A Pinoy Blog About Nothing

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
- George Santayana

Count Your Blessings Dep’t. (Or Thank Goodness 2004 is Over.)

1. The May Presidential Elections.

FPJ didn’t win. (And no more Francis Escudero…till 2008). PGMA gets six more years in office, something which the investors seem happy about, not to mention a certain Mr. Pidal and much to the consternation of a certain Ping.

2. William Hung is so 2004.

That’s the last we’ll see of the fallen Idol. I hope he got the message that people are laughing at him and not with him. Unfortunately they maybe more people who’ll follow his path to fame …er…notoriety- American Idol’s next season starts in January.

3. Comment Spam.

4. Boobie Prize: Janet Jackson.

It’s a boob. Get over it. You’ll get more T&A flashes in a hip-hop video on MTV.

5. Answer to Email Spam? 1GB of from GMail!

Fittingly enough, Google launched GMail on April Fool’s day. What better time would it be than to ask people to take them seriously that they’re offering 1GB of free mail space than April 1? Sure fooled everyone. Then they realized they were serious.

6. Catwoman was just awful.

Hey Halle girl. What were you thinking?

7. Kapamilya at Kapuso: Care ko?

Local TV? They still weave their magic. Unfortunately it’s the one in the Harry Potter books which went - “Riddikulus!” Most local shows have turned to bad copies of ‘reality’ shows from the US. Mang-gagaya lang panget pa. When are we going to see Manny Pangilinan ala the Donald in the Apprentice? The public is ready for him to go “You’re tsugi!” every week on TV.

8. Angelo de la Cruz

The story of the 46-year old truck driver held hostage in Iraq grabbed not just the attention of Filipinos but the international media as well. President GMA decided to pull-out the RP troops in Iraq despite pressure from the US. Hey PGMA - when are you sending out’humanitarian troops’ to the tsunami affected areas? Oh I forgot…no rebuilding contracts there.

9. Abu Ghraib

Pictures are worth a thousand words. These didn’t help the US win any more support for the war in Iraq.

10. Imelda on Imelda

I would like whatever she was smoking when they shot that movie. Once in awhile, I too would like to escape reality. We really need more of that kind of movie now than the nth incarnation of Enteng Kabisote.

Let’s Get it On Dep’t. (Or What They’re Hoping for in 2005.)

1. PGMA: Early warning devices for typhoons, flooding, tsunami, forest fire, power plant attacking jellyfish, fluctuating peso and alien invasion… all powered by prayer.

2. Major General Carlos Garcia: For divorce to become legal in the Philippines.

3. Ed Angara/Kit Tatad: Cory Aquino-like goodwill for Susan Roces.

4. Susan Roces: Be left alone by Ed Angara/Kit Tatad.

5. FPJ: For his name not to appear in the newspapers in 2005. The guy’s dead after all.

6. Erap: Mabuhay ulit si FPJ. Parang sa Panday. (Congrats on the new knees, dude. Too bad you still can’t see your toes.)

7. Manila Mayor Atienza: may pumansin sa kanyang “nationalism mandated by law” efforts.

8. Philippine Film Industry: New blood, new stories.

9. Cebu City Mayor Tomas “badges? we don’t need no steenkin badges” Osmeña: For the public to believe in the crap that his proactive campaign against crime isn’t really a bunch of vigilantes and virtually sanctioned death squad.

10. Filipinos: A country where they can feel safe, have a decent job, raise a family and a government they can be proud of. In the Philippines I mean.

 

It’s About Blogging Time!

2004 seems to be the Year of the Blog. What with mainstream media devoting some coverage to webloggers. Inquirer got into the act. The US elections showed how grassroots campaigning can be effective. It’s too early yet but there has been early, if premature successes. Just ask Howard Dean. Merriam-Webster Dictionary added blog in its new edition. It shall sit nicely beside Homer Simpson’s D’oh. Time Magazine named webloggers Person of the Year which claimed that 54% or 4 million bloggers are by women. (So that’s what incessant sound at the back of my brain was…) A quick survey of my own links reveal that out of 102 sites I follow, 49 are purely by women (I excluded mixed authorship - around 10).

With blogs rising in prominence, there are criticism as well. Some say blogs tend to be ‘echo chambers’ - people gravitate to sites which are nearer or close to their politics rather than include those with opposing views. I could say that’s an accurate description. Rather face the unpleasantness of –good heavens!– a different opinion, people do rather cloister around blogs which more or less agree with what they believe. And that’s too bad. It’s like having Google access the depths of human knowledge and you still wind up searching for Britney Spears pictures.

The chance for intelligent discussion and debate is there if you let it. Chances are however, the seeming anonymity of the Net (and relatively easy access) have some people resort to name calling and some rather nasty commentary. Like the LiveJournal user who was visited by the feds for threatening the President. (I always say, as in emails, — if you can’t or won’t say it in person, don’t put it on your blog.)

Anyway, 2005 seems to be a promising year for online life. New technologies are emerging, bandwidth and storage space is getting cheaper. In the Philippines, more people are getting into blogging. Some I’ve just personally, just recently found, others just starting out. And of course the oldies but goodies are still blogging strong. Nevertheless it should make for an interesting 2005.

 

And Lastly…

It’ll be midnight over at Perlas ng Silanganan in a couple of minutes (we’re 12/13 hours behind youse peeps). This’ll be my last post for 2004, a year which I can only describe as ‘transitional’. It seemed like the past 12 months was spent waiting. It wasn’t fun.

I was waiting to quit my job. I was waiting for the big bosses to make up their minds. I was waiting to turn-over my responsibilities. I was waiting for my visa so I could leave. I was waiting for the departure date. I was waiting for the politicking and the May elections to end. I couldn’t wait to see my wife but yeah, I had to wait. I was waiting for the security person to finish patting me down at the airport so that people would stop staring and wondering why I was singled out. I was waiting for the blasted hurricane season to be over so we can get on with our lives. We were waiting to leave our water-damaged apartment (molds in the walls, ick.) We were waiting to find a new apartment. Waiting for the phone company to repair our lines.I was waiting for things to arrive. Waiting for stuff to happen. Waiting for test dates. Waiting for results. Waiting for x and y to come into alignment. Waiting. Anak ng weteng. (And I’m still waiting for the LOTR Return of the King Extended Edition Gift Set…)

On the other hand, 2004 seemed like a mandatory time-out for me. A chance to go to a neutral corner and recuperate. After the hurricanes and finally finding a new apartment things are beginning to settle down. But yes, I’m glad 2004 is over. Not an awful year, but definitely could be better. We’ll make 2005 worth the wait. Time to party like it’s 1999. Happy New Year.