O! She doth teach the torches to burn bright. It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.

lingua franca:english

Every Sunday afternoon, “The Buzz,” a show business magazine on ABS-CBN hosted by Kris Aquino and Boy Abunda, carries a regular feature called “ Stop Me” (2003-2008) where up-and-coming sexy actresses are caught unaware spewing grammatical abominations during interviews. After the footage of each unfortunate faux pa is shown, the honest mistake is replayed ad nauseam, with a hysterically scornful laughter playing in the background and a gay reporter, in a “screaming queen” voice, throwing witty jeers at the actress’s ignorance of the English language.

The grammatical lapses in the footages are mostly true horrors. After salivating for the sexy stars, any literate male must necessarily experience a momentary ebbing of the libido upon seeing the actresses murder the language. Ranging from subject-verb agreement to incorrect tenses, the mistakes are indeed elementary that any self-respecting high school student should be able to identify them readily. What makes the segment farcical is the fact that the sexy actresses deliver those blatant grammatical lapses with great bravura and in a feigned coño accent that, had one not known better, one would think they were weaned on Emily Post and the BBC.

The Sunday magazine confirms what we have known all along, that our show business people, the sexy stars being a subspecies, are a bunch of word-butchers. These embarrassing episodes are also, mind you, not limited to sexy stars of dubious celebrity. The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s entertainment section regularly prints a congeries of bloopers from almost every star in the firmament of Philippine show business. One star, for example, claims that she is “sweatening.” Another asks, “Did he came yesterday?” When asked of her racial pedigree, another star, desperately trying to emphasize her mestiza value, replied, that she is “half-Filipino, half-American, half-Spanish.” Surely, a marvel of miscegenation.

Even the social circle of Kris Aquino, the venerable doyen of English-speaking mestizas on TV, is not blameless. Pops Fernandez, during an interview with Saksi on prime time TV, was discussing her marital life when she casually dropped in her accented English of the Loyola Heights variety her parenthetical phrase, “for Martin and I.” Now the cloddishness of our sexy stars is easily understandable and forgivable. After all, tout comprendre c’est tout pardonner. Some of them, I understand, come from bedraggled clubs straight from GRO work and a nightly diet of hors d’oeuvre and alcoholic drinks is not exactly conducive to furthering one’s linguistic skills. But this particular gross violation of the English language comes from the woman formerly known as Mrs. Martin Nievera, the same Martin Nievera who, nowadays, is everyman’s beau ideal of someone approaching English nirvana.

Exactly what kind of literacy does our show business celebrities foist on their unsuspecting public? Why do our actresses and actors risk foisting illiteracy on an unsuspecting public and insist on speaking English rather than switch to Filipino? And more importantly, why do we poke fun at their mistakes?

English is the lingua franca of most of the half-breed elite in the Philippines. Ramos’ championing of the free market, even while crushing portions of the country’s poor, have launched the ambitions of a considerable number of people of someday joining the ranks of the upper middle class and the rich. For these people who are suddenly awashed in cash, there is a pressure to adopt the lifestyles of the rich of this country. They now have the house, the car, the bank accounts; by all means, they must have the language.

For most people in show business the same thing applies. If one can not be glamorous and posh, one can always fake being glamorous and posh. For sexy actresses this pressure is doubly intense because the semi-respectability of their status demands that they continually differentiate themselves from lowly untutored hawkers of cheap flesh; the boundary between the glossy FHM and the risqué Toro is thin and must be continually observed lest the distinction blur all together. Thus, the clumsy resort to English.

An incident at the Buzz is particularly instructive. Belinda Bright, who claims to be a coed at the upscale De La Salle University, was promoting a movie in her posh English of the coño variety when toward the end she classified her new movie as belonging to the genre of film noire which she pronounced, erroneously, as film nwa without the r sound at the end, as one would correctly say moi. Aquino, bumptious and a little condescending, grilled the sexy actress, telling the audience several times she knew of no such word before acknowledging the correct pronunciation with the r sound. The embarrassment for Bright is palpable. Anyone with a heart can commiserate with her for having given herself away on national television. (The above shows why Henry Higgins, in Pygmalion, is a genius. He is able to remedy this particular handicap because he doesn’t just dress up Eliza Dolittle in a ball gown and get her to use a knife and fork properly: he teaches her to speak posh English—to use a kind of voice– with an accent and pronunciation indistinguishable from the real thing.)

Another case I saw, the mother of one actress, when prompted to deliver a message to her daughter via telephone patch, read a long Hallmark-type English note in dull monotone. The telephone patch was supposed to be impromptu but the mother’s reading of her message left no doubt to the TV viewers that she was, in fact, reading a prepared message rather than improvising one. The mother did not only manage to sound stupid, she was by all indications insincere in her protestations of love for her daughter.

But through all these embarrassments and pretensions, there is a greater illiteracy at work here—an illiteracy of the soul. Jettisoning the Filipino language on our way to upper-class bliss, especially with English of such ignominious incompetence, is nothing more than misplaced snobbism and truckling ingratiation with the elite in this country.

With Philippine show business people on the lead, just how long can impressionable young people resist the temptation of sounding cool at the price of mangling the English language? When the quality of English instruction in public schools on a free fall and the pressure to speak it on the rise, this is what we get in our sad state of affairs: abominable English delivered with coñotic bravura. The inordinate influence of young stars on the youth is marginalizing the Filipino language, now increasingly viewed as a preserve of the political leftists, the intellectuals at the University of the Philippines and the irredeemably jologs. Woe to one who belongs to all three.

When the sexy stars in “The Buzz” commit flagrant grammatical errors, they should be berated for their pretensions; the lapses themselves are forgivable and should not be mocked as what the “The Buzz” has been doing for some time now. The ignorant person, after all, can be enlightened except if he is totally stupid or demented. The Catholic Church has a beautiful phrase for this: “invincible ignorance,” referring to a state of paganism that is forgivable because the word of Christ was not available to it. Such a phrase should also apply to our ungrammatical actors. If the Church can forgive invincible ignorants like Plato and Socrates, how can Boy Abunda and Kris Aquino harden their hearts so?

The more decent stance should be one of forgiveness and correction, not mockery. The memorable advice in the opening lines of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” comes to mind: “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” But in our confused world of bilingual education and class pretensions, “The Buzz” becomes arbiter of the English language every Sunday, dispensing disdain upon the unlettered members of our benighted realm.

arrowsmith >> and how we vigilantly protest against pretentious English speakers who laugh at other people’s reasonable mistakes

Memory warp

Sometimes when we err in life ,people cannot accept what we just did or even how we could have done something as catastrophic as what we just did . Do they leave room for “he learnt his lesson let us forgive ” -hardly .it becomes hard to continue with your normal daily routine because your daily routine is disrupted by that horrific mental image of yourself that your mistake gave . We want to escape but cannot break from the daily routine ,because it is instilled in you , it’s in your blood -literally .if only ,of ONLY we can warp memories of others or turn back time ,I would do all I can to go back to 6 April 1997 . How am I ever gonna face you , how … … HOW !! I hate his feeling , I can’t contain myself , We all make mistakes .

snap

Oh my God, and her God, She didn’t just talk to him. SNAP. Speaking on behalf of my friend ,what a bad excuse  to start a conversation with him by asking” oh how did you know dadada ” . Keep your hand’s off, he is exclusively NOT yours. Shoo off! know where you stand . Eww, her aside. gross.

Wow, was sight reading some pieces in band, it was okay, though i would have prefer a ‘fiercer’ song , some war kind of song, like Starbat mater dolorosa. Whatever it was spanish class was a major headcramper today.

Note to self ” memorise all the yo ,tu,nosotros,vosotros,ustedes ” shit .fuck .

back for good

well well, dear blog, i must admit, i never really missed you, that is until- thing’s went bad. You’ve been my confidante for long. Things are getting twisted recently. But amidst all this, i see the fine grey lining. Kudos to Serena  VDW ,she told me to fix the problems, not to elope. What’s for schedule tmr? oh, a  long day of spanish . por favor! oh dear me, not to forget the appointment with Jonathan in the library tomorrow? Did i mention? new dentist in town’s hot-is that why i decided to save up for smile refinement treatment.

However am i going to survive autocad. I’m in the school of life science. I enrol for sciences SOLELY, feeding autocad to my schedule is sending me to haiti to count the number of survivors. It’s impossible, HELLO?! , computer applications are not my thang .

Watch me, i’ll turn the tables around, i’ll be back , i will, you know i will.

xoxo, WRCL

Testing again

Test

First post on my iphone

That’s right darlings………..testing

A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students, “Let me explain the problem science has with religion.” The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand. “You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?” “Yes sir,” the student says. “So you believe in God?” “Absolutely.” “Is God good?” “Sure! God’s good.” “Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?” “Yes.” “Are you good or evil?” “The Bible says I’m evil.” The professor grins knowingly. “Aha! The Bible!” He considers for a moment. “Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?” “Yes sir, I would.” “So you’re good…!” “I wouldn’t say that.” “But why not say that? You’d help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn’t.” The student does not answer, so the professor continues. “He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?” The student remains silent. “No, you can’t, can you?” the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. “Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?” “Er…yes,” the student says. “Is Satan good?” The student doesn’t hesitate on this one. “No.” “Then where does Satan come from?” The student falters. “From God” “That’s right. God made Satan, didn’t he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?” “Yes, sir.” “Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, correct?” “Yes.” “So who created evil?” The professor continued, “If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.” Again, the student has no answer. “Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?” The student squirms on his feet. “Yes.” “So who created them?” The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. “Who created them?” There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. “Tell me,” he continues onto another student. “Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?” The student’s voice betrays him and cracks. “Yes, professor, I do.” The old man stops pacing. “Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?” “No sir. I’ve never seen Him.” “Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?” “No, sir, I have not.” “Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?” “No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t.” “Yet you still believe in him?” “Yes.” “According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?” “Nothing,” the student replies. “I only have my faith.” “Yes, faith,” the professor repeats. “And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.” The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. “Professor, is there such thing as heat?” “Yes,” the professor replies. “There’s heat.” “And is there such a thing as cold?” “Yes, son, there’s cold too.” “No sir, there isn’t.” The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. “You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees.” “Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.” Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer. “What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?” “Yes,” the professor replies without hesitation. “What is night if it isn’t darkness?” “You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word.” “In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?” The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. “So what point are you making, young man?” “Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.” The professor’s face cannot hide his surprise this time. “Flawed? Can you explain how?” “You are working on the premise of duality,” the student explains. “You argue that there is life and then there’s death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought.” “It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.” “Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?” “If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.” “Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?” The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed. “Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?” The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. “To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.” The student looks around the room. “Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?” The class breaks out into laughter. “Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelt the professor’s brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.” “So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?” Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. “I guess you’ll have to take them on faith.” “Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,” the student continues. “Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?” Now uncertain, the professor responds, “Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.” To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.” The professor sat down. This students statements are true, can you or can you not make night darker? Is it possible for it to get colder after absolute zero -458 degree’s F. Can you feel,taste,see,hear,or smell your brain, If anyone can contest this please do.

GO! THAILAND!

Thailand current defending champion

1995	XVIII	Chiang Mai	Thailand	Thailand (157)	Indonesia (77)	Philippines (33)
1997	XIX	Jakarta	Indonesia	Indonesia (194)	Thailand (83)	Malaysia (55)
1999	XX	Bandar Seri Begawan	Brunei	Thailand (65)	Malaysia (57)	Indonesia (44)
2001	XXI	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	Malaysia (111)	Thailand (103)	Indonesia (72)
2003	XXII	Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City2	Vietnam	Vietnam (158)	Thailand (90)	Indonesia (55)
2005	XXIII	Manila3	Philippines	Philippines (113)	Thailand (87)	Vietnam (71)
2007	XXIV	Nakhon Ratchasima4	Thailand	Thailand (183)	Malaysia (68)	Vietnam (64)
2009	XXV	Vientiane	Laos	?	?	?

Current defending champion my heart goes out to the Thai team powerhouse of South East Asia !

COMBINED TOTALS

COUNTRY	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
Thailand	1,692	1,379	1,359	4,430
Indonesia	1,377	1,209	1,178	3,764
Malaysia1	900	937	1,243	3,080
Philippines	762	880	1,063	2,705
Singapore	635	713	954	2,302
Vietnam4	446	424	526	1,396
Myanmar5	419	568	719	1,706
Cambodia3	31	51	94	176
Laos	11	27	101	139
Brunei	9	33	125	167
Timor-Leste	0	0	3	3

Do you bother?

Nope, it isn’t rhetorical. DO YOU BOTHER? Do you bother how the Man up there feels like conducting a half-hearted band? Mr.Tan does not deserve this, the effort he puts in is unparalled, never have i seen a man ,so benevolently patient . Today marks the last practice before common test break , kudos to anyone that has been consistent. I understand that we have commitments ,in fact everyone has commitment, but don’t we already know band practice is on mon ,thurs and sats, can you not reschedule yourself to cater to all your commitments? Can you at least come for a practice a week. Of course if you know your part , i think it’s fine, not perfectly fine, but fine to have a sucky attendance , because you attend practice to get familiarised with your parts , so if you are familiar with your parts , we can close an eye. But to those that are clueless about what they are playing, please , be responsible, seek help , LEARN from your mistakes, do not pull down the person next to you,your friend, your section ,your band and Mr Tan. We cannot blame Mr. Tan for stopping every now and then , we only have ourselves to blame for playing ignorantly now and then .I’ve had it with half-hearted people, i dare say i know my parts , but i cannot tolerate people that just join in as and when they like and pull the entire band down , because 1. your tone cannot blend with the band. 2. your rhythms’ off, you disrupt the harmony, 3. you slow down the pace of the band. We ain’t got ‘forever’ to practice, reality check : CONCERT DAY – 9 Jan 2010. We’re not far from the actual day , and i do know of people who will not be able to meet the cut on the 9th of january. Please please, to those guilty of this, brace yourself up, rise to the occasion , i will stare at you like a criminal for being guilty of this. I will drill my eyes into your back if you sit infront of me and play rubbish , i mean like com’on we’ve practiced all this songs long ago .

One thing i hate is definitely using studies as an excuse not to do well in band. FUCK YOU! why would the goverment implement CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITY, CO, (PART OF), CO-CURRICULAR, (PART OF)YOUR CURRICULUM , it isn’t even ECA , EXTRA CURRICULAR .It is part of your curriculum, for those close to me like the elites, they know i have a 3.6 for my GPA , im not boasting , i’m giving a life example to slap you , that , it is possible to juggle studies with band. It is all in your determination to want to do it or not. I believe i’m not the only one that is fed up with everything thats going on , Azri flared up today, and Thank God he did, well, we need some one to speak up.

I think it is not too late to polish all your flaws now, and one more thing please please please, sell ticket , push ticket sales like crazy , sell it under the bridge if you must, i believe this is sdar’s last stroll, or there will be no concert next year. GET YOUR MEMBERS TO COME FOR PRACTICE ,BE STRAIGHT FORWARD TO THEM IF THEY SUCK , IF THEY PLAY REALLY HORRIBLY GO LIKE THIS” ARE YOU TONE DEAF, WORK IT HONEY ,WORK THOSE LIPS” .

everyone has a part to play,

Mucho Gracias.