Ateneo 65, La Salle 64

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Behind by six going in the last two minutes, Ateneo scored seven unanswered points -- five of them from Chris Tiu -- to steal the game that was so controlled by La Salle from the toss it seemed like a lost cause as early as the 3rd quarter.

It was never a pretty picture for Ateneo especially on paper -- more than 25 turnovers, only one 3pt attempt converted the entire game, and just two or three players delivering.

But, as they say, statistics are as important for what they conceal as for what they reveal. And so despite the bad figures (and Boom Gonzales's hitting us over the head with it every chance he got) Ateneo pulled another one off and they did it with persistence, composure and heart. Some things you just can't put a number on.
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Even the New York Times is weighing in.

New York Times Sports
A Nation’s Passion Lives in a Rivalry of Green vs. Blue
By RAPHAEL BARTHOLOMEW
Published: September 23, 2007

In the basketball-crazed Philippines, Ateneo and La Salle are the most prestigious private universities and have also become fierce rivals on the court. More>>
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Ateneo 69, UST 64.

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So with the drubbing of defending champion UST, Ateneo forges a knockout match or two against La Salle for the right to face UE in the UAAP finals.

The profound implications of these do-or-die battles between last season's pariahs who have been headstrong in charging their way through the semis in an emphatic comeback, against the runners-up who have just dethroned the defending champions in their own quest for redemption can be captured in two words: Ka-ching!

What do you think of this theory. UAAP tickets are sold, the most expensive of which (Patron Seats) can be bought for P300 apiece officially. But the tickets never reach the public in such straight fashion. Instead they end up in the blackmarket where they are flipped to the hungry masses for a whopping P5000 - P7000 each -- the going rate during the elimination round.

Now, what if the original ticket sellers also controlled the blackmarket. Not too difficult to imagine hereabouts. Bottomline: the sale is recorded as P300 in the books and taxed accordingly, but in truth the blackmarket earnings are ten to twenty times that amount -- undeclared, unrecorded, untaxed.

It's like a license to print money.
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The Elliott Yamin Maul Tour

..Last week in Pinoyexchange.com I posted this billboard pic I had taken for the Wifey. I thought I'd give the rabid thread denizens a thrill, but guess where it ended up recently. The MySpace page of Elliott Yamin himself -- his profile pic at that.


Anybody know how far I can go with this? Attribution or monetary compensation won't cut it for me. I'm thinking meet-and-greet passes to his mall show which are hotter than UAAP tickets if you believe the forums. Perfect for the Wifey -- one of the earliest Yamin adopters on this side of the planet -- who's having a birthday soon. Save me as well from having to buy her something I'll be paying for through the nose for the next 6 months.

I'm talking to you Mr. Yamin. Least you can do for hi-jacking my pic.
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So where were you on July 15, 2007?

If you need to but can't recall where you were on a certain date in your recent past, try this: check your credit card bills. If you've got them on file or if your credit card company keeps them archived online, chances are you can trace your whereabouts depending on how conspicuous your consumption has been.

If, despite your manic plastic use to rack up points for that plasma tv your bills still draw a blank on the date, it's time to consider the only other possible explanation, alien abduction.

Self Awareness 101

Scene: Interior, bedroom. Me on the PC and the two kids horsing around on the floor. Fighting erupts between the two for the umpteenth time in the same hour. To keep them from ultimately killing each other, I dive in and distract them.

Me: "Hey guys! I think I want to play a game."

(It works; they let go of each other's shirts.)

Little Girl: "What?"

Little Boy: "Yeah, what?"

M: "It's a new game, who wants to play it?"

LG/LB: "Me!!!"

M: "Well, I will only play it with good little boys and good little girls."

(Brief pause.)

LB: "Who's them?"

Summer in the Raintime

Since it's been feeling a lot like summer this monsoon month, we ran off to the beach last weekend, slapped on some sunblock and made like Easter was just around the corner.

The place: La Luz Beach Resort in San Juan, Batangas, about 80 minutes from Lipa City. Good roads except for the unpaved couple of kilometers at the end where the Laiya beach resorts such as Coco Grove, Sabangan, Kabayan, Blue Coral and Balai are lined up one next to the other. La Luz is at the very end of the row so we got pretty acquainted with that moon surface.

One building, four doors. The second floor units can each house ten persons on two levels.

Beach at the neighboring cove accessible from La Luz at low tide.

Jump right in.

Pavillion for the buffet -- a full day's breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner at P900 per. A good deal if only for the convenience of not having to bring along your own food or think about what or where to eat all day. Kids were free by the way.

The skinny: It wasn't Boracay but the place wasn't bad at all. The food was okay, the facilities worked. The beach at this part of Laiya is more rocky than sandy. But the rocks are small and smooth and won't find their way into places sand usually does when you're sitting on the shore. The sea was clean and teeming with marine life just three yards in. We kayaked and snorkeled and the kids made new friends. All in all a good old summer weekend experience -- at off season rates.

Edifice Complex goes Conjugal

Went to the beach in San Juan, Batangas this weekend and saw celebrity buildings along the way:

The "Senator Ralph G. Recto Type School Building"

The "Mayor VS Recto Type School Building"

We tried to find a "Ryan Christian S. Recto Type School Building". Maybe a baby blue single-story affair for grade schoolers. No luck.

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Dick in a Box Wins Emmy

Wha'did I tellya?

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What's next? Smoking is smart? (Yesss!)

Let me get this straight:

- Alcohol in moderate amounts is good.
- Red wine is very good.
- Coffee is an antioxidant.
- ... And now this?

Well, thank you Science for validating my lifestyle. I knew you'd come around.

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2007 US Open Coverage on SkyCable

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Hold off that fire-and-brimstone email to SkyCable for slavishly airing basketball reruns on two different stations while ignoring the final Grand Slam of the year. There's a new channel on test broadcast called "Balls" on SkyCable Ch.33 which as I write this is showing a replay of the Nadal-Ferrer 4-setter that happened just this morning. The crawl says it's a SkyCable exclusive.

But hold off that email of appreciation as well, though. It's free now but I wouldn't put it past this operator to start charging fees or forcing us to upgrade to some sports package come the finals or semis or even quarterfinals.

So just keep both a Thank You and a Fuck You email in your Draft box until we know which one to send out in a few days.

Family Cool.

On the Morning Rush today, Chico and Delamar were counting down the Top Ten Signs that Someone is Cool. Here's the text entry which I was supposed to send, squeezed to fit one txtmsg:

"I alwys thot dat my wife was musically chalenged but 1tym when our kid couldnt stop crying & get to sleep my wyf sang him a rock song & d kid dug it. Cool huh."

Didn't quite capture what I had to say and would've cost me P2.50, so I thought I'd just as well blog it here for free. The full skinny:

When the Little Boy was about a year and a few months old, he would sometimes wake up and cry in the middle of the night. The only way to get him to stop and sleep again was for me to pick him up, dance and sway him side to side while singing a song he likes (usually a nursery rhyme or a lullabye, but sometimes a pop song does the trick.)

One night, maybe because of a particularly bad dream, no amount or manner of dancing or swaying or singing could soothe him. He was bawling, well, like a baby and pretty soon I wasn't so much dancing, swaying and singing a lullaby as jogging and twirling while rapping the chorus of "The Thong Song".

Seeing the futility in my performance, the Wifey stepped up the plate and took the Little Boy from my numbing arms. People always say she has quite a singing voice and I thought she'd tranquilize the baby with one of her famous ballads or pop schmaltz -- the only kind of music she liked and listened to. But instead, she belted out what I thought was the vocal equivalent of a rock riff.

It turned out to be the intro to "All Day and All of the Night" which she started to sing and jig to with the Little Boy in her arms. I did a double take and asked, "What the hell are you singing?"

"The Kinks!" she said.

"I know it's The Kinks but what the hell are you doing singing it?"

"Ssshhhh!", she shushed and kept on singing.

Pretty cool when the wife you've always known to be a regular Celine and Mariah kind of girl shows you she's got a Kinks side as well. Coolness of all, the Little Guy approved and was fast asleep by the end of the second chorus.

And the Super Bowl of Love Continues.

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Letterman makes first ever Oprah appearance September 10.

Update 9/11 -- Here's a news article that covers everything, including the Top Ten. And in the modern spirit of keeping a cynical eye open when it comes to this kind of media event, here's the snarkiest one I could find.

Real Life to a 5-year-old

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I caught the Little Boy jumping up and down on the bed. Again.

"What have I told you again and again about jumping on the bed?"

"It's not good."

"Why?"

"It can get broke."

"So why do you still do it?"

"Dad, I find it very very hard to be good. Really!"

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Reality to a 2-year-old

Little Girl sees his Kuya sprinking pepper on his food. She looks up to her yaya and says, "Yaya, can I have some pepper?"

"Tanong mo sa kuya mo kung pwede ka mag-pepper."

"Kuya can I have pepper?"

"NO!!!!" (at the top of his lungs)

She looks up to her yaya again. "He said yes."

Updates

1. As feared, earthquakes did hit these islands this week after shaking up the Ring of Fire a few days ago, the strongest being Monday's 6.6 in Davao.

2. A new wave of recalls of children's items the past couple of days: notebooks, tops, pails and jewelry (for lead paint), and articles of clothing (for formaldehyde).

We hope we've seen the worst of this batch of earthquakes for now. As for No.2, is it far-fetched to think that some interest groups are out to do a demolition job on Chinese goods to drive consumers away and boost products made outside of China? (Or is it more far-fetched to think there are still things that are actually being made outside of China?)

Update on the comment 8/31: Seems the thought isn't far-fetched at all. In fact, it sounds quite the theory in technocratese: it's in the "protectionism agenda" of some government officials and media in the US to use doubts on the quality of Chinese goods "to press for narrow trade protection". Read on.

Bears Eat Man at Beer Fest

Is there a Lead of the Year contest anywhere? I nominate this one:

"A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival."

In as few words as possible, it covered the who, when, where and how much of the subject had been eaten. Here's the whole story it so makes you want to read.

FDA on Cough and Cold Medicine for Kids

Hoping to halt the growing number of injuries to infants and toddlers, the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory Wednesday warning parents never to give cough and cold medicines to children under the age of 2 unless instructed to do so by a doctor, the NYTimes reports. Another article names Toddler's Dimetapp as one of those (we have this here in Pinas. In our medicine cabinet in fact.)

Jeez. A few days ago, we parents were told we probably gave our kids poison toys to play with. Now it's nasty medicine. Not a good week for parents and kids.

It's the CD's Silver

Happy 25th, you round piece of shiny non-biodegradable plastic.

The first CD I ever had (I didn't say bought, because I actually stole it from my uncle's revolving CD rack back in the mid-80s) was "Frampton Comes Alive". I didn't buy my first CD until I could afford it (and the LD/CD player) in 1994. It was "Smash" by The Offspring. I'd always thought CDs were a scandalous extravagance (at P500-700+). In between, I was content with the decent, affordable cassette (P80). I had tons of those.

The last CDs I bought were "Speakerboxx/The Love Below" and "Underworld 1992-2002", two double CDs at the same time in 2003. I don't know what got into me. Brand new credit card I guess.

Now I buy blank CDs for P8 apiece and fill it up with seven albums' worth of music.

But I will still buy Up Dharma Down's "Fragmented" even if I already have the .OGG version in the hard drive. Some music are still worth and some artists still deserve the silver.

Earthquakes and Typhoon

A series of earthquakes has been rocking the Pacific Ring of Fire lately:

First, on July 16 at 10:13 am (0113GMT) 6.7 magnitude off the NW coast 240 km N of Tokyo.

Then three successive days of temblors beginning on August 15 at 6:41 pm (0041 GMT Aug 16) 8.0 magnitude 145 km. SSW of Lima.

On August 16 at 7:39 pm (0839 GMT) 6.7 45 miles WSW of Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands NE of Australia.

About 8 hours later, still on August 16 at around 11pm Jakarta Time (1600 GMT) 5.9-magnitude West of the island of Java, 280 kilometres SW of the capital Jakarta.

And now this morning at 9:16am Jakarta Time (0216 GMT), a 5.8-magnitude quake struck SE of Ambon in eastern Indonesia, according to AFP. An hour later at 10:04am Jakarta Time (0304 GMT) a 6.2-magnitude quake, with an epicenter in the same area nearly 250 kilometers SE of Ambon. (According to CNN however, the US Geological Survey reported the first earthquake at 6.3 magnitude followed by a 6.1 in the same area about 2 hours later.)

I can't help but think that the Philippines being a major player in that ring -- and cowering under a typhoon as i write this -- is next in line. As we pray for the victims whose numbers increase by the hour, we plead for our own safety -- from the rumbling skies, the rising waters and now the restive earth.