TULOY ANG "FIGHTBACK"

Bloody brilliant, Manny. And I'm not just referring to Cotto's systematic destruction -- that was expected (and won me ten pounds). No, I'm talking more about your subsequent spine-tingling rendition of "You Raise Me Up" that brought tears to this LLDD's eyes.

(I'm not sure if the clip has been shown back home, but Sky Sports News here in London has great, nay, surreal footage of Manny walking back to his dressing room from the ring immediately after the fight -- still in his trunks, sweaty and shirtless -- running into some Celine Dion-esque woman singer in the halls, making eye-contact, and then spontaneously breaking out the Josh Groban. Not only that, he owns the ensuing duet, steering the Vegas singer when to go high or when to go second-voice by sheer force of kilay. I mean, he just finished trading punches for 12 freaking rounds, and then effortlessly slides into easy-listening like it ain't no thing? Now that's a man.)

Such awesomeness. The least our humble little diplomatic mission can do then, Manny, is follow your lead, continue with the "fightback", and indeed help raise the country up from the storm. You do it with your fists, voice and moustache, we'll do it with our, um, promotional activities.

Not quite the same, I know, but, hey, I am strong when I am on your shoulders and all that, right?

British Publications

Sublime Magazine, September 2009

Best Line: "The briefing was short and to the point, boiling down to 'no touching, and stay out of the way of the tail' "

LLDD Commentary: Funny, that's also what they said at the restraining order hearing.

TNT Magazine, October 2009

Best Line: (aside from a band called "Wolfmother", you mean?) "The amphitheatre of mountains encircling the village was cloaked in electric lime-green striped by stone walls"

LLDD: Substitute "cloaked in electric lime-green striped by stone walls" with "cloaked in electric lime-green striped by stone-washed", and you just described every soiree outfit of mine from the 80s.

Waterlife, October-December 2009

Best Line: "Everywhere we were treated with garlands of flowers and big smiles, and on one occassion a giant stilt!"

LLDD Commentary: I would genuinely like to meet that mayor who, during council meetings, thinks along the lines, "You know what tourists don't get enough of? Stilts. Like, big-assed ones."

World Travel Market, November 2009

At the second largest travel mart in the world, our tourism people were kept very busy throughout the event by international promoters, operators and dealmakers -- a very good sign for the country. And as always, the Philippine booth wasn't just there, it represented. To wit, it had the bright, airy and friendly feel of someone's favorite neighborhood cafe . . .

Whereas other regions went with . . .

. . . that warm office-cubicle look . . .

. . .kinda-out-of-place-inside-a-convention-center mock ups. . .

. . . or the cozy, cozy feel of an SM appliance showroom.

Even for those booths that had awesome gimmicks like live falcons, if you looked closely at the back at what people were carrying . . .

. . . mwe he he he. Sa amin rin galing ang mga bitbit nyo.

And don't try to out-adorable the Pinoy booth, Lithuania. Just don't.

Finally, as an added bonus at the Philippine booth, I discovered the long-lost twin of Siouxsie, one my batchmates who's given me a lot of grief through the years over my supposed resemblance to "Kat". Behold then: my batchmate Siouxsie (here examining the LLDDL's ring). . .

. . . and her newfound twin (here examing the Philippine booth's catering needs) . . .

Ha! Who's making "twin" jokes now, Siouxsie? Who's laughing NOW!?!

Philippine Generations Charity Gig, November 2009

We wrap things up with a fund raising event held by the Philippine Generations, that group of second generation Fil-Brits who I always try to be a part of so that I can seem young and hip by association. They lined up a pretty cool array of performances, from former Miss Saigon castmembers performing Bayan Ko, to X-Factor semi-finalists "Truecolors" doing some song I'm too uncool to know the title of, to rap-group "Lyrico Supremo" sampling a really cool tribute song for the storm victims.

But in the end, there can only be one Brit -- father of the Philippine Generations' chairman, no less -- and his rendition of . . . Anak

Somewhere, Manny is smiling to himself and quietly nodding in approval.