Obama Disses Scar Jo and PGMA?

Just read the news feeds on Barrack Obama downplaying the virtual relationship he has with Scarlett Johansson and canceling a scheduled meeting with President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo. It seems that PGMA had to travel to New York from Washington D.C. with the lone itinerary of meeting with the Democratic presidential nominee -- and still Obama couldn't (wouldn't?) apparently find a hole in his schedule to meet with her.

I love Slate's Micky Kaus comment on how the issue could have been handled better without causing any undue embarassment:

"This seems inexplicably clumsy. Johansson's a supporter who helped make Obama a highly effective video. She probably thought she was helping Obama again when she told the press how impressed she was that he returned her "personal emails." ( "I feel like I'm supporting someone, and having a personal dialogue with them, and it's amazing.") Surely there's a way to get across the point that she's just an occasional emailer without making her look like a fantasist."

BTW, the fantasist in question is Scar Jo and not PGMA. Just sayin'.

Fuck You, Frank

Typhoon Frank really did a number on the country last weekend with what's shaping up to be the worst maritime disaster in 20 years, a current death toll currently standing at 622, 2.4 million individuals displaced in 14 regions, and estimated damages at PHP5.5 billion. Latest figures on the sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars off Sibuyan Island in Romblon province last Saturday put 124 recovered bodies and 56 survivors from the total of 862 onboard. It is perhaps worth noting that Frank's international codename which is "Fengshen" means "God of Wind." In my book, this should be changed to "Gigantic Fucking Asshole."

Speaking of gigantic fucking assholes, Sulpicio Lines which owns the MV Princess of the Stars is attributing the tragedy to force majeure during a hearing of the Board of Marine Inquiry last Wednesday. Fucking weasels. What would it take for this company to accept responsibility and stop, you know, killing people? Here's an interesting Inquirer article on Sulpicio Lines' abysmal record and how it seems to have escaped criminal culpability from it.

Live the Life

One of the few advantages I get from maintaining this blog is that I get to make admissions in anonymity which I won't dare make to even some of my closest friends. One such admission I would like to put forth right now is..I love Coldplay. I have loved the band since the first time I saw the video for and heard the song "Yellow" way back in 2000. The video's simple simple visual of Chris Martin singing along a beach in one continuous take with no cuts and in slow motion, plus the progression from the night's darkness to the dawn's early light used as the time line, makes it unforgettable.

One other unforgettable moment with Coldplay was watching the band perform live in Singapore. I have also loved the song "Fix You" because I played it non-stop in the soundtrack in my head when I was going through a rough patch. To hear it live and sing it along with Coldplay and with thousands of other people, it just doesn't get any better than that.

Oh, I know. I'm gushing like a gay guy. Just bear with me some more.

Fastforward to June 2008 and the release of Coldplay's fourth studio album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. Suffice it to say that I love this record. The first single out "Viva La Vida" (although "Violet Hill" was made available as a free download way back in April from the band's official site) is one of those rousing anthems which are meant to get you all fired up and off your ass and start l-i-v-i-n-g. Hell, the song's title says it all -- Viva La Vida! Live the life!

However, there's a bit of a controversy brewing with the song. A Brooklyn-based group called Creaky Boards is alleging that Coldplay ripped off "Viva La Vida" from its song called, and I'm not making this up, "Songs I Didn't Write." Here's the cornerstone of Creaky Boards' campaign, a video posted in YouTube.



Now, the video is not objective at all. It highlights the parts of both songs which may sound the same. Oh, and how about the shameless claim that Chris Martin was in the audience during a performance of "Songs I Didn't Write?" And, seriously, what's with the fucking mustache dude?

I can just disregard outright this claim to plagiarism, but then another video was posted saying that the same song was copied from a Joe Satriani song called "If I Could Fly."



Now, I don't know what to fucking believe.

This just in...Women Prefer Assholes

Researchers at New Mexico State University have released the findings of their study which show that 'men who are narcissistic, thrill-seeking liars and all round "bad boys" tend to have the greatest success finding more sexual partners.' The psychologists have determined that there are three characteristics which, when taken together (the so-called "dark triad"), would seem to guarantee tail:

"These are a tendency to lie and manipulate others, the selfishness associated with narcissism and impulsive behaviour that gives little thought to consequence."

Furthermore, the dark triad mold is personified by James Bond which I think the scientists weren't told does not exist.

Here's the article from telegraph.co.uk.

José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, Play-yah!

Today, June 19, is Jose Rizal's birthday. I wanted to post an entry in honor of our nation's national hero and so I trawled the net to get a profile together. But having done this, I got wind of the fact there is no dearth of information and sundry biographies on and profiles of Rizal and what I could come up with would just serve to regurgitate some stuff which other (and more able) people have written. Seems that the guy is bigger than Jericho Rosales. I did manage to navigate my way through the following page called "Rizal, the Romantic" in this site maintained by (surprise!) Jose Rizal University. The page can be accessed via the navigation menu at the right under the tab "Love Life" where I guess this aspect in our national hero's life has to have its own category due to the volume of material and information.

I take my hat off to whoever wrote this piece on Rizal's romantic dalliances. This author's writing style belongs, I think, to the kick-ass/take-no-prisoners school. The guy (just for argument's sake, I'm assuming it's a guy -- the whole thing is uncredited) just lays it out there with little regard for objectivity and veracity and the inappropriate use of colloquialisms.

The start of the first sentence is a good example: "There were at least nine women linked with Rizal..." (italics mine). It's as if the guy was writing about Rizal in a showbiz rag and the founder of La Liga Filipina will appear in this Sunday's The Buzz to clear once and for all how it's not true that he's unfaithful and how it's just a misunderstanding that all these ladies have been linked to him:

Boy Abunda (leaning forward, eyebrows furrowed, and arms forming a steeple under his chin): "José Rizal, isa kang bayani, celebrated the whole world over as the greatest Filipino, polymath, polyglot, doctor, poet, essayist, and might I add...playboy?"

Jose Rizal: "That's not true Kuya Boy. I'm not a playboy. I guess nali-link lang sa akin yung mga girls na yon kasi na misinterpret ng press ang pagiging close ko sa kanila. Pero sa tutoo lang, we're just friends."

Or how about the certainty he had put into his statement that "Segunda Katigbak was her (sic) puppy love." ? What piece of literature exists out there for this guy to make this assertion without any qualifications? I mean, come on! I will only believe that what Rizal felt for Segunda was merely puppy love if there is actual physical evidence in a slum book somewhere that Rizal put pen to paper to confirm this. Yes, I would have to see with my own eyes and in Rizal's handwriting the phrase "puppy love" and the name "Segunda Katigbak" together. Otherwise, I'll just put this down as speculation.

Oh, and I love how he can be so judgmental with regard to the ladies' appearance and stature: "After his admiration for a short girl (booo!) in the person of Segunda, then came Leonor Valenzuela, a tall girl (yehey!) from Pagsanjan," (interjections mine). And wasn't Rizal also short in stature? Wouldn't this fact preclude him from being attracted to tall girls? Maybe. Maybe not. But who gives a shit if Segunda was short and/or Leonor was tall?

There are more examples which I won't write about for the sake of brevity. But before I end this, the article is also quite informative as it somehow asserts that Rizal was commitment phobic. Read on and note how Rizal was a little to quick to back out of relationships when some of the women were starting to get a little too frisky for his comfort. Oh, and here's a site I found which has some pictures of the ladies on the list linked with Rizal.

Apparently, Mike Myers is a McDouche

If Mike Myer's latest film "The Love Guru" flops, a severe case of schadenfruede will spread across the land not unlike the case right now for M. Night Shyalaman following the release of "The Happening." This is because Myers is apparently a megalomanic and arrogant cock. In the following article in EW, Penelope Spheeris, the director of Myer's breakthrough headliner "Wayne's World," says quite straightforwardly: "I've hated the bastard for years."

The Crappening

If (or is that when?) M. Night Shyamalan's latest film "The Happening" flops, a severe case of schadenfruede will spread across the land not unlike the mystery malady which apparently befalls the eastern coast of the US in the movie. This is because "Night" is supposed to be one gigantic douchebag. Here's a firsthand account on the douchebaggery of the guy from blogger Chez.

In Bruges

I've had a lot of time recently coming off quitting work and going back home to the Philippines. I've spent a lot of that time watching movies since then and I can't remember the last time I've had so much of a good time than I did this afternoon with the film "In Bruges." It is simply fucking awesome. No, no, no, it's not enough to use an expletive to emphasize how much I love this movie. Let me put it this way: I'd take "In Bruges" to have a classy lobster dinner, be the smoothest gentleman, take it back to my place for a nightcap, make sweet, tender love to it the whole night, and then propose marriage the following day.

The Bruges (pronounced how one would say the word "bridge" but with a deep "u" instead of an "i") in the title is supposed to be the best preserved medieval city in Belgium. The film follows two hitmen, played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, visiting the quaint Belgian city right after a hit goes horribly wrong for Farrell. The both of them are instructed to chill and wait for further instructions from their boss played by Ralph Fiennes. I especially love Farrell and Fiennes in this movie and will from now on use both their performances as the yardstick by which to measure the existing and future work they will do. Just one personal note to make on Brendan Gleeson though -- is it just me or can anyone tell him apart from Ray Winstone?

Beyond the cast's performance, the movie's main strength for me is its screenplay. My god. It was enough for me to forget any ambitions of becoming a screenwriter. I doubt if I can come up with a script half as witty, cracking, and thoroughly entertaining. Small wonder though, the film's writer and director, Martin McDonagh, is an award-winning Irish playwright. That's it. I love this movie. It took this movie to get me off my ass and make a new post on this blog. I wasn't even compelled to the same after seeing "No Country for Old Men" or even "There Will be Blood."