Friday, July 20, 2007
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Friday, July 20, 2007
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I still haven’t read any book of the overly hyped Harry Potter series since many people I know went absurdly agog over it. My initial reaction when I first learned of the book eight years ago was like ah, okay, just another children’s book. My mannish hormones were in overdrive at that time — thrilled and fired up about college life and all — so who give a shit about Harry Potter? Likewise, I got a lot of anime in my head to take care of so I had no time for another long story about loony wizards and witches. But at this moment, things have become interesting. Harry is arguably not your ordinary children’s book after all. I admit I began to like the series after the 5th book was launched, especially upon knowing that death and darness already characterized the story (evil laughs). Friends tell me I’m a closet HP fan. They ask me that if I haven’t picked up and read any HP book, how come I get to like it? Of course, there’s the Internet, all I ever need to do is type some words and press the key. I read detailed summaries over the net and that’s already enough to satisfy me. I’m lazy, okay (evil laughs). In addition, I incidentally watched some HP films before so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to become a bit “inquiring” concerning what Harry will do next with his wand. Thanks to the Internet, I got to know what the ending would be even before the HP book 7 is released tomorrow because of many leaks that’s been popping all over the place (evil laughs). Someone with access to the American edition of the book has taken a photograph of every one of the pages and uploaded them to some fanfiction sites. I’m not a bad Santa so as much as I want to tell in here what the ending would be I’m just going to zip my lips. I don’t want to give HP fans a bad Saturday. Let’s just see how people would find the book seven. Happy reading!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
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What in the nutty world is wrong with the word “TITI?” And how “abominable” is it? This is my question to the full-page ad that appeared in July 9 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The ad, perhaps worth more than one hundred thousand pesos, was placed by Antonio Calipjo Go, academic supervisor of the Marian School in Quezon City. In the ad, it says:
“On page 114 of the public school textbook titled HIYAS SA PAGBASA for Grade 5 appears this instruction: “Pag-aralan ang mga nakatalang mga salita.” ( “Study the given words.” ) Among the words asked to be examined minutely (pag-aralan) by the students are the words TITI, defined as ARI NG LALAKI (male sex organ), and TITATITA, defined as BUGAW (pimp).”
Doesn’t Go know what titi is? What is wrong with titi being defined as male sex organ? Even a 6-year-old boy knows what titi means. Unless Go does have any other definition of the word (which I highly doubt), why not tell the educators? If he merely wants the public to know that titi is all but a “gross” word that lost its way in a textbook, then he just clearly demonstrated how narrow-minded and bigoted he can be. This is a prime example of how conservatism and its set of parochial mentality imprisons people’s faculty of reasoning and understanding. It was ironic that Go used the case of Galileo as an ideal in promoting the truth (the conservative Catholic Church condemned Galileo because the latter supported Copernicus’ theory that the Earth is not the center of the universe) while he himself is still confined within the walls of conservatism by describing the word “titi” as “abominable.” Coincidentally, he works for a school which has religious affiliation with the very same institution that condemned Galileo.
I find nothing erroneous with the word titi; it only becomes wrong or morally objectionable when a person uses it in bad taste. In fact, the word was used in the proper context; the authors of the book did not even use the word in a sentence denoting or connoting sexual activity. They merely defined titi as a male sex organ — which is absolutely a FACT. Heck, we have been using that word since time immemorial, even before the word “google” found its place in Princeton’s dictionary as a verb!
Which brings me to my point: How should one translate penis? Vagina? Breast?
Ari ng lalaki? Ari ng babae? Dibdib?
Get real. It’s about time that we detach ourselves from the marshland of close-minded morality. It’s about time that we clear our cluttered minds of the traditional connotations that limit our capability to perceive things around us. Penis is titi, vagina is pekpek and breast is suso. If people find these words unacceptable, or better yet nasty, then there’s a problem with their nutty heads. The next thing we know, another ad would appear in a newspaper identifying a word with which some “academicians” would find a problem...
BULBOL: BUHOK SA ARI
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Sunday, July 8, 2007
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Sunday, July 08, 2007
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At long last! I have watched the Transformers! Now, let me have some words for the film. This ain’t a New York Times movie review, so be forewarned, I just want to rate the movie based on what I saw and felt after watching it. On a scale of 1-5, 5 being the highest, I am giving the Transformers a score of 4.0. I would like to say that I consider the movie absorbing and helluva lot of fun — as long as I close my eyes and keep the thought to myself that it’s an adaptation of a toy collection/cartoon series. You can’t be wrong to say that everything unbelievable in a film is fun, because to begin with, these unbelievable things are what make this kind of film nice. Surely, if people are looking for some serious movie where one can reap subtlety and profundity or whatever crap critics nowadays philosophize about, Transformers isn’t for them. I can forgive the movie’s lack of characterization and the mind-boggling, eye-popping battle between Autobots and Decepticons (couldn’t distinguish who is who), as long as the humour, the matrix (oh yeah, seen a robot doing that Neo thing?) and yes, Megan Fox, are there. I can’t stress the special effects enough, they are completely incredible. The plot? Not enough to say it’s very good, but hey, there’s a sequel! Yep, it’s a trilogy!
Posted by
Nutty Boy
Labels:
transformers
Saturday, July 7, 2007
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Saturday, July 07, 2007
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I’ll be damned. I really don't know what in the nutty world is happening to this once great, highly-principled, nationalist politician named Teofisto Guingona, whom, with Nene Pimentel, I admired a lot in times past. This proved that the philosopher Heraclitus was right after all, nothing lasts forever, people change, and things you adore today might become the object of your dislike tomorrow. But this truth may not come as a surprise when you look at politicians, particularly the trapos and the corrupt, since we all know how many times they could have a “change of heart.” It’s just that sometimes in the jungle, you look for tamed beasts who do not devour things and do not relish their being members of the most powerful creatures in the land. That’s what I SAW in Guingona BEFORE. But after what he said in public recently about Erap, whom he said is now “a new man who has found a new light and a new life,” I am now abashed... and embarrassed. I just don’t know. It’s just so upsetting to know how some great people sink to the level of trapos, bowing down to a devil just to kick the ass of another devil. It's just so upsetting...
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
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Wednesday, July 04, 2007
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Some people sometimes rub you the wrong way. Like they are trying to make you feel guilty and dumb for doing something they think is stupid. It's because they themselves are stupid. The hell, they don't have to tell me why I did something if they are going to ask me that all over again, like a damaged CD, just to rub it in and tell me hey you did a mess of a thing and you're gonna be responsible for that, like "hala bakit mo ginanyan, lagot ka kay..." Sometimes I just crack a joke, but deep down I'm really about to blow up. You know for yourself that I did that, so why the f*** do you have to say it all over again? This kind of act pisses me off bigtime. I don't do that to anybody. Perhaps, it's a bad thing that I appear to them as cheerful and friendly that it sort of gives them the audacity to sling just any clumsy and impolite remark at me. Everybody has his limits. I am not a saint. Don't be shocked if I suddenly shoot you. I don't care if I do it face-to-face or the backbiter's way. If you try to piss me off again, all hell will break loose.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
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Tuesday, July 03, 2007
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Hahaha! Nokia, Vodafone, Samsung and Motorola (the hell with LG) must have been thanking the good heaven this week. They had been bedevilled by worries about how the iPhone — a multimedia and Internet-enabled mobile phone by Apple — would blow up their narrowing and densely competitive cellphone market. Since Steve Jobs announced the coming of the much-celebrated gadget in January, top honchos from all cellphone companies had been fidgety, while geeks and conyos had all gone nutty. Not until some days after its release when many people realized the anxieties and the long wait for the overly hyped gizmo aren't worth it after all.
I don't think many people in the our country would be lured to purchase a cellphone that isn't like your regular up-to-date cellphone. The common handheld features that are positively valued by cellphone customers, especially the Filipinos, are missing. For example, the iPhone doesn't have voice dialing, voice recording, instant messaging, memory card slot, MMS, A2DP (stereo bluetooth), common Bluetooth file transfer, GPS capability, text copy and paste, video recording, native games and support for MP3 ringtones files. Also, its rechargeable battery is non-removable, and once depleted, will need to be replaced by the manufacturer for a fee. Some techno addicts think it's a little disappointing that iPhone only features a built in 2.0 megapixel camera, not at least around 4.0 megapixel. And here's one for a bang: the iPhone cannot record video! LOL.
The only thing that Apple iPhone can be proud of is its touch screen technology. But it only recognizes signals coming from flesh. So if people are living somewhere in Alaska where they usually use gloves, using an iPhone can be depressing...
Friday, June 29, 2007
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Friday, June 29, 2007
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The clock read two minutes before 12 a.m. The night was unusually cold and I was in my bed lying on my back, contemplating on whether to take sedatives or just let the stillness of the hour lull me to sleep. Then I heard rattle near the door. And then suddenly, out of the dark nothingness, a misty, indefinite figure appeared. In the blink of an eye the figure became clear: a white-skinned lady in a white gown with flaming red eyes. She was looking at me. I was too aghast to budge, and too horror-struck to say anthing. She was coming towards me. Towards me...
And then I said “hi!” to her. The white lady smiled so sweetly. What a wonderful ghost story. LOL.
Honestly, I don’t believe in ghost or any paranormal activity. My reason is simple: I have not seen one. And even if I see one, what makes me think it is ghost? There is no science nor logic upon which ghost can be critically analyzed or validated. To date, there is no credible scientific evidence that any location is inhabited by spirits of the dead. There are no accepted premises to from which we can draw conclusion. All we hear, all I hear, are tales, footnotes.
Ordinary physical explanation can account for ghost sightings. Take for example, air pressure changes in a home can cause doors to slam, or lights from a passing car reflected through a window at night can account for weird images. A psychological phenomenon called Pareidolia can cause people to believe they have seen ghost. For example, take a look up the clouds or in the moon. If you can see human faces or figures in it, chances are you have a case of pareidoliac. I remember one night in the province when I saw what first came into my mind as a "white lady." It scared the crap out of me. Fortunately, I didn't run (or could not run because I was scared) and was able to realize, through looking carefully at the thing, that it was just a white bedsheet hanging on a cable. So I can say I was slightly pareidoliac that time.
Our peripheral vision can also see "ghost." Peripheral vision is very sensitive and can easily mislead, especially late at night, when the brain is exhausted and more likely to misinterpret sights and sounds. It is very possible that when one believes that a place is really hunted, he or she may interpret "weird" events as confirmation of a haunting. And what about sounds? Frequencies lower than 20 hertz are normally inaudible and can cause humans to feel a "presence" in the room, or unexplained feelings of anxiety or dread. Personally, I have felt this a zillion times.
A fine example of "ghost" hahaha!
Interestingly, nobody sees "naked ghost," considering their supposed spiritual nature. I don't remember any movie or book mentioning a naked ghost. If I will see a ghost for the very first time, I would like to see one naked. Not a guy, you fool. I want a proof that there exists a paranormal world. But until that happens, I will remain a non-believer of ghost.
Oh, yeah! Casper is naked!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
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Tuesday, June 26, 2007
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I had a dream... and it’s not a Martin Luther King-type of dream which one discusses about when overwhelmed with idealism. The dream I’m talking about here is the dream Sigmund Freud would try to examine. Yes, dream, as in the experience of sensations which happens when you are asleep. It happened last June 24, right before I woke up. Like most of our dreams, it bordered on bizarreness, and I was just lucky to recall it (I forget most of what I dream the moment I open my eyes). In my dream, we were in a war-torn town that resembles the city of Stalingrad in Russia during World War II. I couldn’t recall if we were soldiers or rebels in the dream, but the only thing I am sure of is that we were fighting one man whose body appeared to be made of Kevlar vest, impenetrable and hardened. Here’s the funny thing: the man we were fighting against was Eddie Garcia!!
The city was something like this...
Of all the six billion people in the world! When I got up, I was thinking: what in the nutty world was Eddie Garcia doing in my nutty dream? I’m quite sure I haven’t been watching Asian Treasures lately. Although I think my dream is a bit parallel to the Asian Treasures, because I did see a scene in the show where Robin Padilla and the rest of the gang were battling it out with Eddie Garcia’s demonic minions. And when they were up against Eddie Garcia, they were nearly defeated. In my dream, we riddled Garcia with bullets from our Steyr-Aug rifle. But he just seemed to take them all, without dodging any of them. He was coming towards us and we were retreating. And then the scene suddenly shifted to a part where I was asking this fellow combatant how to use a hand grenade. Out of the blue, the scene shifted again and then I was on my own, facing Eddie Garcia. I shot him like hell with my rifle and, like a warfreak, threw the hand grenade right at him. Then there was an explosion. I thought he was pulverized but out of the smoke he appeared unscathed. I threw one grenade after another. And he was just coming towards me, unhurt, laughing his ass off. The weird thing was that he was unarmed and was not striking back or anything. He just laughed and laughed his ass off. And then I was roused by the alarm clock. It was 5:30 AM.
Did this dream mean anything? Or was it just a bunch of random thoughts that blew up inside my nutty brain? I have had dreams since I was a kid, and they’re all weird, morbid, sometimes blissful, sometimes indecent (hehe). Can they be interpreted? What do you think was really at the back of my mind?
Thursday, June 21, 2007
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Thursday, June 21, 2007
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Only few people know that I can play some songs on a piano, or more specifically, on a keyboard. But it’s not something I am really proud of. My way of playing is not systematic, so you can figure how pianist would normally laugh at the idea. My style is called “playing by ear.” The truth is, anybody can learn to play piano by ear while skipping those written musical shits (I mean sheets) using only chords. It’s not like you can play a Mozart or Chopin with this style, but hell, who in the nutty planet would like to be confined in playing just those classicals anyway? Actually, playing-by-ear style is no secret and people normally do this with a guitar. When one wants to learn playing guitar, s/he would be asked to learn chords in the beginning, right? The same goes for playing piano by ear. You will just learn chords, not notes.
 
Take a look above, the left image shows us how to play G chord; the right image shows us how to play C chord.***
So what’s this fuzz all about? It started when Karen and I happened to discuss music yesterday night. I told her I could play keyboard a little. And then I remembered that I hadn’t been playing for a while, so when I got home I tried playing some songs I knew on a keyboard. And my god, how they all sucked! I hadn’t touched my P1,999 keyboard in ages, so you could imagine how I really messed up with the songs. I had to memorize them again one by one. Do you know what songs I play? Okay, I really don’t want to put a question mark on my self-proclaimed rock music lover image, but just for fun I will tell in here what songs I play on a keyboard... or more precisely, the songs I CAN ONLY play on a keyboard through play-by-ear style.
Here we go...
1) A Long and Lasting Love — by Crystal Gayle
2) Something In The Way You Look at Me — by Christian Bautista
3) Everyday I Love You — by BoyZone
4) Making Love Out of Nothing At All — Air Supply
5) Boulevard — by Whoever-shit-he-is (I don’t care to know)
Aarrggh! (love songs! Aww!). Frankly speaking, it took me a lot of time to memorize the way each song is played. I play all those songs on the list because their chords are not that difficult to figure out. The last one, the Boulevard crap, is a song I was just forced to memorize, because my Nanay wanted me to play it (with her singing it). But don’t think I am way too soft playing some mushy songs on a keyboard. I can play rin naman Let It Be by the Beatles, Skyline Pigeon by Elton John, My Immortal by Evanescence and Imagine by John Lennon. So it’s not that really bad, is it? And that is only playing keyboard by ear!
One would do it in any way possible — all for the love of music.
*** Images taken from shanemcdonalds.org <-- try to visit the site if you want to learn piano/keyboard the easy way.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
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Thursday, June 14, 2007
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The more I read award-winning short stories, the more I get the feeling of a loser. It has dawned on me that I will not win a Palanca Award this year, or even in the next years. I'm not pessimistic, just realistic. I can categorically say that my works are so amateurish and full of bullshits. I now accept the fact that I still need a lot of time to hone my fiction writing skills. Perhaps, not having been trained to write stories could be an excuse (since I took up Journalism). But what about Rosario de Guzman-Lingat? What about the likes of Luis Gatmaitan and Liwayway Arceo? They are some of the finest writers who didn’t have literary trainings of any sort, and yet excel as prolific writers all the same. Just last week when I was in FullyBooked in Gateway Mall, I read an anthology of short stories of Lingat, and the realization hit me big time. How could this woman write a superb short story? How could I not?
Actually, I submitted two entries to Palanca this year (short story and short story for children, both in Filipino). I had a lot of nerve — or audacity — to submit entries, and even thought confidently, much to my chagrin, that I would win an award. In my dreams. I got that shabby inspiration from Edgardo M. Reyes when he said in his book that he won a Palanca on his first try. It had been only a year since he began to write when his piece “Di Maabot Ng Kawalang Malay” won a Palanca (third prize, 1961). Also, there have been 30 people already winning a Palanca on their first tries. With a kapalmuks, I might as well join them and get one for myself. Beginner’s luck, you know. Maybe Don Carlos Palanca won’t mind giving this idiot a thumbs up.
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