I’ve been listening to a lot of Switchfoot‘s music lately; I never tire of their blend of catchy pop-rock and inspirational, meaningful lyrics. Sad to say, all my Switchfoot tracks weren’t acquired through purchasing their CDs, although for the past few weeks I’ve been trying to change that by locating and purchasing their latest album, Nothing Is Sound (2005).

Unfortunately, there’s this beast of a computer program called XCP included in a number of their record label Sony-BMG’s releases. Last November I wrote about the nasty malware-type actions of this XCP bug. It’s supposed to be copy-protection technology to prevent the user from making more than a limited number of copies of the disc or ripping the content into MP3 files. (Afterdawn.com has an article on the legitimate uses of CD ripping and why the recording and entertainment industry don’t want people making copies for personal use.)

However, XCP installs itself without the user’s knowledge or consent, then more or less hijacks the computer system. It also has some serious open backdoor issues which leave a way for trojan viruses to sneak into the computer while it’s connected to the Internet.

Sony-BMG supposedly ordered a recall of Nothing Is Sound as well as the other infected albums, and has offered non-XCP discs to exchange with these at the point of purchase. There’s even a settlement website where people can file claims for exchanging their CDs, although it seems to be only for the benefit of residents in the United States.

And that’s where my main problem lies. XCP has received so much press in the United States, and the threat of a class-action lawsuit forced Sony-BMG to pull its act together there. Here in the Philippines, however, consumer rights seem to be secondary to ensuring business profitability, and Filipino customers culturally aren’t very vocal about failure of service or product (politicians are the notable exceptions — there is always someone around to criticize them). After more than six months since the infected Switchfoot CDs were pulled off shelves in the US, record stores in the Philippines are still receiving shipments of XCP-“protected” discs.

Last Sunday I was at SM Megamall and dropped by Radio City to look for the aforementioned album. I was so excited when I spotted it that I almost bought it on the spot. Then I remembered the signs to look for when determining if a CD has XCP packaged with it: A symbol on the spine of the CD with the text “Content Protected,” and a box on the back panel of the CD with the URL “cp.sonybmg.com/xcp”. I checked the CD, and sure enough it had both of them. This stopped me dead cold in my purchase-bent tracks, and I put the CD back in the display and decided to try my luck with other stores.

I thought that Tower Records/Music One was a chain of stores major enough to warrant a fresh, non-XCP shipment of albums. The CDs proved me wrong again (frustrating!!!) and I just had to ask the saleslady, “Miss, when did these CDs arrive?” She took a look at the barcode sticker and told me the store had received them only in May of this year. Again, I forced myself to walk out without buying the CD.

That night, I logged onto the website of Sony-BMG Philippines to see what was really up. To my surprise, the website proclaims:

Sony BMG Philippines has not released any XCP-Protected CDs. Local patrons need not worry about content protection software installation on their PCs, or any threat of infection from the virus which exploits said protection.

…which is complete bollocks since I saw such CDs with my own eyes. Still, I was willing to give Sony-BMG Philippines the benefit of the doubt, since the record shops I had been to that day might have imported the CDs instead of acquiring them from the local label. I withdrew the benefit of the doubt when I visited an SM Record Bar this past Thursday and again found XCP-protected Nothing Is Sound discs.

There is an avenue of redress provided by Sony-BMG Philippines. The site continues:

Should despite this, [sic] any of Sony|BMG’s local patrons find themselves having a purchased CD with content protection software embedded therein, please call our offices at 632.636.37.21 that appropriate action may be taken.

Ibig sabihin, nakabili na. (Meaning, the customer has already purchased a problem disc.) I don’t even think they’ve made an effort to pull out XCP-infected discs and instead are relying on the consumer to pipe up and ask for a replacement. It’s no skin off their nose if the poor buyer doesn’t know any better to avoid such CDs in the first place.

I’m holding out on buying the Nothing Is Sound album until Sony-BMG Philippines starts releasing non-XCP versions. However, I will be buying Switchfoot’s earlier album The Beautiful Letdown (2003). I like all the tracks on it, but more importantly, it doesn’t have XCP. It’s a sound CD.

Tags: Music, Sony-BMG, Switchfoot, XCP

A ladies’ restroom is not just any ordinary room. It’s where you can become privy to all sorts of things — whether you like it or not.

The other day, I was inside a stall minding my own business when a woman started yelling at someone outside my door. When I didn’t hear a reply, I realized the woman was using a cellphone. “Nasa bahay ka pa? Anong oras ka pa makakapunta dito? Ang bobo-bobo mo talaga! Wala kang konsiderasyon! Pumunta ka na ngayon dito; kailangan ko pa pumuntang bangko. (You’re still at home? So what time are you going to get here? You’re such an idiot! You have no consideration for others! Get yourself here now; I still need to go to the bank.)”

She said goodbye, so I thought that would be the end of it. Ten seconds later, she was on the phone again with the same person; believe it or not, that conversation I overheard was repeated along the same lines three times!

I exited my stall, shot a quick glance at the woman (who was fuming mad and fiddling with her phone), and hurried away. I shouldn’t even have been listening, but all I could think about was, “What a nag!”

To my shame, what I regretted most at that moment was not having my sister to snicker with at the woman’s scandalous behavior. After all, it was a ladies’ room. Yes, the cliche is true: women go to the restroom en masse not only to freshen up, but also to exchange gossip.

A few years ago, I was at a birthday party at Chili’s Greenhills. The birthday boy had invited many female friends from an all-girls exclusive high school, but they were nowhere in sight for most of the evening.

I soon discovered where those girls had been holed up when I excused myself (due to too much Diet Coke — oops, too much information). The girls were sitting on the counter or preening in front of the mirror, gabbing the night away with nary a thought for the real party outside the restroom.

It’s not every day you get to listen in on a lovers’ quarrel or catch up on the lives of strangers, but inside the ladies’ room, you just can’t help overhearing people talk.

Tags: Observations, Women, Behavior

Dijurido.net has expired and Scrufus has generously offered to host this site until I get my own domain next month. In My Pocket’s new URI is noelle.scrufus.net. Please update your bookmarks. Thanks!

This is all Ganns‘ fault. Ü

Instructions:
Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.

1. Kiss My Mike
2. Micerridwen
3. Wifely Steps
4. Superblessed
5. In My Pocket

Next, select five people to tag:

1. Arvin
2. Kneeko
3. Hazel
4. Rob
5. Jong

And now the questions…

• What were you doing 10 years ago?
  I was about to enter my third year of high school and didn’t have the Internet yet.
• What were you doing 1 year ago?
  I was listening to “This Is Your Life” by Switchfoot and playing hooky from thesis work.
• Five snacks you enjoy:
  toasted whole wheat bread with butter and Splenda
  peanut butter on a spoon
  popcorn
  strawberries and cream
  open-faced grilled cheese sandwich
• Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
  My Happy Ending – Avril Lavigne
  God Put a Smile Upon Your Face – Coldplay
  To Be Free – Emiliana Torrini
  Dare You to Move – Switchfoot
  Let Me Show You the Way – Natasha Thomas
• Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
  Tithe, and donate a bit more for my church’s building fund
  Get a hardbound Lord of the Rings book set and complete my Agatha Christie collection
  Buy the complete fifth season of Alias on DVD
  Take my family on holiday to Hong Kong
  Shop!
  Save the rest for later. Ü
• Five bad habits:
  Procrastinate.
  Eat too much.
  Talk too loud.
  Pick at my teeth in public.
  Take offense much too easily.
• Five things you like doing:
  Reading!
  Baking.
  Exercising.
  Swimming.
  Writing.
• Five things you would never wear again:
  Shoulder pads.
  My hair cut short and curled. (Don’t ask.)
  Big plastic eyeglasses.
  Dental braces.
  High-waisted pants.
• Five favorite toys:
  Jem dolls
  LEGO!!!
  Computer
  my stuffed dog
  iPod shuffle

Your turn!

Tags: Meme

My body was pretty much knocked out of whack with a virus that couldn’t decide whether it was going to be a cough, a cold, or a sore throat. In any case, having a semi-feverish state of mind made me start noticing the little things. Well, actually, just one thing in particular.

Because we’re in a global economy, boxes with text like “keep refrigeration after open” are a common sight in Philippine supermarkets. Oddly worded printed English like this has come to be known as “Engrish” and is often found on printed material from Asian countries. The wrong grammar and/or spelling usually occurs because of unfamiliarity with the syntax of the English language.

I’ve come to expect this kind of English from countries which don’t have a strong background in the English language. I also thought most educated Filipinos would have a good background in written English. I was wrong. Filipino English is fugly (frightfully ugly).

People say that Filipinos writing in English tend to use more words than is necessary to get their point across. See the copy in this ad, for instance. Aside from the glaring error of offering just A flipflop (I get one free! My other foot goes barefoot?), it reads “a very comfortable footwear that’s just begging to be worn wherever you wanna go this summer!” Allow me to demonstrate the power of the strikethrough tag: “a very comfortable footwear that’s just begging to be worn wherever you wanna go this summer!” That’s just one way to go about editing this chunky dependent clause.

Maybe it’s just me being anal about correct English, but I wouldn’t trust a bank with an ad that reads: “outstanding features that tops those of all others.” Let’s play Spot the Error, shall we? Give up? Subject-verb agreement: it’s either the features top all others, or the feature tops all others.

Whenever I read something ungrammatical, I pause and think “Is the meaning I’m getting from this the same meaning the writer meant to convey?” Back in college, I heard of professors who’d give up on reading essay exam answers when the grammar is atrocious, and they’d just flunk the poor student. Proper English grammar is important if you want to make your message clear for readers (or viewers, or listeners, depending on your medium). Otherwise, you’re just wasting their time.

I think I’ve grown out of touch with what’s being printed locally; there used to be a time when grammatical errors were a rarity in the newspapers and magazines I read. These days I can’t read through two sentences before I get hit with a whopper of an error. Sometimes I can’t even make it past the headline. I try to read on, but when there’s an error of this magnitude preceding the text, the rest of it usually gives me a headache.

I know I’m no saint in the matter; there are times when I use ungrammatical sentence construction in informal English, and I do have occasional unintentional lapses. At least I try to eliminate the fugly from what I write (I reserve the right to edit my posts for grammar and spelling errors).

Our Asian neighbors are scrambling to learn English, some even coming to the Philippines to be tutored by English-speaking Filipinos. (Yep, those Koreans aren’t tourists. You think they come to Manila for the smoggy weather?) Call centers are hiring those proficient in English (here’s an example of who they’re NOT hiring). International business is conducted in English (unless you’re French, Chinese, or Japanese). The language of scholarly reading and writing is primarily English in our universities (and Miriam Quiambao would have won Miss Universe if she had a better grasp of English! Oops, non sequitur…). No matter how pundits may decry using English as detrimental to nationalism, good English is simply damn useful.

The standard of education in English has deteriorated in the Philippines, and it’s now palpable in what we produce. This isn’t meant to put anybody down. I don’t think people who make grammatical mistakes are necessarily dumb. I don’t think that people who can’t speak or write English are dumb. It’s just that I think if you’re going to use English, use it well. What can I say? I’m a perfectionist.

By the way, if you couldn’t detect what was wrong with these pictures, I’d advise you to buy a book on English grammar. Please, it’s for my own safety — I don’t want to have to put my own eyes out. (The word “advice,” by the way, is used for single and plural. There is no such thing as “advices.”)

Tags: Language, Engrish, Filipino English, Fug

One of the disadvantages of being a bum is that everyone knows I’m not busy and can do chores, errands, and favors for them. It’s nearly impossible to say no, unless I have other plans for the day.

But ah, the joy of making other plans for the day! There is at least one perk to being a bum, particularly that my time is my own and I don’t have to clock in anywhere. Like today: I hung around my favorite coffee place, the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, slowly sipped my hot cafe vanilla, and watched harried people outside the glass windows scurrying to and from work. Or like last Friday, when I begged my mom to take me with her early in the morning and drop me off at Greenhills Shopping Center so I could snag some bargains before the crushing crowd got too thick.

There are endless possibilities of what I can do with my time, limited only by my lack of a self-earned income (*cough* allowance *cough*). To beat the summer heat, I can go kick back at a pool or kick my heels up at a mall. I can scour used-book stores for classics that are out-of-print in the Philippines, like my latest acquisition The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope. Or I could sit around on my bum all day (like a bum, get it?) and surf blogs or search the Internet for information on hobbies and current events, accomplishing the dual goals of wasting time and improving my mind. (Okay, so I’m being tongue-in-cheek about the last option because it’s actually what I do most of the time.)

Wow, I’m bored. I think I’ll go sunbathe in the back yard and read a thick book.

It’s finally dawned on me that I am a graduate and I have no job. I am a bum living off my parents’ (and sister’s!) paychecks, and since I no longer have any plans of going back to school, it’s time to find me a job.

I spent all day yesterday scouring job openings on Jobstreet and JobsDB, as well as tailoring my resume. I don’t really know what my qualifications are, aside from the academic ones. Perhaps it’s a lack of self-confidence above everything else, but I’m realizing that my single-minded focus on my studies is limiting my options these days. I didn’t get involved in any extracurricular activities that could have padded my resume, like joining writing contests, or attending conferences that give you certification for attending them, or even seeking out internships. I am a fresh graduate with no experience, which is laughable considering I already have a master’s degree.

There were a lot of openings for web designers, but most of them involved knowledge of PHP and mySQL, which I’ve never used. Some of them specified a need for proficiency in Dreamweaver MX, which I don’t have because I code all my websites by hand. Still others demanded experience in maintaining websites; I’ve had my own sites for years (going on ten years next year) but haven’t maintained websites professionally, so I don’t know if I do have the experience.

Maybe I need to get my own domain, perhaps set up a small website design biz? One thing’s for sure: I don’t wanna be a bum no more!

After finishing an invigorating workout at the Fitness First branch in Ortigas, I was all amped up on adrenaline and grrl power. Ü As I revved my car out of the building’s underground parking, I noticed a piece of paper fluttering on my windshield. Flicking on the wipers to move the paper so I could reach it, I could already read the words on the newsprint-type slip. It read, “Notice of Parking Violation.”

The first thought in my head was, “ZOMG! A real parking ticket!” The second thought was, “ZOMG!!!ohno!!11 It’s a parking ticket registered to my car!”

Apparently the violation was for not parking my car facing the wall. This severely irritated me because I had specifically looked for a sign that said “park car facing wall” and didn’t find it in the area I had parked. (The sign was around a corner but I didn’t know it went for the entire parking area.) Additionally, the car beside me had parked facing outwards, so I had merely followed suit. I had even taken a lot of time parking the car so it was just right, and surely should have attracted the notice of the security guards sitting not more than ten yards away.

People driving in Metro Manila may be familiar with the frustration. For instance, my mom was dropping someone off on a sidewalk when a policeman strolls up and says “No loading/unloading po dito.” My mom asks, “Where’s the sign?” and the policeman points to a sign obscured by tree branches and situated high above the eyeline of a person sitting behind a steering wheel.

The policeman let my mom off with a warning. As for my parking ticket, it was for a first violation so I was also let off with a warning. I guess what I have to be glad about is that it isn’t a parking ticket issued by the traffic police, so it doesn’t go on any permanent government record. I don’t plan on registering another violation and having to pay a 200-peso fine, so I will be parking my car correctly next time.

I’m still ticked off, though.

Tags: Fitness First, Driving, Metro Manila