pet care

i don't want to preach but i was browsing through books at national bookstore in glorietta during one of those saturdays, when my sister has to go and get some art supplies for her art classes, while waiting for her i found this book. this book has to be mandatory for every pet owner. i own seven dogs and i find this quite helpful when trying to decide whether they need professional help or they could have home remedy instead. it's quite tricky since dogs can't talk and when they are a bit under the weather they just either mope or growl when disturbed. it doesn't take away the role of a veterenarian but somehow it has increased my knowledge as a pet owner and has also given me the power to ask and not just nod at whatever the vet says.




while this one has been very interesting and helpful as well. this pet care companion series i was able to get from the bargain table of national bookstore in greenbelt for just P95 last december. this book has gone to more than health issues to include grooming, behavior, and dietary concerns. it eases the burden because having pets is like raising a baby and whatever choices a pet owner decides the pet is stuck with it since it is on the mercy of its humans.

i am for responsible pet ownership and against animal cruelty. this blog is dedicated to my cute and cuddly furry, four legged friends; lulu, princess, labli jane, legolas, arwen, aragorn, and patricka star.

that pinoy pride

it was inevitable, it has been quite some time since ramiele had a performance that impressed the judges. i just never thought that she would be booted out before kristy lee cook. ramiele has a great voice that wasn't showcased enough in american idol. i felt very sad last night. i guess i would only have david cook and michael johns as my reasons to watch american idol.

earth day 2008

april 22nd of this year will mark the celebration of earth day which reminded me to search for that article i happen to have scanned on the front page of the philippine star a couple of weeks ago. it was a worrying headline for every filipino who hasn't left the country or for every filipino who has always dreamt of settling back in the country. that headline stated that the philippines is the 38th most polluted country in the world. i tried searching for that article in the philippine star's database but to no avail. i might not have searched well enough but interestingly i stumbled into some interesting facts along the way. for one i stumbled upon this fact of the 50 most populous countries in the world. coincidentally, population is one of the biggest factor of climate change and global warming. it's that spike in the world's human population that has propelled us into the critical levels of pollution and global warming. to take a closer look in the list, the philippines is the 12th on the list, for such a small country to have so many people for sure it has had its toll environmentally. our government should re-think their policies on population control and for once think sensibly minus the pressure of the catholic church against contraception and sex education. to discuss further on this issue is entirely another blog entry.

World's 50 Most Populous Countries: 2007
Rank
Country
Population

1.
China
1,321,851,888

2.
India
1,129,866,154

3.
United States
301,139,947

4.
Indonesia
234,693,997

5.
Brazil
190,010,647

6.
Pakistan
169,270,617

7.
Bangladesh
150,448,339

8.
Russia
141,377,752

9.
Nigeria
135,031,164

10.
Japan
127,467,972

11.
Mexico
108,700,891

12.
Philippines
91,077,287

13.
Vietnam
85,262,356

14.
Germany
82,400,996

15.
Egypt
80,264,543

16.
Ethiopia
76,511,887

17.
Turkey
71,158,647

18.
Iran
65,397,521

19.
Thailand
65,068,149

20.
Congo, Dem. Rep.
64,606,759

21.
France
61,083,916

22.
United Kingdom
60,776,238

23.
Italy
58,147,733

24.
Korea, South
49,044,790

25.
Myanmar
(Burma)
47,373,958

26.
Ukraine
46,299,862

27.
Colombia
44,227,550

28.
South Africa
43,997,828

29.
Sudan
42,292,929

30.
Spain
40,448,191

31.
Argentina
40,301,927

32.
Poland
38,518,241

33.
Tanzania
38,139,640

34.
Kenya
36,913,721

35.
Morocco
33,757,175

36.
Canada
33,390,141

37.
Algeria
33,333,216

38.
Afghanistan
31,889,923

39.
Uganda
30,262,610

40.
Nepal
28,901,790

41.
Peru
28,674,757

42.
Uzbekistan
27,780,059

43.
Saudi Arabia
27,601,038

44.
Iraq
27,499,638

45.
Venezuela
26,084,662

46.
Malaysia
24,821,286

47.
Korea, North
23,301,725

48.
Taiwan
23,174,294

49.
Ghana
22,931,299

50.
Romania
22,276,056

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Database.

still looking for that philippine star article, i clicked on this study done by the blacksmith institute which has sparked not just headlines but strong contradictions from politicians some time back. on its list is meycuayan, bulacan and involving a river on its municipal territory. it also has marilao as another municipality in this country which is primarily polluted by SME clusters on its areas.

it really is worrying, i think my only consolation is that the philippines isn't on the top 10 or even top 20, but still out of about 200 countries the philippines being a small country has managed to be in the 25% of the dirtiest and most polluted. what's sad is that unlike some countries, the philippines won't have the resources to help it's environment to heal and to repair. it can't even deal with social services, road building, and education because the whole country has been focused on its politics and the politicians are busy trying their best to stay in power and to pocket more money from every opportunity they can.

since pollution has already been always equated to the looming problem of global warming, on a personal note, i have taken steps to at least lower my carbon footprint. at home we have switched to energy efficient light bulbs and more than helping the environment, it has greatly helped lower the electricity bill by almost 15%-20%, i also always unplug everytime i go out, or am done with the tv, pc, or whatever appliance it is. trash at home is carefully segregated to minimize what ends up in the dumpsite and what gets sent out for recycling. most of the time i take public transportion, it's not so bad as long as you know the area quite well. even in my shopping habits i have applied eco-friendly principles into it, i would only buy if i need it and the want to have is so strong it has made me sleepless, because whatever purchases that ends up to be useless could later end up in the trash that could very well end up in the dumpsite. i also like the concept of ukay-ukay since it is a great way to recycle things that don't easily biodegrade and it's such a haven for great bargains and high fashion stuff in most times. of course i have things in my wishlist that i wish to be able to do and have to be more eco-friendly, maybe when i could afford a greener lifestyle, hopefully soon.

must have, must work for

these are the two gadgets that i would love to buy ASAP.

the reader digital book from sony so that i won't be able to debate which book to bring on any trip. that's 160 books on internal memory and there's always expandable memory for more books to be downloaded. oh my, dear me i want one!!!


of course my dream still of replacing the good old digital camera to a samsung nv series digital camera. this time though in the nv series it's the nv 24hd that i really want.



so a note to myself to work hard for it.

american idol season 7

i haven't been much of an american idol fan. i remember being irritated everytime arlene, a very dear friend of mine back in l.a., would text to remid me to vote for jasmine trias back then. although i liked kelly clarkson the very first american idol, i only started paying attention to the show during taylor hick's season, which i guess was season 5. first i genuinely liked taylor's charisma premature gray hair and all and i liked katharine mcphee and elliot yamin and i can't leave out chris daughtry. then last year after my very gruelling political stint i was able to catch the tail end of season 6. i have to admit that i was rooting for blake though he didn't win, a neat 1st runner up was good enough to launch a career for him.

for season 7 admittedly my week revolves on the anticipation of american idol day. i know it sounds like a looser couch potato life, but this is very rare for me to have this much time in my life. this season has produced head turning talents. my absolute favorite is david cook, "the rock god", who managed to rock every song he has ever performed. i can't also take away ramiele from my list being pinay and that voice clarity that no one else has among her competitors. michael johns and chikezie would be two of the other idol top 10 whom i also wouldn't mind winning.

as for those whom i could skip i have to say i dislike carly smithson, an early favorite who somewhere along the way disappointed me by not living up to the hype by continually adding that signature scream-like part in every song she sings. kristy lee cook, what can i say, just plain old boring and i have to borrow simon's "forgettable" adjective for her.

in general, this is a very good season. hey there's even eye-candy with talent in jason castro. there's the sunshine like attitude of brooke white and david archuleta's almost stellar performances save for that teeny bit where he forgot the lyrics on beatles week 1. syesha mercado well she can just be that dark horse having very good perfomances this two consecutive weeks.

still it will be david cook, rock on!

easter greetings

happy easter everyone. although i have mostly slacked off the religious activities and duties for most of the holy week except for the palm sunday mass and the easter mass, to my mother;'s disappointment, i hope that it was still meaningful for the rest of you.

the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford

i have obliged myself of writing a review of the movie, "the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford". i was lucky enough to score two tickets of the advance screening by etc 2nd avenue's 3rd row last monday at glorietta 4. i have read and heard about it from all the entertainment shows and of course my favorite new york times movie reviews. i won't be relying on that though. i have a pretty good idea of what i want to say.




the entire movie was dedicated to jesse james' last days and the circumstances that lead to his being murdered. jesse james was this outlaw, folk hero and robin hood type depending on which opinions are to asked who made his living out of robbing trains and banks in the post civil war america . a temperamental person which i can almost see some hints of restrained psychosis and sociopathic behavior. that would have been how i saw him based from the movie. some of the scenes were so shocking almost a break from the very slow pace of the entire movie. that very slow pace highlighted the violence yet in some ways the way jesse james as portrayed by brad pitt seemed so charismatically cool yet so feared by his uncontrollable outbursts. robert ford the assassin of course played by the brilliant casey affleck did so well in presenting an enigmatic stalker to jesse james. the aloof and myserious bob ford the new and eager recruit.

i always wondered why the title of the movie describes robert ford as a coward and towards the end of the movie i felt like that by killing jesse, bob ford would helped the world by getting rid of a menace. only just then that bob killed jesse for personal reasons not some mighty and noble expectations that he had reserved fo himself. he profited from the reward that the governor has put up for the arrest of jesse james and profited from how the murdered took place by staging a play around post civil war america.

the movie was beautiful, most especially the cinematography. the slow moving and sweeping shots were magnificent and the abruptness of the violent scenes higlighted the storytelling. my mom did raise this point though how would this movie attract modern viewers who are used to past paced action packed thrillers? to me while watching, it was break from this time, from the now of my life and i took a trip to another time and place to witness a piece of history and to learn something new in details, in moving pictures, in a movie where there was superb acting.

heart break

my heart was broken by my favorite amazing race team ever that has come out both of the american version and the asian version by loosing. it has a lot to do about marc and rovilson representing my home country of the philippines in the amazing race asia 2. they are made of a different caliber. they were witty, good looking ,and they have that sense of calm that seems a lot like grace under pressure in a very grueling reality tv show that has usually brought out a lot of ugly and untoward behavior from other contestants all throughout the history of the amazing race. from consistently being on the top for most of the race they ended up third place by that last road block that required rovilson to arrange in order the flags of each country that they have visited in the entire course of the race. i was on the edge of my seat for the finale, i didn't even mind that i was home for valentine's day very much single. all i could think of was the finale and would marc and rovilson win. unfortunately they lost. i am still proud of them and how they have been a very strong formidable team but i am still very much broken hearted at the same time.

the grammys

before the grammys was aired. i saw an online poll that rihanna's or amy winhouse's performance was the most anticipated. i can't argue about that because i too anticipated their performances. but in my list this was the best performance and the most enchanting of all the performances in the 50th grammy awards.

must have, must buy for the book addict in me

i own too many books more than i know where i could put them but there a lot of books still waiting to be bought and read. this is my current wishlist or more likely must buy list. i love to try and put some description on why each one of them ended up in my list but there's one common denominator in all of them they're interesting and they're making a buzz in bestseller's list or just by word of mouth.