Pounding The Keyboard

      So, just a few days ago, there’s this news about people who got infected with rabies after killing and eating a rabid dog…        Around ten years ago, I was inside a passenger jeepney and was on my way home from Intramuros when we (me and my fellow passengers) noticed something wasn’t right in the man seated on my immediate right: he had a bandaged right hand, he was sweating profusely and was moaning and groaning; he seemed having difficulty breathing and in a hell lot of pain. His wife (who was seated in front of him) grimly explained (while the jeepney was unloading passengers in front of Manila City Hall) that he was bitten by a dog a few days ago and that the dog exhibited signs of being infected (with rabies) before dying. They were on their way to San Lazaro Hospital ( a government hospital in Manila that specializes in rabies).        I didn’t know at that time if it was...

Gentle storm Rage my way Fall in love with me Fall in love with me Fall in love with me Every day...       I was listening to Elbow’s excellent new album, Little Fictions, when I decided to look for a video of my favorite track there, which was “Gentle Storm.” And guess who I saw there (see video above), it’s the smart-looking and brilliant British actor Teddybear Lumberchat, er,   Benedict Cumd—, Cubm—, Cumberbatch. The actor, he plays Doctor Strange and Sherlock Holmes , is simply everywhere. I saw him in a Sesame Street rerun and in a David Gilmour concert, singing Roger Waters' part in the song "Comfortably Numb" and in the photo below, you can see him photobombing U2.

      Exactly 45 years ago today, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon (a prog rock concept album about madness and death) was released— and went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time (it spent a mind-boggling 937 weeks on the Billboard album chart). It is often considered as one of the greatest albums of all time. Methinks it’s the greatest album of all time. But then, I’m always a bit biased when it comes to Pink Floyd. I even think that the double-album The Wall is the second greatest album of all time while Animals and Wish You Were Here are tied at third spot.       But back to the The Dark Side of the Moon , I remember being massively blown away when I first listened  to it. Everything in it was perfect and awesome--musically and lyrically, even its iconic cover (which didn't bear the band's name and the album's title; just the prism (see photo above)). It's a thoroughly creative and artisti...

      So we sat there mesmerized—six males: two on my right, three on my left, and me—opposite her. We were inside a passenger jeepney. She was, I thought, in her mid twenties, very pretty,   resembling Bea Alonzo a bit, nay, she was probably prettier than Bea. She’s got flawless milky white skin from head to toe, alluring figure that probably measured 36-24-36. She was dressed casually, a tank top and green Bermuda shorts.   The word head-turne r would be amiss in describing her. Even the driver, I thought, was spellbound, as the vehicle would stall every now and then. Within two kilometers that she was inside the jeepney, I knew, the two young men on my right had fallen in love.       Then, she reached for her purse, put out some coins and then, tried to hand it to the driver. “Mama, bayad po,” she said.       And with that, a few hearts were smashed.     ...

      Today is Chinese New Year but one of the first few posts that rolled out of my Facebook Newsfeed this morning was this Valentine’s Day-worthy GMA NEWS Video of two unusual lovers . Theirs is one of the strangest love stories you will come across with (probably as peculiar as the love story in the movie The Shape of Water —okay, probably not, my bad).       But it is really unusual, so unusual that at first, I thought it was just scripted to amuse—but it’s apparently real.       He, a small businessman, was 28 when he first saw her, and she, a vegetable vendor who went house to house, was 71. That’s a ginormous 43 years age gap and it was the woman who was older. Okay, I am probably being chauvinistic here, but it’s really more acceptable when the man is older. But he fell in love with her and wooed her, and naturally, his family objected.   They told him to find a younger woman, prob...

      I was looking for something in my drawer when I chanced upon this illustration (see photo above) of a couple who seemed in love with each other and was taking a leisurely stroll. I was told that it was a drawing by my seven-year old niece while her family was visiting us three weeks ago. It was an effortless, nonchalant and an original drawing, they said.       I know that she loves to draw but this one’s really good—it has character, quite proportionate, a bit detailed, gotta love the girl’s eyelashes and the way she lovingly glances at her man. I don’t know if this is unusual to kids her age but many people in their seventies can only draw stick figures. Me, I learned to draw like this when I was already in college--and up to now, I still draw like this.