TIN TIN

 

I saw probably the best movie of 2011 last night. Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson's adaptation of HERGE's masterpiece comic strip! "The Adventures of Tin Tin"was a movie that had my eyes glued to the screen the whole time! 

I like reconnecting to my childhood and I remember reading the stories growing up. I remembered watching the cartoons in the afternoon when I got home from school. It was pure bliss!

What made the difference was that it was retold by 2 master storytellers in Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. When Spielberg directs a movie, you can't help but be amazed how it's shown right before your eyes. I specifically loved the action sequences towards the end of the movie. It was the action sequence with the falcon.

Imagine the HERGE characters in the comics coming to life! It was fantastic! I loved how TIN TIN, Snowy, Captain Haddock, Thomson and Thompson were transformed into 3D! They looked real with a touch of Herge! LOVED IT! I had tons of fanboy moments! Opening credits pa lang! With music accompaniment by John Williams, the movie was even better!

The only movie that can stand up to Tin Tin in my honest opinion is THOR. It's actually a toss up really. The movie contains comedy, action, suspense, thrills, and loads of nerdgasm moments! THOR had those too... 

For sure I'm going to see this movie again! But in 3D this time around!

Thanks to National Book Store for the tickets! :)

The Most Important Celtic Today...


Danny Ainge must be taking crazy pills!!! The man must be out of his mind if he's thinking of trading Rajon Rondo!!! Seriously, Rondo is the most important Celtic today. Remember Game 3 of the 2nd round??? ONE ARM! RONDO PLAYED WITH ONE FRIKKIN ARM AND THEY STILL WON THE GAME!!!

Rondo is the backbone of this team. The Big 3 needs him and if Rondo leaves... Banner 18 will be no more this season...

What the hell are you thinking Mr. Ainge????

To get CP3??? NO!!! CHEMISTRY FIRST!!! Trading Perk ruined it and now Rondo!?!?!?

Get it together Mr. Ainge... YOU DON'T WANT A BOSTON RIOT...

School Holidays

School holidays already started a week ago, (time passed that fast!!) so far i have got nothing plan for the boys. :( The first week i let them relax and enjoy, but on off they still need to practice their piano and do some homework given by me, I bought some exercise book for them, need them to practice, otherwise they will forget everything when school start next year and also i try to get them to read a story book every night.


On the first week, i brought them to Children's Technology Workshop, i got a quite good deal from online, let them to have some fun. I thought i can use the voucher twice, since i bought two vouchers for each boy, but, the lady at the center told me, each kid only can redeem the voucher ONCE! Out of no choice, i have to sell off another two extra vouchers. The boys was quite disappoint.


Children's Technology Workshop at Bangsar Village II



get the necessary lego from the box.

Actually i want them to try Apprentice Engineer and next round Engineer, but since Apprentice Engineer a bit "too easy" for them, so the "teacher" give them try another one ,Engineer.



what else i need?? Hmmmmm....



Ok, we still short of this and that.....


getting all ready.....


While they enjoy the class, mummy got some "time off", i went for my coffee. By the time i went back to the center after 1 hour, they show me their final "result"



Cruz and his "product"



a closer look


Fearles and his final "result"


a closer look

They told me, it is interesting, they want to go again. Maybe the next round i want them to try to do the 2D animation, the one will be quite interesting i think. The class come no cheap, it is RM60 @ per kid @ per class.



Thundercats SEASON 1 FINALE


I've posted about the Thundercats reboot a while back and it has been my favorite show of 2011. Seriously, it's pretty awesome stuff! 13 episodes so far. Not all are fantastic. There were several episodes that weren't as good. Episodes 3, 9 and 10 were a bit weak... But episodes 1,2, 4, 6, 7 and 13 are fantastic! 13? Man... Click on read more link to see my reactions on the season finale.

SPOILERS AHEAD... You have been warned!!!


The next paragraph contains spoilers to episode 13 of Thundercats.

TYGRA!?!?!? SERIOUSLY!?!?!? WTF MAN!!! Lion-O doesn't get Cheetara!? Well, I was hoping it wouldn't be the case but I thought the prophecy would be that the betrayal was the Cheetara thing... From episode 1 it was clear Lion-O and Cheetara were the deal but what is this??? How I met your Mother!?!? Ugh. So frikkin pissed!!! But that's good storytelling for you. I need to see what happens next!!!

Panthro loses his arms... Damn... Berbils better give him a cool set of new arms!!!

But this show has been awesome! I wish I could have seen more of Mumm-Ra though... He's been a cool villain in this story!

For the record, TEAM LION-O!!! Lion-O better get Cheetara back damn it!! All hell will break lose if he doesn't!!! Plus you have a lot of angry fans on your Facebook page Cartoon Network!!! Better listen to the fans!!!

These aren't the Droids you're looking for



Sorry I haven't been updating a lot. I'm busy at work but I'm loving what I do :) Plus with my other engagements for my other blogs, I tend to forget about The Tangled Web. Sorry guys :(

Anyway, I'm back! Did you see my latest project? Jonty and I are now part of The Philippine Star Family! We're part of Young Star! (Well, Jonty's still "young" ako naman feeling young)

The 2 of us are extremely psyched for this and we promise to be as consistent as we can! 

Jonty has been the backbone of this project and he's the one who came up with the title. "These aren't the Droids you're looking for" was probably most fitting. Who's C-3PO and who's R2-D2? We don't want to think of it that way... We even got suggestions like "THAT'S NO MOON!" and "IT'S A TRAP!" which are also references to STAR WARS.

We'll be writing about Everything GEEK and Pop Culture :) Heck, we may even write about food! 

Our first article is about MARVEL vs DC! We thought it would be best since I'm the MARVEL guy and he's the DC guy. Both of us write but I have part 1 and he has part 2 which should be out by Friday of this week. 

Thank you very much to Tita Millet of Philippine Star for giving us this once in a lifetime chance and to Mr. Raymond Ang for being such an accommodating editor!

Please feel free to give your comments/opinions to jiggyandjonty@gmail.com :)

Minsan Pa (2004)



Minsan Pa (Jeffrey Jeturian, 2004)
English Title: One Moment More

The film Sana Pag-ibig Na (Enter Love, 1998), one of the several films made under Regal Films subsidiary Good Harvest, gave birth to the collaboration between Armando Lao and Jeffrey Jeturian. Before Sana Pag-ibig Na, Lao was then the very much underrated screenwriter of arguably William Pascual and Chito Rono’s best works, Takaw Tukso (1986) and Itanong mo sa Buwan (1988) respectively. Jeturian, on the other hand, served as production designer and art director for Leroy Salvador’s Dear Killer, one of the two episodes in Dear Diary (1989) that was written by Lao (the other being Dear Partyline, directed by Lupita Aquina-Kashiwahara and written by Jose Javier Reyes) and various other films and television shows. After Sana Pag-ibig Na, Lao and Jeturian would collaborate in Pila Balde (Fetch a Pail of Water, 1999) and Tuhog (Larger than Life, 2001), both of which are also critically acclaimed films.

Minsan Pa, Lao and Jeturian’s fourth film together, is more ambitious in scope. Their previous collaborations were clearly smaller. Sana Pag-ibig Na is a family drama set within a middle-class household. Pila Balde is a set in an impoverished community that envelopes a condominium complex and explores the complicated relationship between the haves and the have-nots. Tuhog is a more conceptual affair that pits real reality and movie reality, revealing a cycle of exploitation within a primarily escapist pastime. Minsan Pa is essentially a romance between a Cebu tour guide (Jomari Yllana) and a tourist (Ara Mina). However, more than just unravelling an ordinary love story, Lao and Jeturian set out to unravel not only the lives of the lovers but also the people around them.

The film often drifts away from the central romance, depicting tender episodes of other people’s lives, like the fisherman’s daughter who marries a Japanese tourist, leaving his childhood sweetheart heartbroken in the process, or the performers in a Japanese videographers’ anonymous shoot who become beholden to erstwhile passions and the need to survive. These side stories, told admirably without a sliver of judgment as to actions of these people and how these people lead their lives, contribute to an overall picture of lives existing amidst the lack of permanence.

People come and go, leaving unresolved relationships, obligations, promises and expectations. They strive for constancy, perhaps through by building a permanent home, by finding that one person for whom they can eternally be in love with, by seeking to reunite a family that has become broken by change. The characters Lao crafted and Jeturian fleshed out live lives adjusted to the fleetingness of the world. The only thing constant is heartbreak and disappointment, as when the promise of becoming settled both in life and in love are suddenly snatched not by a stereotypical antagonist but by the very nature of life.

Minsan Pa may be Lao’s masterwork, a piece so lovingly crafted, with characters that feel like they are living and experiencing life’s difficulties with us. There is very little sense of the writer interfering with how the narrative should flow and instead, the story slowly but surely manages to complete itself without succumbing to formula. Jeturian’s job becomes limited to creating the proper mood and atmosphere to finalize the picture. Backdropped by Cebu’s gorgeous sights and vistas, Jeturian expresses the irony of characters appearing and disappearing, completely engulfed by constantly changing emotions, in places that have been there for centuries or even more.

Minsan Pa is the film is fondly remembered as an underseen gem, the film where Ara Mina and Jomari Yllana gave the performances of their careers, the unlikely Filipino romance that did not need to rely on histrionics or cheap thrills to impress. Minsan Pa, however, has an actual place in the history of Philippine cinema. The film barely made enough to recoup the investment put into its production, prompting Lao to rethink the way Filipino films are written and made. Because of the film’s box office failure, Lao would come up with a system of writing films that are apt for Filipino film producers who may not have the capital to gamble into worthwhile but expensive projects that will never be consumed by the ordinary moviegoer.

Because of Minsan Pa, Kubrador (The Bet Collector, 2006), a film written in the manner Lao believes Filipino films should be written, happened. Kubrador won for Jeturian several international accolades and earned for the film’s producer, Joji Alonzo, enough money for her to continue making films despite the economic disaster that was Minsan Pa. Brillante Mendoza then made Masahista (The Masseur, 2005), then Tirador (Slingshot, 2007), then Serbis (Service, 2008) and Kinatay (The Execution of P, 2009). Young filmmakers followed suit, creating a school of filmmaking that positively or negatively changed the landscape of how films are written and made in the country. Who would have thought that Minsan Pa, a glossy film starring famous actors and actresses about heartaches, would stir such a change, opening the Pandora’s box of stories that require absolutely no gloss, no big names, and tackling issues that are closer to the stomach than the heart.

(Cross-published in Lagarista)

An interview with me!

I have been doing a few interviews as of late and by that I mean who could forget my incredible tête-à-têtes with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Michael Musto, Tim Dax and Lisa M?

Now comes the greatest interview of all: An interview with me!

Don't worry, I am not as infatuated with myself to have conducted the interview.  It was just happy happenstance that my friend Enrique TorreMolina was gracious enough to reach out and ask a few pressing questions.  Some excerpts:
  • Me on immigration: There is no reason why the wealthiest nation in the world cannot provide opportunities for immigrants to develop their full potential regardless of economic or educational background. 
  • Me on blogging: Not every blog writer posts a daily entry or multiple daily posts. I’m sure most people don’t even realize how much perseverance, dedication, personal sacrifice and time it takes a blogger to keep up that sort of blogging rhythm but it’s almost a Herculean task. 
  • Me on gossip: For a while I tried to be snarky and gossipy because I felt readers would enjoy it, but ultimately it wasn’t my style. I ended up erasing a few posts where I felt I had dished out at a couple of celebrities. It just made me feel dirty. Others do gossip much better than I do.
  • Me on Latino LGBT priorities: Sometimes the question about community “priorities” bothers me –and I know you didn’t mean it that way– because it’s usually code speak for ‘your priority is not important, my priority is’.
  • Me on my which other blogs you should be following: It might be an eclectic list but...
Heck, I'll let you read the whole interview, and check out some of the blogs I gave props to, here: Blabbeando with Andrés Duque.

If I may say so, it's probably the most important interview you will read in your life.

Thanks, Enrique, for having the great taste to interview me! You rock.

From panic to proud

The phone rang and immediately I recognized that it was Cruz's school's phone number. Realizing that I had only put him on the school bus fifteen minutes before panic gripped me. In the three seconds it took me to answer the phone several thoughts raced through my mind. Had the bus been in an accident? Was he sick? Had he thrown up on the bus? Was there a problem with his immunization records (again)? Had I not filled out or sent required paperwork? Was he okay? "Hi Lindsey this is Cruz's teacher"... "Hi, how are you," I tried to hide the panic in my voice and sound casual and breezy but I'm sure the awkwardness peeked through. "I was calling to tell you that Cruz seems to be pretty high functioning for my class room so we want to move him to another room." Relief immediately flooded me. "He has been doing really well in the classroom so we want to put him in a room that has 10-12 students and is more integrated with example students that he can model after." 
Up until this point I wasn't really sure how he was doing during the day. I know he responds well with adults so I presumed that he was behaving really well for the teachers and saving most of his fits until he comes home. He still seems to be pretty aggressive towards Wren and me. Hopefully this new classroom environment will really help boost his behavior up to a new level!

Stunning LGBT campaign ads from Argentina


A year ago, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to grant same-sex couples full marriage rights. Before this year is over, the Argentinean congress might very well pass a groundbreaking transgender-rights law extending health care protections to transgender individuals and making it easier for trans folk to change their ID's to better reflect their gender identity without requiring proof of gender reassignment surgery.

Getting to this point has certainly taken years of work by Argentinean LGBT organizations, activists, advocates and allies.  It has also inspired some pretty amazing television and online video ads.

The following two ads come from the Observatory for the Promotion of Sexual Diversity Rights in Salta or Obs.Salta for short and were made possible through grants from the United Nations (turn "annotations" on for my on-screen translation).


The second ad takes a similar take in a different setting...


The ads have actually been out for more than a year but somehow I missed them. You might also have missed a couple of really amazing ads I featured earlier.

The first one came as the ultimately successful marriage equality campaign was about to begin its final phase...


The most recent ad I featured is also a stunner and comes as advocates push for the transgender rights bill...


These are truly amazing ads.  When I try to think of any LGBT advocacy ads from the United States that are similar to these I am at a loss.  True, attitudes towards these issues might be different in Argentina than in the United States but does anyone know of any related ads produced in the U.S. that seem as immediate and vibrant as these ads?

Reaction:

Psylocke - Markers


Big Boy (2011)



Big Boy (Shireen Seno, 2011)

We live in the present, for the future. The past only becomes part of the present through memories, which are but figments of the imagination, collections of reality as perceived, designed and fashioned by the creative mind. Memories are never conjured spontaneously. They are urged, perhaps, through people, objects, faces, or emotions. It is this very malleable aspect of memories that makes them infinitely fascinating. We trust them but never fully, knowing that they are hardly objective, rarely completely reliable. They are dreams dreamt while awake. They are preludes to a trance subsisting on pain, joy, and everything else that have become requisite ingredients of evoking nostalgia.

Shireen Seno’s Big Boy is a film that lives up to the feeling of being in a trance, of being transported in a place that could only exist within the boundaries of the mind. While familiar and unfamiliar episodes of somebody else’s childhood flicker on screen, its audience’s very memories are urged, eliciting emotions that are at once both daunting and comforting. Adapted from Seno’s own memories of her childhood in the province, the film’s plot details the experiences of a boy who is routinely stretched and served with fish oil by her parents so that he can be tall enough to be the poster boy for their business of selling fish oil.

True to the very element of memories that Seno attempts to replicate in the film, the plot is overtly disjointed, with points voluntarily left unseen, untold and unexplained like events consciously forgotten for whatever reason. Apparently, the film has bigger ambitions than merely telling a very personal story. In fact, the way the story was told with points consciously left out alludes to the limitations of memories, how some events, especially those done in repetition or coupled with violence or other things that would render them indelible, become ironclad memories and how some are simply forgotten.

The film attempts to replicate remembering, where sights and sounds are products of the imagination rather than of the senses. Cinema however is an art that is reliant on the senses, making it Seno’s task to create in her film sights and sounds that resemble the ones seen and heard by the mind during the act of remembering. Shot in Super8, the film persists as a lyrical artifact of a forgotten era. The soft daytime hues, the kerosene lamp-lit nights, and the timeless Mindoro town become relatable images of a collective past. Conversations are inaccurately dubbed, with conversations jumping from Tagalog to the local dialect seemingly unplanned.

Seno regards memories as imperfectly crafted episodes. She pinpoints to the idea of remembering as a very personal effort, modified in time by the vast differences, whether in morality, politics, beliefs, the language spoken and other things, of the person remembering during the time when the event happened and the time when the event is remembered. Memories, in a way, are akin to fiction. Although more grounded on actual events than ordinary imagined stories, memories are still just fragments of the reality that gave birth to them. Big Boy, in that sense, with its very intimate story of a town still enamored by its past as an American colony, weaves memories and fiction together into an intoxicating portrait of a people who are unable to forget.

(Cross-published in Twitch.)

Salamangkero (1986)



Salamangkero (Tata Esteban, 1986)
English Title: Magic of the Universe

Tata Esteban is a director whose films mirrored his life. More reputed for being a careless womanizer who dabbled in drugs than a consistent and reliable filmmaker, Esteban has made films that are more famous for their blatant indulgences than anything else. However, a careful glance at his earlier pictures like Alapaap (Clouds, 1984) and Hubo sa Dilim (Naked in the Dark, 1985), both of which are clearly adult fare that feature abundant nudity and sex scenes, reveals a talent of potential that is too infrequently tapped. There is undeniable technique in the way he frames and designs his shots, creating an atmosphere that intriguingly mixes sleaze and style. Unfortunately, Esteban, probably because of his recklessness or a lack of luck or for whatever reason, never made that undisputed masterpiece that would catapult him to that level of respectability most filmmakers aspire for.

Esteban’s Salamangkero, released in 1986 during the Metro Manila Film Festival alongside Mario O’Hara’s more enduring Halimaw sa Banga (Monster in the Jar), could have been that masterpiece had it not turned into a mostly forgotten foray into American-style fantasy filmmaking. There’s very little sense to the film. In fact, the film is absolutely irrelevant and impertinent, especially during its time when Lino Brocka and other directors were either getting more and more political. Yet despite this glaring lack of substance, the film exposes Esteban as a master craftsman, still reckless and undisciplined, but capable of mounting a production that delights more because of how it was made rather than for what it was made.

Admittedly, Salamangkero, viewed now where computers have replaced prosthetics and other traditional special effects, is a gravely dated affair. Yet beyond Philippine shores, the film has gained considerable fame as Magic of the Universe, a re-released, re-dubbed shadow of its former self, because of its astute bizarreness than its craftsmanship. That bizarreness, the same bizarreness that has given Elwood Perez’s Silip (1985) (re-titled as Daughters of Eve) and Celso Ad Castillo’s Snake Sisters (1984) international success, has of course been translated into cult appeal and a fistful of straight-to-video dollars. Even in that mangled form, the film is still notably Esteban: logically flawed, narratively thin, but seductive because of its undaunted excesses.

The story is simple. Jamir (Michael de Mesa) is a magician who accidentally loses both his wife (Tanya Gomez) and daughter (Sunshine Dizon). After consulting a shaman (in a scene that forces De Mesa to eat monkey brains straight out of the head of a butchered monkey) and receiving advice from the ghost of his grandfather (also played by the very versatile De Mesa), he discovers that he has to rescue his wife and daughter, who are now prisoners of Mikula (Armida Siguion-Reyna), a vengeful witch who controls an army of pig-faced monsters and other eccentrics. Along with his assistant Bojok (Tom Tom), Jamir travels to Mikula’s dimension to recover a weapon that will defeat Mikula once and for all.

The simplicity of the story may be because of the fact that Salamengkero was intended to cater to the taste of children. It is a fantasy in the same vein as Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal (1982) or Labyrinth (1986), only less extravagant considering the budgetary constraints of the local production. Thankfully, the attempts at replicating Henson’s creature designs resulted into an unexpectedly absurd charm. From Gondo, that silly-looking creature that looks like the lovechild of Bugs Bunny and one of the Teletubbies, to tribe of midgets that become entranced by Jamir’s magic tricks, the film makes most of Filipino ingenuity, creating a fantasy world that may not be as complex and believable as its Western counterparts but is still madly entertaining. More than that, the film, beyond its very elementary struggle between good and evil, feels wildly grim and disturbed, as depicted in its shadowed hues and side characters with indistinguishable motivations and goals.

Esteban may never rise beyond being just a mere footnote in Philippine cinema. The films he left behind are more riddles on whether or not he had an opportunity to greatness than actual proofs of that greatness. It is because of that dividing uncertainty as to his place in Philippine cinema that makes him and his legacy of frustratingly imperfect films aberrations that deserve second looks.

(Cross-published in Lagarista.)

Cuban exile group in Miami stages hilarious protest against Ricky Martin

Details are sketchy but a small group of Cuban exiles in Miami apparently held a protest against pop singer Ricky Martin for daring to take the role of "Che" in the new Broadway version of the play "Evita".

Once feared for instigating boycotts against any music band that dared to perform in Cuba or had any allegiances to Cuban-based artists, Vigilia Mambisa, as the group calls itself, has become a shadow of its former glory and has lost favor with newer Cuban-American generations who see them as out of touch with political realities.

Images captured at the event, which was held on Friday, November 11th, in the parking lot outside the Miami's American Airlines Arena, show a woman holding a sing that reads "Ricky Martin: Undesirable, not worthy of appreciation - Boycott". Signs on the steamroller read "Boycott Ricky Martin's music" and "Vigilia Mambisa - Freedom".

The same group has mounted similar protest against a number of music bands including Miguel Bosé, Juanes and Los Van Van. This is not even the first fictionalized "Che" they have boycotted. In 2008, they riled against the Steven Soderbergh movie about the life of Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Ironically, according to Wikipedia, the character of "Che" in "Evita" was originally not even based on the Argentinean-born left wing revolutionary leader who helped Fidel Castro take over Cuba.  Apparently it was later that Harold Prince suggested that actors play the character as such when he joined production at a later stage in the play's development.

It's also not the only protest mounted against Ricky Martin in Miami in the last twelve months. On December 18th of last year, a group led by a Hispanic evangelical church stood outside Miami's Univision studios claiming that an interview with the pop idol that aired on November 2nd had been pornographic, indecent and obscene (it had been none of those things) and, of course, promoted the gay lifestyle.

Other than their target, the two protests apparently had something in common: Neither seemed to attract much attention or press.

Previews for "Evita" with Ricky Martin, Elena Roger and Michael Cerveris begin on Broadway on March 12th.

[Source]

Senator DeMint to Obama: Stop promoting human rights protections for LGBT communities outside the United States

NOTE: This entry has been cross-posted at The New Civil Rights Movement. Thanks to NCRM Editor David Badash for hosting the post there as well.

When President Barack Obama named Puerto Rican lawyer Mari Carmen Aponte as his choice to become the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador in 2009, the nomination ran smack into a wall set up by Republican Senators who simply refused to vote on a wide array of diplomatic candidates nominated by the president.

At preliminary hearings at the time, conservative South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint led the charge against Aponte raising several "issues" including ludicrous rumors that she might very well be a Communist infiltrator.

Facing an obstructionist Republican Senate, Obama waited until a congressional recess to pull several of the nominees out of the regular nomination process and use his presidential powers to appoint them as interim ambassadors.  That meant that they could immediately start serving as diplomats but would have to eventually face confirmation hearings at the end of the next calendar year from the date in which they were appointed.

Among those who were appointed for interim posts on August of 2010 was Aponte.

On a related matter, on June 27th of this year U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held the third annual LGBT pride event to happen at the U.S. Department of State under her watch.

In an extraordinary speech before staff from the Department of State and members of the U.S. diplomatic corps, Clinton saluted their work on promoting respect for LGBT communities throughout the world. An excerpt from the full speech:
There is the tremendous work that our diplomats have been doing in regional and international institutions to strengthen a shared consensus about how governments should treat their citizens. And we’ve made the message very consistent and of a high priority. All people’s rights and dignity must be protected whatever their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The very next day El Salvador's La Prensa Gráfica published an opinion piece by Ambassador Aponte titled "For an end to prejudice, wherever it exists".  An excerpt from the article (full translation at the end of this post):
Last March, before the Human Rights Council at the United Nations, the United States, El Salvador and eighty-three other nations signed a pledge to eliminate violence against members of the LGBT community; additionally, on May of 2010, Salvadorean President Mauricio Funes signed Decree 56 which prohibits all forms of discrimination by the government of El Salvador on the basis of sexual orientation or identity. I applaud efforts by the government of El Salvador in support of the LGBT community both on the national and the international level.
The OpEd drew an immediate and furious rebuke from a small but powerful group of right-wing conservative religious leaders from El Salvador and other Latin American countries.

On July 6th, ACI Prensa reported that 42 so-called "pro life" and "pro family" organizations from the United States and Latin America had signed a statement rejecting the opinion piece ("Civil groups energetically reject the gay ideology of the United States in El Salvador").  A translated excerpt:
Aponte's article is essentially a cover for those so-called 'gay rights' which are actually an attempt to disguise an absolute imposition of the LGBT lobby's ideology on Catholic countries such as El Salvador - a position promoted by the Obama administration and by his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in particular.

It's a position taken as a ploy to impose gender ideology - which stems from the tenents of feminism and homosexual thinking - and use it to promote the idea that the differences between a man and a woman are merely social and not biological or based on nature.
As for the risks of such ideology being "imposed" on El Salvador by the United States? The actual statement released by the organizations made comparisons between the United States and the Roman Empire in the following way:
The fallen Roman Empire was considered to be modern and progressive.  Babies were aborted, newborns were murdered, and - similarly - people would engage in homosexual, bisexual and incestuous relationships, pedophilia, zoophilia and orgies. Such decadence weakened said empire and led to its fall.
Salvadoran cultural observer Marvin Aguilar took the homophobic religious doomsayers to task a week later in an OpEd that ran in La Página ("In consideration of what was said by the U.S. Ambassador"). A translated excerpt:
In the Tuesday, June 28th edition of La Pagina Gráfica, Mari Carmen Aponte wrote about the policies of the current U.S. president which which observe June as the month in which the United States commemorates LGBT pride.

She argued in favor of combating violence, hate and misconceptions about a specific community of individuals. She explained the efforts made by the current government she represents in understanding that the rights of homosexuals are Human Rights and described how [homosexuality] was no longer classified as a pathology or a perversion that should be corrected or silenced.

Nowhere in the text authored by the Ambassador did she refer to any intent by the government she represents to intervene directly in the culture, tradition and values of El Salvador.
Which brings us to this:  As an recess appointee, Aponte must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before the end of this year to be able to keep her post and, once again, Senator DeMint is the one leading the charge against her.  But now, instead of the Cuban infiltrator charges, DeMint is questioning Aponte's strong support for the protection of LGBT communities in El Salvador.

From a November 8th confirmation hearing before the Foreign Relations Committee...


And a partial transcript...
I would like to ask unanimous consent to submit for the record an opinion piece published in El Salvador by Ambassador Aponte in June of this year.  In her OpEd, Ms. Aponte, presuming to represent the view of all Americans, in strongly promoting the homosexual lifestyle, wrote that "everyone has the responsibility to inform our neighbors and friends about what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender." The OpEd upset a large number of community and pro-family groups in El Salvador who were insulted by Ms. Aponte's attempt to impose a pro-gay agenda in their country.

I would also like to ask unanimous consent to submit, for the record, a response to the OpEd from a coalition of more than three dozen groups and a letter from Salvadorean groups to the United States Senate asking the Senate to oppose Ms. Aponte's confirmation and I quote "We respectfully request that Ms. Aponte be removed from her post as soon as possible so that El Salvador may enjoy the benefits of having a person as a government representative of your noble country."

I would like to apologize to the Salvadorean people on behalf of the United States and reassure them that most Americans share their values. Ms. Aponte's personal, professional and political contact over many years raises numerous questions of judgement. I will vote 'no on Ms. Aponte's confirmation and strongly recommend my colleagues do the same.
In an OpEd published the next day in the conservative website Human Events, DeMint singled out Aponte's praise for Hillary Clinton ("Aponte's Agenda").
Aponte praised Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her previous remarks that “gay rights are human rights” and also noted gay pride month is celebrated with “parades, festivals, and educational campaigns” in the United States where the gay rights movement “celebrates its identity throughout the country.”
That's right.  Senator DeMint is urging the U.S. Senate not to appoint Aponte as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador based on an OpEd in which she saluted the government of El Salvador for their own initiatives to protect their LGBT populations.

Aponte, who was at the hearing, defended herself against DeMint's accusations when she had a chance to reply. "The OpEd reflects the policies of the Obama administration, the Salvadorean government and sixty-three other countries," she said to La Prensa, "It was not drafted as an insult to anyone."

Salvadoran columnist Marvin Aguilar, in an OpEd column published in La Prensa on November 10th, described DeMint's attempts at getting rid of Aponte as follows:
Catholic fundamentalists in El Salvador, skipping over historical papal lessons, have begun a Christian crusade to cleanse El Salvador of Mari Carmen Aponte. They say she is a destroyer of national family values, that she promotes heinous sinfulness and, in adition, some say that she even likes the arts.  Leave it up to us, the Latin American beggars, to be more papal than the Pope when it comes to defend conservative beliefs, customs and traditions which are - of course - shared by all Salvadoreans.

Love unites but hate also brings people together.  That's the way that local Catholics with an European pedigree have built an alliance with Jim DeMint, U.S. Senator from South Carolina, who is - according to U.S. political analysts, the most conservative congressmember in the Senate. He is a member of the Tea Party and is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. Senate.

In sharp contrast to Salvadorean Catholic leader Archbishop Escobar Alas, DeMint has promoted prayer in schools; in contrast with people from El Salvador, he is in favor of abortion when the life of a mother is at risk; he does not want undocumented Salvadoreans living in the United States and is in favor of deporting them unlike other Catholics; he supported the Iraq invasion and when he finally visited Honduras in 2009, he met with Roberto Micheletti even though our country had not recognized his de facto government.

Nobody is perfect, least of all politicians whether they are from the U.S. or El Salvador, but... What is someone who is a Protestant Baptist and the son of divorced parents doing creating alliances with Salvadorean Catholics who sustain that divorce is a sin? What sexual agenda unites them against Mari Carmen Aponte?

Senator DeMint has publicly said that gays, single mothers, heterosexuals in civil unions as well as sexually active persons should not be hired as school educators.  Similarly, he also has been and advocate that, if government does not have the authority or the legal tools to restrict homosexuality, it also should not be promoted through the legalization of gay marriage. And that is why he has echoed the tumultuous and sad complaints shouted to heaven by the increasingly strident Salvadorean Christian movement that has taken its lobbying activities to U.S. grounds.

Senator DeMint has said that his statements [on homosexuality] are based on his personal beliefs and should not be interpreted as issues he wants or should bring up as a Senator. It's surprising, then, that he is now opposing a column written by the U.S. Ambassador in La Prensa Gráfica which only sought to explain the vision of the Obama government as related to the gay community in the United States.

A tiny drop of fundamentalist fanatics cannot represent the ocean of Salvadoreans who respect the ways of other nations.
Aguilar is making reference to several on the record comments DeMint has made in the past ("Sen. Kim DeMint: Gays and unmarried, pregnant women should not teach public school", The Huffington Post, Oct. 2, 2010).

Covering last week's hearing, La Prensa also mentions that Marco Rubio, U.S Senator from Florida and Tea Party darling, asked Aponte if she had felt pressured to write the OpEd piece.  Aponte reminded the Senator that she has written a regular opinion column for the paper and that she had written on LGBT issues specifically from a human rights viewpoint.

I have yet to find a full transcript or video of the hearing but Senate Republicans, in voting against Aponte, but her written testimony can be downloaded in PDF form here. Three former Salvadorean presidents traveled to Washington, DC, last month to support her confirmation ("Felix Rodriguez: In U.S. National Interest, confirm U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador", Miami Herald, Nov. 5, 2011).

I have translated Ambassador Aponte's "controversial" OpEd on LGBT rights. As you read it, please ask yourself who is seeking to impose certain values on El Salvador: Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte of South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.

Clearly for DeMint this is not only about Aponte. This is a rebuke against any attempt by the U.S. government to promote policies that extend human rights protections to LGBT populations throughout the world.

For an end to prejudice, wherever it exists
by Mari Carmen Aponte - As published in Spanish in La Prensa Gráfica on June 28th, 2011

On May 31st, President Obama proclaimed June of 2011 as the pride month for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

"The history of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in the United States," says the President's proclamation, "is the story of our parents and children, our mothers and daughters, our neighbors and friends who continue the task of making our nation a more perfect union."

In the U.S., June is recognized as Gay Pride Month, a month during which the LGBT community celebrates its identity throughout the country through parades, festivals and educational campaigns.

When Congressman Barney Frank, who is openly gay, was asked why they should be proud of such a natural and innate human characteristic, he said "We are proud to stand up to hatred, prejudice and violence, specially when it is so difficult to stand up and say 'This is me'; To do so should make us feel extremely proud".

No one should be subjected to abuse because of who he is or who he loves. Homophobia and the brutal aggression that [gays] often endure are often based on a lack of understanding about what it truly means to be homosexual or transgender. We should work together too prevent negative perceptions through education and offering support to people who confront those who promote hate.

A year ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with great passion, stated "gay rights are human rights."  In the same way, we believe people should not be stripped from their rights on the basis of their sexual preference or orientation.  For that reason, the United States will continue to support the elimination of violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation on a worldwide basis.

Last March, before the Human Rights Council at the United Nations, the United States, El Salvador and eighty-three other nations signed a pledge to eliminate violence against members of the LGBT community; additionally, on May of 2010, Salvadorean President Mauricio Funes signed Decree 56 which prohibits all forms of discrimination by the government of El Salvador on the basis of sexual orientation or identity. I applaud efforts by the government of El Salvador in support of the LGBT community both on the national and the international level.

However, the responsibility does not only lie in the hands of governments. Everyone has the responsibility to contribute whether it's by confronting intimidation or violence when it happens in our schools or worksites, or by helping to inform our neighbors and friends about what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. As our nations advance, we also experience an ongoing transformation on what it means to be a citizen in a democratic society.  Together, as governments and as individuals, we can work to break the cycle of violence and discrimination.

It is the responsibility of each generation to bring our nations closer to fulfilling the promise of equality.  Progress takes time, but history is on our side when we come together to demand an end to prejudice, wherever it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the Americas.

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Big day for the big boy!



 Tuesday was Cruz's first day of preschool. I was plagued with anticipation trying to get him ready for big boy school that day. Clueless as to what lay ahead, he bounced around like any other morning watching Dora and playing with Frank. The parking lot was totally full when we pulled in. School busses lined the drive through. We walked across the parking lot and my stomach was tied in knots. I hadn't anticipated feeling such emotion on this day. We walked into the building and Cruz ran up to the reception desk and yelled 'Hi'. His teacher was waiting for us and held Cruz's hand as we all walked back to his room. Upon entering Wren looked around the room and proclaimed, "Whoah!"  She immediately wanted to get down and play with the toys. There was a kitchen and bin of toys, including Woody and Buzz, directly in front of us. We let her play for a minute while we explained to Cruz that this was his new school. I told him that his new teacher was just like his other teachers and that if he needed his hugs during the day that she was the one to go to. Cruz got to hang his backpack up in his own little cubby. We each hugged and kissed him and told him goodbye. He asked for knucks and high fives before we left. "Byeeee" he yelled as we walked out. Tears immediately filled my eyes. It was the strangest feeling. I wasn't nervous or scared for him. I knew he would have fun. I think for the first time I realized he was actually growing up, becoming a big boy going to a big boy school. The entire length of the hallway we could hear him continue to yell, "bye" repeatedly. Each time it seemed to spring more tears inside. I tried so hard to swallow that lump. Stopped at the reception desk to ask a quick question and I totally lost it. The poor receptionist looked at me confused, 'Are you okay?' I couldn't even say anything. Jason stepped in, 'Today is our sons first day'. She gave an understanding look and as we walked out I just let those tears fall. Throughout the drive home I had that tugging at my heart. It was incredibly difficult to realize he is graduating to the next step of life. Entering the public school system and he had only turned three a couple of days ago. He was excited and I knew he would have a blast.

Well, the next morning the school bus came and picked him up from our house. They hadn't told me ahead of time when they would be coming but I knew it would be early. The bus rolled up at 8:00. I frantically tried to get his coat on, backpack, camera, and wren and run out the garage door. He was so excited to see the bus! He had no problem climbing right up those steps into the arms of kind strangers. We waved goodbye and Wren cried when he left. I don't think she cared that he was leaving but she wanted to ride the bus too. 'Ride, Ride, Ride' she cried over and over.


This morning daddy got to be with us when the bus came. Cruz waited patiently at the top of the driveway. Once he was loaded in his seat he gave daddy and Wren high five and knuckles over and over. We watched his mouth yell 'bye' repeatedly as they drove away. So, here we go, on another new adventure with Cruz!









Graduation

I have to said this again, time flies!! Tomorrow will be my boys last day at the kindy. Think back, they had been in this kindy for 3.5 years.

From a naughty boys to now, a more mature boys. They definitely learn a lot from here and also they are more discipline. They remember what teacher told them, teacher told them, don't watch too much cartoon, especially Tom and Jerry, choose those show that are more educational. They keep that in mind, it had been 1/2 year they didn't watch Tom and Jerry show, if they accidently turn in, they will quickly switch to another channel and they will keep remind each other, teacher said cannot watch Tom and Jerry. LOL

Back to the topic, last week, they had their Thanks Giving and Graduation Day. Those 6 years old which will going to graduate, they had a few performance, dance & singing. I took a few videos of it, but it took a long time to load it here, i will just post the pictures up.



Graduation day


The stage. Can you spot the Noah's Ark at the side? :)


all the kids from the kindy sing few songs.

Others most are videos, not much pictures taken. :D


After the graduation ceremony, it is pictures taking session.



me and the boys.

Daddy was working, he missed the boys graduation, so i ask a favor from the teacher to let me borrow back the robe in order to have a family picture. Glad i able to do so, and here another few more for the album.


the boys..


and a proper one for the album . :)

Ok, don't ask me why daddy look so serious, he said he is born like that. :S


Graduation cert.

I also prepare something small for the kids at the kindy, i thought of giving it to them on the last day of school which is tomorrow, but i am worried it will be quite rush, that explain i pass it to the kids at school today, but the teacher only told me, they will have a mini early Christmas celebration tomorrow, so the teacher will only distribute it to the kids tomorrow.


something really simple, a small box of cereal and with some little decoration.


it look simple but it also took up a lot of my time to prepare this!! :S

I also prepare something for the teachers, as a appreciation tokens.


a small wristlet bag in a brown paper which nicely done by Barb. Since she got a lot idea, i ask for her help. :) Thanks so much Barb!

Plus some puff and cookies from Mark and Spencer also nicely wrap by Barb.



I put it all in a paper and with a note tag from the boys.



This is for the class teacher, of course there are something extra. *wink wink*


little hand written note by Fearles to the teachers.


A little note from Cruz to the teachers.

Boys, they are just growing too fast! Awwwwwwww !