DESEO Continued...

I know many of you aren't familiar with the movie, so here
I am posting some stills from Deseo. Enjoy.

NOTE: Images taken from Noticine.

DESEO

2002
Dir. Gerardo Vera
Cast: Leonor Watling, Leonardo Sbariglia, Cecilia Roth, Rosa Maria Sarda
SPAIN

This is a film from one of Spain's prime movers in her motion picture
industry, Lola Films. In 1998, it gave us multi-Goya award winning film
La Nina de Tus Ojos (The Girl of Your Dreams)which also stars Spain's finest
actors like Penelope Cruz and Rosa Maria Sarda who happens to be a part of this
film as well.

The plot is basically about two individuals who fall in love and only later
do they discover that they have contradicting ideals. One is a Nazi and the
other a Communist.

The story centers on Elvira and Pablo. Elvira used to belong to a well to do
family but due to misfortune their family lost it all after the death of
their father. Now, they have to settle for a life of lesser glory, in poverty.
Elvira then finds employment as a chambermaid to the Argentinean magnate Pablo.
She happens to fall in love with Pablo despite the fact that she is married and later on discover that he is a Nazi too late.

Elvira disregards her marriage for this man. She wanted books, music, and all those
worldly things; material possessions. She also wanted to satisfy her body with sex.
Elvira turned away from her life to pursue this affair with this man. Now, I see why Plato says that the Appetites can be of great danger when let loose. As Oscar Wilde says, "there is only one thing I could not resist...temptation." The appetite level of the soul which is the last seemed logical why it is arranged in such a way.
There are bodily whims hard to deny oneself of. It is always harder to pursue wisdom. Wisdom can lead individuals to a proper direction yet appetites are more of what is pleasurable and worldly. Making it more concrete, take for example the idea of democracy here in the Philippines. Politics here has gone mad because wisdom does not prevail but all the appetites break loose. The pursuit of the politicians are all to satisfy themselves. And appetites above all are the hardest to resist.

(For now, I'm proud I'm introducing people to World Cinema!!!! I believe it is my job for now, educate people to learn what they are missing. It is a big loss if you haven't heard about those filmmakers outside Hollywood.)

NOTE:
1) Images courtesy of MSN
2) Goya: Spain's equivalent to the Academy Awards

On Duality and Uniqueness

Often I speak in broken verses. It is hard to keep it up with life and its many downfalls. Sometimes, I speak to myself and say "is life actually a blessing?"

I myself feel that I am two persons part of me wants to pursue the highest level of my individuality which is to be unique and the other one, my weak side. The weak side of me just wants to give in to the dictates of society and certain institutions because I find it easier. To live life and know thyself and pursue that highest level of individuality is harder.

Frida Kahlo illustrates my ideas right now. This was her interpretation of how she felt, 2 Fridas. One Frida was the Mexican and the other the European. Sometimes we often come across such crossroads and it wouldn't be any easy to find solution, at times the best way is to escape.

I want to be the Ubermensch but the thing is could I be consistent in trying to be a strong individual? I value my solitude but up to which extent will I make use of it. I am a troubled teenageer confronting the absurdity of life. I then wonder why many people still try to discover ways to live longer or to live forever when all they would lead to is give themselves the greatest suffering this world could ever give, life. I got so tired of the priest telling me you are lucky to be alive because you breathe air and you are in living in the light of God. I don't go to church anymore. It was a choice I had no difficulty in deciding. When I am in that place, I feel like an automaton...no choice but to follow. Another thing is that religion makes you an idealist, and come to think of it, love at first sight...the after life...hell...evil...they are all generalized. It is an offense against me as an individual for I never get to raise my own perspective. I am still in a dual mindset yet I feel that my view on life is still a negative one, without a trace of hope.

Note: Image taken from http://web.tiscali.it/paintgallery/galleria4.htm

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
2005
Dir. Rob Marshall
Cast: Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh

To those who know me, it’s obvious that I’m giving thumbs up
to this film because of my love for Asian actors (despite the bad
reviews given by a lot of people. Mind you, my list
of competent Asian actors include mostly Chinese, Japanese, and Thai
(Takuya Kimura, Zhang Ziyi, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung
Carina Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Ken Watanabe, Asano Todanobu,
Sinnita Boonyasak, Carina Lau, Anita Mui, Faye Wong, etc.) . I loved
Memoirs of a Geisha even though I’m not a really big fan of Hollywood
productions.

For this film, I was struck by Sayuri’s words.
“The heart dies a short death like leaves starting to fall off a tree…
There is no hope and nothing remains.
She paints her face to hide her face, her eyes….
She is deep water….
It’s not for geisha to want …to feel
Geisha is an artist of the floating world.
She dances, she sings, she entertains you…
She does whatever you want
The rest is shadows, the rest is secret.”

It is indeed a fragile world; a geisha’s realm is that of pure beauty and beauty alone.
Sayuri reminded me of Sartre’s en soi being. As an ambassador for the arts or in the broader sense, a culture, geishas embark on a role and not as individuals. The being in itself is for objects yet this was how I saw Sayuri’s condition. She was a being who
Was already complete meaning her function was already defined meaning as a geisha she doesn’t have any room for making her own destiny. She is expected only to entertain. The purpose of her existence is already made and there is no room for revisions or discoveries. And as Mameha told her “you do not become a geisha to follow your destiny.” A geisha’s purpose is already complete; all she has to do is live it. She cannot choose for herself and the idea of future is a distant thought. Sayuri said that she is an artist of the floating world, this goes on to the idea that as a geisha, she is half human and half an automaton yet moreover she is directed to be an automaton as her occupation does not allow her to pursue her individuality. To wrap it all up, she served as an example of Sartre’s being in itself.
(Somehow this echoes Wong Kar Wai’s 2046. This one in particular is about the androids in the film. I’m talking about the part wherein Takuya Kimura is traveling on board that train and each passenger is assigned an android to give them what they need. Androids do not feel like geishas…well in case you are familiar with this movie
This is the part wherein Kimura comes in contact with the Faye Wong android!)

On second thought, I was wondering…what if the producers opted for an
Asian film maker, perhaps the celebrated Wong Kar Wai, or the master Zhang Yimou?

NOTE: Movie image courtesy of Sony Pictures.

BOOKSTORE TROUBLE

When was the last time you have gone to the bookstore?

I've been a PowerBooks loyalist since age 14 (I guess) ...It's
really a long time ago. Back then I was just readig Anne Rice and not
JEan PAul Sartre, ALbert Camus, Nietzsche, Rilke, Szymborska, Coetzee
and the many others.

I hope anyone affiliated with PowerBooks sees this:
> Their Philosophy Section Sucks
> They placed a Michel Foucault book in the Archeology section
because the book is entitled "Archeology of Language."
> Their books are for the best seller obsessed kind of reader
(look at their shelves, mostly generic writers although they have
a lot of V.S. Naipaul and Naguib Mahfouz, really good writers!)

Well basically, this leads me to thinking that the reason why there aren't much
Philosophy books in PowerBooks is because they are more inclined to
commercial titles, books that would sell like pancakes whereas philo books which
do not really sell quick. I mean I saw the same titles at Powerbooks since I went
there last November 2005. Darn, this country needs to have a sudden influx
of good bookstores...more Fully Booked and A Diff. Bookstores please!
Filipinos need to learn philosophy and give as much importance to it as much as
the Western world has. How I wish there would come the time wherein philo
wouldn't have a bad impression on the public but rather something to enjoy
and amuse our minds.

"My Attempt in Prose"

(A Town in Wonder, oil on canvas, above)

I've written a short story. This was after learning about Camus and the absurdity of life. Try to understand, this is the most philosophical of all my stories to date.

All Too Human

The gas that vapor in the air suddenly started talking to a man.

“What are you really?”
“I am a human being.”
“What makes you a human being?”
“Well we live by absurdity.”
“Air is not absurd contrary to us humans for you are matter, I can determine you through my senses.”

Talk is vague the gas thought. Thinking man was supreme as they were made by some divine being that they were to be supreme above all, he thought he also had the highest degree of intelligence but this changed his mind. Gas thought once more, if he is unseen but felt then he is confined in the self-contained language of human beings. Disappointment still overpowered him that he decided to play with the water and send some changes in the atmosphere elsewhere away from this man. He swooshed over that corner and the wind vane was suddenly in motion over his left and all was silent again. He was still left by his problem from the beginning of his existence. He was in search for something but to this day he seems to be unable to figure out what it really is.

The man went strolling and looked at a cycle of paths interconnected and confusing. This was not a labyrinth though. It was simply confusing.

On his stroll, there were already footsteps of others like him. It was a common path taken by his species. Clearly he wasn’t the first one to take this path.

It was an assortment of terrains. Over the south were heavy monsoons and the scent of newly emerged sprouts of greens. By the west, it was temperate and all was in moderation. The east was arid and was dry, no trace of precipitation in month or perhaps years. Last, the north, this thing I don’t know what to call it, it’s all over the place. These were fine white cotton balls falling over the place that left the place virtually white.

The man went to that vertical entity in the middle of it all, it was the Equator. He said he wanted to feel the sun and be able to meet him somehow.

The sun yawned on this line we know as the Equator. He was seen by the man. They greeted each other, it was already morning. Man gestured a friendly hello while sun returned the favor as courtesy.

“Have you seen the universe?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
“How is it like, it is unexplainable.”
“What do you mean?”
“It is a wide empty space.”
“You mean any empty space could be the universe?”
“Yes, because empty spaces can be found anywhere.”
“How wide is it?”
“I honestly couldn’t tell myself for I will not be witness to this in my entire existence for mine is not too long. It is always there an integral part of ambiguity or perhaps the noumenal more over it is like a concept we seemingly find familiar but cannot define it exactly.”
“Would you know if the universe is just right here perhaps by my side?”
“Could be but don’t play with fire for you might slip with a wrong understanding.”

He has always thought that the sun is the center of the universe but how come the sun couldn’t explain what the universe really is.

Man left discontented. He walked farther and farther. If you would look at the earth through a globe, its entirety spans 360degrees. So far he has walked past the 180 degrees and was on the other half of it. It was dark on this other side. There he met this fellow. He was the other half of the sun; he had these huge craters and this luminous presence. It was the moon.

He was nocturnal of course. He was the moon. The night is his time. Night is his day and day is his night.

“What brings you to my lair?” sighed the ethereal being.
“I’m searching for answers to my questions.”
“What questions are these?”
“I do not know myself. I asked the sun knowing he is the center of the universe, what is the universe. He gave me a strange answer.”
“You wonder then?”
“Yes. Why is it like that?”
“You yourself you do not know your own dimensions, how will you put into value which one is true or not.”
“Know yourself. Live in your world. Do not come to the unearthly as they are different.”
“Are you saying I should go back to my world?”
“It is the only way you find an answer to your feeling of indifference as a being.”

He went back to the realm of humans but there was none in sight. Perhaps all were left wandering about like what he did.

He saw somebody though as he saw a mountain, he saw a man raising a heavy rock up the summit of the mountain. At first, he thought he was just doing this as a practice of his strength. He drew nearer and noticed something strange though, as the man reached the peak of the mountain he throws the rock down again and again he starts carrying it to the top again.

The man felt he was insane. His name was Sissyphus. He waited for his descent from the mountain and started talking.

“Why do you do that?”
“It gratifies my life.”
“What logic do you find in the repetitive?”
“It’s not a question whether it’s logical or not. I just find satisfaction in this burden.”
“How do you want me to take your answer?”
“This rock was destined for me and therefore I shall live by it.”
“Do you ever tire of this?”
“I do but it became a part of me, fate you can never escape. Fat can never be altered.”

The man gave much thought on fate and pondered.

“But how could fate be so vain?”
“This is a punishment the gods gave me and I cannot retract it.”
“What was the greatest achievement you have achieved from it?”
“Nothing.”
“Then you must stop it, it’s useless.”
“My job is to hold on to the useless because if I don’t I will fall to the hands of death.”
“Then you are afraid of death.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Then you deprive yourself of being a true human being.”

Sissyphus remained silent for a moment. In a little while though he kept on doing what he did and went on as if there wasn’t a man that just talked to him. The man then thought it best one deals with the absurdity of life simply to go through creation and destruction of oneself. It would eagerly justify why there is such thing we call as impermanence. But what if he becomes immortal? He humorously mused but he realized he was already very weary.

“I want to die. It is the only way to give meaning to this useless passion being me.”

He hears the stone fall on its weight again for three successive falls and it goes on. He moved on to this place humans called Null. It was a small cave, a very dark one and he took notice of a sign that said when you go up you will be reborn. The cycle of life, you will go through once again. On the other hand, if he goes down, he drops to this hole, he simply dies.

He goes down, but is there a guarantee he would never come to being again?

The man just left an unopened letter to the world that said (he was preparing this all his life.):

Dear Reader,

I shall not want to see the world once more, see it recur before my eyes. I know too much of it already. I wouldn’t consider living in order to live through struggle and pain ad infinitum. I have grown weary of it and to live even just one more time would be the greatest burden. We live in order to die. It will be a repetitive cycle of pure metaphysics and none of which my senses could explain.

This is not a warning but rather a voice that argues about the essence of living again. What purpose lies when we couldn’t find a way to make us less ridiculous?

Kindly revive me when this ridicule of my being is all over.

Passively greeting my future,
Man.

NOTE: Artwork posted is an original work. I chose this image for this post because this painting is about a town with nothing in it, yet there are individuals who thrive in it. Like the Existentialist belief, life comes from nothing and only then will we construct meaning. It was intentional that the elements in this painting weren't detailed for the sake of attaining the desired effect. Similar to how I view life, I still feel that I am nothing. Maybe in the future I may construct or direct my own destiny, what will become of me. But for now, I am aware that I linger in nothingness.

The Death of a Starlet by Gian.

I did this painting 6 months ago. I have just thought of sharing it with you so here it is.

I know it has a lot of images and at some point it would be hard to understand so I will explain it. (Well, maybe not now....I'll let your artistic side critique this one)....Then I'll explain it a little later. I don't want to exhuast my readers with too much academic stuff. I want to show you different aspects of me.

Responsible Journalism

Journalism of the present tends to be less and less credible. It appears to be limited to either an individual omniscient or a one sided point of view. Can we say that what the CNN, the BBC, and ABS-CBN, to name a few feed us with non-biased information? I don’t think so and if you ask me why, there are many things to point out. Take for example our local and so-called as reputable news network ABS-CBN. They tell us that the motto of their company is “serving the Filipino.” ABS-CBN is run by the Lopezes and it is common knowledge that they also own and manage Meralco, the Philippines’ electricity provider. How could a capitalist pursue its existence as directed towards welfare of the many when its main pursuit is profit and the other deals with addressing us with the financial problems of our nation and sympathizing with it? Service is very noble these days and with commercialization of almost everything the value of income serves as the major interest and not the welfare of the mass public. So I could say that service is just a front these institutions or companies show us to deceit us and make them appear humanitarian and respectable. Expounding further, the CNN and the BBC, could we also say that they give us non-biased reports? Isn’t CNN an American-owned company and wouldn’t it cater to its locals? The BBC would it not side with the British majority? Each individual has their own interest and so do these news giving bodies thus we are not really holding on to objective truth but subjective truth.

We are now limited to the subjectivity of things offered by several stations as it is often mediated. Humans operate this complex system and they stand in between before it is offered to us similar to a film maker, he uses the camera but he/ she really does not give us the images he sees as it is as there is the mediation done in the process. If human intervention couldn’t be avoidable then we must somehow maintain that level of responsibility. As responsible beings we do not abruptly affect human behavior and trigger unwanted aftermaths. Say for example a Filipino watches CNN focusing on the news about the US invasion and Iraq and that individual is carried away with the heroism of the Americans and there is no room left for the fact that the Americans wanting to rule the world more over monopolize the oil industry so that they are the ones who command the figures rather than the rightful Arabs. What is shown or given by the media could affect not only an individual but peoples so it is necessary that the transfer of information should be done with the utmost care.

Sartre argues that “if existence really does precede essence, man is responsible for himself…and when we say that a man is responsible for himself, we do not only mean that he is responsible for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for all men” (16). So taking it in to perspective a journalist upon being assigned a topic starts with nothing and only in the latter will he accomplish something, a written output regarding the subject being asked of him. So from nothing there is an accumulation of something. Parallel to a human being, he/ she is born as nothing and he is the one who actually makes himself with the way he / she lives life. The latter effect of our lives is the amalgamation of all the things we have done. With regards a journalist the way you are to be treated or looked up to is how you start from nothing to going to the higher ranks say from a contributing writer to an editor in a newspaper, with professionalism and responsibility present. As for this individual who works as a contributing writer in this newspaper gets his/ her first assignment, the writer must take in to consideration that he/ she is carrying the name of the newspaper and at the same time carries responsibility towards its readers. Any objection by the newspaper officials (editors, owners, managers, etc.) and the readers would pose great threat to the writer’s career if his/ her work is not agreeable. On the other hand, even though the officials and the readers find the writer’s work agreeable it doesn’t justify that he/ she is a good journalist for the basis wouldn’t be how your words convinced many but how your words are able to help humanity.

The concept of goodness is to be measured under the idea that “nothing can be good for us without being good for all” (Sartre 17). In the case aforementioned regarding the Filipino individual who watches CNN, what it turns out to be is that it is good only for the Americans. Thinking deeply, wouldn’t their actions also imply marginalization? Would it not include prejudice towards race, gender, and many other aspects? And you the Filipino would you consider yourself as one with those Americans. The invasion of Iraq would that not suggest that they are afraid of those outside their race? They are afraid that the ones they call as the “other” may overpower them so as a solution they resort to ousting the Arabs. The Arabs are obviously different from the Americans taking into account the place of habitation, culture, and many other factors. The standards are defines the context of one’s own society and culture and anything not qualifying under it passes as taboo or the neglected. In this case the West, their perception would be a rich, White, thin, educated, successful, intelligent male who is the norm or epitome of the recognized citizen? It is to say that this would entail much hatred to many other categories out there. What if you are a bisexual and rich male? An educated lesbian female? An androgynous poor heterosexual male? A thin gay Negro? These are just few of the many situations or circumstances I could imagine and this would lead to another thing we know as interlocking opressions. Furthering my views, it is to say that articles or news should really be processed in a very cautious manner so as not to offend and drive others to believing thoroughly in what is opinionated that is fed to them. It is said that the quality of news as being effective is that when it could change individuals and influence them in terms of beliefs, philosophy, point of view, etc. This we must really be aware of at all times.

Words can either be powerful or weak. A journalist must handle language properly together with considerations to be noted such as the audience. A simple mishandling of language could alter so many things thus we are expected to think what our actions would do to humanity. An action that is of no impact to the doer could unexpectedly change peoples. Simply, it is not a matter of the intensity of our actions but the aftermaths it would entail.

Note/s:

1. Serving the Filipino: the phrase or propaganda of Philippine television network ABS-CBN.

2. Lopezes: an influential family in the Philippines known for their chain of business enterprises

and known as one of the most well to do in South East Asia.

3. Meralco: the Philippines’s only electricity service provider.

4. Marginalization: the prejudice towards others outside the norms of a given society.

Reference/s:

DLSU Philosophy Department. “Atheistic Existentialism.” The Philosophical Language. Ed.

Rolando Gripaldo. Manila: Cover and Pages, 2005. 155-165.

Sartre, Jean Paul. Existentialism and Human Emotions. New York: Citadel, 1987.

NOSTALGIA/ It has been last term that I have finished watching Wong Kar Wai's 2046 but I still could not forget it. Now I feel like putting some stills from the film. The first one is Gong Li, followed by Zhang Ziyi and Faye Wong. I will tell you later on details about this movie but I feel like reserving that for future entries. Now, I'm giving you a hint...I'm a big movie buff and I obviously have a thing for Asian Cinema!

NOTE: First of all this is my first entry for this blog. My other extant account is with Live Journal. But now, I just feel like using blogspot.