WIRED

I TRIED.

For four days, I really, really tried to switch off from my usual wired world as I went on a short vacation in Boracay last week. (It was a sort of post-Mother’s Day break Big Sister and I hatched up for Mama.)

The night before we left, I switched on the vacation response settings in all my e-mail accounts. I had informed most of my bosses I’d be away, had advanced a column and some news stories, but you know how it is. There could be some last-minute questions or requests made, though I was pretty sure if it was anything really urgent, the bosses would know how to reach me. Otherwise, all the e-mails could wait.

I also did not bring my MacBook. I know for some people, especially in my line of work, the computer is as vital as, well, our underwear. It’s part of our everyday wardrobe. I have friends who don’t leave home without their iPad, their MacBook Air and a Kindle!

But I thought bringing the Mac would just defeat the purpose of being on vacation. I usually don’t even watch the news on TV when I’m on a holiday, just to forget for even a teensy-weensy moment that there’s mayhem ongoing in the world. There’s nothing like a vacation killer than thinking of, for instance, the incredulous and irrational arguments against the reproductive-health bill while I’m sipping my mango shake and splayed out under the sun. (For a while there I was worried I would take so many photos of our vacation, space would eventually run out on my digicam’s memory card. Not having my Mac with me would mean I couldn’t transfer my photos and refresh the camera’s memory card.)

The entire time, I used only one cell phone with my personal number, which I needed to communicate with Big Sister as we were riding separate airlines. It was also a way for us to find each other in case we’d be going on separate walks while on the island. But usually, I’d just leave the phone in my bag, so I wouldn’t be bothered by text messages nor phone calls. For quite a few years already, I’ve kept the alert on my incoming text messages switched off even in Manila. So using just one phone and not checking messages wasn’t really such a big adjustment for me.

I had the vacation all planned out. I would lie on the beach or lounge by the pool just reading a book. There was this one book I had been meaning to finish since I bought it—gasp!—in 2005. It was a collection of short stories by various well-acclaimed writers (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, Günter Grass, Arthur Miller, John Updike, Margaret Atwood, etc.) edited by Nadine Gordimer, called Telling Tales, which was published in 2004. And it’s been on my bedside table since I bought it—just waiting to be picked up again and read. (There are four other books on my night table, in the same state of unfinished reading. Sigh.)

But as is the usual, the best laid plans always come unhinged. The bad habits will always stomp all over my good intentions.

While I did manage to finish a few short stories while I was lying in bed—not by the pool—I wasn’t able to quite get off the Internet.


I’ve been a Facebook and Twitter user for quite some time. Although I’ve managed to unplug during Sundays, even switching off my phones, I knew four days away from the social-networking sites while on vacation would be trying. Of course, I was able to go offline during the last Holy Weekend and the years before that, going online again only on Easter Monday. But being good while Jesus was dead was a powerful incentive; a vacation, not so.

So, yes, I eventually cheated. My commitment to get off cyberspace while on vacation was broken. I posted one vacation photo on Facebook, and a couple of status updates from my phone. Yes, I’m an addict and an oversharer. I should be locked up in the basement of Makati Med.

(It was easier to stay away from Twitter though, since I usually use it to monitor breaking news. But, well, Big Sister and Mama are news junkies so I had virtually little choice when it came to channels to watch at 6:30 pm or 12 midnight when we were back in our room at the resort.)

Then when I got word that our Seair flight back to Manila had been moved to an earlier schedule—thank God!—I had to use the resort’s business center and print the new e-ticket sent to my e-mail account. Needless to say, I caved in and started checking all my e-mail, then some interesting news items, and then...hay naku! It took a lot of willpower on my end to quit the session; but it was a good 10 minutes to 15 minutes before I got back to my senses and remembered that I was on vacation. I guess I had just been longing too much for the simplicity of a bygone age when all that we actually brought on vacation was just a book and a bathing suit. There were no distractions at all. In Boracay, especially in the ’80s, it was just the sun, the sea and the sand that made everyone’s vacation a blast.

Nowadays we can’t travel anywhere without our cell phones, our laptops, the cable TV—technology is everywhere these days that it’s really quite easy to just switch on, go online, and reengage with the rest of the world. Even cell-phone manufacturers now promote handsets that are Wi-Fi-ready, or HDSPA-equipped, you don’t even need to bring a laptop anymore. You can do everything on your cell phone!

And I’d be hard-pressed to think of any island resort in the country or any part of the world for that matter that is so isolated that technology hasn’t reached it yet. And even if such island existed, I’m sure I’d be online anyway making reservations to fly to it and book a room.

Maybe next time, I shouldn’t try so hard to be offline. Technology is part of who we are, it’s really useless to fight it, even while on vacation. Most hotels and resorts now offer free Wi-Fi and even the free use of computers in their business centers. Even these establishments know that offering such kinds of free services is a big come-on to guests.

When it comes to technology, resistance is futile.

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the BusinessMirror. This piece was originally published on May 20, 2011. Photos courtesy Discovery Shores Boracay.)

Making the case for a tech detox

ONE of the most interesting stories I’ve read in the past week was about a family that tried to reconnect with each other by minimizing their use of technology.

In the piece, “Your BlackBerry or Your Wife” in the Wall Street Journal, Elizabeth Bernstein writes about the Broadnax family and their struggle with renewing their familial interactions after the mother, Diane Broadnax, a 50-year-old clinical trial researcher from Mount Airy, Maryland, banned computerized forms of entertainment in their household for a week.

“According to Bernstein, Ms. Broadnax had become “fed up with the way her family dispersed to separate computers each evening. Anika, 4, would watch Dora the Explorer on a laptop in the kitchen, while Jasmine, 12, would play with her virtual pets online. Ms. Broadnax’s husband, Lonnie Broadnax, 50, went to his home office to watch a sci-fi DVD, and she would make dinner—while checking her e-mail. Many nights, each person would eat in front of his or her respective screen. ‘Days were going by and we weren’t talking,’ Ms. Broadnax says.”

I can imagine how difficult it must have been for this family to fill in the empty silences once forced to just sit at the dinner table, and communicate with each other directly.

But this phenomenon of “disconnect” has become more prevalent than you know it. Once, when I was logged on Facebook, I found it amusing that some of my friends—a husband and wife—communicated through the social-networking site.

The situation was just begging to be poked at, and I did jokingly ask the couple one time, on Facebook as well, if they no longer lived in the same house. Both of them answered that they were in different parts of the house, which made me think that their home must be so huge, it was difficult for each of them to make that “long” trek to talk directly to where the other person was located. Hahaha.

But no matter how “enriching” the experience of being on social-networking sites may be, or how various electronic devices and cell-phone/computer applications enable us to keep in touch with our loved ones even if they’re thousands of miles away, there’s still nothing like face-to-face interactions to strengthen our affections for them.

For instance, it’s still much more entertaining to personally see and hear my young friend Kurdapya make her amusing commentaries about government officials and general issues of the day. Her eyes roll up, her mouth turns up in a knowing smirk, and her arms are all over the place. The same joke tweeted, for instance, does not make the same smashing impact as when you see her say it up close. To paraphrase a film title, something is lost in transmission when blurted via a computer or through SMS.

Seriously, if like Ms. Broadnax you already feel alienated from your own family because everyone is tethered to his/her cell phone, computer or TV, then maybe it’s time to take control of your family’s tech life.

Here are few suggestions to bring everyone back from the virtual world to the present:

For one, ban all cell phones from the dining table. Everyone who has eaten at my home know how I don’t like cell phones around when everyone’s eating. Even my nieces and nephew are not spared from this. They automatically check their messages before sitting with my Mama and I at the dining table, and then ditch their cell phones in their bags or on some nearby shelf.

Take away the TV sets from everyone’s bedrooms and just assign a family room where the TV should be. My sister has successfully done this, which is why there were no distractions for her kids when they were still studying. And even when everyone is glued to the TV in the family room, there is still a whole lot of interaction between her and her kids or her husband—comments about whatever show is on, catching up on whatever happened to each of them during the day, etc. Even when it’s all just silliness, the important thing is, there is conversation going around.

If you can take away the TVs, maybe you can take away the personal computers as well and put them in the family room or a home-office space. This way, there will be some amount of communication among family members even if everyone is doing their thing at their workstations. Such a setup also opens opportunities for parents to help children in their homework.

Related to this, manage your kids and your own computer/TV use. Allot a time period for kids to use the computer and do their assignments. Kids are supposed to play out in the yard with the pets, with you and your spouse, or the neighbors’ kids. They shouldn’t be stuck at home playing Wii or Ragnarok, or some computer game where the other player is a million miles away. Similarly, you shouldn’t be spending your free time watering your Farmville plants, or building imaginary restaurants. Try to do something as a family and away from the computer or TV.

Postpone giving cell phones to your children as long as you can. While it’s true these devices help you monitor your kids’ activities, and you can easily trace their whereabouts, the truth is, your kids can always lie about where they are (unless you’ve been tracking them via GPS, that is). Besides, I usually see kids use their cell phones just to call their driver to pick them up “now na!” (whatever happened to setting an appointed pickup time and good old-fashioned waiting?), or text frenziedly their friends (even during Mass!). Lucky for you parents if they actually call you to tell you how their school day went.

So maybe, you can loan your child a cell phone while he is out of the house, but when he is at home, confiscate the gadget so he can focus on studies instead. If your kids need to talk with their friends or classmates about homework (a likely excuse), they can always use the landline—remember that old-fashioned phone?

Related to managing computer/TV usage, set up an “unplug” day. Those who’ve been following this column know that I started doing this two years ago. I switch off all cell phones and my computer—so no SMS, Facebook, Twitter and other mindless surfing. This is the only day I usually pick up a hard-copy newspaper, when normally I go through online news web sites during weekdays.

Believe me, it’s given me more peace of mind and enabled me to finish up chores that had long been unattended. I’ve even managed to catch up on my book-reading backlog. I usually do this every Sunday, and most of my friends know that the only way they can get in touch with me is to call me on my landline if it’s really important.

You can do this as well. Unplug on Sundays, stay at home and play games, which will help sharpen your kids’ socializing skills and prepare them for future “competitions”. I remember when my entire family, including my Pop, would play all sorts of board games as we were growing up—Snakes & Ladders, Old Maid, Lucky 8, eventually graduating to Scrabble, Games of the Generals, MasterMind, etc. It was fun and even if my parents were not affluent, we kids were kept entertained.

Technology can help us accomplish much at work, and keep us in touch with our loved ones. But sometimes it can also ruin our relationships. Know when to stop the tech craziness and bring everyone back to the basics.

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror.)

Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus in the digital age

LOVE this!!!



Winner di ba? ;p

Help build DOT's web site!

THOSE who were appalled at the "interim" web site the Department of Tourism put out in a rush on Nov. 15, now have a chance to help in cleaning it up and providing original content to the new one that will be set up.

According to this Facebook note from DOT Usec. for Plannning and Promotions Enteng Romano, all you have to do is email the agency's tourism information officer, Evelyn Macayayong at this address: eamacayayong@tourism.gov.ph "and express your desire to volunteer." The rest of the steps are there.

(This is the current web site of the DOT. I'm batting for the retention of its URL www.tourism.gov.ph, primarily bec. it's one of the first few sites that shows up in search results when one googles, "Philippines tourism" or "Philippines travel." No one googles for "beautiful philippines" or "beautiful pilipinas" unless you're searching for a porn site.)

My own suggestion to DOT Sec. Alberto Lim is that perhaps we could just keep the old "www.tourism.gov.ph" address because when a traveler googles about a country he wants to visit, what are the first words he uses? It's usually "tourism" and "the country's name". When you put "Philippines tourism" or "Philippines travel", DOT's current web site pops up. If it isn't the first on the search results list, it's the fifth or sixth result.

All DOT has to do, is to spruce it up - remove that photo and brief remarks of Sec. Lim, no offense, then put all the great touristy photos it has in its file, and of course, serve up well-written stories. I am actually thinking of contributing some of my past travel stories which they can use to point to major destinations.

My own beef w/ the current web site is it asks for passwords when you want to get more tourism statistics. If you are like me, who works for a business paper, statistics count a lot in our stories. And we can hardly complete our pieces, unless we have updated data onhand. So I've requested travel blogger Ivan Henares - who has already personally volunteered to help DOT fill up content on its new web site – to kindly remind the DOT execs to update their official data periodically.

(This is the rest of the bleah stuff on the first page of DOT's current site, which was put up by the former dispensation. Not even one single photo of a tourist destination. While I love the former officials of the DOT - you know who you are - their website developer certainly lacks imagination and creativity.)

While many of us are disappointed with the decision of the DOT about the choice of its new marketing slogan "Pilipinas Kay Ganda", I appreciate Romano's owning up to his mistake re: the choice of the URL and apologizing for it. I find that he is more open to criticism, unlike other DOT execs, which I think is the key in helping the agency move forward from this bungling.

Let's just all be reminded by that age-old adage: "Haste makes waste."

Read more of Romano's note:

I am responsible for the choice of www.beautifulpilipinas.com. We were about to give a preview of “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” as the tourism country brand, and I was looking for an appropriate URL that would be associated with the new brand.

I searched and looked at all possible permutations of “beautiful”, “philippines”, “pilipinas”, “is beautiful”, and this was the best name that was still available.

Now, if you were the one tasked to do this and you finally chose beautifulpilipinas.com, will you automatically check what beautifulfilipinas.com was, especially since it was not even one of your candidate choices? Honestly? I didn't and am sorry for it. (The rest at Vicente Romano III.)

Oh and btw, if you are tourism stakeholder – a hotel owner, marketing or sales person, general manager of a tourism establishment, travel agency owner, etc. - pls. don't hide behind your Facebook account and just keep on criticizing the DOT. Why not get together w/ your own colleagues, write down your concerns, and actually present these to Sec. Lim or U/Sec. Romano?

I love my friends in the tourism industry, but I wish that sometimes, you would really put your money where your mouth is. Stop hiding behind anonymous comments on blogs; just come right out and say what you mean and stick your name on it. After all, you are the guys who are most affected by all these changes in the DOT marketing campaign. Maybe it's time you speak up publicly or bring your concerns directly to the DOT leadership.

Noynoy gets Internet savvy w/ a little help from his Campaigns friends (w/ update)

LIBERAL Party presidential candidate Sen. Noynoy Aquino is quite a stranger to the ways of the Internet. Prior to his run for president, I don't think he even had his own web site aside from his page attached on the Senate's own web site. He has only started tweeting, and my guess is it's his new media group tweeting for him and not himself. I have yet to check which of the Noynoy Aquino/Benigno Aquino III Facebook profiles is his real one, although there is an official fan page whose membership just recently cracked the 100,000-mark.

(Sen. Aquino's official Facebook fan page, although I counted two other fan pages, plus three profiles w/c includes the one w/c lists him as a female and w/ his mother's bday.)

With Campaigns and Grey's Yoly Ong now on his side, the Senator's presence on the Net has further expanded with the airing of his 60-second video blogs (VLogs) w/c started today. In a press briefing w/c I attended this morning along w/ other select members of the media, Ong and Melissa Limcaoco, Sen. Aquino's deputy director for new media, said the purpose of these VLogs is to let the public get a taste of the issues the presidentiable is fighting for (or against). A videographer has been going around covering each campaign sortie of Sen. Aquino, capturing his speeches and his interaction w/ the public. In his first VLog, for instance, he is shown speaking w/ a retired public school teacher who complained of not being able to receive her monthly pension from the GSIS because the agency had no money.

The VLogs (dubbed "60 secs. w/ Noy") are definitely a step in the right direction for the Aquino campaign after reaping a whirlwind of criticism mainly from the intelligentsia, who detested the MTV featuring Sen. Aquino and his band of artistas. (Of course, they probably don't like Pinoy celebrities to begin with, and the empty-headedness they are thought to represent.) Lighten up people! He needs to attract the masa vote, obvious ba? Although I do agree w/ the critics that we need to see/read/hear more of Sen. Aquino and his platform of govt. instead of just seeing w/c artista endorsed him. So I suppose these VLogs will help the campaign achieve the purpose.



The VLogs are unscripted and meant to show the real Noynoy Aquino "in the raw." At the end of each day, the videographer's footages will be tightly edited and strung together to form a theme for each VLog, before being aired. (OK, so technically, the VLogs won't really be quote-unquote, raw.) The footages will be punched up w/ his official campaign jingle, Sya na Nga, w/c I must admit is a really catchy tune, I still hear it playing in my head. LSS much?

The VLogs will run daily until Nov. 27, or the day before Sen. Aquino files his official certificate of candidacy at the Comelec. Under the Omnibus Election Code, the campaign period starts on Feb. 9, 2010 for national candidates (or 90 days before May 8 elections), and March 26, 2010 for local candidates (or 45 days before May 8), so the candidates are not supposed to air any TV or radio ads about themselves from the time they file their COCs until the beginning of their respective campaign periods. It isn't clear though if this covers the new Internet platforms, after all, this medium was hardly tapped in previous elections. Like last year's U.S. presidential elections, this will be the first time in Philippine electoral history that new media will be used by the presidential candidates (via their web sites, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, cellphones, etc.). Ong says the Aquino campaign is erring on the side of caution and until further ruling by the Comelec, will cease airing the VLogs once Sen. Aquino files his COC.

(Sen. Aquino's official web site.)
Of course the inevitable question is, will campaigning through the Internet/new media make a difference for any of the candidates? By and large, Internet penetration in the Philippines is still low; accdg to Internet World Stats, it is 24 million as of the 2nd qtr of 2009, or roughly 25% of the country's estimated population of 97.98 million. About 18.2 million of Internet users are potential voters (meaning 18 y.o. and up). So while the Aquino campaign will be tapping this new media for its campaign, Ong says, it is really an experiment for them to see how much power the Internet has in moving next year's elections. And TV is still the medium w/ the largest impact w/ 90% usage for voters' info as compared to only 22% for the Internet. Ong does point out though that Sen. Loren Legarda won in the last senatorial election w/ an 18-million vote, so that just means they are hoping the Internet will boost Sen. Aquino's chances to win in 2010. (Btw, did you know that 60% of Internet users in the Phils. are in Internet cafés?)

As of press time, however, Ong has yet to answer my question if there are any plans for Sen. Aquino's team mate and VP candidate Sen. MAR Roxas to be included in the Internet campaigns. (After previewing the first three VLogs, it looks like Sen. Aquino's running mate is actually former Bukidnon Rep. Neric Acosta, and not Roxas. Acosta is just all over the place!) For casual political observers like me, Sen. Aquino seems to be conducting his own separate campaign, pretty much disengaged from what should really be a team effort. Are Sen. Aquino's handlers trying to get him elected at all cost, w/o a care who wins the VP slot? Hmmm...again,nagtatanong lang po.

(A slide from today's presentation by Campaigns and Grey. Looks like Sen. Aquino has trumped some of his rivals in terms of Internet presence/followers. What will this mean for the 2010 elections?)

(UPDATE 1:05 a.m.) Accdg. to Campaigns PR Inc. Managing Director Richard Arboleda, Sen. MAR Roxas will definitely figure in the Sen. Aquino's future VLogs. Thanks!

Vicki Belo sues lawyer for FB status updates

NGEK! Yep, I'm not joking, guys. And you read it first on this blog.

Cosmetologist Dr. Vicki Belo has sued lawyer Argee Guevarra for his status updates on Facebook purportedly maligning her person. Thing is, the doktora isn't even on Argee's list of FB friends, but her manager somehow managed to get herself added to Argee's list. Ikaw naman kasi Argee, masyado ka din celebrity. Kala mo fan sya anu? Oh well.

This is history-in-the-making folks! You gotta hand it to the doktora, she loves to thrive in controversy. I'm giving way to Argee's press release on this issue w/c I've edited here for publication. The doktora's handlers are free to comment or give their side on the issue. (Btw, personally, I haven't seen those FB status updates that are being referred to even if Argee is also an FB friend. But then I really am not in the habit of looking at all my friends statuses.)

Facebook user welcomes Dr. Vicki Belo's libel suit as 'first of its kind' in the world

FACEBOOK user and activist-lawyer Argee Guevarra today welcomed the libel suit filed by the Belo Medical Group and Dr..Vicki Belo against him at the Office of the City Prosecutor in Taytay, Rizal, Philippines, for his status updates and shout-outs in his private Facebook account.

Guevarra, who acts as counsel for Josefina Norcio over two botched butt augmentation procedures performed by the Belo Medical Group using the banned substance Hydrogel, was sued for libel over status update posts in his Facebook account where Guevarra called for a national patients’ boycott of Belo Clinics and for referring to Dr. Belo as “Reyna ng Kaplastikan, Reyna ng Kapalpakan” (Queen of False Pretenses, Queen of Incompetence).

Dr.Vicki Belo is a celebrity doctor previously involved in a video sex scandal. She operates upscale plastic and cosmetic surgery clinics frequented by this impoverished nation’s elite and owns various offshore clinics and booking offices in Thailand, South Korea and the United States. Dr. Belo, however, is not licensed by the Philippine Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (PAPRAS) to perform cosmetic surgery procedures. She presides over a multi-million dollar empire consisting of plastic surgery clinics, beauty salons and manufactures health and beauty products.

The suit is the first Facebook libel case in the world where the complainant does not even belong to the defendant’s network of Facebook friends. A previous Facebook libel case was, however, filed in UK where businessman Mathew Firsht sued a former school friend over a false personal profile on the site that included private information about him and untrue allegations about his sexual orientation.

The libel suit against Guevarra was commenced vicariously through Dr. Belo’s general manager who managed to add herself to Guevarra’s network of 1,472 friends.

Guevarra, a political activist previously jailed by the Arroyo regime for his participation in two failed uprisings, similarly faced a Php 300 million ($6 million) libel suit from former First Lady Imelda Marcos 13 years ago after Guevarra wrote in his erstwhile column in BusinessWorld, a series of commentaries accusing the former strongman’s wife of widespread plunder during the reign of the Marcos dictatorship. The libel suit was eventually dismissed.

Guevarra welcomes the libel suit as an opportunity to invite public attention to the hazards and dangers of cosmetic surgery clinics performing surgeries with untrained, unskilled, incompetent and unlicensed medical practitioners and advertising such services as safe and hopes to ring alarm bells at the Health Department against the proliferation of such colorum clinics which is destroying the country’s medical tourism industry and earning for the country the moniker of being Asia’s No. 1 Chop Shop. More than this, Guevarra seeks to defend himself all the way to the Supreme Court in order to elicit jurisprudence regarding internet-based libels.

For his part, Atty. Guevarra’s counsel, Atty. J.V. Bautista, a U.P. classmate of Dr. Belo, laughed off the libel suit and pointed out its material defects – “The libel case filed by Dr. Belo needs a serious facelift before it could even be dignified in any court of law. The pleading itself reads and looks like a failed surgery on the laws of libel:

First, the venue is improperly laid. It should not have been filed before the Taytay Prosecutor Office and instead filed before Makati City Prosecutor’s Office which is the place of the offended party (Dr. Belo) and where Facebook, Philippines holds Office. The filing of the case in Taytay may have sinister motives. What is so special about filing the case in Taytay?

Second, the libelous statements were printed and published by Dr. Belo’s own general manager and upon the authority given her by Dr. Belo’s estranged husband and Belo Medical Group Corporate Secretary Atom Henares, which should make said general manager a co-respondent of Atty. Guevarra. In effect, Dr. Belo should be suing her own general manager;

Third, the alleged defamatory statements are privileged communication and are per se, not libelous. Said statements of Atty. Guevarra fall under constitutionally protected exercise of free speech;

Finally, the analogous libel case of Alfonso Yuchengco/Pacific Plans vs. Philip Piccio, arising from a blog written by Mr. Piccio against Pacific Plans was ordered dismissed by the Department of Justice which ruled that there is no such thing as internet libel since Art. 355 of the Revised Penal Code strictly provides that libel can only be committed by means set forth therein (writing, printing, radio etc.) and does not include the internet. Furthermore, criminal statutes are construed strictly in favor of the accused.”

The preliminary investigation is set on Sept. 24, 2009 at the Taytay Hall of Justice, Taytay, Rizal before Asst. City Prosecutor Cheloy Garrafil.

Not quite the real thing

YOU'VE heard of Facebook. But have you heard of Facebuko?


Click here. I swear it's frigging hilarious! Ang galing mo Jonas Roque!

Happy weekend people! :)

The horrors of Facebooking

"SO in the course of setting our birthday dinner date with Jay, Sis sent me a text message, very disturbed. She complained that one of her old friends, Dionisia, 'deliberately published unflattering pictures' of her and another friend, Marlene, in Dionisia’s Facebook account.

Apparently, they were drinking that night and even if they already asked Dionisia not to, she still took photos of them (e.g., toenails, cleavage, etc.), then later uploaded them to a photo album. Sis fumed that it was an 'invasion of privacy' and added that Marlene was mightily upset with Dionisia." (Click Something Like Life for the rest.)

The Pope on YouTube

POPE Benedict XVI thinks the Internet can promote truth. So the Vatican now has its own channel on YouTube. As of Jan. 26, 2009, it had over 261,000 views. I guess a lot of people are searching for the truth.

(Screenshot of the Vatican Channel)

Obama inaugural via CNN/Facebook

FIRST off, this application was a way cooler gimmick than CNN's hologram interviews during election night in November. BUT, the amount of traffic to the CNN Live site caused some problems to some international viewers leading to some screen freezing. (I had to go to the TV finally to watch the proceedings there, but kept the Mac still tuned to CNN.)

(A shot of the crowd. The news reports said about 2 million visitors were expected to watch the inaugural. Check out the comments on the FB window. Just click to enlarge)

GENERALLY, it was a nice experience with most my friends still up and updating their statuses in reaction to what we were watching onscreen. I think I became too obsessed, that it seemed that I was updating my status every 15 minutes. (I counted more than 10 status updates since I started watching online at 7pm.) What was cool about the app was I could read the reactions of other people around the world as well, while they too watched the events unfolding onscreen.

(Joe Biden being sworn in as Vice President. I don't have Obama's actual swearing in as my Internet service decided to freeze that moment. Erg.)

It was a nice experiment for CNN and Facebook. Very innovative. Anyhoo, here are other screen shots of Barack Obama's inaugural via CNN/Facebook right up to the Bush couple's departure from the capitol. (I just had to make sure Dubya would leave.)

(Obama's speech: 'Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.')

(Special guests were the Tuskugee Airmen, the first African-Americans integrated into the U.S. military.)

(The Obamas and the Bidens walk the Bushes out to their waiting chopper.)

(43 waves goodbye to his fans...ngek may natira pa ba?)

(And we have lift-off folks! Bye-bye Bushie! Woop! glad that's over!)

* * * *
Meanwhile, I thought Obama's inaugural address was great. It was brief, straight to the point, and expectedly, called on all Americans to unite, and not to look at their differences as a hindrance to doing great things. He also outlined his main program of government: emphasis on scientific research, health insurance reform, addressing the economic crisis, and a push for diplomacy to settle international disputes.

I liked this part, because it kinda addresses our conditions here in the Philippines as well:

"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."

Read the full text of President Obama's inaugural address here.

(Online banner of New York Times tonight.)

Sure I didn't finish my work tonight, but I didn't dare miss this event. It was great to be part of history...even if it was just by watching TV or the computer feed. Congratulations U.S. of A! The world looks to you again for leadership and greatness.

Breaking our online habit

'Living in the digital age, all of us now have to deal with a different kind of stress—information overload. We are plugged into the world wide web almost every hour of the day, and because we use our computers and our electronic devices like cell phones, iPods and TVs, we are “online” all the time.'

Read the rest in Something Like Life, my column last Friday in the BusinessMirror. This is an expanded version of my blog entry last year, Dare to Unplug.

Airlines respond to growing demand for online bookings

ALL over the world, major international airlines are responding to the growing demand for customers booking and paying for their tickets via the Internet, and are, thus, beefing up their online-transaction capabilities by redesigning and offering promotions on their respective web sites.

All representatives of airlines interviewed for this piece—Philippine Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Northwest Airlines— also predict stronger growth in Internet bookings, especially in Asia and the Pacific as computer penetration and usage rise.

Todd Anderson, director for marketing and distribution of the Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlines, said in a telephone interview that for Asia-Pacific, the reservations made via its web site (http://www.nwa.com) “generally vary by market and by country…between 2 percent and 35 percent [with Singapore on the higher end of the scale]” accounting for total bookings by the airline. The rest of the bookings are made via travel agents and general service agents (i.e. accredited ticket agents).

(Click here for the rest.)

The new TV season is on!

SUMMER is over in the States so all the great TV shows are back with their new seasons. Yay! Some of my favorites include Entourage, Dirty Sexy Money, House, Grey's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, Heroes, and Burn Notice. So my Mac has been working overtime again, as I download the new season's torrents this time via Limewire. (I used to use Transmission or Bittorrent but there have been some Internet issues w/ downloads from eztv and piratebay...I went back to Limewire which seems to be faster these days.)

My other favorites like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI New York and MadMen I just watch on the local cable networks so I don't tax my Mac and router too much. We're a little behind here, but it's still kinda cool to have something to wait for on TV. (I am surprised though that Studio 23 actually had very up-to-date Brothers and Sisters in its last seasons...it was only a week behind the U.S. airings.)

Without giving away anything, I am extremely excited over Grey's Anatomy's premier episode this season. Dr. Christina Yang (played by the always brilliant Sandra Oh) may be finding love (or at least lust) at last. There's a new doctor in town and I'm not saying who it is...of course you can just google it. Hint: he last played a lead role in ROME, the TV series. (Now that's a series I miss.)

Anyway the new doc (McMeaty? McNaughty? McSexy?) is hotttttt! and intense! Woof! Besides, it's about time Christina gets over Dr. Preston Burke. This is one tough cookie who needs some TLC. Who cares what happens to the on and off again relationship of Dr. McSteamy (Patrick Dempsey) and Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), ey? And yes, the Izzie character can be killed off. She's still living in her head w/ Denney the dead guy. Ick. she is annoying (both the character and the actor...what an arrogant bitch to turn down an Emmy nomination...feeling diva pwede ba!).

As for the other shows which have just premiered, Entourage is cooking as well...Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) is trying to get his career back on track after that miserable movie on Pablo Escobar. You'll still see a lot of cameos by actors, scriptwriters, and film producers/execs playing themselves as Vinnie tries to secure his next movie. But the character I really love is Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven). This loudmouth has a great big heart. He may mess around w/ other women, and act like an asswipe in his dealings, but he loves his wife and kids. And you'll see him show this side of his in the new season. Of course, I can never get enough of Ari's office dynamics w/ his gay assistant Lloyd (Rex Lee...now a regular yay!).

Over at House M.D., Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) may finally see an end to the only one great relationship he's had with another human being. Almost everyone in this new season has come back hurting. Doctors in pain treating those in pain. Let's see how it'll play out.

I'm downloading Heroes right now, and eagerly waiting the season premier of Dirty Sexy Money. I hear Lucy Liu is gonna join the latter's cast.

The Obama-McCain presidential debate

I CANNOT comment on the first U.S. presidential debate of this electoral season. SkyCable decided to interrupt my viewing by doing maintenance work in our area. Thanks!

While I'm at it, I dunno why even its affiliate Bayan is becoming crappy in its DSL service. I used to be a super advocate of the company because while everyone connected to PLDT and SmartBro was freaking out over their lousy intermittent service, and overeager customer billings (as in bayad ka na, sinisingil ka pa rin!), my Bayan DSL was working beautifully. And even on the off-chance that my service would become spotty, Bayan's customer service personnel were very professional and always patient to explain how to guide you through the difficulties of reconnecting.

So after nagging them for this problem (which started to happen co-accidentally? after a strong typhoon about two months ago), someone came and changed my modem box. (Btw, it took an unusually long period of time to reach anyone in their customer service as the line seemed to be perpetually busy or ringing forever, so I finally decided to go to Bayan's PR to complain. In my business, one day w/o an Internet connect means a day closer to a story deadline w/ nothing to show for.) Anyhoo, the repair guy said after two years, my old gray ZTE modem box has outlived its usefulness and so he changed it to a new one. Also ZTE, this time in black, and my Internet connect was up and running again.

Everything was working splendidly until yesterday when I was YM'ing w/ Poknat, and my connection kept dropping. So I made a call and this really sungit customer service girl picked up and after bitching with each other, she said she would make a report. I told her to re-set my connection as well from her end. That seemed to do the trick since my connect was alright again until I logged off last night.

This morning, a Bayan repair guy arrived and said he would change my modem box. And I said, but you guys just changed it. The new guy explained that they have been receiving complaints about the new ZTE modems which go funky whenever they receive calls. (I have a landline going thru the same DSL cable.) He asked if I didn't notice the same. I said no. When I complained about my spotty connection yesterday, I said, I wasn't even using the phone at all.

So he changes the modem box anyway to a Huawei (the same brand as Globe's been using for its HDSPA flash drive/wifi connect). For good measure, he changes all the phone jacks as well. Everything's cool for now but I can't help but think my DSL issue is linked to the ongoing maintenance work of SkyCable, as our cable TV connect starting going funky yesterday as well. Well, let's see how it goes. But I'm starting to look at the Globelines DSL/phone promotions already.

Skype me!

WELL, wait until I get my face on, that is.

Miggy and I have been talking to each other via Skype for the past three days, and I just realized that video via webcam really isn't that flattering. So when another friend called me yesterday morning, and because she was in the office and fully made-up, I kinda got self-conscious.

(Lipstick beside my Mac...SOP from now on.)

You see, I work from my home office, so I virtually have no need to put on any makeup (unlike my mother who has lipstick on even if she's just watching TV), So when you're Skyping at 10:30 am, you better have some eyeliner and lipstick on ghels and gheys! or like me, I probably looked such a fright to Tish when I spoke to her this morning...I just woke up and was in my pangtulog. Of course, since she lives in New York, she was also in her sleepwear, about to turn in for the day. But compared to me sympre, she looked fresh and put together, mukang bagong paligo ang lolah ko. So after this morning's Rocky Horror Picture Show (or sige na nga, Regal Shockers), I have resolved to put on some pressed powder, eyeliner, and a dab of lipstick every morning...just in case someone Skypes me.

Btw, like Facebook, Skype is such a great way to keep in touch w/ friends and relatives abroad. (Or like Miggy and I, even when we're practically just separated by Edsa and Visayas Ave. hahaha!) I know Skype has been around for a few years, but I only got my new Macbook recently w/c has a built-in Isight (or webcam), whereas my old Ibook didn't have one. So it's now more fun to use Skype because you see your caller or the people you call in all their fugly glory...hahaha! (According to Ms. RP, this is what she is worried about as well if she starts using Skype. We would have to put our fez on everytime we go before the webcam...)

Sure, Yahoo Messenger and those other instant messaging applications like our homegrown Chikka, as well as cellphone texting, are useful because you get to chat/text w/ your friends here and abroad, but I sorta miss the good 'ol days when people actually spoke to each other, fez to fez. It was a hoot to see Tish, for example, in her bedroom in New York (and her American hubby too who was nakiki-chismis w/ us), even as she complained about the noisy yapping dogs of my neighbor.

After being such a bad influence on my friends for introducing them to Facebook, now I'm getting all of them to do Skype. Imagine, we can even play poker now via Skype? The possibilities are endless I tell ya! It's cool, so gheys and ghels, come let's join us!

All right Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up.

Looking for love on the world wide web

Something Like Life
May 16, 2008

WHEN I interviewed them, I was almost half-annoyed as they absentmindedly gazed into each other’s eyes, held hands and gave each other affectionate pats. They playfully bantered and laughed at each other’s funny—and not-so-funny—remarks. “Inggit ka lang!” the voice in my head jeered. And I couldn’t help but chuckle myself. Cerisse and Lucas looked as though they’d been together for quite a while, as there was a certain tender acceptance of each other like a long-time married couple. I thought of my own parents, who had their own nasty spats which none of us kids could stand. But still, when it was just them alone—or so they thought—I would observe them quietly just sitting on the couch watching TV and joshing each other with affection.

As for Cerisse and Lucas, they had only known each other for a year and were already thinking of getting married as soon as Cerisse’s annulment from her ex came through. They are some of the growing number of couples who met and dated via the Internet, and subsequently gotten married or are thinking of making their relationships permanent.

Just a year before, Lucas was chilly in merry old England sitting at his computer linked to a chat application and typed: “Are there any lonely ladies out there?” Cerisse, at her own PC trying to beat the heat and humidity of Manila, responded.

I googled for data on Internet romances and cyber love, but unfortunately, couldn’t find any to show just how many have gotten hitched in this manner. However, according to a US News and World report cited by an ongoing research on online dating at the University of California-Berkeley, “In August 2003 alone, 40 million unique users visited online-dating sites in the United States alone...that’s about half the number of single adults in the US.” As of August 2005 there were about 1,000 online-dating sites with a number of them devoting themselves to specific racial types, geography and age groups. So it appears that more and more people are turning to the World Wide Web to find true love and their happy ever after.

Because of growing Internet usage, the computer has become a powerful tool enabling people from literally every corner of the globe to “connect” and carry on long conversations and even relationships with the click of a mouse. Already, certain applications enable one to “chat” via the Internet using one’s cell phone, further extending the possibilities of carrying on cyber romances.

Sixty-four and twice divorced, Lucas is giving up what many perceive as a comfortable retiree’s life in England for the smog and traffic of Manila just to be with Cerisse.

Cerisse, 14 years younger than Lucas, braved criticism from her own family, especially from her older brother who now stands as the patriarch, just to be with her man.

Lucas said he didn’t go online to land himself another wife; after all, he already had been married twice before and they ended up with a lot of heartaches. But he was thrilled at meeting Cerisse “because she was on the other side of the world.”

As for Cerisse, she was just incredibly joyful for having found Lucas because he was “so mabait.”

There was just that immediate “connection” once they started chatting online after a couple of e-mail exchanges. “I know what he’s going to say even before he says it,” laughed Cerisse.

They added that from the very beginning, they never told any lies to each other. They bared their backgrounds, told each other stories about their lives, their families, their jobs, etc.

“Cerisse mentioned something about soul-mates and after what’s happened [us hooking up with each other], I think it might be true,” Lucas added.

As with any relationship, of course, Cerisse and Lucas’ is not without hitches.

As mentioned earlier, Cerisse’s brother was initially vehemently against the relationship and even had Lucas investigated by the London police. “He thought I was after her money,” Lucas chuckled. “What money?” Cerisse said under her breath, bristling at the thought. But Lucas said he understood her brother. “Putting myself in his shoes, I would do the same,” he told Cerisse gently. “He was just trying to protect you.”

On the other hand, Cerisse’s other siblings were more supportive. They even tried to convince the eldest to leave her alone, as she was old enough to make decisions in her life. Her own son also had her back and just wanted to see his mother take another chance in a relationship she seems happy in.

When Lucas first visited Manila and met Cerisse’s family for the first time, he didn’t know what to expect. Her siblings sat him down and tried to discourage him from marrying Cerisse because of the mistakes she made, especially in her first marriage. But he remained unfazed because he already knew about all that.

He eventually got around to speaking with the family patriarch and bared his plans and his feelings for Cerisse. Grudgingly, her brother realized that his opposition to the relationship was futile. Besides, Cerisse said, “it would have split the family,” which was very important to her brother.

Back for another visit, Lucas said he hardly agonized over his decision to marry Cerisse. “I honestly believe I’ve never been in love before.”

His sons didn’t have any objections to the relationship, but it was Lucas’s sister who told him he had to be the one to make adjustments in his relationship to Cerisse because of her different cultural background. “Because she speaks English, I tend to forget she’s different. And my sister told me, for it [the relationship] to be successful, I’ve got to be the one to change.”

Of course, Lucas has already undergone his baptism by fire, getting a taste of life with the extended Filipino family. But he is accepting of this and is prepared to make the move to the Philippines.

As we walked down the street to hail a cab, I sneaked a look behind me and saw the couple holding hands and giggling like teenagers. If I could have some of that, I thought, maybe I should get on one of those online-dating sites fast. Hmmm....

(My column Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror.)

Inkblot

I PICKED up the Philippine Star for the first time in weeks today (I usually read it online) and glanced through the news rather quickly, then the opinion pages, business, and lifestyle. The banner on the front page was especially gripping...it was about the $100-million health insurance scam allegedly participated in by some local hospitals and doctors. As is my usual habit, I saved the Sunday funnies for the last, with Calvin and Hobbes and Hagar the Horrible leaving me in stitches.

But what really caught my eye was this huge inkblot on the face of one of the paper's columnists, who's been getting a lot of ahem, unsavory press lately. I looked through all the pages and all the columnists' pieces again, and truly, it was only her column photo which had been besmirched by a black blob. As most advertisers know, the Philippine Star takes great care in printing its paper, especially its color pages. So the conspiracy theorist in me is thinking some people within the media organization itself are not liking this columnist very much either. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

* * *
BTW, you might want to check out a really moving profile story of Australian blogger Brian Gorrell in the BusinessMirror.

Dare to unplug (after you read my blog!)

WAS trying to do my work when I stumbled onto this news story about people who have decided to switch off their electronic devices for a day.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sharon Sarmiento knew it was time to unplug when she realized she was blogging in her dreams and hearing imaginary instant messages.

For Ariel Meadow Stallings, it was the hours lost while surfing the Internet that left her feeling like she had been in a drunken blackout.

Both women are part of a new grass-roots movement in which tech geeks, Internet addicts, Blackberry thumbers and compulsive IMers are deciding to wrest back control of their lives by daring to switch off -- if only for a day.

One of the most peaceful vacations I've had was in Batanes about four years ago where there was no cellphone service. So all our phones were switched off, leaving us with a few days to enjoy the province, its vistas, and its people. (But then someone temporarily went nuts trying to look for our pregnant masahista...haha.)

Since that vacation, however, I've muted the ring tone to all my messages. I find that I'm not as attached to it as I was before that Batanes vacation when every time my phone buzzed, I would immediately look at it and answer incoming texts. It just frazzled my nerves especially then, when I was still editing the Business Section of a broadsheet everyday.

At night I also switch off all my phones for an uninterrupted night's sleep. One friend asked me what if there's an emergency? I said if it's really a life and death thing, I can always be contacted on my landline.

Thing is on vacations, I can't switch off my cellphone. There was one vacation last year in Cebu I ended up surfing the Internet on my cellphone just to check out the news in Manila. It was crazy.

Since I've started working at home though, I realize that I'm online as soon as I wake up, and way past 2 am the next morning. Though I take breaks (like for meals and wee-wee), I sometimes don't switch off as I wait for important emails to come in. Not only is that increasing my electricity bill, but it's also making me too dependent on my computer and the Internet. So what I do is basically switch off on Sundays. Of course, then I veg out on the couch and watch TV all day. So I dunno if that counts as "switching off."

Anyway, this Sunday, I shall unplug everything — the cellphones, the computer, server, wifi router and maybe the TV too — the entire day. Who knows, I might take up reading a book again.

When your child is out of control

Something Like Life
April 11, 2008

SOME friends and I were walking along Bonifacio High Street one evening, trying to exercise away the humongous shabu-shabu meal we had just ingested, when a group of young shrilly girls came toward us. They were probably in their early 20s, with boobies a-popping out of their thin sleeveless blouses and wearing the shortest skirts that came up to where their butt cheeks began to show. If they only weren’t speaking in English in that colegiala twang, we would’ve thought they were refugees from the hooker districts of Manila on their way to meet their pimp. Or trannies on the prowl.

As usual, Miggy made the most astute observation, about how young girls now have to try really hard, competing with one another just to get noticed by boys. And, of course, the easiest way to do that is to dress rather skimpily, and talk ever so loudly in flirtatious tones. Maybe they think Britney Spears in her slutty clothes is the height of fashion. Then I thought: Where were their parents when they put on those clothes for a night on the town?

Parenting, and how difficult the task is these days, is what I think most of whenever someone mentions Brian Gorrell, the Australian blogger whose Pinoy ex-lover allegedly stiffed him of a large amount of money. In his blog, we have been inundated with gossip and allegations of how some scions of supposedly de buena familias in Manila have been living it up with their noses buried in cocaine, giving new meaning to the term “high society.” With the allegations of freeloading, bad oufits, incest and even murder, I can understand the venom, scorn and contempt that have flooded the comments section of Gorrell’s blog.

(Frankly, I have stopped reading it because of too much negativity there. Now, if the allegations are true about the main subject of the blog, I do hope Gorrell gets paid back every cent owed him. I don’t belittle the misfortune that befell him, but as sis would always say, “We are fools for love.” We make our own stupid choices for love and we suffer for it.)

Why the infamous subjects of the blog behave the way they do—and in truth, this is not the first time we in media have heard about it and what goes on in that party place that has been mentioned several times in the blog—we probably may never thoroughly understand. Most of them have had the benefit of having studied in reputable universities like many of those who read this equally respectable paper, so many people automatically blame it on their upbringing.



But I think it would be simplistic and convenient to blame the parents for the mess these socialites—or social climbers—are in. (One trivia that has come up via the old media is that the mother of one of the antagonists in this Internet telenovela, was involved in a corrupt government deal that was the talk of the town just a decade ago. A few observers cite this factoid as a way to explain her child’s alleged dishonesty—monkey see, monkey do.) Besides, there are many examples of people who have been in far more luckless circumstances while growing up, or have had the worst parents imaginable, but who managed to come out of their sordid experiences as strong, upstanding citizens.

Needless to say, I cannot imagine how parents do it these days. If both parents are working, there is just not enough time in the day to be with one’s kids, minister to their needs and make them adhere to the common rules of proper, decent behavior. What more if one parent is away, working in some foreign country, as in the case of many OFW families these days. The parenting task can only be more daunting in such situations.

Then there are just too many temptations out there—sex, drugs, Internet porn, cigarettes, alcohol, Internet gaming—that parents can hardly keep up with their duty to be the moral guardians of the family. When even the tightest controls and parental monitoring systems fail, what avenue for instilling appropriate conduct is still available? What can parents do when their child has gone out of control?

Many parents will tell you that there is no guidebook in the world that will prepare a parent for the responsibilities. When rearing a child, sometimes it is a case of hit-and-miss. You can be the best father or mother in the world, but your child still ends up dead in someone else’s flat from drug overdose.

Of course, all this doesn’t absolve parents of the responsibility of trying to bring up decent, well-behaved and sensible children. So when they see their children now adults behaving like irresponsible shitless fucks who think having fun is the only sole purpose of their existence, parents just cannot be defensive about it. They cannot deny that there is a problem and just send the children abroad to escape the consequences of the latter’s tomfoolery. Condoning their children’s stupidity makes them equally guilty. Parents whose kids have gone wrong just have to accept that despite their maybe impeccable parenting skills, their children have fallen off-track and have become nuisances to society. Leaving them to their own devices where they can hurt other people or themselves is not an option.

No matter how old a wayward child is, parents cannot abdicate their roles as the moral and ethical compass in the family. They need to be consistent and unfaltering in their implementation of rules for decent behavior and, of course, be unimpeachable role models themselves. One thing they cannot do is lose hope that their child can still change or be rehabilitated with the right kind of help, be it the psychological kind.

I think another thing Brian Gorrell’s blog has taught many of us is that parents these days have to work even doubly harder than before to keep their kids in line, protect them from falling into the wrong crowd and becoming slaves to their basest desires. That kind of 24/7 protection and monitoring may be exhausting and, perhaps, nearly impossible to do in this day and age, but it must be done. Not doing so can only lead to damaging and maybe irreparable consequences.

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday, in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. Photo from BM)

UPDATE: The subject of Brian Gorrell's blog – DJ Montano (now we can finally publish his name as he already appeared in public) – was on Korina Sanchez's show last night basically denying everything that his ex- said. I wasn't able to watch the show as I'm in Tagaytay (and the frigging DREAM TV, of course, has no ANC feed!). Too bad that Brian declined to do a face-off with DJ via phone patch.

Anyway, here's a Youtube post of ABS-CBN's TV Patrol World featuring bits of the Montano interview, including sound bytes from his mother, stepfather, and sister. Will post a better video once we get a hold of one.

And it's back on again...

BRIAN has had a change of heart apparently and reopened his blog to quash rumors that he had already been paid by the subject of his blog. But in his latest post, he confirms our earlier entry that he has not been paid. He also apologizes that he had to switch off the comments section.

(Looks like GMA is in luck again. No one's gonna pay attention to the ZTE-NBN hearings with the salacious gossip being dished about the pasosyal group.)

* * *
HEARD AND OVERHEARD

At a media event:

(To a lifestyle columnist): "Hala ka, ikaw na ang susunod!"

(Columnist): "Ano na naman ang ginawa ko?" (giggles)

* * * *

Same event:

(To a photographer): "Hoy wag mo kaming kunan! Baka ma-blog pa kami noh?"

* * * *

Over dinner:

"It's closed na daw."

"The blog?"

"Ay baka he got paid na?"

"That's what they should have done in the first place! That's the easiest way to make it go away!"

"Onga. Pinatagal pa nila. Any crisis PR guy would've told them that. Pay the guy. Tapos!"

"Who kaya paid him? E wala naman pera mga yan!"

"Baka si _____? He's the only one among them who has the money!"

"Yeah, kasi his last post was, '_____, you're next!'"

"Ay magandang gawin T-shirt yun a!"

"Mas maganda sana 'yung 'Magbayad ka na!' Sayang."

* * * *

"Poor ______! She got dragged into it. Inutangan na nga pamilya, nasabit pa sya sa gang."

"E kasi nga she's rich. So the commenters just lumped her in with them."

"But they're not rich! Kaya nga umuutang. Si ano can't even afford to clean her house daw. Ang baho!"

"But that was a cool bar."

"Ako I liked the food in his restaurant. In fairness."

"Well, when I met him back then, he was nice naman to me. Well, maybe nga because I was in media and he needed a writeup."

* * * *

"My experience with _____, I was with my friend, and she was buying cosmetics. She's a regular customer e. Then si _____ shows up, siguro there was a media event at the same time there, tries to grab the products my friend was buying and says, 'You can't have this, it's already supposed to be for someone else! I'm _____! I'm the ______.' My friend goes, 'I don't care! I'm a regular customer!' My friend gets the bag and pays for it. I was there, and I was like...ano ba ito? She was really loud."

* * * *

"So why did they kick _____ out from _____?"

"Well, si ano told me, kasi nagreklamo na ang staff. He would arrive at the office midnight and work until the next morning."

"But I thought si ano was there to oversee it."

"E hindi, sya ang creative director e. Minsan daw darating sa office, e naka-layout na ang page, papalitan na nya. So nag-complain na ang staff."

"Well that's the official reason!"

"I'm sure sina kwan knew about what he really did, yung pa-mention, mention ng name or product... but just used the staff complaints as a reason to let him go."

"Ay no comment nalang ako jan. He's a friend."

"But you have to give it to him, he made himself. From nothing when we met him years ago..."

"Oo, masipag yan. He really asked questions. Wanted to learn how to break into the industry."

* * * *

"Naku, ano na ang babasahin natin?"

"Onga, kasi kayo di nyo ginawan ng mirror site agad e!"

"Bitin naman."

"Buti nalang me American Idol mamya."

"Uy magaling yung bata. Si David Archuleta."

"I wanna pinch his cheeks! He's so cute!"

"Yung Pinay magaling din. Big voice ha."

"Pa-cute lang masyado, nakakainis. Pero sana manalo."

"Ay but the other one was an exotic dancer! Gwapo sya. Latino. But he admitted it."

* * * *

"Dapat bigyan ng talk show si Brian!"

"Onga! Tapos sa interview nya, tanungin ang guest, "So what was your favorite part in the blog?'"

"Ahhh, my favorite part was Anonymous 6:49...hahahaha!"

* * * *

"May rally daw ulit sa Friday."

"Where?"

"Sa Ayala ulit."

"Me nag-comment nga sa blog, 'Pati ba naman ito, kasalanan ni GMA!' "

"Hahaha! I read that. E kasi someone said, sa hirap daw ng economy, kay daw di makabayad si _____!"

"Ay magdala tayo ng streamers sa Friday, 'Ibalik si Brian!' "

"Or, "______! Magbayad ka na!' "

* * * *

"He texted me nga, 'it's not true I am small. I'm a medium.' "

"I texted back, "But ___! I told everyone you're large!' "