calls, L would monitor and shout out the “mistakes” and berate Maverick in public.

One unforgettable encounter was when Maverick was transferring a call to another department, which needs the sup’s go-signal. He got the go-ahead, but the switch failed – twice. Maverick specifically told the caller, “I’ll be connecting you now, please stay on the line,” then hit the icon – with his supervisor shouting in front of everybody that the transfer failed because the customer was “On hold.”

Maverick is going the extra mile to not let his respect for his supervisor go away completely. Actually it’s gone, but he is still civil – he was brought up that way.

Some of the tenured agents would wi-jack with Maverick, listening to his calls side by side. That’s fine, he enjoys the interaction.

But there are two agents who really demoralized him.

The first, W, would recite a litany of his mistakes, and command him to log back in and take the next call. He was not given to chance to ask questions.

The second, M, was even worse – a bad-to-the-bone power tripper. She was scolding Maverick, treating him like a child – the exact opposite of how an educated person behaves – all the way to the lobby in front of more people. Her idea of giving feedback is to blame the agent for making mistakes or worse, not remembering a small detail, acting as if she’s the manager, with the agent receiving his salary directly from her benevolence. She would deliberately distract him, talking while Maverick was listening to the caller, even putting the phone on mute, so she could lash at his – while the caller at the other end of the line would start getting alarmed at the silence

Maverick has grown to love the company, and has even moved in into an apartment nearby because he’s really thinking long-term.

But he doesn’t belong in a team that fosters bullies, the same way that corpses breed worms and decay. The work atmosphere has become poisonous, and Maverick is dying.

All he asks is for colleagues who are decent professionals and deserve respect. Is that too much to ask? In the team where he was assigned – with the only three people with  attitude problems he encountered in the company – it is.

Huggybear’s LSS

What’s on Huggybear’s mind for the past two weeks comes from the soundtrack of the iconic ‘80s film Bagets. An unforgettable original Filipino classic, it is an ode to friendship and beautiful memories – and about saying goodbye. Raymond Lauchengco, with Farewell….

Artists of the Week

This week we feature Ang Tunay Na Amo, Kindred Garden (with a link to the full Rico Yan episode of Flames) and Katrina & The Waves