Xn3cTs

Cultural symbols have some kind of consistency. And rightly or wrongly (I mean, one could always present arguments that would show the inappropriateness of a symbol or sets of symbols), the associations have been formed and set through the millenia. One cannot simply do away with a symbol that has been passed and accepted by cultures/traditions, etc. One can, however, question and undermine the seeming “naturalness” that these symbols have come to acquire (like what Nietzsche, Derrida, among others, have done).

The association of “black” with “male” and “white” with “female” (at least, symbolically) is not consistent with, and I’d even say, goes against the grain of, tradition of symbolical associations with gender archetypes. Check it out for yourself. Research on this topic.

Even the very moral association of “black” with “evil” and “white” with “good” is consistent with the disparaging of the “feminine principle” that Brown himself presents in his novel.

Which leads me back to Nietzsche… the earth/matter, feminine, black, deceptive, as opposed to the spirit, male, white, beholden to the truth… and which does he champion?

Neither.

Rather, he asks, probably with a grin on his face, “What if truth were a woman?” (which can be read as “what if the truth were lying/deceptive?”)

So, again, rather than simply overturning the tables or reassigning the good values with the opposing pole (i.e., saying that “male” is “evil” and “female” is “good”), one gains an insight into the interconnection/interweaving/inter-reliance, complexity, and perhaps, even complicity of the bipolar signs/symbols into our understanding of this world.

The world is to a large extent, amoral, and because of this, both cruel and innocent. It is us humans/cultures who assign values, depending on our perceived needs/wants in given situations. It is when these values harden/ossify that they become dangerous to life/living.

best regards,
ian

I loved the Matrix and Moulin Rouge, despite their being hyped. On the other hand, I did watch Lord of the Rings 1 & 2, but stayed away from 3. Tried reading book 1, but just managed a few paragraphs, and then stopped… (Well, perhaps someday…)

Did “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” have that much hype? I love that novel, have read it twice, and think of it as the kind/type of novel I’d love to write if I ever get the chance of writing one. (Haven’t seen the film adaptation with Daniel Day-Lewis…)

As for “The Da Vinci Code,” if you find a copy lying around, it’s worth reading din naman. For one thing, I do subscribe to the recuperation/rehabilitation of the “sacred feminine.”

One other reason why I stayed away from Dan Brown’s novel is that I’ve read Umberto Eco’s “Foucault’s Pendulum” and from what I had heard about “The Da Vinci Code,” it seemed to me to be a “Foucault’s Pendulum”-wanna-be.

I’m currently re-reading Eco’s novel. (I read it years ago, mistakenly thinking that it’d help me write a paper on Michel Foucault. Wala palang connect. Ibang Foucault ‘to… Or, meron din, if one looks at the obsession for power and techniques of power…)

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Read “The Da Vinci Code” in 2005, after deliberately ignoring it for quite some time because of the hype. And then saw the movie later.

Well, the wealth of information (esp. regarding symbols) is generally sound. But it doesn’t hold a candle to the erudition of Umberto Eco’s “Foucalt’s Pendulum.” (I have yet to understand the elaborate explanation of how Foucault’s Pendulum works…)

One thing I liked in the novel is the rather sympathetic portrayal of the head of the Opus Dei, Bishop Aringarosa.  (Not so in the movie.)  I’ve heard a lot of negative publicity regarding the Opus Dei and their founder Jose Ma. Escriva. (From the late Larry Henares, in his TV show and Philippine Daily Inquirer column, as well as from a Filipino priest who studied in a university run by the Opus Dei…) Bishop Aringarosa may be ultra-conservative in his theology but in the end, when the time came for his faith to be tested, his heart proved to be ultimately in the right place.

Also, it had a more hopeful, happy ending than “Foucault’s Pendulum,” which was darker and more poignant. Eco’s novel bewails the lack of understanding that so-called believers/enlightened ones have. Parang si Elsa sa Himala: “Walang himala! Ang himala ay nasa puso ng tao!”

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Dulaang UP’s Production of Frank Wedekind’s “Lulu”

LULU is a story of a person who has no qualms about the body and its sexual needs. Lulu, who is the alluring woman in the English version and the captivating transsexual in Filipino, is a being able to explore and express her desires without compromise or guilt. Adored and lusted after by men, women and creatures of the world, she takes them to a dance of bodily freedom, of the mind’s liberation and of utter ecstasy. But like any other person, Lulu searches for the other that could accept and understand her seemingly deviant nature.

In her hunt, Lulu meets a myriad of “civilized beasts”: painters, writers, the educated and the ignorant, the rich and poor men, the young and the dying who are upright and honorable by day but transform to hungry animals in the dark. Lulu embraces each person only to find him or her weak and forever trapped by man’s idea of propriety.

English Cast:
Che Ramos as LULU
Angeli Bayani as GESCHWITZ
Jules de la Paz as GOLL / HUGENBERG / HUNIDEI
Missy Maramara as JACK / RINGMASTER
Paolo O’Hara as DR. SCHON / CASTI-PIANI
Meynard Penalosa as SCHIGOLCH
Gabs Santos as ALVA SCHON
Randy Villarama as SCHWARZ / RODRIGO

Filipino Cast:
Tuxqs Rutaquio as LULU.
Acey Aguilar as SCHWARZ / RODRIGO
Alexander Cortez as SCHIGOLCH
Jules de la Paz as GOLL / HUGENBERG / HUNIDEI
Ian Lomongo as DR. SCHON / CASTI-PIANI
Jojit Lorenzo as JACK / RINGMASTER
Andoy Ranay as GESCHWITZ
JC Santos as ALVA

Direction and Choreography: Dexter M. Santos
Filipino Translation: Joel Saracho
Production Design: Tuxqs Rutaquio
Lights Design: John Batalla
Dramaturgy and Additional Text: Patrick Valera
Sounds Design: J Victor Villareal
Photography and Poster Design: Jojit Lorenzo
Poster Art Direction: Carlo Vergara

LULU will open on Aug 5 and will run till Aug 23 at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, UP Diliman.

English:
5 August 7pm - Opening
6 August 7pm
7 August 7pm - Gala
8 August 10am, 3pm
9 August 10am, 3pm
19 August 7pm
22 August 10am, 3pm

Filipino:
12 August 7pm - Opening
13 August 7pm
14 August 7pm - Gala
15 August 10am, 3pm
16 August 10am, 3pm
20 August 7pm
21 August 7pm
23 August 10am, 3pm

THIS PRODUCTION CONTAINS SCENES AND MATERIAL STRICTLY FOR MATURE AUDIENCES.

Some people say that Christianity has been misunderstood. It looks to me more like it is Christianity which has misunderstood! The world, perhaps even Christ!

I’m not associating Christ with Christianity. When Nietzsche wrote “Der Anti-Christ” (usually translated as “The Anti-Christ”), his polemics was directed more to Paul and Christendom/Christianity, (a note in the translation says that it is probably more fitting to translate it as “The Anti-Christian.”) The same with Kierkegaard, his beef was with Christendom (the bureaucracy of Christianity). Christianity, as we know it today, is according to biblical scholarship, largely the work of Paul the Apostle.

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Felix (d) Culpa (Cat)!

O Felix culpa! (”O Happy Fault!”) - St. Augustine

1. I love filipino komiks! I used to read Wakasan, Aliwan, Tagalog Klasiks, Superstar, Pilipino, and others whose names I forget at the moment. Of course, there was also Liwayway… =)
2. Myth is greater than fact. Fact is just, well, a fact. Boring.
3. That women are considered evil by men is just the fear/fascination they have for mystery/strangeness/otherness. What is strange/other is conveniently reduced to “evil.” But these are the “little men,” the “last men.”
4. As for me, I love women. Ergo, I love evil! Mwahahaha! Nietzsche: “What if truth were a woman?” Then the metaphysicians of old would grow weak and discouraged, their monolithic dick-truth going flabby and limping, sad… But not only is truth a woman (read: truth is a lie), life itself is woman!

felicitous and culpable,
ian

“Can men and women be friends?”

What made the film “When Harry Met Sally” memorable for me — aside from the “orgasm” of Sally (Meg Ryan) at the diner — was this intriguing question, provoked by Harry’s premise/presupposition that men and women cannot be simply friends because sex almost always enters the equation.

(In another movie, I think “All of Me,” Steve Martin gets confronted by his wife — “I faked all my orgasms!” — who proceeded to demonstrate this by having “one” right in front of him in his very office. Steve Martin, humiliated, replies, “Well, so did I!”)

Of course, as Harry (Billy Crystal) grows and matures in the course of the years, he revises and modifies his theory but basically retains the core of his presupposition.

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“The King of Masks” (by Wu Tianming), a heart-warming (if a bit melodramatic and, according to a friend, emotionally manipulative) Chinese film with English subtitles.

Loved it. And am recommending that you take the time to watch it.

Reasons to watch it:

) It features a monkey.
2) It has nudity. (Extreme close-up!) Hahaha!
3) It has the “Living Bodhisattva” in it.
4) It underscores the “non-essentiality”/accidentality of some of our societal masks (like gender, for instance) in what truly matters.
5) It’s about having passion and developing compassion.
6) It’s about the interweaving of life, art, and love.

Don’t miss it, especially if you’re an actor/performer.

Best regards,

thesp-ian

A Thousand Bitter-Sweet Poems for Women
By Michael Ian Lomongo, March 21, 2001

Last March 10, I watched PETA’s “Komedi Club,” a festival of 10 to 15-minute plays written by members of the PETA Writers’ Bloc. In celebration of the International Women’s Day, the plays featured during that weekend (March 8-10) were written by women playwrights (except for Nick Pichay’s “Kahit na Magtiis”). The line-up included “Flight,” an interpretative dance choreographed and performed by Martina Gonzales-Quesada, Regina Lasam, and Verni Severo, incorporated with a poem by Inge Saltarin; an adaptation of Liza Magtoto’s Palanca-winning “Despedida de Soltera“; Sheila Crisostomo’s “Emergency” (the grand prize winner of the second Charley dela Paz Awards of the PETA-PDP Writers’ Bloc); Nick Pichay’s “Kahit na Magtiis”; and Lallie Bucoy’s “Isang Libong Tula para sa Dibdib ni Dulce.”

I liked the last two plays best.

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