The Oscar nominations were announced last week, and among its roster are two Filipino-Americans! Hailee Steinfeld has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her starmaking turn in True Grit. Her maternal grandfather is Filipino.
The other nominee is Matthew Libatique, who is nominated for Best Cinematography for Black Swan. He is the son of Justiniano (from Dagupan, Pangasinan) and Georgina Libatique (from Lucena, Quezon), is the first 100 percent Filipino to earn a major Oscar nomination. Matthew however, already grew up in New York and in fact, grew up with Darren Aronofsky, the film's director. He even did the cinematography for both Iron Man and Iron Man 2, both big box-office hits.
Well, the winners will be announced on February 27, so good luck to both!
The truth is, it sometimes takes just political will to make Filipinos follow an ordinance which, although may be difficult in the beginning to comply with, will benefit them in the long run. Ordinance 10-109 was implemented by the city of Muntinlupa and that ordinance prohibits the use of plastic bags and other nonbiodegradabel materials by all establishments. Muntinlupa then, becomes the first city in Metro Manila to impose the ban.
The council of the city has pointed out that discarded plastic bags and other nonbiodegradable containers were the major cause of flash floods in the city during heavy rains as they clog the canals, creeks, rivers and other waterways that all cascade down to the nearby Laguna de Bay.
Bravo to the council of Muntinlupa for daring to implement this ordinance, which is thought to be impossible to enforce, especially to stubborn Filipinos. However, with La Nina bearing upon the country, it was just common sense for the council to decide on it, and its citizenry will just follow it anyway, although it may be inconvenient in the beginning.
Every year, a good number of my friends pack up their bags and head up abroad to look for better opportunities and build their lives in their adopted countries. I can't blame them. Since this country does not really reward its people by meritocracy, this brain drain, which started a long time ago, will go unabated for generations to come. I know of entire families leaving the country with almost no close relatives anymore left here. That's how dire the situation is now.
With the successive brutal deaths of several carnapping victims, everyone is once again asking if the death penalty can be reinstated here. However, I think it's not the solution to the problem of crime in this country. Implementing the death penalty here is a bit scary since our justice system has so many loopholes - and one of them is the corruption of our judiciary.
Remember Hubert Webb? What if he and his group were sentenced to death! And what if they were indeed given that penalty, only to find out they were actually not the real criminals! It would be impossible to placate their families for that injustice! Anyhow, all these criminals who did that dastardly crime of burning and killing those car dealers really deserve the death penalty. I just hope they will be caught just in time before these families' griefs die down.
It's pathetic that it would take an American court to order us to pay the victims of the Marcos dictatorship. But in a country whose justice system has failed us time and time again, we have to accept small victories like this, if just to give justice, elusive as it may be, to thousands who suffered under the Marcos dictatorship. The rewards has just boiled down to US$1000 per complainant. A pittance in this day and age, but I guess, what's important is the symbolic victory the decision has given to all these people who have suffered torture under that brutal regime. There are still two pending cases which I hope will bear similar positive verdicts for all the complainants.
OMG! President P-Noy! Did you really you think no one would find out that you bought an expensive car for yourself? Yeah, yeah, I know you say you used your own money, because, you are, in fact, a Cojuangco, and we all know how wealthy your Mom's family is - and a second-hand Porsche is just loose change for you guys! Maybe if Kris bought it for herself, we wouldn't mind, because we can see how hard she works -and she works for showbusiness! It goes with her line of work to be flashy and fabulous. But you Sir, you'r supposed to serve your people?
Also, did you really have to buy it now? How insensitive can you get? What you did is really bothersome since it just shows all this concern for the poor is just for show. Oh well, as they say, actions speak louder than words, and you are no different then from the elite that continue to dominate this country's political and economic landscape, but just do lip service in the name of the Filipino poor. Thousands in Leyte and Albay have just lost their homes. How are you going to tell them, 'Just have faith and don't lose hope!' They can easily snap back at you "Yeah right, Mr. President! You just bought a Porsche for yourself - and here we are - we have no homes!"
If you were a Filipino soldier, would you lay down your life for a country who lets thieves like Garcia go scot-free? In probably one of the most airtight cases of plunder against any government official or in this case, a Filipino general, no less, it really is disgusting to find out that he can just go scot-free so easily! I really pity the soldiers who have died or will die in skirmishes in far-flung places like Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu and other insurgency-ridden places. While they fight with the minimum of equipments, their supposed leaders are fattening their bank accounts and allow their wives to flaunt their ill-gotten wealth. Maybe these soldiers should instead train their guns to these corrupt people more worthy of getting rubbed off this earth!
The Social Weather Station (SWSS) has just released a survey revealing that one out of five families in Metro Manila have experienced hunger in the past 12 months. That's pretty disturbing considering that it happens in probably the richest place in the Philippines, its capital, Metro Manila. The data revealed that about 3.4 million families in Metro Manila encountered hunger in the past 12 months. Well, the cost of living in Metro Manila is usually much higher compared to most other urban, and especially rural ares in the country. That's why families whose income ranges from 200 pesos (US$4.56) to 400 pesos (US$9.11) per day are the most at risk of encountering hunger. And we are not even counting those families whose breadwinners are unemployed!
I guess the government's plan to enforce the Conditional Cash Provision for the poorest of the poor families will be a good idea, even though it goes against the 'teach them to fish' idea. It's really just a palliative but something has to be done for the moment. A more long-term solution has to be drawn out to minimize this incidence of hunger. More jobs, better public education, family planning, bringing development to rural area are just among the issues that can lower this incidence of hunger. It will take a well-planned program of the government to implement this. It will take a lot of goodwill also from private persons to help the government battle this problem - and many NGOs and foundations are helping in their own little way.
The MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) apparently wants to enforce a rule wherein women bus drivers ply the EDSA route. Why not? With all the accidents in EDSA being caused by drunk or wayward bus drivers - and of course, all men, the MMDA, I guess, feels that if women were on the wheel, those accidents can be avoided. I'm all for this idea! I've seen women drivers abroad and I don't really mind that it's a woman at the wheel. These women will also have to get professional driver's licenses anyway, and since they're a novelty, all eyes will be on them to perform well, or at the very least, avoid any untoward accidents.
I had a French friend who said to me that he was surprised to find very nice shopping malls in Manila. This guy was well-traveled at that, yet he never thought that Manila would have such nice shopping places! Well, the truth is, Metro Manilans are spoiled for choice to choose what mall to go every weekend, since they have sprouted almost everywhere in this megacity of ours! And almost each one is as sleek and as beautiful as the other one, since competition for customers is tough.
For my family, Trinoma is the mall of choice every Sunday since it's the one nearest the house, and it has a nice children's playground where we could leave the kids to play, while we loiter around the mall! We also like the mix of stores in this mall since it has high-end as well as many local brand stores. Its mix of restaurants is also interesting and you'd be spoiled for choice as to where to it since you can either have a restaurant experience, or just go the cheaper food court route. It also has the biggest cinemas in the country so the queue here is longer than the other malls since the cinemas have really big screens and excellent sound systems. Parking is also ample so that even during the peak Christmas season, there is still space for people to park.
I knew one of these days that I would be a victim of an errant taxi driver. It happened tonight. I wanted to choke the stupid taxi driver to death! He sheepishly said, we suddenly stopped so we hit him. They don't even own their own mistakes! Anyway, good thing that the driver in front of me was also very calm too. Anyway, there was no point shouting at this guy since I believe in karma and this stupid driver will eventually get his own karma soon enough. I'm just glad nothing serious happened to me since I was wearing my seat belt. Otherwise, I would've hit my head on the windshiled! So wear the seat belt all the time!! We had to get our police reports at the Kamuning Police Station and I had to shell out almost 700 pesos for everything. I'm the one who is being inconvenienced and I have to shell out this money! How irritating is that! Here we are, driving very carefully all the time, and it would just take a lousy and stupid public utility vehicle driver to ruin the van!
The procession of the Black Nazarene of the Quiapo Church will happen later today, and this is probably one of the most fantastic outpouring of faith I've ever seen in my whole life. Every year, the feast becomes more and more grand in scope and because of it, the authorities have decided to move the procession route to the much wider Quirino Grandstand and Luneta area. I think, because of it, more and more people have decided to join the procession and go along the route of the Black Nazarene. Each one of us have our personal way of showing our faith to God, and this particular event shows a spectacular outpouring of faith for millions of devoted Filipinos.
Move over CSI or NCIS! I like my murder investigations for real, and SOCO, which stands for Scene of the Crime Investigations, has been my favorite local TV show for years now. It's weird timeslot, Friday late evenings, sometimes makes it hard for me to catch it, especially if there's a night out involved, but I try to find a way around it. The show has continued to feature interesting cases and although our policemen have been under fire lately, this show has shown that there are still many honest and hardworking policemen out there who really take their investigating and detective jobs pretty seriously. Bravo to you, Abner Mercado and to your investigative team - and keep up the good work!
Oh yeah! Where do you think I get all my OPM songs from? Local radio is a bit unreliable with the titles and NU107 is no more. Good thing, the Myx Channel, the local version of MTV and Channel V, has this show, so that in 2010, my OPM horizon really broadened. Because of this show, I was able to buy a lot of CDs from local artists, almost tenfold from normal years! And I got to know Nikki Gil a lot and her funny sketches for each week! I love this show so much I block out my Saturday nights from 9-11 to make sure I get the countdown fresh! Anyway, if I do have gimik that night, I can always go out by 11PM! Crazy!
There There are many showbiz talk shows in local TV but this is the one I like the most for several reasons. I think the mix of the hosts is very balanced. Then there are those juicy blind items, which are really fun to guess! And then of course, I like the no-holds barred reactions to certain celebrities. I guess it's best to show one's true colors towards a certain celebrity, instead of tiptoeing around certain issues like the show's hosts were walking on eggshells. This show doesn't have that problem. They say things like it is. Maybe because Cristy Fermin is here. I also look forward to what kind of necklace Shalala is also going to wear for that day!
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Oh yeah! I am just like any other normal person who wants his Jerry Springer-like shows on TV. Well, Face to Face follows the same format, but the reason why I like to watch it - is because of its host - Amy Perez! I think she is really the reason which draws people to watch it - aside of course from getting a glimpse of everyone else's dirty laundry! I like the way Amy referees both sides and her tone of voice is very assertive, reassuring and her respect for both parties. The presence of the three advisers also help, as they shed light on how the law, how religion and how psychology comes into play in every given situation shown every episode. Also, the studio voting completes the interaction as everyone gets to have their say, on the issue being talked about.
It's embarassing to admit, but I could not even come up with ten local shows which I've watched religiously last year! Anyhow, it will be an active daily resolve of mine to seek out and watch local TV shows, if only to raise the number to ten by the end of 2011.
I guess one drawback is that there are not many local channels 24/7, and with my current weird lifestyle schedule, it would be very difficult to catch local primetime shows. Anyhow, I will make it my mission this year to find out more local shows that would catch my fancy since there are other local cable channels like Q and ANC, which has several interesting shows as well.
Well, there are two equally good news programs which I watch when I get home, but it is Bandila, which I usually tune in first, and the one which I find more entertaining (that does sound weird in the context that it is supposedly a news show!). Earlier in the year, it was usually Saksi, but since Bandila comes about 15 minutes later, it fit perfectly to the time when I get home! Talk about getting your daily news at midnight of the next day!
I especially like how they made over the show this year. Their use of Apple laptops and getting feedback from Twitter and Facebook are quite good! It makes watching the news more interactive, though this is not an isolated case. I've seen CNN, BBC and TV5 adopt the same strategies.
