Indolent, MD.

Hard times give way to sickness. The economic-social-political crisis gives way to the deterioration of health.

These days are prone to epidemic outbreaks, and we at The Indolent Indio are most keen observers.

Look out for that Tamaditis virus going around. Its primary stages quickly escalate into a full-blown acute syndrome. Though not genetic, it can be quite chronic. Symptoms include nausea at the thought of work or school, episodes of extreme lethargy and heaviness of limbs, and the inability to concentrate.

Easy to fall prey to this virus are the masses (masa. As in masandal sa pader, tulog). Bed rest is best for full recovery.

There’s also one for kidney stones or sakit sa bato. Sakit sa bat(ugan).

–PreMadonna, who is into puns.

Pop(ulation) Machine

Halina’t sumamba/ lahat ay may pag asa sa Pop Machine –Eraserheads, Pop Machine

Photobucket”

There’s a kind of magic in the air, and it’s not even the Bruce Springsteen kind.

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Birth and Taxes

The only form of protection the Philippines allows

The only protection allowed by the Church

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who talks to God (but doesn’t always listen), bowed to Church fathers on their stand against contraception and population control. Supposedly, Arroyo decided “to maintain her stand against the use of contraceptives because of the weak lobby for artificial family planning methods.” This may be as much because people are too busy fucking as it is because people don’t want access to artificial family-planning methods, one must note.

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Finetime: The Eraserheads Stage Comeback

“I hope we could spend more time together/ a few hours is better than never”

The ’90s generation peed their collective pants a little when rumors started floating around that the Eraserheads were getting back together for a reunion concert, and had a spontaneous orgasm when it was announced this week that the rumors were spot on.

Rumor has it, or it’s probably official now, that the event will be sponsored by Marlboro, and that the E-heads are supposedly getting millions for playing again years after breaking up.

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Divide, and Conquer

Leftist youth group Anakbayan assaulted the corporate headquarters of oil giant Petron last week throwing used diesel fuel at the building (how crude.) Also-leftist-but-of-a-different-age-bracket organization Bayan swept down on the offices of Pilipinas Shell today, vandalizing the place with red paint and rhetoric. With the price of pretty much everything going through the roof, more protest actions are expected in the next few days.

Government has little to worry about, though. We Filipinos have never been much into organizing. Consider all the little revolts and petty rebellions that we’ve had over the centuries and try to find one conflict where there was an organized network of Filipinos who had an actual strategy and not just random slogans and mission/vision statements.

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Chikatime Closes Down: Blogosphere Dies A Little

huhuhu

Indolent Indio notes the passing of gossip blog Chikatime, ending months of dishing dirt on Manila’s high society with an apology.

This is both good, in that snooping on other people’s lives is generally not a cool thing to do, and bad, since snooping on other people’s lives and making fun of them is a big part of what we do in real life. Doing it on the Internet just makes it easier.

Gossip has it, aptly enough, that the bloggers behind it were silenced with the threat of having their identities revealed.

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Sulpicio Lines, You Asshole, You.

sulpiciousLet us pretend for a moment that Sulpicio Lines, Inc., owner of the M/V Princess of the Stars that sank off Sibuyan Island, Romblon during the height of Typhoon Frank’s mauling of the Philippines has absolutely no responsibility for the tragedy.

It was a freak weather phenomenon, after all, even CNN was caught with its pants down when the typhoon changed course and gained strength (a sudden population boom among butterflies in Brazil, probably.) Let us say that the Philippine Coast Guard and the PAGASA weather guys totally dropped the ball on this one and led the shipowners to believe that the voyage would be through calm seas and sunny skies.

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Quiet Riot

FX Mega Taxi drivers and operators raised their fares by 5 pesos yesterday without the approval of, nor even consultation with, the Land Transport and Franchising Regulatory Board, the agency that grants franchises and approves fare matrices for Public Utility Vehicles.

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Traffic Police State

hil to the kingA little more Korean culture has come to our tropical shores. North Korean, in this case.

Lining the streets with propaganda posters is not a new thing in oppressive regimes. Banners of leaders striking a pose and exhorting their people to raise high the banner of revolution and to rain death on capitalist pig-dogs/ infidels/ heretics/ deviants/ lumpenproletariat has been par for the course with dictators, strongmen and various absolute leaders.

Bayani Fernando the First, King of Metro Manila is merely taking part in a grand tradition that goes back at least as early as Hitler and Stalin, was colorfully documented in bad ’80s films that showed Michael Dudikoff slipping into cities like Tehran, Moscow and Baghdad against (literally) a backdrop of bad guys on billboards proclaiming death to America, and is now the linchpin of the entire art industry of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The Filipino Dream

Aside from marrying an American, getting a green card, and  washing  senile senior citizens for  a fistful of dollars, it seems the youth has found a new dream.

Ten years ago, the trend was Filipino teenagers wanted to be physical therapists. Five years ago, it was nursing. A source in the personal development industry reveals: Pinoy teens now want to be beauty queens.