Proud 2 B a Dread

Before you click the link to a video below, I must warn you it might sear itself into your memory. It does in mine.

This has got to be one of the saddest news I’ve encountered. I think it’s a perfect example of the extent that materialism has a hold on America.

Black Friday is big in the US. And no, it’s not the big Black Friday back at home. At home it is a day of holy silence (or at least it was), a day to commemorate the death of a 33-year old Jewish carpenter. Here, it is the day when most companies finally break-even, or earn a profit (hence, black, instead of being financially in the red). All the stores bring out their big-gun discounts. It’s a no holds-barred all-day shopping orgy - so much so that a lot of people camp out the night before in front of stores (and this is in almost wintry conditions), just so they will be the first to get whatever it is they want. This time, a very large man has been trampled to death when he opened Wal-Mart’s gates in Long Island. I mean, I kind of understand how you can get trampled when you’re trying to get out because your train is about to explode. Or even, at least to some extent, people who have died in Quiapo’s Nazareno procession. But for a discount? And the worst thing is, even if Wal-Mart announced that they were closing the store because a staff has died, people actually complained that they wouldn’t stop shopping because they’ve been out the whole night in line!

I like a lot of things in the US, but news like this really makes me glad that I have a home - a culture - that I can still go back to. Home is not perfect - God knows it can also be oppressive at times - but the Filipino spirit, I think, has not yet allowed itself to cross this Rubicon.

I’ve decided to make my iPod more fun, so I’ve searched through the free iPhone apps available via iTunes (what’s with these lower case i’s for everything anyway?). And now I’m addicted!

I’ve downloaded this free games called Tap Defense. It’s a simple enough game - you prevent monsters coming out frmo the mouth of Hell from entering the gates of Heaven. You build towers, but you are limited by the amount of gold that you have. So you have to strategically place them along the route. Anybody who knows me also know that I am a sucker for these type of strategy games. When I was in-between jobs (!), I was literally up playing Age of Empires until the sun came up. I only slept because I know my mom will come banging on my door saying “Tanghali na tulog ka pa rin???“

–> Updated 12.09.2008: Due to Anton’s warning, isinalin ko sa Filipino itong bahagi na ito.

Kaya ngayon, eto at babad na na babad ako ngayon sa paglalaro ng Tap Defense - at kung may kontiong oras pa, makagawa ng konting trabaho. Sa totoo lang, maling oras ito kung malalaman ng amo ko kung ano ang pinaggagagawa ko.

See, we’ve just had our “movie afternoon” - the whole team with the big bosses are treated to pizza and drinks and a movie. So since this is the first time we’ve done it, the big boss decided that we might not know each other yet, so he asked us to introduce ourselves one by one. When it was time for me to introduce myself, I just stated the project I am working on, was reporting to such and such bosses, doing database work. I didn’t want to announce that I am working from home, no? I still feel a little guilt about that because I am the only one in our office who actually does that. After I spoke, it was my immediate boss’s turn (yes, tabi kami na nanood ng movie. Close na close!), but before he introduced himself he spoke glowingly about how impressive my work was, and how precious a resource I was to the team, things like that. I think my hair actually grew two inches in that two-minute span. He didn’t say anything about my other team mates, just me. I guess this means I’m still in for at least another year. Yep, good times are rollin’!

Justine, again:

Justine, can I have a kiss?

*Tsup*

One more?

*Tsup*

One more?

No.

Why not?

Because I’m finished kissing!

Justine pirate!

Justine is so used to touch screens (like her Leapster or “her”  iPod), she expects her mom’s laptop to also be touch screen. She plays interactive games online, and sometimes she gets frustrated because she knows the correct answer (and touches them on the screen), but the game just doesn’t “respond”.

She has also christened us with our new animal names: Daddy Moose, Mommy Goldfish, Justine Ladybug, Julia Bear, Lolo Horse, Lola Butterfly, Tito Dog, Tita Cat, Tito Bee. Now Lian wants to change back to just Mommy, but no luck. No getting out from this phase yet.

The afterglow of Obama’s win seems to be dimmed by heightened racial crimes here in the US:

Potok, who is white, said he believes there is “a large subset of white people in this country who feel that they are losing everything they know, that the country their forefathers built has somehow been stolen from them.”

Grant Griffin, a 46-year-old white Georgia native, expressed similar sentiments: “I believe our nation is ruined and has been for several decades and the election of Obama is merely the culmination of the change.

“If you had real change it would involve all the members of (Obama’s) church being deported,” he said.

Change in whatever form does not come easy, and a black president is “the most profound change in the field of race this country has experienced since the Civil War,” said William Ferris, senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina. “It’s shaking the foundations on which the country has existed for centuries.”

So the dark side of the “real America” has reared its ugly head. Closet racists have come out of the woodwork, even from relatively liberal areas like LA. Although Obama has the highest number of threats ever for a President-elect, I’d like to think Obama and the larger part of America who voted for him will come through. The only thing America needs to fear is fear itself.

Well, not really. It may have certainly helped Republicans have their 8 years of idiocracy, but I don’t think today’s TV makes us idiots. Certainly you can always bring up shows like O’Reilly and Hannity as strong cases for the downside of TV, but, well, TV has its share of saving graces.
Lately we haven’t been able to watch some shows we have been following before, but we still manage to follow Grey’s Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, and HBO’s new series True Blood.

Grey’s Anatomy I think is on the rise, albeit a shallow one. It has been on a plateau since last season, and I can’t wait for it to get smart again. Brothers and Sisters we still find very interesting, although watching Norma Walker get angry has lately been a regular of each episode. Writers better beware.

I also get to follow Boston Legal. Alan Shore is the type of lawyer I’d probably be had I gone that route, but I watch the show mainly for its liberal commentaries to very current issues. Writer David Kelley doesn’t try to hide his political stand, and that is why I think Hollywood loves this show. And I do, too! God bless them liberals.

Now True Blood is a whole different animal altogether. It’s about sometime in the very near future ( or probably present) where vampires are out of their closets, or coffins, as it were. A synthetic blood has been invented - Tru Blood - so vampires do not have to get their share of human blood. So, they do not have to hide anymore, and a law has just been passed guaranteeing equal rights for vampires. Now my initial impression is it was trying to come on too strong on social issues — you can easily substitute vampire for blacks and/or gays, and you basically get the same backbone of the story. People are wary of vampires, and frown upon relationships between vampire and human. But as the show progressed, it became interesting. The show knows it genre, so it doesn’t take itself seriously. And that how I think it succeeds. And Anna Paquin can paquin’ act.
Also, another new thing Lian and I are trying is Netflix. Now unless you have a yaya or you can leave your kid with somebody else, having a kid basically means you signed a waiver on date nights at the movies. You can say goodbye to eating out on a nice romantic dinner, goodbye to HHWW, MPSSP, goodbye to the big screen. Basically you give Netflix a list of movies you want, and they mail it you. They won’t mail the next one until you’ve returned by mail the one you previously rented. Having this service updated us to the newer movies. I think the last movie we saw on the big screen was Narnia (first of the series) back in Manila. But now, we just watch away, and I think Netflix is losing money with us. We just watch and mail, watch and mail.

So no, I don’t think TV promotes idiocy. But it does get my tummy in desperate need of a tuck.

Seriously, this is waaaayyyyy too late, but before the new season starts, I just want to air out my thoughts on last season’s American Idol. Yes, I told you this post is a tad too late.

Sure, previous seasons have a number of stellar contestants (which were eventually non-winners: Mr. Yamin, Ms. Doolittle, come on up!!). But last season I think gave us one of the best group - so much so that me, the pirate, actually bought songs from this season’s crop.

I have songs in my iPod from the two Davids, from Carly, Jason,and even from Michael Johns! But if I have to choose songs that stood out, it would be (in this order): Here You Come Again, Always Be My Baby, and Over The Rainbow.

I don’t know, but I think a lot of people who say they detest AI just want to be “better than the rest of mankind”. But I actually find it entertaining, and when AI does find a diamond in the rough, doggone it, you betcha I’m gonna vote my a$$ off for him/her - get that, Anwar Robinson?

So here’s to the next season, and I hope there’ll again be someone who’ll blow me off to Timbuktu. And to non-believers, I’ll leave you with this:

MELINDA DOOLITTLE : MY FUNNY VALENTINE

Ewww… Dirty, naughty Spam.

This should be a lesson in persistence.

The researchers used two of the most popular ploys currently used by spammers – firstly offering a fake pharmacy site and, secondly, offering a herbal Viagra-style remedy to boost libido.

“After 26 days, and almost 350 million email messages, only 28 sales resulted,” says the research paper.

Seriously, that’s a success rate of 0.000008%. You gotta give it to them spammers, they know their craft. I think they’re here to stay.

Our eyes literally went wide, with big gasps of “Whoa!!”. I thought CNN’s magic map was one of the coolest things ever that this election gave us, but CNN still had something up its sleeve:

The woman reporter was beamed as a holograph on the studio – she was in Chicago, and Wolf Blitzer is in the studio, in NY, and they talked as if the two of them were face to face.

When Jessica appeared slowly on stage, oh man… be still my nerdy heart. The geek in me had goose bumps like it was nobody’s business. Like I saw Yoda or Gandalf himself.

The future really is now. Sign me up for light sabers!

Here’s my little Picasso’s impression of me (from Justine):

Bwahahahaha.

“A phone call was put but she wasn’t able to speak with him,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters at a briefing. “I suppose they just registered the fact at the White House operations center and the State Department that the President had called.”

Now she had a taste of how “Noted” feels like. Nagmamaganda kasi. Kala mo importante, punggok naman. Hmp.