Getting Old. Sports. And Stuff.

Ramble on: Just talking about stuff. Response friends’ post on Facebook, slightly edited.

GETTING old. Failure and success, especially while on (self-imposed) retirement or relative inactivity due to "natural reasons," are seen as Life-done Status, per se. Me, I try not to feel that I failed or I succeeded. Too much thinking. I'd rather ponder the next episode of the TV series that I am hooked with or today's NBA games. I had a life and my 5 grownup children who live a fine life with their respective families/relationships. That's it. 🗽🏃‍♀️🏃

       SPORTS. Although I have a few favorite players, I don't have a favorite team or club. I simply enjoy a game as entertainment, hoping there'll be less politics and drama, off the court (that today's media love to stir). 🦿🤖🦾

 

       AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. Studying, working, living in the US (with Americans) as a relative foreigner, I don't really feel so much about the past other than poring over history to understand the present and probably formulate a vague concept of the future. All for discussions sake or per whatever I am currently writing. I am emotionally detached from the past tenses of life. 

       Yet based on research, studies etc I believe the Civil War was also ushered by other pertinent reasons beyond slavery. And so on and so forth. 🏛🗽🏛

       NIKKI HALEY and slavery. I didn't watch the videos, not interested. Yet I ponder as me coming from a country that was invaded and colonized by Spain for 300+ years and the US for 50+ years, did "slavery" happen in the islands in those many years? Of course. It'd be sheer stupidity to believe otherwise. Plus massacres/genocide etc. Worse situations and for centuries. 

       Yet am I moved by the past? No. People use the subject to heighten their political hate or societal prejudices. Not into it. I am concerned with Now. How to deal with current realities and how to help people live a better life (in case I am a politician). 

       But if ever I want to talk about slaves or those who still suffer because their ancestors were once slaves? I focus on Africa. The poorest region on earth and yet most ignored. 

       The present. More than half of the world, not necessarily blacks, were subjugated and slaved by Western powers for several lifetimes yet they are still treated badly these days by superpowers. I’d rather talk about that. Present tense. ☮️🗽☮️

Golden Globes and the Emergence of Jo Koy.

Slightly edited/updated form from previous Facebook response/s. 

I HAVE already lost interest in these awards bugaboo, anyhow. After watching ALL awards shows each year since I was a little boy, I stopped almost 20 years ago. Golden Globes et al template: Diversify it. Non-whites, non-Americans ,and non-heterosexuals got to win. So the deserving winner loses the kick, somehow. Pump up the diversity. Spread out the wins. "Correct" it. 

       I mean, for example, Ali Wong (“Beef”) over Juno Temple (“Fargo 5”). Come on... Jennifer Jason Leigh and Sam Spruell weren’t even nominated. Too many whites anymore? My best series of the year, “All the Light We Cannot See,” though nominated, didn’t win it. 

       “The Bear” is a cool, enjoyable series. But what is so big a deal with Ayo Edebiri’s “acting,” tell me. Jamie Lee Curtis had fewer scenes but she should have been nominated, at least. And yet last year, Ms Curtis’ nonsensical spot in the topsy-turvy nonsense “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won her the Academy’s best supporting actress plum. And that movie won the Best Picture! Why? Because it is Asian? Well, I am Asian yet I feel insulted by both the movie and the awards. 

       Remember those years when “correctness” wasn’t a word and yet Chris Sarandon’s gay Leon, though a single scene, got a well-deserved supporting actor nod for 1975’s “Dog Day Afternoon.” Cambodian Haing S. Ngor took home the Best Supporting Actor award for 1985’s “The Killing Fields” and no one moped. Other than I thought it should be Best Actor due to the significance and scope of his role as real-life refugee Dith Pran. 🎭🥁📺

I WAS baffled that Filipino-American comedian Jo Koy was hosting the show after several choices said nope. Because he is half Asian? He could be funny in an open mic in Long Beach or Sta Monica Blvd but at Golden Globes?!? Who wrote his wordage and fails? A.I.? Was the pay so good that he didn't suspect that after the show, he'd crash his career? If Travis Kelce emerged from nowhere to bitchslap him right there, then he could have been saved from total shame. LOL! 

       Seriously though, snides, adlibs and jokes said by a non-white/non-black takes a different trajectory compared to the shaming tone when Chris Rock or Ricky Gervais said them. Such is the contradiction of this correctness idiocy.

Yet a day after the sequined thingy and social media brouhaha, news says 9.4 million viewers sat through the show, the most that the Golden Globe had in years. The end justified the means, I guess? Yup, I am endlessly mystified how network wizards influence the clicks (laptops, cellphones or TV). 

       Okay, enough. Y’all wait for Jo Koy at “Saturday Night Live.” 🎭🥁📺

Again: America. China. And other Facebook stuff.

Ramble on: Just talking about stuff. Response friends’ post on Facebook, slightly edited. 

AMERICA needs Chinese raw materials (think API for drugs and those minerals for computer gadgets) and China loves American consumerism. That is why a US/China trade pact was signed in 2000. Yet while giant US corporations gained a lot of profit by moving factories to and subcontracting manufacturing in China, the Chinese didn't buy US stuff as expected. Hence the trade deficit. And so as China goes on with its trade expansionism sans military heft, we get annoyed. Jealous. Kickass academics dilute an objective discussion of the US/China thingy with their high- falutin' intellectualism. 

THE Chinese (like the Arabs) learned Western styled capitalism with a few effective modifications. More so, these: 1. China has ample raw materials or pertinent minerals that our "toys" need. Drugs, cars, e-gadgets. 2. China's "communism" is still there albeit "modified" to fit the globalized trade grid. Take note that that political system is powered by a huge population that is generally Han Buddhist. Religious. 3. China's major industries (including the world-leading 5 banks are state-owned; except big tech but these titans give a lot of money to CCP essentially for BRI expansionism). 

       Of course, American corporations are privately owned while the fantastic military budget is taxpayer people funded. The Arabs are pretty much like the Chinese. Now knowledgeable of Western capitalism. Industries are Sovereign Fund owned and its people united via Islam (the then warring Sunnis and Shias start to shake hands as Saudi Arabia, de facto leader of the Arab League, shook hands with Shia Iran. The Gaza war could unite the Arabs, especially that Syria has been taken back by the League. But that'd be discussing stuff further.) I digress… 🇺🇸☮️🇨🇳

Ramble on: Just talking about stuff.

Response to friends’ post on Facebook, slightly edited. 

FLOOD of commercial advertisements on Facebook? I guess, that's bound to happen. Pragmatically speaking. I still read old magazines, including glossy magazines with about 80 percent ads. I get lucky when I get 2 or 3 interesting articles. That's the way it is. But I read old-school as a habit. I read only 4 or 5 media outlets in the internet though. Other news sources come with annoying ads or links between paragraphs so no more of that for me. 

       On FB, I am fine with 5 or 7 friends on my Homepage. Ads or reels versus posts that only irritate me? It's no brainer. Besides, I enjoy these cat/dog videos, feeds about basketball, memory of old movies, cooking tips, and silliness from my nephews. The internet per se is a giant mall so let it be. Hence, after I am done (or in between) my structured posts, I then deal with my 16 TV series (that I follow at a time), LOL! With my dog and 2 cats beside me. Life is good regardless. 💻⌨️💻

ALTHOUGH I don't work (job) anymore as I did, this internet/social media thing can really hold us captive. So I try my best to post/write as I did before we were brought online. I draft 95 percent of my posts and follow a strict time allotment/regimen. So I can't afford to get ruffled or distracted by silly arguments. Too much mental energy lost and time wasted. I was then. I mean, 20+ minutes on a singular argument about a subject that will never be resolved, esp. with someone that we haven't even met in person. Although I have blocked a few longtime friends who act like 7 year olds here. More annoying than 15 ads in one slide of my thumb, LOL! 💻⌨️💻

Politics. Society. History.

Posted on my Facebook page, years ago.

Politics and Society. 

IF we view societal/governmental issues with futility than hope then we are all fucked. What is the point of elections if we anticipate that these supposed leaders are going to abuse their powers anyway? We are just wasting time, effort and money. So what is the alternative? Maybe do a Fidel Castro/Muammar Qadaffi remedy? Cuba and Libya have better delivery of basic services but we (in a socalled democratic/free world) will always have something dark to say about those. 

       Maybe let's just hope for the better and elect a president and other legislators that we think ar "less evil"? Well, I'd like to exude optimism amidst the apparent disillusionment. The world overcame the Great Depression (1929 to 1932). Back home in the Philippines, we did improve a lot after two decades of the Marcos regime. The only "solution" to our collective frustration is a full-blown bloody revolution. But do we want that? What we must do and convince voters about, especially those who are not reached by social media (and other media) is to vote smartly. 

       Let us educate and advocate with hope of good change than annihilate and propagate based on doom. It's just that these days, there are more personality-obliterations than actual discussion of political platforms, hence the negative is accentuated more than projection of what these aspiring leaders could do to better our lives. Meantime, being positive works—and it also makes us less angry and grumpy. 🏛⚖️🏛

Politics and History.

FRANKLIN D. Roosevelt is a sort of model for governance coming from the rubble. His New Deal worked but we are talking about more than a decade of leadership (1933-1945), that ended at the tailend of the Pacific War. It was a different era amidst differing socioeconomic and political variables. China was deep sleeping that time.

       Coming from the economic downturn of the 2000s, plus the fact that Americans are also divided by political correctness, food behavior, gender politics and environmental hug-trees brevity, then there's the resurgence of new immigrant population with different cultural truths--we need a leader who could somehow keep America tight despite this disconnect and diversity. Just a good and effective president. FDR was able to do that via New Deal. Or who was the president who enjoined confederates and union soldiers and African Americans and Irish immigrants and Chinese and Mormons to work on railroads (1863 and 1869)? Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson? Tactical alliance. 

       Of course, there will always be fights in diversity but once this divergence of thoughts and beliefs work for a common good, then there is hope. 🏛⚖️🏛

Ramble On: Religion and Stuff.

Just talking about stuff. Response friends’ post on Facebook. 

WE need to look deeper and around or beyond people's biased/linear look at religion. Religion is an expression of a people's culture but there's also political leadership, regional relations per trade, natural resources, labor force etc. 

       Africa is poor despite its natural wealth but it is also shaken by tribal/ethnic animosities. Yet we need to look at how Britain and other European powers “owned” majority of the continent. Foreign control of these countries drove them into internal strife hence hostilities ensued. Although loss of power over their own country was the major cause of displeasure, religions (that interfaced with indigenous faiths) were conveniently used as a “divide and rule” tool.

       When Europe pulled out of Asia, the continent thrived economically but it took centuries after the West handed them control of their affairs. True, Middle East is least peaceful but not because of their adherence to Islam. Tempest heightened after Western discovery of oil out there and the ensuing "arms for oil" bilateral agreements with the West. Yet when the desert got richer, warring neighbors started shaking hands. 

       Asia Pacific is peaceful (second to Europe) and it is VERY religious. China is Communist but that political system is driven by Han Buddhism as a sociocultural truth. Europe can be peaceful but how'd a NATO continent be peaceful? "Peaceful" within while hand poorer countries weaponry to protect economic interests? Let these religious people kill themselves so they'd achieve peace for themselves. Anyways. ✝️🕎☪️

Politics and Stuff.

Previously posted on my Facebook page, years ago.

SOMETIMES I think are we asking too much from our (prospective) leaders? We criticize them so badly when not all of what they promised during campaign aren't met. What about 6 out of ten, or 7 out of ten? Leaders can work things out better or realistically that way, I reckon. When dad or mom says, “I will buy you a new Buick, that doesn't necessarily mean you get the Buick tomorrow—and it's all paid up,” right? There is an exchange here as well. 

       What about us, the people? Do we deliver what we should while our elected leaders find ways to deliver 100 percent of what we asked for? 

      You see, we humans have also up the hedonism/consumerist scale a bit. It was "better" when America rose from the Great Depression or Dust Bowl. People were fine with just enough stuff to live on and then go from there. That was the time when America slowly loomed as a world power. But then these days, it's tough. People aren't earning enough to pay bills yet we got lots of incendiary bills to pay which were never present before. 

       Whoever wins the presidency, I hope he/she'd be able to work things out with corporate gods and foreign policy for the betterment of American lives. It doesn't have to be polar extremes where people choose between left and right. When we buy milk and potatoes or pay health insurance, it doesn't say partyline politics. It's all about the people. But as a people, we should also do our share of building a better community and a country. It's not all about a President. 🏛⚖️🏛