My travels to places where there are no paths to follow.
No, this isn’t an ultra-nationalist or racist rant, and sorry if the title sounds that way. In fact, right now I’m having a long and lovely affair with (or rather, rediscovery of) Spanish culture and language. I threw a little farkin’ title up there, so I’ll have your attention when I lash away at ignorant mongers of fake loan words from Spain.
November 5 is a special day in Britain, but the masks used for the occasion have gotten so popular this year they have become top-selling store items in Western countries. What’s up, que pasa, anyare?
My first reaction was that the mask is a very creepy mask: a man’s pale face with glowing pink cheeks, mustache and goatee, and an unnerving smile that’s almost like a leer. You wonder, “Where have I seen this mask before?” Then you suddenly realize. It’s those Guy Fawkes masks worn by growing ranks of demonstrators in American and European cities and that have come to symbolize Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests.
I know it’s tragic enough that Charice’s estranged father had to catch up with the November 1 memorials to the dead, lying inside a coffin with an ice-pick stab. But it’s doubly tragic that an ABS-CBN news item early this morning had him killed “with a 12-foot icepick.” What did the writer have in mind, a bamboo skewer for lechon vaca?
And it’s triply tragic for media showbiz reports to spread vile rumors about Charice’s alleged reactions about his father’s death. What do showbiz reporters wear for Halloween night anyway, a repulsive bat’s face? Or do they simply come to the party as they are? What is it with Metro Manila media these days anyway?