Cultural Product

Popular Culture

Popular Culture Critical Commentary

My choice of popular culture is the new fad regarding fun runs or marathon. As you can see fun run is a healthy way of an activity, you get to run with people you don’t know and people who you share the same hobby with which is running. While fun run can be competitive it can also be leisurely. As a matter of fact I do fun run as a way of leisure since I’m not really a competitive runner. The populism of fun runs began in 2010 wherein people created a fundraiser and that fundraiser which is usually in the form of a party, which consists of eating, and drinking was transformed into a running activity. And that time it was considered as revolutionary due to the fact the logic was you’re the one who’s going to pay yet you’re the one who’s going to experience the pain of running. Well of course the aim of the fundraiser was to make an alternative to the usual fundraiser and turn it into a healthy alternative.

The experiment became a success and thus a fad was born, people every Sunday flock to places such as Mall of Asia, Bonifacio High Street and CCP in order to join the fun run. The success of the said experiment was coincided with the advent of advertisements about healthy eating. And those jumpstarted fun runs into a craze, recently fun runs have become a source of income for the organizers, organizers such as RunRio uses fun runs as a source of income and profit.

In my opinion, runs are impractical even though it is a healthy alternative, because of the soaring rates of joining a fun run, typically the fee for joining fun runs are rated at 700 pesos for 3 Kilometers of run while 10K runs are typically charged at 1500 Pesos per person. I believe that it is illogical because you do not really need to pay in order to run. Instead you can just run for free on the road, it is free and it is basically the same. I guess the logic for the some runners here is to show off and “magpapansin” that they can run or they have the money to be able to run. To be honest I only joined two runs in my entire life and I can say that it is indeed illogical because I believe that it is only a money making scheme, if you really want to run you can run without paying.

Pagkain!

Pagkain

Ang pagkain ay isang napakahalagang aspeto ng isang kultura. Hindi lahat ng kultura ay may kanya kanyang tanyag na mga pagkain. Iilan lang din ang may sariling pagkain. Kung papangalanan natin ang mga ito, ito ay ang mga Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Vietnamese, Thai, French at Italian. Marami rami pa naman ang mga bansa na may natatanging pagkain ngunit makikita mo na halos lahat sila ay may tinatawag na fusion o paghahalo ng kanilang kultura sa ibang kultura. Marahil ang Amerika ay isa sa mga bansa na may fusion pagdating sa pagkain dahil ang kanilang mga espesyal na ulam ay kung iisipin mo ay hindi naman nagsimula sa kanilang bansa tulad na lamang ng burger, ang burger ay sinasabi na galling sa mga German, ang French fries naman ay galing sa mga French at ang spaghetti at ang pizza ay galing sa mga Italian. Masasabi na kahit ang isang bansa na napakayaman na tulad ng Amerika ay mahina pagdating sa pagkain.

 

Lucban Longganisa

Kung iisipin natin mabuti, tayong mga Pilipino ay may tanyag din na mga pagkain. Mayroon tayong kanya kanyang putahe na kakaiba at malayo sa mga pagkain ng mga ibinanggit ko sa kanina. Tayo ay mayroong mga kakaibang putahe tulad na lamang ng adobo, sisig, kare kare, sinigang, longganisa, tocino, kaldereta, mechado, crispy pata at lechon. Iilan lang yun sa mga putahe natin mga Pilipino na sadyang atin at isa iyon sa mga bumubuo ng ating kultura. Nakalimutan ko pa pala, ang bibingka, sapin sapin, leche flan at ang halo halo. Sa bawat rehiyon ng ating bansa mayroon tayong baryasiyon ng

Vigan Longganisa

ating mga kilalang putahe, mayroong tinatawag na lucban longganisa at vigan longganisa ang pagkakaiba nito ay sa timpla at lasa ng longganisa. Mayroon ding Lechon at Cebu lechon. Ang lechon ay may sarsa at ang Cebu lechon ay hindi na kailangan lagyan ng sarsa dahil sadyang may lasa na ito. Kung ihahambing ko ang kulturang Pilipino sa isang pagkain natin, ikukumpara ko ito sa halo halo, dahil ang Pilipino kahit watak watak at iba iba ay mayroong pa ring mga kalidad na hindi nawawala tulad na lamang ng pagiging masayahin sa kahit anong sitwasiyon at pagiging matulungin tulad din ng halo halo, imposible maging halo halo kung walang gatas at yelo. Iyan ang kulturang Pinoy kaya dapat natin ito’y ipagmalaki.

Halo Halo!

Laguna Trip...

Laguna Trip…

Critical Commentary on space

Our trip consists of the following

            -Paseo de Santa Rosa

            -SM Calamba

            -UP Los Baños

            -Liliw

            -Courtesy call with Governor Ejercito (bonus trip)

 

Paseo (thank you Han for the pic)

Paseo was the first place we went to in Laguna. Immediately upon arriving I felt as if I were in Bonifacio High Street due to the open area motif of the place. As an area it is very big and it felt like I was in a mall minus the open space. The stores that are in Paseo cater to the middle to upper class. Most of the stores there are for the financially abled people but since most of the stores that are there are outlet shops so probably it can cater to people that are not in the classes I’ve mentioned above. There are also some boutique shops. The reason why I classified the area as for middle to upper class only is not really because of the shops since it is open space, there are parks in the place and even though you don’t really have money you can go spend time in the park however the place is exclusive due to the fact that there are no jeepney stations or taxis in the place so that means people that go there have cars. Another interesting part in Paseo was the bars, of course there are restaurants that are considered as high class but there are bars (inuman) in the area and typically inuman places tend to devalue the class of the place. And since I didn’t get to experience to be in Paseo during night time I don’t know what it’s like when the bar’s are open.

Scenic view inside SM Calamba

SM Calamba is the typical small SM that caters to the middle to lower classes. It is considered as the mall of the “Masa” although inside I can also somehow see higher class establishments, overall the vibe of the place is for the middle to lower classes. Although unlike the usual SM here in Manila there are particularly less high-class stores, the stores here are Bench, Penshoppe. I can also see that some of the things in they’re store are considered to be already outdated in Manila, well I’ve noticed that the Smart telecommunication store in SM Calamba still uses the old logo of Smart. The place however is extremely less intimidating for people to just go to the mall and not buy anything unlike in Paseo.

UP Los Baños is the dorm that we lived in during the trip. It is almost the same with the UP in Diliman wherein there are jeepneys inside. The place was very nature oriented for there are many trees and plant in the place. It really feels great inside because being there feels like an escape from the urban world.

 

Modern part of Liliw

Liliw was like the Marikina of Laguna. In Liliw there are many stores that sell shoes. The place is famous for it’s slippers and I saw the quality of the slippers and as much as I want to buy shoes and slippers I forgot to bring money and thus I wasn’t able to buy anything. So basically since I didn’t bought anything I just turned the place into a tourist spot for me and like a foreigner I checked out every area of the place. I saw that there are old houses that feel like I’m in Vigan. There are also entrepreneurs

Traditional Liliw

who sell items from knives, belt, wallet and small crab. From my observation as we walk further from the bus the place becomes more traditional, since near the bus there are stores such as 7/11 and there is Chooks 2 Go. While as you walk further the items that they sell becomes more traditional from the first part, they sell rubber shoes, flats, heels and to the latter part of the place they sell slippers and sandals, overall the place is a hybrid or sort of a community and each and every one of them practices capitalism in some form that is the Liliw community.

Courtesy call with Governor ER Ejercito (thank you again Han for the pic)

Post Colonialism

Post Colonialism Critical Commentary

Colonialism is a big factor in our current identity as Filipinos. As I’ve said in my previous commentary regarding the indigenous Filipino, it was because we were conquered that we became what we are. As we stand right now there is this notion that Filipinos are Western oriented people and we Filipinos unlike most Eastern countries are so called modern. This sounds good but if we expound on this further it means that we have this mentality that anything from the west is good. In fact our preference for beauty stems from the west. As you can see in our perspective whenever we look to our media everything AMERICAN and EUROPEAN we go gaga over. I’m not a hater here but that is just the plain definition of colonial mentality. Sure, we’ve been an independent state for almost 60 years already but if you look closely can you really say that we are really independent?

The Americans gave our independence to us for almost 60 years already and as it seems why does it feel that we are still under control from the Americans? Why is it that until now there is this feeling that we are just subordinates to the countries of the west and we idolize them? To be honest, yes I do patronize western products. I am more of a western person when it comes to my appearance but there’s this struggle for me that says this is wrong, we are independent and we should be proud of what we truly are not try to mimic or idolize someone that we’re not. In fact I see that this struggle becomes harder to fight because of capitalism and the media. I admit that we have this notion that the west is the best but it is amplified with the fact that capitalism makes it more appealing for us to patronize the western culture and products. Look at McDonald’s it is a form of capitalism that aims to hit our weakness regarding colonial mentality in the sense that it offers food at the same time it is Western. Same with many many products that we see from commercials, in the supermarket; those products are all western oriented carefully made by capitalists in order for them to make profit. Look at all the billboards and all our commercials you can almost never see a “Pinoy na pinoy” in a commercial, what you see our foreigners or those who are so called the lucky ones the mix breed that are blessed with western genes. From tuna commercials to soy sauce commercial and to beauty products you can see that their models are all western looking people. Going back to the pinoy na pinoy look, still you see them in a commercial but most of the time they’re the ones that are spoof commercial or the commercials that are intended to be funny. Same with media, the stars that we have are almost 90% mix breed of Filipinos and Western breed.

In my honest opinion I do not have anything against foreigners and mix breed people but it is quite unfair to say that “oh you need to use this in order for you to be whiter”. Why can’t we just be contented with who we are? Yes, true Filipinos may not be matangkad, mestizo and maputi but does it really matter? Does it really matter if we don’t have those traits? In fact I can see many Western people, marrying Filipina and those Filipina are those who are pinoy na pinoy. Why don’t we start appreciating who we are and be proud of our heritage?

Indigenous Filipino

Indigenous Filipino Critical Commentary

Crab Mentality

Ako’y isang Pinoy, hindi man ako Pilipino dahil sa aking lahi ngunit alam ko na ako ay isang Pilipino sa puso at isipan. Hindi ako naniniwala na para maging Pilipino ay kailangan mong maging Pilipino na may lahi at dugong Pilipino. Ako ay naniniwala na sa aking kilos at mga galaw naipapakita ko na ako ay isang Pilipino. Kumbaga ako ay naniniwala na oo meron ngang tinatawag na lahing Pilipino ngunit unti unti itong nasasapawan ng pagiging Pilipino sa isip at puso. Alam niyo naman na ako ay hindi isang natural na Pilipino, ako ay isang Tsinoy, ang aking magulang ay mga Tsinoy. Ngunit lahat kami ay dito ipinanganak sa Pilipinas at sadyang kung tatanungin kami kun

g kami ay Pilipino o Tsinoy ay agad agad ang isasagot namin ay kami ay Pilipino. Ngayon sa komentaryo na ito ay sinadya kong gamitin ang ating wikang pambansa upang maipakita na mayroon tayong mga natatanging identidad na dapat nating yakapin at mahalin.

Alam naman natin lahat na ang Pilipinas ay nasakop ng mga Kastila, Hapon at mga Amerikano, at dahil doon may mga nakuha tayong mga natatanging kalidad at paguugali mula sa kanila. Isa na rito ay ang Mañana habit o sa Pilipino ay ang mamaya na lang. Hindi man natin napapansin ngunit halos lahat tayo ay may ganitong paguugali na medyo may pagkatamad na kung pwedeng mamaya na lang gawin ang kailangan gawin, ay gagawin natin iyon. Isa rin sa mga nakuha natin mula sa mga pananakop ng mga Kastila ay ang “crab mentality”. Ang crab mentality ay ang paguugali na nakuha ng mga Pilipino mula sa Kastila na kapag isa ay umuunlad ang mga kasama nito ay hihilain siya pababa. Ang mga Amerikano naman ay naipabaon sa atin mga Pilipino ang mentalidad na lahat ng gawa nila at lahat ng sinasabi na “imported” ay sadyang mas magaling kaysa sa gawang Pinoy.

Aminin na natin na tayong mga Pilipino ay hindi perpekto, marami tayong mga ugaling hindi maganda ngunit sa lahat pa man nito hindi natin nakakalimutan na maging mapagmahal at matulungin sa kapwa at ang patuloy na pagbangon natin sa kahit ano pa man trahedya at problema na harapin natin. Isa ito sa mga punto natin na mas lamang tayo sa kahit pa sino pa man sa buong mundo at dapat bigyan natin ang ating mga sarili ng isang malakas na palakpak dahil tayong mga Pinoy nalugi na at binaha pa ay marunong pa rin tayong ngumiti at maging masaya sa mga bagay bagay na meron tayo.

Daang daang dialekto man meron tayong mga Pilipino, kalat kalat man tayong lahat tayo ay Pilipino pa rin at tayo ay nanatiling masaya sa ating mga sitwasyon, maganda man o masama. At iyon siguro ang isa sa mga rason kung bakit marami sa mga nangingibansa na mga Pilipino ay sadyang bumabalik sa kanilang inang bayan dahil “namimiss” nila ang pagiging Pilipino nila dahil marami akong nabalitaan na Pilipino na nagibansa at ang sabi nila ay malungkot doon, oo marami ngang pera ngunit hindi naman masaya. Watak watak ang mga tao, may mga kanya kanya silang buhay. Kapag ako ay pumupunta ng ibang bansa at may nakikita akong Pilipino ay kinakausap ko sila ng Tagalog at sila ay natutuwa at naalala nila ang kanilang inang bayan at lagi nilang sinasabi na ang sarap maging Pilipino. Oo, mahirap man tayo, pandak man tayo masarap pa rin talagang maging Pilipino.