on strange things and normal things

"unnatural selection"
currently researching on "ways to die" for a script idea i'm working on, and i found these bizarre/ironic celebrity deaths. check it...

• 453 AD, Attila the Hun: bled to death from a nosebleed on his wedding night.
• 1626, Sir Francis Bacon: pneumonia. He was experimenting with freezing a chicken by stuffing it with snow.
• 1893, Anthony J. Drexel III (philanthropist): shot himself accidentally while showing off a new gun in his collection to his friends.
• 1920, Alexander I of Greece (king of the Hellenes): died from blood poisoning after being bitten by his gardener's pet monkey.
• 1920, Raymond Johnson Chapman (Cleveland Indians baseball player): died one day after being struck in head by baseball pitch, becoming the only player ever killed as result of major league baseball game.
• 1927, Isadora Duncan (actress): accidental strangulation when her scarf caught in car wheel.
• 1941, Sherwood Anderson (writer) : after swallowing a toothpick at a cocktail party he died of peritonitis on an ocean liner bound for Brazil.
• 1955, James Dean: car crash.
  
• 1968, Albert Dekker (actor, California legislator): suffocated, hanging from shower curtain rod, handcuffed, wearing women's lingerie.
• 1983, Tennessee Williams (writer): choked to death on a on a nose spray bottle cap that accidentally dropped into his mouth while he was using the spray. He was 71.
• 1984, Jim Fixx (made jogging popular): died of a heart attack... while jogging.
• 1984, Jon-Erik Hexum (actor): playfully shot himself with a blank-loaded pistol on the set of TV spy show "Cover Up." The concussion forced a chunk of his skull into his brain; he died six days later.
• 1994, Jeffrey Dahmer (mass murderer): beaten to death with a broomstick by a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institute.

man. i think if i were to choose a pathetic way of dying, my death headline would state, "2005, Michaela Tatad (film student): was scared to death by house rats." simple, stupid, and realistic (pest control, we need you!).


legal sex
got this from aissa who procrastinates by researching on sex laws. bwahahaha.

• In Lebanon, men are legally allowed to have sex with animals, but the animals must be female. Having sexual relations with a male animal is punishable by death.
• In Bahrain, a male doctor may legally examine a woman's genitals, but is prohibited from looking directly at them during the examination. He may only see their reflection in a mirror.
• Muslims are banned from looking at the genitals of a corpse. This also applies to undertakers. The sex organs of the deceased must be covered with a brick or piece of wood at all times.
• The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is decapitation.
• In Singapore, oral sex is a criminal act. "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animals can be fined and jailed up to 10 years, or even for life."
• There are men in Guam whose full-time job is to travel the countryside and deflower young virgins, who pay them for the privilege of having sex for the first time. Reason: under Guam law, it is expressly forbidden for virgins to marry.
• In Hong Kong, a betrayed wife is legally allowed to kill her adulterous husband, but may only do so with her bare hands. The husband's lover, on the other hand, may be killed in any manner desired.
• In Cali, Colombia, a woman may only have sex with her husband, and the first time this happens, her mother must be in the room to witness the act.
• In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, it is illegal for a man to have sex with a woman and her daughter at the same time.

our world is just too strange.


and speaking of strange...
the strangest thing happened last night. i was watching this episode of The Simple Life (haha. so sue me.) where one of the girls' foster dads surprised his wife with a romantic candle-lit dinner in their tiny homecabin. all of a sudden... and for reasons so unpredictable... droplets of tears started to stream down my cheeks. I KNOW, RIGHT??? what was THAT about?!? garsh.

it was my first emotional exhibit since i got my period (oops. overshare? hehe). i think it was the damn candles that triggered unsolicited thoughts of how i used to be... sweet like that... mushy-gross... in love with the yucky-love-stuff that kept my past relationships on honeymoon mode for a really long time... how i simply believed in being in a relationship.

yeah... sadly, i am one of those traumatized souls who (thinks she) can't see herself in a serious relationship anymore. it's not that i've been in a lot. i just don't see it coming for me... or at least in the near future. most of the time i think, there're just too many issues to settle before i can open my doors to anyone else. other times i think, why bother when it's bound to end sooner or later, anyway. but deep down, i think... i just can't let myself get hurt again. just like anyone who's experienced the trauma of a bad relationship, i've resorted to MIND OVER MATTER, instead of my usual LISTEN TO YOUR HEART notion. it's kinda sad, now that i think about it. i consciously stop myself from liking anyone. oh gosh... worse than that... i stop myself from being liked by anyone... turn them off at the very start to keep them from getting any closer to me than six feet away. i'm weird that way. or more like secretly scared to death of getting involved.


ANYWAY.
off to normal, more productive news that don't concern my lacrimal ducts...

film school officially kicked off yesterday. had my first class under Tom Roa (photography). it was different from the photography class i took in UP last year, mainly because the class we're having now is an integration of film photography and digital photography. whether that's a good or bad thing is under deliberation. hehe. it was fun, tho. he showed us extravagant (a.k.a. really, really, REALLY expensive) equipment and samples of his work he's accumulated over his years of professional photography. grabe. siguro if i stole like a piece of his view camera, i'd be able to pay for the advanced course of film school. hahaha. ang tindi mehn.

already, we have shooting assignments for next week. we're supposed to submit a whole roll of film with specific subjects. it shouldn't be hard, but i'm nervous for some reason. oh well. we'll see how this one turns out.

tonight's class is motion picture language under direk marilou. i've always wanted to be under her, way back in ateneo pa. i practically killed left and right just to get a precious slot in any of her classes. unfortunately, i never made it to the cut. so you can imagine how this film school is exciting the balls out of me now. i mean, this woman is just fantastic. she's this awesome filmmaker (although she says that she'd rather be labelled as a "professional peacemaker" now) who has this overpowering presence, which, on its own, can inspire you. but just you wait... you wait til she opens her mouth and starts professing the art of film and of life. she's a treasure chest, man. everything that comes out of her is this valuable piece that's meant to stick in your head and heart forever (cliche as that may sound). more than that, i think the best thing about her is that she is the most caring and down-to-earth "mother" anyone can have. as in. it feels so good to think that i'll be learning the ropes of film from someone as great her.

on that note, i shall take my shower and head to class. have plans to meet up with red after. he was home for the holidays, but is leaving already for new york on sunday. sadness once again. *sigh*