Giant Squid Live!

A team of Japanese researchers had successfully filmed a live giant squid in the waters of Ogasawara Islands south of Tokyo. The female squid measured 24ft. long and still not fully grown. The scientists, lead by Tsunemi Kubodera of the National Science Museum, said it was relatively small in terms of giant squid standards. "The longest on record is 60 feet," Kubodera said. (O di ba may kung beauty pageant ito ng mga giant squid di siya mananalo dahil bansot siya. Shyet.)

According to this report by the Associated Press, giant squid (genus Architeuthis) are the "world's largest invertebrates. Because they live in the depths of the ocean, they have long been wrapped in mystery and embellished in the folklore of sea monsters, appearing in ancient Greek myths." The giant squid is perhaps related to the myth of the Kraken, or the many-armed sea monster.

The Japanese team's video is said to be the first. There weren't too many sightings of these giant squid, although its existence is accepted in the scientific community. The researchers also said that the giant squid aren't really going to be extinct, just hard to document since they live really far from the sea surface. But this particular squid they got by following a sperm whale. The report from Washington Post also said that by finding an area where whales fed, he believed he could find the animals. He also said that, judging by the number of whales that feed on them, there may be many more giant squid than previously thought. Here's a photo of a sperm whale fighting off a giant squid:



The news of the squid's capture (and eventual death) brought back memories of reading Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." And since it really just had to be Japanese, it made me think of Godzilla or even Shaider. Or the Biomen. Anything with big monsters fighting robots or boys in huge flying mechanical parts.

You can also read more about giant squid sightings here.

Looking for Satrapi

After devouring Art Spiegelman's The Complete Maus (and previously Pekar's American Splendor), I find myself wanting to explore the comic book as autobiography. But just when I've finally decided to get the Marjane Satrapi books, Powerbooks and Fully Booked pulled them out of their shelves. Usually if it's just out of stock, they would ask you to leave your contact number in case they find a copy in another branch. But this time they told me the books are gone because they're not selling. So sad.

In case you know where I can find available copies of Persepolis, Embroideries and Chicken with Plums, please holler or leave a message here.

I Heart Naydah

Just in case you missed the show last Thursday, some people have already posted snippets from this year's Faculty Follies on YouTube.

Jovy Peregrino did a very awesome job as La Diva. Watch the opening here. He had several costume changes.

The Dean's office was the first to perform, with Galileo Galilee doing "Blue Jeans." By sheer cuteness, he won the year's search for KALkaibang Idol.

The department of Art Studies had a political allegory with Gloriyah singing "My Way."

"I Heart Naydah" 1, 2 is the Department of English's take on (sac)religious Abba and Shaider medley. This is your only chance to see department chair Dr. Naida Rivera singing songs by Abba, Dr. Consolacion Alaras dancing to the Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps," and the junior faculty taking off and waving around their brassieres to the tune of the Pussy Cat Dolls' "Doncha." Some wiseass said that the performance should have won Best Portrayal of the Triumph of Women. Nyahaha.

In "Paris, that's hot" the Department of European Languages envisions what would happen to Paris Hilton should she get poor and start working in a call center. Prof. Erwin Bautista dons a blonde wig and four inch heels while sashaying to "Nothing in this world." Fun fun fun, and their call (center) girls can shake it like there's no tomorrow. They won the "Putogenic" award entitling them to a year's supply of puto. But I think they should win for Best Use of Office Equipment.

The Department of Filipino traces the rise and fall of Vina Te, a former porn star trying to stage a comeback. Vina Te was rumored to be actually a man and s/he tries to disprove it by singing Tuesday Vargas's "Di Ako Bakla."

The office of the college secretary had Rhicky Marthin. Ten years after swinging his hips to World Cup theme, he reprises this role amidst a stage full of young men.

The Department of Speech and Theater Arts represented the military with Rambeleena, an operatic diva. They won Best Production for their yards and yards of wavy cloth which covered the entire stage.

All in all, it was a fun (though tiring) experience. Both shows played to a full house, with lots of people sitting in the aisles and laughing their heads off. Our thanks to everyone who supported and helped us with the show, especially to Vlad who tirelessly directed, shot, edited and scored the video and Fairlycloudy, who did our fabulous makeup.

Today with Jolina and Marvin

Around noon, butch_lives messaged me he was having a jologs day. He ate lunch in SM North's food court and saw Jolina Magdangal.

Late in the afternoon, it was my turn to message him. I was having early dinner and I saw Marvin Agustin hanging out outside Sumo Sam, a restaurant he partly owns at the 6th floor of the Shangri-La Plaza Mall.

For some reason, I can't imagine Marvin Agustin prior to his button down shirt and slacks look. On the other hand, I know she cut her hair and now sports a "glam rock" look, but in my mind, Jolina will always be the girl with bangs and multi-colored hair. They seem to have a lot of fun together, and I suppose that rapport was what made "I Love NY" bearable, if not enjoyable for some people.

Too bad Jolina and Marvin weren't in the same place at the same time for a full 90s flashback.

Faculty Follies 2006

It's been a very busy two weeks. I seem to be part of every committee there is at work. My latest undertaking is the College of Arts and Letters' annual Faculty Follies. This year, they've decided to do a Philippine Idol thing. It's interactive and people get to vote for their idols.

Our group represents the religious sector. Sor Naydah Piñacoolasa sings that the hills are alive with the sound of music, climbs hills, chases tractors, is chased by weird people and does cartwheels around the campus. See your favorite English teacher strip down to the barest essentials. For this, I'm still stitching beadwork on my costume and it's already past midnight.

Please watch the show later at 3pm and 6pm, Thursday, 14 December 2006, Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, Palma Hall in UP Diliman.

We'll be very happy if you'd all vote for us. Text "SOR" to 09196087838. Since we're doing so much work for this, we might as well win. We'll be very grumpy next year if we don't win.

PS. Two people from Team Angas have cameos in our video. That's another reason why you should go watch the show, and do vote for us. :)

Don't call me Babe

And today's weird animal news: Boy eaten by herd of pigs.

This stuff is almost something out of a Guy Ritchie or some other heist movie. But it happened in India. Ganesh knows what else happens out there. I suppose I won't be munching on bacon real soon.

Identity through cuisine

I've been reading Fernando Zialcita's Authentic Though Not Exotic, a collection of essays about Filipino identity. I've had the book since summer--attended the launch and roundtable discussion and all--but it's only now that I found the time to read it. It's actually more like self-required reading, but anyway.

Zialcita's claim is that supposedly, many Filipinos are uneasy about the "authenticity" of their identity. Can we really be "authentically Asian" when we've had a lot of Spanish influence? Or are the "real Pinoys" those who had resisted colonialism? Or is the real Pinoy the ingenious lowland Christian Filipino who transformed the Western culture he received into something more palatable to his taste?

Those who are into post-colonial theory and all that blah will recognize this debate about identity except that Zialcita uses a different set of terminologies. It takes a while to get used to, but replace "syncretism" with "hybridity" and you get the drift. Also, he uses a lot of Arnold Toynbee, a name I haven't really heard since high school. But I like how he argues that there is no real Asia but a multiplicity of Asias and he uses cuisine to illustrate his arguments.

Anyway, I was a bit surprised to find the introductory essay serialized at the Inquirer website last week--around the same time I was reading the book. I suppose they're making like The Guardian now. So if you'd like to know more about how the only things we have in common with our Asian neighbors are sinigang and patis, and how we're all really bastards, i.e. tisoys, here's what the Inquirer has serialized so far:

1: "An Identity Under Question"
2: "A Demonized Influence"
3: "No Sense of Context"
4: "A Limited Menu of Binary Contrasts"
5: "Reductionist Interpretations"

And that's where my patience for linking ends. If you want to read more, you're on your own. But otherwise, this book was also previously discussed here.

Trash Princess

The Americans' strong fascination with Paris Hilton enabled the hotel heiress to turn herself into a brand that can be packaged, recognized and sold like toothpaste:

Why, if Paris says so much about us, do Americans—not just college professors and the commentariat but celebrity watchers and tabloid junkies—hate her so much? And why, if she is so offensive, is she so ubiquitous?

Replace "Paris Hilton" with "Kris Aquino" and we might have the same thing. Others might claim now that a boxer can bring people together, but I really suspect that Kris Aquino is the only thing which unites us Filipinos.

American Englishes

I had to take a cab home tonight, and the cabbie had some really fierce views about Koreans and English. This mostly had to do with the accent that he found difficult to understand, and he claimed that he got at least one bunch of Korean passengers a day. But he noted that Filipinos chatted in loud (and I assume chirpy) English. "Pinoys speak real nice English. Especially those call center agents. You'd think they studied in America." I don't equate education with someone's ability to mimic an American accent, and especially on call center agents, but that's what the cabbie thinks. So there.

On the other hand, I found this quiz where you can figure out what sort of American English you speak--whether or not you have a call center training acquired accent.

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

25% Yankee

5% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

via

Gen X, 16 years later

Sixteen years after its initial publication, Generation X grows up and hangs up the slacker ghost. Or as Christine Smallwood writes in the New York Observer, it is inevitable that the rebel becomes the very thing he despises:

Mr. Coupland was the anti-McInerney. He was the one who rebelled against the culture of consumption, who wrote about “real” things, authentic things, like girls in vintage dresses and finding yourself in the desert. He didn’t know about Bolivian marching nights in Manhattan or … whatever else it was that Mr. McInerney wrote about. Mr. Coupland is Canadian, after all: He liked nature and worried about the nuclear threat.

But now, Coupland sells Blackberries, hides in his own private island, all of which is kinda preppy. Perhaps your McJob can buy you nice things after all. In a weird turn of events, Kurt Cobain is now the highest earning dead celebrity, surpassing Elvis and Dr. Seuss. What's the sense of rebellion then?