MOVIE REVIEW: The Call (2013)

This is probably the most exciting movie I have watched that stars Halle Berry, who plays a calm and collected 911 operator named Jordan Turner, who is affected by the first murderous rage of a serial killer on a young girl named Leah Templeton Jordan was not able to prevent. Michael Foster is a man who works as a medical representative and has a family with two small children, as a young child, he suffered the death of an older sister which turned out to be an incestuous one.Foster has been killing girls who fit the blonde hair of his sister and scalping them to fit into a mannequin who's head is similar to that of his deceased sister.

Templeton's death greatly affected Jordan and for a time, she did not receive 911 calls. After some time, she somehow recovered and on one occasion, received a distressed call from a young girl named Casey Welson, who is kidnapped from a mall. After Foster's background has been identified, Jordan visits the former house Foster finds and finds a trapdoor. Upon entering, Jordan discovers that the place is being used by Foster to murder his victims. An altercation ensues and Casey is freed. In the ensuing melee, Foster was knocked out and before Jordan could call 911, Casey stopped her. Foster is then found tied and chained to a chair under the former childhood house of Foster that has since burned down and left for good. Jordan and Casey then leave Foster to die inside the unknown location with the alibi that Casey escaped and Jordan found her. Foster was shocked at this and shouts at Jordan to not leave him, at which Jordan replies: "It's already done." These are the same words Foster uttered to Jordan just before Leah Templeton was killed and before Casey's prepaid phone was smashed.

The movie was I should say, crafted to ensure a sustained suspense thrill for almost the entire time Casey was abducted up to the ending. Unlike most suspense thriller flicks, where the element of apprehension, fear and suspense ebbs and flows as the movie runs along, The Call managed to sustain and in fact heighten the thrill and suspense factor up to the end. It is also a plus that the ending is quite unexpected. Casey has learned to toughen it out in as much as Jordan learned to be steely about the entire thing.

I have always liked 911 shows, it's a one program that I really like, the system has helped thousands of people from virtually all sorts of problems. It was even reported at one time that E.R. doctors in one U.S. town dialed 911 because they could not figure out how to manage a patient! I just wish that something of that sort existed in the Philippines.

Overall, a great experience to watch and a tribute to the men and women who make the 911 system an effective service.

MOVIE REVIEW: Warm Bodies (2013)

A unique zombie movie to say the least. For one, it's actually a romantic zombie comedy where a human Julie and "R," a zombie, falls in love with each other. The story begins when Julie and his compatriots raid a place looking for supplies when they encounter R's group of zombies trying to find food. A fight breaks out where all but one of Julie's companions are killed or eaten alive. In fact, Julie's boyfriend was actually eaten by R, or at least his brain was. R likes to eat brains in that he can feel the emotions and experiences of the person who had it. That is actually what happened. R now "feels" the life Julie and Perry had after eating Perry's brain.

R brings Julie to R's favorite place to hang out, an abandoned airplane. R leaves and settles on a convertible where he relives Perry's experiences. Realizing why Julie fears him, he returns to give Julie a blanket. R could only utter a few barely audible words. Julie is perplexed. R is certifiably smitten by Julie and as he lay in a chair opposite Julie, his dead heart suddenly comes alive. The next day, R can now say words more clearly and he looks remarkably better, and is able to act more human-like way again. After requesting food from R, Julie goes out of the plane to escape but encounters a group of zombies in the runway. She runs back under the plane where R finds her and tells her to act like a zombie. Both make it out without an incident and return to the plane where Julie takes a meal.

Julie asks R to take her home, R is apprehensive, being that Julie just came, and wanting to spend more time with Julie, R requests Julie to stay a few days more. As each day progresses, R is becoming appearing more and more better and actually becoming more human - again. After being pursued by Bonies, a group of almost zombies who have irretrievably lost all traces of humanity, and who are fast runners, Julie and R are helped by M, R's best friend. Other zombies encounter the two but let them pass, they too are becoming more and more human.

Julie makes her way back to the enclosed human enclave where the uninfected and surviving humans are holed up. The leader of the enclave is Col Grigio, who is Julie's father. R comes after her and find his way to the place where Julie is staying with a friend. The two plan to sneak R into the enclave and had to do some makeover to make R look more human. Meanwhile, the enclave prepares for war as the Bonies increasingly  move towards the enclave, preparing to overwhelm the enclave. Julie tries to convince Col. Grigio that the zombies can be cured and were in fact turning to being human again. Col. Grigio is not convinced and tries to shoot R but is prevented by Julie's friend, which allows Julie and R to escape.

The zombies and humans unite to fight the Bonies and R becomes fully human again. Which is confirmed only after Col. Grigio shoots R and bleeds in the pool where Julie and R landed while trying to escape the Bonies.  The Bonies were eventually defeated and the zombies slowly learned how to live human lives again. The wall surrounding the enclave was torn down and the contagion was finally eliminated.

This is one movie that blends comedy, romance, zombies and the perennial human theme of love and belongingness. Unlike the typical zombie movies, Warm Bodies will actually make you feel hopeful about the future, about moving on after disasters and about the flexibility of human life. The storyline flows smoothly and seamlessly as the themes of love, romance, war and unity are played in the background. There is violence, but it is creatively employed beyond the mere use of violence for violence sake. Nicholas Hoult made R funny as hell without making him comical and buffonic.

MOVIE REVIEW: Dark Skies (2013)

A family of four is tormented by mysterious events in their house which began with food from the ref getting eaten, but only the vegetables, followed by liquor bottles arranged in a pyramid in the middle of the night, then the house alarm system being activated with all eight sensors tripping at the same time. The incident is somehow connected to the youngest member of the family, Sam, who seems to talk to this mysterious creature called the "Sandman."

The family's problem is exacerbated with mounting bills, the father's continued unemployment, and Sam's mysterious actuations such as shouting in the middle of a playground and sleepwalking in the middle of the night without him knowing about it.In one incident, a platoon of birds hit the family's house all dying as they do.

Daniel, the father of the house, seems to have some sort of an abrasion at the back of his right ear. When his wife observes this, he brushes it off. One night, Daniel sleepwalks  in the middle of the night and is observed by his wife Lacy, who finds him with mouth agape in the backyard suffering a nosebleed. Earlier in the day, Lacy wakes up at 3:15 in the afternoon, missing her appointment with a potential house buyer. In her dream she bangs her head in one of the houses she is selling while talking to potential buyers and wakes up with a forehead abrasion.

The family sinks into deeper trouble as Sam is found to have blue marks around his abdomen while being undressed for a swimming session. On the other hand, Jessie is found to have red marks around his body while playing with a neighbor in the woods. Daniel is suspected of hurting Sam while Jesse's neighbor is suspected by Daniel of "branding" Jesse.Strange things continue to happen in the household. One night Daniel visits Sam's room and while trying to wake him up finds that his eyes have been removed, Daniel is terrified and wakes up from his dream!

Hoping to find answers, Daniel and Lacy consult a certain Edwin Pollard and finds that they are not alone in their experience and that Mr. Pollard can only say that an alien entity, Mr. Pollard calls "the Grays" is "experimenting" on certain humans. With implants being inserted on select humans, which enables the alien entities to control their subjects and renders them virtual robots. Mr. Pollard informs Daniel and Lacy that the Grays will abduct the first member of the family who has experienced the Grays and the only way to prevent such event is to fight them with all one has, to show to the Grays that in order to get one of the members of the family, the Grays will have to fight too. Pollard impressed upon the Barrett's that they will have to make things difficult for the Grays in order to prevent Sam from getting abducted.

The family eventually preps for such eventuality by buying guns and Lacy getting a fierce dog. One night, the Grays attack the family home, with Jesse and Sam being asked by Lacy to hide in one of the rooms. Daniel fights off the Grays as they enter the house, firing off a shot using a shotgun at a bright white light in front of the main door. The family ends up barricading themselves in one room of the house, with the TV flickering in the background and the Grays surrounding them. Jesse is transported to another room in the house alone and sees Sam running away. Jesse chases after him and is again brought to the house Lacy was trying to sell. Jesse moves to the kitchen of said house where he sees his mother bloody on the floor shot by Daniel. Daniel eventually commits suicide. Jesse then sees Sammy running around the house, chasing after him, he comes to a room where he sees his friend and a girl who once kissed him watching TV.  Jesse realizes that everything was just an illusion and he is brought back to the house with Daniel, Lacy and Sammy looking in horror at him as he stands in the middle of the lobby, surrounded by the Grays. He was eventually taken.

Three months later, the family moves to a new house, minus Jesse. Trying to start a new life. As Lacy was unpacking a box, he comes across pictures of Jesse when he was much younger and finds pictures of the family minus Jesse and drawings with Jesse surrounded by the Grays done by Sam. A two-way radio used by Sam and Jesse to tell scary stories before bedtime suddenly hums, Sam answers and hears the voice of Jesse on the other end. The movie then ends.

The movie was a unique take on the sci-fi genre, with value family being given great importance. I don't know if it was even the intention of the writers to do such, but it gave the message that family is indeed everything in once life. For after all has been said and done, it is the family that we can truly rely on. Although s sci-fi flick, it touches upon the perennial themes of the human experience, that families have always been an important part of the human story - and will always be.

The movie was actually an amalgam of the elements that made X-Files famous, with themes from Fringe, Supernatural and even Touch (at least where it concerns the power of family). As for special effects, not much can be seen as the Grays were portrayed as nothing more than shadows lurking in the dark.

MOVIE REVIEW: Stranded (2013)

The movie stars Christian Slater (Col. Gerard Brauchman), Brendan Fehr (Dr Lance Krauss), Amy Matysio (Ava Cameron) and Michael Therriault (Bruce Johns) as astronauts stranded in a moon base after a meteor shower strucks their base, disables their communications equipment and damages the integrity of their base.

The problem starts when Cameron volunteers to fix the damaged ventilation system and picks up a meteor rock. Upon analysis by Dr. Krauss, he discovers that the innermost structure of the rock contains spores of an alien life-form. In the process of conducting research on the spores, Cameron suffers a cut from a test tube containing the spores. Fearful of being quarantined, she keeps this incident to herself. Eventually she suffers hallucinations and within a twenty-four hour period becomes pregnant and gives birth a an aline life-form which eventually escapes and kills Bruce Johns, also taking on his physical form. In the battle to contain the alien life, Dr. Krauss gets killed by the said life form after being trapped in an segregating chamber. In the struggle to escape from the moon base, Col. Brauchman is wounded by the alien life-form and together with Cameron, fails to get into the escape pod. The alien life-form however is able to get into the escape pod and launches himself out of the moon base into earth. Brauchman tries to send a message to Earth to terminate the pods passenger, to no avail as the alien life-form has already assumed a new menacing, semi-human form.

The movie was obviously on a low budget, with the moon base set clearly miniaturized. Poor job was done making the external view of the base look more realistic and not some sort of mega-toyland. The plot was not that exciting as the movie was based on Cameron basically trying to prove to the rest of the crew that she gave birth to some sort of a creature, although initially she was indeed hallucinating about many things. Acting was ok, but what can you expect, the story did not allow the actors to do more with their characters. For a sci-fi movie, I would rate the movie a C-. Alien effects were basic and "used."

The Evolving Face of Islamic Terrorism

The recent London murder of a British soldier, Lee Rigby, is a testament to the shifting face of Islamic terrorism. From the centrally planned terror economics of the pre and post 9/11 period, it has now evolved into the independently operated cells that it is today, no doubt because the relentless pursuit of drone warfare against elements of al-Qaeda's corporate structure as well as its organizational offhshoots has rendered them on the run 24/7.

Some pundits would question the propriety of labeling the murder of Rigby as an "act of terror" in the sense that terror is most often defined as an activity employed to coerce governments to do a certain act. As seen by the widely circulating videos of the attacker immediately after Rigby's murder, it is clear and apparent in no uncertain terms that indeed the act was to compel the U.K. government to cease and desist in its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. So in that sense it was a terror attack and a terrorist activity. Organizationally however, terrorism is usually understood to be an activity by two or more men plotting to murder innocent civilians for the purpose of compelling a government from performing or ceasing to perform a certain or group of activities that the said government would not otherwise do. Without a doubt, the act was an act of terror and the lone murderer is nothing but a terrorist. Period.

An article written by Frida Ghitis published on Time.com caught my attention in that she asserted that "Some will rush to blame Muslims or Islam for what happened, but it's important to be clear and not to mince words. Islam is not the enemy. Muslims are not the enemy. Terrorism is not the enemy."

Ghitis also adds: "The enemy is the radical Islamist ideology that justifies any atrocity committed for political motives. The enemies are the people who promote this dogma and encourage others to engage in actions that offend and assault our humanity - and theirs."

Ayaan Hirsi-Ali, the Dutch former parliamentarian, author, speaker and renowned critic of Islam once said that Islam is a religion with not only a religious goal but also a social, political and cultural drive. Indeed, the history of Islam is a history of the convergence of its socio-religious-political and cultural influence in the lands it has conquered. Sharia is its socio-political side, the Koran is its religious foundation and Arabic is its cultural driving force. That is why Islamic scholars and religious schools would always teach the Koran, and read it, in its Arabic form only.

If we look therefore at the history of Islam since its founding in the 7th century, we will see that Islam is a militant religion by heart. It has always insisted on conquering non-Muslim lands and subjugating it under Sharia law. The Prophet Mohammad is a testament to Islams radical nature when he conducted at least six (6) major military operations in his lifetime, all by the way were successful. The spread of Islam from the Arabian peninsula was achieved by military conquest and not merely by the persuasive powers of its proselytizers.

Ghitis therefore is wrong to say that the problem is not Islam - Islam is the problem, at least its fundamentals are. As described earlier, Islam is a religion that does not only have a religious pursuit, it has socio-political and cultural drives too. Western writers would always insist that Islam is not the enemy, despite evidence to the contrary, they want to believe that Islam really is a religion of peace. It is not, and never was. Unless this is clear to western power brokers, then solutions cannot be defined because the problem is not properly identified.

Ghitis also asserts that the "problem is the radical Islamist ideology" when in fact the problem is the fundamentals of Islam. Islam has no radical Islamist ideology, it is a radical ideology. It's fundamentals are radical. There is no such thing as a mild Islam, only a non-practiced Islam. President Mohammad Morsy once stated in a television interview conducted by CNN that "there is no such a thing as an Islamic democracy." And unfortunately, he is right. To observe the Islamic faith is to be radical - because its tenets as expressed in the Koran are radical fundamentally.

The solution therefore is not to undermine "Islamic radicalism." There is no such thing in my opinion. The so-called Islamic radicals are really practicing the Islamic faith as its is written in the Koran - open in its interpretation in many cases nevertheless but certain in others such as the subjugation of women, murder of homosexuals and the conversion of infidels into its fold. The best antidote to the rise of Islamic terror is therefore the promotion of secular values, ideas, and principles in Islamic countries. Secularization is the best hope to combat Islamic terrorism, not compartmentalizing Islamic terrorism as different from Islam. This is easier said than done, Islam is notorious for its resistance to secular values and ideas. Even in Turkey, probably the  most secular and progressive of Islamic countries, legislation had to be enacted to force women not to wear the veil - and by extension, tame the radical nature of Islamic ideology.

Unless creative solutions are made available regarding the best manner of secularizing Islamic societies, then we will have to live with a militantly Islamic world in the next half a century, or even more. Unless of course an internal reformation occurs in Islamic societies regarding its militant nature reminiscent of the renaissance in Europe during the 16th to the 17th centuries that opened up the rigidity of Catholicism, the world will be in for a long, really long fight that can be comparable the 100 Years War between Catholicism and Protestantism in Europe in the last 1000 years.

DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: Religulous by Bill Maher

Watching this movie is like a reminiscing Michael Moore's epic documentary  Fahrenheit 9/11, dubbed by wikipedia as the highest grossing documentary of all time. But whereas Fahrenheit 9/11 talks about the politics of the Dubya's presidency, Religulous is its religious  equivalent.

Bill Maher explores the panoply of religious traditions in different parts of the world and one can see the irony of faith - it seeks to define the afterlife on the basis of the opinions written on ancient, culturally biased practices upon which the faith was born. As such, it is fundamentally prone to create rifts than build bridges. History has shown humanity how such beliefs have breed violence, death and suffering.

At one point, Maher points out that the ideas of Christianity concerning Jesus, his virgin birth, baptism, circumcision, suffering, death and resurrection is not even original. It brings to mind Christopher Hitchens assertion in his book "God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" that monotheistic religions, really referring here to the Abrahamic traditions, is nothing more than a "plagiarism of a plagiarism, of an illusion of an illusion, extending all the way back to a fabrication of a few nonevents."

I think the most important insight that the documentary inculcates is the utter lack of common sense, rationality and prudence that religious texts fundamentally contains and the constant denigration of human nature in order to cater to the vain glorious fetish of a jealous, murderous god who is actually a sadomasochist just to make the point that he created man with a free will to believe in him and his so-called commands and yet for man to choose otherwise is a sure fire way to eternal damnation. What a god he is indeed if he were truly to exist!

The docu clearly presents that finding solutions to the problems of this world is more noble and humane than obsessing about the delusions and magic of an afterlife.

TV SHOW REVIEW: 666 Park Avenue S01E13 (Season Finale)

I love this show. It was exciting, surprising, dramatic, scary, brutal, and actually insightful. Unfortunately, the season finale ends with a cliff hanger, and the story will never be continued as the show was cancelled after only one season.

After all has been said and done, the show's character Jane Van Veen finally chooses the side of evil, all in the fulfillment of her dreams, hopes and aspirations. Greed after all, and the especially the greed for wealth, power, money, fame and success at all cost - and yeah, for love too, is all too enshrined in the apex of self-glory.

The show explores the human drive for meaning, success and power over all others. The pursuit of worldly aspirations pushed to the limit, even at the expense of one's humanity. All too human, all too human. Gavin Durant has it all, power, apparently temporal and supernatural, dispensing people's hopes and dreams, at a price that is, and the price is the sacrifice of themselves, their loved ones, everything one values. Beside Gavin is his calculating wife Olivia, a woman who is classy, aristocratic, steely, ambitious and very supportive of her husband.

Henry Martin is the loving partner and soon husband of Jane who rises from  virtual unknown to become the City's newest council member with an ambition to be a mayor one day. The show is actually a stark reminder of how success, or its blind pursuit, can ultimately destroy one's life. The show too is a testament to the political misfortunes of some American politicians like former Presidential candidate John Edwards and his affair with a woman while his wife was undergoing cancer treatment - not so discreetly incarnated in the portrayal of Councilman Sullivan's downfall.

Riveting show, unfortunately cut short. Nevertheless, it's worth a watch and offers invaluable insights into the recesses of human nature.

Of authors and sensibilities: Dan Brown's Inferno Burns Manila

The newly released novel by author Dan Brown casts Manila in a not so flattering light. In this regard, MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino actually wrote a letter to Dan Brown objecting to his portrayal of Manila as a sleazy, crime invested, poverty ridden place.

In a report filed by Rouchelle Dinglasan of GMA News, Dan Brown casts Manila as a city with “six-hour traffic jams, suffocating pollution, and a horrifying sex trade, whose workers consisted primarily of young children, many of whom had been sold to pimps by parents who took solace in knowing that at least their children would be fed.”

As a Filipino, and I consider myself a Filipino nationalist and patriot, I cannot take offense to this caricature of Manila. Indeed, it's a wake up call to the realities that have essentially symbolized Manila, a typical third world megapolis. I cannot take offense to Brown's description of Manila because I actually agree with what he said. Brown's assessment of Manila is something everyone knows and experiences yet no one seems to do anything to remedy. What should be asked therefore is not whether Brown's assessment is fair - it is not for one, but whether we can do something about it and how.

I have personally never liked Manila, it's a place that symbolizes everything a city should not, a microcosm of the worst a city can be, a petridish of the country's failure to manage itself effectively and the hopes and dreams of the Filipino experience all wrapped in a smorgasbord of contradictions and inconsistencies but nevertheless pulsating with that ardor for life - however one defines life.

When I studied in Baguio, I naturally passed Manila, and everytime I am in Manila, I go to no place but the bus terminal only. I always edged to get out of Manila's suffocating air, literally and metaphorically. But Manila is Manila because it is the embodiment of the Filipino struggle to define itself and its destiny.

Most of what Brown said about Manila I could not agree more, but to say that it is practically synonymous with the gates of hell is to stretch the definition of hell, and for that matter, heaven. Even from a literary perspective, Manila would not encapsulate the Abrahamic tradition's definition of hell - maybe Mogadishu, Baghdad, or Pyongyang well fit the better vision Brown wants to convey regarding hell.

Then again, hell can be a palace, heaven can be the mundane regularity of a mountain village. Maybe for Brown's character Sienna Brooks, hell is the experience of urbanization, of which major cities of the world are unfortunately afflicted - which is by the way the very essence of cities, urbanized villages. Yes, even New York, Washington D.C. or Atlanta are not immune to sex trade or pollution or traffic jams. And speaking of traffic jams, none can beat Lagos, Nigeria or even Bangkok. For crime? Are you kidding, every 5 minutes someone dies through violence in New York. Juarez in Mexico is practically a modern "killing fields," Baghdad even until today is a veritable war zone, gang infested and terror defined.

The Filipino people should not be insulted with Brown's interpretation of Manila - to do so would be to give credence to a work of fiction. Remember, the novel is a work of words, played in the mind of the author, incarnated in the fabric of verbal play. But we cannot ignore the truths of the novel, for to be reactive to its incontestably scarring indictments of Manila would be to miss a chance to do something about the things that needs to be changed.

So fellow Filipinos, let's chill up. Who knows, the novel might actually breathe new life and light to Manila's decaying facade and usher in a renaissance of its once glorious past.

So What Do Televangelists Do?

Everytime there is a disaster, especially natural disasters, I am always on the look-out for some religious nutbag blurting out insensitive, essentially tactless, fundamentally heartless remarks. And Lo and Behold! there is Pat Robertson, the same man who equated homosexuality with child abuse, is now actually blaming the recent Oklahoma Tornado victims for their plight for their lack of piety, well actually for not praying, but you get the point.

In December 2012, Typhoon Pablo delivered devastating rains that caused unimaginable suffering and death to the people of Compostela Valley in Mindanao, Philippines, a Catholic Bishop, Broderick Pabillo, blamed the incident at the time on the growing support for the Reproductive Health Bill, a first in this rabidly hypocritically Catholic country.

It never fails to surprise me that this so-called messengers of god are sowing not only further insult and injury to victims of calamities, they do not even realize that their words are doing more harm than good. To put it mildly, they spite and rant amidst the calamities of people, oblivious to basic human concern and decency, decorum and simple consideration. Instead of comforting words and reassuring touch, what they do is belittle and insult, embarrass and harass, all to a non-existent deity that assuming, arguendo, did really exist, is not only brutal and bloodthirsty, but is gargantually vain and egotistic as to hurl untold misery and pain to people who do not agree with his policies, or even who do not believe in his omnibenevolence or omnipotence, not to say question his existence. Much like Kim Jong Un's North Korea torture and maim, kill and subjugate those who even slightly question the policies, tactics and actions of the ruling elite.

I hate to hear these superficial religious zealots talk about their god when their lives are lived in relative safety, comfort and seclusion from the hussle and bussle of ordinary human existence. Deprived of the intricacies of actually living life as most humans do, they talk about heavenly platitudes and theocratic dogmas as if they are the be-all and end-all of all that exists! They are nothing more than rapacious vultures cloaked under the banner of superficial profundity and fabricated humanitarianism.

Why Charter Change will be More of the Same for the Philippines

With the May 13 elections now history, newly minted and re-minted politicos are now edging for a Charter Change. Of course, as to why a legislator would support such move depends on whom you ask. For all intents and purposes, support for charter change will always be based on a politicos best self-interest, and that of his family and brood of potential politicians.

Why indeed would charter change be a prime necessity?

Politicians would like us believe that charter change is now high time to respond to the new trends in world events that the Philippines is encountering. They say that the 1987 Constitution is way past is glory days, that it has lost touched with new realities, new experiences, new modes of thinking. In short, the 1987 Constitution is no longer serving the best interests of the Filipino people.

To which I say, to change the constitution is to change the icing in the cake. Changing the 1987 Constitution will never improve the lot of the Filipino masses, it will only improve the lot of the vested oligarchy that has ruled this country for the better part of the last 100 years. Again, we can try all the icings in the world, but if the cake underneath is dysfunctional, rotten and degraded, no amount of icing or frosting can cover its eventual descent to stench-hood. In the same way, we can try all the governmental systems the world has to offer, but if the rungs of power are held assiduously by the feudal families of our nation and the people remain chronically poor, undereducated and underemployed, not to mention exploited and neglected, not much can be hoped for and certainly not much can be changed.

It is not the 1987 Constitution that needs to be changed, it is the outlook of the Filipino people that needs to change. And such can be accomplished only by a leader who will wean the masses of centuries of mental subjugation and the Catholic Church's suffocating grip on the Filipino psyche that will have to be unshackled. Only then can any system work.

Unfortunately for the nation, we have not been blessed, as of yet, of a Lee Kuan Yew who will show the Filipino masses the virtue of steely resolve to rise above desperation, or of a Mahathir who has the vision, the prudence, the discipline to steer the nations resources for inclusive, egalitarian, wholistic and comprehensive national developement, of a Deng Xiaopeng who will go beyond the ideology of poverty, political dynasties, hypocritical religiosity and vested familial interests to build that progress is change in attitudes, not mere change of systems or of the resolve of the founding fathers of the U.S. constitution to create a future where the best of the Filipino can prosper unhindered by the strings of governmental control but regulated by the mechanisms of state to ensure that all will be under the law.

The great tragedy of the Filipino people is that we have failed to plant and harvest our greatest resource, or that we have failed to realize that our greatest hope, our greatest salvation, our greatest source of strength is our perception of ourselves, our destiny as we choose to mold it and our willingness to sacrifice for the common good. Unless we realize that our potentials are trapped in our minds, then no amount of charter change, no amount of governmental system change can ever make a dint in the poverty we are so accustomed to wading that we have believed it to be our place in the world.

Google Glass Is Beta Tested

Google recently beta tested Google Glass, a device that looks like an eyeglass but is actually a smartscreen with mostly smartphone features that can take videos, send and receive messages and take photos. The device has been tested on select consumers in the U.S.

So are we moving now to mobile devices that are really, well, very mobile?

Apparently so, I think people will increasingly look to mobile devices that are seamlessly integrated into their bodies, much like clothing I should say. With Google Glass for example, you can take pictures without the need to actually hold the device with your hands, although in the case of Google Glass, hands are still needed to operate the device. Pictures and videos for example are readily recorded because the user has the device within eye level. The field of vision becomes the tripod, so I should say more convenient, more speedy and more efficient.

According to an analyst interviewed by CNN for the article, the device is worth USD 1,500. Quite expensive indeed and definitely not for the average user. In addition, Google Glass is only a prototype in which a more comprehensive software program will eventually be developed on. I think Google is exploring the usability of the device as well as exploring the full range of its potentials - and mind you, this device has lots of potentials, although if there ever will be a consumer product of this kind in the foreseeable future, it would be too expensive for the average user to afford.

Google Glass I believe will be most useful, at least initially or until its production cost can be made reasonably affordable, in the security services sector. For example, Glass could be configured to perform X-Ray functions in airports so security personnel can have the flexibility and mobility of scanning passengers and their luggage with ease and efficiency, potentially cutting waiting times for passengers. In the field of law enforcement, Glass would be a boon to police officers in their constant struggle with criminal gangs of all kinds, especially the drug related kind, as the device could be designed to scan for contraband, analyze samples upon view, or check for dangerous weapons as officers approach an offender.

In the medical field, as mentioned in the CNN report, this could help doctors perform complicated operations with the use of Glass by enabling them to access lab and diagnostic results of patients while the operation is going on. For nurses, this would help in organizing medication schedules of patients, pending procedures for patients, lab and diagnostic appointments and the like.

Glass has an exciting future ahead of it. But it looks like a device that needs to be totally free from manual manipulation. As it stands today, the use of the hands is still a need. But being a prototype, this is excusable. Hopefully though, Glass will become touch free and totally retina controlled. Now that's a truly mobile mobile device.

Investing in Philippine Politics

An article by Rene Cruz in Inquirer.net caught my attention recently. Well, for one, I strongly believed that the S&P actually gave investment grade rating to the recent May 13 Philippine midterm elections, and how such rating will improve the chances of those who invested heavily in said election (read: those who bought massive votes) recover their investments many times over - of course, to the guaranteed and continued impoverishment of the Filipino masses, which of course the masses seem to crave over and over again. I almost believe that the we, the Filipino masses, are really certified masochists to the core, what with our penchant of ensuring that we become perpetually poor and that our political elite eternally plunder, at our bequest, the national coffers.

There is a truthful irony to the article, for indeed, if it were to be rated business wise, it is in fact true that for those, and only for those who invest in Philippine politics and their political puppets, profit can be mind boggling and really, really  mind boggling that one can send his child to study anywhere in the world, buy the most luxurious rest houses and built the most extravagant (think Erap's Boracay Mansion) houses, which, for all intents and purposes, are really palaces.

Whereas political investment, crassly incarnated in the chronic incidences of vote buying, represents the most intuitive business venture for any budding buspol (businessmen who invest in politics), it has a reputational downside, well, you are perceived as filthy, corrupt, mean, brutish, selfish. Qualities which are de rigueur in today's cut throat business environs.

Of course, the losers will always be the common masses, who will have to contend with poor social services, poor healthcare services, poor infrastructure, poor health, poor quality of life and essentially poor, miserable life.

Are memories reliable?

I have always believed that memories form an integral part of our personalities. They are essentially ourselves as we move along life. Memories gave us a sense of beginning, a sense of belonging, a sense of importance and a sense of ourselves. Losing memories is to lose ourselves from our life experiences. It's like being nothing at all.

A recent article in CNN gave me new insights into the rudiments, at least a bit of it, or should I say, the basics of memory, and that is memories are malleable, they are prone to suggestive change, they are fluid, they are affected by our interactions with other human beings and that they do not remain stagnant.

Such research conducted by Elizabeth Loftus merits further research and at its present progress, indicates that memories should not be the main evidence in criminal prosecutions, that they cannot be relied upon and that it should be treated as a mere anecdote that cannot be used as a basis in convicting or acquitting an accused from a crime.

Indeed, memories are fluid figments of data stored and processed by chemical processes in the brain, and as such, they are affected, influenced, and shaped by the chemical processes in the body in general and in the mind in particular as much as external factors affect humans in the way we feel and perceive the world around us and the experiences we have encountered.

Was the COMELEC's Decision To Proclaim the Top 6 Sentariables Prudent?

Much has been said about the brouhaha surrounding the proclamation two days ago of the top 6 senatoriables. For one, as mentioned by Senator-elect Nancy Binay, the votes tallied and received at the time of the proclamation was not even one-fourth of the total votes cast. This is a valid thing to raise, indeed, what the hell was COMELEC thinking? Even if the tallied votes were more than fifty percent but less than ninety percent, it would be prudent to proclaim all the top twelve at ONCE. It's not like there is really, really a pressing need to hurry the proclamation of the top 6, or that it would serve any meaningful purpose. Proclamations should be given once, and only once unless special circumstances call otherwise.

This is just, in my opinion, the COMELEC's lack of foresight, planning and prudence exposed for the whole Philippines to deduce! I think the COMELEC hurried the proclamation so as to be able to give "something" productive, the chronic delays in the transmission of the electronic ER's as well as the inefficiency in the conduct of the manual audit, not to mention the technical problems suffered by many PCOS machines, although much less than those that bogged down in 2010, but clearly still not resolved and planned for by the COMELEC, is making the COMELEC practically inept. Although a recent Inquirer.net unscientific survey revealed that most Filipinos actually considered the 2013 elections relatively successful, and international observers stated that the same was essentially peaceful, the COMELEC still, in my opinion, massively failed.

Despite the use of technology, only the second time since 1940, when the modern Philippine republic first held elections, and one of the longest history of experience with holding elections in Asia, the COMELEC in particular and the Philippines in general has yet to even learn how to conduct a speedy, efficient, dignified and trustworthy elections!

The COMELEC is an embarrassment of exceptional proportions! The recent elections in Malaysia, although not perfect, was still more efficient with results having been tallied and presented a few hours after precincts closed. And that country barely holds regular elections compared to the Philippines.

The President should once and for all chop heads in the COMELEC for its chronic inefficiency, lack of foresight and prudence and gross incompetence, WHERE IN THE WORLD WILL YOU FIND A POLL BODY THAT PROCLAIMS WINNERS WHEN BARELY ONE HALF OF CAST VOTES HAVE EVEN BEEN TALLIED!!!! Geez, talk about moronic management and schizophrenic planning rolled in one drug induced body - yes, I'm talking about the current COMELEC.

I am...

I am a speck in the ocean of time
I am small but powerful
I am minuscule but important
I can lift things heavier than me
I can climb the thinnest branch
I can look from below but see from above
I can build communities
I am hardworking
I am an ant.

Angelina Jolie's Cancer Fight

A report filed in Inquirer.net recently indicated that Hollywood A-list star Angelina Jolie revealed her decision to undergo double mastectomy as a preventive measure against breast and ovarian cancer.

Jolie's decision to share her fight against cancer is a boon for all women and for all cancer victims at that as it shows that preventive medicine is crucial and important in the fight against cancer, and against all diseases for that matter. This will hopefully increase the awareness to undergo regular check-ups as a reasonable and more cost effective strategy in the fight to stay healthy.

Stars always carry a special appeal, indeed, what they wear, what they say, what they do becomes a trendsetter in an instant. And if stars such as those with a calibre as Jolie show by example good habits, in this instance a health related one, then it inspires millions of people, mobilizes people to get into the act. Doctors have never been known for their preventive medicine tactics, and Jolie can instill in millions of people across the world the need to take proactive and preventive acts in order to maintain and stay healthy.

Pindrop

Quiet moments
Slumbering wind
Blowing air
Eerie nights
Deafening silence
Creaking whispers
Hushed breathing
Pindrops.

Philippine Midterm Elections 2013 in a Nutshell

What a day it has been for me, both as a voter and as a volunteer for LENTE (Legal Network for Truthful Elections), a non-partisan, nationwide organization of lawyers, paralegals, law students and socio-civic conscious citizens dedicated to educating the Filipino voter on the sanctity, rudiments and importance of elections.

The 2013 elections is only the second time in Philippine electoral history whereby technology was used. This was supposed to be a move towards a more speedy, efficient and cleaner elections. However, speed was not a regular feature of this years elections, for one, it took me almost two hours to finally cast my vote. Although to be fair, in my precinct, the flow was quite orderly. In other parts of Leyte though, this could not be said, reports indicated that in some precincts, the PCOS machines bogged down, power outages occurred, and oversized ballots hampered the speedy processing of the same.

As is common in Philippine elections, vote buying was rampant, obscene, shameless and open. Still photographs and video recordings were made of massive vote buying. In one town, it was even reported that police vehicles were used in handing out money with the purpose of buying votes. On the other hand, reports also arrived that guns were drawn, causing panic in one precinct.

Another perennial feature of Philippine politics, political families still rule the tide. National television reported that in the Visayas, more than 80 political families were involved in the 2013 elections, in fact, this is the lowest compared to Luzon (400+) and Mindanao (90+).

As of the writing of this article, a total of 7 persons nationwide were reported to have died in election related violence. Commotions were observed in some precincts as supporters of opposing parties got carried away in their support of their respective candidates.

The Filipino nation has much to learn, much to fix, much to change in terms of conducting elections. Change, as the old adage says, begins with each of us.

The Two Faces of Philippine Elections

By seven in the morning today, the 2013 Philippine Midterm Elections will be underway. This election will be the second time in Philippine electoral history that computers will be used. Despite a longer history of holding elections among democracies in Asia, the Philippines has been quite late in adopting technology in the electoral process. Indeed, Philippine elections have always been characterized as slow, chaotic, brutal, deadly, showbiz-like, and of course, the chronic incidence of wholesale, unabashed, shameless vote buying of entire constituencies.

A major feature of Philippine elections is the snail-paced nature of its counting process. I remember a time in the 80's were counting would take two months or more for national candidates' votes to be completely tallied. By this time, massive cheating would have taken place - accomplished by bribing electoral officials and teachers who are the frontline in the counting process, ballot box theft and tampering, ballot box stuffing and switching and if all else fails, the time tested terrorizing through the use of private armies, a staple feature of entrenched, carrier politicians who come from political dynasties. For the uninitiated, each Philippine island and province has an official political dynasty that has ruled that island or province as long as elections have been held in the country.

Counting has always been slow because politician's lacked the political incentive to actually improve the process. Tallying of votes has been traditionally conducted by hand, where teachers, who are mandated by law to handle the electoral process, manually read, tally and verify each ballot in their respective precincts. Vested political interests were comfortable with this system since it was easy to manipulate, control and tinker with.

Another chronic feature of Philippine elections is its chaos and brutality. In every Philippine election since independence from the U.S., somebody or someone would always die, either a candidate, a ruling politician, a journalist or the common man. Philippine elections is more of an exercise of money, showbiz and plain warlordism were candidates and incumbent powers invest money, and lots of it, to achieve power or to retain them, in such a scenario, they will do everything and anything in their power to gain or keep power simply because they have spent so much of their personal money, or in the case of incumbents, stole so much that losing is not an option. Either because it would mean an inability to recoup election expenses for those seeking power and the end of their rapacious greed in public contracts and expenditures for those who are gunning for re-election.

In all these scenarios, I would not wholly blame politicians and candidates, for to do so would not only be short-sighted and myopic, it is also simplistic. Equal blame can be placed upon the populace, who actually demand to be bought and bribed. For the average Filipino voter, elections are a means to earn money, to demand that politicians and candidates actually buy their votes.

In addition, the Filipino voter does not really care about platforms and plans, he cares more about the now, and the now is equal to money dispensed in exchange for his vote. This is not surprising too, the biting poverty that is a constant in the Philippines ensures that the vast majority of its voting population is economically disadvantaged and hence, prone to manipulation and exploitation by rich political families and their candidate offsprings.

Philippine elections therefore is not about policy but about personalities, it is not about choice but about money, it is not about good governance but about manipulating government resources for one's business interests, it is not about the public good but about the private interests of political families. It is the pretense of the rulers and the equal pretense of the ruled - of agreed disregard for the laws between the ruled and the rulers. It is really a feudal, oligarchic exercise cloaked in the mantle of modern liberal democracy.

The irony of Philippine elections is that it is actually played well by the political elite who pretend to serve and the masses who pretend to choose. That is the schizophrenic two-faced character that is my, nay our Philippine election.

Philippine Senatoriables and their Stand on Social Issues

Data from GMA Network.com

PHOTOBLOG 1: Religion

Obama Will Never Intervene in Syria - Definitely!!!

It's official, as long as Obama is President, the U.S. will most likely never intervene militarily in Syria. The CNN report filed a week ago attests to this. If the second Bush was edging for war in the days before the actual invasion of Iraq even with doubtful  intelligence on Saddam's supposed possession of nuclear weapons and its ever more crazy demands on the regime (which Saddam assented to by the way) Obama is the exact opposite. Despite credible evidence, supported by U.S. diplomats in Turkey, foreign intelligence agencies and actual casualties on the ground that a limited use of chemical agents was in fact employed by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Obama is skirting his own red line on the guise that more evidence is needed.

In the report filed by Chelsea Carter, Obama reiterates this red line - again, and again it will be conveniently overlooked even as more evidence of chemical use is deployed by al-Assad, limited or full scale because fundamentally, Obama is loathe to involve America in another foreign war. Well at least one in which foot soldiers will be deployed. Obama seems to prefer the safe, convenient and death free drones that has significantly been used more often in his presidency.

Syria will without doubt transform itself into a Second Lebanon with a splattering of Iraqi characteristics, that is, a Civil War that will rage on for probably the next five to ten years coupled with even more ferocious sectarian violence than is now pulsating between Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites. Unfortunately, whether America intervenes or not, Syria will be a tinderbox that will unravel from the seams. Strife is virtually guaranteed for Syria in the foreseeable future - the alternative to the collapse of the current regime is civil war, the survival of the status quo will still be civil war, as in fact it already is. However, the collapse of the al-Assad dynasty will not only bring about a potentially long civil war, it will definitely bring to power a more Islamic, radical, fundamentalist and anti-Wester, Iran leaning government that will in fact be far worse, far brutal, and far dangerous for the world community.

It seems that the world has no better choice in fact than to work for an engagement of the current regime without pontificating about its "sins." Only constructive, non-judgmental communicative action will be the most reasonable, realistic and for all intents and purpose, safe way to proceed with this dilemma. Bashar al-Assad is brutal, I'll give him that, but to wish for his downfall is also to wish for a fundamentally myopic, closed-minded rebel government inoculated by the spirituality of the Muslim Brotherhood - think Egypt and Mohammed Morsy. Democracy will not sprout with the downfall of the Assad dynasty, only a more oppressive replacement that is anything but secular or democratic or reasonable.

So then it goes without saying that America's intervention will neither bring sustainable peace nor credible public institutions in Syria. America's absence will definitely protect more American lives from another foreign debacle the American people cannot stomach any longer.

Welcome to the Syria Puzzle - where no solution is the solution.

COMELEC's Well-intentioned Yet Ill-thought Resolution

With the upcoming Philippine Midterm Elections just around the corner, the COMELEC issued a resolution prohibiting banks from allowing depositors to withdraw more than PHP 100,000 from May 8 up to May 13 - the election day.

Understandably, in an Inquirer report, the BAP says it will not comply with such order. The BSP, the country's paramount bank, is also loathe to implement such order. As the country's bank of all banks, the BSP has the sole power and authority to order banks to comply with the COMELEC resolution, but the BSP expressed disinterest in ordering banks in the Philippines. From the way the report was presented, it can be culled that the COMELEC did not consult with and coordinate with the BSP with such plan.

The COMELEC should know better than to make resolutions in which it does not actually have jurisdiction, or to ensure whether such plan actually violates existing laws. Although the intent is noble, lessen the incidence of vote buying, which all Filipinos by now know is a constant and perennial feature of our electoral process, that such idea was even allowed to be put into paper is actually a testament to the COMELEC's desperation and lack of foresight.

Although the goal is good, the COMELEC cannot just sacrifice the country's economic lifeblood, in which cash is still very much the king in most economic transactions, for a single handed objective - no matter how admirable it may seem. If the COMELEC is really serious about the rapacity of vote buying  in the Philippines, then it should have conducted aggressive and comprehensive educational campaign about electoral integrity among the populace in the last three years. That is how long-term goals are achieved, not by last-to-the-minute, crammed resolutions that are well - not well thought!

Is multitasking really effective for getting work done?

Annie Murphy Paul's article on Slate titled "You'll Never Learn!" says it does not. Every young people thinks they can multitask. The proliferation of electronic gadgets, popular among the young and the hip, has made multitasking virtually a bi-word nowadays. But does it work?

The Larry Rosen study, conducted on students from middle school and high school to college found that multitasking students, as all of the subjects of the study did, spent only 65 per cent of the time actually doing schoolwork. The constant checking of electronic gadgets like phones, or watching TV, listening to music, updating Facebook statuses invariably took a toll on the ability of the students to actually get schoolwork done. This study is a confirmation of another one shown on the National Geographic Channel a couple of months ago, I think way back in November 2012 if my memory serves me right, about the negative effects of multitasking, shown when the NGC show asked a multitasking dad, who was asked to text and  drive at the same time, at the same time navigating an obstacle course which consisted of road markers which should not be knocked out. In short, the multitasking dad bumped more road markers when texting while driving than when focused on driving only. Clearly demonstrating that for important tasks, it is actually dangerous to multitask - and in fact proves that multitasking is just not effective in getting important more done. And in some cases, is actually downright dangerous if not totally suicidal.

I'd like to think I can multitask, a few days ago, actually two days ago, I discovered that any Windows 7 running computer can be configured to be a Wi-fi router, eliminating the need to secure an independent Wi-fi machine. With this discovery, I opened up my Lenovo notebook, together with my Dell Inspiron E 1705 laptop and my iPhone 3gs, all of them connected to the internet and trying to do a task on each device. Not only was it a stiff-neck inducing experience, what with all the turning I need to do, but it was actually a headache, with minimal quality task accomplished on each device other than the superficial checking here and there of what's on the screen. If any meaningful task were to be finished, its quality would undoubtedly suffer. If at all it could even be accomplished in time. On top of that, a lot of energy is gobbled up by the machines that is not commensurate with the activity I was able to accomplish!

It got me thinking therefore that multitasking is merely a glorified, techno-laden term that is nothing more than "distracting activities" performed at the same time while doing some really important task. Although the NGC study was not scientifically done, it showed that multitasking, as confirmed by the Rosen study, is not feasible at least when important tasks are to be accomplished, and to be accomplished with quality and on time. The human brain cannot just do more than one, maybe two at most, critical things without sacrificing quality on the output.  Unless one is merely watching TV and texting while checking out social networking sites, in other words doing leisure activities, then multitasking is just another word for failure.

If one is to finish important tasks with any degree of quality and finesse, multitasking is not the game. Tech companies, especially Smartphones manufacturers, have relentlessly convinced us thru its multitasking-capable products that multitasking is the future, is the in-thing today when in fact it is one way of flooding the brain with information that eventually crashes its ability to focus - well, even computers do crash, think of DNS attacks!

Patron: Spirit wrapped in Mystique

I consider myself an amateur bartender, in fact, I have invented an exquisite cocktail my friends actually love, I call it "Ice cream Margarita." As with all margaritas, tequila is its most important ingredient, its major ingredient in fact. And of all tequilas, Patron is without a doubt a cut above the rest. It occupies its own lofty position in the world of tequila aficionados. It is my favorite tequila needless to say.

About six years ago, my future brother-in-law gave as a gift his future bride, my sister, a triplet of Patrons packaged in beautiful plastic container, only one remains - a Patron Rebosado. A picture of which appears below:

It's the one remaining of the original three and many an ice cream margaritas were enjoyed by my family and friends with it, of course, masterfully made by me. To this day, I can't seem to gather the guts to open this last  bottle. I have kept is in our cupboards for this long. I don't know, maybe I have become emotionally attached to this piece of work - weird to admit it but nevertheless true.


An article written by Troy Patterson in Slate caught my attention recently, well, the gist of the article is basically that Patron is loved not because of its contents but rather because of its bottle. I could not agree more, indeed, when I first got to taste a Patron, there was admittedly no special flavor I could uniquely discern. Not much unique I should say than all the other tequilas, and there are a multitude of them. But there is one thing that caught my attention, the bottle. The Patron bottle is elegant, suave, dare I say, sexy. It is a classy, hand-made creation - even a masterpiece unto itself.

I distinctly remember when I first introduced the drink to a buddy of mine four years ago, I was talking more about how the bottle is hand-made, blown individually and the like, than its gastronomic characteristics. And I remember, yeah, I fell in love with Patron primarily not because of its flavor, but more so because of its bottle, that mystically wrapped, hand-crafted, really an artwork of a bottle.

The Patron might have gained prominence as the premier tequila because of its cameo appearances in Hollywood movies, but over and above that, it has gained its status as the must-have tequila because of its uniquely designed, smartly marketed bottle. It just conjures classical mysticism of the philosophical type.

Acer Aspire R7: A Gymnast of a Computer

On May 17, 2013, Acer will be releasing its USD 1,000 Acer Aspire R7 computer cum tablet with the contortionist-like "Ezel hinge" which allows the monitor to be moved forward, backward, reversed, folded or "hang in the air." As this video will show, it is indeed a very flexible piece of technological creativity, literally!

Personally, I think this computer will offer mobility as that of an Apple iPad at the same time offer the "brick and mortar" functionality of a desktop or laptop computer. In a sense, it's a combination of the best that a tablet computer can offer at the same time offering the user the multitasking capacity of a desktop or laptop computer.

The ability of the Acer Aspire R7 to capture the market in the recently shrinking PC market will depend on its ability to offer speed and reliability. As of date, Windows 8, which run on the R7, has received good reviews. However, if there is any platform that will test the rudiments of Windows 8, I think the R7 will provide just that. Hopefully, the R7 will offer more than just the aesthetically pleasing and the admittedly unique design of its hardware, indeed, I am banking that Windows 8 will really come of age with the R7.

If the marriage of Windows 8 and the hardware design of the R7 proves to be more than superficial, then I think we will witness the rebirth of the PC in the form of the "desktab," the fusion of the desktop and tablet computers in much the same way that phones and tablets gave birth to the "phablet."

Let's see how consumers will treat this baby!

Is the Philippines the third most dangerous place for journalists to work?

Media outlets in the Philippines like GMA 7 and Inquirer have reported last May 3, 2013 that the Philippines remains the third most dangerous place in the world for journalists to work. Although it cannot be denied that the Philippines is not a heaven for journalists, certainly it does not rank among the worst, let alone the third worst! In the Inquirer report herein cited, no mention as to the organization, agency, or body that actually conducted such research, only that the Philippines "remains the third worst place for journalists." I am somehow perplexed why such reports are circulating, or that the Inquirer did not even cite its source.

In a recently published article that appeared at FP, the following countries were listed as the worst places for journalists to work:

1. North Korea
2. Turkmenistan
3. Uzbekistan
4. Eritrea
5. Belarus
6. Cuba
7. Iran
8. Equatorial Guinea
9. Syria
10. Bahrain

It is clear that the Philippines does not even make it to the top five. Even accounting for the total number of juornalists killed for 2012, the Philippines would still not make it to the top ten over-all. There are still worst places in the world, indeed much, much worse places for journalists to work that pales in comparison to the oer-all fate of journalists in the country.

Clearly such haphazard reporting with generic standards, coupled with ambiguous sources and sketchy bases is a hallmark of poor journalistic research. Maybe in that category the Philippines could round up within the top ten, even then, I doubt it could even make the cut!

I decry the Philippine Daily Inquirer for its baseless and unscientific reporting of such crucial data. For a reputable news organization, this is a disappointment to say the least.

Free Wi-fi Router

I have been longing to buy a Wi-fi router since last year, and being still unemployed, this was no easy task. When I paid our telephone bill yesterday, I asked the local telephone company how much would a Wi-fi router cost, the cashier said a one time payment of PHP 679 would suffice. Again, being a "freelaner" (my euphemism for unemployed), the amount would be a strain on our household budget so I told myself it has to wait.

When I arrived home I checked out CDR-King's inventory of Wi-fi routers in their website trying to scout for the most reasonably priced model. By far, the cheapest is a WR-NET-018-CC (CW-8096) Wireless-N AP Router with 2dBi Fixed Antenna (150 Mbps) priced at PHP 580. I tried to google the model to find more about the product and came across a Youtube video, of a kid no less, on how to set-up your own home based Wi-fi router without buying a Wi-fi router. Skeptical at first, understandably so since the internet is full of scheming, money inducing, scam proliferating gimmicks, I tried to check the video. Finding it to be somehow legit, being that the video was made, again, by a kid, I tried to follow the instructions and loo and behold, I now have a free Wi-fi router in my house, without the need for an expensive Wi-fi router.

The video is not only short, free from "buy me stuff" or "answer my survey first stuff" but is actually useful. Best of all, I learned that any Windows 7 based laptop or desktop computer with a Wi-fi capability will do the trick. What a day! and what a relief this was even possible. Thanks TechSupportTV1 for a job will done. You really, really made my day.

Summer Heat in the Philippines

Yesterday Tacloban was blistering under the heat of the summer sun. I was personally exhausted and tired, not to mention sleepy, just from the searing heat of the day. Even by 5 PM, the residual afternoon heat was clearly still lingering. I had to make a pineapple milk smoothie just to relieve the oven-like temperature, and for a moment, it did give some relief, much like an oasis would in an endless desert horizon.

I was supposed to do my afternoon walk to the local mall by 6 in the evening but my body and mind wanted me to sleep for the night already. And so with regret and frustration, I am writing this blog before I finally head to bed for the night.

MOVIE REVIEW: Iron Man 3 (2013)

The third and potentially the final installment of the Iron Man series struck me as an action packed, adrenaline pumping, violently quixotic piece of cinematic work, maybe even the masterpiece of the series - at least from the perspective of one who likes good action, explosives and mind-boggling explosive sequences. In that, the Iron Man 3 fulfilled the most banal desire of the XY species for not so totally mindless ripping of flesh, concrete and steel. I think that caps an otherwise good story of a billionaire who seeks to find himself in the chaos of the world and in so doing, finds love, finds connection, finds his raison d'etre. The first two Iron Man movies built the character of Tony Sparks (Rober Downey Jr.) presenting his struggles, personal and professional, to his eventual marriage with his longtime secretary and now Stark Industries chief Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

In Iron Man 3, Tony Sparks deals with the terrorist machinations of the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) who is used by Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) as the face of his terroristic orgy, in revenge for Spark's humiliation of him in 1999 by making him wait hours in the rooftop of a hotel during a New Year's eve celebration. Killian invents Extremis to cure his disabilities, indeed Extremis enabled him to gain superhuman strength, developed remarkable healing capacities and breathe fire. Killian's desire to rise above his own physical insecurities has led him to overcompensate through Extremis.

I actually slept the first half of the movie, it seemed the sedate pace of the first 30 minutes lulled me into a sort of stupor which was exacerbated by the cool ambiance of the movie theater, I was awakened though by the spectacularly well-made finale on the docks.

Overall, Iron Man 3 was entertainment at its best, it served its purpose of wowing the audience with its unique take on Spark's more advanced Iron Man suits, the incredibly humane and empathic artificial intelligence Jarvis and the surprise metamorphosis of Potts as a super girlfriend when she was able to successfully integrate the Extremis virus into her body, giving her superhuman powers most women would envy.

Great summer movie is the word for Iron Man 3!

A Tribute to the Filipino Worker

This day a special day
For it is a day of commemoration
For the global worker
That mans the engines of the global machine
That moves the levers of progress
That drives the future of today.

This day is a special day
For it is a day for the Filipino worker
A global workforce
A pillar of strength of the nation
A source of hope of the family
An inspiration to those served.

This day is a special day
It is a celebration of all of us
For work is the extension
Of our hopes and dreams
Of our will and power
It is a celebration
Of humanity itself.

Be a progressive labor day!