hardcore!

Habang nagre-research ng tattoo designs sa internetz, napansin ko na umiikot lang sa similar theme ang mga sample nila: skulls or the entire skeletal system, girls, knives and the likes, reptiles, religious symbols, anything "hardcore."

Hardcore!

Let's redefine "hardcore":

1) Phone number

Kung mahilig kang tumambay sa beach to "get them ladeez," you might as well tattoo your phone number on your back. Para hindi mo na kailangang i-introduce ang sarili mo -- let them do the texting! Ingat lang sa mga taong labas sa target market mo. Note: 2nd line is OPTIONAL.

2) Lyrics

Meron na sigurong nagpa-tattoo nito, pero walang nang mas ha-hardcore pa sa bubblegum pop song lyrics from the 90s. Ulit: Bubblegum pop song lyrics from the 90s. Add thorny vines and roses in full bloom to complete the effect.

3) Telefuckintubbies, baby

Bakit hindi? Ang dami ngang "Real Men wear Pink" shirts na nagkalat diyan e. Sabayan mo pa ng tattoo na 'to, at wala nang mas macho sa 'yo. (Applicable rin sa mga babae)


Pwede ring mga universal mottos like, "Time is Gold" or "Cleanliness is next to Godliness". Pwede ring DVD collection mo so far. Pwede ring blueprint ng dream house mo. Pwede rin yung cross-stitch project na pinagawa mo sa nanay mo dati. Or go even deeper: Amoy ng crush mo (kung meron man), peace as illustrated by subatomic particles, yung squiggly lines na nakikita mo 'pag nakapikit ka. Ang daming pwedeng ipa-tattoo.

Siyempre kung ako ang tatanungin, ito siguro ang ipapa-tattoo ko:

Tasteless publicity is the purest definition of hardcore.

pathetic news -- move along, nothing to see here

For the first time, nakakuha rin ako ng UP Centennial P100 bill. Muntik ko pa siyang naibayad sa aking weekly Chowking Lauriat meal kanina.


Ise-save ko 'to hanggang sa bicentennial celebration. Kasi buhay pa ako noon.

creepy

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How to Detect Signs of Asperger's Syndrome (from Answerbag.com)

Instructions

Step 1:
Look for problems with social interaction. A person with Asperger's Syndrome cannot understand basic social interaction. He can approach a person for conversation, but may not understand how to hold that conversation properly. The results are often long-winded, one-sided conversations about the Aspie's favorite subject.

Step 2:
Notice a lack of empathy. This is one of the hardest parts of Asperger's for non-Aspies to understand. The person with Asperger's tends to have a lack of empathy for others. It is not that the Aspie does not feel emotions, but that he cannot understand the emotions felt by others. The person may weep with sadness over the death of a family member, but have absolutely no reaction when someone else suffers a similar loss.

Step 3:
Look out for restrictive or repetitive behavior. The Aspie, like other people on the autism spectrum, may become focused on one particular thing he enjoys, whether it is a certain food, a hobby like collecting coins or stamps, or visiting a particular store over and over. This intense focus can cause additional problems with social interaction, and Aspies tend to be picky eaters. They will eat the same meal for weeks on end or listen to the same song over and over again, then suddenly move on to another food or another song.

Step 4:
Listen for speech and language issues. Unlike full-blown autism, Asperger's syndrome does not stop a person from learning, speaking or communicating. In fact, people with Asperger's tend to be very smart and possess a large vocabulary. The person may, however, speak in a monotone, or speak too loudly or too softly. His face may also show no expression as he speaks, due to a lack of understanding regarding social cues. Aspies also have difficultly making eye contact with the person they are talking to.

Step 5:
Observe the person's physical gait and clumsiness. Aspies tend to be poorly coordinated. They may have an awkward gait, or have trouble using motor skills to do things like ride a bike, dance or perform tasks that require hand-eye coordination. They may appear "bumbling" and are often clumsy.

look around

The poster above doesn't do the film justice. Rachel Getting Married isn't much about Kym, the attention-starved addict of a daughter, or even her sister Rachel, the one getting married. It's about the peculiar family around them, their infectious energy moving from one room to the next, their life and light unhampered by the fragile relationship of the siblings and their divorced parents all sharing a very painful loss. It's like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, only more intimate in its portrayal, a colorful cast (in more ways than one) set in this seemingly utopian affair.

It's a funny contradiction, really: if you couldn't care less about Kym and everyone else's problems, you can just look away and join an oblivious celebration happening just outside the window. And that, I think, is the true meaning of "heaven".

Getting better at it

Well it's still better than, "I forgot."

in protest against all the vampire romance books that are slowly eating the minds of my siblings

I'm supposed to get Saramago's other, more prominent novel Blindness, but I was intrigued by The Double's premise so I bought this one instead.

I'll be reading this for the rest of February and probably half of March (I'm a slow reader). In between playing The Longest Journey and watching a dozen or so films from my slowly burgeoning "films" folder, that is.

Games, books, and films. Next stop: theater!

Kidding.

unrepentant, I guess

Having read the premise of Religulous on the internetz, I thought that this documentary is like the answer to all my, um, prayers, having abandoned anything that resembles religion since high school. Now here is a documentary which, as the title suggests, paints every religion as ridiculous, beyond logic, beyond belief. Basically, this is the vindication of my beliefs.

Turns out this isn't the Holy Grail I'm seeking, but further proof that anyone with any sort of belief system is right until someone tells them otherwise. Religion, unfortunately, is the unending conversation -- an argument that will never ever be settled -- and attempting to put an end to it is, well, ridiculous. Which is why the premise of Religulous sounds tempting in the beginning, enjoyable (and hilarious!) in the middle, and unsettling in the end -- because someone telling us that religion is cuckoo (and bad, and would kill us all) is unwittingly setting himself up to become like the dozens of men he so religiously ridicules. It just won't end.

But then again, it's refreshing to see a documentary that doesn't end with something like, "Who knows? You decide. I'm not entitled to an opinion because I'm a journalist."