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purokblender

Hey guys,

I just hosted a new wbsite for my graphics and animation project. I’ll be moving my graphics and animation-related blogs there. Please visit the site.

Thank you.

http://www.purokblender.com

Another Take on Humadapnon by Bennie Jane F. Vargas

This would have been beautiful if I had only the capability to totally understand it. Since the local language was never really my forte, I barely was able to pull through with reading throughout the whole story.

I’m pretty sure the story of Humadapnon is wonderful and enchanting, what with the whole magical Duwende and the love story going on with it. However I only managed to contain a slight headache while reading the whole thing. Maybe my pacing was wrong, since it does seem like (if it not is) a sing-songy way in terms of telling the whole story. I mean, it is pretty obvious especially with the seven M’s as well as the ditto huminto doon tumigil thing going on around it. I probably would have been able to appreciate it better if the story would be fed to me through the boob tube, or to be more dramatic, through an expensive play ( expensive in the sense that they would go all out on the special effects and the costumes, as well as the stage and of course, their talented actors such that I would be captivated and not bored throughout the whole sitting). According to my research, plays like these last for as long as around 3 days!

I really can’t force myself to like something which I’m not comfortable reading through with. Maybe I should’ve given it a better chance so that I would appreciate it better. I guess next time, I could.

On Humadapnon by Rica Cristina C. Baldomar

Humadapnon, an epic from the pre-Spanish era tells of how Datu Humadapnon seeks for a wife and his adventure in the quest to find Malitong Yawa, a Binukot who equals Datu Humadapnon in powers and is hence, worthy to be his partner. The text provided has given insights of the way of the people back then. It’s a bit a funny, how Humadapnon goes about looking for a wife. It reminds me of those cartoons supposedly based on fairy tales wherein all of a sudden the prince announces that he is about to go on a quest to find his true love. Everything is then thrown into chaos as preparations are made for the quest and amidst the sound of trumpets the prince breaks out into a song and dance number. As I was reading the part wherein Humadapnon prepares to sail the image came to mind and I was sort of wondering that if this were a cartoon, would Humadapnon have broken out into a song and dance routine?
The next part of the text tells about the journey he had started and until it reached a certain part, the narration was so and so. Enter Sinangkating Bulawan: Humbay sa Hinmayunan, Binukot sa Tarangban, Babae sa Kuweba. She expressed liking for Humadapnon who does not want her because he seeks someone else, namely, Malitong Yawa. I was bothered by the lines “ /Ngunit mga binukot/ na mga palasabi/ Babae na malandi/”. I found these lines offensive because they brought to mind the idea a woman who speaks her mind is found to be lacking in breeding. The lines made me think about how we live in a double standard society wherein woman get the worst part of the deal. It’s ironic that when a man shows that he likes a certain woman and pursues her society applauds him for taking things into his hands. If a woman likes a man and pursues him society calls her a tart because good girls don’t go around chasing boys but it doesn’t matter whether you’re a good boy or not: it’s all right to chase girls.
Humadapnon is an integral part of Philippine literature, created before the coming of the Spaniards. Unfortunately, it does not mean that is free from macho crap which dictates that girls cannot chase boys.

Digging the culture through epic by Jaeza Emor

Humadapnon is an epic in Panay Island, a story that talks about a Datu name Humadapnon and translated by Dr. Alice Magos. The first 30% of the story is about how Humadapnon concluded to travel to another island to look for a wife, a Binukot who possesses a magical power through the influence of a dwarf Taghoy. In his travel he uses the golden boat as transportation because it believes to have an inferior speed over other mode of transportation.

The epic reflects the culture of the Panayanon, the belief that can be only seen in the island like, the golden boat that for the people if you see it its gives luck, the Binukot a maiden who have extra ordinary beauty and a well-kept by the community until a righteous man came to marry her in exchange of a dowry and presence of gold in a household that represents the wealth of the family.

The presentation of words in the story is stair type that every step is being written that gives to the reader a picture of how the things put in action. I only read the epic about 30% of its story yet it is still quite long. The first thing that I noticed in the epic is the presence of inheritance whether it is small things (handkerchief) to big things (golden boat). Based on the story and how I interpret it, it reflects that the parents are the one who will court for a woman who decided to marry by their sons. In case of Humadapnon he is also protected by his parents by preventing him from going outside his golden room to prevent him to hit by the wicked air. So in time that he wanted to look for the Binukot there is a big debate if he will be permitted to accompany the team and the end he is, together with his father and his brother they sail to look for that extraordinary maiden. In this situation we can see that parents will always be parents in the end who will support their sons/daughter no matter what consequences it will takes.

Baloy brings back theater days

About 15 years ago, Baloy made me shed a tear of laughter. Last night, I saw it again. And it made me cry. Still of laughter.

Baloy is a stage play directed by Edward Defensor and produced by the Teatro Amakan Alumni Association. It is a story about love, deceit and revenge using a local legend about a mountain named Baloy as motif.

I see Baloy as a mockery of today’s political system. The overpowering presence of corruption and power-hungry buffoons who are willing to do anything just to grab power. Even the church’s role in the power struggle is also exposed.

Baloy is a really good laugh. Carnivalesque, as it brings down dominant systems making them objects of ridicule while it elevates the jolly spirit of the local audience. Society’s dominant personalities and their practices are reduced to a ‘primitive’, ‘uncivilized’ set of actors and props. Their power struggles are converted into spectacular parlor games compounded with childish tricks and cheats. The audience who normally are ‘allergic’ to political discussions simply laugh at the unfolding events unmindful, perhaps, of the close semblance of this narrative to the present turmoil in congress.

Another thing that struck me the night I saw Baloy was the silent  message conveyed by the audience. They flocked themselves into the auditorium like eager children wanting to see Santa Claus on that December night. They were unmindful of that slight cold drizzle that some thought would have ruined the show. They waited patiently and squeezed their bodies through the narrow entrance just to get inside that already-crowded hall. They responded well to the clever lines of the actors and they did not rush to the exits when the show ended. In fact, when the lights finally went out after the curtain call, they still waited on their seats for more actions to happen.

Definitely this is a sign that the Ilonggos are, once again, ready for stage plays.

I made this blog to write about things I like … pop

Tonight I can blog the bloggest lines.

I am Jonathan Jurilla and i am a faculty member of the University of the Philippines Visayas. I am based in Miagao and I teach literature subjects.

I celebrate pop. Pop culture that is. i grew up with loud speakers and boob tubes. The first song i learned from the heart was Michael Jackson’s ‘One Day in Your Life’ and I learned my alphabets from Sesame Street. My first political action was to denounce the late Ferdinand Marcos when he stopped the airing of Voltes V and Star Rangers. Pop culture molded me into what I am now.

Well I am not saying I am a better person because i subscribe to pop. But literary classics did not make me even better. Well, maybe it did… It made me very critical. And it made me write. Thing is, I think they both have similar effects in me.

Of course I also hate pop. I don’t find R&B appealing and I think I’m just too old for emo. Twilight is just too cheesy for me. Well, yes, my life is always filled with conflicting dualities, multiplicities and simultaenities. But I’m not sorry. I have learned to accept that this is the kind of life that I am going to deal with until the end of me.

Anywayz…

This blog is dedicated to anything popular. This seeks to understand the workings of this overpowering subject that is both product and producer of today’s society.

Join me as I embark on this exciting trip towards daily cultural realities.