Dragon Wars

Craziest movie next to Death to Smoochie...

I was like, "Oh my gosh..."

Ok, admittedly, the teaser trailer looked too good to be a real nice sci-fi fantasy movie, and so, a dear friend who got too curious for his own good, bought a dvd copy and let me watch it with him.

Goodness! I... I'd rather not put down my comments here, for fear of detection and outright documentation which will lead you all to this blog, but in fairness to the makers of the said movie, the great Korean artist, Hyung Rae Shim, my salute to you for braving the all-too-hard-to-please movie-goers of this age, my highest regard for your bravery and courage for having the balls to go straight to the Hollywood bigshots to ask for their help and contribution to make this dream of yours possible {I watched the credits and the "the making" part of the movie, ok? Get over it.}.

So, if you really wanna know what I'm blabbering about, go ahead, watch Dragon Wars.

And don't tell me I didn't warn you.

**picture credits to Yahoo! Movies.

Mendiola Massacre (and others)...

One street. One bridge. One historical place that set the Philippines in the world map of violence and injustice. The need to be heard, the need to be seen, the need for reform. A just government is all it asked for. And yet...

In 1970, Mendiola became the sole witness to violent confrontations between during the Marcos regime where four student demonstrators were dead on the spot.

On January 22, 1987, police and the military open-fired on a protest rally of about 10,000 farmers who were demanding genuine land reform from then President Corazon Aquino. Thirteen of the protestors died and hundreds more were injured in that incident now called the Mendiola Massacre, with its anniversary being commemorated today by another protest in the Mendiola Bridge by farmers from Southern Luzon, still asking a decent land reform law.

And on May 1, 2001, supporters of President Joseph Estrada, marched to Mendiola after demonstrations outside the EDSA Shrine demanding the release of the then ousted President. A violent confrontation fired up between Estrada supporters and members of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who were then tasked by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to secure Malacañang Palace and the areas surrounding it. Casualties were high on both the Estrada supporters and government troops. Aside from several deaths and hundreds of injured, damages to surrounding property triggered some hard-knocks to take advantage of the situation and started looting the stores and establishments with damaged entrances. Later, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a State of National Emergency but lifted it after two days.

Today is the anniversary of this famed venue for protests, death, and injury - a certain and inevitable part of the history of any democratic nation, all we ask is this - let us not deprive ourselves of the honor of being known because of our talents, knowledge, culture, art, or even history but not because hundreds of people needed to sacrifice their lives just to be world-renowned.

the Heck?! (v.2.0)

I was a little annoyed.

More than a little. I was quite annoyed.

Why? Because! ...

Some jerk requested to be added to my YM list, and as stupid as I am today, I did. Almost half a day later, this person sends a message saying hi. I didn't answer just yet and instead asked him who he was - in tagalog, so I'd have a clue where he's from. What basically annoyed me was that he didn't answer for a while, but sent a smiley. Crazy idiot. And then he asked, without a question mark at that, what did you say

I don't usually get annoyed by little things, but this time, since I am fully aware that I'm way past the age of looking for virtual friends in chat rooms, I get irritated by those naive ones who think that all girls just want to look for someone to hook up with. Hmm, that jerk doesn't know I'm online for business, bless his dorky heart.

Anyway, for all of you, I want virtual friends in terms of readers and subscribers and frequent visitors for this blog - not for kinky fun as others term it.


*** for the peekaboo expandable post summary hack, special thanks to Ramani (Hackosphere)!!!

Focus on Work, Darn it!

I'm bored, I can't focus, and so I blog.

Yep, got that right, I can't seem to stay focused with what it is that I'm doing for more than an hour at most. Just lost that focusing ability when I left college and joined the workforce. Kinda scary, huh? It just so happens that .... that's it, I can't focus!

My brain's kinda groggy, from lack of sleep or excess of it, but I do sincerely believe it's the lack of sleep and the urge to find some new kind of adventure or maybe just take some time off and spend it relaxing. Again. After the Christmas break and all - just something to help me unwind and therefore keep me wide-eyed long enough to appear that I like what I'm doing. Hehe.

Anyway, I won't take up much of your blog-reading time, I just wanted to blurt out that I'm to darn distracted with God knows what.

Virus that Spreads thru IM!!!

To all the people that use any kind of instant messaging service or software, please please please, beware of this new type of virus that kinda destroys your current hard disk. Well, not really DESTROY destroy, but the only thing you can do to be able to use your computer again is to have it reformatted. Of course, that means, there is a great possibility that you lose all your files! And if you use instant messaging in your workplace, then it might be spread to your local network and cause a system bog down - because once you've opened it, it then sends itself to all your instant messaging contacts, and the dimwitts might then be curious enough to open it and voila! Another wave of virus attack. The url that the originator has clicked is this: http://rapidshare.com/files/81941398/pinaycutie_scandal.zip.

SO be CAREFUL: DO NOT CLICK IT YOURSELF!!!!

It's crazy but it's true, I've received news already that a small company near our workplace got infested by this virus because of their friggin' IT person - I think he became too curious 'coz of the file's title - PINAYCUTIE_SCANDAL. Who, in his freakin' pervert mind, will not be curious?! Right?

So guys, be aware and take care.

PRC Official Resigns

PRC official resigns
By Mayen Jaymalin
Thursday, January 10, 2008

Amid allegations of more irregularities in the licensure examination, an official of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has resigned from his post.

PRC chair Leonor Rosero yesterday confirmed that PRC Engineering Board chairman Angel Lazaro has submitted his resignation.

Rosero, however, said Lazaro already served for 10 years and his quitting had nothing to do with the controversy over the November 2007 engineering licensure exams.

But when contacted for comment, personnel in Lazaro’s office said they were not aware that he already resigned from his post.

“We have not received any information that he resigned and I don’t think he should resign amid this controversy,” said one employee.

As this developed, Rosero said the PRC is pushing through with the Jan. 12 retake of the November 2007 engineering licensure examination despite a pending petition before the Court of Appeals.

“No changes yet, the retake will push through as scheduled,” Rosero said.

But other PRC officials said the commission is still waiting for the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) whether to push through with the scheduled Jan. 12 engineering licensure examination retake.

“PRC is still on a wait-and-see situation, we could not yet say whether the retake will push through or not at this time,” said a PRC official, who requested anonymity.

The PRC announced earlier that the retake would be optional but stressed it would not issue licenses to those who would not take the examination again since the results of the previous examination had been nullified.

After discovering anomalies, the PRC nullified the results of the engineering licensure examination held last Nov. 17 and 18 and ordered the 4,782 examinees to retake the tests.

Examinees will retake the examination for two subjects – Hydraulics and Geotechnical Engineering and Structural Engineering and Construction – since results of the previous examination were found “statistically improbable.”

PRC also reported that two examinees were caught in possession of mobile phones that were later found to contain answers to 30 questions in the licensure examination.

The examinees, however, filed a case before the court to stop the retake.



{posted in Ariel's Site}

CE Studes to Take Exam on May

{posted in: Ariel's Site}


Civil engineering studes want to retake exam in May

A group of civil engineering students who boycotted the retake of licensure examinations last Saturday said they would rather take the entire test scheduled on May.

Neil Erich Galicia of Civil Engineering Against Retake Students Union (CE-Agression) told ABS-CBN’s morning show “Umagang Kay Ganda” Monday that they would stand pat on their position that the November 27 board exams were clean.

“We’ve already promised that we will push this fight to the limit. At the end of the day all of the examinees, those who retook the exam and those who boycotted it, are all victims,” Galicia said.

He said they would rather wait for May to take the entire CE licensure exams.

“Kung mag-eexam ulit ung mga nag boycott mas gusto namin ulitin lahat sa May 2008 kaysa pumayag kami sa PRC (Professional Regulatory Commission) ng mag retake kami na di kami binibigyan ng magandang dahilan (If those who boycotted will be retaking the exam, we would rather retake the entire exams on May 2008 than retake with the PRC not giving us a clear explanation),” Galicia said.

The PRC ordered the retake of the two CE subjects-- Hydraulics and Geotechnical Engineering and Structural Engineering and Construction –during the November 2007 licensure test after discovering two examinees in Cagayan de Oro were caught cheating using their cellular phones.

Galicia noted that there is no need for them to get a temporary restraining order before the Court of Appeals, which already turned down their petition. “Di na kailangang mag-TRO, nagkaroon na ng retake eh (There’s no need for a TRO; there has already been a retake),” Galicia said.

Galicia also belied the claim of Labor Secretary Arturo Brion that there was a thorough probe into the case by the PRC.

“They conducted a thorough investigation after they already nullified the results. They went to Cagayan de Oro, to Cebu but they did not find any evidence that there was a leakage,” he said.

In a separate interview, Brion said the PRC decided to schedule the retake of the two subjects to preserve the integrity of the licensure exams. He also noted that the PRC is now determining who were involved in the test leakage and is looking for ways to prevent similar incidents in the future.

On Saturday, the PRC said it conducted a successful retake of the civil engineering board examinations amid reports of boycott by the examinees.

PRC head Leonor Rosero said a total of 3,261 examinees took the retests, with only about 1,515 who opted not to retake the examinations.

Rosero said the retake pushed through as scheduled in testing centers in Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legaspi and Tacloban.

The PRC ordered the retake of the two subjects in November 2007 despite opposition, saying that the unusually high grades of the examinees were allegedly statistically improbable.