Dateline- Long Beach, CA

I'm back! It's been like 3 weeks since I last posted my most recent blog. My CPU had a virus which left me Net-less for 2 weeks. Although it was finally fixed a week earlier (and even upgraded to Windows XP), I didn't find time to make a new blog coz I had to answer all those e-mail messages that have been flooding my Hotmail & Friendster accounts during my brief hiatus, and due to the fact that I was busy installing and playing the very addictive yet entertaining Sims game. For the 2 weeks until the CPU was brought back home, I spend much of the time reading "Tuesdays with Morrie", attending a niece's 10th birthday in Griffith Park, calling some of my friends in the Philippines (some of whom didn't answer probably coz of the weak signal caused by a recent typhoon), watching movies in the local cinema (most recently "Shrek 2" which was good), pulling weeds in the garden of the place I'm staying, and so on....

There were also some interesting developments here in America & in the Philippines: Massachusetts became the first US state to legalize gay marriages, the Pacquiao-Marquez fight ended in a controversial draw, Fantasia Barrino won American Idol, the sitcom Frasier ended its 11-year run with a bang, a polio victim defeated a dynasty in the Philippine province of Isabela during the elections, FPJ & GMA still has a close fight for Malacanang with the incumbent leading slightly, the canvassing of votes by the Philippine Congress is going nowhere, US WWII veterans finally got a long-overdue memorial in Washington, DC (today happens to be Memorial Day, BTW), Shrek 2 became the highest-grossing film so far for the summer season, and the Lakers managed to make it to the Western Conference Finals of the NBA.

In the meantime, I would like to share the partial & unofficial NAMFREL tally covering 72.67 % of all precincts as of May 31 (Philippine time):

PRESIDENT

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo 8,982,463
Fernando Poe, Jr. 8,372,312
Panfilo Lacson 2,485,019
Raul Roco 1,605,093
Eduardo Villanueva 1,414,167

NOTE: GMA has a margin of only 610,151 votes over FPJ. And although he is currently in 4th place, Raul Roco still managed to lead in his stronghold Region V.

VICE-PRESIDENT

Noli de Castro 10,765,681
Loren Legarda 9,971,550
Herminio Aquino 729,663
Rodolfo Pajo 22,676

NOTE: De Castro leads Legarda by only 794,131 votes.

SENATORS (this is taken from the COMELEC tally, the leading 11 candidates have been proclaimed)

Manuel Roxas II 19,330,501
Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr. 15,780,662
Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. 13,474,779
Jamby Madrigal 13,224,005
Richard Gordon 12,681,081
Pia Cayetano 12,519,427
Miriam Defensor-Santiago 12,166,637
Alfredo Lim 11,256,068
Juan Ponce Enrile 11,162,148
Jinggoy Estrada 11,067,272
Manuel Lapid 10,943,145
Rodolfo Biazon 10,619,964
Robert Barbers 10,580,221
Ernesto Maceda 9,923,460
John Osmena 9,879,873

NOTE: The 12th spot is still being contested by Biazon & Barbers, with the former leading by only 39,743 votes. Whoever takes the spot will join Pimentel as the only re-electionists to successfully receive a mandate for a 2nd (and last) term in the Senate. In an interesting note, Roxas garnered the highest number of votes overall in Philippine election history (the overall record was originally "set" by Ferdinand Marcos when he won in the 1981 lopsided presidential election with 18,309,360 votes, while Noli de Castro's 16,237,386 votes in the 2001 midterm elections was the original record-holder in a senatorial race).

The time in the Philippines as I am writing this is Tuesday, May 11, 8:04 am (the day after E-Day). It is still Monday, May 10, 5:04 pm here in Long Beach. As of May 11, 7:00 am (Manila time), the AMA tally (the NAMFREL tally, which I usually trust since it covers 95% of the votes, for the moment is off to a slow start with so far only a small no. of votes received) shows PGMA leading with 478,115 votes followed closely behind by FPJ with 470,110 votes. That's a margin of just 8,005 votes! How close can it go? This is probably the most closest race in Philippine election history (I'm not counting the rigged snap election results in 1986) and in recent memory (remember the 2000 Bush-Gore debacle in Florida?). What surprised me is Raul Roco's sudden plunge to last place and Bro. Eddie Villanueva's strong performance in some partial results (the AMA tally however lists Roco at 4th place with 113,388 votes while Villanueva is still last with 109,488 votes, though the numbers are still impressive). In the vice-presidential race, results show (as of 7:28 am, again same day & time zone) Loren Legarda-Leviste with 619,259 votes followed by former ABS-CBN colleague Noli De Castro with 558,369 votes, with a big (but still-close) margin of 60,890 votes. But De Castro is leading in the majority of the partial poll results given by other organizations. The senatorial race is also heating up and as of 7:50 am, the partial & unofficial results show the ff. (Asterisks indicate my personal picks on who should win):

1. Manuel Roxas II- 851,044 (*)
2. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.- 656,371 (*)
3. Alfredo Lim- 651,195 (*)
4. Richard Gordon- 649,116 (*)
5. Jamby Madrigal- 612,669
6. Ramon (Bong) Revilla, Jr.- 599,621
7. Miriam Defensor-Santiago- 578,600
8. Pia Cayetano- 575,996
9. Juan Ponce Enrile- 551,892
10. Rodolfo Biazon- 543,061 (*)
11. Jinggoy Estrada- 495,247
12. Robert Barbers- 480,674 (*)
13. Ernesto Maceda- 472,693
14. Lito Lapid- 436,275
15. Orlando Mercado- 396,797 (*)

So far, among the "Magic 12", 7 are allied with the administration's K4 coalition while 5 are from the opposition KNP ticket. But expect results to change in the coming hours, days, and probably weeks. No partial & unofficial results yet announced regarding the party-list representatives, but expect old stalwarts like Bayan Muna and the more-experienced Akbayan to reclaim their seats despite the pre-election controversies regarding their links to CPP/NPA (most of their representatives were formerly actively involved with the Left).

In an unrelated issue, I would like to give a belated salute to US Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who aside from becoming the second Fil-Am to become a US Army general (I think the first went by the last name of Soriano) recently made headlines when he exposed the alleged abuse by US soldiers of Iraqi detainees. This unfortunate incident prompted calls for the resignation of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well as protests demanding the pullout of American troops in Baghdad. Recently, US President "Dubya", heeding the request of some human rights groups, called for an immediate full-scale investigation of the matter (w/c includes the court-martial of the soldiers involved) and recently apologized & condemned the incident, but reiterated that the soldiers will continue to occupy Iraq. According to Filipino columnist Walden Bello, Taguba's investigative report of abuses in Abu Ghraib concentration camp (which was once one of Saddam Hussein's torture chambers) speaks of "extremely graphic photographic evidence," some of which cover the following acts: forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing; forcing naked male detainees to wear women's underwear; forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped; placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee's neck and having a female soldier pose for a picture; positioning a naked detainee with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture; a male MP guard having sex with a female detainee; using unmuzzled military working dogs to frighten and bite detainees; and "sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and possibly a broomstick." How sadistic can the soldiers go? Iraq has become the new Vietnam, unless the troops continue to stay there, expect more coffins to arrive by the dozen. Iraq may have a new flag and it is expected to be "free" by June 30 (the same day as the inauguration of the winners in the Phil. elections), but the US has yet to address the country's lack of basic services (I'm talking lack of water & electricity in some areas), growing militant activity, as well as the rise of anti-US sentiment (the same goes with every country which part of the "Coalition", including RP) which led to some recent hostage-takings. Taguba deserves a place among the greatest whistleblowers in history along with the mysterious "Deep Throat" (whose identity has yet to be revealed today) whose White House revelations (as reported by Woodward & Bernstein) lead to the Watergate scandal and eventually Nixon's resignation, former tobacco researcher Jeffrey Wigand whose startling revelations on "Big Tobacco" led to a wave of lawsuits against the giant tobacco companies and was immortalized by Russell Crowe in the film "The Insider", and the 3 female whistleblowers (one of them who worked for the FBI claimed they overlooked facts which would have prevented 9/11, while the other two figured in exposing corporate greed in two giant companies) who were proclaimed by Time Magazine as 2002's Persons of the Year. Special mention goes to another Filipino whistleblower: bank executive Clarissa Ocampo, who was "one foot away" when she saw then-President Estrada sign "Jose Velarde" in his check. This, along with more startling testimonies in the aborted impeachment trial, would set in motion the events of EDSA II.

NOTE: Partial and unofficial AMA tally & passages from Walden Bello's article taken from inq7.net

Gosh, this must be the longest blog I have ever done so far!

For president, we will choose from among (in the words of a reader) "a bumbling actor, a murderous cop, a very sick lawyer, a religious bigot, and an incoherent midget." Not a very good field to choose from.


-from Neal H. Cruz' "As I See It" column in the Inquirer, dated May 7, 2004

I would like to bring a topic of great interest not related to the election atmosphere in the Philippines. Recently, the search engine Google went public in the US stock market (its IPO is supposedly $2.7 billion!), thus signifying the beginning of the end of the Internet bubble crash. Also, Google announced plans for a new e-mail service, dubbed Gmail (you can check it out at gmail.com). What sets it apart from the rest is that Gmail will provide each user with 1 gigabyte of free storage (that's 250 times the 4MB storage in Yahoo! Mail and 10 times Hotmail's 100 MB "super-user" subscription package!). It all seems great, but there's a catch: Gmail will scan the content of your incoming messages and serve content-targeted ads alongside them. Huh? Doesn't that seem to be a creepy form of invasion of privacy? As if they were trying to "interrogate" us or put on surveillance? Judging by the reaction of lots of people, Google might as well have asked for everyone's ATM passwords. A California legislator told Reuters she was drafting legislation that, if passed, would prohibit the scanning of e-mail in order to serve ads. In England, watchdog group Privacy International filed a complaint that Gmail would violate the European Union's privacy laws. But some are not apprehensive of the new service. Some Gmail supporters (most of them trial users themselves) pointed out to critics that they ignored the fact that automated software already scans the contents of your incoming e-mail messages. Also they say that the Gmail ads are text-only, in the same format used for the ads next to Google's search engine results. Plus, its user-friendly! Ten years from now, we'll probably look back at the Gmail dust-up with similar befuddlement, but who knows what lies ahead for this idealistic Web innovation. Only time can tell whether it fails or succeeds.

Some passages taken from Slate.com

This is a very interesting election-related opinion piece from the Inquirer's website that I would like to share to everyone:

"Separate Opinion" by Isagani A. Cruz (May 8, 2004)

'Miting de avance'

The campaign for the elections on Monday ends this Saturday in accordance with the Omnibus Election Code. Each party will be holding its "miting de avance" [final campaign rally], or what is remembered of it, unless this has already been held a few days before.

The miting de avance was a traditional feature of the campaign during the time of the two-party system, when the Nacionalista Party under President Manuel L. Quezon and the Popular Front Party under Senator Juan Sumulong vied for the voters' support.

The practice continued when Senate President Manuel A. Roxas defected from the Nacionalista Party under President Sergio Osmeña and formed the Liberal Party. The continuing contest between these two parties retained the miting de avance until President Ferdinand Marcos practically killed both of them with the organization of his Kilusang Bagong Lipunan [New Society Movement] party.

The miting de avance was a showy affair. Followers of the party participated in it with much enthusiasm fired by the heady expectation of a landslide in the coming polls. The men (and later even women) carried gas-lit torches that to them symbolized the power of their votes and the spirit of liberty. Placards and banners and streamers were displayed as if they were already spoils of victory. There was much cheering and sloganeering and good fellowship all around.

Music was also there, of course, with songs and bands. The songs were sung by the marchers together as a sign of harmony among them, and the bands came from the local musicians with their beat-up trumpets, drums and precious guitars. There were no featured entertainers to lend some kind of glamour to the march because it was supposed to be a political gathering. It was not a gaudy stage show.

The high point of the miting de avance was the arrival of the marchers at the place where it was to be held, usually the principal plaza. In Manila when it was the center city of the Philippines, this had to be Plaza Miranda in the district of Quiapo. This used to be the most important political forum in the whole country before it was converted into a shopping mall openly selling bottles of "pang pa regla" [menstruation inducers].

President Ramon Magsaysay, ever sensitive to public opinion, required every idea suggested to him to be first approved at Plaza Miranda. It was here that the people hooted Parity as proposed by President Roxas. This was the venue of an assassination attempt against him in 1947 and years later against his party-mates. In 1965, Marcos, not yet a dictator then, shouted his angry demand to the incumbent President Diosdado Macapagal to "Alis diyan!" ["Get out!"]

The local candidates in Manila also held their miting de avance at Plaza Miranda. Mayor Arsenio H. Lacson was a crowd-getter who always filled the place whenever he was expected to speak. I am proud to recall my own father, after whom that street in Manila's Sampaloc district is named, who was a spellbinder with his poetic Tagalog and often spoke in that contentious arena.

No less important, Plaza Miranda was also the disputed meeting place where the Supreme Court first laid down the clear and present danger rule as the libertarian test for the exercise of freedom of expression.

Where is the miting de avance now?

The miting de avance was a collective effort of the political party to boost its chances in the election by emphasizing its record and achievements, the validity of its platform and policies, and the merits of its candidates. It was aimed at underlining the solidarity of its members in endorsing all their candidates, especially its leaders, as chosen by their delegates at their convention.

These objectives are no longer sought by the present political parties, which is why the miting de avance of the past is no more. There are vestiges of that old celebration, for celebration it was, but the sentiment is no longer there that made it the exciting climax of the election campaign.

The keynote of conduct of the past political parties was unity. The foremost objective was victory for the party, not for particular candidates. Theoretically at least, each candidate campaigned not only for himself but also for the rest of his party colleagues. Thus, the "tarjetas" [leaflets] of the candidate carried his picture and name on one side and printed the name of his party and all its official candidates at the back.

Have you noticed how the candidates campaigned for this election? In TV and radio commercials, placards, posters, newspaper advertisements, and other propaganda materials, the candidate was campaigning only for himself, frequently not even for his party, and not at all for any of the other candidates. It was everyone for himself. The presidential candidates proclaimed themselves and were not chosen at the usual conventions. Many people could not even remember the names of the political parties, let alone their platforms, if any.

The miting de avance has vanished in the confusion, disunity and ineffectiveness of the multiple political parties today. This may be one reason why the coming elections may be an anomalous and wasteful exercise of the Filipinos' precious right of suffrage.

Well, what do you think? He does have a good point!

MY ELECTION PICKS FOR 2004!

For President:

Will win: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (K4)
Should win: Raul Roco (Alyansa ng Pag-asa)

For Vice-President:

I don't support any particular vice-presidential candidate. Noli de Castro (K4) was only senator for 3 years and he hasn't passed any useful legislation. At first, I was rooting for Sen. Loren Legarda-Leviste (KNP), until she backed the wrong horse and became FPJ's running mate instead of Roco's (why she didn't choose him is still a mystery), thereby betraying the anti-Erap cause as well as the spirit of EDSA II. Roco's eventual running mate, Herminio Aquino (AnP), has a good educational background & strong political experience, but he is not quite well-known outside his native Tarlac which leads to his lack of popularity. Therefore it is Aquino who should win as vice-president.

For Senators:

Will win: (in no particular order)

1. Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr. (K4)
2. Manuel Roxas II (K4)
3. Miriam Defensor-Santiago (K4)
4. Jinggoy Estrada (KNP)
5. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. (KNP)
6. John Osmena (K4)
7. Robert Barbers (K4)
8. Rodolfo Biazon (K4)
9. Robert Jaworski (K4)
10. Richard Gordon (K4)
11. Alfredo Lim (KNP)
12. Lito Lapid (K4)

Honorable mention: Juan Ponce Enrile (KNP), Ernesto Herrera (KNP), Pia Cayetano (K4), Jamby Madrigal (KNP), Orlando Mercado (K4)

Should win: (also in no particular order)

1. Roxas
2. Heherson Alvarez (Ind.)
3. Gordon
4. Pimentel
5. Lim
6. Barbers
7. Parouk Hussin (K4)
8. Biazon
9. Frank Chavez (AnP)
10. Perfecto Yasay, Jr. (AnP)
11. Bong Coo (AnP)
12. Mercado

Honorable mention: MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, had he run, he would have probably turned out swell (either as VP or senator)

For Party-List:

Since the elections in party-list is considered anybody's game and the voter is only entitled to choose only one from the crowded field, I support the ff.: Bayan Muna, Akbayan, Abanse! Pinay, Sanlakas, Partido ng Manggagawa, Migrante, Anakpawis, Gabriela Women's Party, Anak Mindanao, and Veterans Freedom Party.

Also, has anybody notice that elections in the Philippines are nowadays contested by "temporary" alliances instead of "stand-alone" political parties? I guess its time to revive the two-party system for now!

If Michael Moore can endorse candidates like Ralph Nader and Wesley Clark, why can't I?

With 6 days to go before the 2004 elections, I am quite surprised that this candidate is not getting any media mileage. I am talking about Mr. Heherson "Sonny" T. Alvarez!

In the recent SWS survey (Apr. 10-17), Alvarez is stuck in a tie b/w KNP's Boots Anson-Roa for either the 20th and 21st places. 14% say they will vote for Alvarez, while survey topnotcher Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr. enjoys the electoral support of 43% surveyed (a big difference of 29%!). Meanwhile, the recent Pulse Asia survey (Mar. 27-Apr. 4) shows him statistically tied with Amina Rasul (another KNP bet, who coincidentally, filed a disqualification motion against GMA with Anson-Roa) for the 21st-22nd places, with Rasul (12%) leading over him (11.8%) by a mere .2%! In my humble opinion, Mr. Alvarez deserves to regain back his seat in the Senate, for which he served for 11 long and illustrious years.

A man of great principle, he started out as one of the youngest delegates of the 1971 Con-Con who also opposed the Marcos dictatorship. His brother, Marsman, who was also a street parliamentarian like him, was tortured and killed by the military. Marsman’s body was found mangled beyond recognition – skull cracked open, eyes gorged and tongue plucked out - an act later condemned by Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Sin. This also caused the death of his father who succumbed to a heart attack. He evaded a “shoot-to-kill” order and went on exile in the United States to organize the opposition forces overseas. Together with Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., they moved around the U.S. calling for the restoration of democracy in the Philippines. After the 1986 Revolution, Alvarez served as Cory Aquino's minister of agrarian reform. A year later, he ran for the Senate and won. He was again re-elected for a second term in 1992. Most of the laws he created/authored were related to environmental issues, these include the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act, the law creating the Department of Energy to address the country's then-worsening energy crisis, and the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998. In 1998, he ran again for public office, this time as congressman of his native Isabela, and handily won. While serving in the House of Representatives, he was a leading member of the opposition, and was the first to initiate an impeachment complaint against then-President Joseph Ejercito Estrada in 2000. The series of events that follow would later lead to People Power 2 in 2001, which ushered another woman, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to power. GMA rewarded Alvarez by appointing him to the position of Secretary of Environment & Natural Resources, a job which proved too hot to handle that he quit after only a year. In 2003, GMA gave him another position, this time as Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Communities as well as the posts of secretary-general & spokesperson of the ruling party Lakas-CMD. A year later, Alvarez got the shock of his life when GMA, for whom he has been a loyal supporter, dropped him from the administration's senatorial slate in favor of John Osmena & Miriam Defensor-Santiago, 2 people associated with the pro-Erap faction who had earlier dropped from the opposition slate after differences with Estrada and his chosen candidate, actor Fernando Poe, Jr. As a result, he quit his Cabinet post as well as his 2 party posts, but unlike most politicians who tend to switch to the other side, he still chose to be a member of Lakas-CMD (he even accepted a new party position: vice-president for Luzon). However, it didn't discourage him from running in the Senate, he chose to continue campaigning as an independent, which some have described as "political suicide". Problems besieged his campaign, due to his lack of TV & radio ads (he can only afford print ads), only a few people knew (including this writer) that he was a candidate, which would explain his survey performance. Then, in the middle of the campaign, he took a break from his activities in order to accompany his wife Cecille (the founder of PETA and one of the prime movers of Philippine theater who like her husband, is a staunch environmentalist) to New York for her breast cancer treatments. A true show of love, devotion, and chivalry! This also shows Alvarez not just as a man of principle, but also as a man of greater dignity & sacrifice! Afterwards, he resumed his campaign sorties, appearing in various news programs, and recently, despite his low ranking, received endorsements from Sen. Joker Arroyo (who fought with him against Marcos & Erap) and former Senate President Jovito Salonga (a man who could have been a great president).

Husband. Father. Environmentalist. Freedom Fighter. Human Rights Advocate. Hero. What more can be said about Sonny Alvarez? The spirits of EDSA 1 & 2 shall live on within him! IBALIK SA SENADO! The future depends on your vote!


Visit his website: http://www.hehersonalvarez.com/

or: http://www.i-site.ph/

or: http://www.i-site.ph/Databases/ElectionFiles/Senatoriables/Independent/alvarez-personal.html/

What's the deal with the "decoys" on the music downloading service Kazaa? For those of you who don't know, "decoys" are files of junk noise masquerading as real songs, which makes it difficult & almost a chore to find the right song. I encountered this problem when I was searching for the Barbra Streisand cover version of Charlie Chaplin's song "Smile", and after finding what I thought was the right one, I played it and what I heard was not "Smile", but "I Finally Found Someone", a duet between Streisand and Bryan Adams! What made it strange was after a few seconds, no sound was heard and therefore, more than 3 minutes were wasted! Why would Kazaa users resort to using those "decoys"? It were as if they were desperately trying to give it away! Another fact: According to a recent article by webzine Slate.com, most of the "decoys" are sneakily seeded into the network by greedy music labels. They are such killjoys who should all burn in hell!!!!! But I still use it anyhow, esp. when finding hard-to-find movie scores like those of Nino Rota and Bernard Herrmann, without having to rummage in every music store in town.

I would like to take a pause from my regular blog activity to pay homage to National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin, who died early Thursday morning in his sleep at the age of 86. He was an essayist, a novelist, poet, playwright, editor, biographer, and a journalist. In other words, he was a true man of letters, and also holds the distinction not just as the country's best post-war author, but also as one of the most influential Filipino writers of the 20th century. His works like his first novel "The Woman Who Had Two Navels" (1962) and the short story "Summer Solstice" were widely received by his fellow peers. But his most greatest work would probably be "A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino: An Elegy in Three Scenes", which became the most widely-staged/produced play written by a Filipino. It was also adapted into a 1966 film by National Artist for Film Lamberto Avellana and also translated to Filipino as "Larawan" by another National Artist, the late Rolando Tinio. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1996 for "exploring the mysteries of the Filipino body and soul in sixty inspired years as a writer." As Quijano de Manila (Quijano is an anagram of Joaquin, it also means Manila Old Timer), he wrote many articles on daily life in Manila for such publications as Philippines Free Press and Philippine Graphic (at the time of his death, he was its literary editor) as well as non-fiction works like the acclaimed "Quartet of the Tiger Moon", an account on the EDSA Revolution and the fall of Ferdinand Marcos, and recently a book on the history of the Malacanang Palace as well as biographies of Jose Rizal, the Aquino family, & President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He also served as a beacon & an inspiration for a new generation of young Filipino writers, and helped nurture their talents during the '50s and '60s up to his death. Joaquin was also known for his love of San Miguel beer, his booming voice and his joy in belting out Cole Porter and Frank Sinatra songs during intimate gatherings with friends in favorite bars and cafes. Many admirers lament that with his passing comes "the passing of an era", an era marked with radical change & development in Philippine literature. Indeed, for not only has Nicomedes Joaquin become a literary institution, but also a national treasure, who engaged life with the same passion he gave his art, according to one admirer. The nation will never forget this great man, even those too young to know him, but his legacy will live on in our hearts & minds, for he is now in the company of God. "You’re the top!" he’d sing to bosom buddy Virginia Moreno, but now he is indeed on top of the world. May you rest in peace, Nick Joaquin/Quijano de Manila!!!

I still prefer Friendster over MySpace, even though Friendster has its own limitations. I mean its very complicated to monitor/review the many friends you have invited on MySpace which leaves me all confused, and even its user search is far more complicated.

Isn't it ironic that James Cantalupo, the chairman of McDonald's, died of a heart attack? And to think it happened in the wake of a recent backlash against the fast food chain regarding the health concerns of customers, which led to millions of lawsuits filed against the company for promoting obesity. At the time of his death, the company has introduced entree salads (which according to a recent health study, had more calories than the average McDonald's hamburger) and eliminated supersize drinks & fries. It was also recently the target of a highly-acclaimed documentary expose "Super Size Me", wherein Morgan Spurlock (the director of the said film) turns himself into a human guinea pig by eating every meal in the menu of McDonald's for one month, with life-threatening consequences. This is more ironic than the fact that the original actor who played the Marlboro Man in the commercials (or was it a tobacco executive?) died of lung cancer! Morbid, isn't it?