The DJ who's not a DeeJay

In Manila, drug addicts caught by police are reported on local news. Whenever they're interviewed by media, they usually keep quiet and hide their faces in shame. This suspect though was accused of stealing though police speculated he may be a drug user.

Surprisingly, this suspect had a handful to say and take note, had a good command of English. His conversational skills were impressive and didn't show any signs of addiction... until you listen closely to what he's actually saying. It drops from impressive to outrageously silly.

Here are some quotable quotes:

(0:43) Suspect: "I'm not stealing the tricycle. I asked permission from the owners before I take it."

(0:53) Suspect: "How can we accuse one without further investigation on side by side... because in a triangle, there are 3 sides right ? I only have 4 sides and they have 4 sides. How many degrees is the 3 side?"
Reporter: "How many?"
Suspect: "36 degrees."

(1:16) Suspect (talking about the tricycle): "Of course I started it and I'm rrrrrrrrrrr... rooming."
Reporter: "Roaming ?"
Suspect: "Yes, I'm roaming".

(1:35) Suspect: "What is the truth about it and what is it about .. we cannot accuse upon people without sabi sabi sabi so we can take a square root from the right side square."

(2:00) Suspect (answering if he uses drugs): "Drugs. Ah, yes of course! I buy from the Mercury Drug."



Moral: Taking drugs may make you sound intelligently stupid.
SABLAY !!!

Last June 14, I, together with Aileen and Miguel got to attend the 7th Toycon (Philippine Toy Convention) at Megamall. I skipped a couple of years so it was exciting to attend one where toys and toy fanatics all come together. It was a successful event based on the jampacked capacity and long lines entering the Megatrade Hall.

There was lots of everything, lots of character figures, comics, cosplayers, video games, graphic artists, and last but not least, toys ! The 2-day event was filled with displays, games, contests, programs and sales. You could feel how big the toy community was with the crowd-goers of all ages excited with everything going on.

I was able to take some pics but not that extensive cause I was also busy being awed by stuff all around here and there. When I viewed the pics I took, it was like those statues which may have looked obviously real (with a person inside) weren't and what wasn't real was. Here's some examples:

This is real.


This is not real.


This is real.


This is not.


This is real.


This is not.


And my all time favorite. This is real. Real cool !

Decepticon Soundwave


Check out my other photos from the Toycon below.



'til the next toycon, 'til all are one.

I was able to watch Julia Duncan perform live last week and believe me, this model-singer looks and sounds even better in person. Her soft and soothing voice proves that you don't need to shout and hit high notes to be a great singer.

Her remake, Cross My Heart is currently in my playlist.


Do check out her album entitled "The Love Lounge

I was cleaning my room the other day and found an old camera I used in the pre-digital camera era. It was a simple point and shoot minolta camera. I was surprised to find out that there was film inside. I had no idea what shots were taken using this camera. I did have a hunch that whatever may have been taken, was destroyed cause the last time I think I used this camera was 4 years ago.

I know that film has an expiration date. Plus the camera hasn't been turned on for years and most likely, the batteries may have leaked and render useless.

So I took the camera to the nearest developing shop and asked if there's a possibility that any pictures taken with the film inside the camera would still be intact. The guy who assisted me said that chances are slim and if they do get developed, the pictures may be unrecognizable due to the duration of the film.

I took the chance and had it developed.

I was surprised to find out that out of the 36 shots, 7 shots were successfully developed. Except for one picture, all of them were clear and looked as if they were shot yesterday.

From the very first picture which was a family reunion, I knew that the pictures have been shot more than 5 years ago cause my Tita whose nearing her 5th death anniversary was in the picture.

The next 2 pictures were my college friends with their babies during one our college reunions. All those babies in the picture are now around 6 - 9 years old.

The next set were 2 pictures of my ex-girlfriend. I had to exclaim to the store assistant how old these pictures are cause I haven't seen her since we broke up.

And the last pic was my cousin who I remember borrowing this camera of mine years back.

It's amazing how time flies yet how time stands still in a photograph.

I saw this police car around Greenhills. This one is accessorized with mag wheels, a spoiler, a custom-made front and rear to make it appear lowered, a custom paint job and some decals. I have no idea what's under the hood like if the engine is modified and how fast this baby could go but it looks like a car taken from the Need For Speed video games.

Now that's a cool police car for Philippine standards.

I have to give him an A for effort but that's about it.
How ironic it is when he sings the part "how sweet the sound".



He's simply "omazing".

Location: in front of a Toys r Us store
Caption: "Someone to watch over me"

I bought a new 160GB hard disk last month and had to reinstall my licensed Windows XP. When I tried to activate my installation online, it always produced an error message saying that it couldn't activate my Windows at that time. I put it off since there was a 30 day trial period. I may have forgotten about it until Windows alerted me earlier that I only have 9 days remaining to activate. And so I called Microsoft Philippines Customer Support at 672-7272.

I'm very much used to calling customer service for my credit card. I've occasionally called some other customer service hotlines for product support, inquiries and the like and the conversation usually goes back and forth from English to Filipino and Taglish at times. I don't mind. I just been accustomed to it.

It's my first time to call Microsoft Philippines though. I've visited their offices in Makati City twice during digitalfilipino.com events that were sponsored and hosted by Microsoft. So since I knew they had a country office, I assumed the Microsoft customer service I would be calling was just a few kilometers away.

After going through a series of computer-operator assisted questions by keying in my preferred options, I was finally redirected to a customer support personnel. After the usual greeting, I was surprised that the lady asked which country I'm calling from. It seems I had been redirected to their customer service located in another country. She had a British accent and I was caught offguard and immediately switched to International comprehensible & perfect English speaking mode. (I sometimes speak English with Filipino-influenced intonation when talking casually).

After explaining my situation, I had to give a 42 digit installation ID generated by my Windows software and after confirming the license authenticity, she gave me another 42 digit ID to input.
After keying it in, it worked like a charm and produced the message that a I successfully activated my Windows product.

After the call, I immediately thought it was an international call for fear of being billed for it. But I remembered that I called Microsoft Philippines local customer service number which they just forwarded. It's funny that a lot of call centers are based here in the Philippines for any worldwide support. With Microsoft, it was the opposite. I called up locally anticipating talking to a Pinoy and ended up speaking with a foreign Microsoft representative.

I wonder if I chose the Tagalog option menu if I would end up speaking with a Pinoy or not.

I saw this lizard at the back of a van parked at one of the several Starbucks branches in Makati. It's a real lizard, not those made out of rubber and stuck on cars to fool people.

This lizard actually thinks it's stuck to a wall. I remember years back, a baby lizard thought I was a wall since I was standing vertically near it. And being the inexperienced lizard, it didn't know any better and ran towards me and clung on for its life. Well this lizard has more clinging on to do if it wants to stay alive.

Once that van starts a-rollin', the poor lizard is gonna start a-freakin' out.

I visualize it as a high speed car chase movie scene with the star hanging on the car roof while the car sways left and right. And if it's gonna be on the highway with speeding cars, the car behind may either have a huge splat the window wiper can't remove or instant roadkill and be as flat as the road concrete.

Okey, that's the sadistic side of me talking I think. Either way, this lizard is going places. Bonjour !

I bought a new TV stand for my TV cause my old one was literally disintegrating. The TV wasn't the only thing on my old TV stand and so I had to do some spring cleaning and throw out anything useless which is usually a long process for me cause everything will then become debatable whether it constitutes use or not.

One of the last few items I found while cleaning out the remainder of the stuff was an old padlock. I clearly remember this used to be my college padlock donated by one of my 15 other friends who shared the same small cramped locker. Well I forgot the combination, and I forgot which 15 other friends I shared the locker with. And I guess posting it on our college mailing list asking for the combination would make me a laughing stock.

I remember a scene in the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman" with the commander stressing to his squad that an unlocked padlock is a useless padlock because the essence of a padlock is to hold something locked. Hence, an open padlock hanging on some box or container is the same thing as an open box/container. So a locked padlock is serving it's purpose in life. I agree.

I also agree that a locked padlock locking nothing but air is also useless because it is not locking anything. Furthermore, a locked padlock with a combination unknown to anyone is useless cause chances of it being opened are nada.

And so I reach my the verdict. This padlock is USELESS.

In memory of the padlock, here is its last photo before joining my trashcan on June 2, 2008.
May you find more adventure wherever you may end up.

I've been a fan of Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) ever since day 1. I do have a couple of rants which overall won't prevent me from being a fan of the show.

The original concept of Big Brother is for strangers (housemates) to live inside one house for a certain number of days without the luxury of communication to the outside world. Their interactions within the house render a social experiment of how these people would get along (or not) despite different backgrounds, upbringing, culture, beliefs and attitudes. This ingredient alone makes the show exciting and unpredictable.

However lately, and especially for this season, the show has has been bending the house rules. On their website, the top houserules listed are these:

No TV. No radio. No newspapers. No telephones. No internet! Totally no communication with the outside world. Twelve new housemates are handpicked by Kuya to face his challenges.

The TV, radio, newspapers, phones and internet have been strictly implemented. Aside from "outside world" pertaining to any physical space beyond the perimeter of the Pinoy Big Brother house, it also interprets as interaction with any being from the outside world as well.

So far the following have entered the house:

1. Kuya Kim
2. Gaby de la Merced (to teach them driving skills)
3. a whole group of military officers (for daily military training)
4. a guardian for each housemate
5. "houseplayers" who are unofficial housemates
6. an indigenous representative from Palawan

And as for staying inside the house and limit interaction with themselves, they've managed to
1. be flown in to Palawan (for their "Survival" adventure and be toured by boatmen to the Underground River
2. take actual driving lessons (with a certified instructor beside them) in a warehouse and grassy secluded area

I haven't been able to watch the show on a nightly basis but I'm sure there are more.

I remember the very first Pinoy Big Brother season and they were really confined to the house with very minimal interaction with the outside world. If there were any interaction at all, it was usually given as a prize for a task or game and limited to a 100 second encounter with a loved one in person or on the phone.

The producers may say that the game has evolved and they are making twists and surprises here and there. I don't mind the twists and turns as long as the original concept of the reality TV show remains intact. I could see future aspirants wanting to join PBB because they would have the chance to go places and meet people, which is the opposite of what the Big Brother concept is: isolation from the outside world.

Hey, I'm still a fan.