new 7 on 07.07.07

"Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary."
--Mark Twain

of the seven wonders of the ancient world, only the pyramids of giza, egypt remain standing to this day. all the rest had been lost to fire or earthquake.

this year, on july 7, 2007, a new list of seven wonders of the world will be revealed in lisbon, portugal. currently, 21 man-made treasures have the potential to be included in the big 7 list.

the selection of the new 7 wonders of the world is in its final phase and the "biggest global vote ever to have taken place" is on!

out of the 21 structures officially listed, here are what i believe should be part of the big list...


the pyramids of giza (2600-2500 B.C.).
"testimony to perfection in art and design, never subsequently achieved. the pyramids are the purest of constructions, built for eternity. they reflect the greatest human dream of all - immortality & eternity!"


as the "oldest and only ancient wonder still standing", the pyramids of giza, egypt deserve their own place in the new list. thoughts of all the efforts put into their construction alone awe me. if i put side to side the design, environmental conditions, and level of technological advancement during the time they were built and how they actually turned out (they still stand to this day!!!), the first word that comes to my mind is this: mindblowing.

i hope i get to see them with my own two eyes someday soon.


angkor wat (12th century)
"the most important monument of the south-east asian khmer empire and the world’s largest sacred temple. it is noted for its intricate ornamentation and striking beauty"


i've never been there (or maybe i should say: actually, i've never been anywhere outside of my own country) but i've long admired the angkor wat of cambodia in the pictures. i find its over-all appearance very unique and visually arresting. it's the one structure in south-east asia which i'm very interested to see.

i would happily have my picture taken with it as a background.


easter island statues (10th-16th century)
"collection of enormous stone sculptures which have long fascinated the world and endowed the island with a mythical atmosphere"


if i had not read about these statues last year and relied only on the information provided by the new7wonders site, i wouldn't be compelled to include the easter island statues in my list. BUT these huge stone sculptures known as moai got my attention last year when my lab buddy introduced me to them and why they're interesting.

25-meter high moai are found standing around the perimeter of chile's easter island. there are so many of them and they are all monolithic, that is, every stone structure was carved out of a single piece of huge stone. why they were made is a puzzle to archeologists and historians. their positions on the island are quite intriguing. even more intriguing is how the moai were transported from the quarry where they were formed to their respective positions. according to write-ups, depending on the size of the finished moai, about 50-100 people (whoa!!!) are needed to transport a single moai.

the easter island statues are quite an accomplishment of the early inhabitants of the island. the answers to why they took the pains of making enormous stone sculptures and even transported them to long distances, the world might never really know. their monumental structures stand to this day and speak of their dedication.

if ever i'd find myself in easter island, i'd stand next to a moai. for sure, i would be too small.


the great wall of china (220 B.C and 1368 - 1644 A.D.)
"the largest man-made monument ever to have been built"


i can only think of the back-breaking work and the very long time it took to build this structure...

...and the fact that it still stands.


machu picchu (15th century)
"extraordinary settlement halfway up the andes plateau, deep in the amazon jungle, and above urubamba river. this incan city remained 'lost' for over three centuries until it was rediscovered in 1911"


in the old civilization, there were incas, mayans, and aztecs. the machu picchu of peru is the lost city of the incas and it showcases the classic inca architectural style. walls were made from blocks of stone cut so perfectly and made to fit tightly without mortar (talk about precision and genius!!!). it is an entire city situated high up in the mountains and a picture of admirable architectural feat.

i want to see this UNESCO world heritage site.


stonehenge (3000 B.C. - 1600 B.C.)
"a truly amazing feat of engineering. it is not clear who built it and for what purpose"


for me, the stonehenge in amesbury, united kingdom is as interesting as the moai of easter island, chile. in order to make this monument, builders dealt with stones weighing approximately 50 tons each. exactly how and why? i don't know, too. i was born just yesterday.

whether it's a temple, an astronomical observatory or a sacred burial site or all three, the configuration of the structure is interesting. it's not a product of child's play.


the acropolis of athens (450 - 330 B.C.)
"built atop the "sacred rock" of athens, the temples of the acropolis have become some of the most famous architectural landmarks of ancient and modern history"


the acropolis of athens, greece is an existing testimony to the glory that was greece.


taj mahal (1630 A.D.)
"regarded as the most perfect jewel of muslim art in india"


it's so grand. it looks very beautiful and very polished. it's so hard to believe that it's actually a mausoleum. the dead wife for whom this was built's so lucky.


i hope more than half of my bets will make it to the new 7 list on 07.07.07. if you really counted, you'd notice that i chose 8. ;-)

how about you, care to share your own chosen 7 out of the given 21?


note: the philippines' banaue rice terraces didn't make it to the list of top 77. it's one of the UNESCO world heritage sites though -- to be more specific, it is an endangered world heritage site.

i think i got it bad... again

"Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, prepare to die."

play. pause. resume. increase volume. play backward 2x. play backward 4x. resume normal play. pause. water. tv food. play. increase volume. vicarious adrenaline rush.


all those episodes of prison break have successfully meddled with the normal processes of my brain. even when i go to sleep, i dream about the escape plan and the strategies involved. it's as if i'm one of them and someone's so badly after my beautiful throat.

i'm definitely addicted... and when i stop, it'll take a long time for this addiction to wear off.

knowing i have the tendency to be obsessive, i shouldn't have allowed my interests to be awakened in the first place. kriminetch.

project 365: the fifth five

"If I promise to miss you, will you go away?"

day 21. eternal embrace. in weddings, couples vow to stay together 'til death make them part. this picture shows going the extra mile...


...even in death, two human beings from 6,000 years ago managed to stay together! their skeletal remains were found in mantua early this year.

day 22. fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth or arachibutyrophobia. you can call me ignorant but i only learned about this kind of fear today. what's more, i was surprised to find out that it has a name.

day 23. i'm not as immature as i think myself to be.

day 24. low-latent inhibition. my attention was drawn to this personality trait while watching season 1 of prison break. apparently, michael scofield has it.

a person who has low-latent inhbition (LLI) has lowered ability to filter out excess information. this causes a constant stream of incoming stimuli to the brain which may or may not prove to be good for the person who has it. in scofield's case, having the trait does him good because it makes him a genius.

a person with normal latent inhibition would look at a coin and recognize it as such and would only think of the most relevant information about it. a person with LLI would go further by noticing the details of the coin and by processing so much more other information like the minting, the material, the possible modifications, similar images, history, and so on. the barrage of information might drive a person crazy if he is not able to cope. it is hypothesized that people who possess a combo of above average intelligence and LLI have the tendency to effectively process and keep up with the constant stream of information and might as well be creative geniuses.

day 25. star wars origami sites. yes, you read that right. now, i might be able to make my own R2D2 just by folding paper.


project 365: the fifth five covers the period 03.05.07-03.09.07. updates on this project are posted here.

she shell

on march 21, 2005, i wrote:

this is the picture of our tandem: she’s the angel without wings. i’m the demon without the pitchfork. she represents silence. i represent noise. if she’s good, then i’m evil. if she were a jedi, i’d be a sith. people who know us can attest that we’re opposites. fortunately, we don’t really clash.

we're so different. the only things we have in common are high honors and eyebags. but those are not the reasons why we're best friends.

we're best friends because we just are!


02.18.07. with my best friend in all the world, in all the universe.

this, despite the fact that we very seldom see each other.

sure, most of the time, i'm somewhere with other people but it really doesn't matter where i am and who i'm with. wherever i find myself, whoever i'm with, whenever i'm asked who my best friend is, i only have one answer. she is.

because she truly is!

if there's one person i know whose personality radiates with genuine kindness and whose existence inspires people to believe in the possibility of world peace, that's her.

because she's such a positive influence in my life... my greatest achievement, so far, is being her best friend.

i know i've said that before but, hey, that's something worth saying again and again.


p.s. she's celebrating her birthday this week. there are many ways of greeting a person happy birthday and this is one of those. join me in saying, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHELL!

project 365: the fourth five

"There's no man on earth who doesn't dream about getting away with a girl he loves."
-- from the K-movie, Windstruck

day 16. unfinished business. a needlework i started in 2003 is still far from being done. a quick timeline check says it's now 2007.


my poor bubbles. i swear you'll be whole soon.

day 17. it's confirmed. i am my cousin b-boy's favorite reading partner. well, we don't actually read. all we do is flip through pages of kiddie books and he asks his questions about the illustrations. he is only 1 year and 9 months old but he's so charming and good at saying "ate inday, unsa ni?," "ngano man?," and, whenever he wants to move on to another activity, "ihipos na nato ni, tapos na basa si b-boy."


day 18. cebu pacific's one-peso airfare promo is back this year! they're selling the one-peso tickets from the march 2 to march 8 only. the flight period covered is from june 1 to december 15, 2007. got a destination?

day 19. watching the binibinang pilipinas tv coverage made me realize that the hotel philippine plaza now carries the name sofitel philippine plaza. just last october i found out that the westin philippine plaza dropped westin from its name and put in its place the word hotel. little did i know then that it was to undergo another renaming... or re-branding. from westin to hotel to sofitel. by any other name, it's that posh hotel you see in the manila bay area.

day 20. attitude makes a woman or a man perfect. my father said that to no one in particular today.


p.s. project 365: the fourth five covers the period 02.28.07-03.04.07. future updates on this project will be posted here.

reel moments

"Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures."
--Jessamyn West

consider yourself warned. there are potential spoilers ahead. well, the warning's applicable only if you haven't watched the movies or seen the scenes i'm talking about in this post.

if you don't want to risk encountering any spoiler, stop reading here and just come back another day.


"big brother" moment
movie: ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros
the jeepney scene with maxi crying his heart out to kuya bogs



move over, big brother of reality tv. the "big brother" award goes to kuya bogs!

kuya bogs was portrayed oh-so-well by ping medina. when kuya bogs saw maxi sad and crying, he led her into an empty public jeepney and, there, allowed the tears of her young broken heart to fall down. maxi's heartbreak was made more convincing because of that scene. kuya bogs was there to cushion the pain.

i could still remember the words he said so kindly... "tama na iyak..." i bet i'm not the only one who likes that scene a lot. maxi's envied for having a caring brother like kuya bogs.


"just chill, ok" moment
movie: reality bites
that moment of tension between leilani's BFs: michael the boyfriend and troy the jealous best friend

michael: have i stepped over some line in the sands of coolness with you? because excuse me if somebody doesn't know the secret handshake with you...

troy: there's no secret handshake. there's an IQ prerequisite, but there's no secret handshake.

ahahah. i looooove troy's reply. it's something still civil but acerbic enough. uppity actually.


"this is love" moment
movie: march of the penguins (documentary)

this. i've said this before, i'm gonna say it again: the penguin love scene is the best love scene i’ve ever seen!


"mother and son" moment
movie: the passion of the christ
the "i'm here" scene

remember that scene where the mother rushed to her son when she saw him fall on the ground one playtime? that left quite an impression on me. the scene illustrated very well the mother's love for her kid. it was on the expression on her face. it was on the way she said, "i'm here." it was on the simplicity of the scene.

i believe every mother's love is like that. it doesn't require grand gestures to be felt.


another "mother and son" moment
movie: crying ladies
the scene with stella and her son preparing for sleep

have you seen this movie? stella was portrayed by sharon cuneta. though morally weak, stella's a loving mother to her son. during their quality hours together, she and her son played and clowned around a lot. they also prayed together.

the mother and son scene in this movie that stood out for me was this hilarious sequence where stella was saying their prayer and, suddenly, the room started shaking. her neighbors who lived just a floor above her were doing it wildly and noisily. in her attempt to protect her son's peace and innocence, stella matched the shaking and the noises by saying her prayer louder and louder while hugging her son. she prayed frantically and incoherently, she invoked the lyrics of her favorite videoke song.

laugh trip.


"she broke his heart" moment
movie: casablanca
the bleeding letter scene



first, he got stood up. second, he received her goodbye. then, the rain fell. the words of his lady-love got smeared. very heartbreaking!

rick blaine waited for ilsa at the train station. she didn't come. his friend, sam, came and handed him a letter. it said what it said. i love you, goodbye. you know, that kind of thing.

the sadness of the moment got doubled because the rain fell and the raindrops caused the farewell note to bleed.


"mean girl" moment
movie: mean girls
sugar and spice, think twice when she's being nice

regina george, the high school queen bee, saw lea edwards wearing a skirt. she blurted out, "oh my god, i love your skirt! where did you get it?"

thrilled that regina liked her skirt, lea answered, "it was my mom's, in the '80s."

regina said, "ah, vintage! so adorable."

lea was doubly thrilled so she thanked regina. when lea was already out of earshot, regina, in her mean girl tone, announced to her friends, "that is the ugliest effing skirt i've ever seen."

haha. mean girl, indeed.


moment of truth
movie: pirates of the caribbean: the curse of the black pearl
captain jack sparrow living up to his character

captain jack sparrow: me? i'm dishonest and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. honestly, it's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.

captain jack sparrow and his run-on sentences and confusing sensible statements. savvy?

project 365: the third five

"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement.
But the opposite of a profound truth may well
be another profound truth."
--Niels Bohr

day 11. barangay ginebra rules! the philippine cup of PBA was won by my team. ginebra beat san miguel after a 4-2 run during the best of 7 championship series. my allegiance to the team is influenced by my father and brother... and my youngest sister.

day 12. 'gaydar' is a recognized word in the dictionary (webster's). it was inducted to the roster of words ahead of 'blog' and 'bling'.

day 13. hip hop moves. 'nuff said.

day 14. robbie williams and alanis morissette sang and danced in the movie, de-lovely (2004), a biographical musical. alanis performed 'let's do it, let's fall in love' while robbie sang 'it's de-lovely.' other musical performers for the movie were elvis costello, sheryl crow, diana krall, and natalie cole. de-lovely starred kevin kline as the composer, cole porter, and ashley judd as linda porter. jonathan pryce and peter polycarpou who both performed in miss saigon also had roles in the movie!

day 15. not a hoax. amazing moment caught on cam!


the picture is authentic. the tiny hand in the picture is that of then unborn child, samuel armas, who at mere 21 weeks gestational age was operated on inside his mother's womb due to spina bifida. his hand flopped out of the womb just as dr. bruner, the doctor, was closing the incision. the doctor lifted the tiny hand gently and tucked it back in. what a moment! the operation happened on august 19, 1999. samuel was born healthy on december 2, 1999.


p.s. project 365: the third five covers the period 02.23.07-02.27.07. future updates on this project will be posted here.