Who is Jon Favreau?

Jon Favreau
By Ted Sorensen


The life of a presidential speechwriter is not an easy one; take it from someone who knows. It's not just the hours and the stress — it's the odd way that in a circle of powerful people, the word "only" tends to get attached to your name. Jon Favreau, President Obama's head speechwriter, is learning about that. I hope he also learns to remind himself that it's an undeserved word.

True, Favreau is only a speechwriter. But the President of the United States is once again the central mover and shaker in this country and the world. The man who wields the first and final pen helps determine American policy and its place in that world.

True, he is only one of several on the President's talented team and specializes in major domestic speeches. But having served with Obama since the President's first days in the U.S. Senate, Favreau is primus inter pares, consulted on every key pronouncement. Today, as the world depends on America's efforts to strengthen its economy and regain its senses, U.S. domestic policy affects everyone.

True, Favreau is only 27. But when I entered the White House at 32, I was thankful that I had the energy and idealism necessary to withstand the repeated crises, criticisms and lengthy late-night hours of emergency meetings.

And true, he has the good luck to work for a brilliant and articulate President (something I know a little bit about too). But every President — particularly in today's complex world — lacks the time to plan and draft with full consideration and information all the statements that his responsibilities require him to deliver virtually every day.

It is President Obama who is lucky to have found someone who shares his thinking and style of speaking as readily and congenially as Jon Favreau, and it is the nation that is lucky that those two found each other. Favreau's survival in the No. 1 position throughout all these years of testing and turmoil, believe me, is not merely a matter of luck.

Sorensen was speechwriter for President John F. Kennedy. His most recent book is Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History

Fast fact: Favreau wrote parts of Obama's Inaugural Address on his laptop in a Starbucks. He fuels himself on double espressos and Red Bull

Thanks to Time Magazine

Ako Mismo!

I was amazed with the new commercial on TV right now. It is being presented by Smart Communications with the catchy title " AKO MISMO". It is a pledged to do something for the betterment of our country... whether it is big or not...but if we gonna work together we can reach the first world Philippines...

To explain further " AKO mismo is about YOU… … making a stand and taking real action for the causes you believe in. Causes that you yourself can truly pursue to make a real, positive difference to your fellow countryman, to your country."

If you wanted to join to AKO mismo, please visit www.akomismo.com and be a proud member. AKO MISMO!

Shakeys' V-league Moment

I was in the V-league opening last Sunday and I was so happy because Adamson won over Ateneo...("as usual" atenean v-league writer said). But the thing is...Fr. Gregg ( Adu President) saw me there....then he asked me " bakit hindi ka na bumabalik ng adamson?" LOL. Father I was there last December 2008... 4 months ago...not that long. Anyway, I did not open any topic coz we were in the arena...there was no time to talk about anything..(u know what I am saying)....so he asked for my number, work, etc...and it ended with that....when I saw coach Minerva coming...Oh GOd thank you. LOL!

So...i went back to my ringside seat (yabang)however...I saw Cherry Rose Macatangay...the great Volleyball Player of Adamson University before... and the best player of RP Team right now...therefore I turned my digital camera on ( i'm sorry, hiniram ko lang pala) and took her a picture. I was so so so happy coz all volleyball bloggers have been waiting for her and expected to be a guest player of Adu...kaso lang andyan pa ang former MVP of V-league who is Nene Bautista. It was a great day ...he he pero di ko alam for ateneans...haha. They were expecting a lot from their Thai Guest Player kc however...ala namang nagawa ang guest player nila so...sorry na lang... Accding to an atenean blogger: The last time Adamson lost to Ateneo was in their battle for third in 2007 second conference but the Falcons stamped their class and swept the Eagles in all their six meetings last season. Adamson reasserted its mastery over Ateneo-OraCare as it scored a 25-20, 25-19. 25-18 romp in an auspicious start to its title-retention drive in the sixth season of the Shakey’s V-League at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan yesterday.

The Ten Best Asian Horror Films

Philip Chung, an Asian American theater,film and tv playwright and the columnist of “Reel Stories” on AsiaWeek lists down the Ten Best Asian Horror Films.

In descending order from no. 10 to no. 1, and in a span of more than 8 decades, the best screamers Asia has to offer are the following and see if there is any movie from the Philippines which scared Asian viewers...

10. Song at Midnight (1937, China)
Director: Weibang Ma-Xu
Considered China’s first foray into the horror genre, this is a film that would be at home alongside the American monsters who were gracing the screen in the 1930s-Dracula, Frankenstein and their ilk. Weibang wrote and directed this story loosely based on The Phantom of the Opera about a young Chinese opera singer mentored by a disfigured “monster” who pines for his lost love. Originally marketed with the tagline “Please don’t take your children” after a rumor circulated that a child died of fright while watching the film, Song at Midnight was finally introduced to Western audiences in 1998 and instantly proclaimed a classic of Chinese cinema.

9. Shutter (2004, Thailand)
Directors: Banjong Pisanthanakun & Parkpoom Wongpoom
Forget this year’s lousy American remake; check out the original. Yes, it’s another film about a pissed-off female spirit with long black hair out for vengeance, but Shutter tries hard to make the otherwise familiar proceedings fresh. The filmmakers create a conflicted protagonist who isn’t your standard goody-two shoes, allowing for a depth usually not seen in characters in this type of movie. But what really sets Shutter apart is how the directors milk the film’s spooky concept (ghosts appearing in photographs) for all its worth, using both striking visuals and an incredibly effective sound design to heighten the chill factor.

8. Matango (1963, Japan)
Director: Ishiro Honda
Directed by the man who gave us the original Godzilla, with its allusion to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this cult classic may be one of the strangest and bleakest films you’ll see. When a yacht encounters a storm, the passengers and crew take refuge on a desert island where they discover an abandoned research ship, wild mushrooms growing everywhere and a bizarre presence that would confound even the hardened castaways of TV’s Lost. The film’s Americanized title-Attack of the Mushroom People-says everything you need to know about what’s coming next but what elevates this film above standard B-movie shlock is its unflinching take on the horrors modern man inflicts on himself.

7. The Echo (2004, Philippines)
Director: Yam Laranas
Horror films from the Philippines may not be as familiar to Americans as those from its Asian neighbors, but The Echo is the perfect place to start for those unfamiliar with that country’s recent wave of excellent genre entries. The Echo is a throwback to old school scare flicks like The Innocents and the original The Haunting, eschewing modern visual effects and “slasher” moments to create terror the old fashioned way: by suggesting it through vivid storytelling, committed performances and the use of subtle visuals and sounds. When a shot of a door slowly creaking open can send chills down your spine, you know you’re in the hands of a master.

6. Audition (1999, Japan)
Director: Takashi Miike
A film experience so disturbing that several audience members had to be hospitalized and even extreme horror director Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses) had a difficult time sitting through it, Audition is not for everyone. A middle-aged widower holds fake film “auditions” to find an attractive woman to become his next wife. But when he finds himself drawn to an ex-ballerina with a fuzzy past, things quickly take a disturbing turn for the worst. Audition’s most notorious moment is a scene of torture that makes Kathy Bates taking a sledgehammer to James Caan’s feet in Misery look like a Sunday School outing. But if you can stomach the movie, you’ll be treated to a wicked satire on the battle of the sexes that’s more insightful than most serious-minded dramas.

5. Chinese Ghost Story (1987, Hong Kong)
Director: Siu-Tung Ching
An effective mix of genres-horror, romance, comedy and action-A Chinese Ghost Story is one of the seminal films of the 1980s Hong Kong New Wave movement. A young Leslie Cheung plays a tax collector who finds shelter one night in an abandoned temple where he falls in love with the ghost of a beautiful woman held captive by an evil Tree Demon. When he decides to rescue her, he gets more than he bargained for (including a trip to the underworld). Director Sam Raimi (Spiderman) has acknowledged the huge influence of this film on his own work (see The Army of Darkness and select episodes of Xena that include shot-by-shot tributes to Ching’s film). And like Raimi’s work, Chinese Ghost Story’s refusal to be locked into any genre conventions gives it an energy that’s still unsurpassed 20 years later.

4. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, South Korea)
Director: Ji-Woon Kim
Boasting one of the coolest movie posters ever created, this psychological ghost story became Korea’s highest grossing horror film at the time of its release. Based on the Korean folk story entitled Janghwa, Hongreyon-jon, A Tale of Two Sisters tells the story of two teenaged sisters, their sadistic step-mother and the haunted house they’re forced to share. Yes, the film can be dense and confusing if you don’t pay close attention, but unlike most horror movies that have a B-movie feel, Kim infuses his work with a poetic lyricism and a heart-breaking pathos that elevates it to the level of true tragedy. All this and a twist ending that ranks up there with The Sixth Sense.

3. Ugetsu (1953, Japan)
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Considered Mizoguchi’s masterpiece and often appearing on film authority Sight and Sound’s list of the ten best films of all time, Ugetsu may not be your cup of tea if you’re looking for constant scares (the supernatural element isn’t even made clear until the end of the film). But it’s a must-see for anyone seeking a truly transcendent film-going experience. The setting is sixteenth century Japan and a nation in the midst of civil war. Two ambitious peasants set out to make their fortune-one as a potter and the other as a samurai-leaving their wives behind to suffer tragic consequences. This may be one of Japan’s most famous ghost stories, but in Mizoguchi’s hands, it’s also a powerful examination of the horrors men foist on women and the ways in which the women survive those horrors.

2. The Host (2006, South Korea)
Director: Joon-Ho Bong
All due respect to the monstrous stars in the recent big screen incarnations of Godzilla, King Kong and Cloverfield, but the creature at the center of South Korea’s all-time box office hit literally blows them all out of the water. Inspired by a real-life scandal that involved the U.S. military illegally dumping chemicals into Seoul’s Han River, director and co-writer Bong imagines what may have happened if those chemicals had created a new life form that resembles a cross between the monster from Alien and a large prehistoric whale. While the film works as a commentary on the U.S. presence in Korea, the hysteria over SARS, the plight of Korea’s working class and as an examination of the modern dysfunctional family, at its heart it’s an entertainingly kick-ass creature feature that will make you feel like a kid again.

1. Ringu (1998, Japan)
Director: Hideo Nakata
The one that started it all. The huge success of this film kicked off a new wave of stylish Asian horror films that made its way to our shores with Dreamworks’ own remake of Nakata’s masterpiece. If the Hollywood remake attacks you like a feral animal, the original burrows slowly under your skin, building a sense of Hitchcockian tension until it climaxes in one of the most memorable moments of cinematic terror that rivals the shower scene in Psycho. The plot is deceptively simple and utterly genius-anyone who watches a mysterious videotape ends up dead in exactly a week. From this concept, Nakata expertly weaves a tale that finds the horror in the most mundane corners of our modern technological culture. Much imitated but never equaled, this is not just one of the best Asian horror films, but one of the best films from Asia. Period.

Acknowledgment: Thank you to Starmometer.com

PEP.ph: The Number One Site for Philippine Showbiz | Features | TV commercial models who rose to stardom

PEP.ph: The Number One Site for Philippine Showbiz | Features | TV commercial models who rose to stardom

Posted using ShareThis

NY TIMES this weeks' Paperback Advice Best Seller

This Week
1
THE LOVE DARE, by Stephen and Alex Kendrick with Lawrence Kimbrough. (B&H, $14.99.) A 40-day challenge for spouses who want to practice unconditional love. (†)
2
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING, by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel. (Workman, $14.95.) Advice for parents-to-be. (†)
3
NATURALLY THIN, by Bethenny Frankel with Eve Adamson. (Fireside, $16.) Rules and recipes for escaping the diet trap, from a star of “The Real Housewives of New York City.”
4*
THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES, by Gary Chapman. (Northfield, $13.99.) How to communicate love in a way a spouse will understand.
5
THE POWER OF NOW, by Eckhart Tolle. (New World Library, $14.) A guide to personal growth and spiritual enlightenment.
6
SKINNY BITCH, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. (Running Press, $13.95.) Vegan diet advice from the world of modeling.
7
SUZE ORMAN’S 2009 ACTION PLAN, by Suze Orman. (Spiegel & Grau, $9.99.) Managing your money in hard times.
8
TWILIGHT, by Mark Cotta Vaz. (Little, Brown, $16.99.) A behind-the-scenes look at the film based on the vampire romance for young adults by Stephenie Meyer.
9
I WILL TEACH YOU TO BE RICH, by Ramit Sethi. (Workman, $13.95.) A six-week program for personal-finance literacy, with guidance on bank accounts, credit cards, student loans and more. (†)
10
THE BIGGEST LOSER 30-DAY JUMP START, by Cheryl Forberg, Melissa Roberson, Lisa Wheeler and others. (Rodale, $21.95.) Experts and contestants from the “Biggest Loser” TV show share weight-loss advice.

Also Selling
11
THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE, by Rick Warren (Zondervan)
12
THE BIGGEST LOSER FAMILY COOKBOOK, by Devin Alexander with Melissa Roberson (Rodale)
13
A NEW EARTH, by Eckhart Tolle (Plume)
14
HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU, by Greg Behr­endt and Liz Tuccillo (Simon Spotlight Entertainment)
15
BROKEN OPEN, by Elizabeth Lesser (Villard)

This Week Hand Cover Non Fiction Best Sellers by NY Times

1
LIBERTY AND TYRANNY, by Mark R. Levin. (Threshold Editions, $25.) A conservative manifesto from a talk-show host and president of Landmark Legal Foundation.
2
OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed, from the
3
HOUSE OF CARDS, by William D. Cohan. (Doubleday, $27.95.) The fall of Bear Stearns and the beginning of the Wall Street collapse.
4
A LION CALLED CHRISTIAN, by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall. (Broadway, $21.95.) Two men buy a pet lion cub in London and bring him to Africa when he is grown.
5
THE YANKEE YEARS, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci. (Doubleday, $26.95.) The former Yankee manager (1996-2007) on his years with the team.
6
THE LOST CITY OF Z, by David Grann. (Doubleday, $27.50.) A New Yorker writer searches for a British explorer who disappeared 80 years ago in the Amazon.
7
A BOLD FRESH PIECE OF HUMANITY, by Bill O’Reilly. (Broadway, $26.) The Fox News commentator on his upbringing and career.
8
HAPPENS EVERY DAY, by Isabel Gillies. (Scribner, $25.) A woman’s husband leaves her without warning
9*
DEWEY, by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter. (Grand Central, $19.99.) The kitten left freezing in the returned-book slot of an Iowa public library and his rise to fame.
10
MY BOOKY WOOK, by Russell Brand. (Collins, $25.99.) A memoir of sex, drugs and stand-up from a British comedian.
11
JESUS, INTERRUPTED, by Bart D. Ehrman. (HarperOne, $25.99.) Scholars'' discoveries about the New Testament.
12
HOW WE DECIDE, by Jonah Lehrer. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25.) Learning more about how we think can help us make better decisions. First Chapter
13*
ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA, by Chelsea Handler. (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $24.95.) Humorous personal essays from the stand-up comedian.
14
INSIDE THE REVOLUTION, by Joel C. Rosenberg. (Tyndale, $24.99.) The power of three groups in the Middle East: Islamic radicals, moderate reformers and Muslims who are becoming Christians. (†)
15
JOKER ONE, by Donovan Campbell. (Random House, $26.) A Marine lieutenant and his platoon in Ramadi during the most violent days of the insurgency in 2004. First Chapter

Also Selling
16
IT SUCKED AND THEN I CRIED, by Heather Armstrong (Simon Spotlight Entertainment)
17
NO ANGEL, by Jay Dobyns and Nils Johnson-Shelton (Crown)
18
OUT OF CAPTIVITY, by Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, Tom Howes and Gary Brozek (William Morrow)
19
HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED, by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) First Chapter
20
WHEN MARCH WENT MAD, by Seth Davis (Times)
21
A SLOBBERING LOVE AFFAIR, by Bernard Goldberg (Regnery)
22
THE NEXT 100 YEARS, by George Friedman (Doubleday)
23
MELTDOWN, by Thomas E. Woods Jr (Regnery)
24
THE UNFORGIVING MINUTE, by Craig M. Mullaney (Penguin Press)
25
THE BLACK SWAN, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Random House) First Chapter
26
WHY WE SUCK, by Denis Leary (Viking)
27
THE ASCENT OF MONEY, by Niall Ferguson (Penguin Press)
28
IMAGINING INDIA, by Nandan Nilekani (Penguin Press)
29
DEAD AID, by Dambisa Moyo (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
30
THE THIRD REICH AT WAR, by Richard J. Evans (Penguin Press)
31
THE MIRROR EFFECT, by Drew Pinsky and S. Mark Young (Harper)
32
THE RETURN OF DEPRESSION ECONOMICS AND THE CRISIS OF 2008, by Paul Krugman (Norton)
33
THE GAMBLE, by Thomas E. Ricks (Penguin Press) First Chapter
34
OBAMA, with an introduction by Bill Keller and biographical text by Jill Abramson (Callaway)
35
AS THEY SEE 'EM, by Bruce Weber (Scribner) First Chapter