Saturday, March 29, 2008

i'm confused

modernity has not only affected our lives through providing us with useful tools to make living more comfortable, but it has also given society that extra boost to make our yesterdays of cave living and clubbing people in the head a dream... a very forgettable dream.

in this day and age, with terms abounding and labels for almost everything and anything, you would suppose that people would be more clear of what is and what is not. coined, derived and adapted from, we have words for all extremes, and also all the degrees that fall in between. considering this apparent flood of (over) information, i still however find myself scratching my head why some people choose to remain in limbo. not only so, but celebrate their limbo-ness.

of probably all aspects of modern life, human sexuality has become the pin-up model for this culture of the lost and cheerfully wandering. we have been more than familiar with the range of terms now used in mainstream talk, so much so, that i believe wikepedia needs to update their already updated definitions. ambiguity rather that the usual polar views of sex seems to be the under current that is setting, not really a trend, but a revolution of how man view themselves and maybe even, the world around them. a view of the orgy in the indie movie "shortbus" would more than illustrate how varied and rather confused the idea of sex has become. i even remember my mom's questions before when she asked me to define the difference between homosexuals, bisexuals, bi curious, transexuals, transvestites, hermaphrodites, and transgendered. to summarize, our conversation led us nowhere and did not really shed light onto anything. of course, the WWW, being the mother load of information that it is, did not really offer the help i was expecting it would as well, with articles such as that of thomas beatie, a transgendered female, who's now legally a male, who is legally married to a wife, who is also pregnant and due in june.... WHA? apparently, our plethora of words were not enough to fully grasp the complexity and multifariousness of what man, or woman, or whatever... can do. and this is just about sex, i have not yet delved into other human institutions like family and religion...

so, what have we become? what has human culture and society become? what has modernity, free thinking and free feeling lead us to? are we really more enlightened, more cultured, more civilized, more intelligent? or all of this is just ruse, a hoax, that we are actually devolving back to our cave man days, only that, we have nintendo and cable to trick us into thinking we are better off now than then.

a star is BORN!!!

show business have used this phrase as far as i can remember, implying as the phrase goes, that a celebrity is born, or rather, discovered. such exclamations would usually bring about accolades as well as publicity stints and endorsements deals, catapulting the once unknown nobody from the deep crevasses of society,into the intense scorching, bleaching, rays of the public limelight.

on the other hand, for scientific, no social life, geekazoids like myself, phrases like this should never be taken lightly. indeed, the birth of a star involve rather drastic measures, but i was thinking of it in grander, more cosmic proportions. the birth of a star entails the maturation of a galactic brew of ice, metal and gases, squeezed in pressures almost unimaginable, in heat almost unmeasurable, in a swirl of forces that can make you puke a gazillion times over till your a dried up prune!!!! and yet, considering the undeniable hellish and torturous environment our celestial being calls her womb, it all seems necessary for how else can you produce a spectacular diadem in the sky? a figure so beautiful, so enchanting that she has captivated countless million in the entire course of our civilization.

that being said. i guess it pays to go through hell to find a star. kindly refer to the illustration below.


you got to hand it to her.... she is an improv GODDESS!!!!!! ahahahahahahaha!!!!

Friday, March 28, 2008

the longest interview in my life

i got a call the other day from a company that i applied a job for. it took me a few minutes to realize who they really were since i have been sending out so many resumes, i honestly have lost track as to who's who. i finally figured out who they were. funny though, i also ended up declining to go to their interview. i was already involved with a project and simple-minded me, figured that i don't want to be bothered by having too many choices.

needless to say, the stupidity of my decision was made very clear to me when my manager of a brother got wind of it. after hearing his 2 cents about what i have just done, i could not help but feel like the smallest and definitely the dumbest person in the world! all of this just because i wanted my life a bit more simple. so after picking up the pieces of what was left of my ego, i licked my wounds and decided to call up the company again, and hopefully, salvage the opportunity. thankfully so, they scheduled me for the next day.

i arrived in ortigas at around 8am. i was to go to their partner's office to take a CAD exam so that they could assess my proficiency. from what i perceived, i though that i was just going to some test center, like those CAD instructing schools, but instead, i found myself in a sprawling corporate office. HUGE! people were running to and fro, all busy doing something. the atmosphere was quite cold, not much noise and very serious. all you hear are the incessant sounds of computers and mouse buttons clicking. the receptionist attended to me and i was made to wait at the lobby for the interview. a couple more applicants later joined me, 7 of us all in all.

we finally started with the interview process. they first had as copy a floorplan in the pc, and provide a section/elevation of the plan in a design of our choosing. we had two hours to finish. i was actually quite nervous at first since i was never confident of my CAD skills and here i am, taking a test, surrounded my CAD geniuses no doubt, based on how frantic their clickings sounded. to hell with it, i thought to myself, if it's not for me, what can i do? right? so off i went.. hoping i can at least learn something. FIVE HOURS later, we were handed the second part of the interview. since i was applying as an interior designer, i was given a different set. when they handed me the plan, my jaw almost dropped, and the facilitator could not help but notice my shock. i was again tasked to copy a plan and give a section with elevation. as i looked at my plan, i saw that it was of a majlis, a muslim formal living room. working in dubai had made me more than familiar with this term, more so of its often outrageous and eccentric designs. then i looked at the title bar of the plan, KCA interiors..... KUAN CHEW AND ASSOCIATES? OM freaking G!!!!! i then realized what was the business of the company i was applying for, CAD outsourcing.


my two hours passed pretty quickly. after struggling with the very poor printout of the majlis, i was finally able to finish. i was then ushered to another room where i filled out a questionnaire with questions that almost feels like i was competing in a beauty pageant. i guess they were pretty standard, now that i know what kind of people the company is looking for, what are your strengths, how do you deal with other employees, how is you time management, yada, yada, yada. honestly, i was so tired from the grueling day, my back was hurting, i was hungry and i felt a bit disoriented, that i was no longer paying attention to what i was writing, for all i know, i could have thought i was writing on my blog! all i know is as i answered the questions, i heard myself say, i working in a call center.

after a few more minutes of waiting. i was finally called in for the actual interview. they got a printout of my work, took a quick look at it and gave me an OK. i was then asked what i used to do, where i worked, and what kind of responsibilities i had. then they told me that i need not have had taken the exam since it was for CAD applicants. all in all, the oral interview was done in 15 mins. 15 minutes compared to the 10 hours i was there.... UGH!!!!

needless to say, they want me. they want me so much, they will wait for me to be available, which will be on june. i'm actually having a slight dilemma. though i really would like the stable income and working in a team setup, it concerns me that i wont be able to do designing. why call myself an interior designer when i don't do just that?

Sunday, March 23, 2008

of movies and marathons

saturdays are supposed to be the most activity packed day of the week. people are supposed to be up and about with fresh energy and seizing the first day of the weekend. it's not the case however when it's holy week. when it's black saturday, things move at a very lethargic pace, almost like how people probably behaved back during the dark ages, hence, black saturday would be a very appropriate term.

i spent my mornings doing what i do, check my mail. i hoped that not all the world comes to a halt during that day. that despite the entire christendom becoming extra solemn on christ's first day of death, that there would be some vestige of life somewhere else in the world and that life would somehow trickle down its way and find itself in my mail box. sadly, i had none of that. no email, nothing. even the juicy blogs i frequent didn't offer something worthy. i was bored... dead bored.

i then resorted to my next choice for salvation, cable. nothing interesting as well. either this lingering mood is slowly getting intoxicating or this saturday was just really a down day. i soon got my answer as i stumbled upon a rather intriguing show. studio 23 was having a marathon showing of the first season of kyle xy. i have never heard of this show before and it was my first time to watch it. i have to say, i am hooked! either this was just my body trying to desperately latch on to something, anything, that's more interesting than counting my toenail clippings or the show is REALLY FREAKING GOOD! well, it was really freaking good. it's so good, my kuya, who was asleep through most of the show, woke up, saw parts of it, and never went back to sleep.


kyle xy revolves around kyle, a strange teenager who was found naked in the woods, suffering from amnesia. he has no recollection of how he got there or where he's from. he also has no idea on anything about everything, with one of the characters so aptly describing him as "having a newborn, but he's fully grown". stranger still, kyle has no navel and somehow possesses superhuman abilities. despite having no idea on the concepts of time and of social interactions, he can solve graduate level math problems in minutes, learn how to do an air jordan overnight, and fix a server unit by just browsing through the manual. what i especially liked about this show is that the story didn't really just focus on kyle's super human abilities but also dabbled on normal human interactions between him and the show's other characters. think dawson's creek meets smallville. the plot definitely has a lot of twists and turns and keeps viewers at the edge of their seats, lusting for more!!!! i am SO a fan! it has everything i look for in a series, mystery, suspense, eye candy, character vulnerability and lots of teenage angst!!!

now, that being said, you could just imagine the torment i had to go through when my kuya pried me off my marathon addiction to go watch 10,000BC. we have been planning to go see this movie for a few weeks now right after seeing the trailer and for some reason, he developed the itch to watch it now. right NOW. after some effort in exercising great amounts of my will, i managed to turn off the tube and turn my back from what was my present love. now, in hindsight, i shouldn't have betrayed my kyle.... for 10,000 BC. sucked!

10,000BC. was such a waste of story and film. couldn't really say much about the acting since a lot of it was done either under thick layers of snow, in the midst of a sea of CG effects of just a lot of battle scenes. the plot, being as simple as a guy, running after her girl who got kidnapped and in the course of it, found his destiny was stretched out to unimaginable lengths, almost making it seem that the movie will take 10,000 years to finish. i had such high hopes for this movie considering how they packaged it. great cinematography, up-tempo music, spectacular CG and lots of action proved to be a good combination in duping people to shell out money to watch this LOTR wannabe. i swear.... i was so bored i found myself scanning the cinema looking at the people who looked equally as bored as we were.

Friday, March 21, 2008

HOLY week!

it's good friday, the supposed day of jesus' death. just this morning, a group of self flagellating penitents paraded in front of our house en route to the church behind us. though the practice has already been condemned and deemed "ineffective" by the catholic church, locals here still go for the masochistic exhibition in hopes that their pain and bloodshed can wash them of their sins and offer them another shot at eternal salvation.

i remember before when i was little, in hopes of shielding me from the realities of this gruesome practice, my nanny would tell me that the shrouded bleeding men who were whipping their backs actually were performers who have bathe themselves in del monte banana ketchup. being the innocent child that i was, i believed every bit of that lie. so every holy week, i would park myself at our window anticipating the tomato loving actors who would pass in front. fascinated and entertained by how icky and gooey they must feel now... though i have always wondered why their brand of ketchup was redder than the ones we had at home. now that i am older, i know better. of course i am no longer as gullible. needless to say, my nanny's contribution to the blood-ketchup relationship gave me a whole new appreciation to this ubiquitous condiment.

i have finally gotten the chance to see "la mome" AKA "la vie en rose", the story depeicting the life of french singing icon, edith piaf. quite a sad tale of the rise and fall of such a talented figure, a film depicting her rough childhood, her discovery, her affairs, her addictions, her loves and he lost. it also showed the spectacular performance of marion cotillard as edith piaf. no doubt she deserved that award fro best actress.


i took the liberty of finally getting my hair shaved off. i have been planning it since last year as i have grown tired of fixing my hair every morning. not only does my new "do", or rather the lack of it, save me time in the morning, considering it's already summer, it also spares me the embarrassing experience of melting it public in this heat as i have instant air conditioning care of my bare head!

my mom expressed her dislike for my decision and was trying to dissuade me from doing it, but i feel like i have delayed long enough. she now expresses her protest by pretending she doesn't recognize me every time she sees me. that and teasing me that i look like a convict on death row. WATEVS MA!!!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

summer sizzlers

i first saw these pics last week while working out at the gym. while in between sets, my gym buddy decided to take his time recuperating and started reading the papers (the cheat!). i didn't know what was taking him so long. i was already done with my set and was already starting to cool down. you're only supposed to have 1 minute intervals between sets to maximize your work out you know! but despite my clamors of his to stop being a chicken and be a man and hit the weights again, i sat there with dumbells in hand, ignored. UGH!, no one IGNORES ME while i'm in mid process of achieving adonis-dom!!!! NO ONE!!!! out of frustration, i walked up to him and decided to confront the cheating bastard! upon closer inspection though, i noticed his face was rather stupefied, eyes firmly affixed to the fashion and lifestyle section of the periodicals he was reading. now... my gym buddy is as straight as an iron rod but something about him and reading fashion didn't seem to jive well. then i saw what he was REALLY looking at......

KC is a GODDESS!! i was dumbfounded by the pictorial. i initially thought it was some foreign model, which i already found hot. but it almost blew me away to find out if was KC! anak ng p*****ng i*a!!! by the time i approached, my gym buddy snapped out of his trance and went back to his job, being babied to lift weights (hehehe, joke) leaving me there is bask in the glory that was KC. i had to get these pics i though to myself, i HAD TO!!!! the internet wasn't much of a use since i could not seem to find it on google. i would have thought that such pics would already be the buzz of town the moment it hit the streets, but none.. nothing. that was until today. thanks to brian gorell and the bajillion people who utterly wish tim yap grows a boil from his butthole to his groin.... i found the site, and found the pics that i told my cousin "i swear man, if weren't a fairy...... i wouldn't mind getting me some of that!!".

the face that launched a thousand "ehems".

Friday, March 14, 2008

inggit

just found out that my relatives are flying off to south africa today for holy week. never really felt jealous, but now i am.

my real guilty pleasure

sure, gossip is somewhere high up on my personal list of social sins, but then again, it doesn't take up first place. i was watching my FAVORITE sin one time, fully engrossed in it actually that i didn't notice my dad walk in. in a sudden surge of panic, i quickly pressed on the clicker and hope and pray that i had switched to a mundane channel like CNN. hope and prayed he didn't see. but alas, stupid clicker was too slow to read the urgency of my violent pressing on the buttons. i was caught, and i could not look at my dad straight in the eye while he talked with me. yes people, ashamed as it is for me to say, i was busted, by my dad of all people. i was caught watching.... cartoons.

surely there really isn't anything to be embarrassed about watching cartoons. but at the age of (ekk! AKK! choke, choke... stupid frog in my throat), being mesmerized over animation isn't really something my family considers NORMAL. but what can i do, i have never really grown out of my cartoon fascination. i remember being glued to the TV every friday night and the entire day saturday when i was young and getting angry at my brother when he would switch the channel to watch his BORING shows like KNOTS LANDING or THE PRICE IS RIGHT! my cartoons were sacred and to disrupt my worship was sacrilegious! but that was before, now those time slots no longer carry the shows i grew up watching but instead have these other programs that i never bothered to get interested in. i needed my cartoon fix... thank goodness for cable! CN, nickelodeon, the disney channel and animax saved my life by keeping me sane!!! 24/7 cartoons to my heart's delight, cartoons to my NOSTRILS!!!!!

in my heightened state of cartoon nirvana, allow me to share a few of my favorites...

1. the angry beavers. norb and dagget, the two psychotic protagonists of the series. this show is just pure madness!! the antics and the things they get into is just way too funny for me. i often find myself grinning like a crazy person whenever i chance upon this show. the series got canceled by nickelodeon already but they still show re-runs at late night.

2. jimmy neutron. the boy with a big head, like me. despite his IQ of 210, he still keeps getting himself into trouble due to his inventions always going awry. of course his best friends carl and shane don't really help in making things better. think of dexter's lab but crazier! the humor in the series is also a rib tickler!

3. my fairly odd-parents. by far, one of my favorites for its humor. sheer stupid, slapstick humor that would make mr. bean's antics look prim and proper. cozmo and wanda are timmy turner's bumbling fairy godparents, granting the large incisored-pink cap wearing boy his wishes due to having a rather neglected and traumatic childhood (courtesy of timmy's malevolent baby sitter, vicky). this show is pure joy due to the great story line and intense comedic moments.

4. danny phantom. from the makers of my fairly odd parents comes this more mature toon of a half-ghost, half boy ghost fighter struggling with his supernatural duties while juggling issues that comes with being a teenager. same humor though a bit restrained due to probably a more discerning audience, the comedy usually offered by the villians of the show. lot's of wise-ass comments from the characters thereby offering another aspect of bringing in laughs.


5. spongebob squarepants. people find him absolutely irritating, but that's really what makes him so likable. warning though, keeping yourself watching him for 30 straight minutes can drive you utterly mental! it's insanity and stupidity all rolled into one.

6. cardcaptor sakura. one of a few of my favorite manga series. the story revolves around sakura, a girl who accidentally releases magic cards that, if not retrieved, will destroy the world. the story has a lot of homosexual undertones which i found rather intriguing since the cartoon deals with lives of children. the issues however never take center stage except in a few episodes on the second season where more of the secret lives of the characters are revealed. the story has a lot of twists and turns which gives this toon more dimension that their american counterparts. proves the point that toons in japan are art forms to be taken seriously like film.


7. Chronicle of the wings. what got me intrigued with this series is that the characters are the same as that in card captor sakura. their roles almost similar as well, despite the story and everything about the toon being totally different. princess sakura looses her memory and shao-ron, along with her and three other allies travel from dimension to dimension seeking out sakura's memory fragments (in the form of magical feathers) hoping to finally make her whole. the animation, story and sound track is amazing! fight scenes are almost reminiscent of that in the matrix. same drama, same suspense, with chorus chanting to boot! i just find it rather unsettling since animax has changed the voices of the characters. i liked the first season voices better.

8. ghost in the shell. said to be one of the inspirations of the matrix movies, i really wouldn't be surprised. the graphics, the premise of cyborgs and technology controlling our lives, and the theatrics of this cartoon is beyond anything i have ever seen. the japs have definitely outdone themselves with this art piece! here is a clip of the latest season, ghost in the shell: innocence.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

guess where?


net surfing now is becoming a hobby. funny that it's only now at the age of that i finally got the hang of it. never really got bitten by the surfing bug and frankly, the idea of having the whole world just a click away overwhelmed me. well, that is until now. not saying i'm now as net savvy as the lot of you guys out there (vikki is one of them, she just finds the weirdest and most interesting sites), but i'm getting there. :)

now, back to business... people, guess where!!!?? i found this pic and was mesmerized by the beauty of the interiors. this is a bar/pub somewhere out there beneath a pale moon sky. at first i thought it was somewhere in europe since those EU guys are always coming up with stuff like this. but i was wrong, i was sooooo wrong! the pic shows pods created by these LED backlit dividers that change colors depending on the mood of the club. amazing, simply amazing!!! check out the 3D tour through this link!

after seeing this. i think to myself... kaya din natin yan!!!! :)

isa pa!

check this place out! to melloida! you're already there, might as well take a look-see, oki?


this is SPOTLIGHT LIVE, located in uber sossy new york's times square. what got me interested with this isn't really the interiors but the idea of this resto. you see... this is actually a KARAOKE BAR.

ODB? and the surprises doesn't end there. according to the site's write up on the SPOTLIGHT LIVE EXPERIENCE....

"Serving up fame with a side of fries, Spotlight Live is an unprecedented interactive dining and entertainment experience nestled in the heart of Times Square. Spotlight Live takes Andy Warhol's often-quoted "15 minutes" idea to the next level offering guests their shot at fame."

"Following in the footsteps of today's hottest stars, sing on stage accompanied by professional backup singers and dancers. At Spotlight Live you can cut a hit record in private recording booths and perform "on Broadway" while having it all broadcast to the world online, and live in Times Square on the Spotlight Live Jumbo Tron. Diners can even vote on their favorite performance, instant message other tables, and post comments online using touch-screens at each table."

"Rock 'n' Roll Chef" Kerry Simon has enticed many with his inventive American comfort food and delectable mastery by stepping away from the norm and making it an experience to dine in Manhattan. At Spotlight Live, guests walk in the door for dinner and walk out a star."

other articles have it that they even have fake paparazzis waiting for you as you enter, record contracts, choreographers and even make-up artists. all part in parcel to give you the ultimate kara-OKEY experience!!


guess who? and guess what?


guess who?

see this pic and guess who she is. unless you are VERY familiar with your celebrities or have been in the loop with their latest endorsements, i sincerely doubt anyone would know who this girl is on first glance. i had to sit and scratch my head till the skin went RAW before i figured out who she was... well, no, i told you i was impatient. i just clicked to the link and PRESTO, mystery revealed... to find out who she is and more pics of her, just follow the link!

guess what?

the vatican just released the NEW set of deadly sins no one should commit. called the seven social sins, they are the following:

1. "Bioethical" violations such as birth control

2. "Morally dubious'' experiments such as stem cell research

3. Drug abuse

4. Polluting the environment

5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor

6. Excessive wealth

7. Creating poverty

i remember reading this on the news runner while watching TV patrol, and could not help but have my eyes roll. it said something about the vatican naming new sins. as if that already did not sound weird enough. i am pretty sure i will butt heads with a lot of devout people out there on this issue, but come on... NEW SINS??!!! do we really need to know which sins we should be aware of when we're committing them? and social sins? i understand the original mortal sins but this batch is just too funny! read number 6... hmmm, are they REALLY sure they need to include that? it's a bit self incriminating isn't it?

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

a day in the life...

woke up today with a stiff back. can't really say it's from bad posture from sleeping since i sleep on an orthopaedic mattress and i almost always wake up in the same position i fall asleep in. there could only be one culprit and that's my work out the previous day.

summer is fast approaching and my gym buddy (one of the trainers at the gym i go to) has become a bit more enthusiastic in loosing his gut. he's usually quite laid back on our work outs with me doing most of the encouraging. but lately, his energy has become unmatchable. to the point that sometimes i feel the guy is more obsessed that i am! :) he's addicted in pumping his chest thinking this is what the chicks go for. his upper body is quite thick now, unfortunately, his legs are a totally different matter, barely any meat. don't get me wrong, i don't mind working out with him. on the contrary, if it wasn't for him, i doubt i'll be in the shape i'm in as of the moment. just that, i think he's becoming TOO effective for me. i'm heavier but leaner. i'm thicker than i have ever been before but not yet cut. my problem areas, i.e., my malformed chest, my gut, my shoulders and butt, are still far from my desired state. despite my questions as to what i should do to develop these areas to my trainer, he seems to always give me the same answer, that all i need is diet. diet and that i'm still lacking in my workouts. so we hit heavier weights, more machines and stay longer pumping iron. i'm definitely getting results as i said, but not the results i'm after.

i went to get my quarterly check up today with my endocrinologist. i usually don't mind doctors and hospitals since i worked in a hospital before when i was a therapist. i just don't enjoy it when it's me who is the patient. one reason why, i don't have patience. just to get a routinary check up like this often takes up half of my day. my 15mins with the doc is often preceded by hours of waiting. waiting for the doctor to arrive, waiting for it to be my turn. scheduling for appointments isn't as popular here since people i guess have the leisure of time. i on the other hand don't feel like waiting for hours on end to be the most productive use of my day.

after almost 2 hours sitting outside the clinic (the patient's benches were occupied by med reps, i hate them too), my turn finally came. as always, 15mins and i was done. doc gave me a clean bill of health but asked me to cut down on the fat. hmmmm, this coming from someone who i think has krispy kremes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

on my way out to my car, i suddenly got a whiff of the most amazing scent. sweet, spicy, salty and robust with flavor... i turned around and there was a new noodle house open selling hand pulled noodles! they had the chef (cute, in a mainland-chinese sort of way.... if only he had better teeth. nothing veneers can't fix... anyway, back to the noodles!) behind this clear glassed encased kitchen wowing the crowd by his noodle pulling prowess! and it was definitely an attention grabber since the restaurant was packed to the brim! i decided to order take out. beef lamien and an order of boiled chive dumplings.... delish!!! i figured out what that scent was as well. it was coming from this boiling pot of ox bones that was the soup base. the smell i tell you is incredible! and the taste, wow, the taste was something else. i'm guessing they added 5 spice powder in it since i could taste anise and cinammon in the soup, i also recalled seeing goji berries in the broth. so my morning wasn't so much of a waste after all. i was deemed healthy and discovered a pleasant reason to see my doctor again on my next check up. :)

pull baby, PULL!!!

another picker upper

she's at it again. tracy ullman prooves that with the help of some makeup, a lot of vulgar terms and a fabulous personality, u can be anyone!!!! follow the link of the rest of her split personalities!



Tuesday, March 11, 2008

picker upper

i need to break away from all this negativity.... so here goes nothing!

i first heard of marc yu from watching national geographic's "my brillainat brain", a series on the intriguing forms of genius. the episode on mark was the first in the series. i remember after watching it falling in love with this kid's simple adorable-ness. he's what, 10, and he already thinks and talks like he's 40!!! the kid's a freak i tell yah! a cute little chinese scholar trapped in a troll of a body! and man, can the kid play his instrument!!! his piano i mean.... GAD!

just recently, mark yu honored maestro lang lang (i kid you not, his name is lang lang, sounds like a panda's name to me), another chinese music prodigy with his rendition of "the flight of the bumblebee". a super freaking fast piece, so fast, it'll make ur head spin! :) anyway, here's the clip. sorry it's a bit shaky. the actual clip was taken off youtube so i had to find something else to use. this one was probably taken by one of those chinese pirate video makers...



now, since we're already on the chinese youtube band wagon. allow me to share another piece, so graciously shared to me by my pal, rich. enjoy. after all that we've been put through, we all deserve a bit of entertainment.

a casualty of the latest hate blog

check this link out of tina tinio from wikipedia, proves what i once heard dra. margie holmes say, NEVER USE WIKIPEDIA AS A REFERENCE FOR RESEARCH. someone must have been really pissed to make such a hilarious entry....

Tina Tinio

A low-life, make-up and cocaine-obsessed obese who likes to oink oink on parties. She is a product of half a century of corruption and stealing of Taxpayers' money. She thinks she is better than everyone, when in fact she's the epitome of the word PIG: all aspects of it.

Family and Education

Her father is an imported Peruvian Boar from the forest of Likinaka while her mom is a farm-bred Native Mothersuckling Pig from Bacolod.

Tina was raised in a huge organic farm in front of Bauan Beach in La Union. She was fed free-range so as to be eligible for pig-exhibition around the country, at the age of 5-months, she is the youngest piglet ever to have reach 550Ibs, championing all possible pig shows in the country.

She also competed abroad winning top medals on farm shows, gaining even more credibility to her family's bloodline of champion pigs. Her humongous belly fat and extraordinary large arms convinced San Miguel and other companies to buy porks from their farms.

She was educated in Tinio Farm and graduated basic-obedience with top honors.


Professional activities

Eat
Pig Course Agility
Using other people's receipts to gain Rustan's FSP Points
Putting on FAKE Mink Eyelashes because she can't afford the £2000 ones.


Personal Activities

Snorting Cocaine
Kissing her lesbian friends
Make-me-beautiful "Make-up" games
Suckling rotten milk from her mom
Drowning boytoys unto her big gross breasts making other people feel they are lower than her


--
Roman é o caralho, meu nome é Coqueiro porra!

(the above post is from the wikipedia article for tina tinio. the said article no longer exists and has been replaced with the more "legit" version. a friend was kind enough to send me this copy before it was erased from wikipedia.)


my world seemed to have come to a stand still since this blog. i simply cannot get enough. though the entries are starting to loose their luster and flavor, and the comments getting more and more vile and stupid, i still cannot keep myself from checking it at least twice a day. my heart sinks though for the poor boy. he must be going through a really tough time and things don't look like they're getting better. brian is currently getting hounded by death threats (how typical, how UN-original) and have been visited by personnel from the Philippine consulate in sydney. i am at the edge of my seat as to what is going to happen next in this saga. though i am thirsty for justice for brian and one of many who want the people involved get what they deserve, the complacent and non confrontational side of me really wants him to move on with life and live in peace and heal and forget this nightmare... then again, what lesson are we to learn from all of this?

another witness surfaced in the senate again but i could no longer give a damn about THAT circus since vipers can only inflict so much damage on other fellow vipers.

the streets were clear despite the holy week still being more than a week away, which could only mean one thing. another futile attempt by jeepney operators on making a point and holding a metro wide transport strike. all they were successful in doing is give commuters another headache to contend with, like life in manila isn't already frustrating enough.

don't know why i'm posting this but stupidity and mediocrity is once again rewarded. check out the latest winners of the recently concluded bb. pilipinas 2008. despite janina san miguel's fumbling horribly on her question and answer portion, she still bags the title of bb. pilipinas world. simply amazing... though, i never really expected much from beauty pageants.



what is happening to this country!!!!!???

Monday, March 10, 2008

i'm pathetic

my usual routine after i wake up in the morning is to check my email. i do a quick run through if anything important came up or if there is any mail that i need to reply to. it's my scholastic dose for the day to jump start my morning... well, not until i stumbled upon that hell of a blog about dj montano, et al. since that fateful evening, i haven't had a decent morning. the moment my PC comes to life and i get myself connected to the net, i head straight to brian's blog to see what latest gossip he has so generously dished out.

to say that i am addicted is quite an understatement. funny though since i never truly thought that i was the kind of person who would be so obsessed with news like this. news actually bores me. any news for that matter. it actually takes a great deal to get me interested in a topic. A very great deal. my mom would often ask how come i don't read the papers. truthfully, it's just because there is nothing in the local papers to read. nothing in it i feel i can relate to or even would want to relate to. local politics is full of shit and will always be. the business section remains uninformative, despite how they season their articles with so much nonsensical business jargon. the lifestyle sector talks about the same people over and over again, like a broken record. showbiz balita is gross and written by equally gross people. by far, the only thing that seems to be really worth reading is the opinion and editorial section, but then again, i'd rather hit the net and read from there. not as much bullshit and very straight to the point. so as you can see, there really isn't that many for me to read or get interested in.

so to be gripped by the likes of this vengeful blog against one of manila's most notorious socialite truly fascinated me. i don't really know any of these people neither do i move in their circle. yet despite how unfamiliar i am with them, it has to be asked, why am i so interested, so hooked, so craving for more!?

recent comments posted on the site has been blaming the nation's crab mentality to be the driving force behind the blog's loyal reader base. it seems that many of us just want to see "great" and "successful" people fall from grace. what these people are great or successful in doing on the other hand is totally a different story. calls for people to FOCUS on the topic at hand, i.e., dj and celine's treachery, pop up regularly amidst an explosion of theories and mud slinging on involved parties and then some. somehow, the blog served like a communal pandora's box of sort. by the author unleashing a few demons, the people contributed a gamut, thereby shaking what has never a steady foundation of manila's infamous society scene.

so, what really is so addictive about the site? to be honest, i think it is just that. sheer honesty. i think that is also the reason why i don't enjoy reading the papers since i can see through all the glaze, all the hypocrisy, all the BS they spread over news. i, like most people like my truth served unrefined and raw. no processed carbs for me, thank you. which i feel is basically brian's blog. the raw hurt and unedited emotion is intoxicating. it embarrasses me to say it but it's like i am feeding on his misery. his pain was like a breath of fresh air. air that was definitely a sharp contrast from this jaded, inhibited and indifferent atmosphere we all call our own.

we all know what scumbags these people are but we never really called them on it. we instead raise them on pedestals and give them more glory. we hate them and do not condone their behavior but we don't do anything about it. instead, we further feed their egos and worst, made them idol figures for people to aspire to. now, a foreigner chooses to act appropriately and we finally get the kick on the shin that made us come to our senses. it's very interesting to read so many comments from anonymous contributors about the inside secrets of the lives of these people. many agree to the alleged stories of brian, even giving accounts of their own experiences, confirming that fact that we, as a society, decided to turn a blind eye and indirectly, allow this injustice to happen. brian accuses celine lopez of being silent. he could just as well accuse us of the same.

mirror, mirror, on the wall.... is this the refection of what our society has come to now? calloused, snooty, self centered, materialistic, worldly, vain... a degradation of values and the disintegration of the moral knit that makes us all human. standards are changing and from how things are looking, it's not good.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

why can't we have one of that?


what does imelda marcos, jackie O and this girl, whose almost NSFW photo i am posting have in common? (cue in jeopardy music, NOW!)

well, besides looking gorgeous at one time in their lives, the later more current, all three women, and get this, were first ladies of a country!!!!! well, the last being a CURRENT first lady!!!!! meet carla bruni-sarkozy, current beau of french president nicolas sarkozy, posing in all her glory for the april issue of GQ magazine.... mary fu***ng syet! pu***g *na! diba!? that's the freaking first lady of freaking country!!!! grabe! i swear, just leave it up to the french to make something so utterly BLAH so fiercely HOT!!!

teehihi, i just had a really nasty thought. the blogs i got this photo from were saying what would hillary clinton look like if she posed like this when she was first lady.... GAD! you people are so mean!!! but then, just imagine LOI, or more so MING RAMOS!!!! o god.... i think i'm gonna barf....

Friday, March 7, 2008

gossip girl

my brother posted about his latest guilty pleasure, gossip girl.

now, allow me to share one of mine, follow the link... http://delfindjmontano.blogspot.com/

actually, i really could care less about how much of a scumbag DJ montano is. what got my mojo going was the dirt on my favorite bitch to hate... celine lopez. don't really know her personally but that doesn't stop me from getting SUPER irritated by her mere existence. i really could not put a finger on what irked me so much about her, that was, until i read this blog. then everything just crystallized. what a release, reading this blog was. proves when you smell something bad, know that it's connected to something rotten.

how the mighty fall.... though, i doubt they were ever that mighty. too bad! BRAVO brian, keep the posts coming!!!! may your healing come through your very colorful rants and exposes. can't wait to hear on you latest dish on these utterly evil individuals.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

today

it was probably the shortest interview ever. there i was, sitting in front of one of the owners of the company. she looked kinda like celeste legaspi and was very soft spoken, almost like a mom. she was telling me how they needed help and that they're afraid the offer won't be too much. though i'm sure there was no way that she struck me as intimidating, i was still literally melting in front of her. it came to a point where in i had to excuse myself and take out my hankie and started patting myself dry. it was SOOOO embarrassing. she must have thought i was this insanely insecure schmuck that couldn't get things together. i got so self conscious that i tried not to panic, more so, show that i was panicking. thankfully, she put me out of my misery and ended the interview within 5 minutes of me sitting on her guest chair. after she excused me, i quickly got up and got out. i found myself hyperventilating and had to literally force myself to calm down. i sure hope i wasn't a complete mess.

they said they'll call me back with an offer though assured me that it might not be as much. well, we'll see how things go. i don't really want to have high hopes since i get emotional easily. i prayed about it and committed it all to God. i said to myself that whatever comes out of this, i'll take it as a man....

after all that. i decided to treat myself to something. i guess it's good practice now for myself that for every hurdle i get myself through, i should reinforce the behavior by a little reward. today's reward, thai chicken salad from kitchen and two new books from powerbooks. i'm still on my "raw diet" so i decided not to stray too far from the regimen. a bed of romaine lettuce with spicy chicken breast flakes, puffed vermicelli and toasted saba, drenched in a sweet peanut satay dressing. delish! i then headed off to powerbooks where i got for myself a recipe book by carol alt on raw food and the philippine tatler interiors catalogue for 2007.

i ended my day feeling rather pleased, despite my rather awkward interview. hey, if it's for me, then it's not for me. i tried my best to put my best foot forward, if that didn't work, then better luck for me.

on a totally UNRELATED note... i have been trying for the past couple of days now of posting about these two pics i found. the first is of louis vuitton fashion maven marc jacobs posting a love letter to the third world's favorite fag, HE, bryanboy. i spotted the pic first while watching urban zone a few weeks back. then a few nights ago, decided to grab the pic and post it here. dunno why i wanted to. maybe to remind me that if u wish it, and forget about being discreet, things will happen. :) my brother told me once that if you send signals into the universe, things will eventually start happening, and here is proof of that. BRAVO bryanboy... BRAVO.


on another totally unrelated note, allow me to present to you all.... the VAGINA SOFA. who ever thought of this is seriously sick up THERE! whoever BUYS this is probably way sicker and need to get themselves checked for parasites... UP THERE!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

a walk to remember

got up and tried psyching myself for what my day is to bring. been working till 1pm the previous day fixing my resume and making sure my portfolio would not doom me. i made seven copies, all addressed to the movers and shakers of the design world, or so to my thinking. put on a comfortable pair of shoes, wear presentable clothing, said my prayers and drove off to seize the day.

of the seven predetermined recipients of my application, i was only able to drop off 1. i was however able to drop off another, thanks to the kind referrals of my alma mater. so all in all, i had two drop offs, two out of seven. that would have been a fail based on any standard. i should take it as a consolation though that the impromptu drop off called me up and already and scheduled a meeting. hopefully, fate is working in my favor.

things i learned today...

1. prayer can beat any efforts of planning.
2. parking in makati, from someone who hates parking, is terrible and almost none existent.
3. walking and looking for addresses in makati is like looking for a grape in a sea of cherries.
4. you would have to be quite a multi-tasker to be able to watch your step, look out for traffic, look for addresses and carry your belongings while wiping off your sweat.
5. sweating and looking like a wet dog when dropping off your resume is not a good first impression.
6. when you pray for good weather, be more specific.
7. owning a parking lot in makati is like owning a hen that lays golden eggs.
8. the roads of makati is like the veins on the arm of some really vascularized body builder.
9. i miss having a driver.
10. i miss winter.

Monday, March 3, 2008

the man with no face

had another heart to heart talk last night with the BIG man, my kuya, about life, well, my life in general, well, actually, specifically, what i'm doing now with it. since i came back from dubai last november, i can't really say i have been the most productive. sure, there was a point during those past few weeks after i got back where i though that i needed a vacation, a break from all the stress from work. but then again, i remember now that i wasn't really stressed at all. you see, when you QUIT from the source of your frustration, you immediately sense relief. coming back to manila was the ultimate stress buster. manila was the "cherry on the top" holiday. now, 4 months later, the cherry has rotted and manila now poses as a knot in my stomach. i realized that despite having worked for almost 2 years abroad, now that i'm back, i'm basically back to square one and it's frightening.

"so, what do you want to do?", kuya asked me and i could not answer. i really couldn't. i was at a lost as to what it was that i wanted. i knew i wanted to do a lot of things but i really didn't know what they were. this definitely was not how i had envisioned myself when asked this ms. universe-esque question. i always thought that i would have a tunnel vision answer, straight to the point, clear and precise. yet what i had was a puff of smoke, ill defined and barely existent. now i was rattled to the core.

the discussion progressed to kuya doing what he does best, dissect and manage. exposed of my flaws and no way out, all i could do was sit there and listen while all my dirt was laid out in front of me. my constitution, rather, the lack thereof was assessed by the one person who i held in the highest regard. my, how small i felt. i had to hold on to what little dignity i had left in me to keep myself together and not go into an anxiety attack. as i sat there, all i could think of was "what is wrong with me? what am i going to do?" and in true me-fashion, i sunk into a feeling of utter doom.

the entire night was like a dream. my head felt like a balloon, empty and yet full at the same time. my life felt like a trap and there seems to be no freedom in sight. i know i have a knack for dramatics but i really think i need help. i feel like MONK, locked in with no way out in this insane world, not able to adapt, not able to cope.

dire as my situation may feel, i still however think that there is a part of me yet untouched by all this craziness that i have brought on to myself. the part that my superego has repressed for so long and who, honestly, could care less of the world and what it thinks. i just have to reach in deep enough and try to coax it out.

i have found comfort in surrounding myself with rules. following them made me feel that i am acceptable, more so, normal. to be good and and to be well liked was the ultimate goal, whatever the cost. i remember this now. it was the same feeling i had years ago when i decided to take up design after dropping my career as a therapist. i had the same feeling of lost. the same not knowing feeling as to what i wanted of my life and what i should do about it. now i am back here again. i am breathing shallow breaths, my heart is starting to race and the fear has come back to haunt me.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

polar bear che-nezzz

was browsing through my usual online haunts when i chanced upon this pic of the most adorable dog!!! i was initially dubious about the photo since it looked photoshopped, but after viewing it from it's original site (where there were other photos), it looked like the real deal to me. that being said, i have to say that i'm in love!!!!


was watching velvet last night. as i have mentioned quite a few times already, i have bouts of insomnia and have relegated to watching TV as my sleeping pill. last night, the view was discussing something about how people nowadays no longer had the sense of community. they talked about how the internet has taken over a lot of how we all used to interact with each other. nowadays, social interactions aren't all necessary anymore since everything can be done with a click of a mouse button. you can shop online instead of going to the store. you can do research online instead of going to a library. hanging out with friends can easily be done online as well, more so, meeting new people. sex is not exempted either since people now take advantage of webcams and the many joys of solo-love. i even read from yesterday's papers how two people met, dated and eventually got MARRIED online!!!!! with matching ceremony and reception to boot! all of this modern-day convenience has definitely contributed to the unraveling of the societal fabric we all belong to. people now are less social, more distant, more impersonal and ultimately, more miserable. this reminded me of an article i read ONLINE from cracked.com entitled "7 reasons the 21st century is making you miserable". the author provides a very good observation as to, despite all the good stuff we have compared to our forefathers, why we are unhappier and our lives still fells like shit.

speaking of shit, i also got to watch "i'm a black TV host and i can have attitude like orpah as well" tyra banks on her shit hole of a show. the topic, how people get attracted other than on looks alone, her discovery channel-esque attempt to demystify the laws of romance based on the other senses like smell, touch, hearing and taste. the show involved a girl playing the dating game, but instead of asking her bachelors questions, the boys had to appeal to the girl's senses, without her ever seeing them. pretty interesting topic if i may say so. you know me, i'm always in the mood for some new tidbit of knowledge. however, i found that i was more interested in one of the hot bachelors tyra had rather than learning scientific geeky stuff from the forehead goddess! this seems to be a constant with her shows, that she will almost always have a model in her show. as if her topics can't stand up to the challenge and she needs to spike it up with some cheesy black-girl talk and hot models. now that i think of it, i'm rather insulted if that's the case. underestimating bitch! ugh.... why do i bother watching her show again... o yeah, because of the HOT MODELS :)