Make It Mine

Wake up everyone
How can you sleep at a time like this
Unless the dreamer is the real you
Listen to your voice
The one that tells you to taste past the tip of your tongue
Lip and the neck will appear

I don't wanna wake before
The dream is over
I'm gonna make it mine
Yes i... i know it
I'm gonna make it mine
Yes i'll make it all mine

I keep my life on a heavy rotation
Requesting that it's lifting you up
Up up and away
And over to a table at the graditude cafe

And i am finally there
And all the angels they'll be singing
Ah la la la ah la la la I la la la la love you

I don't wanna break before
The tour is over
I'm gonna make it mine
Yes i...i know it
I'm gonna make it mine
Yes i'll make it all mine

And timing's everything
and this time there's plenty
I am balancing
Careful and steady
And reveling in energy that everyone's emitting

I don't wanna wait no more
No i wanna celebrate the whole world
I'm gonna make it mine
Because i'm following your joy
I'm gonna make it mine
Because i... i am open
I'm gonna make it mine
Yes i... i'm gonna show it
Yes i'm gonna make it mine
It's mine...
Yes i will make it all mine

A new song by Jason Mraz

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YEHEY. May bagong album na siya. We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.

It's Hooters not hookers

Hooters

While everyone is blogging about David Cook's recent American Idol win over fan favorite and uber pa-cute David Archuleta, I'm blogging about an entirely different thing.

Hooters Manila recently opened (April 28 to be exact) at Building D of Mall of Asia. If not for Carl Hiaasen's witty, funny and unique-bordering-on-the-weird novels on Miami, Florida I wouldn't have come across with this infamous restaurant.

To cut a long story short (and this blog entry shorter), Hooters or the idea of sexy waitresses--who are chest heavy according to Paolo Lorenzana--serving greasy food (focusing on the male clientèle, obviosuly) first emerged in 1983 at Florida.

So, how did this, well uh, groundbreaking restaurant reached the Philippine shores, miles away from Florida? Thanks (or no thanks) to Eric Gutierrez, who I think is formerly connected with FHM.

And as expected, Catholic and Christian groups announced their, well, denouncement of this establishment. Highly because of its vulgarity. It's another crack at the only-Catholic/Christian-nation-in-Asia image image of the Philippines. And before Hooters starts attracting (Catholic, Christian) customers, bishops or whoever doused the fire with water. The adage, "Prevention is better than cure" has taken on a much serious meaning, in this instance.

In all fairness to the "Delightfully tacky yet unrefined" waitresses and Mr. Eric Gutierrez himself, they're neither trying to promote a filthy club nor an escort service nor legitimize prostitution in the country. They are, let's face it, merely adding a "visual" element to the thing we Filipinos love to do: eating. And Hooters protect their waitresses by having bouncers aka security personnel on standby in case "some inebriated ignoramus" gets carried away by the waitresses' soft teasing. 

I'm not actually against Hooters nor I am endorsing people to go there (except for the food, which I heard are guiltily delicious. I have yet to try it.). I see at as another change our society, our culture encounters and needs to adapt to, sociology-wise.

Adapting does not mean embracing with all arms (a.k.a. to patronize). Adapting means changing some of our views on im/morality. This new concept (of having a good time and not taking everything, and yourself, too seriously when eating which Hooters boasts of) that translates anywhere "needs to be gobbled up" or if you don't want to, well, at least respect it. We all have preferences, remember.

I just wonder with the arrival of a restaurant such as Hooters to the uber-conservative shores of Manila, "What will come next?" My Sociology professor was right when he said that, "Nothing should surprise me (or us) with this generation, in these times."

Darkness

When does a candle shine the brightest? Always in the dark.

Shuffle.

Want to know the brand of music I listen to? Read on.

There's this game/quiz I got from an "online buddy" (hehe, hanep talaga ang relationships sa Multiply). Here are the "rules": 1) You put whatever music player you have on random (a.k.a. on shuffle, which btw I usually do); 2) Post a line from the first 30 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the songs are; 3) Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines came from; 4) Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly; and 5) No cheating.

1. I try not to rely, not to rely on the perfect line. 
2. Every night she walks right in my dreams since I met her from the start.
3. I can't believe this pain, it's driving me insane.
4. Don't be afraid, in your heart you'll find a way.
5. Making love to you was never second best. #tooeasy
6. Lately we're running out of time, aren't we? 
7. The space between what's wrong and right is where you'll find me hiding, waiting for you.
8. Whenever I see your smiling face, I have to smile myself because I love you. Yes I do. #tooeasy
9. Turns out everything I say to you comes out wrong and never comes out right.
10. Kudos to those who see through the sickness.
11. Every color and every hue is represented by me and you.  #tooeasy 

12. You tell me to get a life, do you understand the weight of that line?
13. And I would never let somebody bring you down, or take your crown. Never.
14. My Lord I have You to thank, You watch over me and hold my hand.
15. You love me but you don't know who I am.
16. Someday you'll find me calm beneath the landslide. #gleemusic
17. If you're thinking of being my brother, it doesn't matter if you're black or white. #tooeasy
18. Went on a walk inside your head the other day and I couldn't believe a word I heard you say.
19. Hey mom, why didn't you warn me . . . about boys? #sotrue
20. Pardon me, I just can't help staring at you.
21. Too many walls have been built in between us. Too many dreams have been shattered around us. #PauAndJan
22. We find peace in the shadows long enough to see the monsters rise.
23. Ako'y nandirito pa rin para sa'yo. Hindi mo lang alam.
24. I wish that every kiss was never ending.
25. Everbody's dressing up, I'm dressing down.  #LagiNaman

26. I put my life in your hands.
27. Get real and see the beauty in ugly.
28. I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off you.
29. It must've been love but it's over now. #commonknowledge
30. But when I see you, it's like I'm staring down the sun. 



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*This is a cross-post from my Multiply page.

Pointless writing

"Writing is turning one's worst moments into money." J. P. Donleavy

I can't remember the first time I wrote well. What I mean is, the first time that I wrote something that really expressed what I wanted to say at that moment has been lost to me, and my memory. I didn't even know I wanted to write, just as I'm doing now. Nor do I remember the time I realized that I had the talent(WTF?!) and the guts to write what I wanted, because honestly I didn't thought many would read them.

I admire many writers. They're like the most brilliantly creative people for me. They make the most mundane and silly things sound larger than life, when, sometimes, they aren't.

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"Style is but the faintly contemptible vessel in which the bitter liquid is recommended to the world." -Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey

A book I really wouldn't read if not for Hum1 purposes. It was definitely hard to find, and Prof. who, by the way, introduced me to many brilliant writers) wanted us to have an original copy to read from (or better yet, to own) because abridged versions are, well, abridged. Honestly I don't know the point of this blog entry, and why I'm writing it. So before this gets brilliantly un-creative, I'll stop. Now.

What Goes Around Comes Around: My Thoughts on Survivor: Micronesia

"A man can/might outrun a woman but a man can't outwit a woman."
-Natalie Bolton, Survivor: Micronesia on Cirie, Amanda and Parvati

I was torn between blogging or writing a review on the just concluded season of the Mother of all the Reality Shows, Survivor. But since I blog a lot, and I do this better than writing a review (I think), I'll blog.

Aside from Rich Alvarez/Redbull games, the Survivor 2-hour season finale is what I look forward to. That I would give up everything I was doing at that moment just to watch it. Or I would stay awake way past my bedtime just to watch it. And last Monday I was happy that I got home just in the nick of time.

Tagged as Fans vs. Favorites, this season of Survivor is one of my favorites because:

1) Eliza Orlins (from Survivor: Vanuatu) is back. :)

2) Parvati Shallow (Survivor: Cook Islands) is back as well. And she won, too.

3) The all-girl Final Four is actually done this season by Parvati, Natalie, Cirie and Amanda (that the girls of Vanuatu failed to do because of the devious Chris).

4) It had the record-number of blindsides (this is Survivorspeak for getting someone voted out and leaving that person utterly clueless and in disbelief) orchestrated by the intriguing yet embarrassing Natalie. Embarrassing because of her questions to the Final Two, Amanda and Parvati. God, they made me blush and change channels briefly. See for yourselves here. 

5) The aforementioned four girls managed a magnificent feat by convincing Erik to give up the Immunity Idol he got in Exile Islands. Dumb guy, and I feel sorry for him.

Survivor has gone through sixteen seasons counting the just-concluded in Micronesia. And with its longevity inevitably comes boring-y, for lack of a better term. It takes 28 days for one thing to become a habit, and as Survivor shows us, that it takes years to lose a habit. Everything becomes a routine. Twenty or so outcasts are sent to a remote island for nearly a month to, in short, outwit, outplay, outlast. In between these days are reward and immunity challenges, which quoting Jeff Probst, "guarantee you a (Insert percentage/fraction here) shot of being the Sole Survivor."

But seasons wherein previous players are asked to come back (All-Stars, Stephenie and Bobbyjohn in Guatemala, and Micronesia) give the much-needed break in the monotony, and the much-needed boost in ratings.

Blindsides are a manifestation of the players' wittiness and good-ness in acting. (Natalie should play poker everyday, she's going to win with her straight-face.) They are actually not a good thing because it shows how good at lying a player or players are. And this season is so full of it that even the end (the reading of the final vote) was fittingly marked with it.

*Just as everybody thought Amanda got the win in the bag, the jury (Eliza was the deciding vote, actually) voted for Parvati as the Sole Survivor. Nice.*

So to cut this short, I love Survivor: Micronesia, for all its flaws and good points. And according to Jeff Probst this season got the highest rating in the history of Survivor next to the show's first season, Survivor: Borneo.


Women rock, and Natalie, Cirie, Amanda and Parvati (and Eliza as well) proved it to the world.

Make Everyday Pangea Day

This four-hour program of films, music, and speeches is going to air around the world in a few hours. But who are we kidding? It isn’t gonna change the world.
-Pepe Diokno

I first heard the term Pangea from my brilliant Nat Sci 2 professor. Pangea, she said, was, "About 250 million years ago, the entire world was a super-continent called Pangea. The giant land mass has since broken up, forming the Earth we see today." Yes. The continents was once one big land mass. Just imagine how chaotic the world would be if everyone can go to anywhere by bus.

Anyway, now, this term is used as fitting title to another "unifying effort" to save the world through music. Well. Really. Lots of efforts by musicians and different artists in the past years have done benefit concerts or for-a-causes, but years after do they make a change?

MTV's Live 8 concert for their campaign, Make Poverty History, in 2005, has admitted that this project-for-a-cause has not borne fruit. “If the G8 were high school seniors, they might be in for some summer school,” their report reads.

Don't get me wrong. I like it that people are doing their best to, uh, save whatever it is that needed to be saved. (Just a side note. Sir Marquez told us that the earth need not be saved because, through natural processes, it can save itself. The difference is that the earth, by itself takes longer.)

But as Neil Gallagher (in Pepe Diokno's article in Philstar's Supreme yesterday) — who was not a part of Live 8 — said, in a conversation with UK’s The Guardian in 2005, “Are they hoping that one of these guys from the G8 is on a quick 15-minute break at Gleneagles and sees Annie Lennox singing Sweet Dreams and thinks, ‘F*ck me, she might have a point there, you know?’… Keane doing Somewhere Only We Know and some Japanese businessman going: ‘Aw, look at him … we should really f*ckin’ drop that debt.’ It’s not going to happen, is it?”

We can't expect these big shots to do the change the world for us. Because let's face it, they're doing better off. So why would they bother. And as a cliche goes, Why fix it if it ain't broke. Such selfishness, but true.

In short, we have to act now if we really want change. Whether political, social, environmental. You name it. And as the organizers of Pangea Day agree. “Movies alone can’t change the world. But the people who watch them can."

John Mayer's song puts it best by saying, "Now we see everything that's going wrong with the world and those who lead it. We just feel like we don't have the means to rise above and beat it. So we keep waiting, waiting. Waiting on the world to change."

I should stop waiting, and act. But I should face the fact that some things are easier said, or typed, than done.



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The quotes used above are from the great Pepe Diokno's article yesterday, 10 May 2008, in PhilStar.