Freedom

Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, "You owe me."
Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz, Persian poet of 1300.




Photo taken at April 27, 2009
Poem via extended nori paper

Yey blogs

Two blogs I'm really, really, really, really, really loving:

Rajo's:



and Daphne's:



I especially like Rajo's because he has this huge affinity with LOL the same way I do, lol. (Sorry, just had to use it :-P) I'm also swept away by his travelogues and photo essays, which are sincerely appreciated by this lowly office drone, haha.

Both blogs have no dramas, intrigues and other what-nots, and remain to be classy and understated.

They also counter my bad karma guilty pleasures, such as Dlisted, lol.

Any other sites like these that you recommend?

To bee or not to bee

As I was savagely eating my lunch consisting of a cheeseburger and 1-piece burger steak from Jollibee at 5pm, I realized that I ought to be more environment-conscious in my choices. I stared at the burger steak's food packaging, which was styrofoam, and thought, "maybe I should stop buying this."

So I thought of McDonald's, but then I realized, that like Jollibee, it also uses styrofoam and plastic cups.

My proverbial light bulb gleamed in magnificence (yes, it does that; sometimes, it's not a light bulb, but a shower of glitters) when I realized that KFC, as far as I know, uses paper packaging for takeout.

Unfortunately, I will soon resolve not to eat fried chicken, after having given up soda and iced tea that isn't brewed tea, and therefore, I may not be able to eventually order anything from KFC after all.

Also, I asked myself, which is more environment-friendly: styrofoam or the production of paper. There are issues concerning paper production, e.g., Do they cut down trees? Do they use organic hemp?

Or I can bring my own food container, order dine-in, then dump them in the container? Also, if I'm being this morally conscious, should I turn vegan?

When does it all stop? At asceticism?

It is extremely challenging to be politically correct.

The minority report

"It is like watching the 700 Club and the weather channel at the same time."
-- (LOL!!!) By Stephen Colbert

This ad makes me feel like I'm an alien monster, lol.

Hmm, let's see:

I'll be taking away your freedom.
I'm leaving you with no choice.
I want you to change the way you live.

Wait... but aren't these what you do to us? Aaw, you guys! You didn't have to be sarcastic and fault yourselves :-D In any case, that was so sweet of you, lol.

* * * *

From an editorial by Frank Rich for The New York Times:

The Bigots’ Last Hurrah

What would happen if you crossed that creepy 1960s horror classic “The Village of the Damned” with the Broadway staple “A Chorus Line”? You don’t need to use your imagination. It’s there waiting for you on YouTube under the title “Gathering Storm”: a 60-second ad presenting homosexuality as a national threat second only to terrorism.

The actors are supposedly Not Gay. They stand in choral formation before a backdrop of menacing clouds and cheesy lightning effects. “The winds are strong,” says a white man to the accompaniment of ominous music. “And I am afraid,” a young black woman chimes in. “Those advocates want to change the way I live,” says a white woman. But just when all seems lost, the sun breaks through and a smiling black man announces that “a rainbow coalition” is “coming together in love” to save America from the apocalypse of same-sex marriage. It’s the swiftest rescue of Western civilization since the heyday of the ambiguously gay duo Batman and Robin.

... Yet easy to mock as “Gathering Storm” may be, it nonetheless bookmarks a historic turning point in the demise of America’s anti-gay movement.

What gives the ad its symbolic significance is not just that it’s idiotic but that its release was the only loud protest anywhere in America to the news that same-sex marriage had been legalized in Iowa and Vermont. If it advances any message, it’s mainly that homophobic activism is ever more depopulated and isolated as well as brain-dead.

Read more.

Some other key points from the article:

1./
As the polls attest, the majority of Americans who support civil unions for gay couples has been steadily growing. Younger voters are fine with marriage. Generational changeover will seal the deal. Crunching all the numbers, the poll maven Nate Silver sees same-sex marriage achieving majority support “at some point in the 2010s.”

2./
Iowa and Vermont were the tipping point because they struck down the right’s two major arguments against marriage equality. The unanimous ruling of the seven-member Iowa Supreme Court proved that the issue is not merely a bicoastal fad. The decision, written by Mark Cady, a Republican appointee, was particularly articulate in explaining that a state’s legalization of same-sex marriage has no effect on marriage as practiced by religions. “The only difference,” the judge wrote, is that “civil marriage will now take on a new meaning that reflects a more complete understanding of equal protection of the law.”

3./
As the case against equal rights for gay families gets harder and harder to argue on any nonreligious or legal grounds, no wonder so many conservatives are dropping the cause.

The storm is a perfectly appropriate metaphor. A storm cleanses.

Fisheye 2

I ought to take lomography more seriously (an oxymoron?).

From my latest roll:

Makati skyline from Citibank Center. You can see Pag-ibig, Manila Peninsula and Shangri-la Makati.

Silhouette of Dambana ng Kabataan, Mandaluyong City

Shangri-la Mall Edsa and Crossing flyover

Happy Strunk and White Day!

I was introduced to William Strunk and E.B. White's Elements of Style by my English professor, Mida. I couldn't afford the book then so I had to settle for photocopies. (Now that I try to remember it, I don't think I've ever bought more than five books throughout college. I had gigantic binders containing Xerox copies, though :-P)


Elements is perhaps the most comprehensive yet concise American English writing style guide ever published. It is so concise the book can practically fit in your back pocket. When I got my job as a copy editor, I immediately bought my own copy, and it still sits on my desk even after five years.

So just how important having proper grammar is? Consider an excerpt from this commentary by Marc Acito for National Public Radio on the occasion of the book's 50th anniversary:

Me and a friend was talking about using proper grammar. And he says to I, "Today is the 50th anniversary of Strunk and White's Elements of Style." (1)

So I got me a copy and totally mesmerized this vast suppository of information. For instance, Strunk and White says, "Write with nouns and verbs." (2) Myself, for one, is relieved to know this, as I have been trying to write with macaroni and cheese.

And it is never recommended to willfully and recklessly — because it puts undue emphasis on the adverb — split an infinitive. (3) Oops. You might have just heard out of the corner of your ear that the passive voice was used by myself. It is to be avoided. (4) Unless you are the CEO of a bank, in which case you cannot do your job without saying "mistakes were made.

Read more.

-- via candypop's tweet

What they were doing at 27

Oh gawd.

Excerpts from Details:

JOHN F. KENNEDY

Just months before Japan's surrender in World War II in 1945, Lieutenant John F. Kennedy was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy. He was awarded a Purple Heart, a Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroic conduct, and the affection of every woman who loves a clean-cut man in uniform.

Photo: Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum

* * *


ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Though the bodybuilding phenom was ready to depart the world of gyms for the one of film sets by 1975, Pumping Iron director George Butler persuaded Arnold Schwarzenegger to compete for the Mr. Olympia title that year (which he won handily, his sixth in a row).

Photo: Michael Abramson/Liaison

* * *


HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

After serving as a member of the presidential impeachment inquiry staff during the Watergate scandal in 1974, Hillary Rodham left the D.C. hornet's nest to follow her boyfriend Bill Clinton to Arkansas. She settled into a teaching gig at the University of Arkansas Law School—and, after months of demurring, agreed to marry the man who would help start (though possibly eventually hinder) her political career.

Photo: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

* * *


GEORGE W. BUSH

In October 1973, George W. Bush was discharged from the Texas Air National Guard after five years of service and began his first term at Harvard Business School. According to Bill Minutaglio's biography, First Son, Bush's problems with alcohol were escalating around the same time: He challenged his father to a brawl a year earlier, and a DUI in 1976 would leave him without a driver's license for two years.

Photo: Courtesy of AP Photo/George Bush Presidential Library

* * *


BARACK OBAMA

While finishing his first year at Harvard Law School, Barack Obama was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review—a gig that led to that original fated book deal. In the summer of 1989, he returned to Chicago to work as an associate at Sidley & Austin, where his future wife, Michelle, was his mentor. She resisted his early advances, saying it would be "tacky for the only two black people" at the firm to date, according to the Washington Post.

Photo: Steve Liss/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

* * *


JASON
In 2007, Jason was heavily busy with Multiply and his personal blog. Later, he will discover Twitter and Facebook.

Um... yeah, that should be it.

LOL. Ayaw!!!

A most curious case

I'm sure we can all use a break from what's happening in TV and radio now, so I bring you this particular news that's brewing online:

*** The curious incident of John Candare and a cat at the NIP ***

In a Google cache of his multiply entry, John admits to murdering a cat in UP (edited for brevity):

On our way out of old NIP (National Institute of Physics --j) I saw the cat I almost killed last Tuesday. Now everyone knows I hate cats. It’s an unexplainable feeling towards them. Like some internal hatred .... I pulled it on its tail and threw it. Then like some pro wrestler I jumped on it and my feet landed on it’s torso. Slam! Felt good! But the cat didn’t die, well not yet. It ran for it’s life and just as I was about to catch up on it somebody yelled: “Pwede bang pabayaan mo yung pusa?!”

Hours later, habang abala sa XRD, a guy came in. Tanong niya: “Sinong pumatay dun sa pusa?” Bang! Dat was me boi. Guilty as charged. I didn’t see it die pero sabi ni Myles it coughed up blood or at least something like that daw. Didn’t realize I gave it a fatal hit. This isn’t the first time I’ve killed a cat but this time it’s different. It didn’t occur to me back then that the cat had a leash. So I think somebody owns it. Well it’s very well loved in NIP from what I heard and I just ended it’s life. So there you go I’m sorry. And I wont be striking another one for maybe about a month.

Aaaw, he killed a cat beloved by NIP folks.

While that didn't exactly make him remorseful (as implied in the last part of his entry), the backslash eventually did: apparently faculty teachers are considering charging him with violation of the Animal Welfare Act.

So now, he's apologizing -- but that isn't stopping the comments, which are pretty funny:



Poor cat.

-- news via Technograph

* * * *

If PNP were investigating this case, it would:

a) charge Multiply with obstruction of justice for having allowed the deletion of a journal entry;
b) announce its every new development and findings to the media no matter how inconclusive they are; and
c) have the dead cat undergo a paraffin test: it may just be a simple case of suicide after all.

A few of my (new) favorite things

1./ Prescription glasses

Thought I'd give my eyes a rest from contact lenses. There were a lot of good frames at the optical shop in Trinoma but somehow I got drawn to tortoise.



I suddenly want a tortoise necktie.

2./ Who needs a MacBook Air when you have this?



Desktop mirror from Japan Home Center for only P88. LOL.

The Passion of Christ: a Twitter adaptation

It's weird to be reading tweets from Pontius Pilate, St. Peter, Mary and Jesus Christ.

The Trinity Church is doing just just that by twittering The Passion of Christ. The language is contemporary but there is something unsettling about making them sound like they're tweeners.




In any case, if they were tweeting the Passion, they might as well have gone all the way. As in:

jchrist: fierce! i'm alive... and glowing. body wrap = awesome. ooh, someone's coming. must hide.
about 2 hours ago via mobile

magdalene: waking up so early and going to the tomb only to find that jchrist's body is missing -- so not cool.
about 2 hours ago via mobile

jchrist: booo! @ magdalene
about 2 hours ago via mobile

magdalene: OMG @ jchrist... fierce!!! wait, is it really you?
about 2 hours ago via mobile

jchrist: @ magdalene like totally. check out my hands http://twitpic.com/2z&u0
about 2 hours ago via mobile

magdalene: FTW!!! @ jchrist
about 2 hours ago via mobile

Pressure on the wrong lid

Fate of hostages is up to Arroyo
By Michael Lim Ubac, Julie Alipala

The fate of two foreign aid workers still held captive by the Abu Sayyaf in Jolo, Sulu, is now in the hands of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is marking her 62nd birthday on Sunday, Sen. Richard Gordon warned Saturday.

Gordon said that in effect, the life or death of Italian Eugenio Vagni and Swiss Andreas Notter of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) depended on Ms Arroyo who, he pointed out, had the power to order government troops to pull back from the area surrounding the bandits’ camp.

It’s unfair for Sen. Gordon to say that the hostages’ fate is in the hands of President Arroyo; it is in the bandits’ -- they are threatening to behead the Red Cross volunteers after all.

I am not a fan of Arroyo (an understatement) but the government cannot heed to requests of terrorists, whether ransom or something deemed as easily doable as pulling out military troops in Abu Sayyaf’s lair.

So how does it work? Hostages die and it’s the government’s fault — not of those who actually murdered them? And when hostages are released countless of politicians take credit?


Moral dilemma:
If you were President and the terrorists' only demand is for you to kneel down and kiss their feet, would you do it?

The New Mrs. O (and our very own 2010 candidates)

I'm continued to be amazed by the US First Lady's sartorial choices, particular during her and President Obama's first official sojourn in Europe -- they're all so chic and smart, and yet, highly considerate of the times (read: not appearing vain and self-centered in consideration of problems back home).

Even some of the pieces which I wasn't too fond of was forgivable (not that she needed any forgiveness... and in case, it shouldn't definitely come from me), like this Thakoon coat with an unflattering shape:

Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Underneath was a far flattering dress by the same designer:

Credit: Sean Gallup /Getty Images

In London, she wore just one accessory throughout her itinerary, a double strand of pearls, which she paired with an Azzedine Alaia and Isabel Toledo to meet the Queen; and J.Crew to meet the Prime Minister:

Credit: John Stillwell /Getty Images

Credit: Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

And I thought no other First Lady could be as interesting as Mrs. Sarkozy!

Follow Mrs. O's fashion through Mrs. O.


* * * *

Potential 2010 Philippines First Ladies:

From left: Cynthia Villar, Elenita Binay (in blue) and Korina Sanchez
(Credits: www.cynthiavillar.com.ph, www.inquirer.net and www.dzmm.com.ph)


Don't they get you excited? :-)

What do you get when you mix Century Tuna and egg?

Sabi ni pareng Jadel, "its becomes an omelet."



"Ang favorite ko is Century Tuna, syempre... and I mixed with... eh, egg and Century... its becomes an omelet!"

In any case, what's a lapse in SVA when you've got abs like that :-P

See more videos at the Century Tuna Superbods website.

Ask yourself first

One of the few times the CBCP and I agree:

From Philippine Star, written by Dennis Carcamo:

The government should also apologize to the numerous overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for the ridicule they have been receiving from other countries, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said today.

Fr. Edwin Corros, executive secretary of CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Migrant and Itinerant People, said government officials should explain why they are still deploying hundreds of thousands of Filipinos to other countries for work.

"Siguro mag apologize ang government sa bayan dahil patuloy silang nagpapadala ng mga OFW sa ibat-ibang panig ng mundo (The government should apologize to the nation for continuing to send Filipinos abroad)," Corros said in an interview with the Church-run Radio Veritas.

It's funny how politicians are oh so quick to fire their guns at Chip; perhaps, they should ask themselves: "What have I done for Filipinos so they won't be forced to find work elsewhere but the Philippines?"
****

Also see Hong Kong is a better place for servants by Howie Severino.