The New York Times called it a “rambunctious, noisy film.” One critic thought it was “a shabby piece of video verite from the Philippines” and wondered why it “inexplicably” competed in Cannes. The critic of cinematical.com headlined her review “Live from Cannes: Gratuitous Yuckiness…”and goes on to narrate why, for the first time, she walked out of a screening at a festival. And, according to the critic, it was not just because of the sight of a boil being popped using a Coke bottle — no pun intended — but also because of the gratuitous and exploitative sex scenes in the movie. Yet another critic called it the worst film in competition in Cannes in recent memory.

Amado Hernandez (Photo courtesy of tinig.com)

A mini-controversy has erupted in the blogosphere. It involves blogger Connie Veneracion who, in a recent column in the Manila Standard Today newspaper, trashed Amado V. Hernadez’s “Mga Ibong Mandaragit” because she, her daughter and her husband didn’t get it.

Blogger Exie Abola wrote what Newsstand has called a “cogent” response to Veneracion’s tirade (”a complete evisceration” of Veneracion, Newsstand says). Others have weighed in, but of course. There’s Stuart Santiago, calling Veneracion “lazy,” “stupid” and “anti-Filipino.” Ouch.

A curious thing is happening over at Brian Gorrell’s. Gorrell, as you should know by now, put up his wildly popular blog to collect money that he claims the “social climber” DJ Montano stole from him. For weeks since he put it up last month, Gorrell posted exposés after exposés on Montano, the so-called Gucci [...]

LOS ANGELES – Sharon Sarmiento knew it was time to unplug when she realized she was blogging in her dreams and hearing imaginary instant messages.
For Ariel Meadow Stallings, it was the hours lost while surfing the Internet that left her feeling like she had been in a drunken blackout.
Both women are part of a new [...]

PinoyPress Blog: If the Sottos don’t remove their name from the hospital, I will declare that the act of sodomizing somebody with a foreign object should be called “sotto,” as in “He sottoed me last night.”

A visit to the Fort in Taguig would not be complete without these delectable cupcakes available at Cupcakes by Sonja, a small store at the Serenda. A bit pricey, to be sure, but definitely worth it. (PinoyPress photo)
(PinoyPress photo)

1) Were you and Brian Gorrell lovers (as opposed to “friends”)?
2) You said the money Brian sent you was for the “bills.” Brian said he lived on Boracay only for a few months. Even if we assume that the monthly upkeep was 100,000 pesos and let’s assume that Brian spent that amount each month for [...]

LITTLE DIVA. Charice Pempengco, the Filipino child-diva, has been wowing audiences around the world ever since she guested on the Ellen Degeneres show. Next month, she will be guesting on “Oprah” in an episode on child prodigies. (Photo courtesy of www.charicepempengco.com)

More details here .
Below is a teaser of the episode.

PinoyPress Blogs: Make no mistake about it: politics is the only reason Lozada is still alive. If he’s murdered or harmed at this point, it would be a political disaster for Arroyo. And she needs that disaster like a hole in the head.

TAMED EDITION. The Church and some “guardians of public morals” are up in arms over the Philippine edition of Playboy magazine, whose first issue came out this week. But they have been largely silent on the existing sex magazines that are way raunchier than Playboy, such as Playhouse magazine (right) published by Atlas Publishing, the komiks giant. Read the story.

In his latest post today, Brian Gorrell said that he received more than $1,600 in donations (via Paypal) yesterday alone. That, to put it mildly, is phenomenal. If he keeps at this — dishing out more juicy stuff on the Gucci Gang and the uber-pretentious Philippine high society, stuff that his thousands of daily readers [...]

The blog of Brian Gorrell, the Australian who launched a personal Internet movement to get back the $70,000 that his former Filipino lover allegedly stole from him, is steadily penetrating the mainstream press. Although the people he exposed in his blog as cokeheads and thieves have not been identified or seen, this should be welcome [...]

Brian Gorrell, the Australian whose explosive blog about his “social-climbing” Filipino ex-lover is now a certified cause célèbre, has launched a boycott campaign against The Philippine Star, the newspaper that carries the columns of at least two of the main (sordid) characters in his real-life telenovela.
Gorrell argues that, by not doing something about his [...]

Plugged: One of my favorite tech bloggers, Jeremy Wagstaff, has this interesting take on Facebook, specifically why anyone who values his or her privacy should stay away from the popular social-networking site.
Read the story