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100 Years of Nestle in MDJ Superstar’s Life

By MDJ Superstar
May 30, 2011 //
1

I grew up on Nestle.

My dad was instrumental in launching their Milo powdered chocolate drink and Nido powdered milk in the Philippines in the 1980s, and we always grew up believing that Nestle was the gold standard when it came to quality food products. That was my dad’s fault; his word was the law, and if he said something rocked, I was all too happy to concur.

Tony De Joya says: "Drink more Milo, bitchezzzzz!"

I will openly credit Milo, after all, for my world-class, Olympic quality, award-winning Greek god physique. I practically invented the Milo Dinosaur in my youth, partly because I loved the crunch of the powder while I was drinking, but mainly because I was too lazy to dissolve the granules properly.

The Milo Dinosaur in all its glory.

(“Why is it called a Milo Dinosaur, MDJ Superstar?” you may ask. “Because of the sound your tummy makes after consuming three of them, young Padawan!” I will gleefully answer.)

But I digress.

Nestle has been around a heck of a long time, and just last month, it celebrated its 100th year in the Philippines. They launched a commemorative 90-second TV commercial directed by the incomparable Stephen Ngo telling the tale of Nestle as it threads through the lives of the Filipino consumer.

It’s beautiful, and I will allow you to view it for yourself.

Everything about it is perfect.

The casting, the production design & styling that perfectly captures the milieu of each era, the acting, the storyline – if anyone has ever said that Stephen Ngo is only good for high-gloss, slick productions with acting as a secondary priority, then this spot should prove them wrong. But I need to point out the song written by APO Hiking Society member Danny Javier as the most wonderfully heart-warming element of the piece – it works so well with the visuals, and adds so much emotion and texture in a resonant, deeply personal way.

Nestle has been around 100 years in the Philippines. As a marketing professional working for a rival organization, I wish them ill, and intensely catastrophic business results in the immediate future. But as a consumer, I commend their longevity and steadfast commitment to a singular higher purpose – of bringing good food, good life, to Filipino consumers everywhere.

* The views above reflect my personal opinion, and do not reflect any bias or judgment against how I conduct my professional life.

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Categories Advertising

8065 Bagnet: Great Food, Disastrous Security

By MDJ Superstar
May 2, 2011 //
6

I confess to being a bit frustrated at the management of 8065 Bagnet, a little restaurant that operates in San Antonio Village, Makati, with a menu that features an astonishingly wide range of dishes that feature bagnet as a primary ingredient.

It’s an intriguing concept, especially since Z & I think that heart health is overrated. We’d been particularly intrigued by the Binagoongang Bagnet and the Spicy Ginataang Bagnet, and had long made it a goal of ours to drop by soon for one of our legendary gustatory adventures.

And so, last Holy Wednesday, we finally made the trek to Estrella Street in Makati for what we thought would be a nice, leisurely dinner.

But as you can read below, I don’t think we’ll ever go back again.

To make a long story short, my car was broken into, and both Z & I got our stuff stolen. We’ll be the first to admit – it was very stupid of us to leave our valuables inside the car while it was unattended. That’s something we never do. But that one night, we were both so tired and hungry and grumpy for work, and let our usual security-conscientiousness slide.

And so, it was goodbye to Z’s MacBook.

Goodbye to my iPad.

Goodbye shades and perfume and the 1-week old Cambridge Batchel that Z gave me.

Stupidity on our part, but I hoped we could do something to make sure something similar wouldn’t happen to 8065′s patrons in the future.

I dropped one of the owners of 8065 Bagnet a line – not to put blame on management (leaving one’s stuff in a car is a no-no, in any case), but because we were told by the extremely helpful MAPSA and police guys who helped us out that this is a frequent occurrence among diners there. I just wanted him to be fully aware of the security problem in his area, and to see if he’d be willing to get some help from the baranggay or even hire his own bantays in the future.

That was a week ago. And he has yet to acknowledge receipt of my message. So I don’t know if anything has been to done to secure future customers from what happened to us.

How else can I reach them?

This is the message I sent via Facebook:

=====

Hi Jeff, got your name from _______ – she mentioned you were the owner of 8065 Bagnet in San Antonio Village in Makati.

Anyway – ate there for the first time last Wednesday evening. Extremely good food, great prices. We’d been meaning to eat there for months but never made the time. Loved the binagoongan na bagnet and the ginataan. 

There were quite a lot of people that night, so I had to park my new car some distance from your restaurant, at the corner across David’s Salon, since there was no more space in front of 8065.

This led to the unpleasant part of our dinner. When we came out, two MAPSA guys informed us that the window of my car had been smashed in. We lost two bags containing a MacBook and an iPad, plus various other small valuables.

Obviously, it’s our fault for leaving valuables in the car in that neighborhood. It’s not something we normally do, and for sure it’s not something we will do again. Simply put, katangahan lang talaga namin for being so careless.

I’m just dropping a note to you because the MAPSA guys, the guys at the police station, and various residents nearby mentioned that there have been multiple similar incidents that have happened to patrons of your restaurant, as a place that’s growing in popularity. They say they’ve strongly suggested to the owners to at least hire some bantay’s to watch over the cars of your customers, in the same way as other nearby places we love like Central, Pat Pat’s Kansi, Bacolod Chicken BBQ, etc. 

Am hoping you are taking that suggestion under serious consideration. We love your food but don’t think we can ever come back until we have peace of mind that our car & belongings will be safe. I’ve also had to warn several of my friends who have heard great things about your place not to eat there, unless they’re willing to risk their valuables as well.

God bless and good luck to 8065 Bagnet. Hope to come back some day.

Thanks.

Mark

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Categories Food

[REPOST] The Borange: MDJ Superstar’s Genius Solution to the Philippine Traffic Crisis

By MDJ Superstar
January 1, 2011 //
0

I originally posted this a couple of years ago, yet it remains relevant to this day – especially with Skyway construction on-going. How many lives could have been saved if the MMDA could please just implement this ground-breaking technological concoction of mine?

*****

I have invented one of the greatest devices man will ever know.

It’s called “The Borange”. I think it’s positively brilliant, this Borange system of mine. I’ll call it a “Variable Lane-Adjusting Destructo Laser Beam” system

Its raison d’etre: to eliminate rush hour traffic on the Philippine highways.

(As a corollary cause, the English language will also finally have a word to rhyme with “orange”.)

To anyone who has ever attempted to drive down any of our major highways during rush hour, I’m sure this is a familiar sight – the lane you happen to be in is crawling with tons and tons worth of cars bearing humans with unbearably full bladders, whereas the opposing lane is practically empty. (See Figure 1a)


Why does this happen? I have drilled it down to one thing – the concrete divider separating north- from south-bound lanes. (See Figure 2a)

What if we could somehow reduce the space occupied by these concrete dividers – bring it down to a matter of inches, rather than the current 5-6 feet? Rope is too impermanent, steel too expensive. We need something more modern, more snazzy, more resistant against the forces of nature and errant SUV drivers.

Something like… a laser beam.

Let’s take the argument one step further. Imagine if the Robo-Pods firing out these highly-destrucitve laser beams were adjustable? It would allow us to actually adjust the width of a particular lane depending on traffic conditions! (See Figure 4a)

I’m also currently working on a more basic version for developing nations. It involves carabaos instead of laser beams, but there are still a few kinks I need to work out.

But in the meantime, does anyone know the way to the Intellectual Property Office?

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Categories Technology

Invasion of the Halalan 2010 Holograms

By MDJ Superstar
September 2, 2010 //
0

We aren’t very high-tech where we work, but we do have our resourceful little ways to fake cutting-edge technology.

I was actually very amused by our little attempt to emulate the incredibly cool hologram personalities made famous by the Halalan 2010 coverage. It isn’t the most spectacular thing in the world, but it made me stop and smile for about 43 seconds before I got bored and walked away..

The Philippines: Where Low-Rent Ripoffs Happen.

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Categories Technology

Superstars Against Intergenerational Poverty

By MDJ Superstar
September 1, 2010 //
1

Don’t be like me.

Don’t be someone whose life revolves around Zara sales and internet porn and comic books and fastfood pizza and bottomless Tang Strawberry Juice.

Don’t be helpless and impotent and indifferent in the face of real social issues.

Be like Zarah.

Be someone who cares enough to step outside of the trappings of the corporate world to do more than donate funds to faceless charities.

Be someone who spends her Saturdays actually immersed in the Bayan ni Juan community located in far-flung Calauan, Laguna to do developmental work with the kids who live there. There are thousands of them, mostly relocatees from the Typhoon Ondoy calamity, and have owned even less in their lifetimes than some of us more fortunate people  have spent on clothes and bags and Starbucks coffee in one day. They are the poorest of the poor, the ones who get swept under the rug when progress calls.

Zarah gives them everything she has to give. She reads them stories. She teaches them songs of hope. She coaches them through their dance routines. She teaches them value formation. She laughs with them, she plays with them, she chases them out of despair and desolation. She’s a saint to them, and they love her incredibly.

Even if she can be a machine-gun-toting bad-ass sometimes..

As do I. I just stand on the sidelines and help carry stuff and treat the kids to piggybacks and play basketball with them on their rudimentary street courts. But I marvel at the selflessness and soul and strength and spirit that she finds within herself to share so much to these people, even as she lives her weekday life as a full-time mommy and corporate prodigy.

We try to go there every Saturday. It’s hot, dirty, sweaty work, but we love it incredibly. We always go home smelling of soil and filth, but with huge smiles on our faces and our hearts as light as jazz.

But I wish I could do more.

One thing these kids haven’t got is a school. Zarah’s dream, which she shares with her partners in her development work, is to fund a mobile school for them, which will be run by Salesians of Don Bosco. It will cost PhP2-million, which is a lofty dream for one person to bring to life, but not for ten, a hundred, a thousand good souls working together.

These kids have been stuck in generations of poverty. But they never stop hoping and dreaming of elevation. This is one concrete way that they can escape the downtrodden cycle they have navigated thus far.

Can you help?

Contact Zarah Hernaez, +63 928 304 3267.

And watch this video. These are the faces behind the hope that we feel.

Be a Superstar and help fight for the future.

(And yes, that’s Zarah singing. She’s amazing.)

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Categories Personal
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