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What can I say?  Awesome, awesome concert by U2 at the Rose Bowl tonight!  Even though I was just watching it via Youtube, I still liked how the concert was done (well, I was actually using the PlayOn app for the PS3 so I can watch it on my TV, hehe).

Youtube kept hiccuping at first, the picture freezing but the sound/music still going, and I think it was slightly delayed by about 10-15 seconds, since I got a call from my friends Don and Richie (who were there at the Rose Bowl) a few seconds before the intermission started.  One thing that annoyed me no end was that twitter gadget at the bottom… it wasn’t that it distracted me, it was more because the thing was choppy and buggy as hell.  Well, anyway, I decided to take advantage of it a couple times by saying hello to fellow Filipinos watching the live streaming – and there were a LOT!

As for the band itself… well, Bono still has it.  Great production value, and the props were astounding… that spinning video contraption above them was a sight to see, especially when they were playing Vertigo – it was like a spinning UFO beaming the guys back home!  That little hanging steering wheel/microphone thing near the end was trippy too… seeing Bono hang onto that thing while it carried him across the stage, his legs almost touching the audience, was fun to see.

U2 belted out a pretty balanced set, making sure they played old favorites like I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Sunday Bloody Sunday and With or Without You near the end.  I was kinda hoping they’d play Pride, but I guess they’re promoting the newer singles as well.

Anyway, it was great to witness the concert on Youtube, and I’m sure it’s even better to see it live.  Great songs, great sound, great props, great production value, and an all around great performance by the band.  Then again, I didn’t expect any less from U2…

Technorati: aftermath, bowl, los angeles, rose, u2, youtube

(click here to skip to the video of the speech)

I have been and always will be a staunch supporter of the most brilliant and charismatic opposition leader the Philippines ever had, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino.  But the truth is I that I never knew much about what this person experienced and achieved in his lifetime until I first heard this speech on a cassette tape, almost two years after his assassination at then Manila International Airport.  I have wondered why my parents back then were almost rabidly supporting this person, as well as my other relatives, saying that he is better than the current president at the time, President Ferdinand Marcos.  But then again, I was just a six-year-old kid during the time…

I admit that I have greatly admired President Marcos when I was in grade school.  When he did his speeches, I got the impression of a very intelligent, very wise, and very articulate man who knew what he was doing.  Back then there was no Google to try and see what was happening in the background during his almost 30-year reign as president of the Philippines, and again, I was a kid who didn’t know any better.  I think I was in third grade when Aquino was assassinated, and I didn’t actually get to hear the guy speak until I was already starting sixth grade.

But when I did hear this speech, it was a very huge revelation for a 12-year-old kid who was naive to Philippine politics.  Back then, I didn’t quite understand some of the things he was saying, but the impression I got was that of a charismatic leader who loved his country more than anything else.  More than his own life.  And it put into context the assassination footage I saw on TV a couple years back.  And as I grew up, I began to feel a deep regret for the loss of a great man whenever I listen to those tapes again.  People said he was the greatest president the Philippines never had, and I am more than inclined to agree, especially after seeing the current state of politics in our sorry little homeland.

I have long since lost those cassette tapes (they were probably carried away by the flood waters that kept coming into our house in Las Piñas almost 15 years ago), and I never stopped hunting for a copy ever since I moved to the United States and discovered the Internet.  Thanks to Limewire, I procured an MP3 containing some of that speech, but not all of them.  Yet I was so happy at hearing them again that I didn’t complain at the crappy quality and the abrupt end to the speech…

Imagine my extreme excitement at finding the entire Los Angeles speech on Youtube a few months ago – in its entirety!  This video footage has been in my Youtube favorites for some time, and now that I have decided to blog again, I can’t resist the urge to re-post the entire speech, for those who admired, respected and loved the man who could have been our president.  Who could have saved us from all the crap we are experiencing right now from the Philippine government.  Who could have led the Philippines to a better life… maybe…

So here is the speech that changed the way I looked at Philippine politics when I was a kid, and one that always filled me with angst at the loss of such a great human being…

Feel free to share this blog post, or even just the video.  More Filipinos should remember that there are still more important things worth dying for…

Technorati: 1981, aquino, benigno, california, los angeles, marcos, ninoy, speech

So yesterday, I was ready to go to E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) at the Los Angeles Convention Center, but I left the house a bit too late.

And when I got there, I spent two hours circling the damn place looking for parking. Convention parking was fully packed, and all other potential parking spaces were taken. And the traffic was horrendous. The only “available” parking I found was this stupid little lot that charged a flat rate of $50! I was like “what the fuck!” And the funny thing is it was also decently packed as well. I guess if I had the dough to shell out I woulda allowed myself to be suckered into it.

So I just spent most of the day driving along Los Angeles, visiting Best Buy and CompUSA, and when I got home I watched DVDs (the remainder of Fushigi Yugi anime series). It was a good thing most of my DVDs I ordered a couple weeks ago arrived yesterday (Fushigi Yugi, RahXephon, Dual Parallel, Midori no Hibi, and Happy Lesson). I still haven’t received the El Hazard OVA series I won at eBay, but I’m counting on it tomorrow.

I also have some Netflix DVDs that I haven’t touched too much since Monday coz of the DVDs that arrived. One thing I can say though – Serial Experiments Lain is SO EFFIN BORING! After watching just the first disc, I’m tempted to return the remaining three coz I literally yawn while I’m watching it. That anime series is a tad overrated, I think.

Anyway, I’ll be leaving very early in the morning so that I can snatch some parking space at the convention center. I’ll post some pics that I take at E3 when I come back from the movie I’ll be watching later that day…

… and that movie is, of course, Star Wars Episode III! I reserved some tickets for the 7PM showing, so I’ll be heading straight there after E3. Opening day would probably be a bit bothersome coz of the guaranteed long lines, but coming to it after E3, I would already be used to it…

Technorati: center, convention, e3, electronic, entertainment, expo, fushigi, los angeles, parking, yugi