The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
Last night’s episode of Journo (Probe Productions, Channel 5) on Angelo Reyes’ death brought out a related issue that, I think, is worth discussing some more. Just what purpose is served by the live media coverage of Congressional sessions and inquiries? I’ve seen a few of them, including the first impeachment proceedings against then president ... (more)
Former Defense Chief Angelo Reyes died from a gunshot wound to the heart, no one knows what gun was used, autopsy has not been performed but media have already concluded it’s suicide. The most jaw-dropping headline, I read in the Philippine Daily Inquirer — “Angelo Reyes commits suicide.” Despite the headline, the body of the ... (more)
In the wake of a House Bill proposing media blackout “on all delicate police and military movements in times of crisis or emergency” the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas (KBP) made this statement. …KBP president Herman Basbaño said the media should not be blamed for airing blow-by-blow coverage of the hostage-taking incident since it ... (more)
Relative to the trial of the damage suit against Mike Arroyo stemming from various libel suits he had filed against reporters in the past, two news outfits reported that the Supreme Court “upheld” the journalists (here and here). That’s really misleading. As a backgrounder, since around 2003, Mike Arroyo has been the subject of countless ... (more)
A day after I handed my notice to Manila Standard Today, there was an e-mail from a member of the paper’s staff with the phone number of someone from the U.S. embassy. Understand that I’ve gotten invitations to U.S. embassy functions before (I never went) and I was familiar with the routine — I was ... (more)
In July, 2005, my first opinion column was published in Manila Standard Today. Because it was an offshoot of A sassy lawyer in Philippine suburbia blog, the name “Sassy Lawyer” was retained. Over the next four years and nine months, I would also write feature articles for the paper, mostly travel-related. Once, a photo I ... (more)
In the age of mass media, and the internet, people have developed the “scoop” mentality. Everyone wants to be the first. Media outfits will pay good money to get the scoop on an event and internet publishers sometimes try to out-scoop media. The more serious movie goer and book reader do it to their peers ... (more)
Everyone said you start feeling old after your 20s but I felt nothing like that when I turned 30. I was enjoying raising two young girls and having a ball. Everyone said that at the onset of midlife, you start asking yourself what you have done with your life and really start feeling old. Not ... (more)
Quite by chance, I was able to watch the telecast of the national finals of the ASEAN Quiz competition last Sunday. I don’t know if it was a live telecast or if the contest took place days or even weeks ago. I did hear very clearly though that the regional finals where the winners of ... (more)
I’ve often been asked why I don’t use the sassylawyer.com and sassylawyer.net domains for blogging. The answer is simple and it’s related to why my main website is now called House On A Hill instead of A Sassy Lawyer in Philippine Suburbia which was its title for many years. See, any website with the word ... (more)
On Sunday evening, I thought about asking my editor if I could submit my column later on Monday afternoon so I could watch the President’s state of the nation address first and write a column about it. By Monday morning, as I looked at the cats’ litter box, the dirty breakfast plates, the dusty floors, ... (more)
It has often been said that the Philippines has the longest Christmas celebration in the entire world. When the first “ber” month begins, Filipinos can already taste Christmas. But it isn’t just Christmas that we celebrate the longest — we have the longest electoral campaign period too. Not too long ago, when political aspirants blatantly ... (more)
Casa is Spanish for house. CASA is also an acronym for Connie, Antonio, Sam and Alex. We are all surnamed Veneracion. We all love to take photos -- of anything that catches our fancy. It's a family obsession.
This is a journal of how we live, eat, learn, play and have fun. Work? Work is part of playing and having fun. Seriously.
In 2003, a time when I hadn't heard of the term "blog", I started a recipe website at cooking.houseonahill.net using a now defunct content management system that ran on ASP. Ok, never mind the geek talk, I'm sure you're not interested in that. The contents easily multiplied and, in 2004, I moved the food site to pinoycook.net. Always unhappy with the fact that the dot com … »»
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