the weather has been unbearably hot the past few days. no wonder people (including myself) have been getting sick. my coughs and colds have not left me (i thought i was already okay last friday). damn.
and yes, i am still in my 'hide and seek' fever. i dunno for how long. officially, the song is now on top of my itunes' 25 most played, dislodging the killers' 'mr. brightside' which has occupied the position for about 8 weeks now. third on the list is green day's 'boulevard of broken dreams'. number 4 is ben jelen's 'come on' and fifth is south border's 'wherever you are.' hide and seek's rise to the top of my list is phenomenal. love, love, love imogen heap.
desperate housewives' season finale last night was 'just alright' in my book. not 'that good' or 'that awesome'. 'just alright'. i wish they somehow shared a few more snippets about mrs. betty applewhite, the new desperate housewife. rex van de kamp is dead. wrong move. they could have killed of gabby's husband first, then tom, or susan's ex-hubby. i officially hate the pharmacist now. i hope he's gonna get his comeuppance as early as next season's premiere.
since i was just home most of the time, i watched some of my dvds that have been sitting there. i loved 'maria full of grace' so much. it was a very good movie. the lead actress, catalina sandino moreno is rumored to be dating jake gyllenhaal now. oh well.
Monday, May 23, 2005
hot, hot. hot
Friday, May 20, 2005
ice queen
michelle kwan acknowledges the guests who attended the opening of the east west ice palace in artesia
michelle, with east west bank president and ceo dominic ng and artesia mayor larry nelson
michelle receives flowers from two children
i swear that's michelle!
the ice queen tries hockey
hide and seek
that's the title of the song that the genius people behind the oc's production team used in key scenes during the show's season finale which was aired a few hours ago. i taped it since i had an event to cover. [i've been playing it non-stop on my itunes. sigh.]
as soon as i got back, i watched it. watching it brought me back to last year's season finale, where seth just took off, and left newport beach. it was a sad episode. very sad one. color me impressed. the dialogues between the characters were awesome, and the acting was great as well. the ending was very good, and the way imogen heap's song 'hide and seek' was used just rocked.
the church where caleb's funeral mass was held was the same church [wayfarer's chapel in rancho palos verdes] where my friend keena got married. it's a small, beautiful and picturesque (all glass) chapel overlooking the pacific ocean. one more trivia: the guy from garden grove, yes, the druggie is a pinoy. he's one of the basco brothers. he was the one with a gun.
emotional. heart-tugging. sad. see you in the fall, the oc.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
share-a-load
for years now, i have been given this task by my friends (different sets) as their sounding board. they tell me their problems, their secrets, their heartaches.
i'm okay with the set-up, but sometimes, the sounding board needs a sounding board too. you know where this is going huh? right. without naming names, i am sharing some of my friends' issues in life. i don't necessarily give out advice, sometimes they just want me to listen. [and take notes. hah!]
i had a long talk with a friend last night on the phone. he said he had good news and bad news to share. i asked for the bad news first. his mom's on a coma, after about a year of being diagnosed with cancer. sigh. i could feel the sadness and submission in his voice. 'tanggap ko na,' he told me. [translation: i've accepted it.] the good news? he was gonna meet one of his icons, greg louganis, at an event today.
one of my good friends had his brand new sports car vandalized. eggs were thrown at the car and deep scratches (and a huge dent) were found on the driver's side. this car is less than three weeks old.
one of my friends is planning to break-up with his significant other. i know at least three friends who have been - or tried to be, or still are - in an affair with someone married/deeply committed. one just plunged into a relationship with someone almost twice his age.
these stuff make each day pretty unique for me. sorry, no names. ever.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
carrie vs bo in next week's finale?
as an ai dork, that is my bold prediction. hehehe. it has been, even way before simon and his gang praised them left and right. i think vonzell is leaving tonight because (sue me, sue me!) i think there's no way that the ai title will be bagged by a black person for the third consecutive year. i am a fan of vonzell's too, but i think it would be better for all of us if bo or carrie won.
no country singer has won the competition. no rocker has won the competition. no white guy has won the competition. 2 ot of 3 says it's bo. how scientific.
i missed watching amazing race last night. it's like i had a tar (short for the amazing race) withdrawal syndrome. i loved watching ai and tar back to back every tuesdays. anyway, alias is on tonight. for two freaking hours. woohoo. 24 will have it's season finale next monday (another 2-hour thing). oc's finale will be this thursday, the same with the apprentice. sigh.
it's gonna be a long summer (of re-runs and crappy filler shows!).
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
thank you, blockbuster
while at blockbuster last weekend, i decided to sign-up for their unlimited monthly rental promo. it cost me $14.99 plus tax. for that amount, i could bring home two videos at a time. i can return them anytime i want and get another two to bring home. the first time i rented, i checked my receipt: each video cost $4.49 to rent. way too expensive. just three rentals and i'm good.
so every day since saturday, i've been renting two videos at a time and i have been able to somehow catch up with my viewing. if i like a movie, i finish it, and i even watch the bonus sections. if i don't, then i don't. heh. i can't force myself to watch something that i feel i dont like from the start. i have a-d-d. sometimes. and o-c-d too. just like chad michael murray. hah.
among the nice ones i've watched since the weekend: ocean's twelve (i liked it, except for the 'julia roberts' sub-plot.) and iron ladies (a thai movie that's really funny. i heard it's true-to-life. go thailand!). the rest? i'll try to remember.
up close and personal with michelle kwan
michelle kwan, five-time world champion and the most decorated female figure skater in u.s. history opened her own ice skating rink in the city of artesia, about a 45-minute drive from los angeles. it is called the 'east west ice arena,' after east west bank, whose spokesperson is, yes, michelle kwan.
i am not really an avid fan of figure skating (sure!) but i was quite awed to see michelle in person. as a treat to everyone who attended the event, michelle performed a routine [i think this is the same routine she performed in russia for this year's world championships where she placed 4th!] using josh groban's 'you raise me up.'
the performance was goosebump-inducing, as it was my first time ever to watch a figure skater perform live. i saw sasha cohen a couple of weeks ago but this was not match. well, sasha did not actually skate so i am quite biased.
after her performance, luc robitaille joined her in the rink and performed warm-up hockey. luc's a professional hockey player and quite a celeb in the los angeles sports scene. i first saw him in person four christmas seasons ago when he and keanu reeves lit the christmas tree at the 7th and fig [an establishment in downtown la].
on a more personal level... i have not been feeling well since this morning. my nose is stuffy and i have difficulty breathing. i am blaming the freaking weather for this . the weekend was suoer warm and when i woke up this morning, it was freezing cold. i hate getting sick.
[i'll post the pics soon.]
Saturday, May 14, 2005
food trip
mimi's cafe
2925 los feliz blvd., los angeles
&&
a couple of my friends picked me up earlier for lunch. quite tired with filipino food (in los angeles! who knew?), we wanted to try something different. we went to mimi's mimis cafe in los feliz, about a mile and a half away from where i live.
i wanted to get the chicken teriyaki bowl but i changed my mind when i saw that they were serving beef liver. grilled beef liver with grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms and crisp bacon [$9.79]. the order came with steamed rice (not in the mood for potatoes) and some vegetables (the works). i chose their soup of the day (cajun chicken gumbo) over their salads. their bread basket was delicious.
my friends ordered pasta: fettuccine with asiago cream and penne with chicken feta and pine nuts. nice names. apparently both did not taste good. of the fettuccine, my friend said it was lacking something, but he can't somehow place it. the penne? my friend who had it said that it was like eating 'sun-dried tomatoes and fresh tomatoes with a hint of penne'. indeed, there were tomatoes all over his plate.
my beef liver was okay. it was a bit dry though. it had two big slices of grilled liver. i finished only one.
coming back? probably not in a few months.
food trip
max's of manila restaurant
313 w. broadway, glendale, ca
&&&&
after work, my friends and i met up at max's in glendale. yes, the house that friend chicken built. we were looking forward to a sumptuous dinner.
okay, so we had the house specialty (whole fried chicken), beef steak, lechon kawali and chicken sisig. i tasted everything except for the fried chicken. my ex-roomie, malou [happy birthday malunggay!] celebrated her nth birthday today so she brought home-friend chicken wings and thighs. crispy and yummy. i felt that i already had my day's quota for chicken,
anyway, the chicken sisig was good. it was the first time i had it. it's not your usual sisig, and it's definitely not your usual chicken dish. nice. the beefsteak, or bistek, was a bit creamy. or at least its sauce was kinda creamy. what's the english word for malapot? that would be it. i preferred my bistek's sauce with just toyo and a hint of lemon, dayap or calamansi. the lechon kawali was good. everything was crunchy.
for dessert, we had buko pandan and i am telling you, this restaurant serves the best buko pandan anywhere. my trip to max's is not complete without me partaking of this delicious concoction. yum.
coming back? yes, probably in a couple of weeks. there was a time when we were here almost weekly. it's soul food, baby.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
missing
aside from the title being one of my favorite ebtg songs, it is also quite appropriate for me to use it today.
actually, this part deux of the 'locked out, part deux' entry. it would be weird if i wrote 'locked out, part deux, part deux,' right?
okay. so i had breakfast this morning at mickey d's. [i never eat breakfast. except the time when my home and my dear mom would prepare the best breakfasts in the world.] anyways, my roomie called around 7ish this morning, yes, while i was having breakfast. he was asking why i was calling him so late last night. so i told him that i got locked out.
i finally got home. i so wanted to sleep a couple of hours more but i needed to find out who got booted from ai last night. so i popped in the tape i asked roomie to tape. i had to go through a lot of gray stuff on the video (yeah, the same cable problems are back. i hate adelphia!). it always loses connection every tuesday and wednesday, right when we are watching amazing race and/or ai. of course i got bummed that fedorov was booted out and that carrie/vonzell were safe. it seemed jasmine's advice to vonzell [cry ophelia vonzelia!] so she can make it to the 'final three' worked. hah. my friends are mean.
then it hit me! when i realized that i did not have my house keys with me last night, i knew for sure that i left it on top of the coffee table. before i dragged my ass to my bedroom, i checked out the coffee table, removed everything on it, put it upside/down. my freaking keys are missing. how could i lose my house keys? how stupid can i get to lose them?
i called in sick. i was feeling bad.
locked out, part deux
the title says it all. [insert sad face]
it's the second time that happened to me within a four-week period (i think). the funny and strange thing (i dunno what else to call it. curse? maybe) is that the first time it happened to me, i attended east west players' annual gala-dinner at the universal city hilton. guess where i came from before i got home? coincidentally, from yet another east west players event: the world premiere of 'imelda: a new musical', which by the way rocked.
and you know what else is funny? the last time i got locked out, my roomie was watching the last full show of 'sin city' and his cell was on mute. naturally. this time. he was home early but he slept early and he put his cell on silent. sigh. how can you argue with a cell phone on silent? after about an hour of trying to call/texting/trying to call the landline [and a slew of other combinations], i finally gave up.
i swore to high heavens that i am never gonna forget my house keys. ever. again.
i should write a note for myself to remember this.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
yay!
last night was a great night for tv. amazing race season 7 wrapped up, and i am so glad that fame-whores rob and amber did not win. i developed this aversion to this couple way back in their survivor days, escalated during the all-star survivor and maxed out during the start of this season's amazing race. bottomline, i'm glad that uchenna and joyce won.
and on ai4, who would have thought that anthony would be able to outsing carrie. damn, that was good. i mentioned in earlier posts that i am happy about this season's final four, and that i am already prepared to accept the fact that a-fed could be leaving the show tonight. well, guess what? after their performances last night, i think it's either vonzell or carrie who's gonna get the boot. i wish.
i won't be able to watch the elimination show tonight because i will be watching the premiere of 'imelda: the musical' at the east west players in little tokyo. liza del mundo, the pinay nurse in last season's ER leads the cast as the former first lady. also, i'm gonna miss jennifer garner's [heard she's preggers] directorial debut on alias tonight. sigh. things that i miss because of my job. hah! not that i am complaining.
Monday, May 09, 2005
Friday, May 06, 2005
'i want my old figure back'
sharon cuneta promoted her series of concerts in the us of a with a well-attended presscon at the radisson westside yesterday. she was accompanied by her hubby, sen. kiko pangilinan who looked younger in person. the presscon was free-wheeling and sharon got to talk about her weight issues.
"i've lost 14 pounds so far. 500 more to go."
"i want my old figure back."
she was very spontaneous and eloquent. she seemed sincere as well. i hope that her concert at the shrine auditorium this june 11 will be successful. (its head to head against the return of the champions, another filipino concert, this time at the grand olympic auditorium. then there's the philippine consulate-sponsored 'independence day ball'. i wish i could trilocate. hah!)
Thursday, May 05, 2005
corey, corey, corey
there goes one hour of my life that i'm not gonna be able to get back.
but first, the good news. thank god scott savol is out of the competition. he should have been out weeks ago, yes, before constantine, nadia and anwar. i wonder why he stayed this long in the competition. maybe, votefortheworst.com really affected the results.
the smoking gun exposé on scott did not even seem to have an effect on him. (strange, i was trying to link the vote for the 'worst' website and i could not go through. hmmm.)
the final four looks okay to me. i don't really mind who wins it because i like all four remaining contestants. but if i were to rank them, it would be bo, vonzell, anthony and carrie. but i think anthony will be gone next week. final two? bo and carrie. and the rocker's gonna bring home the bacon.
now to the investigative report that abc news presented last night on primetime live.
i think there's a grain of truth in what corey clarke is claiming (i.e., that paula abdul coached her, bought him clothes, gave him a cell phone...down to the allegation that they had sex) but the way it was presented felt as if it was a one-hour plug on corey's upcoming cd and book deal. aaack.
(abc brought in former contestants of AI 2 including jordan segundo, who, for crying out loud, did not even say a word. what a waste of time.)
i pity paula. i pity corey clarke. i pity his parents. i pity his friends. i pity myself for watching this piece of crap.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
food trip
The Original Thai BBQ Restaurant
18818 Ventura Blvd. in Tarzana
&&&&
had a sumptuous lunch at thai bbq [one of the many] in tarzana [along ventura blvd]. the deep-fried catfish was very delicious, crispy in the outside and a bit tender in the inside. i would have asked for fish sauce and lemon [patis at kalamansi] but the accompanying sweet and tangy orange-y sauce was perfect. yum yum. i used to order the deep-fried pompano before but after i've tasted their catfish, it will take me a while before i order pompano again.
on the side, i ordered a classic dish that i usually order when i am in a thai restaurant. sometimes i call it my comfort food. what's missing? a sunny side up and you have 'tapsilog' thai-style. thai bbq offers one of the tastiest garlic and pepper beef dishes in town. [sanamluang in hollywood is one of the other restos that have really yummy garlic/pepper dishes].
[deep-fried whole catfish at thai bbq in tarzana]
[garlic and pepper beef, also at thai bbq in tarzana]
Monday, May 02, 2005
asian pacific american heritage month
this morning, i covered the launching of the 'asian pacific american heritage month' at the chinese-american museum in downtown. mayor hahn was there, with some of this year's honorees.
among the awardees are two fil-am ladies -- maria quiban and liz masakayan.
because i am one lazy bastard, here's my actual report. [too lazy to blog]
Saturday, April 30, 2005
katedral
[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.]
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.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
what's wrong with this picture?
photo taken at the presentation of candidates of the miss asia usa pageant and their fashion show at the atrium hotel in rvine, california.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
'do you want a finger with that?'
my friends and i were having dinner last week when one of them blurted this story about a woman finding a [warning: stop reading if you are squeamish] finger in her chili soup. i thought it was one of those urban legends so i dismissed it.
yesterday, i did a yahoo search and found this. i wonder how wendy's restaurant will be able to get out of this mess.
early to bed, early to rise
i think i have found the reason why i uhmmm, have been ahhmmm, you know... kinda inactive in this department the past month or so. tmi, i know.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
queens...on fire!
the queens are here, in los angeles. how fitting.
i'm talking about pops fernandez and regine velasquez (and their guest erik santos) who are having a concert at the grand olympic this saturday. they had a presscon last night at the garden pavilion of the church of scientology along franklin avenue.
i got this one pic, among others:
All Set for Queens…on Fire
Concert Queen Pops Fernandez and Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez topbill the latest concert offering of Star Media, led by Ana Puno. Slated to happen this Saturday, April 2, at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, ‘Queens…on Fire!’ has all the makings of a sure-fire blockbuster.
Star Media held a press conference and sponsors’ night held Monday at the Celebrity International in Hollywood. As expected, the media, sponsors and supporters all trekked to the event.
The audience was treated to a couple of numbers by acclaimed pianist Joselito Pascual who performed before Pops, Regine, and their special guest Erik Santos were introduced.
‘Queens…on Fire!’ is already 90% sold-out, according to Puno who is bringing the concert as a spring offering to the thousands of Filipino-American fans who continue supporting Filipino concert performers.
“We will have special numbers that will surely touch your hearts,” promised Pops, as she responded to a question on what the audience should expect this time.
Pops and Regine first performed together in a concert held in Pasadena way back in 1997.
“Ang tagal na pala nu’n. A lot of things have changed since then. Mas maganda kami ngayon,” Regine exclaimed.
The free-wheeling press conference also touched on negative write-ups, which, Regine says she has tried to avoid reading. “Nakakasama ng loob, nakaka disappoint if we read negative criticisms kaya mas mabuti na na hindi ko na lang basahin. I also help in the conceptualization and direction of my own shows kaya it hurts kapag negative ang lumalabas. Okay na yung alam ko na mas maraming tao ang nag-enjoy sa ginawa ko,” she said.
A product of a talent show way back in the 1980’s, Regine is very supportive of the talent shows that have been sprouting like mushroom back in the Philippines.
“I consider it as an opportunity for all this new artists. Nakikita kaagad ang mga galling at abilidad nila kasi napapanood sila lingo-linggo. I consider them very, very lucky since they have the support of their entire network. I see in these kids their drive to succeed. This is a good thing,” Regine added.
Erik Santos, 2003’s grand winner of ABS-CBN’s ‘Star in a Million’ could not agree more. “Ang laki ng naitulong sa akin ng ‘Star in a Million’ at ng ABS-CBN. I never thought that I’d be performing with Ms. Pops and Ms. Regine, two of the best talents in the Philippine music industry. I feel proud and lucky to be experiencing all these. We all know that it is very hard to penetrate showbusiness and it takes a lot of guts. Salamat sa mga talent shows at nabibigyan kaming mga baguhan ng opportunity. They certainly make the way easier,” he said.
“There are a lot of new singers in the Philippines now. Ang labanan ngayon, matira ang matibay, kasi ang dami na nila. A lot of these new singers have the potential to make it really big in the business,” quipped Pops.
Individually, these talented performers shine every time they do their thing onstage. They have their own captive audience, and loyal fans as a matter of fact. Bringing them together seemed like a daunting task. For Los Angeles fans, the long wait is over.
This Saturday, at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, catch ‘Queens…on Fire!’ and witness a rare event where the Concert Queen goes head-to-head against Asia’s Songbird. As their teaser ad said, ‘Will one outshine the other?’
There’s only one way to find out.
and david's blogging, too
yes, i call him david.
we're close. first-name basis close. of course, i am talking about david duchovny aka fox mulder. i accidentally discovered his blog a couple of days ago. his blog is a nice read. he's finishing a movie in seattle now, not as an actor but as a director. can't wait to see this film.
i started liking david (and gillian) the moment i saw the first-ever x-files episode circa 1994, or maybe 1995. i used to watch it with my then-roomie lumen and we used to scare each other while watching it.
needless to say, i got hooked. hooked bad.
Monday, March 28, 2005
random thoughts
tons of stuff. belated happy easter to everyone.
how was easter? 'twas alright. uneventful, as it is. except for the 'silent moments with self' parts. watched miss congeniality 2 last weekend. ho-hum. i sorta did not like it the same way i liked the first one. apparently, even most of the viewers thought so, too. it got beat bad by 'guess who' starring ashton and bernie mac. wow.
yesterday, i spent time with my girl-friends at the beach. spent some quality time with them while strolling along santa monica beach and the promenade. it was fun. had lunch at the noodle planet in westwood and got my favorites: grilled pork chop, thai spaghetti and garlic spareribs. yum.
i haven't unpacked yet. i dunno what that reveals about me. i dunno. i can't seem to gather enough courage to unpack all my stuff. btw, i have this friend who asked me to send some pearls to her sister in illinois. i think i lost the pearls, or i misplaced it somewhere. i just do not know where.
anyway, saturday was kinda cold so i used one of my fave jackets (the one i brought back to pinas. i thought it was still cold there. duh.) and when i dug into one of its pockets, i realized that it was where i kept the pearls. yahoo. now, if only i can drag my ass to the nearest post office.
there's one thing that bumming me for weeks now. my ipod's missing. or misplaced. hopefully, not lost. seriously, i do not know where it is and this has been causing me anguish. i miss my ipod. even if it's kinda old and rusty, i still love it. sigh. i wish i could find it someday.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
fortune (teller) cookie
my friend p asked me yesterday to accompany him to this fortune-teller whose ad he saw in some paper. :D i had nothing else to do (i forgot my american idol/amazing race combo was on) so i obliged. we had dinner first and killed time at the coffee bean on sunset and fairfax (my friend jojo and i once saw lenny krayzelburg here).
anyway, so we went to the fortune teller's house around 9 pm [one has to call in advance and get an appointment]. her place is in a good area near west hollywood. it's a stone's throw away from the fred segal store on melrose.
we both alighted the car but when we reached the front door, the fortune teller told us that she was only accepting one-on-one 'readings' and unless i wanted my fortune told, i had no business being there. so i stayed in the car.
after around 45 minutes, my friend emerged from the house. i thought he was done but he told me he needed to withdraw some money. okay, so off we went to the nearest b of a. so we parked near the atm [melrose and la brea] and after 30 seconds, a silver audi parked beside us. my friend was already by the atm and i was doing some stretches. the guy in the silver audi threw me a glance and smiled. hmmm, friendly. and he looked familiar. in a millisecond, i realized it was rob from manhunt. oh well.
so we went back to the fortune teller's house. after a few minutes, my friend returned. on our way home, my friend told me about how this lady knew stuff about him as if she knew him from wayback. he told me that she is good. color me impressed.
i have my own manghuhula stories.
a few years ago, my friends from abs and i travelled all the way to this town in laguna (or was it rizal?) to have our fortunes told to us by this "really good" manghuhula, according to people who know her. anyway, so we slept-over at my friend's house in angono, in order for us to be there early. anyway, to make the long story short, we were at the manghuhula's place before 8 am. it was quite early and we were among the first in line. the thing with this lady is that she has this stone submerged in water while she is doing her thing. if something goes wrong, the water becomes black. she asked us to write our birthdates (numbers only) on this piece of paper she provided.
i think i was the fifth or sixth person in line then. (and there was already a long line that was forming behind us) when it was my turn, she read my paper and started concentrating. apparently, she was having difficulties. she looked at my paper, then asked me, 'kailan ang birthay mo?' i replied 'august 2 po.' and then she fumed, 'eh bakit ganyan ang pagkakasulat mo? nagkamali tuloy ako!' she got her container, shook it, and exclaimed, 'ayan! itim na ang tubig. hindi na ako makakapanghula!' and walked away. i could feel the eyes of the rest the people behind me. if looks could kill, i would have died a thousand deaths then.
just how did i write my date? the way i still do, up to now. today's march 23, so i would be writing it 03/23. i wrote by b-day as 08/02 and apparently, those extra zeroes caused her not to be an effective manghuhula. oh well.
and yeah, there's this other manghuhula who gave me the creepiest hula ever. to think i did not even want to have my fortune told to me then. she was on a break from her manghuhula chores with my co-workers and when we got the chance to talk, out of nowhere, she just told me, 'alam ko kung paano ka mamamatay'. before i could muster enough courage to ask, 'wtf?' she said, 'dalawa lang yan. sa tulog o sa pamamagitan ng baril.'
without even wanting it, i found out how i was gonna die.
according to her, either in my sleep or a gunshot. or probably both? how morbid. that same afternoon, i applied for a membership to the 'gunless society'. i tried not to sleep, but i couldn't. hah.
bottomline: that hula about my death freaked me out. my point is, i did not want to know. of all the stuff i did not want to know, this is the top one. and how dare she play god, and tell me how i was gonna die.
my personal relationship with manghuhulas, and the way i look at them now totally changed after that experience.
but then, that's just me.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
spring forward
last sunday was the first day of spring.
so what, you may ask. wala lang. talo si pacquiao last weekend. so what uli? wala lang din. i guess i have nothing to rant about then. think again.
my extended busy weekend became a bit busier yesterday, monday. had a lunch meeting at the westin pasadena. the director of the u.s. small business administration was the speaker in this event. okay. in the evening, my boss brought me to this presentation at the sheraton in cerritos. they are selling presidio at the britanny bay in paranaque. studios for sale at $25,000! to be delivered by 2008. it was a long night, got home around past one. sigh.
no wonder i am sleepy.
so yeah, nothing to rant about today.
Monday, March 21, 2005
busy weekend
the weekend just passed and i didn't even seem to notice it.
yeah, i had to work last weekend. you see, i was on vacation for three weeks and i am trying to catch up with work.
well, on friday, some of my friends and i watched 'the ring two' starring naomi watts. it was okay, kinda scary. duh. i couldn't quite decide yet if this one is better than the first. it was jumpy. it was a screamfest and there was a lot of people watching the movie. a friend from sf is in town and he's staying at my place.
saturday: whole day seminar at the los angeles times. some of the speakers were great while others were ho-hum. there was a bunch of other journalists in the room, including ones from canada, brazil and other states outside cali. learned quite a lot.
saturday evening: richard/dex/ramir's birthday party. well, dinner. it was a casual dinner with more than twenty people in attendance. in my apartment. i am quite surprised miss tapia and her daughter did not come a-knocking. or door number 5. the party/dinner got finished before midnight and not a sight of the bitches. wow. some things might have changed. went out for some coffee in los feliz.
sunday: me and beauty pageants are like pan de sal and catsup. they must not be used in one sentence together. not today. i had to cover the fashion show and presentation of the 2005 miss asia usa delegates in irvine, roughly 50 miles from hell-ey. i got bored to tears. sorry but this certainly is not my cup of tea.
it had its moments. it has 6 miss philippineses; 2 miss indias; 2 miss iraqs...you get the drift. add a couple (no, make that three) of skanky performances from skanky wanna-bees. sigh.
i have two more coverages tomorrow.
and oh yeah, my friends and i saw simon cowell and his girlfriend dining the grove's la piazza restaurant, just across from the fountain. he looked the same, kinda smug, kinda unaffected.
but you can see right through that he wanted to be seen. he could have asked for a more 'private' place in the resto. but no, he chose the table where every single one of the passersby could see him.
gotta go catch some zzzzs.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Tami's Big Fat Indonesian Wedding
my co-worker tami got married last night. she's now mrs. stephen carney. they got married at the guadalupe wedding chapel in downtown los angeles, and the priest (officiating priest? he didn't look like a priest to me because he looked kinda young) butchered stephen's last name by saying "karne" instead of "kar-ni". of course, we had so much fun calling them mr. & mrs. karne. the humor's lost on them, though and it was only us, pinoys who had quite a laughing fit.
tami, tami, tami. we call her that at the office. that's her last name; well, actually her last name is utami but we call her tami instead. nobody has ever called her by her first name in the office. nobody dared. titik. yes, titik. that's tami's first name.
fast forward to the reception. dinner was served quite late so our stomachs were kinda grumbling from hunger. my co-workers and i decided to focus our attention on other stuff. and by other stuff, i meant the wedding singers.
let's just say that ivy, this cool gal who's now ms. valencia, brings out the evil in me. it was fun, doing that. in the spirit of fun, not in the spirit of being mean. it's not gonna see the blog-light though, because humor's gonna be lost in print. remind me to tell you the story when we see each other in person. it's way more hilarious. believe me.
sample?
indonesian wedding singer's spiel before breaking into a song:
"i am now going to sing an indonesian song. i hope you understand."
hope we understand? honey, even if we tried...
she was addressing a room-ful of people composed mostly of filipinos, then indonesians, then others. others, meaning black, white and hispanic, or a combination of the three.
there was a lot more moments, and some that involved mangled lyrics and mispronounced words that really made our day.
tami and stephen, our best wishes!
[the blushing bride invited us to visit them in alburqueque. say what? oh.]
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
sleep-deprived
for the past week, i've been feeling a bit sleep-deprived. i've been spending most of my days (and subsequently, nights) awake. wild awake. let's take the past three nights. on friday, i was able to sleep at 5 am; saturday night at 4 am; sunday night at 3 am and last night at 3 am. this is the reason why i have been waking up late, too. i haven't been drinking coffee (not that caffeine has effect on me) so i have been craving for a good cup lately.
anyway, what's up with me? i just booked my flight/hotel for this media conference in arkansas next month. which reminds me, i need to unpack.
i've been listening to the cds i bought and i've been enjoying mymp and nina's live album. nina's quite good, i actually like her rendition of piano in the dark. i like both versions of julia fordham's love moves (in mysterious ways). mush. i love mush.
my sleep-less nights have caused me to catch up with all my fave shows: The OC, nip/tuck, alias and 24. My friend shaui was kind enough to record alias and 24 (she loves both shows as well) and my vcr taped the oc and nip/tuck. My roomie taped all the American Idol episodes but I don't like this batch as much as i liked the previous ones. well, i don't like them that much. of the three people i wanted, one has quit (hello, mario vasquez). the other 2? the fedorov guy and the girl who looks like kelly clarkson. and yes, i remembered...make that 3, constantine.
Friday, March 11, 2005
things i'd (most likely) miss, part deux
6. crispy tilapia - my former co-workers at abs and i had a hard time looking for this restaurant called 'recipes' at eastwood city in libis. it's on the second floor, right by where coffee bean is. the interior looked so plain and simple, no paintings whatsoever adorned its walls. the place was recommended by a high school friend of mine and i am glad she mentioned this place because the food was just awesome. we ordered quite a lot but the crispy tilapia nearly stole the show. the gising gising was something, too. it's like bicol express expect that only baguio beans were used. makes me hungry just thinking about it.
7. sinigang na corned beef - there's this place at greenbelt 3 called 'sentro' and it is run by the same people behind chateau 1771 and the 'sinigang na corned beef' is considered as their house specialty. for P330 a pot, it seemed expensive, but then again, the taste of the dish would make you crave for more., and it will make you realize that the steep price is worth it.
8. crispy crablets from ilonggo grill and marina (market, market)
9. choc nut dirty ice cream from uva
10. via mare's bibingka
11. bottomless iced tea from mongkok shangri-la / pandan iced tea from t.i.b at the podium / dalandan lemonade from italianni's
12. watermelon shake at the shade (along katipunan avenue)
13. papaitan / daing na bangus / mango shake at n.e. resto located at the n.e. pacific mall in my hometown of cabanatuan city. more local delicacies at vicentico's,a lso in the same city.
14. zagu's creme brulee flavored sago drink
15. my favorite mango-lychee shake from this fruit shake stand in greenbelt. i've been frequenting this place since i discovered it in 1994.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
things i'd (most likely) miss
a friend of mine asked me this question a couple of days ago: what things will you miss? (i figured he was referring to my previous trip to manila) and it made me think. blog fodder, sure.
1. anything made with dalandan - my college friends and i dined in this place called bravo (adriatico cor nakpil in malate). it is an italian restaurant that serves mostly pizza and pasta. everything in their menu, from salads to the desserts was italian-inspired. i had a hearty laugh when i read on the 'drinks' part. dalandan slush. of course, i had to get that. even italianni's has it (dalandan lemonade). dalandan juice, dalandan shake, dalandan whatever, i tried them all. damn, i am having a dalandan craving right now, as i write this.
2. seattle's best coffee's white chocolate concoctions - for one hundred plus pesos a pop, these coffee drinks are quite a steal. and yes, nothing still beats a cup or mug or glass of good coffee mixed with a great group of friends discussing almost evrything under the sun. for this recent trip, i was able to go to sbc's (yes, they call seattle's best coffee 'sbc') greenbelt 3, tektite, eastwood city and baguio branches. the couches are very comfortable for those long talks with pals.
3. figaro's barako blend - i've been drinking coffee as far as i can remember and i have always liked my blends mild. well, this one's not mild at all, but i didn't mind it. it's bold without being too strong, and it does not leave any after-taste in the buds. branches i visited? shangri-la and baguio.
4. cafe by the ruins pan de sal - my friends and i had breakfast at cafe by the ruins, a baguio city icon in its own right, and we had fun sharing the piping hot pan de sal, with just plain butter (or strawberry jam). it was simply delicious. what i had -- longganisang hubad -- was just as good.
5. pandan chicken and bagoong fried rice - had a chance to eat the thai in a box branch located at the podium. last time i had this yummy combination was around six years ago. i wonder why not one of the thai restaurants in hollywood serve 'bagoong fried rice' and/or pandan chicken. is it distinctively filipino-thai? if i had a restaurant, these two would surely be in the menu.
that's my first five list. there's more.
jet lag
i woke up yesterday morning and i felt really sleepy. i thought i was already able to shake this jet lag off when i slept monday night and had my complete 8-hour fill. apparently not.
all in all, i must have been able to log in more than 12 hours of sleep yesterday. the remaining 12 hours were spent eating, daydreaming and watching the episodes of 24 and alias that i missed during my vacation. i'm still amazed and hooked, to say the least.
time really flies fast. it's already thursday. and i have not completely unpacked yet. maybe this weekend i'd find time to do it. maybe not. i'm still sleepy.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
back in circulation
yes, i am back. finally.
after a three-week break (god, that was awesome!), i am back in los angeles. i have so much to write about and i seriously do not know where to start. let's start from the end? why not.
my friend picked me up at the airport around 5:oo pm yesterday at the los angeles international airport. the person at the customs, after checking my passport and my papers said, "welcome home" and it struck me. am i home? i was just home. this is my home? then i thought, why can't i just have two homes. so there.
it was a long trip from manila. the wait at the incheon international airport in seoul, korea, seemed longer. their airport is very nice, very cool and impressive. i could only wish. i bought a couple of pasalubongs at the duty free -- white chocolate-covered strawberry, some white choco stuff (yes, i am a white chocolate sucker) and some 3-in-1 korean coffee mix. back at the duty free shop in manila, i got my roomie and my cigarette-smoking friends a carton of west ice yosi. i heard it's good.
i did not pay the P1,650 airport tax (i think) and i only paid P200 fee because apparently, i was exempted. so i had more than P1,000 to spare for more pasalubongs for my friends.
eng bee tin hopia (buko pandan) - P40.00
eng bee tin hopia (ube) 40.00
oven-baked polvoron (mango) 90.00
oven-baked polvoron (melon) 90.00
baked bbq peanuts 90.00
baked garlic peanuts 90.00
choc-nut (2 packs) 130.00
bottled water 45.00
chocolait 35.00
west ice yosi @ 13 dollars 702.00
oh well. i had two 70-pounder luggage filled with local stuff, canned goods, more local stuff and a good portion for my cousin's padala. damn, i am so sleepy.
i'll be back.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
friends, romans and countrymen --
where did that come from? i have no idea.
i'm on my second day of my vacation here in the philippines. i'll be updating this blog as soon as i can. right now, the most i can do is this: a simple greeting from the islands. hah!
i have something like a blow-by-blow account of what transpired from the moment i left my apartment to the point when the plane touched down at the ninoy aquino international airport.
everything that has happened from the apoint at the airport up to now has been a blur though. i think i have officially tried not sleeping for 36 hours straight. for a nurse, that was an achievement. i have a slight jetlag. i was so sleepy a few hours ago (i was flipping my channels between ASAP Mania and SOP Rules) especially around 2:00 pm. i counted the hours and realized that that is usually the time when i sleep (1:00 am). are my computations right? i am lost.
okay, this is all for now. to all my friends who are in manila, i hope to see all of you. [i also hope you got the email i sent about my fone not being friendly enough to me that i cannot use it here. i saved all contact numbers there because i knew that i would be able to use it. apparently not.]
ciao!
Thursday, February 10, 2005
pilipinas, game ka na ba?
siyam na oras na lamang at papaimbulog na sa himpapawid ang eroplanong sasakyan ko pauwi ng pilipinas. labinlimang minuto bago mag alas tres ng maaling araw at ang diwa ko ay gising na gising pa. hindi naman siguro ito dahil sa isang mataas na tasa ng kapeng ininom ko kaninang hapon. ang gulo gulo na ng utak ko. pakiramdam ko'y may makakalimutan ako. huwag naman sanang mahalaga yun.
pilipinas, handa ka na ba?
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
welcome to hollywood...not!
i should have blogged about this before but i did not find time, and the timing was just not right. anyway, here's my beef.
why the hell to these clowns from american idol say 'welcome to hollywood' to the blessed few when they know for a fact that they are not bringing them to hollywood? am i just being technical? am i just nit-picking? maybe.
the previous seasons, they held the 'hollywood' auditions in pasadena. yes, pasadena, not hollywood. this year, they decided to hold it at the orpheum theater in downtown los angeles (yes, the one near the former-skid-row-and-n0w-home-to-yuppies-who-live-in-lofts).
why don't they just say, 'welcome to los angeles!' what is wrong with that? maybe they are part of the movers behind the plan for 'hollywood' to secede from los angeles? technically, there is no city/town called hollywood, california. there's a west hollywood, but that's an entirely different story. and yes, there's north hollywood too, how could i forget. a block from where i live, there's this street sign that says 'East Hollywood Neighworhood Watch' which means that...well, i do not know what it means. maybe i had too much coffee this morning.
a split-second of airtime showed sharon galvez (or someone who looked kinda like her) making it to the next round of auditions. next tuesday, we will find out who makes it to the final 24 (12 guys and 12 girls). here's hoping she makes it.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
mardi gras
today is fat tuesday. tomorrow is ash wednesday.
and thursday is the day i fly back to dear, dear philippines. i am beyond excited now, knowing that it is only two days away. i try to control myself, however, because i do not want to end up being so over-eager. it's like watching a film with really high expectations and you end up a tad disappointed. why? because you expected too much from it.
anyway, i haven't had a decent sleep for the past week or so. on sunday night, i got to sleep past four a.m., and i had to wake up early for our monthly meeting. last night, i was able to sleep around half past two. tonight, i do not know. tomorrow, hmm.
what have i been busy lately? well, last-minute shopping, for my friends who e-mailed some requests re: pasalubong. the list that i have (including that of my nieces') include a whole gamut of stuff it already resembles santa's list.
last week, i also placed orders on amazon.com for some more stuff. yesterday, i went to urban outfitters to buy some flip flops. i think they're called havaianas. i don't understand the fuss about it. damn thing looks like spartan to me. hahaha. joke.
i am having problems about one most requested item though: krispy kreme donuts. how can i bring it as a hand-carry? what about my real hand-carry? and won't the frosting melt by the time our plane crosses the pacific? oh well. let's cross the bridge when we get there.
yesterday, i burned on cd around 500 photos of my mom and dad that i got when they visited me here a couple of years ago. aside from those in disposable cams, they have not seen these pics yet. so i went to rite-aid this morning before i went to work and had copies of these pictures printed. i had so much fun selecting pics and i ended up ordering 200 prints. it was only later when i realized that it would set me back by almost sixty bucks (inluding taxes) since one photo costs $0.29 to print. well, i figured, the memories that my parents had of this trip costs way more than the $60 i am going to pay later.
i have been remiss with my friends' bloopers lately but this one, i suddenly remembered earlier when i came across a flower shop on my way to coffee.
friend: samahan mo ko, bili tayo ng flowers.
me: okay, saan?
friend: may magandang flower shop sa may (place street name here).
me: sige
pagdating sa flower shop.
friend: excuse me, excuse me, do you have live flowers here?
me:
flower shop girl: yes, we do. <sabay pigil ng tawa>
friend: oh, ayan. meron daw.
Friday, February 04, 2005
countdown
...anim na tulog na lang!
one of the reasons why i have not been getting good, quality sleep the past few days is because of this fact, and this fact alone.
my excitement is killing me. after five years, i am going home. yes, i still consider the philippines as my home.
and now, it's within reach. six days na lang. i've been terribly excited. i've been having lots of dreams about my past life.
six days, and counting...
hodgepodge
it has been a crazy day. last night, i thought i had so much to write. but then work took over and i am left with this. anyway, here are my random thoughts for the day.
• the aviator
watched the movie last night (finally) and all i am quite impressed. i liked the film a lot. plea to the academy: please give the best actor award to leo. he frikkin deserves it. i never realized howard hughes lived such a colorful life. i have new-found respect for him, as an actor. he was really amazing. i had some favorite memorable scenes and in all of them, leo delivered.
• the phantom of the opera
i saw this last week but i did not have the time to blog about it. i liked this movie, too. although i think i kind of liked the musical better. maybe because phantom of the opera was the first ever musical i saw here in the u.s. (san francisco). i like the soundtrack as well (a friend of mine bought it, and at one point, the last song syndrome took over and all we could hum, from dinner to coffee was 'think of me...')
• sideways
i saw this like two months ago with a couple of my co-workers. i liked the basic simplicity of the movie. it was so linear, the story-telling was so simple...i guess that's what made it compelling. i'd prefer 'the aviator' over this one, if you ask me. but then again, i am not a film critic. i am a fan.
• cher calvin on ktla
ktla's publicist called me yesterday afternoon to advise me that cher would be introduced to the viewers at 7:40 a.m. today. so last night, after watching my requisite soaps, i TiVoed VCRd (hahaha!) the morning show, from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m, enough time for allowance. so when i woke up today at around 8:40, i rewinded (rewound?) my tape to watch it. the 7:40 mark came and went and all i saw was cher's pixellized face in one of their teasers. the tape finished and i did not see cher at all. 5 minutes to 9 and i decided to go to channel 5. commercial break. one last gap. yes! cher was there, and they had like an 'instant feedback' thing where this viewer from hesperia commented on how hot cher is. anyway.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
sex and gender
"Sex is what you have between your legs. Gender is what you have between your ears."
That quote is from this lady lawyer who joined the legal team of Philip Abramowitz to defend Donita Ganzon and her husband Jiffy Javellana. I attended their press conference this morning in Sherman Oaks.
As a backgrounder: I covered the Donita Ganzon case when it first erupted last December when she, together with her husband Jiffy Javellana, sued the United States immigration service. The couple is seeking a federal court order upholding the validity of their marriage and challenging the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service (BCIS) refusal to recognize their marriage.
Donita Ganzon, 58 and her
husband Jiffy Javellana, 27
It gets interesting. Donita Ganzon is a post-operative transsexual. She was born in Bataan as 'Celedonio Secusana Ganzon.' She arrived in the U.S. in 1974. She underwent sex-change operation 1981 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1987 . Her naturalization certificate, issued by the then-INS, recognized her change of sex from male to female. She is 58 years old.
December 2000. Donita met Jiffy Javellana when she went to the Philippines for a vacation. Jiffy was a friend of one of Donita's nephews. They talked. He sang a song for her. They became inseparable. They fell in love.
Donita revealed the truth to Jiffy about her being a transsexual the first night that they became intimate withe ach other. To her amazement, he did not run away. She said he did not even flinch. "You're more beautiful than any other woman," Jiffy told her. Donita was in heaven.
Jiffy arrived in the U.S. in 2001. The couple got married in Las Vegas later that year. He then applied for permanent residency.
Bottomline: The BCIS denied his application based on its policy of prohibiting recognition of transgender marriages. Immigration officials cited the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
The lawyers called for the presscon to announce that Debra Davies-Soshoux will be helping in the case. She delivered a lecture on sex and gender issues. Asked on why she thinks this case is important, she replied, before dropping the bombshell. "Because I am like her, too," she said, pointing at Donita.
If I didn't know any better, I would have fallen off my chair. But a little tweety told me about it a day before the presscon. It was like watching Alias spoiled. [Snark fans call people who, unknowingly or not, find out key plot twists through spoilers, as, well...spoiled.]
Who could have thought such a twist? Certainly not the bright minds at Boston Legal or The Practice. Proves one thing: Truth is Stranger Than Fiction.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
meeting cher calvin
[i typed a few paragraphs earlier but when i clicked 'publish post' is said that it cannot process my request. when i hit 'back', all teh text i typed was gone. so here it is, again...]
i had dinner with cher calvin last night. yes, the famous cher calvin. thanks to the owners of goldilocks for inviting me. cher's in town because she is moving to la-la-land. she is moving from fox 5 in las vegas to the wb [KTLA channel 5] network here in los angeles.
cher calvin with her dad, former actor
roger calvin at goldilocks cerritos
we had dinuguan* for appetizers. i found out that she has never eaten dinuguan (not even during her stint with 'F' where they used to go to different restos in the philippines). i have to credit goldilocks for jazzing up dinuguan because they included it with angel hair pasta. it was kinda weird, but it was delicious. cher kinda liked it. [she didn't finish her serving though]
for appetizers, we were also served with lumpiang shanghai and calamares. i liked both. for the main course, we had garlic fried rice and braised beef (i think) with gravy on top. dessert was cheese roll (yes, like the ones that porto's in glendale makes) and ube ice cream.
back to cher: she's so down-to-earth. i like her sincerity and the way she answered my questions. i hope she does well at ktla. people will be supporting her. basically, she's taking over the post vacated by sharon tay. [yes, the daring anchor who moved to msnbc. not too big shoes too fill, cher. you can do it.]
that's it for now. los angeles peeps, catch cher calvin as she hosts ktla's 'morning show' [5 to 7 am] starting this monday, february 7.
* chocolate meat, for the uninitiated
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Quiz Time: What 2004 Hit Song Are You?
|
100 Years by Five for Fighting |
"Every day's a new day... 15 there's still time for you Time to buy and time to choose Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live" 2004 was about thinking and reflecting - but isn't every year? |
Monday, January 31, 2005
monday blues
i didn't feel like going to work today but i had to, since i needed to finish some stuff.
anyway, i've been kind of sleep-deprived the past weekend, due partly to my fixation to the australian open championship (which was aired live from melbourne on sydney during the wee hourse of sunday. wee = the match ended, with safin winning, thank you very much, around 4:00 am). hewitt won the first set [6-1] but he fell on the second, third, and fourth [6-3, 6-4, 6-3].
had dinner with a couple of friends at the curry house in west l.a. at first, i thought it was an indian resto. turns out it was japanese. who would've thought. anyway, so i had beef curry (yumyum). it has another branch that is close to my office (little tokyo) so i will be bringing my co-workers toe at there soon.
nothing much happened over the weekend. not much tv, too. except for the tennis part.
humor me!
friend: [cough, cough, cough]
me: wow, that is bad. what are you taking for that?
friend: well, i have this thing that was subscribed by my doctor...
me: <>
friend: wait, that didn't sound right. prescribed. yeah, prescribed...
[at least he caught it]
on tv, over the weekend --
the guy who won abs-cbn's singer search, season 1: ahh, please don't forget to watch the primer of our show, that's tomorrow na po, search for a star in a million...
[primer, premiere, what's the difference? hah!]
the girl who people thought would win abs-cbn's star search, season 1: magandang, magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat. nandito po ako ngayon sa loob ng bulacan.
[where in the world is "sa loob ng bulacan"?]
Friday, January 28, 2005
australian open finals
slept late -- really late last night, well this morning, trying to finish the hewitt vs. roddick match-up on espn2. i checked my watch, it was 3 am: third set, with roddick winning the first one [6-3] and hewitt taking the next [7-6 (3)]. it was 5-5 when i finally dozed off.
turns out hewitt won the third set [7-6 (4)] and screwed roddick to high heavens by convincingly winning the fourth set, 6-1. take that, andy! well, i was rooting for roddick. too bad.
the finals will be a match-up between safin and hewitt. my bet's on safin. he ended top-ranked federer's 26-match winning streak. [i was kinda hoping to see another federer-roddick championship.]
on the women's side, i think it's s. williams vs. davenport in the finals. whatever happened to sharapova?
btw, work brought me to this chinese restaurant called yong zhow in arcadia (210 north, exit huntington).
yang zhow restaurant in arcadia
they prepared dinner for me to write about it for their press release. okay, so what did we have? first up was french-style diced beef followed by chinese broccoli with dried fish, fried crispy whole sole fish in sweet & sour sauce and the house special shrimp.
feast fit for a king (or queen)
it was a really filling dinner. i liked the shrimp and the fish. the shrimp tasted really good, it was succulent and the same time crispy. the fish was good, they tried to make a variation from your typical chinatown fare. the beef? well, not too much. the broccoli was great too. it's like having daing flakes with it. it was good.
being the oc-type that i am, i had fun browsing through their take-out menu and found some funny typos/misspelled words.
well, among the dishes they serve are: chicken with mushtoom, dry veef chow fun, chinese water crest with garlie, fish filler with hot bean sauce, fresh squid with chinese broccolic, hose special frensh squid, fresh aspareagus with chicken.
i know, i know. i can't help it. <insert naughty smile>
Thursday, January 27, 2005
sharon galvez
a few days ago, i wondered if my interest in american idol has started to wane.
apparently not. because in last night's audition show, i saw this frail, petite, pinay-looking gal who belted her way out of whitney's 'saving all my love' and boy was she good. in fact, she got a 'yes' from all the four judges.
i really do hope that she makes it to final 32. by then, we'll see if the fil-ams get united once more because of yet another singing sensation. and believe me, she is waaay better than...what's her name again? oh yeah, jasmine trias.
[p.s.] a friend of mine texted me early this morning [yes, 8 am is still early] to ask/tell if sharon galvez used to be zhar [or czar] santos of smokey mountain [chedi vergara's batch]. that is worth looking into. because if she is, then she has an edge already. but then again, she's already 28. too old? not for me, and i am sure not for the hordes of pinoys here.
[p.p.s.] what's with the name sharon? how come there's a lot of pinays named sharon? in my office alone, i work with two sharons, and we differentiate them by incorporating the first syllable of their last names, thus, we have shaba and shabu. then there's this sharon who is keena's friend. she was our table-mate at the wedding. then there's sharon t., a 'dance diva' here in la-la-land who is trying to be the next jocelyn enriquez...there's sharon santos, the fil-am lady who was missing last year. police later discovered her body inside her car's trunk in chinatown. how many sharons do you know?
[p.p.p.s.] i got excited when i went to one of my fave sites, TWoP and saw this in the AI thread:
"Then a stereotypical 1970s streetwalker comes in and busts it right out, blowing everyone's mind, and she's great. Her name is Sharon Galvez (28), and the deal is that she's a Vegas cocktail waitress, so she unavoidably has Vegas all over her, and that's why she looks like that, but really she has a heart of gold. "
coffee table
my former roomie, his cousin and a friend of ours picked me up today for a quick lunch at this place in silverlake (near my place). i asked him if the food there was good, and he replied in the affirmative, adding "and their tables are pretty too."
ok, fine. pretty tables.
anyway, we got there a little after twelve. the place is called coffee table, and yes, they had really cool tables, which are all works of art. we fell in line, ordered our stuff and went to the prettiest table. well, we got the one by the porch at the back. the place is huge. it didn't look huge from the outside.
i got myself a chicken salad sandwich (choice between rye, focaccia or sour dough) plus a side (mashed potato, potato salad, pineapple slaw and chips and salsa). surprisingly, my former roomie got the exact same thing i ordered, from the bread (sour dough) down to the side (pineapple slaw). our friend got a silverlake omelet (with stuff in it like tomatoes, avocado..i dunno what else...it looked like a burrito to me) and my roomie's cousin got cheesecake and ice blended coffee drink.
my take on the food: the chicken salad was good, really good. the pineapple slaw? not too much. it's like your ordinary slaw with slivers of crushed pineapple. my friend did not like his omelet that much. he did not like it THAT much that nothing was left on his plate.
next time, i'll try one of their omelets, or the asian chicken salad. i wonder how that would taste.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
changes
i've been quite busy trying to learn the 'html stuff' involved in making this blog more entertaining, more me. hehehe. thanks to my techie friend who studies it first for me, then just shares stuff to me in layman's terms.
it's alias night tonight. and yet another american idol. i think my interest in the show is kinda waning. but we'll see in a couple of weeks.
it was kinda stormy again this morning and i had to bring my dear umbrella once more.
my heart goes out to the families and relatives of those who were killed and/or injured by the derailed metrolink trains this morning in glendale. some moron wanted to commit suicide by parking his car right by the railroad tracks (how lemony snicket, buy yourself some originality). when the train was near, this deranged person panicked and abandones his car right there. now, there are ten people dead and hundreds more are injured because of this person's sheer stupidity.
