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(L-R) James and Phil Younghusband. All photos by JZ.

Noong isang linggo’y nakatanggap kami ng paanyaya mula sa Collezione para sa isang pananghalian at talakayan upang ipakilala ang kanilang mga bagong “brand ambassador”, sina Santiago at Felipe Batangasawa. Ang magkapatid na Batangasawa ay mestizong Pilipino at Ingles na manlalaro ng futbol. Sila ay bahagi ng pambansang koponang tinaguriang “Azkals”.

While we’re snapping pictures of designer Rhett Eala and Collezione C2′s new endorsers, Rhett is snapping pictures of us for his blog.

Ang Collezione naman ay kompanyang Pilipino na nagtataguyod ng ‘fashionalism’—ang pagtaguyod ng nasyonalismo sa pamamagitan ng pananamit. Kilala nating lahat ang mga kasuotang nilikha ni Rhett Eala para sa Collezione C2, lalo na ang mga barong may disenyo na mapa ng Pilipinas.

Bagama’t masyadong maaga para sa amin (10.30am) ang okasyon, minabuti naming dumalo upang makapag-usyoso. Tutal ay sikat na sikat ang Azkals ngayon, at biglang nagkaroon ng malawakang interes sa futbol ang madlang Pilipino na dati’y walang kinikilalang laro kundi basketball at boksing. Kaya di nakapagtatakang walang bakanteng upuan sa Conservatory kaninang umaga.

Nakipagtalakayan ang mga Batangasawa sa emcee, pagkatapos ay nagkaroon ng open forum kung saan nagtanong ng. . .tanong ang mga alagad ng media. Sinabi ng mga Batangasawa na malaking karangalan para sa kanila ang makalaro sa koponang pang-reserba ng tanyag na Chelsea football club kung saan ang coach ay si Jose Mourinho. Noong 2010, nagtayo ang mga Batangasawa ng Younghusbands Football Academy para sa mga bata dito sa Pilipinas. Ngayong 2011, maglalakbay sila sa mga lalawigan upang tulungan ang mga paaralan sa pagtuturo ng futbol. Balak nilang palaganapin ang paglalaro ng futbol sa ating bansa.

Nice pants.

May ilang tanong tungkol sa buhay romantiko ng magkakapatid na talaga namang maraming tagahangang babae. Sinabi ni Felipe na hindi siya ang tipo ng lalaki na lalapit sa mga hindi niya kakilala at makikipagkaibigan. Karaniwan ang kanyang mga kaibigan ay nakilala sa trabaho o sa pamamagitan ng kanyang pamilya. Dinagdag naman ni Santiago na hindi niya mamasamain na ang babae ang makipagkilala sa kanya at anyayahan siyang lumabas dahil medyo mabagal siya sa mga ganitong bagay.

Nagtanong ang aming kaibigang si Myrza kay Felipe tungkol sa pakikipagkaibigan nito sa artistang si Angel Locsin. Kinailangan naming i-google ang impormasyong ito at hindi namin nasusundan ang mga balita tungkol sa artista, bagama’t palagi kaming nanonood at nanlalait ng pelikula. Kaya’t hindi namin gaanong naunawaan ang sagot ni Felipe, nguni’t sa wari nami’y mabuti naman sila.

May pumuna sa disenyo ng mga pantalong Collezione C2 na suot ng magkapatid—maliliit na pating at balyena. Sinabi ni Santiago na natutuwa sila sa disenyo dahil noong bata pa sila’y nakapanood sila ng Free Willy.

Nabanggit din nina Santiago at Felipe na sa kasalukuyan sila ay natututong magsalita ng Pilipino. Naalala namin na matagal na kaming hindi nagsusulat sa Pilipino kaya’t naisip naming gawin ito.

This photo courtesy of Collezione C2. Colors!

Ang mga bagong disenyo ng Collezione C2 ay matatagpuan ngayon sa lahat ng tindahan ng Collezione.

Photo: Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer after Spassky won the first game of the 1972 World Chess Championship, held in Reykjavík, Iceland. Fischer went on to win the championship.

Read The Bobby Fischer Defence by Garry Kasparov in NYRB.

When I was a kid the world chess championships were front-page news—they were another front in the Cold War. One thing about the Cold War: intelligence was the weapon everyone feared the most.

Yes, Bobby Fischer lived here. Had a girlfriend. The DNA test came in: the child isn’t his.

Photo: Alex Brandon/Associated Press. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Filipino Congressman and eight-term world champion boxer Manny Pacquiao on Capitol Hill.

Pacquiao, the Ringmaster, and His Traveling Circus, in the NYT.

The American author John Irving (The World According to Garp, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany), with our host Dr. Joven Cuanang. Photos by JZ.

Dr. Cuanang hosted a dinner for John Irving last night at the fabulous Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo. I was invited, probably on the assumption that I’d read all the novels of John Irving. In truth I was a huge fan of John Irving in high school, but the last Irving I read was his sixth novel, The Cider House Rules, and he’s written six more novels since then. Everything I know about John Irving is from the early period, when his novels contained wrestling, Philips Exeter Academy, and bears.

The dinner guests were mostly John Irving fans, so if I faked familiarity with his work I would probably get caught. Then I remembered that Andy went to Exeter so I texted him in case he had any inside information: What should I ask John Irving?

Andy replied: Ask him what his win-loss record was in wrestling.

I did. And it was the best possible opening I could’ve used. Thanks, Andy.

You know how you can’t recognize most authors from the photos on the back covers of their books? John Irving looks exactly like his book photos.

New news so confusing we put it on top: Coach Simon McMenemy replaced? What the.

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This is all tentative, but if you’re planning to watch the Azkals Philippine football team take on the Mongolian team in the AFC Challenge Cup 2012 Qualifiers in Bacolod next month, you might find the information below useful. Thanks to our indefatigable head of online research, brewhuh23.

Neil Etheridge fans: We don’t know if Neil can join the Azkals in February as he has been named to his club Fulham’s first team. It would be great to see Neil in Bacolod but. . .He’s on the first team of an English premiership club! First player of Filipino descent, as far as we know.

Of course the all-time leading scorer of FC Barcelona with 357 goals in 357 games is the Spanish-Filipino Paulino Alcantara, who played for the club between 1912 and 1927. In 1922, in a game between Spain and France, he hit a goal so hard it ripped the net. (Second most important factoid I picked up while doing Flip magazine, the first being the YC jingle lyrics.)

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The Dakar rally, the most grueling road race on earth, is on now. It used to start in France or Portugal and head on down to Africa but with increasing terrorist threats they moved to Argentina and Chile.

- Who are we rooting for?
- The bike race is almost always between the top two riders, Marc Coma of Spain and Cyril Despres of France.
- Under the circumstances shouldn’t Marc Coma have his name legally changed?
- Hahaha! He actually did go into a coma some time back.
- Haha! (That’s funny?!)

Here’s a montage of crashes at the Dakar rally. Do watch it with the volume off, the music is atrocious. Even better, watch the video while listening to Dakar by John Coltrane.

John coltrane – Dakar Found at abmp3 search engine