Wang Wang Ina Mo!

The vehicles with the privilege of using wang-wang:

1. uniformed police and military vehicles
2. Ambulance
3. Fire vehicles
4. Presidential car
5. Senate President's Car
6. Speaker of the House's Car

Lourd de Veyra rocks :)

Pièce de Résistance

I laud Press Secretary Remonde for his keen powers of observation and commendable leaps of logic to explain to us, the hapless public, the ominous plot behind the news of President Arroyo's million-peso dinner.

In an elaborate scheme to sow the seeds of destruction of this country's democratic institutions, the communist front Bayan Muna has unleashed the world-renowned, and perhaps the most popular Filipino blogger, Bryanboy to sow black propaganda against the well-loved President of the Philippines.

In a seemingly harmless tweet at 8:04 am on August 7, Bryanboy reports: "from my friend in NYC: President Macapagal-Arroyo's dinner at Le Cirque here in NY cost the taxpayers of the Philippines $15,000 !!!

The New York Post would later report a bigger figure at $20,000. Profuse denials of using taxpayer money quickly ensued, with Rep. Romualdez reportedly picking up the tab.

And just like that, news of this million-Peso New York meal spread like wildfire in the blogosphere, eventually picked up by the mainstream media.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde is right on the money when he said this report “is the fruit of a poisonous tree, coming as it does from Bayan, which is a communist front organization dedicated to the overthrow of democratic governments in the Philippines...(It) will never cease spreading agitation propaganda against the administration of President Arroyo or any administration for that matter for as long as that administration is not headed by a communist president."

This elaborate, transnational conspiracy to destroy the Arroyo government spans the globe and intersects the worlds of the local, authentic revolutionaries, the cheeky tabloid New York press and the glamorous, gliterring espace de la haute couture mondiale.

Be vigilant, people. Be alert. Be afraid.

I Heart Anoop

Just making an official declaration of undying love for Anoop Desai. Lol.

Here's his audition in Kansas City. Its the way he handled Simon. The slippers. His dorky thesis on barbecue and American folklore. Those killer dimples. And the voice! The voice....*wipes drool*



If that isn't enough to convince you, this will.



See what I mean? Now you've to hear this...



*Swoon*

Huh? Heard the ladies hearts aflutter? Told 'ya. Now I'm really miffed with American Idol. I waited a whole week and all they gave me was ten seconds of Anoop. Thank heavens for YouTube!!!

Bitch Fit

When you are the country's most hated president since Marcos, saddled with dealing with a food and energy crisis, and are dealing with a bungled peace process with Moro separatists...among various other headaches brought by Philippine governance, you are certainly entitled to a royal bitch fit.

Raving

Carl Ramirez wrote a glowing review and Butch recommended it. Its from the indie cable channel that brought us Weeds and stars one of my favourite characters in Six Feet Under. What's not to like about the sociopath-killer-forensics-specialist Dexter? I've only seen an
episode, but am left with the same impression as when I first saw Weeds. Wow.

Also raving about Luis' new app Guerilla Radio. Its obsure artist friendly too.

And oh. I've been asked to write a privilege speech of a senator. Again, wow.

Deconstructing Celine Lopez' Book Report

I like seeing patterns. Sometimes I think my brain is especially configured to see them. This is probably why I cannot write a paper straight on - that is, think of an argument and find evidence for support. I have to wade through literature on the general subject, and then trust that my brain reads a pattern that (hopefully) no one has yet seen. I cannot start from the conclusion (argument) then work my way backwards. I dip in the middle, and ripple my way to the shores. This is probably why papers are so agonising, they take me off tangents, like now.

The theme on picking up where our ancestors left off a hundred years ago seems to be snow-balling lately. Jester-in-exile picks up on Sylvia Mayuga's column yesterday. She likens the present crisis of the country to a real-life sequel of the Noli and Fili.

This sequel carries the 19th century’s main plotline into the 21st century – an enslaved people trying to break free from a very old unjust system.

I have said before how I thought it bizarre that we are still fighting to give birth to a nation. And so our language lately, in the old and new media, are full of modern terms - truth, justice, enlightenment, poverty, inequality.

I find that Manolo's blog is often underscored with modern ideas - of the French revolutionary kind. Not coincidentally my whole series on Malu Fernandez also carried this theme.

Which finally brings me to Celine Lopez' column yesterday, link courtesy of Sandwich Spy. She entitles it "A book report," one on French revolutionary Victor Hugo's most popular novel.

The summer he passed, I read Les Miserables for the first of many times in my life. Being suddenly a stranger in the world I had inhabited for some years now, the book suddenly provided me with a lesson my grandfather failed to teach me: that the perfect world is found in an imperfect world, my world after him.

How bizarre that one of the main protagonists in the Pinoyblogosphere's latest revolts against the so-called elite's exposed decadence, should choose a book that is the anti-thesis of her and her friends' reason for being . Peddling values which belong to the 19th century. Guiltless partying and bacchanalia of the sin-free. Values that say you have your world and I have mine and never the twain shall meet.

But Celine Lopez' column is not a book report. It is not even about the book. She chose the title and the book to tell us she is a woman of substance, that someone so young could read something so old. Quelle classe. I have never before read her column, but at least she can string words together to make pretty. It is mostly self-involved, as I imagine most of her columns are. But then we are all self-involved to a degree aren't we? So, moving on.

Second she writes a cute little story of when she was a little girl and how she coped with her grandfather's death.

In the end, with all my infallible adoration, I realized my lolo was like every human being. A Jean Valjean. It was my idea to put him on a pedestal; he never asked for it. He never insisted on it. Unlike Cosette’s and especially Marius’ grief in learning of Valjean’s truth, I loved him more for his humanity and not his godliness. A betrayal of thought redeemed by truth.

Other than herself, the main subject in her story happens to belong to one of the most powerful families in the Philippines, of which she is a part. Old landed aristocrats, remnants of the old world. In her own words, she was lost without her grandfather, a little girl worthy of empathy and understanding.

As a young adult I constantly tested what was truly right and wrong. Embracing my lessons from my mistakes more than my triumphs, I grew up still fragile, flawed and questioning.

So, she grew up fragile, little-girl-lost-y without her anchor. Empathy. We are also supposed to empathise with her sins, in her ventures from the perfect world.

It’s ironic that, in his theatrical setting of the perfect life for me in my early years, he further made me want to discover what makes the world ill. Perhaps feeling I had been stupid and fearing I would continuing being so, it drove me to find every flaw and to ultimately understand it.

And every flaw means doing what has been alleged in that blog down under? Well, that makes for a lot of understanding.

Then she ends her little ditty with a piece of advice. She is, after all, a woman of substance.

Life is a dramatic comedy and tragedy, forever interchanging until the curtains draw. Like in every story, what gives it meaning and remembrance is the plot, the characters and the struggle.

Let your will be the engine, your loved ones the wheels and your struggles the inspiration in creating your plot. Then, in this imperfect world, with our imperfect selves, we find perfect dreams in sleep.

So, let us be humble in our imperfections, she says. Let ye who hath no sin cast the first stone. Woman of substance. Family of substance. Fierce pride, but willing to learn from mistakes. She paints herself as battle-weary, little-girl-lost-y, experimenting-with-life kind of girl.

Oh the bravura.

I just wish she chose another book to "report" on. Because all she seems to have learned from the implied numerous times she has read the book, is that the world is not perfect and that people can change. A pity. In this day and age, it is tasteless and callous to draw comparisons between someone like her and the truly down-trodden and oppressed in Hugo's imaginary.

----

This post has been edited. Apparently, I can be sued for libel for:

Quoting a libelous sentence on the blog or re-publishing/summarizing allegations thereof.

Publicly mentioning names of people being exposed in the blog.

Publishing the URL of the blog or linking to the blog.

So here's to Freedom of Speech. How dear you have become. Only a few can afford you. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas.

Brian Gorrell's Blog is Alive!

This blog is not above juicy gossip. Wehehe. The DJ Montano blog (written by a certain DJ Montano's spurned lover) has a new post. He ends it with a threat:

I will shame your entire family because of DJ's crime against me.

DJ, do the right thing. Borrow the money from your family. Borrow it from a friend. Just give it to me.

Because I will re open this blog.

Nyahahaha. As Gibbs Cadiz says, its schadenfreud. I caught wind of this too late, and so I didn't get a chance to read the entries with all the comments. Even though he has deleted his posts, they're still floating in the ether. Make some popcorn, get comfy on your favourite meuble and "read" at your heart's content. Mwahahahaha.

ETA:

I am deliriously, ridiculously happy to report, that my post is the top search result when you google "tim yap."

Read also:
Deconstructing Celine Lopez' Book Report
In Defence of the Truly Talented and the Merit of Merit

Malu Fernandez, You Attention Whore You

She has some choice words for us upstarts in her latest column. Just because her words come to life in ink and ours in pixels, does not make her a journalist. I'm a blogger. Five years of my life and my thoughts are chronicled on this blog. I don't think that's slacking...that's providing intellectual capital for free.

Hemingway, I have said my piece on this one, so I won't jump into the fray. Just happy to report on everyone else's reaction so far:

From Jego:

Let us ignore the fact that she calls herself a journalist. I prefer to call her a columnist, but that is neither here nor there. The difference between a journalist and a blogger is that journalists have to adhere to certain guidelines that govern the freedom of speech. Last I checked, freedom of speech and the "guidelines" thereof cover both journalists and bloggers, and in fact cover all citizens. The principle of freedom of speech does not discriminate between journalists, bloggers, butcher, baker, and candlestick-maker. Perhaps what she means is journalists are covered by the standards of the publication said journalist happens to work for. Bloggers, not working for anybody for the most part, do not have to adhere to standards other than their own. A blog is a private space where the blogger can do whatever he or she wants, say anything he or she wants, insult or edify whoever he or she wants. The only courtesy a blogger affords to his or her readers or to his or her targets is to open the blog up for comments, an open invitation to his or her readers to agree or disagree with whatever was written. A blog is just like any other conversation, or at least it should be. The only standards bloggers adhere to are the standards of the society at large.

From Pedestrian Observer:

It is unfortunate and at the same time a reflection on the liepapers’ credibility and poor standard in hiring a shallow “writer” dipping her fingers on subject she knows nothing about comparing it with shopping experience is so absurd and ridiculous...One is allowed to make a fool of themselves, that is the essence of living in a free country and she can stay that way because she is fixated on accessorizing herself with name brand items unfortunately wearing expensive name brands does not necessarily make one look better. It is not what you wear that counts but what you are deep within that determines your character as a person.

From Carlos Celdran:

But I'm also wondering what's the deal with her smarmy remarks about some blogger of Spanish descent. I wonder who she's talking about. And what is it about this year? It's just one bloody ta-e* explosion after the other on the blogosphere.

From Bryanboy:

Are you THAT disconnected with what goes on these days? I have no idea what it's like in that insulated cave you live in but woman, get on with the program!

From Nightdreamer:

She ridiculously claims that us, Filipinos, are a culture of whiners. And what was she doing exactly? Not whining?

Oh. And Yugatech has awarded her Master Link Baiter of the year.


Related Posts:

Putting on the "Other's" Shoes
On the Democracy of the Pinoyblogosphere a.k.a Malu Fernandez Take Your Cue
Let Them Eat Cake
OFWs Are No Heroes
The Philippines' First Cyber Counterculture Movement, Malu Fernandez, Hala Lagot Ka!

Hero Complex

Manong Trillanes, kung ang pakay mo talaga ay isalba ang Pilipinas, hindi ka nasindak ng teargas at putok ng baril. Jusme. Kung gusto mo'ng magpaka-bayani, panindigan mo. Sayang naman ang machong tindig mo. Guwaping ka pa naman. Huwag mong hintayin ang pagdating ng mga tao, kasi kung ikaw lang din ang mamumuno ng "rebolusyon," huwag na lang. Ngayon, kung naglaban ka kahit man lang konti, pwede pa siguro. Pumili ka na kasi. Ano ka ba? Sundalo o Senador? Tagapagligtas ng bayan o mambabatas? Ano ba talaga kuya?!?

Cebu Prison Inmates De-stress

Via cvj, I came across these videos of inmates from the Cebu Prison and Detention Rehabilitation Centre. Gave me a big smile waking up today. :)

Here they do their rendition of Michael Jackson's thriller.



And Jumbo Hotdog by the Masculados.

What Can Be Done on YouTube

I'm loving this boy (or girl) on YouTube. High-concept, meaningful, simple videos. MadV, asteeg :)

(The mad song in this video is Acid Food by Glasgow band Mogwai.)

Top 10 Signs Y ou've Been Watching Too Much House MD

1. You come to believe that hyperintelligence is cool and hyperintelligent assholes cooler.

2. You philosophize about life more than usual. Little quips like "Truth begins in lies" begin to make sense.

3. You know that people lie in general, but you never really dwell too much about it 'til the end of Season 2.

4. You now know that bodily fluids are expelled from your oral cavity in three ways: it sprays if its from the stomach, you cough if its from your lungs and it oozes if its from your bowels. Vomit-laced feces. Yum.

5. You start thinking doctors are cool. And you wonder why you didn't become one. Then you remember you were the very last person in your sophomore class to prick your finger for that microscope experiment. You didn't even actually do it yourself, you had your groupmate do it for you.

6. Dr. House starts to remind you of your genius but highly flawed rockstar politics professor. You are drawn to how brightly they shine but remember how badly they burn.

7. You think David Shore must be God and Hugh Laurie Jesus.

8. You now know you can die from teeny tiny microbes or virus or bacteria or parasites or toxic and irradiated materials. You can die from almost any harmless-looking thing and increasingly become paranoid about what you touch, what you eat and drink, where you breathe, who you speak with...

9. You know what an MRI and a CT Scan are. You know what intubation, lumbar puncture and biopsy procedures look like even though you've never spent more than a total of 24 hours (tops) in a hospital in your lifetime.

10. You love having soon-to-be-doctors friends who are just a text away for geeky medical trivia.

On Bianca and Zanjoe (This is not Nina's Blog)

Hello Bianjoe fanatics, welcome to my blog. I am not the person who wrote that letter to Mr. Boy Abunda. That would be Nina. She posted her letter on her blog. Thanks.

Oh I've been wanting to blog about this for a long time, but now I feel it imperative to do so.

I am a PBB addict. A Bianjoe addict in particular.

I was watching Y Speak last night and felt incredibly bad for Bianca Gonzalez and Zanjoe Marudo. I suppose the next few days will be hectic because everyone would want a piece of them. In the mean time, I can imagine the two of them having to put their "special friendship" on hold as they both attend to unfinished business.


I'm a Bianjoe fan from the very start. It's the classic "forbidden love" angle. For those who have been living under a rock for the past 2 months, Bianca is Lino Cayetano's girlfriend (as in the late Senator Cayetano's son). Inside the house Bianca and Zanjoe developed a "close friendship" that included frequent hugs and kisses. Since both admitted to being attracted to each other, I think its safe to say that their feelings can't be completely platonic.

I've been rooting for the two of them because both exhibited grace under pressure -- the pressure of their minds battling with their hearts.

I think it unfair for people to say mean things about Bianca. Forums reveal just how virulent these comments can be:

kse simple lang yan no...?elementary..if me konting decency yang c bianca,kahit landiin sya,d nya papatulan mga pag-'tempt',overtures ni zanjoe kse po me boyfriend sya!ganun lang ka-simple yan.at kung talagang naloka sya ke zanjoe,ano b nman yung mag-antay muna sya after pbb to see kung totoo yang nararamdaman nya.e di i-break nya c lino and ituloy nila landiaan nila sa lbas.she could've done it with a little class.d yang ganyan plastic pa sya na friends daw sila.ano kme ######o.poor lino.

I'm very disappointed with Bianca! grbae na ginagawa nya. Kawawa ang BF nya. As for Zanjoe, wala syang respeto sa BF ni Bianca. He knows may BF si bianca pero sige pa din sya....tamad na...wala pang respeto sa ibang tao.

Yan si bianca, kaya lang yan hindi bumibigay kay zanjoe kasi on-cam siya. Pero for sure kung walang cameras around them matagal nang sila. Malamang they even had ######. She doesnt give in not bcoz she has respect for her bf or that she knows her boundaries, but simply and logically bcoz, THERE ARE CAMERAS ALL AROUND.

I regularly watch Y Speak and can say that Bianca is not only smart and articulate but humble. Having to deal with brats on regular occasion, I can safely say that Bianca is an exception.

Bianca went to High School at La Salle Zobel. She then went to the Ateneo. That she is pedigreed is of no question. Even wihtout knowing this, the way she speaks and holds herself is evidence enough.

In the same token, the way Zanjoe speaks and holds himself reveal his much humbler origins. Did he even finish his studies at Mapua?

Lino Cayetano, on the other hand, belongs to the elite. Rich, coming from a family that includes a former Senator and a current senator (his sister Pia) and well-educated (didn't he study film at NYU?). He isn't bad looking either. Any girl would want to bag and keep Lino as a boyfriend and a possible husband.

I laud Bianca for even giving Zanjoe half a chance. For looking past socio-economic barriers, for not being a snob.

I laud Bianca for risking a good match to follow her heart.

Maybe she saw something in Zanjoe that was lacking in Lino (despite all his riches). Maybe she saw genuine passion and affection? Maybe she felt truly...adored.

I remember Lino guesting in Y Speak a few months back. He and Bianca were interviewed as a couple. He didn't really leave much of an impression. As an "artist" he had the requisite long hair and all, but his eyes didn't show much...verve. Even his voice didn't seem...animated. His body language towards Bianca was very cold. This was made even more obvious because the other couple interviewed (Chiz Escudero and wife) were very affectionate, in their glances, they way their knees touched. The way Lino looked at Bianco while they were answering questions didn't reveal much.

Now I'm comparing how Zanjoe acted around and looked at Bianca in the house. Even last night during the interview. I would forgo all the riches of a pedigreed boyfriend to have the man I love look at me like that.

In a Wowowee State of Mind

I came across this piece on the Wowowee tragedy through Torn and Frayed. I laud Idiot Savant for taking an unpopular explanation to the tragedy. He claims that it is not extreme poverty that caused people to line up outside Ultra for days, he says it is "the Wowowee state of mind."

Also, those who had resources enough to wait it out for days couldn't have possibly been that poor.

"The people who massed at Ultra had alternatives. To be sure, not very attractive ones, but they had alternatives nonetheless. Hungry people do not sit around for three days in a festive atmosphere waiting for a ticket to a game show; they go out looking for food."

He then looks to link this kind of value system, one that "banks on patronage and entitlement, that thrives on false hopes and dependency, and that feeds on the simple, immature sense of good and evil in the universe at the same time disregarding the nature of actions and consequences" to the mentality of the "alipin" a pre-colonial "caste system" that he says survived the Spanish era and continues today.

While to some extent, I agree that Wowowee's audience couldn't have been that poor, after all they could afford TV sets, what is "poor?" If we do not eat thrice a day, are we "poor?" If we eat thrice a day, but have nothing but rice and talbos ng kamote, are we not "poor?" Do we need to be in an extreme state of malnourishment, ribs showing and faint from hunger to be "poor"? In a mediatized society that constantly feeds us with all kinds of wants and needs to achieve the "good life," you and I could be poor.

While those people had enough provisions to last them three days and could afford not to "go out looking for food," this does not discount their varying states of desperation. The fact that they are desperate yet "festive" is a well-evolved coping mechanism, something we Filipinos are known for.

Idiot Savant is right in claiming that it is an "insane value system." What he does not says is it's a value system that is "insane" from his view. For those people, what they were doing and the value system that prompted them to do it, was completely rational. We are, after all, calculating humans. In the end, all we want is to survive. For those people, a few days chit-chatting with your neighbors under the sun while awaiting the main event, was just part of their ordinary struggle to survive. Idiot Savant implies, why don't those people just go out and work? Work hard? Work harder?

But poverty isn't merely a state of mind, it is a social condition. Contrary to little "nuggets of wisdom" we, the educated folk, have been taught since birth, poverty cannot be overcome by simple hard work. An ambulant vendor can work 15 hours a day every day for fifty years and still die with nothing to show for. And the "good life" these days mean that in order to be happy and fulfilled, we need a lot of things to show for.

Poverty is social because it does not mean anything divorced from the environment. Poverty is social because it is relative. Poverty can be measured by a sense of lack. And when we see people in our vicinity having many things that give them happiness, why should we begrudge ourselves of these essential elements of the good life?

But then if we were born into the wrong end of the spectrum, what an uphill battle it will be for us to achieve the means to buy the good life. We would need to be superhuman, extraordinarily ambitious, extraordinarily cunning to break free of the limitations of our birth. Limitations including; risk of malnutrition growing up, sub-standard public education, pressure from family to work at a young age, and most constraining of all, overcoming the "Wowowee state of mind." This is the most difficult because it means having to go against everything you've learned since birth. Things your parents taught you, and their parents taught them, to survive.

"Wag kang masyadong ambisyoso! Mapapaso ka lang." (Don't be too ambitious or you'll get burned).
"Dapat alamin mo kung san ka lulugar." (You should know your place)
"Magdasal ka na lang." (Just pray)
"Hindi tayo pababayaan ng Diyos." (God will not let us come to harm)

Nobody chooses to live in the socially-created conditions of poverty. But because we live in a world of never-ending scarcity, this kind of poverty is inevitable. Nobody chooses to be "unpoor" either. Contrary to our bourgeois value system, it is not a mere choice. It is necessary, it serves a function. So Idiot Savant and I should thank our lucky stars our lot in life means we are able to look out our 20th story windows and survey the Makati skyline and rail about the dastardly aspects of the human condition instead of living it.

===========================================

Edited to add:

In response to comments by Dominique/Idiot Savant and Torn.

Dominique,

Thanks for the response to my response. I agree with some of what you said in your earlier post. What I do not agree with is causation. And maybe, your use of terms.

I don't see how the "alipin mentality" caused the Wowowee tragedy. First, assuming that the alipin value system survived the colonial period, could it have done so essentially unchanged?

Second, how could you discount 400 years of "colonial rule" and the consequent value systems resulting from the social structures created at the time and the interaction of agents of history? For example, how does the concept of an all-knowing God, one that monitors your each and every move change your values? How does the inate, natural superiority of caucasians change your values? How does a State, previously unconceived of in the pre-colonial Barangay system, the supreme authority above everything and everyone you see change your values? How does the concept of property, of exclusive ownership of land for example, change your values?

My point is, you cannot claim that "the pre-Hispanic class system is still with us" and say that this is the cause of poverty. Even I will not venture to enumerate the causes of poverty in this country (although I could). I could read and think and study it for the rest of my life and still be unable to make such statements.

Third, what I object to the most is the thinly veiled condescencion in your post.

It is evident when you say:
"Let's face it: these people are not like you and me. We live in one world, they live in another. No, they're not bad per se. In fact, they are capable of suprising displays of tenderness and childlike simplicity at times. They just have a grossly distorted value system. It's that value system that places material well-being ahead of everything else."

I'm reminded of this scene in Leondardo di Caprio's film "The Aviator." His character Howard Hughes was having luncheon with Katharine Hepburn. He was so crass as to talk about business and money-making during the meal. Hepburn says "We don't talk about money at the table" or something to that effect. Howard replies, "You don't talk about money because you have it."

Let me ask you, when your survival means getting your grubby little hands on some cash for the day or trying to feed your family on your P300 minimum wage, wouldn't you put your material well-being ahead of everything else as well? To hell with "common" decency, damn courtesy and niceties, fuck kindness?

Yes, these kinds of values, as you say, stem from something. But not the pre-colonial caste system, not the alipin mentality. It stems from values created in the past few centuries, it stems from values created at this moment. And values do not spring out of nowhere like mushrooms. They do not linger unchanged for centuries either. Values, or "little nuggets of wisdom" or "common sense" stem from our realities. As you say, theirs is a different world. Theirs is a different reality. And so, they must create values to match their lives. Shouldn't we be grateful that our reality is so much more comfortable than theirs? And so we can afford not to talk about money, we can afford our little niceties, we can afford our kindness.

Maybe we should just dispense with safe terms like "alipin" or "caste system" because they mean nothing today compared to loaded terms such as "peasant," "urban poor" or "class system." Let us call a spade a spade.

Yet another reason to like Kanye West

On a live fund-rasing telecast for the victims of hurricane Katrina, hip hop star Kanye West known for his creative and dare I say intelligent lyrics, dared say that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Now that takes HUGE balls.

Download the video clip here.

TRANSCRIPT OF THE TELECAST CUT SHORT:

Mike Myers: [dutifully reads canned plea for charity on teleprompter]

Kanye: [abandons teleprompter] "I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family and they say we are looting, you see a white family and they say they are looking for food. And, you know, its been five days because most of the people ARE black. And even for me to complain, I would be a hypocrite because I would turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right to see what is the biggest amount I can give. And just to imagine, if I was down there and those are my people down there. If there is anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help about the way America is set up the help the poor, the black people, the less well off as slow as possible. Red cross is doing as much as they can. We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way. And now they've given them permission to go down and shoot us.

Mike Myers: [stands frozen in horror, decides to pretend nothing happened and stick with the teleprompter]

Kanye: GEORGE BUSH DOES NOT CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE.

Mike Myers: [descends into complete panic]

--------

New Orleans is a city of 485,000 people. About two-thirds of the population is African-American, and about one-third lives below the poverty line.

While the evacuation order was issued Sunday morning, an estimated 100,000 people were left behind.

They were overwhelmingly the poor, the elderly, the sick -- and African-American.

Harry Potter From Your Friendly Neighborhood Pirates

My friend Luis has gone absolutely berserk and published an online free version of the latest Harry Potter book. While I myself am not a fan, go ahead and enjoy!

Bamboo: Song of the Times

Kung naiinis at badtrip, makinig na lang sa kantang ito ng Bamboo, sumabay sa kanta at magsisigaw sa banyo! :)

Hallelujah

Anong balita sa radio at TV
Ganun pa rin kumakapa sa dilim
Minsa’y naisip ko nang umalis na lang dito
Kalimutan ang lahat lumipad, lumayo

Bato-bato sa langit
tamaan wag magalit
Alam naman natin kung sino ang tuso

Sa bawat sumpang umiiyak singil ko ay piso
Sa bawat lumuluhang dukha — alay ko’y dugo

May kasama ka kapatid, kaibigan
Hangga’t ako’y humihinga may pag-asa pa

Hallelu
Hallelujah

Sinong sawa, sinong galit
Sumigaw ngayong gabi

Hallelu
Hallelujah

Blinded by the light
I could barely see the faces in front of me
Asking me where do we begin
Well for starters from within
I’m ashamed of what I’ve become in the mirror
The face of my one true enemy
Hallelujah, it’s a new day
Let’s take control. If i have to take this message door to door
Save myself, save every soul
With permission I make this my personal mission
Save me from the fire… from the fire

Ngayong gabi ako ang sundalo mo
Habang ika’y tulog ako’y gising nakabantay sa iyo — kasi mahal kita
Tingnan mo pag-ibig ko sa’yo lamang

May kasama ka kapatid, kaibigan
Hangga’t ako’y humihinga may pag-asa pa

Hallelu
Hallelujah

Sinong sawa, sinong galit
Sumigaw ngayong gabi

Hallelu
Hallelujah

Looks like I'll be going on air on Wednesday finally! No, I won't be a DJ (they want a guy for that), I'll be a newscaster on a local radio station. I tried out for the open auditions last March, they picked a dozen or so finalists and finally, 1 guy and 2 girls. Wish me luck. :-)

Transitions to Adulthood and Quarter-life Crisis

Whoever said the adolescent years are a turbulent and precarious period of a human being's life must not have lived long enough to reach his/her twenties. They don't call it quarter-life crisis for nothing. Lately the pressures of being in my twenties, particularly when I'm 3 months away from the big "quarter" of a century, is proving to be harrowing, depressing, and exhausting.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend writing her masters theses on "transititions to adulthood" has made me explore previously unknown avenues in my brain and has unlocked even more anxiety in my already paranoid and quasi-insomniac psyche.

The interview lasted an hour and a half. After which I felt as though I'd run a 10k marathon. My throat hurt, but my mind hurt more. I was able to reach deep-seated thoughts and feelings about my "transition to adulthood" but for some reason, this question I found, was the most difficult.

"What do you think makes someone an adult? Is it career? If you have a job, does it make you an adult? If you've finished college? How much money you make? If you're married? When you have children?"

Wow. So, what makes one an adult? I vaguely remember saying; "I guess it's in a person's perspective, or self-evaluation. If you think you're an adult, if you've decided you're an adult and no longer a child. Then you are one. It's really very subjective."

What a load of crap. I didn't know what I was talking about, and even now, I wonder if I really believe what I said. I've a relatively stable job. I make a decent living. I pay my taxes and SSS dues. I've never committed a crime against humanity or
beasts. I drink in moderation and have recently stopped smoking. I've never voted, but I do so in principle. I maintain reasonably healthy social relationships. I drive on the right side of the road and practice my rights as an individual consumer
assiduously. But do all these make me an adult?

What makes the twenties so difficult, especially for women, is this sense that you're running out of time. You've only roughly a decade to devote solely to yourself, on your self-development, career, life plans. Because, if you want to procreate then it
means you've got to have children by 30. If you push the limit you run the risk of having a difficult pregnancy or producing offspring with less than optimum capabilities as can be generated by you and your spouse's combined alleles.

But before having children you've gotta find the right mate. And God knows when you're about to hit the big 2-5 then you get this feeling the time for "fun" and "games" is fast diminishing in the horizon. Less time and space for fooling around and toying with other people's feelings. Less time and space for casual dates and flings. It's time for some serious natural selection; do I want my children to bear his genes? Will he be capable of providing food, shelter and a home?

But before finding a mate, any self-respecting woman of my generation, socially conditioned to make full use not only of the uterus, but of other equally working body parts, would like to make "something" of herself. What this something is, is usually nebulous. But you know its something bigger, greater, more relevant than yourself. And certainly as relevant as creating another life and providing for it decently.

So you see, a woman has got to make all the right decisions that will affect her entire life in her twenties. Finish studies, work, produce, consume, mate and breed, all while that clock is ticking. Not doing any of the above in the right sequence, and at the right time makes one a social anomaly. Abnormal and strange yes, but probably more stress-free.

TV Time: One


The TV is watching me. It has held me in thrall for quite a few hours now and it won’t let me go. I’ve been flipping through channels like mad and I am joyous there are so many.

There is always my favorite free channel, the BBC. I swear, when Britons speak they sound better informed and smarter than Americans do when they speak the exact same language. It must be the way they seem to enunciate each word where Americans let them roll off their tongues and come out their noses. Much like someone pounding away at a typewriter packs more conviction than someone flicking her fingers on a keyboard. Tack, tack, tack. Clip, clip, clip. Hear the difference?

I’ve a ton of work to be done, quizzes to check and papers to grade. But my body has been frozen in front of my television screen. There are simply too many interesting things to watch. Don’t you love the National Geographic? I swear these animals seem more human than I previously thought they were.

Before I thought animals were organisms motivated only by basic needs which are programmed into their much simpler brains to ensure their survival. But then here comes the National Geographic telling me certain animals, a monkey species in Japan, even certain hummingbirds, exhibit homosexual behavior! So instead of males shacking up with females, they instead seek out other males and simulate sexual activity. The way I understood the “logic” behind this “deviance” however was that two males unhampered by a reproducing female (who could not leave the nest) could then gather more food for the “family unit.” Purely functional then. I wonder if they enjoy the sex as much if at all.

I was shocked, aghast. Gay monkeys and birds were beyond my comprehension and previously unimaginable! But if the National Geographic tells me so, then I am convinced. What other proof need I?