JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Today is the 26th death anniversary of Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr—Ninoy, who was shot on the airport tarmac when he attempted to come home from America. Ninoy’s death ignited a revolution.

To mark the occasion we think back to an earlier Filipino hero who came home from Europe and was shot for writing two novels. Jose Rizal’s death ignited a revolution.

Here is your essay topic. If Jose Rizal were alive today, what would he say about the Philippines?

Write it in the first person, as if you were Jose Rizal.

500-word maximum, we’re not reading novel-length submissions. If you have a blog, just post the link to your essay.

Four winners will be selected by our judges. They will receive the new edition of Noli Me Tangere from Guerrero Publishing, now available at National Bookstores.

The deadline for submission of your entries (In Comments, please, under this post) is August 31, 2009.

Saffy likes the Noli but is not eligible to join the contest.

Update. Contest 20 hours old and just two entries. (a) Nobody wants copy of Noli. (b) Essay too hard (Impossible. You guys like to fulminate, hence word limit). (c) People still thinking; too much to say. Ah well. But if only four people join, they will all win!

By the way in the original Spanish the Noli is supposed to be quite funny.

* * * * *

Aha, the contest has picked up! Karina Bolasco, the boss lady of Anvil Publishing, has graciously agreed to be the judge. We’re still receiving entries.

Almost forgot: everyone who sends in an entry is invited to the Good Ideas forum.

The Good Ideas coffee is set for Saturday, 26 September 2009, 4-6pm at Whitespace (Hall A, next to Manila Contemporary) on 2314 Chino Roces Avenue (Pasong Tamo Extension), Makati City.

Our guest is Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin, who will listen to your pitches and tell you if they’re brilliant/workable or…not. (If you are very sensitive or easily offended, disinvite yourself.) The other guests will be announced when we have confirmation.

Coffee and cake will be served. Admission is free, but you have to post a Good Idea. Participants will be emailed invitations by 12 September (a long way off, but let’s plan early). To avoid chaos we’ll prepare a program.

I must emphasize that this is a forum, not some kind of club (I hate clubs). We will air our thoughts but we do not have to agree on anything. Our guests are not compelled to do as we say. We’re all individuals here. I wouldn’t want to belong to a club that would have me for a member.

Melo says we should hand out gift bags. All the participants will receive nerdy loot bags containing notebooks, pens, museum tickets, pocket protectors, stuff like that.

Here’s a basic good idea: Before you post a question asking, What do you mean by Good Idea? you could look at the previous posts which mention Good Idea. I can hear my late mother’s voice in my head saying, Look with your eyes and not with your mouth! Gamitin ang mata sa paghahanap, hindi ang bibig! Oh no, now I feel like stuffing dead birds, running a motel on a desolate highway and wearing drag. . .

The Penguin Classics Deluxe editions of The Scarlet Letter, Pride and Prejudice, and Wuthering Heights feature cover art by Ruben Toledo.

You still can’t judge books by their covers, but these declare that the novels are as fresh and vital as when they first appeared over a century ago. Some readers will complain that a classic should look “like a classic”. Do they mean dusty, fusty, and unread?

Hawthorne, Austen, and Bronte aren’t the only 19th century authors to get their looks updated.

Noli Me Tangere by our national hero Jose Rizal, in the best-known English translation by Leon Ma. Guerrero, has just arrived in a new cover by Team Manila. Do you like it?

It looks better than other editions, but it kind of reminds me of Soviet propaganda art. Is that a statement?

Win a copy of Noli Me Tangere in our essay-writing contest. The topic will be announced tomorrow, August 21. (You could get a headstart by reviewing Noli and Fili.)

It’s. . .Disney Pixar’s Fitzcarraldo!

It would only be ruined by over-description. Must see Up again in IMAX 3D.

Visit Up story supervisor and lead story artist Ronnie del Carmen’s blog.

Ricky relayed our congratulations to Ronnie (They worked together on local toothpaste commercials) and asked if the character Carl the old man was based on Ronnie (Square-jawed, not cranky). Ronnie said they had Spencer Tracy in mind—a square version—and added that he tended to draw his father in all the storyboards. He directed a short starring Dug the dog which will be included in the Up dvd, and there’s also a Dug storybook.

Robert Capa’s famous photograph, Falling Soldier.

After nearly three-quarters of a century Robert Capa’s “Falling Soldier” picture from the Spanish Civil War remains one of the most famous images of combat ever. It is also one of the most debated, with a long string of critics claiming that the photo, of a soldier seemingly at the moment of death, was faked. Now, a new book by a Spanish researcher asserts that the picture could not have been made where, when or how Capa’s admirers and heirs have claimed.

In “Shadows of Photography,” José Manuel Susperregui, a communications professor at the Universidad del País Vasco, concludes that Capa’s picture was taken not at Cerro Muriano, just north of Córdoba, but near another town, about 35 miles away. Since that location was far from the battle lines when Capa was there, Mr. Susperregui said, it means that “the ‘Falling Soldier’ photo is staged, as are all the others in the series taken on that front.”. . .

From NYT: New Doubts Raised Over Famous War Photo.

Everyone mouths off about politics and the need for change, but how many of us are actually registered to vote in the 2010 elections?

My clever friends at NEXUS have launched a 100% Employee Voters Registration Program.

The goal is to allow every eligible voter in the company to register with the Commission on Elections. Every employee is allowed to take a day off to register. That day will not be deducted from their vacation leaves.

Employees who are already registered voters, being responsible citizens, are also entitled to a paid day off.

And then the first fifty employees to submit their official voter registration documents to Human Resources get free tickets to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds starring Brad Pitt, which opens in October.

Brilliant idea using Brad Pitt to encourage voters to register! I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.

You can visit http://www.comelec.gov.ph/findprecinct_/findprecinct.aspx to check if your Comelec voter registration is still active.

Here are the NEXUS guidelines, in case you want to suggest a similar program at your place of work.

Then we can address the big issue: Whom do we vote for?