The Millenium Trilogy

This trilogy is probably the best one I’ve read. I’ve never encountered such plot with so many twists and such characters that I never thought would have etched in my heart.

At first, I was blatantly ignoring the trilogy’s first book – “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. I found the title boring. I thought that maybe reading this would only waste my time. Even with the suggestions of some of my friends to at least watch the Hollywood movie, I just shrugged it off and didn’t even given a damn to watch the trailer.

Not after a few months later did I start getting intrigued by this book when I saw it on a bookstore’s suggested reads. The bookstore was on sale, and I finally bought the book, but with a little bit of guilt. I don’t usually read books about espionage and crime. But I thought I’d give it a try.

The first book of the trilogy, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” was originally entitled “Men Who Hate Women” in Swedish. I don’t know what made the editors, publishers, or marketers change the name but I think that the original title would have made more impact to the readers, and especially those looking for books. The first book serves as an introduction to the trilogy. A thriller, mystery, and crime that includes hatred against woman to the point it becomes misogynist -  it starts off with a journalist and publisher of the Millenium magazine, Mikael Blomkvist, losing a libel case against the billionaire industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. Consequently, Blomkvist had to step down from the Millenium board. On the other hand, Dragan Armansky, director of the Milton Security, asked a mind blowing, intelligent but anti-social woman, Lisbeth Salander to get information about Blomkvist. Blomkvist was then called to the Milton Security to meet with Armansky – only to find out he was given a freelance job by Henrik Vanger. Blomkvist goes to Hedeby to meet Henrik. There, Henrik offers him a big amount of money in change for writing the Vanger history and solving the 40 year old case of his missing great niece, Harriet. From thereon, he is helped by Salander, and together, they solve the case that brings about horror.

What I love about the first book is that once I started reading it, there’s no stopping. Every turn of page kept me craving for more. It gave me shivers down my spine with the mystery it encompasses. The way Stieg Larsson described his characters gave me solicitous feeling towards them. Though there were contrasting emotions and morbid scenes involved, I had no choice but to finish it right away and continue on to the next book.

Although it seems as though the story from the first book already ended, the next book is just the real beginning. The second book “The Girl Who Played With Fire” is the start of Salander’s life. From solving a mystery case, the story gradually turns into government politics, sex abuse, and misuse of power. After the case was solved from the first book, Salander went abroad to relax then finally went back to Stockholm. Meanwhile, a journalist named Dag Svensson approached Blomkvist if he could work together with him on a book that would expose powerful names in the government who are involved in sex trafficking. Blomkvist agreed, got a copy of the draft, and continued with Svensson’s investigation on the names. Because Salander could hack Blomkvist’s computer, she read through Svensson’s work and was puzzled by the name she saw -- “Zala”. Unfortunately, shortly before the printing of the book, Svensson, along with his wife, was shot in his apartment. Salander’s fingerprints were found and she was the center of attention of whole of Sweden – she was wanted. This led to the investigation of Salander’s dad, with an alias “Zala”, and how Salander was declared incompetent. On the last part of this book though, Salander went to his father’s place to deal with him. But due to certain circumstances, she got shot on the head – however, she survived and tried to kill her father using an axe.

Just like with the first book, the second one also kept me awake at nights. However, there were parts that I got bored. Though I love his exceptional style, Stieg Larsson got a little bit meticulous with each of the character’s movement in this book. Unlike in the first one where there are only 2 POVs, one for Blomkvist and one for Salander, here, Larsson makes you look at the bigger picture -- having more than 3 stories of characters that connect to only one plot. It was somehow hard for me to puzzle out the bits of scattered pieces throughout the story. And in which, because of this, I was forced to continue on to the last book.

Originally named "The Air Castle That Exploded", “The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” proved the rights of women. The third book only shows how Stieg Larsson tried to change the outlook of men towards women, only if he hadn’t died. Going back from the previous book, Blomkvist found Salander on her father’s place and he called for emergency. Salander, along with his father, was brought to a hospital. Obviously, what happened in her father’s place was reported to the police and this led to a new investigation now involving the deep, dark secrets of the Sweden’s section, a secret division of the Säpo (security police). This section happens to be involved with importing a political figure from Russia in order to get information and power. They spent billions of kronor (Swedish currency) just for this single figure. Meanwhile, because Salander was accused of many violations, she had to prepare for her trial. The police tried to resort to any way of taking out information from Salander, but then to no avail. Luckily, Blomkvist’s sister, Annika Giannini, happens to be a lawyer. Blomkvist suggested her to be Salander’s lawyer. With a slight hesitation, Salander agreed. Though it was hard to make out any knowledge out of Salander, Giannini succeeded in winning the trial and putting into jail those who were expected to be.

 Lisbeth Salander is a unique character that anyone would wish to exist. With the vast criticisms against her, she managed to make her way out of it – but of course not without the help of Blomkvist. She did not dwell in the abuse and torment she had gone through in her youth, but instead, seared her way to vengeance against the men who belittled her. Unlike many other main characters, Lisbeth doesn’t mess things up. She analyzes the problem and thinks of a way to solve it. She not only helps herself but also other people.

If you are looking for a book that would give thrills, this is something I recommend. This isn’t like other books which has fillers. Every single part of it is important. You can’t miss a single information. I assure you this is a book you will not regret.

Humans are no different from animals.

Really, now?

To start off, let me tell you something about myself.  I am neither a biologist nor a psychologist. I am a mere observer of this strange world we live in. Though I am not much of a charismatic person nor am I loquacious when surrounded by people, I am meticulous to the little details of events that occur in my surroundings; which in turn, makes me an observant and contemplating person.

I have sensed some distracting, irrational thoughts these days. It has been recurring ever since natural disasters constantly take place in my country. I couldn’t shake off the thought that maybe, or just perhaps, we’re no different from animals.

I wouldn’t like to destroy the common belief that humans are the best species in this world.  I very much respect the variety of beliefs that exist. However, here I am to present you some things I would like to consider as a subject of a third person, impartial and unbiased to any (if existing) pride of the H. sapiens species.

First of all, what is the primary and basic need of humans that is common to animals? The answer to that, is of course, food. Food is anything that when eaten, gives nutrients to the organism. This applies to all. When food is not met, hunger follows. When hunger is not satisfied, outrage materializes because of the need of the body to be supplemented. An example of which is a cat. A cat will attack another one with food in order to survive. That cat had no other choice but to kill the other because it needs to survive. If no solution is given to the problem of hunger, the organism will die.

We can now go to the next step which is surviving. All organisms strive to survive. They do their best to get what they need. Animals, like humans, look for food every time. The only difference is that humans cook, while animals don’t. But it’s still the same thing – both eats. If one is not able to eat, that organism will not survive, and obviously, not reproduce.

Every species is capable of reproducing in many ways – whether by binary fission, budding, regeneration, egg laying or live birth, it’s still all comes up as one idea: to reproduce; to multiply.

Though there may be some odd, disturbing ways on how animals behave in an intercourse, or in predating another organism to satisfy their hunger, be that as it may, it’s the same thing with us humans –only we have a better manner of doing it in terms of etiquette.

When a calamity such as earthquake hits a certain area, only those living in that area would be affected. The others will learn from what happened there and can prepare for next time, like what we do. I believe that no one’s lucky, and no animal’s lucky. A certain creature living in a stable environment and condition will most likely survive compare to those who are in contrast – vulnerable to death. Every single creature die everyday due to the circumstances they are in. Those that lived longer must had have a much safer condition and must have had lived their normal, ordinary lives as a being in this world compared to those that were unfortunate enough. Though whether you like it or not, whether you pray for it or not, all of us are fated to die. It’s a kismet that was forged since we were born. Same applies to animals.

Although creatures have to bear the unforgivable pain and suffering earth disasters give, from these can they learn to adapt to a better condition, making themselves stronger. In comparison to viruses, mankind has learned to prevent such through vaccine. But because of vaccine, viruses was able to detect what prevented them from attacking its host, and thereby something new is forming in their DNA, making themselves stronger, more powerful to attack their hosts, by exploiting our cells and mutating to a completely new type of virus.

Remember, just because animals are animals, doesn’t mean it isn’t smart enough to be fooled. As humans move on forward with finding out ways to maintain its healthy life, so does the other organisms and microorganisms get on with their life to look for new ways to prey on their host.

Animals also feel. Especially dogs. They can almost feel the same thing humans does. When it whines, it’s sad. When it howls, it warns something. When it’s mad, it attacks another dog. When it’s craving for something, it will keep on barking.

So what can we say about this? We’re just the same as animals! Though they cannot judge knowledge the same thing humans can do, they act the same way as we do through physiological means. We shouldn’t look down on them. We should treat them as our common fellow, our common living being.

Read this ‘cause you’re going to learn something about the universe.

Ever since the Napoles scam, I’ve been intrigued by the series of news I see everyday. I can’t resist to open my eyes wide and stare at the mind-boggling headlines on the newspaper.

It’s been months long since Napoles has been found out. But up until now, she hasn’t spoken a word.

We might come to wonder why the process is taking too long.

Maybe it’s because of…

The investigations on the people involved in the scam?

Ma’am Arlene? (the so-called Janet Lim-Napoles of the judiciary, according to PhilStar News)

The health of Janet Napoles? (which, also according to PhilStar, has been experiencing high blood pressure and anxiety attacks)

Earthquake damage? (that caused great deal of damage in Bohol, and in which currently, Maribojoc  Mayor Leoncio Evasco Jr.,declines the help of Red Cross)

These are so far the things that I could think of that are causing an impediment to the real problem. These things are slowly drifting me away from the unresolved problem. And I hope that you, the reader, remains in tact with the unresolved problem of the scam.

Hopefully, Napoles will speak up all the facts sometime soon.

Anyway, I’ve been pondering lately on the causes of corruption.

Let me go back to the Spanish era.

Filipinos back then were slaves of the Spaniards. 

They were pushed to work until they suffer from hunger, forced to have cedulas (an identity card and tax certificate that has to be held at all times, if not, the guardia civil will arrest him/her), compeled them to pay a large amount of money for indulgence (a pardon for sinning, given by the catholic church) – or, in other words, enslaved them without resentment.

For me, this was the start of corruption. Filipinos had to live a life so full of punishments and debts that they didn’t even incur to have.

I think that Jose Rizal wrote the Social Cancer or popularly known as “Noli Me Tangere”, so that we could realize something from it. From his story we can deduce that those who were rich were corrupt and those who were poor had to resort to different jobs and people in order to have money. But then don’t you think that it’s still happening up until now? Those rich politicians of ours are still enjoying the money they got from us. Just like the Spaniards, right? The priests, the gobernadorcillo, the guardia civil forced Filipinos to pay money or otherwise “taxes” only to show us that they use it on their gamble and vanity. Like our senators, congressmen, and other government officials, each employees has less VAT on their salary. And how many Filipinos are there? 93 million! -- With each paying taxes everyday, and not even getting a significant benefit from it.

The term coined out as “Social Cancer” is a characteristic of our government.  “Social”, because it involves the individual persons of the society, and “cancer”, because of its malignant character and a power so strong that it has no cure to it.

Cancer – just take it from its literal meaning, “uncontrolled abnormal multiplication of cells that damages the body”.  Our government has a “cancer” because its corrupt system is almost accepted by each unit and it keeps multiplying as time passes by, and consequently it destroys the dignity of the nation. No matter how many rallies, revolutions, there are – it remains to be rampant. In fact, when asked for verification, this “cancer” is denied. Therefore, there’s no cure. Yet. (I still look forward to a better future though)

Ever since I was small, I kept hearing the two words “Vote wisely”. But it seems that this has never been done. Up until now, we still keep howling the words “Vote wisely” so that the people we voted for weren’t like before. And, up until now, we still complain on the “corruption”, time after time, person after person, commits.

And then, a question at the back of my mind rings a bell – “Are we really living in a democratic government?”

During the Spanish era, Filipinos had no control over the government officials, because, obviously, they were enslaved. They had no choice but to follow them. They were mad at them. If they go against them, they’ll get killed.

Now, we got what we want. We’re free. We could vote for whomever we want. But let us, please, not vote for someone merely because of their renowned name, or their popularity. We should vote for someone whom we trust.

Okay, say, the person we trusted won. But then sometime later, we see news on TV and on the newspaper that that person was involved in a plunder case. Isn’t it saddening? We trusted our fellow Filipino, yet he shows something opposed to what we believed in them. And we are still obligated to pay taxes while the corrupt still live in luxury!  Are we sure that our government, or, let me say, the Filipinos, are still free? Most of us are suffering because of the social cancer in our government.

Is that free?

I think that corruption started again during Marcos’ time. Everything was okay – until his reign. We voted for him because he’s smart, he’s eloquent, he’s wise. BUT, he ruined the reputation of the Philippines. He ruined  a lot of people’s life. (forgive the harboring of my subjective feelings). This made a big impact – and people carried on with

his trait. Then, here comes Erap. We thought that if we voted someone not as smart as Marcos, he wouldn’t be corrupt. But on and on it goes.

I don’t think that changing our bias on people that we should vote would have any difference. I think that we should start small -- start from our own hearts. Take the right path, don’t be tempted. And through there, we could inspire others to be like us.

a bird is free, and so are we.

HOW DO YOU CHANGE THE HEADER

pls help.
how do you change the header "Jonas Brothers"
i dont understand
forgive this noob
;_;
T_T
I shall follow whoever helps me <3

So...I just started watching shingeki no kyojin.

This is one of the best animes so far.