Every time I log-in into the Internet, I always have that feeling of exaltation, like I am entering into a whole new world —like Alladin or Lea Salonga for that matter, as she sang that saccharine song featured in that cartoon movie—and such experience reminds me also of Tom Petty’s “Into The Great Wide Open”. There is just so much out there in cyberspace that can be had or browsed upon. Type the word in the search box and voila, you get to know something about that something you want to know about. You can have knowledge about everything—not almost everything, but exactly everything.

But now, the days of the wide-open cyberspace will soon be over, this according to a CNN report as money-rich lobbyists from AT&T and Time Warner (which happens to be the mother company of our favorite cable news network) are furiously blocking the passage of laws that would prevent communication companies from establishing a two-tiered Internet gateway, one fast and one slow. Those sites that have the money to burn can pay these media companies to give them wider bandwidth and make their websites load faster on your browser and those that have not much to spare would have to contend themselves on the usual (meaning, slower) lane. It’s like an invisible tollway in the cyberspace where only the mighty can pass through. To be sure, not all website operators could shell-out extra dough for a faster loading lane, especially bloggers like us. And we bloggers would surely be affected negatively by this development and all benefits would only go to giant but still money-hungry mega-companies like AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Maybe the United States Congress should do wisely by pushing thru with that law that should prevent these companies from establishing the double-standard in the netsphere. We’ve just been okay with this system and I don’t see any valid reason to change it. Why put a wall between two classes of webbies when there wasn’t any at all in the first place? We’ve have had enough of walls already—the wall that prevents Palestinians from moving freely in Jerusalem, the Berlin wall, the Great Wall of China, the 38th Parallel dividing South Korea and North Korea—I say, bring down and burn down the walls.

And lastly, why fix it if it ain’t broken in the first place?

Ryan Seacrest asked that proverbial question hours ago during the penultimate show of American Idol. Would Taylor Hicks break the cycle this year? For the past couple of years, female contestants had emerged victorious in this phenomenal talent search—first with Fantasia Burrina two years ago and last year with Carrie Underwood (shutting down the very rugged Bo Bice, the one who should have won in my book).

So will Taylor sing his way thru America’s hearts tomorrow and towards ultimate stardom with his sweet and raspy voice? This question is so difficult to answer and there is really no safe prediction as of this moment. The result can just go either way. Katherine Mcphee has such a powerful voice that if I were to judge her (like Simon Cowell does) then I should say that she has the most powerful voice ever for an unsigned artist. She can hit the high notes anytime without any hint of uneasiness in her entire façade and she is so versatile that I wouldn’t be surprised if she sings a Maria Callas operatic piece at one time and then shift to a Britney Spears ear-candy song seconds after that. She even sang an Ella Fitzgerald song and made it sound like she owned it and sang it so well that she had virtually redefined what a jazz ballad is. Her voice is clearly her most potent weapon and I considered it vintage classic. Ms. McPhee reminds me so much of a time when female vocalists were always soulful and strong, like Gladys McKnight and Olivia Newton John in the 1970’s. Nowadays, you don’t hear that kind of voice as often and if Katherine wins tomorrow, it wouldn’t surprise me at all and it would be mostly because of a voice that is so powerful that there’s nobody like her out there in the entertainment scene at present.

But despite of Katherine’s sublime singing qualities, I am so inclined to believe that Taylor Hicks should win it all tomorrow and that way, American Idol could offer a fresher material to Hollywood. Like Mcphee, Taylor’s voice and singing prowess is so unique and distinctive that there is no one like him out there. And mind you, America loves soul music and the guy who is the soul of Soul Patrol is all about soul music. And if only for this, Taylor should be singing his way all the way to the bank tomorrow morning.

America needs Taylor Hicks. It had already been too long since America had seen a talent like Taylor Hicks, especially with a very soulful voice like his. Joe Cocker is already nowhere in sight. Huey Lewis and The News is history. Billy Joel is fading into the sunset. And so is Bruce Springsteen. Americans love soul music and Taylor Hicks can keep it alive for them.

Once in a while, stories like this comes out and it brings such a nice sense of wonderment. Ever heard about the band The Go-Betweens? As an avid music lover, I must have perhaps came across with their music maybe once or twice in the past but that was all there was to it and I couldn’t even remember how the songs sounded, much less their titles.

Some days ago, the band’s lead singer Grant McLennan died of a heart attack at the early age of 48 and mind you, it had caused a major stir in the international music scene as suddenly music critics all over the world are telling stories about McLennan like he was John Lennon or Jimi Hendrix. And it was pleasantly surprising that The Go-Betweens is a celebrities’ celebrity as personalities like Bono of the legendary Irish super group U2 and bands like REM, Coldplay and Everything But The Girl citing McLennan and The Go-Betweens as major inspiration and influence. Now it makes me regret that I didn’t dig them so much in the past and I don’t even have any album of them in my collection. If a legendary musicman like Bono loves The Go-Betweens, then they must be real good. In fact, the U2 frontman considered The Go-Betweens early 80’s single “Cattle and Cane” as an all-time favorite. Perhaps, I might have heard about them is some compilation work before like the famous new-wave compilation series “Lost and Found” . In fact, if it were not for this occassion (McLennan’s death), I would have continued believing that The Go-Betweens was fronted by a female vocalist, like Blondie or The Go-Gos.

So I broke some downloading ethiqutte last night and sampled some of Grant McLennan’s works and then found real affirmation that indeed their music is completely sublime and profound. So lush in guitar and rich in background aggrandizement that I couldn’t help but utter to myslef that they are just as good as The Smiths. In fact, McLennan’s voice is sweeter than Morrissey and reminds me so much of Midnight Oil’s gregarious frontman Peter Garret.

What should astound first time listener of The Go-Betweens is the fact that this Australian band hadn’t really made enough cash throughout their musical career and hadn’t quite had the success other legendary bands had. But truly, music critics and prolific musicians like U2 and REM affirms their legendary status in the music world. And now, I must include myself as one of those who must affirm their greatness.

I have been climbing mountains before (not only trees as some of you know by now), way back in my college days and so therefore I hadn’t gave the First Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition much attention and had very little interest in it that whenever the news on television mentioned it, I had instinctively pressed the remote control buttons in order to surf some other more worthwhile items on the boob tube (pressing that darn gadget like a panic button). I had thought, “What’s the big fuzz about this expedition?” In my mind, so many nations and nationalities have already achieved the feat before and as a frequent mountain climber in the past, I felt that even I myself could do it given the right physical conditioning and climbing gears and that maybe it’s not such a enormous feat after all.

But when an unanticipated television news update announced yesterday that one of the Filipino mountaineers finally reach the summit of the legendary Mount Everest, I felt an immense and refreshing emotion enveloping me and suddenly felt proud that the Philippine flag was finally flying at the top of the world (and no pun intended there).

This a triumph of spirit and the first Filipino to reach the world’s topmost point, Leo Oracion—as well as the rest of the First Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition team—should now be considered as legends and fabled heroes by our countrymen.

(Visit the First Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition website HERE.)

The Batasan 5 legislators had finally decided to end their captivity by marching with such pomp and spectacle this afternoon on the streets of Manila and yet, their travails seem to be far from over.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales made sure that the famed (celebrated?) congressmen won’t be savoring sweet and complete victory by declaring that the war wasn’t over yet, although a battle has been lost after a Makati Regional Trial Court dismissed the charges of rebellion previously instituted against them. Secretary Gonzales stated that since the case was dismissed on technical grounds, it could be reactivated again without violating the rule against double-jeopardy.

In my mind I was wondering why Secretary Gonzales seems to take this issue against the Batasan 5 legislators with so much fervor that it looks like he made it his personal crusade to make sure they won’t be scot-free for long. What’s eating Raul Gonzales? So much hate and detestation could make an old man like him look whiny and ridiculous.

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2 It’s All Beta

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