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.

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There was a flap recently about the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), which runs the state lottery, raising the price of a six-combination lotto ticket from P10.00 to P20.00. All of the arguments against the 100% price increase, and against the lotto in general, are valid.

The lotto is an additional, and insidious, burden against the poor, who make up the vast majority of lotto players. It’s a major source of funds which the Arroyo administration allegedly routinely dips into for questionable purposes. No proper, transparent audit is done of lotto funds. The opposition suspects that the administration is now building its war chest for the 2010 presidential elections through lotto revenues. It’s a form of gambling which sustains institutionalized corruption .

The Catholic Church and various civil society groups have railed and rallied against it, rightfully calling it a morally corruptive influence which reinforces the Filipino penchant for
gambling and the “get-rich-quick, jackpot” mentality.

The government lottery people say they are selling hope. But hope not anchored on some form of spiritual belief or moral values which would transcend simple materialism is an illusion. Lucio Tan got it right when he branded his best-selling cigarette “Hope”. The perfect metaphor for the lotto: hope going up in (cancerous) smoke. Read the rest of this entry »

Its often been said about Steve Jobs that you either love him or hate him, nothing in between. Well, I don’t loathe him exactly, and you have to give him credit for being, in a much overused phrase, a “genius visionary”. So while I’m not an Apple worshipper like good friend Butch Dalisay, and many others I know, who presumably had a “nerdgasm” when Jobs unfolded his latest baby, the ultralight MacBook Air, neither do I see him as the anti-Christ. Read the rest of this entry »