Insights Inside 3: I Will Tell You A Story

BEFORE WE DISSECT all the issues in this third installment of Insights Inside, I would like to dedicate this edition to the recently-departed Don Hewitt, the creator of 60 Minutes.

Don Hewitt is one of my producing inspirations like Roone Arledge, He created the first ever TV Debate between JFK and Richard Nixon in 1960, He also produced the first ever half-hour nightly newscast, and before ABS-CBN's historic Cory Aquino Funeral coverage. He made the historic JFK Memorial and funeral coverage in 1963.

But his most important work is the longest-running and top-rating Sunday evening newsmagazine program, 60 Minutes, which as Arledge puts it, is "60 Minutes of first-rate news broadcasting".

Hewitt is competitive, he always snaps out against the competition, but he believed that he is competing not against those who are in his timeslot, but in his own work.

I have read Hewitt's autobio, "Tell Me A Story", published in 2000, and I must say, He really is deserved to be in the same league as what Walter Cronkite did for CBS News.

It may have been a sad year for CBS News, and a sad year for the TV industry, but we will miss those two persons who shaped the course of history for the past half century.

Don Hewitt told us countless stories for the past 50 years. Now it's my turn to tell my story.

And this story, that I will tell, is dedicated to him.

Don Hewitt, December 14, 1922 – August 19, 2009

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IT MAY HAVE been a watershed year for CBS News, but TV5's first year was not a watershed. In fact, they have been the third force in the TV industry after languishing due to the failures beset by financial crises.

All thanks to the hardwork and dedication of ABC top brass Tonyboy Cojuangco and the TV5 Brass led by Jasper Evangelista.

Imagine, this network which was previously owned by the Roces clan in the 60's and was posed to be a topnotch news station became the topnotch station for Anime. They provided the otakus with topnotch Anime programs like Shakugan no Shana (or Shakugan no Shocker, as one analyst puts it), to the highly political Code Geass, and then to the bigtime hits like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and the record-breaking airing of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood which they aired within 7 Weeks of Japan's telecast.

Anime aside, who could even match the blockbuster Saturday lineup of TV5, with the triple-barreled threat of Bossing, Ryan Agoncillo and Oyo Sotto with the return of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, the ratings-busting Talentadong Pinoy, and the shocker Midnight DJ, adding to the return of Joey De Leon's hit Wow Mali! and the more powerful Shall We Dance of Lucy Torres.

The money keeps on pouring and pouring to finance a new wave of Anime poaching so to speak. And TV5 is now keen on giving it all on it's first sponsored event, Cosplay Mania 2009, which will happen on 13 September.

Kudos to TV5 on your First Birthday!

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SPEAKING OF COSPLAY Mania, Anniversaries and Anime. We at Zen Otaku Honbu is keen on celebrating our 5th anniversary which also coincides with the 30th anniversary of Philippine Anime since the historic Voltes V airing on the old GMA in 1979.

And we are giving a bigger bang for our loyal supporters and a headache for our critics this coming Cosplay Mania 2009.

We will try something that was never been done before, and we will try as hell we will..

So just watch it this coming September.

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ANYWAY, TO OUR critics who really are keen to speak up against Filipino dubbing. If I may, I would like to reprint some of the words our Admin, Anime Kabayan, had spoke.

"May isang anti-dub group sa Multiply na sa sobrang takot banggitin ang salitang "DUBS", "DUB", "DUBBERS", yun letrang "U" ay tinanggal na yata sa kanilang mga keyboard. Kung sila man ay may mga sariling PC, pwede nilang gawin iyun. Kung sila naman ay nakikigamit ng PC sa kapitbahay, sa internet cafe o sa iba pang lugar na merong computer at internet at hindi kanila, malamang na i-ban sila mula sa mga lugar na iyon... FOR LIFE.

"Pahirap sila sa buhay. Sa halip na gamitin ang salitang "DUBBED" ay "localized" ang ginagamit nilang pamalit sa naunang salita. Sabagay, mas komportable nga naman sa kanila ang pahirapan ang kanilang sarili. Malalason yata ang kanilang katawan kapag binanggit nila ang salitang "DUBBED".

Alam kong lahat tayo ay nag-aasam ng QUALITY pagdating sa mga Tagalog-dubbed animes. Pero hindi naman ibig sabihin na pati ang mga Japanese voices, maging ang paraan ng pagbanggit ng Japanese names ay gagawin din ng mga Pinoy dubbers natin, na sa tingin ko ay hindi na magandang ideya. Lalabas tuloy na pinipilit ng mga Pinoy dubbers na maging katulad ng mga Japanese seiyuus. Sa ibang salita, yung mga naghahangad ng sobra sa kakayahan ng mga Pinoy dubbers ay masasabi kong MASYADO NA SILANG MAARTE.

"Once na mapanood natin ang isang Tagalog-dubbed at sa tingin naman natin ay maayos naman nai-deliver ang mga dayalogo nang walang bahid ng kaartehan o iba pa, hindi pa ba sapat na iyon para mag-enjoy sa ating panonood. Totoo nga - MAARTE, DEMANDING ang ilan nating mga kababayan. Again, we have the right for a QUALITY Tagalog-dubbing but we don't have the right to DEMAND TOO MUCH.

"Well, kahit gamitin ng grupong ito ang lahat ng kanilang sinasabing "most effective means", hindi nila magagawang ma-eliminate ang mga sinasabi nilang mga "4th-world-country-DUBBERS". Why? Kung sino mang BAKLA, o BAKA, o STUPIDO, O AROGANTE ang gumawa ng site na ito, kitang-kita ang resulta ng pagtanggap ng mga tao sa kanila. Di hamak na mas maraming mga miyembro ng Zen Otaku Honbu Multiply site kaysa sa di-makataong Multiply site na ito. Kahit nga sa guestbook namin, talbog pa rin sila sa ZOH (11 against 6). Halos lahat ng features ng ZOH Multiply ay talung-talo ng anti-dub group na ito. Bagamat kaming mga admin ang nagsusulat at naglalagay ng mga laman nito, mas ipinapakita namin ang enthusiasm sa aming ginagawa. OK ang komento ni misdead, na mas nakita niya ang kahinaan ng grupong ito. Huwag nyo nang ikatwiran sa akin na merong ibang Multiply sites ang gumagawa ng paninira sa dubbers, pero paano ninyo ipaliliwanag ang pagiging inactive ng site na iyon, gayong bigtime ang paanyaya ninyong sumali at sirain ang mga taong naglalapat ng ating sariling wika?

"At least ako, nanonood man ako ng Japanese anime, Tagalog-dubbed naman - pagtangkilik sa sariling ating... wika. Kung nanonood ka man ng anime, nasaan ang pagka-Pilipino mo?

Payo ko lang, pwede nyo namang isulong ang kasamaan ng anti-dub group ninyo nang hindi ninyo pinakikialaman ang preferences ng mga taong hinihikayat ninyo. May umalis na diyan sa grupo nyo, dahil ayaw niyang makatikim ng mga batikos mula sa mga katulad ko. At saka, ang AROGANTE, BAKA at STUPIDOng mga taong ito ang unang sumalakay sa aking paglalahad ng opinyon. It is clear that they invade my opinions and suggestions. Maliwanag naman na sinasagasaan nila ang pagiging tagasuporta ko ng Tagalog-dubbed kaya hindi pwedeng hindi ko sila balikan.

Hanggang may mga taong naninira sa kapwa nila Pilipino, lalo na ang mga taong sandata ay ang wikang Pilipino para maghikayat ng mga kapwa-Pilipinong manood ng anime, nandito kaming handang lumaban sa kanilang mga masasamang layunin."

If you want to read the full text of the article, go to this site

As for my two cents' worth. They are nothing but useless people not worth of respecting. Respect begets respect, I know that, but if these people are keen on not respecting the views of others. Who will respect them?

I am so sorry for their cadre of followers because they have been so blind in their belief about Dubbing. They have been maligned with their ideologies and their open criticism of the dubs had made them so much as insignificant in this world.

And if you have any concerns to the dubbers, Don't speak it out publicly, Speak it out to the dubbers themselves!

Bottomline: They are just silly beasts who destruct the elements of Anime in this country, and just as I said before, Francis M, Jose Rizal, Ninoy and Cory Aquino will be saddened to hear about these FILIPINOS who pull our kapwa-Filipino down.

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FOR OUR FINAL WORD, Howard Cosell taught me to tell it like it is, Roone Arledge taught me to build, nurture and to protect a program from any means. Don Hewitt taught me to compete bravely and skillfully, and Bob Schieffer taught me that what failed us may also seem to be the best time for us. To learn from our mistakes.

If they want a war, so be it, I'll give them a war

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http://twitter.com/knightkira

34 Days to Amanpour. 22 September on CNN

The Journal: Shaking the way things were

Yesterday was TV5's first year anniversary. It was not so much announced yet celebrated but I had a different way to celebrate this momentous event in Pinoy TV History.

I went to SM Megamall for my coverage of the Metro Comicon 2009. It was the first event I went since that Toycon debacle last June. I thought an almost 2-month hiatus was enough to cure that.

Before the coverage, I and my colleague theBlocker decided to test-run Globe's new unlimited calling service. Globe DUO, which will enable us to call unlimited using our own Globe numbers as Landline numbers. Globe's DUO service will also enable us to call other landlines within Metro Manila for free.

We wanted to try if DUO is comparable to Globe's another Unlimited Service, Unlicalls Nyt which we always use on our roundtable discussions.

And The test results were IMPRESSIVE.

During one of our calls that was made later in the day, We were on the phone for ONE HOUR. Yes, One Hour and it's crystal clear. Unlike Unlicalls Nyt, which cuts for every 30 minutes.

Anyway, I arrived at the event area at 1345PHT, 0145EDT, when I arrived, A dubber's talk was held in cooperation with Creativoices of Sir Choy Gonzales. The dubbers who were there to talk with the audience were Sir Danny Mandia, Klariz Magboo, AJ Constantino and one other dubber I didn't recognize.

I approached them and made my hellos to the pioneers of Dubbing, made a bit of some chitchats and then proceeded to the event area where I first filed my report using Globe DUO

I then met Kuya Ryan, which incidentally was one of the co-organizers of the Event, and I was so thoroughly impressed by the way they organized the event. I walked through all the booths and the comic book area, hoping to get a glimpse of some of the most profound independent works ever.

I was also expecting some friends from the Sentinel to be there, because some of my old coworkers from Senti were releasing an Indie title called "Mananabas". I tried to find it but I was not able to. Later in the day, when I went to the Foodcourt for sustenance, I found two of my old Senti coworkers, Ate Ehdz Rizo and Sef Servanez whom I met and asked for their booth there.

And then, the news came.

First off, J met me with some conflicting reports that he heard about CosTube's extension. When I heard that report, I quickly contacted Anime Kabayan and theBlocker to confirm if the news is true. theBlocker has also some ins with the TV5 brass so he quickly contacted them to confirm if the reports were true.

The returns came later in the afternoon. One of the brass says that there is going to be no extension, but an another brass says that there is an extension until 15 August.

Just only today, There was confirmation, CosTube is going to be extended until 15 August.

And secondly, I talked to Sir Choy for our Podcast via Phonepatch, He discussed things about Creativoices' works and his take on the critics of Pinoy dubbing straight from the distinguished Voice Master.

But my day was not only shaken by my use of Globe DUO and these news, but I was also shaken by the fact that They came.

They came, costripping from DNAngel, incidentally, theBlocker's one of his favorites and an Anime title from TV5. I was talking with him about the instances of the TV5 extension of CosTube.

The next report I made, I broke the news of CosTube's reported extension. And I was near them while doing the phonepatch. I was so sure of it, maybe he knew I was doing the call.

My overall feeling was that, yeah I was still hurt, It still stings me, but the old sting from Toycon was all long gone. I try to feel unhurt, and I try to feel this event as an another event with Suzaku.

Then much later, I was surprised to see some of my old friends from HeroTV, which is, as we all know, the arch-rival of Animax who is one of the sponsors of the event. I approached them doing some backpacks and made some talk regarding Hero's insertion of the famed Yellow Ribbon, establishing Hero as the only Filipino youth and anime channel to honor the late former President.

And speaking of the late former President, I saw a Cory graffiti wall and wrote something there. It says "Tuloy ang Laban".

Perhaps, it was all the words I could sum up for yesterday's coverage. To continue my fight for our Country, for Anime Journalism, for TV5, and for my Friendship.

Yeah, It shook my life all over again, but now it has shaken me the way it was before. Just like what TV5 did a year ago, shaking our TV habits and continually shaking it for all time.


And That's the Way it is.


-HeAdIn'-OuT!-

saddened to the death of Pres. Cory Aquino, RIP