by: Chienalee Garcia
Txt spk maybe convenient for others but it can get into everyone’s nerves when it goes overboard.
Text messaging is the most reliable form of communication this time using mobile phones. It’s cheaper than calls, and it’s efficient. Surely, everyone will agree if I say that text messaging is indeed a milestone in communication.
But what if this milestone evolves into an even more advanced form called txt lingo? It’s ironic to consider it being advanced since it looks more like caveman language to me.
Looking through text messaging topics online, I found a forum discussing txt speak as some form of menace (yes, a menace, in the same level as body odor and Blairbands) in society. Threaders posted a scenario amongst school kids: A teacher gave an examination to her class, many students responded in a short cut approach like text messages. Do you expect that they will be given a passing mark despite their knowledge to the questions?
by: Chienalee Garcia
Sixteen-year old Leo Borlock is contented with conforming to the crowd and follows the unspoken rule at Mica Area High School: don’t stand out. Everyone’s compliance is then challenged when Stargirl—the epitome of everything that the entire student body isn’t—burst straight out of fifteen years of home schooling to enchant the entire high school.
Stargirl captivates the student populace with her penchant for eccentricity as the character Leo vividly narrates. With her long frilly dresses and retro hippie clothing, she prances around school singing “Happy Birthday” to every student while strumming on her ukulele with her pet rat Cinnamon on her shoulders. She made every kind of card, sent flowers and gifts to the sick and lonely—she was simply amazing. Students could not make sense of what she was but it made no difference. Susan “Stargirl” Caraway’s oddity was the ray of sunshine to their otherwise gloomy, conventional high school life.
With her immense popularity, every kid in Mica High wanted to be like her. So much like her that even all the pet shops in town ran out of rats. Her reputation and free spirit landed her a spot in the cheerleading team, getting accepted for her being different. In fact, Stargirl was too avant-garde that during one basketball game, she cheered for the opposing team.
by: Chienalee Garcia
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann
“You know when you have a dream, and you’re half awake but still you’re in the fringe of your brain then you open your eyes and you’re so damn glad that it was a dream? This was nothing like that.”
That was what Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) thought when a gun dropped from his trouser pocket the morning after an action scene with a gorgeous gun-crazy woman saving him from another gun-crazy man.
Jump back to the start of everything. Wesley is an office drone who suffers from anxiety attacks from his awful boss. His hot girlfriend cheats on him with his best friend and he’s too scared to do anything about it. Then one night, he bumps into the beautiful and aptly named Fox (Angelina Jolie) at a pharmacy while purchasing pills for his panic attacks. His life will never be the same again.
by: Chienalee Garcia
Break out from the other TV series because How I Met Your Mother has been renewed for a fourth season.
Before anything else, here’s a basic summary: How I Met Your Mother is about Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) narrating his own love story to his kids years after he met his wife. And who could his wife be? That’s what everyone else is waiting for to be revealed.
Picking up right where the last season left off, Ted’s proposal to Stella (Sarah Chalke) finally comes up with a response. Did she say “yes”? After four months of waiting, we finally get the answer in the Season 4 premiere—but not before Future Ted tells us (and Future Kids) that waiting for The Answer is the longest pause you’ll ever experience in your life.
by: Chienalee Garcia
Goodbye Blues (Pop-Alternative Rock)
Fueled by Ramen/ Atlantic
With a female pianist for a lead vocalist and three other boys backing her up, The Hush Sound is definitely one of the most refreshing and unique young bands out there all set to conquer the music scene. And with a new album out entitled Goodbye Blues, their completely ready for mass consumption.
Goodbye Blues is a fairly sundry album for a pop band, with a line up of songs of varying tempos, alternating between male guitarist/vocalist Bob Morris and lead vocalist Greta Salpeter. Frontwoman Salpeter’s voice defines all the tracks with a spunky grip, making her verses sound incredible that you tend to memorize the peppy verses instead of the choruses.
by: Chienalee Garcia
She was a professional ballet dancer for fourteen years, without any inclination whatsoever in politics. Who would’ve thought she was going to be a council president of one of the top universities in the metro?
Enter Nicole Villarojo, fifth year Economics and Marketing major from De La Salle University, this year’s student council president. She bleeds green and white, and definitely has the heart of a student leader.
by: Chienalee Garcia
My uniform says it all: high standard education from a well-known university, and ultimate colegiala status. I come from a well-off family from the province and I graduated from the honor roll of a high school run by nuns. I may look every inch a refined, timid convent-bred girl but I am actually not. In fact, if the sisters from my high school knew about what I do now, they’d be running back to their convents, screaming for divine intervention. I’ve tried all the vices introduced to me: smoking, drugs, alcohol, and sex. Truth be told, I can spend an entire week without the first three, but with sex it’s a different thing. I enjoy it so much that I even let others pay me for the services I offer.
Yes, I am a high class prostitute.
I vaguely remember how it all started but I’m pretty sure I did not lose my virginity to a customer. I gave it to my college boyfriend, who later dumped me a few weeks after we have done the deed. A true scumbag, I know. But that’s another story.
by: Chienalee Garcia
She picks on the long gash on her right arm; something her little brother gave to her as a treat instead of the usual candies. She covers it neatly with a tattered handkerchief, not wanting to disinfect it with rubbing alcohol because she hates how it feels when it stings. She walks along the street, chatting up familiar faces passing by, not conscious of their glances at her bare, dirty feet.
Girlie Gallardo is just one of the many children seen along Padre Noval Street, just behind the University of Santo Tomas. At the tender age of 11, she spends her afternoons begging for alms from students hanging around that part of the University. Even with her parents taking minimum wage jobs just to alleviate everyday expenses, Girlie, along with her other siblings, has to resort to her own means to earn money for her personal costs.
“Minsan naga-absent ako para makapaglimos ako para may pambayad ako sa project.” says Girlie, who is currently enrolled as a 5th grader at a nearby public school. As the third child in a brood of four, she takes it as part of her responsibility to help her parents in earning money for the family.
by: Dharel Placido
Jeepneys never fail to keep the roads of the metro busy. With colourful flaglets and meticulous bodywork, they represent the vibrant culture of our country. But as time passes and the rates of oil products going high, these once colorful thoroughfare creatures, along with their driver’s dream of improving their lives, tarnish.
With problems of unstoppable oil price increases comes the plight of the ordinary jeepney drivers which typify the Filipino hardest hit by the crisis. But when the ordinary jeepney drivers are hit, surely, the passengers he carry everyday like students also feel the burden of having to spare some more coins which could have been spent for other things.
In a jeepney route from Dapitan to Quiapo church, one will meet Mang Edong, a family man with four children and has been earning a living from driving for more than three decades. When one looks at his face, his physical features, weathered by fatigue and hunger, become more evident. Mang Edong looks older than he is; 50-years old. The lines on his face are finer and his eyes look deeper. The pollution of the metro and the stress of all sorts have definitely left Mang Edong’s health and perhaps, his dreams as well, into nothingness.
by: Dharel Placido
It’s the last day of the Beijing Olympics and once again, our athletes seem to be going back to the country sans the medal. While the United States and China had raked gold medals, our country is yet to win its first.
Perhaps, not until the government roll up its sleeves to overhaul the country’s athletics system, the country will continue to suffer its gold medal drought in the Olympic Games to come. Since the country joined the games in 1924, it has garnered only 7 bronze and 2 silver medals, making it the fourth country to have the longest gold medal drought next to Haiti (1900), Iceland (1908) and Monaco (1920).
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and sponsors from private sectors thought this year’s delegation of fifteen athletes was more than ready to claim the country’s first gold so they put up a 15 Million pesos cash incentive for each athlete who shall win the country’s long-sought Olympic mint. A Toyota Altis was also supposed to be given to the Filipino Olympian who would win the first gold.
Can a 15 Million pesos incentive improve our standing in the Olympics? Maybe not.
By: Maria Chiara Assunta T. Alviar
Who cares about Original Pinoy Music nowadays?
Certainly, almost everyone knows about the usual ballads or the Pinoy rock we can all hear through mainstream radio stations. But how about bringing back Asin’s, Freddie Aguilar’s, or Grace Nono’s?
Many would find it strange to hear them again, but one very interesting artist brings that music back to our ears with a unique twist. Cynthia Alexander captures the taste of Filipino urbanites that like easy listening but with a hint of Filipino tune enveloped in all of her three albums.
by Maria Chiara Assunta T. Alviar
Some people have the ‘gift of gab,’ impressing people with how much they know and how good they speak. They’re popular! The minute they enter the room, the crowd immediately recognizes their presence and these chatterboxes just won’t stop. But have you ever noticed that person who would sit next to you when it’s your time to talk?
By: Maria Chiara Assunta T. Alviar
Presenting Stamford Bridge ONLINE — Chelseafc.com has a new layout and a completely different look!
by: Candice Tijam
In every rollercoaster ride, there will always be a fair number of ups and downs. But for Tita Puangco, riding her life seem to be more of the ups –or maybe that’s just how she treated each fall.
At 58, Tita still has that spark of enthusiasm as she welcomed me with a wide and friendly smile for the interview. Her simplicity was seen clearly as at that time, she was about to have her merienda break and took out a sandwich and a banana from a big lunch box.
Tita D. Puangco grew up in a small town in Tarlac with a big family with 4 sisters and 2 brothers. She found her childhood very enjoyable for she was an active and adventurous person among her siblings. She was named “escape artist” since she loved to escape household chores and go lakwacha all day. She would often hobnob through the small streets that led to the town. Compared to her sisters who were more of the conservative and high society type, she indeed saw life as an exciting adventure and developed many friends. Because she didn’t like cooking, cleaning the house, and only mastered washing plates, she did only minimum house work. But don’t think she only loved to make excuses, hang out and do nothing. No one ever viewed her as a lazy girl, because she always excelled in school. She was always at the top of her class and was a scholar up to high school.
by: Candice Tijam
Picture this: You are watching a local primetime show with your younger sister or your son, and then suddenly ….the fully-clothed mermaid who turned human is now only covered by a blanket with the man of her dreams on top of the same bed! So tell me honestly, what do you do to deal with such instances?
Over the years, people seem to care lesser and lesser whenever TV shows give sudden or sometimes even prolonged scenes that imply premarital sex while they have minors just sitting next to them. Seconds of actors kissing and cuddling with meaningful stares while approaching the bed is not much big of a deal as how it used to. We don’t seem to mind that that tiny reminder of “parental guidance” written on the corner of the screen is actually a big consequence if we ignore it constantly as children’s eyes wonder what those acts signify.
A big portion of the Filipino population watch local shows right after the news program as a form of entertainment from a heavy and stressful day from work. But it is usually unavoidable that the kids in the house tend to watch what adults prefer. Also, more often than not, kids patronize these shows because they idolize the actor or actress or simply because they find the plot amusing and funny.
by: Candice Tijam and Karchelle Francisco
Proven over time, girls really love shopping, whether it’s a sudden desire for panic buying or just simple window-shopping, no matter how long it would take—hours of walking and pausing to gape at clothing or accessory that captures her heart. Aside from the malls that every girl is familiar of e.g. MegaMall, Mall of Asia, Glorrietta etc. to Divisoria, Quiapo and the hundreds of ukay-ukay shops all over Manila, we have discovered a place in Cubao that is a sure delight for every girl, teenager, lady and even for a mommy or grand mom.
At first sight, this U-shaped compound in Cubao might be too boring for some visitors if they were to stroll around this vicinity at daytime. But when the moon starts to shine, this quiet compound becomes a fun and exciting street that Filipinos and even foreigners will be interested to go to this so-called Cubao Expo Shopping Center.
Cubao Expo Shopping Center was first known as the Marikina Expo Shopping Center, that was meant to be an outlet for the product that Marikina is known for – shoes. Since its lanes have evolved into various types of stores, Marikina Expo was changed to Cubao Expo in 2004. It started out mainly with shops with similar trend such as artistic crafts.
by: Karchelle Francisco
While browsing your favorite magazines – Cosmopolitan, FHM, Vogue or Seventeen, do you ever encounter a model with a plus size body? Or do you ever hear of a news that a plus size actress/model is on top of the FHM list? Never, right? Because if a model or an actress was four size larger than her usual size, she couldn’t be one for such reason.
Size does matter. And we know it. Those women in the business industry prefer to have a fit and sexy body rather than a “chubby” body. If ever their body is added with one or two inches, they would take diet pills or medicine like: Buegerlie tea, Slenda and so on. Or they drink lots of Fit and Right for two to three months everyday, or even undergo liposuction.
Insecurity, most especially to the shape of the body is common to all women, not only to those in the show business but also to those ordinary women out there. For some, being sexy is beautiful, and any guy cannot lie that if a girl is sexy, she’s beautiful and awesome.
(more…)
by: Monica Dawn Palad
Admit it. We tend to make matters difficult to understand for men at certain times. One day, you drive your sweetie away from you because you don’t want to be called or texted then be overly-sensitive the next day when he just replied a two-syllable word without any emoticon. This drives us to our constant paranoia throughout the day. Ms. Lalaine Lachica, guidance counsellor of the Faculty of Arts and Letters from the University of Santo Tomas explains the psychology of weird and sometimes funny female behaviour.
Forever Paranoia
You are walking around the school corridor when you saw your boyfriend with another girl. You know that the girl is his classmate and come to think of it, they are inches apart walking and it looks like they are just talking, period. This drives you crazy. You stalk them, check their glances to each other, followed them again, saw them going back to their classroom, check his Friendster profile for possible infidelity evidences from that girl, yet you found nothing. ing if that girl is the “other woman” of your guy. You can’t hold on to your paranoia. The next day, you confronted him insisting that there’s something going on between them when the truth is, there’s really none. This will lead to a major problem in your relationship.
by: Charlene Cunanan
Sometime in 1974, when Fr. Paul Marx, OSB came into the Philippines to conduct a seminar to health and religious groups, nobody thought that in the light of a then young nun in the audience will find the flesh and bone of Pro-Life in the Philippines.
From Good Shepherd Maternity Home, Sr. Mary Pilar L. Verzosa, RGS advocates consciousness of Filipinos on respect and responsibility for human life which she foresees to be the primary goal of an organization that supports the beauty of the life or the Pro-Life.
Sis Pilar, as they call her, graduated B.S. Nursing from St. Paul College of Manila before she joined in the Good Shepherd Sisters then she took up graduate studies in Guidance and Counseling from De La Salle University and some courses in Social Work at Mt. St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles California, USA.
by: Charlene Cunanan
For almost a decade now, the website Uncaged (www.uncaged.com.uk) has been campaigning for—Animal Rights. They encourage people not only from Europe to participate in this global campaign for animal rights to abuse, for they believe, “Who cares Wins”.
With a highly qualified, experienced and dedicated team of staff, Uncaged brings in-depth knowledge of the political, legal, ethical and scientific issues relevant to animal experimentation.
They fight and work based on the unwavering opposition to the abuse of animal, scientific critique of vivisection, and to the commitment to democracy, human and non-human rights, and environmental sustainability.
Angelique Parungao
Chief-Web-Editor
Lian Buan
Desk-Web-Editor
Dharel Placido
Editorial Executive
Charlene Cunanan
Managing Web Editor
Chienalee Garcia
Asst. Managing Web Editor
Monica Palad
Design Editor
Sam Sauler
Sub- Design Editor
Chiara Alviar
Karchelle Francisco
Candice Tijam
Writers
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paki aff nio p0h aq sa fb jane5cents@yahoo.com tnx!
@Lian:
ayaaaaa. hahaha. wag na, nakakahiyooooooo. hahaha. thank you, you’re welcome. hiho. 
sino ung dharel placido? prang ang laki ng cheeks nya pangalan pa lang.
@ginela
thank youuuuuuuu. Dapat i air na amg mga TV Prods nyo, feature namin dito 
i’mma bookmark this. this is now one of my favorite sites. haha. liaaaaaan! d=)
this site rocks. i love it. congratulations to all o’ye! ~_^
Ang cool..simple lang…and ganda nung variety of news..at talagang si Sir Cuarts special mention na naman! Hahaha! He deserves it..cool site! =)
magaling =)
Yo! Nice site, guys! ;D Keep up the good work! Dami niyo articles, ah! Kaiinggit! ^O^
Dharel Placido’s next frontier: GETTING SUED FOR BASHING KIM JONG IL.
@Kim ek ek’s apo: You have internet there? BTW, You speak good in English huh? Kala ko pa naman di sila western at masyado silang enclosed?
Wow ang galing naman ng website na ito! 9th degree apo ni kim ek ek, nahukay niyo pa! hahahaha! ang popular niyo na kagad!!
@dong jim len does north korea have internet?
I am a 9th degree grand daughter of Kim Jong Il and I felt that our family was bashed in Mr. Placido’s article. My grand father does not starve Koreans@!
@ibrainyou hello there clone! haha )
@lachupacabra let’s make a way for you to contact mr. placido. he’s busy right now declogging their toilet bowl.
@lachupacabra hello there dharel is a really good writer
@epp and add brainy on that 
yes this is the site thing
@jayce definitely. monica is one of the brainy bunch.
@consuela so you must be a fan now? thank you! visit the places also and sample the hopias featured
