And since its election season once again, Revilla a senator with grandiose ambitions in 2010 (who doesn’t?) decides to jump into this spook wheeled wagon and began sputtering out heavy speeches I could not help but fall asleep. Seriously. Enough grandstanding senator and get started on a legislation that will protect future sex video victims.

When I first learned of the issue I thought Paris Hilton came over and possessed Katrina Halili. And, come to think of it, she’s sporting a Paris Hilton haircut as well. Haha!

In videos and circumstances like this one, the female usually gets the flak. Nobody minds or people hardly notice the male in the picture. But,  in the warped sense of the band of “tunay na mga lalake” a video makes you even more manly and most will thump the guy on the shoulder heartily, commending him for the very hot video. For the guy it’s just a souvenir of his sexual prowess. In hayden’s case it’s a souvenir gone bad, having leaked out to the media.

A lot of hooplas going around whether its right or wrong to watch, download, or buy the video. Well, you can’t really blame the people can you? It’s a video of two people having fun, its not like it was rape or there was a kid involved. And besides, half if not most have gotten a glimpse of the video, the cat’s out of the bag already, no use stopping the circulation of the videos. Can you really? At this time and age? I don’t think so.

I remember a few years back when scandals bearing university names proliferated the cell phone crazed pinas, with one girl reportedly committing suicide because of the embarrassment.  did any of our politicians react? Did anybody say stop that, you’re sick? No. Why should they? They weren’t celebrities, they didn’t come from prominent families, and it wasn’t election season.  They probably had copies of the scandals themselves.

Who should we blame? Katrina, for having fun by engaging in hot sex with Hayden Kho? Hayden for attempting to build his own library of sex videos? Or the person who leaked it all out? Frankly I don’t know, I don’t care. In my opinion Katrina still had an idea that she was being video taped, at least for the dancing. Notice the angle of the camera, it was shaking, probably handheld then became steady as Hayden stood up to sing along with Katrina.

As for the sexual act being videoed, if Hayden fished out his camera to shoot you while dancing in your underwear then that was a big clue already that the guy had a thing for taking videos, be it while dancing in your underwear or dancing under the sheets.

And for Hayden? It was your laptop, your files, you should have taken the steps to protect your privacy as well as your partners.

Then again, my heart goes out to the girls in these videos. The more hoopla, the harder to live it down and it’s not easy, seeing as we live in a country of hypocrites. More so when these hypocrites are out to ride on this issue because of the 2010 elections.

And yes, I did watch the videos, downloaded them from the net. So sue me.

Update: I posted a compilation of the videos of the senate hearing here.

While waiting for the speaker to start I whipped out my laptop and took advantage of the free wifi. I was  just surfing the time away when I saw a photoshop technique for the eyes that were uber cool. I tried it out using a photo of a child that prof. paluga took last March. Enjoy!

the original photo by prof. paluga

the first try...

from grey to gold

The solution? Recreate the effect using Photoshop! And that’s exactly what I did. The images are far from perfect (compared to other photoshop users) but what do I know? I’m just a noob.

lomo-ified Mintal

Here’s a photo I once used for an earlier entry. The original photo was taken this summer, on our way to a field interview. Despite the hot summer heat, Mintal that day was gloomy, with big, dark rainclouds looming in the sky.

Puppy Love

I loooove puppies, too bad we don’t get to own these two cute puppies. I took these photos last July, when the puppies were still a month old.

Puppy Love 2

More lomo-ified photos coming soon. For more of my photos check out my multiply account. Ciao!

I’ll blog about the clip later. For now I’ll have to brave the rain coz I have to go home. Sigh.

Movies

Poetry in Flames

Yellow Flame

Fire Separate

* Lahat ng litrato ay kuha ni Tiara Mejos at di maaaring gamitin ng walang pahintulot.

]]> http://tiarara.com/kandila-brownout-atbp/feed/ 5 http://tiarara.com/photos-from-mintal-cemetery/ http://tiarara.com/photos-from-mintal-cemetery/#comments Sun, 21 Sep 2008 08:53:31 +0000 Tiara http://dabawenyangiska.com/?p=368 Last summer I tagged along with a classmate whose research was about cemeteries. Cemeteries? Yeah, I know it’s weird, not to mention creepy. Despite my natural fear for the dead I managed to muster enough courage to navigate the cramped but relatively clean public cemetery. And of course, photo buff that I am, I lugged around my old and beaten camera to take a few shots not only of the tombs but also of the people whose lives pretty much revolve in this place for the dead.

This was taken a few steps away from the entrance of Mintal’s public cemetery. Contrary to what most people think, this public cemetery wasn’t too bad. The place was clean and the trees lent a beautiful shade to mourners who stay here.

The acacia trees were planted by Japanese Guerillas back in the 1940s when Mintal was occuppied by the Japanese. Several tombs at the center of the cemetery hold the remains of the Japanese soldiers who died here. The locals, being a suspicious lot, have raided the tombs and the trees in the cemetery looking for buried treasures. The local baranggay have put a stop to the treasure hunting activities especially as it has angered the relatives of the Japanese people who flock here every August to pay their respects. As for the treasure, some still believe that it exists, though some have given up the search.

The cemetery, since it’s a public one, is filled to the brim. According to the sepulturero, there have been cases of sapawan or space grabbing and take overs. Space here is no longer free too. A new ordinance demands that people who want to be buried here have to pay a fee for the space. It’s not much, but some families still have a hard time coming up with the amount.

Even in the cemetery where the dead rests, the triangle still exists. The wealthier ones get to choose and buy the better spaces while the less fortunate ones will have to settle for paid public spaces. And for the poorest of the poor, a crude wooden cross with a wooden ‘lapida’ will have to suffice.

We filipinos put a lot of stock in death. The dead must be treated well and so the endless bouts of ceremonies. To honor the dead, some families will not hesitate to borrow money from loan sharks, all for the sake of giving the dead a proper burial, an honorable send off. It’s that important.

Methinks we spend too much money for our dead when we could use the money on other things. The Filipino culture dictates we honor the dead. But things are rapidly changing and  space is becoming a problem.  I wonder how we’ll cope when the time comes. Perhaps we’ll have a condo for the dead? or will we adopt the practice of cremation to save space?

What do you think?

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