Former Anino Entertainment’s lead programmer Allan (A.K.A. BBB) and his long time girlfriend Mabel (A.K.A. Mama Bee) got married last January 2. I forgot the name of the Church but it was in Greenhills. The reception was in Marikina, a place I think was called the Glass Garden.

The wedding is obviously an eventful day for the couple but it was a little bit more eventful for myself too.

First problem was, the wedding was a Barong Tagalog event according to the invitation. It has been years since I wore a Barong Tagalog or even leather shoes and non-jeans pants. My body has grown from 34″ waistline to a 38″. My body size has grown from L to XXL. I was able to buy leather shoes and a 38″ black pants. I thought I could borrow a white XXL Barong Tagalog. Unfortunately, I was bigger now than most of my family members. I had to borrow from my friend who only had a black Barong. Great, black barong with black pants and black shoes.

Now, we decided to meet in our apartment so we can taxi our way to the church. The three other friends are wearing white barong. Being the tallest on the group and wearing a black barong, I would obviously stand-out. Now they’re calling me a congressman and they were supposedly my close-in security.

During the reception, there was a modified garter and bouquet game. For the garter game, you have to take a shot of Vodka (they said it was Vodka) and then insert a string through a needle. The one to do this last gets the garter. Having always used a needle threader back in home economics class, I know we have a problem. As I expected, I lost and got the garter.

I know, putting the garter on a girl’s leg shouldn’t be much of a big deal, right? Well, apparently, they have not only changed the way to get the garter but also what you do before you put the garter on the girl’s leg. You actually have to dance. In a seductive way. I have to dance in a seductive way? I can’t even dance in any way, shape or form! To make matters worst, everyone of my Anino buddies were shouting congressman, so now I was being addressed by the MC as congressman.

But enough about me, let’s talk about the wedding.

Well, I believe their wedding is as perfect as one could hope for. If ever I would get married, I would have to call up BBB and ask for advice. I’m not sure if they hired a wedding planner or one of their relatives were expert wedding coordinator but the event was pretty organized from the church through the reception. The souvenirs, IMO, is the best. No, not the pens, but the pictures. There is an instant photo service, free of charge where you can get your photos taken along with your friends.

Here are some other random funny things that happened during the wedding and reception:

• Marlo was late. We’re praying he doesn’t get murdered because of this >:)
• Pony was crying during the exchange of vows. Pressure, pressure!
• Jar took an upskirt photo of some girl. Accidentally?
• We picked the wrong lane three times on our way from the church to the reception and still was one of the early birds.
• Pony fell victim to one of Jar’s jokes. So as Choogs.
• Jar is now known as “Eugene Hardest”
• A certain Anino Girl was not placed besides a certain Anino Boy during the reception. Why, BBB, why?

Anyway, congratulations and best wishes to Allan and Mabel! I hope to see more Anino people get married soon ^_^

Pictures to be posted soon!

Most boxing fan already know this, that the most anticipated boxing match of 2010 is on the rocks. The problem being Mayweather wanting more thorough drug testing for his match with Manny Pacquiao. By thorough, he means he wants USADA and not the Nevada State Athletic Commission to conduct random blood and urine testing. Pacquiao’s camp refuses to accept Mayweather’s proposal of random blood testing because Pacman has this belief that he feels weakened when he undergoes blood testing. His camp offered to do the test 30 days before the fight and immediately after the fight. Mayweather refuses the counter-offer.

The news got some writers taking side and writing their own opinion on the matter. I’ve read a lot about the issue and would like to share some points of view from each side. Since Mayweather is the one on the offensive here, we’ll start with what his fans are saying:

1. Mayweather agreed to the $10 million penalty if he doesn’t make weight so to be fair, Pacman’s camp should accept the random blood testing as well.
2. Pacquiao has gone up from fighting at 106-p0unds to 147 pounds without losing his speed which is an indication that Pacquiao is either incredibly gifted or he’s using some performance enhancing drugs (PED).
3. On an episode of HBOs 24/7 on the Hatton fight, Manny was seen undergoing a blood test. The 24/7 series documents the boxer’s training on the last 3-4 weeks before the fight. Pacquiao KO’ed Hatton in less than 2 rounds.

Now as for the Pacman’s fans:

1. Mayweather’s camp was the one who proposed the March 13 date thinking that he would refuse as he was injured during the Cotto fight. Pacquiao accepted the date surprising Mayweather’s camp who thought they could avoid the fight while making it look like Pacman was the one avoiding it. So they thought of another way to harass Pacman by proposing this unorthodox blood testing.
2. Apparently Mayweather was also a 106-pounder when he started boxing as an amateur on the same age as Pacquiao when he also started professional boxing. Mayweather fought at 147-pounds when he was 28 while Pacquiao fought his first 147-pound bout at age 30 (with De La Hoya).
3. Pacman has passed every drug testing he was examined. There is no reason to doubt that he is clean and additional testing is just a way to harass Pacquiao.

Apparently, only the 24/7 episode is left unanswered by Pacman’s fans and so Arum has changed his stance and decided to check with HBO on when exactly the date of that blood testing and formulate a new and better proposal for both side. Mayweather’s side also wants to review that 24/7 episode and wants to know if 14-days before the fight testing is good enough to ensure the safety of their fighter.

While I’m glad that there is some hope that the fight could be saved, I am not happy that Mayweather got his way in the end. A letter from a fan of the RING blog said:

If I make a baseless accusation, with zero evidence, that someone committed a crime, the burden isn’t on them to prove me wrong, it’s on me to prove the accusation has merit, and that I’m not completely lying or talking s__t. In this case, as we all know, there’s absolutely no evidence that Pacquiao has been doing anything illegal regarding training and fight prep, yet it’s all called into question because of Floyd Sr’s hunch? Seriously? A completely made-up accusation from Floyd Sr. has the boxing public in debate?

Why does the Mayweather team get to dictate the terms through which Pacquiao has to clear his name? After they’re the ones who put dirt on it in the first place? If I said that Floyd Jr. took steroids, that he did it not one time, not this time, not that time, but ALL the time, would people start knocking on Money’s door demanding he prove his innocence? Hell naw, they’d tell me to shut up without any proof that I wasn’t just trying to tear down a fighter and his accomplishments.

Pacquiao is not asking for any special treatment. All he is asking is for the standard procedures to be upheld. True, Pacquiao can just suck it up and do the blood test, to hell with his psychological problem with blood letting, but why does he have to be placed in that position

Here is my take on the 24/7 episode. While it is a good evidence for Manny that he won’t get weakened by blood testing less than 30 days before the fight, it is also a good enough evidence that Pacquiao is not into any PEDs. He took that test and passed.

If ever Pacquiao accepts the match, I hope his camp also makes a ridiculous demands like there will be no decision victory. After 12 rounds, the match goes to a sudden death. First one to get knocked down loses. I know it’s unlikely to happen, but hey, if Mayweather’s camp gets to propose a ridiculous demand then why can’t Pacquiao?

Well last December 28, 2008, I started my own awards for things that I deemed worthy of recognition. So to make it a yearly event, here are the awards and their winners.

Movie Awards

Epic Movie of the Year: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Though there were important scenes from the book that were excluded from the film, the movie was still the best one this year. It is also the highest grossing movie this year as per wikipedia. By the way, that movie with sparkling vampires is at sixth place.

Movie-that-I-will-not-watch of the Year: That movie with sparkling vampires – Last year we had sparkly vegan vampires. This year, they added hairy half naked guys who comes out of the forest with other hairy half naked guys. No thanks. Runner-up: Dragonball Evolution

Disappointing Movie of the Year: G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra – My favorite character, Flint, was not there. Snake Eyes wasn’t cool enough. Stormshadow was actually the cooler ninja. Runner-ups: Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-li, X-men Origins: Wolverine

Adrenaline Movie of the Year: Taken – 80% of the time, Liam Neeson was being a kick-ass super-agent. It’s like watching James Bond, only without gadgets and more bad-ass moves. Runner-ups: 2012, Fast and Furious

Funniest Movie of the Year: Fanboys – I am not a fanboy of the Star Wars series but I do love its tribute to all its fanatics. A lot of cameo appearances from key people of the Star Wars industry too. And yes it was funny even though a lot of jokes are Star Wars related. Runner-ups: Fired-up!, Bride Wars

WTF Movie of the Year: Inglorious Basterds – I like the movie, I just don’t know what genre it should be categorized.

I-should-have-watched-but-didn’t Movie of the Year: Terminator Salvation – I know I should have watched this but I was busy during that time. Runner-ups: Avatar, Up

Have finally watched Avatar. Review of the Movie and the IMAX experience to follow

American Pie Clone Movie of the Year: Fired-Up! – Two guys on a cheerleading camp. Need I say more? Runner-ups: I love you Beth Cooper, American Pie: The Book of Love

Megan Fox Movie of the Year: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen – I know Jennifer’s Body is a movie with Megan Fox as the only selling point, but you can’t beat the motorcycle scene with Megan doing the ‘correct’ posture for drawing on the bike scene. And the hundreds of slow motion bouncing boobs.

Music Awards

Artist of the Year: So Nyuh Shi Dae – Right now it’s So Nyuh Shi Dae! From now on it’s So Nyuh Shi Dae! Forever it’s So Nyuh Shi Dae!

Most Played Song of the Year: So Nyuh Shi Dae’s Genie – I think I have at least a dozen live performances of this song.

Album of the Year: So Nyuh Shi Dae’s Genie – The reason here is simple. Genie is the first album that I have purchased since Parokya ni Edgar’s Bigotilyo which was about five years ago.

LSS of the Year: Kara’s Mister – I give the award to Mister as it has infected the most people with the least amount of play count.

House of Squared Related Awards

Article of the Year: Katrina Halili Scandal: For Real – The article that got me 5,000 hits in the span of 3 days.

Most Viewed Article: Everything Scandalous: Returns – Apparently, even after half a year of dormancy, a lot of people are still hoping for cult_master’s blog to return. As of this writing, this article has been viewed 15,035 times.

Month with Most Visitors: May – Thanks mostly to the Katrina Halili-Hayden Kho scandal, I got 21,110 visitors that month.

Asshole of the Year: To whoever sent that legal threat to a certain co-worker – We know who this is.

Miscellaneous Awards

Babe of the Year: Cristine Reyes – the things she did this year and being at the wrong place at the right time sure did wonders for her. Runner-up: Krista Ranillo

Game of the Year: Dragon Age: Origins – Finally, a game that I can call a complete product. Unlike some games that withheld features like bonus stage, developer consoles, and the likes.

Software of the Year: Windows 7 – Finally, we can forget of the failure that was Vista.

Hardware of the Year: iPod Touch – Yes it’s an Apple product but for a quarter of the price, you get all what the iPhone can give except for the phone and camera functionality. For the amount that you’ve “saved”, you can buy a better camera phone and a netbook.

Well that’s it for the 2009 House of Squared awards. 2009 has been a boring year compared to the year that was 2008. 2010 will be a year of changes for my blog. I know I have not been updating my site often this past couple of weeks but do come visit from time to time and see what changes are in store for 2010.