everybody wants to rule the world

the rain and the thunder mocked me as i blog while having an overtime in the office.
stranded with my pending projects with the not-so-famous hotdog brand,
i broke away from my radiation bath and focused my sight to the marathon of
raindrops running across the office walls like the male and female human species
racing and overtaking each other for a ride at the express train of life.

as the mud lying on the road pulled my shoes, i was reminded of people dragging each other down
for power.

______

acting on your best behaviour
turn your back on mother nature
everybody wants to rule the world
-tears for fears

today i asked for two more inches

i pray that the god of the universe will pity me and add two inches more to the length of my leg bones so that i can run inches faster in chasing my dreams of becoming a successful artist, entrepreneur, a news caster, a host, a radio jock, a photographer, a print ad model, and a writer.

*****
may the lord bless me and keep my feet strongly anchored to the ground of my senses so that i will not get carried away by the drift of the stress and the dragging atmosphere of work.

amen

where is mother?

“where is your mother?...everybody must have one.”
-nana ubing, from nicholas pichay’s almanac for a revolution, act 3 scene 2

mother left when you were one.

she fed and gave milk to other children in exchange for vitamins and drugs for your lung treatment.

she loved to cook us noodles minus the seasoning.
you would know when she was in good mood if she bake cassava and pudding cakes in the afternoon.

she did cross stitching and weaving as a hobby.
you would know if she was full of hope when she finishes a centerpiece in one seating.

she read dinosaur and alphabet books with you.
you would know if she was calm when she taught you pronunciation of words with seldom glance at her wristwatch for time.

she smiled every once in a while to relieve tension.
you could tell it was from the heart when all the wrinkles on her face disappeared as her facial muscles stretched to express her happiness.

“…you are my only hope.”
-nana ubing, from nicholas pichay’s almanac for a revolution, act one scene 3

mother returns home once every year for 18 years.

she brings home syringe sets, gloves and gloves instead of robots and toy cars.

you should consider her efforts and appreciate the pack of m&ms and kisses laid on the table.

she cooks instant meals without salt.

you should not speak to her after her quarrel with your father; you should hug her instead.

she reads and audits her financial transactions every evening.

you should reduce your expenses and prepare yourself for a tight budget; dare not ask her about it.

she weaves thoughts of paranoia, jealousy and depression every afternoon.
you should serve watermelon, ripe mangoes, and avocado (her favorites) to her.

she forces a smile whenever father cracks a joke.

you should join her smile with your laughter in the air.

“and i am like your mother worried about you. but i am not worried about you. i am worried about the future. about what will happen to you.”
-nana ubing, from nicholas pichay’s almanac for a revolution, act 1 scene 6

mother will pack her bags after a month of vacation.

she will cook and bake your favorite meals served with fresh fruit juice.

she will show you her suicide attempt letter and tear it in front of you.

she will hug you and kiss you and tell you how proud she is of you.

she will tell you to calm down and not to worry about your budget for she will help you until you were stable enough to put up your own business.

she will leave a mark of her smile painted on every corner of your house.

she will be giving milk and medicine to other people in exchange for your laser eye treatment.

she will receive a thank you note from you that will make her sob for a while because of happiness.

she will hope to return home and never leave you and your family again.
_________________________________

plug: friends and visitors, if you have time, please do vote for this blog at the candy mag blog awards by going to this link: http://www.candymag.com/blogawards/finalists and voting for Bulitas Shots at the Best use of Photography category.

You can also vote for my friend, aaron's blog by clicking on thoughts: the whereabouts at the best boy blog category

thanks you very much and more power!

spiderman and the neo united states image

the recent showing of the third installment of the spiderman movie brought the world closer to a hero that shares the same experiences and trials with it. the audience embraced the development of a character who longs for acceptance, a persona who experiences defeat, an individual who enjoys moments of prestige, a lover who feels the pain and the joys of love, and a hero who faces the opportunity costs of juggling his priorities over his responsibilities.

since spiderman’s entrance to the big screen, superman’s all-powerful, testosterone-oozing patriarchal image has been replaced by the web slinging hero’s flexible, and more humanistic image.

superman, being the epitome of the indestructible hero and the man of steel, has long been taken by scholars and analysts as a subtle symbol used by the united states to showcase their power and dominance over the world. the presence of the man of steel on cinemas around the globe somehow brought a stiff figure of a savior to its audience’s psyche; a figure of a savior far from their experiences, a hero in the sky.

spiderman, the hero who faces internal and external issues with himself, his family, his love-life, his friends, and his society, broke the myth that heroes are nothing but more than human. the film’s presentation of spiderman having more human than superhuman qualities made the hero a more effective figure closer to the hearts of the audience.

the humanistic qualities (someone who experiences
love, hope, anger, pain, revenge, friendship, betrayal and jealousy) of spiderman in the film made him the best candidate to carry the colors of the american flag.

as much as i would like to veer away from thinking that the movie may have been filled with political and social undertones, that one scene from the movie where spiderman had the american flag as his background confirmed all my fears. the signs were all there; laid perfectly for the audience to decipher the pretty obvious subtext of the movie- that anyone may have done grave and ugly things to the eyes of the world, but it has its reasons to back it up.

spiderman’s battle with the sandman, can be interpreted as america’s war with iraq. despite the sandman’s unyielding power, he still explained himself to our hero. of course, as expected, spiderman forgave the sandman at the end of the film. what i liked about the spidey-sandman scene was the confession part where both parties’ confessed their shortcomings and their basis for doing their acts. that very scene was one of the many reasons for the movie to be considered great.

aside from the web shots, the black suite, the spine tingling eye rolling, neck straining fight sequences with the goblin, venom and the sandman, the movie has matured in storyline as well as the actors’ delivery and interpretation of their acts. the facial reactions, the timing of the line delivery and the acting of the actors contributed much to the film’s overall success.

the recurring themes of addiction to power, love, jealousy, betrayal, trust, success, acceptance, anger and lust made this movie installment better from the first two.

delving deeper on the human aspects of spiderman’s persona, the movie has told the audience that anyone can be spiderman. anybody can be a hero in their own; a hero who experiences success and defeat, a hero who faces trials and tests, a hero who loves, a hero who does stupid things, and a hero that is human.

i was an audience caught among the strands of the political, the social and the emotional webs of spiderman 3. i was an inspired audience who saw from the movie the values of life that all things have a basis, all things are interrelated and all things change.