Reality TV 101 - Surviving the First Day of Class

Slate has an interesting article on the first contestants to be kicked off reality tv shows, and how to avoid being one of them. It features such memorable first boots like Sonja (Survivor 1, too nice) and Nimma (Top Chef 4, too sad sack). Read the article, if it interests you.

Unlike most reality TV, the eliminations in 6-time Emmy Award winning The Amazing Race are not based on votes but on quantifiable merit (i.e., being the last to reach Point B), so the article probably does not apply to it. For me though, the most thankful first elimination occurred in woeful The Amazing Race: Family Edition. To recollect, this was the edition that featured entire family units, and not just pairs, as teams, and among the teams was a seemingly normal young nuclear family, the Black family, with mom and dad and two young children. The Black family also happened to be African-American, the only ones in the race. This could have ensued in a season of really awkward gaffes from the other teams. "The Blacks are gaining on us." "Please don't help the Blacks." "The Blacks cheated, the Blacks cheated, damn those Blacks!" Nonetheless, the Blacks were eliminated in the first leg, saving America from a further widening of its racial divide.

I will never ever appear on a reality tv show, period, for oh so many reasons. But I did dream once that I was a contestant on Survivor. The details of that dream are extremely hazy, so I couldn't be able to tell you a thing I did on that imaginary island. I do remember though the stomach-churning panic I felt during the first elimination vote and on the succeeding votes, mostly as looming assaults on my self-esteem of which I care less during my sentient hours. In the end, I placed fifth, a creditable finish which I took pride in -- by that point I was sufficiently disengaged not to care enough towin.

Mr. Trotsky's Wet Dream

Lalit Kishore Choudhary was the CEO of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, an Italian car parts manufacturer with a plant in Delhi. The firm had earlier dismissed several employees, and last Monday, Choudhary called a meeting with the employees to discuss a possible reinstatement deal. The meeting went sour, and the CEO was clubbed to death by his employees. Reports The Telegraph of Calcutta:

Police sources said the company had asked the 11 employees to come for talks with the chief executive at 11.30am. Around 150 members of the local trade union — Udyog Vihar has an umbrella labour organisation — accompanied them.

Senior superintendent of police (Noida) R.K. Chaturvedi said the simmering tension burst into the open when an overzealous security guard, eager to keep the restive union members at bay, fired in the air.

Those inside Chowdhury’s room took the gunshot as a signal of intimidation and one of them dashed to see what had happened. Seeing him rush out, the waiting union leaders thought the talks had failed.

Around 50 of them, most of them carrying iron rods, hammers and batons, charged into Chowdhury’s chamber and repeatedly struck him on the head. The security guards were overpowered and beaten.

The Calcutta Telegraph adds some graphic context to industrial relations in the Bengal region:

The attack is reminiscent of Bengal’s militant union violence. Several white-collar employees of jute mills have been brutally killed by labourers: some were set on fire, others shot and at least one was thrown into a cauldron of boiling water.

Corporate India was predictably outraged, especially after the Indian Labour Minister failed to denounce the attack and said that it "should serve as a warning to management". Some of the reader comments at the London Times website seem to share the Minister's sentiment:

If they did more of this kind of thing here, CEOs would have to rein in their greed and treat people decently. People don't do things like this unless they have been pushed to the absolute brink. - jgmurphy, Skokie, USA

Ashamed? Those who put capitalism before humanity should be ashamed. - nonya, na, united States

Similar things happened in American history to lead to better workers rights. Bloody Tuesday in San Fransisco in 1907. Teamsters strikes in Minneapolis in 1934. Farmers lynched Judges during the Depression It's been proven over and over again that rights only come after they're fought hard for. - Thomas, Kansas City, MO, USA

The American Revolution was considered a "Criminal act" at the time... Sometimes a revolt like this will even the playing field a bit. CEO's making 300 times the amount of the average worker is damn near criminal. Hell, in a revolution, somebody has got to die. - Travis, Detroit, USA

This is just the beggining. Just wait until the economic depression comes when millions of jobs will be lost. How many CEOs will be murdered then? - Maria, Nairobi, Kenya

Chris from Manchester, England, voices a different perspective:

I wonder if people are missing the point. A man was killed. A father and husband was killed. A waste of life, taken from him by a baying mob. There are ways to deal with conflict, and voiolence is NEVER a way. 

Talk, boycot, strike. Hurt a company by hitting its finances. Not by murdering someone.

McCain Betrays Principles of Iron Eagle

John McCain has suspended his campaign today, ostensibly to deal with the US economic crisis, but as David Letterman described it: "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves..." (More of Letterman's unexpected anti-McCain rant here, courtesy of the New York Times)

Academy Award winner Louis Gossett, Jr., who whipped effette glam metal band King Kobra into a mean killing American machine, must also be disappointed with his fellow fighter pilot hero.  From 1986:

Philippine Government Official Dressed Up Like Hitler

Edu Manzano, Chairperson of the Optical Media Board, which was created via the Optical Media Act of 2003. Photograph is of a promotional poster for Mr. Manzano's newest album, Dancer of the Universe, released in 2008 by Universal Records Inc. Apparently, the same image appears on the cover art of the CD.

It must be said that the above image of Mr. Manzano dressed up like Adolf Hitler was clearly photoshopped, and there is no evidence to suggest that he ever costumed himself in that manner in real-life. Western sensibilities have long cringed at this type of imagery, though locally, the late (and very talented) Ramon Zamora made part of his career exploiting the Hitler persona.

The Reason We Are All Still Alive

Perhaps the panic over the launch of the Large Hadron Collider is not yet mooted. Reported today:

The world's largest particle collider malfunctioned within hours of its launch to great fanfare, but its operator didn't report the problem for a week. 

In a statement Thursday, the European Organization for Nuclear Research reported for the first time that a 30-ton transformer that cools part of the collider broke, forcing physicists to stop using the atom smasher just a day after starting it up last week.

More details from the Associated Press and Yahoo News here. 

New Procedure for Small Claims Cases (Php100,00 or less)

A novel and innovative procedure for resolution of civil cases where the claim does not exceed Php100,000  has just been introduced by the Philippine Supreme Court. A copy of these new rules was published today (18 Sept) in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (p. A21), and they take effect starting October 1. The rules are formally known as "The Rule of Procedure for Small Claims Cases" (A.M. No. 08-8-7-SC)

The most striking feature about these new rules is the virtual exclusion of lawyers in any formal role when it comes to the litigation of small claims cases. The rules specifically provide that "no attorney shall appear in behalf of or represent a party at the hearing, unless the attorney is the plaintiff or defendant". If a party needs assistance in the presentation of her/his claim or defense, the judge may allow another individual who is not a lawyer to assist that party.

The proceedings in small claims cases are fast-tracked. At the onset, the judge will try to get the parties to settle the dispute among themselves. If the parties fail in amicable settlement, the case can be tried and resolved within 1 day. The decision of the trial court judge is final and can no longer be appealed. 

I'll post a link to the Rules once they become online.

6 Arrested for Scalping Ateneo-La Salle Tickets

I didn't know there was a law against scalping tickets. No national law that I know of. But apparently there is a 1997 Quezon City ordinance (No. 493) that criminalizes scalping. After a "buy-bust" operation,  6 persons including an Araneta Coliseum security guard, were arrested by the NBI for selling tickets to the forthcoming Ateneo-La Salle UAAP championship game. From ABS-CBN News:

NBI agents acted as poser-buyers wherein they pretended to buy patron tickets for the La Salle vs. FEU and Ateneo vs. UE games. A certain "Bong" offered the patron tickets originally priced at P250 for P4,000.T

The agent pretended to agree on the said amount and the exchange was set at the LRT Katipunan Station. Recovered were two patron tickets.

After his arrest, a follow-up operation was conducted leading to Bong's source. A certain "Taba" was again arrested for selling another agent Upper Box tickets originally priced at P150 for P700. xxx

Upper Box A tickets priced at P150 were sold for P1,000 while Upper Box B tickets priced at P95 for P500. General Admission tickets priced at P55 were sold for P300.

Free market hawks would probably frown over the notion that scalping is a crime, since the act exhibits the creativity and productivity unleashed by the law of supply and demand and the desire for profit. New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg has defended scalpers, saying "I think the most important thing is they make the tickets available fairly to anyone who gets in line. And then if you buy a ticket and you want to resell it, you know, what's wrong with that." Former New York governor Elliot Spitzer has also observed: "Ticket scalping laws historically have not worked. I think permitting a free market to work its magic there is the smart approach." The libertarian Cato Institute published a paper titled "The Folly of Anti-Scalping Laws" that criticized penal laws against the practice and recommended legalized scalping at the event site. Still, contrary to these arguments is the claim that scalping artificially and excessively inflates market prices.

This is not scalping in the strictest sense, but I remember the protagonist in Krzysztof Kieslowski's White engaging in a money-making scheme that was sort of like scalping (involving land), which earned him a fortune, which he then expended in a scheme to seek vengeance on his wife. Kieslowski's favorite screenwriter, Krzysztof Piesiewicz who also wrote the Three Colors Trilogy and Dekalog, was also a trial lawyer, and I have noticed the special delights set forth by those films for lawyers. 

Survivor Philippines Ep1 - Review

Poor pacing and bad editorial choices made the first episode of Survivor Philippines very very dull.

The episode began with the castaways, deprived of possessions other than the clothes on their backs, cast adrift in the Andaman Sea and made to swim to the island. As they swam, we were shown brief bio clips of the contestants in their daily environs (ala Amazing Race). When all had reached shore, they were segregated into two teams, the women and the men. The teams then competed in a reward challenge -- your typical Survivor obstacle course/jigsaw puzzle -- which the men won. As a reward, the men won equipment to help construct their shelter. The teams then proceeded to their respective camps and went to sleep. End of episode, the immunity challenged is promised for tomorrow.

The biggest mistake of the producers was to assume that we would take much interest in the reward challenge relay, which took up around half of the episode. To begin with, the "challenges" in any Survivor series were hardly interesting, something to fill in the time in between contestants bickering. It is worse when, as in this episode, it is made the focal point of the hour at a stage when we utterly know nothing of the contestants to maintain any rooting interest in who won. Worst, all that time was devoted for a reward challenge for which there was no life-or-death matter at stake that would have gripped this viewer's attention. Worstest, each phase of the challenge was punctuated by a five-minute commercial break, which killed whatever chance there was to maintain a sustained interest in the events. (Although these commercials allowed this viewer to step out for his own Marlboro challenge)

With eighteen contestants competing for airtime in the thirty minutes that remained in the episode, it was difficult for any of them to leave any impression during the first episode. The one character to emerge in Episode 1 was Zita the lavandera, whom I had rashly tagged as the first boot. A grandmother of 12, she displayed surprising physical strength and was the second castaway to swim to the shore after being thrown off the boat. During the pitifully short camp scenes, Zita appeared to be in possession of practical skills that would serve island-dwellers well. She appears poised to take on the Gretchen Cordy-sensible mother role. Add in the fact that she was placed in an all-girl team (probably a less hostile environment for her), and the inherent maternal worship in Filipino culture, she probably won't be voted out for a while.

Of the others, Patani ("ang yaya") seems semi-deluded, but appears to have the requisite island survival skills. Taekwondo coach Veronica barely registered except for the languid yet graceful backstroke she employed to reach the island. Kiko looks like the sort who would naturally emerge in a leadership role, which has its positives and negatives. Emerson strikes as unduly exuberant, someone I'd cringe to be in a social situation with, but hey, if Jason Gainza made it that far in PBB, who knows. And for the few seconds she was featured on-air, Chev frankly scared me with her Mary Cherry face and tone.

My favorite seasons of Survivor U.S. and Amazing Race (both U.S. and Asia) remain their first seasons, where the presentation seems less slick but the relative innocence of the contestants as they sailed through uncharted waters remains fascinating. I still have high hopes for Survivor Philippines, clunky first episode aside. This after all is also the first time for the production crew, and there is room for improvement. I must say that the cinematography is top-notch and the editing is very proficient, better than what Philippine TV normally has to offer.

Senator Pacita Madrigal-Warns (1915-2008)

A paid notice in the Inquirer announces that Sen. Pacita Madrigal Warns Gonzalez, 93, died last Friday. Her place in Philippine history is quite interesting -- she was fancied as a possible presidential candidate in the 1950s -- and its a shame there don't seem to be any newspaper obituaries on her (local media is generally negligent when it comes to obituaries).

Senator Madrigal was the second woman ever elected to the Philippine Senate (after Geronima Pecson). Her path to the Senate was typical, and atypical. She was a daughter of an influential senator and millionaire, Don Vicente Madrigal. She was educated at the Collège Féminin de Bouffemont at Seine, Paris, and at the Powers School in New York. She was married to an executive of the Manila Gas Corporation, and was the proprietor of her own ballet school when in 1953, she gave up her school in order to become the head of the Women for Magsaysay Movement, a key force of support to Ramon Magsaysay during his presidential campaign that year. When Magsaysay was elected President, he rewarded Madrigal with a post in his Cabinet, as Social Welfare Administrator (forerunner of the DSWD). Two years later, she gave up that post to run for the Philippine Senate.

When she was elected to the Senate in 1955 under Magsaysay's Nacionalista Party, not only did she become the first woman to ever top the senatorial elections. According to Time Magazine, she did so with the most number of votes ever garnered by a senatorial candidate up to that time (2,544,716 in all). Time observed then that Madrigal had converted her workers from the Women for Magsaysay into a volunteer social-worker corps, and had campaigned on the slogan "For the poor, vote Pacita for Senator" (probably translated from "Para sa mahirap, iboto si Pacita para Senador".) Historian Lewis Gleeck, Jr. further observes that her electoral success was aided by a campaign was well-financed by her father (who retired from the Senate the same year), and the national exposure she had gained by aiding victims of national disasters as Social Welfare Administrator. (Gleeck, The Third Philippine Republic, p. 175)

Madrigal was only 40 when she became a Senator (or 4 years younger than VP-would be Sarah Palin), and the only woman senator during her congressional service (Pecson having been defeated for re-election). She chaired the Committee on Social Justice, among others. Despite her historic electoral success in 1955, she was defeated for re-election in 1961. Gleeck notes that her massive win in 1955 "made it briefly possible for her to aspire to a presidential nomination" but that her reputation was weighed down by a scandal concerning her term as Social Welfare Administrator. (Gleeck, p. 175) A Supreme Court decision from 1963 provides some details: apparently in 1956, she was charged with misappropriating public funds while she was Administrator. An Inquirer editorial from earlier this year quotes Madrigal as having responded to the charges with the declaration: "Millionaires don't steal." Whatever the truth behind those charges, the scandal, coupled with the Liberal Party's dominance in the 1961 elections, likely doomed Madrigal's re-election, and she garnered about 360,000 less votes than she had obtained six years prior. Madrigal remained active in civic affairs throughout her life.

Had her reputation not been tarnished in the public's eye, Madrigal could conceivably have challenged Carlos P. Garcia for the 1957 or 1961 Nacionalista presidential nomination, and consequently elected as the first female President of the Philippines. She could have possibly become the first democratically-elected female head of state or head of government in the entire world. Had that been, she could have prevented the Marcos era (or the terms of both Macapagals for that matter). That was not to be, and it would be another graduate of a Western finishing school who would become the first woman President of the Philippines in 1986.

Sarah Palin, Barista

"I was at a coffee shop much like Starbucks, but it was called Snyder's (not a real place, as far as I know). I stepped up to the counter to get my coffee, and the barista was Sarah Palin, who used one finger to push the cup toward me, while silently giving me a frank stare. The cup had a red, felt-tip marker taped to the side. I understood all of this to mean that my boss was angry that I was late turning in an assignment, and that I was to write the assignment in red ink, which would indicate to my boss that Sarah Palin was responsible for my getting it done.

Incidentally, even though the coffee shop was called Snyder's, Ms. Palin was wearing a green apron with the Starbucks logo, which I understood to be the Snyder's employees' way of protesting a takeover attempt by Starbucks."

This, and more dreams (and nightmares) by Americans about the 45th President of the United States, Ms. Sarah Palin, solicited by the folks from Slate. 

• Your Dreams (and Nightmares) About Sarah Palin -- Slate

Bonus quote: "According to Kelly Bulkeley, author of American Dreamers: What Dreams Tell Us About the Political Psychology of Conservatives, Liberals, and Everyone Else,"conservatives tend to recall fewer dreams, and they take less interest in the subject than do liberals." Didn't know that. Explains some. 

In Exultation of Bacon (the food)

Bacon. Yum yum yum. You can never go wrong with bacon. I rarely eat the stuff nowadays and usually do so at Teriyaki Boy, the Asupara Bacon Maki. Bacon made asparagus delicious. The miracle of bacon.

My favorite bacon is the King Sue Hickory Smoked brand. It bears a rustic wood-fire flavor that makes your taste buds dance rings around the rosie. Hickory-smoked is ok too. So is Canadian. Shakey's used to have this thick-crust pizza with Canadian bacon embedded in multiple layers of cheese, topped with tomato slices. Bacon. Cheese. Tomato. A triparty medley of tasty.

I discovered the versatility of bacon through the bacon omelette they served at CASAA at UP. Never advertised in the menu, ordered under the counter, only 15 pesos. The bacon was minced, then fried at the grill, then when browned, mixed into the egg which was then fried on the grease. Soon, I'd add my own variants -- diced cheese for example, later oregano and basil. Great with rice moreso than bread -- you can also make bacon rice. Don't know if they still serve that at CASAA. So easy to cook.

Bacon, like pork, can be bad for you, especially in excess. You can Google up the health risks, but that is not the purpose of this post. Bacon and spring onions -- workable, suprisingly.

Update on that 'Best Burger in the Philippines'

A while back, I wrote about Bread N' Bites, a restaurant in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya which was said to make better burgers than Jollibee by Insight Guides: Philippines (p. 374), a well-known guidebook co-published by Discovery Channels. Since then, more info (and photos) have emerged on the internets about this somewhat enigmatic establishment, which hitherto barely had any web presence. Courtesy of just a glimpse & more, we learn that Bread N' Bites is a bakeshop owned by the Manalo family, with branches in Solano, Bambang and Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

Their burgers (pictured here) look intriguing. The buns come from the bakeshop itself and are topped with black sesame seeds. It appears that the bacon-wrapped burger is the house specialty, and that the bacon is especially exceptional. That is a promising sign.

As any avid viewer of Top Chef knows, bacon just makes everything better. During my extremely unhealthy college days, I would lightly fry minced bacon in butter, mix the bacon up with ground beef, and grill the patties on the bacon grease/butter. I'd top it off with a heavy cream-worcestershire sauce-grated cheese mixture which I'd mix with the remaining buttered grease. I can attest to the superb flavors of that wholly invented recipe, even though I shall never never eat that dish again.

It would take extremely fortuitous circumstances for me to be actually able to try Bread N' Bites burgers, but I'd like to hear more reactions from Nueva Vizcayans or other off-the-beaten-path travellers who have tasted those burgers. If these are truly hidden gems, it may be time for them to emerge.

Survivor Philippines -- Predictions (No Spoilers)

The 18 castaways for Survivor Philippines has been revealed. Thankfully, I don't know any of these people. First airing on Monday, 15 September. Unless GMA re-airs the episodes over the weekend, I probably won't be able to periodically blog about the show, since chances are I will not be home in time for the Monday night telecasts.

Anyway, based only on these fleeting descriptions of the castaways plus their screenshots, here is my fearless forecast of the bootlist:

18. Zita

17. Kaye

16. Gigit

15. Kiko

14. Cris

13. Marlon

12. Nina

11. Vevherly

10. Chev

9. Veronica

8. Rob

7. Jace

6. JC

5. John

4. Emerson

3. Nikki

2. Charisse

Sole Survivor: Patani

Live-Blogging the End of the World (kuno)

The end of the world may be upon us in 30 minutes (3pm, Manila time), if we were to trust in the prescience of the doomsayers who claim that the start-up of the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva will be the end of us. The Large Hadron Collider will be smashing together protons at super-fast speed in order to unlock many long-shielded mysteries of the universe. Critics have warned that the experiment will create mini-black holes that will essentially disintegrate the earth. Every credible scientific organization has reassured that the LHC will do no such thing, but still...

Why live-blog? This is the sort of event that warrants some form of commemorative exercise, but which is not serious enough suffer through the embarrassment of calling together your friends and family for one final group hug.

I'll be online for around 2 hours at least. If we all are still there, I have to rush off to the hospital to attend to a sick relative.

2:48. Am I being too blase? If this were the end of my life alone, I'd be freaking out, tearing hairs, inhaling all kinds of smoke. But in this scenario, everybody kicks the bucket, and that is somehow more comforting to me. Something like that old saying, "It's not enough that I succeed, all my friends must fail as well."

Slate explains in graphic detail how exactly will the black hole kill us.

2:53. I settled on the BBC as the channel of choice these last few minutes. The Beeb has been reassuringly silent about our impending doom. During the Cold War, the BBC had planned to broadcast The Sound of Music should the U.K. be sieged with a nuclear attack. If the BBC suddenly switches over to a Viennese pastoral scene and an insane nun turning round and round, we know what that means.

3:00. BBC reports that it begins at 3:30. So I started thirty minutes too early.

3:04. Stephen Hawking interviewed on BBC, reassuring all of us in that inimitable voice of his that we are all safe. Somehow, I'm not wholly reassured.

3:08. For about a minute or so, CNN could not get in touch with its Geneva correspondent for her on-the-scene report. The touch of concern on the CNN anchor's voice as he tried to reach the Geneva reporter leads me to surmise that he too wondered whether the end of the world had begun.

3:15. News.com.au is also live-blogging the LHC event at Twitter. It links to a report from India that people are flocking to temples in fear of the experiment. In contrast, the LHC event has received absolutely no attention from the Philippine mainstream media. If the world comes to an end because of the LHC, it is further proof that Philippine mainstream media kinda sucks.

3:22. Studio 23 has a live broadcast of the NCAA Cheerleading Competitions, now featuring Perpetual. The cheerleaders, the fans, oblivious to it all. There are many worst places to be at the end of life than at a cheerleading competition.

3:25. I guess, before the end, its worth dashing off one final haiku. Here goes. "Trans-fats in the end/Proved to be an utterly/ludicrous worry."

3:30. Interview with a scientist on BBC who says the experiment will take 2 hours to complete. Right now, I am wishing for a 24-hour tabloid news channel, whose anchors will basically be freaking out right now.

If local TV were covering this event as a live-end-of-the-world thing, expect a live mass and rosary.

3:38. It begins, and my fingers remain chubby.

3:42. Scientist on BBC claims that the LHC event may be aptly compared to landing man on the moon. Somewhere in the United States, Neil Armstrong is firing a gun at his television set.

3:46. College of Saint Benilde wins 2nd-runner up in the 2008 NCAA Cheerleading Competition.

3:51. Thirteen minutes in, and I still exist. Will step out the house a while to test whether my lungs still exist.

3:59. I still feel sympathetic towards those doomsayers who filed the lawsuit to stop the LHC experiment. Surely, they had the best of motives

4:07. I first heard of the Supercollider experiment on Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing, Episode 59, Dead Irish Writers. A terminally-ill professor (Hector Eliozondo) lobbies Josh, his former student, to convince a Senator to stop blocking funds for the Supercollider. It ends with some big speech about discovery being the fundamental mandate of humans. Hector Eliozondo makes things better, he's like Ajinomoto that way.

4:22. Looks like we humans get to slog on for at least another day. Stay tuned for further LHC updates, but this is the end of the live-blog for now. Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.

Humankind's Apotheosis -- Frankenstein's Fatty Molecules

Aptly sneaking in just before the end of the world and existence today at 3pm (Manila time), the news that puny humans are on the verge of bestowing life on non-living matter. The precis:

[A] lab led by Jack Szostak, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, is building simple cell models that can almost be called life.

Szostak's protocells are built from fatty molecules that can trap bits of nucleic acids that contain the source code for replication. Combined with a process that harnesses external energy from the sun or chemical reactions, they could form a self-replicating, evolving system that satisfies the conditions of life, but isn't anything like life on earth now, but might represent life as it began or could exist elsewhere in the universe.

Full write-up, from Wired, available here.

Inquirer Leaks Result of 1st Leg, Amazing Race Asia 3

Glaring proof that the Philippine Daily Inquirer, its embrace of VDO and bloggers aside, remains a vanguard of the old-school mainstream media: its failure to comprehend the meaning of "spoiler alert".

The Amazing Race Asia 3 is set to premiere on AXN this Thursday, 11 September. Quite unforgivably, Inquirer.net today posted a story that reveals the placement of the only Philippine team in competition (dating couple Tisha Silang and Geoff Rodriguez). Even worse, the headline of the story itself reveals the placing of Silang-Rodriguez, so if you innocently wandered about the Inquirer website, you will be spoiled as to the result even against your will. The story also reveals which team places first during the first leg of TARA3.

The Inquirer reports that it received an "exclusive screening" at its offices of the first episode. Such "exclusive screening" of the first few episodes of a new series is SOP in the States, so that their television critics may be able to pen a more colorful and comprehensive review of the new show shortly before it airs. The American media though has been prudent enough not to publish any of the results pre-airtime, in order not to spoil the readers. And most certainly would they not reveal such results pre-airtime in the headline.

I'll not speak for the producers of TARA 3 as to what possible reaction/response they may have to this premature leak by the PDI. But as a viewer, I'm somewhat pissed at the PDI, and I hope they do not receive any more "exclusive screenings" of anything.

Click here if you want to read the Inquirer story, but as the Inquirer would not say, you are duly warned (SPOILER ALERT).

The McCain/Obama-Southeast Asian Connection

Interesting fact: John McCain and Barack Obama both "resided" in Southeast Asia for a few years beginning in the late 1960s. As is well known, McCain was captured by the North Vietnamese and detained in Vietnam as a prisoner-of-war from 1967 until 1973. Also in 1967, Obama, then 6, moved to Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather and lived there until 1971. Obviously vastly different circumstances, but no doubt that McCain and Obama's extended Southeast Asian stay was integral in the formation of their character. Both of them have referred to those years -- Barack writes about his Indonesian experience in Dreams of My Father, while McCain's P.O.W. status has been indispensable to his political identity.

McCain was a captive of the Communist government of North Vietnam. Young Barack likewise lived under authoritarian rule, that of Suharto, who rose to power through a very bloody purge of Communists in Indonesian society. Barack was perhaps too young to have internalized in any meaningful way the Suharto dictatorship and I have yet to find an example where Obama has explicitly referred to that experience. It is intriguing nonetheless that both major U.S. presidential candidates have spent a number of years living under authoritarian rule, and either would be the first U.S. President to have done so since Herbert Hoover, who lived in China for around two years during the Manchu rule and had survived the Boxer Rebellion.

What about a McCain/Obama-Philippine connection? There could very well be, albeit through another episode from their lives. As an Air Force pilot stationed in Vietnam, McCain ostensibly could have frequented Clark Air Base for some R&R, and there may very well be some old-timers in Angeles who might remember Johnny McCain. It was also in Clark where McCain first landed upon his release from captivity in 1973. As for Obama, he was born in Hawaii and finished his primary and secondary education in Honolulu. Hawaii has an especially high Filipino migrant population, and it is likely that teenaged Barack encountered Filipinos on a daily basis. One of the starters of the high school basketball team for which Obama played was Filipino. Who knows, he may have even gone on dates with Filipinas.

I'll not delve into the possible policy implications to a President McCain or a President Obama of their previous interrelations with Southeast Asian and Filipino cultures. But those personal encounters would be difficult to ignore for either of them as they chart policy or make decisions concerning this corner of the world.

Using Google Chrome - First Impressions

Last night I installed Chrome, Google's new web browser, and have been using it for a few hours. Some initial thoughts.

It is a very speedy browser, at least as fast as Firefox. I had configured Chrome to open 7 different tabbed pages upon startup, and all these pages loaded within seconds. I have yet to encounter a page which didn't load within 7 seconds or less when opened in Chrome. 

I like its minimalist aesthetic (though not so much its default blueish color scheme). The tabs are at the top of the page, and that takes some getting used to -- instead of switching over to a different tab, I'd end up pressing one of the bookmark bar buttons. I was also able to customize the bookmark bar to accomodate 30 bookmarks, and it is convenient to have those sites immediately accessible. 

One bug I noticed: I tried playing a YouTube video and the audio was missing. The same was true with another flash video which I played in a different tab. I closed the browser and restarted it, and tried to play the same video. This time, it worked.

You'll find tons of information online about Google Chrome -- its features, its ups and downs -- so I need not go prophet-mode here. I've not fully explored what Chrome can do, but my first impressions are generally positive.

What Americans Should Ask Themselves About Sarah Palin

If John McCain died or was incapacitated during the campaign, would it be acceptable for Sarah Palin to become the Republican nominee for President of the United States? Or should the Republicans draft someone else like Mitt Romney in McCain's stead?

The 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines

Posting without comment:

Boxing champion Manny Pacquiao on Monday said he is retiring from the ring next year and will be running again for public office in the 2010 elections.

“Sigurado na, na tatakbo ako [It is sure, I am running],” said Pacquiao at Camp Crame, headquarters of the Philippine National Police, where he was sworn in as member of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi, Partner of the Free Filipino), by Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who is also president of the party founded by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

...Puno said although there is no decision yet on what position Pacquiao will run for, “malaki ang maitutulong niya kung tatakbo siya bilang [he will be a great help if he runs for] congressman or as a local government official.”

From a story now on Inquirer.net.