Are you angry?

Un-disciplining our kids

PARENTS, DO YOU ALLOW THIS?

Do you allow your kids to laze in public seats playing angry birds on your or their iPhones?

I see a growing number of young children who have not a care in the world but the game they play. I was in DFA last week and there were a lot of kids waiting, being literally dragged by their parents because their are so engrossed in whatever consul their eyes were glued on. This picture of a girl is in a church lobby. The man besid her is trying to talk to her but she is non-responsive. (I heard her other siblings are not so respectful to elders)

What are the parents allowing their children to become?

When I was young, my parents will not allow any of us to be unproductive. Oh, we can play. We are encouraged to have sport, music or some hobby. We can make a mess but they want us to learn and have an output. My siblings and I played a lot and made a mess of the living room a lot. My mother was fine by that as long as we moved our bodies and build our creativity. I spend countless hours in my room scrap booking or beading but that was ok as long as I home my creativity.

These games on consul are fine. They're fun too but they keep oneself isolated in the midst of a crowd. Besides, it's lack of social etiquette. When they grow up, they'll still be glued to a gadget and not much on socialization and manners. And these kids will think it's ok because their parents allowed them to in the first place.

For the parents, they are spoiling their children this way because they can't baby sit them well. True or false? Giving them your iPhone or android to play with until all hours is not love. It's opposite. It's like hating to deal with the problem so you let the gadget handle them. Well, newsflash. These gadgets will handle them to social decline.

So, parental tip. Give them time to play with the iPhone/cellphone/android. Let them play but not in public and certainly not for too long. An hour or two tops at home. Oh, and don't forget to teach them social etiquette and manners. Discipline them if need be.

If you can't handle your child, parent, you need therapy.

5 second spark

I bought sparklers, the only firecrackers I buy. This year, it has degraded even more. Apart from it being thinner and poorly looking, it was also poorly made. It left silver dust on your fingers, it stinks and it lights up for only five seconds.
I counted.
WTF?
It was the just a spark the it died down. I even tested burning the whole thing. Nope. That was all the fire power it had.
Stupid firecrackers.
I'm not buying anymore next year!

CARP law is CRAP law

WTF?

Did you know that if you have more than 6 hectares of farmland, it's CARPable? It used to be just rice and corn then extended to pineapple and coconut. But now it is any farmland idle or not.

THIS WILL NOT HELP THE POOR FARMERS!

Think about it. The land will be taken from owners and given to farmers but farmers won't have enough money to rent tractors and buy seeds and fertilizers. In desperation, they sell the land cheaper. A rice person buys it all and naturally doesn't want it CARPable so he turns it into gollf course or resort. It won't really click but he tries anyways. After it fails, he sells it to real estate peeps who turn it into housing or highrise.

Result: We have dwellings we can't afford to live in and we still don't have enough food.

W
T
F
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Typical Scenarios

This story, you may have heard before. Not that we know of the same person but this scenario takes place in a lot of families. Some scenes I combined, compressed and probably furnished a bit. I don't want to write their lives verbatim.

Dramatis Personae:
(Names not real. As in I changed it!)

Pads- He's the patriarch. Characteristics: Consitidor, can't take charge of family.
Maddy- She's the matriarch. Characteristics: take-charge attitude.
Atz- Eldest girl Characteristics: Social climber but scared of making it big.
Budz- Middle child, boy. Characteristics: Goes with the flow. weakling.
Wetz- Youngest. Characteristics: Weakling. Spoiled.

Other characters: Boss, Supervisor, Atz's husband Mac, creditors, etc.


Part 1

Pads is a part-time janitor of Big Company. Since big is a big and sharing company, it wants to take care of its employees. Pads took up night classes. Boss finds out and helps Pads in any small way he can. Soon, Pads graduates from a two year night course in typing and secretarial. He's then promoted to a low-level office worker. With Pads' new job, he's entitled to benefits like a health care, SSS, housing plan and educational plans for his children. The house is located near Big Company. In fact, Big owns the subdivision and is helping each employee rent to own properties. This is a big break for Pads. From an informal dweller, he's soon to be a titled home owner. Best part is, it is in a safe and secured subdivision. His children will be safe from drugs, hooligans and other canto-happenings. With the educational assistance, he's able to send all three children to school even if it just a cheap school.

Everything seems to go well for Pads and his family. They have friends in high places, good neighbors and everything to live comfortably. A few years later, his eldest girl graduates and applies for Big Company. Since she had good educational attainment, she at once got a white collared job in Big.

We think that Pads and his family are having a happy ending? Nope. This family is now heading for their destruction and it all starts with one mistake compounded by another mistake and to be followed by more mistakes.

Pads income is enough to support his family. His wife is a housewife since they married and refused to work thinking she's too old. Atz is supposed to be making more. She's entered a position higher than her fathers. She's also entitled to an extra benefit: the credit card.
Now, Atz is having more friends but somehow she grew up insecure because they used to be informal dwellers(squatters). Now she wants to rise above her friends. She maxed out her card in less than a month. Thinking she can pay it little by little, she pays the minimum. Sadly, Atz doesn't understand how Philippine credit cards work. Paying minimum will not erase the debt. It is still there and will keep being there until the full payment plus interest is paid.

Because Atz wants to shop and go out to have some fun, she uses up her savings. She fails one payments and now the bank is putting penalty and surcharge. In less than a year, the original amount is now five hundred percent. pads and his family refused to pay for the debt. They stop ansewring calls from creditors. The creditors, being the sharks that they are, went to their house and their work place. Pads and his family were forced to move away and hide from the creditors. Atz was fired because she refused to answer phone calls and most phone calls were the creditors hounding her. She was given an ultimatum: fix it or get fired. She gets fired for failing to fix the problem.

Now the family is back to a single man income. Pads is trying his best to find a sideline to earn some extras. His supervisor takes pity on him and gives whatever he can to support Pads. On weekeends, Pads does oddjobs in Supervisor's house as extra. Supervisor's wife is a school teacher and has agreed to let Budz and Wetz in her classes for free. Bubz drops out eventually because he felt he was too old for the class. Wetz stays but is asked to help out after classes.


Part 2

Pads and his family are now living in an informal community. It is not safe and far from his job. This eats up his income. Commute money is bigger now and rising oil prices steadily increases the fare prices on public vehicles. He is also paying more rent than in the Big Company Subdivision. He should have been able to own the house in a few years but now that he's moved away, his payments are forfeit.

Since they are in an informal dwelling, Atz gets herself pregnant. pads gets her married and quick to her boyfriend. The child in question is undetermined if the current boyfriend is ther eal father but Pads wanted to save face. He asks his Supervisor to be the Ninong of the wedding. He asks other employees in Big to sponsor some things for the wedding. They weren't too happy but they they wanted to help the poor man. The wedding was grand. Pads had to borrow money from Supervisor just for they wedding.

Atz finally gave birth. Luckily, Pads insurance covered for his daughter's hospital bills. Unfortunately, Atz' husband, Mac, does not have a stable job. Mac is a carpenter and is only hired when the contractor needs extra hands. Since Mac has no special skills, he's not always called to do a job. he keeps a cellphone just in case his supervisor would call him but he can hardly put load in it. He often have to ask Atz to ask Pads. By the ways, MAC LIVES WITH THEM. Why? Because he can't afford to live on his own. He's also an informal dweller. He thought he was marrying into a well-off family but lo and behold, he married to a class like him and is even in debted and runnign from creditors. He tries his hardest to find jobs and support is starting family. Whatever extra hemade was supposed to be put in to pay for the debts but his father-in-law advised against it. The money was sued to move houses again when the creditors discovered where he lives.

Budz falls into bad company. He roams the street, does drugs and hang with the wrong crowd. His father had to bail him out a few times when he was caught shoplifting with his friends. Once it was suspected of using drugs. Another time it was disorderly conduct. He gets a girl pregnant. Pads wants him to marry the girl but they have no money. The girl demands support. Pads has to send money for the child's hospitalization. This couldn't be covered by his insurance. Pads had to borrow monay again. Budz soon runs away and never shows up again unfortunately, the girl with his child still demands money.

They move again.

This time, the informal dwelling is even farther. In desperation, Pads steals from the office. When he was found out, he begged and pleaded with Boss. Boss was a kind-hearted man who beleived in second chances but he also beleived in punishment. Pads was demoted to being janitor again. His bennefits were taken away but Boss decided not to cut his pay as a means to help Pads.


Part 3

Wetz is being teased in school. She is fat from eating junk food instead of healthy food. She is also not the prettiest girl so she is insecure. Since she is "poor" and has to help after classes, she feels like she is being treated as a "maid." Teacher begs her to stay on and complete her education. It would only be a few month before she can finally finish highschool. Wetz quit. She stays home. Unfortunately, where her home is, it is even nastier than their previous informal dwelling. She gets knocked-up by some random boys in the street. Months later, she is found pregnant. she can't tell who the father is because there were multiple men and none of them she knows the name.

Maddy has had it. Atz is working again in a different company with no bennefits and very little pay. She is owrking all day and Maddy has to take care of the child. Budz' child is given to her by theunwilling mother. She has to care for two children and now a possible third. She goes to Quiapo and buys an abortive. She tells Wetz to drink it.

Wetz drinks the abortive. Unfortunately, since she is a little fat, nobody knows how many month she along. She's actually seven months now and refused to tell her mother. When she takes the abortive, she unwittingly forced labor and the child was healthy enough to survive. She gives birth by herself in her room. In a panic, she dumps the child in the trashcan and covers it with papers. Since she doesn't know what to do and there were complications from the abortive, she bleeds profusely. She calls out to Maddy. Maddy lays herdown the bed. she sees lots of blood and thinks it's done now but the bleeding won't stop. She calls her husband in the office and tells him of the emergency.

Pads hears the enws in the middle of the day. He has to rush home. Supervisor drives him himself and they rush to Pads' house. No ambulance has been called since it was too expensive. Plus, the abulance couldn't get in the tight alley ways of the infomal settlers. Pads and Maddy help Wetz to Supervisor's car. While the couple helps their daughter, Supervisor notices something moving and making sounds in the trashcan. He uncovers it and finds a struggling little baby. He picks it up and guessed what had happened in the room. They all drove to the nearest hospital. Supervisor had to take care of the bill since Pads had no money at all.

Maddy returns home and locks herself in her room. She refused to face reality. Supervisor's wife takes time off her work to comfort and help Wetz. She thinks Wetz is suffering some psychological trauma and wishes to help the girl. Wetz is catatonic for days. The baby is premature and had to be incubated. It was a miracle that is was alive and struggled to make tiself known even when it's air passage was still blocked.

Wetz snaps out of it days later and was able to go home. She wants to keep her child. Now there was three children at home to take care of. Supervisor want to file abortion charges against Maddy but Pads begs him not to.

Maddy dies some months later by some unknown desease she has kept from everybody. They burial expenses is very expensive, even the cheapest ones. Atz, Mac and Pads spare all their saving just to bury Maddy.

Pads is still in debt and can't run from these creditors. He's borrowed money from a lot of people form the Big Company. If he quits his job, he has no other means to support his family. It was the only job with big pay for a janitor. He adviced Mac to be an OFW.


Part 4

Pads develops a text relationship with someone's wife. She happens to be wife of a person in Big. For the girl it's just a texting game. Pads takes it seriously. he begins to call her and text non-stop. He gets big phone bills. People in the Big Company notices. He inadvertedly make s amistake when he miss-sends the messgae to his love to his Boss' number.

Boss can't take it any longer. Pads is fired for misorderly conduct. He is out of a job.

Finally, he gets a job nearby as a "tig-boy" and part-time driver. It requires him to live with his new boss. he come home only for the weekend. Still, he has to pay a monthly rent for his house in the informal dwellings. Wetz stays home and refuses to get a job or an education. Atz wants to be a stay-home mom. Mac finally gets a job abroad.

Mac goes to Saudi. Everything's arranged and he had a job waiting for him. He bid his wife and in-laws a goodbye. He goes toa faraway land with other contract workers like him. He earns good money but has to send a big bulk of it to pay for Pads' debt and a way for Atz to live on. he send money home for a few months. One day, he stops and cuts all communication form them. He thinks he can do better. Mac decides to start new and debt free.

Atz coulnd't beleive Mac abandoned them. He never really loved her. She enver really loved him. She just wanted to get away and now she is stuck. She gets a job, small paying and no benefits. Pads comes home on a weekend and soemtimes he doesn't. Fortunately, he still pays for the house and all the bills that comes with it. Wetz takes care of all the kids because it's the only contribution she could give.

That is their story up to date.

Yes, they are still living.

They might be closer than you think.

Is this a typical story? Yes. They are hundreds of stories similar to it. This is the real State of the Nation.
Sad but true.

Quarter Pounder?

Recession blues? Still a quarter pounder? I don't think so!
My boobs are bigger!
One breast weigh more than a McDo quarter pounder. Jade dared me to say that to a McDo person and even bring a weighing scale.
I told Jade that maybe fries and drink consist of the quarter pound too.

Sacrifices of Lent

Abstain, fast, be good, do good.
Simple?
Not really.

Ash Wednesday, I woke up to attend mass. I was the only one among these sleepy heads to do that. Then, abstain.
I promised not to drink sodas the whole lent. but I forgot and drank a float last Sunday. Whoops.
So, yesterday, Friday is fasting and abstinence day.
No meat, not dinner.

Lo and behold, the mother of temptation spring up in front of me in the form of crispy chicken nuggets.
Ressisstttt...
rrrreeesssiiiissssttt...
Can't leave the table because we were having a powwow.
An I resisted!
I did not eat meat yesterday or dinner.

Made me think. Do corrupt peoaple high up there even observe the Lenten practices? Jade said her classmate brought prawns yesterday for lunch. what was that? The point of no meat was not to indulge in seafood. The point was to sacrifice something. Meat is the most common because we take it for granted. Try giving it up because you want to sacrifice something.

Saint Marie Euginie said: "Live simply So That Others May Simply Live."

These Euro generals, Garcia and his family, the first family and others who are in the news hotspot, they didn't live simply. The Legacy owner and others involved are not living simply. They lived beyond their means and who paid the price? The people. Now, the people cannot simply live anymore.

Lent is supposed to purge us of our excess.
So remeber that saying. It might save other's lives.

Book Trailers and Feehan

I just noticed something. Feehan loves people who are awake in the night and men who are both lovers and predators. They always have to be described as predators, more animal than man.

And I only like three trailers from all her trailers. Dark Possession, Dark Destiny and Safe Harbor. All the others suck! They have awful fight scenes and girls who look older than the men!

Proffesional Gate Crashers

What do we know of such people?

We think they are people we know and we didn't bother to invite them then they just show up at your party/wedding.

Nope, there's really an art to it.

I went to a laureate for lunch. Sort of a family reunion with friends and relatives. There are over 200 guests and half of them don't know they are related. We attend this to know we are related. This family association can be dated back to our pre-colonial China days.

Anyways, there was this old lady in our table. She's wearing a dress like you buy it in a tiange and a suit jacket. When the food was being served one at a time, she started to horde the meat and canned soft drink.

Note: A table seat twelve and one dish is being served one at a time in a typical Laureate.

Alright, we though, bad table manners-much! She horded so much meat when we all took small quantities only. Then, she scooped them in plastic bag.

I hate to be related to this woman!

Then, when the last of the dessert came, she went off from table to table taking left-overs.

Normally, the managers don't mind. But you'd never know if food is the only thing she takes. What if she took your cellphone?

We later learned she is a pro-gate crasher. With more than 200 guests, its hard to spot them and they are not usually alone.

According to stories shared: a couple of pro gate crashers had IDs of Media on them. No kid! These are pros. They come to eat and take home some food.

The nerve!

Note: the host pays at least 1,000 pesos per person. Each guest is usually counted. Extra drinks have extra charge!

So, party hosts beware! Be aware of these people and see if you have these people in your party. They may dress the part but they don't have good table manners!

SONA Fashion Show

Instead of being a solemn occasion, the SONA '08 became a fashion show.

Is there anything worth addressing? The Text message to go down to fifty cents. So?
"Texting is a way of life." --PGMA.
So what? Rice is more important than Text. How much would rice be?

Things that have to be addressed are:

• Poverty
• Population Control
• Rice Crisis
• Gas Price Increase
• Corruption
• Red Taping and "Lagay" system
• The environment
• Efficient Transportation

So, instead of showing off those designer outfits, you should sell it and give the money to a legitimate NGO. 100,000.00 goes a long, long way. Even if the designer is your friend.
That red carpet show in the SONA was just disgusting. All those people showing-of should be ashamed of themselves.

While the country is in a crisis, these people parade around like clowns. Don’t they know where the money comes from?

(Sounds very Maria Antoinette-ish? Then, the crisis might explode and shake this country very soon.)

Cost Cutting Much!

For those who have not been flying recently, here's the thing:

Read and read well.

As seen on papers, Cebu Pacific has been cutting price. Yey for us. Right?
Maybe.
Here's the catch:

• No food, no drinks, no blankets, no emergency oxygen.
• Food and drinks must be purchased. a C2 350ml for 50.00!!! 500ml for 100.00. Pack of peanuts or chips for 50.00. No kid! You can't bring drinks in the plane. Drink your own laway! You can bring your own food. Being your own blanket too. If you have heart/lung problems, you can't bring your own oxygen. Ride a boat if you dare!
• Small plane, squeeze much chairs.
• Oh yeah, best one yet: You don't go through the tube to get in the plane. You have to exit through the fire exit, go out in the heat/rain and run to the plane which is beside the tube. But they can't use it. One of the land stewardess said it cost 35,000.00 to just use the tube. Talk about cost cut much.
  

So, tips:

1. Eat ahead of time.
2. Bring your own blanket and knick knacks
3. wear comfy clothes and shoes. You can freshen up in the CR when you get down.
4. Oh, make sure you don't cry when your luggage gets battered. Or whatever is in there for that matter.

No kid! Witnessed it myself! They throw your luggage from the carty thing. If you have that fragile thing on your luggage, they will put it on top but that doesn't stop them from dropping it. These carriers won't care. Don't worry, I haven't lost the whole luggage but I've lost two wheels and the strolly thing at the back. Three luggages in a year!
I know you Cebu Pacific guys are cutting cost! But it doesn't take much to take care of the luggage. It won't cost anything!

Princess of the Stars, Star of the Sea

Sulpicio's MV Princess of the Sea Sunk last Saturday. Who is to blame?

DOST slams Sulpicio for blaming Pagasa

Philippine Star - Sunday, June 29
The Department of Science and
Technology (DOST) lashed back at Sulpicio Lines for blaming the weather bureau
in the sinking of the M/V Princess of the Stars, saying that it was the company
that erred.
DOST Undersecretary Graciano Yumul said Sulpicio should not pass
the buck to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services
Administration (Pagasa) because the agency had issued ample warnings about
typhoon "Frank."
Pagasa is under the DOST.
Sulpicio lawyer Arthur Lim had
blamed Pagasa for inaccurate reporting on the typhoon causing the Princess of
the Stars to be caught in the eye of the storm last week.
Nestor Pontero,
Sulpicio's port officer in Cebu, claimed that the last message he received from
Princess of the Stars Capt. Florencio Marimon was "Buanga ning Pagasa, pataka
lang (Pagasa is crazy; it is only guessing)."
The last communication was
received at around 7 a.m. of June 21, just before the 23,000-ton passenger ferry
capsized off Sibuyan Island in Romblon.
Marimon is still
missing.
"Initially, they blamed the (Philippine) Coast Guard, but it turned
out that they were operating on an old guideline. After that, they said it was
an 'act of God.' And now they are blaming the Pagasa... We have full
documentation that complete bulletins (were issued)," Yumul told The STAR.
He
said Pagasa follows a "protocol" in which it submits warning bulletins to the
National Disaster Coordinating Council and the Philippines Coast Guard, which in
turn disseminate information on weather updates.
Aside from this, Pagasa also
maintains "voice services" where the public can get updates about the weather by
dialing 433. The weather bureau also regularly posts bulletins on its
website.
"And if they register on our website, they can receive weather
bulletins in their own email addresses," Yumul said.
Yumul stressed that on
top of individual media interviews, Pagasa had called for five press conferences
from June 20 to 22 to inform the public on changes in Frank's route.
"There
is really no reason for Sulpicio not to know about the developments in typhoons.
Pagasa has been doing its best to inform the public," he said.
Yumul
maintained that ship captains should be conscious not only about the weather in
their ports of origin but also in their ports of destination.
Manila was
reportedly under typhoon signal No. 1 when the Princess of the Stars sailed, but
signal No. 2 was already up in Romblon by the time the ship reached its
vicinity. - Sheila Crisostomo/Philstar

Six years ago, I visited Sibuyan Island. I don't remember if I rode a Sulpicio lines but I do remember my boat experience. It was something one cannot forget.

We boarded the boat at 12ish because we were to depart the port of Manila at 1pm bound for the Island of Romblon, Romblon. 3pm and we were told there was a delay due to engine trouble. 4pm, we were asked to move to the ship beside where we were. Our boat was never going to move. 5pm, the coast guard ok-ed the boat and we left for port. Where's our bed? by the time it was dinner, we were still standing in the hallway. One of us got sick. Our moderator of the Immersion program, went to fix things.

Later, she told us the surprise. We get to sleep in the hallway because there was a different set of passengers who booked the 5pm boat. All from the 1pm boat were to just stay in the hallway. Don't worry, the crew will still give us dinner. Did the coast guard know this? Apparently, after they checked the 5pm boat and saw the manifest, we were let in. Passenger and crew totaled 2,000. Boat capacity is only 800. Go do the math.

We arrived in Romblon at 5am. Now to catch the other boat to Sibuyan Island. Surprise again! We are not at Romblon, Romblon. We are at Tablas, Romblon.

Luckily, we were Assumptionistas and a priest gave us a lift to Romblon proper to take the next boat to Sibuyan.

So, toxic boxes int he hallway? Seen it! Bet you haven't seen animals there too! Sand, cement, marble, animals, people, stocks, food, they are all in the hallway.

700 people in MV Princess of the Stars? Was that the declared number? How many are undeclared? What about undeclared cargoes?

200,000 pesos per person. Is that the amount a life is worth? Things are getting expensive, people's lives are getting cheaper.

So, why did the search start 3 days after the boat sank? Passengers who were alive inside the ship died due to the cold and the toxic pesticides. They don't have P&I Insurance. This means they don't get money to do clean-ups. Sulpicio is the one who is shelling the money to do the search and rescue operations. But isn't the government doing that instead?

Dark Symphony

Dark Symphony is one of my favorite books. It is a Carpathian Book by C. Feehan.
Antonietta Scarletti is a rich heiress but wealthy in her own right. She is a pianist and composer. Whatever businesses she touches, turns to gold. One thing though, she is lonely. The people in her life want only her money including her family.
There is murder, conspiracy and scandal in every step of a Scarletti life but she has to over come it.
For one thing, she is blind.
Another thing, she is psychic.
Not a bad combination.
Just Mix Byron Justicano into the equation.
Byron Justiccano is a Carpathian Artisan turned Hunter. The moment he heard Antonietta's Music, he vowed to court her and make her his lifemate. Now, to be able to keep her and protect her, he must face the same intrigues that plagues the Scarletti.

Saw the Book trailer. Here is it.



My personal comment: Get a real Pallazzo. Her music room is separate and it connects to Antonietta's bedroom. This music room is just a piano under the stairs!!!
Another thing is, GET A FASHION CONSULTANT! Hello! She is a rich heiress, designer clothes and all. He's Carpathian with a good body. Get some slim fits or flat fronts. Get a CRISPY shirt!

Girl, you need make-up. This is a shoot. A bit of fake-ness, needs dramatic eyes, lips and put a bit of blush. Get a hair dresser too. Your hair looks like Morticia Adam's wig.

Dancing, making out? This trailer needs more intrigue. The threat needs to be deadlier than just a the camera angles.

Dark Possession was a good trailer. Dark Destiny too. I liked how that was narrated while the action was taking place. I didn't like any of the rest.

Yearbook Yucks

Company to reprint yearbooks after head switching
Sun May 18, 2:57 AM ET
McKINNEY, Texas - School officials say they are appalled by altered photos — including heads on different bodies — in hundreds of McKinney High School yearbooks delivered this week.

Yahoo Full Article here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080518/ap_on_fe_st/odd_altered_yearbook

Thier heads are switched and they had to reprint!
Our AC02 Just came out LAST YEAR! (I'm Not Kidding!)
Nobody even bothered to reprint! We all look dead! There are some typo's and captions are all wrong!
My worst of all!
My sister's nickname was written on my space. In fact, her testimonial is the one on my space!!! As in, I'm a violinist and a movie star? Hey... I'm the artist! Where did my best friend's great testimonial went?
Can this awful yearbook be reprinted???

A Model Life

What is in a model's life?
Fashion is such a fast business. As Heidi Clum would say, "One day you're in, the next day you're out." It is all appearance, looking young, fresh and edgy. Who can blame the Fashion World? It makes the economy run and fast.
But what about the Models? How does this affect their life?
A Model's lifespan is only the look they bring. If you don't make an impact by 25, you fade into the background. Models who make it switch careers but stay into the limelight. Look at Tyra, she hosts her own show. Heidi has her own show too. That makes Petra Nemcova too. She mentors six girls in a reality show that's not quite "Top Model" and all the more harsh.
"A Model Life" with Petra Nemcova follows six girls' journey in Next Modeling Agency. By the end of the show, only one will be picked to be one of Next's 18 models in the Fashion Week.

Executive Producer David Broome says A Model Life's aim is to "pull back the curtain on the modeling industry" and tackle issues like distorted body image, living in a big city on one's own, and self-esteem. As six models vie for a contract, walk Fashion Week's runways, and compete for ad campaigns, Nemcova acts as sideline coach. But really-gorgeous, pampered models as victims? More than you'd know. "Girls are anorexic and dying," says Nemcova. "It's stupid, but it still happens in this business." Broome cast a nutritionist to offer a healthy defense against fashion's never-too-thin manifesto. "Models pick up life-threatening habits to stay in the game," he says, "and the industry still spits them out."

Clip from: http://www.marieclaire.com/world/articles/petra-nemcova

Pull back the curtains indeed. We can see the harsh life even in the Agency alone. They haven't even booked jobs yet. They get critiqued left and right. Not only in their performances, mind, also how their bodies look. Michelle, the most anorexic looking girl with sunken eyes and ribs for torso, is what they call perfect and edgy. Theother girls with hips or bits of flesh, the agents are already saying they won't make it. Still, week after week, they are told to loose weight. What wieght?
Would you be angry at the agents for driving these girls to malnutrition or blmae the girls for doing it?
Sarah from ANTM Cycle 9 was sent home because she was too fat to be a regular model but too thin to be plus-size. How can a person be a model? Is it simply the looks, the personality or something more innate? All three are very subjective. One client might like a lot of character but some wants no character at all but looks alone. I've seen four Reality Show about modeling already. Each are very different yet same. Each client is very subjective and when all the contestants are beautiful, it all comes down to who would go the extra mile to get what they want.
America's Next Top Model, Janice Dickinson's Modeling Agency, A Model Life with Petra Nemcova, Make Me A Model, all these shows show the fashion world. They keep saying that the fashion industry is harsh and it is. The show gives you bonuses like a place to live in, challenges to win prizes and meet the popular people who mave and shake that world but it reality, when there is no show, a model's life is one full of struggles and woes.
In this country (Philippines), you can't be a full-time model. It doesn't pay. You are subjected to whatever a model is subjected to and you get very little pay. A professional model may earn Php3,000.oo to Php5,000 per walk but how many walks can you do a year? Fashion Shows are scarce and with competition, prices are being brought down. You can find a tall teen ager in the streets with edge in their looks, train her and pay her Php1,000.00 the whole night (Aprox, 4-6 walks). Cover model? Rarely. We have Actors, Singers and politicians gracing the covers and endorsing products.
So, a model life is one full of woes.

If you do wish to be a model, make sure your family is behind you. They not only give you support but also back-up. When you stumble, fall and be put down, there must always be someone there behind you to fall back on.

Spidey Unmarried???

Comic fans fume as Marvel erases Spidey-MJ marriage
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-01-09-spider-man-marriage_N.htm?se=yahoorefer

21 years of marriage down the drain so Peter could save Aunt May? C'mon! Can't they find something better to do for our friendly neighborhood web-swinger?

Clips from the Article:

That's why the comic world is in an uproar over Marvel Comics' decision to undo the marriage of Peter Parker and red-haired bombshell Mary Jane Watson, reversing two decades of storytelling.
In Amazing Spider-Man #545 last week, Peter and Mary Jane make a tearful deal with the devil-like character Mephisto: In exchange for saving Aunt May's life, Mephisto erases all traces of the Peter-Mary Jane marriage from memory.
In the issue out this week, subtitled Brand New Day, Peter Parker returns to his roots — young, nerdy and single. Aunt May is alive and well and Mary Jane is again just part of the cast. The marriage never happened.
"People are very upset. They erased a lot of stuff that had been set in stone," says John Newman, manager of Ultimate Comics in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Wednesday as customers came in to buy the opening chapter of Brand New Day. To help emphasize the new start, Amazing Spider-Man will go thrice-monthly.

"We knew it would be a very controversial thing to do," says Joe Quesada, Marvel's editor in chief, who believed so much in the project that he drew the crucial issues himself. "Looking into the future, this is really the right thing to do for the long-term health of the character."
Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962, was a hit, connecting with young readers because he was a geeky teenager, shy with girls and uncertain of how to use his powers. But in 1987, Peter and Mary Jane, by then a fashion model, got married. Marvel had instant regrets.
"I remember editors and editors in chief lamenting that a married Spider-Man was not where we want to be," Quesada says. "A married Peter Parker makes for a less interesting soap opera than a single Peter Parker going about his nerdy kind of life."
Writers tried everything: The couple separated for a while. She miscarried. And in a much-criticized story line, Marvel tried to convince readers that Peter Parker had not gotten married, but his clone.
That didn't stick, either. Then Quesada took over and insisted the marriage just couldn't continue. "Nobody wants to read about a married Spider-Man," says Craig Shutt, a columnist for Comics Buyers Guide. "But in the short run, it's a terrible idea. It disrespects the readers by saying everything they read is wrong."
At DC Comics, Superman is married to Lois Lane, disrupting that title's long-standing tensions. DC declined to comment for this story.
Quesada is steadfast that for Spider-Man, the move is the right one:
"Ultimately we have to do this to keep this character fresh for this generation and generations to come."

What? I bet this Quesada dude doesn't have a good marriage! He's just bitter or he want people to react! What do they mean people don't want to read about a married hero? We do! He's a good husband!

Bad Publicity is good publicity! Right? That's what they are trying to do!

Puh-leeez! Fresh for the New Generation? Can't commit? Divorced? Messy Life? It sound like a tele-novela drama!

Spidey was supposed to be the hero who would set a good example to the youth. Nerdy and shy but he does the right thing. He works as a photographer and tries his best in college. People could relate to the character. Now, what do they want to relate to? Spidey was supposed to be different. He was commited!