Songs of the Salamander

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

2012-01-24T07:39:00.000+08:00

Posting this at a little before 7:40 AM. Tried to go to sleep but couldn't. For years now, I've been struggling with some kind of sleep-pattern problem. Normally, we all have a 24-hour circadian rhythm that tells us to sleep at night and wake up in the morning, right? It also tells our body to when to begin and to stop secreting melatonin, when to suppress bowel movement and when to turn it up

Hybrids

2012-01-22T20:06:00.000+08:00

It surprises me that some people still think modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) evolved from Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis). Our ancestors and the Neanderthals were two human species that had a common ancestor (probably Homo heidelbergensis). Yes, there was actually a time when there were more than one human species on this planet other than Homo sapiens. Think of it like the

Das Kapital

2012-01-09T17:25:00.001+08:00

I'm going to tell you something that might sound a little out of character for me. I've always been fascinated with plants. As a boy, whenever I saw garlic cloves and onions sprouting, I got the urge to dig a hole in our backyard and plant them. I've done so a few times but our dogs always dug them out. Recently, I got that urge again so I planted some kalamansi seeds in a pot. They sprouted

Pedro Calungsod

2011-12-26T05:12:00.000+08:00

Pedro Calungsod was a Filipino teenager who was killed in Guam in the 17th century while protecting a Jesuit priest from natives. A woman claims that when she was in a coma in 2003, her doctor prayed to Calungsod. The woman came out of her coma. Pope Benedict XVI is set to declare Calungsod a saint. I suspect this is part of the Vatican's damage-control scheme. Fueled by the exchange of ideas

Comic Book Review: The New 52

2011-12-15T07:42:00.000+08:00

I grew up reading DC comics. No, that's not very accurate. I grew up reading my brother's DC comics like any self-respecting pesky little brother. Actually, I was reading my brother's comic books up until about 2006, at the conclusion of Infinite Crisis. After that, I started buying my own comic books. Okay, my wife bought me comic books, mostly Hellblazer because John Constantine was such a

Movie Review: Sector 7

2011-12-12T20:31:00.000+08:00

Sector 7 is an underwater continental plateau somewhere between Japan and South Korea. These two nations are arguing about who gets to drill the oil that's supposed to be in there. It's a situation not unlike our own Spratly Islands issue. Because of the controversial location, you might think that the South Korean movie Sector 7 has some sort of insight in this touchy issue. It doesn't. What

Movie Review: Catch .44

2011-12-12T01:40:00.001+08:00

It was a bad idea to watch Catch .44 a couple of hours after watching RocknRolla. Both are of the crime movie genre, both were written by their respective directors, and both are flicks that you're supposed to enjoy with your brain shut off. But that's where their similarities end. Whereas RocknRolla was a satisfying joyride in the world of make-believe British gangsters, Catch .44 was a

Godlessness and Morality

2011-11-29T12:18:00.001+08:00

It always saddens me when someone implies that godlessness is the cause of immorality, of selfishness, and of unethical practices. People are not moral because of their faith. They strive to make their faith moral because human beings are naturally inclined to be good. Empathy is innate in humans because we are social animals and psychologically hard-wired to work together for the survival of

Assholes

2011-10-24T00:09:00.002+08:00

The bizarre and sometimes seemingly-unhinged Senator Miriam Santiago, when asked what she would ask for had she a genie, said she would wish for her fellow lawmakers to stop conducting legislative investigations. As we know, these investigations, which are held under the pretense that they are "in aid of legislation," are actually kitschy variety shows where the illustrious members of the

Eggs

2011-10-14T19:28:00.001+08:00

Lemme tell you about the time I broke into somebody's apartment. Back in college, my friends and I, we hung out in a buddy's apartment. No, that's not quite true. We practically lived there. It was like a hippie commune, only with less beards. Our excuse was that we were a theater group. The reality was we only produced a couple of stage plays in the span of the four years our organization was

The Word According to Squid Part 16

2011-10-14T07:40:00.004+08:00

On Mideo Cruz I say this with love: If I was God, the creator of all things, I wouldn't be offended by Mideo M. Cruz's exhibit.  I say this with hatred: Fuck the CBCP, fuck Imelda Marcos, and fuck you, Filipino Philistines. On the Reproductive Health Bill If Christ himself came down to tell the bishops that contraception improves women's health, the CBCP will crucify him all over again because

The Word According to Squid Part 15

2011-10-14T07:34:00.000+08:00

On Gods and Dogs Most of us forget that dogs are around because our species created theirs. And as we seek succor in our gods, dogs seek succor in us. On Steve Jobs There's no denying that Steve Jobs was one of the great minds that had been shaping the 21st Century until his death. But before we beatify him, let's not forget that Apple products are designed to turn people into sheep. Let's not

Spread the Wealth

2011-10-05T01:05:00.000+08:00

We can look at the Occupy Wall Street protests as a bunch of hipsters playing revolutionary and laugh it all off but something about it keeps nagging at me to take it more seriously. It's a movement that is leaderless, ideologically diverse, and fueled by social networks while suspiciously being ignored by mainstream media. It's anarchism. Or post-anarchism, if you will. The kind that could

Mammon

2011-09-19T23:22:00.003+08:00

From how I see it, the pursuit of more money than you can spend in your entire lifetime is not about living comfortably. It's about power. It's about respect. If what drives you is the search for power and respect, then you're a hungry sonuvabitch indeed. And that's exactly why I don't think an honest and decent businessman will ever get to be as rich as the Lucio Tans and the Henry Sys of this

Looking at Old High School Photos

2011-09-19T04:48:00.000+08:00

A lot of us who grew up before the age of the digital camera grasped early on the value of a photograph. Film was expensive so it was used sparingly. A picture, however bad, always told two stories: the one that happened in front of the camera, and the one that happened behind it. A picture of you meant someone valued you enough to preserve your likeness. A picture is the holy relic of that

Bawal

2011-09-19T04:43:00.000+08:00

I just had to take a picture:

Dear Mama Mary

2011-09-08T11:58:00.000+08:00

Dear Mama Mary: I have been informed that it's your birthday today. I don't really know how the church fathers figured that out since there are no records of you outside the Bible and that doesn't tell us anything about the date of your birth. Anyway, in case this is true and the church fathers weren't just pulling things out of their asses, happy birthday. Also, here is a picture of Fr. Raul

Risking Life and Limb

2011-08-31T09:00:00.000+08:00

When I first saw this picture of girl carrying the Philippine flag as murky floodwater flowed past her legs and a typhoon raged around her, I had two thoughts. The idealist in me thought it was inspiring. The cynic in me thought it would be great propaganda material. And then I read the real story behind that picture. Apparently, Janela Arcos Lelis, a 12-year-old from Albay, was asked by her

The Bloody Pieces of That Abortion

2011-08-27T14:11:00.001+08:00

It's been a terribly long time since I last gazed upon anything showing on RPN9 because, honestly, that channel is a fucking zombie. Watching RPN9 is like observing slime mold behavior for scientific purposes. And that's why I was surprised this morning to find my wife watching some documentary on that channel. As it turned out, she was watching Japan Video Topics. I remember catching this

Prayle

2011-08-22T08:18:00.000+08:00

In the current socio-political climate, where it's being revealed that more and more Filipinos do not trust the Catholic hierarchy, one of the most common ways of pointing out the Church's penchant for oppressing and silencing those who do not agree with its doctrines and those who speak against its iniquities is by calling priests, especially the bishops, "prayle". It's erroneous, of course, as

The God of the Gaps

2011-08-21T22:22:00.000+08:00

Listen: It's those who have faith and who live by faith that are prone to bigotry, to intolerance, to building walls where there should be none. Faith, at its core, is certainty about something that is unproven or unprovable. Evidence negates the need for faith. Those who reject the certainty of faith and who live by the humility of doubt are open to possibilities. If something taken as fact is

The Freedom of Doubt

2011-08-20T23:15:00.000+08:00

There is an amazing kind of freedom with doubt and disbelief. When you start being skeptical about the supernatural, when you stop looking for signs and trying to figure out the will of any god, the world will make much more sense. With the eyes and the heart of a skeptic, I look at the world (and humanity) as something imperfect but beautiful in its imperfection, something that needs me to be a

Jesus...

2011-08-18T05:27:00.000+08:00

Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2011-08-11T03:06:00.000+08:00

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a reboot of the franchise that started in 1968 with a movie starring Charlton Heston. Setting the stage for a new series (one that continues the spirit of the original movie), it tells of the origin, awakening, and rise of the super-intelligent chimpanzee, Caesar. His evolution, so to speak, from being a glorified house pet by virtue of human hubris to being the

Hijo...

2011-08-02T21:21:00.000+08:00