On Salome, Joan and Me

I just got back from the laundry place, and I'm too lazy to put my clothes away. Oh well - the clothes shall wait while I entertain myself here. The clock in my computer says that it's 11 PM, while my watch says that it's 10 PM. Dratted time changes. I don't know why I'm complaining, actually; the time difference between here and home is 13 hours, so a mere hour difference shouldn't matter. And it doesn't matter. I just felt like complaining.

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Last Thursday, I went to see Salome, a play written by Oscar Wilde and directed by Professor Anton Juan. Yes, the Anton Juan. For those of you who don't know, he's this hotshot Filipino director who's now teaching theater here at ND. My description doesn't do him justice at all. My readers should forgive me - it's been a long day, and I'm not in the mood to be particularly descriptive. This excerpt from the Program should say something about the play, though:

Director's Notes: Forbidden Desire
Anton Juan

"Oscar Wilde goes to the edge. He describes Salome, whose kiss is rejected by the saint (John the Baptist), as 'not just a dancing girl but the symbolic animation of undying lust, the goddess of immortal Hysteria, the accursed beauty exalted above all other beauties by the catalepsy that hardens her flesh annd steels her muscles, the Monstrous Beast, indifferent, irresponsible, insensible - poisoning like Helen of ancient myth, everything she touches.' ...

I have employed the use of certain Kyogen principles that would constitute the delight in evil and the hierarchy of power, as in the case of Cesar, Herod, the nobles, and soldiers. I have also anchored Salome's dance to the indigenous Filipino Pangalay dance, based on half-bird, half-women - figures that are monomythical throughout the world, from harpies, to angels, to saviours of human beings, but also to seductive birds of prey."

There you guys go. And here are some pictures that I found on the web:


Credit to This Website


Credit to The South Bend Tribune
Now that I think about it, Professor Anton reminds me of Professor Danton Remoto of the Ateneo de Manila University. I was privileged to have taken Professor Remoto's classes in both short-story writing and poetry when I was in my last year at Ateneo. I learned a lot from those two classes. Oh, and I took Professor Krip Yuson's short-story writing class too. Those were fun times - I felt so vulnerable and unsure of myself in those classes, but signing up for them and giving my all in them were among the best things I've done in life. I wonder if I can take Creative Writing classes here.

Last thing I'll say about the play - Ms. Olga Natividad played the role of Salome. She's a resident actor of Tanghalang Pilipino who taught at the Theater Arts Program of Ateneo. More importantly, she was the voice of Hua Ze Lei's girlfriend in Meteor Garden I and II (the Filipino version). Sing it with me - it's a small word after all...

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Since I'm on a roll, talking about Pinoy Pride and all, this next section is a great, big congratulations to my friend, former Ateneo Debate Society debater Joan de Venecia, who topped the Philippine Bar Exam! This is the most comprehensive article I could find. Yeah, I'm an Inquirer kid. To Joan, if you're reading this - sorry, friend! I know your picture is rather unflattering here. So here's another article with a nicer picture of you. Er, but this contains the Mr. Perfect hirit that got Len laughing so hard that people though she was retarded. So I guess that does it for the links.

I would just like to bask in the limelight and claim that I knew that she was going to top the bar, no doubt about it. In fact, last year, when I thought I'd be taking law back home and was then having a heck of a time deciding between UP and Ateneo, the only two schools I'd applied to, I remember Cokelover (whose dad is a UP lawyer who also topped the bar) sending me a text message saying that UP had topped the bar exam. And then I excitedly texted him back to ask if it was Joan. And he said it wasn't. I felt that was odd, but I let it pass. And then I looked through the exam results in the newspaper, and her name wasn't even in there. I was like, the results can't be right. And the next time I spoke to her, I figured out that she had yet to take the bar exam. That was funny.

Since my first bar-topping prediction came true, I'm going to make two more predictions: for Batch 2008, April Morales, fellow goddess and second-year law student of Ateneo Law, will top the bar. And for Batch 2009, it's going to be Jess Lopez, former Ateneo Debate Society debater who is also in Ateneo Law. And Jess, I'm not saying this just because it was your birthday two days ago.

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Let's talk about me again. This morning, I got out of bed at 10:20 AM for an 11 AM class. I didn't have time to dry my hair, so I didn't bother. I stepped out of my apartment and found that it was raining. I hate the rain. In a previous post, I said I hated snow, but I think I hate rain more than I do snow. Anyway, I had to walk for 15 minutes through the rain just to get to the law building! I'm not talking about a nice, pleasant drizzle. I'm talking about a heavy shower with merciless wind that turned my sister's pink Esprit umbrella inside-out and had me looking (and feeling) like a drowned rat by the time I entered the building. Before entering my classroom and facing more than a hundred of my classmates, I tried running my hand through my hair, but I couldn't move my fingers more than an inch. So I tossed my head, stepped in, and tried to pretend that I was invisible. That was an experience. I probably should get up earlier tomorrow. Ah, if only I could resist sleep.

It's funny that I'm getting the full brunt of the rain experience here at ND, when Manila is a land of rain for half the year. But then again, the Manila I'm from is different from the Manila that most know. I don't have the time to expound on that now so I'll leave that for another day.

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I'm getting sleepy already, so I'm ending this post. Before I do, though, I'd like to explain The Gunner theme. (And this section is dedicated to Jac.) Over here, gunners are people who are addicted to hearing themselves speak up in class, so that they recite more often than is either necessary or tolerable. I can't think of a Filipino translation right now, but I know that you guys know what I mean. So I'm the Gunner because when I blog, I just shoot my fingers off without either thinking or caring about whatever. That's the explanation.

Really sleepy now. Abangan ang susunod na kabanata. (Translation: Wait for the next chapter.)