A Day in the Life of Gloria Arrovo (2005)

Four years ago, the MTRCB squelched the living daylights of A Day in the Life of Gloria Arrovo—a political satire shot in animation. That, of course, didn't prevent good Samaritans from loading brisk 50-second clips in youTube. Although blunt and far from perfect, filmmaker RJ Mabilin's animation shorts are irresistibly charming and likable—a far cry from the woman with black, leathery wings flying in the horizon.

View the videos here and here.

The Man from Manila

Back in high school, our class was told to do something which required synchronized choreography a la Paula Abdul in "Promise of a New Day."

We decided to do Francis M.'s "Mga Kababayan."

During rehearsals, we let the girls from the Women's Basketball League run the show. They had a field day, testing our dancing chops by making us do the "running man." Those of us who had no qualms shaking their bon-bons were told to stand at the very front; those of us who can't be bothered with the "running man" were told to stand at the very back (me included).

One of the girls had a Sony double deck cassette player—a black, clunky piece of machinery that elicited "oooohs" and "ahhhs" from us hickies. When she played her Francis M. cassette tape, a wave of patriotic pride swept among us, sending an electric jolt straight through our convoluted hearts.

Francis M. unified our disgruntled class, making us realize how cool local music was. We promptly ditched our Wilson Phillips, New Kids on the Block, and Bon Jovi cassette tapes.

For one whole week, we were bona fide Francis M. fans.

American Idol: Semi-Finals, Week 2 (2009)

Adam gets no satisfaction from Simon

Adam Lambert has mad vocal skills. During performance night, he ended "Satisfaction" with a high pitched sonic wail that left judge Kara DioGuardi bamboozled.

Simon Cowell, on the other hand, was not wholly pleased. "There were parts that were excruciatingly bad and parts that were brilliant. This is going to be one of those love it or hate it performances."

"Love it!" shouted someone from the crowd. And so did everyone—except, of course, Simon.