An icon along the lines of James Dean, I mean. The association is inevitable, and already Heath Ledger is being raised to the pantheon of celebrities who tragically die young and full of apparent promise, and whose iconic image is forever frozen in time. More than a half century after his death, James Dean is still one of the most recognized 20th century images of youthful rebellion “without a cause”, a concept from a more innocent age.

In many ways, the comparison is unfair to Mr. Ledger. I have the impression that he was more sensitive, intelligent and artistically courageous than Dean, although they both played brooding young men. Ledger seemed to have a wider range than Dean’s pouty, cigarette-dangling-from-the-lip juvenile delinquents, which has since become a cliché.

I only saw one of Ledger’s movies in full, the breakthrough film “Brokeback Mountain”. I caught snatches of the breezy “A Knight’s Tale”, the formulaic “The Patriot” and “Casanova” (I think he did “Casanova” to dispel any gay vibes that might cling to him after “Brokeback”) on cable, and “Monsters’ Ball” was not really his movie but Halle Berry’s. Read the rest of this entry »

Senator Edward Kennedy, abandoning old friend and ally Bill Clinton and wife Hillary , is set to endorse Barack Obama’s presidential bid. The recognized patriarch of America’s most prominent political family has signified his intention to campaign actively for Obama in what is seen by some as a major setback to the Clinton campaign.

But honestly, apart from his home state of Massachusetts, how much does an endorsement from Ted Kennedy still count ? To be sure, the illustrious Kennedy name still carries a lot of clout in Democratic circles. And Ted Kennedy has been a major figure in party politics for over four decades. But the Man-Who-Would-Never-Be-President, in his twilight years, has lost a lot of his charisma. He waffled on whether to remain neutral in the Democratic race, and it was only after his niece and JFK daughter, Caroline Kennedy, made a public pitch for Obama that he got on the bandwagon. Read the rest of this entry »

The University of the Philippines (U.P.) centennial celebration has brought to the fore the problems plaguing the country’s premier institution of higher learning. Even the centennial theme, “U.P., Ang Galing Mo!”, has drawn the ire of various sectors, among them U.P.’s own outspoken alumni. Where does U.P. get the gall to call itself great, or even good, when it ranks a mere number 398 in the the THES-QS World University Rankings ? Other schools from poorer countries have bested U.P. , which used to be one of the best in Asia. To rank at the bottom of the top 400 is, in the context of global competitiveness, simply abysmal.

Read the rest of this entry »