I also never really ever noticed what kind of handbags women carry around with them. A bag is a bag, right? Obviously, not. As oblivious as I was back then (back then being fairly recently, around early this year), now I can’t help but instinctively look at what kind of bag a girl carries around every time I’m at the mall, or anywhere else for that matter. And in terms of handbags, Louis Vuitton is definitely one of the most popular brands here in the Philippines, and seemingly everywhere else in the world. And yeah, they really ARE that nice.

Because of that, I kind of noticed that almost everyone who goes to the mall totes an LV bag! So I started asking myself how that’s possible considering these handbags literally cost an arm and a leg to own. And these girls I see who own them really don’t seem to quite have the means to have one, if you know what I mean.

But since there is this place called Greenhills, the proliferation of these fake LV bags has boomed. So now anyone can own a “genuine-looking” Louis Vuitton handbag at a fraction of the actual price! Meaning if the real thing costs around Php 60,000 (or $1,200), you can get a fake one for a mere Php 4,000 (or $85!). And the greatest thing about it is that very few people can tell that it’s a fake! So for a sourgraper like me, who worked his ass off to be able to buy a REAL one for his fiancee, I want to spread the word on how YOU can TELL if the person you see in the mall is carrying a real one or not, and how YOU can TELL if the handbag you’re buying is the real McCoy!

Next: How You Can Tell…

One of the big reasons why Google is such a successful company is because of the way it drives innovation and how it generates great ideas out at the shortest amount of time possible. This month, as Google celebrates it’s 10th birthday, it unveiled yet another huge project as part of its push to help change the world by helping as many people as possible. Project 10^100, pronounced Project 10 to the 100th, asks any individual from anywhere in the world to submit their ideas until October 20, 2008, for ways to improve life and bring happiness to the largest number of people possible. And as a reward, Google has committed up to $10M to fund the 5 best ideas that come out of the initiative.

So how does it work? You can visit the link above for the complete details of the project. But in summary, Google will choose the 100 best ideas it feels should be included from the submissions. And then it will let users vote on which out of the 100 should be short-listed to the 20 finalists. A panel of judges made up of five to seven individuals who are experts in the required categories will then choose the FIVE ideas that will receive funding. The categories for the project include, but are not limited to, community, energy, environment, health, education, shelter and opportunities for people to better provide for themselves and their families.You can view the complete category list and descriptions for each, HERE.

Google said that the ideas can be big or small, and does not have to be technology-driven either. It just needs to have a very positive impact on the world. One of the examples of such an idea that is helping change the world was from a company that invented the Hippo Water Roller. It enabled millions of people to carry water across long distances using a relatively inexpensive 24-gallon container that could be easily wheeled on the ground. So what used to take a lot of time, not to mention a lot of pain, in moving water from one place to another was totally alleviated, and helped make the lives of thousands much easier.

I’m pretty interested to try and figure out what idea I could have that may actually help change the world. Who knows, maybe you have one too. The great thing about it is that Google enables you to do this now. We all know that sometimes great ideas are set aside because there’s just no way you could do it yourself. So with this initiative, Google tries to help change the world in the way that they can. As their tagline for the project says, goodluck, and “May Those Who Help the Most Win.”

Since time immemorial, there has always been a storied rivalry in the UAAP between the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the De La Salle Green Archers. And in Season 71 this year, that rivalry was revisited as both teams faced each other in the Finals in yet another epic battle. Ateneo, however, was DOMINANT the entire season, and ended it with a bang by sweeping their rivals to the tune of 62 – 51. The boxscore can be found below for those who are interested.

I’m not going to write a recap here nor do anything the many forums out there have been doing, which is get both schools to bash each other. It’s rather funny though, but I’ll leave that to them, hehe. I just wanted to give my two cents on why La Salle lost. But I’ll give credit where it’s due, as the Green Archers still got to the Finals even if they had a team that really didn’t have enough to be able to get there and win it. Props to them for reaching the Finals and playing their hearts out.

So why did they lose? For me the reason was pretty clear and rather simple. They had no leader on the team this year and they could turn to no one when the pressure was on. In the past teams they had, they always had guys you could count on. Mike Cortez was there, Cardona, and Ren-Ren. These three guys kept the DLSU engine in amazing shape and were constant threats at any point in the game. Cortez was a pure leader, and you could always count on Mac Mac and Ren-Ren for clutch points. This team they have this year had none of that and you can clearly see it If you watched the 2 games in the Finals. When Ateneo’s defense tightened, La Salle’s offense sputtered and they really had almost no chance of winning especially after Rico’s ejection.

Casio is the supposed leader of this team, but he has no leadership quality whatsoever. You can’t count on him in the clutch and he can’t make plays to help his teammates either. Sure, he can get hot every once in a while, but when you concentrate your defense on him, there is no way he can do anything. And what’s worse, he can’t play decoy and make his teammates better. Who else is there? Rico is in the Mythical 5, because he really raised his game to another level this year. BUT, sometimes, no matter how pissed off you are about something and no matter how great a play you make, you don’t taunt your opponents and you definitely don’t give them the finger in plain sight. That’s just plain stupid. DLSU had a real chance to win the game today as they fought back hard from a huge double digit halftime deficit. But as close as they got, Rico was dumb enough to throw that finger of his out and got thrown out of the game. Not that they would have surely won if Rico was still in there, but at least they would have had a better chance.

So in the end, La Salle lost because they had no leader on the floor. When the pressure was on, they could turn to no one, and no one wanted to take charge to lead this team. Add the element of stupidity in a player who should have realized he was worth more to his team if he was IN the game, gave La Salle absolutely no chance to win. Better luck next year, but unless they get a guy like Buenafe, who’s a rookie but doesn’t play like one, and plays with spunk and isn’t afraid to lead his team when called upon, then they can forget about getting to the Finals next year too.

Congrats to the very deserving Ateneo Blue Eagles for winning the championship this season! Ateneo practically swept all the awards too. MVP was Rabeh,  ROY was Buenafe, and DPOY was Baclao. Those 3 guys are still going to be in the same team next year. So it looks pretty promising for Ateneo in Season 72 even with Chris Tiu leaving. Pictures courtesy of GreenArchers.PH and Fabilioh.com.

ATENEO 62 -Tiu 16, Nkemakolam 8, Baclao 8, Al-Hussaini 7, Baldos 6, Buenafe 5, Reyes 5, Salamat 3, Austria 2, Escueta 2.

LA SALLE 51 – Casio 18, Walsham 8, Maierhofer 7, Revilla 5, Bagatsing 3, Atkins 3, Mangahas 3, Malabes 2, Ferdinand 2, Villanueva 0, Barua 0.

Quarters: 16-10, 41-26, 50-47, 62-51

Wow, talk about the new seasons of the most popular TV series in the past year all popping up at the same time! What started with Prison Break, Gossip Girl, and Smallville last week, was followed by House and One Tree Hill, and now it’s the season premiere of Heroes! Currently on it’s third season, the immensely popular sci-fi series recently released a “00″ torrent episode. That one hour special is a glance at the past two seasons so everyone can be up-to-date on what has happened already. The first two episodes, “The Second Coming,” of the Heroes saga can also be downloaded below.

On the fifth episode of Prison Break called “Safe and Sound,” which I finally watched a few minutes ago, Agent Self puts himself on the line as the team locates another card which is hidden in a safe within a secure federal building that he has access to. Bellick and Sucre try to look for T-Bag but apparently they aren’t the only ones. Mahone continues his quest for revenge and finally puts a face to his son’s killer. And Gretchen, who is one of the more curious characters this season, has finally found a way to escape! Sarah is again the downer in this episode, as everytime she hits the screen, the level of excitement just drops. This episode definitely makes up for that last one!

Download Links:
Heroes Season 3 Episode 00 HDTV (349MB)
Heroes Season 3 Episode 1 HDTV (350MB)
Heroes Season 3 Episode 2 HDTV (351MB)
Prison Break Season 4 Episode 5 HDTV (351MB)
Prison Break Season 4 Episode 5 720p (1.12GB)

Finally! All the good TV series are starting their seasons back up again. And one of my favorites has gotten Season 5 started after a very emotional end to Season 4. In this season premiere, “Dying Changes Everything,” as Wilson threatens to resign from the hospital because of the trauma caused by Amber’s death. House tries desperately to convince him to stay, and struggles as he finds himself silenced at the end of the episode.

What a way to start the season, as we finally see House digging deep into his jaded personality by finally telling Wilson how he really feels about the accident that he partly caused just to keep Wilson from leaving. The reply he got though, was the absolute clincher and perfect end to the episode. Definitely a very good start to Season 5, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the 2nd episode.

And in the latest episode of Prison Break, which was shown around 2 days ago called “Eagles & Angels,” the team has to crash a police benefit to get a hold of the next key card. This episode was pretty bland and one of the few that was rather forgettable. Sarah is back in her depressed state and goes to a bar and is tempted to get back to her old ways because Bennett was killed and she blames herself. She was one of the characters I really liked from the past seasons, but in this one, her character is just way too needy and dramatic now. Maybe it’s time to really kill her off, hehe, and the end of the episode might just be a prelude to that for the next one.

Download Links:
House Season 5 Episode 1 HDTV (353MB)
House Season 5 Episode 1 720p HDTV (1.12GB)
Prison Break Season 4 Episode 4 HDTV (350MB)
Prison Break Season 4 Episode 4 720p HDTV (1.12GB)