Zan Rowe is on long service leave.
Okay, let me explain a couple of things.
Long service leave is an Australian thing. Think of it as vacation leave, but on top of your vacation leave, and one you can only get when you've worked for a particular company for a certain period of time. Usually, this means three months off, paid in full, on top of your other leaves, if you've been with the same company for ten years. It's something no other country seems to have - but then again, Australia was a British colony, and the Brits who worked there wanted to go back home, too.
Read more »
9/30/2019
‒
9/29/2019
‒
Now, I can be a lazy person. On most occasions when I feel compelled to wear a coat jacket over my long-sleeved top - think industry events, business forums, whether as a spectator or, very rarely, as a speaker - I don't wear a necktie. I can get away with it, and I long have, because not everybody does, too.
There are downsides to this, of course. One, this means I take longer to wear a necktie when I do have to, and that's because I have to relearn it all over again. It's not that painful - once you've done it a few times, it'll all come back - but that means I'm never happy with how I wear mine. Almost always I still see a bit of shirt where my tie should be. Does that even make sense? I doubt. But you do have the thinking that the necktie should be tight enough to hide that bit of your shirt under your collar. After four tries I end up looking slightly sloppy - or really sloppy, if you're unforgiving, and this being the corporate world, sort of, that can make or break your chances, even if you don't intend to avail them.
That also means I can never call myself sharp-dressed. All right, so that adjective is really vague. What does "dressing sharp" mean? When I hear that, I think custom-tailored everything, and looking crisp - what does "dressing crisp" mean? - all throughout, meaning you don't get ruffled whatever you do. Good luck with that. Even in days when I'm not particularly restless, it will look like I've gone through the wringer halfway through the engagement.
Read more »
There are downsides to this, of course. One, this means I take longer to wear a necktie when I do have to, and that's because I have to relearn it all over again. It's not that painful - once you've done it a few times, it'll all come back - but that means I'm never happy with how I wear mine. Almost always I still see a bit of shirt where my tie should be. Does that even make sense? I doubt. But you do have the thinking that the necktie should be tight enough to hide that bit of your shirt under your collar. After four tries I end up looking slightly sloppy - or really sloppy, if you're unforgiving, and this being the corporate world, sort of, that can make or break your chances, even if you don't intend to avail them.
That also means I can never call myself sharp-dressed. All right, so that adjective is really vague. What does "dressing sharp" mean? When I hear that, I think custom-tailored everything, and looking crisp - what does "dressing crisp" mean? - all throughout, meaning you don't get ruffled whatever you do. Good luck with that. Even in days when I'm not particularly restless, it will look like I've gone through the wringer halfway through the engagement.
Read more »
9/11/2019
‒
Dear Maestro Ryan,
Let me begin by congratulating you for being honored with the Ramon Magsaysay Award this year. In these times when fan-driven frenzy drives what's popular and what isn't, it's easy to forget all of the things you, and your contemporaries, have done to push all of Filipino music forward, not just in the 1970s and 1980s, but even up to now. I think it's a really good reminder.
When you received your award earlier today, you expressed your sadness that "there is no Filipino music out there". Now, here, sir, I'm not sure if I agree with that.
Read more »
Let me begin by congratulating you for being honored with the Ramon Magsaysay Award this year. In these times when fan-driven frenzy drives what's popular and what isn't, it's easy to forget all of the things you, and your contemporaries, have done to push all of Filipino music forward, not just in the 1970s and 1980s, but even up to now. I think it's a really good reminder.
When you received your award earlier today, you expressed your sadness that "there is no Filipino music out there". Now, here, sir, I'm not sure if I agree with that.
Read more »
9/10/2019
‒
I was out on my afternoon walk today, my feeble attempts at keeping fit after hours spent in front of this laptop, working myself to death - so what is keeping fit for? - in the days leading up to the most prestigious event in Philippine supply chain.
I'll admit, I was taking the chance to force myself to think up of something to write about on the blog, or at least to recall the things I have thought of before. I know, it's boring, how I always write about the four-entries-per-month thing I imposed upon myself, but, well, there is this four-entries-per-month thing I imposed upon myself, and I still hope to be able to keep it, even if it results in low-quality thought bubbles like this one.
I think I realize part of the reason why these ideas don't come to me as often as they used to: I don't have a lot of alone, idle time anymore. It's partly because I don't commute to work daily these days, and when I do, I drive rather than take public transport. (It's not ideal from a financial perspective, but it's either that or I wake up at half past four. And you wonder why Manila is screwed?) Me driving means plugging in the phone and listening to live radio from elsewhere in the world - I told you Manila is screwed - and that means little time to stick to whatever thought passes through me at any given point.
Read more »
I'll admit, I was taking the chance to force myself to think up of something to write about on the blog, or at least to recall the things I have thought of before. I know, it's boring, how I always write about the four-entries-per-month thing I imposed upon myself, but, well, there is this four-entries-per-month thing I imposed upon myself, and I still hope to be able to keep it, even if it results in low-quality thought bubbles like this one.
I think I realize part of the reason why these ideas don't come to me as often as they used to: I don't have a lot of alone, idle time anymore. It's partly because I don't commute to work daily these days, and when I do, I drive rather than take public transport. (It's not ideal from a financial perspective, but it's either that or I wake up at half past four. And you wonder why Manila is screwed?) Me driving means plugging in the phone and listening to live radio from elsewhere in the world - I told you Manila is screwed - and that means little time to stick to whatever thought passes through me at any given point.
Read more »
9/01/2019
‒
If you still have time to pay attention to what everybody else is saying, you might notice a pattern. There are things that everybody is talking about, and all at the same time. Social media means what everybody says, and thinks, somehow gains equal footing, regardless of soundness of logic or veracity of facts. Well, I say "equal footing", but really, it's still like the real world; manipulate the algorithms the right way, online and offline, and you'll have a platform, a megaphone, and a guaranteed audience.
The result, as you'd expect, is cacophony. When we collectively recognize one thing as the topic of the moment - or outrage of the moment, if you're so inclined - it can be pretty difficult to escape. You see squares of varying colors, with texts of roughly the same size - 72 points - and same weight - bold. Everybody wants to have a word in, a word that will get approval from the rest of everybody else, a word that will define them as someone who's inherently good, who cares about the world, who cares about everybody else - and perhaps cool, too.
A couple of weeks ago the outrage of the moment revolved around second chances. Who deserves it, and who doesn't? All right, so those who ordered the rape and murder of innocents doesn't. And perhaps those who plundered others' hard-earned money for their personal gain. And those people who have the gall to not agree with your beliefs and express their own, diametrically opposed ones.
Read more »
The result, as you'd expect, is cacophony. When we collectively recognize one thing as the topic of the moment - or outrage of the moment, if you're so inclined - it can be pretty difficult to escape. You see squares of varying colors, with texts of roughly the same size - 72 points - and same weight - bold. Everybody wants to have a word in, a word that will get approval from the rest of everybody else, a word that will define them as someone who's inherently good, who cares about the world, who cares about everybody else - and perhaps cool, too.
A couple of weeks ago the outrage of the moment revolved around second chances. Who deserves it, and who doesn't? All right, so those who ordered the rape and murder of innocents doesn't. And perhaps those who plundered others' hard-earned money for their personal gain. And those people who have the gall to not agree with your beliefs and express their own, diametrically opposed ones.
Read more »
Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
Subscribe to this blog,
follow him on Twitter,
or check out Nicksy Once Monthly,
his monthly (for now) music newsletter.
Unless otherwise stated, this blog's content are owned by Niko Batallones. No part of this blog may be reproduced elsewhere without proper permission and attribution.
All opinions stated in this blog are solely those of the writer's, and does not reflect those of his employers, or the organizations he is affiliated with.
Some photographs have been edited using post-production curves from Shalla Yu.
Powered by Blogger. Established in 2005.
View this blog's entries from