You

The words that enthralled me,
The thoughts that wouldn't leave me;
The longing that stayed with me through the day
And followed me to my eventual sleep.

The first words that were spoken,
The first laugh that was heard;
The moments that were longed for
We now finally share.

I love you.

Happy Valentine's Day.

The "Winner"

Ok. This is going to be short and sweet. Drumroll please. Hehehe

The 1,000th "Visitor Award" goes to someone I unfortunately do not know. Hahaha Seriously, judging from the information available to me through SiteMeter, it is a Lady/Gentleman who signs in from the Thames International Business School's servers.

Thank you very much for your support whoever you are. You've been to my site quite a number of times. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read the stuff I post. It's very much appreciated.

While I'm at it, let me also thank the others who similarly visit my site on a regular basis but so far have not posted a comment. I also would like to let you know that I appreciate your visits.

Btw, the Consolation prize goes to Ipanema. (Applause) Congratulations, buddy. The batchoy, dinner-for-two, and the hopia are on their way to your residence via the latest, high-speed, state-of-the-art, and environment-friendly pedicab.

To THE Winner, please see me so you can claim your prizes. :)

Thanks

Sometime today or tomorrow, this blog will reach a milestone in its young life. With this, I'm referring to my blog registering its 1,000th visitor.

Let me just take this opportunity to let you all know that I appreciate all of you who have stopped by to read and/or comment on my musings and opinions on things of personal interest.

Since the time I started this blog, I am very happy to say that I've gained quite a number of new friends. It has been a fun and, at the same time, a rewarding learning experience for me. For those of you who blog, I've learned a lot from your blogs and I hope, in my own small way, that I've been able to return the favor. To those of you who have stopped by to simply read, thank you very much too.

Thus, as a token of my utmost appreciation and mindful of the fact that Valentines' Day is just around the corner, the 1,000th visitor to this blog will be entitled to the following:
1. A P100 gift certificate at Aling Lucring's Beauty Salon (J.P. Rizal branch) - for the sophisticated woman/metrosexual in you;
2. A romantic dinner for 2 afterwards at Good Ah (branch near NAIA);
3. A romantic riverboat cruise for 2 along that historic stretch of the Pasig River from Jones Bridge to the Ayala Bridge; and
4. To cap such a romantic night, an evening calesa ride for 2 by the Luneta and along Roxas Boulevard, escorted by 2 PNP motorcycle cops.

Thank you so much. :-P

P.S. There are moments in a person's life when there simply are requests one could not just refuse and here's one of them. I've been asked to add consolation prizes and here they are:

1. A romantic lunch for 2 at Authentic Batchoy on Escoda Street (Manila);
2. Another romantic lunch for 2 (in case hindi pa kayo nabusog sa batchoy) at Tapsihan sa Main in Sta. Ana where a great lunch could be had for P60 (per person); and
3. One month supply of Ube Flavored Hopia from Eng Bee Tin.

Ayos na ba? :D

This Guy Bears Watching

Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero is a politican I believe we ought to closely observe in the months and years to come. Currently one of the youngest members of the Senate at 38, he is already considered as one of the opposition stalwarts in that body.

He is currently in his first term as a Senator of the Republic for he was elected to the Senate in the May 2007 elections. However, it should be noted that in less than two years as a Senator, he has already authored 32 bills. Prior to the Senate, he served as a Member of the House of Representatives where three of his bills were passed into law.

Going through the bills he has submitted to the Senate, one would see that among his major areas of focus are aiding government retirees (SB*s 1473, 1474, and 1475); protecting Filipino credit card holders against usurious interest rates and surcharges (SB 1438); upholding human rights by penalizing the use of torture and other inhuman/degrading forms of punishment (SB 1306), by penalizing enforced of involuntary disappearance (SB 1307), and by expanding the jurisdiction and strengthening the prosecutorial powers of the Commission on Human Rights (SB 1437).

He also authored bills to protect freedom of speech by decriminalizing libel (SB 1403); and to improve the administration of justice in the country by granting additional compensation to members of the judiciary (SB 1491).

This post should in no way be taken as an endorsement for like a lot of you, I still have to familiarize myself with his positions on the other critical issues that hound our country. Let me also add, in the interest of full disclosure, that my person is neither known to him nor to any of his associates and relatives. To paraphrase the late American humorist Will Rogers, all I know about Sen. Escudero is based on what I read in the papers. I write this merely as a student and observer of Philippine politics.

But from what I have so far observed, and I may be seriously mistaken in my observation, Sen. Escudero seems to be the type who lets the people know in no uncertain terms where he stands on critical issues. This is in stark contrast to a particular Senator whose last name is Roxas.

He has so far been consistent in exposing problems and corruption within the Arroyo administration. We may agree or sometimes disagree with him but the guy deserves credit for at least taking a stand. In my humble opinion, I believe that that approach/style is one of the ways Sen. Escudero has decided to differentiate himself from other politicians.

I don't know where his political career will lead him. I won't be surprised if he runs for President someday. Positive or negative, some of you may have already formed an opinion on him. I, for one, would be interested to find out what that is. But I think those of us who are interested in following the Philippine political scene ought to closely observe his performance and decide whether he is the type of politician who would be worthy of our support.

Sources:

Chiz Escudero - Official Website

Francis Escudero - Wikipedia

Senate of the Philippines - Official Website

Photo credit: Chiz Escudero Official Website

*SB = Senate Bill

Time For The Movies

Mari, the dearest friend I have in cyberspace, (naks!) tagged me for this meme. It is about the last movie that I had thoroughly enjoyed.

Here are the rules for this tag:

1. Link back the person who tagged you and write what was the last movie he/she or his/her family enjoyed watching recently.

2. Now your turn to tell about the movie you or your family just watched.

3. Tell something about the movie and spoilers are accepted. (hehehee)

4. Write anything that has something to do with movies: Trivia, your top choice or favorites and why, your family's story about your favorite motion pictures, the first film you watched with your spouse/partner/special someone, any traditional film the family's been keeping, etc... etc...

5. Copy and paste the rules of this meme on your blog and pass the tag on to as many friends, bloggers, and movie lovers you want. Don't forget to tell them they're tagged and to leave a comment on your blog once they're done with the task.

I am going to write about the last movie I enjoyed watching, not necessarily the last one I watched. The movie is called Letters from Iwo Jima which was directed by Clint Eastwood. I saw the movie a year ago. The movie was in Japanese with English sub-titles and had starred Ken Watanabe as General Kuribayashi (the man who actually led the Japanese forces on the island) and Kazunari Ninomiya as the fictional lead character Saigo.

I love war movies but let me emphasize I love those war movies that do not glorify war. I also love war movies that are historically accurate or that at least try to be as historically accurate as possible.

This particular movie portrayed how Japanese soldiers bravely defended an island even with the knowledge that certain defeat and death awaited them. In the case of Saigo and a few other soldiers, the movie also showed how they were torn between love of family and loyalty to their country. Though Japanese military tradition highly valued suicide as a matter of honor, Saigo longed to come home alive to a wife who was pregnant with their child. The film lamented the heavy loss of life suffered by both sides. And in the case of the Japanese, it showed the lives lost through futile banzai charges.

American marines eventually overran the Japanese defenses on the island. Out of the 22,000 Japanese defenders, only a few hundred emerged from the underground caves to surrender.

Aside from war movies, I am a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock's movies. My favorite movies of his were Rear Window, Psycho, North By Northwest, and Vertigo. He was a master of suspense. In my humble opinion, each film was a technical masterpiece. The clever use of the camera and camera angles to convey a story or a character's emotion helped enhance a story line. Through them, he also played mind games with his audience. In the movie Rear Window for example, the camera served as the voyeur in us for through it, he made us observe the various goings-on in an apartment complex; this we, his audience, willingly did until we all found that a murder had indeed taken place.

Among the current crop of American directors, M. Night Shyamalan, ("The Sixth Sense), is an avid student of Mr. Hitchcock's cinematographic techniques. It remains to be seen though if Mr. Shyamalan would end up to be as successful and iconic as Mr. Hitchcock.

Now, I pass this tag on to Fence and Abby.