Meryl Streep
Devil Wears Prada, 2006
(Source: , via the-blue-minaudiere)
So my mom and I are watching this wonderful program called Kimchi Chronicles. Yes, as I am typing this post, we’re currently watching. And it’s a wonderful show because it’s about Korean food. Anything about food is wonderful for me. Anyway, at the start of the program, they showed videos of South Korea today. And my mom said a while ago, “Ang ganda ng Korea, ano?” (“Korea is really beautiful, isn’t it?”) And I replied, “Oo nga eh. Samantalang mas mahirap pa sila sa Pilipinas dati.” (“I know. But they were even poorer than the Philippines before.”) My mom responded, “Eh anong nangyari sa atin?” (“Then what happened to us?”)
Yeah, Philippines, what happened to us?
I’m not a history major but I know I don’t have to be one to say that we Filipinos are not really united and we never have been. I’m not saying the kind of unity that we show when Manny Pacquiao has a fight or even that unity when we had the two EDSA Revolutions. What I’m talking about is the kind of unity that makes us identify ourselves as Filipinos, the kind of unity we never had the chance to develop in our history.
To make everything clear, let me use the Japanese as an example. There was once a time when they closed their country and prevented foreign influences from the rest of the world. During this time, they were able to make their own identity. They had the chance to develop their culture and establish unity as Japanese people. They opened their country again after a long period of time and eventually foreign cultures and ideas came to Japan but they did not really penetrate the minds of the Japanese.
What about the Philippines? The Spanish invaded us and ruled us for more than 300 years, from 1500s to late 1800s. This period of time was critical to establish our identity as Filipinos. But the Spanish culture mixed with Filipino culture instead. The Spanish intimidated the Filipinos and divided them according to their religious beliefs. Americans came after. If the Spanish used religion to conquer, Americans used education. And it’s super effective. The Japanese came afterwards and blah blah blah, the Philippines tasted the sweetness of freedom for the very first time.
As we can see, this national identity is the key for national unity. But we see that we did not have the chance to strongly build anything that identifies us as Filipinos. Koreans know who they are and no matter where they go, they always go back to their own country. They use their work force and knowledge to lead their fellow men to the top. That’s why they are so prosperous and successful. That’s why they now belong in the first world. But us Filipinos? We thirst for a life abroad. Jobs in other countries pay better. That’s why parents encourage their children to go to other countries so that they’ll have bigger salary. That’s why we are blind to the fact that the Philippines needs us.
We keep on thinking that it’s never too late for us to unite. But if we don’t act soon, it will be. We can never change the past but we have the present to start new history.
The weekend of the start of our Christmas vacation, my family and I paid a visit to one of the most popular exhibits in the world, the Myth of the Human Body. The exhibit originated in South Korea but the technique of preserving bodies, called plastination, was developed by Gunther von Hagens, a German anatomist. The entrance fee costed Php 350.00 but it seems that we got more than what we paid for.
The exhibit is divided into 8 sections, each section shows a different human body system and is represented by a god in Roman mythology. Each section shows specific preserved body parts and the needed explanations are given as notes placed near the specimen. Also, there are video presentations for further information. The tour usually lasts an hour if there is a tour guide but it seems that it took us longer to view the exhibit.
The word “amazing” could not summarize the experience while touring the exhibit. It seems that no word is worthy enough to describe it. From the stories of my friends who went there before me, I already knew that the exhibit would be worth the visit but once you are there yourself, you would be speechless. The Myth of the Human Body is a proof that we have advanced technology and expert knowledge and skills that some people were able to preserve human bodies and body parts in an unusual but unbelievable way. They were able to cut those bodies very carefully that the body parts still remained in place in after slicing those men and women several times.
The exhibit that probably amazed me the most was the Red Man. It is simple yet astonishing. At the first glance it seems like it is just like the other specimen but if you think about it, it must be really difficult to get all the blood vessels from a human body without destroying it. My favorite exhibit, however, is the last one, the part where they showed the growth and development of a baby from conception to birth. It makes me wonder until now how they were able to get their specimen especially those fetus who were just months old. And, of course, the grand finale of the whole exhibit is a great show off of the skills of the people behind the Myth of the Human Body for it was truly breathtaking. It was a woman in her early 20’s, sliced crosswise in God-knows-how-many pieces from head to toe. Each slice was hanged separately in order to show the whole structure of the human body. It is, without any exaggeration, awesomely jaw-dropping.
Some people would probably be shocked by the exhibit. I understand them because who would have thought that someone would actually do something like this to human bodies? But I advise those who would like to see the exhibit to have an open mind. After all, the people behind the exhibit have no bad intention. All that they have done was for the sake of science and for better understanding of bodies. They even preserved organs with different diseases to help us think about our health habits and lifestyle. And also, those bodies were donated by their relatives and it is their decision to help the exhibit.
After visiting, I somehow pitied those deceased people. Imagine, they are able to travel around the world. They probably visited so many countries right now. But they did not even enjoy their tour because they are, well, dead.
To the people behind the wonderful Myth of the Human Body exhibit, kudos to each and every one of you. You have done a really wonderful job. To the relatives of the bodies, thank you for your sacrifice and understanding. Your decision has brought a better understanding of us. And to the souls bodies that were used in the exhibit, may your souls rest in peace. I hope you had a good life.
NOTE: The images are NOT mine. It’s from a photographer named Richard Romano. Images were obtained from this website: http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/awesome/2011/02/myth-of-the-human-body-a-review.html
But Ms. Rowling, with all due respect, what about Severus Snape?
I FEEL THE SAME WAY. I THINK EVERY POTTERHEAD DOES. BUT THIS GUY IS HAS THE COURAGE (AND THE SENSE OF HUMOR) TO SAY IT ALL ON CAMERA AND UPLOAD IT ON YOUTUBE.
IT’S BEEN WEEKS SINCE THE RELEASE OF HP7 BUT MOTHER OF GAH I CAN’T MOVE ON. I’VE BEEN DEPRESSED FOR WEEKS NOW. I’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT HARRY POTTER IN SCHOOL, AT HOME EVERYWHERE. I CAN’T FOCUS ON MY STUDIES BECAUSE OF HP7 BUT I DON’T CARE. I… I NEED PROFESSIONAL HELP.
OH GOD YOU GUYS… :’(
And everybody in class is like:
“Sweet mother of God, thaaaaaaank yoooooouuuuu!!!”
And there will be cheers from every classroom in the building like our country won a fucking game in the Olympics:
AND THE PARTY BEGINS
But then you realize you have shitloads of homeworks/reports/other shit for tomorrow
I’m a college student in Philippines where when it rains, it really pours. The peak of the typhoon season is usually in July to August but due to fucked up climate nowadays, we’ve been experiencing typhoons as early as June. Right after our summer vacation. So imagine a scourging hot day and then it suddenly rains like there’s no tomorrow.
My university is located somewhere in Manila and I tell you, the streets surrounding my school become oceans of ASDFGHJKL when it rains. They flood in a few minutes of rainfall. (And no, I’m not from UST. I believe they have a worse situation over there.) And Manila, well, is not exactly clean and— OKAY I’M GOING TO BE STAIGHTFORWARD. MANILA IS MOTHERFUCKING DIRTY. IT’S THE WORST PLACE WHEN FLOODED. IT’S THE WORST PLACE EVER. I DON’T WANT TO INSULT THE CITY BUT YES IT’S MOTHERFUCKING AWFUL OVER THERE. IMAGING SWIMMING COCKROACHES ON THE FLOODED STREETS OH MY LORD.
And I live in another city and it really takes a lot of effort for me to go to school everyday.
Moving on, we have two government agencies for education, DepEd (Department of Education) and CHEd (Commission on Higher Education). The difference is that DepEd governs lower education levels (elementary and high school) and CHEd is responsible for high education levels (college). One of their responsibilities is to announce the suspension of classes when needed.
DepEd announces suspension once they see that there are strong rains. And they usually announce it early like the night before or very early in the morning.
But CHEd… CHEd is a real bitch.
They won’t even announce anything even though our school is going to be Atlantis the next day. They said that they don’t have the authority to suspend classes because it’s the school leaders that have the right to do so.
NO AUTHORITY? NO AUTHORITY CHED ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? THEN WHAT’S THE POINT OF HAVING YOU AROUND THEN??? AREN’T YOU SUPPOSED TO MAKE DECISIONS FOR UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES REGARDING THIS MATTER??? IF YOU KEEP ON PASSING THE RESPONSIBILITY TO THE UNIVERSITY/ COLLEGE CHANCELLOR/DEAN/WHATEVER-THEY-CALL-THEIR-HEAD, THEN WE CAN SAY THAT WE DON’T NEED YOU AROUND. WE BETTER DECIDE FOR OURSELVES, ASSHOLES.
Stupid people…
Or cry.
from: http://twitter.com/#!/TheHPFacts
I just realized that I completely ignored little Harry because Snape demanded all of my attention… and tears.