RIGHT BRAIN ::: Treading in Coherence

When I first saw Savage Garden's first music video I Want You, it was a five-second clip from a CNN segment on the Billboard top 10 singles that week and I fell hard for it. The song was not like anything I'd heard before. It was rock, synth-pop, and dance...and it worked.

They released their second album and I thought they were incredibly gifted musicians. And then they split up. The singer went on his own and released some respectable tracks. One made its way to my subconscious.

When Ninang Puring died, I was in a wallowing and questioning phase I guess you would call it. It's probably the most self-indulgent I've ever been--save my cake and cookies--and would cry over every other sad song that caught my ear. Dublin Sky was that one song I played over and over and over again even if it spoke nowhere near my lamentations. So in honor of Saint Paddy's, here are the sob-worthy lyrics to go over that sad situation one more time. Hey, you know who you are.

I've been down a lonely street tonight
And I don't know what's wrong with me
I don't know what's wrong with me
The clouds cover up the Dublin sky
I don't know what's left of me
I don't know what's right with me
And I've tried to keep my distance
And I've sung Amazing Grace
I've tarnished all our memories
But there'll always be a trace of you
Of you

I remember laughing on that river's edge
Trying to get you to jump with me
Trying to get you to fall for me
And your trembling heart it beat so fast
Holdings hands you promised me
Holding hands we counted to three
And I felt your slipping fingers
And I saw you change your mind
If I hadn't dragged you in with me
You would have let me dive without you
Without you

They sent you all the way from Hollywood
And maybe that Dublin sky was changing you
It put diamonds in your eyes
I always thought we were going to make it through
But I wanted to hear it first from you

How many days am I going to regret you?
How many nights till I forget you?
Have I been wasting all those years?
Held down by these tears?
How many dreams have I left deserted?
How many hopes have been diverted?
Have I been buried in the dirt?
Held down by this hurt?

How many loads did I let you hijack?
How many ways can I stand here in playback?
How did I end up lying here
Crying underneath the Dublin sky?

How many days am I going to regret you?
How many nights till I forget you?
Have I been wasting all these years?
Drowning in my tears?

How many nights am I going to regret you?
How many days till I forget you?
Have I been wasting all these years?
Drowning in my tears?

RIGHT BRAIN ::: One Step Closer

Thank you to all who wished me 'happy birthday' yesterday by greeting me in person, calling, text messages, and through the Y!M.

Adam, I hear, is somewhat still hurting while Donald Duck is producing a reality show to find the next Disney World ride.

Grazie, Mama, puor di spagete.

RIGHT BRAIN ::: Satori Offered

My horoscope for the birthday:

Your friends gravitate toward you. They don't need anything; they only want to be near you. Tonight could feature an entertaining emergency. A simple recipe can get you out of a bind.

Truth is I don't believe this stuff...until after.

RIGHT BRAIN ::: Scar(R)ed Enough Yet?

I'll tell you one thing, folks.

necessity is unfair but dang Good for a curtain call with the audience on its feet.

There's no denying it. It's time to get off the theme park and strut onto the circus.

It All Unravels This Month

So it's March. It's my month, Adam Clayton's, Donald Duck's, and St. Patrick's. Could there be any better group? Don't answer that.

By the way, the new MTV Philippines? I like it. So far. Caught the new VJs, too. They're actually entertaining to watch and I like how they're unassuming yet articulate and receptive. Dunno about Maggie Wilson though. We'll see. Right now, I'm feeling Anne Curtis could go regional. I think she can. Do you?

FLAK ::: Left and Right Both Bent

Letterman had a big guy on the show talking about "see-pack tick-rah" last night. I realized later he was Jeff MacGregor from Sports Illustrated. Anyway, he was describing some of the games at the Doha Asiad which he apparently found silly. I mean the man didn't straight out say it but you can tell he was ridiculing what he wasn't used to.

Dave remained polite despite being Dave. You'd think he'd jump in on the mockery but I thought he was pretty cautious and saw how MacGregor was making a fool of himself. Also, MacGregor has a very bad hearing problem because after two weeks, he still couldn't say Sepak Takraw right. Or maybe he just didn't want to.

Then I find this article by Ben Shapiro scoffing at MacGregor's flightiness and was surprised to see a dismissal of Bono's eloquence. How original.

The sports press plays this same tune every four years, with the advent of the World Cup. ESPN ran an ad during the 2006 World Cup in which U2's Bono gravely informed the audience: "It's a simple thing. Just a ball and a goal. But once every four years that simple thing drastically changes the world. It closes the schools, closes the shops, closes the city, stops a war. A simple ball fuels the passion and pride of nations, gives people everywhere something to hope for, gives countries respect where respect is in short supply and achieves more than the politicians ever could. Once every four years a ball does the impossible."

This, of course, is nonsense. Soccer, like anything else, can be the basis for politics -- common interest is a valuable political tool. But soccer is not all that important a common interest. No long-lasting peace between two deeply divided groups will ever be built around soccer.

He writes for The Conservative Voice. They can't be all that myopic. Really.

Read the corresponding pieces here:

• Everything is Illuminated by big Jeff
• Ben Shapiro cries 'but it's not that simple'