Missing EDSA

El Presidente came over here last Tuesday to give a speech on the anniversary of the EDSA Revolution. The speech was a rambling mess but whatever. He broke tradition by celebrating the annual event in Cebu instead of Manila, to the chagrin of the Manila folk. They should be grateful. Traffic over there is bad enough on regular days.

His reason for holding it here was to show support for the typhoon victims which is odd since he didn't mention them at all.

Maybe he just forgot.

Modjo - Chillin

Short Cuts: Les Miserables

Late last Tuesday when I was snug in my bed, I saw Les Miserables on HBO. I admit, I cried at the end but only because the movie was finally over. What a ridiculous piece of crap.

Miserable Indeed

Now, I've never seen Les Miserables before. I've heard of it but I haven't seen any play or read the book. I'm an uncultured swine so sue me.

I found the whole movie tedious. I guess it's because they sang everything. Normally, I expect regular dialogue in between numbers but it was all singing all the time. How does that work anyway, singing everything you say? Does one have to sing, "I gotta go piss in the bathroom!" before he does it? Anyway, I wouldn't have a problem with it if the movie wasn't two and a half hours long. It's tiring and hard to sit through since all that singing is insisting I stay engaged. Give me a break.

I think I don't need to talk about the story since it's, you know, way more than a hundred years old. I get the feeling that all the actors in this movie are trying to nab the spotlight and outdo everything else. I dunno, maybe that's just me. Overall, I didn't like it as a movie. I hope it's only because of the fact that it's a movie. Maybe I'd enjoy it if it was a different production.

I did enjoy some parts of this movie though. I enjoyed watching Russell Crowe attempt to sing. Russell Crowe's face looked so bored and tired, perhaps even depressed, throughout the whole show so naturally, I sympathized. I liked it when the kid got shot. 

I liked it when the credits started rolling.

F2P

Lot's of F2P games today. All in all, I got Warframe, Loadout, Dogs of War, Hearthstone, RIFT and many more.

F2P games are meant to be addicting then hook you in to pay for the extras. It's strange. There's so many of them nowadays, I can't commit to any and spend money on one.

Oh, well...

MADtv Valentine's Day

I miss MADtv...

Counter-Strikes

I'm the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player in the world provided my opponents don't shoot back and stand completely still.

Raven's Theme (2001)

Regesta Ergo Sum

Here's a funny story.

My friend sent me a message telling me a professor was looking for me which struck me as odd since I wasn't enrolled in his subject. I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of stomach. I looked at my midterm assessment slip and sure enough, I was enrolled in the wrong subject. Worse, I wasn't enrolled in one of the classes I was taking at all. I was supposed to be enrolled in a four unit subject but got a two unit one instead; one I had already taken.

It turns out the subject number I enrolled was wrong. An honest mistake but now, the penance. A little of the old fashioned walk of penitence; bureaucratic legwork and petition letter shuffling. Wrote a letter to the Registrar only to be told I had to make it out to the Vice President of Academics and then they would endorse it. It's midterms so I guess I need the approval of the higher ups. Fair enough, I've had worse rounds with this game.

This reminds me of the time I had to take the final exams of a certain class during my undergrad years but discovered on the week of the exams that I hadn't enrolled at all. It was miraculously sorted out but it must be mentioned that the Vice-President of the College of Arts and Sciences used to be the Dean of my department. That probably had something to do with it. Connections man, that's the society we live in. That class. by the way, was Philosophy.Do I really exist? Whatever.

The more important question is: Am I enrolled in this damned class?

Sick of Zombies

There's a game coming called Rust. It's a survival game which is currently in open access. It's a zombie survival game just like DayZ, which it bears a close resemblance to.

Today, they removed zombies from their game focusing instead on "nature" like boring bears and wolves. Shit, why not use some imagination and add velociraptors or something?

Anyway, this is good news. I don't play it, mind you, but I take this as a sign that the odd obsession of zombies in movies and games might finally be over. I'm sick of zombies. 

I don't like The Walking Dead either.

Tower of Babel

Today, I sent an email responding to an opinion piece in the local paper. I decided to share it here so that I won't have to work hard writing something else. It went something like this: 

"The outrage over Coca-cola's multilingual rendition of "America the Beautiful" is, in my opinion, not wrong or intolerant per se. While hate and racism should not be excused, objections to the song are not entirely unreasonable. Imagine if it were another country. Imagine an arena of French people in Paris. How would they react if La Marseillaise was sung in English , German or Arabic? They would no doubt be upset especially since the French are very conscious of their cultural heritage. 

A single national language is essential to developing a national culture and to maintain cohesion within society and government. Even the Philippines, a country which consists of diverse ethnic languages and dialects, has a national language. If in Araneta Coliseum, during a game, they sang the first part of Lupang Hinirang in Tagalog, then in Cebuano, Waray, Ilokano, Ivatan, Tausug and Gorontalo, nobody would understand it. Without one unifying language, it is difficult for cultures to assimilate and unite under one flag. People would scatter like the citizens of Babel. Therefore, it is understandable that many Americans would have strong reactions over the issue and their objections may not be borne out of intolerance and meanness but of love of country and national pride."

Heil Presidente

Sometimes I wish El Presidente would just keep his mouth shut.

PNoy, in an interview with the New York Times, compared China to Nazi Germany. "At what point do you say: 'Enough is enough'? Well, the world has to say it -- remember that the Sudetenland was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War II." 

Historical arguments aside, I don't think its very diplomatic or smart. Normally, I wouldn't mind this comment but an important thing to remember about China is that their standing army numbers about 1,600,000+. We have about 66,000+. I'm using old numbers but I doubt the Chinese army is getting smaller. We're not even getting into the air forces and navy.  Bottom line is, the Chinese have an army that can wipe the Philippines off the planet. It's sad to say but that's the truth.

A lot of people, me included, don't like China's attitude but is this something a head of state should say?

Here's an Ottoman Janissary March

Gets the blood pumping, eh?

Insomnia

Too restless, can't sleep. Try to read stuff instead. Too tired to read so try to sleep. Too restless, can't sleep.

Madness.

Priorities

In Mindanao, a historic peace deal is underway where our country bargains away its sovereignty to a group of thugs with dubious legitimacy in exchange for a false sense of security. 

Typhoon-ravaged Tacloban is still without power. Its residents staged a "people surge"; a big rally to vent their outrage at the government's incompetence, inadequacy and insensitivity.

A torture chamber was discovered inside a police station in Manila where the city's finest spun the "wheel of torture" to add some variety to their sadism. I guess the noontime game shows weren't exciting enough. 

Lots of things going on today. Signs of...

Oh, but wait. Judging by the media, particularly the garbage broadcast of ABS-CBN, the most important issue facing our country today are the exploits of a "Vhong Navarro" and several other no-name celebritards.

What a joke.