Randomarathon: Midnight Musings

Randomarathon!!! Midnight Musings :-)

*main sources: wikipedia; brittanica encyclopedia; my bored brain cells

What Would Oprah Do???
I am such an Oprah fan. Hahaha. I did this research into her life, and, well, I'm not going to copy-paste all of that here... I don't think many people I know are as fanatical about her as I am. I just wanted to share this cute phrase. Kevin, a gay guy from the reality show The Benefactor always asks this before making a strategic decision: "What would Oprah do?" Hahaha. That is so darn cute. I actually say that sometimes... Just in my head though. :D

I swear, I want to be like Oprah someday. Okay, that's overreaching, but she's just so... Cool. She was called "arguably the world's most powerful woman" by CNN and Time.com, "arguably the most influential woman in the world" by the American Spectator, "one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th Century" and "one of the most influential people" of 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 by Time. She is the only person in the world to have made all five lists. Even Nelson Mandela praises her. (South African statesman who ended apartheid and won the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize... But I'm sure you knew that. I saw that on Tyra Banks’ ANTM. Hehehe.)

In July 2007 TV Guide reported that she was the highest paid TV entertainer in the United States during the past year. She earned an estimated $260 million... This amount was more than 5 times what had been earned by the person in second place - music executive Simon Cowell, who had earned $45 million. In 2005 she became the first black person listed by Business Week as one of America's top 50 most generous philanthropists, having given an estimated $303 million.

She's more than a talk show host... She decides what's on the NY Times Bestseller List... She uses her influence on viewers to actually help people, and her political views are as valued as much as the greatest political advisers. She was also the first one who broke 20th century taboos through her show, which airs in 117 countries. She's a feminist, but she's not biased either. And she's so incredibly human. She confesses everything, even the really embarrassing things. Michael Moore was right... She should run for president of the United States. She's one of the greatest tycoons in the history of the world. Born in Mississippi to a poor unwed teenage mother, she sometimes wore potato sacks as a little girl. Now she's the richest African-American in the world. If that's not a success story, I don't know what is.

If you're not an Oprah fan then you are probably scratching your head right now. Oh, well. C'est la vie. I'll talk about something else. :D

Bill Gates Ain't the Richest Man Anymore

Something I didn't think I'd live to see. But hey, he only slipped to third. I can't believe the Forbes article actually said, "Click through our gallery as we count down the top five world's richest people, see how far Gates has fallen, and then see who else made it onto the full list."

How far Gates has fallen? Wow. The man has been the richest in the world for thirteen consecutive years... Not bad for a college dropout, I'd say... Well? What was that comment all about? He's only down by 4 billion dollars... (Only? Okay, that's a lot, but still.) I don't know if the writer was bitter or something.

Anyway, for random junk, here's the Forbes' 22nd annual ranking of the World's Billionaires... (Copy-pasted from the Forbes website.)

No. 5: Mukesh Ambani
Country: India
Net Worth: $43.0 billion

Asia's richest resident heads petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company by market cap. His fortune is up $22.9 billion since last year, making him the world's second-biggest gainer in terms of dollars. Mukesh is using some of his money to build a 27-story home.

No. 4: Lakshmi Mittal
Country: India
Net Worth: $45.0 billion

Mittal heads the world's largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, which accounts for 10% of all crude steel production. It just delivered 580 tons to be used in construction of the World Trade Center memorial in New York. With a 44% stake, he is the company's largest shareholder.

No. 3: William H. Gates III
Country: United States
Net Worth: $58.0 billion

After 13 straight years, the Harvard dropout and Microsoft visionary is no longer the world's richest man. Blame Yahoo!: Microsoft shares have fallen 15% since the company boldly attempted to merge with the search engine giant to better fight Google for Internet dominance. Gates is preparing to give up day-to-day involvement in Microsoft to spend more time on philanthropic endeavors.

No. 2: Carlos Slim Helú & Family
Country: Mexico
Net Worth: $60.0 billion

The son of a Lebanese immigrant, Slim made his first fortune in 1990 when he bought fixed-line operator Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) in a privatization. In December, America Movil struck a deal with Yahoo! to provide mobile Web services to 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. A widower and father of six, Slim is a baseball fan and art collector.

No. 1: Warren Edward Buffett
Country: United States
Net Worth: $62.0 billion

America's most beloved investor is now the world's richest man. The son of a Nebraska politician, he delivered newspapers as a boy and filed his first tax return at age 13, claiming a $35 deduction for his bicycle. This year, he soared past friend and bridge partner Bill Gates as shares of Berkshire Hathaway climbed 25% since the middle of last July.

Who Invented the Internet???

Since the previous random entry mentioned the internet a couple of times, this just crept up from the subconscious and spilled out. And this is a Randomarathon anyway, so what the hell.

I read from Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (my most favorite book ever, ever, ever infinity,) that it was Tim Berners-Lee who invented it. But that was kind of confusing, since my computer class back in second year taught us that the internet was invented by some kind of military organization. (Mandsci people, remember that?) Lee wasn’t mentioned in the lesson...

So, anyway, it was Tim Berners-Lee. The World Wide Web was begun in 1989 by Lee and his colleagues at CERN, an international scientific organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

CERN and Antimatter

CERN is my favorite laboratory in the world. Not that I’ve been there, but they did produce antimatter. (Again, Angels and Demons.)

CERN stands for: Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire... Or in English, European Organization for Nuclear Research.

They have the most powerful and versatile facilities in the world...

In 1995, they created antimatter!!! This is just the coolest thing ever. (The science geek doeth awaketh.) Each particle of antimatter survives for only about forty-billionths of a second before it comes into contact with ordinary matter and annihilates in a powerful explosion. It’s more powerful than nuclear fission... A droplet can power NYC for a whole day. But it’s just highly unstable. A gram contains the energy of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

It’s the deadliest weapon ever.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Flashback. Freshman year in Mandsci. I don’t know why but this is pretty much the only lesson I actually remember from back then. Compounded with the thing about Albert Einstein I picked up during Senior English class... Here’s another random narration.

Albert Einstein had warned Roosevelt of the danger of Nazi Germany's forestalling other states in the development of an atomic bomb. But he placed so much detail in this letter that the government actually used it to make the bomb. (Tsk3. Einstein dubbed this his greatest mistake.) Eventually, the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development was created and given joint responsibility with the war department in the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear bomb. The test bomb was set off in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Thus the atomic bomb was born. On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima... the combined heat and blast pulverized everything in the explosion's immediate vicinity, generated spontaneous fires and killed between 70,000 and 80,000 people, besides injuring more than 70,000 others. A second bomb, dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, killed between 35,000 and 40,000 people, and injured a like number.

Wonder what they would’ve done if old Albert wrote about antimatter instead.

MIT (The Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Established in 1961, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

(My dream school! I want to study archaeology there.)

MIT is one of two private land-grant universities and is also a sea grant and space grant university.

MIT graduates and faculty are noted for their technical acumen (72 affiliated Nobel Laureates, 47 National Medal of Science recipients, and 29 MacArthur Fellows.)

Their motto: Mens et Manus... Latin for Mind and Hand.

It’s near the Harvard University, also located along Charles River.

MIT has numerous research centers and laboratories. Among its facilities are a nuclear reactor, a computation centre, geophysical and astrophysical observatories, a linear accelerator, a space research centre, supersonic wind tunnels, pressurized wind tunnel, a towing tank for testing ship and ocean structure designs, a low-emission cogeneration plant that serves most of the campus electricity and heating requirements, an artificial intelligence laboratory, a centre for cognitive science, and an international studies centre. MIT's library system is extensive and includes a number of specialized libraries; there are also several museums.

MIT's on-campus nuclear reactor is the second largest university-based nuclear reactor in the United States.

They have a cool pass/no record system for first years. Wonder if they’ll ever do that in UP.

In the 2006 academic year, MIT faculty and researchers disclosed 523 inventions, filed 321 patent applications, received 121 patents, and earned $42.3 million in royalties. (And that’s just one school. To think that the Philippines had 27 patents last year... But hey, I’m not an inventor so I shouldn’t be complaining.)

Tim Berners-Lee, the internet inventor, is also associated with MIT, since he created the W3C there in 1994. What’s a W3C? I don’t know either.

There is a lot of stuff that can be said about the place... But I’ll just end it with this: As a prank, MIT students once reconstructed a Wright Flyer atop their Great Dome. Cool prank. :D

The List of Who to Ask for Help (or Run Away From, whichever applies.)

1. The Russian KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvenoy Bezopasnosti)
- Commitee for State Security
- Established in 1917
- Where they are: Russia, duh. :)
- During the lifetime of the Soviet Union, the KGB was responsible for everything... Espionage, counter-espionage, travels in, out and within the country, protection of Soviet leaders, censorship, codes, archives, finance, surveillance, and internal security. For a country as big as the USSR, this was a pretty huge job. And they did it secretly, especially when they dealt with “enemy forces.” (Read: Torture and death.) They kept the intruders out and the citizens in with 300, 000 troops complete with armor, artillery and naval vessels. During the four decades after WW 2, the KGB was (and still is) the only agency in the world that was able to infiltrate all the Western Intelligence Services except the CIA.
- The KGB was the primary intelligence service until 1991.
- Why criminals hate them: ain’t it obvious? And it wasn’t only the criminals who hated them... Freedom fighters also did.

2. CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)
- Established in 1947
- Where they are: uh... the United States?
- It is the principal intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the U.S. government.
- During WW 2, it was responsible for analyzing foreign intelligence.
- At its height it had about 12, 000 members.
- George Bush was formerly a director of the CIA, then known as the OSS.
- The CIA is organized into four major directorates:
The Intelligence Directorate analyzes intelligence that is gathered overtly from available sources... Espionage, aerial and satellite photography, and interception of radio, telephone, and other forms of communication. It also monitors foreign radio broadcasts.
The Directorate of Operations is responsible for covert operations, including clandestine collection of intelligence (i.e., espionage) and special covert activities.
The Directorate of Science and Technology is charged with keeping the agency abreast of scientific and technological advances, and it develops technical devices useful to the agency and supplies technical and scientific support to agency operations.
The Directorate of Administration not only administers but also contains the Office of Security, which is responsible for the security of personnel, facilities, information, and such information sources as defectors from other governments.
- It is often compared to the Russian KGB, but the CIA was restricted to foreign soil... The KGB had major and numerous foreign and domestic military and police responsibilities. (Told you they did everything.)
- Why criminals hate them: well... They’re tricky. Enough said. :)

3. Interpol (International Police)
- Also known as the International Criminal Police Organization
- Where they are: Lyon and/or Paris, France
- The number of affiliated countries is more than 125, representing all continents.
- The goal of Interpol is to catch the “international criminal...” There are three main categories: those who operate in more than one country such as smugglers, dealing mainly in gold and narcotics and other illicit drugs; criminals who do not travel at all but whose crimes affect other countries—for example, a counterfeiter of foreign bank notes; and criminals who commit a crime in one country and flee to another.
- It has extensive archives of all the international criminals (and all those who may later fall into the category) from the affiliated countries.
- They also have the best satellites, surveillance, you name it.
- Why criminals hate them: I once saw this feature on Discovery Channel about them. It was an episode where a domestic police force (whose name escapes me) caught a painting smuggler (who fled over five countries already) hours after seeking help from the Interpol. They, of course, had complete records and facilities to pinpoint exactly where the smuggler was, using the known M.O., and phone and travel records. If that’s not a reason for criminals to hate them, I don’t know what is.

4. Scotland Yard
- Where they are: South of St. James’ Park in the borough of Westminster, London
- Jurisdiction: Metropolitan London
- Scotland Yard keeps extensive files on all known criminals in the United Kingdom. It also has a special branch of police who guard visiting dignitaries, royalty, and statesmen. Scotland Yard is responsible for maintaining links between British law-enforcement agencies and Interpol. Although Scotland Yard's responsibility is limited to metropolitan London, its assistance is often sought by police in other parts of England, particularly with regard to difficult cases. It also assists in the training of police personnel in the countries of the Commonwealth.
- Why criminals hate them: Because, obviously, they can catch the bad guys... Unlike some police forces in some countries... (ahem, ahem, ahem...)

Last but not the least...

5. The Justice League!!!
- Yeah, I am serious. They are the only ones I can think of that can actually give the four others on this list a run for their money... If they were real, that is.
- Plus, they have cool powers. :D

The Smartest Person on Earth

According to Guinness, her name is Marilyn Vos Savant, with an IQ of 228 when she was 10 years and 8 months old.

“She is of German and Italian ancestry, and is a descendant of physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach. She attended Washington University in St. Louis, but dropped out to help with a family investment business, seeking financial freedom to pursue a career in writing.”

She was given the Mega Test by Guinness in the mid-90s, as an adult this time... Vos Savant's raw score was 46 out of a possible 48, with 5.4 z-score, and standard deviation of 16, arriving at a 186 IQ in the 99.999997 percentile, with a rarity of 1 in 30 million.

Going from 228 to 186 is NOT an IQ drop... The two tests (one as a child and the other as an adult) represent different types of IQ.

Vos Savant herself values IQ tests as measurements of a variety of mental abilities, and believes intelligence itself involves so many factors that "attempts to measure it are useless."

Read the wikipedia article for some of her resolutions to questions from her readers on the column “Ask Marilyn,” or read her books. There was something about Fermat’s Theorem... Heey... This is veering off to math too much... Tsk3...

IQ is such an inexact science... So I searched, which led me to this next random entry...

The Coolest Blog Ever

http://onemansblog.com

I swear, this is the coolest blog I have ever read. (Fan?)

I was searching for the list of highest IQs, and this introduction to an article popped out:

“The other day I sat down to watch The Princess Bride for about the 10,000th time. Man that is a great movie! Anyway, when I was watching the part where Vizzini, the Sicilian, was answering the question as to how smart he is, he said:

“Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates? Morons.”

So, I decided to mosey on over to the Interwebs and find a list of people with the highest IQ ever measured, and lo and behold I couldn’t find one! So for the sake of future searchers, I compiled the following information. Enjoy.”

And the material on there was pretty good, complete with a fairly accurate IQ test. (I didn’t take it... I’m scared of those things.)

So I did a little moseying myself and I was really amused by his articles in the blog... See for yourself. Again, that’s http://onemansblog.com :D

Back to the Smartest Person (okay, people) on Earth

This list (and paragraph) is from http://onemansblog.com

“I’d like to stop for a second and inject a little philosophy before we go on. I have absolutely no respect whatsoever for intelligence. I only respect people for their actions. So no one should envy or emulate people on the list that follow because some of them are miserable human beings.”

The Highest IQs On Record

People Still Alive

Physicist / Engineer Kim Ung-yong has a verified IQ of 210
Bouncer Christopher Michael Langan has a verified IQ of 195
Engineer Philip Emeagwali is alleged to have an IQ of 190
World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov is alleged to have an IQ of 190
Author Marilyn Vos Savant has a verified IQ of 186
Actor James Woods is alleged to have an IQ of 180
Politician John H. Sununu is alleged to have an IQ of 180
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is alleged to have an IQ of 180
Mathematician Andrew Wiles is alleged to have an IQ of 170
World Chess Champion Judith Polgar is alleged to have an IQ of 170
Chess Grandmaster Robert Byrne is alleged to have an IQ of 170
World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer is alleged to have an IQ of 167
Mathematician / Physicist Stephen W. Hawking is alleged to have an IQ of over 160
Microsoft Founder Paul Allen is alleged to have an IQ of over 160
Actress Sharon Stone is alleged to have an IQ of 154

From the Past

In 1926, psychologist Dr. Catherine Morris Cox - who had been assisted by Dr. Lewis M. Terman, Dr. Florence L. Goodenaugh, and Dr. Kate Gordon - published a study “of the most eminent men and women” who had lived between 1450 and 1850 to estimate what their IQs might have been. Data from that study as well as other sources around the net were compiled to form the following list. Please drop me a comment if you have additions or corrections (make sure and cite sources).

190 - Ludwig Wittgenstein
190 - Sir Isaac Newton
190 - Francois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
180 - Leonardo da Vinci
180 - David Hume
180 - Buonarroti Michelangelo
179 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
176 - Emanuel Swedenborg
176 - Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
175 - Johannes Kepler
175 - Edmund Spenser
175 - Baruch Spinoza
174 - John Stuart Mill
171 - Blaise Pascal
170 - Michael Faraday
170 - George Friedrich Handel
170 - Antoine Lavoisier
170 - Martin Luther
165 - Galileo Galilei
165 - Charlotte Bronte
165 - Johann Sebastian Bach
165 - Thomas Hobbes
165 - Carl von Linnaeus
165 - John Locke
165 - Joseph Priestley
165 - Ludwig van Beethoven
165 - Samuel Johnson
162 - Rene Descartes
162 - Madame De Stael
160 - Albert Einstein
160 - Robert Boyle
160 - Benjamin Franklin
159 - Immanuel Kant
156 - Linus Carl Pauling
156 - Sofia Kovalevskaya
156 - Thomas Chatterton
156 - Olof Palme
155 - Rembrandt van Rijn
155 - Miguel de Cervantes
155 - Jonathan Swift
153 - Charles Darwin
153 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
150 - George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
150 - Nicolaus Copernicus
150 - Abraham Lincoln
145 - Napoleon Bonaparte
145 - Anna Lindh
143 - George Sand (Aurore Dupin)
140 - George Washington
130 - Ulysses S. Grant
130 - Sir Francis Drake

Random Anecdote

All the stuff about the smart gals and guys reminded me of this story:

It goes something like, one day, a particular student arrived really late for class. And I mean really late, because everyone was gone already. He saw three problems on the board and copied them down, since he assumed that that was homework.

About three days later, he submitted his remarkably accurate solutions to the problems. Which surprised the teacher, since the problems on the board weren’t homework at all... They were examples for the day’s lesson that he missed... “Unsolvable Mathematical Equations.”

This is a true story. I just can’t, for the life of me, remember his name. I know he’s a mathematician someplace. Help...!

Serendipity

So I have this Writing Workshop homework... Write a short story about serendipity. I was supposed to do it tonight, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. My forte is horror, suspense, crime, mystery, historical allusions... Not freaking feel-good stuff. I am however guilty of inspirational and more positive poetry, but that’s just because I find poems easier to do than short stories. Wonder what Freud has to say about that.

Anyway, this anecdote was the one that Mayor Benhur Abalos narrated when he made his speech during the Mandsci graduation ceremony.

There was once a farmer who worked for a rich man. One day, the rich man visited the fields and saw the son of the farmer tending the fields with him. The rich man inquired as to why the young boy was not in school. The farmer replied that he had no money to send him there. The rich man said that he would finance the boy’s schooling, and he did, until the boy finished college and became one of the most famous scientists of all time. The name of that boy was Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. But that’s not all. The rich man’s son, shortly after the discovery of penicillin, contracted smallpox. The drug was administered by Fleming himself and saved the boy’s life. That boy grew up to become Sir Winston Churchill.

Now that’s serendipity. :)

Global Warming Rants

I’ll make this one short. I have an extremely long article on this in the works anyway. :)

For heaven’s sake, will someone please tell those freaking fast-food chains to stop using those freaking plastics and Styrofoam??? Suure, some of them have switched to using paper for takeout and plastic dishes for dine-in but hell, if they want the human race to make it for another fifty years they should at least do more effort! Plastic cups, for example. Ketchup sachets. Plastic spoons and forks. Plastic bags. This is the freaking fate of humanity we’re talking about here! Aaargh. Fast-food chains are major pollutants when it comes to land waste... Air, of course it’s the automobiles (start walking, stop polluting)... Water, it’s those industries that are around bodies of water... (The Manila Bay is now 75% polluted. In 5 years, the water will be poisonous, which sucks because this is the main source for Metro Manila’s water supply. Piggeries around the area dump their waste here, and owners say they can’t do anything about this because it’s the only place they can dump their trash. Grrr. If there’s a will, there’s a way... If there ‘s no will, then there’s an excuse!)

I would like to inform my fellow environmentalist friends that SM malls have switched to using biodegradable plastic bags. Yey! :D

The recent storm in Myanmar which killed over 40,000 people is of course another testament to global warming. Damn the skeptics.

Why David Cook is Cool

I know someone out there somewhere is about to file a complaint for my excessive use of the word “cool.” Fine. Note to self: Find new expression of glee and amazement.

Anyway... Five reasons why David Cook is cool...
- He’s versatile.
- His voice is gritty yet polished at the same time. Like Daughtry, only better.
- He has fun on stage.
- He manages to make old songs sound new.
- He’s original. Can’t go wrong with originality. :D

Why Simon Cowell makes People Listen

He says what’s on people’s minds... Even the things that are mean. Honestly, I think some part of everyone wants to be mean once in a while, but only Simon can pull it off so effortlessly. The world just can’t help but listen to his antics. And he has a point. And he’s usually right. He’s like Doctor House... You hate him ‘cause he’s mean and cranky and downright hard to please, but you know he has a point, and an accurate one at that. I guess the novelty of his mean judging was that before he came on screen, nobody could be that mean. And meanness can be amusing. Sometimes he makes you think that he’s a genuine misanthrope... But then, he says something positive and you realize that he’s just a very cranky human being. And because Simon is probably one of the meanest and most picky critics on this planet, being just remotely praised by him is an achievement already. If he says you’re good, then you must be good. I think that’s also a reason why people endorsed by Simon Cowell usually turn out to be the best. :D
.............................................................
I think I just ran out of randomness. For now.
A plus tard! :D

Post Scriptum: Josh Groban is MARVELOUS! (Hah, I didn’t use cool. :) I didn’t understand a word of Un Dia Llegara or Solo Por Ti but I am hooked. Will learn Italian if I survive French class this year. I promise.

The Philippines: What I Hate, What I Love, What I Think

(I realize that this is somewhat disorganized. Sorry! :)

The Philippines: What I Hate, What I Love, What I Think

“I am a Filipino. Inheritor of a glorious past, hostage to an uncertain future.” - Carlos P. Romulo

I have lived in this country for approximately sixteen years and eight months. During all those years of alternating passive and active existence, I have often pondered upon what’s in this country that makes it special. And, adversely, what makes it dreadful. The way I see it, the Philippines is a lot like a diamond with two facets.

Let’s do a little backtracking.

The Philippines has constantly been under the rule of some foreigner or the other. Spaniards had control the longest, then the Japanese, then the Americans.

Some good did come out of all those years of foreign occupation... It showed how much we value our freedom. Remember Magellan and the Battle of Mactan? Or the Muslims and how they defended Mindanao? Or Gat Jose Rizal? Or Andres Bonifacio and all the heroes in the history lessons you probably slept through? Carlos Romulo had it right on: we are the inheritors of a glorious past.

The bad thing about the long state of coercion is that it took us a pretty long time to figure out how we want to do things. I’m not even sure if we actually figured that out already.

Today, we are still influenced by both those who once had us in the clutches of their empires and those who never did.

“Because it was under Spanish rule for 333 years and under U.S. tutelage for a further 48 years, the Philippines has many cultural affinities with the West.” (Britannica Encyclopedia)

Some might argue that we are still under the Spaniards because of our religion. We depend on the Japanese and the Chinese for supplies and investments, and on the Indians for oil.

We rely on the Americans for ideas and trends--and I believe that this is the worst of all. Most, if not all, Philippine contests, movies and game shows are patterned after the Westerners’. I don’t think that Filipinos are incapable of creating original expressions in the entertainment business... It’s just that the producers are scared to invest in something that is not tried and tested to sell. Decades after the American occupation and they still hold more of us than we realize. I wonder why the entertainment industry thinks so highly of American ideas that they actually copy them. Examples? Who wants to be a Millionaire, Deal or No Deal, Philippine Idol, and a whole lot more.

I love how we are able to interact with people from all over the world so readily. I hate how we tend to assimilate ourselves too much and lose ourselves in the process.

I praise the creativity of the Filipinos. Some of the greatest minds and the most unique talents are right here. Some of the most idealistic too. The problem is that the idealists are thrown into an environment where judgment is clouded by decades of imposed thinking. It's hard, when one breaks out of the cocoon to find that the cocoon is actually inside a cage. The people of the Philippines are a mixture of a lot of different races. We have the Malays, the Chinese, the Spaniards, the Japanese, the Americans, the Indians, the Europeans, and many others. An interesting thing is that most of us think that a certain “look” is Filipino. But a Filipino with the correct attributes may pass for a Vietnamese or a Malaysian. Sometimes hard to tell us apart from those who inhabit the countries around us.

One experience I had is when I was standing in an airport, waiting for my flight. For lack of better things to do, I, as usual, observed everyone around me. I tried to tell apart those who were natives of this country, and those who weren’t. Of course it was obvious if they were Caucasians with white skin, or if they were Africans with dark skin. But otherwise, I couldn’t really tell for sure.

I think what’s bad about this is that it makes it harder to get a sense of individuality in a world that revolves on physical traits. Other than that, it’s just an amusing past time to guess who’s from here and who’s just visiting. Looks are pretty much what they’re called... “looks...” That’s all there is to them. But I’ll discuss that in a different article since the idea alone warrants about a page or two.

Next point. Our democratic government.

What’s good: freedom and all that jazz. We are able to live in an environment where it’s alright to speak up. We exist in a country that has no apartheid or caste system, where both men and women have the right to vote.

What’s bad: abuse and corruption. I suppose every country has that... But that’s not a reason to have it. I mean, if everybody had cancer, would it then be alright to have it? Sure, that would give us a lot of people to empathize with, but we'd all suffer and perish from it. It's no secret that a lot of our officials are corrupt... But that doesn't stop them either.

I don’t know when the Philippine government reached the peak of corruption; I don’t have enough knowledge of political tides as of the moment. All I know is that we are on the list of the world’s most corrupt countries, and I know that that’s not a good thing.

Wait, we all know that, right? Even those who are corrupting the government system. But what prevents this from being eradicated? Greed, that old, old sin that was the downfall of the greatest civilizations. I’ll leave the connection unsaid.

Another point is the economic state of our country. I understand figures just as much as the next person so I won’t include those here.

”In many ways Filipino society is composed of paradoxes, perhaps the most apparent being the great extremes of wealth and poverty in the nation. The Philippines is a country of rich resources, but it is in the process of developing its full potentialities.”

Look at Japan. They don’t have half as much as the resources we have, and look at how well they’re doing. It is the great irony of the Filipino nation. The most accurate image I can think of is the beggar sitting on top of a pile of gold. The beggar knows it’s there, he just doesn’t know how to use it. Our country is fraught with natural resources. But they are too often ignored.

“Statistics don’t put food on the table.” I think that was a newspaper headline shortly after PGMA declared some increase in the GNP. I applaud whoever said that... That was a very elegant way to put it.

Another thing I see as something both good and bad about this country is “hospitality.” All the foreign visitors comment on how warm they’re received and things like that. “Hospitality” and all its splendor is usually reserved for guests, right? That’s why we let them use the nicest things and we try our best to please them. But I just wonder why we don’t reserve the same warmth toward people who are not guests. People who are around us everyday. We pride ourselves on hospitality and graciousness, and yet we bicker with our neighbors every few minutes.

That brings me to the devoutness of some Filipinos. Church every Sunday is a must for all Catholics in this country. For others, they hear mass on a different date. I am not well acquainted with all the practices, but I do know that most Filipinos never miss a holy date. Yet some of these devout people are the ones we hear gossiping and swearing in public vehicles. Some of them are the corrupt officials mentioned earlier. Some of them cheat on their wives and steal from their companies. Yet they are those who are present at their altar every week. Of course, there are those who abide by the rules. Those who are truly, in being and not by name, devoutly religious. They are the people we are meant to emulate.

One thing I cannot deny about the Filipino race is that we are happy. It is not uncommon for strangers to smile at one another. Even though we are poor, even though we are on top of the list of the most corrupt countries, we are also on top of the most cheerful ones. There’s always a profound sense of humor that permeates all corners of this landscape we call home.

I think that Filipinos have a love-hate relationship with the Philippines. We always complain about how this country sucks. How we don’t want to be Filipinos anymore. But when a foreigner makes a rude comment about our country, we come together as a nation to defend our dignity. I also think that that's one of the best things about this country.

As I said earlier, the Philippines is a diamond with two facets. One good, the other bad. But the diamond that is our nation is a diamond in the rough. It is in throes of metamorphosis even in the 20th century. The good thing about this is that we still have a chance to change the direction we're heading off to. Our diamond may emerge shattered and broken in the face of adversity... But it may also rise to become what it has always been destined to be: a shining, pristine symbol of a proud nation.

What to do When Stuck in a Horror Movie

What to do When Stuck in a Horror Movie

*I don’t remember where I first heard this, but I know there are some people who’ve already written about this. This is just what I think. (Hahaha.)

When lost in an uncharted road, it’s best to go back the way you came from. It’s also best if you don’t go exploring abandoned churches, shacks, and the like.

When stranded during a storm, it’s best to stay in your car than go into that creepy house on top of the hill. Unless you’re alone and there’s a serial killer inside your car... Then it’s best to give up.

When trapped inside an eerie house, there’s going to be a door with weird noises behind it. Don’t open it.

When confronted by the handiwork of the killer, i.e. dead bodies on pegs, don’t scream. You really don’t want to get added to the macabre collection.

When being chased by a murderer with a chain saw/ extremely long knife/ various other murdering weapons, hide. Also, don’t come out when you think the coast is clear. It never is.

When being chased through long and winding corridors, don’t get confused. Make like Hansel and Gretel and take note of markers. Also, if everything becomes extremely quiet and the creepy music stops, it’s probably your turn to die.

During group outings where things go sour, there’s always an annoying twerp that’s going to be present. Don’t push him/her over any cliffs just yet; he/she might be the one who’ll save you in the end.

When being chased by bloodthirsty zombies, it’s best to run and never look back. Also, that neighbor you’re going to recognize is going to kill you, so don’t feel any sympathy. In most movies, the zombies’ weak point is the brain, so it’s best to aim there.

When in a hospital where the lights flicker on and off, and where strange music drifts out of deserted rooms, just leave.

If you happen to have Sarah Michelle Gellar in the cast, stick with her. You know she’s going to make it to the end.

When in Ancient Egypt, please don’t read the Big Black Book. Or prevent anyone from reading it. It’s called Book of the Dead for a very good reason you know.

In the event that the book is read, take the first flight out. You really don’t want to be around when the plagues of Egypt start again.

When dealing with the supernatural, such as Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees, it’s best to learn what you can about them. It’s probably the only way you can kill them.

When dealing with evil children, i.e. The Children of the Corn, it’s best to just give up. The smaller the kids, the more evil they are. Also, you’re trapped in their town where they killed all the other adults... What makes you think you’ll survive? If you’re a kid, then pretend to be one of them. Just rub your eyes ‘til they’re red and pretend that you’re as demented as they are.

When trapped in a ship where the occupants have died, it’s safe to assume that it’s teeming with ghosts. Also, since you’re in the middle of the sea, you’re probably going to die unless you’re the lead character.

When making a documentary, it’s best to actually know what you’re doing. You know the woods rumored to be inhabited by an evil witch? Don’t go.

In the event that you survive the first movie, don’t do the sequel. 90% of first horror movie survivors get killed in the second one. :)

What’s Up with My Life? Nah. It’s What’s DOWN with My Life

What’s Up with My Life? Nah. It’s What’s DOWN with It

How I feel right now

I feel like the biggest Homo Erroneous. Wondering what that means? Well, it’s a new species that I belong to. Basically, we are people who can’t seem to get anything right, but it’s not our fault. Call it bad luck. Call it whatever. I call it cruel twist of fate, this being born into the species Homo Erroneous. It’s like I don’t live in Mandaluyong City. It’s like I live in Error City. Wait, I don’t just live there, I’m the mayor there.

Why I’m Writing This

I’m writing this because I’m pissed off. Seriously. It’s not like I actually have anything against them, but I just feel like it’s so unfair. Okay, so this is what happened. I applied for the STFAP (Student Tuition Financial Assistance Program) to make the cost for my tuition fee go lower. The base fee is php 1,000 per unit, but it can go as low as php 600 or php 300. But then, when I checked, they placed me under Bracket A. That means that I would have to pay php 1,500 per unit instead. At first, I thought it was some mistake, but then they checked and they said that it was really what the result of the assessment was. Now, Bracket A is for those whose incomes exceed php 1,000, 000 annually. My parents don’t even have ITR’s. We passed Affidavits of Non-filing, with the statement that the annual income is around php 300, 000. Correct me if I’m wrong, but one million pesos does not equal to three hundred thousand. I have to take 18 units this semester. That would be the cost of around php 30, 000, with miscellaneous fees. Now, WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO GET THAT? To think, that if I didn’t apply, I’d only have to pay around php 20, 000. I don’t know how they assessed that, but they are obviously, distinctly, evidently wrong. I know people who are in Bracket B and C who are far, far, far, far better off than I am. And how stupid can they be to actually even contemplate that someone applying for financial assistance desires to pay MORE than what they otherwise would??? I actually thought I won’t even be able to enroll anymore. Then I cried. Nothing dramatic, just angry tears storming down at midnight. I’ve never cried over money before. Why would they put me in Bracket A?!? Pardon my language, but that is just the most stupid, most asinine, most blockheaded, most doltish, most numskulled thing in the world. (I’ve got a lot more insults where that came from...) If someone from STFAP Office ever reads this, well. I actually want them to read this. So they’d know how excessively moronic and oafish and lethargic their decision was. CRETINS. (I’m just insulting. At least I’m not swearing. Yet.) Yeah, I am extremely pissed off. Pissed at inflation, at unfair decisions, at the whole damn stupid system. First they increase the tuition fee by 300 %, and now this? Wow. That’s just great, thanks.

What I Plan To Do

Of course I can’t burn the place down. Arson goes for twenty years to life. That’s if they catch and convict me, though. But I think that rarely happens in this country. Unless there’s a material witness who’s credible enough. I don’t know whether the NBI or the SOCO has a mass spectrometer/ gas chromatograph to prove probable cause of fire and the accelerant used. I haven’t heard of it. Mostly they say faulty wiring. Oh, wait. Once they said the cause (of a really big whole through the roof and the destruction of a whole wing of a shopping mall via a colossal explosion, I’m sure you remember,) was the gas methane. Right. Let’s pretend I didn’t perceive that as the complete testament of Philippine Forensic incompetence. (Methane explosions occur in environments like coal mines and collieries. That means that you’d need a long period of incubation in a large, undisturbed area with high temperatures. Read: mines. The decomposition of sludge by anaerobic bacteria in sewage-treatment processes also produces a gas rich in methane, but is sewage-treatment in a mall basement even remotely large or undisturbed enough? I saw the diagrams on TV. Come on. Plus, considering the size and pattern of the explosion, which blew a hole through the roof at least three floors from the basement and a progressive fire, I think that suggests C4 or some other explosive. Methane fires spread through areas permeated by the methane itself. I think it had a lot to do with WHO it happened to, instead of WHAT happened. The irony of justice.) Wait, if I do get convicted with arson, I’m a minor! That means I get disciplinary action in a less threatening environment. But then, I can be tried as an adult on the grounds of planning, premeditation and desire to inflict damage. Wait. Where was I before I rambled on about this? Oh, yeah. What I plan to do. I plan to take out a student loan. That’s it. Hahaha. I feel much better now. Sorry if I bored you with my stupid life. :-)

What I HATE About Some Fairy Tale Heroines

What I HATE About Some Fairy Tale Heroines

I’m not saying I don’t like fairy tales and their heroines. They’ve got all those good points like kindness and all that jazz. I’m just critiquing the twentieth century view of some of these fairy tale protagonists and what they mean to me. (I say twentieth because the Grimm Brothers Fairy Tales were more of my type.) I must warn you though that this is written from a very feministic point of view. Of course it is, because I wrote it. (Katrina de Leon gave some ideas. There you go, two man-haters.)

Now, I don’t hate Disney Channel. Or the Disney ‘label.’ Okay, their rendition of fairy tales and the concepts have to do with their audience, which is like, age 1 to 14. So I get the whimsicality. But there are some Disney renditions of fairy tale heroines that I really hate. (Just some, I loved Mulan and Belle.) So here goes...

ARIEL
She was rebellious, I give her credit for that. And she wasn’t as bad as the others anyway. But at some point she was. Imagine angering your father, the King of the Sea, for some human. I know that happens all the time in the real world (except the King of the Sea part) but this way out of hand. She traded her fins and tail and voice for legs, to meet with a man she didn’t even know? Love at first sight. You know what? Take a second look. And make this one longer than five seconds. She risked her whole kingdom and herself for that? I’m all for selfish reasons as long as it doesn’t involve getting out of a cage just to get into a new one. Wow I’m cynical about this. I know. Hahaha! I don’t see anything wrong with that. Ariel, maybe sometimes you have to act on something other than impulse.

THE PRINCESS in the Princess and the Pea
My goodness she didn’t even have a name! I never noticed ‘til now. And what was the thing about the pea? She felt it through a hundred mattresses? I want to know how she even sleeps. If she felt a pea through a hundred mattresses, then, applying ratio, she’d probably feel each bit of dust in every mattress too. And the pea gave her bruises... Awww... Lame. Hey Princess, quit being so sensitive. And give yourself a name. Sheesh.

RAPUNZEL
Okay. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your gold hair.” If she had hair that long, why didn’t she just cut it off herself and use it to rappel down the tower herself? And I know there were scissors there... Unless the antagonist just happened to carry scissors on that particular day. Given all that time inside the tower, why didn’t she learn self-defense? WHY DO THEY ALWAYS NEED TO BE RESCUED?! It’s just so frustrating! Girls who can’t take care of themselves. Puh-lease.

SNOW WHITE
Seriously. Didn’t this girl have enough sense NOT to bite that apple? This is Eve in the Garden of Eden all over again. Peace to bible-fans. But I don’t believe the Creation Theory anyway. The thing with Eve puts the female race in an uneven light versus the male race. I feel that it’s a gender-biased story. (Again, MY opinion.) And isn’t not taking food from strangers the first thing that parents teach their kids? Come on. She’s the most annoying thing ever. “I’m wishing for the one I love to come and find me today.” Sheesh. I know this is severely feministic of me but I can’t help it. When I first heard this in full clarity, I remember thinking, “What the hell is wrong with her? Why would she wish for that?” (Yes, as a kid I thought like this.) Why didn’t she wish for something like a way to get out of the castle? Since her stepmom, the standard evil queen, hated her guts anyway? And why would she wish for the one she loves, when technically, they’ve never met? Wishful thinking and immaturity are two different things. Come on, her stepmother was making her wipe the floors of her own castle, and she’s not thinking of a way to escape, if not get even? I know it’s a fairy tale, but it shows poor judgment and lack of character. And it’s just so stereotypical! Frightened girl runs away, finds a house and cleans it, makes friends with the dwarves, dies due to her own stupidity, gets rescued by the handsome prince. There’s that handsome prince again! Sheesh. How annoying. People like her make me like the antagonists better. At least the evil queen had a brain. Guess what Snow White, some people don’t need to be rescued by others. We get by on our own, thank you very much. We have common sense.

AURORA, also known as Sleeping Beauty
First of, in the story, her role was to sleep. Now, I know that’s the plot, but it was so weird! The story was named after her, but the prince had more lines! Even the fairies had more lines. Goodness. Ironically, life imitates art.
Anyway, the prince fought Maleficent, etcetera while she was sleeping. Puh-lease. Lame. And what’s with the last scene? She agreed to marry him without even knowing his name?! Wow. There’s a fine line between whimsicality and practicality and that just about crossed it. Again, poor judgment. Sometimes I get disturbed when children watch this. I don’t want them to think that they can trust someone just because they help out once. Hello. Common sense? Prior to their marriage, they met once. Irritating. Sleeping Beauty, wouldn’t you rather slay your own dragon? Wake up.

CINDERELLA
At first, I thought Cindy was kind of somewhat okay. Then I watched the movies again and realized that there was something severely wrong with her. She was waaay too nice. I know they’re supposed to be nice, but this was too much! And too much of anything is bad. She was such a pushover! She even let the cat push her around. And she needed a fairy godmother to solve her problems for her... If only the rest of us have that luxury. And how many times did she say the word “love” in the three movies? Dr. Gregory House once said that, “They say love is the most important thing. Well, I think oxygen is more important.” I agree with him. And what was the point of her life anyway?
Of any of their lives?
Don’t any of these girls have dreams?
Real dreams. Something for themselves.
Why is “to get married” always the goal in these movies?
Makes me think of the eighteenth century Europe when all the parents wanted their children to get married and that’s it.
That is just so freaking wrong.
Cinderella, love doesn’t make the world go round... Life does.

“I don’t want to be like Cinderella,
Sitting in a dark old dusty cellar,
Waiting for somebody
To come and set me free
I don’t want to be like Snow White waiting
For a handsome prince to come and save me
On a horse of white
Unless we’re riding side by side
I don’t want to depend on no one else
I’D RATHER RESCUE MYSELF.”
- Tata Young, Cinderella

Random Musings: Grocery Episode

Random Musings: Grocery Episode

Since nothing even remotely interesting is happening in my life anyway (unlike some people’s lives *...bitterness!*) I’m just going to write about what I saw today. At the grocery. See how bored I am?!???!!!? I have nothing to write about but the grocery!!! Social life, where art thou?! Anyway...

I figure that people who are inside the grocery can be classified into the following (and these may overlap):

1. The Mothers. They make up about 50% of all the people that you’re likely to see there. They may be accompanied by any or all of the following:
- The bummed out son/s or daughter/s (probably holding a cellphone or listening to their ipod, looking like they’d rather die than spend another minute there.)
- The whining husband (probably asking the wife/mother why the shopping is taking so long. A fine example of the short male attention span.)
- The screaming kid/s (probably belting their lungs out about the insanely expensive thing they weren’t allowed to toss into the cart. “But mooommm....”)
- The maid (probably looking over the “madam’s” shoulder, or pushing the cart... or texting. Maids these days...)
- The older, wiser parent (probably reprimanding the mother/wife for the unwise choices. Sometimes they actually look and sound like product commercials. Life imitates art.)

2. The Grocery Crew. Hey it wouldn’t be a grocery without them, would it? They are most likely one of the following:
- The baggage handler (probably stacking the goods on various shelves. Now, the stacking you’re going to witness would depend upon their mood. There’s the proper tap tap tap of cans; then there’s the blag blag blag. Stay away from handlers doing the latter.)
- The salesperson (probably smiling even though he/she’s having the worst day of his/her life. I sometimes wonder if it’s a job requirement or if it’s a physiological condition.)
- The demo person (probably wondering why he/she can’t just record what he/she is saying.)
- The Security-Guard-in-Plainclothes (probably strolling with a basket of groceries... But you’d know they’re security because they’re constantly looking at everybody else; and constantly putting the groceries back to trade them for new ones. And besides, security people have that air of... I don’t know... security?)
- The Supervisor or The Manager (probably in a different uniform from the rest, probably walking purposefully towards something. Supervisors always walk purposefully. Always.)
- The Cashiers (probably concentrating on something else other than his/her job. Come on, putting money that is never going to be yours into that little machine all day everyday has got to be boring at some point.)
- The I-don’t-know-what-they-are (probably standing around chatting with each other. You only know that they’re grocery crew because they’re wearing uniforms.)

3. The Line Hold-uppers. They’re the ones in the cashier line, digging in their purses/pockets for their missing credit card/wallet, probably laughing nervously. If you’re behind him/her, you are probably the one who’s looking away or smiling emphatically, while thinking of your precious time that he’s/she’s taking up.

4. The Noisy Shoppers. They’re the people who are constantly complaining about something to the Grocery Crew. “Where’s the soap? Where’re the nuts? Why are you so unorganized? Why don’t these have price tags? Blah, blah, blah, blah. Due to the tenet “Customers are always right,” the G.C. can’t strangle them. Oh you know they want to.

5. The Get-out-of-my-way People. Probably one of those after-office ones who seem to feel like the floor was made for their heels to click upon. They could also be the ones who’re simply minding their own business. I don’t know about you but I get out of their way ASAP. Especially when they’re tall. And moody. Some of those heels can be pointy.

6. The OMG You’re here too! Type. Old friends/ acquaintances who happened to run into each other there after a few days/ months/ years/ decades/ centuries of separation. It’s funny sometimes when only one remembers the name of the other. Awkward, much?

7. The Sari-sari Store Owners. They’re the ones who have a minimum of two carts, each fully laden with the bounty of the earth. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if they actually own a sari-sari store or if they have exceptionally large families. Anyway, I always feel like if I were to bring them to Uganda they’d probably solve the food crisis there.

8. The Basket People. Polar opposites of number 4.They are the ones who are either extremely thrifty, or allergic enough to the sari-sari store to actually go to the grocery to buy a can of corned beef. They have a special cashier lane for that type.

9. You. It’s hard to classify when you’re doing the classifying.

An excerpt from chapter seven of “Jurassic Park”, the bestselling novel by Michael Crichton

An excerpt from chapter seven of “Jurassic Park”, the bestselling novel by Michael Crichton

“They moved Malcolm to another room in the lodge, to a clean bed. Hammond seemed to revive, and began bustling around, straightening up. “Well,” he said, “at least the disaster is averted.”

“What disaster is that?” Malcolm said, sighing.

“Well,” Hammond said, “the dinosaurs didn’t get free and overrun the world.”

Malcolm sat up on one elbow. “You were worried about that?”

“Surely, that’s what was at stake,” Hammond said. “These animals, lacking predators, might get out and destroy the planet.”

“You egomaniacal idiot,” Malcolm said in fury. “Do you have any idea what you are talking about? You think you can destroy the planet? My, what intoxicating power you must have.” Malcolm sat back on the bed. “You can’t destroy this planet. You can’t even come close.”

“Most people believe,” Hammond said stiffly, “that the planet is in jeopardy.”

“Well, it’s not,” Malcolm said.

“All the experts agree that our planet is in trouble.”

Malcolm sighed. “Let me tell you about our planet,” he said. “Our planet is four and a half billion years old. There has been life on this planet for nearly that long. Three point eight billion years. The first bacteria. And, later, the first multicellular animals, then the first complex creatures, in the sea, on the land. Then the great sweeping ages of animals—the amphibians, the dinosaurs, the mammals, each lasting millions upon millions of years. Great dynasties of creatures arising, flourishing, dying away. All this happening against a background of continuous and violent upheaval, mountain ranges thrust up and eroded away, cometary impacts, volcanic eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving… Endless constant and violent change… Even today, the greatest geographical feature on the planet comes from two great continents colliding, buckling to make the Himalayan mountain range over millions of years. The planet has survived everything, in its time. It will certainly survive us.”

Hammond frowned. “Just because it lasted a long time,” he said, “doesn’t mean it’s permanent. If there was a radiation accident…”

“Suppose there was,” Malcolm said. “Let’s say we had a bad one, and all the plants and animals died, and the earth was clicking hot for a hundred thousand years. Life would survive somewhere—under the soil, or perhaps frozen in the Arctic ice. And after all those years, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would spread again over the planet. The evolutionary process would begin again. It might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety. And of course, it would be very different from what it is now. But the earth would survive our folly. Only we, the humans, think it wouldn’t.”

Hammond said, “Well, if the ozone layer gets thinner--”

“There will be more ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface. So what?”

“Well. It’ll cause skin cancer.”

Malcolm shook his head. “Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It’s powerful energy. It promotes mutation, change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation.”

“And many others will die out,” Hammond said.

Malcolm sighed. “You think this is the first time such a thing has happened? Don’t you know about oxygen?”

“I know it’s necessary for life.”

“It is now,” Malcolm said. “But oxygen is actually a metabolic poison. It’s a corrosive gas, like fluorine, which is used to etch glass. And when oxygen was first produced as a waste product by certain plant cells—say, about three billion years ago—it created a crisis for all other life on our planet. Those plant cells were polluting the environment with a deadly poison. They were exhaling a lethal gas, and building up its concentration. A planet like Venus has less than one percent of oxygen. On earth, the concentration of oxygen was going up rapidly—five, ten, eventually twenty-one percent! Earth had an atmosphere of pure poison! Oxygen used to be incompatible with life.”

Hammond looked irritated. “So what is your point? That modern pollutants will be incorporated too?”

“No, my point is that life on earth can take care of itself. In the thinking of a human being, a hundred years is a long time. A hundred years ago, we didn’t have cars, and airplanes, and computers and vaccines… It was a whole different world. But to the earth, a hundred years is nothing. A million years is nothing. The planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can’t imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven’t got the humility to try. We have been residents here for the blink of an eye. If we are gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us.”

“And we very well might be gone,” Hammond said, huffing.

“Yes,” Malcolm said. “We might.”

“So what are you saying? We shouldn’t care about the environment?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then what?”

Malcolm coughed, and stared into the distance. “Let’s be clear. The planet is not in jeopardy. We are in jeopardy. We haven’t got the power to destroy the planet—or to save it. But we might have the power to save ourselves.”

MY LIST: The Five Best Fictional Characters Ever (in no particular order)

MY LIST: The Five Best Fictional Characters Ever (in no particular order)

1. Temperance Brennan

- Fictional character created by Kathy Reichs.

- There are 9 books about her (I have 6, so far) Deja Dead, Death du Jour, Fatal Voyage, Bare Bones, Monday Mourning, Cross Bones, Break No Bones*, Grave Secrets*, and Deadly Decisions*, and one TV series (Bones) with three seasons so far (Brennan is portrayed by Emily Deschanel.)

- Kathy Reichs, like her book character, is a forensic anthropologist who works for both the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciares et de Medicine Legale for the province of Quebec. She consistently commutes between the two places.

- The book character differs from the TV series character in almost every way except that they’re both forensic anthropologists. Brennan in the book: works in North Carolina and Quebec, is divorced from the lawyer Pete, has a sister named Harry, has a daughter named Katy, has a boyfriend named Andrew Ryan, and is more human than the TV character. Brennan on the series: works in Washington DC for the Jeffersonian Institute, has a crew of four extremely talented people, has an FBI agent partner named Seeley Both (played by David Boreanaz from Dark Angel), has a brother and a father both in jail, is a complete atheist and extremely emotionless.

- I like her because she’s witty, intellectual, strong and independent.

2. Robert Langdon

- Fictional character created by Dan Brown.

- There are two books about him (Angels and Demons & The Da Vinci Code) and one movie (The Da Vinci Code.)

- Of the two books, I favor Angels and Demons. It’s actually still my favorite book even though I read it three years ago. The Da Vinci Code lacked the level of excitement and suspense that A&D had, although it was certainly more controversial.

- Langdon is an unlikely hero, a professor of religious iconology at the Harvard University. He got swept up in the story when he was called on by CERN (that’s in Geneva, Switzerland) to help with the case of a murdered scientist branded with the symbol of the Illuminati, an old cult, and the robbery of the antimatter substance from their lab.

- He was so cool because he knew so much! The setting was in Vatican City, and he was so informed about all the artworks and artists etcetera. I also like him because he was completely unbiased about the things he came across, which I imagine would be hard since he was dealing with an age-old cult, Christianity in the Vatican City, and a product of science (the antimatter.)

3. Lincoln Rhyme

- Fictional character created by Jefferey Deaver.

- In my opinion, the best criminalist in all of “fictiondom.”

- There are 8 novels about him and his partner Amelia Sachs: The Bone Collector, The Stone Monkey, The Coffin Dancer, The Empty Chair, The Vanished Man, The Twelfth Card, and the Cold Moon*. There’s also a short story in the book Twisted, and a The Bone Collector movie starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.

- During one of his crime scene investigations, a beam fell onto him and injured his C4 vertebrae, thus paralyzing him from the shoulders down. But he can move his left ring finger. He became a paraplegic.

- Injured like that, he continued forensic work employing all his resources (machines and his partner Amelia Sachs.)

- He’s amazing because he’s so smart. His eye for details, clues and subtle hints is incredible. If he were a real person, he would be working for Interpol. He’d probably be the chief of Interpol.

- He’s the best criminalist because he always knows where to find the perpetrators. He always knows exactly what they did. He knows what they’re going to do. He is able to think like them. And, being disabled, he uses his mind more. He’s usually right, and when he makes mistakes, he finds a way to make up for it.

- Criminals who know him fear him, and all the police and detectives still ask him for help, even though he retired when he got injured. Pretty amazing for a paraplegic.

4. Freddy Krueger

- Fictional character from the series Nightmare on Elm Street.

- I think there are around ten movies about him.

- In a nutshell, he’s creepy. Ok, that’s an understatement. He was a pedophile who preyed on children in Elm Street. The parents eventually hunted him down and burned him in a boiler room. But his soul was so evil that he came back, years later, in the dreams of the children of Elm Street who were then grown up already. He became a severely burned man in a green sweater and filthy hat, with razors for fingers. But what are a few nightmares, right? There was a catch. If he got to you in the dream, then you really do die. He made the nightmare realm his world, and when you were there, the only escape was to wake up... If you can.

- In the movies, there were three girls in white, playing jump rope, who sang this in the creepiest voice possible: 1,2 Freddy’s coming for you, 3,4, better lock your door, 5,6, grab your crucifix, 7,8, stay up late, 9, 10, never sleep again.

- There was a movie, Freddy vs. Jason , that featured the face-off of the century. I loved that movie. Jason Voorhees was a young boy who drowned in a lake, and came back years later as a zombie in a hockey mask, controlled by the voice of his mother, ordering revenge. That was seriously creepy. A literal clash of the worlds.

5. Harry Potter

- Fictional character created by Joanne Kathleen Rowling.

- If you haven’t heard of him then you must have been living in some remote mountain for the past decade.

- There are 7 books in the Harry Potter Series: The Sorcerer’s Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince, and The Deathly Hallows, and 5 movies so far for the first five titles.

- Do I really have to say why I’m such a fan? It’s obvious. Hahaha.

- I actually converted one shelf in my closet to a shrine to the HP series.

- I LOVE HARRY POTTER!!!

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*Books I haven’t read yet.

Sidney Sheldon’s Books

Sidney Sheldon’s Books

This is my totally biased recap of all the Sheldon books I’ve read, including the people and places they remind me of. (Oh, free time. :-) Forgive me if I forgot a lot of details, since I’ve read some of these three or four years ago. There are 18 books in all, but there are 5 that I haven’t read yet.

*Some spoilers ahead. :-)

1. Are You Afraid of the Dark?

- Reminds me of: Gempyl Evangelista. I borrowed this from her, before she left for Canada the summer of Senior Year.

- I don’t remember the names of the characters, but I know they were two women brought together by the deaths of their husbands who worked for The Firm that invented “Prima,” a technological breakthrough that allowed human beings to control the world weather. I remember that the two women eventually defeated the antagonists (a backstabbing governor, I think, and the standard scheming rich guy.) They also destroyed Prima, since it could be used to conquer the world. But there was a nice twist at the end... Prima had a twin, hidden in some remote island. So, it was like there should be a part two.

2. The Sands of Time

- Reminds me of: Carla Arciaga, who used to be Carla Bravo in elementary. She was prone to name changes even then. Parental issues. Anyway. She lent this to me during the summer of sophomore year. I still have the details because I copied them. See, I really liked this one.

- The title came from the quote,

“Lives of great men all remind us,

That we can make our lives sublime,

And departing, leave behind us,

Footprints on the sands of time.”

- This is my favorite historical novel. I swear, this one’s REALLY good. The characters were: Jaime Miro, a Basque Nationalist, fighting against the Republicans who refused to give them equal rights; Lucia Carmine, the daughter of a Mafioso who masqueraded as a nun after her father was captured; Sister Graciela Pinero, a beautiful woman with a troubled past and abused childhood; Sister Teresa, the oldest nun, who had a beautiful voice, a plain face, and major paranoia; Sister Megan (Patricia Scott), who turned out to be an heiress to a large fortune; Felix Carpio and Ricardo Mellado, fellows of Miro and loyal companions; and Amparo Jiron, the traitor who caused Miro’s capture by his mortal enemy, Colonel Ramon Acoca. It was such a beautiful novel, filled with daring adventures, historical facts, narrow escapes and twists and turns that leaves the reader begging for more. The end? Hmmm... I don’t want to write it. Hahaha. Too good to spoil for people who haven’t read it yet.

- Author’s note. (The book’s prologue. I actually copied it. Seriously, this is one of the nicest prologues I’ve ever read.)

“This is a work of fiction. And yet…

The romantic land of flamenco and Don Quixote and exotic-looking senoritas with tortoiseshell combs in their hair is also the land of Torquemada, the Spanish Inquisition, and one of the bloodiest civil wars in history. More than half a million people lost their lives in the battles for power between the republicans and the rebel Nationalists in Spain. In 1936, between February and June, 269 political murders were committed, and the Nationalists executed Republicans at the rate of a thousand a month, with no mourning permitted. One hundred sixty churches were burned to the ground, and nuns were removed forcibly from convents, “as though,” wrote Duc de Saint-Simon of an earlier conflict between the Spanish government and the Church, “they were whores in a bawdy house.” Newspaper offices were sacked and strikes and riots were endemic throughout the land. The Civil War ended in a victory for the Nationalists under Franco, and following his death, Spain became a monarchy.

The Civil War, which lasted from 1936 to 1939, may be officially over, but the two Spains that fought it have never been reconciled. Today, another war is being fought with bombs, bank robberies to finance the bombs, assassinations and riots.

When a member of ETA, a Basque guerilla underground group died in a Madrid hospital after being tortured by the police, the nationwide riots that followed led to the resignation of the director general of Spain’s police force, five security chiefs, and two hundred senior police officers.

In 1986, in Barcelona, the Basques publicly burned the Spanish flag, and in Pamplona thousands fled in fear, when Basque Nationalists clashed with the police force in a series of mutinies that eventually spread across Spain and threatened the stability of the government. The paramilitary police retaliated by going on a rampage, firing at random homes and shops of the Basques. The terrorism that goes on is more violent than ever.

This is a work of fiction. And yet…”

-- Sidney Sheldon, The Sands of Time

3. If Tomorrow Comes

- Reminds me of: Carla Arciaga, again. She also lent me this one.

- This is a novel that would make a really good Hollywood movie. Charlie’s angels, eat your heart out. Haha. The heroine is Tracy Whitney, and the story started out when her mother killed herself because of a bad business deal. She wanted to get her revenge so she barged into the home of Anthony Orsatti, the man who cheated her mother, with a gun. But it backfired. He even framed her for the loss of an expensive painting, a Renoir or a Monet, I think. She went to jail and lost everything she had, including her fiancé. In the prison, she was molested, threatened and made miserable by the other inmates, until she learned to fight for herself. She wanted to escape from prison, and she figured that the easiest way would be to get close to the warden. The warden, whose family lived in the jail grounds, assigned her to take care of his small daughter. Tracy meticulously planned her escape, via the laundry. But, when the appointed time came, there was an accident. The warden’s daughter fell into the lake outside the prison border. She made a choice and jumped into the water to save her... except she didn’t know how to swim and passed out. Rescuers found them and the warden, supported by everyone in the prison system and the public, awarded her freedom. Once out, she planned to get back the things she lost... but fate had other plans. She met Gunther Hartog, an old man who turned out to be responsible for a lot of robberies. He made her his protégée, and she became an expert in looting museums and banks. Then, on one of her missions, she met Jeffrey Stevens, a con artist. At first, they tried conning each other... But they soon realized that they met their match in each other and worked together. The charm of this particular novel lies in their adventures, individually and together. I won’t go into details anymore, since I don’t remember all of them. But I can tell you that this book has stunts worthy of applause from James Bond himself.

4. Tell Me Your Dreams

- Reminds me of: Kimberly Trix Lee back during second year. She bought this one first. I followed like three weeks later. I think we both bought it from the NBS near JRU. Hahaha.

- A heart stopping novel about one woman with Multiple Personality Disorder (although nowadays, MPD is termed as “Disassociative Personality Disorder” instead.) Her name was Ashley Patterson... But the other personalities were Alette Peters (a painter from Italy) and Antoniette Prescott (a singer with a British accent.) It was great because in the beginning the reader had no idea that she had a mental disorder. Antoniette, or Toni, killed several people, mostly her boyfriends. Alette was the innocent girl in the story, the softer side of Ashley. Ashley, of course, was in the middle of everything. It was written from three points of view and when the MPD was revealed, it was like that was when it really began. Ashley Patterson was eventually brought to court... Just before she was sentenced to die, her lawyer, whose name I don’t recall, proved that she was mentally unstable. She was sent to a mental institution, and was released when the doctors determined she was cured—or so they thought.

5. Morning, Noon and Night

- Reminds me of: A masquerade party, because of the cover.

- I don’t remember much (tsk, tsk, must read this again...) But I remember it’s about the death of a billionaire and the drama because of his last will. A daughter turned up and no one was sure if she really was the daughter. I think it turned out that she was a con artist. I think I read this during first year. Why don’t I have photographic memory?

6. Nothing Lasts Forever

- Reminds me of: the garage sale I bought it from. For php 20. Three years ago.

- It’s about three women doctors who struggled with their careers because of the then male-dominated medical society. They met because they were roommates. Two of them were quite smart (academically) but one used her “gender” to get the grades on her transcript. Paige Taylor was the one who inherited a million dollars from her patient she performed euthanasia on. (She got accused of murder.) Kat Turner was the one who got involved with the mafia. And Honey Taft was the one who graduated without actually studying. I think, after much medical and legal drama, Kat Turner was the only casualty. Again, I don’t have a very good memory.

7. The Doomsday Conspiracy

- Reminds me of: Cristina Manejero. She let me borrow it. Sophomore year.

- This one made me a fan of aliens. It was about an alien spacecraft that crashed into a desert (was it Nevada?) Accidentally, a group of tourists found it. One by one, they had to be killed. Or something like that. The aliens in this book were pretty cool... They grew like vegetables. Hehe. I don’t remember that much anymore.

8. The Other Side of Midnight

- Reminds me of: That garage sale three years ago. I love good bargains.

- This is one of the more unforgettable ones. The characters were Noelle Page, a stunning woman from the fishing village of Marseilles, who went to Paris to escape from her bleak future. She met pulchritudinous Larry Douglas, a pilot for the US air force. He promised her that he would marry her, but it was a joke. Cruel, much. The bad thing was that Noelle was pregnant with his child. She was so mad at him that she gave herself an abortion with a coat hanger. She didn’t die. A doctor friend helped her. Next scene. I don’t remember how she met Constantin Demiris, but he was a millionaire, one of the richest men in the world. A Greek shipping magnate who was incredibly generous to people who helped him, but he never forgot an offense. Vengeance was his middle name. Anyway, he fell in love with Noelle. Noelle, on the other hand, (using Demiris’ money) kept track of Larry. Next scene. Katherine (I forgot her maiden name) was a smart and quick-witted woman whose path crossed with Larry Douglas during a casting for a war movie that Larry auditioned for. They got married. Next scene. Constantin Demiris hired Larry Douglas upon the scheme of Noelle to which he was not privy. Noelle wanted to get her revenge... But it backfired, and she fell in love with him again. Silly girl. Next scene. Together, Noelle and Larry plotted to kill Katherine. Katherine, on the other hand, lost her mind before they got to her and jumped into a lake. They didn’t kill her, but they were charged with murder. During the trial, Demiris was there. He seemed like he was supporting Noelle, but he actually manipulated the defendants’ lawyer to incriminate them further. Noelle and Larry were sentenced to die by firing squad. A nice twist: Katherine was alive, thanks to Demiris. He placed her in a convent, to be cared for by the nuns. She had amnesia.

9. Memories of Midnight

- Reminds me of: Chito Lapitan. He gave this to me as a Christmas gift (2007.)

- This is the sequel to The Other Side of Midnight. Basically, it starts with Katherine Douglas, who still had amnesia, but was slowly regaining her memory. Demiris hired her in his company to keep track of her. He knew he had to kill her if she started remembering too much... I mean, his plan for revenge against Noelle and Larry only worked because everyone thought that she was dead. If she turned out to be alive, well... that would be a problem for Demiris. Bad for business. Anyway, when he realized that Katherine already had a clue about who she really was, he assigned someone to kill her. (It was vague at first because there were three men who seemed like they were going to do the job.) Demiris’ wife, whose name escapes me, found out about the plot to kill her and called her to warn her. But she didn’t get to answer it... The call was received by this weird character in the book, but I forgot his name. He was an authentic misanthrope. He remembered everything by phone numbers, addresses and statistics. (Like, if you said “Greece,” he’d tell you how many people live there, latitude, longitude, everything.) Anyway, being a misanthrope, he didn’t tell Katherine. He actually kept it to himself, because “he wanted to see if he was right about who the murderer was.” Luckily, weird guy’s therapist, who was coincidentally Katherine’s love interest, found out about it and rescued her. (The killer wasn’t one of the three men suspected, but Demiris’ “young” baggage handler. Turned out he was sick with something that prevented growth and made him seem like a teenager, which was a pretty good cover.) Meanwhile, remember Demiris’ wife? She killed herself and made it look like Demiris did it. Thus a nice investigation that led to court. Napoleon Chotas, Demiris’ lawyer (and, to me, the best lawyer in fiction) literally came back from the dead. Demiris, when he thought that his lawyer was trying to extort money from him, had his house burned. But he survived, albeit the severely burned skin, and for some reason defended his client. He got him acquitted, but for a price. All of Demiris’ fortune had to be transferred to him. The end? Not yet. Demiris got into Chotas’ car for a talk... Chotas told him that he transferred the money to the convent where he first left Katherine... and drove the car off a cliff.

10. The Naked Face

- Reminds me of: Chito Lapitan. He lent me this, sometime during the senior year.

- Sheldon’s first novel. It’s one about psychoanalysis... I think the protagonist’s name is Dr. Judd. All I remember is (sorry, I think I was stressed out when I read this) that he thought he was becoming paranoid because someone was stalking him. It turned out that he wasn’t paranoid at all, and that someone was trying to kill him. I think it ended with the psychoanalyst actually killing his assailant.

11. A Stranger in the Mirror

- Reminds me of: The garage sale, again.

- This one stars Toby Temple and Josephine Czinski, who later changed her name to Jill Castle. Josephine was a poor Polish girl tormented by discrimination and physical pain. In her early days, she sought refuge in movies and later decided to run away from home to become a movie star. Toby Temple, on the other hand, was a young boy with a penchant for comedy who also ran away from home because he got a local girl pregnant. They both went to Hollywood. After a whirlwind of disasters in their own lives, Toby rose to success as a comedian, while Jill struggled with bit roles in movies. Then Toby met Jill and he fell in love with her. That time, Jill was not interested at all in him because she was busy with trying to get roles in movies (by sleeping with directors and producers.) But Toby didn’t know that, of course. Eventually, they got together and... more disasters. Again, I won’t go into detail. All I want to say is that this book made me understand that there are really very few people in the world who are truly evil, and that most things that people do are just spawned by their experiences, needs and wants. There’s always a reason for everything, even though reasons are pretty hard to decipher. This one was a really good read.

12. The Stars Shine Down

- Reminds me of: Anne Fernando, who lent this to me a week ago.

- This book is about Lara Cameron, who was born and raised in Glace Bay by her father who was the biggest jerk in the world. He was a drunk, lazy man who let Lara take care of the boarding house he was supposed to be managing. This boardinghouse was home to a lot of electricians, carpenters and other workers. They became Lara’s family. Then she carried out her plan of creating her own building, with the help of her friends. From that building, (her net worth became 3 million dollars when she was 21 years old) she moved to Chicago and built there too. She had an empire. But Chicago wasn’t enough, so she also made her empire in New York. Now, she did all this by her own means, which were pretty impressive but... well, she cheated and manipulated a lot of people. For a long time, there was nothing on her mind but “more, more, more,” and her business partner, whose name I forgot, was there through it all. Love interest? None. But there was a guy, older than her, named Paul Martin, who was a friend with benefits. He did a lot of favors for her and knew all her secrets. Then she met Philip Adler, classical pianist who was constantly on the road performing. She followed him all over the world, and eventually they got married in Paris. Which angered Paul Martin. But much to Lara’s chagrin, Philip could not settle down, since his life was his music. One night, a mugger held him up on a street and injured his left hand, hindering him from playing the piano. Thus, he stayed at home (read: hermit.) It turned out that it was Lara’s business partner, secretly in-love with her, who ordered the injury to Philip. Then Lara’s “crimes” caught up with her and in a legal proceeding lost her empire. She would have gone to jail if Paul Martin testified, but he remained a friend and didn’t. The end? Lara saw an empty lot and started thinking of building again.

13. The Master of the Game

- Reminds me of: The house in Cavite where I found it, and the eight consecutive hours that I spent reading it. Also reminds me of Ate Karen Legion, who was the first person I knew who read it too.

- The title came from the sentence “After everything she did, is Kate Blackwell the master of the game?” which is written on the back cover.

- In my opinion, this is the best Sidney Sheldon novel. I won’t retell it here, and I couldn’t if I tried. The book features five generations of people in a whirlwind of money, greed, power, control, pain, revenge and, ultimately, love. The book went from Africa, to the States, to the lowest and highest places on earth. The central character is Kate Blackwell, a woman who lived her life controlling others... her son, her business partners, her friends, her enemies, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren... The novel began with Kate’s parents, who met in Africa during the fight for diamonds... I can’t even find words to describe what happened in Africa then. The way that the story was told made the characters seem so... alive. From then, the story kept on getting more complicated and more fascinating. Her son, whose name escapes me, was one of the most affected by his mother’s manipulative nature. (Read: he went crazy.) Kate’s grandchildren, twins Eve and Alexandra, turned out to be polar opposites... like two facets of the same diamond, with Eve’s facet dipped in blood. (That’s the cover, by the way.) The characters in this book are some of the most amazing fictional creations ever. Kate Blackwell manipulated around her... But in the end, the only one she couldn’t manipulate was herself.

These are the ones that I haven’t read yet:

14. Windmills of the Gods

15. Rage of Angels

16. Bloodline

17. The Sky is Falling

18. The Best Laid Plans