Too dumb to be President

Sarah Palin is in the news and spotlight a lot lately that makes the media wonder if she is priming herself to be the next Republican Presidential candidate. The thought of having her as our next President scares the bejesus out of me. I am sure she is street smart and intelligent enough for an average American but she is not smart enough to be our next President. Come on, she is just not adept enough about international and national affairs to be an effective President. She may have appeal and charisma but a good president needs more than those. I am sure the Republican have other smarter guys out there to be Presidential candidate. Not just Sarah. One dumb President for 8 years was enough.

East Side Story (2006)

East Side Story is a simple and rather predictable tale about a gay latino coming to terms with himself and finding love as well. The main character Diego (Rene Alvarado), got dump by his closet lover Pablo (David Beron), then finds love in the arms of his white attached gay neighbor Wesley (Steve Callahan). Of course conflicts ensues that renders comedic and dramatic touch to the story. Most of the main character are quite goodlooking, specially Diego. Not only is he very pleasing to the eye, his character was very likeable and symphatetic making this low budget movie a surprising find. The acting from the cast was realistic and not over the top. Enough skin and love making scenes were shown but not at all vulgar in anyway. The story also incorporated a subtle social commentary on gentrification, racism, family conflict, homphobia and self homophobia which added depth to this quaint movie.

I give it a 4 stars out of 5.

Little Ashes

I placed this movie on my netflix queue because it was advertised by gay.com as having a gay angle. And of course it helped a lot that Robert Pattinson starred in it. You know me. I want my men goodlooking and the story gay.

Little Ashes is about the famous spanish painter Salvador Dali (Robert Pattinson) and the famous spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca (Javier Beltran). It starts off when both of these men were in school, where they met, leading to the time when they were distinguished older artist.

After watching it, I was sort of disappointed a little. The gay angle of the story was lame and untitillating despite some nude swimming scenes. Robert Pattinson looked weird and behaved eccentrically in this movie. I suppose he was portraying Dali true to form but it was not appealing to me. Javier Beltran on the other hand was very akin to the likeness of Lorca. It was also odd to see them portraying as young adults and as middle aged men for they looked the same throughout. On the positive side, many of the sceneries shot were very beautiful and it captured that early to mid 1900 era of Spanish history very well. The picture quality and costumes were superb.

Fairly forgettable movie I say and I give it a 2.5 stars out of 5.

disenfranchised eh?

This nation is a country of immigrants. So it is natural that we have recent immigrant that do not know how to speak english. And as a compassionate society, we do our best to accomodate these non-english speaker by providing them interpreters, having signage in different languages and having TV/radio shows in different languages. And the law does not require that they learn english. But are we doing them a favor by accomodating their needs and making them complacent? These people do not bother to learn english because they know they can get by without it. They have been here in this country for years and still can not speak english. And they use this excuse as being disenfranchise for their failures and woes. They could not get a good job cause they do not speak english. They did not get the best care at the hospital cause the nurses could not understand them. They got a ticket unfairly because they could not explain to the police properly what happended. Well whose fucking fault is it? Seriously, I almost feel they deserve what they get. For I know that those who really want to live a better life here will learn english somehow. If there is a will, there is a way. Those who are complacent, then they can stay poor and disenfranchised.

competition and friendship

I know two people who I think in paper could be closer friends with but are not in reality. I share many things with them that could really bond us as greater friends but somehow the friendship is not blossoming. I have tried to be better friends with these two by keeping in touch and initiating activities but I feel I am getting the lack luster response. I am not 100% sure of the reason behind it but upon further analysis, I think one good plausible reason is competition. These two people I am referring to probably feel I am competing for the attention that they prefer to have. I swear I am not trying to compete with them on purpose. They just probably feel I am competing with what they want whether consciously or subconsciously. In one of the person I am referring to, I feel he finds me as a competition for the men he would rather attract. In another person I am referring to, I feel he finds me competing for the attention of our friends that he would rather have to himself. I know I sound egotistical by saying this for I am well aware that they may actually find me abrasive. They could have a very good reason for resisting better friendship with me but upon greater analysis of their relationship with people that they are better friends with, I came up with this plausible explanation. I guess I would never know for sure. It is all conjecture from my end here. Oh well. Nothing much I could do if they do not really want to be good friends with me. Que sera sera. Cest la vie. I have nothing to worry if they would see this blog for I am sure they care not to read my blog.

I hate following that big thing.

Many of us like to know what is in our future. At least there is a curiosity for the future. That is the reason why many of us do not like following behind a bus/truck/big SUV/van because it obscure our view of the traffic in front beyond the big vehicle. Knowing the condition of the traffic in front helps us plan our speed and course of action. Should I stay in this lane or move to the other? Should I turn here now or the next block? Should I slow down now in anticipation for the red light or should I speed up so I could catch the green light before it turns red? Life is much like driving in this regard, knowing what is ahead of us is a comforting notion. Many of us just like that option of being able to act accordingly to what we see or forsee ahead.

cute and yuk

Here is a video I came across in my friend's facebook profile. The title of the song is "It's You" by Super Junior, a Korean boy band. This reinforce my belief that long androgynous hair is popular with young guys in North East Asia. The guys in the video are mostly cute but their hair are just yukky! I like a manly clean cut hair!

Avatar was not a disappointment at all

Everybody hyped about this movie so I was reluctant to watch it. As it was in the past, the much hyped show almost always fall short of my expectation and I end up getting disappointed. But I must admit Avatar pleasantly surprised me. The story was simple but effective in evoking strong emotions in me. The story operates in the proven formula of good triumph over evil. Righteousness prevail over greed. The underdog defeats the mighty. It is about a lost soul finding his place and finding love along the way. So who would not like that story? And of course it does help a lot that Sigourney Weaver always give a stellar performance and Sam Worthington is super hunky cute. And what really made the movie positively entertaining and awe inspiring was the special effects. Everything looked so crisp and real with the 3D. I heard they will do a sequel so I am psyched about it.

Facebook friend deleted

Ever since I joined facebook, I have accumulated a total of 122 friends on my list. some are intimate friends and family that I constantly keep in touch with via emails or profile page comments/greetings. But majority of the people on my list are old classmates, acquaintances or relatives I am not close with. And for this majority, I rarely comment on their profile page and vice versa.

One of those acquaintance on my friend's list commented on my profile the other night. I made a post in my profile about being sad to see Ping exit from Project Runway later that evening after watching the evening rerun of the show. This acquaintance was not pleased to read that post about the show's result and said "thanks for ruining it for us who Tivo the show" sarcastically on my profile. He never comments on my profile nor did he respond to my "Happy Thanksgiving" greeting but that night he was compelled to make a negative comment. So to save him any future vexation from any of my post, I removed him from my friend's list. People like that who I am not close with for starters and only finds time to make negative comments do not need to be my cyber friend.

I do understand his point of annoyance. I did ruin the surprise for him. But at what point in time after the show has been aired is it acceptable to make a comment? In the same token if a guy recorded the NFL Superball, are we all suppose to keep quite about the result till he has seen his recorded game? Are people in the street suppose to not show revelry in case this guy happens to see them and finds out which team won? Are the stores supporting the winning team suppose to not display congratulatory signs in case this guy sees it? Nobody is suppose to show their joy by posting online? There will always be somebody out there who has not yet seen the game they recorded and somebody's surprise will somehow be ruined regardless of when the win is posted online or shown in public. If he really cares so much about not knowing who won, he should watch the show live like everybody else.

Atchara - Jon's style

This is an appetizer that is super appetizing and guaranteed to make your mouth water. Just not meant to be consumed in large amounts.

Ingredients:

2 pieces of bitter melon
1 long daikon
4 pieces of tomatoes
1 red onions
2 cup of vinegar (any kind)
6 table spoon of sea salt (or iodine salt)

Procedure:
Dice the bitter melon and sprinkle 2 table spoons of sea salt then mash and squeeze the bitter melon for 1 minute. Drain the juice well.Dice the daikon and sprinkle 2 table spoon of sea salt then mash and squeeze the daikon for 1 minute. Drain the juice well. Dice the onion and tomatoes and mix with the bitter melon and daikon. Add the remaining 2 table spoon of sea salt and vinegar and mix well. Let it stand for one day in the refrigerator. Mix every so often to assure the top part gets soaked in the vinegar.

Voila, you got yourself an appetizer that can also be called atchara in the Philippines.