The Golden Girls are alive and well in the Internet!

“The Golden Girls” or TGG was a hit American TV series in the 1980s. It’s a sitcom about the city adventures of four women in Miami, in their 50s to 80s—one divorcee and her mom, and two widowed women—who lived together in a house owned by one of them. When the series was showing in the Philippines that time, I didn’t get to watch it often, although I knew it was a funny show, based on some episodes I watched. Thus it’s really good that I get to watch it now on the Internet! On the site justin.tv, a broadcaster named “Madonnagaga” shows the golden ladies in-between some episodes of other old (but not so old as the golden ladies’ show) series and some videos of singers Madonna and Lady Gaga. But most of the time, Madonnagaga, a “he” I think, shows TGG. It’s amazing how old but good (and funny) shows have found new life on the Internet, although some of them, of course, have reruns on TV once in a while.

But with the Internet, it seems that these old series reach more homes (and offices, for those who view from offices—but not at the expense of your work, you hear! :)) and more countries. And everybody seems to like the golden ladies as there’s almost always someone who watches and mentions in the open chat room of Madonnagaga’s channel that she or he is glad to have found the channel in justin.tv, since she or he had always loved TGG. There are also some of the newer generation who have seen the series for the first time through that channel, and say that they also love it.

The Internet, and broadcast sites like justin.tv have given new life (and medium) to TV shows like TGG that seem not to grow old. They are as fresh as ever. The lines are still funny, the acting is solid gold performance (the actors in the show have won awards for the TGG), the genuine camaraderie among the lead stars very much evident in every scene. Estelle Getty (Sophia) and Beatrice Arthur (Dorothy), who played mother and daughter in the show have since passed away (Estelle in 2008, and Beatrice in 2009). Rue McLanahan (Blanche—the house owner on the show) had a bypass and mild stroke between late 2009 to early 2010. Betty White (Rose), famous for playing in TGG the “innocent” but sweet lady from St. Olaf, a quaint if strange town going by Rose's many accounts to her housemates about her town, has remained quite active with some TV and movie appearances. In fact, in a recent affair in America where she was given a lifetime achievement award, she said something about her still raring to go after she turned 88 a few days before the affair. On the Internet screen, the girls remain up and about, dishing out their lines with gusto, tickling every viewer’s funny bones. Showing how the diverse backgrounds of their characters have enriched and strengthened their oneness as friends.

TGG rules!

Photos below are screen captures from Madonnagaga’s channel showing the TGG; and Betty, Beatrice, and Rue receiving an award a few years ago sans Estelle who was ill at that time.

Queuing up couldn't hurt, unless you're already very hungry, I guess

Last week, I was in a line of lunch-goers waiting for two cashiers to call us one by one at a fastfood-style Japanese restaurant in SM North Edsa mall in Quezon City. Many people at the tables crowded the not-so-large store, but the line that was almost diagonal to the cashiers’ posts couldn’t be missed being seen by someone entering the store. As I was waiting for my turn to be called, from the door came a woman and a man couple who planted themselves behind a customer who was at the cashier at the inner end of the store. The cashier was just a few steps from my line, and I saw for myself how the couple went directly to the cashier from the door. I looked to the line’s end and saw how rather far it had extended to near the door. When the customer in front of the couple had finished transacting with the cashier, the cashier shouted “Next!” The couple advanced to the cashier and gave their food order. The cashier hesitated for a moment and asked the woman if they came from the line. The woman loudly replied in the affirmative and gave again their order to the cashier. I hope she and the man had a good meal.

Telethon for Haiti NOW!

A telethon is now being held, with support provided by celebrities from the USA. From among some Internet sites, it can be viewed live at cnn.com Donations can be made through:

USA & Canada
1-877-99-HAITI
(1-877-994 2484)

International
+1 773 360 0205
hopeforhaitinow.org

Haiti needs help fast: Relief orgs contact

The 7.0 magnitude (Richter scale) rumbler that hit Haiti last Tuesday has left the already poor country in even greater shambles. Fatalities are still unknown up to this time, but numerous collapsed structures are proof how devastating the earthquake was. More than a million people lived in the area where the intensity of the earthquake was highest.

Haiti needs immediate help. The following are some hotlines to Haiti (from yahoo.com):

• American Red Cross: accepting donations through its International Response Fund
• UNICEF: relief particularly for children through its Haiti Earthquake Fund or call 1-800-4UNICEF
• Doctors Without Borders's clinics are treating the injured in Haiti. Any amount to Doctors Without Borders will help sustain these clinics.
  

Most of all, prayers from everyone around the world are needed by the people of Haiti.

Sunday Mass--it couldn't have been a walk-out

The priest, in his homily last Sunday at the 6PM Catholic Mass at the Mt. Carmel Church in Quezon City, Philippines, mentioned that 80 percent of the 90 million Filipinos are Catholics. But, he said, 40 percent of these Catholics are nominal Catholics—or those who neglect to do a lot of things that Catholics should do. He gave examples of how one can be called a nominal Catholic, such as going to Mass or to church, for that matter, only on three occasions in one’s life—that is, during baptism, during a wedding, and during a funeral, or during one’s own funeral.

Get up and leave
After his homily, in the minutes before the Host was raised, I took note that about 15 people—young and old, some as a group or maybe as families—stood up to leave the ongoing Mass. Now those people were just from my side of the Church, I was sitting at the left of the altar. I don’t know how many people left from the other side, if anyone did.

I also don’t know if some other churchgoers took note the same way I did of those people leaving, because I was thinking whether they were walking out because of the priest’s homily, or did they have to go someplace else so they had to go out right away? But seeing how these people were in a hurry to get out, I surmised that they had to go some appointment or some place else where they couldn’t be late. Maybe they had jobs that Sunday night. But it would have been sad to know if they were hurrying to leave the ongoing Mass only because they had to attend some party or merry-making. After all, that Sunday, according to the same priest that Sunday, was the last day of the Christmas season (where Jesus was baptised by John). So that Sunday was still the time for gift-giving and maybe Christmas parties for the merry-makers, the priest said.

Earlier Mass?
But then, I thought that if these people who were in a hurry knew that they had to go someplace else even before the Mass could end, why didn’t they have the initiative to go to Mass earlier in the day? That way, that they can still finish Mass and go unhurriedly to their appointments? Maybe they could have attended the 5PM Mass or even the 3PM or 4PM Mass. Almost all Catholic churches in the Philippines have almost hourly Masses on Sundays, in the morning and in the afternoon up to early evening.

I just feel sad when I see people leaving a Mass when it’s not yet over. I feel sad for them that they don’t seem to realize how wonderful a Mass is and how wonderful it is to be part of a Mass. And its even more wonderful, and even proper, to be in it the whole time--meaning, don't be late for a ridiculously long time or not at all, and don't leave early. After all, it’s only a hour in a week that a person is offering for the Lord. Of course, there are also Masses during the other days of the week. But many people don’t attend or can’t attend Masses in these other days. Sunday Mass is supposed to be where all Catholics should be, a hour or so, to join other churchgoers in celebration.

If some people will only make their stay in the Mass a stopover en route to their real destination after the Mass, or even before the Mass, then that’s a really regretful thing to happen.

01-02-2010

That's the date today. HAPPY NEW YEAR to all. Ok, I'm a bit late in giving this greeting full force. I was busy :) yesterday, the start of the year, 01-01-2010. Nice numbers, don't you think? Here's a short video I took of my mom and sister with sparklers, while the rest of the neighbors blew up the sky with fireworks.

It's good that our sky had the "blue moon" that night. The moon was like a static firework display in the sky with all its brightness.
The morning after, the streets around the city had a lingering smog or haze from all the fireworks that lighted our city and nearby cities.

Forgotten Maguindanao massacre victims--the Lechonsito couple

I'm posting below a letter to the editor from the Philippine broadsheet Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Preliminary hearings are now being done to the suspects (the Ampatuans of Maguindanao province and their private army) in the Maguindanao massacre or Ampatuan massacre, where 57 persons were brutally killed because of presumably a conflict between two powerful families.

Forgotten massacre victims
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:52:00 12/27/2009

I AM KATHRINA FLEUR LECHONSITO Serrano. I am a niece of two of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre—Eduardo “Nonie” Lechonsito and Cecil Lechonsito. My mom is the sister of Eduardo and we really appreciate Ceres Doyo’s Dec. 24 column. Our lives will never be the same again after they were killed. They left two daughters, aged 19 and 23.

We can’t describe the grief the girls are experiencing right now. Their parents were just innocent motorists who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Their mother was just here from Qatar for the graduation of the elder daughter in March and to spend Christmas with the family after two years of being away. Now, their parents won’t be spending any Christmas, graduation or special occasion with them.

We want justice for them and we want our voices heard. My cousins and mom were interviewed by Kiri Dalena for ANC, but aside from that documentary, nobody seems to be interested in my Tito and Tita’s story, or the stories of their companions in the red Vios. We would like to bring to the public consciousness that there were other innocent victims in that massacre who were not even part of the convoy. My Tito and Tita just wanted to go to the hospital for the CT scan of my Tito, who suffered a mild stroke two days before. His loyal staff, Mercy Palabrica and Darryl de los Reyes accompanied them. We can just imagine how they pleaded for their lives. They were not violent persons and for them to die the way they did is hard to accept.

We are a very close-knit family, and it is not only their daughters who are in anguish. All of us in the family can’t find an answer to why they were included in the massacre.

We don’t know how we could let the whole world know about their story. We want them also included in the search for justice for the Ampatuan massacre victims.

—KATZ SERRANO
katz_serrano@excite.com