i've lived in Manila all my life. studied exclusively in Manila Schools: De La Salle, the University of Santo Tomas, and ummm, Ateneo de Manila. I often drink in Malate, food trip in Binondo, and obsessively hunt for DVDs in Quiapo. I'm forever wed to this City. For better or for worse...
posted by spanx at 2:54 PM
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posted by spanx at 12:34 PM
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posted by spanx at 1:18 PM
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posted by spanx at 11:36 AM
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all credits go to Lord Byron and www.inquirer.net:
It’s the biggest and brightest moon of the year.
Astronomers call the point of closest approach to earth “perigee”
where the moon would be this weekend.
The world watched a perigee full moon only last December.
Which means the year ended and started
bathed in the magic of moonlight
The first month of the new year is off to a good start
on Saturday night with a full moon that by 7 p.m. is
14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter!!!
posted by spanx at 11:45 AM
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posted by spanx at 11:22 AM
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I waited for a day to post this;
I wanted to get the informed opinion, and
that came in the form of the quote above,
from his fellow PMA-er who personally knows,
and can vouch for the unimpeachable character of
Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino,
the straightest arrow of the PDEA,
the scourge of the drug-dealing Alabang Boys,
the soldier brave and tough enough to go mano-a-mano
with the argumentums ad senile dementia
of inJustice Secretary Raul Gonzales,
and get in quite a few verbal punches of his own,
that shook and flustered GMA's curmudgeon-du-jour.
More about our New Filipino Hero from
www.inquirer.net:
IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
PDEA's Marcelino a battle-scarred Marine
By Arlyn dela Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Before joining the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA),
Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino saw action in strife-torn areas in
Muslim Mindanao as a Marine officer.
Marcelino is the PDEA officer who spoke of three alleged attempts
to bribe him and his men in exchange for the release
of the so-called "Alabang Boys."
Marcelino said he said no and stood his ground.
Mindanao was one posting Marcelino would never forget,
citing his work on intelligence during the Dos Palmas kidnapping saga
in 2001 as his most difficult assignment,
one that kept him away from his family for a long time.
"Once, on Sept. 30, 2001, we had an encounter in Sumisip
and we were almost wiped out," Marcelino said in Filipino.
"For a whole day and night, no reinforcements came."
He said he had wanted to go back home to his family
but his work as part of a major intelligence operation to get
Abu Sayyaf commander Aldam Tilao, also known as Abu Sabaya,
made him stay in Mindanao.
Sabaya was later killed in an encounter with government forces.
"I was in the frontline of the intelligence operation then.
The letters of Abu Sabaya were passing through me".
Magdalo episode
Marcelino said there were attempts by other officers,
mostly from the Marines,
to recruit him to join the core group of Magdalo officers,
who eventually launched a mutiny against the Arroyo administration in 2003.
"They kept talking to me during meetings about
our torn combat boots and uniform
and about corruption in the military,
I told them we were all similarly getting assigned to remote places
in the Philippines where we had no slippers,
no clothes or even food to eat.
I said the people did not send us to the PMA
so that we would have nice combats or clothes or a nice life.
We are trained to endure all kinds of hardships,"
Marcelino said, explaining his decision
not to join the Magdalo Group.
PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago described Marcelino as incorruptible.
When he assumed the agency's top post,
he convinced Marcelino to join him.
His reason: "He can be trusted, he will do good."
"I can vividly recall what the DG (director general) said.
'If you are not going to help me here at PDEA,
who else can help me whom I can trust'?"
Marcelino said he was about to go schooling abroad
when Santiago's offer came.
He said the challenge of doing something more for the country
through the PDEA appealed to him.
Marcelino said he was ready to defend in any investigation
the operation that led to the arrest of the Alabang Boys.
On Tuesday, before the House committee on dangerous drugs,
he did just that.
posted by spanx at 9:26 PM
5 comments
It's one of the finest films I've seen,
and from the buttony opening credits
to the poignant closing montage,
I was, quite simply, mesmerized by this Curious Case.
I'll say no more; all you need to know of the story
is what you already know: Benjamin Button ages backwards.
The pleasure lies in losing yourself in the experience.
This movie should be seen, initially,
and collectively, with an audience, on the wide screen.
Much as I love and adore the medium of DVDs,
to watch this for the first time on a small screen
would be an injustice to Fincher's finest film.
And an injustice to your own inner cinema geek.
Trust me, Benjamin Button is worth your P150.00!!
Every scene is shot postcard pretty,
and Brad Pitt is Brad Pitt; and he does his best work
in films that run for over two and a half hours:
Legends of the Fall and Meet Joe Black come to mind;
and it was a stroke of casting genius to have
lookalikes Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton together.
Both have never looked so luminous.
After the pain brought about by the MetroManila FlimFlam,
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the perfect balm.
It opens this Thursday, January 8.
P.S.
As I was watching the movie last night,
(thanks so much to Sionee of Warner Brothers
and Azrael's Merryland for the invite!!!)
I was struck by the similarities between
Benjamin Button and the title character
from another movie that took audiences
on a memorable tour through decades.
WARNING:
Read no further if you haven't seen either film!
The Top 10 Similarities Between
FORREST GUMP and BENJAMIN BUTTON:
1. Both are extremely polite soft-spoken Southern boys;
Forrest is from Georgia, Benjamin from New Orleans.
2. The most influential figure in both their lives?
Dear Old Mom.
3. Both had male sailor-mentors who drank too much.
4. Both had mystic connections to symbols of flight:
Forrest's feather and Button's hummingbird.
5. Both went to war;
Forrest in Vietnam, Button during World War II.
6. Both Forrest and Button worked on small boats.
7. Both found it hard to walk as kids;
Forrest had leg braces, Button had crutches.
8. Both of them travelled around the world.
9. Both met their true loves as children;
both were left by their loves, only to return.
Forrest and Button were both extemely worried
that their kids would not be normal.
10. And oddly enough, this immortal line is said,
word for word, in both movies:
"I Gotta Go Pee!"
posted by spanx at 1:38 PM
8 comments
LONG WEEKEND!!!!
Monday, November 30
Bonifacio Day
And the grandmother of all long weekends,
an 11-day extravaganza of a
LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG WEEKEND:
Thursday, December 24
Official Last-Minute Shopping Holiday
(declared by Spanky H. Enriquez and Gloria M. Arroyo)
Friday, December 25
CHRISTMAS
(declared by Jesus Christ)
Saturday, December 26
Sunday, December 27
Monday, December 28
National File for Sick Leave Day!
Tuesday, December 29
National File for Vacation Leave Day!
Wednesday, December 30
Rizal Day
Thursday, December 31
(do you really think Pinoys will go to work on this day?)
Friday, January 1, 2010 is still a holiday...
Saturday, January 2
Sunday, January 3
SEE YOU ALL BACK AT WORK & SCHOOL
MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2010!!!
Best of All?
January to June 2010
will be the last 6 Months of GMA.
(sana. baka. ewan.)
Wooohoooo!!!!!
Con te partiro...
posted by spanx at 2:49 PM
6 comments
posted by spanx at 11:00 PM
3 comments
