Brown Bag

I have been a minimalist when it comes to wrapping gifts.

I'm looking forward to seeing them in tap dancing shoes

The Pilipinas Got Talent Season 2 is now on.

All of you who have been following this blog know that I wasn't happy with last season's winner... and I am still not happy right now. Yes, he's good, but I know that amongst those who joined, I believe that there was someone else who deserves to win.

But anyway, since that was then, this is now. Yesterday was the first day and there were many who didn't make it, and amongst those who did, there was only one who I think do not deserve it. That guy who did the Bon Jovi song (Bon Jovi song again?).


But let me talk about these brothers on the video.
They are brothers who come from Bukidnon. Their father is a farmer and their mother just stays at home. Their sister is a domestic helper in Hong Kong. Well, you shall know this on the video.
But while watching them dance, I didn't know that they weren't wearing the proper shoes - the tap dancing shoes. Ai-ai cried because she studied tap dancing with complete gear and still found it hard. What more without the shoes. So, Ai-ai will be giving them the dancing shoes and we will see on the next level how good these brothers are.
The season has just began. There are still many talents to come. Whether these brothers will make it or not is still a long way to find out. But, whether they win or not, I admire these people for having this kind of talent. As a kid, I was always amazed at people who tap dances, and I have always wondered why there weren't many Filipinos who do the dance. And I am still wondering why there aren't any now that I am already four decades old.
And then last night, I saw Ramonito and Rolito.
Kudos to you, Mata brothers!

The day that was February 25, 2011

I got a call from a friend. Their computer is busted and she needs some information.

Her son needs to have a short write-up about what happened that day. And this prompted me to post this video, to at least give you an idea of what happened in the first hours of the morning of this day.

Is there something out there?

The senate hearing has just been suspended.

Well, it's not like I've been following it religiously.  I just get updates during prime time news, and sometimes overhear snippets of it from my dad's transistor radio, and sometimes when I get lucky to be with people who discuss such topics.

But today, I lingered and watched the last hour of the hearing.

And, honestly, I can hear the sound of frustration from them who are questioning the reason why Mr. Garcia was allowed to do what he did and got what he asked from the case.

And I think like them, it feels like how I saw our cat a few nights ago.  She's 'perched' on the bakod with her back at our house.

It's like we are waiting for something to happen in the dark of night... and not knowing what we are really waiting for... and even not knowing what we're going to get.

And then she gets to talk to Ellen

And this is as good as it gets for Maria Aragon.

A Filipino photographer made it to the National Geographic's Exeptional Photo Contest

I was reading my twitter feed this morning and a link led me to someone named Yen Baet.

Who is Yen Baet?

The Fil-Am Ako website featured her last February 18, 2011. She is the only Filipino who made it to the Finals of the National Geographic Photo contest. There are only six finalists.

You can read more about Yen Baet here and her website is here.

I got this quote from her website.

Aaron Rose:

"In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary."

There goes Sunday

Earth colors

Whitney Young:

"The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is being superior to your former self."

Increasing our awareness on children's stories

My attention was caught by my college dorm mate and good friend about this video of her son. She calls it Project Bagets. It's a school project that will not only create awareness on children's stories, but also trigger and enhance the children's creativity, style, pronunciation and a lot more.


This is her son, reading a Filipino kid's story entitled, "Ang Tao sa Buwan."
This is a Filipino project wherein the teacher would like to see how fluent and creative the students can be. She asked the students to read a Filipino story and record it on video. The children could get as creative as they want to be in such a way that they could wear costumes to portray the characters in their stories. The video is then required to be uploaded on YouTube. This way, not only she could view the but also by people like us. The teacher requires the videos to have at least 150 views. This way, she believes that this will create the awareness on children's stories.

I should say that this is a great opportunity for us to discover the world of children's stories and how our children interpret these stories.

It's about time that these children are given the spotlight and the chance to show what they got at such an early age.

I just hope you're not as balat-sibuyas as I am. I always get teary-eyed when I see children get the opportunity to show the talent they possess.

*Thank you to my good friend, Analyn, for believing that my blog will help this project.

He was allowed to leave, but let's continue praying.

Binay leaves for China to plea for 3 convicts’ lives

If this is not good news to some, it is still news to us, Filipinos.  Now, we are all crossing our fingers that Mr. VP gets the sole reason why he went there.

Yesterday, one of those twitter users that I follow commented that Mr. Albert Romulo would have been a better choice over our vice president.  And when I told this to my dad, he said that was right.

If you saw TV Patrol last night, there was a poll:  Is the sentence for those three Filipinos reasonable?  And those who voted for mostly said yes.

So, all we can do right now is wait... and while we're waiting, let's pray that the sentence could at least be lowered to life imprisonment, for whatever it's worth.

You gotta watch this!!!!

One hell of a kid singing one hell of a song...

And I now started to admire Lady Gaga for tweeting this video and saying, "Can't stop crying watching this. This is why I make music. She is the future."

I was the 206,437 visitor and it was only 7 hours. Let's see how many hits this will make.

What I like about Happy, Yippee, Yehey's "Ikaw ang Bida"

The camaraderie of the ants is what our country needs now.

Ikaw ang Bida.

If you haven't seen this show, I suggest you do, at least the "Ikaw ang Bida" segment.  It's almost the same as those others, but what I like about the concept is that the bida (the contestant) will not be able to accomplish one or more of his/her tasks without the help of the people around him/her, wherever they are.

This is being emphasized by all of the hosts of the show, espeicially Toni and Mariel and Pratty (John Pratts) who all keep on reminding the bida that he/she can ask the help of those people around her and that all these people must help the bida in completing his/her goals.  However, those people around the bida, whether her friend or not, will not get anything, at least from the studio.  No rewards at all.  Well, if the bida wins and gives them balato, that's an entirely different story.

Looking at the bigger picture, I think this is what our country should be doing right now.  Whether it's with the government (especially in the government) or in the office or community, it's about time that we push each other up, or whoever amongst us needed the pushing... and without expecting for something in return, as the show is also trying to impart.

Anyway.

My sister noticed how John Pratts interacted with the contestants.  He's so down to earth that we believe that he has the making of someone who has the appeal to the masses... well, okay, someone like Willie's appeal to the masses.

Budoy's last photo

Budoy, one of our two cats, went missing.  He was last here last January 30, 2011, and he hasn't come home since.

This is his last photo.  It was taken last January 6, 2011.  I forgot what was my reason for taking this photo.  But at least now, it serves its purpose of remembering when was his last photo.