*extreme fixation for zankou chicken
last friday, my friend j and i were on the fence as to where to eat. then suddenly, i remembered that i have not eaten at zankou for the longest time. so i recommended zankou chicken, or ono hawaiian barbecue. we settled at zankou.
zankou is the home of the best rotisserie-chicken this side of town. add their garlic sauce and it's some chicken to die for. yum. the big guys that we are, we decided to split a whole chicken (which came with two pita bread and the requisite garlic sauce) and bought a side of rice. yumyum. and i was satiated.
early saturday morning, i got a call from another friend j, who was driving from san francisco to los angeles. we were attending a wedding at 2:00 pm, so we had to eat lunch first. 'i'm craving for some chicken,' he said. i said to myself, 'oh no!' then he asked, 'can we eat at zankou? we don't have it in san francisco and i miss their chicken.' the good friend that i was, i said, 'sure, why not?'
why not indeed. up to this day, i can still feel/smell the garlic sauce. back to back in zankou (different branches though). i've filled my craving, so it would probably take me months for another zankou run.
Monday, July 10, 2006
zankou-ism*
Sunday, July 09, 2006
viva italia!
thanks to zinedine zidane, italy went on to win its 4th world cup victory! kudos to cannavaro who did a good job in leading his men (unlike zidane, who got red carded because of that nasty headbutt on matarazzi).
the last of the 64 games all boiled down to penalty kicks and if zidane did not let his emotion take over, he would have been there, leading his country and doing what he does well -- penalty kicking. it's academic at this point but it was not trezeguet who caused france to lose, it was zidane's immaturity. and boy, what an ugly last act he committed in his last game. bitter much? yes, i wanted france to win.
viva! also to roger federer for winning against rafael nadal. their own version of 'thrilla in manila' will happen this august/september at the us open. personally, i have not made my choice as to who will take over my idolatry for pete sampras. my liking of federer and nadal combined does not even reach half of my sampras fanaticism. oh well. roddick's good but he's not great. henman's a goner. blake has promise but i think he's quite late. agassi bade wimbledon adieu when nadal whipped his ass.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
benched
jessica zafra is one brilliant writer and my day's not complete without dropping by her blog.
it has been awhile since i had a really laugh out loud moment but a few moments ago, i had a good one while reading her blog. she attended the bench fashion show at the araneta coliseum last week and blogged about it.
my favorite part:
The models who got the loudest applause: Zanjo of Big Brother, Sam Milby of same, Keanna Reeves, and the Gutierrez twins. Remember when they were the Nestle Twins? Richard went shirtless to display the musculature while Raymond wore a fitted shirt with cleavage. Work it, sister! our section cheered. Richard Gomez ended the show, walking onstage in a native American headdress and pants with cutouts while they played Do You Believe in Love—nobody told him he was dressed as Cher.hah! [insert evil laughter here]
Friday, July 07, 2006
big brother 7
this summer's guilty pleasure premiered earlier and i can't believe it's the 7th season already. they shook it up a bit and came up with an all-stars edition. well, not stars but previous housemates from the past six seasons.
and since season 6 just ended less than a year ago, they're still kinda famous and that gave them an edge over the other all-stars. edge, because the producers called 20 of the 75 previous housemates and let america decide on who could be in bb7.
so this season, we have 14 housemates, 4 of whom come from season 6: james, kaysar (my fave last season), janelle & howie. this makes them quite 'vulnerable'. this is what makes big brother here different from the version they have in the philippines, aka pinoy big brother.
the housemates compete to become HOH, or head of household. the HOH then nominates two housemates for eviction. the rest of the housemates then vote to evict. but wait, before they vote to evict a housemate, there's a Power of Veto game where the housemates (except the HOH) compete for a chance to veto the HOH nomination. yay!
viewers such as moi don't get the chance to vote to evict someone from the house. the only time that viewers are allowed to 'participate' in the whole thing is when the producers ask the viewers to reward the housemates. which is precisely the reason why i don't remember half of the housemates (some of them are really forgettable, and unless you have an obnoxious personality such as dr. will, you will be drowned in a sea of conflicting egos).
so very different from the treatment of pinoy big brother housemates. somewhere along the way, the producers of pbb found a way to make this reality show a talent search. need further proof? even the celebrity edition housemates are getting projects left and right (hello keanna reeves!) and the recent teen edition winner is probably one of the busiest teen stars in abs right now.
i am just wondering about what could have happened if the local producers stuck with the way other big brother shows do it.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
four movies in four days
and i am not counting.
superman returns. click. the devil wears prada. the lake house.
i liked superman. left me a couple of questions, but over-all, i like how bryan singer steered clear of the usual stuff and delivered a bunch of twists i didn't even think of. thank god, i was not 'spoiled' by people who have seen it ahead of me. i wish i saw it on imax though. i heard it was hella fun.4 out of 5 popcorns.
click. what can i say. it's an adam sandler movie. i watched it mainly because i wanted to live life vicariously through his character, who got hold of this magical universal remote control. the film had its moments but in the end, it boils down to one fact: it is an adam sandler movie. 2 and a half out of 5 popcorns.
the devil wears prada was comical, hilarious even. ann hathaway is good. meryl streep just rocks. the lines are funny and they were all delivered with aplomb. it was a surprise to see some familiar faces here: adrian grenier (from entourage) as nate, tracie thoms (from rent) as lilly, daniel sunjata (from recue me) as james holt, simon baker as christian thompson. there were major characters from the book that were not in the film and the main character's relationship with her best friend was not as highlighted as it was in the book. 3 and a half out of 5 popcorns.
the lake house. i saw il mare a couple of months ago and i was impressed. then i found out that there was a hollywood version of this film, and this was it, the lake house. i fell in love with the house in il mare and the beautiful cinematography, something that i can not say about the lake house. the hollywood version has its moments but i think i prefer the korean version better. they omitted some crucial (for me) portions and the scene where sandra bullock's character tried to save someone who was hit by a bus, i already knew the twist. and surprise, surprise, it was it. yes, the surprise twist. oh well. 3 popcorns out of 5.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
samu't sari part two
wow. i can't believe that it has been a week since my last posting.
it was indeed a very, very hectic week. what happened after my last post? well, quite a lot. spent a few more days in new york city trying to find the meaning of life. hah. kidding. we got rained on really hard during our last four days there. as of two days ago, these heavy rains have been hampering parts of upstate new york, reaching as far up as philadelphia.
went to atlantic city (at least i did something for the first time. in this case, well, visiting atlantic city) and woodbury premium outlet in upstate new york, where i got to see one of the biggest outlet stores (and believe me, the bargain-hunter that i am, i have seen a number of outlets). unfortch, i did not get to buy a thing. i was quite worried since i bought some stuff from the walk (atlantic city's third street promenade or universal citywalk), i figured i'd be overweight (pun intended) when i go back. so there. in one of the biggest outlets in this country and not a single item purchased.
unless you count in my latest addiction. introducing, the snapple white tea drink (green apple flavor). snapple just launched this product officially this week, which means that they probably did a test-run a few days before (when i started to get addicted to their drink). new york times has a report on their marketing blitz.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
commercial
gas from manhattan - 30 dollars
toll gate at the holland tunnel - 6 dollars
not getting lost going back to your hotel - priceless
for everything else, you can pray...
my goodness. it has been days. i've been here in new york for four days now and it has been weird and crazy and did i say weird? not the weird wednesday addams weird. just weird weird.
i'm here with some people and i can say with conviction that we're no nincompoops, although we're not einsteins as well. the thing is, for the fourth straight time, we got lost on the freeway going back to our hotel from manhattan.
let's just say that i have never felt so confused/frustrated/stumped before. no matter what we did, we always end up not getting the right exit to our hotel. i tell you, it was exasperating. my personal stress level was so high that i wanted to snap out and shred our driver into pieces. but i am not going to do that because i am not going to do that. hehehe. and yes, the driver episodes are an altogether different series.
three more freaking days and i bet a buck that we're still gonna get lost in the coming days. i told you it was weird, didn't i?
Saturday, June 24, 2006
what are the chances...
that i'd get to cross a street in manhattan (fifth avenue, on west 45th atreet) on our way to times square, with a person i had known from way, way back.
we decided to eat at this new pinoy restaurant in midtown manhattan that i found on menupages. it's called bayan cafe, a small joint on east 45th street (between second and third avenue, for those curious). the food was okay, not great, just okay. it's a very small place, and could only accommodate 16 people at a time. anyways, review will come soon. for now, back to the story.
we parked on second avenue and initially decided that we'd walk to times square to burn the calories we consumed. then someone asked the waiter at bayan how far times square would be and he quipped, "ay naku, ang layo po!" and i asked back, "di ba mga six blocks lang?" and he replied back "oo nga, pero malayo yun talaga." so, we went back to the car, and discussed the pros and cons of bringing a car to the theater district where parking is crazy. eventually, i prevailed, and we walked. and walked, and walked.
on fifth avenue, one of us whipped out his camera to take photos of the philippine consulate and on our way back to the place where we were about to cross, i looked at my left and saw an apparition. si ate guy. hahaha. joke lang. it was ned legaspi, a good friend of mine from college and abs glory days. it was a surreal feeling. how could we be in the same exact place at the same time, when moments earlier, we were contemplating on taking the car to times square. when moments earlier, we crossed a street to take photos of the philippine flag on fifth avenue.
it turns out that he's in new york to accept abs-cbn's award from promax for the tfc plug that they produced. ned told me that they also won last year, it's a back to back thingie for them. this is the station id/plug that they produced starring gary valenciano while last year's was that of lea salonga's. we talked for a few minutes and bade each other goodbye. he was on his way back to his hotel where his cousin is waiting for him while we were on our way to look at the sights and sounds of times square.
yes, it's a small world, after all.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
samu't sari
so many things crossing my mind at the moment that i need to compartmentalize.
first up, i am off to the big apple in less than 24 hours and i have not even packed yet. i pack light (yeah, it's a talent) but i tend to forget something and i am feeling that i am going to forget something in this trip. i hope it's not something important such as my contact lenses or my glasses or my charger or my ipod or my ipod charger. sigh.
i caught a glimpse of this show on tfc called wanted: pinoy hero or something like that. it was hosted by pbb (that's pinoy big brother) season 1 big winner (yeah, big winner dapat. kailangan may big) nene. anyhow. she was fine with her delivery and the way she projected onscreen. my only 'complaint' was that they had ninoy aquino and manny pacquiao in the same breath, in the same sentence.
to call manny pacquiao a hero is something, to place him alongside ninoy aquino is another. ninoy died for his country. the main (emphasis on main) reason why pacquiao fights is economics: there's a big prize (dollars!) at the end of the rainbow. secondary na lang yung para sa bansa. i cannot, for the life of me, accept a statement that would (shudders!) equate his achievements with that of ninoy's. my goodness. maybe i'm just alone in this. hey, i am not discounting pacquiao's efforts to bring honor to the country. it's just that, he's doing it for the money primarily, and the bringing honor to the country part is just incidental. take away all the prize money, would he still risk life and limb just to become his country's hero? i. don't think. so.
great game 5 last sunday between miami and dallas. it was probably one of the best championship games i have seen. of course, i was cheering for dallas (mainly because they beat phoenix. hah!). dallas lost, darn. i hope they can recover.
i was able to watch the match between france and south korea (almost) in whole last sunday and i was with our south korean brothers and sisters praying for a korea win. there was a korean invasion at the staples center that day and everyone was wearing red. i wonder if koreatown was deserted last sunday.
wala lang.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
pet peeve
one of my major pet peeves is waking up with a headache. no, not the hang-over type. just plain headache brought about by (i surmise) stress and tension. but from sleep? i should be well-rested after a good night's sleep, right?
pardon the confusion. those are the voices in my head debating among themselves why i woke up this morning with a mild headache that lasted until the afternoon. no thanks to the warm, warm weather. suddenly, i miss june gloom. boo-hoo.
btw, a friend invited me for an advance screening of the fast and the furious 3: tokyo drift at the grove last wednesday night. the movie was fun. a bit tiring but fun. it was a b-movie, no question about that, but it was a good b-movie. i've interviewed justin lin (the film's director) a couple of times before (better luck tomorrow days). in fact, i'm quite glad to see a couple of familiar faces also from blt who are in this film, most notably sung kang.
oh well...
Friday, June 16, 2006
Sunday, June 11, 2006
loser streak
the last time i predicted a winner (in any competition i lay my eyes on) was when kelly clarkson was proclaimed as the first big winner of american idol. and i did that on the first week of the competition. back then, i thought, i had the eye to pick out the diamond in the rough, so to speak.
i was so mistaken.
whether it was tfc's star in a million, or cbs' the amazing race, or the last four seasons of american idol, heck, even survivor or the apprentice, i ended up choosing losers. capital L-O-S-E-R-S. i have never regained the glory of predicting the rightful winner again. call it 'losing the touch' or probably just plain 'jinxing the choice.'
on tfc, there's this show called 'star circle summer kid quest,' a talent show looking for the newest batch of child prodigies. the first season, i placed all my bets on this sweet little girl named sharlene san pedro. she's so cute and precocious she reminds me of my youngest niece jianne. need i tell you that she lost? she was declared the runner-up. boo-hoo.
this season's crop is not as good as the last. i only liked a handful among them. there are five finalists in what was aptly called the magic circle of five. two girls -- mika and cheska, and three guys -- julijo, darius and quintin. one of my friends, who knows about this innate talent i have, asked me who was going to win. knowing that my bet surely won't be declared the big winner, i said, 'i am going to risk jinxing her but my bet is mika' and i quickly followed it up with 'actually, i don't care who wins, AS LONG AS it's not quintin.' anyhow, my pecking order was quintin-cheska-darius, with the final two being julijo and mika.
today was the grand questor's day on tfc. and when the time came when they announced the winner, i was wholly confident that my bet won't make it. so they announced their pecking order. darius (ooops) then julijo (what?!) then cheska (good!), leaving quintin (what!?) and mika (yes!) in the final two. hah! me bet was going against my most hated disliked contestant. this was easy. my mojo was back! there was no competition. my bet was taking the one million peso prize!
not.
quintin was announced as this search's grand questor. and my long list of wrong bets continues...
Saturday, June 10, 2006
june gloom
for the past six days, the weather has been kind of cool (as opposed to scorching hot) and weather people here are calling it that: june gloom.
it's already supposed to be summer so it should already be warm and hot, but because of some low-lying clouds that cover the sun's heat waves, it has been almost six days without the sun.
no topic to cover, and i just want to update. heh.
Monday, June 05, 2006
su-weeet
my iPod lulled me to sleep last night. we were both happy. we, meaning me and my iPod.
i was happy with the deal i got from the apple store in glendale galleria. they chopped off some $80 off from the altec lansing's $179.95 price tag of the in motion portable audio system. i only paid 99 bucks. tee-hee.
and last night, i had it play (almost) non-stop. the sound is so crisp, just like the harman kardon speakers of my imac, only this time, it was not playing it in my computer.
Friday, June 02, 2006
ursprache
regular readers of this blog (and my close friends) would know that i am fixated with the spelling bee competitions. in the previous years, the final scripps spelling bee were aired on espn. not tonight. it was aired on network tv (how funny that it was aired on the alphabet network. hah. abc) for the firts time in its 79-year history.
this year, a girl named kerry close from new jersey won after she correctly spelled u-r-s-p-r-a-c-h-e, which was pronounced oorspraka. color me very impressed. i was rooting for her opponent though. her name's finola mei hwa hackett and she's a charming girl from alberta, canada. she breezed through the different rounds of the competition but was stumped with "weltschmerz" which means a type of mental depression.
anyway, the word ursprache means 'parent language'. yeah.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
a lesson on ethics
couple number 1: a and b
couple number 2: c and d
'a' is a friend. 'c' is a friend. 'b' has been wooing 'd'. this i found out today.
question: should i tell 'a'? or should i stay away from this mess, which, in time, i am quite sure will create shockwaves and aftershocks. sigh.
toxic city
wow. i went on for almost a week without updating this. i can't believe it.
and to think that i had 3 days free last weekend to celebrate memorial day. whatever. where did my hours ago?
hmmm. saw 3 movies last week: x-men, over the hedge and yes, that lindsay lohan flick just my luck. it was my first lohan flick and i'm ashamed to say that i kind of enjoyed it. hah! the night before that, freaky friday was on abc and i caught a good part of it. i was a bit surprised to see there a long-haired chad michael murray (one tree hill) as lohan's boy toy. oh well.
x-men was good. i don't believe published reports that say there's no more sequels after this. how could that happen? (spoiler alert). oh well, magneto's 'back' so to speak, after getting 'cured' so to speak. hah. and professor x? well. psylocke's a pinay! yay! she's quite pretty. her name's mei melancon.
ben foster (aka angel) had a very interesting (and really bvery short) role. too bad he only appeared in about 3 scenes. what's up with that. the way his wings spanned, the way it was made made him really look like a winged man. damn good.
over the hedge was funny and hi-hi-larious. the most memorable ones? bruce willis (well, at least his voice) delivered in his role as rj. wanda sykes was hysterical as the skunk. garry shandling as verne was emotional. steve carell was quite a scene-stealer too. the film? commercialism at its best, and very realistic. the film had laugh out loud moments.
last sunday was beautiful: the weather was fine, the sky blue, and it was not really warm. hah. the best time to go to the beach. so what would momar do?
i freaking cleaned the house.
and i did my laundry. two loads, and counting. armed with a vacuum cleaner, sucked the dirt out of every nook and cranny of my place, including the stairs. cleaned the refrigerator as well. took out all the expired food/delivery/take-out that have been calling my ref home for the past six months or so. hah. i'm happy.
monday. i woke up and my entire body was aching. the last time i felt like this, physically drained and all, was when i was in northern mindanao with a 3-man team for 2 months straight, hopping from one bus to another covering the entire area from iligan and marawi to surigao and siargao. hah. those were the days my friend.
anyhow, i never thought that cleaning non-stop would give me a body-ache. heh. i used to clean my room before, 30 minutes, tops. this time, i cleaned and cleaned for hours on end. i have new-found respect fr all the cleaning ladies (and gentlemen) of the world.
Friday, May 26, 2006
hectic
wow. tgif. wow.
the tv season is over. until this fall.
my take on the dead. wow. a lot of dead people this year. farewell to marissa (the oc); the hundreds or so from 24 (including tony, michelle and president palmer); spydaddy, spymommy and arvin sloane on alias; who else.
and taylor won american idol. i really don't like him. he bugs me. everytime he says 'soul patrol', my dislike in him multiplies a hundred-fold. i think chris' fans and ellioot's fans joined forces to pool their votes toether and give it to taylor. plus the votes from votefortheworst.com. plus simon pimping? there was no way in hell katharine was going to win. sorry, girl.
during the 24 season finale, they aired a plug for one of their shows. i got hooked on a teaser for vanished. looks promising.
that's gale harold (queer as folk), ming na (er), rebecca gayheart (nip/tuck), and a bunch of support. hehehe.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
the crucifixion of madonna
this was what happened during the controversial 'crucifixion' part where madonna sang 'live to tell' while images of suffering children were shown on the multiple giant screens at the arena. and there was a screen on top of the stage with a counter, which ended at 12,000,000. that's the number of orphaned children in africa because of aids.
finales galore
yes, it's that time of year again.
tonight makes me all confused. the series finale of alias is on (overlap!) almost the same time as the season finale of 24. damn, two of my favorite shows on earth are on at the same freaking time.
so i just finished watching 24 (i taped alias) and it was a great finale (complementing a great season). alias, i will watch in a few minutes. it's still on as i do this, and will end in about 10 minutes. that's when i will start to watch it, without interruptions please.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
ma-ma-ma-my-madonna!
see you in a couple of hours madge!
tonight's the first night of the confessions world tour, and where else to start but in los angeles! yay! this is my third madonna concert after drowned (2001) and re-invention (2004) and i am quite excited. i'm not a fan. hehehe.
much ado about da vinci
(and i don't really care about the negative reviews that the film has amassed so far.)
watched three movies: mission impossible 3 (because it was close to impossible to get a ticket for a da vinci code screening at the grove friday night) and poseidon (curiosity got the better of me) and da vinci code (finally, a secure seat (thank you arclight) for the 11:30 pm screening on saturday night).
capsule reviews: mission impossible was quite good, despite the lukewarm response to the film, which tom cruise inflicted on himself because of his weird, crazy, wild goin' bananas antics lately.
it was like watching a larger-than-life version of alias. damn. years of watching that show made me notice the kinda obvious references that jj abrams used in the film. first up. what was agent weiss doing there? heh. and felicity? she had a very short role, i was actually disappointed. i kind of hoped she had a meatier role. maybe i just miss watching keri russell.
alias was conceived right after felicity, when something crossed jj's mind - what if felicity were a college student and a secret agent at the same time? that's how sydney bristow's character started. anyhow, keri did well in her stunts, i now wonder if jj would have chosen her to be in alias instead of felicity. which is actually a rhetorical question since jj would not have conceived of alias if not for felicity. anyway.
poseidon was okay. hated the kid. he was just too hateable. hate it that they killed nadia. woohoo, another alias reference. but josh lucas was good. kurt russell is old. emmy rossum is whiny.
and the da vinci code? critics have been very vocal about the film, and as i said, i could not care less. some of their (critics) criticisms were actually valid and i shared them.
first. the film was way too long. some scenes could have been deleted. second, and i hope i am not alone here. i still cannot figure out (for the love of mary magdalene!) why tom hanks is robert langdon. third. audrey tautou's acting was bland. beyond bland, actually. it's as if her lifeblood was sucked out of her completely. fourth. hans zimmer really went overboard with his score this time. oa. fifth. some parts actually dragged and it felt as if the energizer bunny was there all the time. it just kept on going, and going, and going...
and the things i liked? could sir ian mckellen be any more better? that just sounded redundant, but mckellen was awesome in his role. paul bettany as silas was, i can't think of the right word, haunting? his performance was so nuanced the audience could actually feel his pain.
oh, and one more thing that i did not like? the catholic (as theyc laimed) protesters (around five of them) who had placards asking people not to watch the movie. they staged their protest on fairfax, on the spot where people/cars turn left going to the grove. sorry for them, all the screenings were sold out friday and a 1:00 am screening was opened just to accommodate the crowds.
come on. it's just a freaking movie!
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
dizzy in dc
the past few hours i have been here has been crazy and all the stuff going around made me dizzy. hah. so much for being alliterative.
just finished watching american idol, and may i just say how much i dislike taylor hicks? i cannot exactly pinpoint why i hate don't like him. just that watching him tonight made me cringe. just how many times does he need to blurt out 'soul patrol' for crying out loud! he must've said it more than 20 times tonight, in every single opportunity he got.
i think somehow my 'like' in mcphee returned tonight. i think i'd rather see a katharine-elliott showdown than a taylor-elliott one but if i head simon right earlier, i think he has made up his mind that taylor would be in the finals next week. so if that is the case, taylor-elliott trumps taylor-katharine.
it was nice to see the good ol' mayor of los angeles, antonio villaraigosa. woohoo! way to go tony! lol.
my events will be at the smithsonian tomorrow. i just need my caffeine fix before i sleep (yeah, i know i'm weird) and it doesn't help that there is a starbucks in my hotel. hah.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
it comes in threes
there is an old saying that luck, whether good or bad, always comes in threes.
i did not believe that it was all possible. until it happened to me.
my friends r and j brought me to the airport last night for my trip to washington, dc. we had dinner first since r has been craving for sukiyaki for weeks on end. so we headed to our favorite sukiyaki and shabu shabu place in little tokyo. this little joint's called zakuro. anyhow, after dinner, we went to my place to pick up my luggage and head to the airport.
since it was tad too early to go to the airport (i was taking the red eye), we decided to have coffee first. while sipping my french roast decaf, i had an uncanny feeling that i left something in the apartment. i checked my luggage and true enough, i left my orange pouch (freebie from shangri-la/st. francis) where i kept all my cords. and all my cords are important. my cellphone's battery was low. my digital camera's battery was drained. i am toast.
so we went back to my place to retrieve the cords. one.
we proceeded to the airport. since i had extra baggage because tptb wanted me to bring a video cam (we bought it this afternoon) and a gigantic tripod. i am really toast. so mentally, i was preparing everything that i need to bring. i told r and j to just drop me off at the curb so they can go home early. so check-in i did, went through the xray for my baggage, escalator up for another xray. it was here when i realized that i was missing something. my cellphone.
i called j and told him that i think i left my cell in the car. he checked, and indeed, it was there. they went back to the airport, needless to say. i am not liking it. strike two.
i chose an exit row for the flight from los angeles to atlanta. where we were to change planes en route to dc. i slept through both flights. finally, at around 11ish, we landed at the ronald reagan airport in washington dc. i was so paranoid thinking that i might lose the hi-tech tripod (with its own bag) or worse, the new video camera. i woke up mentally checking if the tripod or the camera is with me.
i went all the way to the baggage carousels and realized that i may have lost my wallet. since it was bulking from my back pocket, i put it in my jacket. it might have slipped while i was sleeping and changing positions. i have never lost a wallet in my lifetime and i was hoping i was not going to lose one now.
strike three.
and hassles of all hassles. i had to go through the entire process of checking in just so i can go back to the gate and hope that someone picked my wallet up and gave it to the airline peeps. my legs were shaking and i was sweating bullets.
in the end, i found a nice lady on the phone and the last words she said to the person on the other line was 'he is filipino' so i said, 'ma'am you have my wallet? i might have left it inside the plane.' she smiled, bade goodbye to the person on the other line and said, 'he's here.'
wow. and it's not even lunch time yet.
Monday, May 15, 2006
bloody week
and i am excited!
i am taking the red-eye tonight from los angeles to washington dc. wee! first time! i am covering the filipino centennial event at the smithsonian. i am so stoked.
last week was also a bloody week, and i survived. had lots of things to do, lots of things to write. things that make me go abuzz.
so i will be missing in action until friday (my hotel has free wi-fi, so i might be blogging live. hah!). jed madela's concert here in los angeles is also on friday. da vinci code opens on friday. then on sunday. oh yes, sunday.
it's the first night of madonna's confessions tour ever. and i got tickets. stoked as well. it's my third time to see the material girl live in concert -- drowned world tour in 2001 and reinvention world tour in 2004. i'm not a fan. hah.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
semi-upset
because a couple of my friends scheduled last night as a movie night (another post!), i was not able to watch the american idol results show.
because i liked two other shows more (amazing race and alias), i was not able to to tape the american idols results show.
because a friend from the east coast texted 'oh my god' around the time that ai was pretty much wrapping up in their time zone, i knew this was going to be a great show.
because a friend from up north called in and was quite jubilant. earlier in the day, same friend called my office and asked who was leaving tonight. 'without a doubt, it's katharine,' i said without skipping a beat.
because a friend called in upset (gusto kong murahin ang buong america! i'm out! hinding hindi na ako manonood ng show na ito!) a full hour before the actual results show, i knew who was leaving. and that made me pretty upset as well.
because i could no longer contain my excitement, and to confirm that he was actually the one voted off, i called another friend. this was before 9:30 and the bottom two has been announced.
because i was not able to tape it, i had my trusty computer do the work for me.
because i am not explaining what torrent means (google it!, just a little bit), but i am thankful that my computer didn't fail me.
because i still could not believe that it happened, i watched the episode and i was forced to write this post moments after watching (and yes, rewatching it) the episode.
because katharine mcphee and chris daughtry were my original final two (i know, carrie underwood- bo bice redux!) i was genuinely and extremely shocked. (my fascination for mcphee diminished by the day, to a point where i didn't like her anymore, to a point where i wanted her off my tv, to a point where i actually liked taylor more than her already, and that's saying a lot because i DO NOT like taylor!)
because elliott yamin rocked the house on tuesday night and was on the verge of elimination since he was perceived as the weakest of the four, in terms of fanbase.
because i voted a lot for elliott (and the last time i actually cared to vote was when this guy sway penala was still there. hah.) and i wanted him safe.
because of the results show, katharine is now being dubbed as the season's nikki/jasmine (not a great club to be in) just because other more qualified (dare i say better) contestants should have been in their place at the top 3 (tamyra and la toya come to mind).
because i am so looking forward to an elliott-taylor showdown (an elliott-katharine match-up sounds just fine) in two weeks, i promise i will dial like crazy next tuesday night.
Monday, May 08, 2006
lost
no, this post is not about the show.
it's about the much-awaited confrontation between the two los angeles home teams in the semis of the western conference nba that's not gonna happen this year because, well, the lakers just lost game 7.
it was the first first-round series loss for zen master phil jackson. the phoenix suns is just the eighth team in nba history to come from a 1-3 deficit and win a series.
i was at the sipa (search to involve pilipino americans) anniversary dinner at the marriott airport earlier when a good friend who works with sipa approached me and told me the news. (probably some guys sneaked out of the ballroom and went to the sports bar near the hotel lobby) oh well.
looking at the brighter side: the LA clippers (others call them as 'the other team from LA'. ouch!) will have the staples center as their home and i just hope that they win this series not just for themselves but to avenge the loss of the lakers. hah! as if.
my boss watched game 3 with her family last week and she told me that parking alone at staples on the night they watched was $50! and this was in a parking lot 3 to 4 blocks away. those lots 1 to 2 blocks away charged almost twice as much. 50 freaking dollars for a parking lot? C-R-A-Z-Y. (photo via the associated press)
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
and so were they
they = real-life couple ryan gosling and rachel mcadams -- both canadians -- who went out of their way last monday to join hundreds of thousands of immigrants like us march along wilshire boulevard.
i was there
day without immigrants.
estimates say that more than 500,000 people trooped and marched along the stretch of wilshire boulevard to protest hr 4437 yesterday, may 1. i think the figure was more than that, i'm not just sure by how many.
it was a sea of stars and stripes this time, as the mexicans in the crowd heeded los angeles' mayor antonio villaraigosa's plea to bring just one flag: the american flag. i've been saying all along that it's ironic that they bring mexican flags when they are actually pleading their case to become americans.
notable who's who: martin sheen, who seems to have imbibed on his role as democratic president much on the west wing; tom morello, guitarist of the band audioslave (formerly of rage against the machine); some local politicians; fil-am author noel alumit (hi noel!), and others.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
catching up, again
i don't even remember the last movie i watched, so when j asked if i wanted to see a couple, i agreed without thinking.
so all in all, i was able to watch 4 movies this weekend.
first up: united 93. i did not expect it to be 'heavy' viewing, i mean not that heavy. i was almost bawling. it was filmed like a documentary, very factual and very realistic. the producers' and director's decision not to use famous actors worked well for the movie as the viewers (myself included) saw them as 'normal' human beings, not actors portraying a role. the film's quite good, even if it somehow dragged in the beginning. as soon as it gained steam, it went full speed ahead, no pun intended, until the end.
since it was such an emotional and heart-tugging flick, we decided to go light with the second one: scary movie 4. hah. thinking not required. it had its funny moments, but some were just too tacky and slapstick. and i am complaining why? this is the scary movie series, what am i expecting? oh well.
probably two notches (maybe one and a half!) above scary movie 4 is american dreamz, yes, dreamz with a z! its semi all-star cast -- hugh grant, mandy moore, dennis quaid, chris klein... -- failed to make this movie a good one. it's supposed to be a parody of american idol, and how the show's producers are looking for a specific look in th contestants, never mind if they really are not that good singers.
add a president who appears to be losing his mind. add academy-award winner marcia gay harden, who, as the first lady was almost forgettable. add a terrorist-in-training who loves performing broadway showtunes. add a white trash-type starlet willing to do anything (as in anything) to achieve her american dreamz. add a british bloke as a reality show producer/host whose morals have gone awol. you get a mildly interesting movie that is not too watchable. i actually agree with one of the film critics who described american dreamz as a 'nightmare'. ouch.
the (fourth and) last film deserves a separate post. hah!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
house of d
way before my fixation with agents vaughn and bristow, i was enamored with the screen partnership of special agents mulder & scully. i'm the biggest x-phile i know, among my fellow x-phile friends.
cut to the chase. the hollywood reporter is one of the media sponsors at the global conference i attended. during one of the breaks, i grabbed a copy and found out in its calendar section that there was going to be a 'book event' at the fine arts theater in beverly hills, some ten blocks away where i was attending the conference.
according to the writers bloc,
Craig Ferguson, the really funny and extremely intelligent host of CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," has written a novel. He has called it "Between the Bridge and the River," and as one would expect, it's really funny and extremely intelligent, and totally politically incorrect. It's bawdy, offensive, entirely joyful in its irreverence, funny and utlimately full of heart. Ferguson takes on Scientology, Hollywood, religion, and other staples of southern California. David Duchovny, known and respected for his role on "The X Files," is not visiting Writers Bloc because he is just another pretty face. He's literary and interesting, and knows a terrific writer when he meets one.so off i went. i was not going to let this pass. i've seen david duchovny twice, and that's it. (if it matters, i've also seen gillian anderson -- once, at the cracked xmas event 3 years ago) it was an interesting night, listening to both craig and david (hah! craig and david!) discuss everything about the book, and then some.
after the discussion (i was on the fourth row), i mustered enough courage to approach the man: special agent fox mulder. i introduced myself, i extended my hand and told him that i admire his work. he smiled, shook my hand and asked where i was from. it was fleeting. presence of mind. i fished out my camera from my pocket and gave it to whoever was behind me and asked for the photo to be taken.
i am such a dork. a very happy dork.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
busy bee
i've been quite busy the past few days that i have not found time to update this.
starting yesterday (until wednesday), i will be based in beverly hilton, albeit temporarily. i am attending/covering the 2006 global convention sponsored by the milken institute. i am actually in-between sessions and i am blogging from the aol cyberpavilion.
it has been fun. i was able to meet and shake the hands of andre agassi before one of the sessions that i attended yesterday. he talked about the school that he set up for the underserved students in his hometown of las vegas. also later in the afternoon, i attended the panel where he joined lance armstrong. it was one of the lighter sessions that i attended.
i'll be back posting regularly by the end of the week.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
tv patrol hates dennis trillo?
i was watching tv patrol (on tfc, where else) last night when i noticed the chargen on dennis trillo (my bff wrote a treatise about this guy in her blog). i almost fell of my chair.
the very straight mr. trillo was identified as [DENNIS TRILLO / BINIBINING PILIPINAS WORLD 2005]. horrors!
it was very careless for this top-rating (is it?) show to label an actor with a title he's not probably too eager to get. come on, binibining pilipinas? who are you kidding?
either this was a very stupid mistake, or a very impressive back-handed (subliminal?) attack on a non-ABS-CBN talent. whatevz. [paging popoy, paging popoy. popoy to the counter please.]
suri, but no
just what the hell is wrong with tom cruise?
here's an article from the sun about his immediate plan/s after ms. homes gave birth.
so now they have a kid. tabs have called it tomkitten. others have called it alien while some have called it spawn. poor baby, if you ask me. her only fault? her father's some guy named tom.
and i thought this baby was going to be born days before mission impossible 3 is shown.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
allow me to be blunt
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
there was a phase in the previous weeks or so (i won't pinpoint when) when i was in deep melancholy, drowning myself in misery. i withdrew myself from the world, from family, even from friends. i had no one with me, no one but him.
his name is james blunt and i am a huge fan.
his music was my only company for days on end during that particular phase. his songs from his album 'back to bedlam' were the only ones playing in my ipod, one after the other. no other songs mattered.
it's like his songs spoke directly to me. ten songs. all excellently done.
my top 5, in order: tears and rain (the perfect song to be sentimental and literally mixing both together? (as in crying in the middle of the rain) exhilarating and liberating. it's like unloading to the world your heartaches. it happened to me, albeit accidentally, and i felt much lighter. plus points for referencing oscar wilde's dorian gray.); high (just like the rest of the songs, this one's lyrics are rich, its melody bordering on well, melodramatic); you're beautiful (when a song ends with 'and i'll never be with you', then it has got to be charged. it's a song for that unattainable person you are loving from a great distance. unrequited love, anyone?); wisemen (gotta ask yourself the question, where are you now?) and out of my mind (enough said.)
100 years
today marks the centennial of the 1906 earthquake that rocked san francisco, killed thousands and destroyed millions worth of property. the quake remains to be the most devastating & destructive natural disaster in california history.
san francisco remains to be one of my favorite cities in the world.
the city has an undeniable & unexplainable character that makes it so unique and lovable. los angeles may be my home now but i did not like it before. los angeles grew on me. that's the difference. i fell in love with san francisco the first time we met.
Several thousand people gather in San Francisco's financial district around 5:12 a.m. local time to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake Tuesday, April 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Monday, April 17, 2006
'this love is not dead never died'
and with those words, the powers that be at abc7 plugged, plugged, plugged the return of my favorite show alias. that's this wednesday. 2 hour-show. [i am going to watch it (but of course) and tape american idol AND amazing race. whew.]
the return is just temporary though, as alias is going to end soon. how soon? six more episodes. that's it. they have six more episodes to untie solve everything they have not uhm resolved in the past five years. i wonder how they're going to do that. and the fact that they have been highlighting in their promos that this love (vaughn) is not dead just makes it all the more, uhm painful to wait. oh jj.
my friend j called me this morning to ask if i watched the sneak preview of 'what about brian' last night. my response: what about him? seriously, what about him?
what about brian is jj abrams' new show (first name basis with jj, creator of felicity, alias & lost) and it stars barry watson of seventh heaven. the plot seems thin and the characters a bit unlikeable. as in not likeable. in the same way as other tv characters are. such as chloe on 24 (hah!) or karen on will grace (yey!) or menang medel on gulong ng palad (hahaha!).
abc7 aired a sneak preview of the show last night, and it is set to premiere tonight. we'll see if i'm going to like like it.
one more night, just one more niiiiight...Wednesday, April 12, 2006
say what?
i get tons of email everyday - some contain press releases, others contain pitches for articles and the rest just plain junk. today, i got this one --
i read it out loud and the rest of my co-workers and myself had a great laugh. a really great laugh. damn it. since most of our readership has skin? most of our readership? how did they even come up with "most"? one co-worker quipped, 'probably they did a survey.' hah!Dear Editor,
This is a press release about new technology for protecting and hydrating skin against environmental toxins at work or at home. Since most of your readership has skin this new development in skin care could be of interest to them.
This article features dermatologists' opinions about a new product that they prescribe as a better alternative to conventional lotions, moisturizing and protective creams.
Here is a link to images & there are move attached. http://www.skinmdnatural.com/photos/index.html
Would you please let me know if you can use it?
Regards,
Trish House PR595 Grand Ave., #102San Marcos, CA 92078
775-348-9436
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
going east, going west
i spent monday night eating the best norwegian salmon (with soy-ginger demi glace) ever for dinner. plus filet mignon with morel cabernet sauce. yum oh.
the event was at the 40th anniversary visionary awards dinner of the east west players, the premier asian american theatre organization in the country. the event was held at the hilton universal city.
two of the major awardees were tamlyn tomita (who proudly mentioned about her being part-filipino in her speech) and one of my current favorites, sandra oh.
i got thisclose to sandra. hehehe. too bad, i was too shy to ask for a photo with her. hah. she's the most visible asian on american television now, thanks to her role as the feisty and over-achiever dr. cristina yang on the hit series grey's anatomy.
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.
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. Saturday, April 08, 2006
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.
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 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.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
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.
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.
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
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)
'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!
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.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.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.)
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!
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.
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!
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.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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
