Requiescat

Here she lies, she's safe at last
She will sleep the millennia away
She's mortal like us we know
Someday we'll all have to go
But right now we don't know what to say
She's gone from here
Yet here she lies
Now she's excluded from all earthly pain
She's closed her eyes
Behind the glass
No sun, no smoke, no rain
Tears and fears and hugs and sighs
She's stoic in her white box
Does she hear us we wonder
Does she see us we ponder
What does this all mean
Here she lies she's safe at last
She's forever eighteen.

Maria Teresa Foronda, June 11, 1991- June 16, 2009

Storybook Patois

So I'm reading A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, and I'm viddying a lot of odd words. Truth be told, it's taking malenky tolchocks at my brain, this nadsat jargon. First of all, it was already mighty bezoomny of Burgess to write this, since it's all horrorshow dratsing with shaikas and screaming devotchkas and ptitsas. Some of my droogs reckon it's a nice book, but I wouldn't use that slovo. Well-written. Imaginative. Engaging. Nice? No. By Bog, Burgess makes Vonnegut viddy relatively tame. So much krovvy and flying zoobies in this book! And what is scary about Alex, that’s the bezoomny malchick’s eemya, is that he’s not the least bit poogly of ultraviolence. He actually lives for horrorshow, no remorse whatsoever, and I know that’s what Burgess wants to show, but it pooglies me somehow. Knives in the moloko and dratsing-oobivating every night? More sensitive souls would be bolnoy by the thirtieth page. It vreds my brain, really, like a bolshy britva of verbosity.

Speaking of jargon, all this nadsatting reminds me of another invented language: Newspeak. ( From George Orwell's 1984. ) Now there's a double-plus-ungood language because it limits the words people are allowed to think and say. They phased out Oldspeak, and you had to be always goodthinking, otherwise the thinkpol would get you. It’s not easy to grasp the ramifications unless you read the novel itself. So many of my favorite words they turned into crimethink, really. It's double-unsane. I don't even know why those proles didn't take to the streets and quash Ingsoc. Not goodwise for the mind, although it didn't really matter, comrades, since if you were caught by the thinkpol you would become an unperson anyway. I unbellyfeel Ingsoc and Big Brother, of course, and like Oldthink better. But I have to stop now, since I am also afraid of being sent to joycamp, just in case Big Brother is reading.

The Amazons, Asherah, and The Search for Atlantis

(National Geographic Channel Episode)
Riddles of the Dead: The Amazon Warriors

“Men who are warriors do not gain much attention. Women warriors, on the other hand, become the stuff of legends.” There was a feature on the National Geographic channel, Riddles of the Dead, about the Amazon warriors. They were fierce, beautiful, blonde women who refused to be conquered by men. They raised their male children as slaves and trained their women to be warriors. The myth of the Amazons continues to inspire many stories, even up to today.

It was said that the Amazons fought on the side of the Trojans during the war against Achilles and the rest of the Greeks. Achilles is said to have killed the Amazon Queen Penthesilea in a fierce battle, and another Queen, Hippolyta, possessed the girdle that was one of the labors of Hercules. An archaeologist investigating a 3000-year-old burial in Southern Russia discovered that it contained the skeleton of a (according to an anthropologist) woman in a nomadic warrior’s pose—one leg straight, the other bent. Along with this were hundreds of arrowheads, golden beads, and golden emblems of a priest/ess. They figured that the woman (later confirmed to be so by DNA testing) was a nomadic warrior priestess. Coincidentally, studies showed that Southern Russia was where the Amazons were most likely to have gone after they were displaced by external factors. It seemed that the Amazons were not only simply “myth” after all.

(The Amazons, or Androktones—Killers of Men, are now the newest subjects of my feminist research.)

Women like them, who have defied order and “traditional” gender roles, are definitely interesting. They show us that the line we draw between capabilities of men and women somehow do not really have to exist. I think gender roles are really a way of keeping the stability in society. Humans are creatures of routine, and if there was too much variety the world would be more complicated. Or would it? Do these roles really simplify things? There was a time when gender roles were a question of pragmatism and not of bias. That is not always the case today.

For starters, gender roles are unfair. They constrict and they divide. They serve to separate things that should not have boundaries. These boundaries are based on the assumption that men and women are intrinsically different, and there are some things that only men can do and vice versa. It is assumed that there are some things that only women can do. With the exception of childbirth and other biology-related aspects, this is really not true.

Gender roles then extend to Dating Scripts. There was an episode on The Tyra Banks Show related to this. The topic was a woman who could not seem to get dates because of her “bad dating habits.” Some gay men were on the show to give her the “straight” dirt. It was amusing because these gay men showed the women what to wear, what to say and what not to say on a first date, and claimed to know what men really think. Dating scripts are another way to keep the stability. What is it that people have against spontaneity anyway? Some of the frequent advice given to women for first dates are: Don’t reveal too much; be approachable; eat light; show genuine interest in your date, etcetera. Which begs the question: Why? What if you don’t want to eat light? What if you’re not genuinely interested? Why do we allow ourselves to be governed by these scripts?

I should probably mention a certain bestseller I extremely abhorred due to it being a proponent of gender roles: Meyer’s Twilight. That requires twelve more pages of criticism, so I won’t elaborate.

Random Observations: In a traditional couple scene, the woman holds on to the man, not the other way around. And when it comes to holding the umbrella, the man holds it for the couple—even if it was the woman’s umbrella to begin with. And the whole business with the man carrying the purse (emphasis on the “purse,” it often being of no weight at all) of the woman: what in the world is that supposed to mean? If the world were gender aschematic, we’d all have a lot more freedom to do whatever we want. Not to sound like an anarchist, but the unwritten gender roles can be suffocating.

"The basic options of an individual must be made on the premises of an equal vocation for man and woman founded on a common structure of their being, independent of their sexuality." (Simone de Beauvoir, La Deuxieme Sexe)

(Discovery Channel DVD Episode)
Archaeology II – The Forbidden Goddess

Was it a battle of the sexes, or was it a battle for power, gender regardless?
Maybe it was both.
In ancient Israel a few thousand years ago, there were two main divine beings: Yahweh and Asherah. Yahweh was the almighty ruler, Asherah was his consort, and was the mother goddess.
With the subsequent editing of the bible, Asherah was scratched out and Yahweh rose to the rank of “only” god. Everything else is simply labeled a false idol.
Scholars today only know of Asherah through physical evidence unearthed by archaeologists. (Statues, icons, sculptures.) There are also some surviving texts in which she is mentioned as “Yahweh’s Asherah.”
There are two reasons considered for the deletion of the goddess and the phasing out of her cult. One, the high priests and officials of Israel, male, wanted the god to reflect them, and saw no room for a woman. (Gender studies show that while men are fascinated by women and their ability to reproduce, they are also threatened by this power.) Two, the high priests and officials of Israel saw her as a threat to Yahweh’s seat as most powerful divine being, and saw no room for any other divine being, woman or otherwise.

The episode made some old questions rise from the murky confines of my subconscious, somehow connected, but not exactly about it.

Disclaimer: I am an agnostic.
Note: Agnostic is not Atheist, and while we’re on the subject, Atheist is not Satanist.

One: Why do we refer to god as “he”? Is there any conclusive evidence to suggest that “he” is male? Following the logic at the very beginning, if god made humans in his own image and likeness, then isn’t it more likely that he was both male and female? He created both genders after all. (Tangent: How many genders are there, really?)
Two: “God has a face, hands, feet from time to time, but how about below the waist? There is no mention of genitalia anywhere.” It’s almost as if they’re denying physical evidence of god’s sexuality while asserting it through pronouns.
Three: How do we know that there is only one god, and that there are not multiple divine beings? (This will probably never be answered anyway.)
Four: I know that the bible is considered the absolute truth in a lot of circles. But why? It’s literature. It does not provide a conclusive account of how things happened. How can it? Every piece of work, written or otherwise, is reflective of the time and place in which it was created and, more importantly, who created it. The specific details cannot be held true for all time and for all people. It also has gone through revision after revision, translation after translation. How many sentences come out with a different meaning after being translated? And how many things get lost in revision? It does not provide an unbiased account of history, it is an insight into the people who wrote it and how they lived and believed.

"The bible is literature, not dogma." - George Santayana

P.S.The story of Asherah shows that history is written by the winners. The losers have no place in it except to be in the wrong, or to have no place in it at all.

(Discovery Channel DVD Episode)
The Search for Atlantis

I'll keep this one short.
Humans have always been fascinated by the unknown. It is not by coincidence that the mystery of Atlantis has survived the test of time, and that people, despite all failure and disappointment, still believe that one day, Atlantis will be found.
Some researchers say that it's on Bimini Island in the Bahamas.
Some say that it will never be found, because through time, and following geological patterns, it has been pushed under the Caribbean plate.
I think that the mystical Lost Island represents more than just thrill and treasure. It seems that no matter how much we progress, we will always feel the need to look back to where it all began. If only to see how far we've come.
If Atlantis does get found someday, I sincerely hope I would still be around to see it.

Ça se dit comment en Français?

Bonjour mes amis. C’est un article en Français, pardonnez-moi. Aujourd’hui, j’ai étudié, quoi d’autre, Français. Je prépare pour la semaine prochaine et pour les semaines après. J’apprends le temps futur, le temp pas parfait, et le temps conditionnel. (... Pas parfait? Qu’est-ce que “imperfect” en Français du reste?) Plus les temps passé et présent j’ai apprendu l’année dernière. Et les adjectifs et les adverbes! Quelle un cauchemar.

Alors. L’été est fini. C’est triste, mais c’est étonnant aussi parce que je peux apprendre choses nouvelle. Alors. Mon l’emploi du temps. Chaque jour de dix heure à onze heure et demie, un cours de Français avec Monsieur Bautista. Chaque mardi et jeudi de onze heure et demie à une heure, une cours de L’écriture Créatif avec Madame Duque. Cependant, chaque mercredi et vendredi de onze heure et demie à une heure, une cours de L’histoire. Je fais une pause pour le déjeuner à une heure à deux heure. Ensuite, le cours je deteste surtout, un cours de Calcul. Le professeur est Madame Bello, mais je ne sais pas elle. Chaque lundi, j’ai CWTS en la Géographie, de deux heure à cinq heure.

C’est tout. Tout à l’heure.

Random

Public advisories have been going on and on about how to avoid AH1N1. Their top tips include not hugging, not kissing, and more generally, not touching anyone. And also channeling your inner OC every time you wash your hands.

I know the virus is airborne, and human contact is just a secondary way of transmitting it, but if human contact is the only way to get it, I’m pretty much immune.

Kind of sad when you start thinking about it.

Just kidding. I don’t need a hug, I just feel like being dramatic. And the cactus bears wonderful resemblance.

By the way, a cactus is going to hurt you if you hug it, so don’t, even if it looks like it wants you to. Appearances are most often than not deceiving. XD

What if the Earth Stands Still?

“Your planet is dying.”
“So you’ve come to save us!”
“No. I have come to save the planet.”
- Dialogue from “The Day the Earth Stood Still”

Global Warming. Climate Change. Air Pollution. Water Pollution. Land Pollution. Excessive Greenhouse Gas Effect. Thinning of the Ozone Layer. Melting glaciers. Fossil fuel shortage. A lot of these issues are now as commonplace as corruption and traffic—in this country, at least.
Thankfully, with campaigns launched for awareness about environmental issues, “going green” has also entered the mainstream. Energy conservation. Drives against Air and Water Pollution. Anti-Smoke Belching Act. All noble and well-meant efforts. But the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still poses an alternative, more radical solution:
Exterminate mankind.
In the movie, Keanu Reeves is a representative of a group of civilizations far more advanced in all aspects relative to earthlings. (Why is it that almost all sci-fi concepts make us inferior to our intergalactic peers?) They have also been keeping tags on Planet Earth and are aware that it is one of few planets capable of supporting life. Therefore, they have decided to save it. And there is only one clear way, that is, to get rid of all human beings and all man-made objects that destroy the planet. The aliens do this by unleashing thousands of locusts (much like a plague) that are capable of eating away at metal and reducing it to dust. Smaller termite-like insects eat away at the humans themselves.
They also sent out spheres to every corner of the globe to act as modern versions of Noah’s Ark, to save the Earth’s species. They took one of each, except humans, understandably.
It is a work of fiction, and yet... What if that is the only way?
“If the planet dies, you die. But if you die, the planet lives.”
We all know that this planet needs to be saved. But what is not resilient in common thought is that it needs to be saved from us. Most people think of it in terms of saving it from toxic wastes, from global warming, from fossil fuel emissions—but these are terms that only serve to distance us from the real problem at hand: US. Toxic wastes and whatnot are merely side effects. Human ingenuity and intellectual curiosity have led to the development of technology, and the thrill of discovery and the comfort and convenience it brought us has masked the ugly face of destruction. And has masked it for far too long.
But akin to the anti-venom that saves the poisoned victim, we are also the solution.
History teaches us that every civilization reaches a turning point where it is forced to substantiate or suffocate. Some survive, some don’t. There is a collective decision that has to be made, to determine whether it will fall off the precipice or further assert its existence. Maybe, in a figurative way, the earth is standing still and awaiting our decision. Will we make the right one now, or will we have to wait for an alien species to save us from ourselves?

QUERY

I was digging through my stuff last night when I dug up an old Query box. I never did use it, so I’m going to, just for the hell of it. Here are the first twenty:

1. IF YOU HAD TO DO RESEARCH ON ONE THING FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD YOU RESEARCH ON?

That’s easy! Gender and Sexuality, with slight focus on Feminism.

2. IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND AND COULD ONLY HAVE ONE KIND OF FOOD FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Kind, right? Seafood.

3. WHAT IMAGES COME TO YOUR MIND WHEN YOU ARE ASKED ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD?

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. My fifth birthday party. My dog best friend, Lulu. The 73 in music class. Bankruptcy. The Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. Narnia! Swimming.

4. WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’D GIVE YOURSELF TODAY?

Don’t worry too much.

5. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF: YOU SUDDENLY FOUND OUT YOU WERE AN HEIR TO A ROYAL FAMILY’S FORTUNE BUT WOULD HAVE TO RELOCATE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY TO ACQUIRE IT?

Besides the obvious legal issues, I think I’d fly off in a heartbeat.

6. DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM HOME.

I envision a tastefully decorated two-story house situated on a hill overlooking a city, but frankly I don’t really care as long as I’m the only person in it. Maybe I’d keep a dog. And a few cats. But no people. My family members can visit, but they can’t live in it. I’d give them a house too, if I’m that rich, but if we’re talking dream home, then it’s definitely one where I can be alone, literally.

7. IF YOU HAD TO BE AN ANIMAL, WHICH WOULD YOU BE?

I’m torn between a lynx and a wild mare. Or if they weren’t extinct, a saber-toothed tiger or an archaeopteryx.

8. IF YOU WERE INVISIBLE FOR A DAY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Sneak into offices and record incriminating conversations that would give conclusive proof to public speculations of corruption, fraud, and/or corporate dishonesty. Or maybe I’d just spook the hell out of people who annoy me.

9. IF YOU WERE CHOSEN TO BE THE FIRST PERSON TO RELOCATE TO JUPITER, AND COULD ONLY BRING ONE PERSONAL ITEM, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

10. IF YOU HAD TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE ITS TITLE?

Stercus Accidit.

11. LOOKING BACK IN TIME, WHICH YEAR WOULD YOU HAVE WANTED TO LAST TWICE AS LONG?

I honestly can’t think of any year I’d want to last longer than it did.

12. IF YOU WERE TO RECEIVE AN AWARD THAT EVERYONE WOULD HEAR ABOUT, WHAT AWARD WOULD IT BE?

Nobel Prize for Literature. :))

13. IF YOU HAD TO LIVE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY (FOR ALWAYS) WHERE WOULD YOU GO?

Wow. This is tough. I do expect I’d travel a lot in the future, but I’d always come back to the Philippines. But if I were to be exiled or something, then I’d go to Italy. That way I can take trains to other EU countries!

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THIS MORNING WHEN YOU WOKE UP?

Why is my sister’s dog sleeping beside me?

15. COMPLETE THIS SENTENCE: I AM THE ONLY PERSON I KNOW WHO...

...is perpetually freaked out by the fact that the law (and society, for that matter) practically mandates women to take the surname of their husbands. Not that I have to worry about this personally, being agnostic, but still. It really does bother me a lot. I often try to think of ways to change this system.

16. WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO MEET AND SPEND THE WHOLE DAY WITH? CAN BE SOMEONE FROM THE PAST.

I’d love to tag along with Hecate (of the Greek myth) for a spellbinding journey through the underworld. I also wouldn’t mind hanging out with Adolf Hitler, just to see what he really was like... You know, behind the fascist dictatorship and the genocide. Okay so that isn’t such a good idea. I’d also want to hang with Charles Dickens, Kurt Vonnegut, and Simone de Beauvoir. Sorry I can’t choose just one.

17. IF YOU HAD A MILLION DOLLARS WHAT WOULD YOU SPEND IT ON?

This is going to sound boring: Stock Investments.

18. IF YOU HAD TO BE A LIFELESS OBJECT FOR A DAY, WHAT WOULD YOU BE?

Barack Obama’s personal computer.

19. RANK ACCORDING TO IMPORTANCE FOR YOU PERSONALLY: FAME, POWER, GOOD LOOKS, RICHES. (RANK FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT.)

Power, riches, fame, good looks.

20. IF EVERYONE HAD TO PICK A NAME, WHAT WOULD YOURS BE?

Aha! A very relevant question. I’d pick Roseann!!! My real name, not what my darn birth certificate says!!! Hahahaha!

Scandalous

Last last week, it was pugilist Manny Pacquiao. A few days after that, it was the Judy Ann Santos- Ryan Agoncillo Nuptials. Nowadays, you can hardly turn on the television without seeing a Katrina Halili-Hayden Kho Sex Video update.

Tangent: Am I the only one who thinks "Donya" Dionisia Pacquiao is perpetually inebriated on money? Have you ever seen a better example of "letting it get to your head"?

As may be expected, the media is having a field day with this story. You have, on one end, a clueless, pre-star status Katrina Halili, and on the other, a young closet voyeur named Dr. Hayden Kho. Or maybe I should say "ex-closet voyeur." Other players include one Chua, who may or may not be the rat in this hole-ridden affair, and Dra. Belo, who may or may not sooner or later overdose on her own chemicals. This tale is peppered with sex, money, jealousy, and ulterior motives. What's not to exploit?

The fascinating part about all of this is the endless loop of questions. My favorite is: Who's to blame?
Do we blame the alleged victim, Ms. Halili, for sleeping with Dr. Kho? Do we blame the aspiring videographer Dr. Kho for sleeping with Ms. Halili? Or do we blame the person who leaked this to the media? (Let us now refer to this person as the unsub-- unidentified subject. Yes this is NCIS/Criminal Minds speaking.)

Personally, I don't think it was Ms. Halili's fault. She didn't know she was being videotaped. She might have known she was cheating, as the Belo-Kho love affair was more public than Hello Garci. But they're not married, so scratch adultery. I don't know which case they're filing against who, but as such, this is a question of morality. And that is not clear cut at all. I know some people are pinning the blame on Ms. Halili for sleeping with Dr. Kho, and are assuming that she has slept with more than one blissfully taken male species. (Cue pictures of old socialites with old scandalized expressions on their faces.) That, and the whole "impure image" people attach to sexually liberated women.

We seldom hear the "impure image" attached to Dr. Kho's name, presumably because he's male and all males are supposed to be sexually aggressive. Sexual double standard alert. It's disgusting for one gender and laudable for the other. Curious. Nobody's saying the "videotaping" aspect was laudable, but the sex itself on his part is hardly considered as scandalous.

I think Halili is also somehow lucky for being the female, because while she is subjected to negative personal ruminations, it would be unwise for our politicians and public figures to point their fingers at her. She is the alleged weaker party, after all. Alleged, alleged. Gender never determines strength. They may brand her as scarlet, but they won't say it out loud.

Wonder why the CBCP hasn't issued a statement yet. Is this one rare moment where they don't render their opinion necessary to the ebb and flow of scrutiny?

I don't blame Dr. Kho either. Whatever voyeuristic predilections he may possess is beyond my judgment. Can't judge what I don't understand. But really, dissecting the situation, did he do any harm by the act of videotaping? They were two consenting adults after all.

Maybe we should just blame the unsub who leaked this. And if it is who I think it is, I pray that they catch the unsub before *beep* keels over on botox and collagen implants.

Reaction: Angels and Demons Movie Adaptation

Like many people, I have the handicap of not being able to judge the movie solely on its own merits, having practically memorized the book. So I have to begin by pointing out the main discrepancies between the two versions.

- Vittoria Vetra’s “research partner” Silvano was not present in the book; the priest/scientist who headed the antimatter project was Leonardo Vetra, Vittoria’s adoptive father. (That stole a lot of tension from Vetra’s character.)
- One main character in the book, Maximillian Kohler, was completely cut from the movie. He was the director of CERN, and was supposed to be present during the climactic scene where the Camerlengo branded himself.
- The fifth brand in the book was not the two-key symbol that appeared in the movie; it was a square ambigram of the four elements. (In my opinion, that made it lose the essence of symmetry.)
- Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca’s motive was also not present. In the book, Ventresca murdered the pope after finding out that he was the pope’s son. What he didn’t know was that the late pope did not do anything wrong because it was done through artificial insemination... which then explained why he did not see science as the enemy (since he was able to conceive a child without violating his vows). This was also a main point, since the pope was contacted by Vetra precisely because the pope was not against science. In the movie, it appeared that Ventresca’s motive, besides anger, was to become the pope by “acclamation by adoration.” Although it must be said that the intention to unite the Church by fear was both present.
- Some minor characters that were cut from the movie: Gunther Click, the BBC reporter, and Chinita Macri, his videographer.
- The line “My mind tells me I will never understand God... My heart tells me I am not meant to,” was spoken by Vittoria Vetra, not by Robert Langdon.
- Cardinal Baggia (water) died in the book but lived to become pope in the movie.
- Grand Elector Saverio Mortati, also not present in the movie, became pope in the book. He was also the Devil’s Advocate during the late pope’s reign, and was the only other person who knew that the pope had a son by artificial insemination.
- Vetra and Langdon became a couple in the book (then broke up shortly before The Da Vinci Code).
- There was originally no witness to the scene where the Camerlengo lit himself with butane.

...

I still stand by the conviction that Hanks does not fit the Langdon role. Zurer, however, was a good Vittoria, save for the fact that a lot of the tension and emotion she could have worked with was not included in the movie’s plot. By removing Leonardo Vetra, Vittoria was simply an incidental character. McGregor as Ventresca was a wise decision, although removing his relationship with the late pope was not. And then there’s the matter of Maximillian Kohler. I still wonder why they removed him. It’s simply not as complete without the wheelchaired-man who practically held the book together.

So, what I really want to say is... I did not like the movie adaptation at all. It could have been better. The Illuminati were not as played up as they could have been, and unmasking the hassassin stole a great deal of mystery from the murder sequences. Many of the conflicts that made the book’s plot work were altogether scratched, and the intricate elements that made it unique were overlooked.

The cinematography was okay. Not excellent, but okay enough to keep me watching towards the end. Somehow I feel that the sculptures were not given enough credit, and the setting itself was not sufficiently played up. It was Vatican, for heaven’s sake.

I am probably this annoyed only because I actually waited for this movie to come out. Maybe I should just stop watching movie adaptations of books. They almost always fail anyway.

Untitled.

I had a rather interesting day at the office. Some slight squabbles are brewing between the north-south factions; I dare not get into particulars. Rumors cannot be helped, can they? And some people just don’t grow up, no matter how old they are. There was an Indian woman who came by, and left me afflicted with accent mimicry for the rest of the day. A friend told me I write like a younger version of Jessica Zafra, which I don’t know how to take since when I read her I can’t understand half of what she’s saying, albeit the fact that she is good with words. I spent a good hour of my life folding receipts while wondering how the UPD CRS will opt to destroy my life, armed with the seemingly harmless words “Priority: Regular.”

In other news: They have started taxing books. I thought it was a joke designed to annoy those of us who happen to like long strings of words bounded between titles and blurbs. Alas, it is not. This means higher prices for imported books (read: 90 % of books in this country) and a longer wait for new releases. Thank you, Department of Finance. You’re brilliant. I blame Twilight for this. Rowling didn’t do this damage... Or is it just the recession, now also known as zeitgeist?

In other, other news: The Manny Pacquiao craze has promptly left the country like a less-destructive version of Emong, only to be replaced with another craze, this time in the form of The Two Davids.

Mom: Andito na yung dalawang David!!!
Me: *monotone* Yey...

Suddenly, swine flu threats reputed to be extremely high in populous areas all but vanished in a puff of fanaticism. A lot of people went to the malls and watched their guest appearances, which I didn’t because (a) I had to go to work, and (b) even if I didn’t, I’m not a fanatic. I have yet to discover a cause for which I will brave the long lines toward a totem of pop culture.

Little thoughts from the randomness I like to call my life:

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A little dragging at the beginning, gets to the action towards the end. Sometimes shocking. Fitzgerald’s artistic ability shines through in every page. Serves up money, pain, haunting images and an unlikely friendship.

Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. My new favorite book. All I can say is BRILLIANT. Of all the World War 2 novels I’ve read, this is the best so far. Because it’s different. It’s filled with old ideas presented in new ways, and new ideas that make it unforgettable. Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time, indeed, and makes you wonder if you haven’t. MUST READ.

I am not finished with Lolita (Nabokov), and Conversations with the Devil (Jeff Rovin a.k.a Tom Clancy). Curse the human necessity for sleep.

...

The SpiderPigs have been talking incessantly about Meteor Garden, now that Boys Over Flowers is out. (Note: SpiderPigs is a collective name for the officemates, since we burst into “Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider pig does” when we’re suffering from paper shock. If you don’t know that song, go watch the Simpsons Movie.)

So, what about Meteor Garden and Boys over Flowers? The consensus is that MG is the better version, although that might just be time sweetening the recollection.

Personally, I think the delivery of MG was better, not to mention the dubbing. But what do I know. I’ll leave this up to the real fans.

One SpiderPig thinks she wants to become a nun. I think that is in all plausibility, since I go into anaphylactic shock every time she talks about her church, i.e. every five minutes. She’s way too nice for her own good. She loves children, and she talks about it a lot, which is always enough to make me throw myself towards the nearest exit, where her words will not reach my aural cavities. Sorry, dear, I really can’t stand little runts, neither in 3D nor in spoken word. (Psycho-logist says I hate kids because I didn’t have playmates. I concur. Slightly.)

In Idol Land: Danny Gokey is out, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert are the final two. Is it me, or is it not as interesting as last year? I have all but lost the will to keep watching. I have nothing against gays, so that isn’t the issue. It’s just that Lambert does the same screechy thing over and over. Kris Allen, on the other hand, has a morsel of talent and a healthy helping of pretty boy charm. I want neither to win. See bitterness and negativity dropping from that sentence?

Sigh. I’m just a regular Simon Cowell with a dash of Ebenezer Scrooge and a pinch of Ambrose Bierce. I can’t help it. If it’s optimism versus pessimism, I’d rather be either proven right or pleasantly surprised, than be mistaken at the top of my lungs.