i find it eerie that i am officially moving to the big apple today, september 11, of all days.
nope, it wasn't planned at all. in fact, i was supposed to fly but when i found out that there was a possibility for me to enjoy the 3-night, 4-day road trip, i did not hesitate. i asked my bosses if it would be possible for me to just take the drive, rather than the flight. obviously, they agreed.
the fact that i am leaving los angeles didn't really sink in until a couple of days ago. i felt pangs of pain when i looked at my soon to be former room, now almost bare, with bags and boxes representing all that i have accumulated for the past 7 to 8 years. at first, i couldn't seem to accept the fact that i was able to literally box those past years of my life.
by friday, i'll have a new life.
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Tuesday, September 11, 2007
off to new york on 9/11
Friday, September 07, 2007
hello new york!
in a couple of days, i'm going to be officially an ex-californian. hehehe.
i've always imagined what life would be like in new york city. i've been there more than twenty times in the past eight years or so, but it never really crossed my mind that i would be working and living in what some as the greatest city on earth. there were moments though, when i would pause and think if i could survive the fast-paced life that the big apple has to offer.
until around may this year when the offer fell on my lap. like manna from heaven. i thought about it long and hard, and with a bit of trepidation, i agreed.
come tuesday, i will be embarking on an adventure of a lifetime.
it will begin with the drive, the really long drive. i had an option to fly but the opportunity presented itself. a van will bring my stuff (tons of it, accumulated through the years) to new york. the drive will literally be coast to coast, cross-country: the great american road trip! suffice to say, i am quite excited.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
adios los angeles
I am bidding goodbye to a city I never thought I'd love as hard as I did, to a city I never liked in the beginning, to a city that was my home for the past eight years. Goodbye, LA. It has been fun.
I'm going to miss a lot of stuff: my apartment on Hyperion Ave (the bomb!), my desk at work, my friends, relatives, co-workers; Sanamluang (!), Red Corner Asia, Thai BBQ, Full House, Pho Cafe on Sunset, Rene Cafe, 7th and Fig, Macy's Plaza, The Grove, Pampas, Coffee Bean on Hillhurst, Starbucks on Prospect, Albertson's, Point Point Vermont, Bahay Kubo, Jollibee on Beverly, Cha Cha Cha, Alcove, Milk, Urth (Melrose and Beverly Hills), pinkberry, Vista, MTA 26... my tears are welling up. Kidding.
When I moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles back in '99, I was apprehensive. I had relatives in SoCal but that was it. LA for me was so sprawling and the people, a bit cold...actor and model wanna-bees, waiting for their time to shine, or their discoverers.
Through the years, LA grew on me. I fell in love with the city as I learned more about it. It's not hard to fall for LA and it's no wonder that millions keep on moving to this great city.
For me, I think I've served my time. This is the longest I have stayed in one place, in one city. I will leave my heart in LA, but I have to move on...
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Thursday, August 30, 2007
contradictions
my friendly co-workers from our manila office gave this shirt to me as a gift when i celebrated my 23rd birthday (hahaha, can't even type it with a straight face) recently. what the shirt says is right on a couple of different levels.
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Sunday, August 26, 2007
survivor
to all those who prayed for the speedy recovery of my niece jianne, who was hospitalized for stage 2 dengue last month when i was in manila, thanks a lot. your prayers helped. here she is, some pounds lighter, and a couple of weeks after she was discharged.
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Friday, August 24, 2007
bruhaa brouhaha
she calls it "acerbic wit". i call it "tasteless".
i hope it's not too late to jump into the malu fernandez-bashing bandwagon. hehehe. i was actually content with just reading all the blogs that talked about this nasty woman's writing (seriously, she gives lifestyle writers a really bad rep) but in the last two days, i told myself, i need to give in my .02 cents worth. hence this.
first up. who the hell is malu fernandez anyway?
apparently, she's a lifestyle writer of both manila standard today (yes, that's the official name of the newspaper after the merger of manila standard and today years ago) and people asia, a glossy magazine. in the magazine's june issue, she wrote a sorry excuse of an article about her travel to boracay and greece, and along the way, maligned every single overseas filipino worker on the planet.
i have no idea as to who took notice first but the article spread like wildfire, and faster than you can say malu, everyone was already crucifying her for her vicious description of OFWs in the middle east.
malu fernandez. her name's all over the internet now. not convinced? well...
Tingog.com | Malu Fernandez, Manila Standard Today, Bigotry In The Media
When do we say enough is enough and that we will no longer stand for the bigotry and discrimination that takes place, not only in this country but all around the world?
Manuel L Quezon III | Mala Malu, Nuestra Senora de la Matapobre
One’s valor is never diminished by one’s courtesy. But of Mala Malu and her que asco columns, I think I’ve found a word our elders would have thought fitted her to a “t”: a more cursi set of opinions would be hard to find.
Maruism - The Devil Wears Jo Malone
The devil wears Jo Malone and not only that . . . she carries Louis Vuitton bag too!
ederic@cyberspace - Malu Fernandez
Kung sakaling makasalubong ninyo o makasakay saa economy class si Malu, pakibigyan na lang ng gas mask. Baka mabahuan siya sa mga anakpawis na tulad natin. Kung ayaw tanggapin, bigyan ng blade–yung may kalawang.
Selvo - Mahaderang Matapobre sa OFWs
I seldom come across articles that bring my blood pressure up to a record high. This article by Malu Fernandez has led me to set a new personal record. To say that this is “nakakakunsumi” is an understatement of the highest degree.
just a sampling. there are hundreds, probably thousands more out there. wow. ofw power!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
stress times three
i just had my most stress-related travel/airline woes story!
i should have known from the traffic jam that morning that things were not turning out as i would have wanted. first up, super shuttle picked me up 50 minutes later than what they told me. (full disclosure: the lady at the reservations told me that my waiting time was between 8:05 to 9:30 am. that should have made me think. the range is just too broad. when i called up around 830, they said my pick up time was between 9"05 to 9:30, which made better sense). the shuttle dropped me off at terminal 6. continental airlines.
at the curbside check=in, i gave my itinerary to the guy in charge. then he told me that he couldn't find my name in the system. he asked me to try inside. so i did. quickly. there was a long queue. when it was my turn, i punched in my trip number, my itinerary, my last name,to no avail. i was not in the system. panic set in. i checked the lower half of my e-ticket and saw continental airlines. i looked at the upper half and looked for a sign. something.
then i saw it, staring at me, mocking me.
delta confirmation number. how could i miss that? i wasn't flying continental. i was flying delta! panic set in again. i was lunging around 2 50-pound luggage, plus my hand-carry, and i needed to go to the delta terminal. time was running out.
thankfully, i made it to the delta terminal in time. first stressful moment over.
my flight had a connection in cincinnati. when we landed, i checked the monitors to find out my next gate. next to my flight was a flashing word i dreaded. delayed. still, i proceeded to the gate. my flight has been moved from 6 something to 755. when 755 almost came, they said that it was further delayed to 955. when 955 came, they said it was further delayed to 1155. there was a pattern somewhere. i didn't want to spend the night in some airport in ohio. i was stressing again. shortly past midnight, our flight left cincinnati. second stressful moment over.
i arrived shortly after 2 am. made a beeline to the baggage claim and i was pleasantly surprised to see one of my luggage already waiting for me. for a while, my idea that my third stressful moment would be finding out that my luggage didn't make it to new york was quashed. my luggage was here. well, at least one of them was. i waited until the last freaking bag was removed on the carousel.
weary, sleepy and bordering on angry, i marched towards the baggage office. i told them my story: i checked in two pieces of luggage, one arrived and the other one is missing. how the f*ck did this happen? (minus the f*cked part) they checked and checked. when they couldn't come up with something, they asked me to check it out at the delta airlines terminal. (the cincinnati flight was a code-share with continental airlines, hence my assumption that i was flying continetal all throughout)
i asked my co-worker who picked me up to bring me to delta terminal. there i saw volumes and volumes of luggage, and no official in site. i was getting frustrated. we returned to continental airlines. the guy who helped me earlier gave me a number to call, and told me i didn't need to fall in line anymore. he advised me to just go home, get some sleep and call the number first thing in the morning. stressful moment number three, definitely not yet over.
bottomline: my other luggage was indeed with delta. why? nobody could tell me. we had to return to the airport the next day to pick it up. thank god that the materials i needed for the weekend's expo in secaucus were in the luggage that i have. the missing one had my clothes and most of my stuff.
there it was, my blue luggage. airline officials have no explanation as to why this one didn't arrive and the other one did.
Friday, August 17, 2007
back in LA, off to NY
arrived in los angeles late last night after a 13-hour flight with some minor delays. (saw sarah geronimo and her mom at the mabuhay lounge. they were with someone who i thought looked very, very familiar.) got out of immigration/customs almost around 10. baggage was already waiting for me. for some reason, eight flights arrived within the 20-minute period that our flight arrived so the lines at the immigration was really, really long, considering they had almost 15 counters open.
and as the title says, i'm off to new york as well. i haven't totally recovered from the jet lag and i'm off to a city that's three hours ahead. talk about screwing my body clock. why not. complaining? na-ah. swear!
we're joining the philippine fiesta in new jersey. piolo and pops are going to be the featured guests for the event. this is the biggest fil-am celebration in the east coast, and where there are fil-ams, we're there. hahaha. bad copy. bad.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
food tripping in the lion city
i must have gained at least 10 pounds from all the food i ate in singapore. damn! i never realized that their food is really, really good. i have newfound respect for the chicken rice lah. it's so flavorful. i'm still the biggest fan of teh tarik this side of town. imagine my extreme jopy when i found out that the hotel buffet had teh tarik! goodness, i must have downed five liters just that night. and the coffee buns? kaya toast? laksa? my list can go on and on and on.
here's the chicken rice (the chicken part, at least) from my mum's cuisine,a restaurant inside paragon.
and my teh tarik? patiently made by this guy. he already knew me because of the sheer number of times i went to his booth to ask for some cups of teh tarik. teh tarik. teh tarik. i can't wait to go back to singapore to have more of their food from the hawker stalls, from various kopi tiams or even from their malls' food courts.
i can't also wait to go back to LA to continue my search for teh tarik there. actually, buti pa sa pilipinas, may kopi roti sila, which makes delicious teh tarik as well. plus the yummy coffee buns and kaya toast. my mom loves them too!
heard (and read) that kopi roti originated form singapore. i searched high and low but i couldn't find a single branch back there. my friend told me that they may have closed down a few months ago since it was just a fad. there's one i saw at the underwater world in sentosa and it's called roti mama. i wonder if this is related to the roti mum in megamall.Friday, July 27, 2007
greetings from singapore!
i'm updating my blog from a cybercafe along orchard road. irealized i wasn't able to bring with me my contact lens solution so i walked a couple of blocks from my hotel to the nearest convenience store to see if there are any contact lens solutions for sale. they only have eyedrops. which means i won't be wearing my contacts tomorrow.
but i found a cyber cafe, and it's $1 for every 15 minutes, $4 per hour. i didn't bring my laptop so computer access from my hotel room is out of the question.
had a hearty dinner earlier - everything singaporean. i consumed like five liters of teh tarik and come durian. it's the singapore food festival. who knew? hehehe.
will be back in manila in 3 days. i probably won't have time to update...
Monday, July 23, 2007
palawan, again
and no, i am not complaining.
i'm beginning to really fall in love with palawan. after my coron/busuanga experience last year, i was very excited to venture into this trip to puerto princesa, where we visited, amopng others, different islands of honda bay, the vietnamese village and the nooks and crannies of puerto princesa city.
sample? here's the beach which is right within the entrance of the st. paul's underground river, which is so breath-takingly beautiful. 
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Monday, July 16, 2007
friends, roman...friends
i slipped quietly in town (yes, manila) a few days ago. what? no announcements? no fuss?
well, my friends in manila seem to be not that excited anymore everytime i announce (this year, thrice already) that i'll be in town. so i decided to just be hush hush about it.
anyhow, it's been kind of a mixed-emotions type of feeling these days. it's good to be home again and i am happy but i couldn't be as happy as i would have wanted because my youngest niece is in the hospital. :(
i've been in and out of the hospital in the past 3 days visiting her and showing my support. i really, really pray for her to get well soon. it's devastating to hear her cry in pain as doctors and nurses take her blood every six hours and shift her IV from the left to the right every single day. the times i was in her hospital room, i wished that if i hasd the power, i'd rather that she doesn't go through this pain, that if i need to take all those pain for her, i would, no question.
she's 5 years old, in the first grade and a stage 2 dengue patient. she probably got that pesky mosquito bite from her school, or from the playground. definitely not from their home because my brother and his wife are very particular about mosquitoes. but at this point, it doesn't really matter as to where she was when bitten by the freaking mosquito.
for now, i can curse all the mosquitoes i want but it won't undo what has happened. at this point, all i can really do is pray.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
mayor v 'fesses up
less than a month after he admitted to the public his separation from his wife of 20 years, our mayor from los angeles, antonio villaraigosa admitted yesterday that he has a relationship with Telemundo (an NBC-owned network) anchor Mirthala Salinas.
Mayor V told reporters, "I have a relationship with Ms. (Mirthala) Salinas, and I take full responsibility for my actions."
Villaraigosa and Salinas wait out a pause in filming on the north steps of the state Capitol. Salinas is now a news anchor on Telemundo 52. (Robert Durell / LAT)what's up with these big city mayors? first was new york's rudy giuliani, who had a very public feud with his wife when she found out that he was having uh, extra-curricular activities. then san francisco's gavin newsom was forced to admit a couple of months ago that he was carrying an affair with his best friend's wife.
and now this?
i covered much of mayor villaraigosa's political career, specially his oath-taking at the city hall back in 2005. his win was deemed historic because for the first time in decades, a hispanic man won the mayoralty post of the city of los angeles.
reading about him back then made me admire him. he triumphed over adversity because he was raised by a single mom who worked double- triple- jobs just to make ends meet. and when he married his wife, he took her last name too. back then, he was just antonio villar. his wife was corina raigosa. when they got married, it became villaraigosa. isn't that just sweet?
and now this?
independence day
it's the 4th of july! yay!
i can't believe i slept 16 hours! after a super duper hectic slash emotional slash stressful day yesterday, i dropped by a resto to buy my dinner. to go, please. i was planning to have my dinner away from it all.
so i got home around 7ish. put the boxed dinner on the dining table. left my messenger bag by the couch. went up to my room. turned on the tv and the computer. the bed looked so inviting. i sat down, then i lied. responded to a couple of text messages asking me to go out (it's a holiday! people are going out! let's drink!). i asked for a rain-check.
i woke up 8 hours later, at 3 in the fucking morning, with the tv blaring with infomercials and the computer playing songs from my iTunes. my eyes were aching. i slept with my contacts on. went to the restroom and saw my blood-shot eyes. damn, this is not good.
i realized that i just woke up. was it time for breakfast? at 3 am? i decided to crawl under the sheets and call it a night. who cares. it was an almost-eight hour cycle when i woke up around 11.
i feel better. then i thought about yesterday's mayhem and my blood began to boil. not again.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
ssss
that's the department of homeland security's code for "selected for secondary security screening" and i was SSSSd not once, but twice in my recent trip to nyc.
first up was burbank. we were running late so i thought that the reason why we were asked to be screened thoroughly was because of that. i noticed the "ssss" printed at the bottom of my boarding pass. obviously, we (myself, m and l, the indonesian guy) were the last to board because of it.
then yesterday, at jfk, on our way back to LA. there were 7 of us (don't ask why) and all of us were SSSSd. burbank was more strict as they really swabbed all the stuff in my handcarry and put my lipgloss and hand sanitizer inside a ziplock. jfk was alright, they didn't swab all my stuff but they really *really* patted me. it's like i've never really been patted like that before. i had no belt and the guy patting me asked me to unbutton my pants. huwaaaaat?
were we on a list?
yahoo has the answers.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
blogging from the big apple
and yes, i am back in new york city. i really heart ny for multiple reasons, top of which is the atmosphere. and no, i am not talking about the sometimes putrid (hah! haven't used that one in ages) smell when one passes through a mountain of black trash bags strewn all over the sidewalks. i'm talking about the feel, the vibe of the city that can never be matched by any other city in the entire united states. hahaha. i can't believe i'm actually typing (and saying this).
i've been here since thursday. our wednesday night flight (red eye!) was cancelled because of "weather disturbance" so we flew thursday morning. arrived in the afternoon, well around 7ish, after a slightly terrible flight and a hard landing. bree van de camp's son, andrew (hahaha. sue me, i don't remember his screen name) was seated 3 rows away from me. i was seated beside a couple who was travelling with their dog. lady was reviewing a script with the title "the happening." cute couple. cuter dog.
i just googled "the happening". and guess what?
it's a movie! and m night shyamalan is doing it. wow. and could the young lady who sat beside me be zooey deschanel? probably. i don't remember much of her face. but i got the hollywood vibe from her. the i'm-semi-famous-but-i-still-ride-jetblue-because-i'm-cool vibe. yeah, she's cool.
Monday, June 18, 2007
rated B
while bloghopping, i came across a site where one can check the places in the philippines that s/he has visited. i ticked all the places i've been to and what do you know, i was rated B. hehehe.
My Lakbayan grade is B!
How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out atLakbayan!
Created by Eugene Villar.Type rest of the post here
hawking french cafe
in south korea. ladies and gentlemen, wentworth miller.
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Monday, May 28, 2007
neglected but not forgotten
okay, guilty as charged. i've been terribly busy the past few days that this is all i can do: write an apologetic post. i should be teeming with stories (i am) but i am not. why? i have no time to compose my thoughts to translate them into something readable. i haven't been able to do it for work, much more here.
in a nutshell: i've been covering a lot of stuff, travelling on the side. last last weekend's northern luzon caper was for the books. i almost got carsick, staying inside the car from manila to pangasinan so la union to baguio (one day) then from baguio to vigan to laoag (second day) and from laoag to batac to vigan to pangasinan to tarlac then to manila (third day). unbelievable. my body's still aching from all the tagtag. hah!
and it's not over yet.
i'm off to nasugbu, batangas tomorrow to cover a site visit to sm investment corporation's hamilo coast. it's a multi-billion dollar eco-tourism project that hopes to bring more and more tourists to the philippines.
i attended the launch this evening at the 1 esplanade near the mall of asia and i must say i'm quite impressed. i hope i'd be as impressed tomorrow when i get up close and personal with nasugbu's majestic views.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
time to take these off
and time to clean the surroundings, too. this one's taken at fuente osmena, the famous cebu city landmark.
everything's over but the counting. it was generally a peaceful elections. honest? i'm not quite sure. foreign observers say that they saw sample ballots with money attached (stapled?). wow.
i'm not sure as to how many more weeks are needed for them to properly count all the votes. so far, it really seems like it is a referendum on gloria arroyo's presidency since her anointed ones are not making it to the winners' circle? or are losing or have already lost.
oh well. we just need to be vigilant to protect the votes of the people.
Monday, May 14, 2007
it's election day!
in the philippines, that is. to my friends here, please don't forget to vote and vote wisely. pakisingit lang po, migz zubiri! hahaha. at prspero pichay, itanim sa senado! seriously, i hope that the voters elect the right people. i've been in the campaign trail for about two weeks now and i've seen some of the candidates'"other" sides, not necessarily their evil sides but different from what they show to the people.
i just got back from cebu a couple of days ago to cover team unity's miting de avance at the fuente osmena. the last time i was in cebu was for the 2005 ad congress. i heart cebu as well. heheheh. just like my other fave cities, it's all about the food. hahaha.
grilled blue marlin @ chika-an sa cebu, a nice casual dining place near the waterfront hotel in lahug.Tuesday, May 08, 2007
food tripping in Mindanao
i heart mindanao. i really do. i love cagayan de oro city to bits. i adore camiguin. i am awed by bukidnon. i'm fascinated with siargao. i'm intrigued by dapitan. i could actually live here.
food is one of the reasons i love mindanao. the variety of fruits available - from durian to mangosteen to marang to grapefruit is nothing short of amazing. during this trip, i tried the local delicacies such as the paklay (mindanao version of papaitan), balbacua (beef skin and oxtail soup similar to the mexican menudo, only much, much tastier). oh my goodness, lami kaayo.
in a farm somewhere in manticao, misamis oriental, our host served what could very well be the best meal i had during this entire trip. and that is no exaggeration.
prawns and crabs cooked together in this lovely dish our hosts call 'alavar,' from the famous alavar seafood house in zamboanga years ago. apparently, they were business partners before and they "invented" this very, very delicious dish.
our host's server got two big banana leaves, laid it on the table and placed the food there. there's broiled tuna and some other fish, tinolang fish (very tasty, specially since they only cooked the fish heads, ulo-ulo), iligan lechon (which, i didn't realize was as yummy as cebu lechon. you can eat it without the liver sauce). grilled squid, vegetable salad. except for the lechon, everything was home-cooked. on the campaign trail
nope, i did not come all the way to mindanao to campaign for team unity's senatorial candidates. i was invited to cover their mindanao caravan, observe how the well-oiled political machinery of the administration works and mingle with thousands of mindanaoans very eager to meet and talk with the candidates.
took some pics. such as this.
by the roadside in Iligan City, on our way to Cagayan de Oro. Durian - 75 pesos per kilo. 
yum. so sinfully rich. some say smelly. i don't agree.Friday, May 04, 2007
live from cagayan de oro!
who knew i'd be back in my favorite Mindanao city after almost eight years?
well, i am. and i am quite pissed because it's 10 pm and this guy at the cybercafe just told me that they are closing.
i told him i'd finish this first.
done! more later.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Of Spoiled Surprises, an Over-Eager Cousin and a Solicitous Aunt
In a nutshell, the surprise birthday party that my brother and I (with the help of a lot of accomplices) planned so meticulously went well, except for some kinks. An over-eager cousin being one of them.
I arrived a day before my mom’s birthday so I had to stay somewhere and make my homecoming on the actual day. My brother picked me up. We were 15 minutes away from our home when my brother’s cell phone beeped. Then he cracked. He said that the surprise has been ruined. I was beginning to get pissed.
His phone rang, He responded it. After a few sentences were exchanged, he began to laugh. I didn’t find it amusing. It turns out that my cousin from California called up to greet my mom, and asked if I had already arrived. Ugh.
So, my arrival in front of our driveway was not as dramatic as I had envisioned. The entire plan was preempted. My arrival was, pure and simple, anti-climactic.
My mom cried when I got off the car. I greeted her a Happy Birthday and hugged her real hard. The other car arrived, and out came the balloons (my niece was mocking her father, my brother, asking if we were having a children’s party), the lechon and some other pre-ordered food. My mom couldn’t believe her eyes. She thought I was the only surprise. She didn’t know that a grand party was about to unfold.
One by one, the visitors started arriving. My mom’s only living sibling, her elder sister, arrived from Tarlac in a van filled with all but 3 of her grand-children. It was my first time meeting some of them.
My mom’s cousins and her friends also arrived as well. Quoted from mi madre: “This is the happiest birthday ever!” I’m happy.
And oh yeah, the aunt. One of my aunts cornered and asked me, no, make that ordered me to get married soon. “Hijo, you’re not getting any younger. You should get married soon. Soon!” she commanded. I looked at her and couldn’t help but manage a very dry smile. Like, what-do-you-care smile. Or a what-are-you-on smile.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
happy camper
...because 'heroes' is back, and it rocked!
who knew? linderman's one of them, and so is gramps. i just don't know what her special talent is. i feel sad that isaac mendez is sorta dead. i'm excited about what's going to happen next week. you versus me, the old hiro versus the future hiro. damn. peter petrelli's not dead and he's not gonna die ever. good for him and claire! (during the last museum of tv and radio event that i attended, the cast said that they get worried when they get their scripts because they do not know as to when they are going to die. the same sentiments said by the cast of 24 a few days later.)
one more reason i'm happy?
i'm off to manila. again. for the third time in the past six months. yay!
i'm surprising my mom. it's her birthday on the 28th and i conspired with my brother. we're making a big surprise birthday party for her and i can't wait. i'm leaving tomorrow.
and there's a third reason why i am happy. but this one's not just happy but a mix of happy/excited/challenged. the whole story in a month.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
spinning, and not the exercise kind
and it's also not the washing machine kind. it's my schedule and my world.
i'm in las vegas right now to cover an event. whew. went around the red rock hotel/casino/resort and i have to say i'm quite impressed with the way the hotel was done - from the ornate ceiling to the well-planned floor. its interiors are tastefully designed and it really looked pretty.
the hotel has 2 starbucks cafes, lots of restaurants, a bowling alley (with 72 lanes!), a cineplex with 16 cinemas, an arcade and lots and lots of well, space. nice!
but that's not where we're staying. boo-hoo. we're at the trusted marriott courtyard because the trip was last-minute and most of the strip hotels are booked because of some conventions and if ever there are available rooms, the prices are quite prohibitive. like almost $500-prohibitive. not good.
i love marriott courtyards because their beds are great; they have free internet access in the rooms and parking is free. hahaha. i hate hotels that charge $9.99 to $14.99 per day for internet access. that's just not cool.
by the way, had dinner at the casino's (red rock) buffet resto and had a really good dinner. i had some rib-eye steak and so much gelato i could still taste the espresso flavor i had. and they had a bulalo-type oxtail soup. and lots of no sugar added desserts.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
scenes from manhattan
Trees without leaves. Taken @ West New York, overlooking the Manhattan skyline.
r2d2: live at Times Square -this is what happens when the usps celebrates 30 years of star wars.
it's all about the subway. this station on 42nd street had 9 lines passing through it. 9!Sunday, April 15, 2007
i heart jfk
jfk the airport, that is. it's like i was deprived of wi-fi access for the past few days that i was like a kid in disneyland when we arrived at the jfk airport yesterday to check in for our evening flight.
becaause of a storm that was going east, our flight was delayed by about an hour but the pilot was good that he probably oversped up there, if it was all possible.
so i'm back in la-la-land. the weather last night was a bit cold and today's a wee bit too windy. i slept until around noon. i really need this rest to recharge, for tomorrow's the start of yet another hectic work-week.
i'm going to make some important steps in the near future and my mind's still quite muddled. i'll write about it as soon as i get more details. in the meantime, i need to do some catching up.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
one. singular sensation.
that's currently my lss (last song syndrome po) because i just finished watching 'a chorus line' on broadway because i was able to score a ticket from tkts. i originally wanted to catch monty python's spamalot but it was already sold out by the time i reached the box-office. so i settled for 'a chorus line'.
now this one is totally different from the previous musicals i've seen. while others dazzled me with their costumes and complex stage designs, 'a chorus line' gave me a closer look into what happens during a broadway audition. it was smorgasbord casting and not one character could come forward to claim that s/he owned the show.
except for diana.
diana morales. she's a puerto rican character whose passion in life is dancing and she's auditioning to become a part of a chorus line. with no costumes or stage engineering to catch the audience's attention, the characters have no one but themselves to depend on to.
this character diana performed two of what could be the most famous songs to ever come out of this production - nothing and what i did for love, and she did so by not over-singing the songs and the audience clearly felt that she was singing from the heart. (lea salonga performed 'nothing' during her ccp concert last month in manila and it was fun to see her change the lyrics as she changed 'diana morales' to 'lea salonga'. anyhow.)
it's still a cold 30s here in manhattan and i think it's going to rain (with some flurry) tomorrow. so much for cold weather. i am so looking forward to basking in california sunshine.
spring awakening
i was in search for a musical to watch on broadway and i had no idea about the new ones that recently opened. tops on my list of course, is the return of les miz and a chorus line, two classics, then there's my drowsy chaperone, there's the pirate queen (by alain boublil and michael schonberg, the guys behind les miz and miss saigon) and then there's spring awakening.
at the eugene o'neill theater on 47th streeti normally buy my tickets at tkts, the discount place for tickets to broadway shows, both musicals and plays. anyhow, not a lot of shows were listed on monday or maybe i was just a bit late in lining up. for this day, i was torn between watching rent again (to check out frenchie) or catch a new one (whatever). spring awakening caught my attention so i strolled to where it was playing just to see what it was all about.
the first poster i saw proclaimed, "Music by Duncan Sheik". I was in. I ran back to tkts to buy my ticket. Luckily, there were a couple more.
just like my previous trips, i stayed on outside to catch the cast sign autographs. i didn't have them sign my playbill but i took a couple of photos.
if you ever watch 24 (yes, the series on fox), this guy (named miles on the show) was one of the baddies (not the terrorist type baddies though). Tuesday, April 03, 2007
i love new york
new york city never fails to amaze, inspire and fascinate me. that's why i had no second thoughts when my boss told me that we're off to the big apple for a couple of weeks. yay!
not to preempt any official announcements, we are expanding our operations to cover new york city! finally! i'm quite excited to be doing the preliminary work here, in the same way that we prepared and worked hard when we opend our san francisco office in 2002 and manila in 2005. it's really challenging and mind-boggling at the same time.
lovely, lovely view. taken @ 9:45 eastern time.had early dinner at krystal's, a filipino turo-turo in queens. it was around 5ish in the afternoon and we were just supposed to have snacks but we were surprised to see a lot of people (full house, almost) already eating dinner. what the heck. we had sinampalukang manok (yumyum. no restaurant in LA cooks sinampalukan like this), grilled galunggong, grilled eggplant, daing na bangus. uh-oh. foooood!
Monday, April 02, 2007
random rambling
just finished watching a 2-hour episode of the amazing race: all-stars. i am totally, totally onboard this season and i have never missed an episode. charla and mirna's winning streak was cut abruptly because they had a bad, bad day. to think that they were ahead by almost a day over the other teams because they took the risk of flying from maputo to johannesburg then a connecting flight (risky, since the flights were full and they were just on stand-by) to tanzania.
then when they were in tanzania, some mysterious "weather disturbance" did not allow them to travel to the island of zanzibar, allowing oswald and danny to catch-up. anyhow. i don't have clear favorites out of the remaining teams, but joyce and uchenna are top on my list because they play well, they don't shout at each other that much and they have much respect for the other teams.
the same cannot be said of charla and mirna, although they make for really good television. just tonight, i had laugh-out-loud moments just watching them. and the beauty queens? oh, don't get me started on them. i find them kinda superficial. but they also make for good tv because of their "beauty queen moments."
the two gay teams, well, i'm quite ambivalent. the guidos are way too dramatic and danny and oswald, well, they're kinda likeable. which leaves me with the last remaining team on the race: danielle and eric. i'm not invested. i don't care if they get eliminated but i won't be happy if they win.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
april fools
wow. i can't believe it. the first quarter of 2007 is over.
anyhow, got back from my trip to arizona and nevada friday night. then yesterday, i had to cover the los angeles premiere of paraiso, the gawad kalinga movie.
that's maricel soriano chatting with butch jimenezthe movie's quite good. it's a trilogy and each of the stories focused on people who have been directly or indirectly helped by the organization. the first one had a tacky title, umiyak man ang langit, but it was the bext among the 3. it's just, it was kinda heavy and a bit depressing. well, any movie that focused on the leyte landslides in 2003 would be deemed heavy. this one starred maricel.
the second one was light, and it starred michael v and carmi martin. it focused on a boy who eats rocks/stones. they later explained that this is a psychological disorder among neglected children. it had its funny moments.
the third one starred cesar montano as a new york-based fil-am who donated to gk in honor of her wife's memory. i don't know what it is since i can't seem to pinpoint it but there's something about this one that didn't work for me. probably because they were establishing the fact that the couple (cesar and his caucasian wife) were already married for 25 years and yet they cast an actress who looked like she's just in her late-20s or early 30s. and they didn't even exert an effort to make her look older through make up. it was just unbelievable and quite a stretch. other than that, the story-line was quite thin and not-at-all compelling.
this film will be shown in manila mid-June, when the elction ban would have been lifted. cesar montano is running for senator and that for that reason alone, the producers have decided to show the film in the philippines after the elections.
marathon
no, not the racing kind. it's my tv/movie marathon slash addiction.
i recently discovered more sites (aside from youtube) that show tv shows and various movies. this means that over the past 2 weekends, i've watched a number of movies already. let me count: last week - my first romance (haha!) and kasal, kasali, kasalo. this weekend - anak, the classic and 300. yes, 300! i'm quite surprised myself. it's still showing at the neighborhood cinema near my place and since i've been hearing only good word about it, i was planning to see the film this weekend. but then, veoh came along.
i loved the movie. gerald butler is good but rodrigo santoro as king xerxes rocked! he looked like a gay dennis rodman, and that's a good thing. haha! the effects were magnificent, the fight scenes were awesome, the costume, well, who's complaining? lol.
more capsule reviews: i liked the classic. it's a korean film and i heard about it when i was in my "my sassy girl" phase because of their deft use of johan pachelbel's "canon in d" which i love so dearly. this one i watched through crunchy roll, which specializes in asian cinema. thanks r, for sharing the site with me. the only caveat, unless you earn points, you can only watch using their 2 x 3 screen. this was totally fine by me since i have been searching for this movie everywhere (it's not on veoh) and even in local video stores. maybe i should have extered more effort and went to k-town. but then, i don't think they'd be releasing sub-titled movies in k-town. but maybe they did, for the english-speaking koreans. well.
kasal, kasali, kasalo is one wonderful movie i'd recommend to all my filipino friends here. it was the topgrosser in last year's metro manila film festival and starred real-life couple ryan agoncillo & judy ann santos. the story was very realistic and the dialogue very crisp & fresh. kudos to joey reyes for coming up with a heart-warming and poignant look at newly-married life. judy ann's character is a barangay kagawad from cabanatuan city and a batotay magnate and she is played with a lot of flair by veteran actress gina pareno. (batotay is the famous cabanatuan beef longganisa. i prefer the really garlicky versions and everytime i am home, my mom cooks it for breakfast). ryan's mom is played by gloria diaz and she's also quite good in this film as a rich woman who lives in the u.s.
heard there's going to be a sequel and they're going to call it sakal, sakali, saklolo. it's gonna be hard to top the first one so they better make sure that the story-line and the dialogue and oh yes, the characters are all in sync.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
from AZ to NV
Almost six hours, with a few more minutes spent during stops. That’s how much time we spent driving from Phoenix, AZ to Las Vegas, NV.
On our way, we dropped by the Hoover Dam, 30 miles outside Las Vegas. I was here more than 5 years ago so I wasn’t that excited. Okay, I’m lying. I was excited. I’ve always been fascinated by this marvelous engineering feat.
Checked in at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino as soon as we arrived in Las Vegas. It was a long and tiring trip but it was all worth it.
Friday, March 30, 2007
awed by 'O'
Had a bit of free time last night and I went to a couple of casinos to check on their offerings. First up was Caesar’s Palace to see if they still have tickets for Celine Dion. Newspaper announcements have trumpeted that this is her third and last year on the strip.
Wow. Three years have passed and I have not seen the show yet. So I went to the box-office and c hecked if they had single tickets available. Turns out Celine’s on vacation and will be back by April 12. They had Elton John’s “Red Piano” show but will be available only Friday and Saturday. Boo-hoo.
I trekked back to the Bellagio and I saw this stand-by line for tickets to the 730 pm show. It was a long line and obviously, I was the last. The line was moving slowly and I was losing my patience and my hope. One young-ish looking guy approached me and asked if I was looking for single tickets.
“Yes,” I replied and he fished out a ticket from his pocket. “I can’t watch the show so I am selling my ticket, face value,” he responded.
I asked how much. He told me it was on the third row, almost center. “$165, face value,” he said.
Thought for a while and I told him that I’ll take my chance on the line to see if there are cheaper seats. “$130,” he offered. I didn’t budge. I fished out my hundred dollar from my pocket and said, “This is my budget, sorry.”
He left and few minutes later, he returned. “Okay, one hundred bucks,” he said.
Then it hit me. What if this guy was a con man. What if the ticket’s fake? I’ll have no way of finding out and no way as well to hunt him down. He sensed my hesitation. “Hey bro, this is real. I won’t screw you,” he said. Not the exact words I wanted to hear. I was sold.
I rushed to the theater and I was ushered to my seat. This was going to be a freaking good show. I’m on the third row!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
off to arizona!
two words: road trip!
it has been awhile since i ventured into a road trip. last time was a couple of years ago, when my friends and i went to the grand canyon. this new year's las vegas trip or even long drives to san francisco do not count. driving from california to another state (except nevada!) is a road trip.
i don't care if this is an official trip. i don't care of i am going to this trip with a couple of co-workers. i. don't. care. all i know is that i am due for a nice road trip and i am so looking forward to this one.
we're leaving in less than 5 hours and i haven't even packed yet. surprise, surprise. j & s had a little tea time at urth cafe in beverly hills and before we all knew it, it was already around 9. when i got home, i had to watch my recorded prison break and 24. i had to turn my computer on and update this blog. hahaha. skewed priorities.
so we're off to phoenix & scottsdale in arizona. we'll probably make a quick trip to tucson, then pass by tempe, mesa, gilbert and chandler (nice names for their cities, huh?). then by thursday, we're driving from arizona to las vegas. i've been to arizona before but this is the first time to drive from az to nv. excited. babaw ko.
Monday, March 26, 2007
america's love affair with the underdogs
who knew that at the end of the journey to crown the lead stars of 'grease, the musical,' we would see not just one, but two underdogs winning the votes?
max crumm was the unlikely danny zuko because of his looks. he was up against austin in the final 2 and as billy bush, the host, himself said, it was a battle between tom cruise and ben stiller. right there and then, i thought, max crumm's the new danny. i mean, tom cruise? did they think austin was going to be happy with the comparison?
laura osnes is also an unlikely sandy because, well, she's not blonde. hah! i don't have anything against her. she's cute and she sings well.
the show premiered in january and because of my trip to manila, i lost track of it until today when i got hooked again and watched the marathon on bravo before the 8 pm live finale sunday night. i have no idea if they got the idea (the reality show part) from bbc's "how do you solve a problem like maria?," a uk-based show looking for the lady who's going to play maria on the west end's "sound of music". caught a couple of episodes back in august when i was in london and i was instantly hooked. scoured the torrents for a few more but i am missing the final 3 or 4 episodes.
anyhow, this is what happens when producers make a reality show ("you're the one that i want" aired on nbc) out of their audition process. i honestly thought that austin had it in the bag since he has been doing musicalls all his life and he seemed to be the perfect danny. i just hope that max and laura be able to sell tickets. good luck.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
durian shake, anyone?
i've never had durian shake in my life so when the chance presented itself yesterday, i took it.
over late lunch at pho 57 in the outskirts of chinatown, i noticed the "durien shake" in the menu. i was hooked. i had to have it. i've had durian ice cream, durian pastillas, durian anything during my endless trips to davao eons ago and i've somehow fallen in like with the fruit (probably one of the very few).
r ordered guyabano shake and w had jackfruit shake. wow. the funny thing is w, an irish guy doesn't even know what a jackfruit is. or a guyabano. he's heard of durian, i think. we told him the 3 fruits are somehow related. like cousins. and jackfruit is the fragrant one while durian is the stinky one.
those are the only 3 fruit shakes available at the restaurant. i think i'm coming back for more.
lunch was good. had the traditional pork chop (done vietnamese style), baked egg, shredded pork and sunny side up on top. really good.
spring cleaning
For no apparent reason, I decided to redesign.
I let go of my previous template, and chose this new one.
Spring arrived earlier this week, yet the weather tells me it's still winter. There lies the irony. According to some published reports, this has been the warmest winter on record! I don't know about that.
The year's first quarter is about to end. Next thing we know, it'd already be 2008! But before that, the May elections. I'm a bit dismayed at the quality of people running for senator. As they would say on Grey's Anatomy, "Seriously? Seriously!" A lengthier post on this one in a couple of days...
Saturday, March 24, 2007
pinkberry addiction
my name is momar and i'm a pinkberry addict.
hahaha. i discovered pinkberry earlier this year but i didn't find time to blog about it. back then, it was just a once a week thingie, nothing regular. my fixation to the thing evolved into addiction slowly until i found myself literally craving for it. now, i need to have my pinkberry fix twice or thrice a week.
what's pinkberry you say? it's fro-yo, frozen yogurt. it's really, really good. the company is originally from seoul, i think, and this year, the company invaded the us of a, specifically california and new york. right now, they have around 8 in the u.s. and i'm quite lucky to have one near where i live. woohoo.
one of my favorite combination of toppings: cookies & cream and strawberry
photography is prohibited, i don't know why, but i managed to take some photos. this one's by the counter.
my other favorite: strawberry and blueberry. pinkberry offers just two flavors: original and green tea flavor and about 16 toppings, 8 fruits (strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, pineapple, banana, mango, kiwi and one more) and 8 non-fruits (including cookies & cream, cap n crunch, pebbles, white chocolate, coconut something, carobs and one more).
the interior of pinkberry. nice and funky chairs, well-designed space.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
starvation for sanjaya
apparently, some people have decided to starve themselves while sanjaya is still in ai. wow. that's uhm weird crazy wow.
So until the day that Sanjya is no longer American Idol, I will be going on a hunger strike. This means I will refuse to eat anything until American Idol voters wise up, and stop voting Sanjya through each week.well, that and an endless exchange in some blogs about him. like this one. and this one. and yeah, this one, too.
sanjaya sails through
as i predicted (hahaha!), sanjaya malakar sailed through to the top 10 of this season. and on his path to american idol glory lay one more dream, shattered to bits. goodbye stephanie, i hardly knew ye.
my bottom 3: sanjaya, phil and stephanie
ai's bottom 2: chris and stephanie
at least i got the stephanie part. boohoo. chris looked scared though. what happened to his fanbase? they didn't like his mellow performance? but simon said it was probably his best so far.
p & r picked me up for dinner, so i missed the live show. i just finished watching it and i just feel bad that they don't even allow the booted contestant to sing his/her swan song. and they also do not ask for the judges' reaction anymore. why? probably because as early as top 24, the line "this is a singing competition" has been overused that the producers have probably decided to retire the line.
and sanjaya? unless you put on a decent performance in the coming weeks, you will always be in my bottom 3.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
heroes, interrupted
i'm a huge fan of heroes. i am.
i was on board the heroes train after i watched their pilot a couple of months ago. unfortunately, travel interrupted my weekly does of the show, so i was not able to sustain my interest. last january, before another trip, i did a heroes marathon and within two days, i was on board the train once again.
i was not about to let the possibility of seeing the cast in person when i found out that the show is included in this year's paley television festival, a project of the beverly hills-based museum of television and radio. so i inquired. turns out tickets for heroes have been sold out. awww.
fast forward to the night when my friend shau and i went to the brothers and sisters event. (this should be another post!) we met a lovely filipina who was working at the museum and she was very kind to hook us up with tickets for heroes!
so that saturday, we trooped to the directors guild of america on sunset boulevard to be at the heroes event. the creator selects an episode to show to the audience, then the entire cast goes onstage for a discussion. afterwards, the audience is given the chance to ask questions. how lovely.
i tried to get all of them in one photo but it was just too wide, so i cut creator tim kring (left) and the guy playing ali larter's wife and the moderator, access hollywood anchor tony potts (right). so those in photo are (goodness, i am not too sure about their names. hahaha. i know the characters they portray in the show!) isaac mendes (the artist who can paint the future), suresh (the son of the indian professor who compiled the list of all the people who have special "gifts"), mr. bennett (claire's father), parkman (he reads people's minds), claire bennett (the cheerleader whose power is spontaneous regeneration, which means that she's not going to die. ever!), hiro (he teleports and he can manipulate the time-space continuum), peter petrelli (the absorber. he absorbs the power of people around him), nathan petrelli (he flies!), niki sanders (has an alter-ego with a superhuman strength), micah sanders (communicates with machines). phew.
heroes is currently in hiatus and will be back on april 23. four more weeks!
Monday, March 19, 2007
guiltless
"There is this mindset, which I think is so passe, that says: "The country is in shambles and the country is having a hard time and you are out there partying. But this generation is guiltless when it comes to that."And the award for the 'Most Sweeping Generalization of the Year' goes to Tim Yap!
Yup, that was Mr. Yap's quote, in this Reuters article I came across earlier. It talks about the return of the urban elite to the "scene". Yes, THE scene. Think Imeldific. Think excesses.
I'm quite ambivalent with Mr. Yap's all-too-sweeping generalization of his generation being "guiltless" by partying when the country is having a hard time. Was he misquoted? Or did he really want the world to know that his generation (is it already Gen Y? or Gen Why?) is the 'work-hard and party-hard' generation?
Saturday, March 17, 2007
sacramento
i made a quick trip to sacramento middle of this week to escape southern california's getting-to-be-warm weather. monday and tuesday were a bit on the really warm side. and it's only march.
the short one hour flight was uneventful. headed to my hotel to check-in and to prepare for the first phoner. yes, i flew all the way to the state's capital for a phoner. hahaha. this was to brief us for the event the foolowing day. anyhow, after that, i strolled a bit and found myself walking near the capitol. some of the streets are lined up with really beautiful flower-bearing trees. f says they are cherry blossoms but i am not convinced yet.
f arrived after about an hour and we strolled further to old town. this was 28 acres of the old sacramento and they were able to preserve it well. it actually looked as if i was inside the universal studios backlot. had dinner at this crab shack called joe's and it was full of people. on a weekday! i found out that this was one of the best seafood places in town.
the following day, j picked me up from san francisco. i was able to change my flight back to los angeles from sacramento to oakland so i could visit my riends in our sf office. m, j & i had dinner at san bruno ihawan, a really nice place that serves really delicious food. we ordered sinampalukang manok, pork sisg and crispy tadyang. woohoo. their sisg's not your usual sisig. it's actually pork inihaw in small cubes served on a sizzling plate. it's very, very good.
bought coffee in burlingame and hung out at m's apartment. around past 1, j and i went home. by 8, we were awake. we had to go to the ofc for me to finish the story i covered. we had plans to have lunch in downtown sf but since my story was a bit more important (hah!), we skipped lunch altogether and he just brought me to the airport around 1:30 to catch my 3 pm flight.
i was in LA around past 4, got to my ofc around 5ish. had a lovely dinner with some friends at palms in hollywood. r's dinner treat because he was promoted as their company's director of operations. yay! congratulations!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
uninspired, uninteresting
hahaha! i am liveblogging the american idol!
my title refers to one of the judges' descriptions of chris sligh's (aka jack osbourne) out-of-this-world rendition of the classic 'endless love'. randy said it was kinda coldplay-ish speed of sound-ish and paul said chris should stop trying to fit and hip. hahaha. agree, agree. spot-on observations. can we eliminate him now?
earlier, melinda doolittle (my nasty friends call her carding, the other half of the reycards duet. if you're not filipino, sorry, can't explain it right now) did 'home' and she's quite good. she brought tears to paula's eyes. what is she on tonight? (paula, not melinda)
and oh, i don't remember the first guy's name. jared? okay. boring. he's the back-up singer, like melinda. sang can't hurry love. so unoriginal. wow. here's another one who can leave tomorrow. okay, so his name is brandon. jared left last week. hahaha. silly me.
wtf? pronunciate? is that even a word, ms. diana ross? 'you must pronunciate,' she told gina glocksen (aka pink wanna-be). she's singing 'love child' and she seems okay. i really liked her last week when she did evanescence's 'sober.' pitcy and boring, says randy. paula feels that melinda "is much better than you did tonight" and talked about enunciation. "not terrible, not fantastic, a little bit forgettable," says simon.
sanjaya malakar. hahaha. dude's singing ain't no mountain high enough, i think. another wtf moment. the fact that sanjaya's still here's just wrong. aj should still be here. or sundance. and i don't even like sundance. damn. i wonder how sanjaya's doing it. i read somewhere (one of the theories while he made it to the top 12. the votes were "outsourced" daw. hahaha. can the people working in call centers in india call the 1-866 numbers? can someone find out please?)
goodbye sanjaya. bring jared and chris sligh with you. sanjaya's currently channeling his inner diana. he's definitely gonna get a beating from the judges. "i don't even know what to say," sabi ni randy. thank god for the back-up singers. hahaha. hair's rockin. who cares randy? his smile doesn't warm my heart paula. his smile is scary. seriously. plastic. hahaha. yes simon, i can hear diana ross wailing from her beverly hills manse. hahaha. courageous sanjaya. goodness, america, put this kid out of his misery or he'll be scarred for life.
hayley's next. oh gee. another forgettable act, i'm sure. i'd trade this girl over sabrina sloan anytime of the day. sabrina was robbed. she's the fourth person whom i am not too much invested in. hahaha. i wish ai had an eliminate-4-week. hmmmm. she's actually sounding okay tonight. a bit subdued. and then she started wailing and flailing. oh girl, i thought you were doin good. back on my hate list. lol. okay, not-so-liked list. get your act together and i'll probably, probably change my mind.
what's with these people forgetting their lyrics? people! week 2 during the hollywood round, contestants get eliminated quickly. damn. "the audience doesn't know..." sabi ni paula. we're hot stupid, miss abdul. we fucking know. shmuck! please don't underestimate us.
phil stacy (aka lex luthor), the military guy. i'm gonna make you love me. kinda like it. he gave the song a fresh perspective. i've heard the song a number of times, and all of those times, women singers sang the song. okay, you're still gonna be here next week lex. pretty good, yeah. vocals were crystal-clear. hahaha. he shouts daw when he tries to hit the high notes. just like we pinoys love it. hahaha. admit it. when pinoy singers make birit and they shout till kingdom come and we cheer.
lakisha's up next. yay! her momma calls lakisha kiki. funny. ang galing ni kiki. that didn't sound right. lol. she's singing god bless the child. she's really big, and wearing that white gown didn't help at all. i'm still waiting (unless the judges said it during the auditions, i was in manila and was not able to watch all) for the jusges to tell her to lose weight because she doesn't look like an Idol. the same way they told j-hud to lose some weight a couple of seasons back.
controlled. kiki showed her control over her booming voice and delivered a felt performance. girl's really got it.
blake's 'you keep me hanging on' is fresh. first time i hear such version and such treatment. this guy's going to be here for a long time. blake versus chris richardson versus kiki versus melinda. final four. lol. unless they divide the vote and cancel each other out. chris and blake will cancel the screaming fangirls' vote, kiki and melinda will cancel the black vote. who's gonna win it all? uh-oh. sanjaya!
kuya dick, aka stephanie edwards forgot some of her lyrics too. completely outsung bu kiki and melinda. hmmm. poor third. among them black ladies. hehehe.
last one. jt-look alike, chris richardson. simon says it's dreadful and terrible. i didn't get to see most of it since i was chatting with friends. hahaha. excuses.
last one: jordin. hahaha. omg moment. was chatting with my hs friend, and told her that jordin's singing our graduation song. that i didn't know diana ross sang it. hahaha. ang sama ko. nde ko alam. alam ko na sa land before time yun, but i didn't realize diana sang it. sorry po. lol. yeah, this was our high school graduation song. hindi farewell. nyahahaha. lol.
okay, so my top 5 is complete. (paula is not familiar with the song? huwaat?) jordin, kiki, melinda, blake and chris. ang agang mag top 5. lol.
Monday, March 12, 2007
phillipeans*
that's how rob & amber, my all-time
they had to list, using a map, the countries where ferdinand magellan went before, starting with seville, spain. wrong spelling wrong, and the person who checks the sequence won't tell the contestants if they had their spelling wrong or the sequence. rob & amber and dustin and kandice (yay! my other favorite time. hahaha) wasted their time here, and the sad thing is, they didn't even find out what was wrong with what they were doing.
so it was a foot race between charla & mirna and rob & amber, with the latter getting the boot! hahahha. yay! how the mighty have fallen.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
bench versus hollister
or should it be hollister versus bench?
hollister is sister company of abercrombie & fitch and sells some of the coolest shirts and pants in town. it wasn't as famous as a&f before but through the years, it has developed a loyal clientele.
last year, i bought a couple of shirts (from hollister) which i planned to bring to the philippines on my next trip. one of them was this shirt --
bench is a philippine-owned company and is probably its most popular. when i visited their mall of asia branch last november, i was surprised to see the same design (and same color at that!) on the shirt that i bought from hollister.
i took a couple of shots.
who copied who?
Friday, March 02, 2007
guilty redux!
okay, okay. not another guilty post.
aj tabaldo is out of american idol competition, and i am a bit guilty about it. for the record, i am apologizing to mr. tabaldo for not voting for him and not supporting his dream.
tuesday night we watched him. he was good, "nearly very good" even, according to simon cowell. i saw in him the confidence of a good singer and the flexibility. he tackled a nina simone song for crying out loud, and he soared. one of my co-workers admitted voting for about a hundred times and feared that aj was not getting enough votes since all her calls were getting through. my roomie said he voted about 20 times. he asked me if i voted, and i said no. "ang damot mo naman," he quipped.
i was not being "madamot," in fact, i was confident that he was sailing through the next round because he was good and he really delivered and this was, still, a singing competition. there were people (yes, sanjaya, i am looking, no, scratch that, STARING at you) who didn't perform at par last tuesday who deserved the boot. i'm not writing this rant because aj's pinoy or fil-am or mutt with filipino blood. i'm writing this because i honestly believe that he should be in the top 12. or top 14 even. he's steps ahead of sway penala (who, like aj now, got the boot during the second week of competitions).
i usually get attached to the contestants of ai when there are only 12 of them left but since i saw aj deliver an above average performance last week, i thought he was going to make it and that pinoys will have a new sensation. it's been so long since jasmine trias united the pinoys in voting.
oh well. sorry, aj. maybe next year?
