Fieldtrips to the past

Yesterday, I grabbed myself the Eraserheads Box Set and apart from a majestic, silver-design adorned "The Heads" shirt, a metal box that brings back memories of school with bring-your-own-lunch policies, and a tearjerky photobook of the band (Eraserheads and their music in visual art) is a gigantic collection of 11 CDs.

I also bought Youngblood 2.0 from Inquirer Books. Its a collection of the 70 best essays from the youth of 1976-1977, published in the groundbreaking Youngblood coloumn of the Inquirer. I've been eyeing the book for so long and getting the box set, it was a sign that today was scheduled to fulfill material desires.

Churos con Chocolate

Today, a man who I have supported and stood by since the pre-election wars shook the Philippine History. President Benigno "Noynoy" C. Aquino III swore in front of a race, that he will lead them to reform.

If you fail to witness our new President exclaim his inaugural speech, here is the link to the speech manuscript. Print it in waterproof, your tears might ruin it.

To celebrate this momentous moment, let me and my friend get lost in Churos con Chocolate from Dulcinea. Its cheap but very tasty. The chocolate is fantastic!

And here is a Yellow Ribbon wallpaper I resized to 400x240 pixels. Its my new phone wallpaper.

Kpop is an impossible shot for the Philippines

Bryanboy loves to refer to our country as the 'turd' world. It sounds insulting and insensitive given BryanBoy is also a Filipino and is a famous blogger but he can't describe our country any better without lying. There are just so many problems that we can't fix not because we are dumb but because we love to act dumb. It gives anyone the right to call us turds. And even though I try to be the best citizen I can, still in front of me I can see a lot of other people wasting my efforts. The only reason I don't give up is because I love my country. Now the election is over, I hope change will come.

Before change bites, let me rant about one thing that can be described as a fragment of the great turd. The new Ppop industry. Ppop means Pinoy Pop, a name plagiarised from Kpop which means Korean pop. Ppop is supposed to replicate the sales of Kpop bands in the Philippines. Inevitably, Ppop is still trying to climb out of the toilet. In simpler terms, its falling fast.

One Ppop all-boys group which album I have bashed here,  is XLR8 and copying album covers was not enough for them. They had to copy songs.

XLR8's:


SuJu's (original):


Listen to these two songs and you can obviously hear the similarities. Was living in the 'turd' world not enough that they have to fill my ears with 'turd'? The Philippines needs a revolution in its every branch of existence.

Recent Surveys on Philippine 2010 Elections (Pulse Asia)

I am extremely happy that the people surveyed by Pulse Asia, the people that can effectively represent the whole Philippine population, are geared towards change. Noynoy Aquino is leading in the surveys. The final decision will befall us in May 10 but any credible predictions are well received.

Read more about this survey here.

Colorful Politics

I am in favor of Noynoy so its unstoppable that I will be bias. 

I just saw in the evening news that a document signed by a priest says Noynoy is a cuckoo. I'm using cuckoo as replacement for melancholia or severe depression. 

1. First things first, since when did the bible teach priests to identify depressed, mentally unhealthy people? 
2. Second, the document was handed over to a disciple of Manny Villar by some 'anonymous body'. 
3. Third, a press conference was immediately called although the verification of the document wasn't carried out. 
4. Fourth, further private investigation of a TV show proves the document was a hundred percent false.

My friends, I have just shared to you the four steps involved in telling everybody your desperate and you are a patron of black propaganda. Who wants a back-stabbing leader? I am deafened by a resounding "NO ONE". The Philippines is a poor country, we cannot afford the luxury of false documents during election season.

It took me about 15 minutes to create this photo so enjoy it. Explanation of the photo above:

The winners of this election, as I have observed in the past few elections, will be determined before May 10 by their level of fame. I bet a carabao Lady Gaga will win a Filipino Election. So now, rivals set their minds on  finding ways to conjure negative fame against their opponents. As you can see, Villar the cat, is 'horning' Noynoy to make him look uglier but unfortunately it does the opposite. The dog actually becomes cuter with the peace sign resting on its head. Villar keeps shooting black propaganda which strengthens and collects supporters. Join me in saying, 'karma'.

CATS: Now and Forever

I am a giant fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the father or co-parent of Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and of course, the classic Cats, among other masterpieces (like Jesus Christ Superstar:-). After I heard that the producers of this broadway hit will be putting up a limited run performance headed by Lea Salonga as Grizabella in CCP, I craved for Google.

Here is the first song of the musical featuring the DVD cast.

I did a little research and found information you will need if you want to watch the musical. 

Where: CCP Main Theater

When: July 24-August 8, 2010

Prices:  

Matinees: 

SAT(3:00PM) 

SUN(2:30PM) 

Ticket Prices:*

PhP 7,210/ 5,150/ 3,605/ 

2,060/ 1,030

View seatmap Downloadable/Printable PDF format

Evenings: 

TUE(8:00PM) / WED(8:00PM) 

THU(8:00PM) / SUN(7:30PM) 

Ticket Prices:*

PhP 6,180/ 4,635/ 3,090/ 

1,545/ 772.50

View seatmap Downloadable/Printable PDF format

Evenings: 

FRI(8:00PM) 

SAT(8:00PM) 

Ticket Prices:*

PhP 7,210/ 5,150/ 3,605/ 

2,060/ 1,030

View seatmap Downloadable/Printable PDF format

More info and online ticket sales here.

If you don't want to watch it, please try to convince yourself that you want to watch it. The chance to watch Cats doesn't come everyday or even every decade here in the Philippines. Its only proper to take advantage of this amazing opportunity to know all the Jellicles. Its pretty obvious I worship this musical.

Iloilo, soon to be on green power

Iloilo will be soon friendly to earth lovers! A British firm, Global Green Power PLC Corp. (GGPPC), just signed papers to start the construction of Green Power Panay Philippines Inc. along with a Nueva Ecija subsidiary.

The Green Power Panay Philippines Inc. will be a power plant generating about 17.5 Megawatts using biomass, earth-friendly technology. Agricultural wastes such as rice husks, sugar cane residue and rice straws will be loaded to the future plant  and voila, out comes electricity! The power plants will be great news to mother earth as it complies to nature-friendly standards. The plants will be constructed at Mina, Iloilo. Excited?

Read more.

What are Calories? White Rice are Bad Calories, Sadly

If you have followed the site I suggested in this article, you might have read that they enlisted white rice, a staple of the Filipino table, under the sources of bad calories. I don’t take my diet seriously but could it be that white rice is the cause all of my dilemma?

Let me lay down the facts I have collected over internet sources. Don’t worry about plagiarism, I’ll do in-text references with links.

1. What is a calorie?

A calorie is the amount of energy a 150 pound or 68.03 kilo person burns in a minute while resting (MrHealthy.com) and in every gram of carbohydrates you consume, 4 calories go with it too(Google Dictionary). So if you are 68.03 kilos and you eat 200 grams of carbohydrates, you need 800 minutes of rest to burn all that you consumed. Exercise speeds up burning which is a lifeline for the white rice lover, I think.

2. What are the nutritional values of white rice?

According to About.com, the nutritional value of rice is graded B. It has no sugar, no sodium, no cholesterol which is good. The problem is that it contains mostly carbohydrates and only about 0.03% protein. You get 52.3 grams of carbohydrates per cup of rice, only 0.6 gram of that is of dietary fibers which is sad. So you have 212.8 minutes to burn all the calories you just ate.

3. Why did I say white rice have bad calories?

Because it contains too much carbohydrates and not much dietary fibers, I suppose. An article said people should prefer brown rice which is as far as I know, richer in fibers. I don’t know where to grow or get brown rice here in the Philippines. How about food coloring? Does it work, anyone?

As you can see, my diet which is supposed to be something to giggle about took over me. Another second I was eating a carbohydrate enriched meringue and now I’m writing an article against white rice while trying to resist the temptation of eating ‘riced’ lunch. I have eaten bread already and this is not anorexia.

So so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, achoo! Its just today I realized the real lyrics were so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye. It sounded better when the last word was achoo. It was justifiable because I sneeze a lot during rainy nights. :-)…  (drooling smiley) Gooodbye!!!