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!
Friday, August 24, 2007
bruhaa brouhaha
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. 
Type rest of the post here
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.
Type rest of the post here
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.
