Sunday, January 22, 2012

One Book, One DVD: Week 3


Naked (David Sedaris): Naked, published in 1997, is a collection of essays by American humorist David Sedaris. The book details Sedaris’ life, from his unusual upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, to his booze-and-drug-ridden college years, to his Kerouacian wandering as a young adult. The book became a best-seller and was acclaimed for its wit, dark humor and irreverent tackling of tragic events, including the death of Sedaris’ mother. Prior to publication, several of the essays were read by the author on the NPR program This American Life.

Erin Brockovich (2000): Erin Brockovich is an unemployed single mother, desperate to find a job, but is having no luck. This losing streak even extends to a failed lawsuit against a doctor in a car accident she was in. With no alternative, she successfully browbeats her lawyer to give her a job in compensation for the loss. While no one takes her seriously, with her trashy clothes and earthy manners, that soon changes when she begins to investigate a suspicious real estate case involving the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. What she discovers is that the company is trying quietly to buy land that was contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a deadly toxic waste that the company is improperly and illegally dumping and, in turn, poisoning the residents in the area. As she digs deeper, Erin finds herself leading point in a series of events that would involve her lawfirm in one of the biggest class action lawsuits in American history against a multi-billion dollar corporation.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Random Musings on Week 1 of Chief Justice Corona's Impeachment Trial

Not enough time to Wiki, prosecution panel?
  • Neil Tupas Jr. may or may not have been a declamation contestant during his younger years. It sure was an enjoyable opening declamation piece statement, given all the hand gestures and voice intonation.
  • Renato Corona Jr. has the guts to sit at the gallery and listen to the tirades of Neil Tupad during his declamation opening statement. Lady Gaga ang peg ni CJ Corona,  Po-po-po-poker face!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

One Book, One DVD: Week 2


These are my purchases for week 2 of my challenge.

The Twenty-Seventh City (Jonathan Franzen): St. Louis, Missouri, is a quietly dying river city until it hires a new police chief: a charismatic young woman from Bombay, India, named S. Jammu. No sooner has Jammu been installed, though, than the city's leading citizens become embroiled in an all-pervasive political conspiracy. Seen by many as a classic of contemporary fiction, The Twenty-Seventh City shows us an ordinary metropolis turned inside out, and reveals today's American Dream unraveling into terror and dark comedy.

Pan's Labyrinth: In 1944 fascist Spain, a girl, fascinated with fairy-tales, is sent along with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather, a ruthless captain of the Spanish army. During the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an old faun in the center of the labyrinth. He tells her she's a princess, but must prove her royalty by surviving three gruesome tasks. If she fails, she will never prove herself to be the the true princess and will never see her real father, the king, again.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

The Ad Campaign That Launched a Thousand Memes


Earlier this week, the Department of Tourism unveiled their latest tourism campaign #itsmorefuninthephilippines, which was accepted wholeheartedly by 98% of those aware of it. The 2% outrightly rejected it, saying it was too long, not too enticing, and unoriginal. (See Switzerland 1950s campaign.) Those who were too early to pass such judgments went on to bashing that millions of taxpayers' money were wasted in such unoriginal concept, that it did not even come close to the true Philippines, blah blah blah. But as one writer points it out, the same people did not bother to look up "that there was “Truly Tuscany” before Malaysia’s “Truly Asia”, Amazing Australia before Amazing Thailand, and Incredible Italy before Incredible India." Thank God Secretary Mon Jimenez dismissed copycat accusations, saying it's purely coincidental.  He said, "The line isn't a manufactured slogan. It's simply the truth about our country. Don't be swayed by people who are trying to punch holes in it." He further adds, "Tourism is successful in Thailand because their positive voice is louder than their negative voice."

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

One Book, One DVD: Week 1

Week 1: Seabiscuit and Life is Beautiful

You might have read what happened to my humble collection of books a few weeks ago, and the vow I've made to rebuild my library. Well, I'm taking it up a notch higher. Recently, my beloved external hard drive Bromelia has reached the dreaded Free Space: 5GB, and I said to myself that I need to buy a new one soon. Probably with a larger storage capacity, I added. But then it hit me: what if one day, out of the blue, my external hard drives and my netbook decide to conspire and rebel against me for such abusive downloading that they erase every single file I've downloaded. SCARY, I KNOW. It's going to be like a rage against the machine, only I play the machine part.

Then the light bulb goes on. A eureka moment! Why not obtain physical (note: original) copies of the movies I've fallen in love with? Why not just buy those movies listed on my 1001 films list? Not only I am combating piracy (I can't believe I'm saying this), but I'm also building a whole new shelf filled with books and movies for myself! Win-win! Then probably save up more than what I'm saving so that I can also buy DVD copies of the TV series I follow! Then I could free ~20GB from deleting Fringe alone. YAY, not obliged anymore to buy a new EHD! Win-win-win.

So for the remaining 51 weeks of this year, I shall be doing this. I may bend some rules along the way, but the goal is to have 52 books and 52 DVD titles by the end of the year. Challenge accepted!

Addendum: The best part? I've spent only Php 145 for today! Bargain!