Manny (PacMan) Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez

If you are a great fan of boxing since you were a kid, you have to admit that if you have seen the last fight of Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez last March 15, 2008, you will be hooked in watching the boxing once again. I know that for many people of both countries, they considered these two boxers as heroes. They are heroes because they represent not only themselves but the concept that men are created equal. What that means, whoever who you are in life, if you have a big heart in what you believe in like these two great boxers, you can accomplish it by not giving up. As for Manny, he believes in God and serve his country by being the best in what he does, and that is for being the best boxer he can be. For many poor people in the Philippines, they look at Manny as a good example, and it gave them hope that somebody like them could accomplish something good like Manny if they set their eyes to God and work as Manny (Pacman).

I have seen the fight of these two boxers and I tell you, in the ring, I respected both of them by giving their best. Manny is a little bit younger, heavy hitter, and faster while Juan Manuel Marquez is more like a scientific boxer, analytical and quick to adjust his fight with the help of his trainer, and with a powerful jabbing capability he could severely damage his opponent, which is seldom seen nowadays in most boxers. Both boxers seem opposite in their style but both are deadly serious with their techniques and implementing their boxing strength. I would say that they were perfectly matched in both last 2 fights.

Many times when you've seen a boxer being knockdown in any given round, you would think that he would most likely loose the fight. However, that was not so with Juan Manuel on the first fight and on the second fight, it seems that he came back so fast that until on the last round, it made it difficult for the judges as who would win the boxing match. This guy has a big heart in the ring; he never gives up. We could learn something from this guy and apply in our daily life as to never gives up and stay focus. Although, he lost in the second fight, he did not loose his self respect, because as far as himself and many people, he has given his all and he is a winner.

The last fight was exhilarating. Although Manny won the fight, the fight was too close that I am expecting a rematch. As for Manny, all I can say that his fight have improved as a hungry tiger. It seems that the more you hit this guy, the more you will get the harder punches twice as much...hmmnn.... I would not want to be in Juan Manuel's shoes. I would say that the people who have seen the fight have gotten what they have paid for, it was all worth it. The business of who is the best fighter was temporarily settled... but not totally settled. I agreed with the result of the fight. However, I have to conclude, that a rematch is necessary and I believe that a lot of people who have seen the fight will agree with me.

I will be waiting for the next fight, this time, I hope to see you guys there...

The USA Economy...where is it heading?

For many years United States of America stand in bigger issues, for a starter ... in believing in God. There was a time when our country stands big in believing in a supreme being...God in which we believe in. Our currency says "In God We Trust"; in the court, people swear and put their right hand in a bible before the whole proceeding takes place. Many years ago I could remember, in many big events, they will start by praying. In many awards, they will end their speeches by thanking God. Also, many years ago, in many or most schools, we have the Ten Commandments and we initiated prayers and encourage the kids to abide by ten commandments and rule of the schools. Somewhere along the way, we drifted too far that we either lost our identity and where we stand or trying to re-invent one. Most hotels, and motels, have a bible in their drawers yeas back and a lot of people were afraid to use God's name in vain, but not anymore. As the years go by, as a nation, we tend to put everything in our own hand and bullied other nation as they bullied us. We dictated them to enforce our foreign policies as they enforce their other beliefs in our culture up to a point they dictated that saying a prayer in a school is wrong or having bible in every hotel's or motel's drawer are invading our privacy and so on...

How would you expect our economy to be heading if our moral and spiritual values are heading down. Since family represents an economic unit in our society, if our moral and spiritual values go down as an economic unit, how would you expect our God to bless our country, this nation? If other nations believe in their God and stand firm in that issue, how can a great nation like USA started to slack on this issue? We have public servants representing our communities, counties, states, and the White House whose moral, and spiritual values do not represent our best interests... where our constitution was established on... "In God We Trust". Then, how do we expect these public servants to do good things or how do we expect our economy to do better?

Let us look as to where we are for the past few years: 1) We spend billions of dollars to install peace in other foreign soil while we let our guard down for not spending the same amount of money on our safety and peace of mind, 2) The price of oil prices increases by almost 300% for the past 8 years while our salaries/wages have declined, 3) What is the employment rate lately?, 4) What other business activities we have here in the USA... what are we producing lately? It seems to me that a lot of our major corporations are doing business everywhere except in the USA because of profits; however, what happened to our employment opportunities. By the way, who controlled our major corporations?, 5) Many political analysts anticipated that the prices of houses will still go down; therefore, the collateral assets of every family who owns their house will be almost nothing by 2-4 years, am I wrong... please correct me on this? If I am correct, what will happen to our economy since everything has a snowball effect? It appears that every 5 out of 10 families will have s deppression syndrome due to financial problems as well as crimes and divorce will increase by time which affects the children and other people around us, 6) Don't get me wrong, we are big in foreign policies... by the way... what foreign policies? It seems that the only foreign policies we are big about is how it affects the political figure's position whoever they are... 7) What did you say? If I remembered the 911...good question. It was very clear in my memory as to what happened. However, it appears that this was forgotten by the people who are supposed to go after these bad guys. We did go after the other bad guys, though..., I wonder why. I have a question to you, if Mr. A did wrong for your family to suffer, will you go to Mr. B or Mr. A? I rest my case.

Now, in my opinion, if we want our nation back, we have to start with the main issue... our relationship with God...the same God whom our forefathers have based their faith on when they started our nation...not somebody's God. We have to elect people in our communities, cities, counties, states, and in the White House whom we believe have a good foundation in their moral and relationship with our God. We have to start to fear our God since it has been said before that "Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom".

2008 Oscars and the Winners

There was a time that I will be restless anticipating the yearly Oscars and the Academy Winners; however, not this year. I have nothing against the winners and the whole thing; however, I got tired of the extravagance, and the vanity of human pride. The show got bigger every year, as if they clone last year's and put a little more extras. From what it seemed an endless parades of over expensive clothes, low cut dresses for women,and the almost perfect clothes for men, new hairstyles, new lines of clothes and accessories. There were lots of new faces and old faces alike wanting to shine and some were genuinely beautiful and good looking. Though I have to admit that there were times that I hum with some old melodies from old film clips and enjoyed the sentimental tributes to the past. I want to clarify that I am not against the Oscars but to the fact that the society started to look at these movie stars as Gods. There was a time that I do remember that winners would thank God and their family for winning; however, almost every year, there are more winners that only remembers those people that have been a part of the movie and tend to forget God and their love ones. It seems that most winners this year tend to forget that without God and their most precious love ones, their winning amounts to nothing. Just like anything else anything that is too much is dangerous. I believe that Oscars is not the culprit, but the people who put more importance, and glorification to such an event are.
To be fair, this year's Oscars cultivated more young and new talents, new scripts, new stories, and new surprises.
As I turn-off the television set, I was more convinced that more and more people are focus on big events like this one and enjoyed spending hundreds of thousands on new clothes, cars, jewelries, and other things than imparting part of those monies to worth meaning foundations and projects in helping the poor. That is what I call an excessive display of human selfishness, a vanity of human pride... to be put on a pedestal... and tend to forget their moral obligations to other human being.

Derrell Baskin Coffee House Show Review

I went to this Show with little to no expectations; I heard what I liked on the Myspace page, but wanted to hear more, so I opted to go to a show the artist was throwing nearby in a neighboring city. Here is the Review from my Blog, StreetSydeMusings :

I'm sitting at a cafe at ten in the evening, sipping on an impronounceable mocha drink, soon to be followed by an arnold palmer. My stomach aches in a fashion that makes me regret the two drinks I just bought, whilst my eyes scan the establishment for a restroom. I'm tired, my feet ache, and I have no ride back to the house. Half of my brain is is telling me that this trip was a bad idea. The other half is directing my eyes to the stage. Darrell Baskin is one half of the Band Alpha Moda. He's a guitar player, and he's pretty damn good. He starts off with a guitar only instrumental called "breaking down". It was fast, rhythmic, solid. His next song, "el blugeonaro" is a latin-inspired standoff style powerhouse, also sans lyrics. His ballad following that, "sleep well, dream pretty" is a smooth, coffeehouse lullaby that is raw with emotion as much as it is very well written with a nice guitar solo at its peak, and easily my favorite song in his set thus far. He emotes well, responds great with his audience, and is an absolute solid investment. "Deliverance", a pick-me-up song about the calm after the storm, has all the charm that comes with being in his genre of music (I.e. John mayer, Jason maraz, etc.) With a flare that I only see in certain types of people. His structure of his songs seem to mirror a Mikal Blue type of format, but is suprisingly full of depth sonically, especially since this performance is an acoustic only set.
He also played some very well chosen cover songs, starting with Coheed and Cambria's "Mother Superior". I am a huge Coheed fan, and I think he really pulled off the song, so Kudos to him for that. He seems to have a pretty strong following, which is great and makes my job easier, because at this point, I'm way past determining whether or not I want to work with him, and I'm already trying to figure out a marketing plan. I've already emailed Itunes some starter info, and he hasn't even finished his set yet. He then proceeded to play a cover by City in color, follwed by a poem he wrote, whoch gets me to want to feature him on my spoken word project. His last song, the name I missed, is a wonderfully teary ballad with a soulful bridge and all the makings of a second single. Many thanks go to Bernadette, my trusty intern for giving me the heads up on this guy. But I'm sold, and ready to record him this very instant. As I try to bum a ride to Chriss house, I now know that this trip was fully worth it.

I know it's wrong to fully crib one's OWN work and post it somewhere else, but whatever, I just did. Well, Sirs and Ma'ams, I fully enjoyed the Show, and Suggest you visit his band page at purevolume by clicking here.Since I will be producing him soon, Expect more music there shortly. Enjoy!!

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Welcome to Critics without a Clue, where I will critique everything from Movies and Music, to Politics and Pastimes! Nothing is safe from my opinion (except from my kids, because they're perfect.) I will post more soon!