Forgive me, I've been out of the loop lately

You'll have to blame Harry Potter Audiobooks, season 2 of Chuck and lately Wheel of Time books for that. Anyhow, I'm done with all Harry Potter audiobook from 6 to 1, and I'm saving 7 for when I get really bored. It sure was fun "reading" it backwards. And now I've just been re-reading Book 9 of WOT in preparation for Book 10 which a friend just lent me. Between that and Chuck I sure tend to miss a lot.

I never miss birthdays though. Not since I saw this.

I must've been singing Happy Birthday 30x a day now.

So if you think I forgot to greet you on your birthday (read this JC and Les), think again. I might've even sang you the birthday song... maybe even 15x each.

Yellow

It was Ateneo vs. La Salle today at UAAP Men's Basketball, and I happened to be at The Gateway Mall (as I often am for one reason or another). I'm used to seeing throngs of greens and blues fill the area around Araneta Coliseum, the escalators inside Gateway and the LRT whenever I chanced upon a matchup like I did today. Except today, there was little blue or green, and more yellow?

Hold on... blue plus green ain't yellow is it?

The official explanation is Cory's passing of course--a gesture of unity if you will except I have a sneaking suspicion that this is all part of UST's grandplan of getting people to support them (or at least make a gesture of it albeit through misrepresentation) without winning a single decent game (we all know beating NU and UP does not count). It's a scam I tell ya!

Would you like a hug from me?

Have you ever heard of Juan Mann? Well he's this guy who for seemingly lost it all in London and had to go back to his hometown Sidney dejected with no one to welcome him home. He recounts how he saw others being welcomed with smiles and hugs and he had no one. And this was how he embarked on this great idea. He got a huge cardboard and wrote in bold letters "FREE HUGS".

Yep, that's Juan Mann with his now iconic cardboard sign.

I've been thinking about this concept since I first heard of it a couple of weeks ago. (I think I've heard of it before but only really got the story then.) I find it funny (or strange depending on how you choose to look at it) how in a city where you can hardly find a place to be alone, one can still go for days on end feeling lonely. I've always thought that hugs are great. I love them! They make you feel good and accepted, and hopefully makes the recipient feel the same way. Unfortunately, its not easy getting hugs. I feel that in our society, unless your a kid or in a relationship, you don't really get that much hug. I reckon I average maybe 5 or so per year.

So I thought, why not try this out? I don't know how many have tried this, or if we're ready for it as a society, but it sure would be cool to at least see if I can make it work. Imagine making people smile by giving something that's absolutely free! Please, let me know what you think, I'd really appreciate any feedback I can get.

Let me leave you with the youtube clip that virally transmitted his campaign all over the world.

Harry Potter audiobook: Better than the movie?

After being disappointed by the movie, I thought I'd give the book a quick a do-over. An intern suggested something better, he told me to listen to the audiobook series . He says its a better experience.

And I quite agree. It is better in terms of content because it is the whole book after all., but what's more, you get the feel for the story, the pacing, each character's emotion while retaining the magic of it all. Now if you're never tried audiobooks, it could get disconcerting at first, hard to keep your attention on it. I for one can't get the hang of audio books in the past, I keep having to rewind because I can't keep track of it, but not this one.

Jim Dale, the reader of this book, is so good that you will not only enjoy listening, you actually get a feel for the whole thing! He has voices for each character (that he doesn't get mixed up) and are quite good fits too. In fact he acts a lot of the characters better than the actors in the movie itself! You will have to use your imagination a bit though, but JK Rowling is pretty good in describing her scenes that its not so hard. And you get the benefits of the better written dialogues in the book too.

The only drawback is the length of the book. It takes 18 hours to finish The Half-blood Prince alone. Not that you wont enjoy every minute of it. I certainly did. Just a matter of finding something to do with it that doesn't require much thought, like exercising for one. Might even help you get fitter.