A Very Special Love

Pic source: www.regalfilms.com

As much as I bash Filipino talent (you can't blame me) I do know how to appreciate the entertainment.

I FINALLY watched A Very Special Love starring John Lloyd and Sarah Geronimo. The usual corny side comments were present but everybody was expecting that. They also delivered other things that the Pinoys expected: bad dubbing, cheap cinematography and stage design, uncommon clothes (poor girls don't have that kind of variety of office clothes, and rich Filipino kids wouldn't wear long sleeves and coats - they can afford to look professional without the inconvenience), a cheesy love story and a funny script.

Crap: music. Wrong background music choices. It made it sound like Facebook games - it just wouldn't STOP. They only had 3 midi files that they kept on cycling through the whole movie.

Crap: "I'm proud of you" scene

John Lloyd's character, Miguel Montenegro (Migs) is an emo b!tch who feels that all the world is against him and all he longs for is to hear his accomplished father say, "I'm proud of you." It's such a common scene in Filipino movies that it makes me wonder if there's a Pinoy Movie 101 course that script writers took.

What's annoying about the "I'm proud of you" scene?
Gullible Filipino kids, who think that sitting in front of the television watching Filipino dramas and soaps is a good way to spend the afternoon, take it to heart and they end up actually waiting for those specific words. Annoying emo kids who either dress up as emo punks or as brown blood whatever hip hop thugs. Dillusional, lazy asses.

Back to the story.

Miguel Montenegro, played by John Lloyd, is an angsty rich bastard (that's the first time I used the word without being derogatory) who has been trying to prove himself to his father's first family but fails - every.single.time.

*Beside Miguel's mother's grave*
Dad: I'm proud of you, son.

Miguel: But you never showed it.

Dad: I did, son. You just couldn't see... Your heart is so full of hate that you couldn't see.

*Miguel cries* *Dad cries*

I though I'd hear someone scream "HHAAALLLELUIAH!!!" after that supposedly tear jerking part of the movie.

Question: Why are Filipino romantic comedies "required" to have drama scenes? Is it part of the Filipino movie formula? Would the audience throw a tantrum if the movie didn't make them cry? Is it like how a song and dance number is required in Bollywood movies?

Why Korean leading men are better characters:
They're also often filthy rich bastards (not necessarily a rich CEO's son from a different woman) and they're also often snobbish. But they're dressed better. They have better haircuts. And they're often angsty for a good reason - because they have been hurt in the past and building a wall around their hearts is how they try to stay away from further heartaches.

On the other hand, Filipino leading men are often mean because they don't realize that they're actually loved by their families, friends, etc. In short: they're emo is nonsensical.

Final score: 8 out of 10.
That's a pretty high score. Because John Lloyd has a pretty high receding hair line.

And in spite of all the corny scenes, Sarah Geronimo amazing delivered her character well and John Lloyd supported that character (although all he did was stare most of the time) and it made it LOL good.

And because....

It's so KILIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG!!!


P.S.
My Migs has abs.

Hi, my name is Carmen

One night at a bar...
Lady: Hi, my name is Carmen; cause I like cars and I like men
Guy: Hi, my name is Pepe

So my nickname is Oyen and my mommy told me she copied it from a cousin's friend who has the same real name as I did. Not very original, right? So I've been trying to figure out how to make myself feel more special (vain much!) by looking for a different story behind my name. Yes, I WILL make one up.

The obvious first place to look: Google

The first hit looked interesting, "The Town of Oyen". Not exactly what I had in mind when I thought about creating my own society - built on my own rules/laws and principles. And I have to admit, when my parents built a resort in Pangasinan 17 years ago, they decided well when they chose my sister's name, Charissa, over mine. The Town of Oyen doesn't really sound like a place people would want to go to... heck, I don't find the name appealing - and I'm the vain one here.

Mmmhmmm.
NO.

Moving on.

Second attempt for a cool meaning behind my name: Yahoo! Babel Fish. After browsing through several pages of Google results, I found out that "oyen" appears quite often with Spanish blogs/sites.


Does not make any sense but it's good enough for me! It just so happens that after generations of having Spanish names, my parents suddenly decided to give me an American name. I think they got confused with the whole Canonization of Lorenzo Ruiz on my birth year and forgot all about Spanish names when they had me.

Now I can just say,

"Oyen" is Spanish. We have this tradition of having Spanish names. My older sister and older brother both have Spanish names as well.

Yep, that would do.

Philippine Holidays/long weekends for 2009

There's still time to plan a long-weekend outing! Check out what long weekend dates you have for the second half of 2009:

Here is the schedule of Philippine holidays and long-weekends for 2009, as well as a recent executive order declaring the two-day Eid al-Adha as national holidays.

• January 1 (Thu) - New Year's Day
• January 2 (Fri) - Non-Working Holiday
• April 6 (Mon) - Moved Holiday for Araw ng Kagitingan (April 9)
  
• April 10 (Fri) - Good Friday
• May 1 (Fri) - Labor Day
• June 12 (Fri) - Independence Day
• August 21 (Fri) - Ninoy Aquino Day
• August 31 (Mon) - National Heroes Day
• September 21 (Mon) - Eid'l Fitr
  
• November 1 (Sun) - All Saints Day
• November 2 (Mon) - Non-Working Holiday
• November 27 & 28 (Fri & Sat) - Eid al-Adha
  
• November 30 (Mon) - Bonifacio Day
• December 24 (Thu) - Non-Working Holiday
• December 25 (Fri) - Christmas
• December 30 (Wed) - Rizal Day
• December 31 (Thu) - Non-Working Holiday
• January 1 - (Fri) New Year's Day
  

based on RA 9492 and Proclamation 1699

Planning Cagayan de Oro outing

What: go somewhere new (for most of the participants). I don't know about you but I haven't been anywhere new this year.

When: August 21-23, 2009 (Friday-Sunday)
August 21 (Friday) is a Special Non-Working Holiday in celebration of Ninoy Aquino Day.

Where: Leave Manila on early August 21, arrive in Cagayan de Oro in a couple of hours, visit Iligan, go back to Cagayan de Oro over night then off to Camiguin Island on the next day and stay there until we leave for home on the third day.

Camiguin Island is only a couple of hours away by bus from Cagayan de Oro.

Who: Friends of course :) AdMU BS CS 2008
Sure participants are: Billy, moi, Migs, Bojeck, Lizel
Pending: Loki, Bawang, Alden

Cebu Pacific is having a Domestic Seat Sale. Sale period is from May 27 - May 29, 2009 for the travel period July 1 - August 31, 2009.

Of course if you missed the sale period then you can still get your tickets for the trip - they're just a little more expensive than ours.

I did a mock booking with the promo prices just to see how much the round trip will cost us and found out that the round trip = Php3.6K ++ that's half the price of their regular fare rates.

Here's how it looks:


We can pull this to a cheaper price if we avail Cebu Pacific's GOLITE option.


If we get rid of the flight insurance (-Php250), we don't pick which seats we get (-Php112 for each flight) then we go on Lite Fare (-Php200 on each flight, which means that we won't be checking in any bags for the trip). That's less than Php3,000 for the round trip.

Here are the available flight details:

From Manila to Cagayan de Oro, we can take the 8:25am flight and be in CDO by 10am. That's early enough to book for our stay and then go whitewater rafting in the afternoon. You can check HERE for Cagayan de Oro's places to go.


On the second day we go to Camiguin Island for more adventure (yes, click the link to see what they offer).

Our flight home is on August 23, Sunday. We leave Cagayan de Oro at 5pm, that means we leave Camiguin Island after lunch. Later flights are not covered by the promo price.


Booking Reference:
Going Out: 5J383 (825AM Depart)
Coming Back: 5J390 (535PM Depart)

Total cost: 3078.72
Go-Lite, No Travel Insurance, Seat Selected

Booked Participants:

1. Billy
2. Oyen
3. Migs
4. Lizel
5. Bojeck
   

Itinerary:
**subject to change depending on participants' concerns

Day 01: 10am arrival
- 11am Hotel: [Park View Inn, Divisoria?]
- 12pm Whitewater Rafting: activity is actually 3 hours and may include Lunch in the package (cheapest I've seen online for Beginner's Class is on Kagay).
- other options:

* Macahambus Adventure Park - rappel and zip-line across trees a hundred feet above ground
* Mapawa Nature Park - ideal for horseback riding, biking, zipline and nature trekking

- 5pm hotel: freshen up
- 6pm leave for Iligan, Dinner and chorva ~ Bojeck's home

Day 02 & 03: Camiguin Island
Here's a 2-day Camiguin Island tour schedule I saw online that could fit into ours:

Day 2
7:15AM, ETD Balingoan Pier Cagayan De Oro
Note: Ferry schedule 7:15am, 9:00am, 10:15am, 1:15pm, 2:50pm, 4:15pm
8:15AM, ETA Benoni Pier Camiguin
8:30AM - 8:30PM, have a day tour of these tourist spots, arranged chronologically:

1. Sto Niño Cold Springs (swimming)
2. Soda Water Pool (swimming)
3. Old Guiob Church Ruins (sightseeing)
4. Sunken Cemetery (can dive here)
   
5. Stations of the Cross/Walkway (sightseeing)
6. Mt Hibok Hibok Volcano (sightseeing)
7. Katibawasan Falls (swimming)
8. Mambajao Market ("palengke")
   
9. Vjandep Restaurant & Bakeshop (must try! Pastel)
   
10. Ardent Hot Springs (swimming)
11. Pabua's Cottage (cook food that came from Mambajao Market, dinner)
    

9:00PM, end of Day 2

Day 3
6:00AM, Wake-up call
7:00AM, off to White Island Camiguin
7:15AM, ETA White Island Camiguin
Note: Make sure to bring food and shade
11:00AM, ETD White Island Camiguin
12:00Noon, ETD hotel to Beroni Pier going to CDO
1:00PM, ETA Beroni Pier
1:15PM, ETD Beroni Pier
2:00PM, ETA Balingoan Pier CDO
2:30PM, Lunch
3:30PM, ETA CDO Airport
4:45PM, ETD CDO Airport
7:00PM, ETA Manila

PacSafe Ani-Theft Bags - fashionable and recommended

I have been carrying a multi-colored Kipling bag for more than a year. I have over used it to the extent that a week after washing off the city grime, it already looks like it hasn't been washed for a year.

Finally deciding that I need to buy a bag for myself - specific to my needs: to carry a point and shoot camera AT ALL TIMES, a huge wallet that is comfortable to use, a set of pens, a notebook, an mp3 player, an alcohol spray, a box of pills (fiber capsules), a few ponytails for the gym-addict that I'm beginning to morph into, 3 kinds of lip glosses, a liquid eyeliner, a set of keys, two cellphones.

That's actually an improvement from the longer list I had before I forced myself to use a bag organizer - which I got rid of when I bought my new bag.

I thought I'd buy myself a Crumpler handbag. Specifically, the Headaitch:

And I want it in Avocado Green shade - available in Crumpler store in Mega Mall or in Fort Bonifacio High Street (you say "in Fort" and NOT "in THE FORT", dumbass). It's worth Php2,990. Pricey, yes. Cute? DEFINITELY. Functional? ... I doubted it. So I had to walk away and find a better investment. I tried Kipling but their *acceptable* bag costs Php7,700. I'm not a daughter of a corrupt government official so I wouldn't even dream about wasting money on that.

My wise sister suggested I try the The Travel Club. The very VERY VEEERY nice sales attendant made several suggestions after she saw me seriously considering a hand bag. The best suggestion she gave was the PacSafe bag, CitySafe series. Which I ended up buying - SPOILERS!

The Anti-Theft features were too awesome, I wouldn't have been able to sleep that night if I didn't buy the bag.

• Tamperproof zipper
• eXomesh® Slashguard in lower front and bottom panels
• Slashproof adjustable shoulder strap
• Snatchproof shoulder strap allows the bag to anchor to a secure fixture

The Tamperproof zipper seems a little paranoid, and I LIKE IT! You hook your zipper onto a lock so when I sling my bag to my back, I wouldn't have to worry about people opening it up and fishing for my stuff.

Senator, you're over reacting

Alec Baldwin joked in David Letterman's show about getting a Filipino mail-order bride and then what happened? Senator Ramon Revilla makes a public statement that it was an insensitive and uncalled for remark.

What is up people's ass nowadays?

I know that the Hong Kong journalist's article calling the Philippines as a "country of slaves" was an insult. But this? Since when did Filipinos NOT recognize a joke?

We're the people who make fun of everything. When faced with an utterly corrupt President, we joke about him/her. Have you forgotten about the Eraption jokes? And the other more upto-date jokes that I would not mention for fear of getting murdered like our courageous journalists.

Side note: RP tops list of unsolved journalist murders among democracies

When faced with recession we joke about it with statement shirts bearing the text "Will dance for load".

So what's going on?

The Emmy-winning actor quipped that he was "thinking about getting a Filipino mail-order bride at this point ... or a Russian one."

The Russians didn't say anything about it. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS A JOKE. and it's a FUNNY one at that.

There ARE Filipino mail-order brides. And he didn't insult them when he joked about getting one. He didn't call them pigs, he didn't call them slaves, right? RIGHT?

I'm a Filipino. I wasn't insulted. WERE YOU?

[Sen. Ramon Revilla] called the actor "arrogant" and said he is apparently unaware that the Philippines has a law against mail-order brides.

That's not Baldwin's fault, is it? So there's a law about it. Who's implementing it? Just search on Google "filipino mail order bride" and you'd get tons of hits.

Like:
http://www.heartofasiaonline.com/onlinedatingpersonals/women/asianbrides.php
Just to prove a point.

"Let him try to come here in the Philippines and he'll see mayhem," Revilla said, using a local idiom that implies the speaker will personally administer a beating.

OOOHHH so THAT's what they've been joking about. I couldn't quite figure out what the "mayhem" joke was all about, now I do. LOL

Resutaurant City: "BUY INGREDIENTS" new feature!

Here's the best new feature in Playfish's best Facebook application: Restaurant City. No, kids, it's not a trick, it's not even a hack! They finally created a Merchant character available.

Where to find the ingredients? Just zoom out and look at the top corner of your own restaurant, the long haired Asian merchant is right there!

And yes, I do reach 50.0 popularity (= perfect) even though I do not apply the island layout. So stop bothering me. And YES, I am THAT poor right now.

What's the catch?


This innocent looking non-tax-paying sari-sari store is HIGH WAY ROBBERY. You have to be filthy rich in order to avail of his ingredients... but who's complaining? It's either you let luck find you or you scout for ingredients among your 50 friends with no guarantee that they'd give it anyway?

Also, there are only three available ingredients a day so you better make sure that you check it out daily to make sure you don't miss out on those hard to find tomatoes :D

For tips, tricks and guides on Restaurant City, see: Restaurant City by Playfish.

Philippines' legislative documents to be made public on the internet

About the news:
House of Representatives, lead by Rep. Narciso Santiago III, are filing House Bill 6125 which will make legislative documents more accessible to the public by making them available on the internet. In the end, internet users will be able to search, view, and download such documents.

Santiago said, "We should make use of this technology and empower our citizens by providing them access to information on-demand and allow them to voice their opinion in a timelier manner."

I assume that means that the mandated websites would include forums or whatever other comments system they decide on having. I just hope it's not a chatroom. They can have that to if they want, but they should put it on a different page so the adults can talk sensibly in the forums while the kids flirt their asses of in the chatrooms.

"Legislation should be a transparent process to allow our stakeholders, citizens and group alike to participate in the process and make sure that the laws we enact are truly reflective of the will of our constituents," Santiago added. FTW!!!!!!1

I honestly hope that this is not simply for show. I seldom see government pages on the internet with dead slow speed. If it were physically running on its hypothetical hind legs, it would be as fast as the speed of fart. Have you seen Pag-IBIG website? Then try downloading the forms for more fun :)

What are legislative documents?
Before we get carried away, let's first determine what legislative documents are. Legislative documents are basically bills. These contains our laws or are documents that are being passed as laws.

So we're basically being given access to all laws that have been passed, made, (supposedly) enforced and also to the future bills that will be submitted for approval. But the first part of that list is already available online through the Philippine Congress website. Where you can search whatever bills in existence you had in mind. I just think they should have a better strategy on this - why do we have to specify WHICH Congress (currently the 14th) passed such bill? Oh wait... I think that's because only Bills and Resolutions by the 13th and 14th Congress are available on that site (Found out about that when I got a mySQL error searching for a random bill in the 8th Congress).

How does this affect us?
Bills are what the law making body already passed. Before they are passed, they are called Resolutions and they are "in motion", meaning they are suggestions for new bills/laws. Which one do they make available? The Bills. I stress.

That means we get to rant and rave online and make it visible for the President's hired IT team to review all such feedback before she either signs it or denies it. I do believe that this is an improvement in the Congress' attempt for Good Governance - this particular change would fall under Transparency. Good job guys! Keep taking those baby steps and you'll see, we might just start liking you.

Personal suggestions:

1. As previously mentioned: comments on every bill passed/approved and proposed.
2. Simple polls for each bill that would have several choices: [Approve], [More Info Needed], [Changes Needed], [Disapprove], [YOU SUCK, YOU FILTHY RICH BASTARD!], [Go Kill Yourself] Or something resembling that.
3. To have all existing documents be available online as well. Don't tell me you actually have to hire new people for this. That's just making things up to make your full pockets thicker. I know for a fact that there are many government owned institutions that pay their employees five (5) working days but they actually only come in four days a week. And that they have two (2) hours of lunch break. And that they have free snacks in the afternoon.
4. A NEW BILL: You want REAL transparency? Suggest something that would matter: What about making the National Budget available to public scrutiny? Where every cent goes? Then THAT WAY we'll even have ACCOUNTABILITY somewhat covered. You don't have to do all the work, of course. Once you've noted that such certain amount has been provided to such department then THAT department will have to take care of its own reports, THAT city will have to show its reports, THAT governor won't be getting a new Range Rover from the tax payer's money, THAT mayor won't be buying his kids signature clothes or fast food franchises because we know their *registered* salaries can't afford THAT much.
   

How much would the system cost them?
I know for a fact that multiply allows you to post unlimited pictures and unlimited albums and going PRO is not that expensive. That shows that there are available free/cheap services online that they can utilize and they won't have to draft a stupidly large numbered proposal budget for this. And include the fact that they are already have an existing website, then they don't have to start from scratch. Still thinking about creating a new website for this? Tie up with a university and ask if a team would be willing to take it up as their thesis. YOU GET IT DONE FOR FREE!

Oh I did Google "define: Congress" and got a bit disturbed on the fourth search result:
Definitions of congress on the Web:

• the legislature of the United States government
• a meeting of elected or appointed representatives
• a national legislative assembly
• sexual intercourse: the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman; the man's penis is inserted into the woman's vagina and excited until orgasm and ejaculation occur

Original News article here.

SM's No Return, No Exchange Policy

Actually, SM DOES allow people to exchange their bought items if they will satisfy certain conditions: on or before 7 days from purchase, no item damage incurred during the customer's possession, the actual complaint is either purchased damaged item or change of item size (applicable to clothes), and lastly, it is not an underwear/intimate item.

That all sounds reasonable... and all would have worked out well if only they would do their part on the actual purchase properly.

What the heck is this girl blabbering about?

I bought a sports bra from SM MegaMall Department Store (Hanford, if I'm not mistaken. I can't confirm since I'm not wearing it at the moment). I got one from the display and went to the counter with it. The cashier told me to wait while they got the code for the item - my sister and I waited for 10 minutes. The sales lady who retrieved the "code" actually brought back what I thought was new stock of the same item - it was in a box. We paid for it then went home (home = they dropped my off to my place, they went back home to Tarlac).

When I was reviewing my purchases, I realized that they gave me the wrong size of the sports bra. What I gave the cashier was size S. They gave me back a size M. A filthy, not-new-stock, size M. I'm a not-yet 5ft tall girl and I know I'm not fat - there's no way that size would fit me. I tried it on, and guess what? I knew I'd get breast cancer if I used it for the gym.

I have no plans of getting these:


So instead of moping about how inattentive the sales lady was, and after making sure I don't have the receipt with me (it wasn't my credit card), I got to work and finished this:


I sewed both shoulder straps so that it would have a tighter fit. I'm thinking of sewing the bellow-the-boobs garter, too but I tested it and it was fine... still thinking of sewing it up though.

BTW, on my quest to finding the saggy boobs, I stumbled on The Celebrity Condition which is also the Uma Thurman picture source. For those who think Beauty Magazines make women feel horrible about themselves, then I think you're the same people who'd fall in love with this site. It shows celebrities at their worst - saggy boobs, cellulite, what they look like without the paint brush.

How to Increase BackLinks for Blogger

The following can be done for free:

1. Submit your site to

• Yahoo
• Google
  

2. Answer forum questions through links to your site: so make sure you post the answer FIRST before giving the link, and provide the link to the actual blog entry so that it can still be accessible to other people who are browsing for answers to the same question.

The following are good sites where you can go and answer other people's questions:

1. Yahoo! Answers

2. MyLot

3. When you create an account in myLot, you may add your blog to their site. myLot is a high traffic site. To add your blog, go to: http://www.mylot.com/o/bloggers.aspx?a=a

Tip: Your default Blogger RSS Feed URL is http://blogname.blogspot.com/atom.xml

You can check it out by entering that your URL in your browser and you'd see a summary of your blog posts. Mine is http://thingswelovetohate.blogspot.com/atom.xml

4. Join Qassia. [Here's my user page: http://oyen.qassia.com/ Take a look to get a feel with Qassia.]

Qassia is a site that helps you earn with Google adsense, they display your blog and whatever ad revenues your page gets from the Google adsense is attributed to you. However, this is just a BONUS. What we really want to get out of Qassia is the backlink. When you apply your blog/s to Qassia then you get more page views and they provide you quality blog link. So if you don't have Google adsense, then don't even worry about it. If you DO need help, drop a comment and I'll get back to you ;)

*Don't forget to apply for the Sticker Promo. They will crawl into your site (randomly) and that's another way to be featured.

*Add Intel to get more quality back links. What you do is write about something that you know, then they would credit your site/blog for the knowledge that you share. That's another quality back link for you.I also signed up for Link Vault but later found out that I had to upload both a .php file and a .txt file for it to work and that isn't allowed in Blogger.

There's also Receive Links that I'm still trying to figure out. Once I get that running, I'll probably write about that as well.

5. Make sure you put your blog link in your email signature, forum signature. And update your social networking accounts and put your blog link on the MyWebsite area.

6. Post a bulletin on Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, Plurk and other social networking sites that you belong to and invite them to take a look at your blog. You may also do this for blog entries that may interest such audience.

7. Ping your site every time you post a new entry. This may be tiresome but it's worth it - while you're at it, make sure your blog posts have tags because Ping sites such as Technorati utilize blog entry tags.

Go Cart for the Hardcore

This is the image of a Php150 Go Cart in Kart City, Tarlac City.
Php150 = 10 laps
You get Php20 off in groups of three or more. So that's Php130 for 10 laps.

You are advised to wear a helmet. But you aren't required to. It's just so that you'd have some semblance of safety - but who are we kidding? We wore it to get the go cart feel. There is no seat belt, not even any kind of seat strap that will at least help you convince yourself that you're not putting your life in danger.

It's a pay before you ride kind of place. Upon payment, you are also required to sign a Waiver stating that you are solely responsible for any kind of injury or death that you acquire in the duration of the ride. Aside from the lack of cart safety features, the lack of health/accident/death insurance assures that you will get the "ride of your life".

It doesn't go particularly fast, too. Just enough to make you actually want to slow down on your own - the cart shudders under your weight and the tremors increase as you increase your speed, making you feel like the wheels would simply pop out when you make the next turn.

Some tips:

• For kids and short adults like me, take the carts with throw pillows on the seats. It will help you reach for the gas and the breaks.
• Before actually getting on the cart, try your helmet on. Test it. Try jumping up and down and banging your head left to right. If it slips forward or backward, then try a different helmet. It'll be hell irritating trying to fix your head gear when it takes all of your arm strength to keep the wheels straight.
• Don't wear a scarf or anything that can get entangled in any part of the contraption (the cart, yes). True story: some stupid girl decided it was cool to wear a scarf on the cart. She ended up getting a near death experience. She was rushed to a local, not-so nearby hospital where they treated her for accidentally hanging herself.
• Be sure you don't leave your common sense behind when you press on the gas.
• Tell your mom and dad you love them before signing the Waiver.
  

Indecency is a CRIME

Source: http://freep.com/

In Flint, Michigan, pulling your pants down to reveal your the brand of your underwear or boxer shorts will earn you a warning.

Showing your butt crack will either get you in jail and/or a significant fine. I think they just redefined the meaning of BUTT CRACK ALERT.

There's no point in asking, "how come we don't have any similar laws in the Philippines?" Because we do: in city ordinances.

Specifically the Manila City Ordinance under general provision, subtitled "Offenses against Public Morals" list, among 12 other offenses including Prostitution (ordinance no. 7991), is Indecent Exposure (ordinance no. 7732).

Other Philippine cities have a similar ordinance. It goes back to the same political problem we've had since Spanish Era: it's not about writing laws, it's about implementing them.

Spocquiao

There are two awesome things that happened this month:
1.) Manny Pacquiao won over some British dude on the second round - after the British dude like hit the floor four times. (I seriously have to learn how to sound like an English dude when I type. It's a skill I HAVE to learn.)
2.) Star Trek.

This picture features the most entertaining chacter in the Star Trek movie, Spock, merged with Many Pacquiao. Awesome + awesome = disturbing. YOU KNOW?

Oh, and if you're actually a fan of or if you're planning to try VitWater - the sort-of-immitaion-but-not-really of VitaminWater, and is advertised by Manny Pacquiao, then you should know that:
1.) It costs Php13.00. If you've been wanting to try it for more than a month then you have just redefined the meaning of "cheap".
2.) I'm not endorsing it. I don't even drink it.
3.) The pink bottle has L-Carnitine. The same stuff that Fit 'n Right has and is advertised to slim your body. THAT SHIT DOESN'T WORK.
4.) I got acid attacks from drinking VitWater. I still don't know why.
5.) If you're looking for a Gatorade alternative, then just go for Propel (also by Gatorade) or just get Rush.

*I got the image from a forwarded Email. Don't know who to credit, really. If you know the source, let me know so I link to it.

How to use Gym Ball - hilarious

This was from Reddit, entitled "PHYSICS!"

...indeed.

Smoothie - FAIL

FAIL

Pag-IBIG seminar details

Pag-IBIG ~ Pagtutulungan sa kinabukasan: Ikaw, Bangko, Industriya, at Gobyerno

I decided to attend the Pag-IBIG seminar last weekend because it was required to get a housing loan. No, I'm not buying a house. Yes, I'm buying a piece of land. Where? In Tarlac! What for? Investment, better than letting money sit in the bank. Ever heard of the Parable of the Talents and the stupid servant who dug a whole and buried his Master's treasure? Remember what happened to that servant? He lost everything.

Some things you must know:
There are several kinds of seminars and you have to attend the right one in order to fulfill the specific requirements depending on what kind of loan you will apply for.

I attended the Retail Seminar - it's generally for people who will buy a lot or a house and lot and the primary borrower (that's me) will take care of all the papers and will personally (that's my mother) file the proper documents to Pag-IBIG for approval . The other kind of seminar that I am aware of is Developer Seminar - I have no idea what that is for because it does not concern my needs.

What you actually get from the seminar: an MSVS form. This will somewhat serve as your "certificate of participation". But that's not it's real purpose, it's just that you won't get it if you don't attend the seminar. You fill up the form during registration (FREE) then they return it to you after the seminar. I didn't get mine because I attended the seminar in the Atrium, Makati but am applying for a loan in Tarlac. For those whose target lands are outside NCR, you'll get your MSVS forms after 7 working days. Everyone else gets theirs at the end of the seminar.

Although the seminar took a long time to start, the speaker was well practiced and very knowledgeable. I actually did learn a lot. I thought that reading the guidelines and related documents online was enough and I thought that the seminar would be a waste of time, but it wasn't. I actually liked it... Except that I still don't know why they withheld my MSVS form when I wouldn't be applying in Makati anyway, it was simply convenient for me to attend the seminar in Metro Manila.

Do you have to come early? Yes, if you want a good seat. If you're bored out of your brains, they won't check attendance inside the room so you can just submit your form, slip out of the room and come back an hour and a half later. Bring a sweater. Bring snacks, or money. There's a Country Style stall in the building :D buy bagel with cream cheese to ease the pain of boredom.

Requirements:
A photocopy of two valid IDs.
I don't know why I was asked to have 2 copies of 2 valid IDs. I guess whoever gave those instructions to my mom had some messed up adjective-subject issues.

Schedule of seminars:
Mondays-Fridays: 8-10am
Saturdays: 9am

Contact numbers:
(02) 811-4230
(02) 811-4491
(02) 811-4212

Best points I learned:

• If your approved loan is Php400k then interest rate is 6%. That's the lowest anywhere. I don't think your parents would even give you a better deal than that if you decided to get a loan from them.
• Anything bigger than Php400k has its matching higher rate and it is subject to review for repricing every 3 years. However, repriced rate will never be higher than +2% to the original rate. That's still a much better deal than getting a loan from soul sucking banks.
• Paying in advance does not affect your monthly amortization, but it does shorten the time you pay your loan because advance payments are deducted from your principal balance. (and when your principal balance reaches zero
  
• There's no fee charged for paying in advance.
• You can either shorten or lengthen the time of your loan only once.
• If you are blacklisted, so is your co-borrower.
• If you, as the principal borrower, dies after the loan was approved and before your loan was paid, then it is automatically paid in full. Suicide not included in the condition.
• If your co-borrower dies after the loan was approved and before your loan was paid, no body would care. You'd still have to pay everything.
  

Cow's Brain for Dinner

It was my first time to eat cow brain soup but not my first time to eat brain - Mr. Kebab in Quezon City Ave. serves ox brain with lime and garlic sauce.

Panda Love

Originally uploaded by sheenamelody

I've never seen a Panda in real life but I imagined that it would look exactly how Sheena captured it: lazy and fat. I think it's the only lazy, fat living thing I'm willing to keep; no thanks to St. Bernard dogs that slobber on everything including their owner's face. I'd rather have a Panda.

Did China consider the Panda's reproductive behavior when they considered it as a national emblem?

Wikipedia: Usually, the female panda gives birth to one or two panda cubs. Since baby pandas are born very small and helpless, they need the mother's undivided attention, so she is able to care for only one of her cubs. She usually abandons one of her cubs, and it dies soon after birth. At this time, scientists do not know how the female chooses which cub to raise, and this is a topic of ongoing research. The father has no part in helping raise the cub.

Talk about One Child Policy.

But I found a more interesting bit on Wikipedia, China actually considers the Chinese Dragon as their National Animal? o_o

No more imported books for the Philippines

The whole article is actually already a summary but here's my personal summary for the lazy and lacking in vocabulary:

Image Source: BBC

1. The Philippines is currently NOT importing books. It has been months since a newly imported book has been put on the shelves of our bookstores.
2. The reason our bookstores don't have new books on their shelves is because the according to the international agreement and according to Philippine law, importation of books are tax-free and duty-free, BUT according to Customs Undersecretary Espele Sales everyone misinterpreted the law and the UN agreement for the past 50 years and NOW Customs are actually putting imported books on hold
3. Not only are booksellers demanded to unlawfully pay for importation duties, they are also paying for their storage since the storage facilities are privately owned by a Customs official.

Original article follows:

In the last few months, the importation of books into the Philippines has virtually stopped. The reason why is explained in this article by Robin Hemley, a University of Iowa creative writing professor currently on a fellowship in the Philippines.

If you have no time to read the article, the essence is that the Bureau of Customs has decided to impose duties on the importation of books into the Philippines.

This, despite the 1950 Florence Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials (which you can see here), which the Philippines ratified in 1979. The preamble of the agreement states: "Considering that the free exchange of ideas and knowledge and, in general, the widest possible dissemination of the diverse forms of self-expression used by civilizations are vitally important both for intellectual progress and international understanding, and consequently for the maintenance of world peace...", an indisputable proposition.

Here's an excerpt from Robin Hemley's article:

...Over coffee one afternoon, a book-industry professional (whom I can't identify) told me that for the past two months virtually no imported books had entered the country, in part because of the success of one book, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The book, an international best seller, had apparently attracted the attention of customs officials. When an examiner named Rene Agulan opened a shipment of books, he demanded that duty be paid on it.

The importer of Twilight made a mistake and paid the duty requested. A mistake because such duty flies in the face of the Florence Agreement, a U.N. treaty that was signed by the Philippines in 1952, guaranteeing the free flow of "educational, scientific, and cultural materials" between countries and declaring that imported books should be duty-free. Mr. Agulan told the importer that because the books were not educational (i.e., textbooks) they were subject to duty. Perhaps they aren't educational, I might have argued, but aren't they "cultural"?

No matter. With this one success under their belt, customs curtailed all air shipments of books entering the country. Weeks went by as booksellers tried to get their books out of storage and started intense negotiations with various government officials.

What doubly frustrated booksellers and importers was that the explanations they received from various officials made no sense. It was clear that, for whatever reason—perhaps the 30-billion-peso ($625 million) shortfall in projected customs revenue—customs would go through the motions of having a reasonable argument while in fact having none at all.

Customs Undersecretary Espele Sales explained the government's position to a group of frustrated booksellers and importers in an Orwellian PowerPoint presentation, at which she reinterpreted the Florence Agreement as well as Philippine law RA 8047, providing for "the tax and duty-free importation of books or raw materials to be used in book publishing." For lack of a comma after the word "books," the undersecretary argued that only books "used in book publishing" (her underlining) were tax-exempt.

"What kind of book is that?" one publisher asked me afterward. "A book used in book publishing." And she laughed ruefully.

I thought about it. Maybe I should start writing a few. Harry the Cultural and Educational Potter and His Fondness for Baskerville Type.

Likewise, with the Florence Agreement, she argued that only educational books could be considered protected by the U.N. treaty. Customs would henceforth be the arbiter of what was and wasn't educational.

"For 50 years, everyone has misinterpreted the treaty and now you alone have interpreted it correctly?" she was asked.

"Yes," she told the stunned booksellers.

Throughout February and March, bookstores seemed on the verge of getting their books released—all their documents were in order, but the rules kept changing. Now they were told that all books would be taxed: 1 percent for educational books and 5 percent for noneducational books. A nightmare scenario for the distributors; they imagined each shipment being held for months as an examiner sorted through the books. Obviously, most would simply pay the higher tax to avoid the hassle.

Distributors told me they weren't "capitulating" but merely paying under protest. After all, customs was violating an international treaty that had been abided by for over 50 years. Meanwhile, booksellers had to pay enormous storage fees. Those couldn't be waived, they were told, because the storage facilities were privately owned (by customs officials, a bookstore owner suggested ruefully). One bookstore had to pay $4,000 on a $10,000 shipment.

The day after the first shipment of books was released, an internal memo circulated in customs congratulating themselves for finally levying a duty on books, though no mention was made of their pride in breaking an international treaty.

Source: No More Newly Imported Books in the Philippines - the Reason Why

Manifesto of Real Men

I translated this, got it from: Hay! Men! Ang blog ng mga tunay na lalake!
Which translates to, "Hey! Men! The blog of the real men"

Unfortunately, I am yet to believe that it's really the blog of real men. For one thing, the Filipino word for "man" is lalaki and not lalake which sounds gay.

Real men do not sleep.

Real men do not text back, not unless the texter sends load. (*Load means prepaid phone credits.) Nevertheless, real men replies are vague.


Real men always order for an extra rice.

Real men are not a vegetarian.

Real men do not have abs.

Real men do not dance.

Real men admit their mistakes to fellow real men.

Real men always have shit in their briefs.

Real men do not wash their own plates and do not clean up after themselves because there are women to do those for them. He's an even better man if he does not know or does not remember the name of the woman.

Real mean do not go to church.

That's a pretty messed up image drawn.

Real Estate Agent - FAIL

FAIL

Edit/cut videos from Nokia phone

Frequently asked question.

Most likely if you have Windows installed in your system then your default movie/film editor is Windows Movie Maker. It doesn't do much if you're into serious film editing but it's enough to cut/shorten clips and to put texts/titles, subtitles, background sounds, etc. It does all the basics. If it's simple editing, then it's good enough.

Nokia phones usually have .mp4 format. It's not compatible for Windows Movie Maker, so first step is to make it compatible.

File types supported by Windows Movie Maker:
* Video files: .asf, .avi, .wmv
* Movie files: MPEG1, .mpeg, .mpg, .m1v, .mp2
* Audio files: .wav, .snd, .au, .aif, .aifc, .aiff
* Windows Media files: .asf, .wm, .wma, .wmv
* Still images: .bmp, .jpg, .jpeg, .jpe, .jfif, .gif
* MP3 format audio: .mp3

To convert .mp4 to .mepg or .mpg go to Media-Converter.
Browse:
Input format: .mp4 (MPEG-4)
Output format: .mpg (MPEG-1)


Once you've converted your video file to something compatible with Windows Movie Maker then next step is to cut it.

Import your file/open your video file through File menu -> Import Media Items.
Timeline to make the Timeline visible. Timeline makes cutting clips easier. You may also zoom in and zoom out in order to have a more precise view of the video clip time/duration.

Next, drag your imported view onto the Timeline.


To cut:
Simple click on the part of the clip that you want to cut then press M, which is the shortcut for going to Clip menu -> Split. Then you can simple delete the clips or rearrange the clips as you like.