wits and nuts

Looks like this one was not a case of ‘copying’. I hope she learned her lesson.

For those who have been following my post on plagiarism in Philippine Star, I got a copy of Mayenne Carmona’s apology that appeared in her column last weekend. Big thanks to Bette, one of the readers of this blog, for sending these to my email this afternoon.

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Near the elevator this morning

Just when you thought I had an errand or met a long lost friend, no. This morning as I got off from my flat I hurriedly went to the elevator which is steps away. I woke up 30 minutes late from my usual time so I was trying to offset it by saving a few steps (I hate being late). Before I was able to press the much-coveted arrow down, I noticed a white creature. I thought and oddly presumed it’s a kitten (They say it’s going to bring bad luck if you accidentally crossed paths with a black cat. Anyway, it’s not a cat and it’s white. Okay, forget the superstition.), but gee, it’s a rabbit. And it’s a pretty rabbit!

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Alfredo, nothing so special

A Filipina officemate and I decided to take lunch in Al Wahda Mall last week with the intention of bookhopping in Magrudy’s (at least my intention, with the motive of influencing her to revive her being a bookworm.  I unobviously toured her to the Freakonomics section and per my ’salestalk’ she got The 48 Laws of Power, I so loved that one.  With a reminder that, “hmm, you should read The Art of War after that, and please get the one authored by Sun Tzu and not by Greene!”.  Incidentally, I was torn between two books and after deep thought I bought Persepolis).

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Photo source

I catched Wall-E over the weekend when I was so tired and so sleepy. I expected that I’d doze off, but no. I finished the film with much interest and surprise. If you are the type who likes too much conversations in a film, this may not be the one for you. This one is a showcase of movements, colorful animation and 1960s music in between: resulting to a great film. The originality of the story is definitely a saving grace.

The first 30 minutes of the film shows Wall-E with his cockroach bestfriend.  The surviving robotical unit was tasked to sort out the Earth’s junks. Imagine a robot deciding for himself what is trash among the trashes and filing it up into cubes. There was a diamond ring he disposed over the ring’s box, which made my mind screamed, “Wall-E, save the ring!”. Heehee. Anyway, what’s interesting was that he got the wits to save a budding plant, with so tiny leaves, and replanted it in a junk boots. How do you program a robot to know what’s useful and not?  Another realization is that cockroach will always be there, speaking of survival of the fittest.

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Isang buwan na ang nakakaraan nang may nakasabay akong Filipina sa pila sa kahera (cashier) nang Carrefour (isang malaking supermarket sa UAE).  Nagtaka ako dahil sandamakmak (napakadami talaga) na sabong Lux ang kanyang pinamili at kasalukuyang binabayaran noon.  Inisip ko na paborito niya ang  brand nang sabong iyon o kaya naman ay may ari siya nang isang paupahang gusali at eksklusibo ang sabon na ginagamit doon. 

Habang nasa pila, tumingin siya sa akin at nginitian ako.  Hindi ko napigilan na magtanong, pero hindi naman ako tsismosa, mahilig lang ako mag obserba.  

Ako:  Bakit ang dami mong biniling sabon? 
Siya: Uuwi kasi ako sa Pilipinas.
Ako: Pasalubong?
Siya: Oo (sabay ngiti).
Ako: Bakit puro sabon?
Siya: Para mura lang pambigay sa mga kamag anak.
Ako: Hindi ba mayroon din sa ating ganyang sabon?
Siya: Iba ang Lux na sabon dito.
Ako: Mas mabango?
Siya: Hindi naman. Arabic kase ang nakaimprenta sa balot nang sabon. Imported.
Ako: Aaaah.

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