curious time to write a blog entry.
i'm sitting here with my fingers tapping the keys with a law journal, a codal, the constitution, several websites on law idle on my browser, and a lot of scratch paper strewn throughout the room. ok, only two scratch papers. and they’re on my desk.
i paused to keep my brain from short circuiting. i am writing a paper (due monday, ganda lang…) about pinoy literary writers, blogging, and jus vindicandi. don’t ask about the last element of that series. not now.*
i previously entertained a lot of potential topics to write about, and was pretty excited about the prospects i had, when i stumbled upon the most basic of all questions when writing a paper: is it a research problem? imagine the horror when the basic question became the rhetorical question. with the answer an obvious, big, fat NO. panic.
a series of consultations later (read: one), i was pointed the way out of “that-is-not-a-research-problem” shit-hole. so, here i am tapping the keys. but i had to stop again. right in the middle of writing it. well, actually, i’m in the middle of re-imagining it than writing it.
it is always fun, though not productive, to re-imagine things just when you’re right smack in the middle of actually doing other things. the “other things” being the more urgent. my wife can write a short story in the middle of writing a chapter of her thesis due the following day. i can pull off a wicked trade coup in nba 2k7 in the middle of writing a paper on landscape painting and another on a respected sculptor. it’s no comparison, i know, but zip it. just zip it.
i had to re-imagine it because i realized my direction takes the paper a bit out of the ambit of the course. it is beginning to look more like a paper for a course i will be taking some two semesters from now. so before i go any further, and suffer any more damages (real or imagined), i had to stop. and re-imagine how to write this. and i think i know how to write this. operational word being “think”, not “write”. panic.
---
*don’t you just hate the third element of any three-element series, the one that leaves you scratching your head and saying “come again?”
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
my nba teams for next season
i've made up my mind: houston rockets. the clincher: rick adelman.
it was recently announced that rick adelman is bringing the high octane, big-man-passing, motion offense to yao ming, tracy mcgrady, and the houston rockets, a complete turnaround for the team that relied on set plays and a stingy defense.
admittedly, i lost interest in the nba after adelman and his staff was fired unceremoniously by sacramento. i enjoyed watching adelman's portland team (led by clyde drexler) when i was younger, only because everyone was pro-michael jordan. after the team was dismantled, i didn't watch an nba game for years. until i watched the sacramento kings and their fluid, passing, motion offense. it was basketball in its purest form: teamwork is norm, one-one-one is a last resort. so un-nba. so un-superstar player-centric. kahit may superstars sila. only then did i realize that the team i liked watching was coached and managed by the same guys who ran the drexler-led blazers.
since then, i was a fan of both geoff petrie, who knows how to find quality talent (recent find: kevin martin and cisco garcia), and rick adelman, who knows how to make players mesh and play as one (though vlade divac played a huge role in sacramento's famed chemistry).
so it broke my basketball heart when rick was removed. i only, fleetingly, followed the kings season because i still believed in geoff petrie's management skills. and good thing the owners now backed off in the coaching search, after the musselman experiment failed (miserably i might add). i'll still follow sacramento and see where they go with a coach that petrie himself selects.
but this news that rick adelman is coaching again is the kicker for me. i like the rockets because of yao ming and shane battier. now, i'll be sticking to this team because my favorite nba coach is back in the sidelines. i hope he brings in pete carril back too.
trust me, houston will be fun to watch next year. watch the point guard pass to yao at the high post. watch the point guard and probably t-mac cut to the basket. watch the weak side and backdoor cutters. watch yao pass to any of those cutters. then watch the cutters pass to the wing shooters. watch until they find the open man inside or outside.
just watch the ball move. a lot.
---
coincidentally, i recently traded mike bibby and brad miller to houston for yao ming in my xbox game (84% winning percentage, and 3 straight titles, with the 4th coming up! i'm playing 8-minute quarters on superstar level... and i'm switching to hall-of-fame difficulty soon).
hmm... i must have espn or something...
it was recently announced that rick adelman is bringing the high octane, big-man-passing, motion offense to yao ming, tracy mcgrady, and the houston rockets, a complete turnaround for the team that relied on set plays and a stingy defense.
admittedly, i lost interest in the nba after adelman and his staff was fired unceremoniously by sacramento. i enjoyed watching adelman's portland team (led by clyde drexler) when i was younger, only because everyone was pro-michael jordan. after the team was dismantled, i didn't watch an nba game for years. until i watched the sacramento kings and their fluid, passing, motion offense. it was basketball in its purest form: teamwork is norm, one-one-one is a last resort. so un-nba. so un-superstar player-centric. kahit may superstars sila. only then did i realize that the team i liked watching was coached and managed by the same guys who ran the drexler-led blazers.
since then, i was a fan of both geoff petrie, who knows how to find quality talent (recent find: kevin martin and cisco garcia), and rick adelman, who knows how to make players mesh and play as one (though vlade divac played a huge role in sacramento's famed chemistry).
so it broke my basketball heart when rick was removed. i only, fleetingly, followed the kings season because i still believed in geoff petrie's management skills. and good thing the owners now backed off in the coaching search, after the musselman experiment failed (miserably i might add). i'll still follow sacramento and see where they go with a coach that petrie himself selects.
but this news that rick adelman is coaching again is the kicker for me. i like the rockets because of yao ming and shane battier. now, i'll be sticking to this team because my favorite nba coach is back in the sidelines. i hope he brings in pete carril back too.
trust me, houston will be fun to watch next year. watch the point guard pass to yao at the high post. watch the point guard and probably t-mac cut to the basket. watch the weak side and backdoor cutters. watch yao pass to any of those cutters. then watch the cutters pass to the wing shooters. watch until they find the open man inside or outside.
just watch the ball move. a lot.
---
coincidentally, i recently traded mike bibby and brad miller to houston for yao ming in my xbox game (84% winning percentage, and 3 straight titles, with the 4th coming up! i'm playing 8-minute quarters on superstar level... and i'm switching to hall-of-fame difficulty soon).
hmm... i must have espn or something...
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
question
"does a dyslexic atheist believe in dog?"
hehe. lalang. that was a line from csi las vegas. spoken by liev shrieber's character, keppler.
hehe. lalang. that was a line from csi las vegas. spoken by liev shrieber's character, keppler.
Monday, May 21, 2007
the joker!
my favorite online movie mag--empireonline--recently broke the news that the first official photo of the joker (heath ledger) from next year's dark knight is now out!
wasak si ledger as the joker! i am officially all riled up!
the photo is actually the third in a series of preliminary promotional gimmicks. the first is a teaser page. the second is a fictional campaign site for harvey dent.
the third is a vandalized version of the second, and this was the gimmick: you receive coordinates after you input your email address, etc. in the site; the coordinates correspond to nine sections of the vandalized site, and when clicked on, the picture underneath is revealed. and the picture was recently revealed.
and voila, meet the joker! wazzak!
wasak si ledger as the joker! i am officially all riled up!
the photo is actually the third in a series of preliminary promotional gimmicks. the first is a teaser page. the second is a fictional campaign site for harvey dent.
the third is a vandalized version of the second, and this was the gimmick: you receive coordinates after you input your email address, etc. in the site; the coordinates correspond to nine sections of the vandalized site, and when clicked on, the picture underneath is revealed. and the picture was recently revealed.
and voila, meet the joker! wazzak!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
world book day!
is not today, but on the 23rd of april. i just found out today that there is such a thing as world book day. we don't celebrate it here in this book-hating, tv-loving land of ours under the sun, but the rest of the world does. sad.
anyway, i got a message from one of my egroups that while april 23 is world book day, the philippine celebration is today, april 21. the institution that celebrates it here is the instituto cervantes, and they have loads of activities lined up from 10 am to 11 pm.
according to their website, manila.cervantes.es, some of the activities include:
- an open house of the institute
- a sale of 4000 brand new books at token price, a Book Market they call it
- free jazz shows (woe is me with two tone-deaf ears...)
- free salsa and Latin dance classes (woe is me with two left feet...)
- a Spanish food fair (anybody cutting costs on food? come on down!)
- La Mancha wine and cheese tasting (mmm...)
story goes that this world book day affair has its origins in catalonia, spain, where on st. george's day (04/23), men and women exchange a rose for a book. in 1995, unesco declared april 23 world book day after much prodding from spain and a host of other countries. so when you buy a book in instituto's Market today, you will get a rose too. neat idea, this book-for-a-rose thing (now why do i hear seal singing his song about a rose, a kiss, and what-not?).
the news release also says that april 23 is the date of birth or death of many writers, such as miguel de cervantes, william shakespeare, inca garcilaso de la vega, maurice druon, halldór laxness, vladimir nabokov, josep pla, and manuel mejía vallejo. i got a little curious, and i checked out wikipedia.com and below are some writers who were born or who died on what we now celebrate as world book day:
*(d) is death, (b) is birth
cervantes (d, 1616) - spanish; novelist, playwright, poet
shakespeare (d, 1616) - english; poet, playwright
dela vega (d, 1616) - peruvian; poet, writer on the subject of incas
*hey look, they died on the same year! not necessarily on the same day though, because of the julian and gregorian calendar thing. the wikipedia entry notes that under the julian calendar, the bard died on april 23, but under the gregorian calendar, he died on may 3
druon (b, 1918) - french; novelist
laxness (b, 1902) - icelandic; novelist, nobel prize winner 1955
pla (d, 1981) - spanish; journalist
georg fabricius (b, 1516) - german; poet
avram davidson (b, 1923) - american; fantasy, scifi, crime
ngaio marsh (b, 1895) - new zealand; detective [she was also into theater]
pascal quignard (b, 1948) - french; novelist, screenwriter
pierre labrie (b, 1972) - quebecois; poet
william wordsworth (d, 1850) - english; poet
jules-amédée barbey d'aurevilly (d, 1889) - french; novelist, short story writer
rupert chawner brooke (d, 1915) - english; poet
teresa de la parra (d, 1936) - venezuelan; novelist
pamela lyndon travers (d, 1996) - australian; author or mary poppins
vladimir nabokov (b, 1899) was, for a time, thought to have been born on april 23 1899. according to him, he was really born april 22.
on a final note, april 23 is also german beer day. wasak! inom tayo on world book day!
anyway, i got a message from one of my egroups that while april 23 is world book day, the philippine celebration is today, april 21. the institution that celebrates it here is the instituto cervantes, and they have loads of activities lined up from 10 am to 11 pm.
according to their website, manila.cervantes.es, some of the activities include:
- an open house of the institute
- a sale of 4000 brand new books at token price, a Book Market they call it
- free jazz shows (woe is me with two tone-deaf ears...)
- free salsa and Latin dance classes (woe is me with two left feet...)
- a Spanish food fair (anybody cutting costs on food? come on down!)
- La Mancha wine and cheese tasting (mmm...)
story goes that this world book day affair has its origins in catalonia, spain, where on st. george's day (04/23), men and women exchange a rose for a book. in 1995, unesco declared april 23 world book day after much prodding from spain and a host of other countries. so when you buy a book in instituto's Market today, you will get a rose too. neat idea, this book-for-a-rose thing (now why do i hear seal singing his song about a rose, a kiss, and what-not?).
the news release also says that april 23 is the date of birth or death of many writers, such as miguel de cervantes, william shakespeare, inca garcilaso de la vega, maurice druon, halldór laxness, vladimir nabokov, josep pla, and manuel mejía vallejo. i got a little curious, and i checked out wikipedia.com and below are some writers who were born or who died on what we now celebrate as world book day:
*(d) is death, (b) is birth
cervantes (d, 1616) - spanish; novelist, playwright, poet
shakespeare (d, 1616) - english; poet, playwright
dela vega (d, 1616) - peruvian; poet, writer on the subject of incas
*hey look, they died on the same year! not necessarily on the same day though, because of the julian and gregorian calendar thing. the wikipedia entry notes that under the julian calendar, the bard died on april 23, but under the gregorian calendar, he died on may 3
druon (b, 1918) - french; novelist
laxness (b, 1902) - icelandic; novelist, nobel prize winner 1955
pla (d, 1981) - spanish; journalist
georg fabricius (b, 1516) - german; poet
avram davidson (b, 1923) - american; fantasy, scifi, crime
ngaio marsh (b, 1895) - new zealand; detective [she was also into theater]
pascal quignard (b, 1948) - french; novelist, screenwriter
pierre labrie (b, 1972) - quebecois; poet
william wordsworth (d, 1850) - english; poet
jules-amédée barbey d'aurevilly (d, 1889) - french; novelist, short story writer
rupert chawner brooke (d, 1915) - english; poet
teresa de la parra (d, 1936) - venezuelan; novelist
pamela lyndon travers (d, 1996) - australian; author or mary poppins
vladimir nabokov (b, 1899) was, for a time, thought to have been born on april 23 1899. according to him, he was really born april 22.
on a final note, april 23 is also german beer day. wasak! inom tayo on world book day!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
finally got tagged
1. One book that changed your life. does a law book count? they’re really changing my life right now…
2. One book you have read more than once. does a law book count? (if this is a pattern the rest of the way, i fear for my life…)
3. One book you would want on a desert island. probably war and peace
4. One book that made you laugh. three: the gunseller by hugh laurie, making history by stephen fry, the road to mars by eric idle (hmm, they’re all british...)
5. One book that made you cry. painting history: revisions in philippine colonial art by my thesis adviser patrick flores, just because it is sooo hard to read. i know someone who went to and stayed in baguio alone for one week just to read it from cover to cover. my thesis, whenever i get back to it, is not about painting, but i feel this book can help me sort things out better. i think i’ll go to baguio too.
6. One book you wish had been written. a brave, humorous, satirical take on any part of our history from the minor characters’ point of view. which is what daryll’s cousin is doing right now. can’t wait!
7. One book you wish had never been written. any tv/movie spinoff. the translation to print is always awful. oh, and the da vinci code. it read like an extended, unabridged treatment for a movie.
8. One book you are currently reading. seamus heaney’s take on beowulf, which, i recently discovered, we have two copies of. i got the second copy in fully booked; i think we bought the first copy in booksale.
9. One book you have been meaning to read. the brothers karamazov by fyodor dostoevsky. this was a requirement back in comm i (circa 1994), which i cheated on. watched the movie instead. bad.
2. One book you have read more than once. does a law book count? (if this is a pattern the rest of the way, i fear for my life…)
3. One book you would want on a desert island. probably war and peace
4. One book that made you laugh. three: the gunseller by hugh laurie, making history by stephen fry, the road to mars by eric idle (hmm, they’re all british...)
5. One book that made you cry. painting history: revisions in philippine colonial art by my thesis adviser patrick flores, just because it is sooo hard to read. i know someone who went to and stayed in baguio alone for one week just to read it from cover to cover. my thesis, whenever i get back to it, is not about painting, but i feel this book can help me sort things out better. i think i’ll go to baguio too.
6. One book you wish had been written. a brave, humorous, satirical take on any part of our history from the minor characters’ point of view. which is what daryll’s cousin is doing right now. can’t wait!
7. One book you wish had never been written. any tv/movie spinoff. the translation to print is always awful. oh, and the da vinci code. it read like an extended, unabridged treatment for a movie.
8. One book you are currently reading. seamus heaney’s take on beowulf, which, i recently discovered, we have two copies of. i got the second copy in fully booked; i think we bought the first copy in booksale.
9. One book you have been meaning to read. the brothers karamazov by fyodor dostoevsky. this was a requirement back in comm i (circa 1994), which i cheated on. watched the movie instead. bad.
drinking on the eve of finals week and my new rule about paying taxicab drivers
or how i wish i could write a much better title to this long overdue blog entry so that people can stop hounding me for not updating and maintaining my blog
a few classmates and i were crazy for deciding to go to sara’s for a few rounds of beer monday night. at this point in the semester, with classes ending and the finals looming in the horizon, anyone in his right mind would be burying the midnight oil and burning his head in books. that's supposed to be the other way around, isn’t it? must still be tispy.
anyway, we were crazy. i was crazier. i only had a couple of hundreds, which i was trying save for as long as i can because my savings from my last job is going bye-bye fast. i figured we were going to katipunan where there’s enough atms, so kung mapasabak, at least i can suck my savings dry and still make it home. wala nang classes, so i can play hermit and study for the finals. i can always bum a few five- and ten-peso coins from the coin bottle we have at home if the need arises.
but sara’s it was. with beer only 20-plus bucks, i figured i can still have dinner, but after a few calculations, i decided to spend the little money i have on beer instead, despite an empty stomach. a couple of hours and three bottles later, we all decided to call it a night. i guess we weren’t that crazy yet to actually drown the night away in alcohol with less calories.
i was left with exactly a hundred bucks. hailed a cab, and knew that the ride home will cost no more than 65 bucks. even if i’m cash-strapped, i always follow two general rules in paying my cabbie.
one, the very first empty cab that answers my call without the driver asking me where i'm going before unlocking the doors gets a fat tip.
two, if the driver drives safely and follows the rules of the road, he also gets a fat tip.
otherwise, i will pay the exact fare.
but the ride home made me add a new rule: if the driver is as thin as reed and coughs and wheezes like crazy, he gets a fat tip.
i just felt so sorry for the dude. you don’t have to be a doctor to know he’s sick, and that he should be resting. at home. with his family. he shouldn’t be driving late at night trying to earn a buck, but he had to.
the cab stopped in front of our house, and i handed him my last hundred and told him to keep the change. he needed it more than i did at that point. i can earn it back some other time.
a few classmates and i were crazy for deciding to go to sara’s for a few rounds of beer monday night. at this point in the semester, with classes ending and the finals looming in the horizon, anyone in his right mind would be burying the midnight oil and burning his head in books. that's supposed to be the other way around, isn’t it? must still be tispy.
anyway, we were crazy. i was crazier. i only had a couple of hundreds, which i was trying save for as long as i can because my savings from my last job is going bye-bye fast. i figured we were going to katipunan where there’s enough atms, so kung mapasabak, at least i can suck my savings dry and still make it home. wala nang classes, so i can play hermit and study for the finals. i can always bum a few five- and ten-peso coins from the coin bottle we have at home if the need arises.
but sara’s it was. with beer only 20-plus bucks, i figured i can still have dinner, but after a few calculations, i decided to spend the little money i have on beer instead, despite an empty stomach. a couple of hours and three bottles later, we all decided to call it a night. i guess we weren’t that crazy yet to actually drown the night away in alcohol with less calories.
i was left with exactly a hundred bucks. hailed a cab, and knew that the ride home will cost no more than 65 bucks. even if i’m cash-strapped, i always follow two general rules in paying my cabbie.
one, the very first empty cab that answers my call without the driver asking me where i'm going before unlocking the doors gets a fat tip.
two, if the driver drives safely and follows the rules of the road, he also gets a fat tip.
otherwise, i will pay the exact fare.
but the ride home made me add a new rule: if the driver is as thin as reed and coughs and wheezes like crazy, he gets a fat tip.
i just felt so sorry for the dude. you don’t have to be a doctor to know he’s sick, and that he should be resting. at home. with his family. he shouldn’t be driving late at night trying to earn a buck, but he had to.
the cab stopped in front of our house, and i handed him my last hundred and told him to keep the change. he needed it more than i did at that point. i can earn it back some other time.
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