ellen tordesillas – Page 167 – Making life worth living.

Ella in Manila

Published by Ellen on November 6, 2010

Ella del Rosario who enthralled us with such mega hits “Pers lab” and “Mr. Disco” in the 70’s with the iconic Hotdog Band will be in Manila in December. Don’t miss her homecoming concerts Dec. 14 – Strumms; Dec. 16 & 17 – Music Museum

Maria Angela Rafaela Manzano del Rosario or Ella, for short, started singing at age 3 accompanied on the piano by her dad who played the keyboards – lounge-style.

She honed this talent in singing shows and programs during her elementary and high school years at Assumption Convent.
While performing with a high school garage band in 1974, Ella was discovered by Dennis Garcia – leader of then newly formed Hotdog band – and invited her to be the frontline female singer of the group. This move established a major milestone in Pilipino music because, back then, convent girls wouldn’t be caught listening to (and God forbid – singing) Tagalog songs. (Tunes in the vernacular were considered “bakyang-bakya”.)

But the taboo didn’t deter Ella. Her first single with Hotdog – “Pers Lab” – was one of two Hotdog songs that cemented the emergence of the “Manila Sound” – and the unexpected appreciation of original Pilipino music by local music lovers from the entire spectrum of Philippine society.

In 1976, Ella decided to go solo and her first single was produced by Dennis Garcia – “O Lumapit Ka”… also a huge hit.
This was followed by several more popular songs like “Mr. Disco”, “Meron Na Bang Iba?”, “Shake It, Baby”, “Pabulong” and more.

Ella graduated summa cum laude from Maryknoll… packed her bags 22 years ago… and left for America – without saying goodbye.

Weder-weder lang

Published by Ellen on November 4, 2010

Update from GMA News: Nilo has left for Australia

Dr. Prisco Nilo, the former weather bureau chief disgraced by President Aquino, has been reported to have availed of early retirement.

The ABS-CBN report said quoted Agham party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones as saying that Nilo’s early retirement has something to do with his lack of Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) eligibility.

Under Aquino’s Memorandum Circular No. “2. All non-Career Executive Service Officials (non-CESO) occupying Career Executive Service (CES) positions in all agencies of the Executive Branch shall remain in office and continue to perform their duties and discharge their responsibilities until October 31, 2010 or until their resignations have been accepted and/or until their respective replacements have been appointed or designated, whichever comes first, unless they are re-appointed in the meantime. “

DFA as dumpsite

Published by Ellen on November 2, 2010

It used to be that during cabinet meetings, the secretary of foreign affairs sat next to the president, to his right underlining the importance given to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Nowadays, if you look at the videos and photos of cabinet meetings , the one sitting next to the president is Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa. I’m not sure where Foreign Secretary Romulo sits. In the unspoken language of power, propinquity is an eloquent indication of one’s standing in the exclusive circle.

It is not only in this administration that foreign relations is unappreciated. The decline was evident in the post-Marcos era. The Arroyo administration was notorious in making it the dumpsite of retired military and police and other persons, like former Supreme Court Justice Hilario Davide,whom she owed her continued hold to her unelected presidency.

Tweets are forever

Published by Ellen on November 1, 2010

To control the damage wrought by her tactless tweets, Mai Mislang, President Aquino’s trusted speechwriter, has removed her twitter and facebook accounts.

President Aquino took note of that in defending her. He said, “Upon realization, she had tried to correct what she did wrong.”

Unfortunately, in the wild, wild cyberspace, once you post something it stays there forever. IT expert Victoria Gaerlan sent me the tweets that Mislang had taken down.

Meanwhile, someone also directed me to the photos by Bob Guerrero of Mislang performing with her rockband, Blue rats. Guerrero has given me permission to use these photos. He just asked to link the post to bhobg.multiply.com and http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhobg.

Here are the photos. Click to view them enlarged:

Gaerlan said those who think that because they post on twitter, it will stay on just with their followers in twitter are mistaken. She said there is such thing as syndication:”It blasts your tweet to several other sites and it does NOT get deleted even if you delete your original tweet. Why? Because when content is syndicated in another site, it gets stored on that other site’s database.”

Here are some of the tweets that Gaerlan recovered from http://maimislang.tweetboard.com:

Snooty and ignorant

Published by Ellen on October 31, 2010

Mai and abby — Mai Mislang (left) and her defender, Abigail Valte, deputy presidential spokesperson

Will somebody please give Mai Mislang, the “hardworking and trusted” speechwriter of President Aquino, according to her boss Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, a copy of guidelines on social media?

The ones available in the internet are by the U.S. National Public Radio and the Los Angeles Times.

The guidelines have been issued in the advent of what is now called social media (Facebook and Twitter are the most popular) where the line between private and public statements has become blurred.

This part from the NPR guideline should be underlined for Mislang: “Recognize that everything you write or receive on a social media site is public. Anyone with access to the web can get access to your activity on social media sites. And regardless of how careful you are in trying to keep them separate, in your online activity, your professional life and your personal life overlap.”

This should also be relevant to Mislang: “You should conduct yourself in social media forums with an eye to how your behavior or comments might appear if we were called upon to defend them as a news organization (in her case Office of the President). In other words, don’t behave any differently online than you would in any other public setting.”

Palpak na serbisyo ng Cebu Pacific

Published by Ellen on October 31, 2010

Napaaga ang Halloween ng mag-anak na Biazon. Courtesy ng Cebu Pacific.
Ito ang kuwento ni dating congressman Ruffy Biazon at ng kanyang asawang si Trina na sinulat nila sa kanyang blogs.

Nagbakasyon daw sila sa Boracay, sakay ng Cebu Pacific noong isang linggo. Okay ang biyahe nila papunta. Okay rin ang kanilang bakasyon. Ang kanilang horror story ay nangyari noong pabalik na sila sa Manila.

Sabi ni Ruffy, meron daw offer ang Cebu Pacific na kung gusto mo, pumili ka ng upuan mo in advance. Magbayad ka lang ng extra. Dahil kasama niya ang tatlong anak na ang pinaka-bunso ay apat na taong gulang ( ang isa ay 8 at ang pinakamatanda ay 15 taong gulang), nagpa-reserve sila at nag bayad ng extra. Anim sila, kasama ang yaya.

Nang sumakay na sila at naka-upo na sila sa front row, dahil yun ang kanilang pina-reserve, pinapalipat sila dahil bawal daw ang batang mas bata kaysa 15 taong gulang sa upuan nay un dahil yun ang nasa-exit.

Bago huli ang lahat…

Published by Ellen on October 30, 2010

Maraming beses nababasa at narinig ko sa mga kaibigan kapag namatayan ng mahal sa buhay sinasabi na “Sana ginawa ko ito sa kanya..” Sana, sana.

Alam ko ang kanyang pakiramdam kasi maraming sitwasyun sa buhay ko na ipinagliban ko ang dapat ko gawin at nang nagkapanahon ako, wala na. Patay na ang tao.

Hanggang ngayun pinagsisihan ko pa rin ang pagkukulang ko sa aking tiyo, kapatid ng nanay ko . Ang tawag ko sa kanya ay Tay Medes.

Walang asawa ang tiyo ko at doon siya nakatira sa aming lugar sa probinsiya. May sarili siyang bahay kubo, katabi ng aming bahay sa aming baryo. Nangingisda siya at gumagawa ng kung ano-anong trabaho makatulong sa mga kapitbahay. May konting tulong din naman galing sa aming magkakapatid.

A wish from one who nearly died – a Halloween reflection

Published by Ellen on October 30, 2010

This article is by Armand Nocum, former reporter of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

I could very well be writing you from the grave this time. No, this is not a Halloween joke.

I nearly died of heart attack two months ago; instead I lived perhaps to complete some unfinished work.

Last August 18, I was diagnosed to have five of my heart veins up to 99 percent blocked. Foreseeing an impending heart-attack or fatal stroke, doctors at the Saint Luke’s Medical Center immediately performed angioplasty on me and inserted six stents to open up my blocked veins.

The operation was successful and thanks to the miracles of high-tech medical science, I am recovering fast physically. However, the experience has left me greatly shaken. All thoughts of power, invincibility and longevity had vanished. Today I am living from day to day, thankful for each sunrise and sunset.

Five things John Silva learned about dying from Abby Tan

Published by Ellen on October 28, 2010

On All Soul’s day, writer and historian John Silva will have one more candle to light. It’s for his friend, Abby Tan, Singaporean journalist who covered the Philippines since the martial law years under President Marcos.

Abby passed away last Sept. 18. John was one of the two persons (the other was arts and culture advocate Maan Hontiveros) who was with Abby all throughout her four years of intense battle with cancer.

In remembering Abby, John chose to write about the five things he learned from her about dying.

Following are excerpts from the article he posted in his blog “John’s Thoughts and Deeds.”

Thoreau once remarked after seeing autumn leaves falling , “I watch these brilliant colored leaves for they teach me how to die gracefully.”

I wanted to learn how to be of solace to a dying friend. But more importantly, when my time is up, I want to replicate the grace, spunk, and love Abby demonstrated till the end. Here’s what I learned.

Continue readingFive things John Silva learned about dying from Abby Tan

Probe revisits the Vizconde massacre

Published by Ellen on October 27, 2010

Update: Hubert Webb seeks acquittal from SC Hubert Webb has asked the Supreme Court to acquit him and order his release from the New Bilibid…

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