Haunting Words from Bhutto in October after returning from her Exile two months ago. Also two months before her death, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto sent an e-mail to her U.S. adviser and longtime friend, saying that if she were killed, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf would bear some of the blame.

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday after addressing a large gathering of her supporters.

Bhutto died of a gunshot wound to the neck, the Pakistani Interior Ministry said. The attacker then blew himself up. The bomb attack killed at least 22 others, doctors said. Video of the scene just moments before the explosion showed Bhutto stepping into a heavily guarded vehicle to leave the rally.

ohn Moore, a photographer for Getty Images, said Bhutto was standing through the sunroof of her vehicle, waving to supporters, when two shots rang out.

Bhutto fell back into the vehicle, and almost immediately a bomb blast rocked the scene, sending twisting metal and shrapnel into the crowd, he added.

Police sources told CNN the bomber, who was riding a motorcycle, blew himself up near Bhutto's vehicle. Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital -- less than two miles from the bombing scene -- where doctors pronounced her dead.

Her body was removed from the hospital -- carried above a crowd of supporters -- late Thursday night, and a Pakistan Air Force plane is flying the body to Sukkur, accompanied by her husband and three children, said Pakistan People's Party leader Sen. Safdar Abbasi.

Bhutto is scheduled to be buried in the ancestral graveyard of the Bhutto family at Gari-Khuda Baksh in Sindh province Friday afternoon, he added. Chaos erupted at the hospital when former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived to pay his respects to Bhutto less than three hours after her death. Hundreds of Bhutto supporters crammed into the entrance shouted and cried, some clutching their heads in pain and shock. Sharif called it "the saddest day" in Pakistan's history. "Something unthinkable has happened," he said.

Sharif said his party will boycott Pakistan's January 8 parliamentary elections in the wake of the assassination. President Pervez Musharraf said the killers were the same extremists that Pakistan is fighting a war against, and announced three days of national mourning. Police warned citizens to stay home as they expected rioting to break out in city streets in reaction to the death. Rioters burned tires and blocked roads in Karachi and other cities, police sources said. Police fired on an angry mob, killing two people, in the city of Khairpur in the Sindh province, Geo TV reported.

Bhutto's husband issued a statement from his home in Dubai saying, "All I can say is we're devastated, it's a total shock." He arrived in Pakistan late Thursday. President Bush said those responsible "must be brought to justice" and praised Bhutto as a woman who had "fought the forces of terror." He said: "She refused to allow assassins to dictate the course of her country."

The number of wounded was not immediately known. However, video of the scene showed ambulances lined up to take many to hospitals. The assassination happened in Rawalpindi's Liaquat Bagh Park, named for Pakistan's first prime minister -- Liaquat Ali Khan -- who was assassinated in the same location in 1951.

The attack came just hours after four supporters of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif died when members of another political party opened fire on them at a rally near the Islamabad airport Thursday, Pakistan police said. Several other members of Sharif's party were wounded, police said.

Bhutto, who led Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and was the first female prime minister of any Islamic nation, was participating in the parliamentary election set for January 8, hoping for a third term.

A terror attack targeting her motorcade in Karachi killed 136 people on the day she returned to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile. CNN's Mohsin Naqvi, who was at the scene of both bombings, said Thursday's blast was not as powerful as that October attack.

Thursday's attacks come less than two weeks after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf lifted an emergency declaration he said was necessary to secure his country from terrorists. Bhutto had been critical of what she believed was a lack of effort by Musharraf's government to protect her. Two weeks after the October assassination attempt, she wrote a commentary for CNN.com in which she questioned why Pakistan investigators refused international offers of help in finding the attackers.

"The sham investigation of the October 19 massacre and the attempt by the ruling party to politically capitalize on this catastrophe are discomforting, but do not suggest any direct involvement by General Pervez Musharraf," Bhutto wrote.

It's Christmas day and I want to greet all of you a joyous time celebrating and spending the year-round salary and hardwork, hahaha!



Here are some random pictures from last night's...



I'd like to thank Jesus for these gifts, lol, even though they're not for me.



..and for this ham



..and of course to President GMA for this Presidential Bayong: Hahahaha!



Seriously that's the presidential bayong!

David Foster catapulted Josh Groban's career, he also discovered Renee Olstead and Michael Buble. Now, rumor has it that David will write a song for Charice, which may also mean that he might go around managing the little girl.

This article from Ricky Lo's column via PhilStar:

Will David Foster build up Charice?

Reader Mike C. Hokson called my attention to an Internet report which mentions famous composer David Foster in the same breath with Charice Pempengco, the ABS-CBN Little Big Star search fourth runner-up who, as Funfare reported in a “scoop” yesterday, has just appeared as guest on Ellen DeGeneres’ self-titled show (specially requested by Ellen herself).

Here’s an excerpt from that Internet report (about Celine Dion’s winding up her stint in Las Vegas):

Grammy-winning composer/producer David Foster offered an opinion on a future candidate to help fill Celibne’s void in Las Vegas: “Michael Buble,” said Foster, who signed up the Canadian crooner in 2000.

Pointing toward the entrance of the Colosseum, Foster said, “I think Buble could do it.” He was escorting 15-year-old Filipino sensation, Charice Pempengo, who is appearing on Ellen DeGeneres’ show on Tuesday (Dec. 18, US time).

I’m sure people who know who David Foster is will react to that good news with a “Wow, wow, wow!”

For the sake of the uninformed, Foster (with whom I did a phone interview a few years ago) has worked with the likes of The Bee Gees; John Lennon; Michael Buble; Clay Aiken; Josh Groban; Katharine McPhee; Celine Dion; Barbra Sreisand; Kenny Rogers; Faith Hill; The Corrs; George Harrison; Ronnie Hawkins; Chicago; Earth, Wind & Fire; Chaka Khan; Filippa Giordano; Laura Pausini; Whitney Houston; Michael Jackson; Brandy; Luis Miguel; Fred Norris; Richard Marx; Mariah Carey; Destiny’s Child; Vanessa Williams; Anne Murray; Olivia Newton-John; Andrea Bocelli; Deborah Blando; Lisa Marie Presley; Lara Fabian; Dolly Parton; Julio Iglesias; Gordon Lightfoot; Madonna; All-4-One; Ricardo Montaner; Al Jarreau; Kenny Loggins; Natalie Cole; Yolanda Adams; The Tubes; Peter Cetera; and many others.

How soon will Charice Pempengco join that honor roll?

Soon, let’s hope even as we keep four fingers crossed.

Coolness!

..and Ellen Degeneres gave her one. Watch Charice Pempengco's amazing voice.



Click here for full view.

While I was bored in Malaysia last summer, I tried to make do the time with a little iPod of my travel companion, and I happen to come across Bianca Ryan's (of X-Factor, or is it America's Got Talent?) rendition of 'And I'm telling you I'm not going,' I wasn't impressed. I specifically told my friend, that the US people should go to the Philippines and hear how babies here have the voice of American legends, and more specifically, I said they should hear Charice sing.

"How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else." The catchphrase of this book will surely catch attention, or at least a second look at any random shelves of a bookstore. The green bold font shouts "Starbucks!" for me, one of the most successful companies when it comes to effective advertising. In fact, it is so successful that it can turn someone who never sipped a coffee before, a coffee addict in one sitting.

But the fact that it may look like more of a Starbucks coffee table book than an autobiography doesn't mean it's all commercial inside, surprisingly, I personally felt that the approach of writing comes from the author's heart and not from the head of Starbuck's PR is Seattle WA. So to best put it in words for the author's defence, the book did not make me feel that it's a promotional puppet channelled through a heartfelt memoir.



Michael Gates Gill, is the son of a famous New Yorker critic Brendan Gill. He grew up in a 35-room mansion and had enjoyed attention and work other people does for him as child, for example, a manpower team fork-lifting his grand piano through the upper level of their home. His later years saw Gill graduating at Yale University and immediately topping a “high powered” advertising position at the J. Walter Thompson agency (With the help of a friend, emphasizing the author’s superb social connections) in New York, the biggest and advertising agency in the world (JWT pioneered the first TV commercial, use of layouts and copy etc). His high positioned living may best be described by noting that he has mingled business with Jacqueline Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth II, the latter made the Prince of Edinburgh annoyed after Gill accidentally bumped the queen's flawless arm.



Gill lived a life of “privilege” that many strive for. However, after 25-years of service for JWT, he was fired by a relatively ’new’ advertising agent whom he was the one responsible hiring. He started a failing business, and got divorce, he realizes he can no longer afford the life he once led. Depressed, scared, and lost, he walks into a Starbucks to sip a latter and was accidentally offered a job, he says, a job that “saved” his life.

The transition is quite fast-paced and reading the book might not give the impression that it happened through decades, Gill’s book illustrated how cleaning bathrooms, serving lattes, and working with people from different walks of life brought him happiness. He achieved this goal during the scenes where we saw him in the store—interacting with his partners (this is how they call the baristas) and learning the job. The book showed a brave articulation of how the author, a white American, had directly and indirectly practiced racism and classism in his old days, something Gill might have expected criticisms for, but still courageously jotted it down on his memoir to share a sincere personal regrets and teach its potential readers (in this case Starbucks customers, class A's and upper B's) obvious lessons.

Mainly his relationship with a black colleague Crystal (the manager who offered him the job) revitalizes both Gill and the reader. As his boss, believed in and encouraged him to do what he never thought he could—like being a cashier. In turn, he helps her plan presentations (with the skills he learned in advertising) and helps her laugh. The genuine and honest account of this relationship is as touching as it is convincing; we believe that Crystal could have aided Gill towards a kind of “rebirth” he describes.

The ending of the book is quite fair, with no "lived happily ever after" tagline, rather a humble continuity of Gill on being a Barista, even after the book was published, and even after the call of Tom Hanks, saying that he wanted to portray the role and produce the film adaptation (to be released 2008).

The style of his writing on the book is relative to how the movie "La Mome" interpreted Edith Piaf's life. The storyline often jumps from different decades, recalling past happenings as the present unfold, realizing regretful choices from the past. I saw 5-8 grammar/spelling errors, which is not a big deal and kind of give me a feel that I am reading a book written by the author and not by a big time New Yorker editor.

I am expecting a big boom on the sales of this book, especially in the Philippines where Starbucks is a big deal. (As a genuine ICT practitioner myself, I easily get annoyed of those people who uses their laptops inside Starbucks doing nothing except browsing their files or doing non-sense on paintbrush, trying very hard to look techie and rich. The hell?)


Metro Manila can buy the book at Power Books, Fully Booked and Page One.

My Rating:
This post is a review post from my Angel's Hub Reviews via Multiply.

My choreographer friend SMSed me awhile ago with an extremely depressing news.

Ernest Santiago passed away at his home in Pagsanjan, Laguna. I've met the legendary designer a few occasions before. I first met him in 2005 as my Spanish colleague Sandra tagged me along in an old Malate shack. Ernest, right after being introduced with me said that I'm an inch away of looking Goth, with her innocent smile, I think it's positive. Misconception I thought, 'cause I'm wearing an all-black outfit, an old baggy low-waste Fendi pants, fitted shirt and black Havaianas Top. And then my face is so white as if it's powdered, so I finally realized he may have a point after all.

For someone of his age, he's very cheerful and extremely friendly. The next thing I know we were talking about the party's host's black cat (Goth too? haha) and eventually went on talking about design, she helped me get through IDAP, in which I was able to later on recruit 3 other artist friends. This forever placed him in my memory as one of those people whom I'll never forget and thank enough.

Fashion designer found dead inside Laguna home
By Marlon Ramos

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna--A fashion designer was found dead inside his house in Pagsanjan, Laguna on Sunday, police said.

The body of Ernest Santiago, 68, was discovered by one of his friends, a certain Paul Herrera, in his house on Rizal St. in Barangay Poblacion II at around 10 a.m.

Senior Supt. Felipe Rojas Jr., Laguna police director, said Herrera immediately went to the local police station and asked for assistance.

"When policemen arrived at the victim's house, they noticed that the whole place was in disarray. A still undetermined amount of cash, expensive jewelry and other valuables were allegedly missing," Rojas told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) in a mobile phone conversation.

Santiago could have been murdered late Saturday night, Rojas said. He said the victim apparently died from a gash on the back of his head.

"The victim's body had no stab or bullet wounds. The assailant might have hit him with a hard object on his head," Rojas said.

Rojas said they were looking at robbery as the motive for the killing.

Aside from his personal belongings, Rojas said the victim's Mitsubishi Strada pick-up van was also missing. He said they suspected that the assailant was known to Santiago.

"There were no signs of any forced entry to the victim's house. His attacker could have been there inside before Santiago was murdered," he said, adding:

"The fact that the assailant even had time to look for the key of the victim's vehicle only bolstered our suspicion."

Rojas said they were still verifying reports that Santiago had a housemaid.

"We're also trying to find out if he had a lover who was supposedly living with him," he said.

It's just sickening that someone would end his beautiful life that way.

(Photo: Manila Standard Today)

...indeed. Miss World 2007 was held in Sanya, China. Miss China won. lol



106 contestants and the host country who was never crowned before has won, coincidence? Lutong Macau? Maybe, she's beautiful on that picture. I can't fully judge the decission 'cause I wasn't able to finish the show.