Imagine: GMA announcing that she will not attend the Olympic Games opening in Beijing (w/c is what some other democratic leaders have at least been requested to do)—her protest against the situation in Tibet. (Olympic organizer: “Did we even invite her?”) It won’t cause even the slightest ripple in the world stage, but imagine it nevertheless—the kind of irony/hypocrisy such a move would represent: an elections cheater w/ an administration tied to extrajudicial killings condemning a government’s violent violation of human rights.
Imagine: GMA pulling out our athletes from the Games altogether (a thought that has crossed the minds of even some Americans of their own athletes), as if real medal contenders from other nations would care (remember our dismal showing in the last SEA Games): Asia’s “most corrupt” making a supposed stance in favor of morality.
Why imagine? Cuz it’s funny to think about. Cuz GMA has shown this thick-skinned capacity before—from illicit phone calls to made up laws to apologies for things she still insists she didn’t do; a few months ago, GMA received a human rights citation in Spain.
The Olympic torch barely made it out of Europe, caused a stir in San Francisco. The Dalai Lama is “demonized” by Chinese authorities; still, he supports the Games. He is now in Seattle, the torch in Argentina.
The price of rice increases; “No rice shortage,” the cabinet insists. Price of bread rises as well. Congress is a house of administration lap dogs, the Supreme Court the dwelling of loyal whores in gowns. In Malacañang, the squatter of all squatters remains, conjuring up the next save-face attempt to appear like she stands for integrity. The previous paragraphs: a backhanded suggestion/dare.
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Nagbabasa naman ako
Recent reads: Gustave Flaubert's
Madame Bovary (from
April), essays by Seneca, Montaigne, Kenko, & Virginia Woolf,
Gelo Suarez's
Dissonant Umbrellas (from Marie).
I see why so many people love
Bovary, but I'll suspend judgment cuz I was reading it while studying for finals
; enjoyed Seneca, Kenko, Woolf, but Montaigne can be a pain;
Dissonant was trippy & a headache at times, but I'm guessing that's part of the point.
Currently reading: Ian McEwan's
Atonement, James Joyce's
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Douglas Adams'
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (from April),
The Likhaan Book of Poetry & Fiction 2002 (from April)
Atonement I'm enjoying, Joyce not so much;
Hitchhiker's is my commuting read cuz it's not so taxing on the head; 8 poems into
Likhaan & I'm liking it.
2 Comments:
I've read "The Cement Garden" and "Daydreamer" by McEwan. I don't plan on reading "Atonement" for a while yet because, you know, there's something uncool about doing what's cool. :p
Back then, "Daydreamer" was packaged as a children's book - my copy has the old cover featuring a boy with a cat's head - so I read it when I was about 12, I think. Seeing the newer cover on the shelves (a boy looking out of the window) and the new summary on the back makes me laugh; for me, that wasn't and still isn't what the book is about.
Hi Kat.
For the record: Not trying to be cool w/ Atonement; I just really want to watch the movie.
Hehe.
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