Now/here no/where woman

According to Adbusters, "The international audience finds it's own media, free from western bias." Oh really? Here in this cowntry* national and community tv channels continue to broadcast shows and news slanted towards the West or mimicking American tv, and the U.S. continues to make headlines or appears on our national newspapers' front pages almost daily. Are we still so tied to the U.S. that whatever happens there makes waves of tsunami proportions here? Or is it just the media that makes American news so important in the Philippines? Perhaps it works both ways? Compared to the US, how often do our Southeast Asian neighbors -- with whom we (once???) shared many cultural, historical, economic, and social realities -- make headlines in this cowntry apart from around the time of the ASEAN meetings, or if and when GMA goes on another of her junkets in the neighborhood, or if and when Filipinos find themselves in a tight spot in those countries, or if and when they ha...

From Wondermark: Illustrated Jocularity by David Malki. Tip: Click on image for better viewing. When perusing strips on the Wondermark site, hover your mouse over the strip to get further insight into the comic.

So you use skin-whitening products? Check out what young, educated, Indonesian women have to say about women who would rather be pale and vapid than dark and sultry.

It is the end of Ramadan. The Artist-in-Residence was appalled that some of her classmates thought the holiday would be moved to Monday. According to her they only stopped insisting when she pointed out to them that it would be equivalent to GMA declaring that Christmas should be celebrated on the 20th instead of the 25th of December. Here is a view of Islam most of us -- growing up in a predominantly Christian and prejudiced society -- would never have thought of: Islamic pop culture!