The Boy Who Stutters

“TVBS?” “What?” “Top, versa, bottom, side?” “Tripper.” “What?” “You’re not gay?” “No.” “Pic?” “Trade.” “After you please.”  Send pictures. Filtered or bare. Just send any. Ask the location. Meet up. Hook Up. Have sex as easy as that. These are the times where convenience is highly sought and technology grants that; media of communication are accessible as ever, so is the sex. A need that necessitates the body and mind to take and give nudity and nothingness for the lack of narcotic. But sex is a drug, isn’t it? Everyone is willing to pay with the right amount of money, dignity, and privacy. Alter folks take it just anywhere – in a public CR, bus, and park. Intimacy is rushed because the risk is to be caught.

To me,  You're confused, I know. You don't know what's ahead of you even people almost always hint it for you. You don’t think you’re the best and let me tell you that that’s right! You are never the best. Maybe in your batch but in reality, outside, you’re definitely not. This is not to say you’re not good. You are good, but please do better. you’d need it, believe me. You got to do more as early as you read this. But I know you believe that ‘it’s your life, your choice, your decision, your loss, and your gain.’ You are right. Your life will absolutely become what you make it. Let me take this opportunity to advise you these things: -          You soon will love someone you never thought you would, but you will anyway. Don’t fuck that up. -          You soon will leave your friends and family, but that’s okay because it would be worth it! -         ...

When the Filipino masses were mobilizing towards Malacañang, the Marcoses had to evade. Having jewelry at her reach and diapers of her grandchild in a bag, Imelda swiftly slipped some diamonds into the diapers before finally fleeing through the helicopter. That saved them from the coming persecution. Or at least, that’s what she paid for the lawyers. [READ THE UPDATED VERSION HERE:  Kingmaker (2019) Film Review: Diamonds in Diapers – SineSalita (wordpress.com)  ] The Kingmaker , a 2019 documentary film by the American Filmmaker Lauren Greenfield, presents a fair and safe exposition of the extravagant, the insane, and the Imeldific history of the Marcoses. Aside from new video footage from the Martial Law era, exclusive access to Imelda’s splendor, and compelling testimonials from political figures, the film did not offer anything else but a renewal of rage . What Kingmaker achieves is the reminder to Filipinos about the atrocities, the excesses, and the extreme narrat...

A whole new world - where extremities are found as the spectrum prevails. The Alter world has a different atmosphere, but not so different from the society that objectifies the human body and indulges in superficiality. Love and Lust try to co-exist - hence not in that order or sort but in serendipity and desire. A curious teen, confused ones, a lost student, a young professional, pressured peer, a working lad, contractual urban poor, a government employee, passive ones, a married man, separated husband, a medical student, and a nurse. A call center agent, a father to one, two, and three, a massage therapist and a tripper. A teacher, an artist, a writer, a book designer, and actor. A double degree holder and single ones. A musician and a director. From slender wood to solid trunk, the age of the tree does not dictate no one. For the height of the stem complements its branch. Grow. Grow freely and surprise the eyes. The Alter world is the opposite of the exposed. Faces are blu...

“Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.”  In chapter one: The Promise, C. Wright Mills has situated the ‘troubles’ and ‘issues’ that burden man and his world. As he identifies the problem, Mills is able to set an impetus for a better world – even it is yet to be realized. A better world has always been the goal, or is it? History proves that humanity tried and failed; history then teaches the posterity to try again. One has to understand the significance of learning from history and applying certain changes personally for the dream to materialize. It takes a personal evaluation for a collective salvation. Man cannot be isolated from society as a society cannot isolate man from it. And grasping this idea, recognizing the relations between time and people, and being aware of the mechanisms of societal structures and individual dispositions are what drive the sociological imagination. As a premise, the already-...

“Don’t fix the broken, you’ll end up the same way.” “I’m not fixing you. I actually like you, the way you are.” Guess what! I have been on both spectra. At times, I wasn’t sure whether I said that or I was the one who replied. Being single this year has placed me in passiveness, but that doesn’t mean I never became active. I tried. I surely tried. I partly regret some people for I neglected them, or they neglected me that’s why I regret them now. It’s shameful to admit that either is almost always the case. This is the third year-ender entry since the inception of this blog and it is getting more personal.  Just a disclaimer.  My head aches. Last year I wrote about heartaches and asked ‘who has a heart that doesn’t ache?’ I guess our heads are no better bearer. What’s worse - being emotionally bruised or physically scarred? I realized pain is still compared even the agony is shared. My head aches and my eyes have no tears to shed. Don’t make me count t...

You might have been wondering if why I didn’t have any letter this week. I didn’t forget it at all. I planned it so you would ask yourself. Or maybe I really have forgotten it and I missed writing to you one. Whatever my reasons are or whatsoever excuses I have, don’t be sad because I have this one for you. For the love of my life, it’s been three months of being together. Three months seemed so fast that I didn’t notice that we have changed maturely and immaturely at the same time. We were thinking what if we didn’t actually end up like this and we didn’t happen. You, being the old Faith I knew, and I, being the same old Ace you all knew. You have affected me in several ways I can’t put words into. You have affected me in several ways I didn’t expect from you. You have affected me in several ways I haven’t known you could do.  And I have affected you so much that you become addicted to me. I guess you are now addicted to the feeling I let you feel and not to only the idea of ...

             Have you ever wanted to watch a movie but due to financial restraints and priority conditions you weren’t able to? Money and Time are indeed prerogatives which everyone does not equally have. In times where the Philippine cinema and film industry is still progressing, or to put it bluntly, struggling for a legitimate identity and worthy recognition, finding ways to attain such goals is not only crucial but also necessary. For instance, efforts by national agencies and organizations like Film Development Council of the Philippines, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Cultural Center of the Philippines, and Cinemalaya, which have greatly contributed, in their respective dispositions, to the historical development and critical progress of Philippine cinema and film industry still need further reinforcements to achieve its ‘greatest glory’. Having a macro-perspective in finding means to help solve the said struggle, granting free t...