I'm so sick of Pinoy kurakot...

FORWARDED... Subject: No More Newly Imported Books in the Philippines; the Reason Why Grr! This news makes my blood boil! Picked this up on a blog and I'm spreading the news to help stop this outrage. In the last few months, the importation of books into the Philippines has virtually stopped. (To those of you who frequent bookstores, I don't know if you've noticed.) The reason why is explained in this article by Robin Hemley, a University of Iowa creative writing professor currently on a fellowship in the Philippines. If you have no time to read the article, the essence is that because the Bureau of Customs has decided to impose duties on the importation of books into the Philippines. This, despite the 1950 Florence Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials (which you can see here), which the Philippines ratified in 1979. The preamble of the agreement states: "Considering that the free exchange of ideas and knowledge and, in general, the widest possible dissemination of the diverse forms of self-expression used by civilizations are vitally important both for intellectual progress and international understanding, and consequently for the maintenance of world peace...", an indisputable proposition. here's an excerpt from Robin Hemley's article (i shortened it a bit. better if you can read the whole thing.) - ...Over coffee one afternoon, a book-industry professional (whom I can't identify) told me that for the past two months virtually no imported books had entered the country, in part because of the success of one book, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The book, an international best seller, had apparently attracted the attention of customs officials. When an examiner named Rene Agulan opened a shipment of books, he demanded that duty be paid on it. The importer of Twilight made a mistake and paid the duty requested. A mistake because such duty flies in the face of the Florence Agreement, a U.N. treaty that was signed by the Philippines in 1952, guaranteeing the free flow of "educational, scientific, and cultural materials" between countries and declaring that imported books should be duty-free. Mr. Agulan told the importer that because the books were not educational (i.e., textbooks) they were subject to duty. Perhaps they aren't educational, I might have argued, but aren't they "cultural"? No matter. With this one success under their belt, customs curtailed all air shipments of books entering the country. Weeks went by as booksellers tried to get their books out of storage and started intense negotiations with various government officials. What doubly frustrated booksellers and importers was that the explanations they received from various officials made no sense. It was clear that, for whatever reason—perhaps the 30-billion-peso ($625 million) shortfall in projected customs revenue—customs would go through the motions of having a reasonable argument while in fact having none at all. Customs Undersecretary Espele Sales explained the government's position to a group of frustrated booksellers and importers in an Orwellian PowerPoint presentation, at which she reinterpreted the Florence Agreement as well as Philippine law RA 8047, providing for "the tax and duty-free importation of books or raw materials to be used in book publishing." For lack of a comma after the word "books," the undersecretary argued that only books "used in book publishing" (her underlining) were tax-exempt. "What kind of book is that?" one publisher asked me afterward. "A book used in book publishing." And she laughed ruefully. I thought about it. Maybe I should start writing a few. Harry the Cultural and Educational Potter and His Fondness for Baskerville Type. Likewise, with the Florence Agreement, she argued that only educational books could be considered protected by the U.N. treaty. Customs would henceforth be the arbiter of what was and wasn't educational. "For 50 years, everyone has misinterpreted the treaty and now you alone have interpreted it correctly?" she was asked. "Yes," she told the stunned booksellers. Throughout February and March, bookstores seemed on the verge of getting their books released—all their documents were in order, but the rules kept changing. Now they were told that all books would be taxed: 1 percent for educational books and 5 percent for noneducational books. A nightmare scenario for the distributors; they imagined each shipment being held for months as an examiner sorted through the books. Obviously, most would simply pay the higher tax to avoid the hassle. Distributors told me they weren't "capitulating" but merely paying under protest. After all, customs was violating an international treaty that had been abided by for over 50 years. Meanwhile, booksellers had to pay enormous storage fees. Those couldn't be waived, they were told, because the storage facilities were privately owned (by customs officials, a bookstore owner suggested ruefully). One bookstore had to pay $4,000 on a $10,000 shipment. The day after the first shipment of books was released, an internal memo circulated in customs congratulating themselves for finally levying a duty on books, though no mention was made of their pride in breaking an international treaty... Please forward this or disseminate this in any way you can. In the name of reading.

The End Times...

This was sent to me and I just wanted to share it with you. We've been discussing the end times and rapture in our caregroup (bible study) and it's quite timely. The signs are definitely here. The End-time Covenant (Daniel 9:27) A peace agreement in the Middle East this year could be the Daniel 9:27's seven-year end-time covenant. If the peace talks don't produce a Middle East peace agreement, terrorism will increase, with war very likely. The peace discussions between the Syrians and the Israelis, and the Palestinians and the Israelis continue. Interesting point: Many Messianic Jewish Believers believe people live-out their names and used former Israeli Prime Minister's names as examples; According to Young's Exhaustive Concordance, Shimon Peres' last name means to "divide or part," and he was very divisive leader when in office and still is; Yitzhak Rabin's last name means "strong man," and he was a strong leader; Benjamin Netanyahu's last name means the "gift from God" or "God's gift," he was very protective of Israel during his time in office; Ehud Barak's last name means "lightning," and Ehud means "strong, forceful or splendor." (Barak's name has yet to play-out but seems to be moving in that direction.) In February 2009, following the elections to the 18th Knesset, Benjamin Netanyahu was charged with forming the next government, and was sworn in as Prime Minister on March 31, 2009. In June 2007, Ehud Barak was elected to head the Labor Party, and was subsequently appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense in the Netanyahu government in March 2009. 'God's Gift' + 'Lighting' + 'Strong Forceful Splendor' = Rapture? (are we that close to meeting the Lord in the 'Air'?)

SM...

Just came back from a gig in SM North The Block. My band, Lovecore, opened for Lou Bonnevie for her album tour. It was a blast! We arrived an hour earlier coz I expected heavy traffic but there wasn't any so it was a good thing. We had a great time playing. We did 4 songs. We might be doing the other shows for the tour as well so it's good exposure for us. It was nice to see Paolo's family there to support the band from his wife and kid to his brother and parents. Aliw! Lineup... I Feel Good - James Brown (lovecore remix hehe) Into The Light Pakipot Walis Tambo It was also great hanging around for their set as she had a great backup band and her songs are pretty much along our alley. After the concert, we just had dinner in Yellow Cab then I stole a quick dessert in Sebastians. It was our first time to go there so it was ok for us to kill some extra time there. Besides, the place is so far better make the most of it hehe We then drove home coz for some strange reason, I was really tired... Cy

blog lang ng blog!

I'm tryin to blog as much as I can and keep this thing daily... Anyway, got back from 2 lovecore gigs. One at Dredd and another in Al's bar in pque. met up with the guys at 8:30 then rushed to fully booked fort to pick up our manager. Headed to Dredd just in the nick of time since our set was supposed to be at 10pm (we arrived 9:55). Good thing it started late so we were able to rest a while before getting on stage. the gig was great. A lot of younger bands (man I hate saying that it makes me feel old hehe). It was a great gig. I'm somehow enjoying myself again in playing ar gigs... just having fun playing without thinking of anything else. The long drive from alabang to eastwood was interesting. some heavy traffic caused Reg and Pao to go on a joketime spree which led to new jokes for Pao's joke bank. After Dredd, we went straight back to the south for another gig. Ate in Tropical Hut hamburger before the set and played. We also had a blast there and enjoyed some of the set of the bands. I enjoyed their sets particularly cuz some did some RATM covers and another band did a nice cover of Deftones. Nice! We did a pretty rockin set (in our opinion anyway) since we liked our sound in als more than how we did in Dredd. Reg brought along his amp so he really was familiar with his gear. Anyway, after the gig, we had a band mtg and finished up in the car for more details. We're really strategizing in how to reach the listeners more and to get the music out there. It was quite a night. The drive was tiring but it was good to be back on stage sharing our music and message again. See ya on saturday if ever :) Cy

95% and one down!

Just finished mixdown of the last track for my upcoming album! Praise God it's finally done! Just onto mastering then off to the CD replication! woohoooooo!!!! I can finally move on to the mixdown of the other one haha! A short intro on the latest album.... It's entitled Devotion. It's lighter than my typical chillout but not too ambient (if there's something in between hehehe). I wrote it as a sort of soundtrack to prayer and simply in being in God's presence. Really excited about it! Will be released in May! Cy

blag blog

My head hurts I dunno why... lack of sleep? the realization that the rain has stopped? I'm guessin hunger... I need to eat. Just finished another session of recording for the Lovecore album. I guess what I'm just mighty proud of is that we're doing it ourselves. We're taking it a day at a time with the DIY ethos and it's such a blessing we're in a position to be able to do it DIY style. It's tiring but it gets the job done and because we're not pressured with studio time and such, we can be quite the perfectionists in a good way. I know that sometimes studio pressure can help but we just try to strike a balance between being too perfect and giving it some slack. I'm off to eat.

I'm only happy when it rains...

I'm so glad it rained today. I just couldn't bear the heat in our house... even visitors can attest to that hehe it's not that cold yet since it's still summer time but the fact that it rained and the heat isn't as bad is something I'm thankful for. I just couldn't work properly with the heat. I even tried once to go to starbucks and spend the day there. I brought my headphones, keyboard, and laptop to work on some music but I just couldn't mix down music properly on my headphones. With the rain and all, I'm able to work comfortably in my own home and be productive enough. so far, I was able to finish a remix required for work, a logo design for a friend, and I'm just waiting for our guitar player to arrive for Lovecore album recording... It's gonna be a long night. Cy

Nice Saturday... REALLY NICE...

I initially planned to WORK yesterday. I opened the computer and loaded the CD with the files from  client to import. Lo and behold, their engineer exported all the files MUTED so I couldn't work at all! Since I knew the song I needed to remix, I decided to start on it. While working, my friend, Hope, texted if berns and I wanted to go see the Wanders coz he had extra passes. I've always wanted to go bring Berns to that so I said yes. Now I can see it for free! hehe We rushed to pick up Berns and went to Pagcor. When we got there, it was such a blessing to find out our seats were at the front!!!! I'm guessing that's the P3k tickets? Praise God! No wonder I never got to go get tickets coz God planned it for me to see it for free! Ang bait talaga ni Lord!!! Best of all, had I bought tickets before, I would've gone with the 1.2k but He wanted me to get the best seats. Wow! After the show we headed to Trinity beside MOA for some Dampa style dinner! most no of shrimps I've eaten in my life! Ang sarap! hehe After dinner we headed to starbucks. The one beside MOA was packed so we walked to MOA hoping the one there was still open... it wasn't. But because Starbucks today is like SM malls (they're everywhere!), we managed to find a 3rd starbucks all within walking distance at the Ecom bldg. We hung out there til closing at 3 and went home. Highlight of my night? While in the car on the way to pick Berns up, we were planning to request for our single on NU107. I took out my phone to request the song and pressed "on" on the radio. Once it turned on, Walis Tambo was playing! It was so funny in a way. I was so shocked at the same time amused at how the chain of events transpired. I wasn't able to key in anything on my phone and there I was listening to our song on NU. Nice... God's so full of surprises... :) Cy

I Need Your Help...

After the success of our In The Raw interview, our single was chosen to be the stand out track of the week. Quite easy to remember because it was during the holy week. Timely... We're now onto the next stage! Help us reach number 1 by texting NUVOTE WALIS TAMBO to 29107 for all networks. You can also call 6360099 on your landline and simply mention you're voting for Walis Tambo by Lovecore. Alternatively, you can add them at YM with "nurocktalk" and post your vote! It's that easy! VOTE AS MANY TIMES AS YOU'RE WILLING TO, FOR THE SONG TO REACH NUMBER ONE! YEAH! (Globe Telecom is having trouble receiving votes at the moment so as much as we hate the idea, landline or YM votes for now) Check out http://www.lovecoremusic.com to hear the single demo and more tunes! Thanks!!!! God bless Lovecore crew - Cy, Pao, Frame, Reg, Mara

Hard To Type

It's so hard to use my pinky finger at the moment coz i got a bad cut from (my dog) Techno's collar. It cut through the whole tip of my finger and any force  on it either opens up the skin or sends an aweful amount of pain on the area. Too bad, i was in the mood to blog haha I find myself having more time for other things lately than just spending time online so i guess it's a good thing. Gives me time to update my blog more haha til then. Cy