You are not as free as you thought

“Get a job.

Go to work.

Get married.

Have children.

Follow fashion.

Act normal.

Walk on the pavement.

Watch TV.

Obey the law.

Save for your old age.

Now repeat after me: I am free.”

Last June 12, 2012, the Philippines celebrated the 114^th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence which has been an annual commemoration since 1964 to signify our “freedom” from foreign rule. This kind of celebration of independence is not unique to the Philippines as many other countries marks a special date in their calendars to celebrate the day they gained sovereignty.

However, this kind of celebrations begs me to ask the question: Are the individuals in these independent societies really and truly “free”? It has already been a year or so when I realized and accepted the fact that I am not truly free and now I am writing this series of articles to discuss why we are not and why we have always thought that we are.

As an introductory article, let us first settle some concepts or notions first.

Before I start discussing why we do not have true freedom, let us properly define that word first. According to Merriam-Webster¹, freedom is 1) the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action; and 2) the liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another.

Many readers might also think that maybe I am writing about people having no true freedom because I am a whiny, unemployed, hungry bum who has very limited options with his life; but sorry to burst your bubble, because I am not.

I am only 28 years old I think I already have a good enough situation that will make the common man very happy. I am enjoying a relative financial stability while not being stressed-out from work. I am able to finance a house of and on my own; I am a regular provider to my family (parents and siblings); and I am also able support some of my pursuits of leisure. However, I would like to clarify that I am not living an extravagant life as I am still living as simple as possible. For one, I do not have a personal vehicle yet; maybe because I feel that it is still unnecessary for me especially with the relative ease of public transportation in our country.

Next article will be related to “choice”. Do we really have an independent, freedom to choose what we really want?

Long Live the King of Pop

I can write a list of my 100 inspirational or influential musicians and it will be an inventory of bands or individual artists who were in a band or people proficient with his chosen instrument.

But I will top them all with Michael Jackson. Yes, you read it right, the King of Pop, the legendary song-and-dance performer.


I don’t know why but I am naturally attached to his music since I was a child who is still unconscious with music. When the Studio 23 channel started sometime in the 90’s, they initially only have MTV on the air, and coincidentally MTV then had a special daily tribute show for Jackson called MJTV. It was my first direct exposure to his music and performances which made me realize that subconsciously, I was already digging his music for a long time; I just did not know that it was his. 

Every new song played, my reaction was either “Oh! That song was MJ’s? I like that song!” or “I remember hearing that song somewhere and I know I enjoyed it!” So it was like MTV introduced me to a soulmate who I already have a bond without knowing it.

What even made me attach to him is his fondness of technology (I took up computer engineering so I think you have an idea how much I like technology). He had this short film which, if I remember right, is composed of three music videos in one (including Smooth Criminal). In the film, MJ is an alien being who befriended three kids (the kids outside the bar in the Smooth Criminal video). At the end of the video, MJ and the kids were trapped in a warehouse by a gang and when they started shooting at them, MJ suddenly transformed to a metallic creature, slowly transforming into a rocket ship. How cool is that!

Also, most of his modern concerts include a show of him strapping on a jetpack and hovering above the audiences. So not only his music, but also his video and concert performances, kept me in awe.

When MJTV finished, I still kept watching MTV hoping that they will bring it back but to no avail. So, being a kid in a poor family who cannot afford to buy his own cassette tapes (pirated CD’s or MP3’s are not that common then), I just gave up and thought that I will just wait for some random station to play his songs.

Years passed by and I met my college bestfriend, Arkel Asis who I was with in a group and in a hobby band so we were sharing rock music then. Pirated CD’s and MP3’s are now very common and sharing music had never been much easier.

One day, I was digging through his collection of CD’s and VCD’s when I stumbled upon MJ’s double-disc HIStory album! I was so excited I was juggling between memory flashbacks and asking my friend about his MJ experience.

From then on, MJ was one of the major things that we really agree upon. I still remember spending a large amount of time watching a video of his concert on a small television in some store; or when he bought new DVD’s of his and I will go his place to watch it. He was a big part of our friendship that I remember giving him special release CD+VCD release of MJ’s Thriller album last May 2009 as a birthday present. (Which makes me think now, did I have a premonition that something will happen to MJ which prompted me to recall him with my bestfriend?)

Until now, I feel like, to quote a Facebook status, “it was just a bad dream”. Since MJ became inactive, I never thought that he already wrapped up his career. I just felt that he is just there resting and recovering from all the issues he faced and will have an explosive comeback.

He did make a comeback, but I never thought it will be like this, as a news item announcing his death. What makes it sadder is that he did not die as a shining star, he just slowly faded.

Michael, thank you very much for the memories and may you rest in peace.

Long live the King!

Optimus Prime just kicked The Fallen’s Ass!

One good thing about having a working schedule of 2pm to 11pm is that I can watch movies on weekday mornings when people are fewer. I can also watch movies on their opening days like what I did for Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen!

The movie is almost 2.5 hours long, which is a lot longer than the first one. I was not able to really appreciate it the first time (yes, I watched it again the day after because of a treat?) because I was busy tracking who the new robot characters are, figuring out what will happen next, and thinking how the sound system sucked (sadly, it was not Dolby or THX or whatever technology it is that gives the movie surround sound with powerful bass).

Fortunately, I had the chance to see it again and I enjoyed it better. So let me give some of my views regarding this movie.

I was so amazed with the first movie’s special effects and CGI animation that I got really excited with this one and was hoping for a lot more of robotic action and I was not disappointed! If it is extended action for more robots that you want, then that is what you will get.

Here are some of the most memorable action scenes for me:

• Humans fighting side-by-side with the Autobots.
• Bumblebee dishing out better fighting moves while kicking the ass of a much bigger robot (a Constructicon).
• Optimus Prime showing than he can move with flexibility even if he is a big lumbering robot like when he jumped over a gigantic Constructicon and while he was fighting three robots on his own.
• The Twins, who look like dumb-ass robots, giving the huge Devastator a hard time.

But unfortunately, the movie is not without blemish. The movie gave more time to some scenes that I think are unnecessary and somehow lost focus on the much more important ones.

One specific lengthy scene which is not needed is the “funny mom” scene. Here, Sam Witwicky’s parents accompanied him to his first day at the university where his mom, unknowingly ate some marijuana that was offered to her by “environmentalists” calling it a “natural Hawaiian green”. So Sam’s mom got high and proceeded to do some crazy stunts around the campus.

Michael Bay is known for inserting his movies with comedy and I really dig it if it was done cleverly and subtly. So his classic dashes of “jokes” made me appreciate his old movies like Bad Boys and Bad Boys 2 and, of course, Transformers. But with Revenge of the Fallen, I can’t help but think that he is trying too hard to be funny.Sam and Mikhaela also had some extended “mushy” moments (including their little quarrel in the library) which I am thinking twice if should have been there or not because honestly, it makes me stare more at Megan Fox rather than focus on the movie! Haha!

With these extended scenes, some significant ones are left with just a few minutes. Here are the scenes that I think should have been given more focus:

• The sacrifice of Jetfire by giving his body parts to Optimus to revive him and make him stronger to fight The Fallen. Jetfire is a former Decepticon who converted to being an Autobot and that in itself is already a great sacrifice.
• Optimus’s fight with The Fallen and Megatron. It was the highlight of the movie! Why did it ended so quickly?
• The robots’ identities. In the first movie, if I remember correctly, each robot had a sort of introduction; the Autobots when introducing themselves to Sam and the Decepticons with their little dialogue subtitles.

To conclude, Revenge of The Fallen is still a good movie to watch in the big screen, if just for more action and more robots but artistically, Transformers is still better.