What I’m Reading: Interest and intrigue
I regrettably admit that, in less than a month, I have already missed a week of my supposedly regular "What I’m Reading" posts.
The past two weeks had become both unbearable and tolerable for me as I had to experience firsthand, for the first time, the spiteful dysmenorrhea.
(Disclaimer: Too much information after this slug. To avoid, skip next paragraph.)
For nearly a decade since I had my initiation to womanhood, I proudly claim that I never actually had pre-menstrual symptoms, like cramps or acne: a bragging right. Condescendingly somehow, I tend to judge women who had to consistently nag or to be inevitably absent due to cramps. I am lucky, most women I know would say. Well, last week was life’s way of telling me, “What goes around comes around.” Lesson learned.
To make it up to my disappointed dear self (I am my worst critic, naturally), aside from summing up articles and issues that caught my attention out of interest and intrigue, I shall also share a few memorable encounters I had with my friends recently — primarily to delete some backlogs in my life.
Let me start with Ello.
Two months ago, the world wide web went abuzz over a new social media platform that promises an ad-free alternative to Facebook.
Boasting its minimalistic and comely interface, Ello.co is getting much accolade for its exclusivity. Users can only sign up for an Ello account upon invitation although, ironically, users’ profiles and posts can be accessed publicly.
^ Ello manifesto
A social networking site nonetheless, Ello’s diversion and isolation from the rest of the ever-more-becoming-crowded cyberspace is actually not seen to backfire.
At first look, it appears to be a brave experiment destined to forgettably fail, but its seeming anti-social feature pushes forth its prominence; Ello is distraction-free.
The new platform is a mix of Twitter and blogging: without the former’s 140-character limit, it allows users to post long entries, both textual and visual, without actually having to sign up for a blog hosting site and then worry about their pages’ design and appearance.
At a time when nothing is ever private anymore and something always happens every second of the day, with the vast availability of online media and the consequential urgent over-sharing attitude, Ello provides a place for quietude and intimacy.
NiemanLab: Finance media’s hottest club is Ello
This is the same strategy being applied to the rebranding of Finland.
Many countries take pride of their rich historical background, others for the beauty of their natural or manmade wonders. Finland may have little distinct character to compete with the rest of the world in terms of tourism promotion.
What it has to offer, however, is uniquely theirs and thus called for exploitation. Finland sells silence, or, more fittingly, silence sells Finland.
Nautilus: This is your brain on silence
Due to Ello, hello.
To add strain to my physical discomfort last week, I was hit by a bitter dose of reality — that of dashed hopes and unrequited love — which I saw through Ello.
I called for an urgent after-work meet-up with my dear buddy, Jeth, one of the very few friends I have whom I can actually invite for a drinking session. We were supposed to drown my letdown in alcohol, but being myself, we both had only a bottle.
A good night’s sleep afterwards and a bit of forced rationalization in the days that followed allowed me to see the travesty of my romantic affairs in a more optimistic light. Reality is a bitter pill to swallow, but it prophylactically deters the malignant disease of false hopes.
If things go wrong, we can knock it down.
Bye, November.
November ended with Filipinos brimming with pride for the latest victory of boxing icon and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao against Chris Algieri, who, in case he decides to retire from the sport, will definitely gain traction in show business.
Sadly though, this “good news” stymied the already faint memory of this nation’s citizenry, distracting them from remembering issues that should matter: a decade since the Hacienda Luisita massacre, the first anniversary of the landfall of Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) and the destruction of the 7.2-magintude earthquake in Bohol and its nearby provinces, and the fifth year since the Maguindanao massacre.
Philippine Daily Inquirer: Survivors of Guiuan: Victims twice over?
Bulatlat: The Hacienda Luisita massacre: How it happened
Philippine STAR: Manny Pacquiao: National inspiration or national distraction?
Likewise, the public again, unsurprisingly, has been gradually sweeping corruption issues under the rug.
Wall Street Journal: Filipino politician’s graft probe draws shrugs
Can we no longer trust officials?
Early last week, the United States grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
The decision sparked another round of sometimes-violent protests across the American nation, with citizens decrying the seeming unfair treatment due to racial differences.
In Cleveland, meanwhile, a 12-year-old boy was shot by a police officer for pulling out an air gun that looked like a real firearm.
Still, at least in the United States, the public generally view their police department as worthy of trust.Or are they?
Filipina nurse Reynafe Momay, daughter of one of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre, has been working in the US since last year. She shared the following story on her Facebook account.
Here, meanwhile, majority, or at least a significant number, of Filipinos see public officials as corrupt and incompetent. While I understand where they are coming from, it is disheartening to hear news about civilians treating men in uniforms, who are ideally looking over the public’s safety and security, abusively.
A concrete example of this is the case of Metro Manila Development Authroity (MMDA) traffic enforcer Jorbe Adriatico who was allegedly punched repeatedly in the face while being dragged by a running blue Maserati Ghibli for reportedly taking photos and videos and issuing a traffic violation to the driver and owner of the luxury sports car.
Also, the following video shared on social networking sites speaks volume of the altered reality we live in: the general public feeling too entitled to the extent of disrespect to authority.
In other news, the Department of Health (DOH) reportedly released the following three-minute infomercial against teenage pregnancy on its Facebook account. The controversial video has been taken down, but lifestyle website When In Manila retrieved a copy and re-uploaded it on YouTube.
Hello, December.
The Christmas countdown is coming to an end. Many have started planning their yuletide activities — I myself am guilty! — and more will probably scour shopping centers for holiday bazaars and promos.
Instead of immersing myself into throngs of mall shoppers however, I spent the first day of the last month of the year inside a hospital. I am done with Christmas shopping, anyway!
Anna and I reconnected only this year, thanks to Facebook, but we have always been good friends since we became classmates for a semester in college.
We share the same interests for war stories, social ills, and historical anecdotes — a fact Anna often overlooks as she exclaims she could never fathom how come we became friends.
We have had only brief encounters, enough merely for decent small talk; last Monday’s three-hour chat was probably the most intimate so far.
She has been keeping her head above water since a terrible break-up with her partner, whom she caught cheating for the nth time. Their verbal tussle led to a physical fight with Anna accidentally cutting her left arm. The laceration managed to keep her confined in the hospital for some days with the certainty of “permanent nerve damage“.
I visited to make sure she is doing fine, physically and emotionally, and I am glad to see her out(not really, if you know what I mean!) and about. For sure, she would sneak a good cry in the middle of the night to purge the hurt, but to put up a front in the midst of an internal inferno is characteristic of strength. I admire her for that.
Another hello, December.
I also found time to meet my former teacher, Sir Ed, the day before yesterday. We admired the authentic vintage aesthetic of Intramuros, all the while catching up on recent events in our families and career, and his lovelife, among other things.
He called me “friend ng bayan”, and, while it sounded good to me as if it is a compliment, I am still trying to figure out what that phrase verily meant.
Some other things...
Ever since my good friend, Nigel, introduced the graphic novel series Fables to me, I could not stop obsessing over the pairing of Snow White and Bigby Wolf.
To use three terms I only recently added to my vocabulary: I totes ship Snigby!
^ Due credits to the owner. Found this on Instagram via #Snigby search.
Nigel calls this obsession, and, for lack of a better term, I would go with his description of my present hysteria. I even downloaded and installed a Fables-based role-playing game on my mobile phone because I could not wait until the last issue rolls out. I certainly hope for a happy ending where Snow and Bigby stays together!
I have been fangirl-ing over Snigby since the first issue; they posit my #relationshipgoal in life. This is not to say, however, that I want a Wolf as my husband and cubs as my children, IYKWIM.
The couple featured on the following video, too, is, like, my relationship goal... though not quite. (Deym, I ran out of words. I can’t even. *insert crying happy face emoji here*) •
The past two weeks had become both unbearable and tolerable for me as I had to experience firsthand, for the first time, the spiteful dysmenorrhea.
(Disclaimer: Too much information after this slug. To avoid, skip next paragraph.)
For nearly a decade since I had my initiation to womanhood, I proudly claim that I never actually had pre-menstrual symptoms, like cramps or acne: a bragging right. Condescendingly somehow, I tend to judge women who had to consistently nag or to be inevitably absent due to cramps. I am lucky, most women I know would say. Well, last week was life’s way of telling me, “What goes around comes around.” Lesson learned.
To make it up to my disappointed dear self (I am my worst critic, naturally), aside from summing up articles and issues that caught my attention out of interest and intrigue, I shall also share a few memorable encounters I had with my friends recently — primarily to delete some backlogs in my life.
Let me start with Ello.
Two months ago, the world wide web went abuzz over a new social media platform that promises an ad-free alternative to Facebook.
Boasting its minimalistic and comely interface, Ello.co is getting much accolade for its exclusivity. Users can only sign up for an Ello account upon invitation although, ironically, users’ profiles and posts can be accessed publicly.
^ Ello manifesto
A social networking site nonetheless, Ello’s diversion and isolation from the rest of the ever-more-becoming-crowded cyberspace is actually not seen to backfire.
At first look, it appears to be a brave experiment destined to forgettably fail, but its seeming anti-social feature pushes forth its prominence; Ello is distraction-free.
The new platform is a mix of Twitter and blogging: without the former’s 140-character limit, it allows users to post long entries, both textual and visual, without actually having to sign up for a blog hosting site and then worry about their pages’ design and appearance.
At a time when nothing is ever private anymore and something always happens every second of the day, with the vast availability of online media and the consequential urgent over-sharing attitude, Ello provides a place for quietude and intimacy.
NiemanLab: Finance media’s hottest club is Ello
This is the same strategy being applied to the rebranding of Finland.
Many countries take pride of their rich historical background, others for the beauty of their natural or manmade wonders. Finland may have little distinct character to compete with the rest of the world in terms of tourism promotion.
What it has to offer, however, is uniquely theirs and thus called for exploitation. Finland sells silence, or, more fittingly, silence sells Finland.
Nautilus: This is your brain on silence
Due to Ello, hello.
To add strain to my physical discomfort last week, I was hit by a bitter dose of reality — that of dashed hopes and unrequited love — which I saw through Ello.
I called for an urgent after-work meet-up with my dear buddy, Jeth, one of the very few friends I have whom I can actually invite for a drinking session. We were supposed to drown my letdown in alcohol, but being myself, we both had only a bottle.
A good night’s sleep afterwards and a bit of forced rationalization in the days that followed allowed me to see the travesty of my romantic affairs in a more optimistic light. Reality is a bitter pill to swallow, but it prophylactically deters the malignant disease of false hopes.
If things go wrong, we can knock it down.
Bye, November.
November ended with Filipinos brimming with pride for the latest victory of boxing icon and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao against Chris Algieri, who, in case he decides to retire from the sport, will definitely gain traction in show business.
Sadly though, this “good news” stymied the already faint memory of this nation’s citizenry, distracting them from remembering issues that should matter: a decade since the Hacienda Luisita massacre, the first anniversary of the landfall of Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) and the destruction of the 7.2-magintude earthquake in Bohol and its nearby provinces, and the fifth year since the Maguindanao massacre.
Philippine Daily Inquirer: Survivors of Guiuan: Victims twice over?
Bulatlat: The Hacienda Luisita massacre: How it happened
Philippine STAR: Manny Pacquiao: National inspiration or national distraction?
* On a personal note, my father dearest called me one day to tell me that as he was reading this article, he thought I wrote it. He said the driving points of the article were very similar to my “hugots in life”. I agree, though DLS Pineda has a more eloquent way of expressing it, hands down.
Likewise, the public again, unsurprisingly, has been gradually sweeping corruption issues under the rug.
Wall Street Journal: Filipino politician’s graft probe draws shrugs
Can we no longer trust officials?
Early last week, the United States grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
The decision sparked another round of sometimes-violent protests across the American nation, with citizens decrying the seeming unfair treatment due to racial differences.
In Cleveland, meanwhile, a 12-year-old boy was shot by a police officer for pulling out an air gun that looked like a real firearm.
Still, at least in the United States, the public generally view their police department as worthy of trust.
Filipina nurse Reynafe Momay, daughter of one of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre, has been working in the US since last year. She shared the following story on her Facebook account.
Here, meanwhile, majority, or at least a significant number, of Filipinos see public officials as corrupt and incompetent. While I understand where they are coming from, it is disheartening to hear news about civilians treating men in uniforms, who are ideally looking over the public’s safety and security, abusively.
A concrete example of this is the case of Metro Manila Development Authroity (MMDA) traffic enforcer Jorbe Adriatico who was allegedly punched repeatedly in the face while being dragged by a running blue Maserati Ghibli for reportedly taking photos and videos and issuing a traffic violation to the driver and owner of the luxury sports car.
Also, the following video shared on social networking sites speaks volume of the altered reality we live in: the general public feeling too entitled to the extent of disrespect to authority.
In other news, the Department of Health (DOH) reportedly released the following three-minute infomercial against teenage pregnancy on its Facebook account. The controversial video has been taken down, but lifestyle website When In Manila retrieved a copy and re-uploaded it on YouTube.
Hello, December.
The Christmas countdown is coming to an end. Many have started planning their yuletide activities — I myself am guilty! — and more will probably scour shopping centers for holiday bazaars and promos.
Instead of immersing myself into throngs of mall shoppers however, I spent the first day of the last month of the year inside a hospital. I am done with Christmas shopping, anyway!
Anna and I reconnected only this year, thanks to Facebook, but we have always been good friends since we became classmates for a semester in college.
We share the same interests for war stories, social ills, and historical anecdotes — a fact Anna often overlooks as she exclaims she could never fathom how come we became friends.
We have had only brief encounters, enough merely for decent small talk; last Monday’s three-hour chat was probably the most intimate so far.
She has been keeping her head above water since a terrible break-up with her partner, whom she caught cheating for the nth time. Their verbal tussle led to a physical fight with Anna accidentally cutting her left arm. The laceration managed to keep her confined in the hospital for some days with the certainty of “permanent nerve damage“.
I visited to make sure she is doing fine, physically and emotionally, and I am glad to see her out
Another hello, December.
I also found time to meet my former teacher, Sir Ed, the day before yesterday. We admired the authentic vintage aesthetic of Intramuros, all the while catching up on recent events in our families and career, and his lovelife, among other things.
He called me “friend ng bayan”, and, while it sounded good to me as if it is a compliment, I am still trying to figure out what that phrase verily meant.
Some other things...
Ever since my good friend, Nigel, introduced the graphic novel series Fables to me, I could not stop obsessing over the pairing of Snow White and Bigby Wolf.
To use three terms I only recently added to my vocabulary: I totes ship Snigby!
^ Due credits to the owner. Found this on Instagram via #Snigby search.
Nigel calls this obsession, and, for lack of a better term, I would go with his description of my present hysteria. I even downloaded and installed a Fables-based role-playing game on my mobile phone because I could not wait until the last issue rolls out. I certainly hope for a happy ending where Snow and Bigby stays together!
I have been fangirl-ing over Snigby since the first issue; they posit my #relationshipgoal in life. This is not to say, however, that I want a Wolf as my husband and cubs as my children, IYKWIM.
The couple featured on the following video, too, is, like, my relationship goal... though not quite. (Deym, I ran out of words. I can’t even. *insert crying happy face emoji here*) •