EAT'S COMPLICATED.....

I love the ad,
I love the pizza!!!


Longanizang Lucban,
Tocino Capampangan,
Longanizang Vigan...


GREENWICH's follow-up to last year's
spectacular SISIG Pizza!!!

SICK!

After a 6-year trial,
ERAP was convicted of plunder
on September 12, 2007.


Today,
just a month and a half after
beginning his "reclusion perpetua",
the former president will be released,
thanks to GMA's "executive clemency".


The longest "impeachment trial" in history
and the shortest life sentence in history.



Isn't GMA's timing just peachy keen?

What with her third impeachment forthcoming,
the unresolved ZTE scandal,
not to mention the Malacanang loot bags....



Excuse me,
I think I need to throw up.

say a little prayer please : A Letter from Carlo Cruz, whose wife perished in GLORIETTA

Good day everyone,

I wish I were writing under different circumstances.

I would like to inform you that my wife Leslie Cruz
was part of the casualties in the Glorietta 2 Mall
bombing in Makati City, Philippines. She was supposed
to have a minor out patient surgery at Makati Medical
Center at 230pm.

I had taken a leave from work to accompany her there.
We dropped off our daughter, Amber, at my parents
place in QC to babysit at around 10am. We then
proceeded to Makati and was there at 1230pm. Since she
had been fasting in preparation for her procedure, she
wanted to move around and listen to some music while I
grabbed a bite to eat. We parked at the basement of
Park Square 2, and headed for the Glorietta 2
entrance. We parted at the top of the escalator, she
turned right towards Filbar's while I went left
towards the restaurants. That was the last time I
would see her.

Around 120pm, she had called me so that we can meet at
the Glorietta 2 exit just in time to make her
appointment. As I made my way there from Glorietta 1
through the connecting hallways, and was about to turn
the corner, I heard 2 deep thumps and the shock-wave
from the blast hit me. At that moment my heart dropped
as I knew that the origin of the blast came from the
same place where we were supposed to meet. I tried
getting to where my wife was, but the dust was too
much and it was as if I was staring at a white wall.

I still tried to convince myself that she was able to
make it out, and that after ringing her mobile without
a response only meant that she dropped it in the
confusion. After 6 hours of searching from Makati Med.
to Ospital ng Makati, the blast site, and back again
to MMC - with the help of all the people I could get
hold of, that I was able to get confirmation in what
the state of my wife was.

My Dad and Uncle signaled me in from the ER of MMC. My
Uncle (who's a doctor) asked me to describe Leslie's
appearance to another group of doctors. I saw in the
eyes of one that the description made sense. Instead
of confirming it to me, they huddled together, then
brought me to a small examination room. It was only
through a digital camera that I was able to confirm
(and deny) that she was indeed gone.

I have so many regrets. I should have met her sooner.
I should have ran instead of a brisk walk. I should
have not chose to park where I did. I should have
braved the dust and went in the blast site. I should
have ...

Today's the 4th day. It is still terribly difficult to
breathe, let alone wake up realizing that your source
of strength, your best friend doesn't lie beside you
on your bed. That my deepest worry is when Amber
starts asking for her Mama.

I am glad that Amber's too young to understand the
loss and pain. In time I would like to tell her the
details of how her mother died, but more importantly I
would like to raise her as how her mother lived - a
loving person, strong willed, decisive, caring, and
nurturing. She has always cared for her family and
friends, and sacrfied her career for being a full time
mom and home maker.

As with all couples we had our ups and downs - none of
which I regret not going through. The sweet is never
as sweet without the sour. For almost 4 years of
marriage, we've finally hit our balance in life only
to be taken away in an instant. I have no regrets
about our marriage. She has loved me and Amber beyond
her capacity. I will always love her.

It is my first time to write to egroup as I've lurked
and watched emails being sent to and fro. All I want
now is that for each of the couples here is to cherish
each moment that we spend with our loved ones. Pretty
simple to say, very easy to take for granted.

Thank you all for the prayers. I would still like to
ask you to please include Leslie in them until her
40th day so that the path to God's kingdom is well lit
and she is no longer in the dark.

Sincerely,

Carlo Cruz

What the Hell was GMA thinking??!?!?!??!?!

here's proof
(as if we needed more)
that our president
is an insensitive little *&($#&#?>@!!!

imagine Carrie Bradshaw SATC-ing her way near the Twin Towers on 9/15/01...



from ABS-CBN News:

On Tuesday,
President Arroyo returned for a tour of Glorietta
amid the continuing investigation into the blast
that killed 11 people and wounded more than 100 others.

She was accompanied by DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral,
other government officials and executives of Ayala Land, Inc.
in touring Glorietta 4,
another mall meters away from the "ground zero"
at the basement of Glorietta 2.

After shopping for shoes and clothes,
the President and her entourage sat down for coffee
and granted media interviews at one of Glorietta 4's cafés.



WHADDAF*(#&$(*#&<#!!!

Return to RUFO'S!!!

In the late 1980s,
the Makati Avenue area
was the place to be:

the coolest bars,
the hottest babes,

were all in this part of Binayland
before it inadvertently morphed,

20 odd years later,
into a strange amalgam of
Koreatown + Red Light District.


Back then,
after a hard day's night of drinking,
our noses would literally lead us to the aroma
of tapa, fried eggs, and garlic rice
arising from this legendary tapsilog joint
that opened way back in 1984:

This is the legendary TapSi of RUFO's,
the only tapa in MetroManila
that, Cow Label-like,
was served smothered with a sweetish gravy,

a perfect counterpoint
to the saltiness of the "sunny side up",
and the spice of the sinangag:


Rufo's Tapsilog now costs P74.00 per order,

and sadly,
there are no more views of
bodacious blondes walking by in short shorts;

where I.S. (International School) once stood,
is this barren wasteland:

SU2NDAY BLOODY SU2NDAY

I spotted the U2 BY U2 coffee table book
at my favorite bookstore in Waltermart Makati
Saturday afternoon,

and before I took my next breath,
I'd whipped out P1,050 from my wallet,
almost kissed the cashier while paying,
and greedily embraced the massive volume.

It's a pretty good deal,
considering the U.S. list price is $24.95.


On my way home,
I took my usual detour to my friendly
Pirates of the Carriedo in Quiapo
and found the book's official accompanying DVD,
U2 18 VIDEOS,
at the exorbitant price of P35.00!!!


Obviously,
it was going to be an all-U2 Sunday Bloody Sunday
for this TrU2e Believer,
whose all-time favorite song is
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU.



The book is undeniably excellent,
interesting for new converts,
more so for this U2 fanatic of over 20 years;

while I know all the details, inside out,
of the genesis and rise-to-fame
of my two other legendary musical idols,
FRANK SINATRA and THE BEATLES,

for some reason,
there's always been a dearth
of accurate written material about
the four lads from Dublin, Ireland.


It's just as well though;
U2 BY U2 is a fourfold first-person account
culled from over 1,500 hours of interviews with
Paul, Dave, Adam, & Larry.

All the minutiae,
all the drama,
all the comedy,
all the epochal events,
all the stories of the songs...

all here!!!


The experience of reading the book
is akin to that of sharing a pint of Guinness
with the boys in the band,
and listening to their affectionate,
un-self conscious, and frequently hilarious
recollections of their beginnings.



I'm only halfway through the book,
the next chapter is about THE JOSHUA TREE,
and how that album catapulted them
into the stratosphere of music's hierarchy,

the pole position in which they remain to this very day,
The Greatest Rock Band in the World.


BUY U2 BY U2!!!


p.s.
From early-1983,
the first meeting of the BOSS and BONO;
backstage after a U2 concert in New York
during the tour for the "OCTOBER" album.

in the book,
Bono confesses that when he sang
"well tonight, thank god it's them, instead of you"
during the recording of Bob Geldof & Band Aid's
Do They Know It's Christmas,
he was secretly doing it a la Bruce Springsteen.



p.p.s.
The very first song U2 sang in public?
a cover of Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way".

At that time,
U2 was known as (yikes!) FEEDBACK.



p.p.p.s.
U2's first single was produced by Martin Hannett;
during their initial meeting at his studio,
Hannett was busy working with another band
that was recording their own song:

the band was Joy Division,
and the song?
LOVE WILL TEAR US APART,
arguably the greatest New Wave song ever.

OMG!!!

The curious rookie rocker that was Bono
checked out the LPs that Joy Division had on hand
to listen to in between laying down their tracks,
and he found...

Frank Sinatra's classic
IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS album.

WOW.

"DOUBLED WITH"

Remember when,
before the malls,
movie theaters in Avenida Rizal, Quiapo, & Recto
showed back-to-back features?

Mostly those were the second-run films,
and a lot of them were B-movies.
A lot of bang for the buck for a few bucks!



In exactly that same spirit,
kindred cinematic spirits,
Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez
released GRINDHOUSE,
QT's Death Proof D/W RR's Planet Terror,

which,
primarily due to it's absurdly-long running time,
ground to a halt at the U.S. Box Office.


Internationally,
including the Philippines,
the films were shown separately,
which dissipated the essence of the Grindhouse.

No surprise,
both films hardly made an impact here,
and only the QT/RR fanboys flocked to the dismembered flicks.


Now,
thanks to the magic of DVD,
you can enjoy the mastery and majesty
of these homages to cheesy 1970s B-movies
as they were meant to be seen:

PLANET TERROR
doubled with
DEATH PROOF!!!


(stale popcorn and surot not included!)

PEANUT BUTTER LOVE

POPE JOHN PAUL II's ghost blesses his native Poland???

A composite image shows,
at right, a bonfire which locals believe resembles
the silhouette of late Pope John Paul II making a blessing,
in a picture taken by amateur photographer Grzegorz Lukasik,
atop Matyska mountain in southern Poland, on
April 2, 2007,
during a vigil marking the second anniversary
of the Polish pope's death.

Data on Lukasik's digital camera indicates
the picture was taken at 21.37:30,
exactly the hour when the pope died.

Picture at left shows Pope John Paul II
waving to faithfuls as he leaves the Vatican,
in this Aug. 8, 2001 file photo .
(AP Photo/Grzegorz Lukasik/Plinio Lepri)


frankly, honestly,
i pray that JP2 uses that cane & staff he's holding
to give a spanking to that pompous GMA
and to smack those bloody terrorists who bombed G2 yesterday.

DEPRESSED

Let's PRAY for the eight Pinoys who perished,
and the casualties that number over a hundred.

Stay Safe this weekend, friends.

GMA: The Real DESPERATE HOUSEWIFE

The Filipino Nation
isn't raising as much of a stink
about this as much as I'd thought.

More hackles were raised by
Malu Fernandez and Teri Hatcher
than this absolute abuse of power
by Malacanang's pint-sized
and pint-brained denizens.

In a DESPERATE attempt to hold off
another impeachment at the HOUSE,
the WIFE running our country
doles out Half a Million pesos each
to her greedy guests,
our (dis)honorable Congressmen.



I afraid that so many of us
have gotten so used to the shenanigans
of our GMA, her family, and her minions,
that this latest controversy is just a minor blip
in our political radar.


We've gotten calloused, immunized, and desensitized.

Call it Corruption Fatigue.

According to the Inquirer,

GMA is "angry, hurt" by the accusations
that the distribution of the loot bags
happened right under her nose.

Whadddaf?!?!?
Really now...
she's the one who's "angry and hurt"?

Our minimalist President is acting like
a petulant, bratty, soon-to-be dumped wife.


Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and
Department of the Interior Sec. Ronaldo Puno,
have released these statements:

Bunye:
“We would like to assure you that at this point,
no government funds changed hands.”

Puno:
"Frankly, honestly,
none of us had a clue about what was going on."

May "frankly, honestly" ka pa dyan!
Lintek, para ka naman ulyaning yaya ni Gloria eh!!!


Nampochah,
take a look at the size of the Loot Bag that was given to Among Ed;
now tell me:

how the hell do you distribute 200 of those bags inside Malacanang
without anyone from the President's official family noticing?

BULAG NA, SINUNGALING PA.

MGA GAGO!!!



Around 200 congressmen and governors
received P500,000 EACH last October 11.

That's ONE HUNDRED MILLION PESOS,
given out in one sunny morning in Malacanang!

WHERE THE F*#@)*K
did this money come from then?

No one from Malacanang is talking,
and neither are the 190 tongressmen
who received the loot bags.


P100,000,000.00?
That could have been used to give
10,000 Public School Teachers P10,000.00 EACH
as an early Christmas gift.

Instead,
this money, surely sourced from public funds,
are now given to those porkfaced legislators,
as a bribe from the piggish, priggish powers-that-be.


ARE YOU MAD NOW?!!?


However,
I'm glad, and proud,
that the Governor of Pampanga,

AMONG ED,
is the only one with the guts
to come out in the open and show us the money.

Thank God for a Man of Principles.



Seriously,
now I'm thinking of starting an
AMONG ED FOR PRESIDENT
movement for 2010.

The Best of Pampanga
to replace
The Worst of Pampanga...

I'm that desperate.

Enjoy Life, EAT PORK!!!

I just found out that BOCAUE, Bulacan
is not only the best place for buying
fireworks that will burst up in the skies,

but also a great source of
CHICHARON
that will burst your arteries!!!

Check out this wonderful sign
by the ultra-cholesterol counter:

The thing is,
this is also true:

Eat Pork, Enjoy the Afterlife!!!

Oh well,
Pork, as advertised in the United States,
is after all,
The Other White Meat!!!

to the left, to the LEFT.....

... walang tulakan!!!


The Biggest Act to hit Manila in years;

a real life DREAMGIRL's open-air concert
at The Fort,
November 7, 2007:

Dry & Wet SISIG

My kind of Happy Meal:
two varieties of SISIG for lunch!!!

on the left,
traditional grilled & spiced;

to the right,
slathered with creamy pig's brains.


All this,
with one plastic bag of rice,
for only P60.00!!!

Mabuhay ang Cafeteria ng Pilipino!!!

How to Cook with your USB PORT

And I thought that my nephew Ram's
electric fan attached to his laptop was cool...


The only danger here?

Once you spill your coffee...

LAST BLOOD

after the surprising success of ROCKY VI,
a.k.a.,

Sylvester Stallone
figures that he's on to something;

hence,
a similar back-to-the-camera pose
and lead character title for
First Blood IV:

The BOOKSTORE WARS

Does this indicate the death knell of
POWERBOOKS,
the current high-end incarnation of
NATIONAL BOOKSTORE?

Is this a response to the multi-level
(5 storeys!!!)
emporium of FULLY BOOKED at The Fort?


Whatever this is,
I Love It!!!

Welcome to
BESTSELLERS,
NBS' brand new,

no school supplies,
no textbooks,

all novels, graphic novels, magazines,
all business, photography, food, & sports books,

all orange,
all white,

bookstore extravaganza
at Robinsons Galleria!





If you haven't read these vampiriffic books already,
pick up the trilogy at Bestsellers;

think J.K. Rowling by way of Anne Rice,
the next big thing in "tween" literature
is a series about angst-ridden, lovelorn teenage vampires
that actually,
more adults than kids read...
right, Toni?




JFK is NOT dead...

almost 45 years after his tragic death,
President Kennedy and his brief Camelot
is still a compelling, inescapable, bestselling presence.





This was my find of the day:
an extravagant P242.50!!!


From the bargain bin on the mezzanine,
a gorgeous coffee table book
by an editor of Melody Maker magazine,
the UK's music bible,

brimming with classic anecdotes about Frank,
that iconic blue-eyed saloon singer
who, for all intents and purposes,
was the very first Pop Star ever.

Ask U2's Bono...
he says as much in his foreword for this book.

Beyond Cool.

BEST BEER BARGAIN this Oktoberfest!!!

UNBEERLIEVABLE!!!

Just P499++ for...

EIGHT.
FULL.
HOURS!!!


Bar One at the Holiday Inn
at the Robinsons Galleria,
offer good until All Hallow's Eve!!!

p.s.
smoking is allowed ",)

A Very GRIMM Tale....

An award-winning BROADWAY classic starring

Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood,
Prince Charming, Jack and his Beanstalk,
and of course,

a Wicked Witch!!!

This November at the Music Museum.

For more information on show times & ticket purchases,
just ask The Bachelor Girl!

ATENEO, LA SALLE, & the rest of the UAAP complete their PBA Invasion!!!

Ironically,
Blue Eagle Lover Manny V. Pangilinan
ended up with an all-star La Salle line-up for TNT:
Macmac Cardona, Don Allado, and Renren Ritualo.
Willy Wilson remains with Magnolia (SMB);
Carlo Sharma stays with Red Bull,
Mark Telan is now with Coca-Cola,
Joseph Yeo joins Manny Ramos at Sta. Lucia,
and JunJun Cabatu moved to Alaska, joining Mike Cortez.
Adonis Sta. Maria is with Welcoat,
now joined by rookie Ryan Arana.



Meanwhile,
the Ateneans are divided mainly into three teams:
Red Bull with Paolo Bugia, Magnum Membrere, and Rich Alvarez;
San Miguel now known as Magnolia has:
Larry Fonacier, Enrico Villanueva, LA Tenorio,
Wesley Gonzales, & Olsen Racela;
Air 21 has JC Intal, Doug Kramer, and Gec Chia.
Macky Escalona is by his lonesome over at Barangay Ginebra.


UP:
Paolo Mendoza is in the PBA,
a shooter for Sta. Lucia,
and Marvin Cruz, a rookie point for Air 21.


NU:
One representative,
former MVP Danny Ildefonso of SMB/Magnolia.


Adamson:
2006 UAAP MVP Ken Bono joins Alaska,
former UAAP & PBA MVP Kenneth Duremdes is now with Coke,
Sta. Lucia still has Marlou Aquino.


UE:
Batch 2003-04: James Yap with Purefoods,
Ronald Tubid & Paul Artadi are reunited at Barangay Ginebra;
KG Canaleta is slamdunking with Air 21.

FEU's Vic Pablo finally retired,
but batchmate Johnny Abarrientos is still over at Ginebra.
Arwind Santos is flying high at Air 21,
but has the heavy baggage of a bigamy case.
Mark Isip and Cesar Catli are now with the Coca-Cola Tigers.
Jonas Villanueva is with Magnolia;
Denok Miranda remains with Sta. Lucia.


UST's Gerald Francisco of the 1990s 3-peat team retired.
But Estong Ballesteros is still playing with Welcoat, and
Rey Evangelista and Richard Yee are the Purefoods veteran leaders,
Dennis Espino is still one of the twin towers of Sta. Lucia,
Dale Singson is still with Alaska,
and Patrick Fran is still in TNT's backcourt.
Nino Gelig is with Welcoat;
2006 UAAP Finals MVP Jojo Duncil is a rookie with Red Bull,
joining Cyrus Baguio.


NCAA MVP Yousif Aljamal of the San Beda Red Lions
is with Talk 'N Text.



The 33-year old league
ought to be more exciting in 2007-2008:

the PBA 3-point line has been shortened to FIBA's 20 feet,
all the better for Ritualo, Yap, and Fonacier,

the "controlled handcheck" will be allowed to speed up the game,

but the biggest question remains,
will THE BIG J return to the PBA
as the (playing?) coach of Air 21?!??!?!?