I am awkward with selfies.
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11/30/2015
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11/22/2015
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I didn't want to start with a cliché, but "damned if you do, damned if you don't" is very much applicable in this case.
It must be hard being in the political arena. The public demands that you have a strong stand, a well-reasoned and well-intentioned stand, on issues. The public also demands that you stick to that stand no matter what happens. You can change your mind - maybe you learned something new, maybe your approach changed over time - but you have to stick to that stand no matter what happens. But then the public also demands that you adapt to the times and not stick to the same old thinking as everybody else. "A particularly tricky line to toe" does not cover it.
I don't know, however, if that applies to Rodrigo Duterte.
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It must be hard being in the political arena. The public demands that you have a strong stand, a well-reasoned and well-intentioned stand, on issues. The public also demands that you stick to that stand no matter what happens. You can change your mind - maybe you learned something new, maybe your approach changed over time - but you have to stick to that stand no matter what happens. But then the public also demands that you adapt to the times and not stick to the same old thinking as everybody else. "A particularly tricky line to toe" does not cover it.
I don't know, however, if that applies to Rodrigo Duterte.
Read more »
11/10/2015
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I was just one year old when I was first lost in a mall. As the story goes, my aunt let go of my hand and lost track of me completely. Of course I have no recollection of this, because I was just a year old, but I could just imagine the panic my parents had when they realized I had vanished and was strolling around somewhere at Ever Gotesco Grand Central. Or that I was crying somewhere, in some corner, at Ever Gotesco Grand Central. Maybe some stranger would have taken me and my life as I know it would be completely different.
But, well, I was found, and I am back in the loving arms of my parents. I'm sure of that because I'm still easily able to get my birth certificate online. That would have been awkward and confusing, realizing that my parents are not my actual parents, and that they were the ones who found me crying at a busy mall in Caloocan and took me away. Not that I'd be able to go back and trace the evidence myself; for one, the Grand Central has since closed down after a pretty big fire. But I digress.
The second time I got lost in a mall, I was around eight, or nine, or ten. All my life, up to that date, I vowed never to be one of those kids who would be crying when they realized they can't find their parents anymore. But, alas, I had to be in a toy store, and I had to have a thing for Micro Machines at the time.
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But, well, I was found, and I am back in the loving arms of my parents. I'm sure of that because I'm still easily able to get my birth certificate online. That would have been awkward and confusing, realizing that my parents are not my actual parents, and that they were the ones who found me crying at a busy mall in Caloocan and took me away. Not that I'd be able to go back and trace the evidence myself; for one, the Grand Central has since closed down after a pretty big fire. But I digress.
The second time I got lost in a mall, I was around eight, or nine, or ten. All my life, up to that date, I vowed never to be one of those kids who would be crying when they realized they can't find their parents anymore. But, alas, I had to be in a toy store, and I had to have a thing for Micro Machines at the time.
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11/03/2015
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One of this morning's biggest headlines involved the hacking of the Twitter account of Maine Mendoza, or as you all probably know her as, Yaya Dub. You know. Her. She with the ridiculously expressive face.
Well, apparently, a lot of things of hers were hacked. Her Facebook account's still dead, she says, as I write this, and she's still locked out of her email account. Apparently, hackers waving the banner of Anonymous Philippines - a group that sounds intimidating despite, or because, of its ethereal nature - were behind the move. Don't know what they're trying to prove, but hey, they've got a propensity to make statements, and this is definitely one of them. Take control of the microphone of the country's biggest celebrity, arguably.
Then again, Maine wouldn't have known that she'd be the country's biggest celebrity, arguably. Surely she just planned to just be like one of us, using the same password for everything. I only assume this.
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Well, apparently, a lot of things of hers were hacked. Her Facebook account's still dead, she says, as I write this, and she's still locked out of her email account. Apparently, hackers waving the banner of Anonymous Philippines - a group that sounds intimidating despite, or because, of its ethereal nature - were behind the move. Don't know what they're trying to prove, but hey, they've got a propensity to make statements, and this is definitely one of them. Take control of the microphone of the country's biggest celebrity, arguably.
Then again, Maine wouldn't have known that she'd be the country's biggest celebrity, arguably. Surely she just planned to just be like one of us, using the same password for everything. I only assume this.
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Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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Some photographs have been edited using post-production curves from Shalla Yu.
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