01/28/09 - "Classic" Pictures

Photographs from the pre-digital era.

01/25/09 - Tine

Pahinga muna pagkatapos ng badminton.

01/23-24/09 - CIQ

Walking towards Mucho's.

Some pictures of co-workers at the office, and the after-shift gimmick at Mucho's.

Tsismis (a.k.a Excerpts of an earnings call transcript for Marvel Entertainment.)

The following is part of Marvel Studios Chairman David Maisel's MD&A for the 2nd quarter of 2008.  Old news, really.  But not many know about it.

Most importantly, it is the start of a major new franchise for Marvel that will be a key part of our operations for many years to come. The Incredible Hulk has now reached nearly $246 million in worldwide box office, ranking it as one of the top 10 films of the year. Our rendition of the Hulk has been extremely well-received by movie-goers and has reignited excitement for our Hulk character worldwide. We look forward to the DVD releases of both films this fall and the added support and exposure they will give to the branded consumer products efforts as well.

Both of these films have expanded the Marvel brand within the minds of consumers worldwide and have set the stage for Marvel Studio’s future activities, including Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, and The Avengers. While we are hard at work on all four films and pleased with our development and progress to date for these films that are scheduled for 2010 and 2011, we will not today make any comments on creative or talent decisions. As these decisions are formalized in the coming weeks and months, we will announce them publicly.

Why I can not fully support the Palestinian cause

          This illustration pretty much sums up what I observe is happening whenever Palestinian and Israeli forces engage each other in combat.  I'm no fan of the IDF - the Israeli Defense Forces (who can be pretty ruthless), but unless Palestinian militants stop hiding behind their own civilians, then I will never fully support the cause that they claim to espouse.

          In every pro-Palestinian web page I view, most of the pictures include civilians who were killed during Israeli military strikes against Palestinian territory.  While I do not doubt that many Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israelis, what I find unacceptable is the way these web pages are completely silent about the way Palestinian militants fire rockets on Israeli civilian neighborhoods, and then subsequently hide in their own civilian neighborhoods when the IDF pursues them to retaliate.  They hide in places where women and children are located, and complain loudly to the international media when these same women and children are killed alongside their comrades-in-arms.

          And it's not just the militants.  I've never encountered a Palestinian civilian - in person or online - who did not pledge their hearts and their will to the destruction of the state of Israel.  They willingly shelter Palestinian militants even though Israel consistently announces that any civilian who does so will be considered hostile by the IDF. 

          Now, being a civilian myself, I certainly know how it feels to be supportive of one country's own armed forces.  If this country ever goes to war against another, say China, I think I would also shelter AFP soldiers if the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is pursuing them here in Batasan Hills.  (Heck, I might even throw a rock or two against advancing PLA soldiers...if I still have my cojones when that time comes.)    But if my whole family dies because my home, where AFP soldiers are holed up, received multiple direct hits from PLA artillery fire, I'm not gonna do a Palestinian and denounce the injustice of the PLA killing civilians.  I'll be angry, yes, but I'm not going to be a bleeding victim.

Oh yeah

I'm now officially in a relationship.

A new girlfriend on my birthday.  How awesome is that?

Forever Illegitimate

THIS entry should have been entitled "Random Discovery #6", but I realized that this thought has been floating randomly in my mind since law school days so it does not really count as a discovery.  I watched this report on TV that talked about illegitimate children, and the topic for this entry came up in my mind.

Do you know that there are such people as forever illegitimate children from married parents?  What I mean is, these children have parents who are married to each other, but for some specific legal reason, they are still considered illegitimate. 

Here's how such a thing could happen in the Philippines:

When unmarried Mr. X has sexual intercourse with unmarried Miss Y, they produce an illegitimate offspring who can be subsequently legitimated upon the marriage of Mr. X and Miss Y.  Unfortunately, this process of legitimation does not apply when one or both parties are already married to different people at the time that the sexual intercourse took place - even when one or both of the pre-existing marriages is later on declared void or annulled by a court. 

This was the legal quandary Sharon Cuneta found herself in when she discovered (presumably much to her chagrin) that she could never be legitimated even after her father, the late Pasay City Mayor Pablo Cuneta, married her mother.  Apparently, Ate Shawie was conceived at a time when the late Mayor was still married to someone else.

 

 

 

 

 

Why Conrado De Quiros Rocks

It is quips like this that make pundits like Conrado De Quiros the opinion writer of choice of many (emphasis and italics mine):

          "...And Nograles is of course the House speaker who became so by mounting the dangerous political intrigue of ousting Jose de Venecia upon the bidding of Malacañng.  If I recall right, until it happened, he and his backer Mikey Arroyo (he is the Tonto to his Lone Ranger, and though Mikey neither looks lone nor a ranger, Prospero looks every bit Tonto) were calling the plot pure speculation and devoid of factual basis..."

Smart and hilarious. 









article source: PDI, 01/15/2009
photo credit: http://kapirasongkritika.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/dequiros.jpg

Today

New job.

New environment.

New bosses.

New colleagues.

And the hottest girl in the office is chummy with me.

There is justice in the world.

01/03/09 - Psych Block Reunion

The Fort and Bonifacio High Street, Taguig

01/02/09 - At the Cemetery

Flores family at the Loyola Memorial Park. Took photos of the surroundings.