2010 World Cup Hotties

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President Benigno Noynoy Aquino III

Noynoy. Their Chosen Son.

Cory. His blessed mother.

Ninoy. His murdered father.

Happy Mothers Day

I love you so much Mummy.
Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers of the world.

Good Luck Philippines!

Monday, May 10, 2010

A very important day for the Philippines
And I want to wish everyone a safe and honorable election
This election can make or break the county.
But no matter who might win at the polls, one thing is certainly clear.
Real healthy change is so desperately needed.

Help bring about that change, dear readers.
Stand up and be counted.
Your nation beckons you to do your duty.
Exercise your right.

VOTE.

Good luck and God bless

Looking for a great Disney book ? Then, the Disneyland Paris book is the perfect gift for any Disney fan !

If you're looking for a great gift to offer to anyone you love - including you! - my "Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality" book with its 320 pages and 750 pictures - including 250 renderings from Walt Disney Imagineering - would be a GREAT gift for any Disney fan!

I still have copies of the book, and, as i am one of the two authors of the book, each copy will be sign specially for you or anyone you wish. Of course, don't forget to tell me the name to whom you wish i dedicate the book.

An important note before i go further: If you're not in a rush to get the book, choose the flat shipping option (also indicated below) which usually takes between 3 to 6 weeks delivery (depending if you're living in Europe or in the U.S) and is also much less expensive.

And now, here is a description of the book and everything you need to know to order one of the last signed copy of this beautiful book. Please note that NO re-printing of the book is scheduled, and these last available copies may be the REAL last one!


IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE ENGLISH EDITION OF THE BOOK WITH THE TEXT IN ENGLISH:

Price for one copy of the english updated edition is 87 Euros and Shipping: is 15 euros.

If you have a Paypal account you can proceed to the payment by paypal - paypal payment including your choice of shipping must be sent to the email adress: lawrence55@wanadoo.fr

Important: Note that the price is in Euros, not in U.S $, so you have to choose the "euro" currency when you do the paypal payment.

If you don't have a Paypal account, a bank wire transfert is possible, just let me know.

And, of course, thanks to confirm me your order and payment AND the shipping adress by email at the email adress: lawrence55@wanadoo.fr


PLEASE NOTE THAT FOR NOW I DON'T HAVE ANY MORE COPIES OF THE FRENCH EDITION, SORRY. IF YOU STILL WISH A FRENCH COPY? PLEASE LET ME KNOW? I'LL TRY TO FIND A COPY FOR YOU.

As i am the one who designed the book, i'm not really at the good place to send compliments about it, but if you are a reader who already own the book, please leave a comment at the end of the article to let other readers know what you think about it.
Previous comments can be read at the bottom of this page where the article below was previously posted.

So, here is a little description of the book, now - See below some pictures of the book pages - click on each of them to see the photo-montage pictures in big size.



The book is a gorgeous "coffee table book" with 320 pages and 750 pictures - of which 500 are park and attractions photos and 250 are Walt Disney Imagineering renderings!

The size is 9 x 12 inches, all pages are in color and it's hardbound with a glossy dust jacket. The text (by Disney historian Didier Ghez), was written after more than 75 interviews he conducted with all the Imagineers who created the park. He goes into just about everything you wanted to know about this unique place that many describe as the best "Magic Kingdom" ever created by WDI.

It took five years to create the book, but it was worth all the time we spent on it, and the book looks just as good as we had hoped for at the beginning - in fact Imagineer Bruce Gordon told us that it was "probably the best book ever done on a Disney theme park". Coming from Bruce who did with David Mumford the great "Disneyland, The Nickel Tour" book, it was more than a compliment.

The first chapter about Main Street has 52 pages and introduces the reader to the "legend" of Main Street, USA. You'll learn all about the Disneyland Paris Railroad, the unique "Discovery" and "Liberty" Arcades; find out about the architecture, the restaurants (like "Walt's," a tribute to Walt Disney, but also inspired by Club 33 in Anaheim) and the shops; with dozens of photos, renderings, models, and reproduced for the first time here, all the "cities of the future" posters located in "Discovery Arcade."



The second chapter on Frontierland discusses the park's western side with extensive sections about its major attractions, "Big Thunder Mountain" and "Phantom Manor." In fact the book has the longest sections ever put together in a book on all the major attractions. The Pirates of Caribbean section in the Adventureland chapter is 26 pages, Phantom Manor has 16 pages devoted to it, as does Space Mountain, it's a small world, etc. The photo material was so great that we kept adding more pages to the book, which was supposed to have only 240 pages when we started... we ended up with 320 upon completion!



The Frontierland chapter also covers the Mark Twain, the River Rogue Keelboats, Fort Comstock, all the restaurants, the shops and Cottonwood Creek Ranch.and featuring stunning photos of Disneyland Paris from the air by Yann Arthus Bertrand, author of The Earth from Above that make spectacular "double-pages," and allow the reader to discover the park from a whole different angle.



The Adventureland chapter is even more interesting, as many elements of the land exist only in Paris - such as the Bazaar and Aladdin to Africa and the ex-"Explorer's Club." Plus there's a long section about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril," "Adventure Isle" and "The Swiss Robinson Treehouse" and, of course, "Pirates of Caribbean" the land's major attraction and featuring its amazing Audio-Animatronics! All in all there are 56 full pages about Adventureland, and as in the previous chapters, there are dozens of photos, lots of concept art, and many shots of Imagineers at work. There's even a great bonus here, with the Marc Davis artwork for "Pirates" also included.



56 full pages are also dedicated to Fantasyland. There's an extensive look at Sleeping Beauty Castle, sections on all the dark rides (Snow White, Peter Pan and Pinocchio), as well as a look at "Alice's Curious Labyrinth," the "Mad Hatter's Tea Cups," "Storybookland," and "Casey Jr." There are even 14 pages about "it's a small world" with stunning photos of nearly all the scenes in it. Here the reader can discover a new attraction that exists only at Disneyland Paris, with a great view from above of Alice's Labyrinth.

Discoveryland also gets 52 pages of special treatment, with sections on the Visionarium, the Nautilus, Star Tours, Space Mountain, and everything you wanted to know about the other attractions in this land – Autopia and Orbitron. In fact the Nautilus chapter takes you on a visit with photos of every room of this detailed walk-through and two double page photo spreads, one which makes you feel you're inside Captain Nemo's grand salon, and the other showing you a unique view of Discoveyland featuring the Nautilus and Space Mountain in a kind of "CinemaScope" view.



When the book was released in early 2002, the Walt Disney Studios didn't exist, so you won't see them in the book. But there's still one last chapter about the hotels of the park, and Disney Village too, with the great Buffalo Bill Wild West show that entertains hundreds each evening.

And because every day in a Magic Kingdom should end with a parade and fireworks, we have the Main Street Electrical Parade that close the book, with an Herb Ryman gorgeous painting!



Pictures: copyright Disney

Outrage is OUTRAGED

"So what special right does Aruba Bar and Restaurant have that they can just enforce rules that violate (the) principles of humanity? What special right does Aruba Bar and Restaurant have that they can continue doing business like this for years? Since when did a business license become a license to violate human rights? Does my gender identity and expression violate their right to conduct their business in a socially responsible way? Why are we turning a blind eye to this inhumanity?” - BB Gandanghari

Outrage Magazine’s Position on Barring Transgenders from Entering Venues
(Open Letter to the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines)

Hon. LEILA M. DE LIMA
Chairperson
Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines
SAAC Building, Commonwealth Avenue
UP Complex, Diliman,
Quezon City

Commissioner De Lima:

On May 4, one of the founders of the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP), Sass Rogando Sasot, wrote (on her Facebook account) about the alleged getting discriminated (again) in Ayala-owned Greenbelt property.

Writing Word of Honor (An Open Letter to AyalaLand Regarding the Treatment Of Transgender Women in their Premises), she narrated how, after having a few drinks to celebrate the birthday of one of her friends in People’s Palace in Greenbelt 3, Ayala center, Makati City, at around 12:30 am on 4 May 2010, “we decided to continue our celebration in Barcino, which is located in Greenbelt 2. After finding out that Barcino was already closed, we decided to use the Greenbelt 3 exit fronting New World Renaissance Hotel to hail cabs. En route to the said location, at the bridge of Greenbelts 2 and 3, we were stopped by S.G. Joel Sarabia. At first he told us that Greenbelt 3 was already closed. He lied: He allowed other people to enter. We then inquired why we were not being allowed to enter. He bluntly said that: ‘Kasi bawal kayo dito (Because you’re not allowed here).’ He then suggested that we just use the dark and dodgy sidewalk.”

I would like to bring this (and similar) discriminatory act(s) to the attention of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, hoping for an investigation to be done to ascertain their culpability in violating not just gender-specific rights, but basic human rights, thereby coming up with a solution to deal with the same.

Specifically, this letter hopes to highlight the need to:

• Develop a complaint mechanism so victims of transphobia, and/or gender-related discrimination can openly bring up and discuss what happened to them;


• Come up with a support system, be it legal or in whatever form, to (affordably, for the victims) pursue (cases against) the human rights violators; and


• Increase awareness on the existence of gender-related discrimination, and that something SHOULD and CAN be done with them.

Laws exist to uphold the dignity of every Filipino, or every person regardless of who and what they are.

Article II, Section 11 of the Philippine Constitution, itself, states that “The State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights.”

The same principle is advocated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1 and Article 2): “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” And: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms..., without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”

Yet time and again, private companies put into practice policies that allow them to violate these tenets.

This isn’t the first time STRAP’s Sasot experienced discrimination.

On May 25, 2008, Ms Sasot was refused entry in Ice Vodka Bar, also in Greenbelt 3 in Makati City, because of a supposed standing policy to bar people “like them” from entering the venue on certain days.

This was the same reasoning given to Ms Sasot when she wrote about the alleged discrimination on May 4.

As Ms Sasot further narrated: “While (he banning was) happening, Mr. Sarabia was communicating with his colleagues through the (two-way) radio. We overheard someone instructing him to not let us in. We took note of Mr. Sarabia’s name and decided to file a complaint at the Security Office located at the basement parking of Greenbelt 3. While at the Security Office, I told the night duty manager that AyalaLand had promised through a letter in May 2008 that incidents like this would never happen again in their premises. Hence, we couldn’t understand why we were experiencing this humiliating treatment again. When SG Joel Sarabia was asked to give his reason why we were not allowed to enter, the gist of his answer was: ‘We were identified as prostitutes.’”

Ms Sasot “informed (the security personnel) about the meeting I had with the administrators of Greenbelt 3 in May 2008. During that meeting, they told me that they do not tolerate discrimination in their premises. They clarified their policy about surveillance of suspected sex workers, and said they did not apply specifically to transgenders, but to all suspicious individuals. They even agreed to me that equating being a transgender woman to being a sex worker is wrong. I was even assured during those meetings that there would certainly be improvements not just in Greenbelt but also in all Ayala Malls. But is this what you call improvement?”

The situation with Ice Vodka Bar was, eventually, resolved, when the venue’s management not only apologized, but has since then been pushing for changes in its practices when dealing with transgenders.

Unfortunately, for every Ice Vodka Bar resolution there are more cases not reaching amicable outcomes.

Earlier, on July 4, 2006, comedienne Inday Garutay was allegedly told to leave the premises of Aruba Bar and Restaurant in Metrowalk in Ortigas Center, Pasig City, also because she was deemed dressed inappropriately. Garutay had filed a case against the venue.

Surprisingly, not learning from that experience, Aruba Bar and Restaurant AGAIN allegedly discriminated against another transgender, this time on April 23, 2009 in the person of BB Gandanghari, who was allegedly told through her assistant (incidentally, Ms Sasot) not to bother going to the place dressed as a woman because she will be refused entry into the venue, which bars “cross-dressers.”

There have also been complaints about superclubs Manor and The Embassy (now Encore), and, in my interviews in Boracay in Malay, Aklan, at Summer Place, a bar at Station 2, where transgenders are allegedly not allowed entry unless they show their breasts to prove they are already “real women.”

And, of course, there’s the May 4 occurrence.

BB Gandanghari best summarizes the arguments against these venues, when, after she was allegedly refused entry into Aruba Bar and Restaurant, she wrote:
"So what special right does Aruba Bar and Restaurant have that they can just enforce rules that violate (the) principles of humanity? What special right does Aruba Bar and Restaurant have that they can continue doing business like this for years? Since when did a business license become a license to violate human rights? Does my gender identity and expression violate their right to conduct their business in a socially responsible way? Why are we turning a blind eye to this inhumanity?”

For these venues to think they can get away with discriminating is reprehensible.

And what can only be worse than their twisted thinking is that nothing is being done to confront this issue, so that it keeps on happening.

I hope this letter merits some attention. Crimes committed against people specifically singled out for their being different should never be allowed to happen, for their existence highlight not only the evils of non-acceptance (that led to The Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide, and the very existence of such groups as the Ku Klux Klan), but – if we choose to continue ignoring them – makes us just as guilty as the violators for letting them happen.

One with you in the struggle for equal rights,


MICHAEL DAVID dela Cruz TAN
Publisher/Editor in Chief
Outrage Magazine

www.outragemag.com

5108-A Filmore Street, Barangay Palanan
1235 Makati City, Metro Manila
Ph.: (+632) 5564743
Mobile: (+63) 9287854244, 9157972229
Email: editor@outragemag.com

Cc:
Sass Rogando Sasot
STRAP

AyalaLand Abuses Transgender

Word of Honor
An Open Letter To AyalaLand Regarding the Treatment Of Transgender Women in their Premises

Actions speak louder than words. It’s just apt to start this letter with this tiring cliché as this incident is as tiring as this platitude. But human dignity requires that we don’t use being tired as an excuse to stop standing up against indignity.

We celebrated the birthday of one of our friends in People’s Palace in Greenbelt 3. After having a few drinks, at around 12:30 am on 4 May 2010, we decided to continue our celebration in Barcino, which is located in Greenbelt 2. After finding out that Barcino was already closed, we decided to use the Greenbelt 3 exit fronting New World Renaissance Hotel to hail cabs. En route to the said location, at the bridge of Greenbelts 2 and 3, we were stopped by S.G. Joel Sarabia. At first he told us that Greenbelt 3 was already closed. He lied: He allowed other people to enter. We then inquired why we were not being allowed to enter. He bluntly said that “Kasi bawal kayo dito (Because you’re not allowed here)”. He then suggested that we just use the dark and dodgy sidewalk.

While all of these were happening, Mr Sarabia was communicating with his colleagues through the radio. We overheard someone instructing him to not let us in. We took note of Mr Sarabia’s name and decided to file a complaint at the Security Office located at the basement parking of Greenbelt 3.

While at the Security Office I told the night duty manager that AyalaLand had promised through a letter in May 2008 that incidents like this would never happen again in their premises. Hence, we couldn’t understand why we were experiencing this humiliating treatment again.

When SG Joel Sarabia was asked to give his reason why we were not allowed to enter, the gist of his answer was “we were identified as prostitutes.”

We know that we were identified as prostitutes not because they have proof that we are indeed prostituting ourselves in Greenbelt but because they are following this logic: We are transgender women and therefore we are - or there’s a high probability that we are - prostitutes.

I informed them about the meeting I had with the administrators of Greenbelt 3 in May 2008. During that meeting, they told me that they do not tolerate discrimination in their premises. They clarified their policy about surveillance of suspected sex workers, and said they did not apply specifically to transgenders, but to all suspicious individuals. They even agreed to me that equating being a transgender woman to being a sex worker is wrong. I was even assured during those meetings that there would certainly be improvements not just in Greenbelt but also in all Ayala Malls. But is this what you call improvement?

The people who heard our complaint apologized for what happened. But, tell us, what’s the use of a spineless apology?

AyalaLand, we trusted, admired, and celebrated your words on 26 May 2008. You said in that letter sincerely signed by AC Legarda-Ocampo, Department Manager of Ayala Malls Group, that “We wish to clarify that we do not have any agreement whatsoever with Ice Vodka Bar or other merchants in our mall to prohibit transsexual women from entering Ayala Malls. Rest assured that we have noted your recommendations and will brief our merchants to be more sensitive in attending to such matter to prevent the recurrence of the same incident.”

AyalaLand, what happened this time is much worse than what happened in May 2008. It’s no longer your merchants that have treated us with indignity. It’s now you.

Yes, we know that, since there’s no anti-discrimination law in this country, you’re not legally bound to stop your discriminatory actions. But we both know that you’re ethically bound to honor your words through a demonstrated commitment to your promises.

We ardently hope that AyalaLand will 1) hold a meeting again with to clarify these issues; 2) issue a public apology regarding this; 3) conduct gender sensitivity training for all its security guards; and 4) will remain faithful to its stated creed of conducting business with a high level of integrity.

And this time, please don’t break our trust and your promises anymore.

Thank you.

Respectfully,
Sass Rogando Sasot

NB:
1. For a detailed account of what happened in May 2008, which includes what transpired during those meetings, please visit http://transandflow.blogspot.com/2009/05/ice-vodka-bar-incident.html

2. For a copy of the letter of apology of AyalaLand, please download it from
www.tsphilippines.com/letterofapology.pdf