MikeLigalig.com

padugang sa gana...

na-curious ko why si estrada sa manila mag-mayor when he started his political career in san juan.  simple man diay.  ang current san juan city mayor who's running for reelection is guia g. gomez man diay.  si guia of course was the de facto first lady of san juan when erap was mayor there.  she is the mother of estrada's son jv ejercito, the current san juan city congressman who's running for senator. 

his wikipedia entry shows the following:

Relations: Joseph Estrada (father), Guia Gomez (mother), Jinggoy Estrada (half-brother)

Alma mater: De La Salle University

Profession: Politician

Religion: Roman Catholicism 

kini si guia gomez lahi pod ni siya ni laarni enriquez, who is rumored to be supposedly erap's favorite mistress. 

it looks like political dynasties in the philippines take on a different flavor in the case of joseph estrada aka joseph ejercito.  na, hala, himoa ni siyang mayor ninyo.

diay ba?  suwayi kunog papahawa si manny villar kun magpuyo na siya under the bridge...

umaanak na na uy.  ayaw na lang samoka, hehe.

You’re still my enemy tonight. But even enemies can show respect. (Priam, in "Troy")

hahaha!  pag-antiyohos uy.  si memeng nang imong nakit-an, di na ako.

luya kaayo among broadband connection, magsakit akong liog ug hinuwat kon kanus-a mogimaw ang tubagbohol.  giving myself a month with sun broadband.  way ayo gani gihapon, di na ko mobayad.

piktyur unya ninyong duha ha?  kanang background mo kay ang mga iring ug iro nilang lolla ang naa sa foreground sa piktyur.

posible pod na nga gisugo lang siya pagpahiluna sa bag anang mga bawon uy.

not on this incomplete list but are said in some news items to have sent their own representatives: afghanistan and saudi arabia

klaro kaayo asa dapit amo, hasta ang among abuhan.

United Kingdom
Prince Richard, Representing the Queen
Birgitte, Representing the Queen

Baroness Warsi, Senior Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Minister for Faith and Communities
Kenneth Clarke, Minister without Portfolio


United States
Joe Biden, Vice President

Jill Biden, Second Lady
Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader, former Speaker
Susana Martinez, Governor of New Mexico

   
Venezuela , Diosdado Cabello, Speaker of National Assembly



Zimbabwe , Robert Mugabe, President

Spain
Felipe, Prince of Asturias
Letizia, Princess of Asturias

Mariano Rajoy, Prime Minister


Sri Lanka
Neomal Perera, Deputy Minister of External Affairs

Sarath Kumara Gunaratna, Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
John Amaratunga, Member of the Parliament

   
Switzerland , Didier Burkhalter, Federal Councillor



Republic of China (Taiwan)
Ma Ying-jeou, President
Christine Chow Mei-ching, First Lady

Vanessa Shih, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs

   
Ukraine , Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Deputy Prime Minister

Serbia
Tomislav Nikolić, President

Ivan Mrkić, Minister of Foreign Affairs    


Singapore , Grace Fu, Minister in Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Second Minister for Foreign Affairs



Slovakia , Ivan Gašparovič, President



Slovenia , Borut Pahor, President
   


South Korea , Yoo Jin-Ryong, Culture Minister

Poland
BronisÅ,aw Komorowski, President
Anna Komorowska, First Lady

Bogdan Borusewicz, Speaker in the Senate
Lech WaÅ,Ä™sa, Former President
Jacek Cichocki, Director of the Prime Minister's Office


Portugal , Anibal Cavaco Silva, President
   


Romania , Traian Băsescu, President
   


Russia , Sergey Naryshkin, Chairman of the State Duma
   


San Marino , Pasquale Valentini, State Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Politics

Malta    
George Abela, President

Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister
Lawrence Gonzi, Opposition leader

   
Mexico
Enrique Peña Nieto, President
Angélica Rivera, First Lady


   
Monaco
Albert II, Prince
Charlene, Princess
   


Netherlands    
Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange
Máxima, Princess

Mark Rutte, Prime Minister
   

New Zealand , Chris Finlayson, Cabinet minister


   
Nicaragua , Omar Halleslevens, Vice President
   


Nigeria    
David Mark, President of the Senate

Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi, Minister of Aviation
Viola Onwuliri, Minister of State    


Paraguay , Federico Franco, President


   
Peru , Rafael Roncagliolo, Minister of Foreign Affairs


   
Philippines , Jejomar Binay, Vice President

France
Jean-Marc Ayrault, Prime Minister
Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs


   
Germany
Winfried Kretschmann, President of the Bundesrat
Angela Merkel, Chancellor

Philipp Rösler, Vice Chancellor
Norbert Lammert, President of the Bundestag

   
Honduras , Porfirio Lobo Sosa, President    



Italy
Giorgio Napolitano, President
Clio Maria Bittoni, First Lady

Mario Monti, Prime Minister
Laura Boldrini, President of the Chamber of Deputies
Pietro Grasso, President of the Senate
   

India ,  P. J. Kurien, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman
   

Ireland
Michael D. Higgins, President

Michael Noonan, Minister for Finance

   
Japan , Yoshiro Mori, Former Prime Minister    



Lebanon , Nagib Miqati, Prime Minister


   
Lithuania , Dalia GrybauskaitÄ—, President


   
Luxembourg
Henri, Grand Duke
Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess

Canada
David Lloyd Johnston, Governor-General

Jason Kenney, Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

   
Chile , Sebastian Pinera, President


   
Colombia , Maria Angela Holguin, Minister of Foreign Affairs


   
Costa Rica , Laura Chinchilla, President


   
Croatia
Ivo Josipović, President

Tatjana Josipović, First Lady
Vesna Pusić, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs


Cuba , Miguel Díaz-Canel, First Vice President



Czech Republic , Karel Schwarzenberg, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs    



Ecuador , Rafael Correa, President


   
Egypt , Mohamed Saber Arab, Culture Minister

aside from the faithful and the pilgrims and members of various religious congregations who attended the inaugural mass of pope francis...

132 nations and international organizations sent delegations to the inauguration. The delegations included 6 sovereign rulers, 31 heads of state, 3 princes, and 11 heads of government.  the list (incomplete), at wikipedia:

Andorra , Joan Enric Vives Sicília, Co-Prince



Albania , Sali Berisha, Prime Minister

   

Armenia , Serzh Sargsyan, President


   
Argentina , Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, President
   


Austria
Heinz Fischer, President
Margit Fischer, First Lady

Werner Faymann, Chancellor
Michael Spindelegger, Vice Chancellor


Bahrain ,  Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Prince    



Belarus
Anatoly Rubinov, Chair of the Council of the Republic

Sergey Aleinik, Belarusian Ambassador to the Vatican


Belgium
Albert II, King
Paola, Queen

Elio Di Rupo, Prime Minister


Bosnia and Herzegovina
Vjekoslav Bevanda, Prime Minister

Zlatko Lagumdžija, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Sredoje Nović, Minister of Civil Affairs
Eugen Šušak, Head of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister


Brazil , Dilma Rousseff, President

where could i get this?

pictures bi.  please share chicago's cherry blossoms here.

gapasabot nga...

male tblanders nga isog, pitot.

gil-as.  hala, pangita pag engkwentro.  tagam.

aw, huwag mo ring ismolin ang tb pikoy.  malipayon sad tong maligo.

i still have to meet an alcoholic who admits he is.

("i am not drunk, i am just drink," is my favorite quotation of an uncle's defense.  may he rest in peace.)

Traitor to His Party

And then Chiz Escudero decided to bite that hand that fed him all his political life.  He turned against his own home party, the NPC, and badmouthed its leadership, namely, Danding Cojuangco.  Everyone at the NPC called Chiz Escudero "the ungrateful bastard". 

Escudero became political laughingstock.  He went on television and radio and started yacking furious like a woman scorned.  But to no avail.  Escudero was a has been even before he became. (no author named)

for the complete text: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BPHS74/message/4189

The grapevine says that one of Erap's children has told the story about when Chiz and Erap were inexplotatory talks on forming a tandem for this 2010 election, Erap became enraged at Chiz's suggestion that maybe the former president should just be his vice-president and not the other way around! Again, masyadong presumido, kahambugan, kayabangang sobra! Nagmamadali!

But again Chiz did not want to listen.

somewhere in the internet highways, the following was passed on and spread.  whether it's true or not, whether it's plain politics once again, here it is, an excerpt about chiz escudero:

His hunger for power is insatiable.  Walang kabusugan.  As soon as he was supported by friends, allies, financiers, and his own party his stardom in the political world zoomed to admirable proportions.  His ratings and potential for a higher position in office was considerable.  And then the problem started.

Chiz Escudero, unbeknownst to his allies, is obsessed with the Presidency of the Philippines.  Not even 40 years old he was audacious enough to declare to everyone that he wasn't "just for the Vice Presidency in 2010.  He was, he says, "fit for the  Presidency".  "I want to be the President!" he told his allies.  His obsession and "kahambugan, kayabangang sobra" turned off most of his supporters.  They all told his it was "too soon!". He demanded for P5 Billion from NPC Boss Danding Cojuangco to campaign for President but the old and wise strongman declined thinking Chiz to be "masyadong presumido. Nagmamadali!". 

But Chiz did not want to listen.

6. Case vs. Chiz. Because of Heart’s naiveté, I have been compelled to act as her talent manager. We recently signed Heart’s contract with a certain TV channel. Now, Chiz is urging her to have my name removed as talent manager. All the acts of Chiz indicate that his public persona is far different from his real character. My husband and I are in the process of gathering evidence to prove that he is a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality, as suggested by a print columnist.”

CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST CHIZ. Sabi pa ni Mrs. Ongpauco, dahil sa mga nangyari ay balak nilang magsampa ng demanda laban kay Chiz:

“a criminal case for libel, for claiming that he is caught in the middle of a family feud; when the truth is, Chiz is the very source of our family feud.”

more at http://www.pep.ph/news/37963/chiz-escudero-unacceptable-to-heart-evangelista39s-family-ongpaucos-disown-scandalous-behavior-of-heart/1/2

5. Opportunism. Chiz has virtually moved into the condo unit owned by Heart. He uses her Mercedes Benz at will, particularly during night time, indicative of her own disturbed personality. Heart encourages this behavior from Chiz, as she did with the rest of her prior boyfriends. She has been diagnosed as a needy personality, but she refuses psychiatric treatment.

Furthermore, he once boasted to Heart that he runs a lucrative law office, and that a multinational is poised to pay his law firm over P200 million a year for lawyering for the multinational. One more boast of Chiz is that he has already the guaranteed financial contribution of a businessman who has been listed among the ten billionaires of the Philippines, but who is under investigation by the Senate. Heart believes all these claims made by her boyfriend, without any evidence.

4. Illusions. According to Heart, Chiz has promised her that he will become President by 2016, and then she will be addressed as 'First Lady.' The staff of Chiz sometimes addresses him as Mr. President. This is pure seduction, because we believe Chiz does not stand any chance to become President or Vice-President, owing to his secret character.

3. Alcoholic. The first time Chiz visited our home, we saw that he was drunk and he smelled of alcohol. The second time he went to our family home, he was again drunk, carrying a bottle of red wine. During both visits, he hardly spoke a respectful word. He sat slumped in a chair with his legs spread outward. He has never formally asked for our daughter’s hand, or explained how he will support her and his wife at the same time.

2. Personality Problem. Chiz is surrounded by unsavory gossip which has already reached social media. The cause of his annulment and his peculiar habits are swirling over his head, and he has never bothered to explain himself. He projects himself as a wholesome candidate, but we know better. We challenge Chiz to stop dictating to our daughter. Stop hiding behind the skirts of Heart and stop using her as an armor to shield yourself from very serious questions about your character and personality.

UNACCEPTABLE. Inisa-isa rin ng ina ni Heart kung bakit “unacceptable” sa kanilang pamilya ang senador:

“1. Religious Reason. Chiz obviously has a personality defect. His wife, with whom he has two children, left him for reasons that have been the talk of Metro Manila. Chiz and his wife obtained a civil annulment. Thus, under the rules of the Catholic church to which my family belongs, Chiz is disqualified to remarry, unless he obtains a Church annulment.

Chiz Escudero "unacceptable" to Heart Evangelista's family; Ongpaucos disown "scandalous behavior" of Heart

Philippine Entertainment Portal
Mar 20 2013

by Erwin Santiago


Isang statement ang inilabas ng mga magulang ni Heart Evangelista, sa pamamagitan ni Mrs. Cecilia Ongpauco, sa media upang isa-isahin ang mga rason kung bakit "unacceptable"  sa kanilang pamilya si Senator Chiz Escudero.
Photo By: Nimfa Chua / Jocelyn Dimaculangan

Pagkatapos magpatawag ng press conference ang mga magulang ni Heart Evangelista na sina Rey at Cecilia Ongpauco kahapon, March 19, isang official statement naman ang inilabas ni Mrs. Ongpauco sa media ngayong araw, March 20.

Ang nilalaman ng statement ay ang sagot ng pamilya Ongpauco sa naging pahayag ni Heart upang ipagtanggol ang kanyang “lover” na si Senator Chiz Escudero.

Nakasaad sa statement: “We believe that we have a right to defend ourselves against unfair accusations made by Heart, under the dictation of Chiz, who clearly wrote the letter signed by Heart and published by a movie columnist.”

Escudero said Heart and her parents have a family quarrel and he’s caught in the middle.

I got back to my source and told her about the senator’s claim that he was caught in the middle of family intramurals.

She said it was Chiz who was proddingâ€"“sinusulsulan” was her wordâ€"Heart to fight her parents.

She added that if  other journalists interviewed the Ongpaucos, they would confirm what she revealed to me.

If what the source said about the senator is true, then he has a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde personality,  showing his good side in public and the bad in his personal life.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

“We thought that since he’s a senator and comes from a supposedly good family he was taught good manners by his parents,” the Ongpaucos were quoted by their friend as saying.

“Talagang bastos siya, parang walang pinag-aralan (He’s so uncouth as if  he had no education at all),” Baby Ongpauco was quoted by her friend in describing Escudero.

The senator sounded surprised when I reached him by phone Monday.

“My God, why would I do that to Heart’s parents?” said the senator.

“My parents taught me good manners,” said the senator.

The incident was a culmination of the bad blood between the senator and the Ongpaucos, according to the parents of the actress.

“Bastos siya, ‘di kami ginagalang (He’s ill-mannered, he doesn’t respect us),” our source quoted the Ongpaucos as telling her.

Quoting the Ongpaucos, the young senator-reelectionist allegedly always had a drink too many when he talks to them.

When they visit Heart at the condominium unit and Chiz happens to be there, her parents feel insulted because the senator reportedly does  not even greet them or stand up.

According to this friend of the Ongpaucos, Escudero’s driver went to the unit of Heart’s parents several days ago to get all of her clothes in her room.

The Ongpaucos asked why Heart would want all her clothes when she could easily get down to their unit to change, but the driver said he didn’t know and for them to just ask Heart and Chiz.

There was an altercation between Rey Ongpauco and the senator’s driver who was reportedly arrogant, according to  our source, leading to a fight that resulted in the driver being beaten up inside the unit of the Ongpaucos.

ON TARGET
Chiz Escudero: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

By Ramon Tulfo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Monday, March 18th, 2013
     
There is a chink in the armor of senatorial derby frontrunner Chiz Escudero: his would-be parents-in-law.

Rey and Baby Ongpauco, owners of the Barrio Fiesta chain of restaurants, have poured out to their best friend what they felt about the senator. The friend, in turn, revealed all to this columnist.

The Ongpaucos are parents of actress Heart Evangelista,  Escudero’s fiancée.

Heart owns a condominium unit one floor above Heart’s parents in Makati City which Chiz visits regularly.

i repeat, for those who do not speak boholano...

fear is written on its face; it's obvious that the big one had been neutered.

klarong nahadlok ang dako nga gikapon.

When it flowers, its pink blossoms almost cover the entire tree, much like that of the Japanese cherry blossoms, but the true cherry blossom cannot survive in tropical countries like the Philippines. (http://www.demotix.com/)

so.  well, we have our own blooms anyhow.

In Manila, Palawan cherries are planted within the Manila Seedling Bank Foundation in Quezon City. Some of these trees can be seen at the Malacanang Palace grounds facing the Pasig River. (http://www.demotix.com/)

Palawan Cherry is not a close relative of the Japanese cherry blossom, but taxonomically, it is nearer in association with the tree legumes of the Acacia, Narra, Kamatchile, Ipil and Tindalo. (http://www.demotix.com/)

The Palawan cherry is a small to medium-sized tree. It can grow up to a height of 15 meters or taller, and has a diameter of about 50 centimeters. (http://www.demotix.com/)

eureka! cherry blossoms are in the philippines too!


The most popular flowering trees in Palawan is the Balayong or the Palawan Cherry, which can be seen in parks and gardens and can also be spotted at the edge of forests. (http://www.demotix.com/)

have you seen the first buds of cherry blossoms there now?

London

Cherry blossoms at the Notre Dame in Paris

in a park in the Netherlands

Cherry Blossom Tunnel, Germany

Cherry blossoms in Washington, D. C.

Japan gave 3,020 cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship, replacing an earlier gift of 2000 trees which had to be destroyed due to disease in 1910. These trees were planted in Sakura Park in Manhattan and line the shore of the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. The first two original trees were planted by first lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda on the bank of the Tidal Basin.

The gift was renewed with another 3,800 trees in 1965. The cherry blossom trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction (and the subject of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival) when they reach full bloom in early spring. (wikipedia)

Cherry blossoms in Vancouver

Cherry blossom in the Botanical Garden of Curitiba, Southern Brazil

Quote from: Lollapalooza on March 22, 2013, 10:23:25 AM
Sakura!!! ganahan ko magtan-aw aning Cherry blossoms...

sayang lang nga kadali ra siya.  daling mataktak, pila ra ka adlaw.

Cherry blossoms at King's Park, Canberra, Australia

Mt. Fuji and cherry blossoms

Cherry blossoms within a field of Phlox subulata at Yachounomori Garden in Tatebayashi, Gunma

Cherry blossoms at the Tokyo Imperial Palace

Tokyo, Japan: a bird sits on a branch surrounded by fully bloomed cherry blossoms
Photograph: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

Cherry blossoms at Fukushima

A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese Cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is sometimes called sakura... (wikipedia)

Setara deputy director Bonar Tigor Naipospos said the permit issue was being used as an “excuse.”

“The problem is the government has shown no political will to stop cases of intolerance in the country. It does not demand the law be upheld and that perpetrators are brought to account,” he said.

The Batak Protestant Church has been at the forefront of attacks in the greater district of Bekasi. One congregation was pelted with rotten eggs and urine by Muslim hardliners who denied them entrance to their land, forcing them onto the street.

Naipospos said more of the 39 Batak Christian Protestant houses of worship in Bekasi were likely to face trouble as only 10 had been granted building permits.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

Nababan said the church had obtained broad support from the Muslim community before building started. Several neighbours confirmed with AFP they had no problem with a church in the vicinity.

Ninety percent of Indonesia’s 240 million people identify themselves as Muslim and the country’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion.

The Setara Institute of Peace and Democracy, however, says cases of intolerance are on the rise, with 543 incidents reported in 2011, up from 491 cases in 2009. More than 300 incidents were recorded in the first half of 2012.

Christians are among the main targets, along with worshippers who follow the Ahmadiyah and Shiite Islamic minority sects.

Members of the congregation had earlier begged the Bekasi city government to halt the demolition, with children clutching signs reading “please do not dismantle our church.”

Reverend Advent Nababan shed tears as the building was pulled down. “You just witnessed the government criminalizing our religion,” he said.

The local government had ordered the demolition of the church for being built, in October 2012, without a legal permit.

However the congregation said the permit was repeatedly and unfairly rejected after they had spent 13 years worshipping at the site unopposed in a temporary shelter.

it looks like religious intolerance is growing there despite their constitution.

“Our church can collapse but not our faith. We will continue to come here for Sunday mass.”

As the walls of the Taman Sari Batak Christian Protestant Church â€" at the center of a planning row â€" crumbled, police in Bekasi city on the outskirts of Jakarta, dispersed 200 Muslim women who sneaked onto the church land chanting Koranic verses.

Along the road Muslim protesters held back by a police cordon had chanted “Knock the church down now,” and “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater).

One man shouted through a loudspeaker: “They’re infidels and they’ve built their church without permission.”

Indonesian city tears down church in front of worshippers

Agence France-Presse
7:19 pm | Thursday, March 21st, 2013


Indonesian people take photos as civilian policemen demolish an undercontruction building of the Taman Sari Batak Christian Protestant Church in Bekasi on the outskirts of Jakarta on March 21, 2013. A local government in Indonesia demolish a church in front of its weeping congregation on March 21 as Muslim protesters branded them “infidels”. AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRY

BEKASI, Indonesiaâ€"An Indonesian city government demolished a church in front of its weeping congregation Thursday, as Muslim protesters egged on workers and branded the Christians “infidels.”

Dozens in the 100-strong congregation wailed as a digger tore down the brick walls, with worshippers accusing the government of “criminalizing our religion,” in a sign of increasing intolerance in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

“My heart is aching and I feel numb watching my church collapse. I went to this church for 11 years,” Megarenta Sihite, 46, told AFP, wiping away tears as fellow worshippers, dressed in black, hugged each other.

gusto tingali nga ang mga botante ma-diabetic.

Toy Story 3

Crazy Leader: Lotso

Pixar

Of all the plush, purple, huggable and irredeemable villains in all of movie history, Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear is the plushest, purplest, most huggable. And the one most clearly without any hope of redemption. As voiced by the great Ned Beatty, Lotso is, at first, a mellow, comforting presence: a strawberry-scented guide for Woody, Buzz and the rest of the toys as they navigate their confusing new home at the Sunnyside Daycare Center. Before long, though, Lotso’s true colors come through. Untrustworthy and ruthless, the bear has a tragic back story â€" he was (he believes) heartlessly abandoned by the little girl who once owned him â€" but even the cruelest personal history can’t mitigate his level of malice. With his coterie of sycophants and his deceptively easy-going Southern accent, Lotso brings to mind Strother Martin’s sadistic Captain in Cool Hand Luke: a jailer and leader who pretends he wants to be loved, but is far happier being feared.

Director: Lee Unkrich
Year Released: 2010
Studio: Walt Disney
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNMpa5yBf5o#ws

-By Ben CosgroveMarch 18, 2013, http://entertainment.time.com/2013/03/18/

Star Wars, Episodes I through III

Crazy Leader: Emperor Palpatine

Lucasfilm

A pale, withered and yet formidable bard of rage, Palpatine â€" whether portrayed by Ian McDiarmid or voiced by Clive Revill â€" is about as perfect an embodiment of a toxic Will to Power as the movies have ever seen: a creature satisfied with nothing less than dominion over the galaxy itself. The special effects in so many of George Lucas’ movies are, all these years later, rather laughable (if still loveable), and Palpatine’s get-ups are no different. But as with all of the characters in all the Star Wars movies, the quality of the Emperor’s cheesy, costume-store guises often appears to be inversely proportional to the audience’s degree of delight at the onscreen proceedings

Director: George Lucas
Year Released: 2002
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Cast: Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C-fZCLsISA#ws

Gladiator

Crazy Leader: Commodus

Dreamworks SKG

As entertaining as Gladiator is, and as deserving of an Oscar as Russell Crowe was for his performance, Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus is ultimately the crazy glue that holds it all together. The script can’t decide just what it is that makes the character so twisted. Daddy never loved him? Raging envy of Crowe’s Maximus? Incestuous cravings for his sister, Lucilla? Or is he just a bad seed?  It hardly matters in the end. What draws us to Commodus, even as his behavior grows increasingly repellent, is the lonely little boy that we occasionally glimpse inside the power-crazed emperor. Phoenix’s great achievement, meanwhile, is to convince us that the little boy might still be saved â€" even as we see the grown Commodus smothering him further with every brutal, irrecoverable act, just as he strangled his own father.

Director: Ridley Scott
Year Released: 2004
Studio: DreamWorks
Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2jbK6dGLGc#ws

Downfall

Crazy Leader: Adolf Hitler

Constantin Film Produktion

How best portray the man who might be the most infamous figure in all of human history? If you’re the masterful Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, there’s only one answer: all in. In Downfall, which chronicles Adolf Hitler’s final descent into raving paranoia in the spring of 1945, as the Red Army prepares to conquer Berlin and his generals and gangster cronies desert him, Ganz plays the Reich’s madman with a terrifying intensity. But he also manages to find in the Fuhrer’s galvanizing (and meme-generating) tirades something that we, the audience, can not only see and hear but (in a creepy way) share: namely, an all-consuming fear. It is impossible to feel pity for the character Ganz is portraying; but to the actor’s enduring credit, the Hitler of Downfall is no mere monster. He is a haunted, frenzied, malignantly self-absorbed villain â€" and, at the end, he’s all too human.

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Year Released: 2004
Studio: Constantin Film
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR5q0ajW8Ko#ws

The Dictator

Crazy Leader: Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen

Paramount Pictures

Often overlooked in any critical take on Sacha Baron Cohen’s satires-on-steroids is the Cambridge-educated Englishman’s not insubstantial acting chops. Sure, when he’s portraying Ali G, Borat and his other preposterous inventions, his performances can sometimes feel not so much like acting as a kind of manic, unfiltered bit of improv. But that “Oh, he’s just being himself” interpretation of what he’s up to diminishes Baron Cohen’s uncanny ability to actually be his characters. In The Dictator, his portrait of the despicable President Prime Minister Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen (and his double, Efawadh) is at times howlingly funny: beyond the astonishingly offensive blather pouring from his mouth, he looks and sounds like the sort of self-assured, power-crazed maniac who might, in fact, rule over a northeastern African “republic.”

Director: Larry Charles
Year Released: 2012
Studio: Paramount
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C3KzALgzIc#ws

tungod ba kaha kay naa poy mga artista nga nagpolitiks?  tsindying gips.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Crazy Leader: Khan Noonien Singh

Paramount Pictures

Leaving aside the question of whether the unsettlingly cut chest he displayed in the film was actually his own pectoral property or some sort of futuristic prosthetic device (all evidence points to the former), Ricardo Montalban’s turn as the magnetic, freakishly strong, genetically engineered Ãœbermensch Khan Noonien Singh remains one of the most thoroughly enjoyable portrayals of a villain in any sci-fi flick, ever. When, near movie’s end, a grotesquely wounded Khan channel’s Melville’s Ahab yowling at the white whale â€" “From hell’s heart I stab at thee. For hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.” â€" we know we’re in the presence of greatness. Daft, scenery-chewing, spellbinding greatness to which the only appropriate response is, of course: “Khaaan!”

Director: Nicholas Meyer
Year Released: 1982
Studio: Paramount
Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrUEjpHbUMM#ws

The Wicker Man

Crazy Leader: Lord Summerisle

British Lion Film Corporation

Not too many people are lukewarm about the original Wicker Man. Most of those who have seen the 1973 cult classic either revere it as a truly creepy exploration of faith and violence, or dismiss it as 83 minutes of boredom with five minutes of predictable “horror” slapped on at the end. (No such schism exists over the 2006 remake starring Nicolas Cage â€" everybody hates that one.) But even the original movie’s detractors can agree that Christopher Lee’s portrayal of the Medusa-haired leader of the pagan island community is among his very best â€" and that’s saying something, considering Sir Christopher has appeared in nearly 300 movies. At the end of the film, as Lord Summerisle leads his pale, windswept flock of loons in the most terrifying rendition of the medieval song, “Sumer Is Icumen In,” that any of us will ever hear (god willing), Lee seems not so much to be acting the part as inhabiting the body and soul of a true believer caught in the throes of pantheistic ecstasy. That’s entertainment!

Director: Robin Hardy
Year Released: 1973
Studio: British Lion Films
Cast: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FdV-O8o7ok#ws

The Last King of Scotland

Crazy Leader: Idi Amin

Fox Searchlight Pictures / Film Four

His fearless performance as the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin (the self-proclaimed “Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular”) in Kevin MacDonald’s 2006 drama garnered Forest Whitaker as Oscar. That is right and fitting â€" his Amin is one of the indelible movie madmen of the past decade. But what makes Whitaker’s characterization especially harrowing is the glimmer of humanity and weakness that occasionally peers out from behind those crazed, hooded, staring eyes. No one in his or her right mind would want to spend five minutes with that man â€" but watching him on screen for an hour or two generates the sort of thrill that only the greatest actors can elicit from an audience.

Director: Kevin MacDonald
Year Released: 2006
Studio: Fox Searchlight
Cast: James McAvoy, Forest Whitaker, Kerry Washington

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV_QgKJFZP0#ws

Caligula

Crazy Leader: Caligula

Penthouse Films International

John Gielgud, Peter O’Toole, Helen Mirren, Malcolm McDowell â€" titans of the stage and screen who, collectively, have given some of the most powerful performances in some of the most celebrated cinematic works of the past seven decades. And then there’s Caligula. Directed (for the most part) by Tinto Brass, written (largely) by Gore Vidal, the 1979 history-porn debacle combined sleaze, brutality and pretension to a degree rarely seen this side of a Steven Segal production. Outlining the myriad reasons why Caligula has become the standard by which all artistically-minded movie failures are measured would require volumes â€" starting with the fact that most of the cast and crew thought they were making one movie, while producer Bob Guccione (yes, of Penthouse magazine fame) was determined to make another, porn-ier film.

In the meantime, suffice to say that Malcolm McDowell, in the eponymous role as the demented 1st-century Roman ruler, manages to invest a hateful, murderous Caesar with a kind of pitiful grandeur. There’s no reason to see this movie more than once â€" but all serious moviegoers should try and sit through one viewing, if only to watch the talent on display valiantly struggling against Guccione’s “vision” for the film, which can perhaps best be described as sado-puerile.

Director: Tinto Brass
Year Released: 1979
Studio: Analysis Film Releasing
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW3E8vs-MUI#

The Road Warrior

Crazy Leader: The Humungus

Kennedy Miller Entertainment

Not too many characters in movie history can lay claim to an introduction as memorable as that accorded the muscle-bound, masked leader of the roving band of post-apocalyptic sociopaths in The Road Warrior. “The Lord Humungus!” screams the bespectacled, cringing herald known as the Toadie, announcing his lord and master’s presence. “The Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!” His backstory might be a little vague: Does that mask hide hideous scars from wounds suffered in battle? Or is there truth to those rumors of a horrific baking accident? But the Humungus shines as a compelling, mysterious figure who had a demented brand of greatness thrust upon him by the violence and anarchy of the post-nuclear age. Sure, he’s a deranged bastard â€"but as the leather-clad, goggle-wearing psychos who comprise his motley army might argue, he’s our deranged bastard.

Director: George Miller
Year Released: 1981
Studio: Warner Bros.
Cast: Mel Gibson, Michael Preston, Bruce Spence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfL4xKQeSfo#ws

Questionable Authority: 10 Crazy Leaders in Movies

Horrible Bosses

By Ben Cosgrove
March 18, 2013

TIME offers a look at 10 cinematic leaders â€" historical and fictional, monstrous and embraceable â€" who remind us that the line between utterly crazy and genuinely charismatic is not merely thin. Sometimes it’s downright invisible.

The problem with political jokes is they get elected.

                                    - Henry Cate VII

looks like chiz escudero is leaving nothing to chance.  any chance of exposure, including his latest amour who's an actress, is exposure for a political candidate. 

kaluod.

naa bay push-up briefs ang mga lalaki?

interesting.  the tense of a language has some bearing on a nation's savings and wealth and health.  ponderous, but not preposterous.  can a nation change the tense of its language thus, and wealth may follow?

frankly, mahadlok ko anang iyang cheshire cat smile.  it's difficult to trust the owner of that smile. 



an unguarded moment:

Malunggay. Moringa Oleifera, or malunggay, is a popular plant known for its nutritional value and for its ability to cure a speech defect called the monotone.

To prove that their product works, malunggay supporters hired Sen. Chiz “Monotone” Escudero as endorser. Escudero is now getting more vocal variety into his speech by saying the word “malunggay” out loud when he’s happy, “malunggay” softly when he’s sad and “malunggay” pa-cute when he’s talk-show guesting. NO APPROVED THERAPEUTIC CLAIM.

more at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/opinion/2013/01/29/ninal-no-approved-therapeutic-claim-265512

naa mo aning reloha?  barato kaayo, ang yawe morag gripo...

tasteless.  you're a senator, and you endorse a hotdog product?  ewwww...

The Commission on Elections is looking into possible violations of election laws by reelectionist senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero and the person behind the distribution of candies bearing the surname “Binay.”

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez on Tuesday said the Comelec was monitoring product endorsements by politicians, which he said should be considered as illegal campaign materials.

more at http://www.interaksyon.com/article/54913/binay-candies-chiz-hotdog-prompt-comelec-to-check-if-senatorial-bets-violated-elections-laws

opkors naman.  subliminal advert kintahay ni nga candy.  naay candy, naa poy hotdog.  how cheap naman.  when kaha naay diamond ring?

binay family ang niadto diay sa papal inaugural mass.  wa hibaw-ig gitagaan nila si pope francis ani nga candy.

aren't all islands unique in form?

Leao
Brazil



2011’s devastating landslides in Brazil saw the loss of nearly 700 lives, leaving the entire country in mourning. Leao, a mixed breed dog, became a symbol of the nation’s grief when he was filmed patiently waiting at his owner’s recently-dug grave. He remained at the site for several days before being taken for treatment and re-homing by animal rescue teams.

http://www.pets.ie/

Unknown Name
China



A faithful mixed breed dog has refused to leave the graveside of his owner in a small village in eastern China. The man, who had few living relatives, passed away in 2011. It is thought the pet was his one remaining companion at the time of his death and he has been seen roaming the cemetery ever since. Locals are said to be planning a kennel to provide the dog with shelter as he refuses to follow any of them back to the town.

http://www.pets.ie/

Hachiko
Japan



Hachiko was the loyal companion of a Japanese professor, greeting him at the local train station when he returned from work each evening. But when Mr. Ueno failed to come home one evening after suffering a brain haemorrhage the Akita continued to show up every day just in case. Hachiko kept up his daily routine until his death nine years later, earning himself a sculpture and status as a national symbol of loyalty in the process.

http://www.pets.ie/

Captain
Argentina



Miguel Guzman brought a German Shepherd home for his son in 2005, but when Miguel died just a year later Captain suddenly went missing. The following week, the Guzman family went to visit Miguel’s grave and were astonished to find the dog already there, howling. Six years later, despite Miguel’s son repeatedly trying to bring him home, Captain still sleeps on the grave every night.

http://www.pets.ie/