Glass half full

As if the Iraqis didn't have enough trouble already, UN health officials report that a 15-yr old Iraqi girl died of bird flu. Iraq shares a border with the strangely appropriately named Turkey, which already has an outbreak of the disease. For crying out loud, what next? These Iraqis deserve a break.

A break from the western media would do them good, too. Despite the bleak picture of the Iraqi situation being painted by the Western press, Iraqis remain optimistic about their future. In a poll conducted by the BBC, 65% of Iraqi respondents believe their personal life is getting better, and 56% are optimistic about their economy. (In Afghanistan, it's 70% and 57%.) This reminds me of our very own Mindanao situation when the Manila media portray the place as the wild, wild west with shootouts and bombs going off everywhere, and Muslim Filipinos as violence prone, hair-triggered bandits. I've been to Zamboanga city, Pagadian, Malangas, Zamboanga del Sur, and other places there, and I've met Muslims and worked with them. They're just like the rest of us. Manila is just as 'dangerous' as Zamboanga city. Granted, in some isolated barangays, weird, violent stuff happen. But they happen in isolated barangays in Christian Luzon, too. I'm just afraid that because media portray Muslim Filipinos as hardly civilized barbarians, this reinforces some of them to behave this way; as swaggering siga-siga. "Hey, that FPJ movie portrays Muslims like that. Maybe that's how we ought to behave." Television especially is a powerful force in telling people how they should behave, how they should look, how they should speak, in order to reinforce a certain self-image. So you've got models on 'coolness' or 'bitchiness' as the case may be, and take that as a model on how you yourself should behave based on your own image of yourself. Media's excuse is that they just mirror life the way they see it. This is of course bunk. Their mirror is filtered by marketing consultants; by what sells. They're not mirroring; they're suggesting; they're dictating. And the people are buying it. Scary.
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[A friend of mine called my attention to my recent posts and noticed that Ive been ranting a lot. I read back and, yes, I do sound like a very angry and very bad stand-up comic. Which just means I've practically broken almost all New Year's resolutions I made, and it isnt even February yet. Aside from the rants, I resolved not to begin a sentence with 'Ok', 'Well', 'Heck', 'Actually', or 'Basically.' I'm pretty sure Ive done that several times. Except for 'Basically'. Well, heck, ok? Basically Im just doing the best I can. Who follows resolutions anyway?]

Two shockers

The first of course is the victory by Hamas in the Palestinian elections. In a development that surprised even them, Hamas has won a decisive majority in the Palestinian Parliament, soundly defeating the ruling Fatah party. This of course is heralded as a triumph for democracy in the troubled region, but as can be expected, the self-proclaimed champion of democracy in the Middle East, G.W. Bush, isn't exactly excited to offer Hamas his congratulations. Their victory is probably perplexing Hamas leaders. "Holy Dome of the Rock, Mahmoud; we won! What the heck are we going to do now?" Now that they have to wear suits and attend Parliament, this might force them to take a more moderate stance. This was probably the direction they were looking at when their supporters marched without weapons towards the Parliament building to celebrate, where they were met by fully armed Fatah supporters. Maybe Hamas would tone down their "Death to Israel" act. After all, if they want to qualify for foreign aid, they have to show themselves to be good citizens in the world community. But I'm not betting that they give up their weapons anytime soon.

In another shocker, former NBA rebounding machine and sometime movie actor Dennis Rodman has signed up to play for the Brighton Bears in the British Basketball League. Wha-?? At first I didn't believe it, and had to do a double take. I was indeed shocked. I re-read the article again. And it's true! The British have a basketball league!

One that got away

This morning while waiting for a ride, I saw a gnarled old lady with a walking stick, wearing one of those brown dresses with a stampita round the waist you often see devotees of the Black Nazarene or the Sacred Heart, wear. She was walking hunched and slowly on the service road of the South Super Highway. On the road, not on the sidewalk. I took out the camera and lined up a shot, set depth of field, focus, exposure--I was ready to go. But in the shot was a Jollibee sign, so I waited for her to pass so I could get her as she was walking away from me. It was perfect. South-bound road was surprisingly empty, she was still on the sidewalk, the road rising in front of her, the lamposts providing a great one-point perspective to infinity. The clouds were gray, and the pollution added some mist; great atmosphere. (Sure, there was a Metrobank sign in the shot, but you can't have it all.) It was like she was walking in the gray mist to eternity. I readjusted focus, aperture, exposure. I was ready to take the shot, waiting, waiting for just the right moment. Then a car parked right next to the shuttle and ruined everything. Meanwhile, the old lady moved to the sidewalk. If I had a digital camera, I wouldve just taken pictures, click-click-click, and see if anything came out right, readjust, then click-click-click. No such luxury with the film camera since you have to spend time thinking about it. At least I do. I expect as I get the hang of it, lining up a shot would be second nature.

I'm no film snob. I think digital photography is real photography in a different medium and eventually I'll be getting a digital camera. But Ijust love my new, old, clunky Olympus OM2n. It makes the sweetest sound when you press that shutter button. Action's so smooth unlike the old Russian Zenit I used once. That camera released the shutter with a jolt, so it's practically useless for long exposures unless you had a really steady tripod. I shot the first roll of film with the OM2n the moment I got it, and as expected, most of the pictures looked like crap since I kept trying to experiment with it. The second roll was better. That's the thing with film photography; you learn as you go since you'll have to wait for the prints to see if you got it right. It's pretty exciting, the anticipation. Taking pictures with film forces me to think about my shots now--there's no turning back when you press that shutter release--so whereas my first 2 rolls were gone in an instant, I'm still on my third roll (36 shots) which is a week old and has about 16 more shots to go. Developing these babies aint cheap.

The kids are showing an interest in photography, too. They want a camera of their own seeing how much fun Im having with mine. Should provide for a great father-daughter activity.

Live long and prosper

That Picto-Personality Test thing I blogged about a couple of days ago had this to say about me:

You are romantic, and when you are with your partner you like to woo them with your imagination.

Romantic eh? I hereby submit a snippet of conversation between myself and a female pal. I invite you, dear readers, to guess who is saying what.

Person A: What I'm after is a romantic relationship.
Person B: Hm. I graduated high school a long time ago so I no longer believe in that myth. A relationship should be based on logic and reason.
Person A: But there are issues in a relationship that only the heart can understand.
Person B: Then such issues are irrelevant.

The Pac-Man

Every politician, every actor-politician, every actor, every news reader, every news writer, has been hailing Manny Pacqiao's victory over Erik Morales as a triumph of the Filipino people. Everybody wants to bask in the reflected glow of the Pacman. The president of the republic, in a phone call ringside--Hello, Manny in the exact same tone of voice she used with Hello, Garci--couldn't resist getting her piece of the victory, too. "Alam kong mananalo ka kasi nagdasal ako." Well, thank you, Mrs. President. If it weren't for your prayer, Manny Pacquiao would have lost. We know God listens to you and not to Vicente Fox. A triumph of the Filipino people, eh? I ask you, if Manny lost, would it have been a defeat of the Filipino people? Exactly. The victory was Manny's and Manny's alone. It was his hard work that did it and he owes nothing to the president, to the government, nor to the media hangers-on who're milking this phenomenon for all its worth. He did it on his own, and this is what we should celebrate. Celebrate Manny without getting on his already tired shoulders.

Terraforming the news

"So you're going to London?," I asked a colleague from Nanjing when I was there a couple of years back.

"Yes. Next week," she said. It was to be her first trip outside China and she feels a bit nervous.

"Don't worry about it. London's just like Nanjing," I said. British colleague looks up from his keyboard, wide-eyed. "They're both cities," I continued, deadpan. "Yes, and there's people in it," Brit bloke joins in. Nanjing colleague didn't get it, though. Language barrier. Or is it humor barrier? Maybe they laugh at different things and deadpan attempts at humor isn't one of them. Anyway...

I was reminded of this story by a news item I read that says scientists using the microlensing technique have found the smallest Earth-like planet outside our solar system. "An international team of astronomers has found the smallest Earth-like planet yet outside our Solar System." Earth-like! That means there are trees in it, too. And beaches. And weirdos trying to be the next American idol. Holy mother of pearl! I read the full article.

Turns out the planet, with the unlikely name of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb, is five times the earth's mass, and is so cold you'd see your words, in bold-face Times Roman, fall frozen on the ground the moment they leave your mouth when you speak. The article later admits, rather sheepishly since it knows it's guilty of sucking us in, that the planet "may therefore resemble a more massive version of Pluto." So it's not so Earth-like at all, is it? It's just a cheap publicity stunt to get us interested, eh? What, funding for more research running low? Shame.

"We found a planet! And it's just like earth!"

"No kidding."

"Yes. It's a planet, too."

The project

One of my missions on this planet is to ensure that these two girls don't lose their sense of wonder. The strategy is to lead by example. It's fun. It gives me an excuse to climb trees and catch spiders.