The Drifter's Den

 

Flasback 2001- (early college)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MY WAY HOME

 

Night had come in Colon

Sitting in a jeepney

I just finished class

It's quarter to ten in my watch

The air is cold against my face

The streets were alight

Sodium Lights, bright and yellow

 

The driver was silent

In contrast to his assistant

A real loudmouth, hanging at the back

Had been shouting for hours

 

Passengers! Watched them come

Watched them go

Hope not one is a snatcher

One almost looks like Joey

And this unknown girl besides me

Her boobs, soft and warm

Against my idle elbow

 

Across the almost empty street

My nose caught something neat

The smell of someone roasting chicken

I hope Mom's cooking back home.

 

Garbage truck and collectors

Doing their things in that alley

A woman and a baby in her arm

To her left is a plastic bag

 

Squatting beside her stall

An old lady selling mangoes

half naked children

Playing in the dirty sidewalk

 

The bookstore has long been closed

No more displays on the glass

Just aluminum shutters & huge padlocks

 

It wont be long now before these bars open

Colorful lights, red, blue,green and yellow alight

You see almost everything here, everyone

In this old little street

 

Buildings demolished, buildings newly built

people pushing wooden carts

And people with cellphones

Some had shopping bags

Others empty pockets 

And of course the pickpockets

They've got cars, He got his slippers

And I'm holding my last coins

Just enough for my fare

 

All this I saw

On my way back home

 

 

 

 

 

 

A PRAYER

 

I'd been in this shell for eternity

Engulfed in total darkness

Not a single speck of light

 

Wondering, hoping for the time

The time to come

To have a glimpse of the world

That's been eluding me ever since

 

I'd been in this shell for eternity

Sitting in total darkness

Not an ounce of strength

 

Wishing, waiting for the one

Fore her to come

To take me out to the world

That's been waiting for me ever since

 

 

 

 

 

RAMBLINGS

 

Poetry is just not my game

To think of it makes me feel insane

To write words that sound the same

Only gives my head tons of pain

What's the big deal on all of this?

Why can't we just write

As natural as it is

I wonder how those damn poets

Are so capable

Of doing things

So Impossible

Oh God, help me out of this

I feel totally useless

 

 

 

DOWN

 

Down, down I went

The abyss is waiting

And I can't feel a thing

 

Down, down I went

Not a clue in my mind

What's beyond this black blanket?

 

Down, down I went

Quintessence lurks ahead

Whether I survive this

 

 

Who Cares!

 

 

Down, down I went

 

 

Speak out: Sinulog photo tilt
By (Writer’s name withheld)

SINCE 2000, nothing has been done to professionalize and uphold the rules of the “Sinulog photo contest.”

Every year winners (especially those who manipulated their entries) laugh their way to the podium and losers get dismayed and question the process of judging.

Still, contest organizers and judges do nothing to find ways to detect and prevent digital manipulations of submitted photographs. The same rules used for almost a decade are applied even as technology on photography is getting sophisticated.

This is why the Sinulog 2008 photo contest was again hounded by controversy. Most of the winning and non-winning photographs were altered/enhanced through digital manipulation.

Even if the judges’ services are voluntary, they should be conscientious, like checking the basic conditions of the event: weather, sky hues, significant street decors or markers, etc. that would affect the pictures taken.

In this year’s fluvial parade, the sunrise was not bright. The sky was cloudy and there was even a drizzle. So how in the world can a photograph yield a dramatic tobacco color contrasting the dancers on motorboats in the fluvial parade?

Had the judges knew of the situation at that time they could have easily disqualified photographs that were clearly altered/enhanced through digital manipulation, which is a violation of the “un-updated and un-enforced” rules.

In the higante-float-puppeteers category, the rules state that the entire higante or puppet must seen with the ones carrying it in each photo entry. But look at the winning photos that will be exhibited at SM City tomorrow.

A number of winning photographs were obviously altered/enhanced through digital manipulation, thus yielding a vibrant image that is of magazine and/or billboard quality. Had the organizers said that such is allowed, then rich photo buffs could have hired graphic artists to augment their chances of winning.

Ricky Ballesteros noticed this and wanted to disallow it but the judges said that, “halos kaning tanan gi-photoshop man ni, so i-apil na lang na!”

The practice is a disgrace to the true spirit of the Sinulog, a mockery to the Holy Child and an insult to photography.

Some suggestions:

--Get a software that would determine the quality, history and watermarks of a photograph. (Even film when scanned yields information if viewed on the right software).

--Hold the judging in a well-lighted spacious room, not the one under the Cebu City Sports Center grandstand nga maghuot na ang mga illustration board nga gibutangan sa entries.

--The judging should not be done in less than a day. In prestigious photo contests abroad, judging more than 3,000 photographs takes a week or more.

--Limit the number of entries.

--Include this in the rule: The original structure of a scan and/or camera file must not be altered by digital manipulation. Only changes that can be made using conventional darkroom techniques are allowed.

What this means is that images should not be altered so much that the image is completely different than the original shot. Images created with the use of masks, borders, backgrounds or other effects will automatically be disqualified.

Optional rule: If a winning photograph is an “altered” photograph, the winner must return the prizes he got and must be suspended/barred from entering future contests.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Im really glad i never got to join the contest. Because ever since i know there's something fishy going on inside that competition.

Im just posting this article from Sunstar because whoever wrote this, Im really behind you a 100%. This really is disgusting.

I really felt sorry to all the photographers who took the competition by the book. I felt sorry for them who painstakingly went all out, pushing themselves against all odds just to take their prized framed moments. I felt sorry to those who were honest enough, to the amateurs and to the newbies who participated.I can imagine the hardship you went through only to be disgustingly beaten by unjust judging and officiating at the end.

To the officials: how could you do these?? These is really too much to bear. Don't you read your own guidelines and rules?

To those shameless photographers who just cant help but break the rules: Doesn't the word PROFESSIONALISM ring a bell to you?You're wearing that tag all along and you people should know better the rules behind the contest...and after all it was a PHOTO CONTEST not a PHOTO MANIPULATION TILT...

For all the participants who felt disgusted, for those who felt cheated...You should all speak out...Your voices should be heard!!

Tomorrow January 31st  is the awarding of the winners at SM City Cebu, Entertainment plaza at 1pm...All of you could just go there and see for yourselves how you we're fooled...feel free to express your disgust, because it is your right...show some signs of protest.

I personally had the same experience 2 years ago...I joined a Photo Contest in Talisay City during their Inasal Festival...the same thing happened...only that time i was one of the top awardees..so i just mummed my way out, cause i want to receive my award..and besides i took my shots honestly...it was just on the exhibit date and awarding that i was so pissed...in their guidelines it clearly said NO COMPUTER MANIPULATION...but when i saw the other winning entries, i was so pissed...It was really obvious that some images were Photoshopped with all the glory of gaussian and radial blurs in it.

This kind of practice really has to end, if not it has to change in some way.This is really a major slap in the face for Photography.

 

This image is just to express my disgust on the dialogue that Teri Hatcher made on her show Desperate Housewives.

 

She had said very degrading and insulting remarks of our Doctors and Medical practicioners. As a proud race, we Filipinos are very much affected with the misleading words that bitch has to say about our unsung heroes. I just can’t believe that racial discrimination is still very much alive in America. Just recently a Filipina nurse was humiliated inside a shopping  outlet, and was called a mail order bride, and even berated how she spoke the English language..News like this could really send off Pinoys all around the world in fuming rage.

 

Though The TV Network(ABC) that airs the show has already announced their apologies and if that store will apologize still the damage has already been made.

 

Some people are still very unforgiving as they are ignorant. This berating mindset should be stopped, and as Filipinos ourselves, we mustn’t remain mum on this issues.

 

 

F@*kng son of a B$%ch....

This person doesn't deserve his position....He doesn't even deserve to be called a person.

His harsh comments on the death of volunteer Julia Campbell is just unacceptable to bear.."She" should just shut up if "she" doesn't know what she's saying.

And he definitely doesn't know who is Julia Campbell...She was far way more FIlipino than this stupid and ignoramus Secretary of ours..I can say Julia actually did more change for the Filipino people than this incompetent moron. In fact she was even more of a man than He is.

Mr. Raul Gonzales---You are a PERSONA NON GRATA in your own homeland.