Out with the new, in with the old

Happy Easter everybody! This Easter, I want to apologize for saying Sandara Park has no talent. I'm sure she has; it's just that I haven't discovered it yet.

(Wala naman talaga, eh, hmp. Hehe.)

I'm tired of blogging, folks. Must be the long vacation. Nothing here maybe the whole week.

The outsourced life

(This is becoming a full-blown series. I should make this into a story already.)

As much as I want to avoid grumbling, I couldn’t help noticing that my new job, which is supposed to be part-time and temp, is starting “to get in the way of my life” once again. I missed E’s wedding lately, which was supposed to be nearby. I missed an nth-degree cousin’s funeral (the one who had colon cancer) in Pangasinan. And now it looks like I’m going to miss E’s mom’s wake in Cavite. All because I have committed myself to delivering work that’s up to here. Hope I won’t die of karoshi. I’m used to hard, persnickety type of work, the kind that comes out of your ears. But I’ve been working so hard and for what? To satisfy my foreign clients.

My life has been like this ever since I’ve worked for outsourced firms. All my work all my waking life have been outsourced. I’ve been living an outsourced life.

Not that I’m bitter. It’s just that I wouldn’t want this life to take its toll even further. This year, I promise to myself to go out and meet all the people I’ve missed to eyeball. I will try to attend writing workshops, join writing contests, meet the people who freelance for the glossy mags to exchange notes, see more art films, discover new authors, brush up on the shorts in the New Yorker, currently my favorite reading material. (I just discovered Hanif Kureishi, Amy M. Homes, Ian McEwan, et al.)

So far, these are only the people I’ve met online whom I’ve met in person: A., L., R., R., J.

I hope to meet a lot of writers and a lot of bloggers.

I couldn’t find a better metaphor, but an outsourced job is like that battery in the commercial. You just have to keep going and going and going. The problem is I'm not that battery. I'm getting older by the hour. I thought I’m now totally free from all that after I left my full-time job (a separate story) in place of online tutoring. Teaching is such a rewarding job, painstaking though it may be. It is a gargantuan learning experience for me even as I am the one teaching, even though it’s taking up too much of my time. I learn about Aristotle’s method of investigation. I learn about Burke’s pentad. I learn about this poet Dylan Thomas. I read student reactions to/criticisms of the work of Kate Chopin….

Alas, our employers, our real employers, that is, our clients, couldn’t care less whether it’s a holiday here at my end. “That’s not their issue,” to quote my former accounts manager in LA. They wouldn’t care if it’s Good Friday in the Philippines or it’s a national holiday. Our clients don’t even know that they’re dealing with people in Manila all along in the first place.

Spirituality of crying

A 2005 Lenten special

S.W.O.T. analysis

Strengths:
What advantages do you have?
What do you do well?
What relevant resources do you have access to?
What do other people see as your strengths?
Weaknesses:
What could you improve?
What do you do badly?
What should you avoid?
Opportunities:
Where are the good opportunities facing you?
What are the interesting trends you are aware of?
Threats:
What obstacles do you face?
What is your competition doing?
Are the required specifications for your job, products or services changing?
Is changing technology threatening your position?
Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business? (Retrieved February 25, 2005, from http://www.mindtools.com/swot.html.).

King, on freedom of expression

The limiting of freedom of expression is allowed only in cases where it can be proved that it is the only way to protect another person, the security of the nation, or the safety of the public (King, 1997?).

On capital punishment

"If we execute murderers and there is in fact no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murderers. If we fail to execute murderers, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call." (McAdams).

Is this pantheism?

(Holy Week na pala, haha! Hoy, mangilin kayo! I mean, ako pala.)

I am basically a Jew, except that I believe in the New Testament.

I’m actually a Muslim in that I won’t say a bad word about praying to God several times in a day, although I don’t see myself as a slave of God but a servant or, better yet, His son/child.

I can be a good Pentecostal. I just love those gospel songs by black musicians – the same people who gave us the blues, jazz, rap, soul, hiphop, ska and reggae beats we love.

I love reggae and Bob Marley and I have a friend who had dreadful dreadlocks. Maybe I'm Rastafari, too?

Am I a born-again Christian? Amen, amen, I say unto thee, if it means it's no longer I but Christ who dwells in me, I am indeed born-again. (“Born from above” is reportedly the more accurate translation.)

I turn into a Protestant whenever I see the excesses - or inadequacies, of Catholics.

Sometimes I use the word karma; does that make me a Hindu?

I have much admiration for St. John of the Cross and his spirituality. That’s a lot of Buddhism, although I’m not sure which strain. Zen maybe?

I am essentially a Jesuit; I love to intellectualize until I miss the point, I mean, I will read the excellent magazine, America, from page to page if I could. Even if sometimes it means I’m just pretending I got everything down pat.

I guess I’m a Carmelite nun because I like to begin the day offering everything up to God, in the hope that He’d find it pleasing. I like bribing God that way.

I believe in talismans if they are pre-approved by St. Benedict. I know for a fact that this monk has his own brand of spirituality. I like doing his Lectio Divina sometimes, you know, reflecting on Biblical scenes by imaging myself entering into that scene.

It’s obvious I find it attractive working for the alleviation of the life of the poor, so this makes me a Franciscan, although I certainly hate being poor myself and I hate bad working conditions, hehe.

I am a Salesian. I’m fond of being around young people, exchanging jokes, swapping infos on what’s the hottest in fashion and music and whatnot, and teaching them what is good from bad if the opportunity knocks. Or isn’t this a Dominican state of mind, too?

I've learned that, apart from praying prayers in songs, it is a very Augustinian thing to see God working in everything, to see godly metaphors in nature and everything man has created.

I sometimes join the queue in Baclaran church in the dead of the night (or the dawn) to pray in front of the Perpetual Help. I guess I’m, uhm, a Recollect that way. By the way, I know for a fact that the image of the Perpetual Help icon is Byzantine in style, which we got from the Russian Orthodox Church. I guess this makes me a little bit Orthodox, right?

Sometimes I lapse into saying "Good luck," so this makes me Shinto or Taoist or Confucianist.

I love Ifugao sculpture and I wouldn't mind having a dark bul-lol sitting in my room as an objet d'art, that is, if it were not so scary to look at at night. I'm animist that way, huh?

Sometimes I pretend God can’t see through my actions, or inactions. Surely I am an atheist, too? LOL!

Review: P.O.T. Remastered

They're baack!

See also, Kyla, The Best of Pinoy Alternative, and Sugarfree.

God and boxing, 4

I understand when you are pissed off when God is mentioned in politics.

I am profoundly pissed off when God is mentioned during competitive sports for reasons I find untenable. Once again I was disturbed when I saw (on the paper) Manny Pacquiao flaunting his rosary beads before he went to fight and when I overheard Chino Trinidad accomodating Manny's God. My God! I figure Morales is a devout Catholic, too, coming from Catholic Mexico, noh? If there's a strict need for secularization, it should be in competitive sports. Besides, do you think God is happy with all that gore!?! Don't be silly, Al Mendoza et al.

I’m tired of explaining myself but please pretend you wanna see and hear my replays and rematches, in case you stumbled into this issue just now (talk about delayed telecast?):

God and boxing
God and boxing, 2
God and boxing, 3

I'm even more pissed off that all those brilliant comments are gone. (I wanted to switch to Blogger's comment boards but it runs so slow. Besides I'm afraid my current design/settings/add-ons might get deleted.)

Artificial life support and euthanasia

This is a weird thing for pro-lifers to support. I've always seen artificial life support as artificial and therefore unnatural and thus it is not a case of euthanasia (mercy killing) when artificial support is stopped as early as it should have been.

Senate Passes Legislation on Schiavo Case

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Senate passed a bill that could prolong Terri Schiavo's life while House Republicans, stalled by Democrats, scrambled to bring enough lawmakers back to the Capitol for an emergency vote early Monday.

Here's an old post on the subject.

When in doubt,Google

(Let's sweep under the rug the serious issues first and gloss over our philo-religious differences so we can have fun in the interim, alright? What's this I hear Manny Pacquiao lost?)

Ho-ho-ho, I have a haiku 4u!

When in doubt, Google.

After Googling, doubt.


(Haiku masters, i-submit na ito ngayon din!!!)

***

Here are more entries for local bands with food-themed names:

Sugarfree feat. Chicosci feat. Popfilter feat. Milk ‘n Money feat. 7 Foot Jr. feat. Coffee Break Island feat. Happy Meals feat. Orange and Lemons feat. Bamboo (O, di ba, bamboo ang labong?)

Speaking of Bamboo...I thought I will never recover from my passionate hatred for this band formerly known as Rivermaya even after Rico Blanco started to endorse Pepsi. I blame it on Bamboo’s then-inflated sense of rockman swagger which rubbed me the wrong way.

Dear fellow non-fans-turned-converts: Please explain the sudden transformation of Bamboo from a labong to a graceful bamboo tree.

Announcement: EMI releases P.O.T. remastered, a compilation of P.O.T.'s hits and more...

Impasse

Dear I.R.C.,

(This is just a tangential reaction to your post. I certainly cannot rebut your point and I, too, don't wish to further elaborate on this issue. I just want to let it all out...:)

It’s a double ironic vision, if there ever was one. People in “society’s fringes” constantly paint a picture of the Catholic Church as a great persecutor while the Roman Catholic Church constantly complains it's being persecuted just as constantly by the increasingly inimical tenor of the times.

It’s hard for anyone to blame the former. No one can afford to dismiss their point as bull manure. Non-Catholics, in particular, are automatically marginalized by their sheer lack of number in this country. It's easy to be smug as a Catholic here.

It’s so odd, thus, for a Church whose beginning most especially has been a beginning of unbearable, unbelievable bludgeoning, to be guilty of being an agent of persecution when you consider how it flowered into one of the world's major organized religions. Just take one minute to imagine how Rome before Vatican City came to be, how it was bloodied so profusely by many a martyr’s blood. To my mind, the Catholic Church should, more than any other entity, take extra care to avoid issuing anything that might lead to any soul being unjustly persecuted, or worse, executed.

In this light, recent fire-and-brimstone pronouncements related to pesticide poisonings and jailbird-deaths-by-escape-attempt are indeed out of place.

I mention the word odd because in my readings about the early Church, I’ve found not a few stories big and little that neither Hollywood-style violence (i.e., glossy, decorative) nor comic book scenes of seppuku-by-the-thousands can ever match. Take a good look at this typical account as your aperitif du jour:

The story of Perpetua and Felicity

Carthage, year 203

Perpetua, a 22-year-old noble lady of Carthage, was the mother of a baby son, while Felicity, a young slave at that time, was pregnant. During the persecution of Septimus Severus in 203, they were arrested along with three fellow catechumens: Saturninus, Secundulus and Revocatus. They were baptized in prison by Saturus, their catechist, who underwent voluntary imprisonment with them.

Perpetua surrendered the child to her pagan father, but remained firm in her faith despite his supplications. Felicity gave birth in prison to a child, whom a fellow Christian adopted. After confessing their faith before the judge, the martyrs were condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts. They marched into the amphitheater signing psalms and giving one another the customary kiss of peace. The three men were torn to pieces by leopards and bears, while Perpetua and felicity were exposed to a bull. They stood up hand in hand before the savage animal that tossed them repeatedly, leaving horrible marks on their bodies. They were finally brought into the middle of the amphitheater and slaughtered with the sword. Perpetua guided her throat to the shaking hand of the inexperienced gladiator who had failed to kill her the first stroke.

Sidebar 1: Will anyone in Hollywood other than Mel Gibson make this story into a movie? Will Nikos Kazantzakis and his types?

Sidebar 2 (for Noel Vera): Maybe you want to distinguish between graphic violence that is meant to be a shocking realism (Passion of the Christ) and one that is meant to entertain (Spiderman); it’s the latter that is certainly perverse, right? -- although I have to admit I enjoyed the two Spiderman movies.

Anyway, such, to my mind, is the enduring conflict that a good Christian follower should face: How can you insist on what the Church believes as fundamental truth without ending up having somebody burned at the stakes?

***

Now, back to Church people ending up on the other side of the fence…

Isn’t it also called persecution whenever Church people stand up for their beliefs and end up being maligned as closed-minded, hypocritical, and arrogant pricks?

It amazes me where atheists, for instance, gather the wherewithal to dismiss sweepingly/with such blasé attitude all that precious wealth of wisdom accumulated throughout the ages by the Church. Aren’t these people plumbing the same bottomless well of hate, too? Verily, it’s the hardest thing to dialog with minds that accuse you of closed-mindedness by displaying the same level of closed-mindedness! It’s hard to dialog when the other side displays a complete disregard for certain facts and cares to look at only those points useful to their argument/agenda. In a dialogue, I figure, there are only two respectable things: facts and logic. It’s hard to deal with people who deny both when cornered into a debate cul-de-sac. Such misplaced pride and arrogance! An arrogance that is nonpareil as it is based not on an informed standpoint but on plain ignorance - for how can anyone possibly be proud when he/she is ignorant?

***

I wish it's so easy to just say let's just love one another as God has loved us. I guess it is best that these things are indeed left undiscussed for the sake of world peace!!!

"Martyrs of the faith"

And so it happened that what we've been fearing happened: The Abu Sayyaf banditry degenerating into a religious war!

Granted an innocent Muslim was killed and it was unjust... Where is the justice in calling these plain bandits and pirates and, yes, terrorists, who tried to escape from their cells in Bicutan, "martyrs of the faith"?

I am an open-minded person, contrary to rumor, and I have much respect for the world's religions, but this? What if I called Hitler God because my religion happens to be Nazism?

People, we have a new personal problem here: Will anyone please define 'martyr'?

P.S.

How did these jailbirds got themselves armed in the first place? Did they have Shawshank Redemption (starring Tim Robbins) for inspiration?

Is Catholicism to blame?

This is not a defensive question, just an honest, wonder-out-loud question. Your comments here, please. HaloScan seems to have stopped accepting more comments beyond 48.

When in doubt, Google

Ho-ho-ho, I have a haiku 4u!

When in doubt, Google.

After Googling, doubt.


(Haiku masters, i-submit na ito ngayon din!!!)

Is Catholicism to blame?

There are just too many bloggers who detest everything that's Catholic so I am constrained to pose the question.

Q1: Is the Catholic Church indeed among the major causes of poverty in this country and in the Third World in general (because of its policy against artificial contraception)?

Q2: A lot of (or is it many, or some, or a few?) poor countries in the Third World (redundant?)are overwhelmingly Catholic; is this just a coincidence or a valid correlation?

A: (Everyone, I need your answers. Let's have a good exchange based on facts and logic/reason, not presumption and evasiveness via non-sequiturs. Let me get the ball rolling. I will email some key people for this.)

X-P: Take a good look - a long and hard look, at these "poor people" and you'd find that they are not even practicing Catholics. They are pantheistic/chop-suey pagans, for God's sake.

Update: Here are the unedited responses. To be reformatted...

"Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven " - haven't we heard of this phrase being the theme of Catholicsm? Are we extolling poverty here? And more importantly, does the Bible really say this? Well, check Matthew 5 verse 3. It says
" blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven".

Big difference. A person who is poor in spirit is one who is showing remorse or guilt of the transgressions that he has committed. THe verse does not promote nor extoll poverty or destitution in any way.

This one verse alone being conveyed wrongly and I don't know for what reason, somehow encourages people to remain poor- for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! It's good to be poor! This heretical statement to my estimation is the culprit, the reason why most colonized Catholic countries are poor and after many centuries still struggling and unable to get out of the gutter.
BW | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 2:02 am | #

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I wouldn't say that they are one of the MAJOR reasons, but they are definitely one of it. I have worked with people in the international orgs and the government, and I have witnessed first-hand how some "Catholic groups" (at least they claim to be) pressure barangay health officials into not distributing condoms since that is interfering with God's plan. I think I've said something like they don't have to worry since there is a .001% chance of the condom not working. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. These groups are saying that these birth control methods are going against what God said. Those people they preach to are not very "schooled" and poor (obviously because they depend on the BHC for medical aid), thus they are inclined to believe whoever is the most convincing. With God in the argument and with majority of Filipinos being Catholic, these groups most often win the tug-of-war. Catholicism is not the major reason, in my opinion it is the lack of awareness.
redjeulle | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 2:02 am | #

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It's more of the "agrarian/farmer mentality" of making LOTS of babies as an insurance of someone taking care of you in the future that makes poor countries poor. The 300 million chronically under/un-employed/living in the threshold of poverty in China and the hundreds of millions in India as well are of this lot, and these two countries are Buddhist and/or Confucian and Hindu, not Catholic.
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 2:48 am | #

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"They are pantheistic/chop-suey pagans, for God's sake"

I surmise that you're refering to the 100 or so indigenous groups, but they only account for 12 million of the Philippines' population. Their "poverty" is debatable even. I mean technically they're "poor", but the thing is they choose to be. They're traditional. Still they only account for 15% of our population

The majority of our population is still comprised of lowland Catholics from the major tounges: Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Waray, Kapampangan, Hiligaynon, Bikol.

Tagalogs and Cebuanos alone amount to about half our population. And didn't the Spanish Catholic friars made first headway in Cebu and Katagalugan?
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 3:36 am | #

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No, I refer to the majority of Filipinos. Most of us haven't totally shed off our animistic roots. You can make a book out of our superstitious beliefs, and you've just made Chapter 1 as exhibit A.
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 4:13 am | #

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" blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven".

Blessed is reportedly an erroneous translation of the Greek word "macarios" which means "fortunate."

Poverty in the Christian sense does not mean throwing away hard-earned and well=deserved wealth but more of the mindset. A christian's mindset should be all wealth is really just a provision of God in his goodness and it is meant to be enjoyed and, following God's undeserved generosity to you, to be shared to others in need. You are essentially poor in that regard, aren't you?
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 4:20 am | #

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It is the sense of detachment from material things that the Bible is after. Chstianity is very Buddhist in the sense, but it never or shouldnt regard wealth as a curse; it is or may be even considered a blessing. You may worked hard for it but the bottom line is that you couldn't have wealth in the first place if you havent been blest with the means to it.
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 4:22 am | #

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Ruby,

Yes, unfortunately for you, opposing artificial contraception is a very Catholic thing because artifical is regarded - as of this wrting - to debase the sanctity or holy purpose of sex.
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 4:24 am | #

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Oops, sorry, I shall refrain from mentioning real names in this blog.
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 4:24 am | #

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XP: "No, I refer to the majority of Filipinos"

Yeah I guess you're right too. I guess nobody is strictly pagan thesedays, they're either Christian or Muslim. Except for me I guess. I'm a Bathala worshippin' mutha...

How bout this: let's come up with a list of RICH Catholic countries.

I'll name two: Australia and Ireland.
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 4:34 am | #

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Oops waitaminute---Oz is only 25% Catholic. Sorry
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 4:39 am | #

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And how can I miss out on Italy. And I just googled France-it says it's 83% Catholic.

So we have three Rich Catholic Countries-France, Ireland, Italy.

Anybody notice they're mostly white?

But then again we have Catholic White Poland which is poor. But this has more to do with Communism.
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 4:48 am | #

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Nope, we cannot put the blame on Catholicism.

I've heard "bahala na ang diyos" quite a lot of times. If one thinks that way, one must not forget that work has to also be done. Hindi yung lahat ipinagpasa dyos. As what, a lot of people are doung.

It's the mentality not the religion.

My two cents.
AnP | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 4:50 am | #

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Can somebody name a NON-WHITE, RICH Catholic country?
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 4:53 am | #

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Oh yes, AnP, that Bahala na is very Filipino!! And it looks like a culprit. Thnaks!
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 5:00 am | #

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"Can somebody name a NON-WHITE, RICH Catholic country?"

Um, Vatican?

Are you saying the problem is reducible to race?
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 5:01 am | #

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race has nothing to do with it, I say.

XP: have you read "culture matters" by harrington? in detailed, it was discussed why some countries are poor and why some are rich. culture daw. while i was reading, i couldn't help but agree with some of the points raised pero medyo in denial kasi masakit to think about their argument tapos connect with Pinas.
AnP | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 5:21 am | #

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*in detail
AnP | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 5:22 am | #

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I haven't read that yet.
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 5:26 am | #

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XP: I knew that post would get you doing something like this! hehehehe.

AnP: Our mentality is shrouded so much by our religiosity, sometimes the divide even seems thin.

Ding_eab: The only rich Catholic countries -- Spain and Italy for example -- are those who shook off Rome's influence, e.g. on contraception, etc.

You can read Conrado de Quiros's brilliant take on that here: http://news.inq7.net/opinion/ind...id=29985&col=77
i. | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 7:55 am | #

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XP mentions animism. I had a brilliant discussion about this in class one time. We were talking how animism respected nature, how our ancestors believed everything had a spirit: trees, rocks, rivers. Hence, the respect for nature. But when the Spanish missionaries came, one of the first things they did was to upend that belief. There are no spirits! There are no diwatas! they claimed.

Four hundred years later, only 5% of our rain forest are left.

Is there a connection?

Maybe.
i. | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 8:00 am | #

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We must not debate on the meaning of blessed. The bible clearly says " poor in spirit" but the Catholic cathechisms and tachings had omitted "in spirit". This drastically changed the the verse to "blessed are the poor".

Blessed are the poor and blessed are the poor in spirit are two different things.
BW | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 8:04 am | #

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Ok i just looked up the CIA website and tallied the populations, land area, and gdp per capita of rich catholic countries vis a vis philippines

Hope the grid don't fuck up
ding_Eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 8:32 am | #

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POP. Land Area Spain - 40,280,780/499,542 sqkm
Italy - 58,057,477/294,020 sqkm
Ireland- 3,969,558/ 68,890 sqkm
France- 60,424,213/545,630 sqkm

Pinas- 86,241,697/298,170 sqkm

ppl per sq km GDP per Capita
Spain - 80.64 $22,000
Italy - 197.46 $26,700
Ireland - 57.62 $29,600
France - 110.74 $27,600

Pinas - 289.24 $4,600



See we got more people per sq kilometer and each person only earns $4,600 a year. Look at Ireland it's got less people per sq km and they earn more per person. Population really is a factor I say.
ding_Eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 8:34 am | #

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We must also appreciate the fact that RP and Latin America were "colonized" Catholic countries. They were all subjugated and plundered by Spain and it is not happenstance that their predicament after centuries appear identical. The pillage of these countries were systematic, orchestrated by mother Spain. The apparent impotence of these colonized countries to even take care of themsleves is the result of centuries of brainwashing and subjugation through religion. The impact is so severe that centuries after Spain has left the people are still mired in their culture of oppression. Yes, Spain may have left but the Catholic church remains, perpetuating the same teachings it did for centuries. So - WHAT has changed?
BW | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 11:02 am | #

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The person stating that 'Catholicism is to blame for his poverty (or our)' has only himself to blame.

It means he is not happy with his present (economic) status in life and he looks to the external for a scapegoat.

What's wrong with being poor (physically)? Not having millions or billions? How much money should one have for him to say he is out of poverty? What does it take to build that 'wealth'?

There are others who succeeded (and others who succeed) out of hard work and smartness, and ... frugality.

There are others too who stay where they are and remain happy, for they know what makes them happy.

The Catholic church has nothing to do with getting out of poverty, or if the reverse applies, with wealth-building, if they mean the same thing.

He just have to be S.M.A.R.T.

I know a lot, including myself, who are happy even if not wealthy.

Is being out of poverty = wealthy?
And being Catholic = being poor?

The word 'blame' there says a lot.
aa | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 5:14 pm | #

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XP: "Yes, unfortunately for you, opposing artificial contraception is a very Catholic thing because artifical is regarded - as of this wrting - to debase the sanctity or holy purpose of sex"

well, so be it if it's deemed as sanctimonious by the church. but these people will have sex (ever heard of walang mapaglibangan), Catholics or not. nobody can keep them from doing it, then might as well help to prevent them from further proliferating.

lack of awareness = population explosion = poverty = lack of awareness

so unless somebody does something about educating them, it's hard to get out of the cycle.
redjeulle | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 9:34 pm | #

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Ok I officially got too much time in my hands.

I looked up figures from ALL Catholic countries (60% or more of population catholic) and saw that population is not a factor.

May not be PC to deduce it by race by I did. You could interpret it by another way (culture, colonization or whatever) of course.

All predominantly WHITE Catholic countries have a GDP per capita that's in the five figures (ranges from $11,200 to $55,100 ).

There are only four predominantly NON-WHITE Catholic countries that have a GDP per capita that's in the five figures---and they're all administered by Western powers:
Guam ($21,000) and Puerto Rico (16,800) by U.S.A
Martinique ($14,400) and New Caledonia ($15,500) by France

Former Communists countries have the lowest GDP per capita (in the ten thousands) among white countries:
Croatia is lowest with $10,600 and Slovenia is highest with $19,000.

Of all Catholic Latin American countries, only three have GDP per capita
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 9:40 pm | #

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that's in the five figures, and their populations are predominantly Spanish and Italian:
Argentian and Uruguay. Chile's GDP is $9,900 so I've included it.

Of all non-white Catholic countries, Mexico has highest GDP per capita ($9,900), East Timor the lowest ($500). Philippines' is $4,600.

My initial finding is wrong: population is not a factor in any of these countries.

You can look up these figures in the CIA factbook website.
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 9:41 pm | #

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Ooops. Mexicos's GDP is $9,000, not $9,900.
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 9:47 pm | #

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Here's a few example why population is not a factor:

Bolivia has a low GDP of $2,400 even though it has only 8.04 people per square kilometer.

Luxembourg has a high GDP of $55,100 even though it's country is packed with 178.92 people per square kilometer.

Compare this with Philippines which has a GDP $4,600. Tapos para pa tayong lata ng sardinas with 289.24 people per square kilometer.

All these countries' populations are predominantly Catholic:
Bolivia - 95%
Luxembourg - 87%
Philippines - 83%
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 9:59 pm | #

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No religion preaches poverty. Some religions may preach giving up one's desire for material goods as a way to heaven or nirvana or whatever but that's not the same as preaching poverty.
The roots of poverty are not to be found in religions. The roots of poverty are found in the avaricious heart of man.

F.
felipoy | 03.17.05 - 10:07 pm | #

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Rejeulle: The poor really don't listen to the Church fathers anyway.
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 10:07 pm | #

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This site has been down for like how many hours. Please bear with me.
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 10:09 pm | #

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F. - The way i understand it, dehumanizing poverty is a scandal, a sin, a slap on the face of Christ!

To the rest, let me deal with you l8r =)
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 10:10 pm | #

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So what do I conclude from this?

* if you're a Catholic country, you're likely to be rich if you're white.
* if you're not white, the only way to be rich is to be administered by a white country.

So what are we to do?
* magpaputi tayo (joke hehehe)
* magpa-administer tayo sa mga puti
* do away with Catholicism so we won't be under DING's LAW OF WHITE CATHOLIC PROSPERITY, or you could call it DING'S LAW OF BROWN/BLACK CATHOLIC POVERTY
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 10:12 pm | #

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Giving up material desires is an expression of aceticism or self- depravation - for what? To mortify oneself, to feel shame amd ridicule and worthlessness just like what Christ felt when he was dragging the cross to Calvary.

Mortification is central to the Catholic theology. What do monks do in the monastery? They deny themsleves with basic amenities. They inflict wounds in their bodies to emulate Christ's suffering.

And the people ? Thy're supposed to do the same. The more you deprive yourself, the more you please God.

While everybody flagellates and deprives himself barely making ends meet, the church actually rakes in the contributions from the very same people, builds up riches and fortunes in the billions of dollars - all of these, read my lips, for God's glory.
WHoa??
BW | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 10:37 pm | #

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BW: Monkhood is a form of Catholic spirituality but it doesn't follow that all Catholics must be monks. Our "states of life" differ but nevertheless we are all called to view the material world as God's property in the first place. We are here as mere stewards and we are to use God's property for his purposes, not to amass it for ourselves only.
xp | Homepage | 03.17.05 - 10:45 pm | #

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Poverty is cultural. Who was it that said it's learned helplessness? Pinoys usually don't own up to their own faults and blame 'others' whether it's religion, politics or the weather.

Like its English, Catholicism has its unique Pinoy characteristics. I always like pointing at Quiapo to best illustrate this: around the church are vendors who push herbal remedies, manghuhula, and other mystics. And it's acceptable. Is it wrong? Not really. It's just is.

I guess what I just don't agree with the church in general is its stubborn adherence to tradition. After 2,000 years, you got Vatican II back in the 1960s to put in reforms. How's that for a reaction of the changing times? The pressing issue is population control. The country needs it but it can't undertake such measures because it's against the Church despite the explicit divide of church and state. It's that kind of hypocrisy which isn't helping the Pinoy's condition.

Also there's the focus on guilt and rules.
markmomukhamo | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 12:25 am | #

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Ding, Are you saying we should be recolonized like someone keeps on blabbering!?! You don't say that to the sons of Rizal, Bonifacio and Mabini!
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 12:36 am | #

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BW:

"The apparent impotence of these colonized countries to even take care of themsleves is the result of centuries of brainwashing and subjugation through religion."

But this was so long ago. Why haven't we learned anything after a century of self-rule? Are we that dumb as to be as brainwashed by an erroneous religion?
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 12:40 am | #

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I mean "to be so brainwashed by an 'erroneous religion'?"
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 12:41 am | #

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"Ding, Are you saying we should be recolonized like someone keeps on blabbering!?! You don't say that to the sons of Rizal, Bonifacio and Mabini!"

Erm, I'm not sure about Rizal (Philippines as province of Spain) or Boni (Republic of Katagalugan), but as big big fan or Mabini, I say we can be the first non-white, Catholic country to be a first world too without being under white man rule. How? Just make me your president and I'll take you there...

Hehehe.
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 1:06 am | #

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No but seriously, we could set the precedent for non-white Catholic countries. After all, weren't we the FIRST republic in Asia who shook off the shakles of colonization? I say we can do it again. We were already no. 1 in Asia decades ago, sinira lang ni Marcos. But fuck, it's only been 18 years since Marcos ruined our country. It took Singapore and Malaysia four decades to get where they are. Filipinos should be patient and stop blaming Catholicism for our woes. Blame that bariotic Marcos and Imelda instead.
ding_eab | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 1:14 am | #

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HAHAHAHAHAHAH!
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 1:24 am | #

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Dehumanizing poverty is indeed a slap on the face of christ but it's not the Catholic Church doing the slapping. Today's church neither has the means nor the power to slap anybody out of his wealth. Maybe out of a condom but not out of a bank account. You cannot blame the church for over population because priests don't do that much fucking and if they did it would probably be with little boys anyway. also, please don't use ***. felipoy is my condom. By the way, I am surprised you have not solicited our friend Ross' opinion on the topic. I am sure your site will get thousands of hits if he posts his views on religion and the catholic church.
felipoy | 03.18.05 - 1:52 am | #

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Oh no, not him! I don't like dealing with partial facts and oversimplified logic!

Furiously making the sign of the cross over the impure thoughts mentioned!!!! -R.
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 1:57 am | #

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And, oh, I don't depend on hits coz I have no sponsors to worry. I just wanna have meaningful fun with all of you! =) (But I wouldn't mind stumbling into satori with all these exchanges!)
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 2:06 am | #

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I was not referring to making money. I just wanted to see if his opinion would lead to breaking the all time record responses on your site. But I join you in prayer for allowing sinful thoughts to cross my mind.

F.
felipoy | 03.18.05 - 2:26 am | #

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Mr. F., you're really so amusing!
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 2:33 am | #

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"Also there's the focus on guilt and rules."

This deserves a separate dissection, Mark. That is a pharisaical mentality you are referring to. The God that I know certainly have rules but this God is also sweet/warm/loving. It's just that He's jealous, too!
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 4:55 am | #

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Ian,

Fact: Our forests were raped with impunity during the Marcos regime, of course by Marcos' cronies!!
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 8:03 pm | #

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Ano ba ang Catholic? Sino ba ang Catholic?
john fernandez | 03.18.05 - 4:42 am | #

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European countries had their historical struggles with the Catholic church. England Catholics couldn't see eye to eye with the pope so it officially severed ties with the Vatican and made the Archbishop of Canterbury the head of its church. Barely a century after RP was colonized by Spain, the Protestant Reformation ignited by Martin Luther, a Catholic priest blazed through Europe with impunity. At the time that this was happening, RP was in its infancy as a colony of Spain while these European countries were already developed sovereign nations challenging the authority of the church. When the industrial revolution swept through Europe, Pinas was still a colony, a nation of serfs serving mother Spain.

Today, predominantly Catholic European countries and there's really not much of them left, have survived well. Monarchy and serfdom are long gone. Democracy had prevailed. These countries have managed well the conflicts between culture, government and church. They have drawn hard l
BW | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 11:10 am | #

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They have drawn hard lines between church and state business.They listen to the church but are able to separate horseshit from hay. The doctrine of papal infallibility that says that the pope is infallible or inerrant, in the same capacity as God himself, when he speaks ex-cathedra (from his seat as leader of the church), about matters of faith had been challenged not only theologically but morally.

In Pinas, the church must change its teachings an encourage people to empower themsleves rather than promoting the God loves the poor teaching. Loving the poor isn't wrong but being poor and not doing anything about it because it is noble in the eyes of God will not encourage the human being to provide for himself. If the hereafter is much more important than this physical world we are living in right now, and my poverty is a passport, why bother to provide for
myself? Fact is, scripture teaches humility and forbids avarice and greed but does not encourage asceticism.
BW | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 11:15 am | #

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The government must act on population control with urgency. The country simply put does not adequate infrastructure to support 80 million and employ the thousands of college graduates it produces every year. Rapid population growth can set back the economic gains we achieve. Reality says that we must do something with population control NOW.

We must understand that contraception and abortion are two different things. We must discern contraception that prevent and those that kill, like the controversial day after pill that forces women to menstruate when taken within 72 hours. The church position on population control is riddled with hypocrisy and scriptural flaws. It denigrates man and compares him to an animal, treating the sexual act between spouses as strictly for procreation, with pleasure as its by-product. It's time for government to learn from the European experience, step up to the plate and institute effective population control measures to stop the impendin
BW | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 11:15 am | #

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stop the impending disaster. It must do its utmost best within the authority of the state.
BW | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 11:17 am | #

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amen, BW! amen!
i. | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 8:28 pm | #

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BW, consider these other side of your historical points:

The Church of England separated because the Pope didn't grant their King's request to divorce his wife so he could marry another noble or something.

Martin Luther couldn't accept the Book of James bec. of this fundmaental point about faith vs work.
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 9:43 pm | #

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Make no mistake. I’m all for the separation of church – any church – and state. But it is on the consideration, too, that the state won’t interfere with the church’s activity. I agree, the state should do what it deems right but it has no right to silence the church – any church - on what the latter deems right, too. If the state bows down to the church out of pressure, then it’s the state’s choice. But the church – any church – has the right to voice out its own opinion.
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 9:48 pm | #

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Ultimately, it is the society's core values the inevitably determines what the state's legal framework will be. The thing is the people have the ultimate choice in the ballot. Whom they have placed in the Senate, Congress and the rest of government reflects their real choices.

So maybe we should start barking up the right tree!
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 9:50 pm | #

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The thing is when it comes to what the Catholic Church deems to be immovable fundamental tenets, you cannot expect it to bend over backwarsd just like taht. This is ironic ,people! You all feel you are being persecuted by the Church but the Church feels it is being constantly persecuted by an increasingly secular world/views. Apparently everybody is a persecutor and everybody is persecuted.
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 9:54 pm | #

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BW,

But, look, the demogrphic time bomb that is Japan, Europe and the US is also an impending disaster. Count a few generations from now and you've got a 80% elderly population -- with only a handful left to keep their respective economies running.

I hope you take this in consideration, too.

The thing is, we both need to constantly reassess all our premises.
xp | Homepage | 03.18.05 - 10:55 pm | #

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Luther’s disagreement with the church went beyond theological squabbles on the book of James. Luther challenged the heretical practices of the church which were not only non-scriptural but morally despicable. One of them was selling indulgences for money. Have you heard that only recently the pope apologized to the victims of the inquisition ? I‘m not in the mood to open a can of worms here my friend but I can give you links that would shock your pants off your waist. Having said the above I wonder why they require AIDS test for aspirant priests at their seminary in Montreal.

On the separation of church and state, the constitution must delineate the responsibilities of each entity. In a democracy there is freedom of expression, freedom of religion. In the case of population control, if the government cannot implement its plan for fear of political reprisals from the voting public then subject the damn thing to a referendum, period.
BW | Homepage | 03.20.05 - 12:34 pm | #

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On the issue of under-population, yes it is fact. That’s why a country like Canada allows 250,000 immigrants its year. Is it bad? There are certainly pros and cons. I would rather be at the under-population end than the over-population crisis. Countries like U.S. and Canada re now trying to evaluate better options for guaranteeing decent returns on social security pensions. I can tell you off-hand that not everyone relies on the social security pension when they retire. There are much better ways to secure your retirement income than relying on the government. Companies have already partnered with financial institution to develop creative retirement plans with attractive tax incentives.

Back to the topic … I am always curious as to why Filipinos have identical cultures with Catholic Latin American countries. Not only do we have Spanish sounding names but the poverty, family values, the machismo, the procrastination, the indolence, lack of palabra de honor, punctuality ( a friend tells me that they are worse!) –all manifest itself in both cultures. Might it be that the formation of our present cultures, from the tribal to the present day was molded by the same religious teachings and principles? Religion seems to be the only common denominator in both cases.
BW | Homepage | 03.20.05 - 12:37 pm | #

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Oh and I forgot an important one - corruption in government.
BW | Homepage | 03.20.05 - 10:51 pm | #

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That's a glaring omission in our exchange here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xp | Homepage | 03.20.05 - 11:22 pm | #

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oops sorry for the caps lock hehe
xp | Homepage | 03.20.05 - 11:23 pm | #

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Is LSS a disease?

Memorandum:

Attention: Parapsychologists

Will you please explain the pathophysiology and the paraphysionogmy of this phenomenon called last song syndrome a.k.a. LSS? G. says he couldn't sleep at night because Kitchie Nadal's song "Huwag na Huwag Mong Sasabihin" keeps on playing in his head.

G. is as well a somnambulist, so with LSS, he walks around at night trying to cure his insomnia by wearing an imaginary iPod in auto-replay.

Please explain his case. Hope I am not barking up the wrong tree.

Thanks,
X-P

"Let's make poverty history!"

Indeed!

(via Ped Xing)

***

(Of course, I need to give my blessing!)

Doxology:

To the filthy and unjustly rich:

Behold thy sin!

Count the number of dehumanized humans in this world. Such is the multitudinousness of thine sinfulness! Envisage the very poor as the very proof of thine wealth's injustice!

Behold each famished face, each hide burnished black, (the sun, your co-conspirator), each son nailed to the cross of thine slavery, each daughter sold supersized to thine pimps.

Behold each fingernail obscured by grime, each hand tied tight by thine blind opportunism, each foot shackled to thine guile and premeditated guilt.

Thy sin hath a name. It is called Apathy.

Behold, it is thine apathy that shall kill us all!

Amen.

small, small world

Current mood: namedroppy (?)

I never expected the ff. are J.'s blockmates/friends pala back in Ateneo: M., B., and this Yakult comedian.

And J. personally know these people, too, because he's not just a musical arranger, he's also a techie: P., AA.

Small, small world. I'm starting to find Manila so claustrophobic.

***

Breaking news: Paco Arespacochaga, Jonathan Buencamino and the rest of the Introvoys will be back! The story soon on TitikPilipino...

68. The Fear of Obsolescence

Making somebody feel recognized for his ability is an exercise in humility and confidence – a curious mix. What if that person is someone you feel threatened by? What if you think the recognition is undeserved? What if you’re just being defensive about it?

These challenges were put to acid test when I heard about a colleague getting promoted for a job well done. Honestly, my initial reaction was one of pleasant surprise. I sincerely didn’t expect that a higher position exists for people in that particular job. I wasn’t aware that someone can be so good that a promotional position would be sort of invented just for this person.

Then the inevitable thought of insecurity began to worm its way into my head. It could’ve been me. What about my own job? Can I do something more for the company as well, so that I, too, can be further promoted? Can I be of use somewhere else in the project we’re working on or even outside of it? Is there room for further advancement here? Should I take other computer courses or attend classes teaching other specialized skills?

All of a sudden, I felt so indispensable. I thought, I could be fired any minute and somebody else could take my job. Why the latent defensive reflex? Where was this feeling coming from?

Fighting off the inferiority complex gnawing at my sinews, I stood up, approached the person beaming with a big smile, and articulated my warm congratulations, adding that he owed the rest of us a treat.

It was a humbling experience, but one that was liberating. I was used to being the one congratulated and admired for my work. I watch in reflected embarrassment at how my colleagues went out of their way to verbalize their joy, even their envy. I’ve seen how people can tell me they hate me and I just smile in return.

Now the tables are turned; it’s now my turn to do so. After the fear subsided, I took stock of the services I render to the company. You know what, I ended up saying, “Not bad, not bat at all.” My pedantic knowledge about certain things remain serviceable, like ask me where Mogadishu is and I’ll say Somalia. My facility with the computer and the Internet, and my writing and oral skills struggle to prove competitive, a force to reckon with, at least within the confines of our office floor.

But this episode turns out to be a major eye-opener in another way. Suddenly I am in a prognostic mode, crystal ball in hand: Thousands of new graduates are joining the workforce every year. There will come a time when my sole bargaining power will reside in my advanced years, my experience. Pretty soon, I will be too old for everything. What are the chances that I could still find a job I like? Ten years from now, what is in store for me? Will I be able to support myself and my family through retirement?

Depression sets in as I see a vision of a white elephant, a machine rusty and out of use. It must be a phase everybody has to face sooner or later, like it or not. The forecast is a gloomy and fearful one, because we cannot tell it for certain.

But eventually, facing our fear becomes a must. We won’t always be looked upon as the favored one – it’s the cycle of life. So we better have our contingency measures up front. We better map out our plans for the future and lay down the best-case and worst-case scenarios. It’s never too early to look forward. While it’s not good to panic, it’s still better than be caught dead with our workpants down.

2.2.2002

Get those legal transcription jobs!!

Someone said my work of tutoring American college students in their own native tongue is so ironic. Well, that's why I'm doing this. I'm doing this for the delicious irony of it. To think that I'm a 'mere' B.S. Bio. grad. LOL!

But I'm digressing so early in the day. What I want to tell those who have the power to invest is this: Grab all those medical and legal transcription jobs being outsourced by US firms. With such a litigious society with lotsa money as America, we can't help but be a beneficiary. To think that I haven't even mentioned that Americans are prone to lotsa diseases and the elderly are dying en masse unattended. Oops, that's hyperbole, heehee.

But let me let you in on a secret. Can you keep a dark secret? Only a precious few pass English grammar tests at home. I, for one, have feared I wouldn't make it. It's my actual writing experience that did it for me.

Here's another secret: For legal transcriptions, comma usage alone would have up to 200+++ rules!!! This is like memorizing the different senses/meanings/definitions of the word "the" as listed in Oxford Dictionary.

Are you up for this kind of challenge?

***

Meanwhile... pahabol para kay Papa Smith. LOL! Look who got quoted!

sniffle

(Don't read this post. Nothing is worth mulling over today so I must resort to myself again.)

Fathermocker! Galit ako. Ayoko lang magmura. I saw kasi on TV, between Jackass and what's this show, this fitness guru promoting this product of his - and he says, "Food is indeed medicine!"

I have this feeling I should get paid for some reason. AA, synch lang ba 'to or what?

***

Anyway, I've been scarfing endangered-species meat lately and I discovered that eating a Jollibee hamburger once in a blue moon is efficacious to the palate. Every time I munch on meat, though, I get this feeling that I will have cancer. So many people - including big names - are indeed having cancer these days. I keep on saying it's the food we eat, it's the food we eat. A well-known writer has cancer and she has unsubscribed to a mailing list because she says the exchange is giving her undue stress. They say cancer is also about genetic predisposition.

***

The new old movie that I found worth renting over the weekend is Jan Dara. Anybody watched Jan Dara? My nationality this week is Thai. I am offically a Thailander for one week. I also rented Orange County and - surprise!, the first hour is verrry funny; the second half sucks. Starring and featuring the wonderful performances of Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Catherine O'Hara and John Lithgow, it has a surprising cameo by Ben Stiller.

***

Meanwhile, on my way to work, here's what I saw in a Guadalupe mall. I died instantly in pained delight:

NOW SHOWING

1. Bukid ay Basa II

2. Manaoag

***

Oh, wait, my little brother has a question which I hope ex_groupie would notice: Why are Filipino bands of today very fond of food-related names?:

Sponge Cola feat. Cheese feat. Sandwich feat. Twisted Halo feat. Dimsum?

Nakakagutom. Is this their way of making the audience hunger for more? More of what?

Update: Here's more: Queso, the band reportedly known formerly as Cheese (ang laking pagbabago/major makeover noh?!) feat. Radioactive Sago Project (Lourd Ernest de Veyra et al.) feat. Mayonnaise feat. Giniling Festival feat. Squid9. (Tnx, ex_groupie.)

I hope to review all of you(r CDs), hehe.

'Companies frown on illicit affairs in the workplace'

Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher Resigns; Board Appoints James Bell Interim President and CEO; Lew Platt to Expand Role

When food is.. poison?

I’m not from CSI but I can bet my bottom sentimo it’s not the cassava that killed the schoolchildren of Bohol recently. Cassava contains cyanide but so do strawberries. (I learned that from Inez.) Thing is, these foods do not contain this poison in concentrations lethal enough to kill children who are supposed to absorb poisons better than adults and who I suppose ate just a strip of cassava or two.

Someone really has to stand up for the lowly bilanghoy and I hereby take a stand and choose to be counted. I love cassava cake! I love pichi-pichi! Cassava pudding! Don't be silly. It’s not the cassava.

The return of the return of the return of the Chuck Taylor

Like the movie The Exorcist, Converse's canvas shoe Chuck Taylor has returned!!!

It has returned for the nth time. And like all resurrections of phoenixes go, it comes back to haunt the living.

I used to wear these shoes back in the 90s because Ely Buendia and the E-heads were wearing one. I bought a pair of red ones which I liked to match (mismatch is the word) with my plain navy-blue tee and faded Levis jeans. I thought I was being cutting-edge in my fashion taste... ...Until my corny La Sallite officemate dismissed it this way, complete with a mocking face:

"Eh ganyang-ganyan yung sapatos nung karpintero namin, eh!"

Bwisit din cya no?

I never bought Chuck Taylors again because they look good and they last two lifetimes but they feel quite uncomfortable. End of Converse-ation, you could say.

I dunno if Converse has updated the shoes or what. I'm not interested to know as of now. What I'm lusting after at the moment are the new Adidas sneakers. Paging Adidas, would you be willing to be my sponsor?

Speaking of The Exorcist, why was Billy Joe Crawford suddenly out of the final cut?? Sayang! He got to get some stellar billing status with Stellan Skarsgard et al. pa naman.

Hail, Filipina, full of grace

It's a glorious day, folks, not just because it's sunny and the sky is blue. You just happen to be walking down the street today and who passes by and blesses your line of sight but Beauty herself, walking on two feet, drifting by like an apparition, but real enough you can touch and smell her, if only you could.

Even as you melt like wax, you start to wonder why the beautiful Filipina moves and sounds like the way she does. Ah, you ponder, it must be all about the graceful comportment. The Filipina is all about grace, gracefulness and graciousness.

(Is this a chauvinistic-pig post for International Women's Day?)

Feat.

But of course you have noticed how the music industry (international and local) has feasted and feted its artists by featuring them in surprising cameo roles in the videos of stars big and small.

But why the suddenly fashionable abbreviation?

Nelly feat. Beyonce. Beyonce feat. Eminem. Eminem feat. Paris Hilton. Paris Hilton feat. William Hung.

Nina feat. Eddie Gil. Eddie Gil feat. Junior Kilat. Junior Kilat feat Pepe Smith. Pepe Smith feat. Salbakuta. Gloc 9 feat Carlos Agassi. feat. Kitchie Nadal feat. Hannah Romawac feat. Barbie's Cradle feat. feat. feat. feat. feat. feat.

Interesting combinations.

Letter to the filthy rich

Behold thy sin!

Count the number of dehumanized humans in this world. Such is the multitudinousness of thine sinfulness! Such is proof of the injustice of your wealth!

Behold each famished face; each hide burnished black, the sun as your __, each son sold to slavery, each daughter to a pimp,

Behold nails covered in grime, hands tied by , feet shackled by

Thy sin has a name. It is called apathy. F_cking apathy.

And it is thine apathy that shall kill us all!!!

Masculine mescaline

Pretend you're interested in what I have to say about Pepe Smith, the legendary Pinoy rock-n-roll king, who has recently released an album after a century of having been cryogenically frozen. The album is titled Idiosyncracy, apparently to refer to Smith's idiosyncracies. LOL. Here's a microreview:

Still the reigning king of Pinoy blues-and-balls (Juan dela Cruz Band-style rock-n-roll, hahaha!)!

I can smell too much Marlboro smoke and stale San Mig beer, though. Should I mention mescaline, too? What is mescaline? I come from the Ecstasy generation, you know. :P

Speaking of blue balls, I have a question for rock aficionados: Is P.O.T./Karl Roy still around? IMHO, the throne belongs to Roy after Pepe kicks the bucket and stops kickin' _ss. No, on second thought... Pepe'll be doing that even long long after he's gone. That's what a great artist does - leave a long-lasting legacy whether it's against his holy will or not.)

Dimsum

Microreview: Good chow, yum-yum.

I can smell a major hitmaker (or his resurrection) here. Can't you?

Up next: Pepe Smith (oh no, can I hack this one? i can smell cocaine from afar this early), Rap Public of the Philippines, vol. 2 (let's see), Erik Santos and DNA (ano?), and Ang Idol Ko Talk-n-Text singing contest compilation (ano'ng kababalaghan ito?).

The compleat guide to DIY sex video

Manual v.1.1

1. Buy a cell phone with an integrated videocam and Media Player.

2. Sneak it into the bedroom while doing it with somebody or with yourself. Or while skinny-dipping in the bathroom.

3. Download after "cam-whoring."

4. Cut-n-paste Lucky Manzano's mug. Don't forget to Adobe Photoshop Ethel Booba's, well, boobs for the same purpose.

5. Voila! A do-it-yourself sex video!

6. Now go to your nearest cell phone repair shop in Greenhills for repairs or in case you need an upgrade.

7. Don't worry, you can deny everything on TV!!!

Why are people suddenly wearing just slippers?

Why have the cool dudes and babes in town suddenly taken to wearing just slippers? I mean it. Nothing more. Just slippers! On their way to school! to work!

This girl calls them Havaianas.

Ha-va-ya-what?!? Eh, tsinelas lang yan, eh!

Pati ba lalake, pwedeng mag-ganyan?

Kung sabagay, presko yan sa paa! : )

Junior Kilat

Party pipol ur on dub tv! Danggit, bay! Haha.

Warning: Politically incorrect and explicit lyrics.

CAPITALism

Attention: Business and economics community. You might want to consider the ff. towards a new definition of 'business sense.'

- Stewardship, not ownership

- Service, not mere profit

- Continuous livelihood creation, not merely productivity, GNP, etc.

- Return-on-community (the local community first), not just return-on-investment

- Dignity of man before efficiency of machine

Just a thought, just a thought.

I heart MNL

If you're not a "doofus," you'd sense that I actually have a great love for my country and its people, and especially for the city I live in. Read all the hidden agenda all you want and, trust me, you won't find none. Read all the blogs in Pinoyblog and you would sense the same unmistakable love of country no matter where they are posted in the world. (And you'll see the reason why we bloggers get a collective nervous breakdown when all we hear from day to day are politicians who screw us all the time!)

Today I just wanna note that I pitched to the tour guy this idea that I love Manila, after all (the whole metropolitan chunk!). Too bad the idea turned out to be non-original. Who cares, anyway, when all I wanna do is to heart PHL, to heart MNL?

***

Speaking of pride of country, here are other reasons why we should feel better about ourselves -- our ever-burgeoning diversity of music, and increasingly sophisticated ones, too. (My reviews of Junior Kilat and DimSum later.)

The paradox of the age

This should've been posted in MUCOLYTIC. Or PARADOXICAL.

"There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them."

(as posted by Mr. B.)

Again, on doctors-turned-nurses

This thing ain't as simple, as I've found out little by little.

1. Doctors who are hired as nurses in the US most likely end up becoming specialist nurses, such as nurses in the ER, assistants for neurosurgeons, etc. This type of nurses are subject to a different pay scale.

2. The prospects for nursing homes in the US, Europe, and the rest of the First World are ever bright, what with their greying population, with no enough replacement in sight. Setting up your own nursing home requires a basic knowledge and skill in Nursing more than in Medicine.

Perhaps we should not feel so bad about our departing doctors and nurses, after all. If my memory serves me, people were complaining a few years back that we have so many, if not more than enough, commerce grads, lawyers, and doctors - in that order. Now that we're starting to actually get rid of them, we're still complaining. I wish it's the lawyers who do the exiting en masse. Oy, joke!

View from the Skyway

I never realized that the Makati skyline can be postcard-pretty, too... ...until I took the FX taxi this morning which took the Skyway from Bicutan because the service road was being fixed. It was too late when I realized I had a camera with me. Idiot, idiot.

Will somebody do that for me? make postcards of the Makati skyline? Remember, though, to exclude from the frame the rusty and dilapidated tin roofs of residents in the foreground.

Wait, maybe that would make an interesting twist?

In my years of living in this megalomaniac megalopolis of pullulating masses, this thing about this place never fails to half-amuse, half-annoy me: The unbelievable chasm between the extremes of subcultures.

It just so happened that the life I have affords me to see both sides of town. By 'see,' I mean 'take a glimpse,' not live in it, but just take a glimpse. I have middle-class values but I'm not even sure if I'm indeed middle-class. (I've stopped believing in classes anyway after I've read Oscar Wilde.) But my life can get to be a wild ride sometimes. Oftentimes. One moment, I am being ferried into Dasmarinas Village by security guards; the next moment I am tramping on a dusty alley lined by hovels that stink with human excrement. One moment, I am eating pasta with caviar sauce or something in a ritzy pizzeria; the next moment I am scrounging for instant noodles. One moment, I bump into movie stars and celebrities and pretend not to know them (believe me, oftentimes, you fail to recognize them); the next moment, walking on the road, you run into a huddle of boys sniffing rugby in little plastic bags and people who live in grimy pushcarts, scrounging for fastfood refuse in the trash. It's a good thing these reality TV shows of late have finally shown these hitherto uncovered realities of this beautiful/ugly town. At least people from the rest of the country get to see how abysmally low we have sunk into in some parts of town.

How I wish I've never got to see with my own eyes how the upper echelons lived just so I wouldn't be as scandalized whenever I see how people in the slums get so dehumanized. I cannot, in my conscience, sleep doing nothing for these people. These people are my people, my fellow Filipinos, my very own flesh and blood.

I know. In our own struggle to make both ends meet, keep body and soul together, we choose to ignore these things. The truth is most of us are so helpless, we have not much choice; just thinking about it could make us sink into clinical depression. We could barely look after our own needs; how much more others'? We could resort to blaming but what would blaming achieve? At least it would be a good diagnostic step; before you can pinpoint the disease, you have to diagnose the patient, right?

I've learned that the best way to keep your sanity in this place is to deaden your senses, to pretend you don't have a heart, to just focus on the sparkling view of the Makati skyline.

'God and capitalism'

I have stopped posting in this blog or in the egroups articles of special interest to me but I couldn't help not citing this one. For the first time in a long time, I found something I vehemently agree with and you'd also agree if you've been following my rants since Day One. Shut my face for now and just read it.