Monday, April 10, 2006

glad to be at glaad

oscar winner charlize theron breezed through the red carpet and did not answer any questions from the print media.

i was invited to cover the media awards of glaad (gay and lesbian alliance against defamation) at the kodak theater in hollywood last weekend.

starstruck me agreed, thankfully so.

saw a constellation of stars and starlets, wannabees and falling stars. charlize theron was there (she received the vanguard award); and so were the cast of will & grace (i was so happy to see megan mullaly); alec mapa (the filipino actor more famously known for his performance in broadway's m. butterfly) and his bff brooke lee (miss universe 1997); crazy/beautiful and hostel's jay hernandez and a host of unknowns.



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Sunday, April 09, 2006

philippe's

after a coverage last week, i found myself in front of this famous restaurant called philippe's in downtown (a stone's throw away from chinatown). since i had no time to partake of the breakfast, i went in to get my fill.


philippe's
is a famous resto, dubbed as 'the home of french dipped sandwich'. it's one of the oldest and probably one of the most well-known restaurants in los angeles. and this was my first time! i don't know why i have never eaten here before.

there were long lines at the counters, and there were plenty of counters that were open to serve. i ordered the plain roast beef french dip sandwich. no frills. no tomatoes, no spinach, no pickles. just the good old roast beef, freshly-baked French roll dipped in the natural gravy of the pot roast. it was awesome. yum yum.

it does not look good here (no garnishings; paper plate and all) but this roast beef sandwich is one of the best roast beefs i've had in ages. next time, i am ordering it with monterey cheese and macaroni salad.

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Saturday, April 08, 2006

can't wait

still, tom hanks as prof. robert langdon?

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Friday, April 07, 2006

asian american popstars

so here are the finalists of american idol season 10. hah. probably not in this lifetime. season 3 (with jasmine and camile) was a fluke. we have yet to see another season with an asian american in the final 12. at least one.

but now, we have a top 10. all asian americans. yay!

this may not be american idol, but what the hey. anything to support an asian american in mainstream media. this is the top 10 of the 'asian american popstar' contest, a web-based singing competition.

here's their website. take note of next phaze, a bay area-based boyband which used to open a lot of filipino concerts in san francisco and reno; and erik carlson, a finapino. yes, you read that right, he's finnish-filipino. he delivered a good brian mcknight-y performance, and he played the piano real well too. tee-hee. don't forget to vote.

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Wednesday, April 05, 2006

memoirs at geisha house

hype brought my friends and i to geisha house in the heart of hollywood last weekend.

actually, they planned it and i just tagged along. hah. m & e are on the constant lookout for what's hot and cool (irony) in hollywoodland at any given time. m called geisha house in advance to reserve a table for us.

all we knew was it was along hollywood boulevard between vine and highland. we found street parking a few blocks from vine, and figured we could use the walk. never mind if it was drizzling raining. walk, walk, walk. we were cursing each other under our short breaths because we could not find the freaking restaurant after walking blocks. finally, one block before highland we found the place! hallelujah.

geisha house is a modern japanese restaurant minus the traditional asian design. it's also a sushi bar and a sake lounge. it was packed with people. we were ushered to the second floor (yes, there is a second floor) past the bar and the lounge and tables filled with people having their sushi fix. we had a great view from the second floor as we were just above the bar and we could see what's happening down there.

A combination of five star sushi restaurant set in the atmosphere of a surreal high class brothel, the goal of GEISHA HOUSE is to make the client climax.
i wish i wrote that. it came from their website.

anyway, here's what we had --

Eel Tendon. Eel tempura and tamago served over rice

Dynamite (assorted seafood drizzled with a spicy cream sauce) / Fresh water eel (unagi) / The Hollywood (fresh crab tempura, avocado and cucumber)

Tuna Tataki Sashimi with ponzu

Rock Shrimp Tempura with Creamy spicy and ponzu sauces

Grilled Flat Iron Kobe Beef Steak 8 oz (Soy, garlic and sesame dipping sauce with freshly grated mountain wasabi)

the verdict? great food. the kobe beef was awesome. (typhoon's kobe beef tasted better, if my memory serves me right. it was yummier). my eel tendon was great. as for the sushi, they were fine. my dynamite tasted good. i was kidding my friends (since we finished off what we ordered) that it's either the food was so, so good or we were very, very hungry. we agreed it was a combination of both.

the damage? the 12 small slices of the kobe beef alone set us back $42. no typo there, kobe is expensive. that's $3.50 per slice, i can get a complete meal with two ulams at goodah or bahay kubo for that amount already. hah! plus the sushi (3 sets) cost between $10 to $12. edamame was $6! shrimp was $12, tuna sashimi was $14, eel was $14. we had desserts and we had drinks too. so it was a kinda expensive dinner.

with friends (and the right company and conversation), it was well worth it.

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Tuesday, April 04, 2006

cravings

i have no idea what triggered this, but i have a craving for these --

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twist for twist's sake?

i have been an über-loyal fan of 24, that kiefer sutherland show on fox, since 2001.

or more precisely, the time it premiered its first episode. through the years, i have remained loyal, watching religiously every single week.

it was during season 1 where the show's writers revealed what would become the biggest twist in its history: the one involving nina myers. season after season after season followed, trying to one-up or beat that twist, and so far, the writers have not succeeded.

until tonight. i think.

unless that this sudden turn of event slash twist was conceived for twist's sake. i did not definitely see this coming. i am so looking forward to the upcoming episodes to see how the writers would tie the loose ends. and this season, we have quite a number.

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Monday, April 03, 2006

car-let

taken along st. catherine street ouest, still in montreal.

probably the smallest working car i have ever seen. perhaps even smaller than the beetle or the mini.

i have no idea who manufactures this car but judging from the looks of it, it seems like the owner likes adventures (like driving up and down mt. royal on a chilly day). or s/he's just too damn lazy to have the car washed.

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confessions tour

madonna is on her way back to los angeles!

just like the reinvention tour in 2004, madonna has decided to start her confessions tour in my fair city. woohoo! mark your calendars, girls and boys: may 21!

seven weeks from now. and they have not started selling tickets yet. damn.

the rest of the tour dates --

NORTH AMERICA:

May 21 Los Angeles Forum
May 27 Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena
May 30 San Jose HP Pavilion
June 5 Fresno Save Mart Center
June 8 Phoenix Glendale Arena
June 14 Chicago United Center
June 21 Montreal Bell Centre
June 25 Hartford Civic Centre
June 28 New York Madison Square Garden
June 29 New York Madison Square Garden
July 08 Boston TD Bank Garden
July 12 Philadelphia Wachovia Center
July 16 Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall
July 22 Miami American Airlines Arena

EUROPE:

July 30 Cardiff Millenium Stadium
Aug. 1 London Wembley Arena
Aug. 3 London Wembley Arena
Aug. 6 Rome Olympic Stadium
Aug. 20 Dusseldorf LTU Arena
Aug. 22 Hannover Niedersachsen
Aug. 24 Horsens (Denmark) Forum Horsens Outdoor
Aug. 27 Paris Bercy Stadium
Aug. 28 Paris Bercy Stadium
Sept. 3 Amsterdam Arena

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Friday, March 31, 2006

condoms, anyone?

you know you are in a liberal city/country when -->

you see a condom dispenser in the restroom.

my curiosity was piqued, however, by the fact that breath mints were being sold in this dispenser alongside condoms: one studded, the other flavored. there's strawberry, banana, and what? sundae? condom-flavored sundae?

oh canada!

(taken inside a public restroom at the montreal airport)

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'philippines' on my tv

and no, i am not talking about my subscription to TFC.

mention of the 'philippines' happen only on cnn, msnbc and the other major news networks here if there are a) natural calamities; b) man-made calamities; c) coup plots and d) a combination of sorts so it was a welcome surprise for me tonight when i tuned in to my idiot box and catch a mention of dear old philippines not once, but twice!

first up was on will and grace. and it went like this:

guest (to karen walker): and where is your husband?
karen walker: my husband is in the philippines. i love filipinos. they are asians but they are not cocky.

hah!

on The OC. oliver called me up to tell me that a friend of his is appearing on the show. and he asked me to go to fox' website to 'rave' about his friend's role so it would become recurring.

mrs. cooper (to maid, who looks perplexed): vamonos. (and a host of spanish words, she was obviously in the frame of mind that her maid is mexican, or latina in general)
maid: (in a heavily accented twang) i am from the philippines!

whopee! a filipina character on tv! a filipina actress playing the role of a filipina maid in newport beach! how realistic! it would've been better if the role was for a nurse. but then, the OC does not need a nurse. i know which shows need nurses, lots of them. grey's anatomy!

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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

false advertising

i am a big fan of sukiyaki. yes, that famous japanese dish of thinly-sliced beef, simmered in a skillet or pan with sukiyaki sauce, vegetables and other ingredients.

it has been awhile since i last had my fill (last week of january, with a couple of friends in little tokyo after watching a concert at the walt disney concert hall. digression.) and i have been craving for it somehow.

back in montreal, my feet brought me to place ville marie -- a cruciform-shaped building in the heart of downtown -- and came across a restaurant aptly named sukiyaki. excitedly, i fell in line, the thought of simmering beef already consuming my mind. the french-speaking asian manning the counter asked me what i wanted. so i said, 'sukiyaki.' he said, 'oui'.

i took a french class in college so i know what oui meant. (even if i did not take that class, i would still know what oui meant, i was just saying that i know the basics of the language. merci.) long pause. realizing that there was confusion somewhere, he asked me again. 'your order?' so i said, 'sukiyaki' and he said, 'yes, this is sukiyaki.' goodness.

bottomline. sukiyaki does not serve sukiyaki. it serves other stuff (strangely NOT japanese) except sukiyaki. damn.

sukiyaki. not.

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Tuesday, March 28, 2006

montréal winter solstice

the view from above. snow-blanketed city. i thought to myself: isn't it spring already? can i take this bitter cold?

hah. the requisite 'welcome to montreal' sign at the airport.

wide open space at the immigration and customs area. the immigration officer who interviewed me was very kind and friendly.

the museum of contemporary arts aka musée d'art contemporain in front of the complexes desjardins. a hill of snow is dumped a few meters from the museum's entrance.

hotel de ville (montreal city hall) along rue notre dame, a very fine piece of architecture that is way too common along the streets of montreal. a few blocks down is old montreal, a well-preserved area of the city where older-looking establishments such as art galleries and quiant restaurants abound.

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Saturday, March 25, 2006

second cup*

(that's the name of a coffee place that i visited today. i think it's even more famous than starbucks here. i got the moka chocolat blanc and it was yummy. their apple and raisin super muffin was also delicious. full. i'll try the other coffee places tomorrow like the cafe van houtte, cafe depot, and maybe, cafe starbucks coffee. that's how they call dear ol' starbucks here. a bit redundant, eh? canadians.)

i never learn. it's 3:40 am here and i am wide awake. just like last night (earlier this morning). besides, it's only 12:40 am in california. hah. because of that mentality, i woke up around 10:00 am here and i wanted to wake up earlier (like maybe around 9, okay 8) so i can have breakfast, or as my canadien friends say, dejeuner) but no, i could not make myself wake up. by 10:20 this morning, i was threatening myself to wake up, or else waste a very beautiful day.

it's all about walk, walk, walk for me today. which is good. the weather is so fine (6 C; can't convert to F. lol) so it was very conducive for walking. and even if it got really, really cold, montreal has found a solution for that.

ta-da! no, they did not fight mother nature. they created an option. the underground city. at first, i was like, 'what? underground city?' and images of dingy, rat-infested, basement-type environment flashed in my mind. i was so damn wrong.

montreal has an underground city! very much the same city anywhere else. except that this one is underground. it is said that if winter gets really freaking cold, people have an option to dine, shop, see the opera, go to church or watch a hockey game (their national pasttime) without putting on their winter coats. thanks to the network of underground malls that have shops and boutiques and restaurants.

so now, this underground city has more than 29 kilometers (okay, 18 miles) of wide, well-lit and well-ventilated tunnels clustered around 10 of the Metro's (Montreal's train system) 65 stations.

did a lot of stuff today as i walked a million miles. of course, i did not walk a million miles, it just feels like i did. and my feet are complaining. oh well.

(photos to follow. i forgot to bring my cord.)

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Friday, March 24, 2006

hello, montreal

i'ts past 2 in the morning and i can't sleep yet. my mind's in west coast time, so it's still 11 pm. and i usually sleep around 2. which means i might be able to go to sleep around 5 am here? ouch. not good.

so my connecting flight from chicago to montreal went well. it was a small plane. the same planes that philippine airlines uses for its flight to tuguegarao, cagayan or mindoro or laoag. maybe even smaller. 18 rows. 1 seat + aisle + 2 seats. that's it. so 54 passengers per flight. and only one poor over-worked flight attendant.

montreal's airport is nice and clean. their customs area is huge, like the one in hong kong. the people manning the counters seemed courteous, especially the one i had (or the one who had me. hah!) very friendly.

i am staying at the 4-diamond (according to their website) marriott montreal chateau champlain and the nice lady at the reception desk gave me a huge and nice room with a view of the mount royal. factoid: the name montreal evolved from this hill in this island, which natives call mount royal. through the years, the name evolved into montreal.

first meal of the day: i checked all the touristy websites and they all recommended this place called schwartz. it's a hole-in-the-wall steakhouse (maison du bifteck) where the original world-famous smoked meat is served. i took the metro and a connecting bus along st. laurent and voila, i had one of the yummiest sanwiches i've had in recent years. it was uhm, uhm, good. it was around 8ish already and the place was still packed with people and it was a good mix of locals and tourists, which was good. i also had their cott's dark cherry soda to go with my smoked meat. glorious!

had some adventures finding my way around the metro and the stops. it was fun finding my way around in a very foreign place. it's nice that i had no idea what to expect during this trip so everything that's happening so far is above par, especially since i had no expectations whatsoever.

gotta learn the map so i won't be wasting time tomorrow. ciao!

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chicago = cold

I’m on a 90-minute stop-over in, of all places, Chicago. I’m actually waiting for my connecting flight to Montreal for this little holiday made possible by a hundred and fifty dollar gift by Expedia.

I haven’t had a decent sleep since last night because my friend J (Thanks again!) picked me up around 4 to bring me to the airport. While this was an international trip, the flight would be taking off from the American Airlines terminal, not at the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Little did I know that I could not use their self-service machines (because I am going on an international trip). I was told to proceed to the ‘main cabin’ check-in. Last time I was here, I missed my flight. I swear I was having a déjà vu moment.

Only a few counters were open, so service was kinda slow. Thank God it was seamless from then on as I got my boarding pass from a nice lady.

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Tuesday, March 21, 2006

anticipation

the fine people at expedia rewarded me last christmas with a $150 gift coupon for my loyalty to them in the past.

fast foward to february. i got an email from them telling me that i have until march 31 to use the coupon, or lose it forever. ouch.

so i mega browsed their site and limited my choices down to 2. hawaii and canada. canada won. where? vancouver or toronto? neither.


this week i am going to montreal. yay! i am excited about this trip since this is my first time to visit beautiful canada. i'll bring my laptop so i can blog while i'm there. promise!

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Sunday, March 19, 2006

urth day

urth has been one of my favorite coffee places in california since the moment i was introduced to it five or so years ago. and i have been going back with different sets of friends eversince.

the cafe is a cool place that serves organic coffee and tea, plus delicious desserts such as my favorites: triple layer cheesecake (chocolate, vanilla and coffee over an oreo crust. yum!) and oreo cheesecake eaten while sipping spanish latte. life. fulfilled.

their cheesecakes are better than cheesecake factory's, and that is saying a lot. my friends and i usually frequent their melrose branch. it was a surprise then to find out that they have a branch in beverly hills as well. and after a meeting in beverly hills last week, my lady boss brought me to urth along beverly drive.

it was a pleasant surprise. the branch is bigger than the one on melrose, hence more intimate. we were also introduced to one of the managers of the cafe, who happens to be pinoy. he told us about the hollywood stars who frequently visit the beverly hills branch. nice!

urth caffe's delectable desserts are on display at the counter, the first thing that would welcome you upon entering the cafe.

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Friday, March 17, 2006

i am so going to hell...

one of the usual sites i visit slash read on a daily visit is cnn's.

and then i came across this article, and i tried, tried so hard, to suppress a smile (because of the oh-so-tragic content of the news) but the way it was presented was just, how do i say it, begging for the reader to do something that would automatically provide him a one-way ticket to hell.

and i thought filipinos love pageants. how come there's no miss deaf philippines? texas is far ahead. just a thought: could they also have a miss blind texas? or a miss mute texas?

must. supress. smile.

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Thursday, March 16, 2006

goodbye melissa

hay! there is justice in this world.

after mangling the lyrics of 'lately' by stevie wonder FIRST in front of stevie himself and SECOND during the actual performance, melissa mcghee is dunzo. she totally messed up the lyrics, specially during the 'i hope my premonition misses...' part. boo-hoo.

but ace and lisa in the bottom 3? what's going on? hate it that kevin covais was not in the bottom 3. he better do well next week, or else he's gone. but the thing is, he is fully sipported by the votefortheworst website, the same site that "helped" scott savol and john stevens and jasmine trias stay longer than they should have during their stint in the competition.

one more reason why i don't like mcghee. she robbed ayla brown of the opportunity to be in the top 12. had it been ayla who made it to the final 12, i think she wouldn't have gotten the boot. but then again, who knows.

okay. so who goes home in the weeks to come? kevin covais, bucky covington, kellie pickler. i think.

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Tuesday, March 14, 2006

top 12

quite belated, but here's american idol season 5's top 12 finalists. now that sounded redundant. the finalists.

nice photo stolen from just jared. so how did i fare with my fearful predictions a month ago?

on the girls' side. 5 out of 7. we bade goodbye to stevie and ayla. oh ayla. why is melissa mcghee still on my screen?

on the boys' side. 4 out of 7. buh-bye to patrick hall, sway penala, will makar and to some point, daniel radford. bucky and kevin covais made it. too bad.

okay. final four predictions: katharine mcphee, mandisa, chris daughtry & elliot yamin. that's all for now.

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deaths galore @ 24

normally, a main character's death in a show defines an entire season. case in point: six feet under.

in fact, some shows end their run after 10 or so years WITHOUT someone in the main cast dying. case/s in point: friends, sex and the city, felicity.

but with the current season of 24, members of the main cast are dying by the episode.

tonight's latest episode was not different. edgar stiles, chloe's dear friend and one of CTU's hard-working employees died when he was left out in the open to breathe toxic nerve gas. (although his death "happened" in the prior episode)

so who else died tonight? SPOILER ALERT.

the hobbit is dead. yes, lynn mcgill is tonight's sacrificial lamb. his death was not in vain as he is the reason why jack bauer is still alive. and why we still have a show. teehee.

so okay, i am fine with his death, specially since he has been acting like an a*hole lately. but what i couldn't accept (it came as a shock!) was the death of tony almeida. and it happened during the last two minutes of the episode. damn.

okay, body count!

first episode saw the killing of former president david palmer, then agent michelle dessler, then chief of staff walt cummings. that's a total of six major deaths. and the 40% of CTU employees who were killed by the nerve gas. damn, damn. all in the name of national security. tough job.

makes me wonder if there's gonna be a season 6.

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Sunday, March 12, 2006

to san francisco and back

i needed to sort things out, so i made a really quick trip to san francisco.

i wish.

i had work to do and i was dragged to go to san francisco. now that's more like it.

met with some clients for lunch at palio d'asti, an upscale italian resto in downtown sf. i was in the mood for some seafood so i ordered the cioppino. [Ciupin alla Genovese - Fisherman's Stew with Lobster, Crab, Mussels, Clams, Prawns, Octopus and a Variety of Fish in a Saffron Tomato Broth with Grilled Acme Bread - $31.00]

plus my soup and my drink, that was an almost $50 lunch. whew. thank god i was not paying. haha. i would have gone to yoshinoya instead.

dinner was at this awesome new place at the union landing in union city.

it had a sports bar by the entrance. the servers were a good mix of asians (mostly filipinos), hispanics and caucasians. the feel and the interior was like BJ's but a bit different. how different?

the difference was in the food. we ordered salpicao. i love salpicao. theirs was not as good as the ones i had in manila but passable. and what else did they have?

garlic tilapia. which is like the tilapia we buy at the filipino store, the ones that we ask the manongs to deep fry for us. because doing that in our respective apartments would require a lot of hardwork. and a bunch of angry neighbors. what else?


their specialty, but of course. grilled squid. with their sweet and tasty marinade. yumyum. the place?


gerry's grill. yes, the famous filipino restaurant that slayed dencio's. the famous inuman place among the yuppies in metropolitan manila is now in the us of a. according to the owner, they opened gerry's grill in union city last friday. business has been picking up since then. at first they were serving sisig but they noticed that the sisig easily dried up. maybe because of the winter wonderland ype of weather? i dunno.

the choices for food was still limited to the grilled stuff. and the fried stuff. no sabaw yet. we also had sizzling spinach and grilled tuna belly.

the owner also told us that they hope to open their second gerry's grill in the us (guess where, guess where) in southern california (it's gonna be in cerritos!) within the year. woohoo. something to look forward to.


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Thursday, March 09, 2006

el ni-nyoy, la nina

apparently they are a couple and they're here in california for a show.

that's acoustic singer nyoy volante and songstress nina. i was advised by the concert publicist that there was going to be a presscon somewhere in bellflower to promote the concert.


the place was called 'musikahan' and yes it was in bellflower. where's bellflower, you may ask. it's near the cities of artesia, cerritos, cypress... well, it's still in los angeles county.

one of the people who attended the mini presscon asked for a 'sample'. the two singers obliged.

quickly, i asked for a sign. yes, a sign. as a relatively new couple, these two are supposed to still be madly in love with each other, and i was hoping (probably against all hope) that they would sing something to lift me up, inspire me, make me believe in love once more.

they gave me a sign. as if on cue, they sang 'you have no right, to ask me how i feel...you have no right to speak to me so kind'. my jaw dropped.

goodness, i asked for a sign. separate lives. could it get any clearer?

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Wednesday, March 08, 2006

aga muhlach in carson

went to carson yesterday morning upon the invitation of jollibee management. they were launching a couple of stuff (including the original recipe of the chicken joy) [my own comment: then what were we ordering before everytime we asked for chicken joy? NOT the original chicken joy?].

aga muhlach, jollibee's celebrity endorser was there.


here he is, with the city mayor of carson (extreme left) and council member elito santarina presenting him with the key to the city.

the crowd was crazy. jollibee's vp was still delivering a speech when the unruly fans inside started chanting 'aga! aga! aga!' and the unruly fans outside started banging on the walls/windows. wow. i didn't realize aga STILL had this effect on people.

exhibit number 1:

and exhibit number 2:

the event ended and the crowd control people were able to prevent a stampede from happening. aga was whisked off to an unknown location after the program and the guests were served spaghetti, chicken joy, hamburger and peach mango pie for lunch!

jollibee's top celebrity endorser then thanked the numerous filipinos who, even if they are in the states, continue to flock to the 9 jollibee restaurants in california. next week, they are opening the 10th in los angeles (corner of beverly blvd and vermont avenue).


ah, life!

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'pack your bags'

simon cowell echoed my sentiments last week when i said that melissa mcghee and kinnik would be leaving the show, if there is justice in the world.

indeed, there is justice in the world, as the two ladies sang back to back last night and performed well below par. hah. goodbye girls!

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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

x-men III

moving on to lighter stuff.

the trailer of x-men III was shown last night during the 2-hour showing of 24. which, by the way was just awesome. the nerve gas was released inside ctu and killed most of its employees, including edgar. kim is back with a boyfriend who looks older than her father. c. thomas howell, what happened? it looks like you did not age gracefully. i wonder how ralph macchio looks now.

x-men III will be shown in may. three more months of waiting.

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low

for reasons i am not ready to divulge yet, i'd like to say that yesterday was an emotional low for me.

maybe the day just didn't start right. maybe my stars were not aligned. maybe it was just an off-day.

yesterday, it rained hard. and it rained hard on me.

there's a reason why i should not be too happy at times.

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Friday, March 03, 2006

sue me!

i was coerced by a couple of my friends to watch a movie last night. not just a movie but a tagalog movie.

for two weeks, this film called 'close to you' was shown here in LA. i don't know how it fared but yesterday was the last day and my friends and i caught the 7:30 pm screening. there were about 40 people in the entire cinema.

the movie starred john lloyd cruz and bea alonzo, two young stars who have made a killing by appearing in numerous soap operas/teleseryes earlier. introducing was sam milby, a fil-am from ohio who was also a pinoy big brother housemate.

the plot was kinda predictable but it had its moments. yes, moments. the movie also became a semi-travelogue, what with scenes shot in davao, bohol, dumaguete and even singapore. it was nice seeing the countryside, even if it's only on film.

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hate

i hate it that the east coast is 3 hours ahead.

i hate it that my favorite reality shows, including american idol, are aired ahead in the east coast.

i hate it that i have friends in the east coast who love, love, love to annoy me by spoiling my fun and revealing who gets the boot or who wins. year after year after year. season after season after season.

having said that, say goodbye to the four contestants who got kicked last night.


i was so spot on with my prediction about the girls. not with the guys. damn.

2 of the remaining 5 guys i picked got the boot last night. good night and good luck sway penala and daniel radford.

now who's supposed to leave next week? if there's justice in the world, they would be kinnik and melissa and gedeon and kevin. on to the final 12!

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Wednesday, March 01, 2006

separated at birth?


or mother and daughter in real life?

to the left is american idol semi finalist paris bennett and to the right is chandra wilson, the actress who portrays the role of dr. bailey (in grey's anatomy) with aplomb.

wala lang.

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Friday, February 24, 2006

disaster after disaster after disaster

it has been 20 years since the first people power removed the dictator out of malacañang. 20 years! and to the day, disgruntled people are out to stage yet another people power to remove the current (p)resident in the palace. why not, para isang celebration na lang pag nag anniversary.

how sarcastic.

i was watching TFC last night when the 'breaking news' was aired. by 'breaking news' i meant gloria arroyo's announcement that she has declared a 'state of emergency'. is this 'state of emergency' aka proclamation 1017 be her version of marcos' martial law aka proclamation 1081? scary thought.

my two-cents' worth: i personally think that arroyo's economic reforms slash programs are working, which is good for the country's economy. i think nobody will argue that. until today, the peso has been the best-performing currency in asia. when i had a vacation in manila last year, a dollar was more than 55 pesos. until today, it was pegged at 51. i dunno what the repercussions of the coup rumors and rallies and rallies will be. sigh.

okay, replace arroyo!

problem is, who are you gonna replace her with?

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2 out of 4

okay, so i got the first two people who were eliminated in last night's AI! woohoo. my luck's a-changing. bye becky, bye bobby!

apparently not quite.

the two other contestants who got the boot were both in my top 12! shoot. lesson learned for both. if you are a guy (patrick, listen!), do not sing a girl's song. even if it is a melissa etheridge song! if you are girl (yes, stevie, that would be you!), do not sing a guy song. of course i am kidding.

what is wrong, america? patrick was not bad. steview wasn't as bad as well. listen to it again. it was even quite refreshing for me (and i am big josh groban fan) to listen to a girl take on any of his songs. i enjoyed it. it seems america didn't.

sigh. so who's gonna fill up the posts left by patrick and stevie?

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Wednesday, February 22, 2006

all i want for christmas

...is my two front teeth.

unfortunately for the new james bond (daniel craig), he just lost his.

apparently, he's in the czech republic filming the new james bond film called casino royale when the film's villain accidentally knocked his two front teeth out. what's ironic is that this was the first fight scene to be shot. ouch.


and for more bad news for the man, diehard (fanatics!) fans of james bond have gone online with craignotbond.com, a website that, well, questions the producers' decision to hire the actor as the new bond. james bond.

let's see. you just lost your two front teeth in the first fight scene of the movie that you are doing. and the loyal fans of the movie that you are doing have vowed to boycott the film because you are in it.it's not going to get worse than this.

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Tuesday, February 21, 2006

$101,100.51

that is the final (and winning) bid for the shirts worn by jake gyllenhaal and used in the film brokeback mountain.

that's 5,257,226.50 pesos (at 52 to a dollar). five million pesos! my goodness.

i think the winning bidder just reinvented the word 'fanatic'.

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Friday, February 17, 2006

say it ain't so


this piece of news bothered me.

apparently, after winning their second award at the brit awards, coldplay announced that the band is splitting slash breaking up slash putting the band on hold.

i say what? after just three albums? this fan just can't accept it. boo!

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Thursday, February 16, 2006

american idol season 5 addiction starts right now

fearless prediction: top six would be ayla brown, paris bennett, kellie pickler, stevie scott, lisa tucker and katherine mcphee [holding on to the seventh spot, hopefully gunning for the sixth is mandisa]

fearless (and extremely biased) prediction: top six would be ace young, jose penala, patrick hall, chris daughtry, will makar and taylor hicks [the crucual seventh spot is shared by elliott yamin and daniel radford. sorry kevin covais. hope you do well.]

oh my goodness. can't wait for tuesday, wednesday and thursday next week. there goes my nightlife! [thanks jared for the pics]

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sway, sway, sway

okay. so it's official. jose 'sway' galang penala is in. [note to dear m, maybe he's related to the galangs of cabanatuan. hah!]

i just finished watching my AI tape. this was the episode where they officially chose the top 24. and sway is one of them. yey!

last year, because of my 3-week vacation in the philippines, i did not get to watch AI as much as i wanted to. which means that i was not as invested as i was in seasons 1, 2 and 3. specially 3. hahaha. but now, i got to watch almost all of the episodes so far, including the auditions, so it is safe to say that i am on the AI season 5 train. specially since a filipino is there? hah.

dial away!

[edited to add:]

i was blog-hopping when i came across this message. the poster was listing his/her top 24, and his/her entry on jose penala was spot on. i nearly died laughing.

4) Jose “Sway” Penala — Now I put this guy here not because I particularly think that he’s great, but because he has the ethnic minority vote locked up solid. This is the same demographic crowd that took Jasmine Trias to 3rd place over the much more talented Latoya London in Season 2. And note — THEY VOTE !! He tends to oversing songs and makes too much melismatic variations for my taste. But hey, to each his own.

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Monday, February 13, 2006

pink mist*

rest in peace, bomb squad guy. you will be missed.

bomb squad guy is kyle chandler. kyle chandler is the guy on this old show called 'early edition.' [photo shows him with dr. burke, the surgeon who is shagging dr. christina yang (oh, sandra oh)]

he was the bomb squad guy in the two-episode arc of grey's anatomy that started last week after the super bowl. with all my hopes (and some of my co-workers' and some friends' who are avid viewers of the show) that he is the person who's going to break the meredith grey - derek shepherd - addison shepherd love triangle went for naught when he was killed off.

it's a triangle where all the characters are likeable. like ben-felicity-noel. or dawson-joey-pacey. okay, not like dawson-pacey-joey.

it's just that it has been awhile since i screamed at my tv set. last sunday, i did that, when dylan the bomb squad guy exploded into tiny bits. pink mist, as the anesthesiologist told christina ricci's character last week.

it was a beautiful explosion. it was well-executed. way better than all the explosions they do in alias and 24. combined. the effect was just overwhelming.

grey's anatomy just overtook desperate housewives, taking the top post in my list of favorites.

(*all that is left of a person when a bomb goes off)

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Friday, February 10, 2006

no to HR 4437!

more than a hundred people flocked to the democratic national committee's headquarters in downtown los angeles thursday to call on the democratic leadership to oppose HR 4437, a bill that people think is anti-human and anti-immigrant. the bill hopes to eradicate more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the united states. it's such an ugly bill i wonder why it passed the house in the first place.

i covered this rally yesterday and i felt one with the rest of the protesters. why a republican (surprise, surprise) lawmaker would come up with a bill that would criminalize people and organizations who would be helping/assisting undocumented immigrants is beyond me.

america is a nation of immigrants, deal with it!

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remiss

i have not been exactly a diligent blogger lately. in fact it has been more than a week since my last post. it's just that it has been a pretty hectic week and i have been quite busy.

now that it's out of the way, what exactly happened the previous week?

first up, movies. i saw four movies last week. the eye (on dvd) at home, with P, D & T. i thought this was one of the new asian horror films. i found out later that this was done by the pang brothers in 2002! and it's being remade in hollywood, i think with renee zelwegger as the lead actress. hmmmm. i liked the movie. it was not a screamer kind of a horror flick. and i like my horror that way.

next up was a back-to-back marathon of munich and the last holiday with J. watched munich simply because i wanted to find out why spielberg was nominated for best director and the film was snobbed, as well as its lead actor eric bana. bana was surprisingly good. after watching him in the hulk a couple of years ago, i sort decided that he's a ham. this movie proved me wrong. the film was more than three hours long but i managed to watch it in its entirety without even looking at my cell to check the time. that is a good thing!

queen latifah was funny in this film called the last holiday. it was predictable, so i just went along for the ride. it had its moments and i loved the way they shot most of the scenes during her european vacation. well, the premise was simple. our heroine was told that she only had three weeks to live. what to do? well, fly to the czech mountains in the middle of winter and stay at the grandhotel pupp (pronounced 'poop'). hah. funny. film was directed by wayne wang, who also directed the joy luck club.

the last one was 'walk the line' which i saw at the arclight with T.

goodness, $14 for a movie? that's just insane for me. too much. too pricey! why arclight, why? anyway, i enjoyed the movie immensely. i really liked reese witherspoon's performance as june carter-cash. (i need to watch transamerica to see how my dear felicity huffman performed. only then can i decide on who deserves the oscar more. yes, i've narrowed the fight for best actress between the two ladies. as if my vote would matter!)

i was never a fan of joaquin phoenix but i think he also delivered a solid performance on this one. however, just like the story in the movie, he needed the radiance and support and love of june carter in order to shine himself, and face his critics. johnny cash would not be johnny cash without june carter, that's what i got from the film.

what else? next post please.

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Saturday, February 04, 2006

just plain praying

for the families and friends of the people who died saturday morning in a stampede in manila.

i've been feeling sad since last night when i first heard of the news through a text message from a friend. sad because in the efforts of the people who died to find their luck in a game show, it was death that they found instead.

it was tragic. and that is putting it mildly. it's more than a terrorist attack, only this time, people cannot put the blame on a single group of people. in this day and age of finger-pointing, many will accuse abs-cbn of negligence, of not planning the logistics enough to carry out a show such as this.

biases aside, what happened was a terrible accident that could have been prevented. it has happened. no amount of talk or fighting could return the lives of the 80 plus people who have perished.

let's all move on and learn something from this.

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Thursday, February 02, 2006

praying for sway

he delivered a fine audition last week in san francisco, singing 'superstar' in front of paula, simon and randy. they all welcomed him to hollywood.

but is his trip going to be cut short?

according to eonline, he 'may have sung his last note' on the talent search. uh-oh.

the article further says that he 'may have been in violation of the competition's strict eligibility rules at the time of his tryout last summer.'

In a development that does not bode well for Penala's Idol future, he was reportedly signed to E-Real Records with his band, 6th Day, at the time he auditioned for the show last August.

In September, the band released a CD titled Forever Starts Today via the site brownjungle.com, where it can be purchased for $11.99. Around the time of the album's release, a Filipino newspaper reported that Penala was still a member of 6th Day and that the band was performing mall shows in Manila.

As of this week, 6th Day was still listed on the E-Real Records roster. It's unclear whether Penala remains an active member of the band.

Controversy or no, the fledgling singer has already earned himself a dedicated network of supporters, as well as his very own fansite, www.josepenala.com, which offers music samples, photos and a biography of the "star in the making."

read the rest of the article here.

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six more weeks

of winter, that is.

that's according to punxsutawney phil, who saw his shadow today, which happens to be groundhog day. oh well. what's six more weeks of biting cold? six more weeks of enjoying my winter clothes, my jackets and my sweaters.

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oh carol, i am but a fool

i was on the phone with my friends J and R for almost an hour late afternoon yesterday. we hung up and went on with our lives.

i watched american idol. after the first gap, i switched channels. by the time i went back to AI, the second gap has started and J was on the phone, again.

J: Did you see Carol Banawa?
Me: No, where?
J: Are you watching American Idol? I should have asked that first.
Me: Yes.
J: You didn't see Carol Banawa?
Me: I didn't. I was channel surfing. Are you sure itw as her?
J: Yes, I am sure.
Me: Why did she audition in Texas?
J: Ay oo nga. (Pause). Walang audition dito sa LA.
Me: Uh. Ok.

Then this morning, J called me in the office.

J: I think that was really Carol Banawa.
Me: Okay, if you say so.
J: No, not just me.
Me: Okay.
J: The message boards say so.
Me: Okay

Then this afternoon, around five minutes ago.

J: Check your email.
Me: Why?
J: I sent you a link to Carol Banawa's video.
Me: Why?
J: To prove that it was her.
Me: Okay. So did she make it to Hollywood?
J: I don't know. I don't think so.
Me: Okay.
J: Check it now. Talk to you later.

So, I checked my mail. And here it is. Miss Carol Banawa. On American idol.

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blogging at 3 am

why a 10-minute accidental nap (max 15) between 9:00 and 9:30 pm last night has me (still) wide awake at 3:00 am continues to baffle me. i've got stuff to do tomorrow and i need to finish them but i think i'd be way to sleepy if i don't get to sleep soon.

after watching american idol, i went up to my room. i turned my tv on, then my computer. then i went to my bed. i had no plans of sleeping yet but i crawled under the sheets nonetheless. next thing i know was that i was waking up.

reruns of sex and the city, friends, will and grace and a bunch of other documentaries on pbs hours later and i am still up. finished reading two old issues of time, cover to cover, and yes, i am still up. i stared at my bookshelf and there it was, the da vinci code, begging to be re-read. probably not a good idea, or i'll end up reading until daylight breaks.

what to do? why, turn on the computer and blog about this sleep disorder. hah. i have a sleeping disorder. i need to go see a sleep therapist. or a sleep coach. damn it, i want to sleep.

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Wednesday, February 01, 2006

february na!

oh gee, it's february!

it's like january passed by so quickly i didn't even notice. probably because i spent two weeks in manila, one week in haze after that and another week, well adjusting to the new year. hah!

i just read from dolly ann carvajal's column the first six confirmed housemates of celebrity big brother in the philippines. who's in, so far?

well, according to her: rosanna roces, keanna reeves, rustom padilla, chin-chin gutierrez, john pratts and bianca gonzales. interesting mix. of course, this is only half of the cast but so far it has made me wonder why they would put two sexy stars (osang and keanna...oh keanna. with a name like keanna reeves, oakay, i won't go there!) together? maybe the producers are hoping that somewhere along the way, a major catfight's gonna happen? hmmm.

among the six, it's bianca who i know the least. know is the operative word. well, it should be 'know from' TV. she's ryan agoncillo's co-host in y-speak. wait, i wonder why that show is not regularly shown on tfc. maybe because back home it has moved to studio 23. oh well.

john pratts was a toddler last time i looked. of course, that was a long time ago when he was but a tyke doing stupid and corny stuff for 'ang tv'. apparently he's all grown up.

rustom padilla. i guess it's his time to shine. and share to the entire world that he's such a happy, a very happy person. but then, maybe he'll go the uma route. ouch.

other names being thrown in the air (hey, the show's supposed to start in 4 days in manila): carlos agassi (no words for him. i am friends with his former manager) and zanjoe marudo (sp?) (i remembered his name from a long chitchat we had with R at coffee bean last november because zanjoe is R's friend. or something). speaking of R, hey, sorry i missed your wedding. i was stuck in antipolo with my boss and the rest of the crew. i hope you had a great time. congratulations and best wishes!

my only wish for now: i hope that tfc airs celebrity big brother in its entirety here in the states. otherwise, i'd be asking well-meaning friends to tape it for me. oh well, probably not.

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Monday, January 30, 2006

oh, sandra oh!

her performance at the 2004 film 'sideways' was short but it was in that film that i seriously took note of her as a performer. last fall, i was more than glad to see her as one of the lead characters in abc's grey's anatomy, which would become as one of my new favorites.

at the last golden globes, i only got two guesses right. one was reese witherspoon's win as best actress, and sandra oh's best supporting actress (for tv). needless to say, i was more than happy to find out that dear sandra won the best drama actress for tv at the screen actors guild awards (sag) tonight. woohoo.

and reese also won. and a host of my other favorites: kiefer sutherland (24, best drama actor), sean hayes (will & grace, best comedy actor) and felicity huffman (desperate housewives, best comedy actress). i couldn't be happier. (photo via ap)

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Sunday, January 29, 2006

overkill

since i am nursing the worst jetlag i've had in ages, i've been staying at home for the past few days. and when i'm at home, ninety percent of the time, the tv is on; and so is the computer. anyhow, the point of this rant is this:

today was laundry day so i psyched myself that i'd be doing nothing but laundry today (and that includes the folding, my most disliked part of doing the laundry). anyhow, the 'overkill' in the title of this post refers to my very own pacquiao overload. and abs-cbn's overkill in hyping up his win over erik morales.

you see, i was en route to thailand with M and R when the big fight happened. by the time we turned our cell phones on the moment we landed in bangkok, the text messages came rusking in: pacquiao beats morales in the tenth round! yehey.

we never got to feel the 'pacquiao fever' in the philippines, and also in los angeles. i arrived the day pacman left for manila.

since then, i've been hearing and watching about his 'heroics' day in and day out on tfc. today was no different. i woke up and asap '06 was on, so i watched. they devoted an entire show for manny pacquiao. wow. i'm impressed. while in manila, i got bombarded with pacquiao's song being played incessantly, whether on radio (love radio, kailangan bang i-memorize yan? wait, have all taxi drivers banded together and decided that love radio is their official radio station? just wondering because 99% of the taxi cabs i've been in have been tuned in to love radio. except for the last cab ride i had which was playing wrock. nice.) or on tv.

you know it, you've heard of it. it goes 'para sa iyo ang laban na ito...' and ends with a melancholic promise to his homeland, yeah para sa iyo bayan ko. sure. i was half-expecting and half-praying that they won't be asking pacquiao to sing it today since it was a tribute for him and all he had to do was sit down with his wife and pretend that they are enjoying all the attention. but hey, it was a show for him, so naturally, they had to ask him to sing. nature seemed to have agreed with me, it rained (it was an open air event) and someone with an umbrella had to accompany pacquiao onstage. meanwhile, my ears started to bleed.

the masochist that i was, i stayed on. hey, i had no choice, i was doing my laundry.

as if the entire asap '06 was not enough, they had also had him in the buzz, a showbiz-oriented show. what was a boxer doing in a showbiz talk show beats me, but hey, he had an album and he had to promote. and the freaking hosts had to ask him to sing a few bars from his song. initially, pacquiao begged off, saying that his head hurt, or he had sore throat. just a few nudges and a little convincing and there he was, singing 'para sa iyo ang laban na ito...'. my ears continued to bleed.

to compound my woes, their discussion went into ipods and how many songs the guy has in his. he said 'mahigit wan tawsan na' and it included, among others, songs of sharon cuneta, pilita corrales, imelda papin (this was when kris aquino could not help but suppress her laugh. hey, it was caught oncam), victor wood, everly brothers, righteous brothers... boy abunda suggested that pacquiao should complete the list by adding nora aunor songs and he began to sing 'pearly shells...' passed on the mic to pacquiao so he can continue, (and he did) 'in the ocean...' (he said, i mean he sang, off-key). i think i just turned deaf.

as if asap '06 and the buzz were not enough, there was a 'hataw pacquiao: party ng bayan' special in the evening. just how many times can pacquiao thank the filipino nation, and abs-cbn, and all his kapamilya? now if this is not overkill, then i do not know what is! this is where i drew the line. enough is enough is enough. i can no longer tolerate this. i turned the tv off and proceeded to have dinner in peace. after watching the first few parts of the show. hah. at least i gave them the chance.

the show was hosted by donita rose, bayani agbayani and edu manzano. first up was this girl say alonzo, one of the housemates of pinoy big brother, abs-cbn's new star-making slash star-search discovery machine. she sang this song that she has been singing since she was in the house. and then she said she was not the only housemate in the house. and i said uh-oh. she introduced 4 housemates, including the grand winner and they went onstage. nag-isip pa ako kung ano ang gagawin nila. maybe something different than usual. chance, chance. then the strains of the 'pinoy ako' song played and they started dancing. now, this is where i really drew the line. i've had too much of pinoy big brother. too much of pinoy ako, the song. too much of pinoy ako, the dance. too much of manny pacquiao. too much of tfc?

i turned the tv off. again.

i went upstairs to my room, and turned the tv on. time for desperate housewives.

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Friday, January 27, 2006

jetlagged

this is probably the worst jetlag i've had since, well, since the land before time.

j and j (johnson and johnson) picked me up at the airport. had dinner at sanamluang (where else?) and had coffee afterwards at the coffee bean (where else, part 2). gee, i am so predictable.

while in bangkok, richard was hell-bent on looking for the best pad see ewe there. so almost every meal we had (including breakfast!) had pad see ewe in it. what we got there were not the same ones we got here. now, isn't that weird?

so the quest for the best pad see ewe ended after three days with no winner. because the best pad see ewe for us, hands down, was still sanamluang's. hah!

anyway, back to the jetlag stuff.

got home shortly before midnight to an apartment that was almost bare. then i remembered, my roomie called on friday the 13th to tell me that the pipe at the downstairs bathroom burst and flooded the entire ground floor. my goodness, i didn't think it would be possible but i was transformed to that day six years ago when i moved into this apartment with M. it was bare. bare, with nothing except, well, with nothing at all. i stared at the wide open space, trying to place where things were before the flood. rebuilding and rearranging the living room would require a lot of time. time that i don't have.

i went up to my room. the stuff that used to be downstairs are now between my door and my roomie's door and the bathroom door. it was a maze and i had a hard time getting in my room. tired from all of that, i went to bed. i checked my watch: 1:30 am.

when i woke up it was still dark. or so i thought. it was almost 6. in the evening! it was already dark (as opposed to 'it was still dak'). suddenly i tried to remember if i woke up at all and i just ended up sleeping more. apparently i didn't. i have skipped breakfast and lunch altogether. and i didn't feel hungry. wow. i felt light-headed.

i turned on the tv and caught up on desperate housewives.

smallville's 100th episode was at 8. i have been an on-and-off fan of the show but since this was the 100th episode and that 'something big' was going to happen, i decided to stay tuned. the trailer revealed that someone close to clark was going to die, and they made it appear that it was going to be lana. so i thought, it was not going to be lana, and they were just deceiving the viewers. lana died during the first half hour of the episode after clark revealed all his secrets to her. there was a twist somewhere and clark had a chance to save lana. by the end of the episode, clark was mourning his father's death. rest in peace, jonathan kent.

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