images
last night, as we were eating dinner, i heard a weird sound coming from outside our house. i'm not very good at describing it, but i figured that it must be a cricket. (by the way, what's that in tagalog? kuliglig ba?) although i did trace its location (which was the drainage in the garage), i didn't really see the creature that was making the sound. (it was strange to hear that sound in the city, i've always associated that with the countryside.)
when we were young, my mom always took us to her hometown in batangas during the summer and christmas holidays. since there's no electricity, most of our activities were done in the daytime. after supper, there's no tv to watch, no karaoke to sing along with. it was hot and humid sometimes and it was dark outside. one of the things people love to do at night is "porching" (a term i read recently in country living magazine): friends and family gather in the porch ("balcon") and talk just about anything.
and on one of those evenings, i remember seeing these tiny twinkling lights on the tree in front of my grandfather's house. and my mom told me that they were actually fireflies. i guess you could say that it was a magical sight to behold for a young girl because i have never forgotten that image. and sadly, i never saw another one again. for i am a city girl and the lights that i see at night are mostly neon signs, street lights, and the fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs in the houses of my neighborhood.
when my Mamay passed away many years back, most of my aunts and uncles also migrated to the city of batangas, so our later sojourns were unlike those we had in Ilijan or Pulot. although they still like to talk in the evenings, gone are the twinkling fireflies, gone are the incessant sound of the crickets, gone is the magical image of my childhood. it's just plain talk.
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going back to the present cricket incident: as i sat back down at the dinner table, i made a comment to my husband, "it's just ronnie cricket!" (get the pun?) and i suddenly remembered this has-been actor ronnie ricketts. now, i am not an action movie fan, much less a pinoy action movie fan, but i just realized that he's not been making movies recently. which prompted my husband to comment: "san ka nakakita ng action star na stick-to-one sa asawa niya?" you see, ronnie has not been linked to any other woman inside or outside showbiz except to his wife, the former singer, mariz. ok, that's as far as i know, i'm not really into this showbiz gossip stuff, you know. ;)
and that's how our discussion over image came to be. case in point: the bad boy of philippine cinema, robin padilla. his popularity and notoriety was at its peak, when he made the "baby ama" movie. he shaved his head. a lot of prison inmates, boys and men from tondo and other parts of the city shaved their heads. he was idolized. at that time, i think he was involved with the most beautiful women in the country. and a lot more would have volunteered to have his baby. (am i giving his virility too much credit?) then, he got into deep trouble and was sent to prison.
flash forward: he was released from prison a few years ago. and now, robin has embraced "the peacemaker" image. he has converted to islam. has been projecting an image of a family man (although his legitimate family is thousands of miles away in australia). he's basically a "good guy" now. so is he still popular? not really.
so i asked my husband, does this mean that filipinos like their action heroes to be bad because they condone this kind of behavior? or worse, idolize this kind of behavior? if yes, why? i heard somewhere that movies are a form of escape for the masses, which is why they are most likely drawn to characters/actors/stars who are larger-than-life, someone who fights for their cause (whether in the reel or real world), and someone who could do the things they could only dream of.
still, too bad for good guys like ronnie ricketts...they are set aside and nearly forgotten...images of them fading from our memories...
when we were young, my mom always took us to her hometown in batangas during the summer and christmas holidays. since there's no electricity, most of our activities were done in the daytime. after supper, there's no tv to watch, no karaoke to sing along with. it was hot and humid sometimes and it was dark outside. one of the things people love to do at night is "porching" (a term i read recently in country living magazine): friends and family gather in the porch ("balcon") and talk just about anything.
and on one of those evenings, i remember seeing these tiny twinkling lights on the tree in front of my grandfather's house. and my mom told me that they were actually fireflies. i guess you could say that it was a magical sight to behold for a young girl because i have never forgotten that image. and sadly, i never saw another one again. for i am a city girl and the lights that i see at night are mostly neon signs, street lights, and the fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs in the houses of my neighborhood.
when my Mamay passed away many years back, most of my aunts and uncles also migrated to the city of batangas, so our later sojourns were unlike those we had in Ilijan or Pulot. although they still like to talk in the evenings, gone are the twinkling fireflies, gone are the incessant sound of the crickets, gone is the magical image of my childhood. it's just plain talk.
**********************************************************************
going back to the present cricket incident: as i sat back down at the dinner table, i made a comment to my husband, "it's just ronnie cricket!" (get the pun?) and i suddenly remembered this has-been actor ronnie ricketts. now, i am not an action movie fan, much less a pinoy action movie fan, but i just realized that he's not been making movies recently. which prompted my husband to comment: "san ka nakakita ng action star na stick-to-one sa asawa niya?" you see, ronnie has not been linked to any other woman inside or outside showbiz except to his wife, the former singer, mariz. ok, that's as far as i know, i'm not really into this showbiz gossip stuff, you know. ;)
and that's how our discussion over image came to be. case in point: the bad boy of philippine cinema, robin padilla. his popularity and notoriety was at its peak, when he made the "baby ama" movie. he shaved his head. a lot of prison inmates, boys and men from tondo and other parts of the city shaved their heads. he was idolized. at that time, i think he was involved with the most beautiful women in the country. and a lot more would have volunteered to have his baby. (am i giving his virility too much credit?) then, he got into deep trouble and was sent to prison.
flash forward: he was released from prison a few years ago. and now, robin has embraced "the peacemaker" image. he has converted to islam. has been projecting an image of a family man (although his legitimate family is thousands of miles away in australia). he's basically a "good guy" now. so is he still popular? not really.
so i asked my husband, does this mean that filipinos like their action heroes to be bad because they condone this kind of behavior? or worse, idolize this kind of behavior? if yes, why? i heard somewhere that movies are a form of escape for the masses, which is why they are most likely drawn to characters/actors/stars who are larger-than-life, someone who fights for their cause (whether in the reel or real world), and someone who could do the things they could only dream of.
still, too bad for good guys like ronnie ricketts...they are set aside and nearly forgotten...images of them fading from our memories...
posted by soulcraftwriter at 5:34 AM
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