Inspired by Habermas' (mythical?) depiction of a cafe culture engaged in lively debate, the Popular Communication Public Sphere: Media Studies Summer Seminar Series aims to provide a friendly yet critical forum discussing key issues concerning media, technology and popular culture today.

Scholars, graduates/undergraduates, and industry people gather ( Read more... )

My latest "advocacy" (ironically, for lack of a better word): SaveTheWords.org

Let's adopt one word a week. After adopting, nourish your word-baby simply by using it. Simple enough, eh? And to exemplify, I admit I've already used my word in this entry.
( Can you guess what my first word-baby is? )

I have lost too many great loves to too many great cities. I am about to lose at least another one. I can shrug it off without warning, yes, but I can't stop the furtive appearance of Time.

You said this city
has beating heart.

It surprises me that The Cure can still tell the story of my days better than other testaments that claim multiple truths.

An emoticon for all of you: =)

(Whispered caveat: Space-Time. It's always Space-Time.)

I have cultivated the habit of reading magazines like books--that is, from cover to cover. It matters not which cover story caught my attention and convinced me to buy an issue; I have to flip through all the adverts, the features, the letters.

In front of me right now lies the February 2009 issue of Reader's Digest Asia, which features US President ( Read more... )

Geography as a Site of Semiological Oppression.

I often talk about how demarcations of space and geographical positions (think urban planning) are anything but value-free. Often, they are too telling of scarring narratives, for instance of racial discrimination and/or class-based wars (and the omnipresent intersections of the two), and are but a way ( Read more... )

Change is on the cards, but this time it will be hard
But I never want to leave you
We’ve never had a fight
You should never split a pole
You should never split at all
I wish I had two paths I could follow
I’d write the ending without any sorrow

I will say a prayer, just while you are sitting there
I will wrap my arms around you
I know it will be ( Read more... )

I've been starting all sorts of lists (books I absolutely have to acquire this month, movies I intend on watching, awesome music I've been missing out on, material possessions I'd rather not possess, best friends I haven't heard from all break), although they are neither for the "new year" nor will they resolve any pressing problems I have on my ( Read more... )

My friends and I all work in different cities now. Singapore, Cebu, Manila, Marikina, QC. We are hardly the first group of friends to be separated by our "careers" but it's different from when Rachel had to go to Paris (FRIENDS Season 10 Episode 16), 'cause well 1) Rachel came back, and 2) this is NOT a TV sitcom. Real people, real feelings, and ( Read more... )

Dear Lady, I almost forgot your name.