Blog 5 - A Guide to Surviving in the World of Philippine Non-Verbal Coding

Let's play a little game. I name a specific race of people. and you imagine the face of that specific race in your mind. I say American, you'd come up with a blond, blue-eyed 6 footer, with a chiseled jawline and bone structure. When I say African-American, you'd probably come up with exactly the same thing as a white American just minus the hair, blue eyes, and well, fair complexion. You would think of Snoop Dogg basically. When I say Chinese, you'd come up with someone who has small almond eyes, of medium build, handsome, with a personality that includes being charming, smart, fun, elegant, alluring, delightful, electrifying, smart, charming, and charismatic. Oh, and that description of a China man isn't biased because the writer of this blog is Chinese (Chinese-Filipino), that right there is just a pure statement of fact. Anyway, I'm digressing. Back to the game. But when I say Filipino, you'd come up with an image of a person who'd probably look like an image of someone Malaysian, Indonesian, or even Hawaiian. This is because Filipinos are honestly hard to tell apart from their respective Southeast Asian counter-parts. However, if one take into consideration Non-Verbal coding, one will come to the conclusion that even though Filipinos may look a lot like Indonesians and the like, there are some ways to tell them apart through this theory.

Aside from that certain event back in 1986 during which Filipinos turned the universal sign for loser into one of the most recognized symbols for empowerment, there are some common ways to tell Filipinos apart and yet, at the same time sort of know how they are feeling.

1.) "The Nod"
An easy way to tell apart a Filipino is simply by going up to a Filipino who is an acquaintance of yours, but at the same time isn't really too sure if he or she knows you, and saying "Hi" as you pass by. Once that person gives a nod and flashes a friendly smile your way, you know that person is in fact a Filipino

At the same time, you will realize, through Kinesic Theory, that this Filipino does not actually know you too well. Well its that, or he just doesn't really like you.

2.) "The Purse of the Lips"
Another easy way to tell apart a Filipino is by the way he uses his lips to point at things. Whether it's asking for directions or looking for something, Filipinos almost always use this technique as a way to communicate direction. Moreover, the higher the arc of the head and the lips, the more further it is. However, do take note that sticking the tongue out and wiggling it in a gyrating manner is a completely different story.

3.) "The Box"
Having trouble spotting that Filipino friend of yours in an airport loaded with hundreds of people? Simple, look for the one pushing around a box. Filipinos coming from abroad usually are nagged about having to buy their whole family a coming home present. And since most of these presents are kitchen appliances, the most logical thing a Filipino would do is to put it in a very big box. I does make sense if you think about it. Why would you put boxes into a suitcase or duffel bag when it's just simply not ergonomic? That's right! Put that rice cooker or microwave oven (which are both cubes) into a a box (which is a bigger cube). Everything works out just fine. Why the rest of the world does not get on the bandwagon of heavy, hard to carry boxes beats me.

4.) "The making-a-square-to-ask-for-the bill Gesture"
No, that Filipino beside your table making a box in the air with his hands isn't suffering from ADHD, he is simply asking for the bill. In the Philippines, asking for the bill is as simple as using this gesture. Why bother yourself from having to say a 1 syllable word such as "Bill" or "Check" coupled with "Please" after it when you could just reach up and make a box with your hands? And with this, I seriously wonder as to why we are still a 3rd world country when we come up with things as time saving as this.

5.) Tardiness
It's 7:35. That Filipino friend of yours not at the restaurant yet when you agreed to meet up at7:30? Yeah, he's still probably taking a bath. This however, isn't disrespect towards you. This is merely the way Filipinos act when it comes to very important meetings or dinner dates. General rule of thumb when setting up a date with a Filipino? The 2 hour rule. When you want him there at 8, tell him to go there at 6.

These characteristics and habits essentially communicate one thing. Yes, Filipinos may be tardy, Filipinos may be lazy as hell, but Filipinos are proud of these things that make them uniquely Filipino. It's what separates them from other cultures. It's what makes a Filipino a Filipino. And at the end of the day, I do believe that they wouldn't have it any other way.

Comm 11 Blog 4

I realized 3 things when attempting to write this blog. First, I am one uninspired, unoriginal, and more or less lazy "blogger". I couldn't think of any topic to actually connect to the lessons because of the interference, or should I say the genocidal rape of my brain cells, of the process known as Accounting. No, but seriously though, I've got this Accounting test on Friday and I've been studying for 4 days straight. How the hell does Ateneo expect me to grow into a man for others if I am being harassed by the shady being known as Ibarra on a weekly basis?! Secondly, my blogs, compared to the my classmates', is considered to be a total let down on my part. My blog site is dull and lacking, theirs is flashy and sexy. They've got pictures, videos, and fancy drawings using Paint, and all I've got are well,words. They use fancy words that honestly make me feel retarded and display pictures up on their blogger's profile box. They've got really creative introductions to their respective blogs, while I'm stuck with "I realized 3 things when attempting to write this blog"> To put it simply, their blogs are comparable Miranda Kerr, while mine is considered to be the post- Baywatch Pamela Anderson meets Lindsay Lohan of the blogging world. Lastly and probably the most important of my 3 realizations - my blog doesn't have a title. It's saddening...really.

So what does this have to do with my topic for this week? Absolutely Nothing. I just needed to release.

On with the blog though, the theories presented this week were very much interesting. The one that actually caught my attention and am totally not discussing because it's the easiest, is the Helical-Spiral Theory. To those not familiar with the term, it was conceptualized by a man with an even better name that Clint Eastwood, Frank Dance. It essentially discusses how communication progresses through time and the potential it has to be both complex and dynamic the more people communicate. It improves at every turn of the spiral and as time passes, the more it has the ability to improve the thing that is originally being communicated. With that, this theory can easily be applied to one of the most, if not the most controversial person today. Barack Obama? No. Lady Gaga? No. Justine Beiber? No. But, who can be more controversial than the first black president of the United States, a transsexual singer who likes being the center of attention, and a prepubescent teenage boy, scratch that, girl combined? Well, the answer is simple...

Lebron James.

A couple of weeks ago, in the heat of the free agent frenzy of the NBA, Lebron James, the most coveted free agent in probably a decade, signed with the Miami Heat so that he could play with fellow Olympians and superstars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. It was a move that was considered cowardly by many since Lebron left his home state of Ohio for the chance to win the NBA championship with the help of more talented players. Moreover, people believe that the main reason as to why he chose the Sunshine State over other teams is because he thinks that he can't win a championship all by his lonesome. With this, one can only guess why a player who is arguably the best player in the word (I stress the word arguably, because seriously, he isn't), would refuse the chance to bring a team to eternal glory by himself? The question here is if Michael Jordan did it, why can't James do the same?* However, if one does take into context the theory stated above, one can see that this story of the ultimate back stab can be answered as time passes by because people actually come to understand as to why he did it.

Firstly, the main reason why he did it is because of Bosh and Wade. The trio had so much success and chemistry during the 2008 Olypmics that made James' decision pretty much elementary. Secondly, history show that once you put 3 superstars together, a championship almost always follows. Think of Garnett, Allen and Pierce in 2007, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 80's. Lastly, the fact is James, no matter how high his superstar status is, is just not a closer. For me, the only 2 players in the NBA who are proven finishers are Kobe Bryant and you guessed it, Dwayne Wade. Here, James saw the chance to have a plan to combat the fact that he couldn't finish games and it's the 6-4 guard wearing number 3. Just a little input though, the real reason why Kobe is a better player than Lebron is because Kobe wants the ball in his hands during the final seconds of the game. Lebron would rather pass it off to Wade.

With that, the Helical-Spiral theory has just helped determining as to why Lebron James did go all Benedict Arnold on The Cavs. With the proper time and progression, this topic has been improved and can be now understood more properly.

Why am I so harsh on Lebron James though? Well, the answer doesn't need any theories to explain it. It's simply because I am a Kobe fan.


* Because Lebron James is NOT better the Michael Jordan.

Comm 11 Blog 3

Logos. They're everywhere. You see them on the roads you drive on in the form of ads, you see them on TV being promoted by scantly clad women whose only talent is their very well-defined bone cheeks and their ability to say "vodka","gin", or "drink" in a very seductive bed room voice. Heck, you even see logos when you're trying to sit down and enjoy a nice number 2,and once you reach for the toilet paper and clean yourself off, BOOM!, your favorite brand X of tissue paper's logo right on the 2-ply you're about to wipe yourself off with. Multinational companies...how sleazy can they get? Logos even on the most sacred of pieces of papers...

I came to think how logos came to be. Yes, all of them have their own special little stories, but for me, most of the big, successful companies have hidden meanings in them. I mean hey, if they could put their logo on something as special as a piece of toilet paper, they gotta have some brainwashing details to their very logos,right?! Well, anyway. I've taken the liberty of compiling a list of logos and my own little conspiracy theories against them.



1.) Wendy's

The Facts: The founder, Dave Thomas, named the chain of restaurants after his 4th child - Melinda Lou Thomas. How "Melinda" was nicknamed "Wendy" is as mysterious as what makes their Frosties so damn delicious.

The Theory: Redheads. The world loves Redheads! Think of it, there's Shirley Temple, Queen Elizabeth, Bryce Dallas Howard!! C'mon, who doesn't love Bryce Dallas Howard?! Basically here's what Dave Thomas was thinking, "I'm gonna put my daughter's face on my chain of restaurants because every single living person just loves gingers, ergo, they'll be buying my burgers, salads, and epic-ly delicious Frosties". Boom.

2.) McDonald's
The Facts: It was founded my brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1940. The 2 Golden Arches were trademarked after the duo decided to do away with their original logo of a winking chef named Speedee in a chef's hat. Yes, naming their restaurant after themselves and making their mascot an overzealous cook. How creative...

The Theory: The arches are gold and phallic. What else is gold and phallic? Fries! Their delicious french fries that don't rot and mold is the basis of their entire industry. What's more is what is the color of Ronald McDonald's hair? Red!! Ronald is a redheaded clown! I rest my case. Boom.

3.) Starbucks
The Facts: Their logo features a two-tailed mermaid surrounded by the words Starbucks Coffee around it.

The Theory: Why there's a mermaid on a store that sells coffee boggles me. However, a mermaid on their logo is the perfect excuse for a logo for world domination. Think about it, mermaids in mythology were represented as evil creatures that lured sailors into their ultimate watery demise. Furthermore, Starbucks is popping up in every corner of the world. Hence, though it may not be red, but green (take note that green also represents vile thoughts), Starbucks is slowly planning the next step to world domination through coffee and their army of mermaids off the coast of Puget Sound in Seattle. Boom.

So yes, logos do have their meanings whether they me ethos or pathos in nature. However, every single logo out there is always, like communication, open to people's imaginations.

Com 11 Journal 2

So I was in basketball practice a couple hours ago, thinking more of what I was gonna write on this blog than playing basketball. My head was completely out of it, I swear. I was so pent up about what to how to connect my life to what I learned in the classroom yesterday. I was thinking I could totally just make something up if worse comes to worse, but that would take too much time and brain power on my part, and to be honest, I was too lazy to make up a really kick-ass story about me rescuing a princess from a 20-story dragon's keep with my trusty talking cat and donkey at my side, and still, somehow connect that to communication. But nonetheless,I tried making something up, and as I was somewhere between whether to make myself a battle-scared knight with a huge sword or a peace-loving paladin with a ginormous hammer and whether to make this princess of mine a brunette, a blond, or a redhead, it hit me. No, I mean it literally hit me, I got hit by the ball while I was not looking.....................

Ok, fine, that was a lie. I actually got slapped by my coach in the head for not paying attention to him while he was giving a rousing speech about, basketball, love, and religion..................

Ok, fine, that was a lie too, but hey, you gotta give me credit for trying to put some spice in this story.

So anyway, what really happened was that while in practice, I came to realize how basketball was a lot like communication itself. Communication, in general, is a social process in which individuals employ symbols to establish and interpret meaning in their environment. This, I have to say, is just a really,really fancy way to say that Communication is basically communication between two people by any means necessary.

In basketball, their are a multitude of ways by how we players communicate. What's so fun about it is that we don't even have to be talking to achieve it. By some divine will of the Basketball gods, communication on the court is based more on reading the play of your teammates, looking at their body language and move or cut based on that. Yeah, team chemistry helps a lot too, but when it comes right down to it, eye-contact & body language and saying "cut to the post", "give me a screen", or "put your knee up when you take it in and give that guy a shot in the balls for me"is pretty much the same when you factor everything in. Another example is that basketball has a sense of Intercultural Communication to it, as well. Think of it this way, team I am with right now did not come from the same high school. Yes, that still technically makes us "of the same culture" because we're Asians and all, but the fact is, the way I, for example, was taught to play and perceive basketball as a whole is very different from the way my teammates understand it. Each and everyone of us were trained by different coaching staffs when we were wee little kids in grade school and high school (ghawd, I feel old. At 19, I swear I feel like I'm pushing 80), ergo our basics and fundamentals are totally different from one another. A player may be told to cut here on certain situations, while another may not. A player may be told to take the shot on this certain kind of opportunity, while player B isn't. The list goes on. And once we get to college-level ball and a new coaching system, somehow all of us are expected to forget some of the things we learned a while back and learn what it means to play Ateneo ball. Our "culture" as a player is what defines us as a singular entity, but our "culture" as a team defines if we will be an outright success or a failure in our own eyes.

Communication and Basketball can be summed up by a favorite quote of mine that I totally know by heart, and did not, repeat, did not look up on the internet. I swear. It says,

Teamwork is the ability to work together for a common goal. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

Let that sink in for a bit.....

And if that doesn't float your boat, well you can find dozens of other inspiring teamwork quotes by following this link:
http://thinkexist.com/quotations/team_work/