Of all the things I lost this year, you were the one that hurt me the most.

MY family and I thought we will be together for many years like Spoon did.

But I guess God wanted you soon because for the 6 years you were with us, you were an angel.

I will miss the times you would always cry and whine whenever we get back from work.

All you asked from us is for us to touch you and remind you that we love you so much.

It was really hard to let you go but we knew we had to.

You were a part of our family and I hope you continue to guide us up in doggy heaven.

I love you Star.

Please tell Spoon I said hi.

TAKEN FROM http://philboxing.com/news/pix/pac.with.koncz.01.300w.jpg

There are several websites in the United States quoting Freddie Roach in an interview with a writer Jonathan Butler saying that Boxing great Manny Pacquiao is supposedly broke and has to keep on fighting to keep up with the expenses.

He’s broke because of that and all the people he flies around to his fights. He goes through money like you wouldn’t believe. He can’t say no. Of course he’ll have to keep fighting. He does now. He won’t be able to stop – it’s his life.

Here is the whole article: CLICK HERE

Personally I think Pacquiao has money of course, counting all the endorsements and all the money he has been giving away during a show over GMA 7.

The problem is if he doesn’t shape up, he will eventually lose them all like so many Filipino boxers who thought that money is endless.

Take for example Rolando Navarrete.

Photo from http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/images/navarrete-rolando-11.jpg

His story is a sad one. I hope Pacquiao learned from him.

CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY

Rumors of Pacquiao’s alleged gambling problem have been circulating, I hope this is not true because gambling really doesn’t lead to anything good.

If it’s true, I hope he stops because this will spell his financial doom.

As for Roach, he cites the over generosity of Pacquiao to the people around him. The legendary coach says in the article above that the boxer “goes through money like you couldn’t believe”

I also found an article that Pacquiao’s camp unilaterally terminated the contract with an accounting firm he hired to take care of his money.

CLICK HERE FOR LINK

If all these are indeed true, I pray that Pacquiao finds time to reflect on his finances and get rid of the people who are just using him for his money.

Someday when time catches up with his body and a bigger and stronger athlete comes along, it would be really sad to see him having to show up on television so he can pay his bills.

It would also be sad if he ends up like Mike Tyson. After all, Tyson earned millions of dollars as well before he became bankrupt.

As for now, I will cheer for him and pray for his success. I also hope he learns to say no to the people who wouldn’t be there after 10 years when all the fame and his physical abilities are gone.

It’s just the sad part of Philippine politics that justice can never be claimed by the poor Hong Kong nationals while President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is in power.

Maybe after five more years perhaps when the country elects a new President, but after that time these public officials have been well cloaked and well-fed by a system which this administration is loudly proclaiming to correct.

The citizens of Hong Kong will never see justice because well, those who failed to lead and save the hostage victims are close to the man at the top. There are three types of friends by this President which are popularly categorized here: Kapamilya, Kaibigan at Kabarilan (Family, Friends, and Shooting buddies).

It’s plain and simple logic for those of us who think: This administration will do everything to fight corruption and incompetence here – as long as those involved aren’t the President’s relatives and friends.

If you think though this is something new in the Philippines, it’s not.

When I was in High School, I filed a simple hit and run case against a vehicle owner near my village. After three years and at least one warrant of arrest, there was no verdict and a decision by the court. I just simply gave up and lost hope.

If an ordinary Filipino like me cannot find justice, what more for a high-profile case which.. well to put it bluntly, this President doesn’t give a shit about.

If you also think that you have the sympathy of the Filipino people, you don’t. The majority of Filipinos have been taking every statement by this government hook, line, and sinker.

A quick tv poll just tonight, to show you an example, of how little sympathy Filipinos offer to the victims is this: 64 percent of those who sent text messages think that the government did its job to give justice to the victims.

If you follow though what transpired here the last decade, it is understandable. We had to endure a past administration riddled with corruption. President Aquino, admittedly, is doing a good job in exposing all that needs to be revealed to the nation. However, it seems that this is the only thing that he is doing.

This country is still suffering from the same problems we had ever since we were given the gift of democracy – poverty, corruption, crime, high prices of commodities, rocketing fuel prices, injustice and so on and so forth.

In a nutshell, there is nothing new in this country.

This government has a widely popular catch phrase that many Filipinos have already loved and embraced and cherished (note mocking tone), it’s the term “Tuwid na Daan”. The direct translation is “The Straight Road” but the PR angle to this is that when they voted for Aquino, they have already elected “The Road to Righteousness”.

Aquino’s high popularity ratings in the surveys are proof that Filipinos are blindly accepting the President’s actions and decisions.

As for me though, any glimmer of hope of change for this country was lost after last year’s hostage taking. For me, the road to righteousness has already turned on its way to where the country started a long long time ago – to hell.

Taken from iep.utm.edu

“If any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility. – John Stuart Mill, philosopher and advocate for freedom of expression

I do not agree with the exhibit of Mideo Cruz. I never had the opportunity to go to CCP but when I researched about the exhibit, I found the collection on the Facebook page of the artist himself.

Click here for the FB link ==> POLETEISMO

This is blasphemy to the core. According to the website Newadvent.org: “Blasphemy (Greek blaptein, “to injure”, and pheme, “reputation”) signifies etymologically gross irreverence towards any person or thing worthy of exalted esteem.

I love Christ and I love Mother Mary to the death and as a Catholic.. if I see Mr Cruz, I might hit him with my car and press reverse a thousand times before I stop.

Unfortunately, I would also be the last person to ask an artist to stop his work because I felt offended.

For me, the voice of one is as loud as the voice of the collective. There is no difference between the tyranny of one, and the tyranny of many – Both think they set controls on the actions and thoughts of an individual.

I think Cruz’s exhibit, based on the pictures, have no sense and are absolutely tasteless. Despite that though, it is his thoughts that for me reign supreme. After all, we do not live in a state ruled by a theocracy.

Mill further argued that ‎”If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”

I hate Cruz for his insensitive tasteless depictions of Christ.

I also hate the hypocrites who called for the closure of this exhibit while at the same time supporting the Reproductive Health Bill.

After reading the bill, I still think the state should not dictate how a a couple decides to grow a family, rather it should educate the effects of a a big family.

It is my belief that at the end of the day, pharmaceutical companies will benefit most from this bill specially when local governments bid for medicines and medical health programs in their particular barangays or cities.

In any case, it seems that the dominant voices in Philippine society at the moment would rather regulate expression than promote the preservation of life. I would rather have an artist who provokes thought than a law which aims to end the natural process of life.

These individuals and politicians who are offended by the Art work and still call for the immediate legislation of the RH bill base their decisions and actions on what is popular.

This is where the Tyranny of the Majority comes into play. According to Mill, “Everyone lives as under the eye of a hostile and dreaded censorship…[i]t does not occur to them to have any inclination except what is customary”

Many were offended because the religious figures were desecrated. I am angry too.

Call them zealots, call them heretics, call them whatever you like.

However, the problem with people who aim to silence a single voice will end up suffering the same fate when those very same individuals recognize the need to make themselves heard as well.

Again I reiterate that a tyrant is no different from a mob. Their only objective is to dictate ideas and movements rather than encouraging thought.

from Wikepedia

Rating 4.5/5

The Rise of the Planet of the Apes is one of the good movies that was out this year. Since I am not a big Harry Potter fan and since I have never watched a single movie (or book) from that franchise, it was good seeing one of their characters (Tom Felton) play a non-wizard redneck role.

When the trailer was still being shown, I hoped that the film was as good. I was glad that it was.

The characters were easy to connect with because of the great acting from James Franco, John Lithgow, and yes the start of the show, “Ceasar”.

The personal approach to the movie will make you emotionally involved in the happiness and tribulations of the characters.

The action scenes could have gone better, It could have been bloodier! hehe.

The perennial question of morality and bioethics in these types of movies is something to think about specially to scientists who do these types of things everyday.

I suggest you watch it on the big screen because its worth it. Captain America is still showing, just ditch that. hehe

Best line of the movie: “NOOOO!!!”

The Man On The Street is a term used by journalists whenever they interview bystanders or ordinary people and ask them about the issues of the day.

This week, Filipino netizens joined forces to attack, denigrade, insult and all the synonyms associated with destroying a person whom most didn’t even personally know anyway.

This morning, I saw post after post of friends and former professors, just laughing and promoting hate towards the hapless flood victim, Christopher Lao.

Some people tried to justify Lao’s arrogance as a perfect reason to show their “anger” towards someone who made the mistake of granting an interview to journalists who for the right reasons, saw that a car crossing a flooded road would be good for national television.

I have worked with the reporter before and I say he is one of the best defense journalists in the country. But I think there were lapses in the packaging of the story which made Mr Lao look foolish, and the influence of the news anchor even added to the hype that the driver was indeed to be blamed.

In any case, what I saw online was incredible and disgusting. People quick to judge, adults taking pleasure in another person’s misfortunes, and people online creating dozens of hate pages and illustrations of Lao.

Many people like to appear as patriots and nationalists when it comes to the Azkals and when supporting Filipino artists who do well abroad… It turns out that an equal number of Filipinos also prefer to shame a person at his worst moment.

I pity Lao because a lot of us had already decided that he deserved all these hostilities for the simple fact that he only told a reporter what he felt. And if you think about it, he had a point anyway. Here is the statement of Lao CHRISTOPHER LAO’S STATEMENT

I do not know the guy, I also honestly do not care what happens to him after all these die down..

what I’m worried about is who will be the next target of the majority of Pinoys who I can now conclude live in their perfect lives and never complained about lack of government services and compassion and who never committed a mistake in their sweet lives.

Too bad those of us who make mistakes everyday have to add all of you to our daily concerns. Oh for us who cannot answer properly in times of stress, please avoid being that Man on the Street, you might just get bullied by those who have common sense.

Tchau Brasil!

I have never seen so many passionate football fans in the Philippines. On the same note, I have never seen so many haters also trying to put down the azkals because of their nationality.

In any case, those who are turning this to a political debate is missing the point of enjoying the wonderful game of football.

As for the Azkals last night in their second leg against Kuwait, they were just too weak to match the goalkeeper.

Time and time again, the goalie of Kuwait defended their side masterfully putting the Azkals at bay preventing the Philippine XI from catching up to the aggregate score.

There were people who believed that the Azkals could catch up but I knew it was impossible especially after the excellent performance of the Kuwaitis in Leg 1.

We all hoped for a miracle and since we lost, we have to admit that we have a looong loong way to go to compete with other footballing countries.

If there is something I hate, it’s the cliche that “We are winners because we gave out our heart and souls”.

Wrong mentality. I think before we call them winners, they actually have to win one tournament.

Let’s support them but let’s not celebrate just yet. If you truly love them, push the national team to train harder and I believe we would eventually get there.

We’re not just there yet though.. In the game of football, before we talk about heart, we must be equally at par with our opponents.

Kuwait was just too overwhelming for a new team like the Azkals.

We have to admit that they haven’t proven anything yet and that they lost and urge them to do better for the next tournaments.

Support and push them to win the regional cups like the AFC Suzuki Cup next year and the AFC Challenge Cup and who knows the Azkals might make it to the AFC Asian Cup or better yet Russia for the 2018 World Cup games.

Maybe we could be like an underdog team like Croatia was in the 1998 World Cup in France and bag a third place trophy.

That’s a team we could research about and learn from.

from Marvel.com

All I could think about while watching the movie last night was the movie Street Fighter with Jean Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia.

Corny lines, no real impressive action. Although I have to admit I liked Street Fighter

They had heroes that tried hard to relate to the audience but weren’t really effective.

The build-up to each fight scene was not climactic at all and Red Skull.. Well I liked him better as the villain in The Matrix.. I wished several times that he would say “Mr. Anderson….”

However, this is not to say that the movie had no merits at all.

I cannot really recall how it went in the comics but I believe they tried as hard as possible to be loyal to the plot.

The connection to the Avengers was also something to look forward to (PLEASE STAY UNTIL THE END CREDITS).

Now about the Avengers, All this build up would only lead to a “Buy or Bust” situation.

Superhero group movies should be at par with the X-Men Trilogy or all this waiting would be a total waste. From what it looks like so far, The Avengers movie is just about how the powers of all these Marvel characters would be shown off.

I really do hope The Avengers would be as powerful as the XMen series not only for the characters, but the plot as well.

Otherwise, we would all be watching another bad movie like “GI Joe”.

And so far, only the first Iron Man and Edward Norton’s The Hulk appear good on the big screen.

But don’t take it from me, try watching it and maybe you’d like this movie after all. Some of my friends did.

Because I want to help the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in capturing the suspects in the “Crush” videos here in the Philippines, I posted the image so that whoever might come across her might recognize her and report to to the police.

I really hope this woman and her husband get arrested for putting young girls in a traumatic situation of killing animals while dressed scantily so as to arouse sick people.

CLICK HERE for full story

– Ok so this is not totally true, I was beginning to learn about the music of Tupac and Public Announcement when I was in high school. That’s the only hip-hop thing I knew at that time.

How I was caught: My crush and I were texting and she suddenly asked me what type of music I liked. I told her Hip-Hop. She was sort of a rocker and had dj friends so she asked me what bands do you like. I googled bands and then I also mentioned “Lighthouse Family”. FAIL. She still gave me a chance but she tried to trick me again.. So you know STP? .. the Reply: No.. and that’s the reason why I will never forget the Stone Temple Pilots.

2) Waited ’til 11 pm until she finished drinking

- This was a school night in college. She finished around that time and was so drunk she hit her head on the roof of my car. My friends were annoyed but I still thought I had a chance. FAIL.

How I stopped: Well, the last straw for me was when she told me that her boyfriend would stay over at my house because they were going to go out the following day.

3) High school thesis on Rock with only her as a resource person
- Ok this was high school grade suicide because of all the topics I could think of, I made sure I was going to interview her. She was in a band and I was a dorky high-school kid who was clueless about her world. I could have set an interview with others to expand my paper. I think my topic was “How Rock can influence the youth”. Stupid topic, one person for a resource = MAJOR FAIL. I think we never talked after that interview because I asked lame questions.

How I fared: I got a C in my paper.whew.

4) Told her I was part Mexican
- Do you know how everyone would say “I’m not completely Filipino because of my lolo and lola?” Well, for one instance, I told a crush of mine that I was 35% Mexican. Well, I don’t know how the hell I computed that percentage but I based in on my ancestors from my mom’s side. I was in 7th grade then attending a spiritual seminar between Ateneo, Xavier, and ICA. I saw this really cute girl and when I chatted with her knowing she was Chinese, I just had to say something about me not being 100% Filipino. FAIL.

How she replied: “Uggh, ok.”

5) Being absent for three weeks so that my art teacher could notice me - This was waaaay back in second grade. She was one of the prettiest teachers in grade school and I had a lot of “competition”.

So I deviced a method for her to notice me. My art class was every Tuesday and for three straight Tuesdays I pretended to be sick.

How I “scored”: Well, after almost a month of not going to her class, I suddenly showed up one time and she talked to me. She asked how I was and gave me a hug. At least this was more of a happy ending LOL.