Peter and Peggy
I really think there's some backstory between these two. They have to know each other from before, although I can't figure out where. Him coming to her house is very familiar, even in a misogynistic, 1960s executive privilege way. I suppose it could be part of his master plan to inveigle himself into power over Don Draper, and buttering up the secretary is a good entrance point, but Peggy--despite overtly emulating Joan on her first day--really doesn't seem like that kind of desperate pushover. Besides, the way Pete confides in her and defends her... I get that we only see a few snapshots of office life over the course of almost a year, but still... I wonder all kinds of things, like if Peggy and Pete never even thought they could get married to each other and gave up. Like how he might have met a girl living in Brooklyn. Like is he the one who got her the job, or the interview, or pointed her to Sterling Cooper in the first place?

Joan and Peggy
I really don't think Joan hates Peggy, and I really do think Peggy feels sorry for Joan. I just don't think Joan was expecting a girl who didn't play by the secretary pool rules to advance, or stick with it despite being ostracized. Or that someone who came from secretary school would be talented. Joan, after all, is the one who went to college. I wonder sometimes if Joan suspected anything at all about Peggy being pregnant. How could she miss it? Then again, how often does she spend time with actual pregnant females? That junior exec with the eyeglasses and the wife at the phone company seems to be the rare fellow with a wife who works. I'm positive that no pregnant girls were hanging around in most secretarial pools or at college. She probably interpreted Peggy's weight gain as a response to her own style of man-agement.

For all the snittiness and remarks about Peggy's failures of secretarial efficiency, once Peggy is actually promoted and Joan is seeing her into her new office, I didn't really get a nasty vibe from her about it. I didn't exactly see that Don was promoting Peggy for her skills or encouraging her beyond his own need for an ad campaign (although perhaps that is exactly how a women would want to be treated by a coworker, if not a mentor), and Joan could have picked up on Peggy being used as a pawn in some game between men--a game that Peggy was unaware of or else ignoring. But once it's official--once Peggy has a job title and an office--Joan seems quite matter of fact about it. She is hardly warm and gushing, but that last scene, where she makes the remark about being nice to the girls, seems like advice and not criticism. It is good advice. The people who have the best support staff get ahead in their professional and personal lives.

Joan in General
Joan. I adore Joan. True, she was sneering and condescending to Peggy, but I really didn't see her as a bitch in general, even though the men referred to her that way that one time. And although she tells all the girls, one assumes, that they need to use sex to please their employers, I don't really see her doing that herself. True, she's had an affair with that single junior executive guy and she's sleeping with Roger, but those seem like personal things. I just don't get the idea that she rose to the managing/oversight position she's in by sleeping to the top. I think she felt affection for the ad guy when she was younger, and that Roger noticed her AFTER she was put in charge of the women. I don't know either that she's looking for a husband. She is a presence absolutely integral to the success of this business. That is, she might want a husband, but she isn't sticking around hoping one shows up at work. In fact, I can see it being a job she is reluctant to leave, even if marriage and motherhood appealed to her as much. When she shows up in the middle of the night to help Cooper with his telegrams, that is as much a call to duty as wanting to be as close to Roger or news of Roger as she can hope to be.

Joan is such a presence, and she was even identified (by Mrs. Roger?) as a good match, at least visually, for Don Draper, that I think she's serving as the female equivalent of his character. First of all, when her roommate confesses her love for Joan, Joan goes completely blank. I can't decide if it is insulting to her roommate to pretend that nothing happened or that it was just the tired and frustrated talking, or that it was the most graceful reaction possible. I honestly don't think that Joan had a framework for responding to that kind of confession. Everyone at the office had to be looking the other way regarding Salvatore, but he came with a whole bag of excuses (Italian being the main one, as a generally outrageous people, right?). What is Joan supposed to do, really? She has a roommate who pays the bills and who is clean. Why alienate her? And when has Joan ever participated in or read about frank conversations about sexual orientation? Besides, Joan has a night on the town planned and the city is quite possibly the most important relationship in her life. She needs a companion to go with her and she has no other female friends. It may be cruel to ignore that the roommate is a lesbian, but on the other hand there are no ugly comments about unnatural and perverted desires.

Of course, you could interpret the unattractive and brutish louts that come back to the apartment a purposeful act of punishment. Are we really supposed to believe that those are the only guys Joan could find to exploit? Yeah, yeah, she's older and the roommate is gloomy and the goal is to get money out of men rather than flirt, but really.

I think the most important thing Joan said about herself was that the "city is everything." I hope to see more of that in season 2. I really do. If she's DD2, and has no real human attachments, I wonder if she will be able to forge them and I wonder if an ability to do so (or not) will become a female thing or a youth thing or a childhood trauma thing.

Don and Women
So much of what I have to say about Don and women is unoriginal and already addressed by the program, often not very subtly. But the person I think gets the shortest shrift of all the shrifts is Midge. She gets classed unfavorably as kind of a whore, as a bohemian, and as a hypocrite. But you know what? She is a freelance artist working and supporting herself. If men are buying her things, they are televisions and wigs. She's not getting rent money. She makes demands of him just like he makes demands of her. And when she actually refuses to leave it all behind to go with him to Paris on a moment's notice, he has the nerve to get pissed.

I know, I know--he's pissed in a psychological transference way. Midge also sort of does an uncomfortable thing and takes his check. I wish she hadn't, but it's unrealistic, probably, that she would give it back. She might never cash it, or she might save it, but it's really just the sort of thing she does with men. She accepts their impromptu gifts. I love that she treats Don in the end like just another man, and in many ways he is just another man. He can't imagine a woman's plans to be as important as his whims. I am very pleased when Rachel sticks it to him when he makes the same bizarre request of her. He really does think she'll drop her responsibilities to follow an irresponsible man.

I don't want to get into what he thinks of Betty. I think he does respect her, and I think the fact that he calls her psychologist says more about the psychologist than him. The doctor, after all, gave him a phone number and a list of best times to chat. And Don needs to chat as badly as anyone else. I do think he would have gone along with Betty working, even if he didn't believe that she could restart her modeling career and even if they weren't both pretending that the Coca Cola thing was an authentic offer. Betty's the one who talks herself out of that. Which brings me to...

Betty
I can't figure out just what kind of piece of work Betty is. Is she really that focused on looks? Or are those things she just says about her daughter to get reactions? The first time, when she was going on and on about the theoretical scar that could have wrecked her daughter's life, I really think she was saying something more and more outrageous just so Don would agree to let her go to a psychologist. When she was complaining about how her daughter looked in the family pictures, I think she was trying to get at other things that had bothered her that afternoon, like her husband's failure to be present even though he's the reason she had to drag her family out to the stupid city in the first place. For all that we hear her discuss her daughter's looks with other people, I don't remember an instance where she turned any kind of criticism on the girl herself (key words being "I don't remember"). When you hear about some of the things that she claims her mother told her, I can understand why Betty would be pondering the looks of girls and of women but she's keeping it under control.

I really hope we don't see an alcoholic Betty next season. Maybe I was getting too sensitive, but the glasses of wine really started adding up.

Salvatore
Obviously closeted, but I don't think he's in denial. He knows exactly who he is and what he wants, but he doesn't want to risk his position. When he is asked by the salesman, "What are you afraid of?" and answers, "Are you joking?" he is referring to how his career could be ruined by the discovery of his secret. The salesman can love and leave but Salvatore is the one who has to live among the people he works with. If he wants to break off on his own and start his own company, he can't have this following him around. You can argue about whether or not this is a mature or shallow or shameful repression, but I don't think it's an unknowing one.

In Conclusion, and Henceforth
I have said far too much about a show for a girl that can't name scenes and cite actual quotations, and now suddenly there's a flashing message on this website telling me that I do not have permission to do that. Huh. You can bet I'll be copying and pasting this post elsewhere until I figure this out. I wonder if someone is trying to hack me. I would be flattered. Maybe I've exceeded a word limit.

Maybe it's a sign that the terrorists have won.

"I'm talking to myself and not to him...... but only on my own."

Just a little observation of their behavior, we could learn valuable lessons about life and how we must handle some situations in our lives.

If A Dog Were Your Teacher!

You would learn stuff like...

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.
Let others know when they've invaded your territory.
Take naps and stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting, when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout - run right back and make friends.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you're not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
And MOST of all...
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently. -- Author Unknown

Kandong ko ang daigdig by Iwel

Well, that’s the question I have asked myself today upon reading the local newspaper. Please do not think that I am just wasting my money for nothing. That I am spending left and right and so now, I am questioning my spending activities.

NOPE! The answer is a definite No. As a matter of fact, both you and me are losing money for nothing. And that is all because of the bastard called "Inflation."

There is no need for me to define what inflation means but I can assure you, it is a phenomenon that eats something out of your earnings and it does nothing but just eat part of your earnings for nothing. LOL

Going back to what I have JUST read in the paper, The Arab News reported that inflation for May is 10.4 percent, A BIT LOWER compared to 10.5 % last April this year, the highest in 30 years. "The rental index which includes rents, fuel and water soared 18.5% while food and beverage costs rose by 11.51 with other goods and services increased by 11.9%." (Data from the Economy and Planning Ministry)

On the other end of the globe where most of my earnings go, the Philippines, the inflation rate is still running at a nine year high of 9.6 percent in May.

Using my simple mathematics, the total inflation I have to deal with is 10% (10.4 % + 9.6 %/2). This could be interpreted as:

For every USD100.00 I earned, the actual value now is only USD90.00 or 10 percent less of its actual value.

or;

For every goods or services worth USD100.00 before, it will cost me USD110.00 now or 10 percent more (10.4 percent for me here and 9.6 percent for my family back home).

Inflation also extends to whatever investment I may have. Meaning, for every cents I earned plus the principal amount I invested, the value of which now is effectively reduced by 10 percent as well.

Added to inflation is the fake appreciation of the Peso against the US dollar, which in reality is useless (as far as I am concerned) because the purchasing power of the Peso has not increased. Perhaps this is the reason why there was a huge increase in remittances by fellow OFW’s and I could imagine how hard an OFW scratches his/her head every time the wife, the children or the parent asks for additional money to cope with rising prices.

How to beat inflation to avoid losing money for nothing is the question that I will be asking myself in the coming days.

For now the biggest question of all is "Do I have the brain to do that?" LOL

1. How to cook

2. How to eat healthy

3. How to fix up your house

4. How to sell your house

5. What myths in this world are true and what are false

6. World history

7. Animal facts

8. How to exercise properly

9. Different cultures and accents

10. Modern hairstyles and clothing in various cultures

11. How to survive if you are lost somewhere remote

12. Craft projects

That is just a few off the top of my head. The question remains. What shows are people watching where you can NOT learn something? There is something to learn in every part of our daily lives.

if you could
then you would

if we could
then we would

if i could
if you could
if we could
then we should

wala lang. ha ha ha

The Real Life Misfortunes of a No-Disaster-Preparedness-Plan-Scenario

The Kingdom mourns!!!  The Princess is Dead!!!  The Princess is Dead!!!  Hear!!!  Hear!!!  Princess is Dead!!!

(Jesus [f_g] Christ, it's really terrible.  When the bandillero shouts his tonsils off, it really gets to me!)

A lot of ships big and small went down, including Her Highness, The Princess.  Yes,  my dear subjects, the Princess is Dead!!!  The Princess' au pair in Show Business' Best Love Team, was seen by paparazzi with another lady!

(Again, Jesus [f_g s_t] Christ! Each time the tsismis queens bawl their larynxes to kingdom come, I want to smash the idiot box with a hammer and ax!)

All told, more than a thousand people are either accounted for as dead, or missing. More painful, that one. Not knowing whether your loved one is alive, dead or totally eaten by sharks, or osterized to the smallest pieces by the elements.

According to Mr. Jimmy Gil (Live) over DZBB, he rode Princess of the Orient once and many months later, the Princess was properly seduced to dive into the ocean.  And the Princess died, along with her passengers and a number of the crews in September 18, 1998.  Out of 49 major marine mishaps that occurred since 1980, five major ones involved Suspicious Lines floating assets (Jimmy Gil [Live]'s term, not mine).  Of course, the latest was MV Princess of the Stars that sank near Romblon on Sunday, according to a media research group.  (Don't make me mention their name, hummph!  The enemy is listening.)

The biggest maritime tragedy in the world in peace time is Suspicious Lines' MV Doña Paz' collision with MT Vector.  This happened earlier, December 20, 1987.  From official reports, the number of casualties was a low 1,856, but investigations bear out that the extremely overpregnant Doña led 4,000 people to their deaths.  Not yet one year after the super pregnant Doña killed about 4,000 humans and liberated their spirits, October 24, 1988, MV Doña Marilyn, again of Suspicious Lines, ferried people to their deaths to destination Tacloban City. Nearly a hundred souls were freed from living flesh to join the spirit world.  Then of course, MV Princess of the Orient that released 70 spirits to either heaven or hell at a spot beside Fortune Island, Batangas Province.  Relatives searched for eighty loved ones, but these unfortunate ones were never ever found.  Up to this date?  Perhaps.  Or else, we would have heard of them in the news.  Again in 2005, at the onset of rains on the 7th of July 200 spirits would have been liberated from the flesh of humans being ferried by MV Princess of the World if the fire on board that floating asset had not been killed in the vicinity of the Zamboanga peninsula.  Five major disasters at sea.  All because Suspicious Lines made them, or helped make them happen.  How patently paralyzing is that?  On Sunday, June 22, 2008 in only  one storm, several ships, plus Suspicious' Princess, were seduced by the demons in the water.  All of them dived.  Nearly two hundred from the small boats are still missing as this blog is being written.  More from the Princess.  Some inside the Princess' belly.

All these frolicking ships and small boats, are a nuisance.  They tend to diminish life and undervalue property.  (Fucking major understatement of the year!)

And then there is the lack of a proper Disaster Preparedness Master Plan for the country.

It is hard to fault the NDCC.  They are of course, doing their jobs in the way they know best.

Without a Master Plan, there are no established parameters and criteria for damage and casualty preemption.

In short, no way Jose, can government actually see the loopholes and literal holes in Princesses and Doñas before they are sent swimming into the high seas.  No way will  government be able to indoctrinate these bruhas not to cavort with syokoys so they will not dive into the ocean.  Specially because they are carrying so many flesh-and-blood humans on their backs?

Perhaps, the country management team with Madame President at the helm, should apply the appropriate response to Arch Bishop Angel Lagdameo's and his errand boy Rev. Fr. Quito Rio's unsolicited advice:  Attend to the disasters in the country  instead of going into ... errr... lavish errr.... in the US.

Well the fuck with the Arch (Enemigo) Bishop and The Most Rev. (ellious) Quito Rio.  They should have taught the proper morals, virtues, values and dogma to the parents of Princess Stariray, Princess Orientalia, Princess Worlda, Doña Paz, Doña Marilyn,  as well as instructed the Princesses and Doñas themselves as to the righteousness of succumbing to the seductions of the syokoys and diving into the deep without nary a Princess' or a Doña's fashion life jacket.

Years ago, hey!  calling Madame President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the US!  errr....  years ago, there was this Department of National Defense (DND) concept paper for a disaster SQL software based (geographic information system format, dummy!) databasing, monitoring and response system.

The concept paper called for the establishment of a GIS for the NDCC, but one that will also have applications for logistics management within the department.  It was supposed to be satellite dependent.

But fools will always be fools.  And they will never really understand the  importance of true preparedness vs. a disaster.  Anyway, the calamity hasn't arrived yet at the time and did not pose any clear and present, very imminent hazard.  The dearie foremost or former (deposed) Pres. Erap, bought several big TV screens and that was that.  The Presidents  before him were worse.  They ignored the calls.

A few big screens for a command and control, communications and intelligence for disaster?  Shit, Mr. Erap, disaster management is not show biz.  Well, at least there was fanfare.  How one wishes, the present and the coming new president will learn to be technologically and technically literate.  Shit!

Anyhow, these people's folly is not any different from the stupid flood management experts in Mississippi who by their incompetence Louisiana nearly got erased from the map from super flash floods that hit that part of the US a couple of years ago.  Only Bourbon Street in New Orleans appear to have been spared.  (Devils living in the Street detest water, I guess.)  Now we are reeling from the wake of Typhoon Franky.

Now the peril has expressed itself succinctly.  There is no way around the truth that gradually we will have the magnitude of kids (killed-in-disaster, you moron), that was seen in the Thailand - Indonesia - Bangladeshi  tsunami tragedy, the recent China earthquake, and other super incidents where hundreds of thousands of spirits were released from their bodies.

Now agencies are holding meetings, so many of them.  Boards of Inquiries, Task Forces, you're shitting me dears!  You're totally shitting me!  When will it ever go into your heads to attack the problem now than later?

The Inquiries and Task Forces are good, I grant you that.  But the long-term solutions still need to be put in place.  Damn you!  Damn all of you!!!

A motley of experts were able to gather nearly twenty agencies in 1992 at the Camp Aguinaldo Officers' Club to present and discuss the need for better disaster monitoring and warning systems.

Again, the good intentions and the capacity of the experts to provide strategic solutions to disaster emergency response and casualty prevention merely produced ennui among the superiors of the attendees of the presentation conference.  Instead, the inter-agency NDCC tried to improvise and make pitsi-pitsi solutions on its own and called it a successful programme... errrr … imitation movie.

Shit!

So now, we're headed for the pits.  And no one can stop the diving of Princesses and Doñas into the ocean.

No one cares.  Absolutely, making money is nice.  But it is sad, that no one fucking cares about longer-term responses to our age-old problems.

With global warming to boot, indeed, we are not far from social loss in the magnitude of hundreds of thousands.  Eventually, a million.  Then multi-millions.  Just because corruption and graft, collusion and dark machinations for self-aggrandizement, while dangerous and life-threatening for the purveyors and the victims, is so much sweeter.

What happened here, Franky?  Pray tell, when you and your ilk will stop bothering us so that our stupid, fucking high hats and leaders will be able to keep on stealing from the national coffers and their counterparts in the private sector will also get filthy rich(er), As Time Goes By.

Stop your cousins Franky!!!  Stop your brothers and sisters!!!  Go to other places!!!  Not here in the Philippines!!!  Fuck global warming!!!  Fuck increased tropical rainfalls and stronger typhoons!!!

It's party time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Break it down!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YEAH!!!!

--------------------------------

Hey, you truly miss the point.  I'm a writer of satire.  Actually now, I'm particularly angry.  If the conservatively dashing Mr. Go Sioc So or Mr. Edward Go of Suspicious Lines happens to pass me by at this time, I'll take a huge bamboo pole and stick it to his ass!!!  And acupuncture his penis with chopsticks!!!

Oooomph!!!  Good!!!  God!  I'd be better soon...

Most people who passed by, seeing his clean appearance thought (???) he snapped, lost it and gone nuts. Some even dared to tell him “Man, you are crazy!" He shouted back, “No Way!”

Some people took pity on him, others presumed he is hungry, gave him food. He refused and said, “I am not hungry! Can't you see, I am not begging for food!”

An old woman in faded jeans and shirt came by, offered him money. He took the money but he threw it away and said, "I don’t need your money! I’ve got more than you probably have."

Seeing what he did with the money that she gave him, she got mad, kicked him and said, "You idiot!" The kick, like a guided missile landed hard on the man’s butt.

When the old woman is about to go away, he called her. The old woman turned to him and screamed, "What now, you *@#!?"

His hands extended, he said, "Thank you ma’m. That’s a good kick. It hurts though but nevertheless, it was great. That was the help I needed. Now, I can go and face my wife! But hey, let me tell you, I am not an idiot."

"Oh boy you must be moving fast like Superman before my estranged daughter finds out you are here!", then she left.

It is the time to wake up for DAWN itself or else we won't be seeing dawn again; a complete darkness.

Yes, it feels good because I still do not need that much amount of zinc to help my brain remember those words and non-sense I scribbled on that piece of bond paper which I titled The List. It was a long list that contained everything that I said I would finish all at one time in the first two months of the year. It was my attempt of sort to set a world record. LOL

Here are some (or few) of them.

Finish writing that book! (i've got the balls you know...)

. . . not knowing that in the absence of these other colors, there wouldn't be a profound beauty called rainbow.

Complete my sketch book and the Kartoon series.
Make a lot of money from stock investment!!!
Play tennis everyday.
Vacation, three times a year.
Work less.
Sleep more.
Be irresponsible.
Be crazy.
And the long list goes on.

Because my time seems so short (always) and I am blessed with only two hands, and since the period for my attempt for a world record is way beyond already (malapit na ulit ang Pasko), those that will never happen within this year kahit sooner or later pa are stricken out.

The List looks like this now. It is much better than before I guess... ha ha ha.

Finish writing that book.
Complete my sketch book and Kartoon series.
Make a hell of money from stock investment.
Play tennis everyday.
Vacation, three times a year.
Work less.
Sleep more.
Be irresponsible
Be crazy!..!
And the long list goes on.

It looks like I failed but you know what, I am still happy. As you can see I am making progress in one of the items in The List.

Now, more or less, You know who I am. Really, It's Not Easy to be me.

With that I am leaving you this song. Happy weekend everyone.

It's Not Easy
by Five for fighting

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of me

I'm more than a bird:I'm more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It's not easy to be me

Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I'll never see

It may sound absurd:but don't be naive
Even Heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed:but won't you concede
Even Heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me

Up, up and away:away from me
It's all right:You can all sleep sound tonight
I'm not crazy:or anything:

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees

I'm only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me

It's not easy to be me.

The idea of midsummer night is timelessly romantic (not in the sexual sense) and I have a small portion of desire to stay up through the 6 dark hours and wait for dawn. What I would do in those hours I'm not sure, probably cross stitch and watch the idiot box. Have people stopped using the phrase 'idiot box' since tvs became flat screen? I'll have to do a survey.

I am surprised so I checked. but as far as I am concerned, there is no extra-ordinary thing there. The post as always, just contained crazy thoughts of mine.

But then, when I was almost at the bottom, I  wondered why I wrote a long response to a simple question made by a commenter who simply asked where I am based right now? and he wants to join my blogroll (san ka ba based ngayon? gusto ko ring sumali sa blogroll mo ah).

What's peculiar about this is that most of the time I do not comment on most comments here (sorry for that) but this one, na-engaged ako. lol

Here:

myepinoy says, I am based in the land of oil, camel and the desert.

with regards to joining my blogroll, please be informed that you do your “due diligence” first so you will not be surprised with the loads. If you are really interested, I require a front-end fee plus a monthly management fee and other fees that may, from time to time be charged to maintain the viability and liquidity of this blog. ha ha ha.

I am just kidding, you know that. However, if you wish to do so, why not? who am I to refuse? Many bloggers accept pennies as payment for the Adsense they placed on their blogs. Just because they heard someone making money in blogging, many thought they too can have their ticket to buy a house or a car.

What they do not understand is that they are the ones giving billion dollar income for free to Google and that they do not realize that it is a 99.999% : 0.001% deal. Please check how much the earnings and the cash Google is seating on right now.

Sorry napahaba. ha ha ha.

What is so engaging about that simple question puzzles me and likewise "that thing" that got people interested to visit that post makes me wonder. Bakit kaya?

Gary and I recently attended the house warming party of our friends, Robert and Alfredo, in San Francisco.  I immediately was drawn to their front room where their big plasma HDTV TV sat.  I am hoping to get one this summer.

Robert put on the musical, Hairspray, that he recorded from one of his premium cable channels.  That movie has a lot of colors so it showed off the TV's capabilities very well. 

I saw the movie in the theatre when it came out.  I enjoyed it. John Travolta and Christopher Walken were great!  I loved when they did that duet together as Edna and Wilbur Turnblad.  Although, Robert was more critical of Travolta's performance.  Okay, let me get back to point.

The HDTV experience mesmerized me.  It was LOVE at first resolution line.  First, the vivid, clarity against the pronounced black hues brought the colors out so well.  It was like the screen was dipped in a bowl full of Disney and Pixar. It was beautiful.

The colors were dancing in my eyes.  I was lost to this new dream world. The Idiot Box just got charming.

My world of pure sensation was interrupted but some chatter.  That kind of chatter that had that tinge of high pitch nasal sound that came with critical disdain. The kind my aunties would get when they talked about the newly new divorced neighbor lady who lived next door to my grandmother's house, every time she brought a new man home.

The chatter was coming out from the mouth of Alfredo and out of the mouth of his friend, Antonio. They were running down the movie and pointing out a lot of negative aspects.  Not exactly.  They were running down the hairstyles, make up and clothes in the movie.   

Before I go on,  Alfredo just completed his first semester in cosmetology school so of course he is now a fashion and style expert.   Apparently,  HDTV just brought all of his skill sets to the surface.  He noticed every bad wig line, every make up imperfection.  Every wrinkle line. I mean EVERY wrinkle line.  

From what he and Antonio were saying, you would think we were watching a horror movie!  Alfredo made Michelle Pfeiffer sound like a skinny, wrinkled ghoul. I looked at her through lenses of HDTV.  I did see wrinkles.  OMG!  There were a lot! 

I started seeing pimples and other things on the other actors' faces. The clarity of HDTV made everything look a lot more fake.  Everyone aged a decade or two.

As I was about to fall into despair thinking that HDTV will take away the fantasy out of TV.  That it will take away all the impossible perfected images we see portrayed in TV that I  love;  and that it make these gods and goddesses of the small screen  seem... well....ordinary...like me..  Yes, just as the tube was about to burn out in my mind,   Alfredo said , with the finesse of Joan Rivers, "They are coming up with special make up for HDTV."  

Hope rose in my heart.  I leaned over to Gary. I am getting one of those HDTV's before the end of the summer.  Only bigger.

How about you?

Right. Oh and then of course there's football nightly now! We've all been watching football with German or French commentary here, although "bien jouer!" very much sums up what I can make up. It means good play, lah. -_-

The song's nothing special, just thought the lead singer sounds incredibly like Emil Chau! :D

Back to pottering about my luggage. Tchüss!

Many years ago, during the early days of the dot.com boom, one customer came in and opened an investment management account with me to trade in U.S. stock market . Like most investors then, he had a good stride and made a lot of money. Trading in U.S. stock market was just like picking money every night where amateurs become instant pro.

And again, just like the rest of them, he continued to add more securities to his portfolio despite the fact that Allan Greenspan had been warning everyone that the U.S. stock market was inflated or overvalued and sooner or later the bubble would burst.

We may call that striking the rod while it is hot, greed or the kick that one gets from making quick money but just like bad times and everything else, good times must also end. And so the bubble burst and everyone was caught including my so-called extraordinary customer, leaving him with big losses. The big ones he owned made a free fall (more than half the price) while most of his dot com companies went chapter 11 and never got out from it (chapter 11) which were eventually declared as worthless and were all deleted from his portfolio. Yes, they do that in U.S. stock market folks.

For the past several years and until recently, even without doing any trades, he never failed to call me everyday at 9:00 am or at 2:pm (it was only me that he would talk to, another peculiar thing that he does ) with the same set of questions that he asked many times before (and perhaps tomorrow) and as always in the same order.

Mr. Roy (the easiest way for him to say my name, I guess.)
What is the market (NASDAQ and NYSE), up or down?
What is the market indication, up or down? Any news?
How much is Brent oil (BRT-)?
How much is West Texas oil (WTC-)?
How much is Gold (XAU-)?

And the last and the most intriguing of all his questions, “Is there any U.S. Holiday today, tomorrow or next week?” (This is the reason why i coined the name Mr. Holiday.)

Two days ago, I was surprised. I heard nothing from this extra-ordinary customer of mine. [And mind you, when you get used to something, you get surprised in the absence of it or not doing it.]

And so, I decided to look for him in our customer lounge. I found his buddy and asked him. “Where is my number 1 customer (Mr. Holiday)?”

His answer, “He is on a Holiday.”

Looking back I realized that there are so many annoying things and people in this world which you can not stand but as time goes by and you came to know that you have no other option but to live with it, you learn to accept them as they are and that makes things and people less annoying.

In Tagalog, ikaw ay isa ng manhid. LOL. joke laang.

Happy and great weekend everyone.

The Musik Sunday, 15 June 2008 3 pm - 4 pm
ARY Digital Sunday, 15 June 2008 3 pm - 4 pm
ATV Sunday, 15 June 2008 2 pm - 3 pm
Geo Sunday, 15 June 2008 2 pm - 3 pm
AAG Sunday, 15 June 2008 2 pm - 3 pm
TV One Sunday, 15 June 2008 5 pm - 6 pm
MTV Sunday, 15 June 2008 3 pm - 4 pm
Channel G Sunday, 15 June 2008 12 pm - 1 pm
Play TV Sunday, 15 June 2008 2 pm - 3 pm
HUM Sunday, 15 June 2008 between 2 pm - 4 pm

or you can go to www.cokestudio.com.pk and download pictures, videos and most amazingly Audio and cherish the experience.

Final note, It was MAGICAL! I have never seen something like this before.

For those people with great command and knowledge of English, they would say that it must be "Who Are you?." Well then fine.

What got me thinking after I put down the phone was the question "Who is you?" or rather "Who are you?" Why is it that "You" always uses "are" as the verb?

Here is my absurd analysis. only if you care to know my incongruous idea of things.

Well, it could be that being YOU could be a person but that person is not really one and could be many. Like one day or everyday you could be a clown, the next day you are someone else because you wear a mask – the mask of Zorro, the mask of X-men and what have you. In a minute you are as honest and faithful like one of the saints and in few seconds you are as sinful and as hypocrite as anybody else. To put it simply, you are a man that could be good and evil or in between in just a matter of seconds inside a single body. In short, there are many persons inside "YOU" although you are seen as a single person.

Remember Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from the classic novel of Robert L. Stevenson? Dr Jekyll was an idealist who was annoyed by the constant presence of the tension between good and evil that is inside of him. Because of his desire to separate that (Dr. Jekyll could have pure motives that will never be tempted towards evil while Mr. Hyde could pursue bad works), he sought science to achieve what he wanted.

As he puts it:

that I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man.

even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both.

If each, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil. It was the curse of mankind that these incongruous fagots were thus bound together.

He did succeed in separating the two but never perfected what he dreamed of; Mr.Hyde was pure evil, Dr. Jekyll never became pure good. He is in the same mix as he was before.

I guess, (my wildest guess ever) when the time comes that all human beings become himself, a pure evil or pure good, then that is the time we could ask the question, "Who is You?" or perhaps we could ask Mary Reilly instead. (Ano sa tingin mo?)

For now, I would say, “Who are you?” and “Who are I?” (Ngek!!! matulog na kaya ako. lol)

"The medical community agrees that exposure to violence is irreparably harmful to kids," declares PTC President, Tim Winter.

In spite of the fact the industry has been policing the Television airwaves by virtue of a ratings system, Mr. Winter claims that the actual V-Chip, as he calls it, is failing.

The Federal Communications Commission may crack down.

On the House side, a Telecommunications subcommittee previously scheduled a full hearing on the issues to review images kids are prone to catch on the small screen, in addition to programs featuring violence, and depictions of smoking.

Senator Jay Rockefeller noted,

“The industry will not stop showing violent content because it is so cheap to produce and incredibly profitable. To be blunt, the big media companies have placed a greater emphasis on their corporate short term profits than on long term health and well being of our children,” Rockefeller said.

“I reject the notion that television merely reflects our society. I believe that television can and should be a positive force.”

“For the sake of our children and grandchildren, we have a moral obligation to tackle television violence and arm our parents with the tools to make their children safer,” Rockefeller said, “Doing nothing is not an option.”

The Senator is likely to introduce his long-awaited bill giving the FCC the authority to regulate TV violence, though its prospects would not appear to be great given the difficulty in defining TV violence and a Federal Court's recent decision calling into question the FCC's enforcement of indecency policies.

The FCC's profanity rulings against Fox have been thrown out and its "fleeting expletives" policy as currently defended found to be "arbitrary and capricious" by a federal court.

The court said the FCC's "fleeting expletives" policy did not pass muster because the commission had failed to "articulate a reasoned bias for its change in policy."

"We are very pleased with the court's decision and continue to believe that government regulation of content serves no purpose other than to chill artistic expression in violation of the First Amendment," said Fox in a statement.

"Viewers should be allowed to determine for themselves and their families, through the many parental control technologies available, what is appropriate viewing for their home."

The commission can now appeal the the decision to the full court - it was heard by a three-judge panel - appeal it directly to the Supreme Court, or take another pass at trying to justify the policy.

While the court did not take up the constitutional issues as part of its decision, it spent several pages ruminating on how difficult it would be for the FCC to make its policy pass the First Amendment smell test.

In effect, the court made the decision narrow, but its opinion on the issue was broad.

For example, it cited Supreme Court precedent that broadcast media content regulation is subject to less judicial scrutiny than cable or satellite because of its uniquely pervasive character, an argument the networks said has outlived the reality of a crowded media marketplace.

The court said in the face of that precedent it could not change that policy.

"Nevertheless," it added, "we would be remiss not to observe that it is increasingly difficult to describe the broadcast media as uniquely pervasive and uniquely accessible to children, and at some point in the future, strict scrutiny may properly apply in the context of regulating broadcast television."

Here's what's on for the rest of this week on all your beloved Television Sets! --Check out Austin City Limits!!

Thursday, July 17:

NBC: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno: Coldplay
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Justin Timberlake, Cool Kids
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Dr. Dog
SUNDANCE: Live From Abbey Road: Hard-Fi

Friday, July 18:

ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Minus the Bear

Saturday, July 19:

***PBS: Austin City Limits: Death Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket (rerun)
FOX: Fearless Music TV: Silent Years, Made out of Babies, Anna Ternheim