Things that struck me as accurate
You can watch Chris Marker’s La Jetée here
‘I will have spent my life trying to understand the function of remembering. Which is not the opposite of forgetting but rather its lining. We do not remember: we rewrite memory much as history is rewritten.’ Chris Marker, Sans Soleil
‘It’s not enough to love a woman when she is so difficult. You must love her tremendously. More even than one’s own dignity.’ Nicolas Roeg, Bad Timing
‘Life makes sense not when reason tells you that everything is as it should be. Life makes sense when some imponderable and apparently random even confirms your most irrational prejudices about the world.’ From Afghanistan, a novel by Alex Ullmann
I record these bits in a small notebook that I always carry so I’ll have something to read in case I run out of books on the road. It’s like the dead brother’s baseball glove in that much-loved novel, the one that had poems written on it so he wouldn’t get bored while waiting for the pitch. Of course Oscar Wilde recommends never traveling without your diary, because one should always have something sensational to read on the train.
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This just in: Pepe Diokno’s Engkwentro has won the Orizzonti prize (Best feature film in the New Horizons section) of the Venice Film Festival 2009!
Don’t know how the local box-office is doing but after the victories in Cannes and Venice, 2009 is officially a great year for Philippine cinema. I hope whatever official entity is in charge of promoting Filipino cinema uses the opportunity to do a real global marketing campaign. Our filmmakers have done the spade work, don’t leave them out there scrounging for funds so they can show up at festivals and markets.
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The invitations to the Good Ideas Forum have been sent out. If you posted a Good Idea but did not receive an invitation, please repost your idea in the Comments section of this post (so we’re sure to spot it) and The Elves will contact you.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
September 13th, 2009 at 20:32
I haven’t received my invite :(
September 14th, 2009 at 11:59
1. Implement RA 7743, an act providing for the establishment of congressional, city and municipal libraries and barangay reading centers throughout the Philippines, appropriating the necessary funds therefore and for other purposes. Once established and implemented they should be maintained and up-graded according to standards followed by say, a school or a college library. Politicians who do not do so would be disqualified for re-election. Who should evaluate standards?, existing regional librarians’ councils, I’m sure they would be happy to make this their extension service.
2. There is an existing Internet Manifesto by the IFLA-FAIFE that there ought be free internet access for the public. Since we do not have public libraries to provide this free service, why not have internet cafe owners give this as outreach program. One or two hours a day free service to the public should be enough.
3. Give tax collectors and everyone who collects funds for the government higher salary than other government workers, higher than what congressmen and senators are receiving, so they would not be tempted to accept bribes. If GSIS who only collects funds for their members can give very big salary to their employees why not the government whose programs are entirely dependent on the efficiency of its tax collecting people. BIR examiners at the moment are working Saturdays and Sundays to reach the quota set by the government and they are not receiving overtime pay or are given a day-off. (I don’t work for the BIR but I know someone who does.)
4. Make all professional employees of the education sector, whether private or public, read at least one literature book a month, assuming of course that they are also reading literature of their subject expertise, this way at least instructors are not “only just one step†ahead of their students. Make a law or something, if you teach the subject you must own a book on the subject. I know this should be a matter of library policy but these instructors have their “human right to information†to back them up and they are abusing this right. An instructor teaching Philippine Constitution without his own book is laughable and shameful, to think that these books cost only P300.00 or less. And this is true too, I have proof.
5. Eliminate rice cartels. This is a very big problem in Mindanao or my part of Mindanao. Make the people of NFA work as they should instead of tolerating or even conniving with these cartels. There should be farm implements—tractors, threshers—for lease at a very low price to small farm holders and poorer farmers. Control prices of fertilizers and other farm chemicals. The Fertilizer Scam has not been solved yet, has it?
6. Encourage container gardening of vegetables. Green NGO’s should distribute free seeds and seedlings.
7. Everyone should be prohibited from enrolling in any and all masters courses if they have not passed their respective board exams and they have not had at least a year of field experience. So many master’s degree holders and PhD’s, yet elementary and high school students are getting dumber.
8. Help all kinds of farmers sell their products directly to the consumers. The three or more middle-men between farmers and consumers are making farm products very expensive. If there must be a middle-man, keep it to ONE middle-man. This is why Filipinos are subsisting on noodles and canned foods. They are cheaper.
Miss Zafra, I only had 4 good ideas on my previous post, but had since then thought of more. Except for one or two ideas, I’m sure they are not the same as the others’ good idea. I know, shamelessly wanting an invite.
September 14th, 2009 at 15:13
Good year for Philippine cinema, but still bittersweet: critics and Pinoy indie cinema champs Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohnic were killed this year too.
September 14th, 2009 at 19:45
Variable Pay System for all Private and Public Employees. The variable pay system promotes fair compensation and drive work performance by giving out ONE basic pay to all employees within the same bracket and an additional marginal variable pay per day worked (as determined by immediate supervisor or head of payroll) to close off the difference in job description / tasks.
EXAMPLE. Clerk Level 1 (general service, simple procedures) VS Clerk Level 2 (specialized service, complicated procedures). Both CL1 and CL2 work on the same department.
Current. CL1 gets Php15,000 while CL2 gets Php20,000
Variable Pay System. Base Pay – Php15,000 (VPS for Clerk 1 – 2k, VPS for Clerk 2 – 6k). This example shows how VPS also coincides with salary adjustment schemes
Because attendance and performance drive the daily wage for VPS, each employee will be given fair compensation because of the quality work they put up each day, not just because of their pre-determined annual gross income
September 15th, 2009 at 15:11
Hi This is my idea:
What’s with the so-called “presidential immunity”? Apparently, PGMA got away the scandal by invoking the “immunity.” I just hope the jewels of the Palace can explain to us people the bounds and limitations of an immunity because no one likes the idea of “getting way with it”, especially if you’re the leader of this land. Thanks!