the mungo conspiracy

One of the funniest and most painful scenes in that Ben Stiller classic movie, "Zoolander" was when he WRONGLY accepted his Model of the Year award. The movie is an exaggeration of course. That'll NEVER happen in real life as you can see.  Australia's Next Top Model with host Sarah Murdoch ------------ Hey, I just noticed. It's September 30 -- the end of the month. And I have 30 entries for September. That's one entry each day. I did it! One blog update everyday for a month. I think I will take rest for a week. :)

Sen. Joker Arroyo asked "Must the Filipinos be last to know?"  Simple straightforward answer dear pag-bad-ka-lagot-ka senator, no. But then again, we need not be the first either. Perhaps the good senator has forgotten this fairly reasonable protocol that it is the family of victims who are usually given first look as regards the details of such incidents. By giving the Hongkong authorities that first look, we've thus passed the burden onto them. No dear senator, the Filipino is not the mainstream news media who always needs to out-scoop everyone, at whatever cost. We don't care if we are second, or third, or even fourth in getting the bad news. We don't even care if we don't get to see live the interview of that insane cry-baby of a madman's brother.  What we care about is whether our elected officials, senator in your case, has actually lived up to his campaign promise, and have not simply resorted to cute sound bites that media will surely pick up ...

When Philippine President Noynoy Aquino met with US President Barack Obama at an event in New York last week, the US organizers had the Philippine flag hanging upside down. It wasn't supposed to be a big deal. And the US embassy has already apologized for it.  But check out the reaction on  Yahoo!News ,  read the comments. Such a minor thing and the Obama detractors are up in arms predicting the end of US civilization itself. Well, that's one more thing the two Presidents have in common. Every little misstep, even bad personal habits (smoking), are sure signs of the apocalypse.

One out of every five human being lives in communist China where  ALL blogs  are banned, even Facebook. Think about that for a second, and realize how fortunate you are to be reading this. I know that most of what you read on blogs (including mine) are mostly inane stuff. As for Facebook, well, I mostly just scan through it so I can lol at the pictures of the manang beauties who do model-like poses. What the hey? Are these people on drugs? But all that said, there is something to be said about freedom. Yes, even to read the inane stuff, or do model-like poses for all the world to see. Freedom to have an opinion. Freedom to voice out that opinion. Freedom to have the "wrong" opinion. So let us all pause for a moment and appreciate the fact that Aljur Abrenica's current state of affairs is just a few mouse clicks away somewhere in blogosphere.

Bored, I decided yesterday to play my girlfriend's Facebook Zynga poker account. She doesn't play much and her chip count was around 30K (mine is already more than 7 million). So ok, fine. That only means I have to play shootouts once more where the buy-in is just 2K and I would have a shot at winning 500K at one go. Problem with the girlfriend account was that her avatar is kinda cute. My girlfriend is real pretty (and this is not kissing ass, lol). At first I was kinda pissed and can not concentrate as I was busy fending off all the unwanted attention. Buddy requests, virtual gifts, and attempts to chat me up. In the beginning, I made the effort to explain that I am not actually the person in the avatar, that I am the BF trying to bump up the GF's chip count. But after awhile, this became tedious and I just didn't bother with it anymore. Let them think I am a girl! It wasn't too bad. Some guys are actually interesting to chat with once I've relaxed enoug...

I'm sure by now you've seen it. It's gone viral on Facebook. That is Charice's performance on Glee. Alright, before I go on, let me admit right here, that was actually the first time I've seen Charice perform an entire song (haha). I hope you can all forgive me for that. But hey, I am always behind EVERY Filipino who makes it in the world stage.  One constructive criticism though if I may. And I hope you people do not read into it that I am a crabhead or anything like that. This is CONSTRUCTIVE! What's with all the arms flailing? Charice can do without that. I was watching the video, impressed by her voice, but her limbs flying about in all sorts of odd ways was distracting! Come on. She can do without that. Voice lessons apparently worked. Now she needs a professional  choreographer for her total performance to be even better.  What do you guys think? Here's the Facebook link .

Willie Revillame calls ABS-CBN countersuit "horrendous", this according to the Inquirer news .  Of course, you know it is the lawyers talking. Does the idiot even know the word "horrendous"?

I'm a big fan. Conan O'Brien is the best (after a non-senile David Letterman that is, haha). It's still 47 days according to his  countdown before the new show "Conan" airs on TBS. Last night, when Globe decided to die on me again, I just watched for the nth time Conan's final show as the host of "The Tonight Show". For non-fans who just don't care, "The Tonight Show" is the Holy Grail for all late show hosts. Even David Letterman himself never got to host that. Not even for just seven months, the length of Conan's tenure. Parting words from the Conester was quite unexpected. You don't expect that much class from someone who brought on TV, a masturbating bear, an insult comic dog, and Preparation H Raymond. He thanked NBC with all the sincerity he can muster given all the blood spilled in their messy divorce. Then he thanked the fans who all supported him in his war against his home network. Then a final word to the youn...

So, September 21 came and went without much fanfare nor remembrance. Hardly a word from anyone. I only remembered the significance of the day from Eat Bulaga (of all places) as the TV on the bus I rode was tuned to it. For once, given our current circumstances, I am glad that we as a people have this talent for collective amnesia. And mainstream news media should take note before they raise the boogeyman of Martial Law to protect their collective asses. No you don't get to play that card. The people do not care. They don't even remember. Say what again? You want self-regulation? But that bus left the moment you shoved your microphones onto the face of that madman's even crazier brother as he was being collected by the police. It was being aired live! What were you thinking? No, gaddemit, you had your shot at self-regulation. Look where that got us. It got us here.  I am tempted to insert a Spiderman quote right in here. But let us keep Hollywood out of it and th...

"Mentally retarded" is a very harsh term. Accurate, but harsh. And so, to be politically correct, we've invented a way to soften the blow. "Special" is the euphemism for it now. That's ok, I guess. And I really have no problems with the kind intention of this practice. Except that it does have unintended consequences. The trouble with euphemisms is that eventually the word will lose its original meaning and just take on the new context of what it replaced in the first place.  "Gay" used to be just a word for happy, believe it or not. And now, even "getting it on" means something else. Why can't we just say the right words? It's a little unfair. A kid who can play Beethoven at 3 can no longer be special. He must be something else. Gifted maybe. But no, not special. And I can no longer be gay.  "Informal settlers" can no longer be evicted from squatting. "Police intelligence", euphemism for "spying on y...

From the Inquirer online edition If you click on the corrections tab on the Inquirer online edition, you will get what you see on the graphic above, an empty page. Yes people, the Inquirer is perfect.

one more Facebook ad For once, I have nothing bad to say about a Facebook ad. You gotta feel for the guy, in fact. I am referring to whoever wrote the ad. It's hard writing copy for something so "inappropriate". The ad, I am assuming is for a lending service, is pretty straightforward and direct. It's clinical and thus does not offend. Far better than how I would've done it. I'd get me a close up picture of a man distraught and hanging onto the very last thread of sanity. Caption below in large Arial bold font would be "UTANG NA UTANG KA NA BA?" That'd get a few clicks.   

Just reading this now, Monday this week,  according to the  Inquirer news ,  Robin Padilla (42) weds Mariel Rodriguez (26) in an almost secret ceremony in Baguio City. Wow! I mean, really, wow. Robin Padilla should share his secrets to us mere mortals. How did he do it? How did he convince Mariel that, one, the ceremony is legal (no wedding license was filed in Baguio), and that, two, a native rite is romantic?

I wonder, how much IQ is required to be able to tell the difference between an empty box and not an empty box? This is not a trick question. Do you need a college degree for that? What sort of people would you hire to work for you in a bank? Not as the janitor or even a teller. But someone with responsibility that you would entrust to her/him the password to open up the ATM machine. I made a check deposit using the ATM machine at the Bank of Philippine Islands, Rosario, Cavite, branch Monday last week. I was expecting the check to clear by Thursday that week at the most. But I made a balance inquiry at around 5 pm., that Thursday, and my balance still did not reflect the deposit. And of course, Friday last week was a holiday, so there was no more banking for the rest of the long weekend.  I left town for work, break of dawn, Monday morning. And came back only this Thursday morning. After resting up a bit, I went directly to the bank to inquire about my check. The ATM machine s...

So the talentless attention-whore, Lady Gaga, is at it again. In another blatant and shameless look-it-me moment, Lady Gaga wears meat at the recent VMA awards .  You see, this is the kind of thing that never happens in the Philippines, and thank God. Let's see her walk around Cubao wearing that. She'll get fried in an instant.

one more Facebook ad ... is undone in Guam.

Of course I want to work from home. Who doesn't? One thing stopping me from clicking on the Facebook ad though is the graphic. What the hell is that? I need to drive a formula car when I'm working from home? Can somebody please check this one out for me and tell me what it's all about? I've alread y destroyed one email address on account of all the junk mail that goes into it. I'm afraid this is another one of those kinda deals. Show just the slightest tinge of interest and they've got their claws permanently hooked on you. Good luck brave clicker that dares.

In an impromptu match, not even promoted in the media, Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather Jr. kept his unblemished fight record when he scored yet another win. But as the fight was not sanctioned by any of the boxing governing bodies, his record remains at 41-0-0, 25 KOs. Read here for further details . ------------------- Please post this link on your FBs. That is Bronze Athena's complaint about the worm infested chocolate bars she purchased at Savemore. Thanks. 

We are all doomed to suffer forever the consequences of our actions. Such is our sad fate. Make careful choices. Take nothing for granted. Everything counts in large amounts.

I love your game and all, but PLEASE can you spare us from the Hallmarky pearls of wisdom? It is not what I go to your site for. I play Zynga poker mainly to crush the hopes and dreams of other players. It's what I do. I don't need their LOVE. What's up with that? And hey, generosity, as far as poker is concerned, does not work. Not even with play money. Oh, you need some random text to fill out that space? Hmmmm... How about this then, why not give poker tips instead. Something like, "A suited ace-king looks pretty but an off-suited 2-3 that makes straight will still beat that." I know a lot of nooby players can use that. Have something like 20 of those that fills out that space at random, then you're in business. Your avid fan, Don Dee Zynga Poker Champion (according to Mr. Google himself) ------------------- Hey, check out the new link on my blog roll, Speed 24/7. It is the new project I am currently working on. The new blog is still u...

Had to go into the city yesterday and  pick up materials for a project I am currently working on. The file transfer over the internet plan didn't work. So I had to bear the 2 hour commute to and the 2 hour commute back. Before embarking on the long bus ride  home, I had to take a quick lunch at a Chowking. I remembered that my last entry was left a little hanging. And I thought I owed it to you guys to finally ask what's with all the asking your name business all about. "Personal service sir," the almost cute counter-girl answers. Personal service? What personal service? I didn't say that out loud. But the counter-girl probably read my mind and frowned a little when I finally revealed, "Alex is a fake name by the way." When my meal was served, the server said "Enjoy your meal sir Alex." Haha, so that's the personal service she was talking about. First time any Chowking server ever did that. Enjoy your meal sir Alex -- yeba! One mys...

Isa na namang bangko sa isang mall ang hinoldap ng mga hindi kilalang salarin kamakailan. Ito ay ayon na rin sa Unang Balita ng Unang Hirit.  Pagkatapos ng report merong live phone interview si Arnold "Igan" Clavio kay (Dasmarinas Cavite) Senior Superintendent Danilo Maligalig. At dun nayari  si Igan! Sabihin ba naman kasi ni Senior Superintendent ang mga salitang "SM Dasmarinas" at "Banco de Oro".   Hala ka mo Igan!  Alam mo namang labag sa polisiya ng GMA ang ganyang mga detalye. Position ng mga snipers kapag hostage crisis? Ok lang yun. I-live coverage pa natin ang pag deploy ng mga tropa, kung ilan, saan mangga-galing, ano ang armas, ano ang pangalan ng unit, ilan ang may asawa, favorite color ng sarhento, ano pangalan ng alagang tuta ng kapit-bahay... PERO ang sabihin ang pangalan ng posibleng sponsor ay BAWAL. Ano ka ba, Igan? Hindi mo ba naiintindihan ang simpleng trabaho mo?

Am I just being paranoid here, or is my analytics really angry with me? Is that a middle-finger salute?

Another FB ad. Yes ladies, do sign up! Very nice English not required, apparently.

So the motormouth, originally from Michigan, is apparently at it again. Fighting the big fight against our very own Manny Pacquiao via vlog. And he can not even man-up to it, taking it all back a few hours later. Here's the clip from YouTube: Come on pretty boy, any 14-year-old asthmatic kid with a laptop can video blog they can beat Manny. But can they? Can you?  Enough of this silly internet trolling games. It's getting old. You're getting old. It's either put up or shut up time. It's as simple as that -- put up or shut up. Just so you know, I would rather have Marvelous Marvin Hagler's ONE loss to Sugar Ray Leonard any day than your 0 record. He came, he fought, and gave it his all. And yes, he lost. But he was there on top of that ring where real fighters do their fighting. Not behind some webcam ranting "Oh I can beat him, I can beat him..." yadi, yadi, yada. Yeah right.  So when does an O record mean nothing? ...

As you can see from the ad above, Facebook is offering a new application to its millions of users. I'm sure this is going to be another hit.  But, ahm, maybe it's not for me. Hey, I'm the guy who has his chat box locked in invisi mode. That's just who I am. I have nothing against people who will use it though. People who have family and loved ones abroad, this is very good news! I say go for it. In fact, looking at that ad, even I nearly went for it. Clicked on the thingy and almost registered. But doing that led me to another page. And the girl above disappeared. Oh, she's not part of the service? I want to video chat with her! And no one else. Suddenly, it dawned on me, I don't have FB friends that cute.

Tuberculosis  is a funny word. Just ask Jerry Seinfeld. And I agree. Blurt out the word at random and totally inappropriate times and the word is just funny. Don't get me wrong, the disease is terrible, but the word is funny. Let's see, what other diseases are there? Scarlet fever . Now that is something I might want to give my girlfriend for Valentine's. Chlamydia . Sounds like something Microsoft would put out. A totally useless app that would crash on you after investing 6 hours of work. Kris Aquino had Chlamydia and her data was never recovered. Bird flu . Sounds cute. Totally harmless. It's "lagnat laki" in Filipino, one would think. Lyme disease . Sound edible. Just don't order this in a fancy restaurant, it's expensive! Gonorrhea . Good formal name for your first born, whether be it male or female. Sounds majestic. Botulism . Vogue art movement. Counter movement to cubism. Athle...

From ABS-CBN news website: Umani ng batikos ang media dahil sa coverage ng hostage crisis sa Quirino Grandstand. Nitong Martes, mismong si Secretary Ricky Carandang ang umamin sa radio dzMM, nakalimutan ng gobyernong mag-assign ng opisyal na titiyak na hindi magiging sagabal ang media sa police operations. “Yes. May mga pagkukulang talaga kami sa pag-manage sa media,” ani Carandang. read more here So ayon na rin sa sarili nilang website, ang media kaya hindi naging responsable nung araw na yun, KASALANAN NI PNOY. Ang galing nyong bumali mga tsong! Talo nyo pa si Lim Em Beng! So, pag si Karen Davila, nakalimutan maghugas ng pwet, kasalanan pa rin ni PNoy? Ah, dahil sa mga factions sa Malacanang hindi nakapag-memo kay Karen. Ganun ba yun? Yung mga nag-stampede sa ULTRA? Kasalanan naman ni Gloria? Mahirap atang pati si Noynoy madawit dun. Pero sige, hintayin ko, baka meron pa kayong bali na kayang magawa. ------------------------- Unrelated item: Ray Wi...

I promised myself I would not get too obsessed. But being the OC that I am, I can not help but look at my analytics (graphic above is from NuffNang). So ok, my blog was doing fine, coasting along with the daily hits I get from my friends and regulars. Something like 40 hits a day on average. No big deal. But that is my viewers. And however small that may be, you got to respect that/them.  And that means, for the most part, trying to update my blog every day. It's not Shakespeare, but hey, there is genuine effort to whatever I put out there. I am OC, remember. So I was really pissed when Globe decided to die on me. I was busy with other things in life (I do have a job, you know). And doing an update on a net cafe proved to be impossible. Just one day -- ONE DAY, without an update, and my viewers all but totally abandoned me.  And who would rescue me from this hole? My ex-girlfriend of course. One day after posting "Angel Locsin" and my hits more than doubled...

RP-HK parallel probe set  De Lima gags PNP, NBI, other agencies By Marlon Ramos, Nikko Dizon Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 00:22:00 08/31/2010 Filed Under:  Grandstand Hostage ,  hostage taking ,  Crime and Law and Justice Most Read MANILA, Philippines—It’s a parallel investigation with Hong Kong experts, but Filipinos will get the first look at the evidence and no one will be allowed to speak about the inquiry except for Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. (read more from the source ) Thus read the headline of yesterday's Inquirer online edition. Hey I'm all for an open and cooperative joint investigation but I have a problem with the word these lawyers chose. Carefully chosen words are the tools of their profession, if I remember my Robert Redford in "Legal Eagles" quote correctly.  Parallel? Do these people even understand the meaning of that word? Parallel lines are two lines on the same plane that will NEVER meet. So what are they sa...