yuletide playlist

This Christmas sucks but at least the songs keep me sane. Here's my playlist. Thanks to the ever dependable Limewire.

Band Aid | Do They It's Christmas?
Jackson 5 | Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Bing Crosby | White Christmas
Mariah Carey | All I Want For Christmas is You
Bobby Helms | Jingle Bell Rock
Nat King Cole | The Christmas Song
Brenda Lee | Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Il Divo | Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)
Kelly Clarkson | My Grownup Christmas List
Jamie Cullum | Let it Snow
Macy Gray | Santa Baby

Smith-ten

My female officemates are going gaga over Smith. Much more when they saw this picture and the gazillion of photos in news and the Internet. Not even an tinge of sympathy was poured over Nicole's fate. After being convicted, Daniel Smith immediately assumed a celebrity status. Sam Milby, move over.

I came across an account of this recent news on Howie Severino's blog. There's also an interesting debate on this specific entry.

Mr. Smith went to Subic

Gender relations, RP-US relations, priest-flock relations -- there's a lot to debate in this case aside from the meaning of rape.

Whatever they felt about the guilty verdict for US serviceman and now convicted rapist Daniel Smith, my female and gay colleagues all agreed, "Ang guapo!" Then they wondered about the victim Nicole (an alias), whose face has been hidden in the media. "Is she pretty?" someone asked. "No," replied one documentary researcher in the know. "But her sister is." Continue reading

weekend death reads

It was still a long weekend, Friday being a holiday and so I found myself scurrying my growing collection of unread books bought in booksales. Booksales are one of the greatest things in this technology-ridden world. Laurels for businessmen who venture into booksales.

East of the Mountains is one of those road trip books. If you've watched Elizabethtown there are similar themes here, though the protagonist in the novel, Ben Givens is on the last days of his life due to colon cancer. In E-town, the main character is played by the unsympathetic Orlando Bloom, and his sudden road trip to self-rediscovery is prompted by the consequential failures in his life. East is contemplative while it touches on very similar themes given more depth in the perspective of death. Guterson displays his knack in descriptive narration, the setting ultimately becomes a main component in the storytelling. His renewed perspective is given substance by a string of encounters as he heads east. In the end, you expect Ben to come home to himself. I bought this for Php 65.

Chinua Achebe has been touted one of the prolific African writers of this generation. In Things Fall Apart, his narration of African culture, particularly the Ibo tribe of Nigeria is very rich and informative. There are accounts of the Ibo rituals on courtship, marriage, death, and leadership akin to human traits and experiences. Ultimately, it tells the destruction of one man and the death of a way of life brought about by Christianization. I bought this for Php 30.

end of the line (?)

The verdict is out. Lance Corporal Daniel Smith is convicted guilty and is sentenced to spend 40 years in jail. His alleged cohorts, on the other hand, with lack of evidence and strong argument to impound them, were acquitted and were immediately flown to Okinawa leaving Smith still looking clueless and dumbfounded in the probing eyes of the cameras. His mind must’ve gone blank as he was dragged to the police car up to the Makati City jail like a dog on a leash, while the ruckus around him continued.

As the verdict was announced, ‘Nicole’ shrieked in joy and embraced his mother. She sobbed and praised God for the decision. Her lawyer was even more jubilant and went shouting “Long live the Filipino women!” While on the way to church, she expressed her gratitude to the people who supported her and her cause. Rallyists stood their ground outside the court and waited for the verdict despite the rain.

So ended yesterday a landmark case in the Philippine judicial system and perhaps a win that can ignite more the struggle for women empowerment. The case may even prompt the government to probe into other related cases. News reports stated that Nicole’s case was the only case who triumphed among 3,000 others involving women sexually abused by foreign expatriates.

This may not be the end of the line though. RP-US foreign relations may well be under hand. Where Smith will be jailed is yet to be decided, considering that the young soldier’s stay is under the clause of the Visiting Forces Agreement.

For Nicole, this might not yet be the end of the fight though. Justice, she felt, was half-baked. She felt that the missing driver who was there during the rape is still crucial to the conviction of the others particularly Carpienter whom she referred to as ‘the leader’.

*****

I went to the same school with Nicole, though I was never really quite sure if we graduated the same year. I even saw her more than a couple of times especially that she was under a department where I was a student assistant. Her brother though became a classmate of mine in Economics as I was mixed with a Management class when I was second year. I remember her going to the room one time to see her brother albeit I couldn’t remember how her voice sounded that time. I only know her by face and wasn’t really able to talk to her.

It was only after I saw her brother in the news that I ascertained it was her. I didn’t even know that they’re from Zamboanga until I learned it from the news. I can even remember that before I graduated, rumors were going around the university that the rape victim came from the same school. It turned out to be true. It must’ve been more painful for her friends, classmates and teachers who really knew her.

the new Green

I'm planning to stage (how grand a term isn't it?) a weeklong protest due to the recent injustice in the Philippine labor situation (go ahead have a great time laughin') by absenting for a week. I cannot even begin to fathom the graveness of this situation. I don't know if I'm going to play this one out, or how the situation itself will play out. I don't give an effin' shit. And by the way, our landlady hasn't knocked the doors yet.

*****

Now I remember where I've seen Eva Green. She was in this film by Bernardo Bertolucci called The Dreamers, where her character is sandwiched by a young American studying in London and her own French brother. I saw this in one of the film classes of Sir Bong Eliab back in college in the 'film room', where I used to sneak into and spend my lazy Saturday afternoon. I usually just watch outside with barely audible sound coz I was not really in his class list. Despite the darkness, I can very much hear the gasps and gawked at the shocked expressions of sex-starved students whose idea of art house cinema is still that of Y Tu Mama Tambien. Well, Dreamers have some resemblance to that only it was, well... shocking, for lack of an overstatement.

photo: googleimages