I Know Evidence

. . . and I am NOT taking the goddam course again!

I rock.

MJ, HOF'er

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MJ's old college team, North Carolina, won its 5th NCAA title earlier today against Magic's alma mater Michigan State.

Magic-Bird, 30 Years Later

Greetings to All Alsallites!

It's your day, today!

/dev/null

I just realized that it is rather difficult to think of anything to write, the day after you tried, and failed, to recall and write down fifteen different conflict rules. Verbatim.

The Final Set Outtakes

The last time I saw a clueless entertainer get booed off his ass was when Carlos Agassi tried to rap during halftime of an Ateneo-La Salle game. So, I was not really surprised when a good number of the over 100,000 people at the MOA concert grounds let MTV VJs have it. Moreso after Anne Curtis confessed to being excited to hear "Tindahan ni Aling Nene." WTF.

Posers come in all shapes and sizes. Tim Yap, the self-proclaimed eventologist, exposed himself as a total poser when Ely Buendia put him on the spot at the end of the show and he promptly showed everybody that he has absolutely no idea how to sing Toyang correctly.

In One Sky So High

Come and take a sip from the cup as the drink makes you think
Don't blink cuz you'll be taken out by the pen and ink
Superproxy, why don't you just talk to me
My rhyme be stickin to ya head like epoxy
The Mouth'll be blabbin, never be backstabbin
Hangin w/the E-heads and I'm just plain havin
FUN, no time for gats and guns,
I use my m.i.c. like a gun I get the job done
I play video games all day
Zipadee-dooda Zipadee-day Hiphop Hooray!
Menage one, Menage Trois, Menage Three
If songs were pets then I'd have a menagerie
Chimney-chimney Humpty Dumpty
Grab on the m.i.c. start gettin funky
Funky with the flavor that you savor, imitator
I'm the flavor of the hour other MC's I devour
I'll be with Raymund, Buddy, Marcus, and Ely
I'm on their case just like Petrocelli
Ultraelectromagnetic Hiphop and ya don't
Stop and ya don't quit WORD-UP!
Lap it up like a pussy sippin on milk
Rock hard to my style that's smooth as silk
Superproxy why don't ya just talk to me....tooot...static

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+ RIP FrancisM

Ministerial Duty

“The President just exercised her authority, and for that matter, you might call it ministerial authority, to grant executive clemency. So I don’t think there’s anything else to explain.”

- legal genius Eduardo Ermita, Executive Secretary, Banana Republic

I guess this means that convicts who comply with "the criteria" can now file petitions for mandamus to compel the President to grant them executive clemency. What a nublet.

Amnesia

Last night, I listened to, most probably, the most sensible statement Kris Aquino has ever made in her life. I don't really pay attention to what she is saying most of the time, but given the significance of the events that transpired yesterday, I thought the country needed to hear from Kris - the daughter - what most of us wanted to say.


"Pinatay nila si Ninoy Aquino."

Heroes Super Bowl Ad

23 Years Ago

Say you want a revolution
We better get on right away
Well you get on your feet
And out on the street

- John Lennon, Power to the People

Sloth

But taken from me was this drowsiness
Suddenly by a people, that behind
Our backs already had come round to us.

And as, of old, Ismenus and Asopus
Beside them saw at night the rush and throng,
If but the Thebans were in need of Bacchus,

So they along that circle curve their step,
From what I saw of those approaching us,
Who by good-will and righteous love are ridden.

Full soon they were upon us, because running
Moved onward all that mighty multitude,
And two in the advance cried out, lamenting,

"Mary in haste unto the mountain ran,
And Caesar, that he might subdue Ilerda,
Thrust at Marseilles, and then ran into Spain."

- Dante, Purgatorio, Canto XVIII

Last Saturday, after the last "t" was crossed and the last "i" was dotted (oh, that is so overused), after the last presumption of good faith was written down, I submitted my blue book and immediately stopped thinking about the Rules of Court. (Can you believe it?) In my own worst-case scenario, it won't be until June when I have to reread them all over again. I went home, picked Weng up, had Korean food at Rockwell, and watched the best film that I have ever seen in years. (I suggest that you all go watch Gran Torino. Now.)

(The new blue book is very much thicker than the old one. I have no idea why they had to do that, since for four years and for more than 30 courses, my answers have managed to exceed the number of pages of the old blue book only once. ONCE. In that one time, I wrote on a grand total of two pages of the second blue book. By the way, did I mention that we only write on one side of the blue book?)

The school holiday today couldn't have been more perfectly timed. After that already very delayed exam last Saturday, I had absolutely no intention of reading anything involving a petitioner anytime soon. So, I watched the Jazz beat the Hornets yesterday morning and played Madden 09 all afternoon. Last night, I watched Warrick Brown get shot and Jack Bauer get arrested. All guilt-free. Having no more Nego for all remaining Tuesdays of the semester doesn't hurt either. Of course, I am totally sticking my head in the sand, and disregarding that big stack of paper on the floor for Wednesday and Thursday. If you're familiar with SC rates and you're good at math, that stack of paper is worth about Php300 from Blessings Copy Center. Come on, go figure.

I brought with me a couple of those cases to work today, but I have already realized that I was just kidding myself when I picked them up from the floor this morning. Maybe Juris and Prudence would have better luck tonight.

One Love

Any Given Sunday

When I left the land of the free and the home of the brave, I told my family and friends that I'd miss football and driving on the interstate the most. I was right on both counts. After growing up in a country where basketball is practically a religion, and after being a fan of Michael Jordan and the Bulls long before I lived anywhere near I-90, you would wonder why I ended up watching more Bears games than Bulls games live.

Of course, it was difficult (to say the least) to get Bulls tickets in 1998 - the last year of the great Bulls run, but then again, it was fairly easy to score a pair after that. While the Tim Floyd era was mostly forgettable, the Bears, during that time, didn't exactly manage to conjure Super Bowl images in your head.

I usually drove from the NW suburb where I lived to the loop and parked near the Metra station, where every game day buses are available to take people to Soldier Field. Now, watching a Bears game at Soldier Field is something that you can experience in not too many places on Earth. The NFL's regular season is played from September to December. Soldier Field is an open air stadium. Sitting on Lake Michigan. When the wind blows in from the lake, on any given December Sunday, in the Windy City, you can bet your freezing ass you will feel it.

The last time I watched the Super Bowl live (on TV, I am not that blessed) was in 2000. I was in the Twin Cities with friends from Chicago, ready to drive back home after helping one of our friends move. That night, we watched Kurt Warner lead the St. Louis Rams over the Tennessee Titans. I don't remember the score anymore, but I remember the Rams winning it after a Titan fell short of the endzone in the dying seconds of the game. Before that season, Kurt Warner, who led this season's NFC champions to the Super Bowl, played in NFL Europe, and Arena Football. Before that, he was stocking shelves at Hy-Vee.

So, last Monday, I watched the Super Bowl live on TV for the first time in 9 long years. While in the previous years, I had to be satisfied with replays on primetime, after following the game during the day on ESPN.com, I decided to take a leave from work that day and watch football instead. I figured that that would be a lot easier to do than getting a car (much less driving in anything resembling an interstate in this country). One out of two ain't that bad at all.

Fanboys

牛

Ox ba tayo d'yan?

From the "Things That Make You Go Hmm" Department

"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history."

- Barack Obama, President, United States

"First of all, our President is ahead of Obama and probably, I would think that if there's anything to be learned, it should be President Obama learning from President Arroyo."

- Eduardo Ermita, Executive Secretary, Banana Republic

Pop Machine

Ten Years Ago

On January 13, 1999 (CST), Michael Jordan's retirement news conference was broadcast to the world. On that day, the game's greatest player announced he was done (until 2001).

I still remember having lunch with friends, on that cold Chicago day 10 years ago, in a pub along State St. (I probably had fish and chips), and we were wondering what the man standing outside the window next to us was looking at. (We later figured out that the pub had its speakers outside on, and he was watching the press conference as well.)

It Never Ends

Yes. The Reunion Concert DVD will be released soon.

Yes. There will be a "Final Set."

Ligaya.