[this is a part of the series of photos i took at the cathedral of our lady of the angels. taken at the cathedral's conference center.]
[part of the altar, near the area where the choir is placed]
[view from the altar. this is probably how cardinal roger mahony sees the crowds everytime he celebrates mass here. we can only surmise.]
[Installed at the end of the south ambulatory of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is the 17th Century, gilded, black walnut, Spanish Baroque retablo, the Spanish word for "retabl." A retablo is a shelf raised above the back of an altar to support ornaments, pictures, and statues from sacred history.] 
[san lorenzo ruiz, second from left. third drape from the back. right side.]
Saturday, April 30, 2005
katedral
Friday, April 29, 2005
wag na wag mong sasabihin
i was blog-hopping, as usual, when i came across this blog that totally killed one of my favorite songs, as the title implies.
it's by this girl named kitchie nadal. i like her music, and her simplicity.
you know you're famous when michael v already starts writing (and doing) spoofs about your songs. and in here, michael v did one funny job with 'wag na wag'.
hilarious!
rotfl*
it's been a long while since i came out of a movie theater with a huge smile on my lips. it's also been a long while since i laughed so hard while watching a movie to a point where i almost cried. i've heard a lot of good things about this movie but i did not think of those good things while i was watching it. i did not want my experience to be clouded by what i have heard so far.
bottomline: stephen chow is a master. kung fu hustle is the bomb!
[*geek-speak for rolling on the floor laughing]
[photo courtesy of sony]
Thursday, April 28, 2005
queen of asia
i am excited to see 'queen of asia' tomorrow at the vc filmfest [the los angeles asian pacific film festival]. this film is directed by a friend of mine [lito torres, a veteran of the vc filmfest] and it stars yet another friend, someone we fondly call 'ate vi' because her favorite actress is nora aunor. hah. she'll probably kill me for this.
[lito with 'queen of asia' star, vi]
lito told me that he as almost ten years worth of footage. this is the story: ate vi has been joining beauty pageants from all over the state for the past ten years. unfortunately, she's always the bridesmaid, never the bride. as in she always lands the 'first runner-up' award. this film will try to decipher and find the reasons why this keeps on happening.
there are other pinoy-written and -directed films in the mix and i am going to check 'em out this weekend.
trivial stuff
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
what's your deepest, darket secret?
i was doing my usual blog-hopping today when i came across this very interesting blog called PostSecret. the premise is very simple, readers are invited to send in and contirubute their secret.
Each secret can be a regret, hope, experience, unseen kindness, belief, fear, betrayal, desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.
i spent fifteen minutes going through all the postcards that have been sent, this one's one of my favorites.
in this day and age, there are still people who want the easy way. i am not passing judgment against the person who sent this one. it's just an observation that i think, maybe people think that because they're white, they get a free pass on anything they want to do.or maybe they could get away with something because of their skin color. or they get a 'special privilege' because of it.
as a friend of mine once said, filipinos outside the philippines will always be second-class citizens in their chosen countries. indeed, we can only feel like first-class citizens in our home countries. but why do thousands of people dream of leaving the philippines every single day? is it their dream to be second-class citizens somewhere else?
maybe. maybe not.
Monday, April 25, 2005
what's wrong with this picture?
[taken near the corner of vermont and sunset]
i came across this restaurant last weekend and i just had to stop.
who doesn't want a 'fresh cook'? i know, i do. i am a fan of anything 'fresh.'
googlism : momar
momar is equally smitten
momar is a manufacturer of products and services for industries which use chemical dust control
momar is the company
momar is a physics and math double
momar is a nonconducting
momar is the one that brought all of us the racing videos from each tour stop throughout the tour
momar is one of my friends and he is sooo smart
momar is often seen around on the french competitions
momar is rated at 175 kdu's
momar is our wealthy algerian benefactor
momar is to determine the space and time distribution of volcanic and tectonic
momar is similarly focused on the importance of quality
momar is teh winnar
momar is for example
momar is 47 jaar oud
momar is an apprentice; his opponent is a journeyman
momar is working away from home
momar is to determine
momar is in abydos and underneath the mound of sand and rocks
momar is a holiday must
momar is useful as
momar is wary of the film
if you want to try googlism, click here.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
festival of books
and it has come to pass.
the annual los angeles times festival of books took place at the sprawling ucla campus last weekend. as usual, i was there, being the voracious reader that i am. it's my third year of going to the festival and it is very much different every single year.
[taken from the janss steps]
my personal highlight of this year? sasha cohen. hah!
[right before her autograph-signing session]
sasha appeared at the festival on target's children's stage to read from her, uhm 'book'. yes, people. sasha cohen is a book. and i have an autographed copy. which i hope to put on ebay anytime soon.
[yes, the girl can read. and apparently, she can write, too. she has a book!]
anyway, i got to chat for about two minutes with the figure skating sensation. i actually like her, if only for her spunk and her confidence and her bravery to do her stuff (never mind if she falls, at least she tried). she was the top figure skating champ in the u.s. last year, eclipsing michelle kwan.
i also saw jeff bridges with his mom, signing autographs. next.
i stopped by one of the booths to cuddle this carpet, rather dog. huge dog. i talked to its owner and she told me that the dog is 130 lbs. beat that.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
only in hong kong
while i was in hong kong last month, my friend and my cousins and my cousins' friends brought me to this cd store somewhere near tsim tsam tsuy [it sounded like that, i swear, but i am a hundred percent sure that theyd on't spell it that way]. it's not your regular cd store liek virgin or tower or hmv. it's your regular pirated cd store.
anyway, we had a blast when we saw a cd cover that was so funny we really cracke up laughing. i did not buy it [$20 hk] but my friend told me he returned to the store and bought it and filed this report in his blog.
Friday, April 22, 2005
2.89 inches
I was just browsing my daily dose of news when I came across this feature and it made me laugh out loud. Really, loud.
I wonder what Filipino guys have to say about this.
our lady of the angels
I covered the Greenlining Institute's Economic Development Summit at the Our Lady of the Angels Center yesterday. From where we were, I looked out the window and realized that my position was the best place to take a photo of the majestic Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral. It's just breath-taking.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
simple-minded dilettante
still raving about last wednesday's alias. it was awesome! the whole rambaldi issue is back and the appearance of 'another mister sloane' -- the title of the episode -- made it even more fun to watch.
i love this show. i love that it's back focusing on rambaldi artifacts once more.
also, this story destroyed my day. bennifer part deux. blech.
maybe i am just too attached, that's why i'd prefer michael vartan over affleck. for jennifer garner of course. hah. not!
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
lunch with steve case
Yesterday, during the lunch session at the Milken Institute global conference that I was attending, I sat beside this white guy. He looked kinda familiar, like I have seen him somewhere. I looked at his name tag. It said 'Steve Case.' Okay, rings a bell. Then below his name, 'The Case Foundation.'
That's what threw me off. The Case Foundation. So we talked, nonsense stuff actually. When I returned to my office, I googled Steve Case and I realized that I was just talking with the founder and former Chairman and CEO of America Online. Damn, damn, damn.
Anyway, I was convincing myself that it was alright that I did not know, because if I had known, I would have stuttered my way to shame-dom. The guy was probably thinking, 'This jerk does not who I am!'.
That was a great conversation over a great lunch, Mr. Case!
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
locked out
i don't remember the exact words of murphy's law which says that [i think] 'if anything will go wrong, it will.'
this morning, i woke up early because i was attending a 3-day conference [milken institute's global conference] held at the hilton in beverly hills. the event has about 2400 registered participants and more than 300 panelists. it's really huge.
so i woke up, got everything and left for beverly hills. i always bring with me my black messenger bag where i place all of my knick-knacks. i placed my house keys in this bag, for the first time. i don't know why.
upon registration at the site, i was given a bag. another messenger bag. i did not like carrying two passenger bags. it just wasn't right. i went back to my office after a couple of sessions.
in the evening, i had another event: the 39th anniversary of east west players, this time at the universal city hilton. since i was going back to the milken conference tomorrow, i thought i'd leave my black messenger bag in the office and just bring my new bag with me. i transferred all of my stuff that i deemed important. yes, everything, except my keys.
after the event, a friend of mine picked me up. one of our friends was in the mood to cook and he invited us. we obliged. after 24 [my other favorite show], we left for home. so my friend dropped me off in front of my gate and sped away.
the moment i stepped out of the car, i knew i was in trouble.
the freaking key was in my black messenger bag, sitting on my desk at the office. time check: 11:00 pm. i called my roomie...once, twice, thrice, ten times. max. he was not answering. i'm doomed. it's quite impossible that he'd be asleep around this time. i called our common friends. maybe they knew their whereabouts. i was hoping that he would be out. that's a better option than him already sleeping, with his cell on silent mode.
it turns out that our friends did not know where my roomie was. exasperated, i called one of our friends who live like 12 blocks from us if i could crash in their place. i was getting hopeless. my contacts were on the verge of popping out, i was getting really cold and irritated.
i started walking. i was on the corner of melrose and vermont when my phone rang. my roomie. it turns out he just got home from watching sin city with a friend. that solved my problem.
lesson learned: always keep a spare set of keys somewhere.
Friday, April 15, 2005
desperate about alias
if it was not too obvious, the title of today's blog refers to my current tv addictions: alias (my fourth year of supporting jj abrams; after four years of felicity) and desperate housewives (my favorite this tv season).
by some twist of fate, abc decided to move alias to the wednesday timeslot last fall. and guess what show they put in its place? desperate housewives. i have not missed a single episode and i must say that its creator/writer march cherry is one hell of a genius. desperate housewives' storylines are imaginative and very colorful, its dialogue crisp and saucy, its characters complex and multi-layered.
of course, you might have heard about the infamous catfight among the characters during a recent vanity fair pictorial. i don't mind it. honestly, i don't even care. as long as they give me a good show week after week, i am happy.
one of my friends, also a fanatic of this show, asked me: 'if you were one of the desperate housewives, who would you be?' without batting an eyeslash, i quipped, 'a cross between bree van de camp (marcia cross' character) and susan mayer (teri hatcher's comeback vehicle).'
don't ask me why. hah.
p.s. i just finished taking the 'which housewife are you' test at the abc site (it was made as a 'unisex' test so even guys can take it) and my result was that i am likely to date or marry lynette (felicity huffman). i dunno what that tells me.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
the mystery of the finger
a few weeks ago, i blogged about a finger finding its way to a bowl of wendy's chili soup in northern cali. it turns out that the complainant has a history of filing lawsuits left and right. this lady claims that she was paid $30,000 by el pollo loco after her daughter got sick at one of the chain's las vegas restaurants.
however, the damage has been done, according to this ap article which says that sales have dropped in all wendy's outlets in northern california, forcing layoffs and reduced hours.
the mystery deepens.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
the case of the missing ipod
the good. my sleepless nights (an exaggeration) are finally over as i have found my lost ipod. it wasn't lost after all, just misplaced.
i spent my entire weekend fixing my itunes and all the freaking songs that were somehow deleted before. i dunno what happened but now i have fully reconstructed all my playlists. the bad? as i mentioned before, i have the second generation ipod, with a capacity of only 10 gigs. sigh. all my songs have gone way beyond 10 gigs and i need an ipod now that has a bigger capacity. 40 gig ipod? i'm dreaming.
anyway, i'm just glad that i found it. [side story: i was supposed to bring it to manila when i went home last feb. i placed it on the couch and i forgot about it. i was cleaning/fixing said couch last weekend when i saw this all-too familiar gray pouch stuck there somewhere. eureka!]
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
magic mountain rocks!
i am a sucker for thrill rides. that's one reason why i love going to six flags magic mountain.
some of my friends asked me if i wanted to go to magic mountain two weekends ago. how could i say no. i love magic mountain.
we arrived a little past eleven and the sun was beginning to scorch us. surprisingly, there wasn't too many people that day and we had a field day running to each and every ride. all in all, we were able to go to 8 rides, inluding this ride called xtreme:
normally, the long line would take us at least two hours before we could ride but this time, it tool us a sweet thirty minutes. it was our first ride and it totally rocked. last time i was here (a year ago), xtreme was my last ride, and this was around 9 in the evening. xtreme during daytime is entirely different, and way scarier.
the two hour line this time, was for deja vu which we wanted to ride. however, time was not on our side and my friends did not want to wait that long. 
deja vu remains to be one of my favorite rides because it is just way exciting and exhilarating. maybe next time.
we passed by this thing:
and quickly decided that it is not for us. not good enough.
so we went here instead --
yes, the riddler's revenge. not one of my favorite rides, but then again.
oh well, i really had so much fun. i can't wait to go back.
Monday, April 11, 2005
file under 'guilty pleasures'
last weekend was a 'dine-out' weekend for me and some of my friends. went to two restos i haven't been to in the past year or so. first up, the newly-opened cheesecake factory at the grove, my favorite mall. the waiting time, just like their old-town pasadena branch, was a bit over the top. it was already way past nine in the evening and the wait was still more than an hour. i overheard some people whow aited for about two and a half hours. are you kidding? two and a half hours? no freaking way. by the way, i had the pecan-crusted catfish. yum yum.
the next day, a friend of mine and i went to roscoe's chicken and waffle (corner of sunset and gower). we both had, well, chicken and waffles. the chicken was perfect, tender inside, crispy outside. the waffle was delicious as well.
we also went to my playground, amoeba and stayed there for more than two hours. i left the place at least forty bucks poorer. but happier.
Friday, April 08, 2005
michael and macaulay
I was at the Hollywood and Highland complex yesterday with a couple of friends when I came across Michael Jackson's star along the famed 'Hollywood Walk of Fame.' This morning, I checked my daily supply of news and found out that he was once more in there.
How could you, Michael!
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
arkansas in my mind
i'm still here in rogers, arkansas. the wal-mart media conference just finished a couple of hours ago. i'm staying at the embassy suites in this small town, the birthplace of wal-mart. it's literally in the middle of nowhere and i can't wait to go back to los angeles.
the view from my suite. hey i stayed at the embassy suites. hah!
i arrived here last monday with three others. another one of our colleagues flew in from san francisco. craig rented a van, a huge van for all of us. from the airport, [northwest arkansas, but my expedia says it's fayetteville: airport code is xna] it took us almost half an hour to get to our hotel. the road from the airport was a two-way asphalt road, and the funny thing is that we saw a cow cross the road. why did the cow cross the road? i have no idea. funny, especially for me because when i went home to the philippines last month, i never saw a freaking cow. not even when i went home to the province or when i went to baguio. no cows.
and here i am in fayetteville, arkansas and there's a cow.
apparently, lots and lots of cows. taken on my way back to the airport.
today, i saw more cows, because we went to tour a wal-mart distribution center. yes, i saw a herd (a pack?) of cows. hey, i am not complaining. i love cows. i love farms. it's just that i kinda miss l.a. and besides, there's a thunderstorm here right now and on every local television station, there's a 'thunderstorm warning' or a 'tornado warning' in effect.
sigh. i'm just ranting. i haven't been online since sunday night. no, saturday night! i actually meant friday. saturday was the pops-regine concert, and that deserves a different entry. sunday was magic mountain day with some friends. and on monday, i flew to arkansas.
ar-kan-sas. one more state visited, crossed off my list.
Friday, April 01, 2005
shabu shabu
nora aunor is in the headlines again. this time, however, is not about how she conquered cairo for her dramatic performance as flor contemplacion years ago. nor is she on the papers again for an upcoming concert somewhere in carson city.
she's in the news because of shabu. allegedly.
