Mos Eisley Night 3 (MEN3) dubbed as "The Imperial Prom" was held last night at the Millenia Café in Kamuning, QC. MEN is a party held by StarWars Philippines every now and then, much like a PHP EB. The difference is that non-SWP members may join the party. Attendees are also requested to come in costumes. Pictures will be uploaded soon :)

Anyway, I met up with Rain, Meann, Niccah, and Az at Jollibee Edsa-Kamias at 5 pm. Then we went over to the venue. Already there were Gary, Luna, Aids, and a couple of SWP volunteers. I came as a volunteer to gain free entrance. The party started late, attendees were just starting to pour in at 8 pm. At 10 pm it was sheer bedlam with bands playing. Of all the bands, Silme and the Sugardrops was my favorite. The band was composed of Luna, Rain, Az, TJ, and Jun, all of whom are members of various NWA groups. Purplechickens ended the night with their slam bang performance. It was around 12 midnight when I feel really sleepy. Perhaps it's because of the two bottles of Redhorse and four of SanMig Light that I had. Plus the tiring house chores my family did earlier in the day. Hell no, I wasn't drunk. It normally takes four 500-ml bottles of Red Horse to make me drop. Finally at 2 am, we left for home.

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This is kind of a late entry. Last Wednesday was the birthday of my dear high school friend Mitch. The party was held at her home which is just a few blocks away from my house. It was also a sort of reunion of my high school barkada. There we had hours of chat while playing endless games of pool. We just had a little drink (I just can't stand any drink mixed with gin). Then a game of truth or consequence. Hehe, luckily I only got two turns, one truth and one consequence. I was asked about my *bleep*, and they made me do a daring move on one of the girl participants (bleep!). Finally at 4:30 am, we gave our farewells. Ian and Jim went over at my house to sleep over. We woke up at 10 am to have lunch. Then we watched Hero and had a 'guys only' talk.

"Advisers for FPJ: Again? / FPJ will not join TV debates"
HERE'S THE SCORE By Teodoro C. Benigno
Publish Date: [Wednesday, February 25, 2004]

 They were dribbled to the stage with the pounding of drums and the blare of trumpets as though the world had shifted on its axis. These were the 19 economic and policy advisers of Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ), they who would transform the politically clueless movie actor to a cerebral mogul. This would be equivalent to the biblical miracle of loaves of bread and heaps of fish wrought from empty space, so we are told. FPJ who until today has not uttered a single compound sentence with subjects to enthrall and predicates to titillate henceforth would spin expressions and phrases loaded with political and economic wisdom.

Well, well, well.

This had been done before. I will not mention names because this would be hugely embarrassing. I was in a room years ago where some of the biggest prominentoes of Philipine politics were present when Joseph Ejercito Estrada was still vice president. The assembled grandees were looking - groping is the better word - for somebody who could be president after Fidel Valdez Ramos. Since none of them enjoyed any kind of mass popularity, they were out of the presidential circuit. FVR was constitutionally limited to six years. So he had to drop out.

Soon the name of Erap Estrada was mentioned. Why not? Somebody said. Why not? Another mentioned. Yes, why not? Somebody else repeated.

A lady ventured that Erap Estrada was more of a follower than a leader, a "sunod-sunuran" who didn’t have much brains and would do anything the group wanted him to do. Ergo, their party would keep. So would the powers-that-be in that party. Estrada was vastly popular, a space ship, a rocket booster, a meteor whose very presence anywhere in the Philippines would attract the multitude. The yokels idolized him. The man had magic. So why not Estrada?

His only possible rivals were then Senate President EdgardoAngara and Sen. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Edong Angara had the party, the network, the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, a holdover from the yon and radiant years when Ninoy was its overarching icon. GMA had the popularity, almost matching that of Erap, but she had no party. Eventually she slid from presidentiable to the vice presidential teammate of Lakas presidential candidate Jose de Venecia.

Now that you look back, this was where all her political troubles began. For that matter, all our present political troubles. But that is another story. Remember? In 1998 Estrada triumphed in the presidential elelctions. So did GMA as vice president. Both belonged to different parties.

Ed Angara was actually the first known political mentor of Erap Estrada. But even he too succumbed to the populist magic of Erap. It was Sen. Ernie Maceda who brokered the Estrada-Angara presidential tandem. Estrada easily clobbered Joe de V for the presidency and there – right there – Philippine politics switched to the pageantry of big-time movie "heroes" as presidents.

Now we are getting warmer. Enter FPJ.

Everybody was agreed from the beginning that Erap didn’t have what it takes to be president. No problem. He would be given the best counsel, the best advisers, a consiglieri that would match anything the House of Savoy could conceive. Pretty soon, Titoy Pardo was at his side, and from the business community came Washington Sycip, the Zobels, the Ayalas, always a Concepcion, and the assorted and vaunted economic wizards, all gradautes of the UP School of Economics. Erap Estrada couldn’t want for more.

But did that work? The hell it didn’t.

I was then host of Firing Line and posthaste organized "The Night of the Presidentiables" early 1998. I made sure, through the help of Rod Reyes, that Estrada would participate. So did Renato de Villa, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Lito Osmeña, Raul Roco. Erap of course was the main event. A nationwide TV audience awaited his every utterance, his every gesture, his every essay into the world of presidential politics. Firing Line was the premier political talk show at the time.

Well? Let me scoot to the point. Estrada flunked for all the homework, all the studies, all the cramming he did.

His advisers presumably forgot to instruct him on the G word at the time – globalization. When I asked him how he understood globalization, he fidgeted, he squiggled, he fretted. Then the words came out. They had nothing to do at all with globalization. They had to do with credit, with some banking practices, with a dumb, esoteric thing or two about finance. This is what he remembered from his cramming. And this is what he said – gibberish.

Embarassing? Of course yes. Discombobulating? Certainly. Disastrous? Not at all.

Maybe if I were one on one with Erap Estrada, just host and guest, I could have pushed the envelope. And he would have been stripped stark naked without a fig leaf. But would this have made a difference? I don’t know. I am sure he would still have been elected president May 1998 and with a big margin. The masses adored him, right or wrong.

FPJ is following on the same path now. And I also figure that despite the cavalcade of hired counsel to instruct him on economic, political and financial issues, he will not fare any better than Estrada. In fact, he could fare worse. Estrada was an entertainer. FPJ is not. Estrada was immersed in politics, from mayor, to senator, to vice president, to president. FPJ doesn’t even have any inkling of what politics is about.

Inevitably, nothing from his learned and erudite council of advisers really got to Estrada. As, similarly, no matter how they try, nothing will get to FPJ. It takes a lifetime, or half a lifetime, of education, or self-study, of immersion in knowledge, of intellectual curiosity, of devouring books, reading magazines, newspapers, assorted publictions, touching constant base with learned people, yes, consulting and converssing with the Muses, to ever achieve the level of learning that can prepare one for the presidency.

If you have no formal schooling, yes a high school dropout, but you are Diderot (17l3-l784), son of a cutler, who lived like a pauper as a publisher’s hack, a coffeehouse frequenter in Paris, but who struck an intimate friendship with the great philosopher Jean Jacquess Rousseau, and learned and learned and learned, then yes, you can aspire for the presidency. Diderot it was who launched the first Encyclopedia, a great opus of the Age of the Enlightenment.

Blas Ople was a college dropout. And so were some journalists who made it in the world of journalism. But Ka Blas was a bookworm, who stormed into every book with the zeal of a frontiersman, and he could hold his own with almost anybody. The dictator Ferdinand Marcos listened to him with rapt atttention. I have no information at all that FPJ was ever interested in books, in assiduous learning. Did he ever frequent book stores? Did he ever read from a book of poetry?

If elected president, how would FPJ react and behave during press conferences? When confronted by world media? When attending international conclaves? When surrounded by his peers the world over, and they know what they are talking about in wide open debates and discussions, and he doesn’t? This was what GMA was intimating when she said the Philippines in such circumstances would be "the world’s laughingstock".

Thus I can understand why FPJ is now avoiding participation in the scheduled presidential debates sponsored by the Philippine Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and ABC-5. He needs it like he needs six holes in the head.

Not all the king’s horses and all the King’s men can come to his rescue, not all his assorted advisers, described by Rep. Francis Escudero, Poe’s spokesperson, as "the most potent group of economists and planners that can be formed." Criminy, they are?

Raul Roco will win this debate hands down. This is the moment he has been waiting for. I am surprised that GMA has agreed to join. In 1998 when still a presidential candidate, she was plumb scared of meeting Roco in open debate. Now she probably feels she has accumulated enough experience to engage Raul Roco mano a mano in a nationally televised encounter.

But not FPJ. And I suppose I can’t blame him at all. It would be like a rabbit squaring off with a polar bear. Roco would demolish him. FPJ will only agree on his conditions. The first is that there be no television coverage. The second is that it be held in some remote village or town where the FPJ booboisie and anthropoidae will drown out Roco.

Some debate.

"Is FPJ too scared to ‘debate’ unless protected by cheering fans who’ll boo his rivals?"
BY THE WAY By Max V. Soliven, The Philippine Star
Publish Date: [Sunday, February 22, 2004]

 You can win the applause and cheers of the mob, but you cannot run a country – and, for that matter, feed the masa who’re your fervent admirers – on macho posturing, wisecracks, and one-liners.

Sayang. If our movie idol, Fernando Poe Jr. (alias Ronnie), who started out like a house on fire, doesn’t stop playing to the peanut gallery, and basing his campaign language on a rehash of the scripts of his old movies, he’ll fizzle out before the end of the campaign.

He may not even have to worry about whether the Supreme Court could throw him out on the "natural-born" issue. If what we’re now hearing is his "natural-born mouth" – he’ll self-destruct. No thanks to GMA but to his own "star-complex" – egged on by his loudly cheering fans and showbiz supporters.

Rival candidate Raul Roco of Aksyon Democratiko was clever to bait both Panday and President Macapagal-Arroyo with a challenge to a "debate" on the issues.

If she accepts the invitation to debate with Roco, GMA will find herself defending her record, her governance, and herself – on such allegations as graft, being "married-to-graft", being dominated by The Firm, fast deals and scams, the astounding external debt (from endless foreign borrowing), the collapse of the peso, et cetera.

If FPJ agrees to debate, in turn, Roco will insist on discussing issues, platforms, plans, economics, finance, preparedness, track record (not film credits) and so forth. Raul’s attack would probably focus on FPJ’s lack of focus, not just lack of diploma; his total inexperience in governance. Being an actor and a Direk, even the most successful one, is a far cry from even Pareng Erap’s credentials.

When he ran for President, Jose Ejercito Estrada (not Velarde) was, after all, a mayor, a senator and a vice-president before he sought the Presidency. In truth Erap was one of the "best prepared", on the factual ledger, for Chief Executive, despite his lack of an Ateneo diploma.

FPJ need not have agreed to slug it out on the mischievous Roco’s chosen field of combat. He could simply have shrugged it off, saying he was too busy campaigning and bringing his "message" to the people, spelling out his platform and his plans to the proper audiences (including decision-makers) to engage in "oratorical contests".

But, instead, he chose to belligerently parade his populism, milk the masses and kapus-palad for cheap applause, make everyone suspect he’s not brainy enough to verbally joust with the likes of Raul R. unless he can camouflage his inability to bring forth ideas, express himself articulately, or win a "debate" by surrounding himself with adoring fans in the slum areas, who’ll demoralize his opponents by booing them.

In Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya the other day, Ronnie rejected the proposed television debate, but dared his rivals in turn to "debate" with him in the depressed communities where the poor could throw questions at them. Yeh, Ronnie, including catcalls, rotten eggs, and ripe tomatoes. The poor can already, and are already, throwing questions at candidates on television hook-ups, like ABS-CBN’s Dong Puno Live, and so on.

Rather than showing strength, the Poe rejoinder reflected insecurity. It also demonstrated sophistry. Unless he was misquoted – but this is unlikely – FPJ was said to have asserted, "Kung sa loob na aircon na kuwarto sa television, radio stations, huwag na lang, papogi lang ’yan." What a thing to say on the part of a matinee idol who rose to fame and adulation by exhibiting action epics and derring-do films featuring his own heroism, in air-conditioned theaters, and continuously repeated FPJ screen re-runs on TV. Show biz, after all, is papogi ’yan lang, or it’s "all for show". Including make-up, carefully-constructed lighting and sound effects.

Politics and show biz seem to be one and the same here. Which is why there are so many show biz characters in the game. Judging from the most recent dismaying surveys, they may even dominate the "new" Senate.

* * *

Our friend Ronnie Poe, when he set out on his quest for the Presidency, admirably declared that he wanted to be President "of all Filipinos", not just one segment of our society. He’d do well to remember this. What we’ve begun to hear is an increasing crescendo of "pro-poor" rhetoric, and a pandering to the masa to the exclusion of the middle classes, and, yes to invoke the Bad Word, the capitalists – investors, financiers, and the "educated". Poor-versus-Rich. The "I’m for the masa, because they’ve got the most votes" syndrome.

Sure, FPJ’s buddy Erap rode the Erap "Jeepney" to Malacañang, but he also shrewdly understood that the jeepney needed gasoline (or diesel) to run, as well as a financier to buy the original jeepney. I hope FPJ and his TRAPO and showbiz backstoppers aren’t beginning to miss that point. When all is said and done, who’ll have to be tapped to give the masa jobs and create employment and to increase food and industrial production?

Even more urgently, at this stage, a candidate needs money and logistics to run a campaign, even on the final day to get his voters to the polling precincts.

Finally, whoever wins will need even more financing – investment in agriculture and industry (to create more jobs) in the form of both local and foreign investment. Poe’s recent rhetorical populist braggadocio is turning those very money-taps off.

Ate Glo, for the past three years, has been playing the same "populist" card with less than salutary effect. She’s been Gloria Labandera, she’s given away everything to the poor – land titles, largesse, no-squatter-removal-without Malacañang-permission, you name it. Yet, after all those giveaway efforts, FPJ can see for himself he’s outpointing her in masa idolatry and ululations. Yet, the favor of the crowd is fickle, as Jesus himself discovered within less than a week in Jerusalem.

As for Poe’s vaunted list of impressive business and economics advisers, it’s reminiscent of the list of advisers produced by Cory "The Housewife Without Any Experience" when she was running against the Dictator Marcos. Did this "adviser" thing work when Cory became President and had to run a turbulent post-Marcos country? There were thousands of strikes, palpaks, and coup attempts. Good intentions, it’s clear, are never enough.

Those who believe FPJ can provide the leadership this country needs are now crossing their fingers. They hope he’ll shape up and get back on track. As of now, the FPJ Express may be heading towards derailment.

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"Dramatic Gestures"
FROM A DISTANCE By Carmen N. Pedrosa, The Philippine Star
Publish Date: [Sunday, February 22, 2004]

Sorry folks but the issue in this election remains the same: We have to change the way we choose our leaders, if we want real reforms to this country. Why? Because elections, because they are national, and with one man, one vote, among millions, it is not about voting for good governance. It is not true that the people want to elect FPJ as president. It is because they know FPJ, in the movies and in television. They know him in the comfort of their living rooms and think of him ,whether wrongly or rightly, as part of their lives. In a voting booth, what comes to mind is the name of the actor or anchor. Remember he or she was "at home". Questions like will he or she change their lives does not figure. Will he be able to provide jobs as he says he will? Will he be able to bring trust for the government? They cheer lustily not because they believe it. Of course not. That is part of the "eksena." With that powerful emotional relation between the voters and the actor/actress/broadcaster candidates, it follows they will always have an edge even against the most qualified presidential candidate in our personalitic society.

The relation between voter and candidate is just as close in a parliamentary federal system but it is different. In local elections the focus is more political. The actor-candidate can also run and he will also be known but he appeals directly to his constituents as he or she affects their lives – the building of roads, the collection of garbage, schools,housing, jobs. They know him; he knows them. That is the only sensible relation for elections that we cannot have in a national election. That relationship does not exist. As for the head of government, the Prime Minister, he or she too will be under the same system of direct relation with the members of Parliament where a culture of competition through excellence can be achieved. It will not happen overnight but the structure will sooner or later demand that. The PM will be elected on the basis of the program of his party and how this has fulfilled the program. If not, then they can be immediately removed through a vote of no-confidence.

If we are not able to shift to parliamentary federal system at the earliest possible time we are back to square one whatever the results of the May elections, when officials shall have been elected for their popularity or celebrity. I am pessimistic parliamentary federalist system will happen at any time.Why? Because it will be the winning candidates, the same kit and caboodle of previous elections who will once again decide whether we change or not. Besides they have just won six-year terms to earn their piles . . . oops, to govern the country kuno. Why change when it this system that brings in the money that have enriched so many? Any change, as provided by the Constitution, will remain in their hands. So it is clear we cannot leave the matter to them. The proviso for a people’s initiative was another deception I personally experienced. We have a serious breakdown of the Constitution in which the people are not sovereign but are made to think they are.

Category: Romance and Drama, 2 hrs. 35 min.

Directed by Academy Award®-winner Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient", "The Talented Mr. Ripley") and based on Charles Frazier's best-selling Civil War novel of the same name, COLD MOUNTAIN tells the story of Inman (Jude Law), a wounded confederate soldier who is on a perilous journey home to his mountain community, hoping to reunite with his pre-war sweetheart, Ada (Nicole Kidman). In his absence, Ada struggles to survive, and revive her father's farm with the help of intrepid young drifter Ruby (Renee Zellweger).

76th Academy Award Nominations:
Actor in a Leading Role - Jude Law
Actress in a Supporting Role - Renée Zellweger
Cinematography
Film Editing
Music (Score)
Music (Song)
Music (Song)

Trivia about Cold Mountain:
- Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were both considering roles in this movie, yet Cruise was unaware of Kidman's involvement. Cruise backed out but Kidman immediately signed up.
- Francis Kemp was first considered for the old mountain woman, but turned it down.
- Edited using Apple's "Final Cut Pro 3.0.2" software.
- As of 2003, this was the most expensive film Miramax has financed on its own, with a budget of about $85 million.
- Singer Faith Hill auditioned for the part of Sarah.
- Nicole Kidman did all of her own piano playing.
- Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Eric Bana were all considered for roles.
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I just saw Cold Mountain yesterday. It was a film like no other. Too bad it didn't make it into the Best Picture nomination. Jude Law delivered a great performance. Nicole and Renée were perfect for their respective roles. The supporting cast were superb too: Brendan Gleeson , Natalie Portman , Giovanni Ribisi , and Donald Sutherland.

Nicole Kidman is soooo beautiful! I didn't know that my Padmé was in the film. I was surprised when I saw her. Her part lasted for a few minutes though. Okay na rin kasi nandun sya.

The movie is just so breathtaking from start till end. Will they have a chance to meet again? Will Inman survive the journey home? What is to become of Ada who's been longing for him in his three-year absence? They hardly know each other, having met for just a few days and suddenly Inman enlisted and joined the South for the Civil War. Is it love really? It must be, because Ada always hoped for Inman's return since the day he left... and it has been three years. Will the love survive?

And so the campaign begins...

Let me do a quick overview first. There are six aspirants for the position of the President of the Republic of the Philippines: Incumbent President Arroyo, former Senator Roco, JIL Leader Bro. Villanueva, Senator Lacson, Eddie Gil, and The King of Philippine movies Fernando Poe Jr. Also, I rated them (1-10) as of this day, by reviewing reports from TV stations.

Lacson kicked off his campaign in his hometown Cavite. As usual, he criticized the current administration. He only has one senatoriable? Hmmm.. not much of back-up eh? Though feeling so all alone, he seems firm in his running for the highest position in the government.

Rating: 6

Bro. Eddie V. did not start yet. He and his followers just made preparations for tomorrow's campaign. He merely did not want to do a campaign of a traditional politician. But me thinks he just uses it as an excuse. He'll be at the Araneta tomorrow. Hmmm... prehaps it's just another JIL prayer rally?

Rating: 6

Eddie Gil. Say who? You got me there. I don't know him too. He did start his campaign.. in the one place he knew he was well-known. His platform? Pay off the country's debts to others. As if it was that easy.

Rating: 5

Raul Roco started his own by visiting various schools, even though most of the students there are non-voters. Still, he wants everyone to be aware of his plan for free education for all. He visited wet markets, and even SM Megamall. He had lunch at the foodcourt, though I would say it's quite embarassing on his part because everyone was watching him eat. But it didn't bother him much. It's a part of his being close to the masses.

Rating: 8

PGMA made her way in Laguna, along with all her senatoriables and running mate Noli de Castro. Same old routine. There were celebrities, and a dance number from the Viva Hotbabes. She was proud to say that she was able to make a bigger impact on the showbiz industry than certain "others" did. Truth is, I really like what she's doing for the country.

Rating: 8

And now, the star of them all, or should I say "pa-star" (does that ring a bell?), the King, F-P-J. Whoa! What a kick-off campaign! A jampacked Cuneta Astrodome, a bigger audience than a PBA Game 7 Finals. A complete ensemble of movie stars. You bet the audience were "starstrucked". There was Vic and Joey (of course, Tito is the back-up, er... number one Da King supporter), also Dolphy (a King himself), who made the grand introduction. The Sexbomb dancers did a dance number too (of course of course, Vic & Joey was there). And now the speech... waitaminute.. was that ever a filling speech? It was full of rubbish. Transcripts anyone? Full of trash, or should I say "thrash". He merely thrash talked his way to make the *bleep* audience cheer. Oh yes, the audience is as *bleep* as he is. He pauses after every sentence just to fire up the crowd. Also I'd put on the fact that perhaps he was trying to recall his "memorized" speech. Not even a single part of his platform! Sheesh. Remember the time when Senator Sotto spoke as proxy for FPJ in a conference of presidentiables? Talk about dim*bleeps*. And what do the people care if VP Guingona is his adviser? Sheesh again. IMHO, FPJ is just using his popularity to get through. Being for the *bleep* person as he is, if he ever gets seated, he won't have a thing to worry. His flock of advisers, led by Angara, would probably run the whole show. Just like show business. A leading actor, a supporting cast, a director, and producers.

Libel? So sue me. It's a free world.

Rating: 4