So Earth Hour was last night. It’s fun to see a lot of people participating when once upon a time, a lot of them would have scoffed at the idea of going without electricity for one hour. Every little bit helps, though, so it’s a good thing people are partcipating anyway. But what I particularly hate about Earth Hour is how people get all self-righteous just because they took part in it, with some of them deriding their neighbors who failed to “do their share.” Dear self-righteous people, saving the planet takes more than turning off lights, and for all you know, the neighbors at whom you sneer might be living a life much greener than you do throughout the rest of the year. Besides, Earth Hour is purely voluntary. Badmouthing anyone who isn’t taking part isn’t making the world a better place.

And by circus, I mean the campaign period for local officials. Parts of the metropolis were overrun by traffic jams today, thanks to campaign sorties, convoys, and elaborate stage setups where candidates will hold court and convince people, with the help of lights, bright music, a celebrity or two or three, laughs, and likely a song or dance number, why they should be elected. Such events are always amusing displays of how full candidates are of themselves, saying, “You can see we’ve got lots of supporters given our event’s turnout,” conveniently forgetting the fact that people will always come out of the woodwork to catch a glimpse of celebrities or well-known personalities, not necessarily because they support whoever’s running.

For years and years, we see Hollywood celebrities striking their signature poses on the red carpet, puckering their lips, blowing kisses, looking over their shoulder at the paparazzi frantically clicking away with their cameras, with a backdrop bearing the name and logo of the event as well as its sponsors. Thanks to more awareness of these events, it seems like people suddenly took a look at the backdrop and thought, “Hey! We should have that, too!”

That backdrop is what is known as a photo wall, it being the background of pictures taken at an event or a party. The photo wall is no longer restricted to parties for celebrities and the glitterati–everybody’s getting into it, from company parties and even private birthday celebrations and reunions. The photo walls for these events, predictably, bear the name and logo of the company or the name of the person for whom the party is being thrown.

The result of the photo wall’s rise? Well, people can remember where their photos were taken, for one. But more importantly, the photo wall serves to make people feel like celebrities. Witness the growing number of people dressed to the nines and striking their most fabulous poses for the camera. The photo wall could definitely be fun to play with, though one has to think why it should be a common fixture in parties these days. Perhaps it’s because we’re in The Age of the Camwhore.

There’s no higher calling for a woman than being a person who nurtures you, respects you, and looks after you. At least that’s according to the latest ad from Team Manny Villar, featuring Loren Legarda, who’s clawing her way to the vice presidency a second time, and the women in their senatorial line-up. After the women earnestly declare that they will, well, be our mothers (at least how commercials typically portray mothers), Villar swoops in, boasting that he has nobody but the best, most accomplished women on his team.

Yeah, sure, whatever, but your ad certainly didn’t make that clear. All your ad did was to make them look like gentle, soft-spoken people who will love us no matter what we did and patch up our bruises, not fierce crusaders who are fully capable of grabbing the reins and guiding this country out of the muck. You claim you’ve got the best women on your slate? Tell us why and how they excel, don’t parade them around in soft lighting and have them speak slowly and soothingly.

I take offense at so many commercials that it’s practically impossible for me to watch TV without snorting disgustedly or screaming at yet another stupid ad. My latest target: SkinWhite’s ad for their new whitening lotion…for teenagers.

Much has already been said about the Filipina’s unhealthy obsession with skin whitening, and the unfortunate effect that centuries of being under the thumb of some foreign power has done for our concept of beauty–and let’s not forget the ongoing influence of Japanese and Korean pop culture. It’s well known that women are expected to adhere to society’s impossible expectations of beauty. But we could make things a lot easier for future generations of women by boosting their self-esteem, letting them know that they’re all perfect the way they are, and that looking good is perfectly all right, but they don’t have to starve themselves or inject all sorts of unmentionables into their system to make it happen.

I make myself laugh with my own idealism.

Of course no one is going to do that. Playing on people’s insecurity can make a lot of money. Make ‘em feel inadequate, make ‘em feel ugly and you’ll have them eating out of your hand, or in most cases, opening their wallets to give you all the money they have just to make their problems and problem areas go away. And unfortunately, one of the most insecure people in the world is the teenage girl. That may be a funny idea given that teenagers these days are typically described as being full of themselves and overconfident that they’re the most awesome creatures on the planet, but behind that lies the fact that the teenage girl can be eager for approval; she’s dressing up to look pretty, to be accepted, and to gain the admiration of other people. Credit that to the fact that women are raised to be pleasant and agreeable.

So it’s no surprise that women make fine targets for companies peddling products, lifestyles, and images. Just imagine how many women were lured by the glitz of Sex and the City. Blessedly, not all women are influenced by what media and the advertisers say. However, targeting teenaged girls and using their concerns over growing up and fitting in to sell a product is ten kinds of low. It’s hard enough growing up and dealing with uncomfortable physical changes; hearing that you need to change yourself and your appearance just makes things worse, and to recommend using a product allegedly formulated with ingredients to lighten your skin is not just an insult, it’s unhealthy. Of course, I’m not saying that all teenaged girls will be swayed into buying this product. Nevertheless, the concept of a skin whitening lotion for teenaged girls is just irresponsible. It doesn’t make them feel better about themselves nor does it encourage them to take care of themselves the right way. It just makes them think, “Hey, maybe there is something wrong with me and my skin. I think I do need that lotion.” Heck of a way to improve girls’ image of themselves and believe that they’re beautiful the way they already are. Thanks, skin care companies and the dimwit advertisers who come up with your concepts.

And don’t me get started on Palmolive’s Fashion Girl shampoo.

Yahoo! News Philippines currently features this article from Manila Bulletin. It highlights the thoughts of some of this year’s graduates from some of Metro Manila’s universities and colleges, and what they think about their futures. To some of them, I feel like saying, “Oh dear, you are so young,” but hey, I was eager and bright-eyed once, and I believed I was going to change the world. (Of course, I may just be biding my time.)

Instead of knocking their ideals, however, I will laugh at some of them because of their salary expectations. It’s interesting to note that the graduates of Ateneo and La Salle appear to have quite a skewed idea how much companies pay new employees who also happen to be fresh graduates, thinking P40,000 or P50,000 was all right, and another saying he wants P30,000 but expects to get P25,000. The people from other schools state an expected salary ranging from P15,000 to P20,000, which is at least completely realistic. Of course, who knows? Maybe the ones aiming for a salary range of P30,000-P50,000 would end up working for some hotshot company that hires inexperienced workers and is perfectly willing to take a risk and shell out that kind of money for them–which is a salary that not even people who work for years in one company command. Of course, there are major multinational companies who pay that salary without batting an eyelash, but as stories have it, they really make you work for what you earn (read: take over your life and work you to the bone).

As for their expectations when it comes to their future and the real world, they’re pretty spot-on when they talk about challenges, uncertainty, pressure to make money, and competition. No one needs to tell them about disappointments, plans that go awry, and the fact that they’ll inevitably be surrounded by small-minded, indecisive idiots who don’t deserve the positions they hold. They also don’t need to know yet how the real world will make them take a good look at themselves and figure out what’s really important in life. They’ll find out soon enough.

This is dead well-written and spot-on. Hard to believe that people like that actually exist, but there you go.

For the past couple of months, I’ve been unhealthily into the ninth season of American Idol. I watch the show when it’s on and I pore through the blogs and news sites featuring anything about the show. The funny thing is, I’ve never really watched the show, but this time was different, because my niece’s friend, Katie Stevens, is in it. I’ve seen her perform a couple of times in some productions she’s been and often thought that she had such an incredible voice, which is why it didn’t come as a huge surprise when I heard she was trying out for American Idol.

Naturally, when the new season aired, I was glued to the TV and felt quite pleased when she made it in. I looked forward to hearing how she was doing every week and, also, to her first outing on the show, when she sang the Nina Simone original “Feelin’ Good.” I wasn’t crazy about the song, and it seemed like nobody was totally crazy about her performance as a whole. She was told to go younger and be 17, so she followed it up with Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Put Your Records On.” Still not young enough! Figure out who you are as an artist! she was told. She tried again with Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway,” about which none of the judges were happy.

One of my sisters and I took to dissecting every episode; call us crazed critic-wannabes. It seemed to me as though it’s the pressure to be young that was hounding her, and every week, she did her best to comply with the judges’ wishes, even though it’s evident that her voice and style weren’t young to begin with. They want to turn her into a pop princess when her voice is suited to something else. My sister theorized that because she looked like such a cute little doll, that counted against her, and so she was expected to come up with something sweet. One blog comment somewhere said, “If she went any younger, she’d be singing Barney songs.”

Everybody thought she was a goner when the top 12 was announced, which is why it was a complete shock when Lilly Scott was eliminated. And then the insane, bitter gripefest began, with many of the complaints being hurled against Katie as if it were her fault Lilly was eliminated. Initially, I was incensed in Katie’s behalf–you can tell I’m totally invested in this–and at the same time realized how brave she and all the other contestants were for putting themselves out there, in the glare of the world’s scrutiny. No wonder some celebrities say that they refuse to go online and look up any comments about themselves, because the criticism’s just terrible (which made me think that if I ever got around to writing my ode to Ben Barnes and posting it here to scream out how much I want to meet him and just frickin’ shake his hand, he would never get to read it anyway. Pfft.).

Then I noticed the tone that most people would take when they criticized, not just her, but another young’un like Aaron Kelly. Critics would bash them for appealing to the Hannah Montana generation, that they just got the votes of young people who knew how to text like crazy on their mobile phone compared to the older crowd, that they probably didn’t know any more music beyond Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift, that there should be a higher age requirement to be able to join the competition, that they didn’t have enough life experiences to pour their hearts and souls into their performances. Frankly, I’m not really fond of young people, but even I have to say that those comments smack of discrimination, as if teenagers are stupid people who just get easily swayed by trends and know nothing about music, let alone life. Critics seem to have forgotten that when you’re young, you aren’t necessarily the idiot that adults think you are. I wonder if any of them recognize that they’ve become the kind of adult who puts down and talks down to kids and teenagers.

Last night’s Rolling Stones round had Katie singing “Wild Horses,” and for the first time, the judges were pleased with it. Personally, I was relieved that she finally got an opportunity to belt out a song; I’m not an expert on music, but she does have a big, deep, velvety voice that needs a lot of room to get out. I’m crossing my fingers for her, of course, although I have to say that I don’t think she’ll be the American Idol this year. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since that would let her explore other options that would be more perfect for her.

_{My sister and I noted how vehement we get about criticisms against Katie, and are happy that our niece isn’t planning to join AI. If she did and people begin pelting her with insults, we will go to war.}

If there’s yet another phenomenon that can be credited to Facebook, it’s the wantonness with which high school reunions are currently being held, with at least one get-together taking place every month. Thanks to Facebook, people who haven’t seen each other in years suddenly remember one another and start getting back in touch. The messages are all the same:

“You look great!”
“OMG you haven’t aged a bit!”
“Let’s meet up for coffee sometime!”
“Your kids look so much like you! They’re adorable!”

And of course,

“Let’s get everyone together! It’s been so long!”

All that from people who probably never even thought of one another much in the years that they haven’t seen each other. But evidently, you do remember one another, and it’s enough to pave the way towards a grand reunion. It doesn’t even have to be a big one, though, maybe just you and your batch, maybe just some people who are still in the area and have time to spare.

What precipitates these events is usually the posting of yearbook photos or any picture from high school. Expect such photos to generate text-based squeals of delight and embarrassment. High school memories will start gushing forth from everyone: how awesome and carefree those years were, the hilarious things the class clown did and said, which people were dating at the time, and so on.

Not only do those pictures extract memories, but also generate comparisons between people’s looks then and now. As a result, one of the reasons why people want to have a reunion is to check out how everyone else has turned out, not just professionally, but also physically.

Suggestions for a reunion are typically met with a great degree of enthusiasm, but one really has to wonder if such events really are a good idea. For many people, it’s a way for them to face their past and see if they emerge from the experience unscathed. For others, it truly is a chance to meet up with some old friends and catch up. For still yet other people, high school reunions are a wonderful opportunity to observe people, sneer, and go back to their lives, which are thankfully much more interesting than any memories high school has to offer.

Yesterday, Manny Pacquiao did the country proud yet again when he triumphed over Joshua Clottey. Cue endless cheering and congratulatory tweets and Facebook status updates from Filipinos all over the world. Personally, at the risk of being criticized as “anti-Filipino,” I don’t give a rat’s ass. It’s the same thing every single time Pacquiao will go up against another boxer: Everybody gets pumped up and couldn’t wait for the match to take place. The match happens. When Pacquiao wins, much celebration ensues, and he’s welcomed home like a hero.

An acquaintance of mine put it succinctly: “Pacquiao won again, now what?” Amusingly enough, people responded with comments like, “Now he’s richer than ever,” which is exactly what happens. Soon, all of Philippine media will be bombarded yet again with news of his latest house, more endorsements pour in, and you start seeing him strutting around some more, with his wife and his mother sparkling, glittering away in front of the cameras. I suppose after training hard to pummel and get pummeled, he does deserve ample compensation.

Some people tend to see Pacquiao as the savior of the Philippines, as if in one swoop, he inspires the country, delivers it from its tribulations, and saves us from global anonymity. And inspire he does. The country creaks to a halt every time he’s in a fight, everybody is in awe of him, his every move is discussed to death. Speaking of death, people have also been known to keel over from excitement while watching his fights. Yes, it’s that extreme, and will continue to be so until he retires from boxing. When that day comes, I wonder who Filipinos will turn to next to stay inspired?