Humans, the cancer of our planet

I am not the most focused and studious individual at all, especially to subjects I find boring and unsatisfying such as my Trends class but after sitting through countless of painfully boring hours of Trends, an interesting topic came up and it was about our environment. When I gave it more thought, of how doomed i think we are, it ignited a flame within me to try and make a difference in the little things I can do.

One of my favorite things in the world are the things that give me comfort; my phone, my computers, my monitors, lights, internet, printer, AC unit, etc. But when I take do I give something back? Our planet has finite resources, one day we'll run out of trees, then oxygen then finally, a hospitable atmosphere. This fact is certain that in our world, there is nothing infinite but how do we react to this? The longer we live the more we consume and consume until there will be nothing left to keep this planet sustainable. We enjoy what mother earth has given us, her water, her oil, her air, and her food but all we do is give her literal garbage for her efforts in keeping us alive and well. This has to stop. More good can be done if we take notice of the bleakness in store for us. Our planet is dying. The globe is warming, the ice caps are melting, the oceans are getting more and more polluted, droughts are becoming more and more frequent, the ocean has been swallowing up more islands and coastlines, and our protective ozone is being depleted. These are the signs of the coming apocalypse but I know that there are things we can do to prolong and stop it altogether if we could just stand together, side by side and address the problems at hand. Or at the very least acknowledge that these problems exist and they do not just affect you and I but everyone. We must take action, decrease carbon emissions, lessen the use of plastic and eventually stop its use, plant more trees and everything in between. We only have one planet, after this there will be nothing left unless we venture out in space and find something which is unlikely right now. Time to plan ahead.

Pan's Labyrinth: Dark, cynical and artistic

Summary

The movie is set in fascist spain in 1944 and its about this girl (Ofelia) who is full of wonder and curiosity, and her pregnant mother who brings her child along to meet her new father who is a cold and dangerous captain. One night, Ofelia meets a fairy and takes her down into an old labyrinth where she meets a mystical creature. Unbeknownst to her, she is actually a princess of a great and unknown kingdom. The problem is that she must prove herself to actually be this prophesized princess by accomplishing three tasks. Accomplishment would mean immortality, failure on the other hand, meant she would never be reunited with the king again.

Symbolisms, themes and meaning

At its core, the movie is a coming-of-age story of Ofelia and how she must grow and face the problems she is confronted with in the movie. It shows a young girl’s struggles in accepting the many changes in her own body as well as her life which can be seen through subtle and not-so subtle symbols in the film. I believe that the forest means something in the film as she uses it as an escape mechanism to stray from the problems she’s having in her real life with her mother and step father. Yet it is paradoxical because though the forest provides her with refuge, it can also be used to lead her astray from her path of self-fulfillment as she might get lost. Case in point, in the first trial where she must find the frog that lives within the tree, one may conclude that it is a symbol for escapism as the shape of the crevice of the tree resembles a woman’s reproductive organ and the act of re-entering could mean that the person rejects the world she is plunged into and would rather live in the comfort of her mother’s womb or in the case of Ofelia, her youth. Though she tries to retreat and live in comfort, the world finds a way to tell her that she must confront her own struggles to grow as a person, which can be seen manifested as the toad she must kill in order to advance her goals. Another common trope that is seen in these types of stories is the ability to make decisions and in turn, learn from it and become a better person. Ofelia makes a lot of choices in the movie, though not all are right, it is irrelevant so long as she learns from the mistakes that are rooted from bad decisions. Ofelia was warned not to eat from the table of the Pale man but she actively decides to ignore the warning and eat from it anyway, resulting in the death of two fairies. She also made a wise decision at the end of the movie, actively choosing to spill her own blood instead of her brother’s and thus granting her access in the afterlife, reconnecting with her family. This enforces the weight of decisions that young teens and adults have to make in order to grow.

Another point I would like to bring up is that I believe that this film’s protagonist Ofelia, is trying to find out who she really is. Is she just a daughter of a pregnant mother and an abusive father or is she really a princess? This question lingers as she tries to uncover pieces of herself by diving back in the womb. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud thought that because we find it so hard to understand the complexity of the “self”, we tend to look back to our very origins trying to figure out who we really are. This could explain the imagery of vaginas and the use of words to connote a child’s innocence or “essence” as the faun describes it.  

In conclusion I believe that themes and symbols used in the movie portray the experiences that the young must go through to grow as a person and how one must continue to advance in spite of adversities and uncertainty. It also asks questions about the self and how we actively seek out its meaning and nature to better understand ourselves and to act accordingly.

Relevance

I believe this film is still very relevant now because of its very mature themes and story. The themes of knowing oneself and growth is essential in inspiring the youth as the majority of them, myself included, feel lost in our society today. We live in a world where everything has to happen now, where so much is being expected of all of us and we end up losing track of who we are and why we do the things that we do. I believe this is relevant because it sends a message telling us not to give up, to learn from our mistakes, to make decisions even the wrong ones, and to not be afraid of the world.

Rating/Final thoughts

I don’t really want to give this a numbered rating just because I don’t think it would give this film its due praise and also because I don’t really believe in numbered ratings. But what I can say is that I do recommend the viewing of this film. It is thought-provoking, different and a fresh of breath air in the time where meaningless Hollywood flicks litter the media and it is certainly worth every minute you spend trying to interpret its meaning.

Pistang Tomasino: a window to a world of simplicity

          Every time there is an event in UST I tend to go look around at the various things for sale because of my sheer curiosity and, to be frank, I want to try the new food because I am a fat fuck and my motto is not “health is wealth”. But the thing is, I only really focus on the food and drinks and not much else, to my surprise and dismay, the food options in the Pistang Tomasino are far and few between but it gladly open some new horizons for me as I explore the feast and the things it had to offer.

On the first day of my visit, all I really wanted to do was buy something to drink or something to eat but my problem was that while I was looking around for the items I want to purchase, the normal things that have been sold in other events are nowhere to be found. No hotdogs, shawarmas, pizzas, shakes and fries. No sodas, waffles, siomai, iced tea, and even more selection of hotdogs compared to the previous events. Don’t get me wrong, there were some drinks and food here and there but they were but alien to me and as a consumer, I was unsure what I should purchase and if it was good or not. This was an opportunity I told myself, to try new things and create new experiences. With my new found resolve, I set out and picked my first item in the event.

Deli Cane

          I saw the videos of how these were made, I’ve even seen this being made in person in my trip in Malaysia but I often just ignored it every time I saw it there. My thirst and curiosity got the better of me and so I bought a bottle of this sugar cane juice thing. I think it was priced 60, if you go 80 you’d get the bigger bottle and I don’t really know what to expect before drinking it, like I mean I was thinking of like the flavor of grass or something. Basically I expected it to be unpleasant but to my surprise I actually liked it. It’s hard to describe the taste without calling it sweet. “delicane” as it is called, I cant say it wasn’t delicious, but part of its ad is that it is supposed to be a “natural energy drink” and while I don’t doubt that it’s healthy for you, I don’t think it gave me more energy? I am not really sure because I couldn’t really tell and if I could, I wouldn’t be sure regardless if I felt energetic because of the drink or because of the placebo effect. Regardless, I quite enjoyed this drink and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who gets the chance to buy a bottle.

I think what makes this bottle of sugar cane interesting and trendy is because it appeals to those types of people who are really health conscious like what is more healthy than grounded up plant? Nothing duh. All jokes aside, a lot of people for sure would love something that is both enjoyable and healthy for you. I also think one of the factors that affect the drink’s trendiness is the fact that it is something that’s kind of weird, kind of unusual. It’s not every day that you can tell your friends that you’re drinking some processed plant that’s healthy for you. Is it cool, not really but should you be proud of yourself for purchasing this product, absolutely.

Golden Ring

          There are no words to describe the level of manliness my circle of friends have, they are more manly than the lumberjacks in Canada, more manly than those gym buffs, even manlier than Emperor Huge Jackedman The Eternal (Hugh Jackman) himself so what did we do in the fiesta? We all bought matching gold rings. I guess you could say that we liked each other so much we put a ring on it. So what happened was they decided to buy rings before I got there on the second day. They just approached me and said “bili ka sing-sing matchy tayo”. The manliness just oozed from the looks I got from them so I did even if I had literally no intention of buying this cheap, sloppily made ring. Although I do criticize this thing for its overall unpleasant aesthetic and some unrefined edges and such, to be fair, we paid for this for 50 bucks so I guess you get what you pay for but do I think this was a waste of money? My answer is no because sure its low quality but I guess the value lies in the value the four of us gave it, I affectionately called it the ring of depression because if a person with depression wears the ring of depression, the depression will be cancelled out just like how negative times negative equals positive. It has charm, we even joked around saying this was treasures from the old “Maharlikan Empire”. I don’t know why this ring really stroked our imaginations and actually made us laugh which really just cements its sentimental value.

          So, how can this be trendy? I honestly have no idea because the reason I gave up above is not enough to justify buying it. I mean to be fair the reason it was so unrefined is because it was made manually but still. The only reason it’s actually pretty cool for us is because of our imaginations. Maybe we can also stroke the imaginations of the masses, make them believe that this is like maharlikan jewelry or something. That is probably the only reason why I think it could be trendy if it even can because I don’t think it was trendy back then, nobody bought them. Maybe they can buy it because of the small price tag? Even through that I can’t see it justified.

Basket of Smolness

          On the third and my last day in the Pistang Tomasino, since cash was running low and I was surprised about the amount of enjoyment I got from the cheap ring, I thought to myself “how low can they go?”, so the thought came to me that maybe I should go try and find the cheapest thing the event has to offer? lo and behold, I found this knick knack, this cute little basket. I think I bought this thing for like 5 bucks and well, its cute and its cheap? To be honest I don’t really know why I settled for this, I cant really find a use other than pure novelty.

           How is this trendy? It has charm I mean say what you will about the absurdity of this tiny basket but I must say that this is quite well built seeing as it was made by hand and its cute so I could definitely see some people who are into collecting tiny figurines to be into this as well.

           So that was my experience in the Pistang Tomasino, it was quite an interesting one and actually I regret not going through more things because I think there were a lot of things that deserved more attention but I failed to do so because of the hectic schedule that week. My aim was to interview the people who sold me the items as well but I never got the chance to do so due to conflicts in schedule and whenever I am there, the vendors are usually busy selling or not there at all. Nevertheless It was truly an experience that I found pleasant and I hope more people can appreciate the products that were made in this event I believe most of them were made with passion and I give kudos to them for the dedication. Support local and that was just my bowl of thoughts.