Evolution of Man: Lipreading

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Lip reading, also known as lipreading or speechreading, is a technique of understanding speech by visually interpreting the movements of the lips, face and tongue with information provided by the context, language, and any residual hearing.

And I believe human kind is starting to evolve and learn this unconsciously. Nowadays wherever I go, people around me including me would always have an earphone or a headset covering their ears, listening to music. Sometimes the volume is so high you can hear what they are listening too a foot away. And there are instances when I'm in a Jeepney (a means of public transportation here in the Philippines) where a couple would still be having a talk with earphones still plugged into their ears. School buddies having a conversation inside the Light Rail Transit with headsets on their ear while playing with their PSPs. What really surprise me is that they all can understand each other, I learned about lipreading in a movie that I watched back then that I cannot remember at this moment, curious and without nothing else better to do I tried to lip read during one of my 34 minute long journey to Recto inside the LRT while I was listening to my playlist. I was able to lipread some short and common words like "Uy!" (similar to Hey!) "Kamusta?" (How are you?) and "Gago!" (a tagalog curse) but that little experiment of mine got me thinking, lipreading could someday be something normal or innate among humankind, if people would continue to converse while an earphone is plugged into their ears. Well that's something to look forward too. So for those who would want to have this skill, charge up your iphones, wear your favorite earphone or headset, turn up the volume then talk to the person beside you!

The Street Boys

Exams, Projects and Research Papers just to name a few things that keeps students busy at school. Sometimes I am so busy working on my school projects that I barely have time to eat a complete meal during lunch or early dinner. But thanks to a street just in front of my campus I squeeze in a quick snack time into my sometimes hectic schedule, the food - street foods! Inihaw na Dugo (grilled dried chicken blood) a.k.a "Betamax", deep fried Chicken Ball, "Kwek-Kwek" (flour covered hard boiled duck egg or quail egg) and Calamari are some of the student favorites. This street ,well known among college students along the university belt referred to it as "Hepa Lane". Hepa short for - (yep you guessed it) Hepatitis! Despite its scary alias students and office workers alike regularly visit the Hepa Lane during their brakes to enjoy their favorite snacks.

Several months ago I visited my campus to get my transcript of records and before going home I decided to eat at Hepa Lane simply because I missed it. And as expected Hepa Lane was filled with students chomping on their favorite street food, excitedly I wandered along the street until I reached my favorite stand. As soon as "Kuya" (the vendor ) saw me, he smiled and immediately offered me a plastic cup for my vinegar dip and a bamboo stick as my eating utensil, still hot from the pan I cant help but salivate as I thrust the bamboo stick into the calamari. As I chew on the calamari all I can think of is - Damn I miss college!

The Street Boys, pictured above was inspired by the foods found on Hepa Lane. I believe the original sketch was drawn back when I was still in my Junior years in college. From left to right - Beta Maxius, Bart Chicken and Mr. Kalamarez.

And from the armchair I was liberated

Finally I decided to create my blog site (again). I published my first blog back when everyone is still adding friends in Friendster, that's a long time ago and I was still a college freshman, and the last time that i checked my posts there was I believe last year. Reading through my posts made me smile, wince and eventually burst into laughter. I cannot believe how idealistic I was back then and sometimes how lame my posts where. 

Originally I designed Armchair Liberation to be my personal website and it will act as my online portfolio where I will preview my works in graphic design. The idea behind Armchair Liberation is literally that, I am no longer a college student who whines about how hard it is to study, how unfair love can be and how sometimes I cannot get what I want. Well I will still be whining about some issues here but hopefully it would not be as lame as my first blog. Here I will be blogging about how I see the world not in my school armchair but how I see the world now that I am a father to a very beautiful girl named Sophia Ailee Gonzales and a husband to a stunning lady Reginamel Torres Gonzales. How I see the world now that I am no longer a student but a professional trying to make a mark and a buzz trough visual and written communication. And I invite you to follow me and watch me wander about my adventures and misadventures and while your at it I urge you - if needed, to tap my shoulder and let me know how I'm doing so far. 

Thank you!

-Charles Daryl "The Real" Gonzales