Pixar Perfect

I never dreamed of becoming a filmmaker or making my own film. I somehow fell into it by accident. I never planned on taking up Film in college, but when I didn't get in a quota course, the closest to a creative course I could get was UP CMC's Film and Audio- Visual Communication. Years later, I have never regretted taking it up. It surprised me, the way I fell head over heels in love with Film.

These are the reasons why:

1. As a kid, I loved writing short stories. They were very lousy short stories of course. But back then, hell I didn't care! In Film Prod classes, I was always excited to explore story lines and write scripts. I love making up names, places, twists and conflicts. I guess there's that thrill of translating what looks good only on paper into something moving, bright and real.

2. It's exciting to work with a lot of creative people. Back in college, of course, we were all a bit uncertain about ourselves. One group mate is a Cinematographer-wanna-be who operated lights and a professional camera only in her dreams (the visuals probably from cinematography books she was devouring). Another dreams to be a Film Director, who had never experienced leading a Production team. A good friend of mine wanted to be a Production Designer, but ironically, did not know yet how to draw and make mock-ups. I was jittery, nervous, anxious, but most of the time, at the edge of my seat with excitement. Working with brilliant and creative group mates drove me to do well as a ScriptWriter.

3. Being a creative and artistic person, I guess creating something out of nothing challenged me. Most of all, I noticed I liked eliciting emotions from people, more than telling a story. And up to now, I know that film, that music video, or that TV show took part in a creative process that ties everyone together. It's hard to explain. But I guess there's something immortal about a film -- it transcends everything.

After college though, you realize IT IS a tricky business. And it entails a BIG sacrifice to become a full-time filmmaker. There are a lot of factors, the greatest of which is the star system of our mainstream film industry. But relating this to the Pixar article, i believe Philippines do have a lot of talented writers and filmmakers. It's just that there isn't an organization or a management team that supports them the same way Pixar Animation does.



In the article, the writer and Pixar Executive Ed Catmull shared how Pixar has gone this far in being the number 1 animation film studio. Catmull enumerated a number of factors that we don't see today in the film industry (never mind not having an animation film leader here in the Philippines yet, we have a long way to go my friends):

- empower your creatives
- create a peer culture
- free up communication
- craft a learning environment
- get more out of post mortems

Based from experience, I think we still live in country where talent is still considered cheap. Companies such as GMA 7 and Star Cinema do not value Creatives; instead, Sales and Marketing people are given bigger salaries and benefits. I'm thinking now how we can change this culture in the Philippines. I also think that creative people in TV networks are not taken care of. They are not sent to workshops and classes. I haven't heard of something like "Pixar University" in one of our creative companies here in the Philippines.

I totally agree with Catmull-- more than getting the best people for the job, it's also about fostering a creative environment in the office. I love what he said -- ""But how many understand the importance of creating an environment that supports great people and encourages them to support one another so the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts?"

What he said about ego, that is so true. Since I didn't pursue a film career, I can only share my friend's experiences. My friend has gone to Cannes and has been nominated for various film awards. Sometimes, we get together and she tells me how hard it is to be forced to work with some people who have huge egos, who can't separate the professional from the personal. i guess it's really important not to take yourself too seriously in this industry. And yes, the creative process involves a lot of people. I guess no good thing can arise from a person having the creative process all by himself. Solo flight. That's why it's very important to have a group of people critique your work. We need to know being creative is not a stroke of genius. Just what Catmull wrote, the process undergoes several revisions and an artist/writer/director should be ready for overhauls in case the story does not work.

If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they'll screw it up. But if you give a mediocre idea to a great team, they'll make it work.




One of my film idols is Guillermo del Toro. I absolutely adore his movie Pan's Labyrinth. When I watch that film, I always cry. I absolutely love everything about it -- the little girl, the fairytale, the creatures, the Nazi era setting, the bluish bleak cinematography, the blending of inner and outer realities. The genius concept of a dark fairytale, wow, it was just amazing!

Upon researching about del Toro, I found that he has creative partners in fellow Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuaron (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Great Expectations, Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and Alejandro Innaritu (Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Peros). Cuaron was actually his Producer for Pan's Labyrinth. del Toro always meets and brainstorms with Cuaron and Innaritu and vice versa. The results are beautiful films that have gained critical acclaim internationally.

Looking back at my college days, I guess one thing they never taught us in directing class is the right attitude as a director. And I remember particularly in the Pixar article -- (the director) must set people up for success by giving them all the information they need to do the job without telling them how to do to it. Each person on a film should be given creative ownership of even the smallest task. Now, that's good quality of an excellent director, and also something a good leader in any field should possess in my opinion.

There are emerging small units that are supporting the creativity of Filipino filmmakers. Unitel is an example, successfully producing notable films such as Crying Ladies and Inang Yaya. Also an emerging film group is Arkeo Films that created indie films such as Big Time and Mansyon.

My Bestfriend's Room

How do you snoop in the bedroom of someone who’s long been gone?

Well, seven months is not that long if you think about it. Sometimes, I imagine she’s still here with us. When I shop, I can still hear her voice nagging me to choose a mature-looking and expensive blouse instead of a cheap and cute baby t-shirt. While walking in our village, and as I turn to the FX terminal, I can still see her in her company uniform waving furiously at me, teasing “Late ka na naman no?” It’s not easy losing a best friend.

(Reader, let's call her Julia instead of her real name, just to prevent her from haunting me, it IS her personal space after all, hehe!).

Julia died last January 2010. It came as big surprise for all of us. She was more alive than everyone else with her adventurous and outgoing ways. She was turning her life around when God took her away. He has His reasons, I guess. Perhaps, He needed her more than we did.



I haven’t been in her room for a long time now. Perhaps, not in two years. Her mother hasn’t touched a hair in her room. She told me seeing her bedroom as it is makes her comforted, at least for now.

When I stepped inside her room, it felt different though. Some things have changed. Besides the fact that she was gone, I knew that when she passed away, she was not the person I knew the last time I hung out in her room.



The first thing you notice in her room is her collection of bags. I immediately noticed the bag stand, which was not there two years ago. Her sister explained Julia started having a hard time opening her drawers overflowing with bags so she bought a bag stand. Most of her bags are shoulder bags. There’s not one back pack. She hates body bags. The designs are mostly mature, “mommy bags” as I called them then. I guess you can say that for her age, she really likes looking mature. She hated looking “nene”. And she likes dressing up, so her bags are accessories that fit her mood, her dress, her day.

Not only is she obsessed with bags, she shares her obsession to other people by selling them. Julia is quite a businesswoman, you see. Inside her closet (which is quite new, since her old closet was destroyed during the Ondoy typhoon), there’s a partition with her unsold bags. I felt sad finding these bags. It’s like she had lots of unfinished things she left behind when she left. I told her sister to sell the bags.



Another interesting find is her basket of magazines. I knew back then that she had two or three magazines. But I never knew she acquired so much! These magazines were very helpful to her fashionable get-ups, mixing and matching clothes and accessories. She’s very kikay that way. Compared to her, I was always the tomboy.

What I also found interesting were her plastic containers full of clothes and what-not. These are the stuff that no longer fit inside her brand new, but small closet, so after Ondoy, she just bought a lot of these plastic containers to have them fit. Needless to say, she has lots of stuff!



At first I thought it was because she’s a habitual shopper. She buys stuff every time she goes out, whether it’s earrings, shoes, bags or clothes. But apparently, I realized there's a deeper reason.





Julia has a very organized album of pictures. She even had our studio pictures, neo print and even the foto me pictures saved up (I wasn’t able to get a picture though, I was too teary-eyed by that time. Her sister promised to scan the pictures for me) But what got me crying was our picture which she placed not only in her closet, but also in their living room. I really was her number one friend. I realized Julia is a very sentimental person, and that’s why she bought a thing every time to mark the occasion. Something to remember with, a souvenir, a memory.



The numerous containers with corresponding stuff like clothes, books, old bags, etc. reveals Julia is very organized and neat. She likes order in her life so she can think clearly. Compartmentalizing her living space makes her compartmentalize her life as well. She loves her work, her family, her boyfriend and her friends. She liked having different set of friends, hanging out with them at separate dates. I guess this is the same way as her shopping for a lot of things. That’s how she makes her life colorful and more interesting. Before Julia died, she just got promoted in her office. She was also planning to take special courses in fashion design to become a fashion designer.

I also discovered upon snooping that she was starting a collection of coloring books, crayons and colored pencils. I didn’t know this until now. She never told me she spent her nights coloring flowers, castles, butterflies and a lot more in coloring books. Julia was always the creative type. She sketches well, especially clothes. Once, she sketched my wedding gown. But that got destroyed in Ondoy, too bad. But here are some sketches of hers that I found.





All in all, I found Julia’s room, though quite small, to be so much interesting and colorful. She might be organized and all that, but she was very spontaneous and unpredictable. She has lots of cute stuff I never imagined her to have: like furry slippers and M&Ms vendo machines. Just like her coloring books and crayons. Where did that fit in her mature, fashionable aura? But perhaps, this is something we shared. I might be losyang and a magazine-hater, but I’d like to color a coloring book any day.

Another conclusion I came up with is that Julia is a repressed artist. Her mom didn't allow her to pursue an arts course because it wasn't stable. Instead her mom urged her to grow up and take a finance/marketing course instead. I guess this explains why most of her stuff are grown up, but there's that part of her that likes colors and bright things. Julia never stopped drawing because deep down, she is an artist. And she didn't allow that to be repressed.

For her next birthday, which she is celebrating in heaven, I'll give her a sewing machine and some fabrics so she can create her masterpieces. But frankly, if it's only possible, I'll give her life as a gift.

While in her room, I thought to myself, here’s a person who really, truly lived. Who had so much to live for. And though I miss her so much, I'm sure that wherever she is, it’s a place more spectacular and unimaginable like a giant coloring book, plus a mega endless shopping mecca

My Feet Need to Breathe: Design Observation YUCK!

“Shucks, and liit ng paa mo,” my friends and relatives exclaim when they notice my very small pair of feet! It’s not even size 5, it’s almost size 5. 4 and ¾ to be exact. Some of my high school friends teased it might be our Chinese blood, a descendant probably with bound feet. My feet are small and narrow, but not flat. Looking at it sideways, it forms a curvy S, with a deep fissure smack at the center.

With my size, it hasn’t been easy looking for footwear. I remember buying school shoes with a pair of corks just to make it fit, and believe me, corks are hardly comfortable.

Shopping for sandals or open footwear is altogether a different story, especially with girly sandals. I have a hard time shopping for sandals, especially the strappy ones. Nothing ever seems to fit!

After college however, I began to gain weight (credit it to a healthy appetite and love life and a stressful working environment, hehe!). My work in Production entailed me to move around a lot. Since I didn’t work in a corporate environment, we were free to wear jeans, shirts and even slippers! Because my small feet can no longer carry my weight, it was an absolute must to look for comfortable slippers, something that was easy to slip on since I was always rushing to go work, something I can use to walk around locations and studios.

My search for the most comfortable pair of slippers thus began.

What’s the Fuzz?

Four years ago, I noticed this long line inside a mall. The store was a distributor of the Brazilian flip flops brand Havaianas. Turns out they were on sale, and girls were going crazy and buying dozens.



At work, I noticed all my office mates wearing the same brand. It wasn’t much to look at – these Havaianas. They were like ordinary slippers, but they do have colorful designs.

Suddenly, everyone’s wearing one! That made me consider buying one as well.

One day, my best friend and I went out to do some shopping and she bought two pairs of Havaianas for P2, 600 bucks! What’s the fuzz with these Havaianas? Is it like a fad or hype that overcomes everyone, then suddenly dies down? Like pearl shakes and shawarma? Staring at the slippers, I was puzzled why it was so expensive. It doesn’t look expensive! They’re just slippers.

So one time a factory outlet had a 50 % off sale and I decided to buy and try a pair. I chose a silver plain flip-flops. I was happy to find that they had my size and that it fit. I started to feel that it was a promising and wise purchase.

But my pair turned out to be such a disappointment. Barely an hour in a shoot, my feet had cramps. Then when I got home, the skin under the thongs was itching. My feet had marks from the thongs!

I thought perhaps because it’s new, but I wore the slippers day in and day out, until my feet too tired and strained.

The Brand

The brand Havaianas claims to be the best rubber flip-flops in the world. It is marketed and manufactured by a Brazilian company Sao Paulo Alpargatas.

Havaianas were first created in the 1960’s with a Japanese sandal (called the Zori) as inspiration for the design. The designers were so fascinated by the relaxed island culture of Hawaii that they named the flip-flops Havaianas (pronounced as ah-vai-yah-nas), which is Portuguese for Hawaiians.

I like the branding of Havaianas though, with their colorful posters and feel-good campaigns. One of my favorite was their “I’m a Happy Sole” campaign, where they launched a video-making contest, with the theme, “What would you do to make the world happy?” I also admired their “Make your own Havaianas” event last 2008.

I like Havaianas for its free-spirited, adventurous branding, and I can relate to that. Havaianas has succeeded to flip-flops from just a beach accessory to a wardrobe essential.



Still, what will I do with a funky, colorful pair of slippers when they're not comfortable? I dislike it because it didn’t consider the fact that people have different feet types.

Not Human- Centered

Did the makers of Havaianas conduct research on different types of feet? Did they ask why people want to wear open shoes or slippers instead of closed shoes? What was the extent to which they defined “comfortable?”

Too Expensive

Havaianas are over-priced, there’s no doubt about that. There are other brands like Banana Peel that sell the same products with same quality at more affordable prices.

Form

People who are flat-footed will easily like Havaianas. But people who have curvy and small feet like me needs something of the same shape, and something that can support my weight. That’s why I really like Crocs because the makers of the slippers clearly understood the need for curvy slippers. The result was it was relaxing, therapeutic and comfortable.



People are Different

I guess that’s one of the things that some brands, like clothing apparel, disregard.

People are different, they have different shapes and sizes. So they must be sensitive on that.

That’s why I admire Forme, Golden ABC’s fashion apparel line for women. Perhaps overpriced Havaianas can learn something from them.

Forme recognizes that every woman has a different body shape. This inspired Forme to offer clothes tailored to suit women of different body shapes. They identified four shapes:

Triangle - wide hips and narrow shoulders

Inverted triangle - wide shoulders and tapered bottom

Rectangle - straight from top to bottom

Hourglass - proportioned shoulders and hips with well-defined waist

Forme succeeded in offering something unique. The brand understand the various needs of women and in doing so, customers trust them and buy their clothes.

I want that kind of sensitivity from brands, especially clothing and footwear.

What's Cookin'? Just Mind Mappin'!

BRAAIIINS!

Reflection Entry # 3:

Cognitive Fitness
By Roderick Gilkey and Clint Kilts


I haven’t really given much thought about my brain. I wake up in the morning, brush my teeth, take a bath, walk, rush to work, put my things on my desk, write, shoot, edit and a whole other things or activities take place. In my free time, I think about what I’m going to do after work, or the chores I forgot to do at home, my friend’s love problem, a lousy movie I watched, an effect in Watchmen opening credits I’d like to copy, the novel I bought at a bargain price, what time it is, wondering how many Jollibee branches there are in the Philippines, etc, etc.

It’s funny how I’ve never given much thought about it, even though I use it every second of my conscious (and subconscious) life.

I guess between heart and brain, the brain takes the back seat in conversations. But today is the day for my brain. It’s BRAAAAAAIN DAY! (imagine it being said by a hungry zombie in Plants vs. Zombies)



I’m wondering now what my brain looks like. I don’t think there’s something very remarkable about it. I can imagine it looks something like this.



I don’t consider myself an intelligent person – there are a lot more people smarter than me. I think my brain’s right hemisphere probably has more fissures than my left. I write, I voice act, I direct, I video edit, I do graphics, I write short stories and make short films – these are instinctive activities to me. Does that make sense? What I mean is, they are second nature to me. So yeah, I guess my right’s functioning more than my left is.

I think this was something the Management (of a former company) saw in me – that I was fast, resourceful and I had leadership (whatever that meant) – so they decided to promote me only after a year as rank and file to Executive Producer. I was to head a huge department of 10 Producers, 2 Production Assistants, 8 Video Editors and 3 Graphic Artists.

I was young and I was stupid and I knew of nothing else but the fact that promotion is good. So naturally, I said yes.

And I remember thinking now, while looking through the readings, had I known these things or had I been given leadership training before my first day on the job, I would have survived.


WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE AN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER WITHOUT ANY EXPERIENCE:

I learned these the hard way.

I was heading two sub-departments and overseeing a total of 8 channels that I became A LIVING DEAD, A WALKING ROBOT. I ate lunch while working, I worked at home, I worked in restaurants, cafes, I worked in the FX on my way to work, I worked in my dreams, I almost never took a break to manage the department.

I looked like WORK. I wonder what I looked like. Maybe like this:



You know why? Because I forgot HOW TO PLAY. I forgot its value.

So rule number 1: DON’T FORGET TO RELAX AND TO PLAY.

As what Gilky and Klints said, play improves one’s ability to understand the world.

This is the same as what Jack Torrance wrote in the movie The Shining (of the same novel written by Stephen King) , although in a scary kind of way, “All work and no play makes Jack a very dully boy”, a sentence he wrote over and over again on pieces of paper his wife supposedly thought was a draft of his novel. Of course, he never finished his novel because he became crazy and was possessed by a ghost. This was his crazy picture.



Then, I thought I had no time to relax. I wanted to go home at 8 or 9 pm every day so I thought working straight would make things easier for me. But it wasn’t. The bad effect was that not only was I stressed, I also wasn’t able TO THINK CLEARLY.

So whenever there was a problem, I got more stressed out and I didn’t know what to do.

So rule number 2: Always have an open and clear mind to search for patterns.

Patterns. The Big Picture. Plan A, B and C. The cup is half full, not half empty. To become a leader is to look at a problem and be challenged by it, and see how it can be solved in the simplest way. This is the same as saying, “…the power of pattern recognition….is to simplify without being simplistic.”

This is a left-hemispheric brain activity so that means I need to also develop this part of my brain to strike a balance with my right. That is, if I envision myself becoming a leader again. And of course, yes, some day, when I AM READY.

Rule # 3: Try something new once in a while

I also do remember a part of my career as EP when I improved my performance. That was the time when I enrolled in a voice-acting/voice-over workshop.

My brain was too full of job orders and products and clients and evaluation forms that studying voice-acting was so refreshing.



I became more open to my subordinates and I found a new zest in my work. I guess this is why some overworked people I know find new hobbies like hiking, photography or cooking and it actually helps them. An acquaintance of mine who works for Citibank was able to keep from resigning by running and joining marathons. She still works there and is very happy.

The more new things you learn, the better you become at learning. The brain is trained to become flexible and open to new things.

However, I resigned last August 2009 when I realized I wasn’t ready yet for that kind of position. But everything I learned I charged it to experience.

Rule number 4: Understand how experience makes the brain grow.

Rule number 4 happened just before I left. I believe MY BRAIN grew a lot from my experiences as EP. I learned a lot from the Producers, the clients and my superiors.

I guess I can consider this my “walkabout” in network management and I have never regretted accepting the promotion.

I grew and became wiser from that experience, something I bring with me now when I work, study, meet and interact with people.

Learning just never stops.

And I intend to go on and be better.

To my brain, both left and right, hi, hello, we are in this together. ☺

Which object are you?

I took this test in PBS.org Objectified Site. Click on this link if you want to try it out. It's actually fun, though I refuse to agree it's accurate, hehe.

So what object am I?

The test says...

You are a coca cola bottle.



You enjoy your creature comforts and familiarity and you are loyal to a fault. You sometimes pine for a simpler time and a slower pace. While you don’t take an inordinate amount of risks, or try a lot of new things (other than the one in 1980s when you took up break-dancing), that’s what makes you lovable. You are the type of person other people have as their emergency contact- you're that reliable.

WOW Design Observation # 1

I’m not a very vain person. I’m definitely not fashionista and kikay, but I do like dressing up, looking and feeling good. I use basic beauty products like lotion, moisturizer, cleanser and make-up.

And one of the things I need to REALLY COVER UP every day of my life are my HUGE, ATTENTION-GRABBING eye bags. Don’t ask me how they got big. They just ARE. I’m going to go defensive and tell you, no, I do not have sleeping problems. But ONE DAY, during my teenage years, MY EYE BAGS decided to take the center stage.



Name it, I’ve tried it! Those juicy cucumber slices never landed on the salad plate. My eyes devoured them like a hungry cannibal night after night. And when my mom gave me a hearty scolding for stealing them from the vegetable compartment, I resorted to refrigerating spoons and pressing them on my eye bags, holding on for dear life.

Until my mom brought home this really curious little green thing.

I didn’t know what to make of it. A fashionable flash light? My mom was pointing the thing in front of my face but there was no light. A toy? But I was already far beyond my teens! It was slender and yellow-green and in a few moments, it became the answer to my prayers, errr…let’s not be overly dramatic. And in a few moments, it was going to roll my eye insecurity away.



Garnier Light Brightening Eye Roll-On

It was love at first (eye bag) sight!

Not only was it free (my mom’s French friend gave it to her; Garnier is from France), it was the first time I’ve ever encountered such a product! I don’t remember the exact year, but I got to use the Garnier Roll-on long before KC Concepcion’s Garnier ad and before the roll-on was available in the Philippines.

So when I was holding the roll-on, I really felt like I was one of its few first customers. And really, it was such a unique product. Before Garnier roll-on, I haven’t heard of eye-brightening products (of course there were already pricey eye bag removal creams back in 2004, but they cost a fortune).

It felt like an innovation, combining the cucumber method and cold spoons in one thing. But upon inspection of the box (it’s always fun to look at the catchy descriptions), here’s what it said:

New Garnier Eye Roll-on enriched with caffeine
Our first-ever roll-on to hydrate, cool & refresh tired-looking eyes.

Enriched with Caffeine, the roll-on is a handbag must-have, great for on-the-go women. The cooling moisturiser contains Caffeine and Pro-vitamin B5 for a bright eyed look!

Caffeine? Why not? Okay, I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t contain any cucumber essence or extract. After all, it was yellow green.

Eye Deodorant?

Who’s ever heard of a beauty product that was a roll-on like a deodorant? I thought it was really cute.

If you haven’t tried the roll-on, it’s a metal thing that you roll on your eye bags. It’s cooling and soothing. I also read from the beauty product manual that the roll-on massages the eye bags, hydrating them to get rid of the puffy, tired look.



Whether it worked or not, I just liked the roll-on for simply refreshing my eyes. After using my laptop or reading a book before I go to bed, using Garnier roll-on relieved that tight, stretched and stressed feeling in my eyes that I always get. I wore glasses since forever until I got an eye operation last year. So, yeah, my eyes were always strained, and Garnier roll-on was the perfect friend to soothe the aches away.

A Trendy, Little Thing

If the product was like a drab tube or a spray or a typical circular container, I don’t think I would have continued using and buying the product until now.

I just like how the roll-on looks. It’s slender and curvy and looks like a gadget. It’s shiny yellow-green with a metallic circle on top and its edge. It’s modern and trendy, something you can display on your night table and still manage to look like a decor of some sort, or it could fit in one of the pockets of your designer bag, and let it poke out a little bit – it would look good anyway. You can sit inside an MRT train and use the roll-on without feeling embarrassed. The other passengers would notice, but hell yeah, it would look good! Let them watch and be curious.


The Garnier roll-on is two things: it’s a beauty product and an accessory at the same time. What girl wouldn’t want one?

In the age of simple, slim minimalist I-pods and Mac Books, Garnier roll-on is just about perfect.

The product is not only a thing, not only a product. It’s a statement. It’s saying something to the potential buyer, to the consumer and to the onlooker. Unlike other beauty products you’d throw away after the bottle or tube is empty, Garnier roll-on is something you would want to stay.

Underneath the Roll

Garnier is actually the mass marketing product line of L’Oreal. This means Garnier is relatively and significantly cheaper than L’Oreal main products.

Garnier was created after L’Oreal faced accusations and widespread rumors of animal-testing their products. Garnier was then marketed as an all-natural brand, using green tea and citrus essences. And instead of banking on hard-sell, beauty product-altering, going-under-the-knife beauty, they emphasized natural beauty. From the website, here’s Garnier’s Beauty philosophy:

Our Vision of Beauty

For Garnier, beauty is within us all. Everyone possesses its own natural beauty and everyone has the power to make that beauty shine through. Garnier appeals to that type of woman who is self confident and yet seeks to improve her appearance. By taking care of herself, she reveals her inner beauty and other people are drawn to her. For Garnier, the aim of beauty is happiness and feeling at ease with others.

It’s about taking care.

Garnier is L’Oreal's environmental, socially responsible brand, with emphasis on TAKING CARE OF: 1.) others (community), 2.) environment (hence, the green color of their products) and 3.) most importantly, yourself.

Garnier is L’Oreal done right.


Their celebrity endorsers are wise choices, like Sarah Jessica-Parker, who is both Actress and Producer, Zhang ZiYi, an award-winning actress from China, known for her role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and locally, our KC Concepcion, an actress, singer and U.N. ambassador, who is otherwise known as the Megastar’s beloved daughter.

These are all celebrities who have got both natural beauty and brains.

Every Object Tells a Story

Why do I like Garnier Light Eye-Brightening Roll-on? Here are the factors that make sense to me.

1. Ingenuity

It’s new, unique, innovative, creative -- it’s never been done before. It threw out those home remedies and instead, came out hip, fresh and modern. No chopping, no refrigerating anymore. It’s all here – in one slim, shiny thing.



It’s both ingenuous and valuable since it solved one of the problems that’s never been addressed before. And in this day and age of internet, eyes are often stressed and tired. Why not brighten everyone’s eyes? Women’s eyes for that matter.

2. Form

I remember what my Film Professor said. What’s a good storyline and plot without good form? He was saying a good story wouldn’t work if the storytelling through the imagery and direction wasn’t the perfect fit. The same goes for a beauty product.

It has to be slim, like those girls in magazines. It has to be hip and trendy to keep up with the modern times. It’s beautiful, yet smart. No pink flowers and glitters. Just a shape, a color, a small logo - all a product needs to be unforgettable. The simpler, the better. The less shown, the more said. Just like the Nike brand.

3. Statement

It should not only do something for the user (which is to soothe the eyes), but also has to SAY SOMETHING about the user.

For a Garnier consumer, it’s being confident, but being concerned about one’s appearance. She’s not too shallow or frivolous, but just the right kind of girl who balances being smart, beautiful and being trendy.

And people who see this girl in the MRT using the roll-on on her eye bags would turn curious and say, “What is that?”, “I’ve got to have one of those.” Or “I’ve got to be like her.” And so the mass production goes…

(this is Garnier's latest online campaign via Facebook, a reality contest where they partnered with GMA 7)

Garnier Roll-on is not trying-hard, hungry for attention. It’s such a simple thing. It’s compact, small and green. No other beauty product has dared to come up with GREEN. Garnier did, reiterating its stand about natural beauty and environmental awareness.

4. Extra Value

People like something with extra value. It makes them feel like their purchase is worth it, that they got something for free, even though they didn’t. An i-pod does not only have music, but also has games. A pair of jeans or a jacket is reversible. A dress can either be a tube dress or a skirt.

For Garnier roll-on, it’s both a beauty product and a décor/accessory.



As what Henry Ford said, every object tells a story. Often times, we don’t know it does. We just buy and use an object and feel it’s quite obvious and normal to be buying and using this.

We are not aware of how a product communicates to the user. As in the case of my love at first (eye bag) sight, I now know why I have never stopped using it since the day my mother brought it home. What attracted me to the product and vice versa. And I’m pretty sure, time will pass, a new product will arrive and I’ll probably throw all my six roll-ons for A THING that hasn’t been thought of and created yet.

Reflections on Gardner's 5 Minds for the Future

While reading 5 Minds for the Future, I was like, "Whoa!". I was astounded by his thoughts. I couldn't agree more with Mr. Howard Gardner.



These are 5 traits we need to have and the future generation has to have in order to make it in the real world.

And let's face it. The world has indeed evolved. As what the Medici article has taught us, there are three forces that are giving rise to more intersections: the movement of people, the convergence of science and the leap of computation. We have to keep up with the life in the fast lane. But this doesn't mean forgetting our principles and ethics.

Right-brained people will rule the future, as what Pink Daniel said. There is now more emphasis on EQ rather than IQ. Why would they need high IQ people when computers are developing fast and some day, computers can do your job better than you. Take for example the Great Kasparov's demise against a computer in various chess tournaments.

Companies nowadays are looking not only for extraordinary intelligence, but also of character. Some employers will even say, we need emotionally flexible people more than the smart bright people. So these days, the concept of "cream of the crop" is now evolving.

Take a look at the state of the Philippines. We've had enough of Harvard-graduate, summa cum laude leaders who use their intelligence to succumb the nation's wealth. And here we are, the poor getting poorer, the rich getting richer. Imagine if we can interview a future mayor, or senator or President for that matter, in a job interview setting. Now, that would be quite a riot!

Quoting a paragraph from hiringopportunities.com,

Finally, the importance of “emotional intelligence” cannot be stressed enough. In the workplace, the ability to get results is inextricably linked to the ability to access other people. If a candidate demonstrates patience, tolerance and coaching skills, employers will assume that she is able to get along with all kinds of people. When asked about specific achievements in their previous job, emotionally intelligent candidates don’t just pile the credit on themselves – they acknowledge how their colleagues, managers and supervisors helped make the achievement possible. That way, the employer can see that they are able to bring out the best in others without letting their ego get in the way.

I think the 5 minds is revolutionary and can change the way people think and live and eventually, the way the world works. It can be incorporated both in Education and Human Resources. That way, our society will breed a new generation of intelligent, ethical and socially responsible citizens.



The world needs a new perspective, a new breed of people who can find solutions to really puzzling problems the world has. Different measures have to be done this time. There has to be fresh approaches to problems we didn't imagine centuries ago. Take, for example, the problem of garbage here in the Philippines. The effects of our apathy boomeranged on us in the form of a great flood that destroyed lives and homes. That's why I support creative and innovative projects like the Invisible Sisters.



But just how do we apply the 5 minds? After all, it still is just a concept.

5 Minds is valuable and new so it is creative. But it hasn't been realized yet. So it is not innovative.

In an earlier entry (see 5-sided box for 5 year olds), I came up with some doodles and brain farts on how to concretize Gardner's 5 minds. Please check it out!

5-SIDED BOX FOR 5-YEAR OLDS and A NEW TWIST TO SAME OLD BORING FLAG CEREMONIES

5-SIDED BOX FOR 5-YEAR OLDS

As you can see on the sketch above, I suck at drawing and I have a terrible, horrendous handwriting. My apologies. I loved writing on magic slates since I was four, but oddly, the Paulinian way of writing (which is a graceful, curvy way of writing) never rubbed off on me.

Anyway, back to the project.

The 5-sided for 5-year old project is a project that teachers and parents of 5-year olds (preschoolers) can do to instill the 5 minds/values to kids. Here are the steps/rules:

1.) Form a group of 5 five-year old kids. You can have as many groups as you like depending on the number of kids in the school or in your neighborhood.
2.) Each kid will be given a large plain empty box.
3.) The kids will have a game. The mechanics of the game is that they have to fill the boxes with school supplies, that will be donated to kid in an orphanage or a public school.
4.) The catch is they're not supposed to buy anything. They will fill in the boxes by earning points. The points will be earned by the 5 kids competing in the following activities

- singing/dancing (talent show)
- doing good deeds
- arts through poster-making (this includes the most creative box)
- simple math and spelling bees
- social awareness quizzes

5.)Only one kid will win each category. For every star won, the kid will be allowed, unsupervised, to go inside a stock room to get school supplies. Each star is only equivalent to two notebooks/two books/2 ballpens/2 pencils.
6.)Each box has to be decorated creatively. (ex. he/she can make it a toy car or an animal or anything their imagination can take them!)
7.) The winner of the contest will be given a GOOD CITIZEN KID medal (sorry I can't come up with a better name right now. hehe!)
8.) All of the kids will go to the beneficiary/school to meet the kids and present their boxes.



A NEW TWIST TO THE SAME OLD BORING FLAG CEREMONIES

Say goodbye to those boring flag ceremonies, where singing the national anthem and reciting the Panatang Makabayan are just all bland and blah.

Presently, there's an ongoing movement in Education and Corporate sectors that aims to strengthen Good Citizenship values. What do I mean by this?

Studies show that kids will benefit from loving her/his country right from the start. And that does not include memorizing Panatang Makabayan and being disciplined in the flag ceremony.

Teresita Baltazar (of Good Citizenship Movement in partnership with CHED) developed a curriculum to be introduced in both grade school and high school students. This is composed of: pagkamakadiyos, pagkamaka-tao, pagkamaka-bayan, and pagkamaka-kalikasan. Corporate foundations such as Metro Bank Foundation, Coca-Cola Foundation and Ayala Foundation are inviting other groups to incorporate Good Citizenship in their programs as well (For example, Metro Bank encourages its scholars to give back by teaching poor kids how to read and write).

I believe a kid who is taught to be a good citizen, who is socially aware, will become a productive and responsible member of our society. Just like what Gardner said, quoting Mahatma Gandhi, she/he will both have intelligence and character.

So, why not add a twist to the flag ceremony?

Weekly, during flag ceremony, a group of 5 (randomly chosen across batches in either Grade School or High School) will perform A SKIT.

Each group will be given a social problem. Through the skit, they will present the problem and how they can solve it.

These activities can be part of the grade of a new subject I will call SOCIAL AWARENESS.


Other activities SOCIAL AWARENESS class can do is to have a field trip to Payatas or any poor community they can immerse in. Parents and teachers can join too. The subject can also arrange games that will test the ethical and respectful values of a child.

For now, here are my thoughts. Hopefully I'd come up with something more concrete soon. Thanks for reading!

Introduction: Who is Alina Co?

A year ago, I would have drawn up a blank if I was asked to introduce myself this way. Who am I? Sino nga ba?

I’d always answer, “I’m a film grad. who changed my medium to television and video production.” But of course, the question wasn’t “what’s your occupation?”

Does your job really define you as a person? I mean, I have friends who work in call centers, but they’re actually very good writers. But they’re forced to work in BPOs cause they need a bigger salary to support their families. An acquaintance of mine slaves day in and day out in an ad agency because he wants to earn enough money to study film abroad. Corny as it might sound, I guess what defines us is the goodness and passion inside our hearts. What makes us a better person? What makes us help people and find compassion? Find it, do it and that defines you.

For me, these are three things: video production, writing, and women and children’s rights.

A year ago, I didn’t have any idea that this was what I was meant to do. A year ago, I was weighing either shifting to law or business administration. That’s how confused I was.

But God is good, and He led me to this. Since I’ve found these three things, I wake up every day with a spring on my step and joy in my heart. It’s like I found a connect-the-dots to everything that has happened in my life and I finally feel whole…

If I were a movie, I’d be Amelie. I’m colorful like its cinematography. I like narrative films and strong quirky female protagonists. And yes, I like light-hearted plots, especially happy endings.

If I were food, I’d be yogurt – sometimes sweet, sometimes sour, but always healthy for digestion!

If I were a book, hmmm… I can be a lot of books. I can be Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wu Dunn’s Half the Sky. Or Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. Or Ann Tyler’s Back When We Were Grownups. My pages would be crisp and off-white, the texts bold and clear, font size 12. I smell good, the way all books do. I can have some highlights and arrows and notes on the side, I don't mind.

If I were a multi-billionaire, I would have my own TV channel foundation.

If I can be anything that is not a living thing, I would be a signal, or a radio wave.

If I can be anything that is not a non-living thing, I would be an eskimo or a panda, anywhere it’s wintry cold. I hate the heat, except when I’m at a beach.

If I can be anything again that is not a living thing, I would be ‘poetic justice’ or ‘state of the country’.

If I will be blessed with kids someday, I’d call them Luna, or Diwa, or Makisig, Ala-ala, I find those names cute.

My mother is my hero and my idol. I have two sweet pamangkins --Andeng and Alfie, whom I adore. They are my inspiration and sources of strength.

Reflection Entry No. 1

It was nighttime and the door in our office was already locked. The guard outside was dozing off. He was working straight for almost twenty-four hours because his reliever had to rush home. He said it was an emergency.

So the guard didn’t notice when a light in the corner of the fifth floor suddenly turned on.

--

I work in the 5th floor of one of the oldest buildings in Ortigas. Knowledge Channel is a small office, sharing the floor with two other companies – an engineering firm and an accounting firm.

However small, I love the way our office smells and looks. If you ask me, I wouldn’t change anything about it.

I like the way the dividers are arranged to separate the departments. It looks like a maze. To go to my desk, I have three ways to choose from. From the front at the lobby, then right then left. Or walk straight up then right. I can also come in from the side, where the canteen is connected, walk straight up, turn left then right.

The lighting is not too white, and not too yellow. The colors in our office is a mishmash of white, blue and beige. Our logo is cheery yellow with planets and an orbit on it.

Sometimes, however, I don’t go straight to my desk. There are times my office is in the location itself, wherever the shoot is going to take place. There are days when I go straight to our editing suites in the basement.

So I feel that every day, I can take a different route. Whatever fits my mood.

--

It was peculiar, the way the light only shone on this one particular desk. At first glance, there was nothing extraordinary about it. Sure, it was off-white, metallic and long just like the rest. But then, a cough was heard. How can that be possible when no one is there?

The teddy bear desk organizer yawned, then coughed again. Fuzzy the teddy bear has had cold and cough since the air-conditioning was fixed a day before. Blue grunted, “Fuzzy, you woke me up, yet again!” Then soon after that, Pink, Purple, Orange and Green Pens all stretched out and woke up with a start. Bright jolly old Purple said with a laugh, “I thought there was an earthquake!” “Fuzzy, have you taken your medicine yet,” Pink asked, her face full of concern.

“Yes Ma’am, I’ve taken my meds. But it’s not working Ma’am. I just need a few days off,” Fuzzy said, his voice shaky and breathy.

“But you’re not doing anything all day!,” Peachy, the yellow mug yelled. “I can understand stapler and scotch tape when they complain. I too can complain, I get filled and drank all day! But you, you just sit around all day!”

Just then a deep muscular voice was heard. “Hey, guys, don’t fight! We’re all here to do our jobs right? No matter how hard or easy or big or small.” Brad Pitt was talking in the middle of the Corkboard. “Like me, my job is to put a smile on Alina’s face when she’s stressed out or hungry or sad or tired.”



“I agree with you Brad, one hundred and one percent,” said Bart Simpson, a custom-made stuffed toy perched on the edge of the table. “I let Alina pinch me and play with me whenever she is bored! Fuzzy makes her smile too, right Fuzzy?”

Everyone were nodding their heads. Even the grouchy Blue Pen. “You’re right, I am sorry Fuzzy.” Fuzzy and the Blue Pen shook hands.



That night, they made a pact, never to argue but to just be themselves. And mostly, to do their best so Alina can never lose her imagination and creativity. After all, what’s a desk without cute office supplies and toys? And what would a work day be like for Alina without them?

--

I think, more than the office’s structure and my colorful table, it’s about the people in the office.

All of my colleagues are friendly and warm people. Thought we are stressed with workload, we never fail to joke around. A sense of humor comes in handy.

In our office, age doesn’t matter. Even our fifty-something superiors can crack us up with wild, “kanto” jokes. We all look and feel younger than our age.

I guess I can never survive in an office that is too corporate and too stiff. That would be the end of me.

At work, I hardly feel the pressure. Because I get to be a thirteen-year old every day, working with kids, directing and writing for the youth.

And being a writer-producer for youth-oriented educational shows, you have to think like a kid.

So to answer the question, yes, my work encourages creativity and that’s why I love it!

And I have my mom and family to thank! As early as 8 years old, I was already writing short stories on yellow pad paper. I invented words and wrote them on books at home (my mom scolded me for that! hehe!)

Just like Ken Robinson said, it's important to foster the creativity of students. In St. Paul Pasig, where I studied elementary and high school, I was encouraged by my teachers to write. I joined contests and the student paper. But I didn't really enjoy essay-writing as much as I enjoyed writing fiction. And this is why I took up Film.

What Ken Robinson said is true even here in the Philippines. The Dep. of Education still prioritizes Math, Science and English over other subjects. I interview HS students in public schools, all brilliant and at the top of their classes, who wanted to pursue Fine Arts or Mass Comm, but had to choose Accounting or Management because their parents told them so! Once, there was this brilliant Journalism Club president who shared her mother forced her to erase Mass Communication in her UPCAT form. Really nasty! Sayang! The girl can be the next Mel Tiangco or Che-che Lazaro.

I wish something can be done about this. Even at work, they emphasize on improving Math Science and English only. Well....as a Producer, I can use my creativity to get away with it right? Mabuhay ang mga malikhaing kabataan!

--

The guard woke up, his throat itchy from too much snoring. Just then, the light turned off from the 5th floor. And there was silence.