Spain legalizes same-sex marriages

Marriage is a right, isn't it? Gays and lesbians are just as capable of long-term relationships, contrary to what some people might think. Imagine the benefits that gays and lesbians everywhere would be able to access if, in our struggle to fight for equal access to schools, hospitals and even the military, gays and lesbians are also allowed entry into city hall for a marriage license? If we want to eradicate discrimination, then we must fight it on all fronts. :)

*************

Spain Legalizes Same-Sex Marriages
By MAR ROMAN, Associated Press Writer

MADRID, Spain - Parliament legalized gay marriage Thursday, defying conservatives and clergy who opposed making traditionally Roman Catholic Spain the third country to allow same-sex unions nationwide. Jubilant gay activists blew kisses to lawmakers after the vote.

The measure passed the 350-seat Congress of Deputies 187-147. The bill, part of the ruling Socialists' aggressive agenda for social reform, also lets gay couples adopt children and inherit each others' property.

The bill is now law. The Senate, where conservatives hold the largest number of seats, rejected the bill last week. But it is an advisory body and final say on legislation rests with the Congress of Deputies.

After the final tally was announced, gay and lesbian activists watching from the spectator section of the ornate chamber cried, cheered, hugged, waved to lawmakers and blew them kisses.

Several members of the conservative opposition Popular Party, which was vehemently opposed to the bill, shouted: "This is a disgrace." Those in favor stood and clapped.

The Netherlands and Belgium are the only other two countries that allow gay marriage nationwide. Canada's House of Commons passed legislation Tuesday that would legalize gay marriage; its Senate is expected to pass the bill into law by the end of July.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero noted this in debate before the vote.
"We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven, ladies and gentlemen, by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality," he told the chamber.

Zapatero said the reform of Spanish legal code simply adds one dry paragraph of legalese but means much more.



He called it "a small change in wording that means an immense change in the lives of thousands of citizens. We are not legislating, ladies and gentlemen, for remote unknown people. We are expanding opportunities for the happiness of our neighbors, our work colleagues, our friends, our relatives."

Zapatero lacks a majority in the chamber but got help from small regional-based parties that tend to be his allies.

Spanish gay couples can get married as soon as the law is published in the official government registry. This could come as early as Friday, or within two weeks at the latest, parliament's press office said.

Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy said after the vote that Zapatero has deeply divided Spain and should have sought a consensus in parliament that recognized same-sex unions but didn't call them marriage. Rajor said that if the vast majority of countries in the world don't accept gay marriage, including some run by Socialists, there must be a reason.

"I think the prime minister has committed a grave act of irresponsibility," Rajor told reporters.
The gay marriage bill was the boldest and most divisive initiative of the liberal social agenda Zapatero has embarked on since taking office in April 2004. Parliament overhauled Spain's 25-year-old divorce law on Wednesday, also irking the church, by letting couples end their marriage without a mandatory separation or having to state a reason for the split-up, as required under the old law.

He has also pushed through legislation allowing stem-cell research and wants to loosen Spain's restrictive abortion law.

The Roman Catholic Church, which held much sway over the government just a generation ago when Gen. Francisco Franco was in power, had adamantly opposed gay marriage. In its first display of anti-government activism in 20 years, it endorsed a June 18 rally in which hundreds of thousands marched through Madrid in opposition to the bill. Some 20 bishops took part in the June 18 rally.

On Wednesday, a Catholic lay group called the Spanish Family Forum presented lawmakers with a petition bearing 600,000 signatures as a last-minute protest.

Late last year, the spokesman for the Spanish Bishops Conference, Antonio Martinez Camino said that allowing gay marriage was like "imposing a virus on society something false that will have negative consequences for social life."

Despite the street protests in Madrid and elsewhere and the petition drive, polls suggest Spaniards supported gay marriage.

A survey released in May by pollster Instituto Opina said 62 percent of Spaniards support the government's action on this issue, and 30 percent oppose it. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. But surveys show Spaniards about evenly split over whether gay couples should be allowed to adopt children.

i'm so raging mad, i can't even put a title to this

this morning we agreed (with the boss's imprimatur, actually) that we (the office) would do a PR on what possible laws have been broken based on the conversations contained in the gloriagate tapes.  but this requires a bit of research, which requires some time, which unfortunately as press releases often go, we do not have much of.

 

later on, byron and i briefly exchanged views and i said, and byron agreed, that the story was 'manipis', that we didn't have enough to go on with a release based on what we had at hand.  so i went back to my notes, perused briefers we got from everywhere else, and decided i'd build on a briefer that my officemate wrote.

 

i was thinking of how to angle the press release, what new thing i might have to say in it when fellow media officer jonas calls me up on my mobile asking, quite frantically, where the PR was.  i said we can't go with the original idea because it's 'manipis' and i certainly am not wasting my time working on yet another press release that won't see print anyway if it's not saying anything new or anything worth a reporter's fucking second.

 

then jonas calls me up again on the local line and asks where the PR is and i tell him that i'm still thinking of what to write about and he tells me 'ibaba mo na lang daw yung open letter for JDV yun na lang ang ipamigay sa media'.

 

sounded reasonable enough.  i complied.  i printed it out, i reproduced it, i collated the copies and got on to write the press release i was working on.  then jonas calls me up again and asks where the copies of the open letter are.  and i tell him that i am bringing them down, but was still doing the press release.  he asks me to hurry up, "kasi kailangan", a statement so contemptuous i just had to retort:  "alam ko". 

 

insensitive turd had enough good sense to ask 'wala ba si norma' and i say 'wala'.  there was no one in the room except me and byron.  i had to do everything, including answer the fucking phone.

 

jonas then sends me a message using kit's phone asking again where the letter is and i say 'reproe'd, bababa ko, gnagawa ko pa PR'.  and then he sends another message from nenen's phone at which point i say 'punyeta sha magintay sha kamo'.

 

i go down after i do the shitty press release and distribute copies of the open letter.  i had began to feel so crappy about it all, and i chance upon him in the lobby and he says 'ano problema mo?  tatawagin mo kong punyeta? ganyan na ba tayo mag-usap ngayon?  hindi ganyan ang tamang pagkausap sa kasama mo sa trabaho.' 

 

for a second i realize his point.  that was immature to say 'punyeta'. so i say, 'look, i'm sorry for the punyeta, but you know what...' and since i have never been known for my vocal eloquence, i just walked away. 

 

the asshole was lounging around in the fucking lobby while i was doing all the work and he did nothing but call me up and harass me and he feels offended because i said 'punyeta'?  such self-righteousness!  such indifference!  such insensitivity!  who died and made him god of all things noble and beyond reproach?  did he die while jonas was busy doing nothing?

 

if he was so fucking smart then why doesn't he do the press release himself?  yeah sure, punyeta is no way to adress your co-worker, but hey excuse me, mr. diplomatic know-it-all, what work exactly were you doing?

 

in any case i was so upset, and i still am.  and at the same time i am outraged by this high and mighty attitude, this solid contempt, this sense of being wronged while doing nothing at all to help.

 

give me a break!

 

self-righteous assholes who do nothing but bark orders while we worker bees actually do the dirty work are nothing more than fuckwads who are easy on the credits but difficult to find when everyone else is sweating for actual outputs.

 

i want to hurt him.  i want to hurt him badly.  this guy.. what can i say?  this guy just leaves me out of words with his outrageous sense of being so high above everyone else.  on so many levels he is tasteless and cheap, and he gets away with his easy words.  this guy has a lot of fake charm working around him, and i am so glad i got to see through all his BS.  i did my job.  i broke down a bit, no thanks to him pushing me from behind, an unproductive, uncaring hand of no help at all.

 

in a word, yes, punyeta indeed. why the hell did i take it back anyway?

 

draw your own conclusion, part 3

 

vince0925: restarted pc. did u get my last msgs?
doobie: you said, i should take my time
doobie: and then?
vince0925: parang i said work on your relationship with ******
vince0925: i think that's the last i said
doobie: and then?
vince0925: dunno. it's up to you. :))
doobie: how do i know if im really not over **** or its just the fact that he's going out that i resent
vince0925: imagine if you'd be happy if he were back with you
vince0925: imagine. now.
vince0925: would you be happy?
vince0925: god i'm talking like an expert. duh.
doobie: awww, yes, i think i would be happy, come on, thats a hard question, we were together for 5 years
vince0925: discounting any other reason than what your heart tells you. would you really be happy? that's a false argument to say yes you'd be happy because you were together for five years. agh. so typical, you hets! :))
doobie: hehehe
vince0925: :P
doobie: okay, okay, in all honesty
vince0925: so, yes?
doobie: yes, i think we would be happy
vince0925: "we", sure, but "me"?
doobie: yes, i would be happy
vince0925: you're hanging on, i think. give it time.
vince0925: if ten years from now you're still saying that, sasampalin na kita.

let me know you're here

I need to know that things are gonna look up
Cause I feel us drowning in a sea spilled from a cup

...

I want a reason for the way things have to be
I need a hand to help build up some kind of hope inside of me

 

- "Calling All Angels" by Train

 

 

i demand a sign.  this time, before i jump ahead of myself, i demand that a sign be given before i let down the defenses.  i want the kind that needs me to think and reflect, the kind that you don't throw in my face.  the kind that is subtle, yet undeniably present.  this is not too much, believe me. 

 

this morning i woke up with his name on my lips.  i wondered whether he was at home or if he had work even on a sunday.  i wondered if he'd had breakfast.  i wondered where he usually goes to relax or hang out.  i'm getting my interest piqued.  but the walls are still up, and i don't want to let them down just yet.  i just want to find out things about him. 

 

how do i talk to him?  how do i even start?  i can't even seem to think of an appropriate topic.   yesterday i came to within an inch of asking someone if he was seeing anyone.  but i decided a long time ago to do away with bridges and go-betweens.  if i want to find out something about someone, i will do it on my own.

 

do i dare?  what's the next step to take?  do i call him up, let myself get to the point?  do i try the business-like approach and ask him for more referrals and tips on how to do my job?  do i take the foolish track and send him messages on his phone "by mistake"?

 

so there you go. there's a guy on my mind right now.  i don't know where he's been or where he's going.  but i'd like to walk a little while beside him, if i see him.  just check him out.  i could learn something. 

 

but first i want a sign.  i'm leaving the office now.  i'll be on the road.  in much the same way that bai closed his eyes towards the end of this movie (which i thoroughly enjoyed), so will i.  count to ten.  then leave.  it's cheesy i know, but i have no other options.  i really like this guy, but i need a sign. 

 

if god wants to drop a sign on me and convince me this is worth it, then i implore the divinities to do it now.   there is no better time.

 

the ones we wanted to catch us

she asked me why i used to tease her about a common friend a few years back. and my reply, if i'm not mistaken because i think she had asked me this way back then, was the same. it was my gut feel, i tell her over text last night. i just knew. somehow i knew.

apparently i was right. he, a common friend, had really fallen for her. the thing is, she couldn't give back what he wanted. she tells me she had no idea whatsoever that he was feeling something.

quite frankly i didn't know how exactly i knew because i didn't see much of their friendship. but i heard stories. i'd hear her talk about him. i'd hear him talk about her. they're both in distant makati, where i go about three times a year, so i didn't really get to watch their friendship grow. and apparently in the tough past few months that she had to deal with some issues of her own, he had kept her company, had been what we normally refer to as a 'buddy'. they'd have lunch together since they work in the same building, and if i'm not mistaken they even go out sometimes -- as friends.

what got her to think, after cleaning up her inbox and finding an old undeleted email from him was how she never seemed to notice how exactly he felt.

naughty me asked, 'so why do you get to think about all this now? do you realy have no feelings for him whatsoever? not even an ounce of a chance?'

she said there was none. my heart recited the names of a couple of people.

and i said, 'i've been in his shoes. i know what he's been through.' (and come to think of it, he found someone before i did.) and i added, 'it's hard to fall when you know he's not going to be there to catch you.'

and she agreed and then said soemthing about how equally tough it would be to fall and know he (or she) can't catch you because the timing is wrong.

i got knocked off my train of thought for a while before i said 'well at least you let him down easy. and don't feel sorry that you can't feel anything for him other than as a friend. don't ever apologize for your emotions. THAT could hurt him.'

it was an advice fueled by my exasperation with the old, trite excuse of 'sorry but i just don't feel anything for you'. [just tell it like it is. but don't apologize, damn it.]

to which she said 'how did i let him down? i don't know how. in any case he admitted it only before he hooked up with her.'

and i said 'you didn't disappoint him. and i know him. he's a good person. he won't take it against you. which i truly believe. i know the guy. he's a gentleman and his hirits are soooo corny. but i've never pictured him as the type to hold a grudge, much less carry along a baggage such as hatred. (people like me were put on this earth for THAT.)

which gets me to think. why am i so lenient on her when she did exactly the same thing other guys did to me? then i realized it's because i never really got the other side of the story from those guys. i never put myself in their shoes. nor would i want to anyway.

i put on a brave face and declared 'it's their loss', but here i am after all these years, still standing on my own. plastic card in my hand on my way to the mall to watch hotel rwanda by myself, on a friday night with no one to call my own. it's a brave front, but that's all it is. and those guys? they're somewhere else, maybe they've hooked up (i know some did) maybe some are still cleaning up the mess that is their life. but me? all i have are those sorries and those goodbyes.

the ones we wanted to catch us. who are these people? are they really as heartless and as callous as we make them out to be when we tell our sob stories? are they really nothing more than insensitive assholes, by virtue of them breakin our hearts into pieces? are they the vicious villains that tragedizes our stories and we, the helpless victims wallowing in the wrecks of our failed endeavors?

i think about my friends. she let him down easy. and i think they're still friends. maybe i was lenient on her because of that. there are guys i know who didn't do the same to me. but those who did, even if they said sorry when it was the last thing i needed to hear? i realize they're still my friends now.

the ones we wanted to catch us.

they're people who fell waiting for someone to catch them while we were falling for them hoping they'd catch us. with them in mid-air, i realize it must be a difficult situation to be in too. and knowing that allows one to finally forgive.

behind the scenes, part 3

if you were able to watch GMA7's flash report at 3pm today chances are you probably saw me on tv holding up a round cardboard karatula screaming out the words 'let's hear the truth'.  yep.  since the security people in the office are pretty much comfy with our presence we decided to take our "protest actions" right inside the halls of congress.  while legislators came into the hall, we would intercept them and pin CDs with the slogan for the day on them.  since the security people knew who we were they stood by and allowed us to do our thing without any fuss at all.

 

turth be told we were hoping they'd ask us to make ourselves scarce.  a scene like that would definitely land.  but since we're peace-loving moderates, we were happy with what we got. vic had a nice idea and instead of pinning the CDs onto our chests we put them in between our lips.  i hope the photogs pull through and if we're lucky we'll be in the papers again tomorrow. 

 

the point to all this is not just to land, but to keep reminding people that there is a burning issue that requires involvement, and that to do so presupposes the insistence of that message on media. 

 

while waiting for tpp to go on air, an abscbn crew asked us, 'well, what will you have as an alternative if GMA steps down?'.  momentarily forgetting The Line, it got me to think.  then i replied 'well, we want a transition government, we want GMA, the VP, the Cabinet and the COMELEC to resign en masse'.  of course the substantive discussion on the call would require a bit more of explanation at which point i didn't have enough time.  the crewman gave a puzzled look and asked 'may CD pa kayo?'  we gave him one.

 

it just got me to think how people might necessarily be unwilling to go out there because there is some credence to the argument that 2001 is just simply too fresh in everyone's mind to actually make an effort to go and topple another government.  but stealing other people's money is one thing.  stealing a mandate is even more jaw-dropping.

 

but i guess the impulse that cuts across classes and sectors is that, well, if you get rid of GMA, who's taking her place?  definitely it shouldn't come from the same set of elite power-brokers and interests.  that's why it's so hard to mobilize now. 

 

as i've said before, that critical mass just isn't there yet.  in fact, it's nowhere to be found. 

 

so the hearings resume next week and in the meantime, the story seems fated for below the fold or the inside pages with tarongoy coming home, sin dying etc., etc., etc.  this presents a challenge to sustain the issue, rightly so for the legitimate questions of governance and not to serve the self-righteous posturing of the wobbly opposition.

 

i just hope i don't get tired of the issue myself.  it's so hard to find a social life with all the work in-between blogging that i have to do.  and i haven't been outside the office (oh wait,) except for that brief coffee session last night at gateway with marnie (and the fete last saturday), i haven't had the time to see much anything outside the premises of this building. 

 

which is just awful because there's this certain person i want to get to know better and maybe even ask out, if only circumstances allow.  i thought about him briefly while we sat inside the hall today but as the discussions began to infuriate me as wycoco talked about the NBI raids a few days ago, i had to focus again.

 

which gets me to think that my gonads are depressed.  i mean, truth be told, i've been pretty lifeless below the belt for the past few days.  while i have a few candidates, there's no one inspiring daydreams in me.  i guess gloriagate or no, that's been my story for the past few weeks.  i just wish i had enough time (and money) to go into the list of things i said i want to do, like get on a foreign language class or a climb. 

 

but i'm not complaining. i guess work should take precedence now.  doesn't life happen to people who are too busy doing something else?

 

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" and other quotes

The American Film Institute came out with its list of the top 100 movie quotes of all time and the selection was pretty cute.

 

 

behind the scenes, part2

so today we gathered all staff we could bring down to the galleries and we distributed CDs with the catchphrase "Let's Hear the Truth" written on them. we were half-expecting the security people to ask us to leave the hall.

if they were taking notes they'd easily spot me among the rows of staff we had. i kinda stood out with the hair. but apparently, we would not figure in any "scene". for one thing, the security people know us, and secondly my companions must have an average age of 35, take me out and that average would probably go up to 38. so we weren't exactly a bunch you'd expect to be quick on our feet, much less figure in a brawl.

so we sat patiently for about an hour and a half before my companions began going back to our offices in pairs. after filling up with sightings of my ex-uber crush migs, and my current flame *****, i told my seatmates i wanted merienda and we went back to the office. i was pretty worried we wouldn't get much coverage, but thankfully perci was on top of the situation, and as you can see, we landed on ch7's newsflash, courtesy of tina panganiban-perez. if you're lucky you can still see the report on inq7, but i doubt it, since they often change the front page on an almost hourly basis.



still i'm happy. that's kit and mayong in that screenshot, and etta beside her. meanwhile we were inside the session hall, and i was bored with all that circuitous questioning.

we don't expect things to heat up until next week, when the legislators get around to the question of playing the tapes. personally, i would compare that moment to the 'open-the-envelope' vote in the senate back in 2001. it will probably show the division within the committees hearing the gloriagate scandal and would probably go down as a trial run of how committee members (and subsequently, the plenary) would vote upon the committee report once the hearings are finished and the findings are presented.

but in all these, it seems to me that so much opportunity is lost to dig deeper at the circumstances that allowed for gloriagate in the first place. i'm convinced it's her on those tapes. i'm convinced both administration and opposition cheated in the last elections. she was just too stupid to have gotten herself on audio. but the question no trapo would ever dare ask is: how were they able to cheat anyway? in a moment of reflection and self-recrimination would lawmakers be able to realize that if they stood above their own petty interests our elections should have been modernized a long, long time ago?

ack. if gilbert weren't so cute, i would have willingly made a scene myself earlier and just shouted "get on with the fucking program!" by that i would mean i didn't want them to speed up the investigation. the hearing will be squashed sooner or later when the palace whips its boys in the house in line anyway. i would have meant i wanted these people to get down into the business of making laws that are of actual use instead of bickering and grandstanding.

behind the scenes, part 1

so it's the first day of the gloriagate scandal hearing at the place where i work (yeah yeah, i think since these are extraordinary times then anything i post about all the politics i see around me on a daily basis would require a disclosure of where i work -- at long last). and now here i am circumventing the screwed up servers of blogger.com by posting this via email and going back and reflecting on what today's hearing taught me.

 

so much time was wasted wrangling over procedure, but it doesn't come as a surprise that questions of quorum and parliamentary etiquette would suddenly now be used to try and delay the hearings.  i sat with a couple of officemates at the second gallery where anti-gma protestors were waiting at the doors to get in.  flashing our id's we were let in and as i breezed by i heard one of the protestors saying 'baka maubusan na kami ng upuan'. i thought about whether orders were given out to keep the number of common tao at a minimum, and how this would fit in exacly to our fears that administration folks would try to downplay the inquiry.  certainly with cameras panning at the gallery and if all there is to show are rows upon rows of empty seats then that would somehow create a sense that the general public is not interested in the issue.

 

the galleries must be full to the hilt.  this is a legitimate question of good governance and transparent rule, and of accountable officials.  certainly if the common tao cannot articulate that, the pulitikos rambling in the plenary should know the importance of ensuring participation in the proceedings precisely by having people watch them.

 

mr. spice boy who is gunning for the senate, an ex-uber crush, had said that perhaps it would be better to have the hearings at the andaya hall.  with all the media and the house employees watching, how many common tao will they be able to let in if they moved the hearings there? duh. i like his face, even if his head is too big for his body, but a lot of times he inspires violent images in my mind, especially when he talks about the death penalty.

 

my bosses were wearing 'truth barongs' and at once we see the "opposite camp" scrambling to hike media for photo-ops.  i make a face at old friend tinay, in jest (and behind her back, haha), and i make suyo my own contacts affirming if they were in receipt of copies of our release -- a short piece that occupied my morning as i translated to tagalog just as sandra from 7 comes in to take shots of my boss in that 'in cd veritas' barong. old friend (and PO) rose taps me in the shoulder and we exchange brief, if not hypocritical greetings before we proceeded to do our work.

 

meanwhile, the stars of the show, the lawmakers, were in criscrossing diatribes about rules, rules, rules.  press secretary toting bunye, an otherwise genteel, intelligent man fumbles and wobbles his way through an eyebrow-raising testimony in which he passes the buck to media for burning his copy of the Garci tapes and then goes on to make a comparison between the taped conversation and photocopied signatures.  the more it is reproduced the more its veracity becomes suspect, he says, in less eloquent words, and to me, it sounds like a rehearsal for what would eventually become the Palace's official script.

 

which gets me to think.  just who is writing the president's script?  if i were her hack i'd be done with this in a day.  but of course the plot would involve secret lovers and a midnight rendezvous at the palace gardens, maybe two or three. (in keeping with my ultimate sex fantasy of outdoor sex).  and of course there has to be gay characters in it.  and 50 cents will definitely not make it to the soundtrack, with that infamous ringtone.  but i digress.

 

the president's reticence only makes me doubt whether she will tell the truth if and when she decides to finally comment on the tapes.  gma, umamin ka na.  lahat naman kayo nandadaya.  for all your educational attainment, ang pagkakamali mo lang nagpa-tape ka.

 

and then afterwards, resign. for reasons i will have to elaborate on in my press release for tomorrow.  because since we live in a particularly explosive conjuncture in our country's political life, i realize i will have to go back to work now.

 

 

more on last night's crackdown

 

this is what i was talking about last night.  again, threats of filing cases of inciting to sedition are being floated against whoever is behind the posters.  we are, of course, confident that the cases won't hold water in court.

 

the picture is taken from philstar.com.  for more on the story, please check out: http://www.philstar.com/philstar/News200506210402.htm

crackdowns and silence

The sinister hands of those who have something to hide are apparently extending their slimy paws to places close to my heart.

 

Not only did they file sedition charges last week against a couple of youth leaders who happen to move in my circles, they have actually gone on to raid the actual printing house that took on the job of putting out those posters. 

 

I have heard more gruesome stories involving the employment of brute state force against innocent civilians, but this development just infuriates me.  I may be a hopeless romantic blogger by night, but by day I am first and foremost a propagandist.  And to hear NBI agents knocking down doors and to harass printers for puting out posters with a caricature of the President (in which she actually looked even prettier than in real life, if you ask me) and a harmless call for citizens to 'exercise their rights on June 30' is a fascist crackdown against our very cherished principle of the Constitutionally-guaranteed right to freedom of expression.  The agents were apparently looking for the electronic file of the Valentina poster and confiscated a computer.  Sketchy details nevertheless highlight the lows of desperation to which this regime is sinking.

 

The LTFRB is asking drivers not to use the Hello Garci ringtone as busina.  The DOJ is threatening to go after anyone caught with CDs of the taped conversations of the President and the COMELEC operator.  And now this?  Mukhang guilty!  Does Malacañang have people whose job is to do nothing but monitor blogs all day?  Wow, that would be my dream job if not for the probably nefarious job description that goes with it.  Because if GMA is employing someone for this purpose then Malacañang would probably go after PCIJ next, or the journalists bringing their reportage outside of their newsrooms and onto their online journals.

 

An even worrying development has just reached my attention not more than 10 minutes ago.  Our political party's office is apparently being monitored as well.  After the raid on the printing press that churned out the FDC's Valentina posters, they are also asking tricycle drivers around the area (some of whom are Akbayan members, by the way) where the political party's headquarters is located.

 

This probably stems from the series of protest actions we conducted over the past few days -- one in front of Congress, another one in Cubao where we played the Garci tapes and distributed copies to the public and today at the Comelec office all leading to open acts of defiance against government's not-so-subtle attempts at containing public knowledge of the tapes.

 

Meanwhile, the President is off to Hong Kong to put up a brave face in front of investors that they can still plunk down their dollars into the local economy despite this shameful controversy hounding her.  Foolish girl.  What economy is she trying to prop up with this trip?  Our economy is already unstable precisely because of her dogmatic adherence to liberalization and the continued opening of hundreds of industries to undue and unfair competition from imported products.  This is the very reason why people are alienated from her government. 

 

The Congressional hearings continue tomorrow in grand fashion, with five committees conducting the probe at the session hall itself.  While these hearings may go down as more pomp and romp than actual substance, since the opposition only needs it to sustain the issue in the market of public opinion, there is still an opening that could be seized to allow the truth to come out.

 

Screw protocol and the separation of powers.  We have use for them in times in which we are properly governed in which accountability and transparency are exactable and normal for government to demonstrate.  But obviously, we are living in extraordinary times.  And these are not ordinary charges being levelled against the most powerful woman in the country.  She is being accused of rigging an election.  That is a betrayal of public trust.  Ehem, last time I heard that phrase, it constituted a basis for the impeachment of a pot-bellied thief we used to call His Excellency.

 

GMA should explain herself to Congress once the hearings get around the issue of the authenticity of the tapes. 

 

Don't cower under the vagary of separation of powers.  For a President whose population policy is dictated by her religious conviction and not the economics of her politics, I dare say it is hypocritical to have double standards like this.

 

To be sure, GMA is not going to come crashing down at this point.  I'm betting my printed word on it.  But the government's attacks on its opponents is only hastening the process.  Speak up, Madam President.  Don't you have an iota of shame left in your bones at all?

 

 

 

In All The Right Places

This is how you make love to a man. You stand before him, unafraid, unashamed. Your clothes are undone, and so are your walls. You have an inviting look in your eyes, and an insatiable craving in the crook of your smile. The race of your heartbeat could beat the speed of light at any given second, but you take your time to take in his image - the stark bluntness of his desire.

His hands are around your body; you run your hands along his hair and your lips are locked in an instant, a burning arrow of dark pink tongues darting forward with an urgency, as if searching for a decidedly impalpable treasure inside each other's mouths.

Close your eyes.

Don't let the room distract you from the pleasure. Forget the low light emanating from the lampshade, the muted furniture and the waiting bed. There will be time later to lie down in it.

And when he runs his tongue down your neck, to your chest, let him savor the absent milk from your breast. That is not the point. Enjoy the tactility of the moment, the heated clasp of his teeth around your nipples, the sudden grab at your rear and the play of his free hand between your thighs.

Return the passion.

Grab at his hair, kiss him on the nape, send shivers all over the continent of his skin. Let him go down further, an explorer of whatever hidden geography lies between your legs. Lie down.

Make the sign of the twins, approximate the mutuality of two bodies in opposite directions. Return the gesture; let him feel how much you hunger for his presence in your mouth. Go slowly -- tune your rhythm with his motion. Feel free to let your hands caress him as if egging him on to do more.

And should you find his tongue, or his digits, or his palm, or his lips trying to open up the puckered sensitivity of your deepest recess, let him know you want it. Let him know there are no limits to the possibilities of the long night ahead of you both.

Limbs twist, heaves of sighs and chests pounding in anticipation and expectation, skin on skin sweating, the tender wants of two lovers entwined. Lips find their way back to each other. The hunger is more pronounced this time, the appetite of tongues growing even more demanding and exacting.

Open yourself.

The night grows longer, goes deeper but the flames of this union consume you faster than the setting of tides. The embrace of a firelight is around you, and you twist and you turn, pleasurably amazed, grasping at the sheets and at your lover's back in turns, desiring an inevitable climax that pushes and pulls at your innermost regions.

Breathe.

Let him lie on his back, soothe the marks you left on his back, trail the coat of sweat that runs down it to where you want to go next. A gentle coax. A whispered reassurance. A soft, categorical landing.

You pace your desire to the melody of your lover's pleas. Your hands are gentle guides on his thighs. Opened gates await the retreat and the advance of a knight on a mission. A benevolent endeavor of passion. It is not a war, the brave warrior is not out for vengeance, or to exact defeat. He is only running to find the horizon. Where the heavenly sight of a lover's submission meets the pending bloom of your own desire into a fluid fire against his guts.

This is how you make love to a man. In equal parts a surrender, a declaration and a tangible emptying of the contents of yourself. A physical means to a purpose. A meeting of body parts and of hearts. An exhausting wait for a new day to come.

if you've never seen or haven't seen me in a while...

peregrine southpark interp,
originally uploaded by the peregrine.

this is as close to the reality as i could come up with, sorry. the pics are all somewhere else. anyway yes, i'm back to wearing glasses, yeah i'm still smoking, and yeah the british teeth are still as fucking british as they get, yeah, i have a goatee now and the hair is kinda long and very curly, yeah i still have a nicely rounded face and the skin is just as fab as ever (five products, duh), yeah i still love the sea and sunsets and still dreaming of living near the shore someday and yeah, i'm still by my lonesome (and just fine with it), and still not rich enough to avail of technology to let me upload pics faster than you can say oh holy jesus he's wearing women's clothing! so for now this will have to do. ugh.

what do you call this syndrome

sometimes one gets a nagging feeling that he is being taken advantage of.

it's that feeling one gets when, for example, one is told he has a couple of checks pending release but he has to drop by the office to pick them up. and he goes 'wow, great thanks, that's just what i need right now for my budget'. and then when he drops by the office he is told 'hey, you know what, the accountant was going over our books and we were reminded about a cash advance you made at the start of the year... blah blah blah'.

such subterfuge! such powerplay!

it's that feeling one gets when he gets an invitation for a gimik in which a tempting endeavour (not sex, mind you) is made, like 'oh let's go to the mall, there's a sale on those pants you've been lusting over eversince forever'. and he welcomes the idea only to find out that going there would entail helping out a complete stranger make sense of their private mess, like 'oh, but is it okay if this poor friend of mine whose boyfriend is cheating on her tags along? i can't handle her, can you talk to her?'

put out a thought balloon over my head and paint, in screaming red letters, the following words: "can i just be spared such imposed duties when i am not particularly in the mood to meet strangers, especially fucked up ones? i'm busy un-fucking my own life, in case you hadn't heard."

it's that feeling one gets when he is dragged into conversations where he can't even put in his own brilliant thoughts on any other matter, or where his own travails are not even heard, or where he isn't even asked 'what's up with you?' or 'what are you thinking of right now?'

instead he smiles, because he is amazed at just how it seems that the nicest buttocks in this world always come with the biggest assholes.

it's that feeling one gets when he can't say no and his only defense is to bitch about it online.

counting up to three and then *bamf*!

well, i tried posting something about love and how it's all an accident and signs and all that crap, but i began to hate myself for thinking about such things since i'm not really inspired and it would be hypocritical for me to think i mean the things i was supposed to say when in fact i don't even have a crush right now. just a few boys on my mind. nothing serious.

so i just bloghopped and found this on his blog.

Three names you go by:
Vince
Vincent
Bing

Three screen names you have had:
tourniquet
the peregrine
passerby

Three physical things you like about yourself:
nice ass :P
smooth skin
i bathe everyday! har har

Three physical things you don't like about yourself:
teeth
roundness of face
dark sakong

Three things that scare you:
losing someone
physical fights
floods

Three of your daily essentials:
blogging
horoscopes
lunch

Three things you are wearing right now:
eyeglasses
underwear
socks

Three of your favorite bands and musical artists:
U2
Barenaked Ladies
Stereophonics

Three of your favorite songs: right now?
You and Me by LIfehouse
Inside Your Heaven by Bo Bice (ha ha ha)
If I Had $1000000 by BNL

Three things you want in a relationship:
honesty
loyalty
individuality

Two truths and one lie (in no particular order):
i'm cooking up a private business right now
my last sexual episode was two weeks ago
i've never had a crush on a straight guy

Three physical things about the preferred sex that appeal to you:
the eyes
proportionality
legs

Three of your favorite hobbies:
bowling
splurging on books - is that a hobby?
coffee!!!

Three things you want to do really badly right now:
ask someone out on a date
go to gateway
take a leak

Three careers you're considering/you've considered:
work for the UN
be a travel journalist
work for Starbucks

Three places you want to go on vacation:
backpacking throughout Europe
African safari
Palawan

Three kids' names you like:
Veronica
Vanessa
Matthew

Three things you want to do before you die:
see the world and travel
be famous
have enough money to do the two things i listed above

Three ways that you are stereotypically a boy:
see my office desk
see my closet
see my bed

Three ways that you are stereotypically a girl:
too much time spent on my hair
conscious about bathing and grooming products
i spend money a lot

Three celeb crushes:
Colin Firth
Tom Cruise
John Cusack

Three people that I would like to see take this quiz now:
marnie
charlotte
ederic!

gad, i am so bored.

payslip blues

they say there is power in the pink peso. that this segment of the population: steady income, no kids, even a bit vain -- is making its presence felt in the market because gay guys are buying clothes, eating out and dancing and shopping around town or if not, at least sitting in some cinema watching an art film or something something.

screw all that. i don't feel the power of my purse. if anything, pink peso for me means my payslip is so pale because in less than 12 hours all the contents have all been accounted and spent for.

yey. payday is here, and guess what, all that's left is... uhmmm... let me see....

ok i took out a crisp yellow for payment to the eyeglasses guy, and shelled out a couple of violets for eload backlog payments to my officemate and i'm stapling the rest for the rent.

oh yeah. let's see. that's P17.50 in my pocket left. isn't that grand?!?

ok maybe i am exaggerating a bit. i had received my subsidy last week and plunked it all down on groceries and a couple of pink filmfest selections.

but it wasn't as if i overindulged or anything. that's just the way it always goes down when you have R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-I-E-S. funny how people in the office seem to be under the impression that since i'm single i don't get to spend much on "mainstream" concerns like kids and amortizations. which is why i've made it a point to let people know that i do pay for things around the house. a lot actually, so my "single" status in my tax form is actually very deceptive.

that's how discrimination manifests itself in my life. the boxes they provide in forms don't allow for interpretations to reflect the complex relaities of a gay guy's life. sure i'm single. sure i don't have kids and i have no plans of getting any anytime soon.

but that doesn't mean i'm spending my pink pesos on vanity (well, maybe just about 10%) or fun (ok, maybe just about 5%, okay maybe 10, okay fine make that 15%). this government owes me more rebates and breaks!

sigh. better follow-up my payslip for my so-called 'rakets' just so i can have some funds to tide me over until the next payslip comes along. ugh.

going the way of the supremes and the spices

i was listening to this remake of Emotions when i came across some bit of sad, but not at all surprising news about them. well, i always felt like too much attention was focused on beyonce, even if with justification. but "child" in itself always came to me as to mean she was destiny's child, and the rest were just her back-up vocals. anyway i like the girls, and maybe with their split up we'll get the next big thing soon. i better go grab a copy of destiny fulfilled so i can shake my booty to lose my breath before the stores run out of copies. :)

earthbound

a weekend gift from che, by a self-help author named peter mcwilliams. i don't need the advice right now, since i don't consider myself in a bad place at all, but the poetry is quite mentionable.

Our love affair
has crash landed.
I am trapped
in the rubble
of gossamer wings.
The Wright brothers
would have been proud
of our flight, but
we live in an age
of moon landings and
space shuttles.
Our flight was pitifully low
and painfully brief.
Endings
make the circumstances
of the beginnings
regrettable.

the poem reminds me of a song by Connor Reeves, entitled Earthbound. I liked this song when it came out, a follow-up single to his more famous "My Father's Eyes". I also enjoyed the high cliffs and canyons on the video, and the lines that went "if you really have to go, you take the high i'll take the low".

how high does one fly when one is in the throes of a passion so soon to burn, so brief to last? better not think about it. i'm earthbound, as reeves sang it. i took the low, and i'm fine. i don't think i'll be needing mcwilliams' advice anytime soon. hopefully.

something is brewing online

four university-based online communities are getting together for the first time on july 2 for an event that i reckon would be the first of its kind in the country.

the gathering of atenista.net, greenarcher.com, ustexchange.com and peyups.com together with good old pex brings together all the communities under one roof for a chance for all communities to get to know more about each other.

as a staunch supporter of peyups.com for the past five years (and a delinquent moderator for the past year and a half) i am very excited by this development.

it comes at the heels of the recently-held iBlog summit (which i failed to attend because of urgent work), which brought together bloggers from all over the place for a day of intorductions, dialogue and exchanges.

it's very heartwarming to note just how much these communities are growing and playing an ever more important role in young people's lives. i myself have been fortunate to have met princess, len, marnie, jodie, ellyn, geraldsam, jaemark, ska, karl and mimi, angel and a whole lot of other people because of peyups.com. some of them have gone on to become very close friends.

blogging, on the other hand, gave me a chance to meet people like the empress and angelo, and a whole list of other strangers whose point of view on life, and their telling of their lives as they unfold allows me a peek at the larger world in which i live, and in which other people come from other places and other perspectives that allow me to take on a broader view of life.

it hasn't all been roses, to be sure. i've met some people online who i never want to see again, but thankfully they are in the irrelevant minority and they haven't, when combined, denigrated my view of my online community. nor have they stopped me from making new friends at all.

which is why the consortium launch on july 2 will be a very interesting event to watch. i will probably get in touch again with mimi if she's back in town and reconnect with the new, younger batch of peyups.com members just to check out this event. but maybe i should start with doing my chores at the peyups boards.

edsa 4, anyone?

the bombshells just keep going off these days. but no change in government is coming anytime soon. the objective balance of forces has not shifted in the way that we saw them do in the days of marcos and estrada.

this is not to be construed as a defense of the incumbent. far form it. i don't think she's got any business running this country. but the 'jueteng' alllegation shave not pinned her down.

the revelations now of nbi director sammy ong does not in any way carry the same weight as the revelations chavit singson did in 2001.

in all probability the incumbent's operators did cheat in the last elections. of course. but so did the opposition. it went both ways.

as for jueteng income, the buck seems to stop at the FG and the equally detestable son whose congressional office, by the way, is equipped with the biggest flat-screen plasma tv set in the market nowadays (no practitioner of frugal and judicious spending of government funds, he is).

but most importantly, the middle class, that often ignored sector of society whose taxes keep this country running and whose intellect save it from descending into sheer madness, is not yet out there.

true, the revsit the reds are orgasmically dreaming of will be a tide of hard-luck, dispossessed poor folks. but the people doing the pushing in the back will always be the articulate, educated and politically savvy middle class. no amount of transformation from ndf material to cpp cadre will change the fact that the revvies keeping the dreams of a long dead chinese guy alive are organic middle class hypocrites whose concept of proletarianism consist of bloody purges and self-imposed ideological superiority.

so without the much-abhorred MF doing all the hard work -- from simple word of mouth to actual organizing and mobilizing -- the incumbent will stay put. no matter what.

they're all the same anyway. no matter which elite faction you put in there, they're all just going to steal our money anyway. and who's to save us? it's not the elites. oh no. they're all too busy protecting their own interests, alternately bickering and colluding to do so. and if you look to your left, it's not the false majority of revvies genuflecting at mao who have the answers either. they're too busy drawing up hitlists and getting joma into international confabs (thus the hatred of walden) to bother with actual theoretical rebuilding and praxis.

unless people get some sense knocked into them that we can start getting ourselves out of this mess only by voting these people out of office can we really make this country more like a nation. and not a thousand islands accidentally incorporated by the convenience of having just one flag.

don't leave the chubs behind

a few years back i went on a blind date. his number had been passed on to me by a common friend, and while this method of dating would be a pattern in what passes for my social life, back then seemed like a whole different era for me.

i was still in the closet, for one. i was fresh out of college and had been working for MODE, an NGO in which the most enjoyable fringe benefit we had was free lunch everyday. it was a time when i was still new to the 'gay scene', having had not much exposure to speak of, much less in matters confined to the bedroom, if you get my drift.

this was, i think, back in 2001 or so. i was a new recruit in the labor force, i was enjoying the feeling of having a steady income for the first time in my life.

at its most basic, this sense of fulfillment expressed itself with my growing appetite, and to make the long story short, this was the time my waistline was making leaps and bounds from 28 to 30 to 32 to 34 and later on to 36 and beyond. i was getting my paychecks, and the easiest thing to get my hands on was food. and in the office, we could eat all the rice we wanted. and so i did. i went from skinny to quite fat within my first year at MODE. it was within this context that i was going on dates at the time. i wasn't that huge, but i was definitely out of shape.

and so on that fateful night, i agreed to meet up with this guy. i was runnign a bit late for our rendezvous at megamall's bowling lanes, where at around 8:30, i found him sitting at the far end of the room over the tables near the food stalls.

there were the necessary introductions. a few niceties. and then THE excuse. an appointment that had been conspicuously unmentioned before our meeting. pressing for an elbaoration, the guy caved in and commented how i'm not "manly" enough for him.

by manly, did he mean i was fat? did he mean i wasn't fit? by manly did he mean i wasn't good-looking enough? i wasn't dressed up as much as possible, with my polo shirt and my khakis the best i could come up with?

there i was not more then five minutes into a conversation with this guy and he thinks he knows me well enough to blow me off. on what basis? of course barring any soul-baring exchanges, then it would be out of nothing other than the way i looked.

looking back, i believe i've come a long way from that day. i've gone to the gym, i've familiarized myself with moisturizers and a multitude of hair products, lip gloss and balms, the art of having my nails done regularly -- the basic upkeeps for any average gay guy who's out there in the market.

i've been complimented on my fine tight ass (thanks, no doubt to the leg curls i had to endure at the gym before), guys have found my goatee and my long curls more than a tad bit cute. my wardrobe had been revamped and is continually being developed. so yes, i think i'm making headway with appearances.

but sometimes, and this is what gets me to think and upsets me, is whether this is all there is to being an eligible gay guy. worse, did i make it through my 'ugly duckling' phase just to prove i'm better than other people, the poor chaps who can't be bothered to look themselves in the mirror and say -- "my, how my handles have grown?"

because my brutal truth at this point is this: i wouldn't date someone chubby.

i'm all for diets and physical fitness, i watch my weight by keeping the carbs down, but does this enthusiasm only go to show that i have become the very same bigot that turned me down back on that night in megamall?

which gets me to think about all that talk about the LGBT community having to work so hard to fight bigotry in all its multifaceted perverse expressions in the workplace, in educatioal institutions, in mass media and elsewhere. but the community itself is nt exactly made up of angels. while we try to break the stereotypes and the ignorant notions commonly attached to gays and lesbians everywhere, i'm afraid the internal culture of the community is far from evolving from the patriarchal trappings of beauty of what it means to be a 'hottie' in a land of a million and one homos.

i've met these guys more than once. those whose tastes are limited by their narrow concept of what is desirable and what is not.

diversity.

but how many within the community can really say they are tolerant of other gay people whose bodies are not exactly front-page glossy magazine material?

a few days ago i came across a specimen while bloghopping. i kept my quiet against what was obviously an uninformed and very lowbrow attack on a chub, who was being dissed, for his character, by making remarks about his physical appearances. and suddenly i was reminded of my own 'ugly duckling' struggle, and how it felt to have guys reject me because i was, well, i was a plus size by homo standards.

in chatrooms and in personal ads, people give so much premium to toned/medium-built/gym regular/fit/muscular types, and those who are (or pretend to be) take pride in leting the fact be known, a staple of "asl and stats" equally for those up for a quick 'bang-bang' or a "solid" LTR. such facetiousness pervades the community that at times i feel like we're perpetrating a meat market in which pandesal abs and muscled arms are the most expensive commodities and brain and strength of character are laughable rejects that have been thrown out the window.

i realize that the community itself should learn to break away from the passed-on concepts of acceptability and 'normalcy', a kind of prejudice obviously inherited from those straight men who salivate over scantily-clad 26-34-26 babes on billboards and tabloids. it is a kind of internal discrimination incongruent with the very spirit of the gay and lesbian community -- one of acceptance and respect.

we all have our own standards, i admit. and maybe i am bigoted myself because i am not turned on by chubs. but who am i to pass judgment on another person on the basis of his waistline?

i guess i just have to be consistent and conscious about my value judgments. i may not like someone, maybe even for the flimsiest reasons. but i hope i don't deliver the message so rudely as if to convey that i'm better just because i worked on myself.

i hope i never become that guy in megamall.

i used to hate him with so much fervor. it was an awful turndown i just can't get out of my head until now. up until two years ago i even kept his number and thought of ways to get back at him for what he did to me. i admit once i even sent out his number on those yahoogroups -- for straight people -- and told them his number belonged to a 'horny, game, 25, f, qc'.

but i'm fine now. i don't even remember his face anymore. besides, from now on, if i'm going on a date, i will watch the details. a guy who asks to meet up at a place like megamall probably doesn't have much going for him. or maybe i am just being plain snobbish again.

never ever after

damn it. if you think i have such a nice ass then why don't you just put your arms around me? okay, promise next time i won't get drunk.

i had a dream last night

if he loved you, like i loved you

i won't walk away in shame

i'd move town and change my name...

when we dance

sting

 

 

i was probably being delusional last night. the truth is for the past few days, since the weekend, i haven't been feeling well, and i had a slight fever last night as i went to sleep.  there i was holding him, and i was standing behind him, and he was receiving me. 

 

he was receiving me. the entire continent of his skin was mine to touch. there remained no hidden corner that was not there for me to stare at, or touch, or kiss.

 

my heart was beating fast. at last, at last, at last.

 

but it isn't right. it's been too long since i said it's over. and there is absolutely no reason why i should even think it was a subconscious drive that conjured the images from last night's dream.

 

he is with someone now.  someone who can't measure up to what i could have had for him.  and maybe that's what is at the bottom of my dream.  here i am, still wondering what it would have been like had i been given half a chance.  but i know better half a chance is too much for someone who doesn't even deserve the effort.

 

it must have been the slight fever.

 

Pink Filmfest @ UP Diliman

UP Film Institute hosts this year's Pink Filmfest with screenings extended
up to June 22.

Schedule of Screenings:

June 8 Wed 5 p.m.
Formula 17

June 8 Wed 7 p.m.
Mga Pusang Gala

June 9 Thu 5 p.m.
Duda

June 9 Thu 7 p.m.
inter.m@tes

June 10 Fri 5 p.m.
Mga Pusang Gala

June 10 Fri 7 p.m.
Lesbyanadrama

June 11 Sat 5 p.m.
American Pink

June 11 Sat 7 p.m.
That Man Peter Berlin

June 14 Tue 5 p.m.
American Pink

June 14 Tue 7 p.m.
Chuck & Buck

June 15 Wed 5 p.m.
Bathhouse

June 15 Wed 7 p.m.
Los Novios Bulgaros (Bulgarian Lovers)

June 16 Thu 7 p.m.
inter.m@tes

June 17 Fri 5 p.m.
The Films of Rosa ng Maynila

June 17 Fri 7 p.m.
Los Novios Bulgaros (Bulgarian Lovers)

June 18 Sat 5 p.m.
Mga Pusang Gala

June 18 Sat 7 p.m.
So Happy Together

June 19 Sun 5 p.m.
inter.m@tes

June 19 Sun 7 p.m.
Special Program

June 20 Mon 5 p.m.
Pinoy Pinkies

June 20 Mon 7 p.m.
inter.m@tes

June 21 Tue 7 p.m.
Euro Pink

June 22 Wed 7 p.m.
Los Novios Bulgaros (Bulgarian Lovers)

will i go to jail for this?

i have finally found a way to upload music on my blog (or at least make them available for downloading so i can share them with visiting friends).

if you will check my playlist on the sidebar, you'll notice i have links to some songs, including shawn colvin's never saw blue like that. this is the song of the moment for me, and by making it available here i hope friends will be able to find out just why i love the song so much.

of course these are mp3s, and i just hope the wuhwuhwuh police aren't droppin by anytime soon.

the discovery came as i was bloghopping during lunch break today and found this website called yousendit.com, where they allow you to send email messages alerting someone that a file has been uploaded on yousendit's server for the recipient to download.

the bad news is that the files don't stay on yousendit's server for long. in fact it's only there for 7 days or until 25 downloads of the file has been reached, whichever comes first. but still, i can always resend my mp3s, right? (though of course that means my fingers will be strained again doing all the coding necessary for the links. ugh).

emailing my mp3s to my gmail account allowed me to get a url where the mp3s i attached can be downloaded, and with url in hand, i can link them instead to my blog. neat huh? hardly an original thought, one i ripped off someone else's blog, and oh boy, am i thankful for that person. i wonder if he's cute.... *giggle*

grocery wars

The Organic Trade Association is promoting the cause of organic food and they have taken it not just online, but creatively so.

A taste of the movie in store at the linked website above:


Cuke Skywalker and Obi Wan Cannoli discuss the ways of the farm

Ham Solo is just as (c)hunky as the original

On their way to the Death Melon

Troopers battling it out in the grocery aisles

Father and Son in the final duel. A potato head begetting a cucumber? Are you sure this isn't genetic engineering disguised as organic agriculture? Doh.

why is the peregrine still in the office?

Well, because he could have saved himself time doing his job had he worked straight for eight hours instead of bumming out.

moon in freaking pisces

menthal nowth: ithtay away flom uhr-cohol if yeh haddenth had dheener yezz. de teth ov asheeed up ya thhrut idn't reeleeeh ow zat naaayiisss.

Gay films from around the globe come to Gateway Mall

The third installment of the 2005 Pink Film Festival kicks off on Friday at the Gateway Mall in Cubao with emphasis on the health and
human rights of the gay community.

Through the theme "In the Pink of Health," the International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival as it is also called has garnered more support this year from foreign and local institutions. It has thus evolved into a comprehensive showcase of gay and lesbian perspectives from various parts of the world.

Mounted in celebration of the Gay Pride Month by Progay Philippines, Mowelfund Film Institute and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the festival has for its partners the Norsk Filminstitutt, the Canadian Embassy the Swiss Embassy, the Philippine NGO Support Program, Women's Educational Media, the Embassy of Finland, the Department of Health and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Pink films from around the globe will be screened beginning June 3 to 12 at the Gateway Cineplex 10, and at the UP Film Institute from June 8 to 14.

Pink events

Opening the festival at 7 p.m. on Friday is Ellen Ongkeko's explosive adult romance fantasy, Mga Pusang Gala, starring Ricky Davao, Irma Adlawan and Reggie Curly.

The film shows Adlawan and Davao as next-door neighbors sharing a house, sex fantasies and lousy lovers. Davao gives a different portrayal of his role as he plays a torturous and hysterical Filipino gay character. Adlawan shares half of the fun-and the tears-in the film as she essays a highly sympathetic role of the fiercely independent bohemian Marta. The film is as much a woman's as it is a
gay film.

Following the local film is the Taiwanese hit comedy Formula 17 on Saturday and the Berlin Film Festival blockbuster, That Man: Peter Berlin! on Sunday, both at 6:30 p.m. The latter is a biopic of the Germany's gay-iconic photographer, filmmaker and model.

International prizewinning short films will also be featured.

Showing on May 10 at 6:30 p.m. is Touch of Pink, a romantic comedy featuring a young South Asian-Canadian who lives in London. He is so caught up in the romance, style and dreams of old films that he thinks he's living with the ghost of Cary Grant. His ideal world collapses when his mother asks him to marry an Indian girl.

From Norway, Kenneth Elvebakk uncovers The Secret Club, an underground society for homosexuals established in Oslo in 1950 when homosexuality was still a criminal offense. With humor and a touch of sadness, a group of older homosexual men recall titillating episodes from their youth, as well as the negative reactions from society.

In a similar film, memories of teenage lesbian love are awakened when two old ladies bump into each other in Claudia Lorenz's Hoi Maya from Switzerland.

The festival also showcases the talents of promising Filipino artists, such as Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo who joins the digital revolution with her whimsical short film Babae, a tale of two women who boldly redefine what family means in a community set in the railroad tracks. A group of students from De La Salle University captures the magic of "hard-of-hearing" gays whose sign language takes wild flights of fancy in their thesis film, When Fingers Talk Pink.

Chris Pablo's trademark gay digital sex drama dubbed Bathhouse shine alongside his rediscovered 1998 educational video Slow Motion, a subtle yet penetrating diatribe on antigay bullying in grade schools Academy award-winning director Debra Chasnoff brings from the American heartland three powerful documentaries about the intolerance and homophobia of young audiences in That's A Family. In her One Wedding and a Revolution, she chases around town the trouble making Gavin Newsom, who figures in a huge debate as the new mayor of San Francisco when he gave same-sex couples the right to get married.

A Filipino American filmmaker Jennifer Ting peeks into the secret world of lesbians in Seattle, while the docu-drama Not Straightforward gives a glimpse as to how lesbians dispel stereotypes among their peer groups.

Talks, forums and other events will be held with the screenings to inform the public about HIV/AIDS issues and gay legal rights. Drag shows, gay choir concerts and poetry readings celebrating gay arts will highlight the 10-day event.

For more information and play dates, call 727-1915 local 203, 410-4567, (0921) 339-8955, e-mail them, or log on to their official website.

draw your own conclusion, part 2

vince0925: pst. guess who's online
eileen_: who?
eileen_: *****?
eileen_: hehehe
vince0925: malay ko kung ano YM ni *****. :))
vince0925: *********_**** ring a bell? :))
vince0925: almost forgot nga din kung sino itech... until, *ding* -- it's **. :P
vince0925: pero dedma eh. hmm. kebs na ko. :))
eileen_: ay, talaga? mwehehehe
eileen_: kamustahin mo
eileen_: daliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
eileen_: hehehe
vince0925: naaah
vince0925: wa ba sha sa list mo?
eileen_: wala eh. didn't know he logs on to ym
vince0925: took him off my friendster, deleted his number etc
vince0925: well don't bother
eileen_econ: wahahahaha
vince0925: malaman pa niyang pnaguusapan natin sha
vince0925: :))

daylight savings time lifted. the hands of the clock have moved on, indeed. a tinge of bitterness? sure, why not. but for someone i didn't really love anyway, mentioning his name is too much flattery than he actually deserves.

An Evening with Hets

the coosome twosome during
a bora trip to which
i was NOT invited. grr.
originally uploaded by the peregrine.

last night i went over to eileen's office to pick up my retainer and i hanged out at her office snacking on clarence's blu skies and fidgeting with her lovely, spanking brand new sony ericsson k500i. while i bored myself silly passing time and eileen worked on her stata software crunching labor statistics, an hour passes and rico phones her up and joined us.

i toy with some graphs eileen had printed out on her table and make a demonstration. "this is actually a graph that shows my finances," i tell my audience of two, "makikita po natin ang tinatawag nating supply and demand," i explain. the lovebirds were in stitches.

"you'll notice that the demand side is at a high," i said, giggling. "everytime it's near the 15th, it spikes up," i say, and the two are laughing. "but you'll notice that the supply side, however, is kinda, well, it's kinda going in a straight line," i said while pointing to the supply line. "and you will notice this sign," i go on, pointing to a symbol of the pi just beneath the supply arrow, "this is what we call 'my mother'," i tell eileen and rico, "and you'll notice that at some point she intercepts the supply line," and we have a hard time controlling our laugh.

i move on to another graph with three sets of zigzagging lines on it and i tell rico, "this is the graph that tells you about my lovelife," and we laugh. rico says "it goes up and down?" and i say no, "it's actually the broken lines," i said, meaning to say 'pahinto-hinto', and we giggle.

at which point clarence, hard on his computer prepping a powerpoint, forwards a good-natured suggestion to eileen: "magkape na kaya kayo?". being the nice person he is, we are not offended, and giggle a bit more at the suggestion, before we get the message and go silent for a while.

a while goes before we eventually make our way to cafe breton across the street and have crepes for dinner. of course the idea that i was once again third-wheeling my friends isn't lost on me, a thought any single gay guy probably knows only too well.

but since these were eileen and rico, it was alright. i didn't really mind. i do not have a lot of attached friends, (only eileen and princess), which aside from partially explaining why i'm still single, also presents a particular angle in public comport. how does one conduct himself in the company of people who are in love?

well, i had an option to see the glass half-empty. i could point out how mushy and yucky they were being so sweet and all that in front of me. or i could care less and just ignore them when they're holding hands and making gooey eyes at each other. or i could go all extremist and just say 'you hets! you disgust me!'

my blessed singleness could not have been more pronounced as last night. thought balloon among people who pass us by: "oh what a lovely couple, complete with all the works, including the token gay friend, who even as surely as he is bubbly and witty, is relegated to the role of sidekick!". but truth to tell, i couldn't give a crock.

i have made peace with singlehood. the fact that i was with a couple didn't have to mean i had the pleasantness of a box of rocks. it's just that well, i am single, and so what if it wasn't exactly a double date?

the most honorable path, as i took it last night, was think of them as two of my friends, who just happen to be attached to each other. third-wheeling then became an easier role.

Mendiola sinugod ng nakahubong out-of-school youths

"PANSAMANTALANG nawindang ang takbo ng buhay sa paanan ng tulay ng Mendiola sa University Belt Area sa Sampaloc, Maynila kahapon ng umaga matapos sumugod dito ang tinatayang 15 "out of school youth" na pawang walang mga saplot sa katawan upang ilantad ang umano'y "kakulangan" ng suporta ng pamahalaan sa sektor ng edukasyon.

Muntikang magkabanggaan ang mga pampasaherong jeep at iba pang sasakyan na tumatawid sa sangangdaan ng Mendiola, Legarda at Claro M. Recto Ave. nang sabay-sabay na inilantad ng mga aktibistang "maskulados" ang kanilang mga "jumbo at regular hotdog" na tinatakan ng slogan na "Edukasyon Para Sa Lahat!"

Maging ang mga tauhan ng Western Police District na nagbabantay sa tulay na tagos ng palasyo ng Malacañang ay na-bato-balani at nanigas sa kanilang kinatatayuan habang napatakip naman ng mata at napa-Ay ang mga coed ng Centro Escolar University at La Consolacion College na nagdaraan sa lugar. Sinukat naman ang mga nagpoprotestang aktibista ng malalagkit na tingin ng mga nagdadalagang-binata ng San Beda College.

Ayon kay Leonardo delos Reyes, ginamit lang nila ang kanilang mga katawan upang ipakita ang pagkukulang ng pamaha-laan sa mga kabataan.

Aniya, hindi umano binibigyan ng pamahalaan ng pagpapahalaga ang edukasyon kung kaya't patuloy na dumarami ang mga out-of-school youth bukod sa patuloy na bumabagsak ang kalidad ng edukasyon.

Inulan naman ng kantiyaw ang mga hindi makapormang pulis kung kaya't walang naaresto sa mga bagong pantasya ng Mendiola."

update: one was arrested, the lookout who was fully clothed. teee-heee-heee. go, YS!

welcome june, *sigh*

Never Saw Blue Like That
Shawn Colvin

Today I took a walk up the street
And picked a flower and climbed the hill
Above the lake

And secret thoughts were said aloud
We watched the faces in the clouds
Until the clouds had blown away

And were we ever somewhere else
You know, it's hard to say

And I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky
Around the world
You've given me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that

I can't believe a month ago
I was alone, I didn't know you
I hadn't seen nor heard your name
And even now, I'm so amazed
It's like a dream, It's like a rainbow, it's like the rain

And somethings are the way they are
And words just can't explain

Cause I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky
Around the world
You've given me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that before

And it feels like now,
And it feels always,
And it feels like coming home

I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky
Around the world
You've given me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that before

Oh, I, I never saw blue like that