A Tribute to The King of Pop

I was never a huge fan of Michael Jackson but somehow finding out about his death made me somewhat sad and sentimental.

It was around 2:00 a.m. of June 26, 2009 Dubai Time, when I first learned about the news. I was tuned in to RX93.1 and was also signed in on FB when I heard and read about his death. It was a real shocker! At first I refused to believe it. It's just not possible! How could it be? He's having his come-back concert tour in London in just a few weeks! It was so sudden too that one would think that it could be just a huge prank since many pranks of the like are currently spreading like wildfire in the internet. I immediately checked BBC and CNN on line. And there it was! Although unconfirmed, the news was really out and from reliable sources too. Then I could not contain my mixed emotions of grief and excitement and had to text my closest friend and share the news! I had to tell someone! Grief, because it was a sad and an unexpected bad news, and excitement because it was an undeniably big news too!

I think that this huge impact of his death on me is largely attributed to the fact that the great man and his music were a part of my growing up years. I was still back in our quiet and remote province during the Billie Jean and Thriller craze. I was young then but I already understood that he was going to be really big and famous. I remember watching this particular Billie Jean music video over and over, like a hundred times and I just loved the way the tiled floor lit up every time he gracefully stepped on a tile. To my young and uncorrupted probinsyana mind, it was amazingly impressive! Not to mention the famous moon walking too! I would always find myself glued to the TV set (thankful now that the only channel we had access to at that time, which was RPN 9, featured music videos like his) in awe every time he moon walked with such grace and ease. He was really something! He revolutionized the world's pop culture with his impeccable dance moves. He was also a trend setter in terms of clothing and hair styles. I think that in my generation, he was one, if not the biggest icon in the music industry. And I think that it will really be a long while since we all can get over the fact that he's not around anymore.

It just saddens me now to think that the King of Pop had lived a sad and scandalous life and was never able to recover from it. And apart from the many scandals that he'd been involved with, there was the demeaning reputation of being a Wacko Jacko! It's a shame that a man with such talent and brilliance had been considered by some as a joke mainly because of his appearance due to the many cosmetic surgeries he'd undergone just to change the way he looked. In my own opinion, I think that he could have remained really hot if only he had stuck to his innate looks and color!

But to his hard core fans, he will always be loved no matter what and he will live forever in their hearts. They will do anything for their Idol. Some fanatic fans, who were grief-stricken and heart broken because of his sudden death, even went the whole nine yards and took their lives just for their beloved Idol. Imagine that!

As for me, I can't deny the fact that he's made some of the most beautiful music this generation has ever heard. And I salute him for that. The man was a total performer, a genius when it comes to his music and I must say that it was indeed the best thing about him. It's just a shame that he's gone too soon, like a sunset dying with the rising of the moon.

My Fave MJ Songs:

1. Don"t Stop Till You Get Enough
2. Rock With You
3. She's Out of My Life
4. The Girl is Mine
5. Thriller
6. Beat It
7. Billie Jean
8. Human Nature
9. Bad
10. Man in The Mirror
11. I just Can't Stop Loving You
12. Smooth Criminal
13. Remember The Time
14. Heal The World
15. Black or White
16. Who Is It?
17. Will You Be There?
18. Gone Too Soon
19. Dangerous
20. They Don't Care About Us
21. You Are Not Alone
22. We Are The World
23. Ben
    

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day, Kababayans!

It was all about freedom- freedom from the hands of the colonizers, freedom from bondage, freedom from oppression, freedom of expression. But to this day and age, some 111 years after that fateful day, it still is about freedom and we are still clamoring for it. It may seem like our freedom is no longer severely restricted or the appearance of our "imprisonment" may have changed over the years but freedom is still just but a dream- Freedom from poverty, freedom from corrupt officials, freedom from poor governance, freedom from unjust structures and freedom from ignorance, among others.

Like our heroes of the past, lets us speak up and fight for our rights and beliefs! Let's claim the Liberty that is rightfully ours, as a nation and as a people! Mabuhay and Pinoy! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

On a personal note, I would also like to celebrate and be grateful for the liberty that I have always enjoyed. the full dominion over my private life. I am just more than glad that I always have the liberty to be my own person, to exercise the freedom to choose what I want in life and to decide accordingly, the freedom to believe in something that is greater than Life and the Universe itself, the freedom to love, to laugh, to cry, to learn and to dream, the freedom to express myself and the freedom to improve and enhance my life as I would want it to be, not based on other people's whims, unreasonable rules and unfair demands and expectations.

Freedom is something that I can not live without for when in chains, what is there to live for?

Dubai Terminal 3 - A Destination in Itself

Chicken ala Carte

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

I was truly moved to see such a touching story and a real one at that. Silent tears started rolling down my cheeks. I know a lot of us are all accustomed to seeing this kind of poverty and starvation in the streets everyday, unless you are one of those who avoid this reality and pretend that they don't exist. But there is also a majority of us who feel disturbed at the sight of them and could not help but shed a tear or two. But once the tears dry up, sadly, we usually just move on too quickly, go back to our OWN realities, and forget all about what our eyes had seen.

This video was just recently shared to me by a very good friend of mine who, I should say, has a very big and compassionate heart and through whose eyes I am able to see the sad truth of the world's pain and distress. Unlike most of the guys, he is the only one I know who is easily moved to tears by a simple scene like the one in the video, and is not at all embarrassed by the display of such an emotion. And because of him, who constantly reminds me that there are people who are less fortunate than me, I am inspired to share whatever humble blessing I have to those in need. I also feel guilty and ashamed of myself for complaining about my own little "misfortune" when these poor children are living on other people's trash and yet their dignity and faith are still intact.

This is what Ferdinand Dimadura, the Director, has to say about this video: This film is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization. There are 10,000 people dying everyday due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society. The people who live on the refuse of men to survive. What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people.

EK 332

I stayed home all day today. I was supposed to do some errands for a friend of mine and a few chores of my own but I was just not up to it. The rainy weather was perfect for lazing around and I did just that-lazed around all day and fooled around with my nieces too. I never had the opportunity to do it since I got back a week ago. And I found myself thoroughly enjoying it.

For the first time I got to really feel the new house where I am staying now. I tried to be fully present and aware enough to feel every corner and every part of it and to intently listen to the surroundings as well. I realized that the neighborhood is really so quiet to the point that it can get so lonely and boring at times. I also noticed airplanes that are about to touch down are flying a few hundred feet over the area every so often. But thankfully, the distance is far enough to slightly mute the deafening roar of the engine but not too distant enough for me not to be able to make out the insignia on the aircraft's tail.

I saw a few familiar domestic airplanes and some unfamiliar ones. Then at exactly 15:55 HRS, I saw EK flight 332. Very familiar indeed! I suddenly thought to myself that just a week ago I was in that same flight coming home and in a few days I will be in that flight again flying abroad. Then it hit me that as much as I have enjoyed staying at home today, I really have no business lazing around unless I run and finish all my errands because my days are already numbered. :-)

Racism Sucks

Another display of racial prejudice against the Filipinos was recently committed by Chip Tsao , a Chinese columnist, when he wrote a satirical article in HK Magazine degrading and humiliating the Filipino race yet again.

Tsao stirred an outburst of rage among Filipinos all over the world (especially OFWs) by writing that the Philippines’ claims on the disputed Spratly Islands were completely silly, ungrateful, not to mention ambitious in the face of Beijing’s claims on the same territory.

He wrote, “As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter”. And he added to say that he warned his own house help, who is apparently a Filipina, that in order to earn a raise, she should tell her fellow inferior citizens that the Spratlys belong to China.

More than 100,000 Filipinos work in the southern Chinese city of Hong Kong, mostly as low-paid domestic helpers. Despite Tsao already issuing a public apology saying that he didn’t mean anything demeaning by his remark since all of us humans are really servants of God, the Filipinos in Hong Kong are united to hold a rally in protest of this article. And he has already been banned from entering the Philippines.

As a journalist/columnist he should not be saying all those racist remarks in public, let alone publish it. Being a professional and a public figure, he should be able to exercise objectivity and responsible journalism by keeping his racist remarks and judgments to himself. If his exposure to the Filipinos as a people is only limited to the domestic workers in Hong Kong, then it’s totally absurd of him to generalize the whole Filipino race as a nation servants!

Racism sucks!

Big Fat Lie

April Fools'Day

Happy April Fools’ Day everyone! ( Or should you be happy if someone has played a trick on you ? You wonder.)

Although it is not a holiday in it‘s own right, it is observed in many places around the world during April 1. People play practical jokes, pranks or hoaxes not only on their enemies but on friends and family members too. The purpose of which is to embarrass and make a fool of somebody, as the name of the celebration suggests. So be careful today and don’t be so gullible! But if you happen to be a victim of some joke, I still think you just have to be a total sport.