Euro 2008 Winner: Spain

Volunteering

Rogue-ish.

I have been a Rogue magazine reader since day 1. Their June ‘08 issue has a good article about the upcoming book on Mr Psinakis. Also worth reading is the article on Music Sounds of the Martial Law years. Very, very informative. I look forward for every issue of Rogue. Keep up the good work, Mr Ugarte.

Is this the new Flip magazine? I hope Jessica Zafra will be a regular contributor to this cool magazine.

Feast of the gods

When my group of friends decided to see each other (which is not often), it has to be in an eating place. Yes, food should be at the center of things. Our latest rendezvous proves it.

And then some…

And then more…

Venitian drool

I am familiar with Venice due to mother’s coffeetable books which I have been scanning since elementary. I never know then that those boats are called gondolas. Someday.

Photo culled from imapix in flickr.com

The sad state of Philippine tertiary education

I went to the University of the Philippines for my undergraduate degree in Economics and Management. I went there when the tuition was not yet adjusted by leaps and bound. But I have experienced, first hand, how some of my classmates would budget their allowance tightly in order to meet both ends until the next allowance from their parents come.

Some even adjust their meal frequency from three times to twice daily. Yes, it came a time that that happen. The recent Letter to the Editor of Inquirer from a UP professor who told a story of a UP freshman in Diliman campus majoring in Chemistry, who has to dropped out after 5 days of schooling due to financial difficulty.

The good analysis from Raul Pangalangan, a former dean of UP College of Law, from Inquirer.

Of repression and decadence of democracy

I am currently reading Giles Foden opus The Last King Of Scotland. Below is a brief description of the book, culled from Wikipedia:

Published by Faber and Faber in 1998 to critical acclaim, the novel interweaves both historical fact and fiction. Its protagonist is a fictional character named Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who goes to work in Uganda out of a sense of idealism and adventure. He relates how he came to be the personal physician and confidant of Amin, the president of Uganda from his coup d’etat in 1971 until his deposition in 1979. The novel focuses on Garrigan’s relationship and fascination with the president, who soon grows into a brutal and ruthless dictator. Garrigan acts repeatedly against his better judgment, remaining in Amin’s employment until he is far past the point of easy escape physically or morally. He is gradually drawn into the corruption and paranoia of Amin’s rule, including the expulsion of the Asians, with disastrous results for those around him.

I choose to read the book in light of the parallelism with Zimbabwe’s case. Zimbabwe’s leader, Robert Mugabe, is in the news for the past weeks because of repression and decadence of democracy. He is also being charged with masterminding vote rigging the recent elections held last March 2008, to which no declared winner has been announced. The opposition headed by Tsavirangai, is crying for oppression from the established government, and has backed out of the contested race.

Africa is far from my continent, but the similarity of the problem is basically the same. The Philippines, which I am from, has its own story of repression. The Marcos dictatorship, and the continuous political killings (of journalists and other wise) are still headlines until now.

I have not yet done reading the book, but I will surely enjoy it for its raw and shot-in-the-heart literature. Even if it is fictional.

Damn, I wish I read this book before I saw the movie adaptation.

Update: Frank visits my hometown

I was informed by a friend that a cargo ship of a big department store with nationwide branches, sank off in Antique, near our town of Pandan. The ship contains inventory goods for their branch in the Visayas. I heard that the items were distributed to local folks. Lots of hotdogs.

Because power/electricity is already not yet restored, local folks are forced to sell these hotdogs or it will get spoiled. The flooding has subsided, and the reconstruction ongoing. It might take a long time for the people to recover and return back to their normal lives.

No matter how many disasters or calamities come our midst, Filipinos are very strong and resilient. We grieve, and move on. But we never forget.

Guilt!

Reservation Road, the movie, was a flop in the US box office. But it’s not that bad. Jennifer Connely was good here, and Mark Ruffalo whose character envelops the human nature of guilt when you do something bad.

The story revolves around a hit and run accident one night. A child was hit and died instantly. The suspect did not own up to what happen, and the parents of the victim will do everything to find the driver of the car. It was a small world because the lawyer hired to help in the investigation is the same person the father is looking for.

The lawyer/suspect is trapped, and has no recourse but to tell the truth–to save his family, and to find redemption from himself.

Reservation Road is widely available in DVD.

“Frank” devastates my home province

Typhoon Frank wreak havoc to Central Philippines this weekend, causing flood and devastation to Iloilo, Capiz and the rest of Visayas. So far, 17 people confirmed dead.