Watergate Pnoy Style

Many observers didn't miss the similarities between the Watergate Scandal that happened in the US during the early 1970s and that of Rico Puno-led raid of Robredo's condo last month. Watergate prompted Nixon to resign and its local version gave Puno no choice but to give up his very lucrative post (most likely Pnoy didn't give him choice on the matter). Should we call it Juetengate? Pistolgate? Pnoy-Punogate?

I see Puno's move both as audacious and stupid. I'll bet he's got big guns behind him (literally and figuratively as what Sen. Santiago has hinted on several of her interviews), thinking he'd be protected from all sides while executing the raid. It is stupid; in fact, more stupid than a gaggle of Stooges, albeit less funny. What could Puno and company been thinking carrying out the "lockdown"(the term preferred by the people behind the fiasco), with uniformed police officers in tow? That's just as discreet as Mommy Dionisia about her Hermes bag!

The Road

Finally, I've seen the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's superb novel The Road on DVD! I've seen a lot of films adapted from myriad literary sources - from classics to new literary phenomena - and I often ended up disappointed. But John Hillcoat's visual translation of this Pulitzer price winning novel deserves a two-thumbs up. Hillcoat perfectly portrayed the ravaged landscape, the dismal existence of humans, and the breakdown and triumph of morality - the things that were so believably conveyed by McCarthy. Kudos also to Viggo Mortensen's and Kodi Smit-McPhee's portrayal of the lead characters.