Spanish colonialism

During the Spanish colonial period, the country had encountered transformations in its daily customs. The arrival of the Spaniards in 1565 brought Spanish culture and language. The Spanish conquerors established a strict class system that was based on race and soon imposed Roman Catholicism on the native population.

The priests and friars preached in local languages and employed indigenous peoples as translators, creating a bilingual class known as ladinos. The natives, called "indios", generally were not taught Spanish, but the bilingual individuals, produced devotional poetry written in the Roman script in the Tagalog language. Pasyon is the narrative of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which has circulated in many versions. Komedyas were performed in the regional languages for illiterate majority. They were also written in the Roman alphabet in the principal languages and widely circulated. Literature in this period may be classified as religious prose and poetry and secular prose and poetry.

Spain also brought to the country, though at a much later time, liberal ideas and internationalism that influenced our own Filipino intellectuals and and writers for them to understand the meanings of "liberty and freedom". It affected not only the country's whole system but as well tainted the purity of their folklore traditions. And because of the western's strong influence and forceful implication of their civilization, the locals' forms of expression on national issues and self-consciousness were replaced through political essays, novels, poems and religious prose -- a form of learning, however, that led to ultimate awakening of Filipinos regarding the unreasonable colonial rule in the country. Famous examples of these Spanish-adapted writings are the novels of Jose Rizal, El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere.

Nowadays, Filipino writers have continued to patronize the intellectual influence started by Rizal but to further aim at reviving the richness of the country's very own folk traditions and introducing it to new generations as a significant form of art.

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Gaara's determination

Naruto mode! It was from this scene that my eyes welled up with tears. :-P

Kankorou: Gaara, give it up. I don’t want to say this… the village only thinks of you as a menacing weapon. You’ll have a really hard time if you leave us and join a regular squad. The higher-ups don’t think much of you. And most of the villagers are still terrified of you.

Gaara: I know. I know, but just sitting around waiting will cause more fear and suffering. In order to escape a path of loneliness, I have no choice but to work hard and make my own path. If I do that, then someday… someday… I can be like him. That’s why, as a shinobi of the Sand, I’ll aim to be the Kazekage. So I can live a life connected to my village.

Kankorou: Gaara…

Gaara: I want to work hard so that others will accept my existence. That’s what I thought when I looked at Uzumaki Naruto. Up until now, my bonds with others have only been ones of hatred and murder. But, seeing him fight so hard made me wonder what a bond really is. I think I understand a little now. Suffering, sadness… and joy. To be able to share it with another person… Uzumaki Naruto… when I fought him, I feel that is what he taught me. He experienced the same type of suffering as I. And he taught me that you can change how you live your life. Someday, I want my existence to be necessary to others. Not as a weapon to be feared, but as the Hidden Village of Sand’s Kazekage.

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Erin Brockovich

In a world where heroes are often in short supply, the story of Erin Brockovich is an inspirational reminder of the power of the human spirit. Her passion, tenacity and steadfast desire to fight for the rights of the underdog defied the odds…her victory made even sweeter by the fact that while helping others, she in turn helped herself. 

Erin Brockovich is a stirring, funny and unconventional drama based on true events, starring two-time Academy Award* nominee Julia Roberts as the twice-divorced mother of three young children who sees an injustice, takes on the bad guy and wins. 

With no money, no job and no prospects on the horizon, Erin Brockovich (Roberts) is a woman in a tight spot. Following a car accident in which Erin is not at fault, she finds herself even worse off when her attorney fails to land her any kind of settlement. With nowhere else to turn, Erin pleads with her attorney Ed Masry (Albert Finney) to hire her at his law firm. It is there, while working, that Erin stumbles upon some medical records placed in real estate files. Confused, she begins to question the connection. She convinces Ed to allow her to investigate, where she discovers a cover-up involving contaminated water in a local community which is causing devastating illnesses among its residents. 

Although the local citizens are initially leery of becoming involved, Erin's persistence and the personal interest she takes in their lives makes them listen. A kindred spirit, Erin is one of them, and her ability to connect with them on their level makes them comfortable, ultimately earning their trust. Helping her out is her next door neighbor George (Aaron Eckhart), a Harley Davidson biker whose friendship and support allows her the time to pursue the case. Going door to door, she signs up over 600 plaintiffs, and Erin and Ed, with the help of a major law firm, go on to receive the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit in U.S. history....$333 million. By triumphing over insurmountable odds, she is able to prove herself, and reinvent her life. 

Erin discovers that Pacific Gas and Electric is buying up the townspeople's property in a way that seems designed to steer them away from asking questions about the possible connections between company-contaminated groundwater and local health problems. So Erin becomes the people's champion and, after convincing Ed to join the crusade, heads for a legal battle with a $30 billion corporation.

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Crack the XP genuine validation check

Don't have an activation key and can't get your Windows XP to update?

This will solve your problem!

These are instructions on how to crack the latest version of Windows XP with Service Pack 2 that uses the registration key: JD3T2-QH36R-X7W2W-7R3XT-DVRPQ.

This will allow you to bypass the Microsoft Genuine Validation thingy.

This method works better than many others I've tried before. Forget the cracks and injectors, etc. Those are constantly picked up by your anti-virus programs as viruses.

This is the best way:

1. start > run > "regedit" (without the quotes of course)
2. go to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents\OOBETimer and then double click on it. Then change some of the value date to anything else. Delete some, add some letters, I don't care. Just change it! Now close regedit.
3. go to start > run > "%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a" (again don't type the quotes)
4. the activation screen will come up, click on register over telephone, then click on CHANGE PRODUCT KEY, enter in this key: JG28K-H9Q7X-BH6W4-3PDCQ-6XBFJ.

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Viva la vida - Coldplay

They did it again! The lyrics to this song are artfully composed and take a wonderful detour into imagery and metaphors.

In my limited opinion and interpretation, the song is about an individual who lived the fast lane on a set of values -- of which substance was lacking. At one point in time, these goals and mores suited his lifestyle, but he now finds that world he once 'ruled' empty and void of anything that truly fulfills him.

His request for a 'mirror, sword and shield' seem to be a cry for help -- to keep him always aware of who he is (mirror), but to be his strength and solace (sword and shield, respectively). He is, arguably, referring to his soul, conscience, his sense of self, or all three.

"People could not believe what I'd become" suggests that he started out at the top of his game, but then eventually took it too far. He's a fallen god so to speak (which seemingly ties in the historical references in the refrain.)

It is truly a beautiful song and follows Coldplay's trend in writing songs that find a common thread of pain, love, joy, disappointments, etc. and then to create a sanctuary by letting us all know that we have all experienced that in our lives.

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My world, my rules

I love being the best.

I say this with little intention of humility.

If you have ever been the best of anything, you would probably know how stress and strain are inevitable in fulfilling your obsession. You would know how forces (with the exception of gravity) could pull you towards the deepest recesses of failure. (It's a shame when people do that.) You would know the festering corpses of success-seekers that are ready to haunt your existence and chomp on your hopes. You would know by now to trust no one.

And eventually, after experiencing all this, you achieve your own goals. May they be unexpected at first, but they come to you naturally. Then, you become the best of the best. You become the king. Therefore, I have often wondered why people tend to be humble about their achievements. I have little about the value of humility, of course, but I do have more against those who persist to hide their glory. If you are naturally humble - stop reading!

Think about it this way, it is your day. It is your moment. Bask in the glory of your hard-earned success. Stand on the peak of that mountain you have climbed for so long and shout with all your might to the little people below: "I DEFINITELY RULE!"

And if the rules of life ever slightly attempted to inject anything through my skull ever since childhood, it didn't work. Clouds of pride must have fogged up my brain systems or something. So out of necessity, I have my own  set of rules, demented as they may be, for the happy-go-lucky loyal rightists. But for those who don't need a reboot of their life, consider this a preview of my arena. It is a walkthrough  of my awards and accomplishments, as well as my trials and tribulations. Ladies and gentlemen, it is I. And in my continuous attempt to convert the whole world to follow my sick religion (hehe) in order to lure everyone into my twisted plot for universal domination (hehe), I now share them.

(Disclaimer: No one said you should follow them AND I am not trying to pollute anyone.)

1. Humility is not a necessity. If you are humble, amen. But if you're great, and you know you are, let the whole world know about it if you can.
2. If you need someone to look up to, idolize God. That way, you will always have a goal in life, knowing no one can ever be better than God. You can only serve Him.
3. The matrix' Neo is right: destiny is non-existent. You fell because you chose to. You can stand up whenever you want.
4. You alone can never have everything you want in this world. Pick a trustworthy friend you may want to share EVERYTHING with.
5. Don't dissect bedtime fairytale stories trying to look for morals. If they don't look for you, then that means you don't deserve them.
6. When in doubt, never flip a coin. Instead, play a quick game of chess against yourself.
7. When in trouble, don't build a specialized armor to separate you form your problem. Accept all blows first. Remember that wounds heal.
8. Never pour all your hard-earned time in preparing. Spontaneity is a vital gift only a few people possess, much less manage to hone.
9. Time is imaginary. It was invented by worry-warts. Honestly, I never saw anyone get something good out of time.

All these so-called "rules" are potentially detrimental to my reputation, I know. And in doing so, I may have just  corrupted whatever sanity exists in our society. But sharing my "rules" with you is still in good faith to the numero uno rule in my list. The SILVER RULE as I have dubbed it (silver because all other important rules are considered golden and the term has become monotonous.)

So...

   10. DO WHATEVER IT IS YOU WANT.  It works all the time.

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