The Comfort Rooms

Around two years now, talks about whether Manny Pacquiao is the best Filipino boxer of all time have been agog. Was it premature to bestow him that title away from Flash Elorde, a revered sportsman from Cebu? Were his extracurricular activities turn people off to prevent them from giving him that rare distinction?

If that was the problem, then only 2 things are needed for Pacquiao to answer both questions. First, a fourth world title, a feat never before done in the Philippines and the whole of Asia, and second, focus on training and a low-key lifestyle to prevent people to raise their eyebrows anew.

Only yesterday morning, Manny Pacquiao managed to answer both questions.

He won his fourth world title at the expense of erstwhile defending champion David Diaz. With that win, not only did he become the first Filipino to win four different world titles but also the first Asian to do so. This win was pivotal for him to officialy take over Floyd Mayweather's distinction as the NUMBER ONE POUND-FOR-POUND FIGHTER IN THE WORLD.

Do you have any idea what that actually means? That's absolutely crazy! It means Manny Pacquiao is the best fighter in the world, regardless of what weight division he feels to fight into. Crazy, isn't it?

Because of this magnanimous feat (yeah, it deserved to be called magnanimous), Manny Pacquiao deservedly earned the distinction of being the BEST FILIPINO BOXER OF ALL TIME.

Believe me, I will be flooding this picture with everything "Manila." Just a spur-of-the-moment nationalistic feelings coming from me.



Nice?

Just like this guy on the left part of the screen, all hearts are all smiles at the Iberian Peninsula. Spain has reached the Final of the Euro Cup for the first time in 24 years.

They always did good in the group stages (pretty much the same thing in the FIFA World Cup). But when the competition enters the last 16 or the Quarterfinals, they always end up losing.

Something divine must be stopping Spain from reaching a few notches higher.

However, that was the case, until today.

Spain won 3-0 against Russia. After a first half of no goals and lots of misses from the Russian side, Spain scored three goals in 20 minutes to secure its place in the final against powerhouse Germany.

Battling Germany in the finale would be a close call. 39% of football fans thought that Germany would win while Spain came in a close second with 37%. Hey, that's only a two-percent difference. Spain has a big chance to win the whole lot!


Go Spain! Show Alemaña the way out!

* THIS IS COPIED FROM YAHOO! NEWS.

Former champion Maria Sharapova has been ousted in the second round at Wimbledon by 154th-ranked Alla Kudryavtseva.

Kudryavtseva recovered an early break in the second set to beat the 2004 champion 6-2, 6-4 on Court 1 on Thursday.

It was Sharapova's earliest exit from a Grand Slam event since her first full season on the circuit in 2003. Since her breakthrough at Wimbledon in '04, Sharapova has added major titles at the 2006 U.S. Open and the last Australian Open.

Kudryavtseva, 20, has never won a WTA Tour title and was playing only her 10th Grand Slam match.

Crazy tennis news huh?

*It wasn't only Sharapova who suffered the upset, but fellow Americans Andy Roddick and James Blake as well. Daniela Hantuchova joined them as well.

Here's the results courtesy of Yahoo!

Poll Results
Who will win Euro 2008?
Germany 39%
Russia 16%
Spain 37%
Turkey 8%

59923 Total Votes

Germany has just beaten darkhorse Turkey 3-2 on a late-game goal. I hope Spain wins over another darkhorse (Russia) and win the whole thing! What do you think?



¡Vamos España!

Just watch Bunifah Latifah Halifah Shalifah Jackson (of Mad TV fame). Tell me you wouldn't be in stitches after watching this hilarious woman. And oh, please, no offense meant to African-American women. I feel for you mah sistahs.

This is just R-A-N-D-O-M. This is just a case of the what-ifs. What if I wasn't born here in the Philippines? How would I have looked like? Would I have been 6'0" tall? How about my accent? What religion would I have entered? And, what would have been my
name?

Hmmm. A couple of countries come to mind right now. I will be posting my top 5 choice of countries and nationalities if I weren't a Filipino. In no particular order.

Number 1. Sweden.
Reasons?
1. Volvo
2. Blonde beauties
3. The weather
4. The Cardigans
5. Stockholm

Number 2. The Netherlands.
Reasons?
1. Such a powerful nation in just a small package
2. Backpacking lifestyle
3. Sporting power (swimming and football)
4. Amsterdam
5. Rich history

Number 3. Switzerland.
Reasons?
1. Neutrality
2. Swiss-German, Swiss-French, and Swiss-Italian
3. The Alps
4. The wristwatches
5. Credit Suisse





Number 4. Japan(although I'm part-Japanese).
Reasons?
1. Cherry Blossoms
2. Mt. Fuji
3. Ginza District
4. Harajuku Street Style
5. Beef Gyudon


Number 5. New Zealand.
Reasons?
1. Outdoor Adventure
2. Whales
3. Geysers
4. South Island
5. Maoris, Tongans, and Samoans.

Here are two wonderful reasons to root for the Philippine Swimming Team in the upcoming Olympics. Though they may not necessarily vie for the top honors (although they might spring of a few surprises), seeing them swim for the country's honor is one big reason alone.

Miguel Molina.
2007 SEA Games Gold for 200 and 400 meter individual medley, 200 meter breaststroke, and 4×100 meter Men’s Medley Relay.
2007 SEA Games Most Valuable Player
2005 SEA Games Gold for Men's 1500 m Freestyle, Men's 200 m Breaststroke, Men's 200 m Individual Medley, and Men's 400 m Individual Medley.
2004 Olympics 200 Individual Medley (17th)


Daniel Coakley
2007 SEA Games Gold for 50m Freestyle, 4X100 Medley Relay.







Please support the Philippine Team to the Beijing Olympic Games.

Frank is a very devious storm. Destroying not only properties, but lives as well. To all those who have lost their loved ones, my deepest sympathies are sent out to you. Be thankful for the people who love and comfort you on dire times like these.

Three of my Mom's prized trees on her garden have been either nearly uprooted or completely uprooted. Anyways, I thought to myself that those trees were not really meant to withstand strong winds.

Its been a while since I last experienced a strong typhoon. Not that I look forward to it, but for the record it has been quite a long time since I have experienced a really, strong one. I arrived home around 2:30AM after several rounds of Texas Hold-em' Poker. It was even raining yet!

Around 5am, I woke up to the howling of the strong winds. It was roaring, I could feel the pine trees almost bending because of the wind's power. Power was out. My room was dark and i can't sleep because I felt, yeah, afraid that something bad might really be happening.

It was a really, really bad storm. It was so bad that water entered our living room through the gaps between our sliding doors to the wall and to the floor. Since Sunday is always a NO HOUSEHELPS DAY we were forced to clean up the mess and wait for the sun to shine. How come water still entered when a roof is covering the door from above?! The wind was just directing the rain towards the doors, thus wetting the door gaps and puddling towards the living room.

Too bad, I don't have any picture to show about how bad was the outcome of the storm. The grass and the trees all looked like beat up. Leaves were all over the village streets. No electricity for a few hours. But water was aplenty.

Brace for the next typhoon.

Its 10:56 in the evening, a Friday night and I don't know what to do. Got some basketball to do in the morning at 7am and school work in the afternoon. I'm in the mood for spacing out and my mind falls into a...

random.

Let me play some music instead.



Listen to the music for some grand ol' chillin' session. Sigh, this is the life. Nothing beats passionate and relaxing music to the ears.
What could be in store for me after this? Oh, I know, Bjork's "Hunter" from the X-Files Soundtrack. Tis pretty much haunting, don't ya think?



How about some Massive Attack? Very nice.



And a little Morcheeba might not hurt a bit maybe?



Nice. Very nice music I got in here. I guess I'm gonna be ending this post right here. Thanks!

In some bizaare news I caught on Yahoo! News, South Africa, who was famous for its crazy Apartheid rule decades ago, has officialy recognized mainland Chinese nationals as "black", the reference used to identify Africans and Indians during the harsh Apartheid rule.

This is not the first time the classification of Chinese in South Africa has changed. In fact, the racial status of Chinese-South Africans has often shifted with the nation’s political climate and its international relations.

People say that the reclassification of the Chinese is politically and economically motivated as they will be allowed to make more business in the country.

Just my question, can't they be allowed to put more business in South Africa without putting some racial issues into it as well? Calling Chinese as "black" is just ridiculous.

I only think of two people who would come closest to being a cross between Chinese and South African. They are Tyson Beckford...


and Kimora Lee.


Enjoy!

That was an accidentally very funny picture courtesy of the American president. I have no idea where this picture actually came from. But its funny. Right?

That by the way, is a very profane word. So please, don't let kids say it. Thanks!

Well oh well, he Boston Celtics won their 17th NBA Championship, preventing the Los Angeles Lakers to tie it to 16 apiece.
With all due fairness, credit should be given to Paul Pierce. He was murdering the Laker hopes all series long.
At least Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen can both retire with a championship ring each.

This video is a tribute to the Laker resistance that happened on Game 5. Congratulations Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, and Jordan Farmar for providing Kobe with the help he needed the most. May you continue to improve until (with fingers crossed) Game 7.

Out of nowhere, I noticed that my blog's Google PageRank now stands at 4. Yahoo! That is a wonderful achievement. From "No PageRank" status last year to a PR 3 last January and now, its PR. Amazing.

Thank you everyone for making it possible.

And for that, I'll be playing "Are You In" by Incubus. Enjoy!



***WAIT! I think my blog has reached a PR5 just now! I hope it's all true!

This one post is for you. Yes you. Thank heavens *** helped me get back to my senses. I'm seeing the whole situation better now.

It will be hard for me to see you again pretending that everything is okay. Its just so dang hard ******. Give me a good one month to at least get used to the fact that you are, for real, gone. I tried to a few months ago. In fact I initiated that we finally part ways before. But I can't. Now, yeah, I have to. But that won't be easy.

I was told not to say goodbye to you because we would still remain as friends. Oh yeah, I'm not gonna be buying that crap. Though we would remain as friends, that is still so much different to how we were before.

I spent my mornings the past two years being madly inlove with you. You were the reason why I felt very important, why I feel that people care about me. For two years, you were that someone that made me feel loved and cared for.

I still love you. I don't know what's that magnetism that you got there. Our lives and families were at the opposite ends of the globe. Our love story was like picked out of a telenovela, right? It sounded corny. But it worked. I was comfortable going to your house as you were comfortable going to mine.

Give me time to move on. But otherwise, no matter how scattered my thoughts are right now, I wanna say thank you.

Here's what I thought about the Lakers' incapacity to hold on to their 24 point lead and eventually put themselves in the brink of losing the NBA Finals...



Bokbokbokbokbokbok. Where's Pau Gasol? How about the others? Kobe Bryant can't do it alone.

Finally, the Lakers have won a match! Thank heavens for that! It was like manna from heaven that the Lakers have finally escaped the unwanted hole. Kobe Bryant was stellar (i mean amazing) with 36 points to literally single-handedly pull the Lakers out of the brink of elimination

But hey, I stand to be corrected. Kobe's teammates weren't all that bad. Pau Gasol finally (in my opinion) showed some skills and so did the other players. But if there is one bench player who in my opinion needs to be thanked for, that would be Sasha Vujacic. His 20 points, including that 3-pointer in the last minutes proved to be pivotal for the Laker win. And for that, I consider him an angel.

It looks like Paris Hilton's former boytoy will finally get that first five status he so definitely deserves.

Isa itong karangal-rangal na pagkakataon upang ipahayag ko ang aking saluobin sa wikang aking nakasanayan at kinalakihan. Hangad ko ang patuloy na pag-unlad ng aking bansa.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

This is what you get when you continue on beating the Lakers especially on the NBA Finals...






get that?

Top (L-R) 2008 Women's Champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Dinara Safina, 2008 Runner-up from Russia. Bottom (L-R) 2008 Runner-up Roger Federer of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal, 2008 Men's Champion from Spain

This year's 2008 French Open is all but a dissaponitment. First, Rafael Nadal was still unstoppable and Ana Ivanovic was so consistent, she was considered good.

Roger Federer was no contest at all when Rafa demolished him in the finale. I don't wanna mention the scoreline but it makes you wanna feel convinced that Roger MIGHT never get his much sought-after French Open crown.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic all lost in the final rounds of the tournament with Dinara Safina looming as the sentimental favorite to win the tournament. After convincing disposals of both Sharapova and Kuznetsova, it was a sad feeling to see her lose it out to Ana Ivanovic, the new women's number one.

For Federer, it is another sad ending to an already lackluster clay season. The year's first half has all been but a dissapointment to the man-god. Nadal was so superlative throughout the tournament.

However, only true-blue losers would sulk over the idea of being depressed because of a stupid loss. Roger Federer feels his time would still come. Go Roger, keep on believing.

here's what i think about the 98-88 win by the Celtics over my Lakers...



yeah. it is all but DOG CRAP. Call me bitter. What the heck.

Only a few people would remember Le Defense and Makati the same way people would know Paris and Manila. I know Paris is a million times more popular than Manila so comparing both cities as an entirety is a no-no.

Most people would think that the Seine or the Champs Elysee or the Eiffel
Tower or the Arc de Triomphe would top their list as their favorite Paris attraction. Although for me, I like Le Defense better.

Makati on the other hand is Manila's main financial district. It is a separate city on itself but is part of the larger Metro Manila. Its kinda like a city within a city that is comprised of several other cities. If you would look for "Manila Skyline", chances are, you would get Makati's pictures.

Anyways, skylines of both Le Defense and Makati are similar. Can you spot which is which?

I think I have just found the perfect concoction to a Los Angeles Laker win...

1. Doc Rivers (Boston Celtics coach) should instill on his side the immense pressure to live up to their number one seeding so that his team would create crap, the same way they did against Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers.

2. Rey Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett (all Celtic stars) should all bear in mind that for the first time they made it this far in the playoffs and the NBA Finals itself.

3. Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher should show everyone what it's like to be NBA Finals veterans.

4. Sasha Vujacic (LAL)should conspire with all Eastern European mafias to do everything within their financial and political powers to make the Los Angeles Lakers this year's NBA World Champions.

5. Pau Gasol should lead in conniving all of the Hispanic pious to pray to all the saints for a divine intervention for a Laker title.

6. Phil Jackson should instill to Doc Rivers' mind that HE IS THE ALPHA MALE. Can Rivers brag anything to THE Phil Jackson?

7. Staples Center citizens should live up to their bossy reputation by not welcoming the Celtics AT ALL.

and number eight...

The Los Angeles Lakers just needs to show that they are the bosses and they just won championship trophies a few years back. For sure, the Celtics would crumble under intense pressure. The Lakers just needed to help them by playing good.