What I’ll miss the most about President Bush…

…are his bush-isms. :p It was sooo funny to see the President of the United States massacre the American language, hehe. 

Below is a short article which sums up some of them:

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 ACOB WEISBERG, the editor in chief of the Slate Group and the author of “The Bush Tragedy”

I was listening to George W. Bush speak at a rally in New Hampshire, in January 2000, when he came up with what remains my favorite of his miscues: “I know how hard it is to put food on your family.” This could be an amusing few months, I remember thinking.

The only slow period for Bushisms was right after Sept. 11, when the president’s inadequacies no longer seemed very funny. Then Bush declared that normality was returning: “I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport.“

The president’s critics see such flubs as proof of his idiocy. His defenders believe that calling attention to them is hostile. But the president’s verbal stumbles have only made me like him better. It’s hard to despise someone who just wants “to make the pie higher” or who says he won’t answer your question, “Neither in French nor in English. Nor in Mexican.”

Maybe the greatest expression of his befuddlement was something he said when asked to respond to an article by the writer Gail Sheehy claiming he was an undiagnosed dyslexic. “The woman who knew that I had dyslexia - I never interviewed her,” he sputtered.

Bush’s battle with English has enriched our political language. It is no longer possible to say a person or a factor has been underestimated. Thanks to him, that word is now misunderestimated. In trade negotiations, tariffs and barriers have become bariffs and terriers (Estelle’s comment: my favorite!!). Kosovo is the land of the Kosovians, Greece the ancient homeland of the Grecians, a Reagan-loving people with no gray hair.

There is no strategy, only “strategery,” a term coined by the comedian Will Ferrell and adopted inside the administration.

Most politicians don’t care about language and abuse it through euphemism, vagueness and cliche. Bush is not so indifferent. When words won’t do what he wants, he tries to wrestle them into submission. (I love this line! I think it captures exactly what Bush was trying to do whenever he “sputters”) His memorable coinages - Hispanically, arbo-treeist - express the frustration we all feel at those moments when language won’t go our way. In the face of defeat, Bush remains unbowed by grammar. You’ve got to admire that, kind of. 

I just had to share…

I discovered this amazing site that allows you to sample music from a plethora of interesting and slightly obscure bands and then you can download them for free!

The site is daytrotter.com and seemingly, they feature a new band daily.

One of my favorite finds? Clare and the Reasons. Her voice has an ethereal quality to it, and it helps that she’s able to inject a sense of humor through her lyrics! Search for her on daytrotter.com or check out their video for “Pluto” below:

Also from the site, a quote lifted from the band Joseph Arthur and The Lonely Astronauts:

“Songs are people

They talk like peopleThey eat like peopleThey dance like people
They dress like people

They live and they die like people”

And I don’t know if I get exactly what he means (like, how can songs eat, exactly?)… but it was too quirky not to post! 

Sigh. I miss being in a band…

Crisis Averted!

Today, trouble was brewing in the debate world. Thanks to me and my brilliant and hardworking colleagues, the crisis was averted so much so that you guys won’t even know what the crisis was! Hahaha.

And so, life continues and my passion for debate does not show any signs of waning. In fact, I was mulling over what my equivalent of Tomas’ “es muss sein” was, and for now–it’s debate. Eerily geeky, but true.

Facebook vs. Friendster

People keep on saying that Friendster pales in comparison to Facebook, but I beg to differ. Friendster may have suffered from a recent “jologs” invasion, but Facebook can be tacky too, what with all the “which toon are you?” requests and hotornot invitations. Throw in superwall and superpoke and I find myself as annoyed as I am with all the bling and excess plaguing friendster profiles today.

Of course, Facebook has some redeeming factors. I particularly enjoy its minimalist design (and the fact that they don’t allow you to change your background to bright pink or anime) and the ability to tag photos. What I do hate is the lack of privacy–people commenting on your private photos just because they can. People tagging photos of you even though they’re not particularly flattering. Annoying people bugging you with instant messages (messages from non-annoying people are more than welcome), although maybe it’s my fault for adding people-I-find-annoying as my friends… lol.

But the advantages of Facebook pale in comparison to Friendster’s testimonials. And while good testimonials are hard to find nowadays, their value still exceeds that of all wall posts I’ll ever receive in Facebook. 

Take, for example, unexpected, heartwarming testimonials from friends, or kind words of gratitude from people I’ve given seminars to (be it for debate or for Whisper’s Pagdadalaga Sessions, lol). People whom I’ll rarely (if ever) get to see again, but whose lives I touched, even for just that day/weekend. And I would never have known, if not for Friendster and its “jolog-ness”. 

Then, there are the surveys! Perfect for killing time and for conversation-starters with long-lost friends. Some of you may not be big fans, but I am! I’m not a big fan of the chain letters that usually precede them, though… hehehe.

So there–I guess I just miss the good old days of Friendster. It’s no good now that almost everyone I know is migrating to Facebook and Multiply, but no matter what anyone says or does, Friendster will always hold a special place in my heart (naks).

Jologs na kung jologs, FrIeNDsT3R prin!! LolzZz \m/ By the way, if you read this far, pahingi ng testi (hehehe) :p

Rocking with Calliope

Thank you for choosing Calliope to make your mark on the world wide web. You’ve made an awesome choice. because Calliope doesn’t just give you a blog, It gives you:

Unmatched privacy and security
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A whole new level of customizability
Calliope allows you to edit all aspects of your blog on the fly, quickly and easily.

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Our profile page brings together the essential content you have put out on the web, be it your social networks, your online photos and videos even your social bookmarks and anything else you consider significant. Your new profile page doesn’t just say who you are in the Calliope network, it’s a roadmap to who you are on the internet.

A powerful photo gallery
Calliope’s powerful photo gallery allows you to showcase your best photos to the world; the photo gallery also allows for easy organization of your digital memories and comes with advanced privacy and security options so you can control who sees which of your pictures.

Integrated Audio player
Calliope comes integrated with an audio player that allows you to upload your favorite songs and podcasts and organize them with ease. Stream your audio files from Winamp and iTunes; you can even set privileges so that you control who gets to stream or download your audio.

Your very own domain. (example: username.i.ph)

Mail forwarding
All email messages sent to yourusername@i.ph are automatically forwarded to the email address you used to register, giving you a unique, conveniently short email address.

Calliope was not designed with an aim to outdo all the existing blog platforms out there, but by thinking of ways to enrich YOUR online experience, that’s exactly what we ended up with. If we strip everything down, the internet is all about people. Lots and lots and lots of people. We understand that it’s easy to get lost in the pack. We want you to stand out. This is why Calliope is all about you. Enjoy!