Datetime Format From Mysql?

Hi, I've recognized that the dateTime type in mySQL is yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss. I want to convert it to other format that allows me to compare it with the current date or the date format variable but Im still stuck in here. Also, can I separate "yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss" to "yyyy-mm-dd" and "hh:mm:ss"? Because I want also compare the time from this data with the time that I set up. Your help would be advance, thank