Best of The Week: Kate Middleton, Lisa Loeb(!), and 'Whip My Hair'

Desperate Career Move of The Week: Lisa Loeb’s Glasses

MANILA, Philippines - Fifteen minutes is a lot longer than you think. Just ask Lisa Loeb.

In 1994, Lisa hit it big with break-up song to end all break-up songs Stay, off the Reality Bites  soundtrack. Fast-forward to 2010 and Lisa, with nary a hit since then, has resurfaced as eyewear designer. Her line of glasses, aptly titled Lisa Loeb Eyewear Collection, capitalizes on her iconic cat frames.

With this and her dating show, one can only guess that song royalties are not what they used to be.

Potential Royal of the Week: Queen Catherine

As news of the Prince William-Kate Middleton engagement hit the fan, comparisons to the late Princess Di went around. But as Kate was called when the engagement was announced, it was “Catherine” that Miss Middleton used.

If she seals the deal and behaves, she’ll be the fifth Queen Catherine in England’s history.

Hipster Jizz Moment of The Week: The Strokes Finish Their Fourth Album

Four years after the uneven First Impressions of Earth, The Strokes have finally wrapped up recording their next album. Vocalist Julain Casablancas announced on his Twitter, “Still not going to be out for a few months — mixing etc., but JUST finally finished it yesterday actually!?”

Did you hear that? That’s the sound of Stereogum, Hypem, and Pitchfork collectively jazzing.

Other Hipster Jizz Moment of The Week: Fallon X Springsteen X Willow Smith

With Whip My Hair, Willow Smith flung herself into the top tier of showbiz spawn, joining the likes of Jamie Lee-Curtis and, uh, Liza Minnelli. This week, she officially enters hipster consciousness with Jimmy Fallon (as Neil Young) and Bruce Springsteen’s cover of Whip My Hair.

Innovation of The Week: Facebook Messages

Facebook changed our lives and gave stalkers a second chance. This week, the 500-million-strong social networking site unveiled yet another innovation that is expected to redesign the way people communicate. Facebook Messages consolidates all your conversations with friends and puts them in one place. Whether via SMS, chat, e-mail or Messages, a massive per-friend conversation history will be available to users as of the launch. That means all cyber interactions and exchanges spanning your Internet lifetime are accessible. @facebook.com e-mail addresses, formerly exclusive to the site’s employees, will also be made available to the public. However, should someone using an @facebook.com address identifying himself as an employee and asks for your info, then beware. Employees, according to a leak, are to use @fb.com.

Commemoration of The Week: The Maguindanao Massacre Anniversary

On November 23, we join the rest of the country in remembering the lives of 30 journalists, along with 23 others that were brutally murdered that day in 2009, the bloodiest day in the history of Philippine politics and journalism. Justice remains elusive for the bereaved families, and a year later, we are one with the Filipino nation in condemning the evil crime committed against humanity in the name of power. We pray for the speedy resolution of the case and that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima focuses on resolving it before the end of the year.

Fail of The Week: “Pilipinas, Kay Ganda!”

The Gap decided to change their logo a few weeks back, but because of overwhelming Interwebs aversion, the company decided to scrap the idea and keep their logo for good. This may be the same case we’re looking at with the recent fiasco from the Department of Tourism. DoT launched the country’s new campaign branding, “Pilipinas, Kay Ganda!” as replacement for the eight-year-old WOW Philippines. As unexpected as this announcement had come, the opposition to it was something the DoT perhaps didn’t expect, too. Even the Senate and the House expressed their dislike of the new slogan, while the rest of the WOW-supporting nation aired their rants on social networking sites. As of press time, the accompanying website beautifulpilipinas.com has already been taken down, and talks whether this PKG campaign would continue is ongoing. Sayang, Vice Ganda would’ve made a perfect poster boy pa naman.