A Pair of items I Picked Up on A Sunday Morning

Atty. Onnie Martin has been a friend of mine for some time. Back when I was still in shape to play basketball, we played together twice a week at the Moro Lorenzo Sports center and were teammates for a couple of seasons in the Ateneo Basketball League. Although I stopped playing hoops regularly, every chance we get we chat when we see each other especially during the UAAP season.

I never knew Onnie had it in him but he's penned two humorous books: Much I Do About Nothing and its sequel. You can find it in the Filipiniana section of Power Books.

Good job, bro. Oh by the way, Onnie also played for the Blue Eaglets in HS.

When I first heard about direk Mark Meily's Baler, I was excited about it. I remember telling myself, "Finally, someone's doing a film about this extraordinary story."

I have long been a history buff and our colonial past is something I have read a lot on. In a previous post, I wrote that how fixated I was in doing a commercial that commemorated the Battle of Tirad Pass for the Centennial PLDT ad. I argued, fought, and threw tantrums over it to no avail. In the end, we had to make do with a Katipunan-themed ad that was shot at the La Mesa Dam (it was directed by Peque Gallaga).

I got the special edition DVD today at a thousand bucks (ouch). For those who know me well, I do not watch Filipino films or television shows ("Rizal" and "Muro Ami" are the exceptions and the couple of damned films where I made a cameo appearance -- that's for you to find out what movies they were). I've had long discussions about the local film industry most notably with Eddie Garcia while drinking at a bar in Hoboken, NJ.

But this film; this DVD, I made the exception. Thanks to my old classmate in ADMU, Viva's Vincent del Rosario for making sure this film was done. Good job too, dude.

In my parent's home, we still have the old Filipino Heritage book series and the ones that featured the War of Independence are still my favorites; I think it's volume 7 or 8 I have to check that out. One time, I attended a book signing of Nick Joaquin and we had a long conversation about that period.

I've always lamented how poor we are as a nation to preserve history. Whereas in other countries, landmarks and historical sites are well preserved and make up a huge part of the tourist industry. Imagine my surprise when I visited Corregidor the other year and found out that they plan to build a golf course on the Rock.

A golf course is the last thing this country needs. What we need it much better leadership and a change of the system because we are hopelessly corrupt. The economy, jobs, health care, education, and the environment are so so off the radar. All we have are leaders who do a lot of posturing. How the hell can politicos own islands and such?

Awww... I'm ranting again. Sorry. But Baler... good job, Direk!