WALK OF FATE

There goes the dagger that's slowly piercing
Carving every bit of flesh in me
Blood spews out in all directions
As I pull out the treacherous blade

Pain and nothing but pain is felt
Flinging towards my heart's core
Confusion and daze was all in mind
Inquiring why all these has to occur

Sunny it was when all began
Stormy it is when all was done
The clouds I thought were all clear and white
Yet now all seems fading and unbright

I soon discovered how to walk the sand
Braving the avenues of a barren land
Once an oasis and now a dessert
My journey was inevitably in amend

Shadows of what is precedent
Has sought to conquer my soul
Then struggle came and mystery was eluded
My journey with the storm has now concluded

MY CRITERIA FOR SOON TO BE LEADERS OF THE PHILIPPINES

ROLES (ISSUES ON COMPETENCE)

I. Navigator-Strategist

Clear vision: Ability to

a) Steer the country to its destination as a just and humane society

b) Properly address the causes of poverty and other social problems

c) Discern and prioritize among conflicting interests with the common

` `good in mind

d) Address and manage crises

II. Mobilizer

Effectively leads the executive department.

Proactively builds alliances to achieve complex objectives.

Attracts and empowers the right people with the right skills and

` `motivations for government service.

Anticipates and diffuses roadblocks to change initiatives.

Uses appropriate and legitimate persuasion techniques to gain

` `support from decision makers.

III. Servant Leader

Serves the people with a genuinely caring heart and is a good

` `example to follow.

Sacrifices personal, family or other vested interests for the

` `common good.

Displays humility and reaches out to all sectors.

Good work ethics. Continuous learner.

IV. Captivator

Inspires unity and trust, optimism among the people.

Builds trust in the presidency and the government.

Understands ideals and aspirations of ordinary Filipino.

Conveys simple but compelling picture of the country's

` `vision and goals.

Effectively partners with media to inform and build support

` `for programs and advocacies.

Walks the talk.

v. Guardian of the National Wealth and Patrimony

Ensures that the national wealth and resources are used properly.

Strong political will.

Champions the fight against graft and corruption.

Ensures a a level playing field and promotes competence

` `and professionalism.

VI. Competence

Excellent manager and outstanding leader.

User of technology, analytical and conceptual thinker, creative,

` `articulate, knowledgeable.

Possesses outstanding track record of competence.

ATTRIBUTES (ISSUES ON CHARACTER)

I. Integrity

Outstanding character manifested in his/her personal vision

` `and mission in life, values and beliefs.

Has integrity - walks the talk.

Honest, sincere, humble, passionate, spiritual and is not corrupt.

Accountable and does not take advantage of his/her

` `position of power.

Faithfulness to God and family.

II. Conviction and Commitment

Passionately pursues the vision of a people that is truly free,

` `God-loving, patriotic, disciplined and united with a strong

` `sense of community.

Fully committed to the constitution and the democratic way of life.

Committed to resolve poverty, protect the environment and

` `improve education.

Committed to a Biblical, Christian and Godly values

` `(family, sanctity of life, marriage)

III. Compassion

Manifested sympathy and strong desire to reach out and help

` `the disadvantaged, the poor, the handicapped, the elderly

` `and the marginalized.

Able to feel the suffering and plight of the people with a firm resolve

` `to alleviate their suffering.

A person for others.

IV. Country Above Self

Puts the interest of the country ahead of personal, family and other

` `vested interests.

Exemplifies the national core values as expressed in the constitution

` `(truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and peace).

Bunch of Free-flowing Random Thoughts

CALL CENTERS are also the centers of infidelity, illicit affairs, sexual immorality, vices, unwanted pregnancies, induced abortions, sexually transmitted infections and most importantly of desecrated values and ethics.

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I can't understand why some people would prefer to wash dirty linens in public rather than do it in private.

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On condoms & RH Bill: The bottomline is:
we should let the institutions function the way they are established -- for DOH to support and maintain the nation's health and the church to educate the people with their morality & doctrines. They should not overlap for at the end of the day, when the nation's health fails, the church is inevitably not capable to find a solution.

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UNWRITTEN RULES: if these are not observed by people more often,then why can't we have these written?

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The best in thing in being a man --> you get to become better, brighter and sought after even as you grow old. Your value becomes higher.

-- = --

There are two ways by which courage can be quantified: To speak when it is appropriate to be silent and, To be silent when it is proper to speak.

-- = --

I love it when people talk about me, it only means one thing: I AM FAMOUS.

-- = --

The mere fact that more people engages in pre- and extra-marital sex means that the church itself stands as a big failure in preventing immorality to happen. They as a church failed in their mission. That's why the DOH is curtailing such failure by providing another means of prevention and that is the use of barrier contraceptives.

photo credit: http://russdondero.squarespace.com/welcome/

Compromised public interest over profiteering?!

Analyzing Annabelle Rama in relation to the Kris Aquino-Ruffa Gutierrez issue

I was shocked by the news that seemingly best of friends Queen of Multimedia Kris Aquino and beauty pageant runner-up Ruffa Gutierrez had a conflict while the program they both host was still airing. Truth be told, I was not able to watch that particular episode of The Buzz for some reasons I am not in the liberty to discuss. However, to give you an idea, I was caught in something which, if not given more than enough attention, would definitely jeopardize the future of this country.

Thanks to technology, I was able to watch the said episode of The Buzz. I was also able to watch the episode of Showbiz Central where Ruffa’s mother, Annabelle Rama, who, by the way, claims to have come from a wealthy family in Cebu, but fails to act as such, uttered unnecessary harsh words directed towards Kris and her brother, Liberal Party presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino.

Annabelle, at one instance, said that Kris might be envious of Ruffa. I asked myself, “in what aspects would Kris be envious of Ruffa?” I think there are plenty of things why Kris should be envious of Ruffa. Perhaps Kris is envious of the fact that Ruffa was born to a showbiz family, her father being an actor and her mother, a former bold star slash die-hard fan. If there is any consolation though, Kris was born to a family of nation builders. Perhaps, Kris is also envious of the fact that Ruffa had to marry for convenience while Kris had to marry out of love. Perhaps Kris is envious of the fact that Ruffa had to bring her daughters to the Philippines so that she could collect child support from her estranged husband while Kris had to do away with not minding whether Philip Salvador would give child support to Josh. I guess Annabelle knows best, Kris might be indeed envious of Ruffa.

Annabelle also said that Ruffa had been constantly bullied by Kris on a weekly basis (read: The Buzz being a weekly show). Perhaps this is true. Who would know of bullying better that the bully herself. If Kris is a bully, I wonder what Annabelle is. People know for a fact that whenever any of Annabelle’s talents are dragged into controversy, Annabelle never fails to amuse the crowd with her own brand of eloquence. No one, but Annabelle, can display such a tactless eloquence fit for someone of her character.

It also bothers me how Annabelle maintains her claim that all of these were instantaneous. In an interview, Annabelle said that she was able to properly inform ABS-CBN bosses (she named at least three) that she will be pulling out Ruffa while just few minutes after the Kris-Ruffa incident, Anabelle was already on air at the rival show, ranting about the incident.

Annabell claims to be the victim by downplaying Kris’ credibility. However, we all know that Annabelle is what she claims herself to be. People know of how Annabelle stalked her then future husband. We also know how Annabelle connived with members of an award-winning body in order for her daughter Ruffa to win an acting awards. And believe me, this is no hearsay. You can check the facts with records of a trial court. Likewise, we know how Annabelle condoned his son Richard Gutierrez when the latter caused the slaughter of his personal assistant in a car crash.

Truth be told, I am sick and tired of Annabelle and Ruffa’s holier than thou attitude. Why can’t this mother and daughter tandem accept the fact that they are doing all of these to cause stir on Ruffa’s network transfer where they raked in a lot of money? Oh, I know. Because, as the song goes, truth hurts!

Reposted: http://pinoygossipboy.ph/pgb-exclusive-analyzing-annabelle-rama-in-relation-to-the-kris-aquino-ruffa-gutierrez-issue/

DINAGYANG 2010 LIVESTREAM

AVATAR-IZED.... Watching twice on 3D wasn't enough!

Avatar is a landmark film of tremendous value for audiences and the entertainment industry. James Cameron, the producer, writer and director has done the near-impossible by creating a truly original theatrical experience through his technical and artistic mastery of the medium of film. He does not rely on Hollywood star power or adaptations of source material from books, comics or television. He creates a vision of another world in another time which is realistic, fantastic and totally immersive using advanced 3D technology of his own design. His story is classic in structure, predictable when it needs to be but carefully crafted to heighten the dramatic conflict between the industrial world's crushing demand for resources vs. the balanced natural world of mutual co-existence.

He has used technology to create characters and environments which are real, believable and surprising. Given that half the characters are computer-generated models based on real actors, the risk of being detached from their plight is a concern, which was why Cameron waited until the creation of Gollum in Lord of the Rings before committing to making Avatar. Gollum's realistic screen presence proved the viability of alien creatures, far removed from the old Godzilla days of a stunt man in a rubber suit crushing miniature buildings.

The story of Avatar hinges on the audience engaging with the plight of the Na'vi as their exotic world of Pandora becomes the target of a mining company's plan to exploit a rare ore deposit directly under their village. It is this battle between industry and nature which drives the personal story of a soldier's transformation from a human who obeys orders to a Na'vi tribesman in a symbiotic union with an entire planet.

It is, without a doubt, the movie of the year. Looking past all the hype of how much it cost, the audience pays the same ticket price as anything else tossed at us by Hollywood. For once, we've received far more than our money's worth. I believe we all have moments in the past where we treasure our first viewing of a film, our joy of discovering a turning point in storytelling on the screen. Your first viewing of Avatar will live with you for a long time, as one of those unique and memorable events of entertainment.

The Story
Avatar starts with an eye opening, literally Jake Sully's eye opening from a deep space sleep as a great long space ship arrives at Pandora, a planet rich with life and natural minerals waiting for exploitation by humanities need for more of whatever. Handicapped by a spine injury which cannot be fixed under his soldier's medical plan, Sully has joined the expedition as a replacement for his dead twin brother, who was trained to seduce the native Na'vi tribe into relocating their village through the use of an "avatar" body, built tall, slender and blue like the Na'vi but controlled by a human mind in a pod capsule with a computerized wireless link.

The story takes time to reveal the culture and complexity of the Na'vi world, with the tribe in intimate contact with nature through the tendrils of their braided hair which co-mingles with animals and plants allowing mutual understanding to pass between them. Sully joins this tribe and learns their ways through the growing relationship with a Na'vi babe named Neytiri who is (of course) the Na'vi Chief's daughter. Together, they learn to ride lizard birds and fall through forests and eventually bond as man and wife, or surrogate being and wife to be more accurate.

At the same time, we also learn about the great mining corporation who needs a boost to their next earnings statement by exploiting the rich ore deposit and thus, are rushing to start open pit mining where the Na'vi hometree sits. This tree is enormous and spiritually bonded with the tribe so you know, we have an explosive conflict building between the immovable object and the irresistible forces commanded by a tough badass nature-is-inmy-way Colonel Quaritch. He's got the claw scars on his face to prove just how dangerous an opponent the Pandora wildlife can be. He also has a crew-cut, eliminating any chance for a hair-to-hair bond between him and the beasts of Pandora.

Once the plot moves to conflict, the story becomes a visual explosion of technology vs. nature with victories by both sides and tough choices for our main characters. Who's side are they on? We humans are the bad guys in this tale so we end up rooting for the blue tribe against the white tribe (nary a character of color on the staff of the mining company). While in Titanic, there were historical facts to follow, Cameron was free to sink or save the mother ship in Avatar and he chooses the ecologically sound solution to this conflict. By the end, we have come full circle, with a sampling of the same kind of Lion King music, as the tribe gathers to heal their wounds. Like the start of the movie, we end with an eye-opener, Sully again. Eyes wide open. Perhaps Cameron hopes his movie with open more eyes to the plight of industry vs. nature. Regardless, it is all about our eyes, taking in this exceptional movie like no other we've ever seen.

The Genre
The sci-fi genre has always been a world of wonder and imagination. We enjoy traveling to exotic worlds and unknown galaxies, populated with aliens of all sizes and colors. It is our own world reflected through the imagination of others and when done well, it is a glorious leap through hyper-space which audiences reward handsomely.

Sci-fi knows no boundaries and solves all problems with a new technology or magic or whatever the filmmakers imagine is needed to allow humans to travel, breathe and understand the great unknown. If you ask too much, audiences bail from the story in disbelief. If you offer too little, you bore people.

Avatar wins the credibility battle with audiences by creating a believable yet exotic world (yes, they have trees on Pandora just like on earth!), aliens with pretty faces (so we can overlook the blue tones because they are slim and move with a feline grace) and instantly recognizable bad guys (corporate weasels and their hired guns - hey they're not bad guys, just trying to do their jobs!)

Sci-fi fans also love technology, so the 3D presentation, the motion-capture simulation of the actors and the vivid re-imagining of the undersea world of earth as the forest of Pandora are all lures to catch the avid fans of this genre. There is also a love story, another Cameron trademark, for those who have to attend because their spouse insisted. The PG-13 rating means this film will do great business, which it deserves. The bar is now set higher again, which will thrill all sci-fi fans for the future of film.

The Overall Quality
Avatar's quality features are all on the screen for everyone to see. The acting, imagery and 3D effects all merge together into a realistic and credible experience of an alternative reality. I found I forgot about the 3D and the CGI models and all the other movie magic behind the scenes. Avatar is truly immersive for audiences. You are there, in the trees, flying over the forest, facing the gunships with your puny bows and arrows and bonding tendril to tendril with the beasts. Pandora is real, as are the characters and their conflicts.

The actors loses none of the nuances and impacts of their performances by shifting from human to avatar. You still believe Sully is still Sully even though he is tall and blue instead of crippled and white; he is still the same character, played by Sam Worthington. Zoe Saldana plays Neytiri and, unless you've seen her in Star Trek as Uhura, you might not connect her features with this blue babe with the bow and arrow, but she is recognizable as a real person, not some fake pixilated approximation. On the human side, Stephen Lang is memorable as Colonel Quaritch, getting the job done as efficiently as possible. Only Sigourney Weaver fails to connect as the cigarette-smoking head of the avatar program, looking really lame in blue.

If you've seen other 3D movies this year, you know filmmakers are tempted to toss projectiles and swords and any other crap they can at you, but Cameron resists this cheesy effect to let the depth of scene enhance the story instead of intrude through the "fourth wall". The 3D forest world is rich and vivid, with Cameron's inspiration from the depths of the ocean on display with phosphorescent plants, floating jellyfish seedlings and retracting plants. He also creates hellish hounds, emerging from the darkness in all their glistening glory as they pack-hunt Sully in his first night alone in the forest.

If there is any doubt about how innovative this movie is, stick around for the credits to see the army of people who contributed to it's creation. If you've ever wanted to get into movies, just copy down some of these job titles and get started on a new resume. These are the new faces of Hollywood magic, these visual effects wizards of our cinematic future. Perhaps a move to New Zealand is in your future, to jump-start your new career. The final measure of quality is the word of mouth: would you encourage others to see this movie? Would you go back and see it again? Yes, enthusiastically, to both questions.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24327768/Avatar-Movie-Review

CHRISTMAS STATION ID 2009: WHO FARED BETTER?

It's that time of the year again when the big networks ABS-CBN and GMA-7 partake of holiday cheer and reinforce the values of family and togetherness by unveiling their Christmas station plugs. The scale and production values of the holiday IDs have risen in direct proportion to the escalation of the network wars, becoming mini-movies in their own right.

The handles of the plugs themselves say nothing new on the surface-ABS-CBN's tagline is "Bro, Ikaw ang Star ng Pasko" while GMA's is "Sama-Sama Tayong Mag-PasaLove Ngayong Pasko." But this year presents a bigger challenge than years past: Coming from a particularly devastating typhoon season and a gloomy global economic outlook, the Christmas spirit has never seemed so far away for the Filipino audience...and never more needed.

This is perhaps the reason why both network holiday plugs have deliberately shy away from portraying lavish Christmas feasts or profligate gift giving, and instead focus more on acts of charity. In the GMA-7 plug, for instance, a family residing in a gated village come home--supposedly from a late party--and stop momentarily at the guard house so that the little boy in the backseat can drop off a present for the late-shift security guard. What's equally notable about the vignette is that nowhere in the production design do you see the car laden with presents.

The GMA-7 plug makes the admirable choice of not deploying their celebrities, instead highlighting the plight of ordinary Filipinos as they struggle to keep the Christmas spirit alive. There is nothing wrong with this creative choice per se...but it would have worked better if the plug itself had said something new, insightful, or impactful. There are vignettes showing a farmer worrying about his crop and getting a morale boost from a fellow tiller of the soil; an elderly woman getting a visit from loved ones; a pair of girlfriends walking home from a shopping trip who encounter a homeless mother and child curled up in a kariton. We've seen these vignettes--and their implied message of philanthropy and love--before. Are platitudes all GMA can offer us in these trying times?

The kariton vignette, in particular, feels tonally wrong. Yes, every little act of kindness goes a long way. Yes, it is wise to never portray the giving of money to beggars or panhandlers. But there is something vaguely Paris Hilton-esque about going on a shopping expedition with your BFF, then giving away a cardigan to the shivering child sleeping in the garbage cart. Like the rest of the plug and its generically clever message-Sama-Sama Tayong Mag-PasaLove Ngayong Pasko"--the act of charity seems to fall short; somehow it is not enough.

The ABS-CBN plug fares much better. While cynical viewers may hate themselves for getting taken in by the presence of a gazillion celebrities in choir formation a la "We Are the World," the formula undoubtedly works. But there are other formidable tricks up this mini-movie, as well. While the GMA-7 plug preferred to stay in well-trod territory by offering up a generic message of love and compassion, the ABS-CBN station ID zeroes in on something specific: the struggle to overcome the recent ravages of Ondoy and Pepeng. Interspersed with the images of Piolo Pascual and KC Concepcion singing and the subtle selling of the John Lloyd Cruz-Angel Locsin tandem as they get set for their new teleserye, we see workers tying up relief goods, a little boy picking up a parol and saluting army men as they go off on a relief mission, a community cleaning up a mud-strewn chapel. Powerful images, indeed.

Equally powerful is the jingle, co-written by advertising industry stalwart Robert Labayen. After one viewing, I immediately latched on to its chorus: "Salamat sa liwanag mo/Muling magkakakulay ang Pasko/Ang nagsindi nitong ilaw/Walang iba kundi ikaw/Dahil ikaw, bro/Ang star ng Pasko."Granted, there's something theologically unsound about the message (after all, isn't Jesus Christ the reason for the season?), and yes, station plugs are unabashed exercises in audience manipulation. But for the space of four minutes, it's touching to see celebrities pay tribute to the tireless relief worker, or the priest who is the moral center of his ravaged community. With this instantly catchy plug, ABS-CBN seems to be telling its audience that love isn't just needed this holiday season--it's something positively heroic.

http://www.pep.ph/ by Andrew Paredes

PICS

LAKBAYAW FESTIVAL COPIES ENTIRE DINAGYANG DANCE ROUTINE / CHOREOGRAPHY FOR TWO STRAIGHT YEARS

To the Dinagyang fans' awe: I was flaming with anger and disbelief of what i saw, a contigent from Tondo, Manila is performing a cheap copy of Tribu Paghidaet's routine performed last year (2008) in Aliwan. Worse, this copycat group claims to come from a legitimate festival. Wow, imitation they say is the highest form of flattery, but copying the whole routine which is the brain child, the intellectual property of Tribu Paghidaet's choreographer is not a simple imitation, it's a theft... an art theft. This is so far the grandest art

theft I saw being showcased in the grandest festival of the Philippines.

LAKBAYAW FESTIVAL'S ROUTINE IS SO FAR THE CHEAPEST AND THE WORST FORM OF ART I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE.

THE ORIGINAL: TRIBU PAGHIDAET OF DINAGYANG FESTIVAL FROM ILOILO PERFORMING IN ALIWAN 2008
>">


THE "ART THIEVES": TRIBU MODELIAN OF LAKBAYAW FESTIVAL FROM TONDO PERFORMING IN ALIWAN 2009

Added post: January 20, 2010, to highlight yet another act of theft!

I again would like to emphasize and point out that Tribu Modelian of Lakbayaw Festival from Tondo has committed the same theft again. The entire dance routine / choreography of Tribu Paghidaet of Dinagyang Festival which was performed in Aliwan Fiesta 2009 last year was copied / imitated and falsely-owned by Tribu Modelian. In fact, that same performace of Tribu Paghidaet in Aliwan last year was performed by Tribu Modelian, in its entirity, in the recently concluded Lakbayaw Festival 2010 in Tondo, Manila.

THE ORIGINAL PERFORMANCE BY TRIBU PAGHIDAET (DINAGYANG) IN ALIWAN FIESTA (APRIL 2009)

THE COPIED / STOLEN DANCE ROUTINE / CHOREOGRAPHY OF TRIBU MODELIAN OF LAKBAYAW FESTIVAL SHOWCASED IN THE RECENTLY CONCLUDED LAKBAYAW FESTIVAL 2010 IN TONDO, MANILA


I therefore urge you to sign the petition I made, calling the attention of the authorities in the preservation of arts & culture to sanction or penalize Tribu Modelian and Lakbayaw Festival: Tribu Modelian for blatantly copying a brainchild of Paghidaet's choreographer and for Lakbayaw Festival for allowing such act to go on in their festival.

click on this -->
LAKBAYAW FESTIVAL SHOULD BE SANCTIONED FOR BLATANTLY COPYING DINAGYANG - 2ND PETITION - thepetitionsite.com

photo credit: www.ilonggos.net

My hunch was right! Takipsilim is a hoax!

My hunch was right! Twilight Filipino version does not exist. Tssk tssk! I just cannot understand how some people can waste so much of their time and effort to create an imaginative work just to discredit one party, in this case ABS-CBN. I also cannot bear the idea why some Twilight fans would overreact to an unverified information. I hope next time these fanatics will learn. Haay, Twilight is such a lousy novel and movie for all this trouble! I bet Miss Meyer is very jubilant about all these publicity.

The succeeding lines were lifted from Inquirer.net in an article by Gerry Plaza posted last December 30, 2008 and included ABS-CBN's denial that they will produce a Twilight Filipino version entitled Takipsilim.

MANILA, Philippines—ABS-CBN has no plans of producing a Philippine adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s best-selling book “Twilight,” which has recently became an international hit movie, a network statement said.

The network denied a recent report published on the Hollywood gossip blogsite PerezHilton.com that the Kapamilya network was already preparing production for the local version.

“There is no truth to the web reports, particularly in the Perez Hilton blogsite that ABS-CBN is doing a local adaptation of ‘Twilight,” Bong Osorio, ABS-CBN Corporate Communications chief said in a text message to the Inquirer. “ABS-CBN will be the first one to announce if it is, in fact, doing so.”

PerezHilton.com splashed an alleged poster of the alleged Filipino adaptation, titled “Takipsilim,” which it said will star Rayver Cruz and Shaina Magdayao and directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina. The blogsite said filming for “Takipsilim” will start in February 2009.

Visitors to the site had expressed outrage over the supposed plans.

TAKIPSILIM: Twilight Filipino Version

I have been surfing the internet this past few days since it was Christmas vacation and it has already become my way of reconnecting to the real world since I barely had the time to watch TV or surf the internet when I am having classes in med school. December 26, in one of my millions of site surfing activities, I bumped into PerezHilton.com and was surprised to see a post in that blog stating that ABS-CBN, a Filipino broadcasting network, will be doing a Filipino version of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.

PerezHilton.com blogsite that published the supposed to be plan of ABS-CBN to do a
remake of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.

Surprised and at the same time amazed about what I saw in PerezHilton.com, I searched for more articles or websites using the tag "Takipsilim", the rumored title of the Filipino remake. I found out that other entertainment sites like Yehey, Mukamo, Zimbio and Blogpipiatbingi among others also had the same posting about the Filipino version of Twilight. The articles in the said websites indicated that ABS-CBN has acquired the rights for US$1 Million to do a remake of Twilight and has even included a list of Kapamilya stars as the cast. The said websites also stated that Ignite Media will be the co-producer and even contained details like the names of the lead stars; Rayver Cruz as Edward Cullen and Shaina Magdayao as Bella Swan. They also included the name of the would-be director (Cathy Garcia-Molina), start of shoot dates and even the would-be locations. I was stunned in disbelief with my newfound information. I started doing some sleuthing to confirm my doubt regarding the ramake, that this story is not true. I went back to PerezHilton.com website to scrutinize the Takipsilim poster, saved it and looked for the original Twilight poster, saved it then compared the two.

the original commercial poster of twilight with MTV logo at the bottom as the producer of the poster

Takipsilim top-bills Rayver Cruz as Edward Cullen and Shaina Magdayao as Bella Swan;

Circulating copies of Twilight posters include the theatrical version with all the cinema credits at the bottom and a commercial version solely for the purpose of advertising, which I posted here, has no theatrical credits and instead indicated the participation of MTV in the production of the poster. This simpler version of the poster was, for me, the source of the "photo shopped" Takipsilim" poster. Comparing the two posters, you would easily find that Rob and Bella's coat, Bella's hair and position of hands and fingers are exactly the same in Twilight and Takipsilim posters. The only difference I saw are the title change, addition of a few lines and an ABS-CBN logo. The Takipsilim poster was obviously made to look faded and older in effects to hide the changes: that Takipsilim's poster is no different than Twilight and it is a product of photo shop technology.

I admit that upon seeing the Perez Hilton post regarding Takipsilim, I believed it at first especially after a news article of the remake from the ABS-CBN News website. But it was not long when I started to doubt basing on the obvious facts and inconsistensies especially when the same news article about Takipsilim cannot found in ABS-CBN's website anymore. With the following developments at stake, I started to entertain the idea that the ABS-CBN News website was either hacked by an intruder with an intention to taint ABS-CBN's name or an employee of ABS-CBN itself was responsible for such a demeaning and erroneous press release.

My hunch is that Takipsilim is a hoax and that the idea and the conceptualization of it came from the wild imagination of a desperate Filipino "genius". It became more eminent after I saw that the post about Takipsilim was made last December 23 and they were actually posted a few hours earlier in ABS-CBN News website and other Filipino blogs like Yehey than it appeared in PerezHilton.com which is mostly Hollywood based and American in nature.

Taking into consideration all viable information, I believe that Takipsilim is a hoax and a product of a lucid imagination of a person who would only like to discredit ABS-CBN. The following substantiates my claim:

1) Acquiring the exclusive rights to do a remake of a movie does not give the acquiring party the right to use original or existing materials and merchandise that were already used in the original version.

2) The selling of rights for a movie remake does not happen especially if the movie has sequels more so if they are not yet shown or produced.

3) An author (e.g. Lord of the Rings' JRR Tolkien and Harry Potter's JK Rowling) does not sell exclusive rights to different media outfits, what more for a remake. Exclusivity ensures quality and consistency in movie production results.

4) A media outfit, more so a local network, will not spend US$ 1 Million for an exclusive right to do only one movie remake. That is very expensive.

5) Takipsilim's poster is a photo-shopped version of Twilight. Examine both pictures and see the similarities.

6) ABS-CBN News website has already removed the article regarding Takipsilim's existence. That act clearly states that the company disowns the article. An erratum is usually made when there was an error in previous news articles made and the original is usually not removed from the archives ans instead retained for reference purposes.

7) In my view, the culprit hacked and penetrated ABS-CBN's website and posted the news article there to make his concept believable and convincing taking into account that ABS-CBN itself announced Takipsilim's existence.

8) The mere fact that the "news" about Takipsilim came out in Filipino websites first (hours earlier) before it appeared in foreign websites like PerezHilton.com, implies that the author of the scam is a Filipino with clear intentions to discredit ABS-CBN.

9) One line in the Takipsilim poster blew my mind off: Madilim 'pag Takipsilim; Ang galing ng Pinoy --> what on earth is this? Some corny joke?

With all these bruhaha, I firmly stand by my claim that ABS-CBN's stake to film a Twilight remake in the form of Takipsilim is a hoax, a fake news that is mainly geared towards discrediting ABS-CBN. Therefore, Twilight fans should stop making a big fuzz out of this controversy. Twilight, in the first place, is a simple novel that failed to incorporate exchanging conflicts in the content and obviously has no climactic plot. The story is simple, dragging and boring. The movie was as lousy as the book itself.

A snapshot of a search result showing Takipsilim news articles appearing in ABS-CBN News official website

A snapshot showing that the Takipsilim article is no longer accessiblein ABS-CBN News website after clicking the search result

Yehey website posted the article 9:31 AM of December 23, several hours earlier than a post in Perez Hilton at 10:45 AM

*Unfortunately, I cannot post a snap-shot of the date and time the article was posted in ABS-CBN News website as an evidence since the article was already removed by ABS-CBN from its archives. Nevertheless, for the sake of revealing the information, I can clearly remember that it was posted December 23, 2008, 8:25 AM.