My Thoughts on Partners...One Episode After

Now that the much anticipated new season on US TV has finally started, our telephone line is once again busy providing me copies of the latest episodes of the shows I have been following, most of them for years now. This year is quite different, though. I found myself opening...rather broadening my horizons, as far as my viewing pleasures are concerned. To prove my point, this new sitcom entitled Partners, is one out of many new shows I tried to download. It is about these two childhood friends...one straight, the other gay, dealing with their respective relationships, either at work, or personal. The plot may not be a common thing anymore in this day and age, but in my TV watching experience, it is something new, it basically caught my attention. I must also mention here that there is another reason why I wanted to check out the series...in the person of Brandon Routh (formerly known as Superman). I read online that he would be playing the gay lover of one of the main characters. The fan girl in me got curious on how he is going to pull the character off.

Then the pilot episode finally came out. It was quite shorter than I expected, plus the story did not blow me away like I expected it to be.  I found Brandon's character to be quite ordinary. Someone that you will easily forget. And I was disappointed. I was like it's done? Okay. Then I'll move on to another show kinda emotion that I found it okay to miss the second episode the other week.

This week is the second week for US TV. While compiling all the videos of my favorite shows, I saw a new video of this show in the folder I was arranging. Frankly, I was baffled seeing that video because as far as I know, I did not download the latest episode. And suddenly I was seeing it in my computer folder. I decided to shove my question on the side and loaded up the episode in the video player, see what story do they have this time.

The second episode was about how they take care of each other by interfering with each other's love life. Yes, it is another common plot, but the funny thing here is, I was laughing over it! The I-laugh-'coz-it's-so-darn-funny laugh.

Apparently, I changed my mind over the show. But what made me enjoy the show? It is not the plot, I can say that straight. Or the actors, because I barely know and follow them (although I also have to admit that they are good actors, especially the 2 lead characters). I think what made the show enjoyable is the dialogue, their characters, and how the actors play their roles. The banter and their expressions are just so natural like it is part of the story. It made me forget what it is all about, but I was anticipating on how they are going to solve their dilemma, or how they are going to get away from the trouble they created in the episode. And I think we rarely see this on TV. I'll definitely find it okay if this show will last for the entire season.

And as for Brandon, well, I got to understand why his character have to be ordinary. His naivete is part of his character. Quite contrasting to his charm, but in all fairness, he was able to pull off the character. We can say it is some improvement after the pilot, eh?

Before I end writing this entry, here is another reason why I came back and decided to give it a second chance (see below).

Will you say forget it if he looks at you that way? (Darnit, Courteney Ford!)

Episode 3 is going to be in a few days. Let us see if they nailed it this time!

And I hope they will.

Lost and Found

Thanks to this learning blog writing marathon, I was reminded of this particular blog entry I initially posted in Friendster years ago I decided to check my other still existing blogs to see if I was being cautious back then (aka backing up files/ journal entries). Thanks to my very first blog, I was able to give a sigh of relief that that honest, straight-from-the-heart-of-a-hopeless-romantic-me entry is still available online. I read it again, of course, and inevitably it brought back memories. Maybe if I was in my twenties, I would feel a certain ache, or contraction in my chest while reliving them in my head. But since I am now way past that age (ugh.), I have this urge to bash my head on the wall as my way of berating myself for being so emotional and naive. What was I thinking back then?

Of course it is too late to regret. And I try not to regret every decision and every action I made especially when I was young(er). I guess there is a reason why I have to see those very old entries again. One is it made me come to a realization that I do not want to write that way anymore. I have this urge to rewrite it, but definitely NOT in that manner. I was thinking it can make a good material for a story, or a poem, or something (yeah, something). That particular desire to create something came rushing back to my senses once again. Isn't that my main reason why I opened my online journal in the first place? To collect ideas  and then convert them to stories later on?

Am I saying that it is the right time now to unearth all of them and write them all down the way I REALLY want them to be? Maybe. I mean, I am old enough to follow my dreams now, right?  But, is this the dream that is in my pedestal, in the first place?

I am the only one who can answer all my questions, apparently. But let's see. If there is something that I should be grateful over this stressful situation (thanks to my grad studies), it is giving me the chance again to open my blog and just write like I am a human typewriter sans the correction fluid. I hope this habit and momentum stick for a long, long time 'cause I badly need to be this way!

To Sum It All Up

Social marketing is defined as a strategy using marketing theories and concepts to sell ideas intended to promote change to people, community, or to the society, in general. Every community has its own concerns to tackle. An individual has its own ways and means to make a difference. Unfortunately, only a chosen few will be able to pull of a herculean task of gathering as many people as people to teach and promote change. But the good news for me, I think, is that it may be possible, as long as there is a short term and long term goal of my selected cause are in handy.

After participating in the discussion forum, writing the assignment portfolio, and the social marketing project, my thoughts never left work, or at least what I am really tasked to do in our office. Being in the research and publication office made me think endlessly on what other things we should do to involve practically everyone in campus to take part on research, and at the same time help them learn how to not to hate that part in their college life. Sad to say that in my more than half a decade stay in the office, nothing much has changed with the mentality of faculty and students, much more the volume of output given by these mentioned groups to the office. A frustrating thought, but I have to admit that I have myself to blame on this outcome, as well. At least, for the lack of it.

At least after experiencing all the hard work (and my hard battle with my lazy bones) I have realized that there is indeed a way to reach that very old goal of the office. I am hoping to put the things I learned from this course as my inspiration and groundwork in making the entire college involved in our cause. Aside from the fact that our office is mandated by the Commission, whatever output they give us and we produce out of it will be for their own good. I know that they are also well aware of that fact. But how to make them do something out of that idea, I would like to take it as sort of a challenge. And it is going to be challenging, considering that most of the faculty and students in the college give more importance to their percentage and ranking in the national boards over the number of researches and publications the professors made in a year.

I was thinking of getting/ catching their interest through the medium they most frequented, the world wide web. We tried to do it once this year, but to no avail. I know that there are a lot of things lacking in my attempt to reach out to them in cyberspace, but due to the lack of time (and some resources), nothing happened. I want to concentrate on this. I want that the faculty and students share the same enthusiasm they have over gossips and good news on wall posts with what we work for everyday for the college. I want one day that when they visit us, they would not tell us they were advised by their professors to do so, but because they want to learn more at their own pace at their own time. Our office want them to be involved.

I will start noting them now and slowly build this idea in order for it to materialize the way our college envisioned it to be. I know it is still not too late, but this also means that there is no more perfect time than now to start it! So help me God.

Epal No More

The Anti-epal movement is, by far, the online social mobilization campaign that I pay attention to these days. Maybe because it is the kind of campaign that we have been longing to see coming to fruition. The good part on the said movement is that only two people started the campaign and it has now been liked and followed by thousands--not to mention receiving pictures of signages and projects that are being publicized by these politicians as fruits of their initiatives and not from taxpayers' money. From the looks of it, this campaign is a huge success that some politicians are slowly taking down signs and are taking the backseat as far as promoting government projects are concerned.

If I am going to take a deeper look on the success of their campaign, I would have to say that it is truly well thought of, and they truly intended to make a noise on this issue and mobilize the majority to make it happen. And because the "organizers" also happen to be public figures and have been vocal critiques of the government for years now, they are just the perfect people to set up this kind of movement online. And because they also know people, the setting up and the social mobilization aspect of the campaign were a piece of cake to them.

Now that the filing of candidacy is officially open, it is expected that this campaign will be watchful to candidates more than ever. Personally, I am happy that the campaign receives an overwhelming response to the people, particularly to the netizens. I hope that with this campaign in place, these candidates, and even incumbent politicians will now have the heart to be at least discreet on what they have done, and what they are planning to do should they be seated in the office they would be aiming for.

And I'll definitely be one of those people watching them.