August 18-24

Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. had enough adventures to fill a dozen volumes. There has never been anyone like him since Rizal. But do today's youth know him? The following special feature, 9 Life Lessons from Ninoy Aquino's Senate Victory, brings to life a momentous chapter in the hero's life in the right perspective. Millions of readers would agree that it's impossible to read this piece without being inspired to be a better person. (See also Huggybear’s Imaginary Interview with Ninoy Aquino, watch Ninoy’s memorable exile speech)

I am grateful because all my senses are working at this point in my present lifetime. It must be hard not to be able speak, like Enchong Dee's character in Paano Ko Sasabihin, who can only communicate through sign language or by writing it down. I can relate to Enchong's character, who can only communicate through writing and sign language. Second: I can relate to something that happened to Erich's character. I saw the DVD when I went to visit a friend in Manila last April 17. What happened was, since the house was in the interior and the alleys were dark, I plunged in a open sewer! So there I was, with my naked left foot, carrying the wet shoe and twisting water from the sock. There's a scene where Erich's character, also a scriptwriter, lost her other shoe. So what happened to her also happened to me, the wet version. The neighbors thought it was embarrassing. I thought it was cute

Jake Cuenca got both Shaina Magdayao and Bangs Garcia pregnant in Saudi Arabia. Jake and Bangs were arrested because they weren't married. Bangs gave birth to a daughter in jail. To give a child a better future, they gave her to a friend who died on the way back to Manila. Shaina was on the same flight, without Jake knowing. She adopted the child and later gave birth to her own. Then she got amnesia. Apparently that's the plot of the ABS-CBN afternoon soap Kung Ako'y Iiwan Mo, which I stumbled upon because one of my housemates follows it, on July 30, 2012, when I'm not even supposed to be in the house, much less watching TV. But it was nice to see Sandy Andolong. I love her in Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal.

Master Dick (that's what Alfred calls him) thinks that Bruce is being over-protective It's a fine balancing act to want to protect someone you care about, and to want him to be able to stand on his own It's sort of like being a parent, and since I never met mine, I tend to idealize them I think parents are superheroes! Plus they don't have to worry about Ivy poisoning them and they don't have to wear jet-black rubber suits with nipples!

Stefan was on a warpath with fellow vampire Claus, despite warnings from his brother Damon. Claus mind-controlled the werewolf  Tyler to bite Caroline, then he would save her, as a way to pressure her law-enforcer mom to support him and his hybrids. Elena admitted to her ex-boyfriend Stefan that Damon, who had mind-controlled her human brother Jeremy to go to Denver for safety, had kissed her. I got those scenes from a mini-marathon of The Vampire Diaries, Season 3, on a Gener-storm rainy lazy Sunday afternoon, July 29, 2012, on Catch-Up Weekend on Studio 23. The young witch Bonnie, girlfriend of Jeremy, had been abandoned by her mother, who was also a witch. Still, Elena and Bonnie went to see her to help them open a hex-sealed coffin that will destroy Claus. But it was a trap