White hair chronicles XXXIV - A gleek not too glad with Glee

I like Glee. Not just its music but also its effort to foster tolerance of gays, minorities, unwed moms, and (musical)  geeks. Filipinos have added reason to like it with the entry of Charice.

I am surprised that not a whimper has been raised by some sectors on the oversexed themes of late. I thought the show got away with it last season. Now it pushes the envelope further.

I am no prude and I have no problem with the mature theme - if the show is about adults or at least college life. There is a wealth of comic material in oversexed characters. I love the adult characters and situation in The Big Bang Theory and How I met Your Mother. But Glee is about high school although the actors are definitely beyond their college years. Our high school students are 12-16 years old. Are we saying that the Glee culture is acceptable behavior for our high school kids?

Ok na sana, may miss lang! (It would have been okay, but for Mai Mislang)

Many welcome PNoy's push for the use of social networking sites in governance. After all, Filipinos are early adopters. But I'm sure nobody foresaw the diplomatic faux pas that can ensue from over confident government underlings.

Definitely, Mai Mislang was out of bounds when she tweeted her displeasure about the wine served at the state dinner. Her tweet about the crossing Vietnam's streets as the surest way to day can be forgiven for it could have reflected more on her non-ability to properly cross a street. Her tweet about 'walang pogi dito' was in Tagalog. It might not immediately offend the Vietnamese as they can counter - maganda ka ba? - 'Bạn nghĩ bạn là đẹp? '

I doubt that the Vietnamese would have noticed her tweets if not Filipinos had pointed them out first. Who among the Vietnamese follow her anyway? But trust some Filipinos' ability to find ways to denigrate a countryman. Much more so if she works for PNoy.

Mai Mislang has since deleted the offensive tweets. She has even deleted her account. Even her Facebook account is deactivated, at the least. She has apologized. She has learned her lesson the hard way. Her immediate boss, Ricky Carandang, has swept the matter under the rug. Vietnam didn't mind the tweets at all.

It is the social networking people who are quick to pounce on PNoy and his team. Not long after Mai's apology, a bogus Facebook account surfaced. If this gathers critical mass, Mai will be back to singing the blues in no time.

White hair chronicles XXXIII: Back from bangus country

I just came back from a four-day travel to the bangus capital. Early on in the trip, I was excited to partake bangus concoctions that Dagupan City has to offer. Our group's eating communally allowed me to sample bangus done tocho, salipicado, sisig, kilawin, steak, and of course the trusty daing. By the second night I had bangus up to my ears. I am starting to grow a bangus belly.

Our dining group have senior citizen-card bearing members. But even if all the senior citizen cards have been presented, the waiters invariably ask if all  cards have been given, apparently asking for mine.

The white hair also commands preferential treatment. On the way back to Manila, we stopped by Calasiao to buy their famed puto. Our motley group of a dozen or so buyers swarmed a stall among the so many lined up along the block. I was at the back of the throng that rattled the sales girl. I asked how many pieces were in a kilo of puto, yes they are sold by weight. Being at the back, I expected to be attended to much later. I wandered down the block to survey what other fares were sold. But in no time at all, those in front of the line were calling me to go back. Apparently, the rattled sales girl had prepared a kilo of puto and kuntsinta for me. She said it was the order of the matanda or old man.

Is Manny losing focus?

While on official travel to Dagupan City (where Lenox Hotel is the place to stay-their rooms are really spacious), I read this morning that everyone's alarmed over Manny Pacquaio's shape into weeks before his fight against 'Chea-tony' Margarito.

Well, everybody from his promoter to his chief trainer and the press. But of course, not Manny himself and his throng of sycophants. At 31, Manny has reached his peak. Is he now on the inevitable decline? He was unable to dispose off Clottey early in his last fight while sustaining welts himself. Is he just losing focus because of his numerous commitments? Anybody else would focus on a $15million job, with prospects of twice more if the Gayweather fight happens.

When Manny said while deep in training that he misses Congress, it's an indication that his mind is starting to wander off. Maybe he just misses his wife, who looks even better now after a procedure under Belo. Whatever it is, Manny should train his mind and body towards this fight. Congress and Jinky can wait.

White hair chronicles XXXII - the latest in fashion, the pekpek shorts

My generation has been around long enough to have witnessed the rise in hemlines to the plunge of the necklines to the baring of the midriff to the exposure of the back to the haltering at the top. All these invariably meant more skin uncovered. The lesser fabric used was a bonanza to skin whiteners and lotion product makers.

The latest fashion trend I noticed, skimpy as it is, does not necessarily expose more epidermis. Formerly often seen just in women's tennis and volleyball, it has transcended beyond the courts onto regular Filipina fashion. It divulges the bulges and gives men the urge to pedicure camels. The crotch, er, the crux of the matter I am talking about is pekpek shorts.

Known elsewhere as skinny shorts, the even shorter versions are aptly renamed as pekpek shorts around here in Manila. Vulgar as it may sound, people unabashedly and frequently use the term. It will be in the mainstream in no time at all, if it isn't there yet.

There is a Facebook fan page for it. There is an urbandictionary.com definition for it. Google returns a whole lot of pictures about it. Here are some.