Pacquiao joins the Nike Superstars

I just saw Manny Pacquiao's newest Nike international commercial this evening and it was really cool (got goosebumps while watching it). PacMan, the first Filipino Nike endorser, is shown with some of the world’s super athletes: Kobe Bryant, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, and Xiang Liu. It just goes to show the talent within the Nike camp.




It seems clear that Nike has the greatest athletes right now (and makes the best commercials too). Prior to this, Nike had the Air Force 1 (25th anniversary) commercial with NBA superstars Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Rasheed Wallace, Paul Pierce, Tony Parker, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, LeBron James and Chris Paul.

There was also the commercial featuring the likes of Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Ronaldinho, and Wayne Rooney on the same training ground.

Going back to the latest one, it would have been better if Tiger Woods was also in it. Nevertheless, according to sources, another Pacquiao Nike ad will soon air this time including the world's number one golfer.

Manny Pacquiao's first ad with Nike was entitled "Ang Mamatay nang Dahil sa ‘Yo", a thematic take-off from the last line of the Philippines' national anthem. The second ad is entitled "Fast Forward" and shows Manny’s routine training. Videos clips from this ad was what was used in the most recent commercial, which to me, was a compilation of the individual TV ads of the Nike superstars.

Ang Mamatay nang Dahil sa ‘Yo


Fast-Forward

Panasonic Lumix FZ8

Today, I finally got hold of the Panasonic Lumix FZ8 I ordered online when my cousin arrived from the US. Prior to this, my 6-year old Kodak digicam and a brandless one I bought in Singapore 3 years ago (I got duped) had already been destroyed. Hence, the closest thing to a digital camera I had was my Sony Ericsson K800i. Though this phone packed a 3.2 megapixel Cybershot camera, it was insufficient for a frustrated photographer like me.

I bought the FZ8 online from Amazon.com for around $229 (exclusive of shipping fees), which was a bargain compared to the prices in the Philippines. (I was in Manila last week and the cheapest price of the same model was around P23,000 [$548]).

Prior to the purchase, I did some research on the Internet. I wanted a digicam that was kinda between a point-and-shoot and a DSLR. I still plan to own a DSLR, but right now that's just too expensive for me. In the end, I was choosing between a Sony H7, a Canon S5 IS, and the Panasonic Lumix FZ8. The former two are considerably more expensive than the latter. The H7 costs $292 while the S5 IS costs $314. Interestingly, while Sony and Canon are considered "branded", the FZ8 had better online reviews and actually rated higher than the 2 others. To cite an example, dpreview.com gives it an rating of "highly recommended" and an overall value of 9/10, while the S5 IS was merely "recommended" with a value of 8/10 and the H7 was "above average" with a value of 8.5/10.

Add the fact that the FZ8 was quite cheaper, it was a no-brainer decision on my part. Though the S5 IS had more features (including the hot shoe adapter which I really liked) and the H7 had a better zoom (15x), the FZ8 features were not bad either. Among the features of this cam are the following:

- 12x optical zoom (with an 18x extended optical zoom) plus 4x digital zoom (total of 72x)
- 7.2 megapixels
- intelligent image stabilizer
- 2.5" LCD with full 207,000-pixel resolution
- electronic viewfinder

I also liked the fact that this camera uses an SD or SDHC (unlike the Sony H7) as external storage and had the option of using RAW format.

I'm simply amazed at this camera (though I really don't have a basis for comparison). The images were crisp and the zoom was incredible. After the first few hours of testing the camera, I already had taken more than a hundred photos. (At first I had to settle with its 27mb internal memory, though later I used the 256mb SD card from my old cam). I have yet to fully read the manual and I'm still in the process of experimenting. Here's one of my first-ever photos with this camera (which I took from Bethel's Filomena Restaurant):

Sick Doctors

The recent video scandal involving doctors and nurses of a government-run hospital in Cebu was a display of disrespect and immorality - two things that seem to be plaguing our country right now. The video showed doctors extracting a perfume canister from a man's rectum. People, presumably nurses and medical staff, in the background were heard cheering and giggling. To make it worse, the video was then posted on YouTube (later removed).

I just could imagine what probably happened. During the surgery, the doctor was so amused that he had to call his doctor-friends to witness the odd operation. People began to gather around the poor guy (patient), who was probably in pain physically and emotionally. The already embarrassed patient was suffering while those around him were laughing at the guy. And then this one nurse (or student nurse) just had to take out his cellphone and start recording what was transpiring. This guy probably couldn't get enough of what he had seen, so he shared it with some friends, perhaps sending the video file through bluetooth to some of them. And then the video exponentially spread to a number of people, with one of them uploading it on the popular video-sharing website.

I only hope the hospital where all of this took place would be administratively sanctioned for failing to exercise proper supervision over their personnel. It would also be right to take away the licenses of these erring doctors and nurses and charge them with medical malpractice, for violating their code of ethics. A civil suit for damages can also be filed by the victim.

There are some who insist that in the first place, this would not have happened if the man (victim) was not having those kind of homosexual activities. While that would also be considered immoral, i believe it is beside the point in this case. The point here is that patient confidentiality and the basic human right of privacy were gravely violated.

Doctors (and the medical/nursing professionals) are highly respected in Filipino culture. They have the responsibility to observe the highest ethical standards in their medical profession. This unfortunate incident has tainted the reputation of the medical profession, even more so compared to the nursing board exam leakage scandal.

Invasion Repelled

Once again, the Filipino boxers proved their dominance in the sport, emerging victorious in an event dubbed “Invasion: Philippines vs. the World” held at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, witth all four Filipinos winning their matches.

A.J. “Bazooka” Banal of the Philippines started it off by defeating Caril Herrera of Uruguay in a referee-stopped fight in the fourth round match, an eliminator for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) move up to the No. 1 spot. The Filipino dominated the Uruguayan, scoring with several punches on the latter’s face. Herrera had to take a standing eight-count after being brought down to his knees at the end of the third round by a series of face punches by Banal. The fight, ruled a technical knockout in favor of the Filipino, was stopped at 1:18 into the fourth round.

In the second match, Filipino Ciso Morales defeated Yoo-Shin Kim of South Korea in the fourth round as the referee stopped the fight in 2:24 of the fourth round, seeing that Yoo-Shin, face bloodied with a cut on the left eye, had taken enough punishment from the Filipino, who successfully retained his World Boxing Organization (WBO) oriental super bantamweight title.

In the next match, Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista of the Philippines knocked out Genaro Camargo of Mexico in the second of a 12-round match. Bautista knocked down the Mexican twice in the first round and sent him down for the good 57 seconds into the second round. Bautista thus retained his World Boxing Organization (WBO) inter-continental super bantamweight title.

In the main event, veteran Filipino boxer Gerry Peñalosa beat challenger Ratanachai Sor Vorapin of Thailand to retain his World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight title, via referee stoppage with 29 seconds remaining in the eighth round. Peñalosa knocked down the Thai thrice, in the fifth, seventh, and earlier in the eighth before the referee stopped the fight.

It was in the fifth round that Peñalosa started punishing the Thai with a series of combinations that nearly knocked him down, at one point sending him down on his knees. Vorapin, however, managed to put his arms around Peñalosa’s waist to break his fall.

pinoy boxers