Currently on repeat mode: From Bob Sinclair and Sugarhill Gang, a catchy upper for gloomy mornings like this:
And now a digression to give way to today’s biggest question: could the more visually-pleasing Bing be finally the ultimate Google killer? TechCrunch doesn’t think so, but an article from NYPost details Google co-founder Sergey Brin as supposedly being “gripped in fear” with Bing’s launch.
Loving the beat: “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas
And here, something called “Paranoid” from the ubiquitous Jonas Brothers. The song sucks, but it sticks to your brain like an awful sci-fi character that wouldn’t die.
June 12 in RP is filthy-rich (from political careers spent on stealing) and ageing trapos raising the flag early in the morning in spots of historical significance, while everybody else is rolling their eyes in boredom and apathy.
Speaking of nationalism, another old (but still bullshit-y) attempt at patriotism, here.
Happy Independence Day, if there is ever such a thing.
On the sheer fruitlessness of trapo– and church-organized street rallies (re: against, say, a house resolution on charter change by constituent assembly), the dean of the San Beda Law remarked, “These rallies do not take up any constitutional or legal issues. They are just pretexts to vent one’s political rage at one’s political enemies.”
Couldn’t have said it better.
Related: Arroyo, con-ass lawmakers stomped on at Makati rally
On a (slightly) unrelated note, a teenager with an IQ of 46 in the US was sentenced to 100 years in prison in a sex abuse case against him. While this may make for an interesting case study for law students, it also highlights a very disconcerting irony: while retards go to prison in other countries, convicted plunderers and child rapists in the Philippines are perennially granted parole.
Props to those whose boredom is converted into something like this:
On an entirely sad note: ‘Kung-Fu’ actor David Carradine found hanged in Thai hotel
Wonder why young people would rather go to malls than vote in the elections?
Here.
Which doesn’t make any sense. At all. The Filipino electorate has always been described as afflicted with an acute case of short-term memory loss, but whatever effort to destroy that notion cannot be compensated by a single news item on Erap’s probable chances of clinching the presidency yet again.
Totally unrelated: American icon GM files for bankruptcy | Air France jet lost in mid-air | Susan Boyle goes mental
Currrently in repeat mode: “Waves” by Marjorie Fair
The memorial of the mind (via NYTimes)
Roo Moo-hyun: A life of challenges (via Chosun)
Fungus threatens to wipe out Philippine frogs (via Daily Times)
Websites keeping ‘deleted photos’ (via BBC)
Awkward boners (awkwardboners)
Freesouls: Captured and Released, by Joi Ito (Freesouls)
Mary Roach: 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm (via YouTube)
World’s most interesting bridges (via darkroastedblend)
This is Photobomb: Photojackers of the world unite! (thisisphotobomb)
No one certainly saw this coming, certainly not after the bloodbath Mendoza’s gotten from critics:
Brillante Mendoza of the Philippines on Sunday picked up the best director prize at the Cannes film festival for his dark movie “Kinatay”.
“Kinatay” (meaning “massacre”) notably features corrupt cops hacking a prostitute to pieces with blunt kitchen knives.
Mendoza, at Cannes for the second year running, again split the critics, drawing both hisses and applause for “Kinatay”.
More: Philippines’ Brillante Mendoza scoops Best Director at Cannes
Previously, Mendoza’s film has received a slew of criticism from some prominent critics, notably Sun Times’ Roger Ebert, who said “it is Mendoza’s conceit that his idea will make a statement, or evoke a sensation, or demonstrate something—only if he makes the rest of the film as unpleasant to the eyes, ears, the mind and the story itself as possible.” (Full review here) Maggie Lee of of the Hollywood Reporter added the film was a “prurient and excruciating viewing experience that makes the audience partners in crimes of inhumanity.” On the flip side, Mike Goodridge of Screen International found “Kinatay” a “nerve-shredding exploration of crime, which is both repellent and grimly compelling.”
More: ‘Kinatay’ draws raves, rants in Cannes
Apart from Mendoza’s “Kinatay,” two other Filipino films were in the Official Selection: “Independencia” by Raya Martin and “Manila,” by Adolfo Alix Jr and Raya Martin, prompting Bangkok Post’s Kong Rithdee to write “Filipino directors are on a roll.” He adds:
The strong presence of the Filipinos in Cannes signifies a few things: This is a country mired in economic and political troubles, a country whose film industry enjoys little government support and has no official booth in Cannes (Thailand has two, from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Commerce). These Manila boys blaze their paths through persistence and intellect – their aesthetics are steeped in the tropical heat and chaotic past of their homeland, and it’s not presumptuous to say that they will be around in the art film scene for a long while.
More: Southeast Asian films step into the spotlight on the French Riviera
Glass half-empty 